Over-coming Falsehood with Truth
Overcomers • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Becoming an overcomer is an extremely difficult task. Unfortunately for all of us we were born into sin and born into behaviors that lead us to submitting to the power of this world and not living in the freedom that God has called us to. As we reach further and further into this topic we will find that Jesus was the perfect example of an over-comer. So what was it that gave Jesus this distinct ability to walk in freedom and trade in Falsehood with truth? There is no better place to look for this answer than in the Scripture and today we will be in Ephesians chapter 6. If you will turn with me to Ephesians chapter 6 I want to first discuss this idea of trading falsehood with truth. What does it mean? In order to understand the entire concept you have to be able to see falsehood and truth in 2 separate categories. Here is the thing. We often times compartmentalize areas of our lives that should not be compartmentalized and we do not compartmentalize things that we should. Falsehood and truth are something that in the Scripture this morning we will see should be compartmentalized. We must be able to differentiate between falsehood and truth. Are you able to tell the difference in falsehood and truth? Have you ever heard of the Mandela effect? The Mandela effect is named after Nelson Mandela and is the name for the phenomenon of when a bunch of people remember the same thing incorrectly. As in, the thing everyone remembers actually never happened, doesn't exist, or was entirely different than the collective memory of it. This phenomenon was named after South Africa President Nelson Mandela and the false belief that he was dead many years before he actually died. I have a video that will challenge many of your held thoughts. Take a look at this video and we will see if you struggle like many do with truth or falsehood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkitWQSMzlQ
So what do you think? Are you susceptible to the same thing as me? You felt like many of your answers were correct as a matter of fact some of you were probably googling to prove the video wrong. We often times hold things in our mind as the absolute truth . We all do this. Many times in life though we do this with our spiritual life and we believe things because the enemy has put it in front of us so many times that we begin to see his illusions as the truth. The fact is that Jesus was able to overcome because He knew the difference between the truth and a lie. Lets take a look at the scripture this morning and see how we can live in the same manner as Christ.
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
Today in the scripture we will learn how to trade falsehood for the truth and how to compartmentalize the two aspects of truth so we can effectively overcome falsehood. Truth and Falsehood will fall into 2 categories this morning and we will break it down into simply 2 points. Those 2 points are, Internal Falsehood and Truth, and External Falsehood and Truth. This is how I want you to begin to categorize falsehood and truth in your life. Don’t be thrown off because we will address the scripture out of order but still within context and understanding of the original purpose. Let’s pray and we will get started this morning.
Internal Truth and Falsehood
Internal Truth and Falsehood
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
What is internal truth? Internal truth is your ability to either be a truthful person or a liar. Most of you are sitting there going well that is easy I am not a liar. I have been called a liar at some points in my life and I can tell you this it is one of the most infuriating things someone can say to me. At the times that people have said it to me some have been false accusations but others have been true of my behavior. People lie for all kinds of reasons. It is something that happens early in life and often times it never really goes away we just get better at it and so no one notices it. There are people however that are just bad liars and could not get away with something if their lives depended on it.
Statistics show that the average person tells about 200 lies a day—but don’t worry, they’re mostly small! Like telling your friend you’re five minutes away when you’re actually still in your pajamas. It’s a little humorous to think about, but as we see in Scripture, honesty is vital.
There are examples in scripture too of people who lied for many different reasons
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”
10 Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. 11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, 12 and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.” 14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
7 When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance. 8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife. 9 So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’ ” 10 Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” 11 So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
I stuck with just some of the examples in Genesis and very few of the overall examples in the Bible. In Ephesians we are told that in order to overcome falsehood we must first take the belt of truth. Seems odd to take the belt first but in this example it is purposeful.
14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
The belt in this scripture is referencing the belt that Roman soldiers would wear. This belt was made to secure the breastplate but was also utilized as a utility belt. It held everything the soldier would need. We start with the truth because if you start in falsehood none of your actions continuing on will matter. The truth equips us to deal with life and our relationships. We must be truthful as people. Every action we take should be taken from a place of truthfulness. Are you a person who is truthful? Do you consider your words and actions through the concept of truth?
It is amazing that most of us start our relationships out with lies. Every single person in here has done this at some point or will do it at some point. The love of our life agrees to or asks us to go on a date. What is the first thing we do? The complete opposite of everything we do. When I met my wife I may have taken a bath every other day or so. When we were dating I took a shower every single day and made sure that I smelt wonderful every time she saw me. When we went places I did not get frustrated at people and appeared to be a very patient person. I also made it appear as though I was independently wealthy. She wanted an extra taco with her meal, go right ahead, as a matter of fact get 2 extra tacos! Oh, you want sour cream on that too go right ahead. Everything I presented to my wife was the opposite of how I actually was. I was not patient, I was not clean, just ask my mom about my room and laundry at that time. I certainly was not wealthy, I was a youth minister who worked part time at the YMCA. It was only after she had that ring on her finger that she figured out who I really was.
Sound familiar to any of you? Don’t go lying now during a sermon on the truth. We are not designed to lie. Jesus was an overcomer because He began with the truth. What does scripture tell us about being truthful people?
22 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord,
but those who act faithfully are his delight.
25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
5 A false witness will not go unpunished,
and he who breathes out lies will not escape.
16 These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace;
So category 1 is internal truth. Being a truthful person is the only way to overcome the falsehood that we as humans started with. It goes all the way back to Adam and Eve. The foundation of the human existence without God is all based on falsehood. The way to restore the relationship with ourselves and God is to be truthful people. Are you a truthful person? Do you place the truth above all else? We should be characterized by truth. The second classification is External Falsehood and Truth
External Falsehood and Truth
External Falsehood and Truth
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
External Falsehood and Truth takes us back to the Mandela Effect. What we see is not what is actually going on. What we convince ourselves of with our physical senses is not the truth of what is actually going on. Are you able to take a step back from the situations in your life and address the situation from a position of truth? Have you ever reacted to something based on a feeling or an assumed circumstance? The devil has figured out something about the human race. We are always looking for someone to blame. We are looking for someone to take the fall, to be the bad guy. What he knows is that everyone assumes he is a bad guy. He knows that they are not going to apply things to him if he can put someone else in the line of fire. He takes people who have broken pasts, bad situations, or emotionally unstable hearts and he gets them to perfom his dirty work. Why? Because if everything bad happened came through the spiritual realm people would get ready and would prepare themselves to defend against the spirits of evil. Instead he places people in the line of fire and prepares us to defend against the flesh. We convince ourselves that the real problem is people. The scripture is clear though that the fight for us is not against flesh and blood but is a spiritual fight or wrestling. These people and things that the devil places in the line of fire are external falsehoods. You can never react correctly to things if you view it from a fleshly mindset. We are conditioned to see things from the flesh because we are in the flesh and we feel things in the flesh. We are not conditioned to view things from the spirit. The truth of the matter is that we are all so young in this spiritual life when we compare it to eternity. The words used in this scripture all go to a spiritual placed. Ruler Arche is the beginning ruler, who is the beginning ruler of this present darkness? That’s right Lucifer. Authorities or Exousia is the allowed authority. Who has the allowed authority of the present darkness? That’s right, Lucifer. We could keep going and would find that every word used in this string of scripture references Lucifer. Why? What is the big deal? Here is why this scripture I believe is one of the singular most important scriptures for believers. It sets our sights on the correct target.
Has anyone in here see Juror #2? If not let me give you the run down. A man is accused of hitting a woman and causing her death. This guy is a bad guy that has done repeated bad things. He fought with the woman who was his girlfriend the night of her death and he was drinking. After being suspected of her murder he is arrested and put on trial. As the trial begins the Jury is seated and one man in particular has a difficult time. As court proceeds he has flashbacks of the night that the boyfriend supposedly hit his girlfriend with a car and killed her. In his flashbacks you see a moment where he is at a bar and is a recovering alcoholic, he decides not to drink and leaves the bar. It begins to storm horribly and he hits something but does not see what he hits. As he is sitting in the courtroom he realizes that he hit the woman. He spends the first part of the movie debating if he should just tell the truth and let this other guy go free. He has a wife and daughter at home and as a result decides that this other guy has no one who would miss him at home. He then tries to convince the rest of the jurors to find the man not guilty but the problem is that the guy looks so bad and the things he has done have been so bad everyone things that even if he didn’t do this he deserved to go to prison. Little did they know they were in the same room with the man who did kill the woman.
This is exactly how the devil works. He places people that we can justify that they deserve what they get. It is amazing we look at people and we jump to the conclusion that they deserve what they got. Now let me just say I believe in the justice system and I believe in a system of discipline. I do believe that God has given us the systems of governance that we have. You may disagree with it and not like it but it is the system that God has aligned us under.
1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
What I will say though is that before we jump in to be people who condemn, we should first consider that the spiritual forces of darkness have led someone to the behaviors that they have exhibited. Not to say that they do not deserve the judicial punishment that they are handed, but they do deserve to have believers who care and pray for them. We should hurt for those who Lucifer has destroyed. We are all one choice away from being those very same people. Lucifer though knows that we love to have a face with the enemy and that is why we often times look to the flesh as the problem. The problem is that Lucifer is active and trying to destroy the creation of God by displaying falsehood. The only way to move past that falsehood is to see things through the lens of truth. Are you willing to replace your need to have a face with evil and look past the people to the one who led them to their devastating acts? It is a lot easier said than done. What does the scripture say about this?
15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
The church is to be the one place that we do not view things from the flesh but from the spiritual realm. We are to be the ones who stand up for the weak and destroyed and lift them up and pray for them. We are called to disarm the spiritual rulers and authorities by seeing the truth and trading in falsehood for truthfulness. When we see things from the spiritual realm and understand exactly what it is that Jesus did then we can trade falsehood for truth and we can be the effective hands and feet of God in our world. How was it that Jesus shared dinner with Judas? It was because Jesus still cared about Judas.
27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
We often think that Jesus would be angry at Judas. Quite the opposite. Jesus was torn up that Judas was going to be used by Lucifer to do such a thing. Jesus treated Judas as He treated all the disciples that night even washing his feet and showing him the same love. Jesus overcame falsehood and spoke directly to Satan in verse 27 that we just read. Are you willing to see people as desperately needing a savior? You will never be able to overcome external falsehood until you are willing to see things from a spiritual perspective. As we close today I pray that you will begin to see Falsehood and Truth in the 2 categories. First is the internal category that has all to do with you and how you live and the second that has to do with seeing the truth of what is happening around you. Do you want to experience real freedom and real blessings from God? What does the scripture say?
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
If you want to be successful in your walk in faith it demands that truth be paramount both internally and externally in your life.
