26th February 2021 – Are You Deceiving Yourself?

We fool ourselves more than we fool Christ: Mat 22:18 “But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites”. We fool ourselves more than we fool others: Mat 7:20 KJV Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. When we fool ourselves we need to know that pretending does have its rewards.

We reap what we sow; you cannot sow a seed of orange and expecting to harvest apples. Israel sowed idolatry and reaped Babylon; Psalm 137:1-9 “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion…..”

Haman’s conspiracy against the Jews reaped the gallows; Est 7:10 “So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.” Annanias sowed a lie and reaped death; Act 5:4-5 “Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.”

You cannot mock God, seeking self glory in the church to get noticed or undue promotion; Luke 18:11-12 “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.”

Professing Christ and hating others is another way of mocking God; 1Jn 4:20 “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” Trusting riches instead of God is another mockery of God; Luke 16:23 “And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.”

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.