Today’s message

I have just a couple of words today on how the devil manages to become some people’s interpreter for what they hear and for what they are doing in their lives. In the parable of the sower and the seed, Jesus describes four conditions of God’s people, in regard to hearing and/or keeping the word of God. The first condition he described is the one that pertains to this topic today: “When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side” (Mat. 13:19). There is a good reason, or I should say a bad reason, as to why the devil “catches away” the word, and why the hearer does not understand it. Anyone in this condition has already been practicing deceit within themselves by not being totally honest with themselves about the state of their heart and about what they have been doing, or about what they have not been doing. When someone does not remain completely honest about what they feel, what they think, what they are motivated by, etc; they will begin to find ‘good’ reasons to call something within them that is wrong, something good. This is what the apostle Paul admonished the saints about when he said, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:26). The truth is you can’t afford to let the sun go down on ANY wrong thing because it WILL give place to the devil. If we do allow something wrong to linger inside, what happens is that it will open the door wide to the devil to interpret anything that could convict the heart of sin, as something that is in error. In fact practicing deceit in one’s life will leave the door open to Satan to interpret just about everything they do and everything they’re around as something other than what it is. So if and when the word of God comes their way there is already a natural resistance built up against it. In fact when ANYTHING that is contrary to someone in this condition comes their way, they will automatically see it as erroneous, because the devil will interpret it that way to them; thus assuring them that everything is okay with them, when in fact it is not.

The Lord spoke by Jeremiah regarding this exact same condition in his day: “Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return” (Jer. 8:5). And the fact that it is not possible to know the Spirit of God while in this condition, Jeremiah also attested to by God: “And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity. Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord” (Jer. 9:5,6). There is very good reason my friend, that the scriptures admonish us as follows: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23). Jesus echoed this truth and reality when he spoke of what truly defiles a man: “And he said, That which cometh OUT OF the man, that defileth the man. For FROM WITHIN, out of the HEART of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man” (Mk. 7:20-23). Jesus suffered, died, and rose again to give us true cleansing power from heaven with which we can and must purify our hearts daily from all of these kinds of things (Acts 1:4,5,8; I Cor. 6:11; Tit. 3:5; I Pet. 1:22). It takes continued honesty, humility, and much prayer to retain the spiritual power that enables us to fulfill the following: “Teaching us that, DENYING ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Tit. 2:12). This is what the beloved apostle meant when he told us, “And every man that hath this hope [eternal life] in him purifieth himself, even as he [Christ] is pure” (I Jn. 3:3). So then it becomes more than evident that we cannot afford to allow the devil to become our interpreter, and thereby fall into the trap Isaiah warned of: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isa. 5:20). And it becomes every bit as evident why the apostle Paul left us this admonition to remember: “Wherefore, my beloved… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philip. 2:12). And all I can say is, amen.