This is what we've come to in
our study. Sometimes I get to going very
slow. I'm conscious of that. So you'll just have to be patient. I'm 63 years old, going on 64,
and I've got a feeling I'm not going to change much. The only remedy is to be patient. I've been going slow. I've enjoyed
this book. I've enjoyed looking at it from
different aspects. I want us to begin reading here
in Deuteronomy chapter 11. Let's begin in verse 10 and read
these five verses together. Deuteronomy chapter 11, beginning
here in verse 10. For the land which thou goest
in to possess it is not as the land of Egypt from which you
came out, where thou sowest thy seed and water it with thy foot
as a garden of herbs. But the land where you go to
possess it is a land of hills and valleys that drinketh water
of the rain of heaven, a land which the Lord your God careth
for. The eyes of the Lord thy God
are always upon it from the beginning of the year even unto the end
of the year. And this shall come to pass,
if you shall hearken diligently unto my commandments, which I
command you this day, to love the Lord your God, to serve him
with all your heart, with all your soul, that I will give you
the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and
the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine,
and thy oil. I will send grass in thy fields
for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full." Now, that's
not as full as we're going to get, but I want to have you to
think about this land, this good land. But first, let me say this. This is why we study in the Old
Testament. We've been doing this now for
quite some time, studying different books. And the reason we do that
is because these things were written for us. They were written
for us. Not so much for them. Really
and honestly, not so much for them, but for us. And from Adam
to Eve, and through all the book of the Old Testament, right on
through the book of Malachi, we have the history of humanity. Now, we don't have it in detail.
I realize that. It's not a thorough history.
We talk about creation in Genesis chapter 1. It's not a thorough
view of creation. God's not told us everything.
He's not told us everything about humanity. But He's told us how
He dealt with the people in the Bible. Especially His people
and the nations that they were involved in. And this is a true
story. All these stories are true. They're
not just metaphors. It's not just speaking to us
metaphorically. We have a group of people now
that says the whole Old Testament could very well be metaphorical.
It's not really real. Creation's not really real. I
heard one Jewish rabbi say that someone asked him a question
about Abraham. He said, really, it's not relevant
whether Abraham was a real man or not. It's what we learn from
the story of Abraham. Well, if Abraham is not a real
man, you know what the implications of that is. So these are real
stories. God disuses these men in the
history of the Old Testament to teach us the church things. One of the things that we teach,
and probably the principal thing, one of the principal things that
we're taught from the Old Testament is faith. The principle of faith. How were men saved? We've been
reading here in the Old Testament and studied from it. How were
these men saved in the Old Testament? By faith, weren't they? By faith. Now, did this Jewish nation have
laws given to them that they were obligated to keep and maintain? Well, sure they did. Sure they
did. They had the ceremonial law with
all of its priesthood and its sacrifices. They had a dietary
law. They were very strict in their
dietary law. That's why Peter said, nothing in common, iron
and clean is never in my mouth. I never ate any pork or some
of the other types of meat. They had some civil laws that
was to Israel alone. And these were so strict a laws,
Peter said it was like a yoke upon our necks and the necks
of our fathers which neither we nor they could bear. I mean,
it was strict. God has killed people for breaking
these dietary laws and these civil laws and these ceremony
laws. Thank God those laws have been set aside. All the ceremony
law of the Jews is gone. Circumcision is no more. There's no need to it for it.
It had a time, a place. It taught us things. But now
we learn, not by being circumcised, but by reading what circumcision
is really all about. The temple's gone, the priesthood's
gone, the dietary laws are gone. Now Paul said there's nothing
unclean of itself. There's people who eat snakes.
I don't judge them for eating snakes. I don't like snakes.
I ain't going to eat a snake. Nothing matters but eating a
snake, is there? Nothing unclean of itself. Those dietary laws
are gone. They're gone. From the very beginning. From
the very beginning, there's only been one way to please God. There's only been one way to
worship God and obey Him and walk with Him, and that's by
faith. That's by faith. All of these
laws that they had to keep, it was only through faith that they
could obey. One of the things the Old Testament
teach us is all the way from Genesis through the book of Malachi. The just shall live by faith. And from Genesis all the way
through Revelations, there is a saying in the Scripture. It's
true now, and as long as this world will stand, this statement
will be true. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. So when we read about this good
land and the other things in Europe, we find faith in here.
We find faith in these people. You remember when our father
had failed and they had two children, their two sons, and both of them
realized they were guilty. One tried to work his guilt off
by planting a garden and bringing his fruit and vegetables. But
Abel brought a bloody lamb. And he brought it and he laid
it and he placed it between him and God, his guilt and God's
holiness. Why did he do that? How did he
do that? By faith. By faith Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. And listen to this.
By which he obtained witness that he was righteous. God testifying
of his guilt. We're told about a man by the
name of Enoch. He walked with God. And was not,
for God took him to heaven. How did he walk with God? By
faith. By faith, and he walked with
God. Noah, being warned of God as things not seen of yet, he
moved by faith. He moved by faith, preparing
an ark. Abraham, when he was called to
go out into a land that he should have to receive, he obeyed and
went out. But how did he obey? By faith. By faith. And you come right
on down to Sarah, received strength to conceive seed, by faith. And then we go to Moses. We go
to Moses. Of all people, the lawgiver.
And what was said of Moses? Through faith he kept the Passover.
Through faith he kept the Passover. See, he wasn't looking to his
works. He wasn't looking to his own righteousness. He's looking
to the blood. Through faith he kept the Passover.
Through faith the children of Israel, they crossed the Red
Sea. I mean, how can you cross the
depths of the Red Sea but except by faith? Can you imagine the
faith it took to go out between the walls of that water? It took faith to go out through
there, didn't it? By faith the wall of Jericho fell down. It's
all through faith. And from Genesis all the way
through the book of Malachi, it's faith. It's faith. Nobody in the Old Testament and
nobody in the New Testament has ever been saved but by faith. Abraham believed God and it was
counted to him, imputed to him for righteousness. It's always
been those who believe God, those who believe His Word, those who
believe the record that God gave of His Son. What was it that kept this first
generation from going into the land of Canaan? Unbelief. Remember that? They
could not enter in. The cause of unbelief. But this generation you and I
have been studying about here, boy they were different. They
were different. And the difference was they believed
God. And their fathers and mothers
did not believe. And Joshua and Caleb could not persuade this
first generation to go into the land of Canaan. They brought
them fruit. They went into the land and brought
these grapes. It took two men to carry one
cluster of grapes. And they said, look here at this
land. This land is floored with milk and honey. And they said,
we can't take it. No, you can't. The only way to
take that is to believe God, isn't it? But you know something? This generation that you and
I studied about now, the second generation, well, they were different.
They didn't see the fruit. They didn't send these spies
and gather the fruit. They sent them over Jericho to
spy out The city there, Jericho, but they didn't see the fruit.
They didn't see those clusters of grapes. They didn't see baskets
of peaches. They didn't see the big Irish
potatoes. They saw nothing. But they couldn't keep them out
of that land. The thought of all they were to face, the wars,
the giants, the walls they were going to have to scale, nothing
kept them out of that land. Why? They believe God. That's it, ain't it? They believe
God. Faith will keep you out, or unbelief
will keep you out, faith will bring you in. And that's what
we learned. That's one of the principal lessons
of this book, this book of Deuteronomy. Faith. What does the land of
Canaan represent to us? If you study there, beginning
in verse 10 down through verse 15, well you can see that this
land, he tells us, this is not like Egypt. This ain't like Egypt,
where you had to plant a few herbs and irrigate it, make a
little dish with your feet to irrigate it. He said this land's
watered from heaven. It's not flat, it's not desert,
it has valleys, it has hills, it has grassy knolls. It's a
beautiful, beautiful land. flowing with milk and honey,
wells already dug, houses built, vineyards planted. This is a
beautiful, good land that I'm giving to you, that they were
coming into. What does this land of Canaan
represent to us? I want us to look at that just
for a few minutes. I think it represents maybe a few things
to us, but let me give you one or two things that it could represent
to us, since it talks about being a land that God supplies. They
didn't have to irrigate this land. God took care of it and
blessed it and gave them the grass, the water, the cattle
and food to eat. What could this represent? Well,
think about this with me for just a minute. Couldn't this
very easily represent to us the Kingdom of God? the kingdom of
the Lord Jesus Christ, the kingdom of heaven. Couldn't it represent
that? In the Old Testament, just like
the land of Canaan, the kingdom of God was promised to the saints
in the New Testament. Throughout the Old Testament
we read, especially in the book of Daniel, that a time was coming
in which God was going to set up a kingdom and He was going
to give it to people. Just like He promised all through
the book of Genesis and Exodus, He is going to bring a people
into the land of Canaan. Listen to Daniel chapter 2 and
verse 44. In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven
set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom
shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces
and consume all of these kingdoms, and it shall stand Forever. And in the New Testament, this
kingdom is called the kingdom of God's dear Son. And you know
people are in it. You have to be born again to
get in it. You can't be born by your natural birth and get
in it. You have to be born again to get in it. But God, the Lord
Jesus Christ, has set up this kingdom, and it's full of people. It's full of people. And it's
called an everlasting kingdom. And listen to this. In Romans
chapter 14 verse 17, think of what a pleasant kingdom this
is. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink. It's not a natural
kingdom, is it? But it's righteousness and peace
and joy in the Holy Ghost. Boy, that sounds good, doesn't
it? That sounds like a good kingdom to me. If you love righteousness,
if you love peace, if you love the Holy Spirit.
Listen to what he said in 1 Corinthians 4.20. The kingdom of God is not
in word, but in power. Haven't some of us felt this
power in our souls? The power of God's kingdom coming
unto us in power. We've felt that haven't we? Somebody
says, the Holy Spirit hasn't been felt since Pentecost. I
beg your pardon. I beg your pardon. He has. He
has. Probably should say, as far as
you know, He hasn't been felt. I tell you, a man's spirit, a
man's soul can feel the power of this kingdom. Can he not?
The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God. And about this kingdom, and I
love this about it, the Lord Jesus Christ is reigning over
it. That's why it can't fail or fall.
That's why it will increase until its fullness. The Scripture says
this, He must reign until He has brought all His enemies under
His feet and then come at the end when He shall have delivered
up the kingdom to God, even His Father. He's reigning. He's not
going to reign. He's reigning now. And He's reigning
in this kingdom. And that's why it's an everlasting
kingdom. That's why Daniel said it can
never be destroyed. He says it's going to crush all
other kingdoms. And the book of Revelation says
the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord
and of His Christ. And He shall reign forever and
forever. And listen to Hebrews chapter
12 and verse 28. This shows us how firm this kingdom is. We
receive in a kingdom which cannot be moved. Cannot be moved. Why? Because of the king that's
over this is. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of the King. Cannot. Cannot be moved. The Lord said
the gates of hell cannot prevail against the kingdom. That's the
difference between Canaan and this kingdom. They lost Canaan.
They lost Canaan. Won't lose this king. We won't
lose this kingdom. This is a kingdom of grace and
it's secure and it's established. This kingdom, listen now, contains
everything that is satisfying to our soul and our spirit. Everything that can be desired
to satisfy is found in this kingdom. Rest for the weary soul, forgiveness
for all our sins, grace for the guilty, Light for those who sit
in darkness, peace for the restful mind, access to communion with
the Father and with His Son, a life that cannot die, strength
for our weakness, hope for our hopelessness, exceeding great
and gracious promises, and a host of other things that I can never
tell out or explain. In this kingdom, like the land
of Canaan, is everything that could be desired to make us comfortable
and happy and holy. I imagine every physical thing
that you found in the land of Canaan probably represented something
concerning the kingdom of heaven and what a joy it is to be in
this kingdom. Secondly, it probably represents heaven, that heavenly
inheritance. The difference probably in it
is they went into the land of Canaan and there they fought.
Man, they fought. They had to fight to keep that
place. In heaven, there will be rest. There will be rest. What a rest that will be. You
know, the Bible says when they came into the land of Canaan,
they rested. Hebrews chapter 3, chapter 4, that's a place
of rest. And therefore, it represents
to us our eternal rest. Blessed are the dead that die
in the Lord, that they may rest from their labors. We've got
some sick folks that we and I know that's got old and that lay almost
paralyzed. And this is our prayer for them.
Lord, take them up to heaven with you. Let them rest. Let
them rest from their labors. It's a place of rest. Blessed
are the dead that die in the Lord, that they may rest. Here
now in Deuteronomy chapter 11. And look here in verse 12. He
says two things here about this land I thought was very appealing.
In verse 12 he said, It is a land which the Lord thy God careth
for. He cares for it. I don't know. I really don't
know how much the Lord cares for that little strip of land
that we call Palestine over there. that Israel finally moved back
and occupied. I really don't know very much
about that. Maybe you do, but I don't know very much about
it. But I know this much. I know the Lord has a church
that He's bought with His own blood. And I know this much.
He cares for them. That's His land. Casting all
your care upon Him, for He cares for you. He cares for us. And in Isaiah chapter 27 verse
3, listen to this. He calls this church His vineyard. And He says, I the Lord do keep
it. And I water it every moment lest
any should hurt it. I keep it night and day. Why does He do that? He cares
for it. He cares for it. Isn't it a marvelous
thing? to think that the God of heaven,
the eternal God, that needs nothing, Shannon. He absolutely needs
nothing. He said, if I need anything,
I wouldn't ask you. And this God could condescend
and care for people like us. But that's what He says. He careth
for you. And something else, a statement
He made here in that verse, His eyes are always He never takes His eye. This
was a land that He never took His eye off of. And you know
something? His church that's in His kingdom,
He never takes His eye off of. Here's what He says. The eyes
of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open to their
cry. The eyes of the Lord is upon
them that fear Him, and upon them that hope in His mercy. He watches you. He sees you. No matter what circumstances
you are or where you find yourself, at late night or in the noonday
light, His eyes are upon His people. Each one of them. That's
why Job said, He knows the way that I take. He knows it. How does He know it? He's watching
me. And when He's tried me, He'll bring me forth as gold. He'll
supply your needs according to His riches in glory. And He knows
your needs because He's watching you. That's one of the most comforting
things that used to scare me to death when I was lost. Because
here I was in sin and the thought would often come to me, He's
watching. And that would scare me to death. But now it's one
of the most comforting things I can ever hear. He sees you. He sees you. He's watching you.
His eyes are over you. Now let's look quickly at verses
16 and verse 17. Here Moses is going to give them
some instructions in the light of all this. They're going into
this good land, this blessed land, the most rich land probably
anywhere in the world at this time. I would say it was. It
was a rich land, but the fact that the Lord cared for it and
His eyes was upon it, that made this land very appealing. But
in spite of all of that, he has to give them this warning, this
instruction, verse 16 and 17. Take heed to yourself, that your
heart be not deceived. And you turn aside and serve
other gods and worship them, and then the Lord's wrath be
kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens, that there be
no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit, unless you perish
quickly from the good land. which the Lord giveth you." Well,
I'll tell you, when you consider what we've been looking after
in this land, why would they turn from the Lord? Why would
they turn from serving Him and worshiping Him and risk losing
this good land? They could enjoy this land as
long as they enjoyed the One who gave it to them. But if they
turn from the Giver, and tried to enjoy the land without Him,
they'd lose everything. That's what He's telling us. But verse 16 here gives us the
answer why this warning was even needed. Why did they even need
to instruct? Surely, after the Lord had given
them this land, surely they wouldn't turn and suffer the gods. After
this? And risk losing the land? Well,
He warns them, doesn't He? And here's what He warns them
of. It's just this one word, deception. Deception. Take heed to yourself that your
heart be not deceived. Were they deceived? Well, finally
they were, didn't they? Finally they were. They finally
lost the land altogether. And you know why they lost the
land? They lost God. They lost the knowledge of God and scattered all over the world.
This returned in 1948 as a nation. And I think Paul the Apostle
sums it up very well when he was writing to Titus and says,
Titus, remember this. You and I were also sometimes
foolish. Deceived. If somebody asked me one of the
chief characteristics of men, a man, I'd tell anybody this. Deception. Deception. Let me give you five quick things,
and I want you to turn to these, and I've saved just a little
bit of time, but we'll have to hurry. You want to turn to these things,
wouldn't you? I want to give you five quick things really quickly
about deception. You can go ahead and leave Deuteronomy
if you want to, but I want you to look in Isaiah chapter 44.
Five things regarding deception. And I picked out these five things
because you'll notice as we look at them, these five things took
people from the Lord, from seeking Him, from knowing Him. In Isaiah
chapter 44, and look in verse 19. This is speaking here of idolatry.
These fellows worshipping trees, cutting down a tree and worshipping
it. And look how the Lord says in
Isaiah 44 verse 19. He says, None considereth in
his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have
burnt part of it in the fire, Yea, I also have baked bread
upon the coals thereof. I have roasted flesh, and eaten
it. And shall I make the residue
thereof an abomination, an idol? Shall I fall down to the stalk
of a tree? That's stupid, ain't it? Idols are stupid things. Cut
down a tree, and you build a fire, and you cook your dinner with
it, and the rest of it you make a dumb idol and fall down and
worship it. That's crazy, isn't it? Why would a man do that? Verse 20, "...he feedeth on ashes,
a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver
his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?" What
is it that would deceive a man? His own heart. I bet if I asked some of you
to quote Jeremiah 17, chapter 17, verse 9, you could do it.
Hearts deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can
know it? I remember in Pilgrim's Progress
when Hopeful and Christian was talking with whole ignorance.
And they quoted that verse to him. Have you ever read Pilgrim's
Progress? They were talking about the wickedness of the natural
heart. And they quoted that verse to him. The heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked. And he said, you'll never
convince me that my heart is this bad. And Hopeful said, what
makes you think so? That your heart's not this bad.
He said, my heart tells me it's not this bad. Ain't that amazing? My heart tells me. And somebody
said, am I a good neighbor? He says, ask me. I'll tell you.
Ask my neighbor. Ask my neighbor. But the heart
can deceive us. Our own heart. Isn't that awful
that there's something within us that's a vital part of us
that can deceive us and make our eternal doom certain? So
deceive us that we cannot be saved. We cannot follow the Lord.
A deceived heart has turned Him aside, so He cannot. He cannot. That's the first thing. Now,
you can mark these, and you can think about them later as you
go back and read about them. I don't have time to elaborate on them.
I've got four more to go. And look over in Hebrews chapter
3. Look at this one. So you see the heart turned Him
aside, didn't it? Turned Him aside. Turned Him
out of the way. Here in Hebrews chapter 3, something else that
is deceitful. Look here in Hebrews chapter
3 and look in verse 12. Take heed, brethren. Take heed. That is the very words
that Moses used to Israel, wasn't it? Take heed. Take heed that
you not be turned out of the way Leave the Lord and begin
to worship other gods. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you in that evil heart of unbelief in departing
from the living God, but exhort one another daily while it is
called today, lest any of you be hardened, how? Through the
deceitfulness of sin." Sin is a very deceitful thing. You know,
if we didn't have a Bible, I bet you our experience would tell
us how deceitful sin is. How many of you have committed
a sin and didn't even know you committed it? Do you know David did that?
Do you know sin deceived King David for a year? He even murdered. He committed adultery. You say,
surely he knew that. Well, I'll tell you this much,
it didn't seem to bother him. Until this prophet came and said,
You're the man. And then suddenly, there it was.
Oh, I've sinned against God. Sin's a deceitful thing. How many of us did something
that we knew was wrong? We knew it was wrong. We did
it anyway. Our conscience bothered us. We overrode our conscience
and did something anyway. The next time, it was just a
little bit easier, wasn't it? The next time, just a little
bit easier. What is that? Hardening. Sin hardens. And by hardening,
it deceives. It gets where it doesn't bother
you anymore. That's what's happened to our generation right here
in our own country right now. There are people that are doing
things today, and they can do them as easily as they breathe,
that ten years ago, they would have been horrified to think
about doing. That's what sin is. It's deceitful. It's deceitful. Look at Matthew chapter 13, something
else. Matthew chapter 13, this is the
parable of the sower, went out to sow the word, preaching the
gospel. And the Lord Jesus gives us response,
how men respond to the preaching of the gospel. And here in Matthew
chapter 13, verse 22, He gives us the response of those that
he says were sown among thorns. There was seed sown in a thorny
heart. And look here what happened to
it. He also that received seed among the thorns, is he that
heareth the word, and the care of this life, and the deceitfulness
of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. The deceitfulness of riches. Now you say, Bruce, none of us
here have to worry about that. You know we're so rich compared
to other nations. You and I probably live like
kings compared to other nations. We're rich. This is something
you and I need to take heed to because what we have can hinder
us from serving the Lord. It can really hinder us. Charles
Spurgeon has said, Charles Spurgeon made the statement one time,
He said, I've never seen anybody leave Christ because of poverty. But he said, I've seen many leave
Him because of prosperity. And these Jews, these Israelites,
when they came into the land of Canaan, they had to especially
be careful with this. Because three times a year, all
the males had to gather up to Jerusalem. And can you imagine
them out working in their fields? And man, it's been a good year.
The Lord has given them rain from heaven. And they're getting
in all the crops. And they say, it's time to go
up to worship. I just can't make it this year. Not this feast. See the temptation? What is it
that keeps us from private worship? What is it that keeps us from
public worship? Is it something we have? Something we own? Something
we want? It can do it, can't it? I bought
some land. I can't go. I bought five yokes
of oxen. I've got to go try them. Have
me excused. The deceitfulness of riches. Let me quote this one to you
because most of you probably know this. In James 1.26, listen
to this. If any man among you seem to
be religious and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his
own heart, his religion is vain." The tongue. We read that the
heart can deceive itself, but now the tongue can deceive its
heart. Ain't that amazing? We've heard that old adage, if
you tell yourself something long enough, you'll start believing
it. That's true, ain't it? There's a lot of people who think
they're just the finest fellow that you'd ever meet. And they
think that because they kept telling herself that. I know
a young lady that's not fit to be a mom, and yet she thinks
she ought to be mother of the year, because that's all she
tells herself. Tell herself something long enough,
and we'll start to believe. Don't know how many times we've
seen that. We see it all the time, don't we? Look in Proverbs
chapter 20 for the fifth thing. Proverbs chapter 20. Look in verse 1. Wine is a mocker, and strong
drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Wine and strong drink deceives. It deceives. I am for teaching the Bible. I'm for opening the Bible up
and whatever it tells us that we have the liberty to do, I'm
not going to condemn anybody for doing it. And for my study of the Scriptures,
the Apostle Paul told Timothy to use a little wine for his
stomach's sake. So if you drink some wine for
your stomach's sake or you drink some wine for your health, I'm
not going to judge you for that. My dad helped him get off some
medicine. He drank a little glass every
night before he went to bed. He said for him, that was much
better than taking nerve medication. So Paul said, use a little wine.
But Paul said this to them. Be not drunk with wine, for in
it is excess. That's the problem, isn't it?
That's the problem. It's excess. We're such people
we always want to abuse the things that could be good in and of
themselves. Excess. Excess. And a man or a woman that will
sit and drink until they get drunk, they're deceiving. They're deceiving themselves.
And they'll be locked to the boot. We was in Cincinnati one
day and walking down one of the streets a whole line of men sitting
there against the wall. All of them looked awful. All
straggly old beards and their clothes were worn out. They smelled
awful. Wanting a couple of bucks to
buy an old bottle of cheap wine. And I wonder how many of those
men sometime in their life probably had a good family. Probably were
some men of character had a good job and respectable in their
community. And look at them now. Living
in shame. And what brought them there?
Strong drinks. Wine had deceived them. And now
it mocked them. It mocked them. Now one more thing. I can't stop
with this. One more thing. Look back in our text. I told
you not to hold it. But look back in our text because
I want to finish with this. In verse 18. In verse 18, here's the course of action that
you and I must take if we're to be kept from deception. If
you don't want your heart to deceive you, then for God's sake,
don't trust your heart. Don't trust your heart. Don't
let it tell you and promise you these things. It will promise
you all kinds of things. But I assure you this, it won't
keep its promises. It won't keep its promises. He'll promise you
all kinds of pleasure, but in the end, He'll bring you into
eternal misery. Don't trust your heart. We've
got one thing that's infallible to trust, and He tells us that
in verse 18. Therefore shall you lay up these
My words in your heart and in your soul. There's the way to
keep from being deceived. When we judge ourselves and judge
everything according to the Word of God, then we won't be deceived. If we judge by our opinion or
by our feelings, we'll deceive ourselves. Here's a good example. Let me
go right back to it right quickly. If I asked you what kind of heart
you have, how are you going to judge yourself? Are you going
to be like old ignorant? I ain't that bad. My heart's
not desperately wicked. It's not insurably wicked. My
heart's just not that bad. Are you going to cast that judgment
upon yourself and deceive yourself? Or are you going to say, I'm
going to take the Word of God? We take God's Word, don't we?
And He says here to lay it up in your heart. Lay it up in your
heart. The Bible is not going to do
any of us any good if we go home and lay it on our shelf or our
kitchen table. It won't do us any good. The place you lay it
up is in your heart. Let the words of Christ dwell
in you richly in all wisdom. That's what will make you wise.
Have you ever been You're just almost, boy, you're just ready
to err. And the Word came to you and corrected you. You've been there. Every one
of you that's here tonight knows, Lord, you've been there. The
Word corrected you. It sent light. It turned you
from your course. It brought you back. It converted
you. That's why we need this Bible.
That's why we need God's Word. And that's why the devil is attacking
it on every hand with all these corrupt versions. Take your Bible, brothers and
sisters, you young people, take your Bibles, open it up and read
your Bibles. And ask the Lord to open your
hearts, to teach you, and don't let you deceive yourself and
don't let these other things deceive you. May God bless you.