Revelation 3:15-17 - Don't Deceive Yourself (11-29-11)

Revelation 3:15-17 - "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked"

Self deception is at the very core of lukewarmness. The church at Laodicea thought that they were rich and wealthy and had need of nothing, but in reality they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.  Over the last several days we've gone through verses where God has warned us against self deception. 1 Corinthians 3:18 - "Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise." Galatians 6:3 - "For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself." James 1:26 - " If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless." And that's not all of them, by the way. There are others. Like James 1:22 - "But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude (or deceive) themselves." And 1 John 1:8 - "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us."
This is a very important topic and that's why the Bible mentions it so much. According to Revelation chapter 3 our self deception makes God sick. We look at ourselves and think that we're pretty good people. We've gotten into our Christian routine and we're comfortable in it. We go to church once or twice a week, read the Bible for a set amount of time each day, pray before meals and before bed, etcetera. We think that we're pretty good Christians, but in reality we make God sick. He says "because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth." We need to stop deceiving ourselves and see ourselves the way that we truly are, the way that God sees us.
To keep us from deceiving ourselves and becoming lukewarm, Jesus goes on in this passage to offer a solution to our problem. He says Revelation 3:18-19 - "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent." Jesus counsel us to buy from Him three things.
1) Gold refined in the fire. 2) White garments. 3) Eye salve. These three things are offered by Christ, and He alone is the one who can give them.
Gold refined in the fire. We need to align our value system with God's value system. If you asked someone to tell you the most valuable thing they could think of, they probably would say gold. The Bible refers to gold as "perishable" and several times in the Bible God tells us about something that is more valuable than gold. In Psalm 19 when the psalmist is talking about the Word of God he says "They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb." The Bible says that the Word of God is more desirable than gold. Is that what you think? Is the Bible more desirable to you than much fine gold? Another thing the Bible talks about as more valuable than gold is found in 1 Peter 1:6-7 where it says - "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." According the these verses the testing of our faith, the fiery trials that come into our lives are more precious than gold. This is absolutely contrary to normal human thinking, but it is absolutely true. We don't like trials, they're uncomfortable. But they are more valuable than gold. Why? Ultimately, they bring us closer to God. Anything that brings us closer to God is of true value. We think we are rich and have need of nothing, but is our value system correct? Do we have the same value system as God? Do we consider the Word of God, or trials to be a more valuable thing than gold? The Bible declares that our God is a consuming fire. If we want to be on fire for Him and cease to be lukewarm we have to draw near to Him. And in order to draw near to Him we need to value the things that draw us closer to Him, no matter how difficult, or uncomfortable they may be.

The second thing He counsels us to buy from Him is "white garments that the shame of our nakedness may not be revealed." The shame of nakedness began in the garden of Eden. Genesis 2:25 says - "And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed." In the perfect world that God created there was no shame in nakedness. By the time we get to chapter 3 we read - "When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” Shame in nakedness came as a result of sin. As soon as man sinned he knew he was naked, and in his shame he tried to hide himself from the Lord. He also sewed leaves together to make a covering for himself, but his own attempts to cover himself were insufficient. Man is still in the business of trying to cover his nakedness, cover the shame of his sin. We call these attempts "religion". Man is trying by his own righteousness to cover himself with leaves, but leaves wither and fall apart. There is no hope that we could ever be able to cover ourselves. The Lord says that the Laodicean church was naked. They thought that they had need of nothing but they were naked. The Bible tells in the book of Isaiah - "For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away." Any attempts we make to cover ourselves are at best filthy rags. Zechariah 3:1-4 talks about a man by the name of Joshua who was high priest, and there it says - "Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.” Joshua the high priest, this man of God was standing before God in filthy rags. But God removed his filthy garments from him and clothed him in white robes. We come before God just as we are, knowing that we are helpless to help ourselves, and He clothes us. We can't clothe ourselves in white garments. So God counsels us to buy from Him white garments that we may be clothed. We are clothed in His righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says - "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Christ took our sin and our filthy rags upon Himself in order that He might impute His righteousness to our account. In order that we might be clothed with His righteousness. Galatians 3:27 says - "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." These white garments are our identity in Christ. As the hymn writer said "When He shall come with trumpet sound, Oh, may I then in Him be found; Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne."

The third thing we're counseled to buy is eye salve. The church at Laodicea thought that they could see, but Christ tells them that they are blind. Obviously this isn't referring to physical eye sight. No one who is physically blind thinks that they can see. This is talking about the eyes of their faith. In other words, it's the ability to see and focus on things that are unseen by the human eye, the ability to see the unseen. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 says - "For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." According to the Bible, everything that we can see, everything that's physical is going to have an end. The earth and it's works are going to be destroyed. But the things that we can't see, the spiritual things are eternal. Far too many Christians are living with their focus on this world. They can't see the unseen because they're too focused on the physical, the temporal, which is much easier to focus on by the way, but has no lasting value. In Hebrews chapter 11 we're given example after example of men and women in the Bible who could see the invisible, and spent their lives focusing on the eternal rather than the temporal. Hebrews 11 begin this way - "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Faith is the realization of what we can't see. We know that what we can't see exists, not because we've seen it, but because we have faith. Faith is the substance, faith is the evidence. Noah hadn't seen the flood when God told him to build the ark, but he believed God. He believed that what God said would happen would happen and so in faith he prepared an ark for the saving of His household, having been warned by God about things not yet seen. We're told of Abraham that "By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for a city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God." Verses 13-16 say -"All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them." These people lived as stranger on the earth, because they could see what was of real value. They weren't blinded by the physical. Verses 24-27 say - "By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen." Moses had the opportunity to live like royalty in the most powerful nation on earth, but he chose rather to suffer with the people of God. Moses had his value system aligned with Gods value system. And he endured as seeing Him who is unseen. He exercised the eyes of faith. If we go into chapter 12 we see an example of someone who didn't have faith, but fixed his focus on the temporal. That person is Esau. Hebrews 12:16-17 warns us - "that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears." Esau sold his birthright for a single meal. You can't see a birthright, it's a future blessing. It was worthless to Esau and he sold it for immediate, temporal pleasure, but it left him empty later on. He sold what could not be seen for what could be seen, and later on when he desired to inherit a blessing God rejected him. Hebrews 12:26-27 - "And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.” This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain." The unseen are the only things that will remain. We need to anoint our eyes with eye salve that we may truly see. 

Revelation 3:15-18 - "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see."

Self deception is a dangerous thing. Be on your guard. Do not deceive yourself.

James 1:26 - Don't Deceive Yourself (11-25-11)

James 1:26 - " If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless."

The Bible has a lot to say in regard to the things that we say. According to this verse, if you think that you are religious, but you don't control your speech, you are deceiving yourself and your religion is worthless. The proof and quality of what we believe is directly tied to our speech. We learn in James chapter three about the power of the tongue and the difficulty to bridle it. James 3:1-12 says - "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh." It's easy to control your tongue when your in church. So many 'Christians' will go to church on Sundays and praise the Lord and lift their hands and close their eyes and act all spiritual, but when they go to work the next day their speech is exactly the same as the lost who they work with. They'll bless God at one minute, then with the same mouth they curse men who are made in God's image. From the same mouth comes both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way!

We read in James 1:19-20 - "This you know, my beloved brethren. But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God." We need to be slow to speak. The tongue is a powerful thing, and once you say something you can never take it back. You can apologize for it, but those words can never go away. We need to be slow to speak, and we need to think carefully about what to say before we say it. Jesus said in Matthew 12:36 - "But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment." Proverbs 10:19 says - "When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise." It is essential to our faith that we watch what we say. Especially with our families. It's easy for me to speak pleasant words when I'm at church, or really anywhere in public, but when I'm at home with just my family, my words tend to be less than savory. Ephesians 4:29 says - "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear." Ephesians 5:4 says - "and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks." Colossians 4:6 - "Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person."
 
According to James, if we think that we are religious but we don't bridle our tongues, we are deceiving ourselves and our religion is worthless. We need to pray daily what the psalmist prayed in Psalm 141:3 - "Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; Keep watch over the door of my lips." 

1 Peter 3:8-10 - "To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing. For, "The one who desires life, to love and see good days, Must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.""

Galatians 6:3 - Don't deceive yourself (11-23-11)

Galatians 6:3 - "For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself."

Closely related to what we saw yesterday about deceiving ourselves in regard to wisdom, is this verse about deceiving ourselves into thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought. Proverbs 25:14 says - "Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of his gifts falsely." We don't have the right to think highly of ourselves. Anything good in us is a result of God's working in us, nothing of ourselves or our own effort. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:7 - "For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? Everything we have has been given us by God, so what reason could we possibly have for boasting? No one boasts about how good they are at receiving gifts. The Giver, not the receiver, deserves the credit. He is everything and we are nothing.
Jesus illustrates this truth in a parable found in Luke 18:9-14 which says - "And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”"
Notice in the 'prayer' of the Pharisee how often he mentions himself. It says that He stood praying to himself, and he began telling himself of all his good works. This man did not have a proper view of himself. He thought he was something when he was actually nothing. On the other hand, the tax collector knew that he was nothing. He had a proper view of himself. He was unwilling to even lift up his eyes to heaven, and he was pleading for the mercy of God because he knew that he was a sinner, unworthy, he regarded himself as nothing. And so Jesus says "I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other." 
Paul says in Romans 12:3 - "For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith." We need to realize that anything we have of any value has been given to us by God. We need to surrender ourselves complete to Him so that He can make something out of nothing.

2 Corinthians 3:4-5 - "Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God."

1 Corinthians 3:18 - Don't Deceive Yourself (11-22-11)

1 Corinthians 3:18 - "Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise."

Along with the exhortations to 'do not be deceived' and 'let no one deceive you' we're given this exhortation, "Let no man deceive himself." This may catch us by surprise. It's not surprising that Satan wants to deceive us, and it's understandable that the people who Satan has already deceived are going to try and deceive us, but it's surprising that we can actually deceive ourselves. Here in 1 Corinthians the apostle Paul is warning us to be careful not to deceive ourselves concerning wisdom. Look again at what he says - "Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise." This is one of those paradox's in scripture that doesn't really make any sense to the worldly mind, but we believe it is true simply by faith because the Bible declares it to be so. It's easy to fall into this snare, into this self deception concerning wisdom. I often have a tendency to think about how much I know, about the Bible, or anything else and think of myself as a pretty wise person, but I'm warned about that very thing right here in this verse. If I truly want to be wise, I must first become foolish.
Many Christians will talk about how God has given us 'common sense' in one area or another, and they especially like to bring it up when they see and disapprove of some way in which we're trusting God by faith. It's true that we have common sense, but the Lord tells us in Scripture not to trust in it, not to rely on it, not to lean on it. The Bible says in Proverbs 3:5-7 - "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil." If we know something is God's will for us then we can trust Him by faith to perform His work, whatever it may be. It may not make sense to everyone else, and it might not even make sense to you, but that's okay. We may look like fools in our own eyes as well as in the eyes of everyone else, but we can trust in the Lord with our whole hearts.
All throughout the Bible we're given warnings not to be wise in our own eyes. Proverbs 26:12 says - "Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him." And twice in the book of Romans Paul says - "Do not be wise in your own estimation." We must become foolish so that we may become wise. The apostle Paul says that the message of the cross is foolishness to the world. In Matthew 18:4 Jesus says - "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." And in Mark 10:15 He says -"Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all" We're called to be like little children. Don't deceive yourself.

1 Corinthians 3:18 - "Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise."