Deceived By The Easy Way

And Scott pointed out a mistake. A big mistake I made this morning that I have to rectify. It was one of those Peter moments. When he awoke from slumber to witness the transfiguration, and he said, Let’s build a tabernacle. And the text says that he did not realize what he was saying. I did not realize what I was saying when I inadvertently said Paul wrote Hebrews. You know, you just skip a flow of things. You say things that you’re not even really thinking about. It just sort of slipped out. We all know that didn’t happen. So I had to correct that minor mistake this morning. Also, I need to share with you that the lesson this morning and this evening, the thoughts originated with Ben Shipley.

Now, Ben is likely to hear me say this because he listens to my sermons off the website all the time. And particularly because I’m preaching these lessons that he shared with me. I’m not sure whether these are completely his own creation or partly inspired by his father, who was a gospel preacher for many years in the state of Texas, Dan Shipley, who’s recently gone on to be with the Lord. And Ben thinks so much of his father. In fact, he has buckets full of sermons that Dan preached, and he’s he’s looking through all. I wish I had time to go through all those lessons. But Ben is an excellent student in his own right, has a spiritual mind, and so he shared some of those thoughts that I shared with you this morning and the thoughts this evening, at least the seeds of what I’m doing today, and I appreciate Ben very much.

1. We Want an Easier Way

And wanted you to know the source of some of these thoughts. As we talk about some of the challenges that face us, as we began this morning, I said I’m going to have more to say, but we’re actually going to tie in, beginning tonight, the reading, if you are indeed reading through the Bible in a year, as the elders have assisted us in doing. In Joshua 17, I’ve never referenced this text before in a lesson. This will be a first time. As tribal allotments of the land are being made, we come to this little piece of information about Manasseh. But the sons of Manasseh could not take possession of these cities because the Canaanites persisted in living in that land.

But they did not drive them out completely, just subjugated them. Then the sons of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, Why have you given me only one lot and one portion for an inheritance, since I am a numerous people whom the Lord has thus far blessed. Regarding our allotment of land, we need more. And Joshua said to them, If you are a numerous people, you have a very large workforce. Go up to the forest and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Pharizzites and of the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you. And the sons of Joseph said, The hill country is not enough for us. And all the Canaanites who live in the valley land, they have chariots of iron.

Both those who are in Bethshan and its towns, and those who are in the valley of Jezreel. Chariots of iron. And Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph to Ephraim and Manasseh, saying, You are a numerous people, and have great power. You shall not have one lot only, but the hill country shall be yours. For though it is a forest, you shall clear it, and to its farthest borders it shall be yours, for you shall drive out the Canaanites, even though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong. We need more land. This forest area is just not ideal in which to live, and the Canaanites have this area, and they have chariots of iron, and so we would like an easier path to get to what we want.

Then there’s this story that’s similar, but even more tragic in results, and that is the story of King Jeroboam. Very familiar story in 1 Kings chapter 12, concerned about the stability of his kingdom. This is the new kingdom, the divided kingdom. And people have to go to Jerusalem to worship, but that’s in the southern kingdom. And so, as a result of a lack of faith, though he has been anointed by a prophet to be king, and given the land that he controls and reigns over, Jeroboam says in his heart, the kingdom will return to the house of David, verse 26. They will return to Rehoboam, king of Judah. So the king consulted. And that’s interesting in verse 28. I have the word consulted underline. Consulted whom?

Did he consult God in prayer or consult his advisors? And so here’s what he came up with. Not as a result of prayer, I might add. And made two golden calves. And he said to them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt. He set one up in Bethel and one at Dan. Now this thing became a sin. For the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. It’s too much. The requirement is too high. Let’s make worship easier. And this is always palatable to folks. This was what was on the minds of Manasseh and Ephraim. We want an easier way to where we want to go.

2. The Devil Is Deceiving Folks with the Easy Way

And so when we come to the New Testament, we should not be surprised that the devil is deceiving folks with the easy way. In 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 3, if the gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.

That they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is in the image of God, for we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord. And ourselves as bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For God who said light shall shine out of darkness is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Now, verse 6 is a lot. The one who is shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge. This is the illumination of the spiritual mind we were talking about this morning. To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. It emanates from God’s glory unto our glory in the face of Christ.

Christ being the essence of this message, the pattern that we are to follow in this illumination. Well, the devil doesn’t want that to happen. The devil is trying to veil that knowledge from your mind. He is trying to deceive you, and one of the ways that he does this is by offering an easier way. Same result, easier way. You know, advertisers have embraced this sales pitch that the devil uses spiritually. It’s always about an easier way to get to where you want to go. An easier way to lose weight, an easier way to get in shape, or to quit that habit like smoking, or making money. Everybody’s looking for the easy way, the short path to those desired ends and goals. And it’s looking for the easy way that has contributed to all sorts of ills in our society.

What do you think crime is all about? To obtain material things and to satisfy desires the easy way, the quick way, without the proper effort. It’s why people by the millions are on the welfare rolls. I don’t know if it’s millions, but it’s a lot of folks. The easy way hinders growth and development. So I want to talk to you for a few moments tonight about taking the easy way and be deceived by the devil’s offer. No one is ever made better or stronger by taking the easy way. Just give us more land. He says, drive them out. Have faith. Deal with your enemies. God has delivered them into your hand. Drive out those chariots. You shouldn’t be afraid of those chariots. If the forest is a problem, get that workforce and cut down the trees.

Go to work. They wanted a shortcut. The easy way hinders growth and development. That’s true of what we might want to be physically. You know, sometimes we see somebody who’s who’s really in great shape. And we might be desirous of being in that same shape, right? But we don’t want to do the work. They watch their diet. All kinds of different diet plans that are out there. You know, my ideal diet is one week and I get the desired results. I can do it for seven days. I mean, I’m looking for that plan. Seven days to physical fitness and health. You know, because I don’t want to give up chocolate for too long. So, can’t I do this in seven days? I have to admit, that’s it.

If you’ve ever thought like that, this lesson is ultimately going to be for you because I’d say those things bleed over in the way we think. And not just what we’re eating, our nutrition, but what if we would like to develop and put a little bit more muscle on the skeleton? Could be some advantages to that. Bodily exercise profits a little. I want to go to the gym again, a week or maybe two at the most. And get that desired shape. Who wants to work at it for years? I’ve got other things to do. And so there’s no shortcut to it physically. What about intellectually, kids? I want to master mathematics and calculus, but I don’t want to do it over several years. Or science. Or, hey, how about a better goal?

The English language. Let’s master that, the ability to speak it fluently, without errors. And to avoid profanity. Okay. But growth intellectually doesn’t occur overnight. There’s no shortcuts to the 3.5 or higher grade point average. You know, I got to tell you, it’s on this. Again, I’m telling you on myself. I got by in school on my memory alone. I had a good rememberer, I call it. And so before the test, man cram, memory. Pass the test.

There’s no shortcuts. I wanted to spend 30 minutes in the library every night at Florida College, and I was done. Actually, I went to the library to visit folks. I wonder why Brother Copeland was always going, shh. That was my idea of library. Visitation, not study. We want shortcuts. And because that’s the way we think physically, and that’s the way we think intellectually, it is likely that will bleed over into our spirituality as well. And that’s why we won’t invest a sufficient amount of time in Bible study. And I just got to tell you, there is no shortcut to knowing God’s message well. You know, one of the things I’ve been noticing that people that come to us from without is they’re not coming to us from a religious background of biblical knowledge, like people used to do.

They don’t even know their books of the Bible. And so when you start with them, that’s one of the first things. If this is going to be helpful to you, the preaching, you’ve got to get acquainted with the Bible. You’ve got to learn the books. They don’t even know the song that our kids, hey kids, you’re getting a big head start if you can, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Big head start. Particularly with Genesis X and Leviticus numbers. If you got that one, the 39 books. It starts with just learning the books of the Bible. That’s where some people have to begin because they don’t have that knowledge to be able to piece the knowledge together to have the proper framework. And I’ve got to tell you, just sitting in an assembly once a week isn’t going to get you there.

Not for a long time. You’re going to have to do the work. You’re going to have to invest of yourself. And I think sometimes when we’re trying to teach the gospel, we may even want to provide them an easy way.

Somewhat to be easy way Christians. Who do you think is saying to us, I can get you to heaven through the easy way? Who’s telling us that? And I’ll tell you what he doesn’t do. If you listen to my way of going to heaven, let me tout to you all the benefits of going to hell with me. The devil and his angels. Matthew 25 and verse 4. He’s not going to tout all the benefits of that. He’s going to make the this is what’s happening in the religious world today. And that’s why the easy believism is growing in popularity like ever before. If you’ve not heard that term, that’s what’s going on in the religious world. You believe in Jesus, you are saved and saved eternally.

That message is growing like crazy. Do as little as possible. Once you’ve signed on the dotted line spiritually, you’re pretty much free to do whatever. You can pursue whatever you want. You’re going to heaven. Easy believism. Let’s make this simple. Let’s go to heaven the easy way. And people are embracing it. Because it feeds into the way we think about so many things. In Revelation chapter 12, we have an adversary. We’ve talked about the adversary mentioning briefly this morning in Revelation chapter 12. I love Revelation chapter 12, so many sermons about that chapter as he sets to attack the man-child, but loses as he’s caught up to his throne. And so then he is enraged as he’s thrown down to the earth, this one who deceived the whole world.

And his angels thrown down with him. And so then he starts breathing his threats against the offspring of the child, or the offspring of the woman, which are the spiritual descendants. It’s the church. And then in verse 17, it says, and the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring. And who are they? Those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. We can talk about what he’s doing and how he’s deceived the world generally. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 would be primarily showing that. But he wants to deceive us as well. He’s not given up on us. Beware of his deception. Satan deceived people into believing they will get something for next to nothing.

You know, sometimes we sit and scratch our heads about what’s going on in the religious world and why people believe what they believe. Do you think they have come to these conclusions? Most of them. They’ve come to these conclusions by a diligent search of scripture. Not what’s happened. They look at a few scriptures, some of which sound really wonderful. And they have teachers telling them, you’re on the right track. You’ve done what you need to do to be on the right track. And they listen to that, and everybody feels wonderful. Everything is great. But they’ve not investigated for themselves. They’ve not dug thoroughly into the expectations that God has for them in the New Testament. And so they are deceived, thinking that they’re going to get the prize, but they have to invest very little.

And it works. And that’s why there is a broad gate and a broad way that leads to destruction. And many are going in thereat. Matthew chapter 7 and verse 13. So I have said all of that to say, to bring your attention to a passage in Galatians chapter 6, verses 7 and 8 that speaks to us. This was written primarily, first of all, to believers, when over and over again, and this is just one of the passages, we’re not going to look at all the deception passages in the New Testament, but there are many. Where believers are warned about deception. And he says, Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. And yeah, that’s where I get my email address. Mock not my last name. God is not mocked.

Okay, there it is. That’s why. Mock not. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. He that sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap everlasting life. There is an investment that has to be made. We sort of skip over sowing because it’s such an easy concept to grasp, right? You sow the seed, and then after a period of time, the harvest is reaped. But what should that illustration do for us? You know, the farmer again doesn’t do this in 30 seconds. He doesn’t do it in a day.

From sowing to reaping. It is not done in a moment. I think we’re looking for all kinds of shortcuts when it comes to raising our children to know the Lord. When it comes to investing among the Lord’s people and interacting with them, when it comes to my own spiritual growth and maturity. I think a lot of us would like to sign on the dotted line and say, I want to be a spiritually mature believer. I want to be that member who supplies his or her part. But are we willing to invest of ourselves to make the sacrifices to put in the work to actually achieve those wonderful goals and aims? Whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap. And we know from passages that talk about material giving.

3. Do Not Be Deceived About Being Deceived

He that sows sparingly reaps sparingly. He that sows bountifully reaps bountifully. Do not be deceived about this sowing principle as it relates to what we might sow in terms of our conduct, whether it’s immoral, he that sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the sowing to the spirit, that one reaps eternal life. So the first thing that I want to suggest to you as we bring all of this to a head this evening, do not be deceived about being deceived. That statement is in there for a reason in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 12. Paul did say that. 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 12. Let him who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall. And the example is those covenant people in the Old Testament, Israel, who thought that everything was fine in their relationship with God, but they were immoral, murmuring, complaining, always trying the Lord, and he says, with most of them God was not well pleased.

4. Do Not Be Deceived About Deceiving God

We don’t need to be those people. Do not be deceived about being deceived. And do not be deceived about deceiving God, because it does not work.

5. Do Not Be Deceived About Your Sowing

This passage, you can’t put one over on God. And the one who thinks he can sow to the flesh and still reap to the spirit is deceived about that, and God will not be fooled by that. Don’t be deceived about being deceived, and don’t be deceived about deceiving God. One cannot sow to the flesh and reap of the spirit. Do not be deceived about being deceived. Do not be deceived about deceiving God, and do not be deceived about your sowing. There’s only two kinds of sowing. Did you notice that in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 7? Sowing to the flesh or sowing to the spirit, and sowing of the spirit is going to evolve. Am I going to sow after his will or am I going to pursue my own?

Now let me tell you what is a temptation here. I used this illustration a long time ago in another sermon. And Ben was using it. I’ll say, ah, I’ve used that before. So I’m going to use it again here. This fella pulls up to a farm and notices something interesting on the side of the barn. There are arrows that are sticking in the side of the barn, and around each arrow is this target. I mean, those arrows were right in the middle. And the guy asked about that. I said, Man, you’re a really good shot. And he said, Well, not really. I shot the arrows first. And then drew the targets. And you know, that’s what we want to do sometimes spiritually. We want to shoot where we want to shoot.

And then we want to draw the bullseye around it and say, I’ve hit the target. The easy way. That’s the easy way. The hard work would be what? To take the time to become proficient with the bow so that the target can actually be hit, which I can never do, because I don’t want to invest the time to become proficient as a bow person. Some of you might, if that’s an interest of yours. But you’re not going to pick it up in verse time. Oh, you might get a lucky shot, probably not. But you’re going to have to invest the time and develop the skill to be able to shoot so well. And the same as true spiritually. I think sometimes we sort of reach back and shoot the arrow and then draw the target around it.

Whose will are we after? Our will or his will. And so, what is sowing to the spirit? So that we can actually hit the target that’s there. We looked at that this morning. It’s this renewed mind that we’re calling about. It is to set our minds on the things of the spirit, because to set our minds on the things of the flesh is hostile or enmity against God. And so the development of the spiritual mind, there’s no shortcut to that. I said we had to what? Think about the soul, think about the spiritual realm, and we’ve got to do that on a consistent basis. You can’t do that for a day and say, wow, I’m spiritually there. It’s an ongoing process. We talk about walk in a way that is worthy of our calling.

Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 1. There are no shortcuts to spiritual maturity and wisdom. The mind set on the flesh is death. The mind set on the spirit reaps everlasting life. There’s not only no shortcut to spiritual maturity and wisdom, there’s no shortcut to a happy and thriving marriage. I mean, we want to say, I love you, honey. I said it one time in the last 365 days. That ought to be enough, right? If it changes, I’ll let you know. How does that work? Not very well. Well, remember that time when I did this and this for you? Yeah, that was 2012. There’s no shortcuts to any relationship that’s going to be successful. There has to be an investment in that relationship. So do not be deceived about being deceived.

6. Do Not Be Deceived About the Reaping

Do not be deceived about deceiving God. Do not be deceived about your sowing, that what you sow is what you shall reap. And do not be deceived about the reaping. Each one of us is going to give an account of himself unto God. Those who practice lawlessness, Jesus says, depart from me, I never knew you. And so maybe you’ve gotten adrift in this sermon. I hope you have. That diligence is not an option. What did you see in those first two stories? We don’t want to do the work. We don’t want to clear the forest. We don’t want to fight the enemies. We want to live and let live. We’ll just subjugate them. We don’t want to do the work. And what is Joshua tell them?

Same context. Be very careful. Take careful heed. Be diligent, the King James Version says, to observe the commandment and the law which Moses, the servant of the Lord commanded you. And so he said, I want you to be very careful, and here’s what I want you to be careful in. Love the Lord your God and walk in his ways. Now notice I’ve highlighted all these hands and all the phrases to show you how much is involved in this. Love the Lord your God, walk in his ways, keep his commandments, hold fast to him, and serve him. Now that’s that’s a pretty big menu. That’s a big agenda. That has not changed. The essence of the New Testament is exactly the same. Love the Lord your God, walk in his ways, keep his commandments, hold fast to him and serve him.

And by the way, you do that with all your heart and with all your soul.

Diligence in serving the Lord has never been an option. And I got to tell you, I understand that in some places, the idea of one service on Sunday works for that particular group. There might be a lot of variables. And I realize that two services on Sunday present some complications. It’s a little challenging. But I got to tell you, for me personally, you know, I can sort of get used to preaching once a week. But I’ve got to tell you, the effort that’s required is good for me. I know sometimes at about 4 15, I’m going, man, I would really like to stay in this chair. And there may come a time where we same number of hours, we extend the one service, and that’s okay.

But my concern is that we compromise our growth. Our spiritual development. The need to extend ourselves beyond our comfort. And I know somebody said, You’re just touting tradition. You’ve done this two service thing. Look, I could do the one service thing. And it may become prudent to do that at some point. I’m just saying the fact that we have to turn around and get out of our seats and put on our clothes again and come back, it’s really not that much, really, in the whole scheme of things when you think about what the Lord did for us. And it’s good for us to not always do things the easiest way possible.

You see, I think it does feed into the fact I want this physically, and I certainly want, I want it both ways. I want it physically, I want it intellectually. I want to be smart without working at it. I want to be in good shape without working at it. And I think we want to be in good spiritual shape. We want to have a good marriage. And we want to have a good church without working at it. Diligence is just not an option. That’s true in Joshua 22 and verse 5, but it’s true in 2 Peter chapter 3. When all of this world is going to be set on fire, it says, But according to his promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells than this.

Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace, spotless and blameless. To be found in him in peace, spotless and blameless. Yes, that’s going to require some effort. And you’re familiar with this. James chapter 1. Be doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves. If a man is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he’s like a man who looks at himself in the mirror and then walks away and forgets what manner of person he was. But the one who looks at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and he abides by it. Now notice that.

Conclusion

He looks at it carefully. He looks at it long. He looks at it intently. And he says, He abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer, but an effectual doer. This man shall be blessed in what he does. The decision to serve the Lord and be faithful to him, to express the diligence that is required in that decision is a choice to be blessed. Okay, let’s go back to where we started. Don’t be deceived about being deceived. And don’t be deceived about deceiving God, and don’t be deceived about your sowing, and don’t be deceived about your reaping. So what is that telling us? Give sufficient attention to Satan’s wiles. Give sufficient attention to the nearness of God. He is there, he sees, he watches. Give attention to seeking his reign in your life.

That’s seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 33. Give sufficient attention to the fact that a harvest is happening. A harvest in our lives as we pursue the things of the Spirit and the ultimate harvest of the day of reckoning as we stand before the judgment seat of Christ. One of the things that people consider when they realize their standing before God is not what it should be. When they’re contemplating the decision or choice. Now it’s a decision to be blessed. They’re contemplating the decision. Am I going to put on Christ? Am I going to obey the gospel? I think one of the first things that crosses their mind is, this is going to cost me. Not in just terms of what I have to give up, but what I have to give.

And so who do you think comes up alongside of them and says, nah. It’s not worth the investment. Don’t you think that’s been the devil’s line to people for centuries? Don’t make the investment. It is too much. It is too hard. You can’t do it.

There are some challenges to being a Christian. We talked about that this morning. Entrust your soul to a faithful creator in doing what is right. But you will not regret that investment on the day of reaping. And we are closer to that day than we’ve ever been. So are you going to listen to the message that reaps eternal life? And embrace it? Or are you going to listen to the devil as he says, I got a better way for you, I got an easier way. It’s not going to cost you as much, a lot less painful. So you might think. The way of the transgressor is hard. And ultimately you will reap pain in a way that you never dreamed. Because you rejected sowing to the spirit.

Because, remember what that passage said. He that sows to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. Nobody likes corruption. But people listen to the devil. Hey, I can get you to heaven, and it’s a lot easier than what he’s telling you. Just believe in Jesus, sign, seal, and delivered. I’m not going to teach that. Because that’s not what the Bible teaches. Sowing to the Spirit is.

Embracing that and begin sowing to the spirit that you might reap eternal life. We stand to sing.