Part 1:"But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." This passage in Hebrews, written to "holy brothers" contains a solemn warning against two deadly conditions that can occur in the life of a born again believer, hardness of heart and deception of sin. How can we know whether we ourselves have been decieved or hardened?Did the Jews that rejected the teachings of Christ realize they were deceived or hard hearted?But we have already accepted Christ, so this can't happen to us, can it?The warning is written to "holy brothers," so this biblical writer is warning those in the church!But I read my bible, tithe, worship, and pray, all in the name of Jesus.Jesus was rejected by people who read their bible, tithed, worshipped, and prayed in God's name (Probably a lot more than we do.)But they did not acknowledge Him as Lord; we have confessed that Jesus is Lord!Would Jesus say to us, "Why do you call me Lord, and not do the things I say."Many will say, "Lord, Lord"...but Jesus will call them workers of iniquity; they must have been deceived.Only those who do what Jesus said to do will enter the kingdom of heaven; those who do the will of the Father. Paul told the Corintians to examine themselves to see if they were actually in the faith.What would we look for if we were to give ourselves such an exam?We must look to see if we are doing all the will of God!Hearing what we should do, without actually doing it causes us to deceive ourselves."Be doers of the word, not hearers only, so deceiving yourselves." James 1:22We must examine ourselves to see if we are doing what we know God has said we must do.OK. Are we devoted to prayer (praying continually)? Are we obeying all Christ's commandments (denying self, taking up our cross, and following)? Are we living holy lives (set apart from and not conforming to the world around us)? Are we being continually filled with the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to lead us every day? Do we not love the world or the things in it?Do we love Jesus and the Father with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength? Are we having nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness (music, movies, and books made by people of the world with violence, sensuality, and other unholy elements)?Unless we can prove that we are obeying all the will of God, we have been affected by sin's deceitfulness.How have we been affected? Sin has deceived us! in what way? In the same way Satan decieved Eve! How did Satan decieve Eve, he told her if she disobeyed God she would not die! Have we believed that lie too?Paul told the Roman believers, "If you live according to the flesh(sinful nature) you will die."Doesn't that just mean physical death, like God will take us home early? Going home early is not punishment, Paul wanted to go home and be with Christ. These kinds of thought are all forms of Satan's big lie, "you shall not die"This is "the lie" Paul warned the Thessalonians about in his second letter to them, "For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe 'the lie' and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness." Why would God send people a delusion to make them believe "the lie"? He does so because they refused to love the truth, His word is truth. Everything God speaks is to be obeyed, but Satan and sin tell us that we can still pick and choose what we want. The lie we believe is that we can disobey and not die.John made it clear, "The man who says, 'I know Him,' but does not do what He commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him." This is a mand who has believed "the lie" and who by listening to the word without doing it, has deceived himself into thinking he knows the Lord. God will send this type of man a strong delusion so that he will be convinced he is ready for heaven."Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did." "No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.""Dear children do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is righteous is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.""No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning because he has been born of God.""This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are."Is this what we beleive? This is clearly the word of God, written by the apostle who Jesus loved.I don't think it's possible to stop sinning! Then we have believed "the lie." We don't love the truth.
