May it please the Lord to bless
our souls together this morning as we consider his word. Let
us turn to the second epistle of John and we'll read verses
7 and 8. The second epistle of John and
reading verses 7 and 8. For many deceivers are entered
into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that we lose
not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive
a full reward. We continue to realize that we
live in a day when Satan has not lost any of his activities
and not lost any of his abilities to deceive. The devil's ambition is to deceive
everybody and to make them disbelieve the truth with regards to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And we must remember that it
was through this situation of deceiving that caused sin to
enter into the world. as the devil came in that form
of a serpent to Adam and Eve and deceived Eve and subsequently
Adam really by very simply casting doubt upon the Word of God. With that simple statement Questionary,
hath God said? And the devil still is very able
at using the same system as he moved about today to, if possible,
deceive the Church of God. And he uses many forms and we
read here For many deceivers are entered into the world. All
the deceivers emanate from the devil himself. And he is very
apt and very able to bring into our lives those deceivers who
endeavour to turn us away from the truth of God. who endeavour
to turn us away from the word of God, who endeavour to turn
us away from the promises of God. And surely we live in a
day when this is one of the greatest temptations, when the Lord has
perhaps spoken to us, when the Lord has perhaps encouraged us,
the Lord has perhaps given us a word which we are resting upon,
which we are hoping upon, and then we find this temptation
that this deceiver comes and poses a question into our mind. Hath God said? And what do we do then? Well,
we question the Word of God. We question the work of God. And what arises is that we find
very quickly we have that evil heart of unbelief, and we doubt
the word of God, and we doubt his promises, and we find that
we are giving in to the temptations of being deceived by the great
deceiver of souls, the devil. Now let us not therefore think
he's lost any of his cunning, and let us never think that we
would be any stronger than Eve was in the day in which she was
tempted and fell. Let us never look to our own
selves, to our own strength, to our own ability, but let us
remember that the promises of God are sure and certain. And we might perhaps analyse
it in this way, that God has perhaps spoken to us, perhaps
God has given us a promise, something which came to us, something which
we read, something which was applied to our heart, which we
would not have done, could not have done, left to ourselves. Sometimes in our spiritual life,
the Lord comes to us in the midst of busy scenes, perhaps in the
last place where we would anticipate God would come and perhaps speak to us, perhaps
encourage us. And yet, at the most unexpected
time, the Lord came and the Lord spoke and the Lord encouraged
us. And what was it? It was the word
of the Lord to our soul. And it wasn't something that
we did ourselves, because perhaps our minds were far away. It may have been on lawful things,
it may have been on less than lawful things, but nonetheless,
the Lord is a gracious, merciful God, but He's a sovereign God,
and He brings those words, those blessings, in His time and in
His way, to prove to us that it is not the word of a man,
It is not our own imagination, but it is the Word of the Lord. And so then, as we journey on
through life, there may be those times when deceivers come into
our hearts, and if possible, would deceive us of the truth
of God's Word. And it's not as though there's
just the odd deceiver here and there. We read for many deceivers,
Our incident is the world who confess not that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. And if there is anything that
endeavors to distract us from the truth of God's promise to
our soul, it is in effect an antichrist. And how we should
be concerned and desire to be aware of these temptations and
these situations, because the devil wants to, if he can, undo
our trust, undo our hope, and make us, as it were, despair,
make us to give up, make us to think, well this cannot be of
God, this is just my own imagination, it's just of the flesh. Well, may we hold fast to that
which is good. There's always been a deceiver. Ever since the devil fell, there's
always been that situation that we are continually faced with. The opposition of the devil. Moses was concerned about the
same situation in the day and age in which he lived. And when
he wrote Deuteronomy, that long account which he addressed to
Israel, shortly before he was to die, he brought this situation
before them. And he says in Deuteronomy 11,
16, Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived,
and ye turn aside. It was necessary, wasn't it,
for Moses to address Israel in such terms. They'd been greatly
blessed, hadn't they? Greatly blessed. Wonderful revelation
of God's favour towards them. Miracles had been performed. And we might think, well surely
Moses, you don't need to speak like that. Moses, such a statement
is not necessary. It's very clear what's occurred. Israel have been wonderfully
delivered and you don't need to remind them in this way. Well,
he said, take heed to yourselves that your heart be not deceived
and ye turn aside and serve other gods and worship them. How easy it is to worship other
gods. It may not be in a physical way
of turning and bowing down to idols of wood and stone, but
it may be that we turn aside and worship our own selves, and
worship our own doings, and worship our own attitudes. Take heed to yourselves. Now,
this is the devil's adversary. goeth about seeking whom he may
devour." And he uses, we have two tactics really, shown clearly
in the Word of God. First of all, he goes about as
a roaring lion. That means he goes about to try
and frighten us away from believing the Word of God. And he uses
that terminology as a roaring lion, the Word of God. That's
to direct us, therefore, He goes about in order to frighten us. And then in the other situation,
he goes about like an agent of light. Very sly, very cunning. Comes alongside and just poses
questions. Not in any, as it were, big format. but just a very cunning way,
if possible, to turn us away. Now then, the Lord speaks to
Moses and says, And if we are deceived, then the Lord's wrath
be kindled against you. And he shut up the heaven, there
be no rain, and that the land yield not fruit, unless you perish
quickly from off the good land. which the Lord giveth you." Now
we should not think that such words were only applicable to
the days in which Moses lived. We know they were and we know
it did happen and we know on a number of occasions there were
many who perished off the good land that the Lord had given
them because there was that evil heart of unbelief and they did
not listen. And yet Moses spoke to them and
said, and it shall come to pass if ye shall hearken diligently
answer my commandments which I command you this day to love
the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with
all your soul that I will give you the reign of your land in
due season the first rain and the latter rain that mayest gather
in thy corn and thy wine and thy oil. So we do have a very
gracious word here that the Lord gives us to remember that we
are to be diligent in following the word of the Lord. And that's not always easy, to
be diligent. We are told to be diligent to
make our calling and our election sure. Again, how important that
is. So let us turn to the Lord, let
us hear the word of the Lord. And so as John speaks here in
these terms for Many deceivers are entered into the world who
confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This is
a deceiver and an antichrist. You see, the aim of Satan is
to, if possible, prove to us that, one, we do not need a saviour,
and secondly, a saviour did not come into this world. and if
possible he would blind our eyes. He would distract us from the
great issues concerning our soul and he would have us occupied
with everything other than those great issues which are so needful
with regard to the eternal state of our soul. That is his great
aim, to turn us away from Christ. His great aim is to stop us considering
the Lord Jesus Christ. His desire is that we may be
attracted by other things and distracted from the great concern
of our soul and that knowledge of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He says this is a deceiver and
an antichrist. That means it is in opposition
to seeking the blessing of the Lord. It's in opposition. It
doesn't desire truly to know the Lord Jesus Christ. And it
is true that we can evaluate the health of our soul by considering
what we think of the Lord Jesus Christ. and how concerned we
are to know the Lord Jesus Christ, and how desirous we are to know
more of the Lord Jesus Christ. This really is the testing time,
the test that we need to put to ourselves, to evaluate how
stands my soul before a holy, righteous God. How do we consider
Christ. This is a deceiver and an antichrist
if we do not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh and
by inference not only his birth but also of course his life and
his death and his resurrection and ascension and today the intercession
that we so need before our father intercession of the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Well, we read together that chapter
in the Galatians, which was a very instructive chapter, and we read
there about being deceived. The Apostle says, be not deceived. Be not deceived. And he tells
us, he says, if a man thinks himself to be something when
he is nothing, he deceives himself. And that's a good word of instruction,
isn't it, to us today. Do we think something of ourselves? Do we think we're an important
person? Do we think people ought to take notice of us? for man to think himself to be
something when he is nothing? Well, we are, in and of ourselves,
nothing, really. Because all that we have and
possess, God has given to us. Never forget that. Never forget
that God has given us our brains. God has given us the abilities
that we have. It's God's gift. And therefore,
in and of ourselves, we are really nothing. We're only what we are
by the grace of God. For man thinks himself to be
something when he is nothing, he deceives himself and it's
good for us to realise that we are nothing. We're only what
we are by the grace of God. Let us not deceive ourselves.
It's very easy to deceive ourselves. Again you see the devil is desirous
to deceive us in this way. But every man prove his own work,
and then shall he rejoice in himself alone and not in another. And that work is the work of
God in our hearts. Prove his own work, the work
that God has given us. His work, to prove it, to trace
it out, to find it, to examine it, and to be encouraged to realise
that it is God's work in our heart. And that's where on and
wherein we stand. And then he says, let him that
is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all
the good things. We are to communicate. We are
the children of God. We are to communicate. We're not to come and go and
be silent with regard to the things of God. You see, Just
having an outward performance of religion does not really bring glory and
honour to God. There is that communication. And so he comes and says, Be
not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever man soweth, that
shall he also reap. Therefore there is a sowing. We are not to be deceived. This is the deceiver and the
antichrist. There is a sowing. And so he says, he that sows
to his flesh, shall the flesh reap corruption. But he that
sows to the spirit, shall the spirit reap life everlasting. That is an important statement,
isn't it? Do we sow to our flesh? See,
what we sow to our flesh is only for a short time. We might sow
to our flesh which will embellish our flesh, embellish our natural
life, but it is only for a short time. And that time, in fact,
is a very short time. as we compare it with eternity. Are we then today just sown to
our flesh? He that sows his flesh shall
the flesh reap corruption. Nothing really beneficial in
that, is there? What shall we reap? We've sown.
What do we reap? Corruption. That's the result
sowing to our flesh. Corruption. That means it's going
to die, it's going to perish. There's no real true lasting
benefit in it. It's corruption. But, he that
sows to the Spirit, shall the Spirit reap life everlasting. That means to receive spiritual
blessings. Those things which will do us
eternal good. Eternal good. Well, are we deceived? Remember? The devil's there at
your elbow. And what he's saying is, well,
you go and do that. You satisfy, you please yourself.
You go and enjoy that. You carry it that way. You actually
will probably say, well, there's plenty of time left in your life
to get involved in spiritual issues. You carry on, especially
you young people, you children and young people, you teenagers.
The devil will say to you, there's no need yet to really worry about
the things of God. There's plenty of time left in
your life to consider eternal things. Just carry on. Enjoy
yourself and occupy yourself. And so do the flesh. So do the
flesh. Some of you may be aware that
last Sunday morning at Blundon Chapel there was a man who came
in to worship and he was worshipping there and in the middle of the
prayer he collapsed and died. Just like that. There was no opportunity for
him to give time then the condition of his soul because he was in
eternity. So you might think, well, I'm
sat in chapel here this morning and well, I'm just doing that
which I think I should do. But are you concerned about your
soul? Are you concerned about sowing
to the spirit? Or are you only concerned about
signs of the flesh? And do not think then that you
might still be here later on today. And don't think you might
be here tomorrow. And don't think you might be
here next year. We know not what an hour or a day may bring forth. And the Word of God speaks to
us very solemnly. Be ye, not the person next door,
the person sat beside you, but be ye also ready, for in an hour
ye think not the Son of Man cometh." Now how important it is then
that we are not deceived, the devil doesn't deceive us, so
that we just doze off, we just sleep, and by that I don't mean
It may not be a necessary, it may not be a physical sleep,
it may be a spiritual sleep. It means that you turn your mind
off. You don't listen to the truth of God. You're not worried
about the things of God and you turn off from them. So the result
is you are deceiving yourself. Now here we read that if we deceive
ourselves in this way, this is a deceiver and an antichrist. And the apostle goes on to direct
us in this way, to look to ourselves. Look to ourselves, not anybody
else. Look to yourselves. that we lose
not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive
a full reward. Now, what he is speaking of here
is that we don't lose the things that God has given us. We don't
despise the things that God has given us. The temptation that
we face is that the devil will tempt us and try to deceive us
in this way, to think, well, that which you think you received,
in actual fact, is irrelevant. In actual fact, it's not worth
considering. In actual fact, it's just too
minute, and it's really nothing at all. That's the way the devil
endeavours to deceive us. And therefore we are to look
to ourselves to be on our watch. That we are not tempted to turn
away from the blessings which God has given. That we lose not
those things. Don't lose them. Look after them. Take care of them. Treasure them
up. Small things. which may appear
to be small things in our view, in actual fact may be very valuable. Naturally, a small diamond, which
is very pure without any fault, is very valuable. It's far more
valuable than a great estate perhaps. Yes, it's very valuable. and how important it is that
we have a true treasure in our spiritual life. Something which
God has given, which God has given, my friends, will be pure
and it will be very valuable. And don't therefore despise the
day of small things. Don't cast it away. Don't think
it's of no value. Look to yourselves. Be careful. about those things which God
has done for you. Don't get rid of them. Don't
lose them. Don't lose them. And perhaps
you might need to write them down. You might need to keep a record
of the things which God has done and God has encouraged you in.
Sometimes it's a good thing to be able to look back and to remember
all the way the Lord has led us. We may be able to remember
it in our minds. It's a good thing to write things
down sometimes, to keep a record. Moses wrote down a record in
Deuteronomy of God's dealings with his people. So that might
be a picture and a recounting that Israel would be able to
read what God had done. It would be good for us today
to write down those things which God has done. And don't think,
well, I don't think that's worth remembering. You write down all
the details, and on that hymn comes, count your many blessings,
name them one by one, and it will surprise us. what the Lord
has done. It's a good thing to remember. One by one, go through your life.
Look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have
wrought. You see, the devil wants you
to lose them. He wants you to forget them. He wants you to
cast them out. Well, we're told here, look to
ourselves. that we lose them not, and especially
those things which concern the life of our soul and the preciousness
of Christ. If God has opened to us an understanding
of what Christ means, my friends, hold it tight. It's a great blessing. It's a great favour. The devil
would desire to deceive you and say, well that is irrelevant
and it's not very important, in actual fact it's not worth
anything. Hold fast that which is good. And then he says, look
to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought
but that we receive a full reward. A full reward. Well, it's not
because of what we deserve or what we merit, but there is a
reward. And the apostle gives us a little
view of this when he writes to the Hebrews and he's speaking
about Moses. Remember Moses, man of God? What did Moses do? He chose rather to suffer affliction with the
people of God. You might think, you young people
might think, well, Moses fancied doing that. You've got a comfortable
place in the palace of Pharaoh, all you want to enjoy, everything
there, surely Moses, that's what you should choose. But no, we
read this, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Because
the pleasures of this time are only for a short time, only for
a season. Esteeming the reproach of Christ. If you're following the Saviour,
if you're following His path, it will be a path of difficulty. But here, we're told, esteeming
the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of
Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. The reward was the gift of eternal
life. Oh, what valuable gift that is.
And what a reward that is. My friends, that is a reward
that the Lord gives to all those who endure unto the end. Yes, there is a reward of eternal
life, to be in glory, to be with Christ, which is indeed far better. And so but that we receive a
full reward. What a good thing it would be
if you and I, therefore, are not left to be deceived by the
devil, to just look at our natural life and to realise, well, devil,
there's that glorious inheritance which I'm looking forward to.
There's that inheritance which is incorruptible and which is
undefiled and that fadeth not away. That's what my eyes are
set upon. They're set upon that glorious
view to be with Christ eternally in glory, and therefore let me
not be sidetracked by these things of the flesh. Let me not be sidetracked
to disbelieve the truth of God's promises. Let me not cast them
away, but let me hold them fast, and let me look forward to the
end of the road, let me look forward to that eternal time
of blessing, to be with Christ, which is far better. Oh, that
inheritance which is received by all the Church of God. Look to yourselves, how we need
to be looking to ourselves, that we lose not those things we have
wrought, we have received, but that we receive a full reward. The blessings of the Church of
God are so wonderful, now beyond our comprehension and yet left
to ourselves, we find ourselves so taken up with these little
transient blessings, these things in this life which we are so
involved with and we lose sight of the glory of Emmanuel's land. Here we have no continuing city,
but we seek one by coming out. Moses was blessed with living
faith. My friends, that's what you and
I receive, that gift of faith. We need that gift of faith to
look beyond the trials, the temptations, the afflictions of this time
state in which we live. You see the Apostle, again, when
we read that chapter in Galatians, we came towards the end of that
chapter, he tells us this truth, but God forbid that I should
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the
world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. There will be that evidence then
that you and I are crucified unto the world. What we will
find is this. We will find the things that
come into our lives which will separate us unto the Lord. Which will bring about that realisation
that the path that the Lord is leading and directing us in is
to bring us closer to himself. The apostle knew what it was
when he said that he might be blessed with that fellowship
with his sufferings. That is not a natural desire. But the apostle realised that
the sufferings of Christ were so glorious and so wonderful
that he wanted to know something of it himself and to know that
fellowship with the Saviour. And the Saviour, my friends,
endured such opposition, didn't he? He was wrongly accused, people
misjudged him, sufferings of Christ. And in measure, the Church
of God today are blessed with this path, this path of suffering. And so, then the Apostle was
able to say, but God forbid that I should glory. This is what
we glory in, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the
world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world, For in Christ
Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision.
But a new creature, and as many as walk according to this rule,
peace be on them. And there will be peace in our
hearts as we are blessed with fellowship with the Saviour,
with the Lord Jesus Christ. We look forward then, beyond
this life, to this reward, this eternal reward. Look to yourselves
that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that
we receive a full reward. And so really, this morning,
we need to remember the great difficulty we have with our adversary,
the devil, who is a deceiver. And his great aim is to deceive
us. But may we be able to hold on
our way, and may we be able to not lose that which God has given,
and to realise there is a full reward at the end of the road,
when you and I by His grace shall be in glory with Christ eternally,
which is far better. Amen.