deceit

Warning Every Person

“We speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts”

1 Thessalonians 2:4

When Paul wrote that God tests the hearts of His people he was not writing anything new. In Psalm 66 we find the same revelation. “You, O God have tested us” (v 10) with the result that they were refined as silver is refined. God not only allows but purposely creates or provokes circumstances by which what we think we believe is tested. The purpose is to expose what is really in our heart. The heart is deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9) so we are very glad that God reveals those areas where we are deceived or in error that He wishes to correct. He also reinforces areas where our hearts are right.

In this letter Paul wants us to allow the Holy Spirit to test our hearts. Tests will reveal where we are right and where we are not right. Allowing the Holy Spirit to test our hearts will reveal the extent to which the Holy Spirit has us. All true Christians have the Holy Spirit indwelling but to be “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18) means that the Holy Spirit has us. At its root this means a humble and teachable spirit toward God.

If we are trying to please men we will not share the Gospel with them. This may be because we fear what they may think of us, say about us or do to us. If we are trying to please God we will share the Gospel and let Him deal with their responses. This is the context of Paul’s letter, especially chapter two verses one to twelve. If we are seeking the praise of men we are not seeking the praise of God (v 6). The two are mutually exclusive.

From time to time I reflect on what this will mean when all the unsaved appear before the Great White Throne (Revelation 20:11-15) with Christ on that throne and myself and all believers with Him. How many unsaved will look over to me questioning why I didn’t warn them?

The Lord declared Ezekiel a watchman for the house of Israel (Ezekiel 3:17-19). Ezekiel didn’t ask for it. It came with the Lord setting him apart as a prophet to Israel. The church has been set apart to warn all peoples of the world of the wrath to come and of God’s wonderful Gift of life in Jesus Christ that is able to deliver them from that wrath. In Colossians 1:28 Paul writes, “Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”

Seek His Counsel

“They did not ask counsel of the Lord”

Joshua 9:14

Like Joshua and the other leaders of Israel we may act without seeking the Lord’s counsel and, if we do, we don’t wait for a response. Following the Lord destroying the walls at Jericho Israel’s leaders urged Joshua to send what they rationally calculated to be enough men against the city of Ai. They were severely routed with the loss of thirty six lives. It might not sound like much of a loss but it meant thirty six families without a husband or a father because they did not ask counsel of the Lord. Israel was humiliated, Joshua’s leadership questioned and the Lord’s name blasphemed among the peoples of the region.

Satan is a liar and a deceiver and he has had plenty of time to hone his skills manipulating people. Once again Joshua and his leading men relied on their own rational assessment of the situation regarding the Gibeonites and did not ask counsel of the Lord. They were deceived and their leadership was again called into question by their own people (v 18). The deception meant that they could not fulfil the commandment of the Lord and they would have a constant reminder of their failure in their midst.

The presumption that the Lord is with us and will give us the victory, as we perceive victory, is all too common among professing and genuine Christians. In the current attack on Jesus Christ and His church many, but not all, Christians are trying to win a spiritual battle using the secular world’s practices. Perhaps the first point of error is the one that Joshua made; he did not ask counsel of the Lord. Proverbs 3:5-12 expresses the way we should follow.

  1. We will ask the Lord’s counsel, trusting his counsel and not our own judgment (vv 5-6)
  2. We will trust His counsel even when it seems to us to be wrong (v 7)
  3. We will trust His counsel even when we don’t appear to have sufficient resources (vv 9-10)
  4. We will trust Him when He chastises us for not previously asking His counsel (vv 11-12)

The above implies that a response is waited for and received. We cannot win the battle by secular means. Joshua and Israel discovered this and we must learn from their error. Ask the Lord’s counsel, wait for His response and, even if we don’t like His answer, trust Him.

Faithful Counsel

“They did not ask counsel of the Lord” Joshua 9:14

As we read the book of Joshua and come to this episode in his life and that of the other leaders we may think that they were a little slow in learning as they had the same problem not long before when they were going against the city of Ai. But before we cast the first stone we best take a careful look at ourselves. How often do we go ahead presuming on the grace of God and Christ’s presence based on our own knowledge, wisdom or previous experience?

Joshua and his leaders were taken in by a well planned deception. On the surface everything had the appearance of being genuine and straight forward. This is the kind of deception that works best. If things don’t appear genuine the deception doesn’t usually work.

If we reflect on our own lives we may be able to identify occasions when we have proceeded on the basis that everything looked genuine and have not sought counsel from the Lord with the result that we have been deceived. We may also discover occasions when we have made some attempt at asking counsel from the Lord but not taken the time to wait for a response.

The historical accounts of episodes in Joshua’s life are recorded so that we might learn both the ways of fallen man and the ways of God. God has not changed and neither has the nature of fallen mankind. The devil is called the deceiver for good reason. He has not changed either.

The notion that we only bother God with big, important or first time decisions makes us vulnerable to the devil’s deceptions. It allows us to live apart from intimacy with Jesus Christ. It allows us to live in pride thinking we have done some service for Christ when He wants us to serve with Him. We pat ourselves on the back but we have acted independently of Christ.

What looked straightforward to Joshua and the other leaders turned out to be a nightmare for the whole nation. Joshua and the other leaders rightly bore the brunt of the people’s complaining and accusation (v 18).

Israel later enjoyed success in overcoming the cities in the land “because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel” (10:42). The Lord fought for Israel not just because they knew the will of the Lord and were acting in obedience to that will; He fought for them because they went forward with the Lord leading and not for the Lord in His absence. Israel learned the hard way that going ahead of Him led to disaster.

Jesus reminded His disciples that they could succeed in nothing for the kingdom of God without Him being with them and at the head (John 15:4-8).

An Immutable Fact

“… in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, …” Titus 1:2

If we begin reading the Bible from this standpoint, “God, who cannot lie,” we would fare much better in understanding God and accepting His word and promises. As children we found it so easy to trust. As the years went by we found that it was naive to blindly trust everyone. Can God be trusted? That is the question that Adam and Eve had to answer. Satan convinced them that God could not be trusted and so they trusted Satan instead. We must also choose but regardless of what we choose the fact that God cannot lie remains.

The writer of Hebrews writes that it is impossible for God to lie (6:18). Paul writes something similar in 2 Timothy 2:13 when he wrote “He [God] cannot deny Himself.” He cannot think, speak or act contrary to His Divine Nature. We see this characteristic in all creation. All creatures act according to their nature.

If we choose not to believe a person we are saying that they are either ignorant on the matter or that they are a liar. When we do not believe God we prove that we are children of Adam and following his trust in Satan.

Repentance for salvation is that act of choosing to cease not believing God and to believe His word. In doing this we reject our allegiance to Adam and attach our allegiance to Jesus Christ (cf. Romans 5).

Sadly, there are some who claim the name of Jesus Christ who do not accept all His words. Such a claim is a deceit and hypocrisy and infers that Jesus is either ignorant or a deceiver. Unbelief may be masked by mishandling the word of God. We can become very adept at twisting another person’s words to suit our cause. Paul writes that elders in the church should be able to express “sound doctrine” (Titus 1:9; 2:1) so that the congregation may become “sound in the faith” (1:13; 2:2) through “sound speech” (2:8). The word of God is the authority that a teacher has. When he speaks the word of God faithfully he has “all authority” (2:15) but the moment he strays he has no authority.

Those who abuse the word of God may “profess to know God, but in works they deny Him” (1:16). Paul’s assessment is that they are, to God, detestable, disobedient and disqualified to serve Christ.

Let us make this an immutable fact in our minds, God does not and cannot lie. That is the foundation of faith in Jesus Christ.