Danger of Deception

My exhortation to you last week was to be a doer of the Word. This is an ongoing emphasis in all we are about as a church. We want to hear the Word of God and express it in practical, applied Christian living and increasingly know God's blessing.

We need, however, to remember the danger involved in not being a doer of the Word. James 1:22 says, "But be doers of the Word and not hearers only, deceiving yourself." The great danger of not doing the Word is being self-deceived. It is difficult to think of a worse condition than to be self-deceived - to be in error and all the while to believe that you are just fine.

As I said last week, this is an ever-present danger for strong teaching churches that place a premium on knowing the Word of God. We must never believe we are all right simply because we hear the Word. Blessed are those who hear the Word and keep it, Jesus said. Hearing is good; hearing and keeping are best.

So I direct you back to the notes sheet in your bulletin. I urge you to make use of it. Consider how the Word of God you hear each Lord's Day calls for change in how you think and believe and speak and live, and then consider specifically how your actions will be different in the coming week. Pray about these applications of the Word. Speak of them with others; talk about what God is teaching you and how God's Word is transforming you. Seek to hold others accountable to keeping their applications of the Word.

In it all, remember that while simply hearing and then sitting back in smug self-satisfaction at KNOWING the Word of God can only lead to deceit. But hearing the Word and in humility DOING it can only lead to God's riches in Christ Jesus.

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, not sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night." Psalm 1:1-2

Come, let us worship God by praising Him and hearing His gracious Word to us.