I want to read verse eighteen. Right now, I just want to read
the first sentence of this verse. Let no man deceive himself. Now, the message that I'm going
to attempt to bring tonight, I've had on the back burner for
years. I don't believe I've ever brought
this message. I've always wanted to. And as I was looking at our
text, I knew it was time. I've entitled this message, Let
No Man Deceive Himself. Self-deception. Self-deception. Now, I'm afraid
of being deceived. I. And well, I should be. But the person I'm most afraid
of being deceived by. Is me. You feel that way about
yourself? When you deceive yourself, that
means you actually lie to yourself. And make yourself believe the
lie that you told yourself. Now, that seems like it'd be
almost impossible, doesn't it? How can somebody do that? I don't
know, but we manage it. We manage it. I've done it. You've
done it. You've told yourself a lie and
made yourself believe it. Now, here we are warned against
it. Let no man deceive himself. Now,
I was talking to a man this week, and he was a preacher. And it
was clearly evident to me that he had deceived himself. And I'm saying this, I hope,
with a broken heart. This man, who claimed to be a
preacher of the gospel, had deceived himself. He was supporting what
I believe to be a heretical view regarding an aspect of divine
truth. And this man had deceived himself into thinking that he
was standing for the truth. And he would fight for this when,
in fact, he was opposed to what God had said in his word. And I could see this so clearly
while I talked to this man, and I thought to myself, how can
you be so self deluded? How can you deceive yourself
so thoroughly? And the thought occurred to me
at that time, how do I know that I am not the one who's deceived
myself. And I took a good, long, hard
look at myself, because I've done it before. How am I so sure
that I'm not the one who's deceived myself? Now, you're probably
thinking, boy, I hope you're not the one that's done that,
because I'm listening to you. Well, I understand you feeling
that way. But it's a question I have to
ask myself. What makes me think that I am
in the right and this one and not the one who's deceived himself?
Could it be me that's deceived myself? Now, we should all ask
ourselves that question. Let me give you a couple of reasons. Jeremiah, chapter 17, verse nine,
says the heart. Is deceitful. Above all things
and desperately wicked. Who can know it? That's my heart. That's your
heart. The wise man said in Proverbs,
he that trusteth in his heart is a fool. You know, when the Lord said
to his disciples. One of you shall betray me. What was their response? Is it I? Man, I want to think about that seriously. Because
honestly, honestly, if the Lord said to this assembly right now,
one of you will betray me. I fear I would start thinking
about somebody else rather than myself at first. If that's the
case, I'm in the wrong. Every single one of his disciples
said, is it I? We should hold ourselves suspect
because we've all been guilty of this. Now, there are four
words that are translated deceived that are used with reference
to self-deception. And there's a lot of warnings
in the scripture regarding this thing of self-deception. In our
text, the word deceived means to beguile thoroughly. There is a word that means to
give a false impression. And there's a word that means
to be seduced, to be led astray, and there is a word that means
to reason falsely. to use false reasoning and false
logic. Now, I don't want to deceive
myself. Do you? I do not want to be deceived,
and I most especially fear deceiving myself, and every one of us should
fear this greatly. We would not have to be warned
about it if it were not a very real and present danger for every
single one of us. Let no man deceive himself. Now, let's look at these warnings
as they come up in scripture. I want to look at eight different
warnings regarding self deception, and the first one is found in
our text in verse 18. Let no man deceive himself. If
any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him
become a fool. that he may be wise. Now, you believe that you have
some wisdom, here's what you better do. You must first become
a fool that you may truly be wise. Now, that almost seems
like an oxymoron. How can becoming a fool make
you wise? Well, it does. It has something to do with this.
First of all, let's read verses 19 and 20. It has something to
do with understanding that the wisdom of the world is nothing
more than foolishness. He says, If any man seemeth to
be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be
wise. For the wisdom of this world, what the world counts
as wise and valuable and understanding, it's foolishness with God. For
it's written, he taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And
again, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
Now, being a fool has something to do with this, becoming an
ignorant, foolish little child. And you come to the Word, not to prove what you already
believe, but you come to the Word of God. to find out what
to believe. Now, do you have that attitude
towards the Word of God? I don't use, I'm not to use the
Scriptures to prove my doctrine. I come to the Word of God to
find out what to believe. And if I come with any other
attitude than that, I'm coming with the wrong attitude. When you come as a foolish little
child, you don't trust yourself. You don't trust your thoughts.
You don't trust your feelings. You don't trust your instincts.
You come to God as a little child. Feelings come, feelings go. Feelings
are deceiving. My warrant is the Word of God,
not else's worth believing. You don't handle the Word of
God deceitfully. Using it to prove what you already believe,
but you come as a fool, needing to be instructed. Your attitude
truly is, speak, Lord. Thy servant heareth. Now, I want to hear what God
actually says in His Word. Lord, don't let me deceive myself. Let me actually hear. What is being said in your word? Shut me up to your word. And
I know this. You can only hear when you're
not speaking. You can only hear when you're
not waiting to speak. I've been guilty of that. Somebody
talking to me and I'm just waiting for him to stop so I can start
talking. That's not listening. You can't hear like that. May
God give us the grace to be fools, not trusting ourselves, not trusting
the things we, quote, have always stood for. But I want to be responsive
and hearing to what God says in his word. Let no man deceive
himself. If any man seems to be wise in
this world, let him become a fool that he may truly be wise. 1
Corinthians chapter 6, verse 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Now, be not deceived. Don't deceive yourself or don't
let anybody, somebody else deceive you, but be not deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters,
those who worship a false god, nor adulterers, breaking the
covenant of marriage, either physically or spiritually, nor
effeminate. Now, this word effeminate is
not a homosexual. That's what people generally
think of. They think, well, that's talking about a homosexual. Notice
where we get the English term the mollifier from. The person
who waters down the gospel. That person who waters down the
gospel. He's effeminate. He's a mollifier. Nor abusers
of themselves with mankind. That's talking about the homosexual. nor thieves, somebody who takes
that which does not belong to him, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, that actually means an abusive person, nor extortioners
shall inherit the kingdom of God. Now, don't be deceived.
Don't be deceived. If that is my practice, I will
not inherit the kingdom of God. Don't be deceived by this. I want to ask you a question.
Can a true believer commit any of these sins? Is that a hard one to answer?
Every single one of them. Every single one. And apart from God's grace, you
will commit every single one of those sins. Does a believer say salvation
is by grace, therefore, I can live in these sins and still
be saved? No, sir. Don't deceive yourself. Now, if you use if I use salvation
by grace and use this as a justification for this, I've proved by that
I've never bowed beneath Christ. He's never really done anything
for me, because I'm using God's grace as an excuse for my sin.
Now, he says, don't deceive yourself. The person who practices these
things. Now, you say, but I commit all
these things in my heart. I know that. I know that every
single one of them. You commit all these in your
heart. I will go ahead and do it if
you're doing it in your heart. Would you say that to the murder?
You murder somebody in his heart and say, well, if you thought
it, you might as well do it. Of course not. Of course not.
They who do such things, he says, they who do such things. I don't
care if they claim to believe grace, but they say, well, salvation
is by grace, therefore, I'm going to go on in this. They shall
not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Now, don't deceive yourselves
into anything different. First Corinthians 15. Verse 33. Be not deceived. Do not deceive
yourself, do not let anybody deceive you regarding this evil
communications and that word communications is companionships. Evil companionships corrupt good
manners, good conduct. Now, the best way I know how
to. Comment on that verse. is I know
a man that professes to believe the gospel. And I'm talking about
the gospel of God's grace. I'm not talking about false religion.
I'm talking about the gospel of God's grace. Who, with his
eyes wide open, married an unbeliever. Now, recently I asked somebody
at the church he attends how he's doing, and they told me,
well, I haven't seen him for months. I haven't seen him for
months. And that absolutely broke my
heart. Is he not saved? I don't know,
but I know this. Evil communications, evil companionships
will most assuredly corrupt good manners, good conduct every time. Don't be deceived. If you make
your companion an unbeliever, You're asking for trouble. You
will be corrupted by it. That's just sure. Don't be deceived
regarding this. Galatians chapter six. Verse three. For if a man think himself to
be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. Now, here's someone who has deceived
himself. Let's see what led Paul to make
this statement. He says in verse one, Brethren, if a man be overtaken
in a fault, You see a man overtaken by a fault, and that's talking
about a sin of some kind. Brethren, if a man be overtaken
in a fault, just overcome, here's what you need to do. You
need to excommunicate him. You need to hold him off and
look down your nose at him. You need to treat him in a way
that lets him know your disapproval of his actions. That's not what the text says.
If a man be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, and
every believer is spiritual, they have a spiritual nature,
the Holy Spirit, it says, restore such and one. And that means
mend them. Restore such and one, and it's
spoken in a tense that has to do with patience and perseverance. It may take a while. But restore
such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted. I want to ask you a question.
That brother who's overtaken in the fault, if you were faced
with the same temptation, what would happen to you? Now, if you consider yourself,
you really believe, you know yourself better than you know
that brother. If you consider yourself, you really believe
that you will be worse. And the only reason you haven't
fallen like he has up to this point, if you haven't, is because
of the restraining grace of God. That's the difference. Not your
moral superiority to that fellow. The only difference is the grace
of God. You would have done it, you would
have done worse. You would have done worse than
that brother. And if you really believe that,
it's impossible to look down your nose at that fellow, isn't
it? If you really believe that. You know, apart from the grace
of God, you will be worse. And I said, consider yourself,
lest you also be tempted. If you're placed in that position
of temptation, apart from God's grace, you know what you'll do.
When have you ever been able to fight off temptation when
it comes right down to it? You fight it off. I'm not giving
in. Well, what happened? Well, what
happened? Now, he said, don't you look
down your nose in moral superiority at that fellow. He says in verse 2, bear ye one another's burdens
and so fulfill the law of Christ. You know, that sin in your brother
is a burden to him. He hates it. It's a burden and
it's a grief to him. Now, when he's saying, bear ye
one another's burdens, that doesn't mean tell each other all your
innermost thoughts. It's not saying that at all.
It's saying, put up with one another. Bear ye one another's
burdens, because his sin's a burden to him. It's a burden. He said,
bear ye one another's burdens. And do what? So fulfill the law
of Christ. You want a law to live under?
You want a law? Here you go. Here's the law of
Christ. Bear ye one another's burdens. And so fulfill the law
of Christ. Verse 3, For if a man think himself
to be something, If you look down your nose at your brother
and you think you're something that he's not, and that's why
you didn't do it, when in fact you are nothing, he says, you
have deceived yourself. You see, this thing of being
nothing, it's a wonderful place to be.
When I'm nothing, it is so easy to trust Christ as my all. And
when I'm nothing, it's so impossible to look down my nose in a judgmental
and harsh attitude towards my brother. It's a sweet thing to
be a nothing. You see, when you're nothing,
it's so easy for Christ to be all in it. You simply trust and
rest in him. Galatians 6 verse 7. Be not deceived. Galatians 6
verse 7, don't be deceived by this. Don't deceive yourself. Don't let anybody deceive you.
God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. And don't be deceived by this.
Don't say, no, that's not going to happen. Don't be deceived.
Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Now, in the
context, what's he talking about? Look in verse six. Let him that is taught in the
word. Communicate. Unto him that teacheth
in all good things. In the context, he's talking
about giving. He said, now, if you're taught
in the word, you make sure you communicate in that sense, you
make sure you give toward the spread of the gospel, toward
the support of the gospel. Now, if you conveniently overlook
your personal responsibility in this thing of giving, Paul
says what you're doing is mocking God. That's what this means in
context. He says you're mocking God. He
said, Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever a
man soweth, that shall he also reap. And remember, he's speaking
to believers. He says, For he that soweth to
his flesh, Shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that
soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. May God give me grace to say
this the way it needs to be said. If you or I give in order to
keep from losing, we're not giving, are we? If we're giving because,
well, I'm afraid if I don't give, God will take it out somewhere
else. That's not giving. There's not a drop of giving
in that. You don't give in order to keep from getting in trouble.
Well, I need to, I need to give. I need to get this. That's not
giving. That's a fleshly motive. There's
nothing to it. We don't give in order to make
it to where God will bless us. If you give in order to be blessed
by God, you didn't give anything. That's not giving. Now that being
said, and that's what I said very true, but that being said,
you find me someone who has a miserable, wretched life that's a believer.
And I'll find somebody who's not giving. It's always that
way. It's always that way. You see,
you can't out-give God. It's impossible. You think you
can out-give God? It can't be done. He says, try
me now and prove me. I'll open the windows of heaven.
It's in giving. I'm not just talking about giving
financially. I'm talking about this whole attitude of giving,
this whole thing. It's more blessed to give than
it is to receive. In this attitude of giving, we're
blessed. Oh, the Lord blesses us in such
a real way. He says, now don't be deceived
about this. God's not mocked. And in this context, he's talking
about the subject of giving. God's not mocked. Whatever a
man shows, that shall he also reap. Now, don't be deceived
about this. You know, the greatest privilege that the Lord gives me is to
be able to be blessed, to give back just a small portion of
that which He freely bestows upon me. Isn't that a blessing?
I mean, it's something to thank the Lord for. What a blessing.
Now, don't be deceived about this. To be deceived about this,
Right here, he says, to mock God. James, Chapter 1. We've got three more. James, Chapter 1. Verse 22. But be ye doers of the word and
not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. Now, if I'm a hearer
only and not a doer of the Word, I have managed to deceive myself. Now, here's what this person
who's a hearer of the Word and not a doer, it's the man that
can accurately define faith. He can give you the textbook
definition of faith, but he doesn't believe. He doesn't actually
trust Christ. He knows all the right terms.
He knows how to give orthodox answers. I mean, this fellow's
a five-point calvinist, right down the line. He'd argue for
that. He knows the right answers, but
he himself does not trust the Lord Jesus Christ. He's trusting
his knowledge rather than Christ himself. He's a hearer of the
Word. He can give you all the right
answers, but he's not a dude. A doer is someone who actually
trusts. He actually rests in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, I know I'm supposed to rest
in Christ. You know that too. You young
people that have not really believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you
know you're supposed to. You better do it. That's God's
command to trust His Son. Now, look how He describes this
person who is a healer only. Let's go on reading. Verse 23. But if any man be a hearer of
the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding
his natural face in a glass in a mirror. For he beholdeth himself,
and he goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he
was." Now, if you look at your face, if you look at your character,
if you look at your person in the mirror of the Word, what
do you see? You see a very sinful person,
don't you? You see a very ugly person if you see yourself in
the mirror of the Word. Now, this man who's a hearer
only and not a doer, he sees himself in the glass of the Word
and he goes away and he forgets what manner of man he is. He
forgets he's a sinner is what that means. He forgets he's a
sinner. Oh, a sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so.
And he forgets that. Verse 25, But whoso looketh into
the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being
not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be
blessed in his deed. He continues to look in that
perfect law of liberty. Now this is, I think it's interesting
that this, this mirror, that when you see yourself in, it
makes you look ugly. When you see the truth concerning
yourself, your sinfulness and so on. But yet, that same mirror
is called the perfect law of liberty. You know, there's nothing
more liberating than seeing that you're a sinner and nothing more.
Because when you see that, you know what else you do? You trust
the Lord Jesus Christ, don't you? You've got nothing else.
You have nowhere else to look. It's so liberating to be able
to see what you are. Because when you see what you
are, oh, it's so easy to trust the Lord Jesus Christ. Look in
James 1.26. If any man among you seem to be
religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own
heart. This man's religion is vain. It's empty. It will not save. Now, I want you to think about
what he says. You seem to be religious. But you don't put
a bridle on your tongue. That individual, he boasts of
his own works. Obviously, he doesn't really
believe the gospel about the things he says. Always talking about
what he's doing. Has a harsh, critical, judgmental
attitude toward others. He doesn't bridle his tongue.
It hasn't tamed his tongue. I'll tell you what. When God
saves a person, he tames his tongue. Does that mean the tongue's
without sin? Of course not. All I got to do is speak and
there's sin. I realize that. But I tell you what, it bridles
a man's tongue. It does. And if my tongue has
not been bridled, my religion, what does the word say? It's
vain. It's empty. It's to no purpose.
It will not save me. Now, don't deceive yourself regarding
this thing. If my religion hadn't bridled my tongue, My religion
is vain. Now, would you turn to 1 John
chapter 1, which is the last one we'll look at. These are all the warnings against
deceiving yourself. Verse 8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the
truth is not in us, we've lost all credibility, we're lying
hypocrites, is what he says. Now, if we say we have no sin,
now what I think is very interesting about that verse of Scripture,
and this helps me to understand it, I've told you this before,
the word sin here is a noun. It's not a verb. It's not talking
about what you do. It's talking about what you are.
It's talking about a nature. Now, at all times, David said,
my sin, my sinful nature is ever before me. It's always there. Paul said, when I would do good,
evil is present with me. It's always there. And for a
man to say, I have no sin, talking about his sinful nature, he's
deceived himself. I mean, there's no greater liar
than the one who says, I have no sin. At all times, that sinful,
wicked, evil nature is there. I feel it, sometimes more greatly
than others. And perhaps the times when I
think I feel it most greatly is when I probably don't even
see it as I think I should, because I start making a refuge of comfort
because, well, I feel my sin enough. If we say we have no sin at any
time, We deceive ourselves. We've lost
all credibility and the truth is not even in us. Look what
he says in verse 10. If we say we've not sinned. Now
there the word is a verb. He's not talking about the nature.
He's talking about the action. That's what we do. Verbs are
what we do. If we say we've not sinned, we
make him a liar. And His Word is not in us. Now,
everything I do, everything I do, if I did it, that makes it sin.
Now, I have a holy nature. What about that holy nature?
Well, as long as I'm in this flesh, I've got the sinful nature,
too. It's always there with me. That means anything I do, anything
I do, it's sin. Someone was talking with me recently,
and he was arguing against the fact that a believer has a holy
nature. He said, well, that means you think that you can do things
the cross didn't have to die for. I don't think any such thing.
I don't think that for a second. But I know I believe by faith,
because the Bible said we have a holy nature that cannot see.
And I believe I got it because the Bible tells me that. Can
I look within my heart and say, well, that part was holy and
that part's not? No. No. Anybody who says they can, I
don't believe them. At all times, regarding everything that I do,
if I did it, that makes it sin. And that's really the only honest
way of looking at anything. Somebody says, well, I just don't
go along with that. Well, you're blind. You're blind. If you did it, it's sin. At all times, we have a sinful
nature and at all times regarding every action. I'm even talking
about when I pray or when I, whatever I do. If I didn't, they're
sinning. So here's the only safe place.
Look in verse nine. I love this verse. I tell you,
I can't get very far past this verse at any time. Well, I don't
want to. He says in verse nine. If we confess our sins. If we take sides with God against
ourselves, if we confess our sins, he is, I love these next
two words, faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. It
doesn't say he's merciful and gracious, does it? Although he
is, but it says he's faithful. He's faithful to his covenant,
that covenant he made with his son long ago. And he's just. He forgives my sins in such a
way that honors his justice. You see, I'm justified. I'm justified. And it's not like him just sweeping
my sins under the carpet. And no, not at all. He's faithful
to the covenant of grace, faithful to His Son, faithful to what
His Son has done, and He's just. He forgives my sins in a way
that honors His glorious justice. He is faithful and just to forgive
us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, when we observe the Lord's
table, this is what we're confessing. Our sins. Now, the very fact
that I take the Lord's table. I take the broken bread, I take
the wine. I'm confessing by that, I'm a
sinner. I've been in a church service
before where they say if you have unconfessed sin in your
life, you can't take the Lord's table. Good grief. Let me tell you this. If you can't take the Lord's
table, you're not ready to die. Isn't that so? I confess in taking the Lord's
table that I am a sinner, and my only hope of being saved is
the bloody sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what
I'm looking to. If we confess our sin, He's faithful
and just to forgive us of our sin. And to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. And that's what we're doing in
the Lord's table. We are confessing our sin. And we're looking to
the precious shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. As everything
in our salvation. Now, who should take the Lord's
table? That's always an issue. Who should
take the Lord's table? And I can answer that. Real simply,
everybody who believes. If you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ as your salvation, you should take the Lord's table. Any other qualifications? No. Do you believe? then you're to celebrate and
revel in this glorious truth, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from A-double-L all sin. And that's what we're
celebrating. Y'all, pass out the red and white,
please.