SEVEN LIES THE DEVIL WANTS YOU TO BELIEVE

 

Have you ever known someone to tell a lie?

 

Acts 5:1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession.  2 And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet.  3 But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself?  4 "While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God."  5 Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things.

 

Have you ever believed a lie? I sure have and so have many others. Sometimes we allow ourselves to be deceived by those who have no problem lying straight to our face. Think about some the great deceptions that occurred in times past.

 

One thing that comes to my mind was the legend of the Trojan horse. No one could defeat the city of Troy until Greeks came up with a deceptive plan. They made a huge wooden horse and filled it with men and left for the people at Troy. A Greek spy convinced them to take the wooden horse inside their gates and that night the men came out and killed the guards and opened the gates for the rest of the men to come in and they destroyed the city of Troy.

 

There has been many times that news media has lied to the public just for the sake of destroying another persons credibility or to push some hidden agenda. The story that CBS released about George Bushes military record which turned out to be false is one recent example of how the News Media lies. So don’t believe everything you hear or see on TV.

 

Other people like to tell lies so that they can look good or make you look bad. Etc.

 

How about you how many times have you told a lie? Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we find it much easier to tell a little white lie as we like to call them than to tell the truth. Of course we know that the Bible teaches that we should not lie. With that in mind let’s take a look at what Jesus says about lying. In John 8 Jesus is defending himself against the Pharisees trying to convince that he was the son of God.

 

John 8:43 43 "Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.  44 "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

 

Jesus makes it very clear that the devil is the father of lies and since these Pharisees would not accept the truth Jesus deemed that as sons of the devil. Think about that for a minute whenever you or I tell a lie we are making the devil our father or whenever we refuse to stand on the truth of Gods word again we are making the devil our father. Maybe it would help us not to lie if we imagined that every time we began to tell a lie we see the devil cheering us on our patting us on the back and saying great work my child.

 

Now lets take a look at 3 different ways John defines a liar.

 

1. 1 John 2:4 He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

 

2. 1 John 2:22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.

 

3. 1 John 4:20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?

 

 

Another interesting point about lying can be found in: 2 of the seven involve lying.

Proverbs 6:16 These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:  17 A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood,  18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil,  19 A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.

 

 

Any way you look at Liars will end up facing the same fate as the devil. Look at Rev. 21:7 and notice first of all  what will happen to those who remain faithful until the end.

 

Revelation 21:7 "He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.  Notice what he says in  verse8 8 "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." 

 

Stay far away from lying. Now that I have shed light on how horrible lying is and the devil is the father of lies let us know begin to examine 7 lies the devil wants us to believe.

 

  1. The word of God is not true.

The devil used this lie starting with Adam and Eve.

 

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"  2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden;  3 "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' "  4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.  5 "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

 

Eve of course fell for the lie hook line and sinker. There are many people today that have believed in this lie as well. Think about how powerful that lie is. If the word of God is not true then there would be no need to follow what God has said and there would be no need to fear the wrath of God. The devil always holds on to part of the truth and doesn’t care if you hang on to part of the truth because he has you where he wants you if don’t have all of the truth. He doesn’t mind if people call the Bible a book of love or a good guide book for raising a family as long as he can convince people the word of God has some good points but overall its full of errors and man made stories he will be happy. The devil has been very successful in this lie because many people in the world including Americans no longer respect the word of God as authority. You can see this in many ways in what America is teaching today.

 

  1. You see people using Gods name in vain and many who make fun of the Christian life style
  2. Many are teaching today that you should not be so narrow  minded and should accept other peoples Gods.
  3. Many are teaching us to kill unborn babies and call it “a womens choice”
  4. Other are teaching us that we need to change our understanding on what the Bible teaches on homosexuality and call an alternative life style.
  5. Many say that the Bible is wrong when it comes to raising your children. They say you should not discipline your children so they can build self esteem.
  6. America wants you to believe that the Bible is wrong when it come to the origin of life. They want you to believe that life took billions of years and we evolved from an ape.
  7. Finally America wants us to believe that there are no absolute truths.

 

I can just imagine how proud the devil is of those who teach such nonsense but millions if not billons of people have believed in these kinds of lies.

 

Whenever you consider the depth of the word of God and how it works together in perfect harmony and how it is historical accurate, scientifically accurate and how it predicted future events sometimes 2000 years in advance not to mention tons of internal and external evidences there should be no doubt that the word of God is true and Jesus makes is very clear that we can know the truth.

 

John 8:31-32  31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.  32 "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."  

 

2 God will make an exception in your case.

 

This is another good lie of the devil. This is where he traps those known as the good  ole boy. I don’t go to church but I pay taxes, don’t drink.etc

Achan believed this lie in Joshua 7.

 Joshua 7:21  21 "When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it."  

 

God did not make an exception for him.

 

Lots wife Gen. 19:26

 

Nadab and Abihu Lev. 10:1

 

2 Sam. 6 God did not make and exception for Uzzi.

 

Guess what God is not going to make a exception for you and we can see that clearly with Jesus words in

 

Matthew 7:21 " Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  22 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'  23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

                                                                                       

  1. You don’t really need to go to church all the time.

 

The devil might say something like this. You only need to go church every once in while maybe on Christmas or Easter that will be good enough after all there are so many hypocrites in the church besides all this just think of all the rest you can get on Sunday after you worked so hard to provide for your family. No one there cares about you anyway so you might as well stay home. You certainly don’t want to go to Bible class on Wednesday night that just for the weak minded people besides it will probably be really boring. The devil is not stupid he know that if he can keep you out of church that he owns you and can keep you out of heaven.

 

He knows that the Bible teaches that in 1Cor 12 that the church is like a body and that it needs every part to function properly and if he can remove you from the body not only does get you he weakens the church by sucking you into his lie. He knows the more you become uninvolved with the church the more you become involved with the world. Whenever you believe the devils lie you and you do not assemble with the saints on the first day of the week you break several of Gods commands.

 

1. Matthew 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Listen to what Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:37 "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

 

  1. 1 Corinthians 16:2  2 On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.

 

3. When Jesus instituted the Lords Supper he commanded us to partake of it in remembrance of him and we find in Acts 20:7 that is was the 1st day of the week that the disciples came together to partake of the Lords Supper.

 

4. Heb 10:24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,  25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. 

 

5. Hebrews 13:17 Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. We need to realize that our Elders have to give an account for their flock and if they see it to be important for us to assemble on Sunday and Wednesday the bible tells us to obey that.

 

 

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  1. Following Gods word is just too hard and you can’t have any fun.

He might say if you try to live up to Gods expectations you will be most miserable person in the world. Think about all those commands that God wants you to follow. God is just a control freak and he likes watching you struggle with his commands because he doesn’t want you to be happy. He wants you to serve others and to deny yourself of a good time. If God really loves you than he wont mind to much if you go ahead and enjoy some of the pleasures of this world. Even God tells you that his was is difficult narrow road and he also says that he will never forsake you. So go ahead enjoy life he still let into heaven.

 

Do you see how sneaky the devil can be. No wonder Peter said

 

1 Peter 5:8   8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

 

You have to have your wits about you or the devil and the things  of this world can cause to live a life of sin.

 

Paul tells us

2 Corinthians 11:13-15  13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.  14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.  15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

 

Satan tried  to his best to convince Jesus  that was to hard to follow Gods word in Luke 4. We should all be familiar this where Jesus goes out in the dessert and he fast 40 days when Satan came and tried to tempt Jesus 3 times. 1st time he tries to get him change the stones  into bread. He wanted Jesus to rely upon himself instead of God. The second thing Satan tried  was to get Jesus to worship him  and he would give him all the eye could see. Basically I see Satan saying you don’t have endure hardship for God sake just simply worship me and you  will have it all. The 3rd thing that the devil tried was to get Jesus  to jump off the temple and let God save him from falling. To me this is the devil way of saying to us go ahead jump off into sin God will not allow to fall from his grace.

Jesus didn’t buy this  nor should we.

 

While there are times that living a Christian  life can be hard over all a Christian will be much happier following God commands than  those who don’t. 

 

Psalm 144:15   Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!

 

Proverbs 16:20  0 He who heeds the word wisely will find good, And whoever trusts in the LORD, happy is he.

 

Proverbs 28:14  14 Happy is the man who is always reverent, But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

 

Proverbs 29:18  18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.

 

Those who live a faithful life to God and do not seek the passing pleasure of sin can enjoy a great  peace in their lives knowing that heaven will be their home. Christians should also be very happy knowing that if they do sin that they can be forgiven of their sin.

 

1 Samuel 12: 20 Then Samuel said to the people, "Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.  21 "And do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing.  22 "For the LORD will not forsake His people, for His great name's sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you His people.  23 "Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way.  24 "Only fear the LORD, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.  25 "But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king." 

 

We learn from this text the God does not forsake us it us who forsakes him. God wants up to strive to serve him and trust that he will  save us in the end. Verse 25 tells us that if we do not walk according to Gods word we shall be swept  away. Finally a person can have all kinds of fun as a Christian. The problem lies is how people define what is fun. While the world would say that drinking, fornication, or pornography is fun these type of sinful behaviors usually always led to broken marriages and to death.

Notice what John tells  us in 1 John 5:3  3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

 

So don’t believe Satans lie that living the Christian life is to hard and no fun.

 

Be like Paul who said Philippians 4:13   13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

 

5th There are many ways to Heaven The devil wants you to believe that you can worship God in any way you want to as long as you do it from the heart. He might say worship at the church of your choice after all churches are the same. Don’t sweat the details because there are many roads that lead to heaven.

 

Many have believed this lie and that is why we have so many division in the religious world. There are over 2000 different denominations who worship God in many different ways. This is the complete opposite of what the Word of God teaches. Look at:

 

1 Corinthians 1:10-13  10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.  11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you.  12 Now I say this, that each of you says, "I am of Paul," or "I am of Apollos," or "I am of Cephas," or "I am of Christ."  13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

 

You see in the first century Paul was making it very clear that there is not suppose to be division or denominations or calling yourself after some man. Jesus purchased the church with his own blood and his church should bear his name. God demands unity based upon his word and has never approved of man made doctrines.

 

Jesus made it very clear that there only 2 roads a person can follow.

 

Matthew 7:13-14  13 " Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  14 "Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

 

The only way to enter into that narrow Gate is through Jesus Christ.

 

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

 

John 3:5 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

 

So you see there is only one road that leads to heaven and we can only travel that path if we obey  Gods word and worship him in spirit and in truth. The devil wants you to think that you don’t have to pay close attention to Gods word but again this foreign to the Bible.

Lets look at how serious God wanted those under the OT to follow his word.

 

Joshua 1:7  7 "Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.  8 "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

 

Notice he was not to go the right or to left but was to pay very close attention to what the word of God had to say. The same is true in the NT as well. Just read 1and 2 Timothy and you will see Paul pleading with Timothy over and over again to make sure that the church is built upon sound doctrine and for him to watch out for those who are trying to change the word of God.

 

So don’t ever buy into the devils lie that there are many ways into heaven

 

6. There isn’t going to be a judgment day. He might say just think about Jesus said he would come back but it has been almost 2000 years since his death. What do you think he is waiting on. He not coming back and so that so that means that there is no judgment day so there nothing to fear so live your life for yourself. This was being spread in the first century as well.

 

2 Peter 3:3-4   knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts,  4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation."

 

Peter responds to this lie

2 Peter 3: 5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water,  6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.  7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.  8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.  10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

 

James tells us to be patient

James 5:7-8   7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.  8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

 

We can be certain that there will be a Judgment day but it will be when God decides for that day to come.

 

Acts 17:30-31  30 "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,  31 "because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."

 

All the devils lies cannot change the reality that there will be a judgment day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. You have plenty of time to obey God  

 

The devil had a meeting in hell on how to deceive the people. One demon said, let us tell them  that the bible is not true. The devil replied, that will work but only up to a point. A second demon said let us tell them that Jesus is not lord. The devil replied that will only work up to a certain as well. An older demon suggested let us say that the bible is the word of God and Jesus is the lord  but let us convince the people that have all the time in the world to obey him. The devil loved this idea.

 

Acts 24:25   25 Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, "Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you."

 

2 Corinthians 6:2  " Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.