Deceiving are own selves.
“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.” ~Luke 6:46-49
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.~James 1:22-25
Browsing the Internet in search of sermons and articles, one is overwhelmed at the sheer volume of material that is there. Some of it is pure deception, but there is a huge repository of sound doctrinal sermons and writings. The sermons of men like Leonard Ravenhill, Charles Leiter, Paul Washer, John Piper,( just to mention a few), are readily available for us to listen to in several formats.
As rich a treasure as this is, it scares me. God said to Isaiah, “Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.” Isaish 6:9-10. Is it possible for this to happen to me? I believe it is. According to Luke and James, it is not enought that we understand the word and rejoice in it. It is only in the DOING of it, that it becomes bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. It is only as we apply to our live what we hear that we are building a solid foundation in our lives. Otherwise, like James says, we are only deceiving are own selves.
Now, we always think of being deceived by FALSE teaching, but here is an amazing and fearful thing. We can be deceived by sound doctrine. How so? Simply by hearing and not doing. When we do this, we are not deceived by some false teacher or false prophet, rather we are deceived through the deceitfulness of our own heart.
May God, in His mercy, keep us from that. O Lord, help me not to be a “forgetful hearer”. Help me to be a “DOER” of your word!