Be Not Deceived - Nathan Yoder

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. So

good to again be in the House of the Lord.

It's good to see you here. I'm just going to

give a word of encouragement. There's some choice seats close

to the front that are not being used, and I

know their choice because I sit on them, and i'd encourage.

I don't mind. I'm glad for the sound system that

carries the sound a quarter mile to the back. But

if you it'd be well to sit up front, I

can tell you. I don't know if I should tell

you this little story or not. Maybe I will. I

was soon after I was ordained. I think it was

the first minister's meeting I was at. I was just

kind of snuck into the back. And when you're at

a beach a minister's meeting, you're one of about five

hundred people. And I was not comfortable at all. And

here an old bishop brother, the one that actually baptized

me many years ago, when I was just a child.

I saw him, and so I crept over to him

and I said, can I sit with you? And he said, sure,

follow me, and no, I told him you go first.

I didn't know how this game was played, and I

figured he'd come in and sit on the third bench

back there. Well, he kept right on coming. This is

a large facility. He came up and parked right where

brother Joel is, right on the front bench. And I

was there sitting beside him, and he punched me with

his elbow, and he said, if you want to get

something out of the service, he said, you got to

get close enough to the front to see the white

of the speaker's eye. And so I don't know if

you're close enough to do that or not. I'm glad.

I'm glad, as was mentioned tonight, got his omni present.

He can be with us wherever we are. Turned to

Isaiah chapter sixty two, and I don't know what you're

thinking of these verses. I'm looking forward to Sunday morning

to unpacking these verses more. But I want you to

continue thinking about them and meditating on these two verses

Isaiah sixty two, Verse three and four. I don't know

if they're in your memory yet or not. I understand

they're not like John three sixteen, but they are good

for us to meditate on. Again. Let's read together begin

Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the

hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the

hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken,

neither shall thy Land anymore be termed desolate. But thou

shalt be called Hefzebah, and thy Land Beulah. For the

Lord delighteth in thee, and thy Land shall be married. Appreciated,

the devotional appreciated the songs. They are an opening, They

are a good thought starter for us. For the message

tonight builds on the last two messages. I had ideas

of what to think about, and somehow the Lord wouldn't

give me peace without going here. I invite you to

turn to Galatians chapter six, and Galatians chapter six has

a number of very interesting, well known principles in there.

But there's also a warning thought that is heavy on

my heart tonight. The purpose of revival meetings, one of

them is that we prepare our hearts to live in

such a way that when at last and great and

final day dawns for us in whatever format that is,

whether our Good God comes back for us all together

or whether individually we go to meet him, either way,

that we are ready to go, and that we hear

those words, well done, good and faithful servants, enter in

to the joy of thy Lord. That's the challenge that

is ever before us. And we recognize tonight that we

have an enemy. We also recognize that there are many

that are not in that condition, and that stirs my

heart to the message before us tonight. Like to read

from Galatians chapter six, beginning in verse one, and read

the first part of this chapter. Follow along Galatians six,

verse one. If a man be overtaken in a fault,

ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the

spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted,

bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law

of Christ. For if a man think himself to be

something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let

every man prove his own work, and then he shall

have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For

every man shall bear his own burden. Let him that

is taught in the Word communicate unto him that teacheth

in all things be not deceived. God is not mocked.

For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

For he that soweth to his flesh shall love his

flesh reap corruption. But he that soweth to the Spirit

shall love the Spirit, reap life everlasting. And let us

not be weary in well doing, for in due season

we shall reap if we faint not, I think we'll

stop reading. There Twice in this portion there's an idea

given to us to think about. The first time is

in verse three, where he says that depending on our

thought processes, we deceive ourselves. And I wonder tonight if

there's any possibility that someone here is in that category

that would be deceived. And then there is an imperative

given to us in verse seven, where he says, be

not deceived. Now, why would he tell us to not

be deceived if that was not an apt possibility. Well,

the truth of the matter is it is, and there

are multitudes today that are deceived that, yes, that fit

that category, be not deceived. We'll come back and do

more of an exposition of that verse later on, but

for now turn with me to Jeremiah seventeen, and here

the same problem is addressed from a different, a little

different perspective. And by the way, thou those three words

the first three words of verse seven is the title

of the message, be not deceived. In Jeremiah chapter seventeen.

If I can find that scripture, like to read several

verses here as well. Beginning to read in verse five,

he says in Jeremiah seventeen and verse five, Thus saith

the Lord cursed be the man that trusteth in man

and maketh flesh his arm, whose heart departeth from the Lord.

For he shall be like the heath, or like a

barren bush in the desert, and shall not see when

good cometh, but shall inhabit the parch places in the wilderness,

in assault land, and not inhabited. Blessed is the man

that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters,

and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, shall

not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green,

and shall not be careful in the year of drought,

neither shall cease from yielding fruit. The heart is deceitful

above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it?

I the Lord search the heart. I try the reins,

even to give to every man according to his ways

and according to the fruit of his doings. The key

thought or the central thought from this portion is in

verse nine, where he addresses your and my heart and

he uses some very strong words. He says there that

the heart is deceitful. I don't know what that means

to you. I think the idea here is that the

heart is deceivable. In the original, it has the idea

of a swelling or something that would cause someone to stumble.

And you know what it's like when you are walking

and you think the driveway is flat and you come

to a place where there is a tree route underneath

or whatever, and there's a bump there and you stumble

on that, or there's something laying there that you weren't

prepared for. And that's the way it is here. You

thought it was flat and it wasn't flat. And that's

the idea here behind deceit where the heart is deceitful.

It says above all things, and then it says desperately wicked.

And I certainly don't want to diminish from scripture, but

I'm not going to call your heart desperately wicked tonight.

The there's a how should I say we need to

be very careful when we look at what the scripture

says and then say, but that's not what it means.

And I'm not heading down that track at all. But

the root here has the idea of feeble, or of

sick or frail. It is it's not as strong as

we think it is. Is the idea that is here

where it says that it is desperately wicked. If we

think of it in a in the in the light

of it's easy for it to be deceived. Then he says,

who can know it? And I think he's pointing to

each one of us as we think of that, who

can know our own heart? And the when you begin

to think down that track of the possibility of my

heart being deceived, well, it's out of the abundance of

my heart that I speak, it's out of the abundance

of my heart that I act. And so if my

heart is deceived, then the words that come out and

the actions that come out are obviously off track. They

are they are not correct, they're they're not the way

it should be. And the problem with this whole thing

is that if it's in my heart, I think it's okay.

I think it's right, even if it's wrong. That's the

whole problem of deceit, and that is hugely complicated by

the issue of pride. It is complicated by the issue

that the old adage says, a man convinced against his

will is of the same opinion. Still, I hope that's

not the way yours is, but I can almost guarantee

that it is. I mean, life's like that we get

to the place for those of you that think you

know it all are very annoying to those of us

that do. And the you know you put yourself in

that category. And it's and we operate from a premise,

of course, in a sense, it's it's a logical thing

that we we operate from what we think is right.

And the tragic truth is that there are times when behold,

I thought I was right, but I'm wrong. And I

think that is a key factor in why we need

each other. That's why we need community. The possibility exists

that when we get together in our Sunday school class

or in our men's meeting or whatever group setting we

have as right here tonight and we are talking, the

possibility exists that I say something that's not true or

that's inaccurate, that's not slanted right, And that's why I

need you to bring that back into focus, to bring

that back on track. And the only way that can

work as if I'm willing to hold it with an

open hand, my idea with an open hand, so I

can share my thought, my opinion, what I think is truth,

what I think is right, and if it is shown

to be otherwise, then God grant us humility to back

off and accept that rather than to stand in our

own place and insists that my way is best or

the only way. I think. That's what he's talking about

here when he talks about the heart factor of deception?

What does it mean to be deceived? What is deception?

There's a number of other ways and words that are

used to where this same word is translated. Turned with

me to Matthew chapter eighteen, and we'll look at just

a few ideas there. In Matthew eighteen he uses this

same word, but it's translated in a different way. Verse

twelve of Matthew eighteen he's talking about the parable of

the lost sheep, and in verse twelve he says, what

think ye if a man have a hundred sheep and

one of them be gone astray? Doth he not leave

the ninety and nine and goeth into the mountains and

seeketh that which has gone astray? And the word there

that's deceived is astray. Now think of it in that way,

when he says that one of them has been deceived.

That sheep thought he was okay, but he's not okay.

He thought he was going to be right where he

thought he was going, in the way he wanted to go,

maybe we should say, should go, but he ended up

somewhere where he didn't want to be, and he was deceived.

And so here it's called a stray. And the shepherd,

of course goes after the one that is astray, and

later on he brings back what is it in verse thirteen,

if so be that he find it, Verily, I say

unto you, he rejoiceth more of the sheep that was

of that sheep than of the ninety and nine which

weren't deceived, which went not astray. And another place where

this is used in this way. It's used several times

in scripture. There were a group of people that came

to Jesus and they had a problem, or they presented

Jesus with a problem. That they knew would trip him

up in his speech. And it was the issue of

the man who had a wife and he died, and

she married his brother and he died. And I know

there's somebody here perhaps or at least in the congregation

that has done that several times, not like this man.

He did it seven times. He had seven wives. Then

they put this question to Jesus and they said, now

in the resurrection, whose is she going to be? Which

one of the seven? And Jesus used these three words.

He said, ye do air. There it is that phrase,

you are deceived. You thought you were right, but you're not.

You are deceived. Ye do air, And then he says

the answer or he gives a clue as to how

they could have prevented that, Ye do air. Not knowing

the scriptures nor the power of God. And in knowing

the scriptures and the power of God is a that's

a basic or a blanket statement for a deturnt. And

if the Lord will, hopefully at the conclusion of the message,

I want to give some specific pointers as to preventing deception. Now,

as we think of deception, I'm going to I'd like

to look at just a few examples of deception. And

then we want to look number two at the four

times in the New test where those three words are

forcefully given as an imperative be not deceived. There's four

times that those words are given in that way. Number

three we want to look at some causes of deception,

and number four I want to look at the answer

to or the biblical alternative. Just a few examples to

get our mind thinking of deception. The first one I'm

thinking of is from Genesis twenty seven, the example of

Jacob and Rebecca and Isaac, or Jacob or Isaac and

Rebecca and Isaac was getting old and he wanted to

give a blessing to his oldest son, Esau. And he

called Esau and he told him, go out and hunt

some venison, make some savory meat, bring it in. I'm

going to bless you. And unknown to him this man

was blind, but unknown to him, his wife was listening

in the background, and she heard him tell Esaw that,

and in her mind she comes up with a plan.

It's a terrible thing for a wife to plot against

her husband or the other way around, but that's what

Rebecca did. And she told Jacob, go get me a

goat or two, a couple of kids, and I'm gonna

make savory meat, and I want you to take it

into Isaac and get the blessing. Jacob said, I can't

do that. I'm not Esaw. He'll hear my voice that

I'm not Esaw. He will, perchance he will draw me

close and he'll feel my skin. Jacob, I assume had

skin somewhat like you and I do, and Esau obviously didn't.

In fact, the implications are almost humorous, but he ended up.

Jacob used goat skin covering to deceive his father that

it was Esau instead of him. But that's beside the point.

So he does that. He goes and gets kids, brings

them in, and Rebecca prepares them. He takes them in,

and with one lie after the other after the other,

he convinces his dear father that he is Esau, and

Esau blesses him. Esau. Isaac was deceived. He thought he

was blessing Esau and he wasn't blessing Jacob, and he

simply wasn't aware of that. It was wicked conniving and

scheming that brought him to that point. And of course

there's much more to the story. I'm not going to

take time for that now. Another example of deception the Gibbeonites.

They came to Joshua. Joshua had just crossed Jordan, they

had just invaded and had a tremendous victory there. Jericho

marched around the city. The walls had collapsed, and the

news of that spring out over the country of Israel,

the Canaan land there, and the Gibbe knights heard it,

and they said, what are we going to do? This

is not going to be long, and this marching army

is going to be in our backyard. And they came

up with a plan. They said, let's try this, and

it worked. And their plan was they took bread out

of the oven. They said, it wasn't that way at all.

But they came to Joshua and they had clothes that

were torn and sandals that were worn out. They had

moldy bread, They had wine skins that were torn. And Joshua,

of course met them. Where are you from, oh where?

From a far country far away? This bread we took

hot out of the oven. These shoes we just got

out of Walmart when we left. These wine skins were

brand new. I mean, I don't know how you wear

out shoes riding donkeys. But anyway, there should have been

just a few things that stood out that didn't. But

the short story is he kept on. Their story was convincing,

and Joshua said, well, where are you from? Perchance you're

from your neighbors. No, we're not neighbors, we're from a

far country. And they continued their speech until Joshua was

convinced he was deceived. Behold, he thought they were from

far away, and they were their neighbors. Again, deception the

brunt of wicked conniving, and Joshua was deceived. It was

only a few days later they discovered that indeed the

Gibbeonites were next door. And again there's much more to

that story. One more example from scripture. Eve had all

that heart could wish. She was in a garden of

beauty and of complete serenity. She had a husband there,

they were enjoying life in the garden. We don't know

how much time that had elapse between Genesis two and

Genesis three. It simply tells us in Genesis three that

the serpent was more subtle, He was tricky, He was

a conniver. And I studied that word out today, and

I'm still not sure. Was the serpent the way a

snake is today? Was it indeed a snake? And as

near as I can tell, it is. It's the word

that's translated serpent and snake and other places in scripture.

But there this snake had an unusual ability. It could talk,

and it did, and it caught Eve's attention. And again

Eve saw that fruit there on the tree, and Satan,

through the voice using the serpent there, told her that

it's this, This fruit is good. If you partake thereof,

you'll be like God's you'll know good and evil. You'll

be much smarter than you are. Your eyes will be open,

and you'll see things in ways that you never thought possible.

And I don't know what all he used there to

describe that, And Eve was like, wow, really, yes, come on,

you won't believe how much this will benefit you, and

so on, and they continue that conversation, and finally Eve

is convinced that what God had said was not the

whole truth. Somehow God was holding something back, and she

partook of that fruit, and Timothy tells us that Eve

was deceived. Adam also partook. If I understand the implications

there he partook, knowing that he was disobeying, joined his

wife in that transgression, and again, what was an awful

result resulted from that deception. She thought that what she

was doing was bringing her good and would give her

a benefit, and instead it was a tragic undermining of

the happiness that they were enjoying there in the garden.

Deception just several examples. One happened to me. I was

teaching at Calvary Bible School for several years, and as

I did that, I learned a few things about young people.

But this particular year and those days I would go

and my wife would stay home, and we were apart

one from another for three weeks, and it was that's

a long time to be gone from your wife and family.

And the way Bible School there works is toward the

end of the three weeks, the last Thursday is test day,

and after the tests are in and you have them,

you need to score them and get the test scores

to the office yet Thursday night because they have to

make out the report cards. And Friday morning in chapel

the report cards are handed out and then there's a

just a brief set of classes where you get to

just kind of tell your students goodbye and wrap things up.

And then there is lunch, and after lunch there's some

very interesting things that happen. The students are responsible to

clean their dorms. Now there's four students in a dorm,

and how long does it take four ambitious young people

to clean one room. Well, you'd be amazed. It takes sometimes.

It takes those four young people all afternoon. It takes

them till supper time to get that room back to Specs,

when it should just take ten or fifteen minutes. And

of course then they have to tell all their friends goodbye,

and this takes a long time. Well, it just so

happened that this year I had driven a Maxi van

down and it was full of young people I picked

up from our community and various other communities down through Tennessee,

and I had a load, and I told them. I

gave them plenty of warning the day before even that,

I said, after lunch, I'm going to give you a

half hour to clean your dorm. And then I said

the van is going to leave at one thirty. The

van is going to leave Calvary Bible School, and you

have the opportunity to either be in the van or

hitchhike or find another way, and this is the way.

Because I really didn't want to wait till four or

five o'clock to leave, we drive. It's a I don't know,

fifteen hour drive. I had hopes of getting home in

time to both surprise my wife and be there a

little early in the morning. The time came to leave,

and the students knew that I was serious, and believe

it or not, by one thirty that vanload of youth

went down the drive and out the bumpy road and

the way the geography lays there, there's a cross country

trail that's quite It takes about an hour until you

get out to Highway four twelve, and Highway four to

twelve is in East West Corridor. It's a two lane road,

but it's an east west road that I don't know

where the east end is or the west end is.

One time I always had meetings out in Arkansas and

had bad dreams because I came on this highway for twelve,

but the other end ends at Highway forty in Jackson, Tennessee.

And from Highway forty we have four lane right up

to our backyard practically, and so I drove to make

better headways on this windy, narrow road through the backwoods

of Arkansas until we get out to Highway four twelve.

And I was seriously sleep deprived from the night before,

and our sun was along and I pulled out onto

four to twelve and it's kind of a crazy intersection there,

but I headed that van west instead of east, and

in ignorance and by mistake, and I parked by the

shoulder of the road, and I asked my son to drive,

and I went to the back to sleep on the

back seat, and I said, don't wake me, don't disturb me.

I said, when you get to Jackson, Tennessee, you can

wake me up and just drive till you get there.

And well, he took me seriously, and he got behind

the wheel, and as a vanload of youth do after

Bible School, they had a party. They talked and they sang,

and they recorded, they recounted memories and whatnot. And it

didn't bother me a bit. I was out of it.

And he drove for a long time, and all of

a sudden, my phone buzzed in my pocket and I

woke up and yes, and it was Luke. He was

driving and he said dead. He said there's something that

didn't seem quite right. I said, what's wrong, Van giving

you trouble? No, but he said the signs along the road.

Every now and then he sees a sign and it

says four to twelve west. And I sat bolt up

right on that back seat. I said, it says what

And he said, he thinks we're going west. Well I

reviewed the situation, and indeed we were. We weren't anywhere

close to Jackson, Tennessee. We were almost on the We

weren't quite on the west side of Arkansas, but way

too close. And I said, well, there's got to be

a quicker way to go home than to reverse this situation.

I grabbed a map long before cell phones and GPS,

and I studied that map, and there really was nothing

to do but make a U turn and head east

on four to twelve until we got back to where

we started from, and then from there on to Jackson, Tennessee.

I tell that story to simply point out something. I

thought we were going the right way. We weren't. We

were going exactly opposite. And not only was I deceived,

but I had taken a whole load of youth that

wanted to go to Virginia and we were heading west

across Arkansas. Could it be that? Behold, I thought I

was going right, but I'm going wrong and I'm taking

a load of people with me. It can happen. I

you know what was the cause of that, Well, carelessness,

a mistake. I mean, there's a couple of things. I

suppose I could write it off too. I was tired,

but I made the judgment in haste. I wasn't careful.

The short story is I was deceived. I thought I

was going right and I was going wrong until someone

cared and dared to speak into my life and challenge

me in the direction that I was going. Are you

sure we're going right? And then when I woke up,

more than just fify to the air of my way. Indeed,

it took a u turn to go the yell away.

Now turn with me to Matthew chapter seven, and here

is really a kernel of the message tonight. You know,

I made that mistake. Joshua made a mistake. Isaac made

a mistake. And those were heavy and they mattered, but

they were fixable. Now Eve's mistake, of course, I guess

it is fixable too, But it was much more load bearing.

But here is one that is it stops us in

our tracks. In Matthew chapter one, chapter seven, and verse

twenty two, Jesus mentions a group of people that should

stop us in our tracks. Verse twenty two of Matthew seven,

he says, many will say to me in that day,

Lord Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And

in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy

name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess

unto them? I never knew you depart from me? Ye,

that work iniquity? Can you imagine being in that group

of people? There is nothing more tragic than that that

I can think of, nothing more tragic. It is a

deception with eternal consequences. It is a deception that is

a life and death matter. These people thought they were

going right, They thought they were following the Lord. They

thought that everything was going to be okay. When they

stand before their maker and it was not okay. They

were turned away. How could a mistake like that be made?

Who were these people? Maybe it would help us if

we would consider who they were not. Now thinking of

who they were not, There are people that the Bible

tells us that in that great and last and final

day when our Lord returns. And I'm not big into

prophecy or eschatology, and I don't know what your persuasion

is of when our good God is coming back, But

to me, it's a pretty simple matter. One of these days,

our Lord Jesus is coming back, and he's coming back

to receive his bride to himself. And exactly how those

details unveil and transpire is to me almost beside the point.

But the Bible tells us in Luke twenty three that

there are people who are going to save fall on us.

They're going to cry out to the rocks and mountains.

They're going to head for the caves and dens of

the earth and hope that the earth crushes down upon

them and smashes them. They don't want to stand before God.

They are afraid to stand before God, and they ask

for the rocks and mountains to cover them, and they

are going to hide in the dens in the caves

of the earth. Revelation talks about this in a number

of places where he says that the kings of the earth,

and the great men and the rich men, and the

chief captains and mighty men are going to They hid

themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains,

and said to the mountains and rocks fall on us,

and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth

on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

And so here we have two groups of people. The

one group stood with open face before the Lord and said, Lord,

what's wrong? Didn't we do the right thing we thought

we were And over here we have a group of

people who are fleeing from the face of God, and

they're begging for the rocks and mountains to fall on

them and to smash them, and to hide them from

the wrath of the Lamb. I believe the people on

this side are those that knew they were in the wrong.

They knew they should repent. They knew they had sin

in their heart. They knew they were running away from God.

They knew that that addiction that they were hiding personally

and privately, and hiding it from the pastors and from

the parents. They knew it was there, and they knew

that they would when they stand before God, that they

will be guilty before him. And so there was a

fear that gripped their heart, and when they thought of

the return of the Lord, they begged for the rocks

and mountains to smash them and to hide them, and

to cover them, and to make so that God couldn't

see them. Well, of course we know that that is

that's a false thing. There's no way that any water

or rocks or dirt is going to hide us anyway.

But you see the difference these people on the other side, however,

it said they were. We prophesied, we went to church,

we listened to sermons, we passed out tracks, we did

what was right, we thought, And the Lord says, I

don't know you. I don't know you. It says there

will be many in that position. I can hardly comprehend that.

I think of the five foolish virgins and the five

wise virgins. That story that parable in Matthew twenty five,

where there were ten girls that were there and there

was a bridegroom coming, and they were all looking forward

to the bridegroom coming. And it says that when the

bridegroom came, they lit their lamps. They went out to

meet him, and five of them had lamps that burned brightly,

and five of them had lamps that went out because

they didn't have sufficient oil, and of course you know

the story. They tried to beg borrow and steal some oil.

Couldn't do it. Go get your oil from the places

where it's available. And they did that. They left the scene.

The bridegroom came. And when that happened, it says the

five that were ready went in with the bridegroom, and

the door was shut. And then it says the other

five came back. By that time they had made their repentance,

they thought, but they could not enter. They could not enter.

It was too late. It was too late. The door

was shut. And so though there was a there was

a basic preparation, there was even an anticipation for the

bridegroom to come. Yet there wasn't sufficient preparation. They were

not prepared for the bridegroom. How could they be deceived

in that way? We might ask, Well, let's look now

at the four times in scripture where that imperative is given.

The first one we already read, but I invite your

attention back to it. In Galatian six and verse seven.

He tells us that in Galatians six and verse seven

he simply says, be not deceived. God is not mocked.

For whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.

What's the deception that he's talking about here? What he's

talking about, we call it the law sewing and reaping,

and we understand that law, at least academically we do,

and physically, of course we do. It's garden planting season,

is it not? And we are well aware of the

fact that if we plant peas, we're not going to

harve as watermelons. It's it's just a we know that.

It's there's no one here this evening that would argue

that basic fact. We understand that that phenomenon that whatever

we sow, that's what we're going to pick. And we

base it. We we look at what we want to pick,

and then we plant accordingly. We want to plant watermelon,

we plant watermelon seed because we know the relationship between

sowing and reaping. Do we know that spiritually? There are

people who sow wild oats and they expect to reap

good and a good harvest. There are people who sow

deeds of unkindness and somehow hope that kindness will result.

At the other end, there are people who sow gossip

and somehow hope they will reap respect. There are people

who sew half heartedness in church life, and somehow hope

that when the dust settles, that they will reap sincerity

and truth. My friends, like I said, we know this

truth academically, we know it physically, but do we know

it spiritually? And do we believe it? I see parents,

and it grieves my heart who take their little children

and they doll them up, and they fix them up

with fancy things on their clothes and hair, and wehear

not And if that isn't sowing seeds of pride, I

don't know what it is. But they sow seeds of

pride and vanity and worldliness into the little children because

it's so cute. My dear friends, do we understand the

law of sowing and reaping? Could it be that some

of the pride or the worldliness that I struggle with

was sowed thereby my mother and father? Possibly? I'm certainly

not blaming them. I am an adult and need to

repent of those things. But what I'm telling you is,

don't sow those seeds in your children's hearts. There will

be a harvest the Bible tells us that and when

we sow seeds of dishonesty or untruth, or pride or rebellion,

or whatever it may be, into the heart of our children,

or let it prosper in our own heart, there will

be a harvest. The Bible tells us that be not deceived,

God isn't mocked. When we sow the seeds, there will

be a harvest of those things. Now, the positive is

also true that when we sow seeds of goodness and

truth and love and peace and joy, the seeds of

the fruit of the spirit, those too will bear fruit.

Those two will grow, those two will have a harvest.

And what a blessing it is when we can see

those fruits maturing and growing in the hearts of youth

or people that have been sown there in that way, here,

he's giving it as a warning, and I'd like for

us to consider it in that same way. For each

of these four, I've tried to come up with a

little maxim that I hope we remember. But the maxim

that I have for this one simply is that believing

that consequences do not apply to me is deception. Believing

that consequences, oh yes, no. If he does it, then

we can expect that kind of a harvest. But me,

I think I can do it and get away with it.

You're deceived, my friend, to think that we can do

these things and not reap the harvest is deception number two.

Turn with me to First Corinthians, chapter fifteen. There's another

one there, First Corinthians, chapter fifteen. This one is in

verse thirty three. It's a very simple verse. We could

read the context, but this one stands alone as well.

Verse thirty three says, be not deceived communications corrupt good manners.

Be not deceived evil communications corrupt good manners. What does

he mean by evil communications? We don't use that terminology

very apt today, but the idea simply is there. Evil

communications has the idea of being exposed to that which

is wrong, being exposed to vice, being exposed to violence

and wickedness of any kind. And the simple truth is

that when we expose our self to violence or wickedness

with any repetition, it becomes less awful to us. That's

just the way it is. We get used to it.

That which at one point would have been shocking to

us now is kind of who hum And that is

what's happening here? The evil communications are corrupting our life.

We look with less alarm on an air that we

see over and over again. You know, in yester year

it would have been that way with couples perhaps who

were divorced. We looked at that with shock. How could

they do that? Well, today divorce is kind of ho hum,

it's it's business as usual. We recognize people that have

their second and third marriage, and it can get to

the place we kind of shrug our shoulders at it.

And there's things that are more awful than that today.

You know the story of the gay, the lesbian, the LGBTQ.

They keep adding words behind it, and the foolishness of

man knows no end in those matters. And it again,

it's shocking, it's horrible, and then all of a sudden,

it's not all of a sudden. With time it becomes

less shocking. And what's happening is the evil communications or

the associations with evil simply make it less shocking, and

it can lead to a deception. It's the kind of

thing where a little leven Leven's the whole lump, no wonder,

he says in Second Corinthians, six seventeen. Wherefore, come out

from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord,

and touch not the unclean thing, because by touching the

unclean thing, we become contaminated. We become used to it,

we become it is. It's no longer the way it was.

The workplace we are in, the people we we hang

out with, and I don't know, I don't even like

that word. I never grew up. The things we hung

out was laundry and so on. Today young people say

they hang out with each other, and I'm not sure

what all is included with the hanging out. But the

simple truth of the matter is when we associate, the

people we associate with impact our life. That's what we

need to come to grips with tonight. When you work

in a workplace where there is foul language that's readily used,

you'll catch yourself at the tip of your tongue. It's

a fact. Be not deceived. Evil communications corrupt good manners.

Today we have evil communications at the click of a

button as well, don't we. There are thousands of voices

and podcasts and social media platforms and people that are

speaking all kinds of things. I don't think we can

be too careful in these things. And I don't know

what your policy is here in regulating those things or

in the way that you deal with it and work

with it. I'm simply I simply want to raise the awareness.

I have a smartphone in my pocket. I'm just as

much in the trenches with it as you are. And

to one reason I carried, I have appliance is behind

my ear that helps regulate those things. And I can

make an excuse for that, that's beside the point. I

need to also be as aware as anyone here that

evil communications will corrupt my life and have a negative

impact on my spiritual life. The maxim for this one

is Believing that I will not be influenced negatively by

negative associates is deception. Believing that I won't be affected

negatively by association with negative associations is a deception. It

will happen. The Bible tells us that it will, and

there's no getting around it. Let's look at the third one.

It's in First Corinthians, chapter six, not so very far

from where we are. First Corinthians six and verse nine

is the third one. We want to consider. What does

he tell us there? Verse nine, says, know ye not

that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God

be not deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,

nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous,

nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom

of God. And he goes on to say that some

of those problems were right here among us. And I

don't know which ones are in the church at Halsey,

But the simple truth of the matter is he has

quite a list there of things, and some of those

come pretty close home. But he says, don't be deceived.

He says, if we are involved, if those things are

a part of our life, he said, you're not going

to make it. You're not part of the Kingdom of God.

You might have your membership in a church, you might

be part of a group of people that meets every

Sunday morning and Wednesday night for services. And we're living

in a day of tolerance. We're living in a day

where it's easy for people to say, well, come on,

these are factors of humanity. I in life's like that.

Get over it. Well, yes, I understand we're living in

a day of tolerance, but that doesn't change the word

of God. That doesn't change the fact that he tells

us very plainly here that those that do such things

will not inherit the Kingdom of God. It's in black

and white. It's not my concern as much as it

is the word of God. There's a couple of things

here that I'd like to point out. The first one

is that the implication is that they were in danger

of being deceived. It points out that it is possible

for us to at one point be on the right

track and then be deceived by these things. He says

in such were some of you that that could be us.

It also has a beautiful implication that there's no necessity

of being deceived. He says that if we know these things,

we can avoid them, we can prevent it. We don't

have to be adulters and fornicators and covetous and proud

and the other things that he mentions there. No, we

don't have to do that. The maxim that I concocted

for this one is believing that unrepented of sin will

not bar me from the Kingdom of God. Is deception.

Believing that somehow I will make it in believing that

sin will not keep me out is a deception. He says,

don't be deceived. The last one, the fourth one that

I want to look at, is in Luke twenty one.

Luke twenty one, just a we'll look at this quickly.

We need to move into the next section Luke twenty

one and verse eight he addresses this issue as well.

Jesus speaking here and the sign that the scribes and

Pharisees were looking for a sign, and he said to

them in verse eight, take heed that ye be not deceived,

for many shall come in my name saying I am Christ.

And the time draweth near, go ye not therefore after them,

And he goes on to warn them in other ways.

But the thing that I want to simply point out out,

Jesus said, there are many people going to come and

say that they are Christ and we should follow them.

And they have good words and they have a fair speech.

He says, don't be deceived. Don't listen to them. Colossians too,

warns Us. He says, beware lest any man spoil you

through philosophy and vain deceit. After the tradition of men

after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ.

That because he says, for many deceivers are entered into

the world. And when he says beware lest any man

spoil you, he's not talking about this kind of situation

where if you leave a apple or a tomato lay

on the cupboard for too long, it gets mushy. No,

that's not that's a spoiling, to be sure. But this

spoiling is like when an army went in and took

over a city and they spoiled them. What does that mean.

It means they went in and took their valuable things

and carried them back home. Again. That's what they did

when they spoiled a country or a city. And that's

what the devil would like to do, is come into

our heart and take the valuable things and take them away.

We will be spoiled if that is the case. Believing

that everyone who names the name of Jesus is a

true disciple of Jesus is deception. Believing that everyone who

names the name of Jesus is a true disciple is deception.

Was going to look at causes of deception. I don't

think will take much time with this, the clock is

going faster than I am. But as I was thinking

of the things that lead us to deception, I think

probably a couple of primary things. I'll just mention them.

The first is we have an enemy, the pressure of

the deceiver, and he is called the deceiver. Satan is

a deceiver. He makes things that are right look wrong,

and things that are wrong look right. And the Bible

tells us that. And there's a number of verses that

I was going to turn to. I'll just refer to

several of them. In Revelation nineteen, it says the beast

was taken and with him the false prophet that wrought

miracles before them, with which he deceived them, and they

were both cast alive into the lake burning with fire

and brimstone. And chapter twenty, verse ten says, and the

devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire.

He is called a deceiver. Satan has an agenda to

deceive you. And that should put us on the alert.

It should give us high caution. Is this the truth?

Or am I being deceived in these ways? The second

thing that I want to point out, and this is

perhaps even more sneaky, but that is simply the factor

of pride. Pride is deceptive. Obadiah, chapter one and verse three.

The prophet said, the pride of thine heart hath deceived thee.

The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, And it

does us too. When I have pride in my heart,

it makes me unwilling to take counsel. When I have

pride in my heart, then I think my opinion is

better than yours. When I have pride in my heart,

I am unwilling to submit to the brotherhood. Pride is

a horrible thing, and when we have pride in there,

it is a cause for deception. It almost always leads

to deception. We could look at the lust of the

flesh and the lust of the eyes, the pride of life.

Personal dishonest is if we say we have no sin,

we deceive our self. Those are all causes of deception.

You can look at a concordance and find a number more.

But I want to come to an answer. What is

the answer to deception? How can we be sure that

when we stand before God, that there is no chance

that we would be in that group that says many

will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, and

the Lord didn't know them. I want you to see

this in your own Bible. I'd encourage you to underline it.

Matthew Chapter seven, Jesus gives us a beautiful answer to

this deception problem. And I'm going to try to make

this answer just as clear as I can, because we

really have nothing to fear if this is our life. Matthew,

Chapter seven and verse twenty one, he gives us a

very good answer to the whole issue of deception. He says,

not everyone that saith unto me, Lord Lord, shall enter

into the Kingdom of Heaven. But then he says, who will,

but he that doeth the will of my Father, which

is in heaven. You know that verse right there? It

is there is the answer to deception. He says that

the that not everyone that says Lord Lord will enter in,

but the one who does the will of my Father,

which is in heaven, can stand there with open face,

without fear, in humility, knowing that his name is written

in the Lamb's book of life. But he that doeth

the will of my Father, which is in heaven. This

is a consistent thought throughout scripture. I'm only going to

take time for a few verses one John two seventeen.

It says the world passeth away, and the lust thereof

But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.

He that doeth the will of God. He that takes

this word and doesn't just say, hey, that was a

good story. Not just he that says that was a

good message. It's the one who lets that word into

his heart in such a way that it changes his heart,

and it redirects his path, and his heart is humbled

before God and before his brothers. It's that man who

can have the assurance that when he stands before God,

all will be well. I have a question for you.

There's a little diagram on the board here. Is it

easier to know the will of God? Or to do

the will of God? I would be tempted to take

a raise of hands, but I'm afraid your elbows wouldn't work,

and you wouldn't vote anyway, because it sounds like a

trick questions, and I don't like preachers that do trick questions.

Is it easier to know the will of God or

to do the will of God? Well? I can almost

guarantee you that if I would ask for a raise

of hands and you would cooperate and participate. That there

would be more hands on knowing the will of God

than doing it. And the reason for that is just

are off the cuff. Is if I knew what God's

will was, I would do it. Fellows would say, if

I knew what girl I should marry, I would precious

well let her know. If I just knew what the

will of God was, I would do it. I beg

to differ, and I know there's things that are that

fall in that category. There are If I just knew

what car I should buy, if I just knew what

job I should get, I would proceed to do it right.

The simple truth of the matter is you and I

know the will of God. Our problem isn't knowing the

will of God. Our problem is doing it. Our problem

is obedience. Our problem is humbling ourself and carrying it

out when there's peer pressure against us, and when the

forces of the world are against us, and when the

devil is tempting against us. Now there's a verse in

John seven and verse seventeen that bears this out. It says,

if any man will do his will, he shall know

of the doctrine. He shall know God's will. But it

says if any man does it, he will know it.

And so on this little diagram, it's like a stair step,

and we want to make progress on the stairs. The

treads are knowing the will of God. Okay, so when

we know the will of God, if I'm sorry I started,

and then the first thing I did is made a mistake.

It doesn't say if any man knows the will of God.

What does it say? Brothers? It says if any man

will do his will, that doing is the forward motion.

So we do his will, and we're going as far

as we are doing his will, and it says if

any man will do his will, he shall know. And

as we do his will, we receive new light and

we can see further than we did. And so we

keep on doing that, and guess what God does. He

reveals more to us. And then as we know that

we do it, and as we continue to do it,

he lifts us to new heights. If any man will

do his will, he shall know, and then we do that,

and that doing and knowing continues throughout our life because

God continues to reveal himself to us, and as he does,

we must be committed to doing it. Familiar scripture in

James one that says, but be ye, doers of the word,

and not hearers, only deceiving your own self, because he

says there that if we just hear and don't do

he said, it is deception. It is a deception to

our heart. My burden tonight is that we can be

prepared to stand before God with open face, and we

can say, Lord Lord, it wasn't that what they said

was wrong. Fact, what they said was right, but their

life hadn't measured up to it. Their life was not

in accordance with their words, and they receive those horrible

words to depart. Instead of that, may we be those

that do the will of God, because he says, he

that doeth the will of God abides. He that does

the will of God will be ready to meet him.

May we do that instead of being deceived. Let's stand

for prayer, our Father, which are in heaven. We come

to you tonight in Jesus' name, and we simply ponder

with soberness the reality that one day we will stand

before you. We will stand before you face to face,

and we know that we will either be sent to

the left or to the right. We will either be

sent away or welcomed into the glories of Heaven and Father.

My prayer is that no one here tonight would be

deceived where they think they are on the right track

and are sent away. I cannot think of anything more

awful than that. And yet Lord, tonight, I'm as thankful

that we do not need to be filled with fear

or apprehension, but that in sobriety and humility, we commit

ourselves to doing your will, to following you, to unashamedly

live out the principles and precepts of your word. And

I'm so thankful tonight that we can do it in community,

that we can do it with brothers and sisters in

a church setting, and from that to go forth into

a world of darkness and shine forth the light. I

pray that on each one that is here, and I

would also pray that if there is someone here tonight

who knows in their heart that were they to stand

before God tonight, they are not ready, that there's something

in their heart that is hindering where they would be

on the side where they would cry for the rocks

and mountains and plead for the mercy of God, knowing

that they are not prepared. Oh God, I pray that

they may make that known to a responsible friend who

would be able to help them find truth and light.

And now, Father, we pray or dismissal blessing upon us

when you go with us as we go from this place,

Keep us from the enemy of our soul. Help us

to walk in sincerity, impurity, in truth, and honest before you.

And may your will be done until we meet again.

In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.