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In Hebrews 3:13, the Bible speaks of the “deceitfulness of sin” To be deceitful is to give a false impression by appearance, direct statement, or influence. Sin is never honest. It always wears a mask, pretending to be something it is not. It does its deceitful work so well that most of the world has been deceived by it. Consider some of the ways sin plays the hypocrite.
- Sin pretends to be a servant while seeking the mastery over us. There never was a slave to liquor, drugs, tobacco, immorality, or any other sin, but who thought they could use these evil elements as their servants for pleasure, popularity, or profit. Millions have found to their horror that such poisons demand control and often get it. Romans 6:16 gives a clear, but largely ignored warning: “To whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness.” Remember that whatever sin promises, it will not be a servant, Sin demands mastery of your life and there is no more cruel taskmaster.
- Sin puts on a beautiful and attractive mask, but behind the mask, it is horribly ugly. Satan made the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden very desirable to Eve by lying to her about the benefits of eating it. David looked upon and lusted after Bathsheba, making the sins of adultery and murder attractive to him. Satan does not dare advertise the utter ugliness of sin or the terrible suffering, misery, and consequences it brings both now and forever. Satan neglected to tell Eve that eating the fruit would make her guilty and ashamed before God, that she would be cast out of the Garden, and that her name would live in infamy as the first human to rebel against God and bring sin and death into our world. Likewise, the liquor industry shows only the “good life” it wants people to associate with its product, carefully ignoring the incalculable pain, misery, and losses of all sorts it brings to millions of people. All sin follows the same pattern, showing its sweetness and concealing its bitter dregs as long as possible.
- Sin pretends to be right while it is utterly wrong. Satan has convinced much of the world that everything is relative, and nothing is absolutely right or wrong, truth or error. Perhaps this is the greatest deception of all, for it cancels the authority of God through His Word and makes each person his own standard of right and truth. Proverbs 16:25 exposes this deceitful trait of sin. “There is a way that seemeth right unto man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” How men feel about something does not make it true or false, right, or wrong, but what God says about it does.
[Note: I wrote this article and it was published in the “Bible Thoughts” column in the Hood County News, December 24, 1978.
Attribution: From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.
