Five Lies
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Intro
Series called it’s complicated but it doesn’t have to be complicated if we do it God’s way.
The series titled kind of defines what our relationships look like, not only at home but at work and in really every relationship we have. But it’s doesn’t have to be complicated. Things become complicated when we step out of the way God designed our relationships to work.
God’s word actually has a lot to say about relationships. It’s full of things he says about relationships.
Today is going to hit on our moral foundations…
“Human History is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make them happy” CS Lewis
“Human History is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make them happy” CS Lewis
We think or at least we act like we think, that we know what’s best and when we do, it always ends up in a bad place. One of the the things I like about doing what we do is that, if you want to have a good life, a fulfilled life, filled with great relationships, you have to come to God.
Check out what Paul said,
21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.
Romans 1:21–25 “21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like.
Worship = worth-ship. You put God as worthy. If you cannot worship God, then you have made yourself God.
As a result, their minds became dark and confused. 22 Claiming to be wise, ( We know better - We are a progressive generation) they instead became utter fools. 23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired.
As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie.
In this message and series, we will dispel the lies the devil puts out there and replace them with God’s truth.
The devil actually has no power over you. All he can do it suggest things to you that are not true trying to deceive you. Life will convince you that you need God. It will play out and it will not be good without god.
So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.”
Here is the truth of relationships.
In order for relationships to work, let the one who designed them define them.
In order for relationships to work, let the one who designed them define them.
The creator actually does know whats best for us in every area of our lives including our relationships.
Today we are going to look at some lies the devil uses against us. Included it the issue of sexuality. The world is talking about it but the church has lagged behind.
There might be some places where you are not sure if you should laugh or say amen or say nothing.
God placed Adam and Eve into the Garden of Eden. It was a place of great beauty, plenty of food… everything was good until the devil entered into the picture.
Check this out…
1 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” 2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’ ” 4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” 6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.
Genesis 3:1–7 “1 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” 2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’ ”
4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” 6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. (Adam was right there with her going … yea) Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. (They had always been naked, but now they had shame) So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.” (Now they hid)
In the next three verses, they ran and hid from God and god went looking for them. He never gives up on us, he always comes looking for us. Maybe you have been running from God… guess what? He is out looking for you. You need to know that.
Joke. IN the old days, churches would go visit all the visitors. This pastor would go by and if the people didn’t answer the door, he would leave his business card wedged into the door with Rev 3:20 on the back. He left it wedged into the door of a lady’s house who had visited and the next Sunday, it was in the offering plate with another verse written on it.
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
In Genesis 3:1-7 there are 5 lies that actually happen in steps. These become more and more dangerous, but we will learn how to avoid or get out of it.
1. The devil gets us to question God’s Word.
1. The devil gets us to question God’s Word.
God’s word isn’t totally true.
God’s word isn’t totally true.
Usually we feel this way when God’s word says something that we do not agree with. There are things in GW that challenge me and confront me.
ie: you need to love your enemies… that’s a hard one and sometimes I don’t want to love my enemies. So, do I take that out and try to change God’s word? No, but our culture is trying to do that today.
It’s supposed to make us uncomfortable. God’s word is suppose to confront us and move us to a higher level.
If you will refuse to buy into the lie that God’s word isn’t true, you life will be much better.
Paul -
13 Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God—which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe.
These were people that accepted God’s word and not the direction of the culture. We need to be a church, not just River Church, but the church, that accepts the Word of God.
As long as I am the pastor here, we will follow God’s word.
These people received it and accepted it. God’s Word works if you receive it and accept it.
So if, God’s Word confronts us and that’s what it’s supposed to do.
If your god never disagrees with you, you might be worshipping an idealized version of yourself. Tim Keller
If your god never disagrees with you, you might be worshipping an idealized version of yourself. Tim Keller
That’s the first lie. Here is the second one.
2. The devil scoffs at the negative consequences of sin.
2. The devil scoffs at the negative consequences of sin.
He said, you will not die. He says,
He says, that choice won’t hurt anything.
He says, that choice won’t hurt anything.
This is true in every area of our lives. Our marriages, dating relationships, raising our kids, our work, our finances.
The devil will tell you that it (whatever it is) will not hurt anyone. But the WOG says differently…
12 There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.
I don’t have to convince you of this because life will convince you of this. We will leave the light on for you, because you will be back.
We all have a tendency to go our own way and not God’s. The Bible says that we are sheep that go our own way. That’s human nature. We are prone to wander and if you have wandered, it’s because you have bought into this lie.
I can have as many partners as I want… this is just recreational activities… we are two consenting adults… everything is fine.
That’s not what God said, he created us with the passions that we have. Adam and Eve didn’t surprise God. He didn’t look over in the bushes and go, “Oh my God!” He didn’t do that.
The one who created us siad our relationships, our sexuality works best with parameters.
fire - But you can build one anywhere. If I built a fire right here, you would run right out of here. Why? fire needs a boundary. Something we enjoy can be dangerous if not treated right. A fire, even in a fireplace, is still dangerous. If it gets out of that fire place, it will destroy everything you won.
Passions need parameters
Passions need parameters
They can be enjoyed to the fullest if you will do things God’s way. One man + one woman in marriage. That’s God’s parameters.
3. The devil accuses God of evil intent.
3. The devil accuses God of evil intent.
The devil will say that God is just trying to keep you from having a good time.
He says, Righteousness is boring. Sin is fun.
He says, Righteousness is boring. Sin is fun.
Sin is fun… for a minute. But it turns to not fun quickly.
Our God is not an evil god, He is a good God and if we will do things his way, it’s actually fun… much more fun than the devils and there is no regret.
11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
When you follow God’s prescription, we will experience relationships like never before.
Not everyone understands this. They will say that God should just love people no matter what. They actually think that they love people more than God loves people. If I were God, I would tell you that you are ok just as you are. You can be anything or any gender you want to be.
The truth is..
The most loving thing God does is call is out in our sin.
The most loving thing God does is call is out in our sin.
4. The devil advertises sin as beneficial.
4. The devil advertises sin as beneficial.
If you buy into the lie you will begin to think that you know more than god and that your life is better doing things your way.
He says your life will be better with you leading it.
He says your life will be better with you leading it.
Listen to me. You cannot trust your feelings. They lie. People say I just follow my heart. The WOG says your heart is evil and deceitful. Never trust your feelings. We follow our faith… we follow our faith.
When you get mad at your spouse, you will feel like divorcing them. You feel something that you should not act on.
When you are mad at your kids, you want to slap them into another zip code. Don’t do that.
When your boss gets on you at work, you want to tell him something… don’t do that.
We don’t follow our feelings. We have to be careful because we are feelings based people thinking that feelings are true and right. They are not true and they are not right most of the time.
Choices will lead. Feelings will follow.
Choices will lead. Feelings will follow.
It’s good to feel something but feelings cannot be the standard. When we make the right choices, feelings will follow. Make a choice first.
We have to have a life that’s surrendered to the Lord. I don’t even belong to myself, I belong to God.
19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19–20 “19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?
This room is not the sanctuary, you are the sanctuary.
You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”
Look, when we understand this we will make different choices. Someone might say that’s a sacrifice. It’s not a sacrifice, it’s an investment. We make hard choices.
School - we get up and go to classes and pay attention in school so that we can have some money later on…
Work - we get up, go to work when we don’t feel like it so that we can have nice things…
We save money each paycheck so that we have things like emergency funds and retirement funds.
We make hard choices in so many areas so that we can have something better except in the area of our relationships.
In relationships we say, go ahead and live it up because you will be tied down over here. How about we live like we are tied down here so that we can live it up with the one we choose later.
Look…
Giving up something now for something better later isn’t a sacrifice. It’s an investment.
Giving up something now for something better later isn’t a sacrifice. It’s an investment.
Choose right.
5. The devil uses sin to create shame that destroys future relationships.
5. The devil uses sin to create shame that destroys future relationships.
Some of you may be experiencing that.
When you mess up, the devil will say,
He says it’s too late. Run and hide.
He says it’s too late. Run and hide.
Remember, the Lord comes looking for us. When you mess up, God is looking for you. He loves you even more because he is trying to get you back.
5 Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces.
This is how our God responds. When you mess up, he responds with love and gentle correction.
In the church, we have gotten it wrong in that we often say, your fallenness is worse than my fallenness but that’s not true. We have stigmatized certain types of sin or fallenness and said those are worse. But they are not. There are no degrees of fallenness.
We need to be a place where people can be honest. We all have nicks and scrapes. We need to accept people. The world does. The world says come on over here we accept you. Acceptance is not condoning what they are doing.
There are three responses to this message.
defensiveness
defensiveness
You may say, I was born this way. I can be anything I want to be. I am this person.
You can, and you will have permission to do that, but you will be back. That’s the spirit of the devil when he fell in Isa 14. He made 5 “I will…” statements.
Jesus didn’t say I will, he said Your will.
42 “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
remorse
remorse
You may agree with me, but you would say you heard this 10 years too late. You are used goods. I’m too far out there…
You are never too far. That’s the devil. He says that you have slept with too many… you have blown your money… you have failed your kids…
The Bible says,
1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
No Condemnation.
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
Jesus didn’t say he came to point out our sin, he came to set us free from sin.
Woman caught in Adultery. He said neither do I condemn you… now stop sinning.
2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
Repentance
Repentance
Repentance is your choice to turn around. Turn from living your way to living God’s way. Doing things God’s way leads to joys for ever more.
10 For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.
Repentance is a moment of pain. Being unrepentant is a lifetime of pain.
Repentance is a moment of pain. Being unrepentant is a lifetime of pain.
Make the choice. Jesus came to give you an abundant life. We have to choose Him.
Prayer
Repentance -
If you feel far from God
If you are feeling shame and guilt.
You can walk out of this room without that. He will forgive you but he will cleanse you
Salvation Prayer -
… today I am giving you control of my life.
If you just prayed that prayer and meant it, you can walk out of this place sin-free.