The War Within - Part V

May 18th, 2007

The War Within – Part V

I can make decisions to do wrong:

• If I want to do wrong, I can and sometimes will go out of my way to make it happen.

I can make decisions to do right:

• If I want to do right, I can and sometimes should go out of my way to make it happen.

May 18th, 2007

Mark 7:20-23
He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’”

See, the battle to do right or wrong comes within a person, being evil thoughts, deceit, and everything else in the scripture above. We know what a thought is and what evil is (or at least I would hope so…), so I am going to define deceit from the dictionary and Greek to grasp a larger picture.

Deceit (noun):

• The quality of being fraudulent.
• A misleading falsehood.
• Deliberate and misleading concealment, false declaration, or artifice.
• A stratagem; a trick.
• concealment or distortion of the truth for the purpose of misleading; duplicity; fraud; cheating

Deceive (verb):

• To mislead by a false appearance or statement; delude.
• To cause to believe what is not true; mislead.
• To give a false impression.
• Be false to; be dishonest with.
• Cause someone to believe an untruth.
• To cause to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid.

Synonyms: cozen, dupe, fool, gull, hoodwink, trick, defraud, outwit, entrap, ensnare, betray, fraud, misrepresentation, deception, insincere, disingenuous, false, hollow, designing, wily.

Deceit (Noun):

Dolos (pronounced dol'-os):

• Meaning to decoy; a trick (bait), that is, (figuratively) wile: - craft, deceit, guile, subtlety. (Strong’s)
• Craft, deceit, guile. (Thayer)

Leviticus 19:11
“‘Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another.’”

It sounds simple enough. And yet it happens. People prance around not wanting to deceive anyone, to not steal or lie, and yet it happens day in and day out. We had a President who slept with a woman, or at the least, committed sexual acts with her, and then he lied about it. That was Clinton. The “best president ever”, as some would say, slept around with a woman, he would even sneak out of the Whitehouse to do so, and the people were deceived about his actions. And both of these men sported themselves as devout Christians. I’m just pointing out that whether I have an important high class status with a good deal of money or a low class status with a little deal of money, the opportunity is always there to deceive and lie.

Proverbs 14:5
A truthful witness does not deceive, but a false witness pours out lies.

Proverbs 24:28-29
Do not testify against your neighbor without cause, or use your lips to deceive. Do not say, "I'll do to him as he has done to me; I'll pay that man back for what he did."

Obadiah 1:2-7
“See, I will make you small among the nations; you will be utterly despised. The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, 'Who can bring me down to the ground?' Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.

“If thieves came to you, if robbers in the night, (Oh, what a disaster awaits you) would they not steal only as much as they wanted? If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave a few grapes? But how Esau will be ransacked, his hidden treasures pillaged! All your allies will force you to the border; your friends will deceive and overpower you; those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, but you will not detect it.”

Genesis 4:1-7
Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.” Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

What is right? Not the opposite of left, right, but the right as in doing it God’s way right.

Right (verb):
Yâṭab (pronounced yaw-tab'):

• To be (causatively) make well, literally (sound, beautiful) or figuratively (happy, successful, right): - be accepted, amend, use aright, benefit, be (make) better, seem best, make cheerful, be comely, be content, diligent (diligently), dress, earnestly, find favor, give, be glad, do (be, make) good (-ness), be (make) merry, please (please well), show more kindness, skillfully, surely, make sweet, thoroughly, tire, trim, very, be (can, deal, entreat, go, have) well said, seen. (Strong’s)

Romans 13:1-7

Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

If I do right, my demeanor will show it - I will not be downcast, I will be commended by God and I will not have any fear exhibited in my nature. If I do wrong, my demeanor may show and I will be downcast, if ever be it so slightly. I will have everything to be afraid of, the sword and captivation by my sinful nature. My heart will have me decieved, so that I will be susceptible to deceptions from others, especially my friends. There are plenty of other consequences to the wrong side of things... but I will address those (maybe) in another edition of the War Within. Johnny Out.