Sin, the Deceiver of Many

Brother Irwin Sesher

Sin's Alluring Power

Seasons come and go, but God's Word always stays the same; it never changes. We are living in a world in which Satan is trying to do all he can to deceive and bring down the Christian. Nothing has changed from the beginning of time to this present day. Even in the days of Adam and Eve, Satan tried to convince Eve of a better way.

In verse 1 of our Scripture lesson, the devil came to Eve with a question, to plant a little seed of doubt in her mind. The devil is a liar, and he is the author of lies. He does not mind if you prosper financially or in other ways, but he does not want you to prosper spiritually. He is against everything good. He wants you to spend your time and money on the things of this world.

Can you see how the devil was working to try to get Eve to partake of something that God said not to eat of ? Sin is still sin, and wrong is still wrong. No matter how you look at it, sin is against God's way. Some people once spoke against sinful ways and the alluring power that sin has, but now they look at sin and think, "It's not as bad as it once was." Friend, if it was wrong then, it is wrong today. Things do not change overnight.

God does not change His mind about the things He once told you were wrong. That is not the way God is. The Lord is not going to come down and say to you, "Well, I made a mistake. What I said about sin, you can take that back, because that is not what I really meant." If He said it was wrong then, it is still wrong today.

In art class we learned how to mix different colors together to make other colors. For example, if you need gray, you can mix black and white together. However, with God there is no such thing as a gray area. It is either black or white, right or wrong, sinful or righteous. Friend, you are either saved or lost.

If you are not careful, the devil will cause you to believe, "Oh, I am such a good, moral person. I don't drink or smoke, I don't go to the movie theaters, and I don't run around all hours of the night. I go to church occasionally. I donate money to charitable organizations and give to the needy. I will be fine." You would be surprised if you knew the number of people who base their salvation on their charitable giving and being good, moral people. The question is, Are you saved? Is your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life?

So many people were all stirred about Y2K as we got closer to the end of 1999. We heard about it on the radio and read about it in the newspapers. My thinking was that God's people should be the most calm about the whole situation. It is so easy for the devil to get people worked up about such matters. Do you know why so many people were so concerned about that? They did not have anything else to hold to. God was not at the center of their lives. They were reaching for and grasping other things, hoping that the material things would take them through.

Dear one, if you have God, you have everything. The world does not understand that because their hearts have not been changed. God is the One who put this old world in motion, and He will take care of it. Do not listen to all the hype of the media. When the Lord says it is enough, then it will be enough. We do not have to worry about it.

I am glad that I know the One who holds the future, and He holds my hand. The world has no stability and no direction. The deceitfulness of sin will lead you to believe that everything is fine. You may be in your own little world now, but down deep there is an emptiness and a longing to do what is right. Satan will paint a beautiful picture of the life of sin, but it is just as a mirage.

If you are out driving on a really hot day and you look ahead, sometimes it appears that water is on the road ahead. The heat coming up from the asphalt gives an illusion of water on the road. You might have heard about people who were in a desert and saw mirages of an oasis ahead. It looked good from a distance, but once they got closer, they could see that it was not what they thought it was.

The Deceitfulness of Sin

Friend, once you start dabbling in the pleasures of sin, you will become deceived and bound by it. Now, I am not going to tell you there is no pleasure in sin, because there is seasonal pleasure in sin. If there were no pleasure in it, people would not be enticed to partake of it. However, the pleasures of sin are only temporary, because you must reap the things that you did in sin. What if you were to stop paying your electric bill for a while? You might think, "Well, no one is going to know whether I pay my electric bill." Then one day you would wake up and find that your power had been shut off. You might have enjoyed not spending your money on your electric bill for a while, until you started to reap for not paying.

There is a reaping time that takes place in sowing to the corruptness of sin. What you plant in the ground is going to come up. The farmer does not put corn kernels in the ground and harvest apples. He is going to reap a harvest of what he puts in the ground. When the crop comes up, there is more than what went in. Do not think that you can live a sinful life full of corruption, and then when it comes time to die, God is going to overlook everything that you have done. It is not going to do that.

Nevertheless, some have been deceived into thinking that very thing. They may think, "I am a good person, and my name is on a church book" or "I shook the preacher's hand and signed a pledge card" or "I was baptized when I was a baby." Friend, Is your name in the Lamb's Book of Life? So many people have all their hopes wrapped up in a religious move that they once made; however, none of those things will get you to Heaven. The thing that matters is that your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

When individuals sin, why is it that they think they can pull the wool over someone's eyes, so to speak? Why is it that they think to themselves, "As long as no one sees me, I will be okay?" There is an all-seeing eye watching you who knows exactly what you do, where you go, what you say, and everything else about you. Just because man may not see you does not mean that it goes unnoticed. Achan took something that God said to destroy. Although no one else saw him do it, God did, and He revealed it to His chosen leader.

Today some disobey God and think they can get by, but they cannot hide it from God's eyes. There are so many examples in the Bible of what happened to people when they disobeyed God, and those incidents are written there for our example. We can know exactly what will happen to us if we do the same things. What God says is still true today. The deceitfulness of sin is that people think they can go on in sin and not reap the consequences.

In Joshua 7:19-21 we read: "And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel [Achan had to come clean right then and there], and thus and thus have I done: When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it."

Achan saw it, coveted it, took it, and then hid it. That is exactly what the devil wants you to do today. He wants you to look, covet, and then take what you should not have. Dear one, sin is a deceiver. It will let you think everything is going along fine until you get really comfortable; then the reaping comes. Next, it will not be long until you seek others who will rally behind you, because you get so comfortable in your sin. You will start to gather together with others in the same condition and question things: "Why are we having another revival?" or "Why are we singing that song again?" or "Why is the pastor preaching on that again?" Sin will blind your eyes to spiritual realities and godly leadership. It will let you believe a lie and be damned.

The Fiery Serpents

Again, sin is a deceiver of men's souls. It is a gradual process. You do not wake up one day and say, "I am going to go out in sin." One thing leads to another. Bank robbers do not start robbing the first bank they see. Often they start stealing little things, such as a nickel or a dollar from Mom's purse. The drug addict does not wake up one day as a drug addict. Sin does not stop with little things; it has a snowball effect.

In Numbers 21:1-9 we read: "And when king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners. And Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the place Hormah. And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.

"And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth [that means 'great hatred or disgust'] this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived."

This is a picture of what can happen to people who are blessed of God and then become disgruntled and let sin into their lives. When people turn their backs on God and Truth and let down on the standard of the Word, they are bitten by sin. If you have not turned your life over to Jesus Christ, you have been bitten.

Many "serpents" are biting people all around us. There is the serpent of jealousy, the serpent of hatred, the serpent of backbiting, and the serpent of evil thinking, just to name a few. Just because you cannot literally see these serpents does not mean they are not real. There are spiritual serpents that are biting people. Some people like to go around and spread gossip. What will happen to them if they continue in that path? Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Eternal destruction will come upon those who continue down the path of sin.

God's people were complaining. People complained back in Moses' day, and people complain today. Those people thought about the food they had in Egypt and said, in so many words, "We hate this manna that we have been given to eat." (Today some who once loved the Truth no longer want it.) Through Israel's disobedience, God still provided for them. God was faithful. Think about how good God was to those people. They kept saying, "Remember the food we had down in Egypt?" They forgot that they were slaves in Egypt. When you are a slave, you do not have much to say about what happens to you. Eating hamburgers in freedom is better than eating steak in bondage. There is no choice when you are in Egypt, or bondage.

God Is Not Slack Concerning His Promise

In sin the devil will lead you around. Sin is deceitful. Complaining about God's man and God's Word is never the answer to your problems; doing that will only multiply them. The wrath of God is stirred when people speak against His messenger. The only way you can receive help and strength is from the Lord, so you dare not speak evil against the man of God, because he is the one through whom the Lord is speaking.

Today some profess to be saints of God, yet they say such evil and hurtful things against the pastor, thinking that no evil will come upon them. They need to be careful. They are letting things spew out their mouths and do not care who hears them. Do you think the boss on the job would put up with that kind of treatment? If you were to do that to your boss on the job, you would be looking for another job. It is sad that some people show more respect to the boss on the job than to the pastor; that is a shame. If you have said things against a man of God or done hurtful things behind his back, you are not going to prosper with God unless you back up and ask for forgiveness.

A man of God preaches as he does because he loves the people and has a burden for them. If he did not love them and carry a burden for them, he would preach any old way just to get more people in. There is too much of that today. None of us wants to be criticized, put down, falsely accused, or have slanderous remarks made about us. However, when one preaches the Truth to people to get them to see their needs, that happens sometimes. If you ever want to get anywhere with God and make Heaven your eternal home, if you have spoken against a man of God, you must back up and ask God for forgiveness and make things right with the pastor.

God used the fiery serpents to bring judgment on those people, but He also gave them hope. The Lord instructed Moses to make a serpent of brass and put it on a pole. Then if anyone was bitten by a fiery serpent, he could look upon the brass serpent and live. Therefore, the instrument of judgment became an instrument of salvation. God is a merciful God, and He will be right there if you make a wrong turn, if you are willing to turn to Him. In 2 Peter 3:9 we read, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." When one repents, God sends His grace.

I read an article several years ago about a person who had smoked all his life and was in Intensive Care. His condition was caused by smoking tobacco, and he had to have a tracheotomy. His mouth was eaten up with cancer. He was so bound by the smoking habit that they had to stick cigarettes in that tracheotomy. That is sad, but that is the deceitfulness of sin. Satan will paint you a beautiful picture. He will make the billboards and the lights look alluring, but he does not show you what life is like on the other side of that. If he were to show you the other side from the beginning, you would not even try it. I repeat, sin is a deceiver.

I thank the Lord that I have never gone after any of that. It is not in my own strength; it is the power of God. I thank the Lord for the power of God that can keep us, lead, and direct us. Christian friend, if you did not have God in your life, you would be out in the middle of the big ocean of life just going around with the ocean currents, having no direction. I thank the Lord that the Christian has a Pilot, not a copilot. He can guide you and take you through life safely. Seeing ones with no direction in their lives is so sad. They do not know which way to turn. The Truth is what sets you free. Jesus is like that brass serpent. You cannot do anything in this life unless you look to Him for help. The devil will try to tell you that you do not need anyone in your life to help you. Many curriculums in the public schools teach self-sufficiency.

Are You Missing the Mark?

Throughout the Bible and history books we can read of incidents where people tried to prosper without God in their lives. However, it was not long until they fell. One example is the mighty Roman Empire. They had magnificent buildings, their own language, their own money system; they had everything but God. Without God a nation will go down every time. Dear one, where are you looking for your help? You may say, "My job will get me through." Well, who gave you the strength and the mind to do that job? Someone may say, "I have plenty of money in the bank to see me through." Friend, a sudden illness could wipe out your bank account in no time. If you do not have Jesus Christ in your life, you have nothing.

We can read accounts of prominent people in the world who had everything that money could buy. They had wealth, luxurious automobiles, real estate investments, fine homes, and whatever else they wanted, but they died without God because they were poor spiritually. Dear one, you do not know what will come your way in the future.

When you start using your own thinking and your own reasoning, you will become confused. Human reasoning will lead you away from the highway of holiness. The children of Israel despised those fiery serpents that we read about in the Book of Numbers. Today people are no different. They can run down the Word of God, God's man, their brothers and sisters in Christ, and anything or anyone who lives a life acceptable to Him. If they expect to receive any help for themselves, they must go the very same way. They must look to the Cross and Jesus Christ for their salvation. They must come to Jesus, confess their sins, and ask Him for forgiveness.

So many people do not want to accept responsibility. We are living in a world where everyone wants to blame everyone else for their condition. They want to make excuses for everything. It is only through Christ that one can gain the help he needs for his soul. Nothing material can help us.

Too many people are trying other avenues, and they are missing the mark altogether. Many religious people today want to know what seminary the preacher went to, how many letters he has after his name, where he had his training, and how many people he can attract to their assembly. Dear one, it is not in all of that; it is simply whether you have been born again. Aren't you glad it is that simple?

Too many religious people today want to make it so complicated that it is no wonder that people are sick of religion. They need to get back to the point: you must be born again, just as Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." That is just as plain and simple as it can be. If more people could understand that they must have an individual relationship with God, more people would receive the help they need.

Too many are trying to see the Kingdom of God through their natural eyesight when they need to have a heart change. You cannot see it with the natural eyes. When you see the Church of God in its true beauty and holiness, you will lose your desire to try anything else. You will no longer want to go down and flirt with Babylon and partake of her wine. I have no desire to go down there; there is nothing there. God has already turned His wrath on that.

Some used to testify about how the Lord brought them out of Babylon, but where are they today? Some of them are right back where they were, but in worse shape. You may ask, "Why do some go back?" Because they did not keep a love of the Truth. There was a letting down, and when there is a letting down, people go back and partake of things that they once said they would have no dealings with. Dear one, that can happen to you if you take that same attitude toward Truth. The love of the Truth and a burning desire to do God's will needs to be set before the people constantly.

When people start saying, "Well, Truth doesn't matter" or "I don't want to hear the Truth," they will end up in the very same condition. That is sad when people cannot tell where the world ends and the church begins. We need to be reminded of what the martyrs went through to secure this Truth and of the ridicule the ministry has gone through to keep the Truth marching on.

Some people have quit serving God just because someone did not look at them right or whispered something to someone else that they thought was about them. How is that excuse going to appear when you compare it with what the martyrs and the ministry have gone through to preach God's Word? Are you going to give up because of a wrong attitude? People need to have stronger spiritual backbones when it comes to standing for the right. People of the world let you know where they stand. We should not be afraid to stand for the Truth.

Someone will always be around to say something about you if you live for God. If not, you need to check your experience. During the Christmas season, some people who live on my block say, "I thought he was a Christian, but his house is one of the darkest houses on the street." No, it actually has a lot of light inside: the Gospel light. When you have Truth, you have the light.

You need to consider what people said about Jesus. Did He throw in the towel and say, "I quit"? No, He kept going. What an example for us to follow! The religious leaders of that day stirred up the people, and when they gave them the choice of releasing Jesus or Barabbas, a murderer, they shouted, "Barabbas!" They spit upon, tortured, and mocked Jesus. Today if you live for God, people often ask, "Why do you dress that way? Why do you wear your hair that way? Why do you constantly go to church?"

How Do You Look Upon Truth?

How do people look upon Truth today? How do they look at true men of God? How do they look upon the true Christian? Many people call themselves Christians. Almost everyone professes to be Christians and on their way to Heaven. Yet, when you get right down to reality, how many true Christians are there? There are not many according to the Bible.

People can only look upon the outward man; they cannot see the inward man. First Corinthians 15:47 says, "The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven." How can we live this Christian life? In Galatians 2:20 we read, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

Let us keep in mind that sin is a deceiver of men's and women's souls. We need to constantly keep that before our minds. You do not want to get so used to going to church, sitting in a pew, listening to the prayer requests, the messages, and the songs of invitation and yet go your way. The devil could use that and say, "You are just going through a routine. Why don't you go ahead and stay home? You know what the service is going to be like." Thank the Lord, in the true Church of God, there are no programs handed out in the vestibule.

The devil will use any circumstance or conversation for his benefit. If it is something that he knows will aid him in getting someone to fall, he will use it. He is constantly scheming. Sometimes no matter how innocent something may seem, he will use it for his benefit. You need to ask the Lord to help you. He is there, and He will help you. He does not want to see you go your own way.

If you are going through trials and persecutions, that is not the time to give up on God. That is the time to seek His face in a greater way. It seems that the first thing some people do when they become discouraged is to stop going to church. When you start having problems, you need to be in church, because you will not get any help from the world. The world is against God and God's man. The place where you are going to receive help is in the church services where the saints can pray for you and you can hear the Word preached.

If you read a little further in Numbers 21:16-20, you will see that those people had a change of heart after those fiery serpents came upon them. Verse 17, speaking of when they were looking for the water, says, "Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it." They knew better than to complain. If you become discouraged, remember that well is right there; just keep digging for it. They received water from the rock, but that time they had to dig for it.

You may ask, "Where is the living water that Jesus promised?" Just dig a little deeper; move the dirt away that tries to get into your life, the discouragement and the unbelief, and you will start seeing that well of water spring up. Remember what the dear Savior went through for you and me to enjoy this beautiful salvation.

Dear one, sin is the deceiver of many. You do not have to be one of the many who become deceived by it. You need to ask the Lord to help you. No one else can do it for you. However, you have to take the first step, and then the Lord will be right there to help you the rest of the way. No one cares for you as much as Jesus cares. So many in the world say they will be there for you, but when times get tough, where are they? Often they are nowhere to be found. There is Someone who will stick closer than a brother. He will be right there to help you through your needs.

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