Untitled Sermon

Illustration about the devil making a promise and when you recieve that promise it is much less then you imagined.

He promises to provide the best life and provides the worst.

He promises joy and provides sadness.

He promises to provide and only takes away.

He promises life and all he gives is death.

These promises that feel real, because if they did not feel real then we would not believe them.

The lies planted in our head can be so subtle, so we must be aware.

This week, we are going to continue to pull back the curtain.

We are going to continue to expose the lies of the one who hates us.

This evening we are going to use scripture as our guide to address 3 things.

We are going to learn about the Father of lies, as the Bible calls the devil.

We are going to address common lies that the enemy gives us.

We are going to put truth to the father of lies, and stand firm against him.

Note takers this will be a good thing to write down…. our main point this evening is this…

Main point: Jesus preached truth, but the devil preaches lies.

I am sure you have heard people say before that the devil is a liar, or all he does is plant lies in your head, and while these things are true - it is important to not let this lose its weight.

If I told you that I run a marathon in 2 hours, you'd be very very impressed… but if I told you that every time I saw you- it would eventually lose its weight.

Id get responses like - “Yeah, you told me last week” or “It was cool the first time now its annoying” and thats the way we function with so many things. Over time things begin to lose their weight.

We can not treat the devil this way - we must always consistently understand who he is and what is he trying to do to our life and the same is true about the word of God - we must consistently always remind ourselves of what is true in order to faithfully fight against sin and evil.

Just a few verses this evening but we are going to be in John 8 to begin.

Go ahead and flip to John if you have your Bible.

Let’s read John 8:44 together

Before I read, I want to give you a little background and context on these verses. Jesus is teaching to the Pharisees, people who hate him and disagree with many of his teachings. These people think that they are following God, obeying him but they are hypocrites. They seem to think that they are not sinful, but Jesus argues back.

When Jesus says, “You” in verse 44 he is not speaking to us necessarily, though we could apply this to ourselves, it is important to remember that Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees.

John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Let’s pray.

Jesus is telling the Pharisees, you are not followers of God. You are not walking with the Lord. Then he speaks directly to the attitude of the devil, saying, “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him” and then he says he is the “father of lies”

People will say Martin Luther is the Father of the Reformation or that Albert Einstein is the Father of Modern Physics.

Jesus famously gives the devil the title - The father of lies

Jesus gives the devil this title because he authored and originated the very first lie ever told in Genesis 3.

You do not have to flip there but i will be on the screen.

Genesis 3:1–5 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.””

Satan, told the very first lie. Let’s look at a couple of observations about this lie.

V1 > Crafty - Satan is described as crafty.

He doe not just straight up say, you know God is a liar, and I know best.

He makes it sound sweet.

He offers Eve something that sounds right, something that sounds like it could be good.

Satan questions God

He said “Did God actually say?”

Satan plants lies

“You will not surely die!”

So now all of the sudden, Eve who was once defending what God had told her now has all the lies planted in her head, and this is where the compromise begins.

This is our first point this evening.

Satan tempts with questions and accusations, moves to lies and false promises, and ends with hate and guilt.

Satan planted the lies and accusations of his head and questioned the word of God… “Did God really say?”….

God gave Adam and Eve a blessing and Satan made that blessing appear to be a curse.

He is crafty… he is good at this… he knows what he is doing.

That is why we must be prepared. We must know how to fight these lies, we may not be more crafty then him, but as we talked about last week, we have a weapon that he does not have- The Holy Spirit.

So, how do we see this play out in our life today?

We are going to look at 3 of the common lies that face you today.

Some of these you may resonate with, maybe all of these you resonate with - but I can guarantee you at some point in your life, you will fight against these lies.

The first lie that we are going to look at this evening is the lie that…

Lie #1: Your life is all about you. (Pride)

It sounds right, especially to society today.

After all, it is your life so you should be able to live it how you want to.

And the truth is, if it is your life, then shouldn’t you be able to do what you want to do, and not worry about what others have to say about it?

This lie students, is very dangerous.

This lie tells you that you can live how you want to live with no consequences.

This lie acts in a way that undermines what God has placed us on this earth to do.

Believing this life creates pride in our heart - which causes destruction in our life.

You may be thinking… I know that my life is not all about me, I do not believe that lie or struggle with it, but let’s look at how this lie plays out in our lives and then we will put scripture to these lies.

2 of the ways we see the lie of our life being all about ourselves.

We believe that our feelings are the most important thing in our life, and because of this, we should be able to do what we want, regardless of how it makes others feel.

We believe that our feelings and joy comes at the extent of others. We do this by elevating ourselves over others.

We do this, by bullying others. We do this, by making fun of others. We do this by acting as if we are too cool for somebody.

They don’t like the things I like, or they do not look as put together as me, so I probably should not be friends with them.

They are a little bit weird, or different, so I probably should just avoid them.

I know these things because I see it happen in this room every week!

But, the truth is, even myself - I have to fight these lies. Lies that are rooted in pride - that I am to good for the weird person, that am I too good for the ones that don’t look put together and we must call them and name them exactly that. Lies.

2 Corinthians 5:15 “and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

Christ death on the cross has called us not to live for ourselves, but for the one who died and was raised from the dead.

This looks prioritizing faithfullness over our feelings.

This looks like choosing to love those around us, and set aside our own wants and cares for the sake of loving others.

No question this world lacks love, when we believe this lie that life is all about us, we contribute to that belief.

The second way we see this lie play out in our life is when we believe if we are happy then everything else will be in store.

The world believes that life is all about being happy.

We look at our life out of the lends of us. In 5 years, how will I be happy?

What will I have that will create happiness?

Ecclesiastes 2:10–11 speaks specifically to this thought - “And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.”

It is no question that lasting happiness can not come from anything other then the word of God- and the truth is what the Lord provides is better than happiness.

Write this down.

While happiness is fading, our joy is set in the Lord.

Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.”

Maybe for you the temptation to believe that if we are happy then everything else will be in order means, that though you carry Christ in your pocket, happiness is your priority.

Maybe it means that you live a double life - it means you live one way around the church and your family, but when you leave happiness and striving after nothingness begins.

We must be on guard against the lies that life is all about us.

Commit to something greater then Christ.

When we feel tempted to not pursue others, pursue them fopr Christ has called us to love.

Put aside what you want, and follow Jesus

Pray for the power to deny pride.

The second lie that we will look at is that….

Lie #2: All path’s lead to God

We believe that our life does not matter now because we are young.

We believe that it does not matter what we do now, because eventually we will get our life “under-control” and “figure it out”

We believe that if we can fill our faithfullness cup up on Wednesdays’s and Sunday’s, then the rest of the week will be okay, and of we do this ling enough things will be figured out.

We believe that our actions are inconsequential because we are young, and its okay to do these things, at this age.

Here is a HUGE one that you will began to see more and more of as you grow up.

This world is tired of the “Christian life” > so to counteract that normal Christian life we do things to associate ourselves with the world

We push the boundaries just enough.

We mask the pushing of the boundaries as just being different Christians.

We drink, and smoke, and do things we should not do and look at things we should not do, but at the end of the day we are followers of Christ and we know what’s true.

And honestly, if the world see’s me do this maybe they will be curious about Christianity, because if I can do this and be a follower of Christ, surely the world will then think Christianity is cooler and maybe then I can help them convert.

But the truth is not all path’s lead to God. We can not be content to push the boundaries of our faith with sin.

And often, that sin - we just mask it as being different.

But what does Christ say about this -

Romans 6:1–2 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”

1 Corinthians 6:18 “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”

Flee. Not walk, not brisk jog, but flee from these things.

Proverbs 4:14 “Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil.”

The devil wants you to believe that you can have your life and all your desires and have your faith and the two of those go together.

But Jesus tells us to die to ourselves, Jesus tells us to daily take up our cross.

The last lie we will look at is this, and I will hit it real quick.

Lie #3: You are a mess up.

What an easy lie. Students, the devil hates you.

He wants you to feel broken.

He wants you to feel shame and feel disgusted with who we are, even who we are in Christ.

But, here me when I saw this, you are not a mess up, you are not ugly, you are not so much worse then your neighbor

You are loved. You have been chosen. You have been accepted into his kingdom.

Psalm 139:14 “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”

When the devil attacks you, with depression, and pain, and anxiety - You are not a mess up.

When you are bulleyed - you are not hated.

When you are alone - you are loved and brought near.

Not just by me but someone’s love who is far greater - the love of the Lord.

So, where does this gospel come into these lies.

Where do we put the gospel in the midst of a life that is covered in lies, brokenness and pain.

Romans 8:22–23 “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”

3 things from this passage that remind of us of our hope of the gospel in the midst of lies and pain.

You are not alone.

We have been given a spirit to put truth to our life.

There is a greater life coming.

The band will come up and begin worship, but I encourage you to not let this moment go without meeting with the Lord.

Get on your knees. Pray with a friend (we practiced this last week). Let me pray for you. (My greatest desire).

Come. Worship. Pray. Meet with the Lord in worship and prayer.

Let’s go to the Lord in prayer.

How we see that play out in Scripture

Recap with the prior verses of John 8 as our guide

Where is the gospel in these verses, where is our hope found in the midst of this?