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That men should deceive themselves, and still more, that they should use means for that purpose, we should believe to have been impossible were it not a fact of daily observation. Several causes lead to this irrational and dangerous practice. The first and most powerful is an inordinate love of ourselves. Pride also often lends its aid to our selfishness. it inspires a contempt of other men and too high an opinion of our own rights. The desire to maintain our own esteem contributes to our self-deception. We have a desire of the approbation of our fellow-creatures, and feel mortified when this approbation is withdrawn. But to appear worthless in our own eyes deprives us not only of the pleasure of conscience, but inflicts the stings of remorse. Such mortifying sentiments must be banished, and our self-esteem in some way must be regained. Hence guilty men have recourse to the artifices of self-deceit. Let us guard against the influence of principles which lead to so fatal a conclusion. And for this purpose let us proceed to consider some of those cases in which self-deceit is most frequently practised.

I. The first of these to which I request your attention is that in which OUR SINS ARE MINGLED WITH SOME APPARENT GOOD. Whence, for example, is profusion called generosity, vanity and folly a high and liberal spirit? while, on the other hand, the most narrow selfishness is called prudence; avarice, frugality; the exclusive pursuit of gain, diligent and honest industry? Whence are fraud and low cunning sometimes boasted of as the achievement of superior talent; and crimes fitted only to inspire the deepest disgust are openly related in expectation of applause? Whence is it that restlessness and discontent are confounded with the desire of improvement — subtilty called depth — audacious and hasty decisions, clear and prompt judgments? Whence also do you find blind and intemperate zeal confounded with a supreme love of God; while, on the other hand, insensibility and indifference are honoured with the names of liberality and rational religion? Whence arise these and such-like dangerous perversions of judgment, but from that fatal self-deceit — that unfairness of mind and subserviency of the understanding and the conscience to our passions and indulgences which are so often to be seen in the judgments and conduct of men?

II. Another case in which self-deceit is apt to be practised is that in which WE JUDGE OF THOSE DUTIES OR INDULGENCES, THE PROPER BOUNDS OF WHICH CANNOT BE PRECISELY DEFINED. No duty is more obligatory upon Christians than the relief of persons in distress; but you cannot lay down, either for yourselves or others, the time, the occasion, and the extent in which that relief is in every case to be given. Here, then, is a wide field for a dishonest mind to indulge its propensities, and to deceive itself in the formation of its judgments. Similar observations may be made on the neglect of personal devotion. Are there not many who never employ a portion of their time in serious meditation or private prayer? Deeply engaged in the toils and pursuits of business, they find many excuses for their negligence. The fit season, they say, is frequently interrupted by unexpected occurrences. At length a habit of procrastination is formed. The proper season no longer reminds us of our sacred duties. The world now occupies our thoughts and our inclinations. A similar process of self-deception often takes place in reference to pursuits and indulgences which may be innocent in themselves, but which, in special circumstances, or when frequently repeated, become dangerous and guilty. Under this class may be ranked the undue pursuit of the amusements, and what are called the pleasures, of life. They may interfere with that time which belonged to important objects: they may produce such effects on your temper and state of mind as to unfit you for those special duties to which you are dedicated: or they may be unsuitable to your circumstances and condition in life; and may associate with you ideas and feelings which are injurious to your character and usefulness.

III. Men are specially liable to self-deceit in those cases WHERE THEY ARE LED TO CONSIDER AND ESTIMATE THEIR OWN GENERAL CHARACTER. It is of the highest importance that we form just notions of ourselves. This would save us from many unwise and ruinous undertakings, and from doing much injury both to ourselves and to our fellow-creatures. The knowledge of ourselves would also render us humble and mild in our intercourse with one another, modest in our judgments, diligent in the means of knowledge and improvement. But I pass from minor considerations to the higher concerns of the soul and our eternal well-being. The foundation of Christianity is laid in a just sense of our ignorance, sinfulness, and lost estate; and till this be in some degree known and felt, we cannot justly estimate the salvation of the gospel. How important, then, is it for us to guard against that self-deceit which conceals from us the knowledge of our own character, and prevents us from seeking reconciliation with God and rising to that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Behold a man retired into his closet with the professed design of considering his ways and inquiring into the nature of his character. How astonishing, then, is it to behold this same man using every means to defeat the object of his inquiry. By some sophistical argument he finds that his sins are not so bad nor so dangerous as they have been commonly represented; or he discovers that in the case of persons like him such sins are attended with many circumstances of palliation; they are young, and cannot be expected to have all the wisdom and virtue of age; or they are aged, and being long accustomed to such indulgences, it would be dangerous, perhaps death at their time of life, to reform: or they find that they are peculiarly exposed to temptation, from the nature of their occupations and the persons with whom they are obliged to associate; other men are not better than they, but only not so much exposed to temptation. They rise from their meditations more hardened and ignorant of themselves than before.

IV. Similar causes will lead men to deceive themselves in judging of THEIR STATE OF FAVOUR WITH GOD AND THEIR PROSPECT OF FUTURE HAPPINESS. We have seen the manner in which sinful men deceive themselves into false conceptions of their general character: they have only to carry their self-complacency one step farther, and to fix on some tests of an interest in Christ which are agreeable to their own inclinations, in order to persuade themselves that they are in a state of favour with God and secure of future happiness. How many, for example, satisfy themselves with a splendid profession! Another class of self-deceivers lull themselves into a fatal security by the general decency of their lives; while no action, pursuit, or plan, has ever proceeded from Christian principles. Did not the Pharisee whom our Lord contrasts with the humble publican thus deceive himself? But not to men professing some regard for religion is this self-deceit confined. Strange as it may seem, there are men utterly void of the Christian profession who assure themselves of heaven. Their vices have laid asleep their conscience. Their sense of good and evil is lost, and they see not the gulf which lies before them.

V. Let me beseech you, then, to GUARD AGAINST AN EVIL SO SUBTHE, SO DANGEROUS, AND TO WHICH WE ARE SO PERPETUALLY EXPOSED. Watch, then, over yourselves; inquire often into the state of your principles and lives; and bring them to the test of the law and the testimony. Turn not away from the consideration of your errors and sins — bear to look at them as they are. Though to probe the wound may be painful, thus only can it be cured. But even in self-examination we are in danger of deceiving ourselves. Lay therefore your hearts before God.

(S. MacGill, D.D.)

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KJV: Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

WEB: Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.