SEVEN LIES THE DEVIL WANTS YOU TO BELIEVE
Have you ever known someone to tell a lie? 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 of the great deceptions that have occurred in the Bible. One example comes from:
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.
These two were trying their best to make Peter and those around them think they were giving up all their money they sold their land for, and while they may have been able to fool them, they could not fool God, and their lie cost them their lives.
We certainly have many examples from history where deception
took place as well. One classic example that comes to my mind is the legend of
the Trojan horse. No one could defeat the city of
When it comes to our news media, they have lied to the public just for the sake of destroying another persons credibility or to push some hidden agenda. I never will forget the story that CBS released about George Bush’s military record, which turned out to be false and this is just one example of many where the media invented their own facts to increase their viewers or their readers. We see these kind of lies every time we check out at the grocery store because there are magazines that print all the rumors that are going around about celebrities. Occasionally, there is some truth in those magazine, but you just never know if you reading truth or fiction. So don’t believe everything you hear or see on TV or in print.
Other people like to tell lies so that they can look good or make you look bad. 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 is the son of God.
John
Jesus makes it clear that the devil is the father of lies and since these Pharisees would not accept the truth that He was the Son of God, 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. Now I don’t know about you but that sends a chill down my spin knowing that I am doing the devils work. Maybe it would help us not to lie if we imagined the devil cheering us on and patting us on the back and saying great work my child every time we start to tell a lie.
Most people understand that a liar is some one that speaks lies, but I want you to notice 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.
If you claim to know Jesus and say that you’re a Christian, but you do not live your life for God based on His Word, then John says you are a liar.
2. 1 John
So anyone that denies
that Jesus is the Son of God is considered a liar.
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?
So, if we don’t show
love toward our brethren, again John says that we are liars. So we can see that
being liar includes more than just speaking lies, it also based upon your
actions and your dealings with others.
Another interesting
point about lying is that it makes up 2 of the 7 things that God hates.
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. Next, I want you to notice what John says about the
faithful and then what he says about the unfaithful, which includes liars.
Revelation 21:7 "He who overcomes shall
inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. 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."
So, as Christians we need to stay far away from
lying. Now that we have learned how horrible lying is and that the devil is the
father of lies, let us now begin to examine 7 lies the devil wants us to believe.
1.
The Word of God is not true.
This is the first recorded lie that devil used to
deceive 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 fell for this lie hook line and sinker. There
are many people today that have believed in this lie as well. Think about how
powerful this 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 has never had a problem with using part of the truth, and he
doesn’t care if you have part of the truth because when you only have part of
the truth he has you right where he wants you because part of the truth will
not get you into heaven.
The devil doesn’t mind at all if people call the
Bible a book of love or a good guide book for raising a family. He doesn’t care
if people conclude that the Bible has some great points as long as he can
convince you that overall, it’s full of errors and that it was simply created
by the mind of man. 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
their authority. You can see this in many ways by the things that people are
saying and teaching today. For example:
I can just imagine how proud the devil is of those
who teach such nonsense, but millions if not billons of people have believed
these kinds of lies.
Whenever you consider the depth of the Word of God
and how it works together in perfect harmony with out contradiction and how it
is historical and scientifically accurate and how it predicted future events
sometimes 2000 years in advance and every time it came true. When you consider
the countless internal and external evidences, there should be no doubt that
the Word of God is true and no man or group of men could ever produce something
as complex as the Bible without making major or minor mistakes or
contradictions. Jesus makes is clear that this is absolute truth in God’s Word,
and we can know that truth.
John 8:31 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."
Even though this is one of the devil’s favorite
lies, we should never believe it because the evidence that Bible is true and
inspired by God is overwhelming.
2 God
will make an exception in your case.
This is another favorite lie of the devil. This is
where he traps those known as the good ole boy. They will say, well I don’t go
to church, but I pay taxes, I obey the laws of the land and I don’t smoke drink
or cuss and I am nice to everyone I meet. Now I might do a few things that
aren’t exactly right, but I know I am going to heaven and I don’t need the
church to get there and I don’t need to do every thing God says in His Word
because He will understand.
While this may sound good on the surface, it is
not what God’s Word teaches. If you would simply read God’s Word, you will
discover that God does want you to keep His commands and that being a good ole
boy isn’t enough to get you into heaven.
For instance, after the Jews had wandered in the
wilderness for 40 years, they were ready to serve God and they did under the
leadership of Joshua. By faith they entered the promise land and they defeated
Now if the good ole boy attitude would work, then
God wouldn’t care if Achan took a little bit a goods. After all, he done
everything else God had asked him to do up to this point.
Well, we learn in Joshua 7 that Achan’s sin caused
the Jews not to be able to defeat the next city AI and when Joshua prayed to
God to find out why, he found out someone had taken plunder from Jericho and
that he needed to find that person and get the sin out of the camp. When they
investigated this matter and found out it was Akan, he said,
Joshua
7:21 "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."
Again, if God wasn’t that concerned about His
commands being kept and that if someone was being good most of time based on
their own terms, then Akan’s little blunder should not have mattered that much,
but the truth of the matter is that it did, and God was not pleased with Akan,
and He told Joshua that He must be dealt with and so they stoned him and his
family, and they burned them and the treasure they had taken because God is
serious when it comes to keeping His commands. There are many more examples we
could look at such as
Nadab and Abihu offered up a fire not authorized
by God and they lost their life in Lev. 10
God didn’t make an exception for Uzzi who tried to
sturdy the ark when it looked like it was going to fall because only Levites
were allowed to touch the ark so he lost his life.
In this same way, God is not going to make a
exception for us either if we choose not to obey His commands. Jesus said:
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!'
So don’t believe the devil’s lie that God will
make an exception in your case, and that simply being a good ole boy or gal is
going to get you into heaven because God demands that you have an obedient
faith to His will. Now this does not mean that we will be perfect at it, but we
must do our best and continue to grow in our righteousness and to strive for
perfection.
3. You
don’t really need to go to church all the time because it’s really not that
important.
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 just think of all the rest you can get on
Sunday after you have 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 either because it is just for the
weak minded, besides it will probably be really boring.
The devil is not stupid
because he knows that if he can keep you out of church that he owns you and can
keep you out of heaven. He knows the Scriptures well. For instance, he knows that
1 Cor 12 describes the church as being a body and that a body needs all it
parts to function at it best. So, if he can convince you that the church is not
important and that you should not go, then he gets you right where he wants you
and at the same time weakens the church because you are not there to help
function better because you have believed his lie.
Also, he knows the more
you become uninvolved with the church, the more you become involved with the
world. Whenever you believe the devils lie and you do not assemble with the saints
on the first day of the week when you can, I want you to understand that you
are breaking several of Gods commands.
1. Matthew
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
How can we
honestly say that we are seeking God’s kingdom first and that we are taking up
our cross and following after Him if we are neglecting the church services. We
need remember that we make up the church, which is the body of Christ. He
purchased the church with His blood. So to neglect the church and to say that
its not that important is to say that Jesus and His death on the cross is not
important.
2. 1 Corinthians 16:2 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.
We are to give on the first day of the week and if we are not here to do
that, then we have broken this command.
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 Lord’s Supper.
Again we are
supposed to partake of the Lord’s Supper on the first day of every week and we
fail to do this when it is possible for us to do it, then we have broken
another one of God’s commands.
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.
Again, this is not a suggestion but a command. We
are to assembly ourselves together and if we forsake the assembly when it is possible
for us to come, then we have broken God’s command
5. Hebrews
We need to realize that our Elders have to give an account for their flock and in their wisdom if they tell us that we need to assemble on Sunday morning and night and that we need to be here for Bible class on Sunday morning and Wednesday night, then we need to obey that decision because they are our spiritual leaders. If we fail to obey our elders in spiritual matters, then we are breaking the command given to us in our verse.
So don’t believe the lie of the devil that church or bible class is not important or necessary because as we have seen, it is.
Well, so far we have looked at 3 of the lies the devil wants you to believe. He wants you to believe that the Word of God is not true. If that doesn’t work He wants you to believe that God will make an exception for you and third, he wants you to believe that going to church or to Bible class is not necessary or important. I hope that none of you believe these lies because if you do, then the devil has got you right where he wants you. I encourage you to come back tonight to hear 4 more lies the devil wants you to believe. The more we know about the devil and his lies the better prepared we will be to stand against him. We need all the help that we can get.
This morning we began looking at 7 lies the devil wants you to believe and we examined the first 3 which are:
1. The Word of God is not true.
2. God will make an exception for you.
3. Going to church or to Bible class is not necessary or important.
So, this evening we will be examining 4 more lies the devils wants you to believe.
4. Following God’s Word is just too hard and you can’t
have any fun.
He might say if you try to live up to God’s expectations, you will be the 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 to watch you struggle with his commands because He doesn’t want you to be happy. He wants you to serve others and deny yourself of a good time. If God really loves you then he won’t mind too much if you go ahead and enjoy some of the pleasures of this world. God even tells you that his way is difficult and the gate to heaven is narrow, but He also says that He will never forsake you. So go ahead, enjoy life, He will still let you into heaven.
This
is how the devil operates because there is some truth in the things I have just
said, but I carefully twisted the truth to make it sound good and that is
exactly what the devil does. No wonder Peter said:
1 Peter 5:8: Be
sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring
lion, seeking whom he may devour.
If you were out in the
African jungle where lions are active, would you ignore your surroundings and
just walk aimlessly around the jungle or would be very cautious with every step
you took? Well, if you value you life, you are going to be on high alert and
doing your best to pay attention to every movement and sound that is made
because you don’t want to be taken by surprise by some lions.
In the same way, as
Christians we need understand that devil is just like a lion who crouches down
in the high grass and is just waiting for you to be at your at weakest state
and then he will attack you in hopes that he can devour you. So, whether we are
weak or strong we must keep our wits about us and not allow the lies of the
devil to fool us and trick us into living a life of sin.
Paul also teaches us how
sneaking the devil can be in:
2 Corinthians 11:13 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.
The devil tried his best
to convince Jesus that it was to hard to follow God’s Word in Luke 4. We should
all be familiar with this event where Jesus goes out in the dessert and He fasts
for 40 days. The devil waited until
Jesus was at His weakest and he tried to tempt Him 3 times.
First, he
tries to get him to change the stones into bread because he wanted Jesus to
rely upon Himself instead of God. The devil loves it when we think we are
strong enough to take care of things ourselves.
Second, he tried to get
Jesus to worship him and he promised Him that he would give Him all the eye
could see if he would do it. You see, the ole devil was trying to convince
Jesus that He did not have to endure hardship for God’s sake, He just needed to
worship the devil and He could have it all. The devil loves it when we believe his
empty promises but remember Jesus said,
Matthew 16:26
"For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his
own soul?
Third, the devil tried to
get Jesus to jump off the temple and let God save Him from falling. To me this
is the devil’s way of saying to us go ahead jump off into a life of sin, God
will not allow you to fall from His grace. Jesus didn’t believe these lies and
neither should we.
While there are times
that living a Christian life can be challenging, overall, a Christian will be
much happier following God’s commands than those who don’t.
Psalm 144:15 Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!
Proverbs 16:20 He who
heeds the word wisely will find good, And whoever trusts in the LORD, happy is
he.
Proverbs 28:14 Happy
is the man who is always reverent, But he who hardens his heart will fall into
calamity.
Proverbs 29:18 Where
there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who
keeps the law.
Many times the only
reason we find it challenging to be faithful Christians is because of our own
weakness because God’s Word also says,
1 John 5:3 For
this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments
are not burdensome.
So God’s commands are not
designed to be impossible to keep, otherwise John would not say that they are
not burdensome.
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, they can be forgiven of their sin. Notice
this next passage from the O.T.
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 that God does not forsake us, it us that forsakes Him. This same idea is taught in the N.T. as well. God wants us to strive to serve Him and trust that He will save us in the end if we remain faithful. Verse 25 tells us that if we do not walk according to Gods Word, we will be swept away.
As far as not having any fun because you are Christian all depends on your definition of fun. The devil wants us to define fun as anything that is worldly and sinful. As Christians we are to stay away from these sinful activities, but this does not mean we cannot have fun because there are many wholesome things we can do that are a lot fun that will not cause to sin and they will not stress our relationships with our loved ones. So don’t believe the devil’s lie that living the Christian life is to hard and no fun.
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 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?
If your honest, you
cannot misunderstand Paul’s teaching here. He was teaching these Corinthians
and us that there is not suppose to be
divisions or denominations and we are not suppose to call ourselves after some
man. Jesus is the one that purchased the church with his own blood and his
church should bear His name. God demands unity based upon His Word and He has
never approved of man made doctrines or churches.
Jesus makes it clear that
there are not many roads that lead to heaven in:
Matthew 7:13 "
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.
Jesus said there only two
roads a person can take. They can either take the broad road, which lead to
destruction or they can take the difficult road that leads to a narrow gate,
which is one that lead to eternal life. So, there is only one road to heaven
and that road goes through Jesus.
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.
Again, there is only one road that leads to heaven
and we can only travel that path if we obey God’s 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 God’s word and that you can make it to heaven by doing
things your way, but that idea is foreign to the Bible.
One thing that is consistent throughout the Bible
is that God demands obedience to His Word. For instance, under the OT notice
what He told Joshua.
Joshua 1:7
"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.
Joshua was not to go to the right or to the left, and he was commanded to pay 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 tells 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 something like, well Jesus said He would come back, but it has been almost 2000 years since His death. What do you think he is waiting on? It should be obvious that it’s all a lie. He is not coming back and that means that there will not be a judgment day so there nothing to fear, so live your life how you want to. This is not a new lie of the devil because it was already being told in the first century. For instance, notice what Peter wrote in,
2 Peter 3:3 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."
Now notice Peter’s
response 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.
Peter lets us know that
Jesus will come back again, but it will be at God’s timing, and we are not told
at what time in history this will happen, but when it does, it won’t be a
secret coming as some teach. No, everyone will know about it and the earth and
heavens will pass away with a great noise and the earth will be burned up.
James tells us to be
patient as we wait for the Lord,
James 5:7
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
"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."
So, don’t fall into to
the devil’s trap and believe that you can just live your life any way you want without
consequence because the Judgment day is real and we will all have to stand
before Jesus and receive our judgments.
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we
must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive
the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good
or bad. All the devils lies cannot change the reality that there will be a
judgment day.
7. You have plenty of
time to obey God
I
want to share with you a story I have used before, but I believe it illustrates
this 7th lie very well.
The
devil had a meeting in hell on how to deceive the people. One demon said, let
us tell the people 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 point as
well. There was silence for awhile, but finally, a older demon suggested that
they allow people to believe that the Bible is the Word of God and Jesus is the
lord, but let us convince the people that they have all the time in the world
to obey him. The old devil smiled and he said that will work.
If
the old devil can convince you that you have plenty of time left before you
obey Him and become a Christian, he has you right where he wants you because he
knows that there is no guarantee of a tomorrow, but many people today are
gullible enough to believe that they have many years left to live. Just as the
devil knows, we could die today and if we die outside of the Lord or while
living in sin, then he has won our soul and has kept us from making it to
heaven. A good example of this comes from
Acts 24:25 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."
Paul was teaching Felix
about Jesus and how there is going to be judgment day, but Felix didn’t want to
accept what was being told to him, so he put it off until a more convenient
time. The Bible never tells us if that convenient time every came, but if the
devil continued to do his job well, then Felix probably never found a
convenient time. This another one of the powerful lies that many people have
believed in, but we must not allow the devil to fool us because the only
guarantee we have is today. As Paul said,
2 Corinthians 6:2 " Behold, now is the accepted time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.
Not
only does the devil use this lie to keep people from becoming a Christian, he
also uses it on Christians. He wants them to be convinced that they have plenty
of time to serve God, so there is no need for them to get in a big rush of
doing good works. When we see a work that needs to be done he wants us to
believe that someone else should do it and that we should find something to do
later for the lord.
You
see, if he convinces us to become idle for the Lord, then he will have us right
where he wants us because he knows the Scriptures well and that they teach that
we must be faithful servants to God and if we just sit back and do nothing then
we will be like the servant who buried his master money and when his master
came back to see what he had done he took his money from him and called him a
wicked and lazy servant and had him removed from his site.
So
don’t believe the devil’s lie that you have plenty of time to obey God because
all you know of for sure is today, and today may be your last.
Well,
we have examined 7 lies the devil wants you to believe today and of course
devil has many more lies than this because he is the father of lies. But, I
hope that you will always keep your guard up and realize that the sneaky ole
devil wants to bring you down and he is always waiting and watching for your
weakness as Peter said,
1 Peter 5:8 Be
sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring
lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9
Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are
experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
Also keep in mind what James
said,
James 4:7 Therefore
submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
So, all we have to do to
defeat the devil and his many lies is to submit to God and resist the devil
steadfast in the faith and he will flee. While he is a challenging foe, when we
have God on our side and, we faithfully serve Him, the old devil can be put in
his place every time.