DECEPTION
It is greatly
to be feared that there are multitudes in Christendom who verily imagine and
sincerely believe that they are among the saved, yet who are
total strangers to a work of divine grace in their hearts. It is one thing to have clear intellectual
conceptions of God's truth, it is quite another matter
to have a personal, real heart acquaintance with it. It is one thing to believe that sin is the
awful thing that the Bible says it is, but it is quite another matter to have a
holy horror and hatred of it in the soul.
It is one thing to know that God requires repentance,
it is quite another matter to experimentally mourn and groan over our vileness. It is one thing to believe that Christ is the
only Savior for sinners, it is quite another matter to
really trust Him from the heart. It is
one thing to believe that Christ is the sum of all excellency',
it is quite another matter to LOVE HIM above all others. It is one thing to believe that God is the
great and holy One, it is quite another matter to
truly reverence and fear Him. It is one
thing to believe that salvation is of the Lord, it is quite another matter to
become an actual partaker of it through His gracious workings.
(In
reference to the temptation in the garden…) "God is a liar," (Satan)
says. "He has deceived you, taken
your freedom, and restricted your joy."
Satan's lie is still the same today:
"You can be free. Do
whatever you want. It is your life. There are no divine laws; no absolute
authority; and above all, no judgment.
You will surely not die."
John MacArthur
The Battle for the Beginning, 2001, p. 206.
The human
heart has so many crannies where vanity hides, so many holes where falsehood
lurks, is so decked out with deceiving hypocrisy, that it often dupes itself.
John Calvin
A Calvin Treasury.
Christianity Today, v. 37, n. 4.
When I was
young I was sure of everything; in a few years, having been mistaken a thousand
times, I was not half so sure of most things as I was before; at present, I am
hardly sure of anything but what God has revealed to me.
John Wesley
Self-deception
is an insidious condition. You will never meet a person who knows he is
self-deceived. By definition, those ensnared are completely unaware that they
are.
Tom Ascol
The Most Frightening Words, Tabletalk, March 2008, p.
51. Used by Permission.
No one enjoys
being cross-examined, or accused of having something wrong in their lives. But
as we grow as Christians we come to the painful recognition that we have an
almost unlimited capacity for self-deception. We slowly learn that we need to
be stopped in our tracks by God. He uses Scripture to do this… We cannot reach
our destination if we are travelling in the wrong direction.
Sinclair B. Ferguson
Healthy Christian Growth, by Permission of the Banner of
Truth Trust, Carlisle, PA. 1991, p. 5.