“Why the Devil Is A Liar”
(“The Devil Is A Sly Old Fox” - cassette tape)
(P. Jimmy Illustr. - “Can I tell you somethin’?”) Well, there’s something I just need to get off my chest this morning. So, Can I tell you somethin’? (pause) The devil.....is a liar!! That’s right! (say it with me.) He’s not just any old liar. He’s the biggest stinkin’ liar in the whole world. In fact, he’s the biggest liar that’s ever lived. You know what Jesus called him? “The Father of Lies”. That means he’s the guy who came up with the concept. The Big Kahuna of the Shady Deal. The Daddy of Deception. The Original “Lyin’ King.” (Get it?) He probably likes all those titles in his own cocky kind of way, but I’ve got another one he doesn’t like because it reminds him of his future. He’s the ultimate, “Liar, liar, pants on fire!”
So you’ll have to excuse me this morning but I’m just a little ticked off at the devil. That low-down, dirty rotten’, two-timin’, lyin’, stealin’, cheatin’, good-for-nothin’, scumball is on my bad side. You wanta’ know why? (P. Jimmy Illustr. - “I wanta’ know why?”) I’ll tell you why: I know what he’s up to - and I don’t like it. And you won’t like it either when I tell you what it is. (pause) He’s after you. Just like another song says that I used to sing as a kid.“1 -2 -3, the devil’s after me...”
Let me tell you some more reasons why I don’t like him: *Satan hates God. Now that really ticks me off because I love God. *Satan hates anything or anyone that God loves. See, his real enemy is God, but because he’s powerless against God, he attacks those closest to the heart of God; you and me. Doesn’t that tick you off? He’s using you and me to get at God. (Illustr. - Old boyfriend/girlfriend) I told you, he’s a scumbag! I can’t stand the guy. Oh, and here’s another one: *Satan hates the way God takes care of His people. That’s why he wanted to take a shot at Job. He resented the way God was taking care of him. You remember what he said to God about Job? Let me paraphrase:
“Oh sure, God! Sure he serves you! What do you expect! You’ve got this impenetrable wall of protection around him and his nice BIG house and his nice big family and everything that he owns. You bless everything he does. The guy’s filthy rich. For Pete’s sake, he owns enough livestock to open a zoo! No wonder he loves you! But you take down the wall and give me a shot at him and I’ll make sure he curses you to your face!” - Job 1:9-11. And just like he was after Job, he’s after you and me. He hates you. But he’s smart. He won’t come right out and tell you he hates you. That would be too obvious.
No, he wants to make you think he’s on your side. So he’ll tell you, “Your way is the best way. Do what you want. You’re an intelligent adult. You’re right. You’re a good person. You don’t need anybody telling you how to live!” All that is his sneaky way of getting you not to do things God’s way. That way, he never even has to mention how much he hates God or you and he still gets the same results!
I’m tellin’ you, the devil is a liar! Always has been, always will be.
And any time you lie, there’s a reason. (Illustr. - your mom’s broken vase, out past curfew, because you were with the wrong person or in the wrong place, etc.) You’re covering up something that you don’t want someone else to know. And that’s what this message is all about. I wanted to find out what he’s up to. So I asked myself,
Why does the devil need to lie?
HERE ARE THE THREE MAIN REASONS I CAME UP WITH:
I. TO DISCREDIT GOD. - Gen. 3:5
Gen 3:1-5
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,
3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"
4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman.
5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
Now what’s he really up to with a lie like that? “...you will be like God.” It was his backhanded way of discrediting God. He has been at it from the very beginning and nothing has changed. Here’s what he wants us to believe:
1. He wants us to believe that God is not really as good as we think he is. He goes about attaining that goal a couple of ways.
A. Tricks us into thinking we can somehow be good enough on our own to be like God. Satan used a sincere motive to tempt Eve - “You will be like God.” It wasn’t wrong of Eve to want to be like God. To become like God is humanity’s highest goal. It’s what we are supposed to do. But Satan misled Eve concerning the right way to go about it. He told her she could become more like God by defying God’s authority, by taking God’s place and deciding for herself what was best for her life. In effect, he told her to become her own god. (“New Age” mentality)
How many know that becoming like God is not the same as trying to become God? Becoming like God means to reflect his characteristics and to recognize his authority over your life. The big lie that the devil uses so often is that good can be attained by doing evil. He talked Eve into believing she had found a short cut to being like God; that she could be like God w/out God’s help. Sounds like people today who try to substitute personal goodness for the cross. But true goodness, the kind it takes to gain eternal life, cannot be attained without God. If it could, we wouldn’t need Him, which is exactly what the devil wants us to believe. (Satan to Eve - “You can do this w/out God. Just eat the fruit.” Satan to us - “You’re good enough to make it to heaven. Just be a good person. You don’t need God! You don’t need church, the bible, pray.”) That’s a lie. You cannot be good enough/righteous enough to make it too heaven on your own.
“There is none righteous, no not one.” - Rm. 3:10.
Isa 53:6 - “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” God would not have sent his son to die for us if we were capable of salvation by being good. We are rebellious sinners.
Phil 3:7-9 - “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”
Let me set the record straight. We do need God. “We’ve all sinned and come short of His glory.” The lie the devil wants you to believe undermines God’s goodness by telling you that you can make it to heaven on your own merit; that you are good enough to make it without Him. You cannot become like God without God! It’s impossible. And if you could, he would indeed, be much less than God. Is Satan whispering that old lie in your ear this morning? Telling you that you’re OK because you’re a “good person”? Don’t fall for it! Good people who die without God still go to a sinner’s hell.
The other way the devil gets us to believe that God is not really as good as we think he is, is to
B. Trick us into thinking God has somehow let us down or brought bad things upon us. You know the line, “How could a good God let bad things happen?” -or- “How could a loving God let bad things happen to good people?” Satan tempted Eve by getting her to doubt God’s goodness. He implied that God was strict, stingy and selfish for not wanting Eve to share his knowledge of good and evil. He made her forget all that God had given her and instead, to focus on the one thing she couldn’t have. That’s the way he works. He’ll do anything to get us disappointed in God. And he’s got all kinds of dirty tools to accomplish that goal.
He’s got the tool of:
DOUBT - To make you question God’s Word and his goodness.
DISCOURAGEMENT - To make you look at your problems rather than at God.
DIVERSION/DISTRACTION - To make the wrong things seem attractive so that you want them more than the right things.
DEFEAT - To make you feel like a failure so that you don’t even try.
DELAY - To cause you to believe that God has forgotten you.
But as I heard Charles Hackett say - “Doubt, discouragement, diversion, distraction, defeat, delay and all the other “D’s” are of ‘D-Devil’”. He loves to get us disappointed in God; to get us believing that God is not as good as we thought he was or else why would he have let ___________ happen to us? Don’t be surprised to find him perched on your shoulder the minute some trial or tragedy comes your way saying, “See there! Where’s God now? If God really loved you He wouldn’t have let that happen.” He’ll blame all the bad stuff on God. (Illustr. - brother/sister blaming something on another sibling.)
God didn’t make the world bad. When he finished with creation he looked at it and said, “It is good.” Perfect. Flawless. Sin made the world bad, and it all started with a lie from the devil. He has been twisting the truth for centuries trying to get man to believe that everything wrong with the world is God’s fault. I’m tellin’ you, he’s a liar! And it’s high time for you to give credit where credit is due. The evil in this world is the result of the sin in this world. Don’t blame God. Blame the devil!
“God is love.”
“For the Lord is good and His mercy endureth forever, His faithfulness continues to all generations.”
“Taste and see that the Lord is good...”
Ps 86:5 - “You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.”
Ps 103:2-5 - “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits--who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things.”
Understand this: The devil can change your mind by deceiving you into believing God is not good - i.e., he can change your perception of God, but he can never change God. God will always be what He is. He says, “I am the Lord, I change not.” Mal. 3:6. “He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever.” He loves you, like He’s loved every man/woman that’s ever lived, and it breaks His heart to see what sin has done to us. It’s not what He had in mind at all. So He’s gone to prepare a place for us that is perfect and free from sin. Heaven - everything He wanted for us all along. And that old liar the devil can’t get in that place. And he’s so mad because he can’t get in that he doesn’t want you gettin’ in either! So he goes around breakin’ stuff and causing all sorts of evil in the world and then he comes around with the lie that it’s God’s fault. Don’t believe it! God loves you. He wants the very best for you. Always has.
Here’s something else the devil wants us to believe in his effort to discredit God.
2. He wants us to believe that God is not really as wise as we think he is. Eve knew exactly what God had told her. She even repeated it to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” To which Satan replied, “You will not surely die. God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” God’s wisdom had never been in question until Satan came slithering onto the scene. Suddenly she had a choice to make: “Am I going to trust God’s wisdom and do what He said or am I going to challenge God’s wisdom and try things my way?”
It’s important to note that Eve was in the wrong place looking at the wrong thing when she was influenced by the wrong voice. The entire garden was hers and yet where do we find her standing? In the one place she shouldn’t be. God, in His infinite wisdom, had drawn a line, “Don’t eat fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden, or you will die.” God hadn’t made that rule because He wanted to withhold knowledge from her. He made it to protect her from the wrong kind of knowledge. We are just like Eve. The closer we get to God’s “lines” (rules) the more we resent the fact that they have been drawn. And we become curious. And if we keep staring at something we really want we become covetous. And if God doesn’t give it to us we become resentful and think, “If God’s not going to give it to me I’ll just get it myself.” And we may think we’re pretty smart at first. But sooner or later we will feel the sting of the serpent. Should’a listened!
Adam and Eve got what they wanted: an intimate knowledge of both good and evil. But they got it by rebelling against God’s wishes and the results were disastrous. Sometimes we have the illusion that freedom is doing anything we want. But God says that true freedom comes from obedience and knowing what not to do. The restrictions He gives us are for our good, helping us avoid evil. We have the freedom to walk in front of a speeding car, but we don’t need to be hit to realize it would be foolish to do so. Don’t listen to Satan’s lies. You don’t have to do evil to gain more experience and learn more about life.
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and He will direct your path.” Very few people who believe in God actually feel they are as wise as He is. That’s not what gets us. Just like Adam & Eve, we know He’s smarter than us overall, but when we want something bad enough we become tempted to overrule His wisdom. (Illustr. - “God I know you’re smart but you’re missing it here. She’s sooo fine!”) It’s hard to keep telling yourself that God’s wisdom is best when you’ve got your mind and your eyes on something forbidden all the time. God’s way is still the best way, even when everything looks attractive. It’s a mistake to overrule Him. Don’t buy the lie. You’re not as smart as you think you are.
II. TO DISGUISE HIS PURPOSES. - Lk. 4:6
Luke 4:5-7
5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.
7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours."
1. He offers power but he really plans to make us slaves. Remember the hit song by Charlie Daniels several years ago? “The devil went down to Georgia, he was lookin’ for a soul to steal. He was in a bind cause he was way behind and he was willin’ to make a deal...” That may have made for a hit song but let me tell you something: You don’t deal with the devil. He’s not only a liar, he’s a cheater and you can’t trust a thing he says! Mark this down: The devil will never give you something without taking something of greater value away. That’s the only kind of deal he makes.
He came to tempt Jesus in the wilderness and look at his offer: “The kingdoms of this world are all mine. I can give them to anyone I want to...and you can have all their authority if you will worship me.” Sounds like a pretty enticing deal to me. Why was he willing to give up authority over the kingdoms of the world? Because if Jesus had agreed, he would have gained something greater, which he didn’t have: Authority over God. But Jesus said “No!” and because he said no, “God hath exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” - Philip. 2:9-11. (Illustr. - Rub the name of Jesus in his face.)
His deal was only a disguise to get what he wanted. Here’s the kind of deals he offers: “I’ll make you popular, all you have to do is drink and do a few drugs now and then.” “I’ll make you the head of the company, all you have to do is cheat your way up the ladder at work.” “I’ll make sure your boyfriend marries you somewhere down the line, all you have to do is move in with him so he knows you love him.” “I’ll make sure you get the job, all you have to do is lie a little at the interview.” He’s got a million deals and they sound great up front, but he’ll take something of greater value away from you every time. The things you bargained for will enslave you. With the devil, anything that looks good is only a disguise.
2. He offers riches but he really plans to make us paupers. “...the kingdoms of this world and all their splendor.” Not only did he offer Jesus power, he also offered him riches. Money is a powerful influence. People with money are people with power. So he will lie and tell us that the key to being happy and successful in life is having more money. And we fall for it! We get caught up in possession obsession. We’ve gotta’ have more. We’ve gotta’ have the latest thing. We’ve gotta’ have the biggest and the best. We’ve gotta’ work longer/harder. But remember, if you make a deal with the devil he’ll always take something of greater value than what he gives.
Many people become wealthy the devil’s way but they forfeit their family, their marriage, their health, their good reputation...their soul. Mark 8:36 - “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Oh yeah, the devil loves to play “Let’s Make A Deal” and he always wraps up his evil plans in pretty packages. But it’s just a disguise. What you see is not what you’ll get. There’s always a string attached. He’ll always get the better end of the deal. What’s he been trying to sell you lately? Better think twice, you’re dealing with a liar.
III. TO DECEIVE MAN. - II Cor. 11:3
2 Cor 11:3 – “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.”
The devil is intelligent. He knows he could lie to us about some things and we just wouldn’t buy it. So he won’t waste his time trying to deceive us in an area where we’re strong. Here’s his strategy: “Hit ‘em in their weak points.” And that’s what he’ll do.
1. He knows what we like. If you like acting, making people laugh, singing, fast cars, a certain kind of woman/man, money, power, to party, go out dancing, taking risks...he knows that. Those things may not be wrong in themselves, but because the devil knows you like them, he’ll use them to get you to do things you shouldn’t do. The sin may not be in the things you like, but the things you like may lead you to sin. He knows all about your desires. Your dreams, goals and ambitions. He studies your case. And if he can exploit you by appealing to the things you like, he’ll do it. God wants you to use the things you like to serve him. The devil wants to deceive you into using the right things for the wrong reasons.
2. He knows what we need. This tactic really makes me angry. It shows what a low-life scum the devil really is. He knows what we need emotionally and he will use our deepest longings to slither into our lives and destroy us. He knows if we’re lonely. Depressed. He knows if we need attention. If we have a low level of self-esteem (feel ugly, dumb, unimportant). If we have been abused. If we have never known what it means to be loved unconditionally. If we’ve nervous because we’re getting older and we still aren’t married. If we feel desperate, worried scared. And he will use that vulnerability to get you.
He’ll send someone along to tell you they care when they don’t. Someone who will tell you what you have been desperately longing to hear so they can get what they want. And when he has used you, he’ll walk away and leave you worse than you were before. He’ll wound you deeply. Jesus has come to heal those hurts. To love you unconditionally. To protect you. Give your needs to him. Don’t let the devil rip you off.
3. He knows what we think. If some enemy country wanted to attack us, their strategy would probably be to hit our large cities and military bases first. Why? They are the strongholds of American power. Satan has a similar strategy, to strike our first major stronghold: the mind. The enemy of your soul wages battle continually for the control of your mind. We must be aware of the serious dangers that will result if our mind is not yielded to Christ. What you think about, you will often do sooner or later. Sin begins as a thought. Every day from every angle, we are bombarded with temptation-producing images and ideas. Their goal is to (1) Plant themselves in the brain (2) take root (3) breed sin.
James 1:14-15
14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
The devil will take that tempting thought, and if you don’t throw it out with the authority given you in Christ, he will get you to dwell on it until the thought becomes sin. He knows what you’re thinking about and he’ll use it to get you.
CONCLUSION: My question to you this morning about all these areas where Satan uses lies to work his way into your life is: “What are you going to do about it?”
1. The devil wants to discredit God. To make you believe that God is not really as good/wise as you think he is. Of course he can never really make God “bad” or “ignorant.” That is impossible. God is unchanging. He’s the ultimate source of goodness and wisdom. But the devil will try to deceive you into believing otherwise. Have you become disillusioned/disappointed with God? The bad things that have happened to you aren’t His fault. He loves you.
2. The devil wraps up evil plans in pretty packages to disguise his purposes. What he’s selling you may sound like a good deal but his ultimate agenda is to take you to Hell. He will never give you something without taking something of greater value away. Have you fallen for his evil sales pitch? Struck up a deal with the devil?
3. The devil is intelligent. He comes after us at our weakest points. He knows what you like. He’ll take something good and use it to push you too far. What you need. He’s ready to exploit you at your point of vulnerability. It’s cruel but he’ll do it. He may have already done it to some of you. What you’ve been thinking about. If you think about something long enough you’ll do it.
