Dangers of Self-deception

This message deals with a very important topic - Dangers of Self-deception. If a Christian sins because Satan deceives him, that is one thing. But if he deceives himself, that is a far more serious matter.

Many people are deceiving themselves into thinking they are saved when they are not.

Jesus said: "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!'" (Matt. 7:21 - 23, NKJV).

Then there are true believers who are fooling themselves concerning their Christian walk. They think they are spiritual when they are not. It is a mark of maturity when a person faces himself honestly, knows himself, and admits his needs. It is the immature person who pretends, "I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing" (Rev. 3:17).

Spiritual reality results from the proper relationship to God through His Word. God's Word is truth (John 17:17). And if we are rightly related to God's truth, we cannot be dishonest and hypocritical.

Our Responsibilities toward God's Word

James said that we have three responsibilities toward God's Word - Receive the Word, practice the Word and share the Word. And if we fulfill these responsibilities, we will have an honest walk with God and with men. Let us consider each of the responsibilities in some details:

Receive the Word (James 1:19 - 21)

James said: "So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls" (James 1:19 - 21, emphasis added).

James calls God's Word "the implanted word." Borrowing from our Lord's Parable of the Sower (Matt. 13:1 - 9; 18 - 23), he compares God's Word to seed and the human heart to soil. In His parable, Jesus described four kinds of hearts:

1. The hard heart, which did not understand or receive the Word and therefore bore no fruit.

2. The shallow heart, which was very emotional but had no depth, and bore no fruit.

3. The crowded heart, which lacked repentance and permitted sin to crowd out the Word.

4. The fruitful heart, which received the Word, allowed it to take root, and produced a bountiful harvest of fruit.

If the seed of the Word is to be planted in our hearts, then we must obey the instructions James give us:


Swift to hear (James 1:19)


Jesus said: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

Paul said: "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom. 10:17).

Just as the servant is quick to hear his master's voice and the mother to hear her baby's smallest cry, so the believer should be quick to hear what God has to say.

There is a beautiful illustration of this truth in the life of king David (2 Sam. 23:14 - 17). David was hiding from the Philistines who were in possession of Bethlehem. He yearned for a drink of the cool water from the well in Bethlehem, a well that he had often visited in his boyhood and youth. He did not issue an order to his men; he simply said to himself, "Oh, that someone would give me a drink of the water from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate" (2 Sam. 23:15)! Three of his mighty men heard their king sigh for the water, and they risked their lives to secure the water and bring to him. They were "swift to hear."

Slow to speak (James 1:19)

We have two ears and one mouth, which ought to remind us to listen more than to speak. Too many times we argue with God's Word, if not audibly, at least in our hearts and mind.

Solomon said: "... But he who restrains his lips is wise. He who has knowledge spares his words" (Pro. 10:19; 17:27).

Instead of being slow to speak, the lawyer in Luke 10:29 argued with Jesus by asking, "And who is my neighbor?"

In the early Church, the services were informal; and often the listeners would debate with the speaker. There were even fighting and wars among the brethren James were writing to (James 4:1).

Slow to wrath (James 1:19)

Do not get angry at God or His Word because it reveals our sin to us. Like the man who broke the mirror because he disliked the image in it, people rebel against God's Word because it tells the truth about them and their sinfulness.

Solomon said: "He who is slow to wrath has great understanding. But he who is impulsive exalts folly" (Pro. 14:29).

When the prophet Nathan told king David the story about "the stolen ewe lamb," the king became angry, but at the wrong person. "You are the man" said Nathan, and David then confessed, "I have sinned against the Lord" (2 Sam. 12).

In the Garden, Peter was slow to hear, swift to speak, and swift to anger - and he almost killed a man with the sword.

Many Church fights are the result of short tempers and hasty words. There is a godly anger against sin (Eph. 4:26); and if we love the Lord, we must hate sin or evil (Ps. 97:10). But man's anger does not produce God's righteousness (James 1:20). In fact, anger is just the opposite of the patience God wants to produce in our lives as we mature in Christ (James 1:3, 4).

A prepared heart (James 1:21)

James saw the human heart as a garden. If left to itself, the soil would produce only weeds. He urged us to "pull out the weeds" and prepare the soil for the "implanted Word of God." The phrase "filthiness and overflow of wickedness" gives the picture of a garden overgrown with weeds that cannot be controlled. It is foolish to try to receive God's Word into an unprepared heart.

How do we prepare the soil of our hearts for God's Word? First, by confessing our sins and asking the Father to forgive us (1 John 1:9). Then, by meditating on God's love and grace and asking Him to "plow up" any hardness in our hearts - "Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns" (Jer. 4:3). Finally, we must have an attitude of "meekness." When you receive the implanted Word with meekness, you accept it, do not argue with it, and honor it as the Word of God. You do not try to twist it to conform it to your thinking.

If we do not receive the implanted Word, then we are deceiving ourselves. Christians who like to argue various "point of view" may be only fooling themselves. They think that their "discussions" are promoting spiritual growth, when in reality they may only be cultivating the weeds.


Practice the Word (James 1:22 - 25)


James said: "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyon is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does" (James 1:22 - 25).


It is not enough to hear the word; we must do it. Many Christians have the mistaken idea that hearing a good sermon or Bible study is what makes them grow and get God's blessing. It is not the hearing but the doing that brings the blessing. Too many Christians (including Pastors) mark their Bibles, but their Bibles never mark them! If you think you are spiritual because you hear the Word, then you are only deceiving yourself.


In James 1:21, James compared the Word to seed. But in James 1:23, 24, he comared it to a mirror. There are two other references in the Bible to God's Word as a mirror (Ex. 38:8 and 2 Cor. 3:18). When you put all three together, you discover three ministries of the Word of God as a mirror:


Examination (James 1:23 - 25)


The main purpose of a mirror is to enable you to see yourself and make yourself look as clean and neat as possible. As we look into the mirror of God's Word, we see ourselves as we really are. James mentions several mistakes people make as they look into God's mirror.


1. They merely glance at themselves. They do not carefully study themselves as they read the Word. Many sincere believers read a chapter of the Bible each day, but it is only a religious exercise and they fail to profit from it personally. Their conscience would bother them if they did not have their daily reading, when actually their conscience should bother them because they read the Word carelessly. A cursory reading of the Bible will never reveal our deepest needs. It is the difference between a candid photo and an X-ray.


2. They forget what they see. If they were looking deeply enough into their hearts, what they would see would be unforgettable!


3. They fail to obey what the Word tells them to do. They think that hearing is the same as doing, and it is not. We Christians enjoy substituting reading for doing, or even talking for doing. We hold endless committee meetings and conferences about topics like evangelism and Church growth, and think we have made progress. While there is certainly nothing wrong with conferences and committee meetings, they are sinful if they are a substitute for service.


After seeing ourselves, we must remember what we are and what God says, and we must do the Word. The blessing comes in the doing, and not in the reading of the Word - "... this one will be blessed in what he does" (James 1:25).


Restoration (Exodus 38:8)


"He made the laver of bronze and its base of bronze, from the bronze mirrors of the serving women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting" (Ex. 38:8)


Moses took the metal looking glasses of the women and from them made the laver. The laver was a huge basin that stood between the brazen altar of sacrifice and the holy place (read Ex. 30:17 - 21). The basin was filled with water, and the priests washed their hands and feet at the laver before they entered the holy place to minister.


Water for washing is a picture of the Word of God in its cleansing power (John 15:3). The Church is sanctified and cleansed "with the washing of water by the word" (Eph. 5:26).


Transformation (2 Cor. 3:18)


Paul said: "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3:18).


After the Lord restores us, He wants to change us so that we will grow in grace and not commit that sin again. Too many Christians confess their sins, and claim forgiveness, but never grow spiritually to conquer self and sin.


2 Cor. 3 is a discussion of the contrasts between the Old Covenant ministry of Law and the New Covenant ministry of grace. The Law is external, written on tablet of stone; but salvation means that God's Word is written on the heart. The Old Covenant brings forgiveness and life. The glory of the Law gradually disappeared, but the glory of God's grace becomes brighter and brighter. The Law was temporary, but the New Covenant of grace is eternal.


Sharing the Word (James 1:26, 27)


James said: "If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this; to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world" (James 1:26, 27, emphasis added).


The word translated "religion" means "the outward practice, the service of a god." Pure religion has nothing to do with ceremonies, temples, or special days. Pure religion means practicing God's Word and sharing it with others, through speech, service, and separation from the world:


1. Through speech (James 1:26)


There are many references to speech in this Epistle, giving the impression that the tongue was a serious problem in the assembly. It is the tongue that reveals the heart (Matt. 12:34, 35). If the heart is right, the speech will be right. A controlled tongue means a controlled body (James 3:1, 2).


2. Through service (James 1:27)


After we have seen ourselves and Christ in the mirror of the Word, we must see others and their needs. Words are no substitute for deeds of love (James 2:14 - 18; 1 John 3:11 - 18). God does not want us to pay for others to minister as a substitute for our own personal service!


3. Through separation from the world (James 1:27)


"The world" means, in the context, "society without God." Satan is the prince of thei world (John 14:30), and the lost are the sons of this world (Luke 16:8). As the children of God, we are in the world physically but not of the world spirituall (John 17:11 - 16). We are sent into the world to win others to Christ (John 17:18). It is only as we maintain our separation from the world that we can serve others.