Kingdom Ready Blog

Hebrews 3:12 & 13 (NASB)
See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

Certainly, one of the toughest aspects of dealing with sin is that it is deceptive. Sometimes we don’t recognize sin for what it is. If I don’t recognize a sin in my life, then I won’t confess it, or feel bad about it (godly sorrow) and therefore will not go to God for forgiveness (repentance). This verse in Hebrews warns us that we need to exhort each other because there are things we may miss and that a brother or sister can point out as a sin. I like to equate this to the idea of a coach and an athlete. I am thinking of something like a tennis or golf coach.Most would agree that Tiger Woods is the best golfer in the world, yet he still needs a coach. Obviously the coach is not a better golfer than Tiger, but this is not the point. The point is that the coach is a knowledgeable objective observer who can let Tiger know of errors in his game of which he may be unaware. As believers, we should appreciate others who are concerned for our lives that speak up and let us know about some sin in our lives. Of course, there can be great abuse of this — but that’s the way it is with most things. In the end, the one great deception is if we think we can do it on our own. Then we will certainly be deceived by sin.

Here are a few excerpts that relate to sin’s deceivableness from a couple of different sources. The first is an excerpt from Paul Tripp’s book, Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy. I haven’t read the book, but found this excerpt on another blog (Between Two Worlds). The second one is from a sermon by Spurgeon, entitled of all things “The Deceitfulness of Sin.”

Sin lives in a costume, that’s why it’s so hard to recognize. The fact that sin looks so good is one of the things that make it so bad. In order for it to do its evil work, it must present itself as something that is anything but evil. Life in a fallen world is like attending the ultimate masquerade party.

Impatient yelling wears the costume of a zeal for truth.Lust can masquerade as a love for beauty.Gossip does its evil work by living in the costume of concern and prayer.

Craving for power and control wears the mask of biblical leadership.

Fear of man gets dressed up as a servant heart.

The pride of always being right masquerades as a love for biblical wisdom.

Evil simply doesn’t present itself as evil, which is part of its draw.

You’ll never understand sin’s slight of hand until you acknowledge that the DNA of sin is deception. Now what this means personally is that as sinners we are all very committed and gifted self-swindlers. I say all the time to people that no one is more influential in their own lives than they are because no one talks to themselves more than they do. We’re all too skilled at looking at our own wrong and seeing good. We’re all much better at seeing the sin, weakness, and failure of others than we are our own. We’re all very good at being intolerant of others of the very things that we willingly tolerate in ourselves. The bottom line is that sin causes us to not hear or see ourselves with accuracy. And we not only tend to be blind, but to compound matters, we tend to be blind to our blindness.

What does all of this mean? It means that accurate-self assessment is the product of grace. It is only in the mirror of God’s Word and with the sight-giving help of the Holy Spirit, that I am able to see myself as I actually am. In those painful moments of accurate self-sight, we may not feel as if we are being loved, but that is exactly what is happening. The God, who loves us enough to sacrifice his Son for our redemption, works so that we would see ourselves clearly, so that we would not buy into the delusion of our own righteousness, and with a humble sense of personal need, seek theresources of grace that can only be found in him.

Spurgeon from a Sermon in London in 1890 on the topic of the Deceitfulness of
Sin:

Under the strong light of a living faith you see through the sinful imposture and you no longer put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! But under the half light, the twilight, the darkness of a questioning, half-hearted faith you cannot see the true color of an act and you are easily deceived. Believe in the living God and in His righteousness and in your obligation to serve Him—then sin will appear exceeding sinful. Believe in Christ, who took your sin, and bore it in His own body on the Cross—then sin will be seen in its black colors. . . . The next advice I would give is this—if you would be saved from the deceitfulness of sin confess it honestly before God. It is necessary to lay bare your heart before the living God. Though sin calls itself by another name, you call it by its right name. When you have sinned, make no excuses for yourself, but with weeping and lamentation cry, “Lord, I have sinned.” . . . Pray that sin may appear sin—it cannot appear in a worse light. Thus you shall not so readily be caught in its traps and lures.