I want to continue to look at
this mainly because these verses that we want to look at this
afternoon for a few minutes is mainly written to professing
Christians, to us, and it concerns our everyday life. You and I
run into this all the time, and you'll see what I mean as we
study this Word. Deceived. Deception. First of
all, look here in 1 John 1. And let me begin reading in verse
5. This is the message which we
have heard of Him. We've heard of God. And we declare
this message to you. And here's what it is. That God
is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have
fellowship with Him and we walk in darkness, we lie and do not
the truth. If we walk in the light, as He
is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us. Every child of God, and this
is what John is telling us, every child of God knows himself to
be a sinner. When a man comes to, he's awakened,
he comes to the knowledge that he is a sinner against God, he
comes and he acknowledges that to God. He owns that, he confesses
that to God. And he is made to know that Christ
has atoned for his sins. He's made to know that he is
forgiven, that he is received for Christ's sake. He knows this. The Scripture says when the Spirit
of God has come, he will reprove the world of sin. That means
the Spirit teaches us that we're sinners. The Lord Jesus said,
I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. And He calls us to own up to
what we are, to take the guilt, to own the guilt of it. And when
the Lord saves us in this matter of justification, a child of
God is cleared from all charges. As a thick cloud, his sins are
blotted out. They're purged, they're forgiven,
they're gone, and God will never remember those sins against Him
again. He's justified. Who is He that
condemneth? It's Christ that died. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Now, we know that, don't we?
And in regards to sins that the children of God commit, We know
that God will deal with their sins. But He deals with the sins
of His children as children. He deals with the sins of the
lost man as a judge who is very strict. But He deals with His
children in the way of reproving them, in the way of correcting
them, in the way of bringing a heart confession from them.
If we confess our sins, He is speaking to the children. He
is faithful and just to cleanse us, forgive us of all our sins
for the sake of His dear Son. He deals with us in that way.
But He will never bring us, as His children, into judgment to
condemn us. There is no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus. And all of this All of this washing
and all this justifying, God being our Father, and forgiving
us and receiving us is for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ,
His Son. It's through His blood. You and
I rejoice in that, don't we? We rejoice in that. And yet, we know this also, That
even though that we're received, we're God's children, we walk
with Him, we're forgiven, we're justified, yet in and of ourselves,
we are sinners. We are sinners. God has saved
us from our sins, He has justified us, He walks with us, and we
walk with Him. But He has not saved us from
what we are. He has not saved us from the
being of sin. That's what John is saying. In
me, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. When I would do good,
evil is present with me. We cannot escape what we are.
And this is what John is telling us here. We cannot say. It's impossible for us to think
and to say that we're not sinners anymore. And John said, if a
man thinks this way, and if a man says, I have no sin, he just
deceives himself. And the truth is not in him.
You talk to people, and it's not long until you realize
what they think their walk with God is based upon. I can walk
with God because I don't sin anymore. I walk with God because
I'm not a sinner anymore. That's the basis, that's the
foundation for their walk. And they can't, for the life
of them, understand how God, who is light, could dwell and
walk with a man who is a sinner. They miss the Gospel. They miss why Christ came. They
miss the blood and the power of it. We walk with God in the light
and He can walk with us because the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
us from all sin. When God sees me, He sees the
blood of His Son. When He views me, He sees the
righteousness of His Son. When He sees you, He sees the
merit and the worth of His Son. He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. And John said, if you believe
otherwise, and you're going around talking that you're not a sinner
anymore, you've deceived nobody but yourself. And the truth of
how God can walk with you and you with Him, you don't even
know. You don't even know. Look in Galatians chapter 3.
Here's another place. Over to your left in Galatians
chapter 3. You and I meet people like this
all the time, don't we? They cannot understand how they
could yet be a sinner and walk with God who is holy. Look here in Galatians chapter
3. Here's something else. The Scripture tells, begins here,
the Apostle does, writing to us, Brethren, Galatians 6.1,
if a man be overtaken in a thought, now you see what happens immediately.
I don't know, a temptation is on his trail, it's following
him, been on his trail for a long time, and he's been burned with
it, and now it's finally overcome him. He's overtaken in a thought. Or some sudden temptation has
jumped out and he's fallen. He's been overtaken. Sin has
overcome him. And he's caught up in it. He
realizes it. He knows it. And it's got out
on him. Everybody else knows it. Maybe
he's been so burdened and fearful and sorrowful that he's confessed
it. But it's got him down. What are
we going to do? How do we handle this? We put him out of the church. What do we do? He tells us. You which are spiritual, you
who have the Spirit of Christ, you who are walking in the Spirit,
restore such a one in the spirit of meekness. Forgive him. Forgive him. Hug his neck. Say, Brother, I'm sorry it happened
to you. It will never be repeated again from my lips. I forgive
you. If you've done anything to me,
if I had any part in it, I forgive you, dear brother. Restore him. Comfort him. Tell him about the
blood of Christ which cleanses him. Tell him God has not put
him out of the kingdom. He's still a father to him. Comfort
him. Considering yourself, lest you
also be tempted. Why didn't you fall? You just
weren't tempted like he was. You ain't no better than he is,
are we? And if we'd have been tempted like he was, we'd have
done just as bad as he did. Consider yourselves. And he says in verse 2, Bear
ye one another's burdens, And so fulfilled the law of Christ. This is what Brother Larry was
talking about this morning, wasn't it? What is the law of Christ? Love. Love. Patience. Gentleness. Long-suffering. How He loved His own. He loved
them to the end. A bunch of ignorant fishermen.
that so misunderstood him so many times, fell into sin, denied
him? But yet what did he do? He loved
him to the end. That's the law of Christ. Love,
patience, goodness, kindness. In verse 3, if a man think himself
to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. There's this word again. I like to watch people. I've
said this so many times. Sometimes I go shopping with
my wife and I love to sit down at the mall or something and
just watch people. You can tell what people think
about themselves by just watching them. And the reason I know what
people think about themselves is because I know what I think
about myself. And I see them act in certain
ways and I know what they're thinking about themselves. Because
I'm thinking the same thing about myself as they are. I have seen
people that shouldn't even be out in public. They're so ugly.
And that's true. And you can watch them and the
way they look at themselves and act, you know what they're thinking.
I am one of the best looking persons that I know of. I never
will forget one day I looked in the mirror and come to the
realization, I am not a handsome man. I did. I looked at myself one day and
I thought, man alive, I am not a handsome man. But you know
something? I hadn't much more than got out
of the bathroom until I forgot it. You know what that is? That's
pride. One of the hardest things, one
of the most difficult things that you and I can do is to come
to this position that we're nothing. And if we ever get there, by
the grace of God, it's the most difficult position to retain. I'm still nothing. I'll never
be anything. Not in this life. I know nothing.
I can do nothing. I am nothing. If a man raises
up any higher than nothing, he's thinking too highly of himself.
And one thing I've noticed about this, and you've noticed this
about yourself too, when you realize and when you can continually
think of yourself, I'm nothing, everybody else's faults don't
seem too bad, do they? But as soon as you begin to think
good about yourself, you'll exaggerate everybody's little fault. And
you'll begin to gossip about them and accuse them in your
heart. If a man thinks himself to be
something when he's nothing, he deceives
himself. Look in 1 Corinthians chapter
3, there's another one. This is written mainly to preachers
and probably, in particular, to pastors. But I think there's
a lesson here for all of us in 1 Corinthians 3, beginning here
in verse 10. And it's mainly concerning here,
as you read this, about building up of the local church. The pastor's
work, the preacher's work, his preaching, his labors in the
local church. And Paul begins here in verse
10. Look at this. According to the grace of God,
which is given to me as a wise master builder. Paul is a wise
master builder. I have laid the foundation. What is the foundation? Well,
everywhere in the Scriptures we are told that Christ is the
foundation. I lay in Zion for a foundation of stone. A tribestone. Who is that? That's Christ. He's
the foundation, ain't He? And Paul said, I've laid that
foundation. How does he lay that foundation?
As a preacher, he lays it like this. He preaches Christ and
Him crucified. He wrote to this church and said,
when I came among you, I knew this one thing. I preach one
thing to you. Christ and Him crucified. And
that was the foundation that he laid. That was who he preached,
Christ in Him crucified. And he says here, I have laid
the foundation, and another buildeth their own. But let every man
take heed how he buildeth their own. So he's not talking about
somebody's laying the foundation. He said, I've laid that foundation,
that's Christ in Him crucified. But he's talking about how you're
going to build upon that foundation. In verse 11 he says this, For
other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, and
what is it? Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. Now if a man build
upon this foundation, he is going to mention six materials to build
upon this foundation. If a man build upon this foundation,
gold, silver, and precious stones. Now that's something that's abiding,
ain't it? He'll stand the test. Gold and silver and precious
stones. I tell you, if you're going to
build a house out of this, it's going to cost you something. Because these are materials that
are expensive. But they're enduring. They won't melt when the fire
is put to them. It purifies these things. And
he mentions three more things, wood, hay, and stubble. Now those things are cheap. You
can come by that stuff anywhere. But they won't abide the fire.
You want to build a house out of it, you can build it quick.
And it will be a cheap house. But when the fire comes, what
happens? It will burn the hay, burn the wood, it will burn the
stubble. And look in verse 13, every man's work shall be made
manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed
by fire, for the fire shall try every man's work of what sort
it is. Now remember, Paul is talking
about building up the local church. The pastor preaching to people.
He is going to build upon this foundation. What's he going to
deal with? These endurance materials or
these perishing materials? It's going to be tried. My work
is going to be put to the fire. My work as a preacher of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be tried. Everybody's
work is as a preacher, a minister of the gospel. It's going to
be tried. It's going to be tried here in
this life, in this world, And it may very well be put to test
the honor of the judgment. But it's going to be tried. Look
in verse 14. If any man's work abide which
he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. But if any
man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself
shall be saved, so as by fire. Now what did he just tell us?
He's telling us there's going to be some preachers Maybe some
preachers of the gospel, who even though they built upon
this foundation, their works is going to be burned down. Ain't
that a fearful thing? I don't understand this completely,
but I know this. I know this. It's important what
I preach to you. And it's important that I emphasize
the necessity of what I preach to you. And it's important that I emphasize
the necessity of knowing Jesus Christ and being born again,
being thoroughly and truly changed. If I take in hand just to fill
this place up, And I take all these means to do it. And you
can do it. I told my wife this morning,
I said, you know, I can fill a place up. You learn these things
after a while. You learn how to do it, don't
you? They're having cowboy church
around here. Clown day. Motorcycle day. All these things. Easy believism. social events. But will it stand the test? Will
it stand the test? Look what he says in verse 18. Here's what the apostles tell
us. If a man thinks that he can leave the Word of God and go
to human gimmicks, use the wisdom of men, and build up the local
church, and increase it in number, and have God to bless it in the
end? Look what he tells us. Let no man deceive himself. If
any among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become
a fool that he may be wise. A man who thinks that he can
leave the Word of God as his only rule of faith and practice
and worship and the conversion of sinners and come up with the
wisdom of men and the gimmicks of men, he is deceiving nobody
but himself. Ain't that so? You know, you've never been a
pastor and you've never been a preacher. You don't realize
the opportunities you have to compromise. Just to keep your
mouth shut and say nothing. It's not always easy and sometimes
it's a lonely occupation to preach the gospel to people week after
week after week. all kinds of temptations involved
in it. But if I think I can compromise
and leave God's Word and yet have God to bless it, I've deceived
nobody but myself. That's what he's saying. That's
what he's saying. If I think I can go out here
in a stadium somewhere and preach a sermon, and tell those up in
the upper balconies just to come on down and decide for Christ,
and think God's going to bless that? I'm deceiving nobody but
myself. If I tell somebody, you come
out here to the Baptist with me and I'll wash away your sins,
I'm deceiving nobody but myself. If I say we've got a mourner's
bench up here and invite you to come up here, and because
you've shifted your body from the back to the front, that changes
everything. I've deceived nobody but myself.
The minute I leave God's Word and give myself over to some
gimmicks and wisdom of men, God will cease to bless it. Now that's
sowing. And if I say, well, I think I
can yield on this and that, God won't bless it. But He may let
me just go ahead and deceive myself. I tell you, it's important
how we build upon this foundation. Look at another place with me. Look over in 1 Corinthians 15. Look at this. This is something I think that
you and I see a lot of in our day. 1 Corinthians 15. Look in
1 Corinthians 15. Look in verse 33. Let me read this verse to you and tell
you about the context. Verse 33. Be not deceived. Evil companionship. That's what that word means.
Evil company corrupts good habits. Evil company corrupts good habits. You know we see this all the
time, that you take some, especially some young person, and they love
their parents, they don't want to disappoint their parents,
they don't want to embarrass their parents, they obey their
parents, and then they begin to hang out with the wrong company. And they begin to change their
attitude. They begin to think different
and act different than they used to act. And the problem with
them is they're being influenced to think different. And somebody
will say, when the child finally gets in trouble, And they finally
get to the point where they will not listen to their parents anymore,
and they're in trouble. Somebody will say, I knew when
that young lady or that young man began to hang out with that
crowd, I knew that's going to influence that person. We see
that all the time, don't we? There is a principle, and it's
this. Good almost always will be influenced
by bad in the natural realm. That's the way it is. And here's
what the Apostle Paul was saying when he was writing to these
Corinthians. There were some in the Corinthian church who
did not believe in a physical resurrection. You'll find that
here beginning in verse 12. They didn't believe that the
body of the saint was going to rise again. Well, Paul said there's
two things wrong with that. If there's no physical resurrection
of the dead, He says here in verse 12, look at this, here's
the problem with that. If Christ be preached that He
rose from the dead, I say some among you that there is no resurrection
of the dead. But if there is no resurrection
of the dead, look at this, then is Christ not risen? If the saints
aren't going to rise, then Christ never rose. And if Christ never
rose, look at this. If Christ be not risen, 14, our
preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are
found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of
God, that He raised up Christ, whom He raised not up, if so
be that the dead raise not. And if the dead raise not, then
is Christ not raised. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain, you are yet in your sin. Them also which
are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only
we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." That's
the first thing they were saying. Christ is not raised. The saint
will not raise. Paul said, then Christ hasn't
raised. And therefore you're good in your sin. And you know
something? These people was teaching that
right in the Corinthian church. I wonder why in the world someone
didn't challenge them. Why didn't somebody say, wait
a minute, we can't let those people teach that here. If we
let them teach that here, what effect is that going to have
upon us? And somebody said, well, it ain't going to affect me.
It ain't going to bother me. It ain't going to influence me.
I'm too established. I'm too strong in the faith.
And Paul said, you're deceiving nobody but yourself. Nobody but
yourself. You let false doctrine be taught
in a congregation, it's going to influence some people. That's
what Paul said. Another effect that this false teaching
was having is found in verse 32. First of all, they were teaching
that the saints would not raise physically. Paul said, Christ
is not risen, then you're getting your sin. In verse 32, if after
the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephius, what advantageth
it me if the dead raise not? If the dead is not raised, let
us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. If there is no resurrection
of the dead, then why be concerned about death? Why be concerned
about the judgment? I'll be concerned about being
right with God and being justified and saved. Let's be happy and
go through the life uncaring, for tomorrow we die and that's
it. That's it. What these fellows
were preaching here was this, that there's no absolutes. That's
what they were preaching, there's no absolutes. Everything is in
a gray area, you see. We shouldn't be so dogmatic about
the virgin birth. Shouldn't be so dogmatic about
the cross and the resurrection. These are all grey areas. There's
no absolute truth. Truth is relevant. What does truth mean to you?
That's what they were saying. Whatever truth means to you is
what it means. You think we can have bosom friends
like that and hang out with them? and let them influence us. It
won't have any effect upon us. Evil companionship corrupts good
manners. Brothers and sisters, be careful
who you hang out with. I'm telling you, be careful.
Young people, be careful. Be careful who you let your kids
hang out with. We do have absolute truth, don't
we? Paul said up there in verse 20, now is Christ risen from
the dead. He has risen. And He's become
the firstfruits of them that slay Him. Not only is He risen,
because He's risen that assures us of the resurrection. We'll
rise again in His very likeness. One more place in the Aqueduct.
Let me read this passage to you. Over in James chapter 1. James chapter 1, verse 22. James was talking here about
the Lord saving us according to His own will. And in verse 21 he says, Wherefore,
lay apart all filthiness, abundance of naughtiness, and receive with
meekness the engrafted Word. Receive it into your heart, receive
it effectually, which is able to save your soul. But be ye
doers of the Word, and not yours only. What does he mean? Well, one thing he means is this.
Don't be sure about Christ. Believe Him. Don't stand back as some have
said, boy, what a beautiful door. Go through it. Hear about repentance. Turn to
God. Don't be sheer, be doers of the
work. Because James said, if a man
is a doer, a hearer, and not a doer, in verse 23, he is like
a man beholding his face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and
goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man
he is. But whoso looketh unto the perfect
law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful
hearer, but a doer of the work, this man is blessed in his deeds. Be a doer. Be a believer. Be a seeker. Be a cleaver. Be a knocker at his door. Follow
him. Hang on to Jesus Christ. Don't
just hear Be a doer, lest we deceive ourselves. Okay, I'm
finished. Let's pray.