"WASH YOUR HANDS OF DECEIVING YOURSELF!" 1 Corinthians 3:18-23

Introduction

Pride was the root cause for the division in the church at Corinth. They were proud of who they were and proud in who they knew. You see Corinth was a city for intellectual pursuit and culture. This attitude had crept over into the church. Church folk were professing to know more than most and professed understanding scriptures and the ways of God better than others. They were judging the value of other leaders and even judging the truth. Talking about living dangerously, they were! As mentioned in a prior sermon they gathered themselves around Paul, Cephas, and Apollos. And those who thought that they were better than these groups gathered themselves around Jesus.

I. Watch Self-Deception, v. 18

The text begins with the statement, “Let no man deceive himself.” In other words Paul was simply saying, “Don’t fool yourself.” Why would Paul make such a statement? The church at Corinth had some unusual advantages over some of the other churches:

They had access to scriptures, they enjoyed them, and the ways of God.

They enjoyed philosophy and theology and they encouraged both.

They had the privilege of experiencing some of the most outstanding preachers of their day and of history. (Paul, Apollos, Cephas)

They were well gifted with the gifts of God’s Spirit.

However, there was a serious problem. The problem was they wanted worldly recognition. They wanted to be known as intellectual, well-educated and most of all capable of understanding the world and God. My God! Sounds like somebody you know? The sad and dangerous thing is that they had begun to follow their own ideas and were disregarding the will and Word of God. You know Paul had to speak to the church at Rome something similar. Romans 10:3

The Holy Bible: King James Version Chapter 10

For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

They had begun to govern their lives by their own ideas and they were running the risk of destroying themselves and the church by deceiving themselves. Wash Your Hand of Deceiving Yourself. Because God’s Word reminds us,

1 Corinthians 10:12 (MSG) 12 Don't be so naive and self-confident. You're not exempt. You could fall flat on your face as easily as anyone else. Forget about self-confidence; it's useless. Cultivate God-confidence. Galatians 6:3 (MSG) 3 If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.

James 1:22 (MSG) 22 Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Proverbs 28:26 (MSG) 26 If you think you know it all, you're a fool for sure; real survivors learn wisdom from others.

WATCH SELF-DECEPTION…WASH YOUR HANDS OF DECEIVING YOURSELF...

II. ABANDON WORLDLY WISDOM, v. 18-20

You see worldly wisdom is natural reason only. What that means is men seeking to know the truth of the world and of God by using only natural reasoning. However, it doesn’t matter how much effort is put into their seeking, they always fail. They always come up short.

Romans 3:23 (KJV) 23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

The point is this: when a church begins to approach God and the problems of this world with worldly wisdom, the results are tragic. Therefore, the church becomes useless in the Kingdom of God. Worldly wisdom fails because;

A. It’s Superficial! In other words it only seems to be wise. The word seemeth means to think. It’s superficial because;

1. Since God is and He exists, no man can understand the world and God if he leaves God out of the picture. Just can’t do it!

2. No man has ever seen God. No one has ever left this physical world, physical dimension of being, and penetrated the spiritual world, saw God and returned back to earth. God told Moses,

Exodus 33:20 (MSG) 20 GOD continued, "But you may not see my face. No one can see me and live." You see this material, corruptible, imperfect world cannot penetrate the spiritual, incorruptible, and perfect world. It’s totally impossible!

John 1:18 (KJV) 18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

3. The only way God can ever be known is for God to reveal Himself. Jesus was the revelation of God in the flesh. Jesus told Phillip if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. Any wisdom that seeks to know God apart from His revelation is superficial.

Romans 1:22 (MSG) 22 They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life.

Jeremiah 4:22 (ICB) 22 The Lord says, "My people are foolish. They do not know me. They are stupid children. They don't understand. They are skillful at doing evil. They don't know how to do good."

B. It is not true wisdom! Listen to the Word, “Let him become a fool, that he may be wise.” This simply means that he must become what the world calls “a fool” if he wishes to know God and the real truth. Paul could testify that men that use to know him as Saul didn’t want to have anything to do with him. He was once referred to as “crazy” by Festus. And I’m sure that you have been called some names besides “a child of the King.”

C. It is foolishness to God v, 19

Because man’s heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked… Jeremiah 17:9. No matter who you are you have the seed of sin.

Because there is only one way an imperfect creature could ever be acceptable to a perfect God and that is Love. And for that to happen: first, someone would have to pay the penalty for man’s sin (John 3:16-17, Romans 5:8). And secondly, that someone would have to be a Perfect Being.

2 Corinthians 5:19 (ICB) 19 I mean that God was in Christ, making peace between the world and himself. In Christ, God did not hold the world guilty of its sins. And he gave us this message of peace. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (ICB) 21 Christ had no sin. But God made him become sin. God did this for us so that in Christ we could become right with God.

This is the reason that the Word proclaims, “God catches men in their own clever traps.” God knows the thoughts of every man and He knoweth that those thoughts are vain (empty).

WATCH SELF-DECEPTION, ABANDON WORLDLY WISDOM...

III. ABANDON THE GLORYING IN MEN

As we come to a close, this is a crucial point for every believer. To glory in men means to trust men and look to them for answers, the source of life and blessings. But I hear the songwriter saying, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow...” That’s just too much trust and confidence to put in a man. Some can and should be trusted, but even they are not the answer, nor the source of life and blessings.

James 1:17, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

We don’t belong to man, but man belongs to Jesus Christ who belongs to God. All I’m trying to say is we’ve got quit supporting one another in foolishness. Quit encouraging cliques which causes schism in the local church. Because we must remember what God said in verse 17 (…him shall God destroy). Wash your hands of deceiving yourself. Be mindful of self. Don’t get caught up in pride. Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. All I’m saying is don’t become over confident nor to arrogant. WASH YOU HANDS OF DECEIVING YOURSELF…Don’t be so wise that you think you can tell God what to do. He’s God and He’s God all by Himself. You wasn’t there when He created the universe. WASH, WASH, WASH…Because if it had not been for the Lord on our side, somebody tell me where would we be? WASH, WASH, WASH… CLOSE