I want us all to think back to a time in our past; some of us to the not quite so distant past. For others of us, maybe back to some of our earliest memories.
I can remember some of the things in my very early youth was singing songs like “London Bridge” and “Row Your Boat”. I also remember some of the stories that I was told or read to. And I’m not sure why, but when I think back, it seems to me that a lot of those stories could be a little scary.
Really. I mean cover your head and shut your eyes. Some of them were, of course, scarier than others. Jack and the Beanstalk didn’t seem that scary to me. So there was a giant. Big deal! I mean anybody who says things like “Fe Fi Fo Fum” didn’t really seem to be a big threat.
And the three little pigs. Now there’s a classic! First of all, I’ve never been able, even to this day, to figure out why the man gave the third little pig his bricks. I mean, the straw and the sticks can just be gathered up. But you don’t normally find bricks just lying around like you might straw and sticks, and I can tell you that if I was packing a load of bricks I think I’d have a purpose for them.
And then there’s the wolf: Thinking that he could blow down a brick house. He has to be some kind of kin to Wile E. Coyote.
But I’ve gotta tell you, there were some of those stories that could really put a fright into me. Now this might sound a little funny coming from an old, fat preacher, but I was always a little shook up by the story about Little Red Riding Hood.
Yeah, I know. Tra-la-la-la-la and I’m on my way to grannies house to take her some lunch in my picnic basket. It wouldn’t be much of a story if that’s all there was to it. But its not! Remember the Big Bad Wolf?
In Jack and the Beanstalk and the Three Little Pigs, everybody knew who the bad guy was and what to expect of him. Jack knew about the giant. The giant’s wife warned him. The pigs knew about the wolf. Their mother warned them. They knew what might happen! Little Red Riding Hood, in all her innocence, didn’t know that the wolf had already eaten her grandma, and was using deceit to have her as his next course.
In the same way, deceit was used with Hansel and Gretel. In this story though, it’s a little hard to tell who the bad guy really is. There is the witch, of course, who deceived the kids into thinking that she was just a nice, old lady, all the while planning to have them both for dinner, just not as guests. The first villain in this story though, is the mother. Demanding that her husband take his children out into the woods and abandon them there, knowing full good and well that there’d be peril for them at every turn until finally, they’d be overtaken by beasts or starvation.
But, unlike Red Riding Hood, Hansel was not so naïve. He’d heard the truth and made preparation to rescue both himself and his sister.
When it was time for their father to take them out into the forest, Gretel kept the small piece of bread they’d been given while Hansel’s pockets were full of shiny pebbles. As they walked along, he’d stop every so often to drop one of those pebbles.
Well, it came about that they were left behind in the forest, but thanks to Hansel’s pebbles, they were back home the next day.
However, once again the villain, the mother, told the father to lose the kids in the woods. And although Hansel and Gretel heard this, Hansel, this time, didn’t have a chance to gather any pebbles. Instead he dropped crumbs of bread, which the birds made quick work of.
It’s at this point, when they’re lost and searching that they become the most vulnerable to the scheme of the witch. Her plan is to fatten them up and then devour them.
As it turned out though, the witch made one crucial error. You see, Gretel was a girl of faith. And she prayed, “Dear God, do help us. If the wild beasts in the forest had but devoured us, we should at any rate have died together.”
The witch with her wicked ways tried to quiet Gretel’s prayers, and then tried to trick her into climbing into the oven to be cooked.
Gretel however, turned the tide on the witch and cast her into the fiery oven. Then she ran to release Hansel, grabbed the treasure, and headed for home.
On their way, they came to a stream that they couldn’t cross. But, there was a white duck that helped them cross safely over from one side to the other.
When they arrived home, they found that their evil mother had died, their father rejoicing to have them back, and a treasure in their pockets.
Now I know that these stories are only what are known as fairy tales. There’s no real wolves like in Red Riding Hood, no real villains like the evil mother and the witch ... or are there?
Listen to what Jesus said: Mt 7:15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”
And then later, Paul told the elders from Ephesus: Ac 20:29 “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.”
For all intents and purposes, WE are Red Riding Hood. And there are wolves out to deceive and devour us. Not in a physical sense, but a spiritual one.
You see, in the story, the wolf wanted Red to have confidence in the fact that she was talking to her grandma, someone she loved and trusted. That’s why he dressed as grandma dressed and took the place where grandma would normally occupy. He took on the appearance of a person that could be loved and trusted to trick that innocent child so he could not just destroy her, but devour her!; To completely consume her.
I’m sure that most of us have heard it said that you are what you eat. Well, that’s just a piece of advertising propaganda. The fact of the matter is that what you eat becomes a part of you. If I eat an apple, I don’t become an apple, the apple becomes part of me. If I eat a pork chop, I don’t become a pork chop, the pork chop becomes part of me. And I can prove that’s true. (Turn sideways, pull back jacket) How many pork chops do you think it takes to add that much to me?
Anyway, there are wolves roaming around amongst us looking for opportunities to deceive us into thinking that they really love us and are looking out for our best interest. And a lot of times they’re very hard to recognize because they themselves don’t realize that they’re the wolves because they too, have been consumed.
Christ spoke of false prophets. Paul wrote of elders and preachers. Any of these men are susceptible to the influence of the original wolf, the serpent, the roaming lion, Satan.
There have been some who knew exactly what they were doing; who knew that they were going directly against God. Take for example the man who started the false religion of Scientology. This false religion wasn’t started in the deep forest of the Amazon or in some ancient culture, but here, in this country, during the lives of a lot of us here this morning.
This so called religion has nothing to do with God, whatsoever. It’s all about me. Completely and totally about who I am and what I want. Exactly what Satan wants us to concentrate on! It’s not difficult for a Christian to recognize that this is false teaching. It should be a simple thing because of the omission of God.
But what about those who use God for there own selfish desires to have things and be somebody? What about those who make promises for God that God hasn’t made Himself? How easy is it for us to get caught up in these wonderful things that God will do for us to the extent that we fail to see the fact that these things aren’t being told to us by God, but by this man or this woman?
Send me some seed money and God will reward you 10 fold. Send me $1,000 and God will give you back $10,000!
Man, what a great deal! Why would I put money in a bank and only draw 2 ½ % interest or put it into some retirement account that might give me back 8 or 10 % when I can send my money to this preacher, and he’ll have God give me 1,000 % interest? I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. When I get that $10,000 that God’s sending me, I’m going to give it right back to that preacher, and the next time it’ll be a million! And when I get THAT back, I’ll keep half of it to spend and send the other half back in. Just think of all the things I can have, and just because I sent in that seed money.
Now tell me honestly, where in the bible does God make that promise? I know that God will allow us to have some extras. But I don’t remember where it was that I read that He’ll make me rich. I can’t even remember where it says that He’ll give me any earthly treasure. Oh well, that preacher said it, so it must be in the bible somewhere. Right?
Again, we’re being deceived, but this time it’s in the name of God.
And then there are those that I mentioned earlier that don’t know themselves that they’re wolves because they’ve been devoured and are now a part of the original deceiver.
I’m afraid that, for a lot of us, this is an extremely sensitive subject because we have or have had family members and friends that fall into this group.
I have a special affinity for these people. I’m saddened by the thought that there are so many out there in the world today that truly believe that they’re saved, and yet haven’t been obedient to God in His way of salvation.
These people are as sincere as any of us here this morning. They have a desire to serve God as much as their lives will allow. They love God intently. But they’ve been deceived by the doctrine of men. They’re taught by people who believe what they’re teaching, that all they have to do to be saved is to believe in God, and ask Jesus to come into their hearts. Folks, the demons believe.
There are others who have confused the issue of baptism. They’ve believed, repented, and confessed. But for one reason or another, teach and believe that baptism is just a sign of salvation or nothing at all. Or maybe that it’s not immersion into water in participation in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
Whatever it is that they themselves believe and teach others that substitutes men’s doctrine for God’s, is keeping them from having that state of salvation they truly believe that they already have.
We should feel no animosity toward those who are being deceived by Satan. We should have love and compassion for them. Even the ones who know that they’re going against God’s will. We should be searching for ways to bring them out of the clutches of the deceiver, and help them back onto the path that they’re really searching for. The path of shining pebbles that God’s laid down for us to use to find our way home.
And that brings us back to the mother and the witch. The witch, I think, has a lot of the same qualities as the wolf. She, at first appeared to be this sweet old lady, and then let what she really was be seen. The mother, on the other hand, was different. To the children, she maintained her appearance as being no different from one time to the next. She always was the same. Mean, yes! But steadfast in her actions. In front of the ones she was plotting against, she showed no sign of being any different than usual.
Where could we find those who do this today? Here’s what Paul wrote to Timothy: (2Ti 3:2-5) People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-- having a form of godliness but denying its power.
I’d like to ask a series of questions for you to think about.
Can you be a part-time Christian?
Can I go to church on Sunday, go through all the motions, sing all the songs, Amen every prayer, participate in the Lord’s Supper, then leave the church building to return to an uncaring, unloving, selfish life, and still think that I’m leading a Christian life? Can I be loving toward a person inside the church building, and act like I don’t even know them when I see them out and around, and still think that I’m leading a Christian life?
Can I know the needs of the congregation and do nothing to help and still think that I’m leading a Christian life?
Can I think that I can retire from service because I’ve already done my part and still think that I’m leading a Christian life?
Can I look at others as less than I am and still think that I’m leading a Christian life?
Can I hold a grudge against someone and still think that I’m leading a Christian life?
If we do any of these things, who is it we’re really deceiving? Remember, Hansel knew what his mother was really like, even though she thought she was hiding it.
If we see what Paul continues to say to Timothy we find that, if we try to deceive others into thinking that we’re Christians, we won’t get very far (2Tim 3:9) because the first person we’d be deceiving is ourselves.
The wolf, the witch, and the mother are within every one of us. We’re all capable of deceit, whether it’s aimed at others or ourselves. But how can we escape it. How can we not be deceived by other people or ourselves? And if we are being deceived right now, how can we stop it?
The pure white duck helped Hansel and Gretel cross the expanse to get home. They relied on him to return them to safety.
We have someone who we can rely on to help get us across the expanse, too. He’s our pure white Savior. The one who was sent by Him who is incapable of deceit. Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Good Shepherd. The one who watches over His own.
If you’re not having the confidence in Jesus to allow Him to guide you to safety, if you’re not hearing His voice, there’s some changing that needs to be taking place.
Give in to the will of God right now. Let Him help you stop the deceiver from being in control of you. You know that it’s only through Christ that you can go home.
Right now, make the firm decision to stop all the deception in your life. Give total control to God through faith in Jesus Christ. Now. Right Now.
If you are a Christian, repent! If you’re not a Christian, now is the acceptable time. Today is the day of salvation. (2Cor. 6:2)
It’s an open invitation. God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (2Tim 2:4)
According to God’s word, this is the truth:
Mr 16:16 “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.”
2Co 7:10 “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
Ro 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
1Pe 3:21 “Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you--not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience--through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
Re 2:10 “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
