Lying to Myself

Well, bless you, brother. Thank you. Greetings in the name of Jesus.

I was talking to my wife the other day and she said, you should preach a sermon about the goodness of God. And I said, that's just not my, that's not, that's for Mike and brother Glenn. Those are the guys, they're the exhorters that preach like that.

I said, you know me, you know, my, my personality is more like this line over here, stay away from that. So that's what we're going to do this morning. We're going to preach about the line to stay away from.

Um, so as I sought the Lord, what would he have as a message? I, uh, I'd like to talk to this morning. I titled the sermon lying to myself. And we, when we hear that title lying to myself, we think that's a strange concept.

When we think about it, how could I lie to myself? The Bible puts it deceiving their own selves. It says, and being deceived is a very scary thing when you think about it, because it's something you really don't know that you are. Um, most of us believe we're right about everything, right? If we knew we were wrong, we'd probably try to correct it, but we believe we're right.

And it's the other guy. You know, you can look to your neighbor and it's him. That's wrong, right? That's just our natural bent that, uh, I'm not wrong, but he's wrong.

I read this somewhere. We desperately want our behavior to be separate from our identity. Think about that.

We want our behavior to be separate from our identity. We want people to think of us as a Christian, but not judge us by our behavior. It's something in us that just naturally desires that we don't want to believe that the way we act reflects who we are.

But the Bible is pretty clear about this. It says, if you don't love your brother, what does it say? You don't what you don't love God. Peter says, if you do these things, so shall an entrance be made into heaven.

If you do these things yet, the truth is that our behavior is a reflection of who we are. Our behavior is a reflection of who we are. When your behavior isn't consistent with what you want or isn't consistent with what you should be, or even what you claim to be, you need to stop and pause for a minute.

This idea of being deceived is a scary thought. I remember when I was a child, I used to be, um, very fearful of sharks. I mean, I'd go out in the woods and never thought about mountain lions, never thought about bears.

Those things didn't bother me, but sharks, I was very afraid of. And I think the reason why I analyzed it as I got older, that it's a really very scary thought to be out in the water, swimming around and thinking there is something you do not know. It could be two feet under you, ready to bite you.

You don't know it's there. You don't know if it is there or it isn't there. It's a scary thought, something you don't know.

I think that's why we're scared of the dark. You know, you go out in daytime, nobody's scared to walk out to the barn. But in the dark, all of a sudden, what's creeping behind that thing? What's over there? We can't see.

We don't know what it is. And that's what deception is. That's what's so scary about deception.

When we stop and think about it. If we knew we were deceived, well, then we, uh, we could work on it. But what's scary about the thought of deception is you don't even know you're deceived.

It reminds me of the other day, we, all the youth and some of us went out on a hike and we all went up to the top of the mountain and we got our camp set up and Timothy had to work late. And so I, you know, being a good father, I made sure I took all these screenshots of the map. This highway turned here, you know, big red arrows turn at this road.

And, you know, I even thought, okay, I'll send him a pinpoint, you know, through the phone so that he'll know how to get there via GPS. And we got all the way up there and he said he was coming. It was 10 at night and he was going to try to find this trailhead where we were.

And, um, all of a sudden we went up to the top of the mountain. We're listening in on the radio and here comes Timothy's voice, all scratchy. I'm heading in now.

And, and, and I'm like, okay, just come up the trail. You know, this is where we're at. Go this far.

Well, I happened to hear him say something about Hand Lake. And I thought, no, you're at the wrong place. He was two miles further down and was starting in at 10 o'clock at night, coming in on the wrong trailhead.

And, um, and I quickly said, no, no, no, no, go back. And so we talked about it later and we got home and found out that he just went off of what the phone was telling him to do. Phone was saying go up here, go to down here.

And it took him in a wrong trail, despite all of my nice maps and highlights. And it reminded me, it reminded me kind of of what deceit is like, you know, in a sense that phone was like the world and its system, you know, all of its glory and its GPS and satellites and, and it's, and it's directing him, but it totally took him the wrong path. And the old archaic, you know, pictures of maps and arrows and stuff.

That's like the Bible, right? Go here, turn here, do this. And me on the, on that scratchy old radio was like prayer. No, turn around.

You're in the wrong place. Thankfully we, we, we got ahold of each other and he made it up in time that night. But, um, we need to be careful.

You know, we might think to ourselves that we're not capable of being deceived or we're not deceived right now. But I think if we see what Jesus has to say about this, that we're going to see that the church is very capable and we are very capable of starting out well and being deceived along the path. And I can think of many stories of us driving.

And when, well, just yesterday we were going to go, going down to get the wood. And I was, I was watching in my mirror because I had heard that Bob didn't have a phone and he didn't know if we got separated, he wouldn't be able to find where we were cutting wood. And all of a sudden something went wrong.

I don't know if his car stalled or something. And I'm looking in the mirror and I can't find him and where's him. And so finally he catches up to us and, or I think if we go around a roundabout, long story short, we go around this roundabout and I look in my mirror and it looked to me like he just went straight.

And I thought, oh no, how are we ever going to find Bob? He's going to be lost into oblivion. And, and, but we did, we found him. We met up again, thankfully.

And, but that reminded me of this idea of deception. In his mind, he might've just been, if he would have gone straight, he would have just been thinking I'm going along great. And he would have to pay attention to the signs, the road signs.

He'd have, you know, he couldn't just keep talking and laughing and having a great time with his children and telling jokes. He'd have to start, are we going the right path? I've had that happen where you get a couple hours in and, or an hour in and you realize this doesn't feel right. Like, and all of a sudden you have to turn all the way back around and go all the way back where you started and get on the right path.

That's what deception is like. You have to be watchful. So let's just look at Matthew chapter 24 here this morning and see what Jesus had to say about the subject deception.

Matthew 24 verse four, verse three, we'll pick it up in. And he sat upon the Mount of Olives and the disciples came to him privately saying, tell us when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming? Sorry, I'll wait for you all to catch up there. 24 verse three, we're just ending it.

What shall be the sign of thy coming in the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said, take heed that no man deceive you. So Jesus likened the end of time as things wind to a close, a lot of deception is going to be happening. And he told his own apostles, the disciples that had been following the people who had given up everything.

Has anybody ever given up their job to follow Jesus that's sitting here this morning? Okay. So they've done more than us. Has anybody ever given up your houses to follow Jesus? Has anybody given up your family to follow Jesus? Okay.

They have a lot more than us, right? They had given up. They walked. When Jesus said, follow me, they followed him.

They gave up their job as fishermen with their father. They walked away. Peter walked away from his wife, not in a bad way, but in a, in a good way.

But they all walked away from massive things in their life, like jobs, money, houses, commit things that would bring stability to follow Jesus. And Jesus still gives them this warning. Be careful.

Take heed that no man deceives you. If he told them that we need to listen up because there's a very likelihood we could be deceived. Matthew 24 verse 24, same chapter jumped down to verse 24.

He says for there shall arise false Christ and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible, they, these false Christ and false prophets shall deceive the very elect. If it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. So as the end of time comes, deception is going to be running rampant.

Paul told Timothy, he said, evil seducers will wax worse and worse deceiving. And listen to this and being deceived. Think about that.

They're not only are they out deceiving people, but they're themselves are being deceived. They're running with the status quo. They're running with whatever the popular messages of the day.

And are we not living in that today? Are we not living in a time where there are false prophets being deceived and deceiving? They're reading each other's books. They are following each other's logic and they're being, and they're continuing the deception. Paul calls it perilous times in revelation.

We read about the devil and it says he went about deceiving the whole world. And the last times there will be deception waxing worse and worse. In fact, in revelation, it says Babylon.

And if you remember what Babylon was, it was, it was a, it was a system of money of merchandise. And all these people out in the, in the waters were saying, this city has made us rich. And it says she has by her sorceries, deceive the nations.

So we, uh, we need to be very cautious if that weren't enough. And I know you all know this, so I won't make you turn there. But in Jeremiah, it says, our own hearts are deceitful.

It says they're not just deceitful, but they're deceitful. It goes on to say above all else, all things and desperately wicked who can know it. The Lord searches the heart.

He says, he says, I tried the reins, even to give every man according to his ways. And according to the fruit of his doings, I try the reins. You know, it's easy for us to say, well, you know, my heart was good and I want to love the Lord.

I want to serve the Lord. I want to not make money. My master, I want to all these things.

But the question at the end of the day is there's a rain on each one of our hearts, just like a horse. And God says, he tries those reins. He says, he will, he will bring things into our life.

Just like if you go to some of these other countries and they want to make flour, they take the wheat and they throw it up in the air and they throw it up in the air. And as what happens is the chaff comes off and it floats away and they keep doing that till finally there's no more chaff and there's just the good pure wheat. You know, the Lord brings things into our lives to allow us to be tried.

Are we going to be deceived like the chaff and float away? Or are we going to love the truth? And that's what I want to look at this morning. It's easy for us to think to ourselves that God would never allow me to be tried in a way that I would float away. But yet we can just look at this church right here.

How many of the people that stood right behind this pulpit, where are they today? How many are off questioning their own identity? How many are in prison? Okay. That's, that's a serious problem. That's should wake us all up that we are all susceptible to deception.

Okay. So let's turn to second Thessalonians together. And I want to second Thessalonians is an amazing book.

I remember when I woke me up to a lot of doctrines of eschatology. And in this book, we see Paul begging them about the coming of the Lord and explaining the coming of the Lord to them. And so we know it's about the last days, whatever that's really going to look like.

But we know that the spirit of Antichrist is coming and, and is here. And Paul talks about it. He's saying in verse seven, he's talking about this wicked one, this mystery of iniquity, and it's being held back.

And then in verse eight, he talks about, um, that the Lord will consume him with the brightness of his coming. And then verse nine, talking about the coming of the Lord and the power and signs, but then verse 10, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, all deceivableness, we're talking about being deceived of unrighteousness and them that perish because why they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they may and should believe a lie that they might be damned to believe.

It's not the truth, but at pleasure and righteousness. Can we imagine God himself allowing, it says sending, it says strong delusion. What's the remedy this morning? What's the remedy to not being deceived? I think this verse here, as we can see, is going to give us the answer.

How can I not be deceived in this perilous day? And we live, it says here, we need to receive the love of the truth. Notice it's not even our own selves that we're generating it. We're receiving it from someone else.

We're receiving from God, the love of the truth. And I want to, I want to break that out in some shoe letter here in this sermon today. But this is the concept we want to talk about with all deceivableness.

And yet, why did God send them that all of that deceiving deception, all of that, because they didn't receive the love of the truth. So what are some lies? I've just gone through the scriptures, especially the New Testament here. And I came up with wherever the Bible talked about being deceived.

And then I thought through what are some of the lies we think in our heads that we tend to make justifications, right? And we're all susceptible to this. So the first one, I'll just give you the lie that you might think in your head. And if you ever notice in your own head, it doesn't ever seem to be concrete, right? It's never like this is completely okay and righteous.

It's always like, I think it's okay. You know, we're in our heads, it's always this gray nebulous, right? It's always this, like, uh, maybe it's okay. It's just a little thing, right? So let's go with the first lie that comes in her head.

It's not a big deal. Have you ever had that lie in your head? It's not a big deal. God won't judge you for it.

We all sin every day. You ever heard that lie? Well, let's, let's turn to Galatians 6, 7 and read what God has to say about this deception that is in, and this is in the church. I mean, at least what is considered the church today.

We, we tend, people tend to overemphasize the forgiveness of God, the mercy of God, and under-emphasize the righteousness of God, the holiness of God. Galatians 6, verse 7 says this, do not be deceived or be not deceived. Okay.

There's, there's their key, right? We want to know, are we deceived this morning? So we have to be honest as we look at this because Paul's saying, don't be deceived. Don't fall into this deception for God is not mocked for whatever a man sows or plants that shall he also reap or harvest for he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that sows to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. So as I read the scripture, it sounds like in his day, he was concerned about deception running around that somehow you could sow to your flesh and not reap anything from it, not reap any consequences from it.

And so we might go through these lies. That's not a big deal. Like, so I'm not obeying God in this way.

And there's so many places where to obey God, right? So many places, you know, walking with God is a very, as I've learned, it's a very sensitive thing. It reminds me of walking with my wife. Sometimes I just say the wrong thing, just in the wrong tone.

And I can tell I just hurt her. And then my pride is like, I'm sorry if I said that harshly, right? There's your pride. If just take the word out, if and say, I'm sorry that I said that harshly.

But yeah, we come up with all these justifications. And so walking with God is a very sensitive thing. So we say things like, it's not a big deal.

God won't judge us, okay? But God says, no, God will not be mocked. It is a big deal. Don't be deceived in this way.

Whatever you sow, if you sow to your flesh, every decision you make, every day you walk, if you sow to your flesh, what will you reap? What does the Bible say? Corruption. If you sow to the spirit, what do you reap? So how do you sow to the flesh? And how do you sow to the spirit? How do you plant in your flesh? And how do you plant in your spirit? We need to get honest. What's our life look like? Would God say, when you're all said and done, you have been a good and faithful servant, you have sown to the spirit.

That's a question we have to ask, okay? What's another delusion, a deception? Let's turn to Galatians. Well, it's right in the same chapter, Galatians 6, 3. For if a man think himself to be something when he has nothing, he deceives himself. Here's a lie from the devil.

You're strong. You're committed. You've got it together.

Those people over there, they're weak. They're unstable. Of course, you might not think those exactly like that.

You ever notice with our deceptive thoughts, it's more like a feeling. It's not like these nice sentences come out that say, you are strong, but it's just an overall sense. Like I, I'm pretty strong.

I'm, I've got it together. Those people don't have it together. If you think you're something, it says when you're nothing, you deceive yourself.

Now, what is the Bible? What does Jesus say about being something? He said, without me, you can do what? So without Jesus, you're a big zero, right? You're nothing. So if you think you're something and you're really nothing, right? Without Jesus, you're deceiving yourself. So there's a second test you can do on yourself.

Do I think I'm something? Here's another one. It's just a little covetous. That's just normal.

I mean, we all have a little covetousness. I mean, we all lost. We tell crude jokes a little bit here and there.

It's not a big deal. Everyone has moments of talking foolishly. We're just having a little fun.

Okay, well, let's turn to Ephesians five, six. What does God say about? It's not a big deal. A little lost, a little crude, joking, a little bit of covetousness.

Ephesians five, six says this, let's go in five, three, but fornicators and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be once named among you once. Did you hear that? It says fornicators. I don't think we have any fornicators here.

That's I'm hoping not uncleanness. I'm not really sure, but covetousness. Do we have a problem in America with covetousness? Thank you, brother.

And it says, let it not be named once among you, not once, let alone twice or three or five times. And it says, as become safe, neither, what does it go on to say? Neither filthiness nor foolish talking. Do we ever do that? Nor jesting.

That's like harsh jokes, jokes that are. They're unclean. Which are not convenient, but rather giving of saying thanks for this, you know, that no whoremonger nor unclean person or covetous man, which is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

And then it says this in verse six, let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things come at the wrath of God upon the children of men. So when somebody tells you that it's all right to do these things or your own mind tells you that. It's vain, empty words there, it's a deception coming from the devil.

OK, what's another one? Ungodly friends won't influence me. It's all right, like big deal if I spend time with these people. Oh, going to that carnal event, I don't know, maybe a rodeo or a fair.

I used to go to the fair. That place has turned very wicked. They won't change my walk.

Oh, that book, that certain book I read, it's, you know, it's just, I know it's just light stuff, but, you know, just fiction. Although those Web sites I'm reading, that's not a big deal. Maybe you can actually finish the sentence without me turning there.

First Corinthians 1533, be not deceived. Evil communication corrupts good manners. OK, let me read it to you in another translation.

Bad company corrupts good character. That's a deception that's in the world and in your own heart that will say it's all right to hang out with people that don't, that, you know, they won't influence me. I'm strong.

I heard a father once said you can hang out with them, those people, as long as I see you're influencing them. The second I see them influencing you, it's over. That's a pretty good rule.

You spend time with people who are ungodly, it will rub off on you. That's why it's so important to have a community and a culture. OK, here's another one.

I'm feeling convicted makes me better in God's eye. You ever heard that? That was such a great sermon today on Sunday after the sermon. That was so convicting.

You know, conviction really does nothing for you in the eternal weight if you don't do anything with it. It's useless. But if you're like me, as long as you feel convicted about it, that's a good thing, right? I felt convicted.

Move on to the next sermon. That's not. Let's look at the passage.

James chapter one. James chapter one. James chapter one in verse twenty six.

No, twenty two. Sorry. So this deception says we can somehow be here.

Notice what it says. But be you doers of the word and not here is only deceiving your own self. There's where you can lie to yourself.

You can come here on Sunday morning, hear a great sermon, feel convicted, even tell the guy that was a great sermon. It's very convicting. And even think about a couple of times throughout Sunday, even Monday.

That was convicting sermon. If you do nothing with it, you're deceiving your own self. If you read your Bible every day for.

To ease your conscience. You're in the same boat. Why do we read our Bible? Why do we pick this thing up every day? Why do we read it? Jesus said, sanctify, make them holy, Father, by what does it say? By truth.

Right. Thy word is truth. God's word is truth.

This is the only book on the planet that gives us the mind of God. The reason we read our Bible every day is so we can take in God's mind. So that we can see if we're deceived, so that we can become more and more sanctified, more and more holy.

If we just read a chapter, check and go on for the day, we are deceiving ourselves. It's the truth. The whole purpose is that his word would become part of us.

If you should, it would be better for you to read one sentence in your Bible every day and be convicted about it than to read a whole chapter and check the box, right? God wants us to be convicted and change. He wants us to be doers of the word and not hearers only. That's a lie from the devil.

Feeling convicted makes us better in God's eye. Okay, let's look in the same chapter, James chapter one, verse 26. It says here, if a man, if any man among you seems to be religious and bridle, if not his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man is religion is in vain.

This is what I started off saying. We want to think that our character is somehow different than what we really are. I was just letting off steam, right? We have all these little things we say, I was stressed.

If we chew out our brother, how can we love God? So here's the deception that comes in our heart. How I act on Sunday is more important than what I say in my private life, right? And we can do that, right? We can come here and hi brother, shake each other's hand, but yet be people who speak harshly. We deceive ourselves.

I deceive myself. You deceive yourself. When we do this, when we feel that how I act right now on Sunday morning is more important than how I do on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday.

Okay, so that's a deception. Let's look at another one. First John one eight.

I was actually pretty surprised how many verses there are about deceiving ourselves. I see some people are getting sleepy, so I'm going to just put it out to you. Somebody read first John one eight.

Do you know Jesus didn't die to forgive mistakes? He died to forgive sins. If you say it was just a mistake, it was just a slip up. Like I said earlier, when I said to my wife, I just happened last week.

I knew I was just right a little too much harsh, but it wasn't like I didn't yell at her, but I just didn't say it patiently and kindly. And so I said, if I spoke rudely to you, please forgive me. And she's like, did I? And she's like, yes.

It was very obvious to her, right? It's amazing how our pride just does not want to just say, I'm sorry for what I said. That was wrong. Trevor read it.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. That means we got to get honest. Romans chapter six thing says that sin cannot have any dominion over us when we're under grace.

So let's think about this for a minute. I'm just going to take a break from this. If I'm walking in grace, like an umbrella over my head, I shouldn't have any sin coming in my life, right? I shouldn't be speaking harshly.

I shouldn't be speaking rudely. I should be not anxious. I should be trusting.

I should be like, I should be like Mary and not Martha, right? I always get the two mixed up. Mary was the one that was patient and sitting at Jesus' feet and was drinking from Jesus. The other one was busy with life and the cares.

It says if I'm under sin will not have dominion. So when I sin, when I say something harsh to my wife, when I'm rough, when I play church, what you fill in the blank, I'm no longer under grace, right? I can't be under grace. I'm not under grace.

I'm not receiving grace at that moment. So the answer is come to God and say, and be honest. If a man says he has no sin, the first thing I should do is come to God and say, God, I am not under grace, right? I am obviously not under grace because sin is having dominion over me.

Now, why would I not have grace right now? What does the scripture say why we don't have grace? Anybody think of an answer? Pride. It says God resists the proud, but he gives grace to who? Humble. So obviously, if I'm not receiving grace, I'm being fill in the blank proud, right? I'm being selfish.

I'm being, I want my own way. And so we need to be honest. If a man say that he does not have sin, the scripture says we deceive ourselves.

The truth is not in us. The answer to this is to say, I have sin. I have pride.

I don't have grace. Lord, forgive me. Help me to walk in grace.

I have like four more. I thought I would only have three pages and I would never get through my notes in three pages. That's going too slow.

Here's one Hebrews chapter 12, verse 15. Here's the lie that comes into your heart. It says here, looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up, trouble you.

Here's the lie that you might hear sometimes in your heart. They have done mean things to me. They have sinned against me in a huge way.

I've told them a thousand times. There's such a pain. You ever heard that one in your, I hate this.

Those are all things in our heart that are saying spring up a root of bitterness. And it says, it says right here, it has defiled many. And what we're looking here about being deceived.

One of the deceptions that comes in our heart is that we can retain unforgiveness. We can retain bitterness in our heart and it won't hurt us, but we must forgive. I'll pick one more.

Riches, wealth. What did Jesus say? He said, he talked about them receiving the, he told the parable of the thorns and the seeds and all of that. And if you remember, right, it says the one that receives the seeds in the thorns is one that hears the word, but then it says the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches.

Have you ever heard the lies in your heart? God helps those who help themselves or I'm trying to be a good steward or he that provides not for his own is worse than an infidel. Isn't it amazing how we can pit Bible verses against themselves. We're really masters at this deception or I want to have a good testimony.

These are all things. And those are all true. A man must provide for his own, but let's define provide having a good testimony is a truth, but let's divine how far that goes.

Okay. So Jesus said there is a deceitfulness in riches. They can deceive us seeking after wealth.

Okay. So let's, let's move on from the lies we think in our head. And let's let's talk about how we can be free from deception.

How can we be free? First of all, we have to see it. I told you how we can see it. All scripture is given by inspiration or God breathed.

We can trust that this book has God's words. Every, every letter Paul himself said he spoke and wrote the words of God. The early church after this was written accepted all of Paul's letters, all of the gospels as scripture.

So if you doubt it, I'd say this has been a doctrine of the church for ages. This is God's word. This is the way we can check ourselves.

So the first thing you have to do, we read it in Thessalonians. We have to receive the love of the truth. I think the easiest way to receive the love of the truth is spend time in this book.

Look for things that convict you look for things that say in your heart, I should change, look for things that are different than what you think. How would I know if I'm driving down the road and I miss my, my, my trail? How would I know if I'm on the right path? If I'm busy telling jokes and, you know, laughing and carrying on, and I probably not going to realize it for quite some time. And if I make it to the final destination, that's a bad thing because the final destination here is hell.

If we walk in deception, all of our lives, it is hell. How do I know if I'm deceived? David said, I'm going to try to paraphrase it. He said, search me, Oh God, and know my heart.

Try my ways. Try me and see if there's any wicked way in me and lead me in the path of everlasting. So he's saying, God, every day, show me, do I make this turn? Do I make that turn? Lead me in the path.

I don't know how to get there. You have to lead me in the path of everlasting. We have to love the truth.

That is the most basic step. If we love ourselves more than we love the truth, we will never get out of self-deception. Okay.

So we need to receive the love of the truth. They are damned. They're destroyed.

The Bible says, because they didn't receive the love of the truth. Number two. So we'll put one here.

Number two, let's put, you have to be honest. You have to be honest with yourself. Stop saying the word just in your mind.

I was just fill in the blank. Stop making excuses. Little children from four years old, right? They are masters at excuses.

And why they are right. Proverbs nine says this, rebuke a wise man and he will love thee. Do you love rebuke? He loves rebuke.

Now that I read you the verse. Another proverb says, who so loveth instruction, loveth knowledge. Did you know that wisdom loves to be corrected? Think about that wisdom.

So my brother comes to me and corrects me. If I'm a wise man, I love it. I love to be corrected.

So be honest with yourself. It's in the new Testament. It says to examine.

So I found this very interesting. Here's my teacher side coming out. Examine is, is some Greek word.

I won't give you the bore you with the number, but it's throughout the entire new Testament. It's translated temptation. But then this one passage is translated examine.

I thought that is interesting temptation yourself. Like what is that supposed to mean? Whether you be in the faith, the verse goes on and says, examine yourself, whether you be in the faith, how can I temptation myself? But then I started thinking like every time you go through a trial or a temptation, that is your test. That is your little way point to say, am I in the faith? If you have, and you fail miserably, that has more alarm.

You have to be more alarmed at that. There's, there's a problem. I'm not, the signs are showing.

So it's easy to examine myself right now. I'm in a white shirt. I'm preaching a sermon, you know, surely I'm in the faith.

It's harder tomorrow or even this afternoon when some person comes into my life and I want to say, I hate this. Or, or I told you a thousand times, right? Right. That's at that moment, that's the examine, the temptation, the trial to say, are you in the faith? Wow.

Examine yourself, whether you'd be in the faith, prove your own selves. Paul himself said, lest I've gone preaching all over the world. I'd be cast out as a reprobate.

Paul himself was concerned in examining himself constantly. Everybody let's turn to Hebrews chapter three. I'm hoping to be done in 10 minutes.

So we're almost there. Hebrews chapter three, verse 12. Somebody read that for me, please.

Hebrews three, 12, take heed brother. So he's seen examined. We've seen a wisdom loves correction.

Now he says, take heed less. There's a heart of departing. We need to check our hearts.

We need to examine our hearts. We have a, a heart that's beginning to depart from the living God. Now watch this verse.

It goes on and says, but exhort one another daily. I've had this in my list of things because it goes on and says, exhort one another daily while it's called the day lesson. If you'd be hardened to the deceitfulness of sin, you ever have that lie in your head.

I should tell this happened to me the other day with brother Roger. I should go to brother Roger and say, how are you doing in your spiritual life? But I thought that is weird. Like for me to ask brother Roger out of the blue like that, that's just strange, but that's not the scripture.

The scripture says we're supposed to do that with each other. Why do we feel strange and awkward outside of here? Exhorting one another saying, how are you doing brother? What's your, what's your spiritual life walk like that should be what our life is like. You should be asking me.

I should be asking you because it says if we don't the deceitfulness of sin will harden our hearts. I have a brother that will constantly send me a text once in a while and he'll send a verse and he'll send some kind of encouragement. It says, it says daily we're, we're supposed to exhort each other every day and we got to get over this lie in our head that it's like, they're going to think I'm super spiritual on my high horse, you know, sending a text saying brother, follow the Lord, right? That's, that's the deceiver himself telling us to not do that.

He, he will deceive us however he can. If it's making you just a real good religious person, he'll do it. If it's making her a real worldly person, he'll do, he'll come up with any way to self deceive you.

Okay. And I'm going to put the last one here. So, so we're receiving the love of the truth.

We're reading our Bibles. We're being honest when we read something and it says that one really stuck in my heart. We're being honest about it.

I'm not that Lord. I know I should be that. I know this is kind of the same.

It's kind of like honesty, but if an alcoholic came to you and said, I really want to stop drinking alcohol. Now he's being honest, right? But if tomorrow morning he picked up the drink again and started drinking, could you say he sincerely wanted to stop drinking alcohol? If you sincerely want something, you'll get it. When you want coffee in the morning, you'll find a way.

It's true. When you want to eat your breakfast in the morning, you'll find a way, right? You'll sincerely find a way because you sincerely like eating. And the same thing.

If a person says, I really want to lose weight. Well, they're honest, right? Yeah. But if you're sincerely wanting to lose weight, you'll do something about it.

You'll walk, you'll stop eating as much. You'll do lots of things and it will hurt and it won't feel good, but you'll do it because that's what you sincerely want. I found three requirements for grace in the scripture.

One is humility. Two is faith. By faith, we have access into grace, it says in Romans.

And lastly, it says, grace be to all those who love our Lord in sincerity. Paul's saying, may God give you grace if you love in sincerity. So if we want to get out of self-deception, we have to be sincere.

We have to put away partiality. We have to be honest with each other. We have to be free from hypocrisy.

You know, that's what the meaning of sincerity is, is honest of mind, free from hypocrisy. Honest of mind, free from hypocrisy. So let's end this.

David said this. Let's all turn to Psalms 26. Psalm 26.2. Listen to the cry of David's heart.

He says in Psalms 26.2, examine me, O Lord, and prove me. Try my reins and my heart. Try my reins and my heart.

I said this earlier, but reins have an idea, you know, with a horse. What's pulling on our heart? Paul said in Romans that no man can have two masters, right? He will, or maybe this was Jesus, but he will either serve the one and hate the other or despise the other or serve the other, right? How do you know who's your master? It's easy for us all to deceive ourselves and say, well, of course, Jesus, right? That's the right answer. David said, try the reins of my heart.

The question right now is when God tells you something to do, who do you go running to? God or the thing that is also calling you? Maybe it's just being a little bit deceptive. Do you go running to what God says and stand or do you run to the, do you do the wrong thing here? Maybe it's lust. Do you run to God or do you run to the lust? Maybe it's wealth.

Do you run to God or do you run to the one? What is the easiest way to answer this question? Who is my master is in the moment of trial and temptation. Who do I go to? Who has ultimate control of the reins? It's pretty simple. If these other things have control of our heart, then it's our master.

It was Romans that said, no, you not that to whom you yield yourself servants to obey his servants. You are whether to sin, which leads to death or of obedience to righteousness. Where's the reins of your heart this morning? David said, search me, examine me, prove me, try my reins.

Do you notice what he's doing? First of all, he's acknowledging that God's the place and the source of truth. Second of all, he's getting honest with God. And lastly, he's sincere about it.

For our last passage, I want to leave it with second Corinthians. If you'll turn there, second Corinthians chapter seven. Having therefore these promises dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh. That's your, your, your, your, your physical life and your spiritual life. Did you know you can have a filthiness of your spirit to let us cleanse ourselves? Let us, let us go to God and ask him to reveal where we're deceived and cleanse our hearts and perfect holiness with the fear of God.

Thank you for your attention.