Outward Appearances Can Be Deceiving
I Samuel 16:7 ESV
“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart’.” (cf. John 7:24)
Not everyone is who he says he is. Outward appearances can
be so deceiving. Remember that Satan appears as an angel of light and his
servants masquerade themselves as servants of righteousness. And then we have
those who pretend to be Christians, to be God’s sheep, but inwardly they are
vicious wolves. They are called “wolves in sheep’s clothing.” So, just because
someone appears good outwardly doesn’t mean he is good.
We live in a day and time when these “wolves in sheep’s
clothing” abound. They are everywhere. And many of them are very popular among
Christians, and they are well-loved and well-admired and respected in the
Christian community, at least here in America they are. The masses are approving
them by their outward appearance and by their smooth and charming messages
which tickle itching ears, and so they do not see the wolves underneath. For
they are falling for the deception.
And that is why the Scriptures instruct us regarding these
wolves in sheep’s clothing who masquerade as servants of righteousness, and
they teach us that we must be diligent in testing the spirits to see if they be
of God, and that it is by their spiritual fruits (in keeping with repentance)
that we will know them. We must be people who know the Scriptures, who are
obeying the Scriptures, and who are testing what we hear against the
Scriptures.
For these who are giving an outward appearance of being
followers of Christ but who lie and who do not tell the truth are leading
people astray by the masses. For they are telling them that a mere profession
of faith in Jesus Christ will save them from their sins and will guarantee them
heaven as their eternal destiny regardless of how they live their lives while
still on the earth.
But the Scriptures teach that we must die with Christ to sin
and live to Christ and to his righteousness if we want salvation from sin and
eternal life with God. And they teach that if we continue in deliberate and
habitual sin that we will not inherit eternal life with God. And the same
applies if we do not walk in obedience to our Lord and in his righteousness and
holiness and if we do not love our neighbors. We will not have eternal life
with God.
[2 Co 11:13-15; Matt 10:16; Acts 20:29; Matt 7:15-23; Matt
24:11-14; John 10:1-15; 2 Peter 2:1-22; 1 Tim 1:3-7; 1 Tim 6:3-10; 1 John
4:1-6; Jude 1:3-23; Lu 9:23-26; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Col 3:5-10;
Gal
5:16-21; Eph 5:3-11; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Heb
10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Matt 7:21-23; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Don’t Judge Others by Yourself
2 Corinthians 10:12
“Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.”
So, not only do we have a very large number of professing
Christians following after “wolves in sheep’s clothing” who are not testing the
spirits against the Scriptures, in context, but we also have a large number of
professing Christians who are judging other Christians by their own selves and
by human flesh and by human thinking and reasoning and not according to the
word of God. For they are following these wolves in sheep’s clothing.
I hear these judgments a lot, and many of them are coming
from the mouths of these false teachers and then they are being repeated by
those who are following after false gospels of men. For example, the primary
one is that if we teach repentance, obedience to the Lord, and submission to
Christ as Lord, we are being accused of teaching “works salvation,” which is a
lie, for that is what Jesus and the New Testament apostles taught.
Some of the other ones are that we are not to talk to people
about sin until we have friended them first for about two years so that we earn
the right to speak with them. False! Or we are to “stay in your own lane” and
to not speak to people about the gospel because you might offend them. But the
Bible teaches that the message of the cross is an offense to those who are
perishing in their sins. So the truth is an offense.
Then I have heard that we are not to volunteer for ministry
within the church because that obviously means that we are doing so just so
others will notice us. We are supposed to just sit back and wait until someone
asks us to do something. And then I heard that we should not speak with the
authority of the Scriptures because that will offend people and we should wait
until we have gray hairs on our heads before we speak with such conviction of
the Scriptures. And I heard at least one pastor say that he was warned against
people with “strong convictions,” as though that is a sin.
So, be careful who you listen to. Just because someone is a
pastor of a church or a leader in a church or a Bible teacher or an author of
Christian books does not mean he is speaking the truth. Many are messengers of
Satan whether knowingly or not. For the goal is to discourage Christians from
becoming serious followers of Jesus Christ and from spreading the truth of the
gospel to others and from encouraging other Christians in their walks of faith
in obedience to the Lord. So be followers of Christ, not of men.
[Eph 2:8-10; 1 Co 15:58; 2 Co 9:8; Gal 5:6; Php 2:12-13; Col
1:9-14; 2 Thess 1:11-12; 2 Tim. 2:21; Tit 2:11-14; Jn 15:1-11; Tit 3:8; Jas
2:17; Rom 12:1-8; 1 Co 12:1-31; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-27;
Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; 1 Pet 2:9; Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Acts
1:8; Acts 26:18]
Oh,
to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer
Lyrics
by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music
by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897
Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s
treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh, to be like Thee! full of
compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the
fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.
O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.
O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy
love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy
fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg
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