A Deceived Heart

Temple Baptist Church - 10-6-2013

 

Matthew 7:13-14, 21-23; 13:1-23

 

Introduction:

A. As we deal with heart matters in this series on the heart, I think it necessary to preach on “The Deceived Heart.” In these verses, we find the “professors vs. the possessors.” We find the “many vs. the few.” When dealing with biblical salvation, the Bible declares that the vast majority of people will die lost, not saved! Most of the other “hearts” that I deal with will be of little consequence if this heart is not right.

B. In Matthew 7:13-14, we find:

1. Two ways: the broad way and wide gate that leads to hell and the straight way and narrow gate that leads to heaven.

2. Two classes of travelers: the many who are lost and the few who are saved.

C. In Matthew 7:21-23, we find: the “professors” who Christ never knew. We often contrast “professors” and “possessors.” By biblical interpretation, these 3 verses refer to the false prophets of the preceding verses. This morning, I want to make some biblical applications.

D. In Matthew 13, we find the first of the 7 parables our Lord gave concerning salvation and prophetic of the local church age of Revelation 2-3. The seed was the same and the sower was consistent but the four soils yielding four different results:

1. The “wayside” hearer who did not understand and the seed “catcheth away” by the wicked one.

2. The “stoney places” hearer who heard and received and yet had no root in himself: by and by, he became offended at the word.

3. The “among the thorns” hearer hears the word but the “cares … riches” of the world choke the word.

4. The “good ground” hearer hears, understands, and becomes fruitful.

E. Why are so many professors unfruitful? Why are so many offended at the word? Why have so many people left the faith? I have often said that the worst deception of all is that of self-deception. There are many areas in which we can be deceived but I want to deal this morning with the worst self-deception: the deception of a false salvation.

F. Living in the Bible Belt has been an eye opening experience. Here in South Carolina, we find religion at its finest. Christianity has been so rooted here in the south that almost everyone has learned the language and is familiar with how it is to be done.

G. There is so much religious form with churches of different denominations on almost every street or country lane. You can go out into the country and at almost each intersecting road see more than one sign pointing to the different churches on that particular road. Baptist Churches, Methodist Churches, Presbyterian Churches, Pentecostal Churches, Episcopal Churches, Lutheran Churches, Catholic Church, or some cult.

H. The vast majority of the churches in our area are Baptist and yet South Carolina is a vast mission field! We hear such terminology as “I hope that I would go to heaven” or “I am doing my best to make it” with very little “I know that I am saved.”

I. Even among those who are of the “I know that I am saved” persuasion have little or no outward testimony of salvation and become extremely defensive when they are asked such questions as “How do you know that you are saved?” or “Tell me how, when, and where you got saved?”

J. Self-examination is also a good thing because it is a Bible thing. The Bible clearly says to “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Corinthians 13:5)

K. This message is not intended to make the saved doubt or to make the false professor angry. It is an honest message intended to cause each of us to examine ourselves, not in the light of what others think, but in light of what God says about biblical salvation. It is truly only what God thinks that matters anyway. No one can tell you that you are either saved or lost. That is the work of the Holy Spirit and He will speak to the honest soul in either blessed assurance or spiritual conviction.

L. To miss heaven through a false profession is to spend an eternity in a devil’s hell with no hope of getting out.

SELF-EXAMINATION

1. There Needs To Be An Examination Of A Scriptural Conversion - Acts 20:21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. (You should know how, when, and where! How can you be convicted of sin, repent with godly sorrow, place your faith in Christ, and not know it!)

a. There Should Have Been A Conviction About Sinfulness That Brought You To Repentance – 2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

b. There Should Have Been A Conviction About The Savior That Brought You To Faith - Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

2. There Needs To Be An Examination Of A Changed Life - 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (There should have been a definite and lasting change that took place. If it looks like a duck, acts like a duck, quacks like a duck, it is still a duck!)

3. There Needs To Be An Examination Of A Faith That Works - James 2:18-19 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. (Dead faith is just that: dead! People say that they are saved and yet have no desire to live for Christ.)

4. There Needs To Be An Examination Of A Love For The Things Of God - Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. (The Holy Spirit causes us to love the things of God!)

a. We Will Love God’s People - 1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. (If you love God’s people, you will want to be with them. Many lost people like God’s people but have no real love for them. You will always try to hang around with who you love.)

b. We Will Love God’s House - Psalms 26:8 LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth. (People do not assemble in God’s house because they do not love God’s house! Period! If you are truly saved, you will love to come and worship the Lord in obedience to His command.)

c. We Will Love God’s Word - Job 23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. (I personally have never been offended at the preaching of God’s Word. I have been convicted to the point that my heart was torn out but never mad or upset with either the preacher of the Bible. It is right and I am wrong. I love it, even when it cuts! You either get mad or glad when this blessed old Book is preached.)

5. There Needs To Be An Examination Of An Obedience To The Scriptures - 1 John 5:2-3 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. (They are grievous only to the lost! GRIE'VOUS, a. Heavy; oppressive; burdensome; as a grievous load of taxes.

1. Afflictive; painful; hard to be borne.

2. Causing grief or sorrow.

3. Distressing.

4. Great; atrocious.

5. Expressing great uneasiness; as a grievous complaint.

6. Provoking; offensive; tending to irritate; as grievous words. Prov.15.

7. Hurtful; destructive; causing mischief; as grievous wolves. Acts.20.)

6. There Needs To Be An Examination Of Holy Ghost Conviction – Hebrews 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

1 John 4:13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. (Sensitivity to sin through the conviction of the Holy Ghost is one of the greatest ways to know if you belong to the Lord.)

Conclusion: This morning, you are either glad, mad, or convicted by the message. I am not here to offend or to make mad. I am preaching because of multitudes who sit on Baptist pews that have never come to Christ. You can come “Just as I am” but you cannot leave “Just as you were!”