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(Prov 31:30) "Favour is deceitful, and
beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised."
Men look on the outward appearance. They always look for that which is
pleasing to their senses or intellect. When they find it they begin to
devise ways to obtain it for themselves. Then when they get what they
thought would be so good, they are disappointed, because favour is
deceitful. They don’t believe that or realize that until AFTER they have
obtained what they lusted for.
How many men have ruined their lives for this reason? Instead of looking for
a woman that could (and WOULD) cook, be a faithful wife and a good mother to
his children, they were looking for the best-looking girl that would have
them. They were looking for beauty and found it, but they found out too late
that favour had lied to them. They thought that girl with such a beautiful
face and perfect figure would make them happy, but it turned out that they
had been deceived. What you see is not always what you get, and many times
what looks good on the outside is more bitter than you can imagine when you
get it. The same thing goes for women. Ask Eve.
"And when the woman saw that the tree was
good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be
desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat,” (Gen
3:6)
But it wasn’t long after she had eaten the
fruit before she realized that she had been deceived by what her eyes had
told her. There are some things that are irreversible, and marriage is one
of them, so one had better be careful in choosing a wife. A man or a woman
would do very well to keep in mind that favour is deceitful.
The same principle applies in Bible doctrine. There are many doctrines that
are appealing on the outside. They may sound right and sensible upon the
first hearing of them. They may seem to fit really well with men’s
perception of themselves and the doctrines they have already adopted as
their creed. Calvinistic doctrine is like that. It magnifies the sovereignty
of God, but to such an extreme that it distorts and ruins all sound
doctrine. Who would dare criticize a doctrine that magnifies, and glorifies
the Lord above all? It looks beautiful on the surface and sounds so
impressive, but when you look at the results, and what these doctrines
produce you realize that something is rotten. When you see the effects these
doctrines have on the minds, hearts, and lifestyles of men and women, you
realize that “favour is deceitful.” Oh, it may sound good, and it may sound
right, but you must look deeper and longer than just the surface and the
right here and now. When a man takes a wife he needs to realize that it is
for a lifetime and she will not always have that hourglass figure and that
pretty, youthful face. He better have some better reasons for loving her
that those, because they will be gone shortly. When a man takes a Bible
doctrine, he needs to be aware that he is going to have to live with it and
it’s results for eternity. Though, it may sound good at the first, and it
may bring him admiration and respect from others, he better consider what
the long-term effects and fruits of believing, preaching, and practicing
this doctrine will be.
A lot of preachers that are down the road
twenty and thirty years already are realizing they were deceived by some
doctrines that sounded good, and right, but have produced a crop of rotten
fruit. They listened to the hyper-soul winning preachers and their great
swelling words and swallowed their doctrines because they sounded so right,
but now are reaping an awful crop of reprobate church members as a result.
The end result is not at all what they expected or what they had worked for,
but it is inevitable when the gospel is turned into a sales pitch, with no
repentance, and sin is taught to be a very normal thing in the Christian
life. When holiness is presented as unattainable in this life and
righteousness is something imputed rather than practical, you need not
expect people to be very concerned about the way they live. When salvation
is nothing more than a “profession of faith” which clears you from past,
present, and future sins, it is foolish to think that people are going to
fear God, or worry about how they live after they are “saved” this way. It
is no different than the religion of the Catholics — you do your little duty
and then you are absolved of your responsibility before God and you are free
to live as you please. This kind of “salvation” is appealing to most people,
because there is no obligation on their part, therefore it is easy to get a
crowd quickly by preaching and “soul-winning” this way.
Most people in the church want to see the
church grow and people brought in, so many fell for this false gospel, and
sadly, we are beginning to reap its rotten fruit now all over our land and
the world. When it first started, there were many churches that were growing
by leaps and bounds and it looked really good. It HAD to be God blessing
them! Many more jumped on the bandwagon because it looked so good. But
“favour is deceitful.” In pursuit of that which appeared well-favoured, many
got what they wanted, and found out too late that it wasn’t what they
thought it would be. Now they wish they had searched it out better, and had
looked farther down the road before they started down it.
The children of God walk by faith, NOT BY SIGHT. So that which is well-favoured
should not capture our minds and desires. People who have the Holy Spirit as
their guide shouldn’t be deceived by favour, but should immediately get more
cautious. We have an enemy who is trying to trap us and he won’t use ill-favoured
bait in his traps. Something that is pretty; something that captures the
attention, and looks right and good and desirable is the last thing many set
their eyes on before they die in a trap. Ask Eve.
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