God Loves… Himself

There are many people in both evangelical and reformed churches today who are self-deceived. This self-deception is at the deepest level and in the most important area of life—their eternal soul. The people I am talking about are not the open hypocrites, but those who seem to be very religious. They may be church members, some of the most regular attendees, elders, and even pastors. These are people who, by outward appearance, seem to be godly, but they are not genuinely converted. They have never been deeply convicted of their sins or humbled in any way; their pride has not been broken, nor have they submitted to the true demands of the gospel. Quite simply, they are religious people who are on their way to hell and they do not realize it (Self-Deception by Jacob Helffenstein, from the Intro by William C. Nichols)

The most deceived man of all is he whose mind is influenced by the Evil Spirit and yet he believes that he is besought by the Good Spirit (Sermons by the Devil, W.S. Harris)

1 John 2:26 These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.

Ephesians 4:22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

It is hard to imagine the depth of the disappointment of those who run for high office and do not get it. Far worse, however, is trying to imagine the depths of despair in the soul that thought it was on the road to life and yet lifted up the eyes in hell. We cannot imagine the depths of despair of the soul that lifted up its eyes in hell and the stark realization that it was there for eternity. That soul would with the greatest of horror realize that it had been deceived. It would remember all the deception of the people who deceived him or her with heresy about God and the awful deceptions of sin. The soul that lifts up its eyes in hell will know as it is known, which is to say that God will open the eyes of that poor soul and show it how utterly despicable it is in His sight.

The soul that lifts up its eyes in hell will know with utter horror that it was not only deceived by sin and by others, but it was self-deceived. This soul, in the light of God showing it the truth about itself, will see how it was deceived by its own pride and self-love. This soul will see that it wanted to blind itself and it wanted to be deceived. This soul will sink into the depths of despair and it will have utterly no hope as it recognizes that it was deceived, but it was also self-deceived. While God will wipe away every tear from the eyes of His people, He will open the eyes of sinners to their own sin and their own guilt and they will weep and gnash their teeth at the sight of their own filthy souls.

Let us not think of deception as in intellectual topic alone. This deception is very, very real and it has eternal consequences. We cannot approach this as just another topic with the goal of scratching our intellectual itches. Every soul on this planet is being deceived to some degree or another and all unbelievers live in a state of perpetual deception. They are being perpetually deceived by their religion, their preachers, their sins, and their own hearts. Yes, they are deceived by Satan. Their wicked hearts are also hardened by God and they are turned over to sin and that is also being turned over to a deceptive heart as well.

In an effort to be as clear as I can be, which is still not going to be very clear at all if anyone is deceived, the professing Church and the professing ministry of our day is being used to deceive sinners. This is not to say that each and every local church and that each and every minister is an agent of deception to eternal souls, but it is to say that this vast deception is spread very widely throughout our land. The professing Church is asleep and is content to give nice little lectures or nice little talks about what it thinks is the gospel, but it is not. The people in the pews are being deceived by those nice little talks and the little speeches that pump them up to go out and evangelize, though indeed the Gospel is going begging.

The people in the pews strive for an outward form of holiness by the strength of their flesh and they may even strive to control their thoughts and desires by the strength of the flesh. Religion will save no one though it is being used to deceive multitudes into the pit of hell. All of the nice little religious stories and holidays are being used to deceive people into thinking that they are surely converted, but that deception leads to a great fall. We must plead for the Lord to remove the scales from our eyes and give us a true sense of the weight of eternity. We must plead with the Lord not to give us hardness of heart but to give us a true desire for Him and the true Gospel. We must plead with the Lord to show us the reality (truth) that will pierce the clouds of our deceptions. We must plead with the Lord to show us our inability to do one spiritual thing apart from His grace. Deception is a horrible thing when our religion (even true religion in the sense of the theology of it) is being used to blind and deceive us.

There are many people in both evangelical and reformed churches today who are self-deceived. This self-deception is at the deepest level and in the most important area of life—their eternal soul. The people I am talking about are not the open hypocrites, but those who seem to be very religious. They may be church members, some of the most regular attendees, elders, and even pastors. These are people who, by outward appearance, seem to be godly, but they are not genuinely converted. They have never been deeply convicted of their sins or humbled in any way; their pride has not been broken, nor have they submitted to the true demands of the gospel. Quite simply, they are religious people who are on their way to hell and they do not realize it (Self-Deception by Jacob Helffenstein, from the Intro by William C. Nichols)

The most deceived man of all is he whose mind is influenced by the Evil Spirit and yet he believes that he is besought by the Good Spirit (Sermons by the Devil, W.S. Harris)

1 Corinthians 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,

1 John 2:26 These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.

Ephesians 4:22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught us that there would be many on the broad road and but few would enter the narrow gate and be on the narrow road. This should teach us that perhaps the road of religious duties and morality which are obtained by self-effort and can be done simply by the pride of the heart may not in fact be the way that leads to life. If there are so many on that broad road and they believe that they are on the road to life, then that alone should teach us that many, many religious people are deceived. Their minds are on what they think are heavenly things and yet it is coming from the evil one by way of their own fleshly desires of the flesh and mind.

If this analysis is correct, and I am not sure how it can be far from wrong if we take in the biblical witness, then the professing churches are full of professing believers who are on the broad path to destruction. It appears that professing preachers (even conservative ones) are more interested in getting people to make professions, get them baptized, and then on the church rolls than they are true conversions. It may be that the professing preachers are deceived themselves as to what true conversion is, but the end result is the same. People are talked into making a profession and joining the church and by that they think they are converted.

Jesus said that a person must be born from above to enter the kingdom. Professing preachers tell us that people must make a wise choice or walk the aisle or sign a card to enter the kingdom. There is a huge confusion between the visible church and the nature of the true Church. It seems to be an underlying thought, whether one states that as a belief or not, that joining a local church makes one a member of the true Church (the body of Christ). While people may accept it as true that one is not necessarily a true believer if one is a member of a local church, they still have that concept in their hearts. Church membership can be a dangerous thing unless it is approached and practiced with great care, and we can see that if we take the above quotes, verses, and the Sermon on the Mount seriously.

We simply must take these things to heart. The devil himself uses religion to deceive people regarding their eternal destinies. The devil himself will use preaching to soothe people into staying on the broad road that leads to destruction. The devil himself will use an orthodox creed to deceive people into thinking that they believe in Christ and His truth. The devil himself will use religious rites (even if true) to deceive people into thinking that they have Christ. The devil can use strict moralism to deceive people into thinking that they are holy. The devil can use outwardly good things to convince people that they have true love in their hearts. The devil is the master of deception and he can and does use anything to keep people from Christ. He will even use the truths of Christ to deceive people into thinking that they have Christ. There are many, many conservative Christian people in name who are deceived and on their way to hell and they are clueless to that.

There are many people in both evangelical and reformed churches today who are self-deceived. This self-deception is at the deepest level and in the most important area of life—their eternal soul. The people I am talking about are not the open hypocrites, but those who seem to be very religious. They may be church members, some of the most regular attendees, elders, and even pastors. These are people who, by outward appearance, seem to be godly, but they are not genuinely converted. They have never been deeply convicted of their sins or humbled in any way; their pride has not been broken, nor have they submitted to the true demands of the gospel. Quite simply, they are religious people who are on their way to hell and they do not realize it (Self-Deception by Jacob Helffenstein, from the Intro by William C. Nichols)

The most deceived man of all is he whose mind is influenced by the Evil Spirit and yet he believes that he is besought by the Good Spirit (Sermons by the Devil, W.S. Harris)

1 Corinthians 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,

1 John 2:26 These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.

Ephesians 4:22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

We live in a world that is far different than our senses tell us. We are attacked and set on by deceptions from all places, even in our own hearts and minds. While men and women go on glibly living what they think of as good lives and even as religious lives, they are under a great deception. People speak of the “good” that they are doing, as indeed they think of it as good, and are completely unaware that they are not following Christ. They are doing nothing but what comes from the self and their own pride.

As noted in the second quote above, the most deceived person is one who thinks that s/he is under the influence and even power of the Holy Spirit and yet that person is really under the power of the evil spirit. The evil spirit is not opposed to working with morality and religion in order to deceive people by that, and indeed he does seem to deceive a lot of people by it. The evil spirit does not seem opposed to and perhaps even works through professing churches and even professing preaching. It would seem that gullible people who are deceived are deceived even more by the religion they are practicing and the “preaching” that they are hearing.

We can easily see the great dangers of attending a place where a conservative religion is taught and a conservative morality is taught and yet the Gospel of free-grace alone is not taught in reality. It may be that this place will teach and preach what they think is justification by faith alone, but the content of that preaching and teaching is quite far removed from what the Reformers taught and of what the Bible teaches. Those who were involved in that would think that the Holy Spirit was moving and teaching and yet it could be nothing more than the evil spirit deceiving. This is perhaps more common than we think. After all, the Pharisees were very religious and they were conservative. The Pharisees were very moral and even strictly moral. However, despite all of their orthodoxy and despite all of their seeming holiness, they were the enemies of God and were very deceived.

Paul told us very clearly that we were to examine ourselves to see if Christ was indeed in us. He did not ask people if they had prayed a prayer or walked down the aisle, he asked them to see if Christ was in them. He did not ask people if they believed some facts, he told them to examine themselves to see if Christ was in them. He did not ask them how often they attended church or how often they read the Scriptures and prayed, he asked them if they had examined themselves to see if Christ was in them. People can do all of the outward things and do them strictly and do them well (in a sense), but they can do them in the power of the flesh rather than the power of the Holy Spirit. How utterly deceptive it is to think that we are so religious and so prepared for eternity when the very things we trust in are being used to deceive us.

There are many people in both evangelical and reformed churches today who are self-deceived. This self-deception is at the deepest level and in the most important area of life—their eternal soul. The people I am talking about are not the open hypocrites, but those who seem to be very religious. They may be church members, some of the most regular attendees, elders, and even pastors. These are people who, by outward appearance, seem to be godly, but they are not genuinely converted. They have never been deeply convicted of their sins or humbled in any way; their pride has not been broken, nor have they submitted to the true demands of the gospel. Quite simply, they are religious people who are on their way to hell and they do not realize it (Self-Deception by Jacob Helffenstein, from the Intro by William C. Nichols)

1 Corinthians 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,

1 John 2:26 These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.

Ephesians 4:22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

The horrors of the souls that wake up in hell cannot be expressed by words. It is one thing for us to think of souls lifting up their eyes in hell and because of their open hatred of God they are not surprised, but imagine the souls that lift up their eyes in hell and they were greatly deceived. Imagine the surprise and anguish of souls in hell when they realize that their very religion itself deceived them. Imagine the utter shock of preachers and seminary professors when they realize that the religion that they spoke eloquently on in fact was nothing but the externals of religion and that their very knowledge puffed up their hearts and blinded them.

We live in a day where it seems that true and living Christianity has virtually disappeared. The life of Christ in His people has now been replaced with intellectualism, rationalism, outward morality, and religious rites. This includes both Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. This includes what we think of as Arminianism and Calvinism. The Scriptures do not tell us that unless a person is religious that person will perish, but that unless a person is truly converted that person will perish. The Scriptures do not tell us that unless a person has the right religion that the person cannot enter the kingdom, but that a person must be born from above (again) to enter the kingdom.

A little prayer is not enough to enter the kingdom. A nod of the head is not enough to enter the kingdom. A religious profession is not enough to enter the kingdom. An outward repentance is not enough to enter the kingdom. A walk up the aisle is not enough to enter the kingdom. Adherence to a confession of faith, even if it is orthodox, is not enough to enter the kingdom. Being sober and moral is not enough to enter the kingdom. A good citizen doing a lot of good works (in appearance) is not enough to enter the kingdom. Good theology is not enough to enter the kingdom. Being a popular preacher and even a good preacher is not enough to enter the kingdom. Helping children and helping older people is not enough to enter the kingdom.

The Scriptures, though they can be twisted to a person’s destruction, are quite clear and they teach us that there is nothing that a sinner can do that can contribute to his or her salvation. Anything else is a deceptive teaching. The Gospel is a Gospel of grace alone and that means no works contribute to salvation at all. But here is where the deception enters. We are told that we must do certain things to be saved, though indeed the sermon continues on to say that it is by grace alone, but legalism (in this sense) creeps in when we are told what we must do in order for grace to come to us. It is not that we must come up with faith on our own so that God will save us, but quite the opposite. We must have God regenerate us and give us faith so that we will have faith.

It is also true that faith must work, but the deception is so sneaky at this point. We think that we believe something and then we have works so we are saved. What we must know, however, is that faith always looks to Christ rather than self and rather than works. It is true that true faith in Christ (also Christ in the believer) will produce good works, but what that really means is that Christ in us will produce fruit. We cannot have works of the flesh as a result of a belief we have and think of that as true faith. Deception abounds and appears to be in many professing churches. We must beware!

There are many people in both evangelical and reformed churches today who are self-deceived. This self-deception is at the deepest level and in the most important area of life—their eternal soul. The people I am talking about are not the open hypocrites, but those who seem to be very religious. They may be church members, some of the most regular attendees, elders, and even pastors. These are people who, by outward appearance, seem to be godly, but they are not genuinely converted. They have never been deeply convicted of their sins or humbled in any way; their pride has not been broken, nor have they submitted to the true demands of the gospel. Quite simply, they are religious people who are on their way to hell and they do not realize it (Self-Deception by Jacob Helffenstein, from the Intro by William C. Nichols)

1 Corinthians 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,

1 John 2:26 These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.

Ephesians 4:22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

As human beings we are fallen and as such we tend to look at things from a fallen perspective, which is to say that we look at things from our own self-absorbed and self-centered perspective. We think of things as good if they bring good to us and bad if they make us uncomfortable or bring what we think of as bad to us. A religious person can think very highly of self and yet be deceived about the nature of pride and sin. When we think of religion in terms of the Pharisees, it is clear that their wicked hearts used religion to deceive themselves.

We have to fight our own hearts and keep the true issues of depravity before our own eyes. The true issue of depravity is not just acting in an immoral way in the externals, but it has to do with pride and self. The heart that is controlled and driven by self and pride (whether those things are recognized or not) and be very sinful externally or very religious externally. The very pride and self that will drive one person to external sin will drive another to religion. Jesus Christ did not come to save the righteous, He came to save sinners. This is to say that He not only did He come to save sinners, He came to save sinners that He reveals the truth of God to them and makes them feel the weight and burden of sin. A person that is very religious but has never been deeply convicted of sin by the Spirit and broken from pride and self is simply a religious person.

A proud person is an unconverted person whether that person is very religious or an open sinner. The pride is the problem in either case and both ways of living for self is still living for self. The Great Command is to love God with all of our beings, but self is what we live for and our pride blinds us to that until God works in the heart to deliver us from that pride (not completely of course) and give Christ as our life. It is Christ who must be our life or all things will come from that hideous and idolatrous self. Instead of having the love of God in us through Christ by the Spirit, the proud heart full of self will do all it does out of love for self.

In other words, as the quote above says, “quite simply, they are religious people who are on their way to hell and they do not realize it.” This is a profound statement and yet one that if read would still be ignored. If we think through this statement even for a moment, it is precisely the same thing that the Pharisees did. They were very religious men who were on their way to hell and they did not realize it. Their proud hearts used their religion to blind them and deceive themselves. Pastors and preachers and seminary professors can use their knowledge of religion to blind themselves to the truth of religion. Paul tells us ( I Cor 8) that knowledge makes arrogant or knowledge puffs up. The more a person knows about Christianity the prouder that person gets whether that person has a lot of external or even natural humility or not. Religion, even the externals of Christianity, blinds people to the truth and is used to deceive. The religion about Christ cannot save, only Christ Himself can save. We must learn this distinction or we will be deceived.

There are many people in both evangelical and reformed churches today who are self-deceived. This self-deception is at the deepest level and in the most important area of life—their eternal soul. The people I am talking about are not the open hypocrites, but those who seem to be very religious. They may be church members, some of the most regular attendees, elders, and even pastors. These are people who, by outward appearance, seem to be godly, but they are not genuinely converted. They have never been deeply convicted of their sins or humbled in any way; their pride has not been broken, nor have they submitted to the true demands of the gospel. Quite simply, they are religious people who are on their way to hell and they do not realize it (Self-Deception by Jacob Helffenstein, from the Intro by William C. Nichols)

1 Corinthians 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,

1 John 2:26 These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.

Ephesians 4:22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

When we think of the certainty of eternity and that each person will spend eternity in heaven or hell, eternity is of an enormous consequence. If people are so disappointed with such minor things on earth, how will they be plunged unto utter despair when they enter into eternal flames? When we think of how people are deceived in order to get property and money and how they respond in anger to that deception, how will they respond when they are deceived as to their eternal destination? How will they respond when they are totally deceived and find out that their destination is so different than what they thought? This points us to remember times when we were deceived and because of that deception we lost things we valued. How much more should we value our souls and think of the degree of loss it will be if we lose our souls?

The Scriptures are so very, very clear as to the fact that so many people will be deceived on that day. They are deceived by preachers and teachers. They are deceived by false prophets. They are deceived by friends and enemies. They are deceived their pride and their lusts. They are deceived by the devil. On top of that, they are deceived by their own hearts. We must also know that though we don’t think of God as deceiving people, those who are deceived as to who He is have their hearts hardened by Him so that they are more and more deceived.

It appears that the vast number of those who are self-deceived are religious people. While it is true that open sinners and unbelievers are deceived in some ways, they are not deceived that they are Christians. In the context the statement above, the deception that we are talking about is that people think that they are Christians and they are not. These people are preachers, teachers, elders and committed members; but these people are deceived by the things of Christianity and their own pride and self-righteousness. You may wonder why this point is made over and over. It is because so many people are deceived and do not realize it. It is because so many people are deceived by their morality and their outward acceptance of doctrine and of church membership.

The outward appearance of people is not a necessary sign of salvation. This is something that we have to get into our heads and our hearts. Just because a person is smart, religious, and outwardly moral does not mean that the person is a Christian. When we begin to see things through the lenses of the biblical teaching that people are deceived and self-deceived, we will begin to see the externals of Christianity far differently. It is the case that true believers and true unbelievers may appear the same and have the same religion and the same morality, but inwardly they are far different. One is a child of the devil and one is a child of God. The child of the devil has all his or her religion from self and pride, the child of God has all his or her religion from God through Christ. The child of the devil uses religion to deceive self; the child of God is religious for the glory of God. Yes, the externals are so close to the same, but the internals are far, far different. We must be careful that we are not deceived by the externals of Christianity and deceive ourselves that our real self is what we see on the outside.

There are many people in both evangelical and reformed churches today who are self-deceived. This self-deception is at the deepest level and in the most important area of life—their eternal soul. The people I am talking about are not the open hypocrites, but those who seem to be very religious. They may be church members, some of the most regular attendees, elders, and even pastors. These are people who, by outward appearance, seem to be godly, but they are not genuinely converted. They have never been deeply convicted of their sins or humbled in any way; their pride has not been broken, nor have they submitted to the true demands of the gospel. Quite simply, they are religious people who are on their way to hell and they do not realize it (Self-Deception by Jacob Helffenstein, from the Intro by William C. Nichols)

1 Corinthians 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,

1 John 2:26 These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.

Ephesians 4:22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

The concept of being deceived is somewhat self-evident, which is to say that a person is led astray under false pretenses. For example, a person does something because s/he is told what it will do for them and yet what they do does not do what they were told. Another example is when a person is told certain actions will lead not lead to certain consequences and in fact they do lead to those consequences. However, the author (William C. Nichols) writes that there are “many people in both evangelical and reformed churches today who are self-deceived.” In other words, these people are not so much deceived by other people, but in fact they are deceived by themselves.

In the words of Helffenstein, “Nothing is more common, and certainly nothing more fatal than self-deception.” This is not pleasant to think about and certainly not something we commonly think about, but if Helffenstein and Nichols are correct, then people should be awakened and alarmed as they think of their own souls. It may be that myriads of people who do not claim to be saved are self-deceived in a sense, but that is not what Helffenstein and Nichols are getting at. They are saying that it is common for religious people to be self-deceived. Well, we may think, that would be those of the other denominations or the other religions. Once again, however, we must go deeper and dive into our own hearts. Their discussions are not about other religions and liberal denominations, they are talking about conservative evangelical and reformed churches and people as well.

When a person hears about the dangers and reality of self-deception it is easy to think of others, but we must each take this to heart. We may be deceived and even self-deceived ourselves. If there are many who are deceived, then perhaps I am one of the many. A person that is self-deceived and does not understand what it means to be self-deceived is certainly at risk of it. If person A completely trusts person B and believes all that person B says, person A does not believe that s/he is deceived about anything regarding that person. But if person B is truly a liar but is good at hiding it, then person A is deceived and simply has no idea that s/he is being deceived. Far worse, however, is when we deceive ourselves and have no idea that we are deceived. People live in self-deception trusting themselves and yet their deceptive hearts deceive them about the most vital of things most of the time. That person is deceived and is in the prison of self-deception. This describes many, many people.

An aspect of our being born in sin is that we are dead in sins and trespasses. A spiritually dead person lives in the lusts of the flesh and indulges in the desires of the flesh and the mind. The spiritually dead person loves self and lives for self at all times. The spiritually dead person is a proud person, though indeed can be quite proud and hide it underneath a false humility. The spiritually dead person is deceived by desires, by good feelings, by the warm desires and thoughts s/he may have when s/he hears something biblical. The spiritually dead person, however, out of pride will refuse to die to self, refuse to humble self, and will refuse to believe that s/he is so dead that s/he does not have the ability to please God or to save self. That person lives in self-deception and will find reasons and justifications to excuse self for any and even all things. The self-deceived person will and can use religion to deceive self. In that case religion is used to keep the conscience quiet. What a deception that is when religion is used as a means of self-deception. Only God can open our eyes to see how we lie to and deceive ourselves.