Walking In Truth And Light

Good morning. Grace to each one of you, peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Good to see the house filled up.

It's good to see Eagle representation here, Alberta representation, and wherever else you're from, welcome here. This morning, we want to continue you with some of our thoughts from my last message that I had. And there, we sounded the bell of watching out for deceit, being alert to deception.

Those of you who preach may understand what I'm talking about. As you seek the Lord for a message, and he gives you direction, and you pour yourself into studying the scriptures in light of that direction, and you carry a burden. Sometimes it's a burden that you carry that week.

Sometimes it's a burden you've carried for months. But then generally, after you're done preaching, you feel a release. You feel like you've unburdened.

You've done exactly what Brother Joseph talked about in the opening. You've rolled it off. And that's a good feeling, just to be released of that burden, just feeling like you have done what God called you to do.

But then there's times when you're done preaching, or you're not done preaching, but the time is up, and the burden remains. And that's the case from the last message that I preached. I feel like there's more to be said than what we said.

There's aspects of deception that we need to consider, so the burden has lingered these last two weeks or so. I'm not even sure exactly when. Was it two weeks ago, three weeks ago when I preached? I'm not even sure.

Before we get into the message for today, though, I do want to make a clarifying statement from a closing comment that we made in the last message. Right towards the end of that message, I gave some reasons to try to give you a window as to what brought on, or at least played into the burden that we preached on that topic. And I mentioned that part of that burden was brought on by those from the outside opposing the church.

I said, those who oppose the church. I don't think I said from the outside. And that statement, I feel like, had left some wondering who or what I was referring to.

And someone actually had come to my wife and said, was he referring to, and gave some specific situation. And I'm sorry if I left you wondering, and maybe even feeling somewhat uneasy. That was not the intent.

The intent was to give you a bit of a window as to what brought on that burden. But I was not referring to any ongoing current situation in here. It was brought on from the outside.

And just so you know, one of the specific situations that would have played into bringing on the burden, I reached out to the individuals and tried to call them out on the whole act of deception. The response was not all that positive that I got, but that just increased my burden. Now, my burden is not just for them out there, though.

My burden is for us here, that we watch out for deceit. So I hope that settles any questions in your mind. I'm not going to name the specific situations or give names.

So before we get into the message then for today, those that can, can we kneel and have a word of prayer? Father God, we kneel before you. We kneel in your presence. As subjects of a high king, we gladly bow the knee.

Father, it's actually an honor and a privilege to have this right. Father, on bended knee, we acknowledge our need of you. We acknowledge, Father, that without you, we are nothing.

We acknowledge that we are very, very dependent upon you. We are your creation. You are our creator.

So Father, as we have gathered here this morning and we continue to look into your word and we continue to share thoughts that derive from your word, we ask that you would be mindful of us here this morning and minister to us by the Holy Spirit. Touch our hearts, Father. We pray, Father, this morning, that you we, our walk, our way of life would be found to be one that is pleasing, one that puts a smile on your face, one that is acceptable and gets your stamp of approval.

Speak to us, Lord. Give us hearts, hearts of understanding. Give us eyes to see, ears to hear.

Father, continue to give us a heart that desires to walk uprightly, to walk and mimic who you are. Bless this time, Father. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

In our last message, I mentioned that we all, each one of us, is susceptible to being deceived. I'd like to raise a question here this morning. What are some of the results of deception? So we sounded the alarm to watch out for deceit.

What is the end result or the fruit of deception? And I know the answers are many. And it would depend on what the deception is, the nature of deception. If we are deceived about other people, meaning that we are not, you know, they are not who we thought, who we perceived them to be, based on the information that we had of them, you know, it leaves us, we feel deceived, right? Like, oh, what I heard, what I understood that person to be, and now to find out this, you feel deceived.

You feel like it's been a hypocrite. Well, the end of such deception, at the very minimal, I would say it destroys trust, it destroys confidence, and that relationship now. If we die in any type of deception, having been deceived or been one that's been the agent of deception, the end of that type of deception is an eternal separation from God.

We saw in the account there in Genesis 3, how the serpent came and deceived Eve. And God had said, you know, God had said, don't eat of this one tree that's in the midst of the garden, this tree of the knowledge of good and evil, don't touch that one. Don't eat of that one.

Eve got deceived. And she did what God said not to do. And it ended up in a separation, in a severance in that relationship that they had with God.

And it is still no different today. The end result, if deception is what we practice, whether we practice it purposely to deceive others or whether others have deceived us, you know, we've been somehow been influenced by deception and we live in a state of deception, the end result is separation from God. Spiritual deception results in spiritual blindness.

And yet when you talk to individuals, and this can be true of, and if you're thinking of anyone, it's true of them, but it's also true of us. Spiritual deception leads to spiritual blindness. But the person who is spiritually blind, who is spiritually deceived, doesn't perceive it as deception.

To them, what they now have embraced and that they are deceived in, is as real to them as any truth in the Bible. They don't realize that they're deceived. That's the deceptiveness of deception.

You don't realize that you're deceived. No matter what form of deception you consider, it results in pain and hurt. Some more severe, some less, but pain nonetheless.

Hurt nonetheless. Maybe even a separation of relationships. Is there a way to recover from deception? Is there a way of release from the trap of deception? Is there a way out? Is there a way to be set free, even from being an agent of deception? What I mean by that is just simply meaning, us being the one that is deceiving.

And I think every one of us would say yes to every one of those questions. There is a way out. There is a way to release that trap and get out of that trap.

Amen? There is a way out. But the first step in getting out of that trap is to acknowledge that we're in it. The answer for us today is one and the same, even as it was for the Church of Laodicea, the account that we opened up with in our last message.

They were deceived. They thought they had it all. Had need of nothing.

And yet Jesus tells them, you have no idea, thinking that you have everything that you need, that you're naked, you're poor, you're miserable. You have nothing. In fact, you have need of everything.

And then He calls them to repent. He says there to them, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent.

Repent. That's the release. That's the way out.

Repent. But you can't repent until you see that you need to, that you're trapped. Repent was the answer for all the sin problems found in the churches.

And every one of the seven churches addressed, repent, repent, repent. That's still the answer for us today. But the difficulty in this, in repenting, is the ability to see our need to repent.

It can be especially challenging when it comes to repenting of deception. I remember talking to an individual whom I strongly felt like he was speaking deceit. And he was speaking words of deceit into many ears.

And when I confronted him about that and tried to gently warn him of what I saw, what was happening, his response to me was, I'm not speaking deceiving words. I'm not deceiving. I'm not deceitful.

I'm speaking truth. So if he's that convinced that he's speaking truth, and even blinded to the effects that his words were having to those that he was speaking to, couldn't even recognize it, couldn't even see it, how can he repent? The deceitfulness of deception. If we are deceived, if we are being deceived, or maybe even become an agent of deception, in order for one to come to the place where you can repent, you're pretty much limited to taking God at His word, and you're limited to taking whoever is speaking into your life at their word.

And it will go against every ounce of your own intellect. It will go against everything you believe about who you are and what you're doing. You have to simply drop everything that you're persuaded of, of yourself and your practices, and trust someone else.

Take their word over your own thoughts and understanding. That's hard. But that's where we have to come to if we're going to repent of deception.

Any type of repentance calls for us to acknowledge truth. Right? Truth makes manifest, truth reveals the wrong, the error. Without a revelation of what's true and what's wrong, you can't repent.

So that can be a real challenge. I have titled the message for today, I'm going to write it on the board, something along the line of Walking in Truth and Light. Maybe someone's wondering, okay, why that title if we're talking about deception.

My thinking, my reasoning in my own mind is pretty simple. In order to avoid falling into deception or becoming a deceiver, we need to walk in truth and light. Truth and light are the direct opposite of deceit.

Every form of deception is riddled with darkness and lies, and hence the title. We are called to walk in the truth. We're called to walk in the light.

I'd like to just consider a few verses here this morning. In 2 Corinthians 4 verse 2, I'll try to go through these fairly quickly here. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 2, But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

Having renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Having renounced speaks of something that's been repented of. In 1 John 1, 1 John chapter 1 verse 6, John, the apostle John in his epistles here, has a lot to say about truth and light.

1 John 1 verse 6, If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie. So, if we walk not in the light, but in darkness, John says, then we lie and we do not the truth. Remember, this is what we're called to.

We're called to walk in truth and in light. In 2 John 1 verse 4, I rejoice greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father. 3 John 1, I'm just picking, doing what Joseph said, cherry picking here.

Just a few verses. 3 John 1 verses 3 and 4, For I rejoice greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. In John chapter 8, Jesus speaking here, more specifically about light.

John 8, I know we know these verses. John 8 verse 12, Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness.

I am, Jesus says, picture Jesus, I am the light of the world. I am the light in this world. If any man will follow me, Jesus says, he cannot walk in darkness, implying that you also will be light.

You'll be walking in light. You'll be walking as a light. Amen? Ephesians 5.8 I'm just kind of laying a foundation for the title.

For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. 1 John 1.7 1 John 1.7 We read verse 6, now we're going to read verse 7. Let's read verse 6 again.

If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin.

Call to walk, to live in light and truth. We are, we can read many verses that talk about, that forbid us, they exhort us to not walk in darkness, to not have any fellowship with darkness. We are separated, we've been delivered from that.

The act of deceit is the absence of truth and light. Does that make sense? The very practice of deceit is the absence of truth and light. And yet, they are so convinced that they have and are practicing truth and are walking in light.

So how devastating can this be? I know I've shared this with most of you. You'll probably recall me having shared this in the past. And I don't speak this as of his current condition.

I don't know. But I have a brother with whom I never knew if he's telling the truth. He had been so given over to lying, that he is convinced of his lies as being true.

So we never knew. Never knew. Deceived into believing your own lies as truth.

You can make up a story, and you repeat it enough times, and you add enough details, and it becomes real. Some of you know, I had my first time, a reunion in twenty-some years, where the three of us brothers sat together. Here, just at the beginning of this year, in January.

My wife asked me, so? I don't even know what the exact question was, but it had to do with this one brother who was given over to believing lies. And I said, I don't know. I said, I don't know.

I would like to think I can believe what he's saying today. But I don't know. That's a sad state.

That's a very sad state to be found in. To walk in light, to walk in truth, then we must be connected to the source of truth, and the source of light. Truth and light.

Light and truth. Whichever way you want to do it, it makes no difference in what order you say those. They both speak of a person.

Amen? It's not just the speaking of truth, truthful things. Truth and light, they speak of a person. Jesus said there in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

I am the way, the truth. We already read the verse there where Jesus said, I am the light of the world. He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

That's in John 8. Truth and light are a person. So for us to walk in light and truth, we follow this person's footsteps. We walk in his footsteps.

We trail him. We follow him. We imitate him.

And I would say we endeavor to do so with great carefulness. And ask us a question. Maybe it doesn't sound very right to say it like this, but I'm going to ask it like this anyway.

Are you, do you find yourself to be buddy-buddy with Jesus? You know, we know what it's like to be buddy-buddy with someone on this level. Person to person. Buddy to buddy.

You know, when you're buddy-buddy, you pretty much do the same thing. And you'll do anything for that person, pretty much. You're buddy-buddy.

The question this morning is, are you buddy-buddy with Jesus? So closely connected with Jesus that this describes your life, your walk of life. Do we find ourselves breathing truth and light? Is Jesus, is Jesus your closest friend for whom you will do anything? Buddy-buddy. Do we so relish and love light and truth? That's the antidote to deception.

That's the antidote. If we want to remain untainted from all forms of deceit, we must remain in the light and truth. Few questions to consider here.

What are some ways people may be guilty of lying and deceiving others? What are some ways? Why do people tell lies or deceive? What kind of consequences come as a result? And what does the word of truth teach us? You know, in Genesis 3, verse 1, I believe it's the very first verse. Maybe you should go there just to verify it, but I'm pretty sure that's what it is. Speaking of the serpent being very subtle, I think.

I think it's verse 1. Yes, now the serpent was more subtle than any beast. Subtle. A description of the serpent.

When you think of the serpent, and you think of him being subtle, more subtle than any other beast, any other part of creation, what are some other words that come to your mind? How else is the serpent, how else is Satan described in the scripture that would allude to his subtleness? Okay, dishonest. Sneaky. Hidden.

An angel of light. Crafty. Attractive.

Seductive. Test my spelling ability here. There was one more here.

Seductive. Liar. Okay, so there's a bit of a list.

Subtle. More subtle than any beast. Very dishonest.

Sneaky. Hidden. An angel of light.

Crafty. Attractive. Seductive.

Liar. And the list could go on. We could grow that list.

Now, if you... Okay, he's described as a snake, as a serpent. And if you were to live with me in South America, where I lived for almost seven years growing up, and there we had big snakes. I mean, over here you have... hardly compares to a snake.

There we had big snakes. And everyone was aware that you had snakes. Big snakes.

Poisonous snakes. And you're going for a walk with me, and the grass is about knee high. How would you walk? How would you walk through that tall grass? Very carefully.

You'd be mindful. You'd be on the outlook, right? I remember being in a field. We didn't have tall grass there.

Our job was to keep the grass down. It was a coffee garden. My dad had planted coffee trees.

And we're out there. We're hoeing these plants. They were not very tall yet.

They weren't producing beans yet. And, you know, as little boys, you get sidetracked. And almost anything catches your attention other than what should... where your attention should be focused on.

Hoeing, pulling weeds, doing whatever, right? But, you know, we're doing what we're supposed to be doing. And I look ahead, and I thought, Oh, wow. There's a big branch laying in the middle of this field.

You know, I'll go and pull that off the field. You know, just sidetrack from what I was supposed to be doing. And I get over there, and I'm about to grab this thing, and it starts moving.

It was a big, charcoal, blackish snake lying across I don't know how many rows. I was just going to pick this thing up as a branch. We had many experiences with serpents, with snakes like that in South America.

I remember one time my sister, older sister, watching out of the house. And you know how you play with cats? Little kittens? You have a little string, or you have something, and you just kind of move it. You know, the little kitten.

Enjoying it. Here's my sister doing that with a snake. Literally.

She was engulfed with a snake. And she was playing with it. And it was a poisonous one.

I remember. I remember my mom panicking. Because I think that snake was hypnotizing my sister.

And somehow, I don't remember all the details, but my mom got my sister away from there. Serpents. Very subtle.

Very crafty. Very smart. Very strategic.

The result of this in the garden ended up in destroying that relationship Adam and Eve had with God. Now here's what I want to get to. You and I have been born as a result of this subtleness.

And it is not too far from any one of us to imitate these characteristics as a person. It's not very far from any one of us. We've been... Can I say it? That venom.

That venom of that serpent is in the veins of the old man. It's in us. Why is it that a child from a very young age will quickly deny truth? The effect of a subtle serpent that brought about the fall of man.

As grown-ups, this thing wants to creep into our lives whether it's business practices, whether it's relationships. It is not too far from any one of us to practice subtle deception. And I think that's where the bulk of my burden is for today.

I don't think we are... That we live in the awareness of how easy it is for us to follow the footsteps, the characteristics of the serpent. There's an element of deception that we give, that we have fallen to, can easily fall to, and then we start doing what the serpent does. And we will come up in very subtle ways, come up with ways to protect ourselves.

Be it dishonest. We want to protect ourselves. So, tell a little lie, a half-truth, or purposely omit part of, something, of a situation, of a scenario.

Just purposely omit that. Just to protect my reputation. To not tarnish what people will think of me.

Those are acts that mimic this subtle serpent. See, what we're doing, we're not just protecting our reputation. We're not just trying to maintain a good report.

We're actually deceiving others through that act. Through the protecting of ourselves, we are now deceiving others. Does that make sense? It goes beyond just, oh, I don't want people to think this or that of me.

And therefore I cover up. I tell a little lie. I tell a half-truth.

There's such a thing. We do that for ourselves, but thereby we deceive others. Now we've become the agent.

We've both been deceived, and have fallen for the subtle tactics of the devil. Practicing ourselves, and also become the agent that deceives. Notice how Paul said, nor handling the word of God deceitfully.

Even this, the truth, the word of truth, can be used in such a way that it's deceitful. The word of truth! Scripture talks about deceiving and being deceived. And I have looked at and contemplated that over the last weeks.

Deceiving and being deceived. So you probably started off with being deceived, somewhat, and then you start to deceive others by however, whatever means. And as you, so you're deceived, you're being deceived, you're deceiving others, and as you're deceiving others, you are deceiving yourself all the more.

It's like a rope that you just keep wrapping around yourself. Deceiving and being deceived. Until you repent it all.

The act of deception is very subtle. Very subtle. And that's why we practice it in very subtle ways.

Not even catching it all the time. But it's an imitation of the serpent. We are called to walk in truth.

We are called to walk in light. The act of deceiving is very subtle and generally well planned and thought out. Most times.

The serpent is very conniving. Very, very crafty. When we go in a protection mode of who we really are, and we don't want people to know who we really are.

We think it, we play it out in our mind. I can't say this. I can't let them know this.

I'll hold with this and I'll say this, and that will paint a better picture. Planning it out. Giving it some good forethought.

The act of deceiving seems to always be rooted in self. It never truly has the good of someone else in mind. If you have the good of someone else in mind, you don't need to deceive.

You can be an open book. Think of it in light of businesses. Have you ever gone somewhere and they promote something like get your photo taken for free.

Oh, sure. Not many things in life are free. Alright, sure.

We'll get our photo taken. Only to find out the taking of the photo. But if you want the photo, you pay.

And that's how marketing works. Much of marketing in business is somewhat deceptive. Making it look like, appear like, sound like, you're going to get something that you're not actually going to get for free.

Proverbs 6. If you want to, you can turn there. I think we'll end there today. Proverbs 6. Here we have a list of seven things that are an abomination to God.

And two out of those seven involve the tongue. They involve lying. These six things doth the Lord hate.

Yea, seven are an abomination unto him. A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood. A heart that devises wicked imaginations.

Feet that be swift in running to mischief. Here's the second one. A false witness that speaketh lies.

And then he that soweth discord among the brethren. A lying tongue and a false witness that tells lies. God hates.

A lie just simply lying. Maybe more so in the context of yourself and protecting yourself. One lie and then you tell another lie to cover up that lie and lie upon lie upon lie.

Could be about something else, but very often it is about ourselves then. Then he says a false witness. Now you're lying on the behalf of someone else.

You're taking a false, making a false statement, a false testimony for the benefit of someone else. Both are lying. And God hates all forms.

Last Sunday, or not last Sunday, the last message how the act of deception, the act of deceiving is just filled, weaved with lies. It's intertwined with lies. That's how deception works.

And God hates lies. What's the difference between lying and deceit? The Apostle writes saying, the Apostle John, I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. So by its very nature, a lie is untruth.

It's false. I know we know that. What is a lie? A lie is a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive.

A deliberate attempt to cover up what's true. And deceit is the act or practice intended to mislead by a false appearance or statement. What is the difference between a lie and deceit? The difference is that a lie is generally spoken, whereas deceit includes anything, whether words or deeds, that are intended to lead people to believe what is not true.

Lying generally involves deliberate falsehood told with the intent of misleading or causing someone to believe that which is wrong. In Isaiah 59, 13, we read this, in transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

Did you catch that? Conceiving in the heart. In the heart. I think we made this statement last time.

The heart of God is that we are the same in our private lives as in our public lives. If we're someone else when we're around the church family, then who we are when we're at home, it's an act of deceiving. It's not of God.

It's a private. You've probably all heard or seen individuals who are totally someone else when they're removed from the church family. They go on vacation and you hardly recognize them as the same people.

That's deceptive. We are to be the same person. You should know me the same way.

If you saw me there, you should see me and know me to be the same person there as at home. But that's how deception works. We think, oh, I'm removed from those who know me.

From those that might hold me accountable. I'm someone else. No one will ever know.

Well, this act of not deceiving others is not so much just on this level. We have a God who has an all-seeing eye who is very concerned about this act of deceiving. It is said of Jesus.

It is said of God. It is said of God that He changes not. It is said of Jesus that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Doesn't matter where you go, where you find Him. God is God. Jesus is Jesus.

You'll recognize Him the same everywhere. We're supposed to imitate that. I'm not someone else when I'm out in... I'm the same person there.

I hold to the same values, same business practices no matter where I go, no matter who I'm with. But the influence subtly wants to make its way into our lives and change us. And we sometimes realize what's happening.

Maybe sometimes we make deliberate choices to make an impression. It's okay. We make excuses.

We justify why it's okay in this case. Brothers, sisters, friends, walk in truth and light 24 7 all the days of your lives. That's our call.

We've had our days, most of us, for many of us, praise the Lord, we had our days of walking in untruth and walking in darkness. But then we came to realize we came face to face with truth and light and we embraced it. And that is to be our walk 24 7 no matter where we go, truth and light is a person that we love, that we're buddy-buddy with, that we mimic.

We become what He was to this world. So, a few thoughts there to be continued. God bless you.