Father, again, we thank you for your presence
in our midst this morning.
We thank you for the Holy Spirit, the
spirit of truth, and we pray, Lord, that
this morning you would speak to our hearts
through your word, that you would draw us
close to you, that most importantly, Lord, you
would reveal your heart to us.
Lord, we pray for a special grace this
morning to help us be honest and transparent
in your presence as you plan on revealing
areas of self-deception in our life through
your word.
I pray, Lord, that you will give us
humility and grace to be able to acknowledge
areas of self-deception and be free through
the power of your truth.
Lord, glorify yourself in our lives, we pray
for Jesus' sake.
Amen and amen.
As you know, for many weeks now, we
have been speaking on the topic of self
-deception, and it's very important when we come
together and approach this topic that we do
not err by listening and saying, oh, yes,
brother so-and-so is truly self-deceived.
Sister so-and-so, oh my, how I
wish they were here so they could hear
this and be set free.
We learned that the nature of self-deception
is that when we are self-deceived, we
don't know it, and so therefore it requires
a measure of grace working in our life
that will help us to see our vulnerability
to becoming self-deceived.
Now, we already covered this, so we're going
to just do a very quick review.
We saw the three major areas of our
life that is affected by self-deception.
The first area is we do not see
ourself properly.
Secondly, we don't see others properly, and thirdly,
we don't see or hear the Lord properly.
We discovered that in Revelation chapter 3, verses
15 through 17, Jesus spoke to the Laodicean
church, and he said, thou sayest, thou sayest,
you are rich, increased with goods, and in
need of nothing, but thou knowest not.
There is the nature of self-deception, thou
knowest not.
So, the condition that the Laodiceans were in
was dreadful, but the fact that they didn't
know that they were in that condition was
even more dreadful.
We also learned in Matthew chapter 7, verses
3 through 5, that Jesus said, why do
you attempt to take, this is a paraphrased
version, the toothpick out of your brother's eye
when you have a telephone pole in your
own eye?
He actually said, but considereth not the telephone
pole in your own eye.
The word there, consider, means to see, to
clearly see.
So, self-deception prevents us from seeing our
need and prevents us from properly judging our
brother and sister.
And then Jesus goes on to say, first
take the telephone pole out of your own
eye, and then you will clearly see how
to help your brother, how to help your
sister.
Now, what I'd like to do is show
you the four areas of our life where
self-deception can be identified.
Now, again, beloved, it takes tremendous honesty before
God in order to be free from self
-deception.
It takes humility.
Now, I'm sure that if everyone would ask
yourself the question, am I self-deceived?
Most likely, perhaps one or two, but most
likely a quick answer would be, of course
I'm not self-deceived.
What we have to do is we have
to dislodge that knee-jerk reaction, because the
only way to tell if we are self
-deceived is to let God's word judge us,
to let God's word shine upon us.
And then in light of God's word, we
can answer that question.
Now, listen carefully.
Self-deception can be identified by our words,
number two, by our actions, number three,
by our opinion of ourself, and number
four, by the associations we keep.
The people we hang out with.
And number two, the stuff we think about.
Now, beloved, the answer to the question, am
I self-deceived?
Are you self-deceived?
Can only be answered in light of letting
God's word shine light, revealing our words, our
actions, the opinion we have about ourself and
the associations we keep.
And in light of that, we can discover
whether there is any form of self-deception
in our life.
You see, the Holy Spirit is the spirit
of truth, the spirit of truth, the passion
in God's heart is to establish truth on
the inward.
And the apostasy of Christianity today can be
identified by the decay of truth on the
inside, but a continuous explosion of an outward
form of godliness, an outward form of religion.
As we have mentioned many times, Jesus did
not come to establish a Christian religion.
There is nowhere in God's word that says
Jesus came to start a new religion.
And in the day that we live in,
there is a Christian religion and it's all
about outward things.
But Jesus came to save sinners.
And enable them by the power of the
Holy Spirit to lay their lives down for
him, not to become part of a Christian
religion where we talk and do nice things,
but inwardly.
We're doing our own thing.
And so the spirit of truth and God's
word is working together in this hour that
we're living in to secure a people in
whom truth, the truth of God's word, the
truth of Jesus Christ is raw on the
inside.
Jesus is looking for men and women who
will follow him and obey his word.
Huh, not religious Christians.
James 1.26, we already went over this,
so we're not going to go into it
in detail.
The first sign that we are being self
-deceived, James 1.26, please turn there.
Now, brothers and sisters, when we really, truly
have an encounter with the Holy Spirit of
God.
And we truly fall in love with the
word of God.
God will talk to us about truth.
He'll talk to us about his son, he'll
talk to us about his desire to transform
our lives.
James 1.26, if any man among you
seem to be religious, that word religious simply
means devoted.
If any man among you seems to be
religious.
But bridle, if not his tongue, but
deceives his own heart.
This man's religion is vain.
We learned several weeks ago that.
The word bridle comes from a word that
means to restrain, so as to lead brothers
and sisters, listen carefully, listen carefully.
We know that a bridle was put on
a horse in order to prevent it from
what going its own way so it can
be led properly.
Listen, listen carefully.
God, give us ears to hear the cry
of your heart.
A sure sign that self-deception is working
in your life is not whether or not
you think it is.
A sure sign that self-deception is working
in your life or in my life is
an unbridled tongue.
A tongue that is not under the control
of God's spirit and the control of God's
word.
A tongue that is able.
To say things.
And not be troubled about it.
Ephesians chapter four, for your notes, verse twenty
five, four, twenty nine through thirty one, Ephesians
five, four.
These are all ways in order to determine
whether we have an unbridled tongue.
Very quickly, an unbridled tongue is seen in
lying.
That's an unbridled tongue, lying, any kind of
a falsehood that we might utter anything.
That is an attempt to deceive.
Brothers and sisters.
If you have a lying tongue and you
attempt to deceive in any way with your
tongue, there is self-deception working in your
heart.
And when the Holy Spirit truly comes into
your life or works among a group of
people, whether it's two people or whether it's
two thousand people, the spirit of God will
expose an unbridled tongue.
And where there is no exposure of an
unbridled tongue, there is no genuine move of
the Holy Spirit of God.
It is impossible.
You see the apostles as they followed Jesus
and and as they walked with him, what
was he constantly exposing to them?
What was he constantly showing them?
Their depravity.
In one instance, when Jesus revealed his glory,
what did Peter say?
Oh, Lord, depart from me, for I am
a sinful man.
That's what happens when we have an encounter
with the Holy Spirit and the word of
God.
And he shows us our unbridled tongue, lying,
corrupt communication, words that are worthless, words that
are of no value.
That which causes something to be brought into
a worse state.
Evil speaking, this covers a broad category of
slander, gossip, backbiting, wounding the person's reputation by
falsifying information about that person and spreading evil
reports not based on truth.
Any person, any person who engages in gossip
or slander or evil speaking of any form
is gripped by self-deception.
And unless they are confronted by the truth
of God's word and enabled to repent and
confess their sin, they will become deluded.
We need to become reacquainted with truth.
And the spirit of truth, foolish talking, jesting.
We learned that jesting is the ability to
extricate oneself from difficult situations with witty or
clever words to extricate means to free or
disentangle yourself.
Brothers and sisters, whenever we find ourself in
a difficult situation where we are in need
to acknowledge our error, acknowledge our sin, confess
our fault, you might have said something unkind
to someone, you might have been caught doing
something deceitfully, and you try and extricate yourself
through witty and clever words trying to avoid
the need to acknowledge your wrong, to acknowledge
you sinned, there is self-deception working in
your heart.
You know what that means right down where
we live?
Every husband in here, if you cannot look
at your wife in your eyes, in her
eyes, and say, sweetheart, I am wrong, I
was wrong, I shouldn't have said that, I
shouldn't have done that, forgive me.
You can't do that.
There is self-deception working in your heart.
And likewise, every woman, every wife, when you
are caught, when God's Word catches you, what
do you do with it?
How do you handle it?
Are you always making excuses, always making excuses,
always trying avoiding the need to take responsibility
for your actions, saying clever, witty things?
Self-deception has gripped your heart, beloved.
The next we learned that our actions reveal
whether or not we are engaged in self
-deception.
James 1.22. The first one was James
1.26. Now, the second form of self
-deception deals with our actions, and that's James
1.22. Listen carefully.
But be ye doers of the Word and
not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
The second form of self-deception has to
do with what we do with God's Word.
How it affects us.
Brothers and sisters, we're living in a day
when hearts have become calloused to God's Word.
I was reading this morning in Jeremiah, when
Nehemiah read the book of the law.
And you know what they did?
They wept.
They wept as God's Word was read because
they were convicted by its power.
Then, of course, Nehemiah said, oh no, this
is a day of rejoicing.
And he said, stop weeping.
But today, God's people don't want to weep.
They only want to rejoice.
They only want to sing.
They only want to shout.
No one wants to weep.
No one wants to weep because of our
sin.
We learn that the key to being a
doer of the Word and not a hearer
only is found in a heart condition of
meekness.
As it says in James chapter 1 verses
19 through 25, meekness.
Oh God, give us a meek heart.
The second key is we must continue in
God's Word.
So with a meek heart, we continue in
God's Word.
And as we continue in God's Word, then
God does the work inside of us.
And we find that we become a doer
and not just a hearer only.
And God heals us from self-deception.
First John chapter 1 verse 8, which is
where we're at today.
This is another form of self-deception.
This also has to do with our actions.
First John 1 8.
If we say we have no sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in
us.
Now, most of us would read that and
immediately say, oh, brother, brother, I don't need
to worry about that because I know that
I have sin.
That's the problem.
We're so vague, aren't we?
We like to keep it very vague and
ambiguous and far off.
Oh, yeah, I have sin.
But how well do you do in regards
to confessing your sin and acknowledging your sin
and identifying it when the Holy Spirit and
the Word of God reveal it?
Self-deception is present in our heart when
we refuse to acknowledge our sin.
Not simply, oh, I, you know, I know
I'm a sinner.
I know I have sin.
Everyone can say that.
Proverbs chapter 28 verse number 13.
Proverbs 28 13.
He that covers his sins shall not prosper.
But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have
mercy.
The word cover there means to keep secret,
to hide, to conceal.
If a man say, I have no sin,
he deceives himself.
If God deals with us about something and
we cover it and we refuse to confess
it, then we deceive ourselves.
How well are we doing?
You see, the spirit of truth, the spirit
of truth and the Word of God wants
to get on the inside, deep on the
inside.
In John 9 39 through 41, Jesus said
to the Pharisees, because you say, because you
say, I am not blind, you are blind.
I can see I, I don't acknowledge my
need.
I like I can acknowledge it in a
vague way.
It's OK.
I can I can make general statements about
myself.
But you know what God required of Jacob
before he his name was transformed to Israel?
God required more than a vague statement.
He said, what is your name?
What is your name?
God was requiring that Jacob would come in
honesty and say, my name is Jacob or
my name is a deceiver.
That's what the word deceive means.
The word Jacob means deceiver, a supplanter, a
con artist.
What's your name?
What's the thing that God is requiring that
you confess?
Are you saying, well, I have no sin.
I have no need to confess that.
If so, self-deception is present in your
heart.
Self-deception is present in your heart.
So, number four,
Galatians 6, 7.
Galatians 6, 7 and First Corinthians 6, 9
and 10.
Galatians 6, 7.
This is the next form of self-deception.
Listen to what Paul says here.
Galatians 6, 7.
Be not deceived.
There you go.
Be not deceived.
God is not mocked, whatever a man sows,
that shall he reap.
This form of self-deception is revealed regarding
what you believe as to the consequences of
your actions.
Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatever
a man sows, that shall he also reap.
We live in a day where people no
longer feel that their actions will result in
consequences.
No one wants to take responsibility for their
actions.
No one wants to acknowledge that if I
do this, this is what is going to
happen.
Part of the presentation that I give to
high school students regarding abstinence is a lesson
on critical thinking.
I help them to understand that if they
take a risk and engage in sexual activity,
there is a strong likelihood that they will
suffer emotionally, mentally, socially, and physically.
And that this idea that I can engage
in immorality and be free from consequences is
wrong, it is a lie, and we have
to be delivered from it.
There are consequences to our actions.
Young people, please remember, it doesn't matter if
everyone is doing it.
It doesn't matter if Joe Schmo and Sister
Lou did it and it seems like they
got away with it.
It doesn't matter.
Be not deceived, God is not mocked.
If there is a tendency in your heart
to feel that you can do something that's
wrong and somehow, someway it's going to be
all right, you are self-deceived.
You are self-deceived.
If the thinking process is operating in your
mind when you're tempted to do something that's
not right, well, I'm a Christian and God's
grace is sufficient.
Beware, beloved, that's turning the grace of God
into a license to sin.
Well, the fact is, I know a good
friend of mine and they've done it several
times and everything's okay and it doesn't seem
like they're suffering.
Beware, beware, young people.
Now, I just want to go through a
list here of some things that people are
doing nowadays and don't feel that they're going
to suffer consequences.
And if in any way you find yourself
identified with one of these things, beware of
self-deception.
It is lurking in your heart and we
need to pray and cry out, O Spirit
of God, O Word of God, deliver me,
set me straight.
Do you believe that you are not accountable
to God for what you do?
I'm going to be reading a number of
works found in Galatians chapter 5, verses 19
through 21, Galatians 5, 19 through 21.
And every one of these works that I'm
going to read has a dreadful consequence.
Not just a little slap on the hand,
they have a dreadful consequence.
And let me tell you something, the consequences
are not only reaped by those who don't
know the Lord, they are also reaped by
those who do know the Lord.
See, becoming Christians does not exempt us from
consequences to our actions.
We have got to get that in our
brains.
As a few weeks ago I mentioned, one
author said, every Christian needs to take his
brains out of his head and wash it
in the Word of God, wash it in
the truth, and put it back in so
he can think clearly.
We need to get this in our brains.
Parents, you need to be teaching your children
there are consequences to your actions.
Mom and Dad, you need to look at
each other square in the eyes every night
and say, don't forget there's consequences to your
actions.
Self-deception has gripped our heart.
When we feel that we can do something
and escape responsibility for it.
And it's running wild in the church today.
It's running wild in the church today.
We heard a testimony of a certain lady
who was living in an adulterous affair and
she was confronted by another believer.
She went to a different church and she
said, oh, I'm sorry, we don't judge one
another.
We don't judge one another.
We all have besetting sins.
That happens to be mine.
Don't judge me.
God doesn't judge me.
Brothers and sisters, this is dangerous.
This is a leaven of evil.
Paul said, purge out the leaven.
Purge out the sin.
We cannot feel comfortable in our sin.
If we are a lover of truth and
we are truly fellowshipping with the son in
the light that he radiates, we will not
be comfortable in our sin.
And when we do fall, we will feel
the remorse and the sense of our need
to confess and repent.
And we will not be able to just
go our happy-go-lucky way knowing that
our heart is not right with God.
We won't be able to do that.
Now listen closely, beloved.
Listen closely.
May God wash us with His Word.
May God wash us with the Spirit of
Truth.
These are works of the flesh that have
consequences.
First of all, adultery.
The act of having intimacy with another married
person.
It doesn't matter what people are doing.
It doesn't matter what the church votes is
right or wrong.
Adultery is still wrong.
Remember it.
Hide it in your heart, beloved.
It is sin.
It is wrong.
Be not deceived.
Well, Phil, I think that you're being a
little harsh.
Watch out.
Self-deception is creeping in.
I think you're being harsh.
I think God understands.
Uncleanness.
Any form of moral filth, obscenity, impurity, defilement,
acted out with oneself or with others, any
form of uncleanness is wrong.
Do you see what happens, brothers and sisters,
when we get into the pure, simple truth
of God's Word?
Do you see what happens?
How we start to see clearly and we
realize the whole world has gone crazy and
that there is no sense of right and
wrong anymore?
That uncleanness has become so much a part
of this culture that so many Christians don't
even blush at it anymore.
We don't even feel ashamed anymore.
Almost.
I'm tempted to say everything, but I won't
because I know all-inclusive statements can get
you in trouble unless they're true.
But almost everything that you watch on TV
is unclean.
It's filthy.
But yet, how so many Christians can sit,
not only watch it and movies, not only
sit and watch it, but be entertained by
it.
We learned a couple of months ago that
the meaning of true love in 1 Corinthians
13, love does not rejoice over iniquity.
We learned after looking into the language of
that that it can actually mean love is
not entertained by lawlessness.
The church is entertained by lawlessness.
We enjoy lawlessness.
We enjoy watching that which is corrupt, that
which displays the sin within the heart of
men, that which causes Christ to weep, that
which brought Christ to the cross and crucified
Him.
We are entertained over what has happened, O
God.
Where is the Word?
Where is the pure Word?
Where are the true prophets in God's house
rising up with tears rolling down their face
saying, O people of God, wake up.
Turn back to the Lord.
Go back to His Word.
Become lovers of truth.
Any kind of uncleanness, lasciviousness,
that's simply a desire, an insatiable desire for
pleasure, excessiveness.
Listen, the absence of restraint or law.
Oh, listen closely.
The church in America is deceived by lasciviousness.
We don't know the meaning of restraint.
We don't know the meaning of contentment.
I think it would be safe to say
that most of us right now in this
room, most of us are not today living
in a state of contentment before God.
As we learned several months ago, the enemy
of contentment is...
We'll have to go through that one again.
The enemy of contentment is comparison.
Comparison.
I'm content until I compare myself with my
brother or sister and then all of a
sudden what I have just doesn't seem to
be adequate.
And then what happens?
Discontentment breeds unthankfulness.
And when you have an unthankful heart and
you have become discontent, guess what?
Your wife no longer is sufficient because you're
not thankful for her.
You're not content with her.
And so you get a roving eye.
And likewise, women, your men are no longer
sufficient because you've compared them with brothers Joe
and Pete and Harry and you're unthankful and
in your heart you're bitter and in your
heart you're mad and you're roving and you're
looking for something.
Your car is no longer sufficient, even though
it runs, because you're looking at your neighbor's
car.
What about the Ten Commandments?
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.
Well, that's okay.
If we live in the 21st century, Christianity
today has got a Jesus in heaven who
actually anoints us to be greedy.
That's what they're teaching.
That God wants us to have everything our
heart desires.
Jesus came and revealed the kingdom of God
when it is revealed in the hearts of
God's people.
They will forsake greed.
They will forsake covetousness.
They will forsake the love of money.
And if not literally, inwardly, they'll sell everything
they have.
Well, brother, the Holy Spirit's not telling me
to do that.
That's because He already told you in the
Word.
We've got our hands too tightly.
Do you know the New Testament doesn't teach
ownership?
Boy, I tell you, we'll get into this.
You preach this stuff and you'll be called
a traitor of America because America believes in
ownership.
It's your right to own.
Christians, you don't have any rights.
We're slaves.
We have a master.
The only right we have is to be
called sons of God because Jesus died for
us.
Our rights are given over to God.
We say, Lord, I have no rights.
I want to serve You in Your will.
The New Testament teaching is not ownership.
It is borrowing in order to use.
That's what Paul teaches in Corinthians.
That's what Jesus teaches.
And that's what the book of Acts teaches.
Let me just warn you in the love
of Jesus Christ, you better be careful with
the things that you're holding on to saying
they're mine, they're not yours.
And as I've said many times, and I
thank God I can say it, I'm not
saying this because I want it.
I don't want your money.
I don't want your property.
I don't want your house.
What are you holding on to?
Heaven carry.
They were after eternal things.
Things didn't matter to them.
Things matter too much to us in this
country.
Things matter too much to the church in
the day that we live in.
We've got our hand too tightly on our
reputation.
We've got our hand too tightly on our
bank account, and our CDs, and our cars.
And if anyone here goes on with the
Lord, the Lord is going to require that
you let go of your grip.
He's going to require that you let go
of your hand grip.
He's going to require that you let go,
and that you say, Lord Jesus, I give
back to you everything.
I've been deceived, Lord.
I've been deceived because I thought it was
mine, but it's not mine.
Nothing is yours.
We've been bought with a price.
Hallelujah to God.
We're slaves, Cary.
We belong to another.
The thought of mine ought to scare the
daylights out of us, but it doesn't.
The thought of holding on to something and
guarding it as if it's got value ought
to scare the daylights out of a true,
Holy Ghost-filled, Word-loving Christian, but it
doesn't.
And all this means is that we have
fallen so far, so far, so far, that
we're living in the throngs of self-deception
and don't even know it.
And our only hope is a revival, and
that not of noise and movement and manifestations.
The only hope is a revival where we
come back to the Spirit of God and
the Word of God and fall before Jesus
and give Him the rights once again.
That's the only hope we have.
I believe that if something doesn't happen, it's
possible that our children, or maybe our children's
children, if Jesus tarries, will grow up and
be taught a Christian religion that has nothing
to do with Bible-believing, serving Jesus Christ.
They will be taught a Christian religion, but
it will have nothing to do with an
encounter with the living God where their soul
is pierced by the Word, and they come
to God in repentance and fall on their
face and cry out to God for mercy,
and they abandon their life and disown themselves,
and the things of this life have a
bitter taste, and they don't want it.
They want God.
They want the things of God.
Listen, that form of biblical Christianity is almost
gone.
I can't find people anymore that I can
sit down and talk to that want to
talk about Jesus, that want to talk about
heavenly things, that want to open up the
Word and talk about the dealings of God
in their life.
I can't find people like that anymore.
But you talk about jobs.
You talk about money.
You talk about this and that.
People can talk all day.
It's very serious, beloved.
It's a very dreadful situation that we're facing
today that we live in.
Very, very dreadful and serious.
Self-deception has come.
Idolatry.
It all goes together.
By the way, the Bible says that covetousness
is idolatry.
So any form of covetousness in our life
indicates that we are idolaters, that we are
actually engaging in idolatry.
Let me ask you a question.
Why is covetousness idolatry?
Because covetousness is the condition where you want
more than you need.
And when you want more than you need,
you are setting your heart up to worship
that thing.
Listen, you better not define your standards of
living by what America is teaching, brothers and
sisters.
You're going to end up being led astray.
We better wash our minds from what our
politicians are telling us our rights are.
And we better pray, God, give me a
hunger for Your Word again.
If you're not hungering after this Word, and
wanting the truth of this Word to transform
your life, and you find more pleasure in
entertainment, more pleasure in just going about your
day and drifting, and you're not hungry for
God and hungry for His Word, and your
conscience is not tender, and if you don't
go to bed at night, oh God, I'm
homesick, I want to know You deeper.
Brothers and sisters, are we men and women
enough to acknowledge that if that's true, then
our hearts are cold and hard, and we
have begun the road of backsliding?
You might be incredibly faithful to your religious
activities.
You might be a churchgoer.
You might be a Bible student.
You might be doing all kinds of things.
But if your heart is not hungry for
God...
Listen, if you can be entertained by evil,
and that basically means if you can watch
that television and feel comfortable and be entertained
by it, something's wrong, something's wrong, something's wrong.
Next, we find that self-deception can be
seen in all forms of witchcraft.
All forms...
Listen, listen closely, beloved.
All forms of the occult, sorcery, illicit use
of drugs, trances, magical incantations, Ouija boards, astrology,
horoscope, tarot cards, palm reading.
Brothers and sisters, this is not only a
danger outside the church, but it's a danger
in the church.
Whenever you are taught or prompted by whatever
it is to take God's Word and use
it as a means to get what you
want, that is a form of witchcraft in
the church today.
In many Christian circles today, God's Word has
been reduced to simply a book of Christian
incantations.
All you have to do is say the
right thing a number of times, and it'll
happen.
It's sorcery.
It's Christian sorcery.
It's witchcraft, brothers and sisters.
Hatred.
Variance, which is strife, contention.
Verbal disputings or fightings.
You see what we're looking at?
Our actions.
Remember the question we asked?
Are we self-deceived?
No, of course not.
But now in light of God's Word, what
do we see?
Oh God, have mercy.
Maybe it is possible, Lord, there's areas of
self-deception in my life.
Strife.
Contention.
And all the things like these.
Be not deceived.
God is not mocked.
What's your take on these things?
1 Corinthians 3.18 Let
no man deceive himself.
If any among you seems to be wise
in this world, let him become a fool
that he may be wise.
1 Corinthians 3.18 Your attitude about yourself
will reveal whether or not there is an
area of self-deception working in you.
And basically, if you think that your worldly
wisdom and your knowledge and your gifts and
your skills and your success, whatever it is
that you feel you have, if you think
that impresses God one bit, you're self-deceived.
Be not deceived.
If any man among you seems to be
wise in this world, let
him become a fool that he may be
wise.
Your opinion of yourself.
God tells us in Romans chapter 12 the
right kind of an opinion to have about
ourselves.
We've taught on this before, but you know
what gets you in trouble.
Whenever you feel that you've advanced beyond being
a servant, you're going to get in trouble.
Because a servant doesn't feel like it has
any rights.
But as soon as you promote yourself above
a servant, you have too high of an
opinion about yourself.
And you're going to get offended because the
expectations that you have about yourself, now that
you've grown up and you're no longer just
a servant, those expectations are not going to
be met.
And whenever they're not met, you're going to
struggle with bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, anger, all because
you have got too high of an opinion
about yourself.
There was a certain man who used to
come home from work every day.
And he'd come home and he'd walk into
the house and he was restless.
He sat down on his chair and looked
around.
Nobody was around.
He did this day after day after day
after day.
And finally, he realized he was angry and
bitter.
He was getting angry and bitter.
And so he went to a wise counselor
and said, I don't know what's wrong, but
I feel bitter and angry and it's toward
my wife.
The wise counselor said, well, tell me what
you do.
Well, I come home.
What else do you do?
I sit down.
What else do you do?
I look around and then I just go
upstairs in my room.
And he says, well, why do you do
that?
I'm not sure why.
And the wise counselor said, well, what do
you expect when you come home?
Well, I expect to be greeted.
I expect to be waited on.
I'm the king of my house.
I expect my wife to drop everything and
sit down so I can tell her all
about what happened at work and all about
my struggles and problems.
Hmm.
Mm-hmm.
The wise counselor, mm-hmm.
How long have you been married?
Oh, so many years.
How many children have you got?
Six children.
Oh, six children.
What's your wife doing when you get home?
Well, she's taking care of the kids.
The wise counselor looked at this guy and
said, you know why you're bitter and angry
and struggling with all that sin?
He said, why?
Because you resent the fact that when you
come home, you're not served and waited on.
You think that you deserve better treatment than
that.
He said, and that sin has blinded your
eyes.
The wise counselor goes on to say, rather
you should come home.
Hi, I'm home.
What's going on?
It's not about me.
What's going on?
What are the kids doing?
How can I help?
If any man thinks he's wise, if any
man thinks he's been promoted above simply a
servant, he's deceived.
When you walk with Jesus and you walk
with the truth of God's Word and you
walk with the Holy Spirit, He's not going
to let you get so high up here.
He's going to keep you a servant.
Romans 12, 3, For I say through the
grace given to me to every man that
is among you, not to think of himself
more highly than he ought to think, but
to think soberly, soundly, according as God hath
dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Galatians 6, 3.
You ready?
If a man thinks himself to be something,
when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Do you know how to tell whether or
not you think you're something when in fact
we are all nothing apart from the grace
of God?
When you
buck up against in your heart something that
requires your heart, your interest, your attention, that
you just frankly don't feel you need to
be bothered with.
Paul said, I am less than least of
all the apostles, chiefest of sinners, a
slave to Jesus Christ.
That's what he thought of himself.
And that's what we need to think of
ourselves.
Beware of self-deception.
If a man thinks he is something when
he is nothing, that word nothing literally means
not even one.
No, not one at all.
Not a single one.
Absolutely no one.
That's what it means.
Nothing.
That's the antithesis, the opposite, of what one
perceives him or herself to be when their
heart is inflated with pride.
When their heart is inflated with the idea
that you are more than just a servant.
This is why families are being destroyed.
This is why divorces are happening.
This is why people can't get along.
Because we've forsaken the truth of God's Word
and we just let the world define who
we are, what we're going to do, what's
important to us.
We let the world define to us what
we're going to pursue after.
We let the world define to us what
we're going to laugh at, what we're going
to be entertained by.
We let the world define everything.
And brothers and sisters, until we come back
to God's Word on our knees and pray
for a washing, we will continue in self
-deception.
It's no longer good enough to just go
find some church to join, get connected to
some programs.
That's not going to cut it anymore.
God is calling His people back to Himself,
a personal walk with Him, and obeying His
Word.
We're going to save the last one for
another time.
We've looked at our words.
We've looked at our actions.
And now we've looked at the opinion we
have of ourself.
By these three categories, let me ask now,
brothers and sisters, by these three categories and
God's Word shining bright light, have you seen
traces or maybe strongholds of self-deception working
in your life?
Listen closely, please.
Ask yourself this question in the quietness of
God's presence.
Lord, have I fallen into the trap of
self-deception?
John 17, 17.
Sanctify Him by Thy truth.
Thy Word is truth.
The only way to be free from self
-deception...
We're going to close with this.
Listen closely.
God's presence is here.
God's power is here.
God's Word is present.
Our lives can be radically changed if by
faith we will submit to the authority of
God's Word.
We can be free today.
Listen, listen, listen.
There are vicious cycles and patterns in many
lives here today.
And you have prayed and cried and you've
had everybody and their mother's hand laid on
you, and you still are the same.
Why?
Because you're not going to be changed by
a preacher's hand slapping you on the forehead
or a prophecy coming forth over your life
of how great you are and what God's
going to do in your life.
You're not going to be changed by weird
manifestations and visions.
The only thing that's going to change you
is the truth of God's Word.
Truth.
You shall know the truth and the truth
shall set you free.
We need to become lovers of truth.
And so there's vicious cycles of sin that
many are wrestling with today.
Your deliverance is present this morning.
It's not going to be through some weird
manifestation or someone laying their hand and imparting
on you or casting out some kind of
devil.
The way to be free from error and
self-deception and these vicious sin cycles in
our life is number one, recognize our vulnerability
to be deceived.
Listen, recognize in your words, your actions, or
your opinion about yourself.
Recognize that in one of those categories, you
are self-deceived.
Number two, identify the specific area where you
are being self-deceived.
Lord, today as I heard the Word, I
realized I am a slanderer.
Don't say, well, I have a problem with
my tongue sometimes.
And I know it's not good, but I
have a problem with my tongue.
Or I have a problem with my eyes.
Don't listen.
Don't be deceived in talking vaguely.
Listen, Jesus never talked vaguely to anyone.
He got up in their face.
One thing thou lackest.
Sell everything you have.
Give it to the poor and follow Me.
You didn't hear Him come and say, brother,
let me have your hand.
I want to pray with you about the
possibility that you might be a little bit
inclined toward being greedy.
Now, I don't want to judge you.
Because I know.
But I just want to pray that the
Lord might show you one thing thou lackest.
Jesus speaks frankly to us.
Okay?
Yes, I can be deceived.
I identify where I've been deceived.
Confess specifically our sin to God.
Calling it what it is.
Be specific.
And then number four, cry out to Jesus
for mercy and truth.
The Scripture says, by mercy and truth, iniquity
is purged.
We need truth in the house of God.
We need truth.
We don't need any more flamboyant prophecies rolling
and people putting on a show.
We need to be slain by the truth
of God's Word.
Cry out to mercy.
Cry out for mercy and truth.
And say, Lord, take Your truth and deliver
my deception through Your Word, through Your truth.
Give me a heart able to receive truth
today.
I'm going to ask Collette.
She would go to the piano.
And very quietly, we want to give the
Holy Spirit an opportunity.
Listen, listen, listen.
I feel the need to emphasize this.
There are life-controlling habits and sin problems
that we have wrestled with for years.
We have looked for deliverance, and we haven't
found it.
Today is your day of deliverance because it
comes through truth in your inward heart.
Many, many years ago, we wrote a printed
message.
Remember, it was entitled for you who were
around then, Selective Crosses.
Listen, we select where we're going to let
God deal with us.
And then other areas of our life, we
lock the door and we never let God
deal with it.
Brothers and sisters, you cannot be selective in
the dealings of God in your life.
But if God is in your face about
an attitude in your life that you haven't
given to Him, you've got to say, Lord,
have your way, or else you'll be captive.
Every single area of your life must become
transparent to the Word of God, the truth
of God's Word, in order to be free
from self-deception.
Let's bow our hearts.
Holy Spirit, we just ask that now in
these few moments, shine light from Your Word
into the depths of our heart.
Break down our walls of resistance and help
us to bow to the authority of Your
Word.
Acknowledge our sin and receive the truth which
is able to set us free today in
Jesus' name.
I encourage you to pray.
Pray with a loved one.
Be real.
Be honest.
And let God's Word free you today.
Search us, O God.
Make us lovers of truth.
Lovers of truth, Lord.
Thank You, Lord.
Amen.