I want to tell you that I think being a Christian is hard, but I think the reward is great. I don't mind the difficulty, because the reward is worth it. I want to talk to you about something this morning that I think is very, very difficult, and I think it's the thing that makes being a Christian difficult. There are numbers of things, but I think this particular thing because it affects so many things in our lives. This gives us pause, I think. So, I'm going to start this morning, this lesson, with a question. I want to ask you, what's your biggest problem. Now, I'm not going to take a long time to let you think about that, but I just want you to think about that. Because while you're thinking about it for just a second, you think about it, then I'm going to answer it for you. I'm going to answer it for you because I'm going to answer it for me. And Davis just read a passage in Jeremiah that really answers the question for us all, because in Jeremiah, 17, the Lord said "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" Your biggest problem is your heart. My biggest problem is my heart. Most of my problems are not because of somebody else. Most of my problems are because of me. Most of my problems are because of me. It's my own heart. And if I haven't made you think yet, maybe just thinking about the difficulty of self deception will help us this morning, because I think we're blinded by it. I readily confess that I get blinded by. I can easily deceive myself, and I'm guessing that you can too. So, I want us to talk about that this morning.
Self deception is our ability to justify what we know is not right. I want you think about that. Self deception is our ability to justify what we know is not right. I can do that. I bet you can too. I want you to think about how devastating that ability is. We can actually convince ourselves that something is right when it's wrong, but we have the ability to actually convince ourselves that it's right or we may not reach, we may not convince, ourselves it's right, but we convince ourselves that it doesn't matter. I want you to think about that. So, I want you to stop and honestly ask yourself this morning, how are you deceiving yourself. Now, let me say a word too about this. This part of my question is going to be easy practically, and here's why this is easy this morning -- because you don't have to answer to anybody else. You're sitting there, in essence, by yourself. There may be people around you, but you're sitting there by yourself, and I'm asking you to think for yourself. How do you deceive yourself? There's -- nobody's going to read your mind. Nobody's, as you're thinking about that, nobody's going to kind of turn their head awkwardly at you, like, Wow, you're thinking all that about yourself. Nobody's going to do that. So, I'm asking you this morning, I want you to be completely honest for yourself and say, How do I see myself? You're answering to yourself, and so you don't have to come clean publicly. I'm not going to say in a minute, Okay, you tell me what did you say? How did you answer that question? Tell us all how you answered the question. I'm not going to ask that. I want you to come clean intellectually right now. Just come clean in your own mind, intellectually, right now and then I want you to hold that thought. Okay? I just want you to hold that. Just put in your head, put it back and stay with me for the next few minutes, and we're going to come back to that in a few minutes. But just put that answer in your head, and we'll come back to that in just a minute. Because you run no risk. You run no risk this morning, to be completely honest with yourself, because you're just talking to yourself, basically.
So, let me offer some considerations, and we're going to come back to that, okay? I want you to look at a couple of factors before we get overly personal. This is going to get personal, but before we get overly personal, I just want to offer some considerations. I want you to think about this passage in Revelation three, and the last of the seven churches that are mentioned in Revelation two and three, the Church at Laodicea is mentioned. And verse 15 says, "that the Lord said, I know your works, that you're neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you're lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth because you say I'm rich, I've become wealthy and have need of nothing, and do not know that you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked, I count to you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich in white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may See as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent."
Laodicea, the Christians in Laodicea, in that local church, thought they were good to go. I want you to get that in your head, they thought they were good to go. And when the message is given to them about them, basically, the angel says, wait just a minute. You think something that's not true. And he uses five descriptive words. I think these are, I don't know if interesting is not the right word, but these are five alarming words. He says, You're wretched, you're miserable, you're poor, you're blind, you're naked. Those are five descriptions. And he says, You don't know that that's who you are. Your mind's telling you one thing, but that's not the truth, because all these words describe who you are. This is a collective self deceit. I don't know exactly how you think about these letters to these churches, but there's some group culpability here. That's the way he says this. Now, when you when you break it down, it has to do with how individuals act. But there appears to be, in all these churches, some level of group culpability. There's also some level of group confirmation and consideration, but there's definitely some level of group culpability in all of this, because the solution, he says, is not collective, it's individual. He says, what you need to do is repent, be zealous. That's what verse 19 says. The solution was individual. Isn't that rather eye opening for a group of people like us? That, to these churches, the Lord would say these things. Some of them were compliments. This was not a compliment. This was not a compliment. And he says, You need to repent. And I would just suggest all I'm going to say about this, I think we just need to always consider how we are doing. Now, that that manifests itself individually, but I think we always ought to consider how we as a group of people who have an intention to serve and honor God. I think we all have an ability to do that. I think we have to do that. I think that's what elders do. I think that's a large part of their work is I think they have to say, I think they do and I think they do this. But I think a large part of their responsibility is to look at our group and go, How are we doing? How are we doing? And I can't answer for them, but every one of us, every one of us as individuals, whether we're elder or not, we think about how we're doing. We think about how this church collectively does but that, of course, is done as individuals, serve and honor God. God, and I get that. But there is something about that here that says this church just didn't get it. They thought they were this, and they were they were self deceived. And I only bring that point up to say I don't want us to be that. None of us want to be that. I'm not suggesting we are that. I'm saying, though we all have to be on guard to guard against that. That's important.
Or another example of self deception is this. That's a little bit more familiar. Matthew seven, "Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven, Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name and done many wonders in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me. You who practice lawlessness." Here's what I know. Here's what I know. That there are people who think they're saved and they're not. Can you reach any other conclusion from a passage like that than what I just said? There are people who think they are saved. They're not, and I know that's what he means by that, because what he says is, when it comes time for them to stand before God, and God's going to pronounce the judgment, they're going to say, Hold on. Wait. Wait just a minute. We did this, this, this and this, and then he's going to say, you practice lawlessness. You've not done what the message asked you to do. You've not listened to what I said. That's self deception. That may be the greatest -- that may be the greatest difficulty. That may be the worst possible self deception. Lord, I thought I was saved. No, you're not. Why not? Because you didn't do what I said. That's a difficulty. That's that's a pretty major level of self deception.
So, another question, why do we -- why do we allow ourselves to be so easily deceived when the end result is so easily seen? May I ask you that question? You know I'm talking to myself. Why do we allow ourselves to be deceived when the end result is so easily seen? Let's think about that just a minute. Then I'm gonna offer some things. I'm gonna offer three things in just a moment that can help us not be deceived. Okay. But why do we allow ourselves to be deceived? Well, I think one of the first things is that it allows us to pursue our selfish pleasures without any pains of conscience. If you're self deceived this morning and you're allowing yourself to do something or some things that you know are wrong and your conscience doesn't bother you, that's because you've reached a point that is not good. Mark seven, "Jesus said to them, all too well, you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition. For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother. And he who curses father and mother, let him be put to death. But you say, If a man says to his father and mother, whatever Prophet you may have received from me is Corban, that is, it's a gift from God, then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the Word of God of no effect, though your tradition, which you have handed down in many such things you do." If you were a Pharisee in Jesus day, very likely, if you'd been asked the question, should you help your parents, you would have said, yeah, yeah, you should. But you know, my money's going to God. That's what Corban meant. It was a gift to God. It was a gift dedicated to God. So, when asked the question, are you doing for your parents what you ought to do, they would say, Oh, I'm helping God. I'm helping God. So, if your parents are starving but you're helping God. That's what he's saying. You self deceived. You've missed the point. And he says that's what goes on, "and many such things you do." Wasn't just that, but he says there's many ways in which you're deceiving yourself, and you better be aware of what's going on in reference to that. Pharisees did a lot of that. We sometimes talk about them, and we push them aside, and we all say that we shouldn't be that, and sometimes we are that. Sometimes we are that and we ought not be.
Or a passage that I like because it shows the contrast so well between what the old man did and sometimes how we are. This passage in Ephesians four Paul says this, "I say therefore in testifying the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, having alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness and greediness." This is a strong statement. I mean, that's, he uses those three verses, I think, to identify, I'm sure, I know it is, because that's all he says about it there. He identifies what the old man does, because he goes on to say, but if you've learned what Christ wants you to do you don't do that. Why? Why do people? Why do people do that? Why do people live and do things that-- and it looks like when you when you look at them, you're going, you don't you don't think that's wrong. That doesn't bother you? That's what Paul says happens. He says people become so callous, that their conscience is so seared, that they'll do whatever they want to do. And that picture somewhat identifies. It doesn't? I don't know everything's going on there. I don't even know if I want to know everything that's going on there, but that's just the way an artist has rendered the idea people just give themselves over to whatever they want to do. And I think that picture identifies that pretty well. That's why I used it this morning. But when nothing bothers you anymore, you keep doing it and there may be some things that you're doing this morning that don't bother you anymore, that ought to bother you all the time. And I think that's one of the points that need to be made about this, because there are probably some areas, at least for some of us, where this happens and it doesn't even faze us anymore. That's a terrible place to be. That's a terrible place to be. And there's a lot I could say about that, and there are probably other lessons where we need to talk about that, and maybe even talk about some specific things that relate to that. But I just, I just make it as a general statement today to ask you to think about, are there things that you're doing that just don't faze you anymore?
It may be that you're listening to this and you know, you just don't -- you just stop coming. You don't come to an assembly anymore. Are you self deceived? Why not? Have you convinced yourself of something that's not reality? There's all sorts of applications that we can make. I just want you to think about that. Because the difficulty is being honest, and I'm going to say a little bit more about that in just a moment. Self deceit also allows us to hide from painful things. This passage in First Samuel 15, you remember King Saul was told by Samuel, I want you to kill Agag and all the Amalekites, I want you to destroy everything. That's not hard, just destroy everything. And you remember Agag was spared. You remember that? And Samuel comes to Saul, remember that? You get to verse 14. Samuel said to Saul, "what then is the bleeting of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the ox." I'm having trouble again today. Gotta get this fixed. "Which I hear, and Saul said, they have brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God and the rest we have utterly destroyed. Then Samuel said to Saul, be quiet." You know that's the same, if the other translations might say that word that my mother never wanted me to say. Shut up. If my mother heard me say, shut up, it was over for me. And I'll tell you what the Lord said to me last night, and he said to him, speak on. And Samuel told Saul i. Samuel told Saul, but Saul was self deceived into thinking that he had done what the Lord wanted him to do. When something is painful, a lot of times what we do shift the blame. We shift the blame. We want to justify ourselves. It's hard to listen to what others say. When you know somebody's right and they tell you that you're wrong, that is hard to do. Right? Everybody who agrees with what I just said, do this. Okay? All right. I'll assume the rest of you were doing it in your head. You just don't want to do it publicly. Somebody tells you what you don't want to hear. It's hard to hear it. I'll tell you why, because "the way of a fool is right in his own eyes. But he who heeds counsel is wise." That's not saying that every time somebody else tells you something, that's what you ought to do. That's not what that's saying. What that's saying is when you don't want to listen to what you know you ought to hear, and others are willing to tell you, you better listen. You better listen. Because that's what a wise person does. A wise person listens to counsel. If you're involved in something, or if you're doing something and you've got multiple people who love you saying you ought not do that, you better listen. You better listen. And that's hard, because self deceit makes that hard.
There are a lot of things I could say about some, a lot of other factors I could talk about in reference to, why are we self deceived. But let me go over and just make three observations about how you overcome that. These will be pretty hard, but I want to offer them to you. How do you overcome self deception? Well, I want to say these are really important. Don't just, if you're writing these down on paper, or if you're putting them in your phone, or if you're thinking about these things you're saying. I'm going to remember these three things. These things are important. You need to remember these after you leave here, because we're talking about how you overcome the biggest problem you have. Okay, number one, you need to question your own virtue. That's hard to do. I get it that's hard to do. Be honest with yourself. That's very, very hard to do. You've heard me say multiple times, and I've said it multiple times. I think the most difficult thing is being honest with yourself, because we don't like to do that, because when we're completely honest with ourselves, we feel guilty about things. Yeah, that's what's supposed to happen. First John one, "if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Can you even imagine somebody say I don't have any sin? I can't even imagine that. But John says, evidently, your attitude can be such that you act like you don't have any sin, and you deceive yourself when you say, that's not me. And there may be there may be areas where that's not you, but there probably are areas where that is you that you're unwilling to admit that. You deceive yourself. The truth is not in you. That's what he's saying. So you need to question your own virtue. See, that's why I said this gets sticky. This is not fun stuff to hear. This not fun stuff to preach, listen to or apply. I can tell you that. Or this passage in Second Corinthians 13, "Examine yourselves as to whether you're in the faith." Test yourselves. See, that's self evaluation, and that's hard to do. I get it that's hard to do, but just question your own virtue. See, start getting back in that mode that ask you to get at the beginning. Start now, applying what we're talking about to the things that that you've got on that list, okay? That's what I'm asking you to do right now, question your own virtue. Okay?
And then secondly, let me encourage you to do this. Invite others to question you. There have been times, they may be rare, but there are times when I say to my wife, Beth's getting nervous, what kind of job you think I do as a preacher. I never say, How you think that sermon went across this morning? I just don't want to know. Ignorance is bliss. Let it go. Now, sometimes she'll tell me, and most of the time she'll say, that was good. There could be a but, but it's rare, and I think she's just trying to maintain the peace, which I appreciate. But do you ever ask somebody else, what do you think about me? Be totally honest. I'm trying to be a Christian. I need you to be completely honest with me. I'm trying to be an, I'm trying to be an elder. What do you think about the job I'm doing? I'm trying to serve as a deacon. I'm trying to be a Bible class teacher. I'm trying to be a Christian. I'm trying to serve. I think about myself. What do you think about me? I can take it. I need to take it, I need to hear it, because it will help you. It will help you. Invite others to question you. "Where there is no counsel," the proverb says, "where there is no counsel, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors, there is safety." Where there is no council people fall. I could never ask anything of anybody else. What do you think? Or give me some suggestions. Give me some criticism, give me some positive, give me some negative, give me something because that'll help me. But if none of that happens, if it's always what I think about myself, what that's basically telling me that's not going to end up well. But in a multitude of counselors their safety. You can get a pretty good idea, if you're willing to hear it. Invite others to question you.
And then let's go to the third and final thought in this which may be the most difficult. You've got to listen to God but listen to God with a commitment to change. I think this group, and I don't know everybody in this group well, but I think this group generally would listen to God. But it's the last part of this that concerns me, would you listen to God with a commitment to change? I've said this on occasions, and I mean this. I think it's a really good question, at least it is in my mind. When you listen to God's Word through your own reading, through your own study, through a Bible class, through a sermon, through a conversation that you have with somebody, anytime you hear the word of God, when's the last time that changed you? You remember the last time that changed you? Do you remember the last time, I'll use it. You remember the last time you heard a lesson and you left and you said, you know, I need to change that. And you did? You remember the last time you you were reading your devotional in the morning, you came across a passage and it said, You need to pray more. And you did? You remember the last time you came across any -- had a conversation with somebody, you left there thinking, man, they've just, they've just made me think about something that I need to do and you did? When's the last time that happened? See, we, I think, we listen sometimes, but it's hard to change because it goes back to these other things we talked about. We don't want to change sometimes. We'd rather be, we'd rather continue to be self deceived. That's easy until, it's easy until it's not. Right? This passage in James one, this is what James said, "Be doers the word, not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For anyone who's a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror, for he observes himself, goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he is, but he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work. This one will be blessed in what he does." That's all over Scripture. Jesus was all over that principle in Matthew seven. Wise men built his house upon the rock. He said, and he did. That's what James is saying. We're not just hearers, we're doers. We hear and we're willing to change. Does God's word actually change you.
So, that you don't think I'm just talking to you this morning, I ask myself that a lot. The problem is, is you hear a sermon one time. I hear it all the time. When I get it ready to go, I keep hearing it in my head. So I keep feeling these pangs of, you know, Kenny, you're talking to yourself just as much as much as you're talking to anybody else. Well, really, I'm talking to myself more than I'm talking to you. Does God's word actually change you? That stings, doesn't it? And it stings because you're thinking about that list that I ask you to think about, that you're holding right there, right? Keep holding it. Now I want to go to the last verse that Davis read earlier, Jeremiah, 17:10, right after, the Lord said, through Jeremiah, your heart deceives you, above all else, he says this, "I the LORD, search the heart. I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings." See, we can be deceived. We can sit here, and we can deceive ourselves forever and a day. And what God says is, you're going to get what you ought to get. He gives. I'm going to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. So, if you're deceiving yourself this morning, I have some bad news. The bad news is that you're going to get exactly what you don't think you're going to get. That's tough, but that's what that passage says, and that's why we have to come clean, and that's why I'm thankful that God sent His Son, as Bobby talked about this morning, as we read about in John three, God sent His Son so that we can come clean. God sent His Son so that he doesn't render to every man according to his deeds, he renders according to whether or not that man accepted, has accepted, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on his behalf. This is not all bad news, but there is this continual wanting and willing and encouraging us to clean ourselves up through the blood of Christ. That's what he wants. And he says, quit, I don't know that I've used the word this morning yet, but I think I could say, quit lying to yourself. Quit deceiving yourself about whatever it is, whatever that list is. Quit doing that. Get rid of that. Come clean and be who you ought to be. That's the message of the lesson. Really.
You ever heard these words? "Have thine affections been nailed to the cross. Is thy heart right with God? Do you count all things for Jesus, but loss? Is your heart right with God?" You're about to hear them, you're about to sing them. And I've asked Mitch to sing this song this morning as an invitation song, because I think its the last verse of the sermon. And this morning, I would just encourage you to just completely be open and honest and say, I am weary of living a deceiving life. I'm going to turn it over to the Lord, and I'm going to do what he wants me to do, and I'm going to come clean. Isn't that a great thing? So this morning, as we sing this song, if you're in this audience and you need to respond to the gospel, I would strongly urge you to come clean. Come clean, establish the relationship with God, whatever that is, whether you need to obey the gospel and become a Christian, whether you need to believe that Jesus is the Christ, and repent of those sins and confess to the world that he's Lord and you're going to live for him and then be willing to be buried with him in baptism, to have your sins washed away. That kind of brings this lesson full circle. And then start living the life that Paul says is the life of a new man, not the old man, but the new man. A life that is dedicated and is grounded in Jesus. It is a great life. It's hard. Yeah, there'll be some things that are required of you, but the end result is unmatchable. Isn't that what you want? I hope it is. Let us help you. Let us help you. Obey from your heart what you need to do to have that relationship.
