The Lies of Satan

“The Lies of Satan”

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Do you hate to be lied to? I do! I told my kids when they were growing up that no matter what happens, do not lie to me or your mother, you will be in far more trouble if you lie to me, than if you just tell me the truth!

I have known some big liars; I once had a sophomore in my youth department tell me he had a bank account in a Swiss bank, with a half-a- million dollars in it. I said bring me your bank statement; and he said what is a bank statement?

Have you ever been lied to?

· The check is in the mail.

· I'm here from the government to help you.

· Email- I am emailing you to let you to get your account number and password to deposit 800.000 dollars in your account.

We live in a world where lying has become common; we get lied to so often that it doesn’t even shock us anymore. This world system is being run by the biggest liar of all- SATAN!

Jesus said about Satan:

-“You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

The devil is the father of all liars; Jesus said he is also a murderer. Satan wants to bring death to life, to joy, to peace, to happiness, to meaning and purpose. He wants to bring not only physical death but eternal death. And he does it through his lies; through deception. Satan is a dirty liar.

And here in Genesis we see the foundational lies, from which all other lies come. I want to tell you right up from that the Devil is a good liar.

He knows how to tell lies, and his lies are very clever.

V:1- "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field..." Just underline that word subtle.

Satan is deceptive, cunning, crafty, and sneaky.

This passage does not reveal who the snake is, but the rest of Scripture certainly does. In , we are told about a battle between the Satan and his angels and Michael and his angels.

Michael and the angels win, and John said,

- “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him”.

-“He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.”

Based on these texts, it is clear that the serpent is Satan. Satan disguises himself, he comes to Eve and he tells her a pack of lies; and he tells is biggest lies about the most important subject, God!

Satan know that if he can get your mind twisted about who God is and what God does and what God is like, then he's got you. Because the thought if the father of the deed. A.W. Tozer, a great Christian leader, said, and I want you to listen to this quote: "No religion can rise higher than its concept of God."

Satan, in the very first book of the Bible is going to tell four big lies, about the character of God; Why? Because Satan does not want you to understand who God is, and what God is like.

Now listen to me, these lies are not just lies Satan told Eve thousands of years ago, these are the same lies Satan tells today.

Satan is a murder and he wants to destroy your life and damn your soul to hell, and he will tell you lies about God to get you to think wrong about God, and chose to reject God and chose sin and self.

The first lie that Satan will tell you is:

1. God is not Good to You.

V:1-“the serpent said to the woman, Yea, hath God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"

Satan is telling Eve that God is not being good to you; he is trying to get Eve to think negatively about God. To get the idea that God is withholding something good from her; therefore, God is not good, God is restrictive, severe, and cruel. Satan is saying to Eve, God has put you in this garden full of trees and then He tells you that you can’t eat of every tree, that doesn’t seem right; God is not being good to you. “You can’t eat of EVERY tree in this garden”?

Is that what God said? NO, that was a lie!

-"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat." Do you see it? "... God started positive…Of every tree you may freely eat." What did Satan say? Satan started negative…"Hath God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" Satan said, "God says you can't have it."

Satan trying to get Eve to think negatively about God, that God is cruel, God is harsh, unloving and restrictive. Satan is telling Eve; God wants to deny you of the best thing in this garden; he is robbing you of ultimate joy. Anything that brings pleasure is a no-no to God, and God is against you having a good time, he is against you having fun, and he is against joy and freedom. THAT IS A LIE!!

The truth is God is the one who made all the trees, animals, rivers and ocean for Adam and Eve to enjoy; He is the one that made then to enjoy each other and to enjoy Him!!

He had told them enjoy all of my creation, it is all for you, have dominion over everything, I just want you to love and obey me and not eat of that one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

There are a lot of people today who have the idea that God is a cruel God, a vengeful deity, sitting up there on His big throne, hurling down laws to make us squirm like a worm in hot ashes trying to keep them, and that God is a cosmic killjoy, that God is trying to keep things from us. That is a BIG lie! God loves us.

: "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of you heart." Isn't that great?

: "The Lord you God is a sun and a shield; the Lord will give grace and glory No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly."

No good thing; if it'll make you healthy, happy, holy, God says, "Help yourself." Every time He says, "Thou shalt not," He's saying, "Don't hurt yourself." God loves you, and has what’s best for you in mind!

: "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy."

Now if the devil can get you thinking negatively about God, he's already got you. That's the very first thing he did when he crawled his slimy, self into the Garden of Eden; get Eve to think negatively about God. He makes God sound restrictive and prohibitive; he is attacking the character of God. God had actually been so gracious and generous to them. This is how Satan works, and sin works; it makes us think that God is not generous and that He does not have our best interests in mind. And when we choose to sin, we are saying, God’s way is not best, what God has asked me to do or not to do is not good. It is better to do what I want to do than it is to do what God wants me to do.

The first lie that Satan told is; God is not good to you; that was a lie then; and it is a lie now!!

The second lie that Satan will tell you is:

2. God is Not Truthful with You.

V:2-4-"And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, you shall not surely die."

First Satan cast doubt on what God said, then he denied what God said, V:4-"You'll not die. God is not telling the truth about dying. God is not truthful with you!

I want to say as clearly and plainly as I can; that anyone who causes skepticism or doubt concerning the authority and accuracy of the word of God is doing the work of the devil. And it doesn’t matter if he is in a seminary, or a pulpit, or on the Supreme Court; they are doing the work of the Devil! It doesn’t matter how many degrees they have, if they put a doubt, or a question mark, or deny the truth of the word of God, they are of the devil.

The devil wants you to believe that God’s word is not truthful.

And he goes about questions the truth of God’s word today just like he did with Eve; throughout his conversation with Eve Satan cast doubt on God’s Word.

· 1st he questions God’s Word.

V:1-“Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’”

Did God really say that? Are you sure?” Satan is trying to get Eve to doubt the Word of God. He will never get her to disobey until he gets her to doubt. But, once he gets her to doubt, he knows that she is well on her way to disobeying.

This is still Satan’s tactic today. God’s Word is still questioned. Did God really say homosexuality is a sin? Did God really say abortion is wrong? Did God really say He created the world in six days? Did God really say that Jesus is the only way to heaven? Did God really say…? The Word of God is being questioned and challenged in many places today. The assault on God’s Word is Satanic in origin; it started here in the garden. But, if Satan can get people to begin doubting God’s Word, he often gets them to disobey it.

· 2nd he denies God’s Word.

Satan just comes out and calls God a liar. Eve said, V:3-“God said if we eat the fruit we will die.”

Satan responds, V:4- “You won’t die.

Satan is flat-out denying God’s Word; we are living in a society that is doing the same thing today. And many of you in this room are questioning God’s word, and denying the truth of the Bible. You don’t believe God meant what He said, when he wrote certain things in the Bible!

We live in a day where the truth of God’s word is being replaced by the options of man:

· Relativism says there is no fixed truth.

A professor in the university stood up and said, "Students, I want to tell you there’s nothing that you can be absolutely sure of." A student lifted his hand, and said, "Professor, are you sure of that?" He said, "Absolutely" that is relativism. There is nothing fixed, no anchor, and no standard.

Plato told about some sailors who lost their chart and compass, so they put a light on the bow of the ship and steered by that. That's what we're doing in today's society.

· Subjectivism says let me tell you about my experience."

There used to be a time when people would say, "The Bible says." Then they started saying, "The Church says." and now they just say, "Well, I feel like it is ok, I have experienced it.

· Rationalism says, does it make sense to me.

It is does fit into our idea of what God is like, or what we think he should do, we place the mind of man above the word of God.

Pastor don’t you think we ought to be reasonable? Sure, you ought to be; but as someone said “where reason cannot wade, faith must swim." What we believe is not contrary to reason; it is beyond reason. Can a man, by reason, find out God? Absolutely not!

· Pragmatism asks, does it work?

Pragmatism doesn't even bother to ask, "Is it true?" It just asks, "Does it work?"

· Post Modernism says, there is no right or wrong.

The Post-Modernist doesn't even believe there is anything called truth. The Post-Modernist says, "You’re into Buddha, I'm into Jesus. What is true for you is fine. That's your truth. What is true for me is fine. That's my truth." the devil doesn't want you to believe that God is the God of truth, and what he says is the truth, and anything that contradicts God’s word is lie.

We are living in a day where there are many substitutes for the word of God, and Satan is behind every one of them!

It is impossible to be a Christian, or raise your children to have a Christian world-view unless you get them to believe that the Bible is the inerrant, inspired, infallible word of God.

When you talk to them and say, "You should not commit fornication, you should not commit adultery," you don't say, "It's because it's bad for you or because society...." You say, "Because God says so". You don't tell a lie. Why? Because God says so. It's wrong to steal because God says so.

The devil does not want you to have a fixed standard of truth.

The third lie that Satan will tell you is:

3. God will Not Punish your Sin.

V:4-"And the serpent said unto the woman, you will not surely die."

God is not really going to punish sin; God is not a God of judgment. You don't have to worry about facing a judgment. God is a God of love, and he would never punish anyone for sinning.

God is good, God is loving; but God is also Holy, just and righteous.

And if you preach the love of God to the exclusion of the holiness and the righteousness of God, you've only preached half of the truth. And a half-truth is a whole lie! But when God gave the Ten Commandments, God was not giving advice; He was giving law. And law without penalty is only advice.

Now there are a lot of people today who do not like the idea of eternal punishment. I would be unfair to you as a preacher if I did not tell you there is an eternal hell. If you die without Jesus Christ, you're going to die and go to hell, a fiery burning hell.

And it there is one doctrine in the bible I would take out it I could, it would be the doctrine of eternal punish. And it is the first doctrine that Satan denied in the bible.

But the doctrine of eternal punishment is in the bible; and it is horrible, and we don’t like it, but God has the right and authority to do punish sin.

The bible teaches death and then the judgement!

Not just going back to the dirt, not being reincarnated; not going around and around and you get as many chances as you need. Someone says, God is too good to punish sin that is backwards.

God is too good not to punish sin. God is righteous. The devil would have you to have the idea that you can sin with consequences, or punishment.

God is good. God is truthful. God is righteous.

The fourth lie that Satan will tell you is:

4. God is Holding out on You.

V:4-5-“"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die; For God doth know that in the day that ye eat thereof, then your eyes will be opened,, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."

Satan has told her, God is not good, He is not truthful, and He is not righteous, He will not judge sin; you don’t need to fear him. He is holding out on you, the forbidden fruit will make gods.

Eve, you can never be capable of being all that you ought to be until you become autonomous. You don't need to depend upon God. God is cramping your style. God doesn’t have your best interest at heart Eve; He is holding you back from all you could be!

God has a monopoly on being God, and He doesn't want you to get in on it. You can never be fulfilled until you do your own thing. Eve, what you need to do is experiment. Try it, you might like it. Satan is lying to Eve telling her that she will be better off if you disobey God, what a lie that is!!

And Eve believed the lie of Satan, eats the forbidden fruit, and gave it to Adam, and he ate it too. Adam and Eve fell from the pinnacle of innocence and intimacy into the pit of guilt and shame: V:7- “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths”. They died Spiritual the very moment they disobeyed God, and they began to die physical that very minute. They believed the lies of Satan and it COST them Everything!! The New Testament encourages us not to be unaware of Satan’s schemes (). We learn from Adam and Eve’s sin that we must listen for and identify the lies that are told about God!

· God is a good God:

-“Truly God is good…

-“And Jesus said unto him, why call me good? There is none good but one, that is, God.

God is good Jesus said, and Jesus is good, because Jesus is God!!

· God is Truthful.

-“And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth”.

-“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

-“Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

-“Sanctify them through thy truth: you word is truth.

· God punishes Sin.

-“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God”.

Jesus took our punishment on the cross that we can be forgiven of our sine and offensives.

-“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Who God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood…

Jesus satisfied the wrath of God that we might have mercy and grace!

But your sin will be pardoned in Jesus are punished in Hell but it will never be overlooked.

· God is not holding out on you.

-“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Whatever God says no to, is for your good! Everything that will truly satisfy your heart and life is in the will of God.

God is not holding out on you, He has given His only begotten son to die on a cruel cross to save you from an eternal hell; don’t hold out on God, come to Jesus today!

Satan will lie to you this morning and tell you that you don’t need to walk down this isle today, but I God is speaking to your heart YOU DO!!

Satan will tell you that you have plenty of time, BUT you don’t know that; today is the day of salvation, now is the accepted time!