Read Is 44:14-20.  Is 44:20 speaks of a deceived heart.  It’s hard for us to imagine that a person could be so deceived as to worship a god he makes out of the stock of a tree.  With the same tree, he warms himself, bakes his bread, and roasts flesh.  Yet, we know that men do this and have done this for millennia.

The reason is that their hearts are deceived.  With their eyes they cannot see, and with their hearts they cannot understand.  This is what a deceived heart will do to you.

Thank God, we are not bowing down to gods made out of trees.  Yet, though our hearts are not deceived by graven images, it is very possible for our hearts to be deceived by other things.

A Deceived Heart that’s deceived by other gods, Deut 11:16

The most dangerous of these other gods are the idols that you set up in your own heart.  Like the men of Israel in Ezekiel’s day.  “These men have set up their idols in their heart”, Ezek 14:3. The two worst gods of a deceived heart are covetousness and stubbornness.

“Covetousness is idolatry”, Col 3:5.  Many worship God for what he gives rather than for who he is.  Consider Solomon, unto whom God gave wisdom, understanding, and great riches.  Not satisfied with these, he multiplied to himself horses, gold, and wives, who turned his heart away from God to serve other gods.

When we have God we should want more of God.  But often people want more of what God can give, instead.  They want God’s blessings for ever not “God blessed for ever”, Rom 9:5.  Deceived that the possessions are the gauge of your success.

“Stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry”, 1 Sam 15:23.  With covetousness you want want you want regardless whether God wants you to have it.  And with stubbornness you want your own way rather than God’s way.

Pastor Hoots distinguishes a strong-willed person from a self-willed person.  When you can successfully get your own way, you  believe God is blessing you.  Your accomplishments become the measure of your success.

Deceived by pride, Oba 3-4.

With pride, you exalt yourself.  It’s self promotion. You lift yourself up.  Right before the devil is thrown into the bottomless pit, he “exalteth himself above all that is called God… shewing himself that he is God”, 2 Thes 2:4.  The deception is that you believe you own promotion.  This is the pride of a deceived heart.

Pride sets you up for a fall and destruction, Prov 16:18.  “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall”. You should already know this by what the Bible says.  “Every one that is proud in heart is abomination to the Lord”, Prov 16:5.  “A proud heart… is sin”, Prov 21:4.   

Humility is the key to protection from destruction.  Jas 4:6, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble”.  1 Pet 5:6 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time”.

Deceived by good words and fair speeches, Rom 16:18.

“By good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple”.  They know the words to say that you want to hear.

And the deception is that you believe their words rather than what God said.  You hear the words that sound good to you.  You don’t hear the words of God that reprove you, 2 Tim 4:3-4.

A Deceived Heart that’s deceived by your profession, Jas 1:22-26.

The word of God speaks clearly on every matter.  The Bible shows us what God calls “pure religion”, Jas 1:27.  The trouble with men is that they create their own religions.  They have since Cain was alive.

If you want to know whether your religion is man’s religion or God’s just listen to your own profession.  Your words reveal your heart.  Are you religious, or do you just “seem to be religious”?

Are you “a hearer of the word, and not a doer”?  Then, you are a doer of your own words. You are just like the Pharisees who were doers of their own tradition.  They made up their own “religion” and their own religious profession, just like JW, Mormon, RCC, etc.

And you start believing what you say rather than what God says.  This is the deception.  And the trouble is that your profession won’t get you past the judgment of God.  You must be able to profess what he said.

Conclusion: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved”, Rom 10:9.

Pure religion starts with a humble recognition that you are a sinner in need of a Savior.  Turn from your stubbornness and pride.  Quit believing the fair speeches of the deceivers.  Quit being deceived by your own profession of goodness.  And turn to faith in Jesus Christ.  From a deceived heart to a saved heart.