Devil's Lies – a Message to Children

Jesus' Confrontation with Religious Leaders and the Devil's Existence

0:05 This sermon was preached on Sunday evening, December 8th, 1985, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:18 I'm sure that many of you, even the children, are familiar with the words of the Lord Jesus spoken in Matthew's Gospel when he said, Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And in that wonderful Gospel invitation, he described himself as being meek and lowly in heart. Now, people who are meek and lowly in heart never find pleasure in arguing and in debating with other people. It is...

1:00 It is proud and arrogant people who love to debate and who love to argue. However, in the Gospel records, particularly in the Gospel of John, we find our Lord, though meek and lowly in heart, engaged again and again in very strong and sometimes heated arguments with the religious leaders of his day. Okay. And in the 8th chapter of John's Gospel, and I would invite you to turn there with me, if you will, please, we have the record of one such exchange between Jesus and the religious leaders in Jerusalem. If you read through the passage, you will find that again and again you have words along these lines. Then Jesus said, They said therefore unto him, He said to them, They answered him. So there was a running discussion and debate and at times nothing short of heated argument between Jesus and the religious rulers.

2:14 Now, in the midst of that argument, our Lord is drawing his own accusation of these religious leaders to a climax in which he tells them precisely what their spiritual condition is. They were claiming to be the sons of Abraham. And Jesus is showing them, no, though they have Abraham's blood in their veins, they are not his spiritual children. They have no spiritual affinity or likeness to Abraham.

2:50 But, by contrast, and I now read verse 44, he says to them, You are of your father the devil. And the lusts of your father, it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and stands 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 thereof.

3:23 Now, tonight it is not my purpose to open up this text and to show its relevance. In the course of the whole argument with these religious leaders. Rather, we're going to come to the text in that setting in order to see what Jesus tells us about the devil. And he tells us at least two categories of truth about the devil.

3:52 First of all, Jesus declares in this verse in language that is unmistakable. Unmistakable. The fact of the devil's existence. Jesus declares the fact of the devil's existence.

4:10 Surely all of us have heard the word devil or other words referring to the same being, such as Satan or the adversary or the accuser of the brethren. Now, the question is, does such a being as the devil, really exist? Is there a personal spirit with intelligence and power who is alive and able to influence others? Well, according to Jesus, and in particular this text, John 8, 44, there is an undisputable answer to that question. And the answer is yes. There is. There is.

5:00 There is a devil. Jesus declares the fact of the devil's existence. Notice how he assumes that fact, and then he speaks on the basis of the reality of that fact. He says to the religious leaders, You are of your father, the devil.

5:23 He is not calling them sons of a notion, sons of an abstract idea. Surely he is not calling them sons of a superstitious, medieval, religious notion. He is saying that they have a spiritual relationship to a real spiritual being who truly exists, who is to be identified as the devil. Further, he describes this being as possessing lust.

6:00 And the lusts of your father, that is, the devil, it is your will to do. This spiritual being, the devil, exists. He exists as the spiritual father of these religious leaders. He is described as possessing lusts of his own.

6:24 And furthermore, he is described as one who influences others, with his lusts. For he goes on to say, It is the lust of your father that you will to do. And so in this passage, as in many others,

6:46 does indeed, furthermore, he indicates that he has existed at least from the beginning of creation. He was a murderer from the beginning. He had existence from the beginning. And he says that existence stood and was maintained to that present hour.

7:16 There is no truth in him right now. When he speaks right now a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is right now a liar. And the father thereof is prepared to accuse our Lord Jesus himself of being a liar. Then there is no doubt that in this text, our Lord, the devil's existence.

7:50 It is no overstatement to say that apart from the fact and the reality of the devil's existence, the very coming of Jesus was a mistake. For the scriptures tell us that he came to do the devil and with his works. In 1 John 3.8 we read, For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, there was a manger seen in Bethlehem.

8:23 There was a real incarnation. There was a real life in Nazareth. A real presentation in the Jordan River. A real life of obedience and death upon the cross.

8:38 Why? Why was the Son of God manifested here upon the earth in space and time? John tells us, For this, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. There is no devil.

9:00 And there are works of that devil. Then the Son of God was manifested in pursuit of a mirage.

9:09 Furthermore, Hebrews 2.14 tells us, For this purpose he took upon him human nature, that he might destroy him that had the works of death.

9:23 The devil might deliver them who through fear, fear of death were all to bondage. Yes, Jesus declares the devil's existence. And according to the scriptures, Jesus was manifested because there is a real devil who has real works that need a real destruction if we sinners are to be delivered unto the blessings of life and salvation. Furthermore, according to the Bible, Jesus was tempted, tempted by this devil and overcame him.

10:08 Matthew chapter 4, verses 1 to 11, And bless God one day this very Jesus, from his place of exaltation upon the throne of judgment, will, according to Revelation 20 and verse 10, cast this devil into the lake of fire. Settle it then in your minds as an indisputable fact, as sure, as sure as you exist, and you know that you do, as sure as you exist, and you know that you are here, and you know that you are, then just surely must be convinced that from the beginning a real, personal, wicked spirit called existed, and he has to this day influence men and women and boys and girls by his own sidious.

11:19 For we read, Ephesians chapter 2, what to me are,

11:25 Paul describing the state of all the Ephesians before they were converted. He says, You did he make alive when you were dead through your trespasses and sins, wherein you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air,

11:54 in the sons of disobedience. And that word working, is the same word used in Philippians when it says, God is at work in his people to will and to work for his good pleasure. God is energetically and powerfully working in his own of his good pleasure. The same verb is used to say that this prince of the power, that is the devil himself, is actively, effectually working in all the sons of disobedience.

12:30 And Paul says, in spite of all his religion, in spite of all of his religious training and background, he says, I'm such a one among whom we also once lived in the lust of our flesh. So the first fact regarding the devil, clearly established in many places, but especially in our text tonight, is the fact of the existence of the devil. But Jesus does a second thing. Jesus not only declares the fact of the devil's existence, he, in the second place, describes for us the nature of the devil's character. The nature of the devil's character. Among all that in John 8, 44, Jesus tells us two things about the devil's character. Now I told you children that I was going to ask you a question, tonight, and now I'm going to fulfill my promise.

The Nature of the Devil's Character: Murderer and Liar

13:38 If you studied the verse at mummy and daddy, some of you who are younger read it for you and looked at it with you. Did you see the two things that are said about the devil's character by the Lord Jesus? If you didn't catch them, see if you can catch them as I read the verse and put the emphasis upon the two things Jesus tells us about the character of the devil. You are of your father, Father the devil, and the lust of your father it is your will to do. He was from the beginning, and stands not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own. For, you see, the two things that Jesus describes about the nature of the devil's character, he tells us that he is a, that he is, think of that for a few minutes together. First of all, he says, he from the beginning. And Jesus does not use the ordinary

14:58 word for murderer found in the New Testament, but a word which literally means a slayer of.

15:07 You see, when the policeman in the course of duty must use his gun in seeking to defend innocent people, or to apprehend people who are seeking to harm others, and kill someone in the line of duty, he's not a murderer. He is not unlawfully taking another human life. When a soldier in a war fires his gun at a soldier on the opposite side of the battlefield and takes his life, if he is engaged in a legitimate war, he is not guilty of being a manslayer. We're thankful that in the accident that happened tonight, no life was taken. But if someone in an automobile accident, through a mechanical deficiency, not through driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or willful carelessness, should be involved in an accident that takes another's life, that is not to be guilty of being a manslayer or a murderer. No, a manslayer is one who deliberately, willfully, out of the crowd, through a simulated accident, willfully give his life for their own good,

16:32 the victim's life for their own good, and willfully keep the victim alive. But he is not guilty and willfully giving a life for his own kind. But he is not guilty for it. He is guilty for his own good. He is guilty for his own good. He is guilty for his own good. In the case of the police, the police are not guilty. They are not guilty for the crime committed by the police. They are guilty for the crime committed by the police.

17:10 for you. He's not been converted into a lover of life. He has not been changed into someone who is out to her life and to bring lust and most wonderful expression. That's part of his life. Jesus, who is the truth, says he was a murderer from the beginning and he has never changed and never will be changed. He'll be sent into hell with his own murderous nature unchanged. But then there's a second thing that we are told about the character of the devil and it's this. He is, see what Jesus said? He is a liar. Now who is a liar? Well

18:01 a liar is someone who deliberately misrepresents the truth or reality. Truth and reality are the same thing. Let me illustrate it. I stand before you as a man who is approximately six feet tall. That's reality.

18:19 I can do that by getting me to back up to the wall and make a mark and then take a yardstick or take a tape measure and you'd see it would come out at about 72, 73 inches with my shoes on. Now that's truth. That's reality. Now if someone says, how tall are you? And I say five foot eight or I say six foot four and I know that I'm not that, I am a liar. I am misrepresenting reality. When mom and dad say to you kids, If you've got your homework done because you know that unless you do, you can't watch that favorite television program that they permit you to watch that they have monitored and screened and continue to monitor and screen to know that it's fit for you to watch it. And because you so desperately want to watch that you say, oh yeah, you still had three more problems on your math homework that you didn't do and you knew that. So when you said,

19:19 yes, it's done. You were a what? You were a liar. You were misrepresenting what you knew was reality and truth.

19:27 Now that's what a liar is. Now notice how much Jesus emphasizes this aspect of the devil's character. He says with reference to this part of his character that he does truth. He was a murderer from the beginning and never found the circle of truth ends in the truth.

20:31 Why? He is a liar. Disposition of the liar. On to say.

20:46 When he speaks a lie, he's stoned. That is, he speaks out of himself, out of his very nature, out of his very being. He is such a liar to make him lie of himself. And then Jesus goes on to emphasize it even further.

21:11 For he is a liar and the father thereof it. He is not only the one out of whose nature the lie comes, but who in one sense, by the grace of God, has ever been floated upon the face of the earth. Now can Jesus make the issue more plain than this? You want to know the character of the devil?

21:40 Listen to Jesus. He is a murderer. He's a manslayer. From the beginning he has one intention.

21:47 One intention only. And that is to destroy an human soul. And he is, secondly, a liar. There is no relationship between the truth and the devil.

22:03 And the devil himself. In truth. Now, here's the very, very important question. What's the relationship between those two parts of the character of the devil?

22:14 He's a murderer, he's out to slay human life, and he's a liar. Here's the relationship. The lie is the devil's weapon by which he seeks to murder the souls of men. When the devil comes to murder in the garden of Eden, did he come with a rifle on his shoulder?

22:44 With a sword in his hand? With a grenade in his pocket? No. He came with his smiling face.

22:55 That's how he came. He came with sin and its consequences. And because his lie was so convincing and was believed, our first parents and all in them have been plunged into sin and into death. Now then.

Lie #1: Happiness Through Disobedience (Genesis 2-3)

23:25 This brings us to the core of what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about what I want to convey to you tonight in the time that remains.

23:32 What are some of the devil's lies by which he seeks to murder you and me? Now I'm going to make it personal. You see, we first of all have seen what Jesus says about the devil. He declares the fact of the devil's existence.

23:50 He then describes these two aspects of the nature of his character. He's a murderer and a liar. Now we want to make it very personal. What are some of the devil's lies murder you?

24:03 For remember, whether you know it or not, or even think of it or not, you are very important to the devil. Important enough that he will use whatever instrument is at his disposal within your own fallen nature, within the world about you, and all the ways that this world system impinges upon your eyes, your ears, your emotions, your affections, your desires, your desires, your thinking, your desires, your ambitions. He has a power to float his whole, but he always has but one end in doing it. That's to murder you.

24:45 That's to take you into hell with himself. Now listen to me, dear young men and women and boys and girls. And this is where pastor wishes that if I could have made me in my mother's womb, I wouldn't have made me with these deep wrinkles in my forehead, but I got them from my grandmother. And when I was a very young lad.

25:03 She used to quote a Swedish phrase that said the wrinkled brow bespeaks the thoughtful mind. Well, whether that does or not, I don't like it that I have those deep wrinkles. The first time I saw a picture of me, I was just 21 years of age and someone took a picture of me talking to someone very earnestly about something and I didn't know it. And they showed me the picture and I said, do I look like that when I get serious?

25:28 They said, that's you. And that's why I count those times at the door with you. Children. It's delicious.

25:35 When you see me smiling and we hug and we kiss and we laugh and we play together and you know, I'm your friend, but when I get serious about the matter of what the devil wants to do with you, I can't stand up here and smile because you know, dear children, as much as pastor loves you and wants to take you to heaven with him, the devil hates you and he wants to take you straight down to hell to burn with him forever in hell. That's what he wants to do. And he wants to take you straight down to hell to burn with him forever in hell. That's what he wants to do.

26:05 And he's determined until he himself is cast into hell. He's going to take as many of God's creatures with him as he can. And he's going to take you if he can, and you know, he's going to get you with his lies. He's going to get you with his lies.

26:24 He's out to slay your soul. And the way he's going to attempt to do it is with his lies. That's why you and I need to be able to know what his lies are. And to see those lies in the light of the truth of God's word and above all in the light of the truth embodied in the Lord Jesus that we will have as it were the mask pulled off the devil's lies and we will embrace the Lord Jesus who is the truth and think according to the truth of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done and what Jesus says.

27:01 All right. As time permits. We're going to look at three or four of the major lies. All right.

27:06 Let's look at three or four of the major lies by which the devil murders souls and he's trying to murder your soul. Lie number one. Turn back with me to Genesis chapters two and three and here I want to speak particularly to those of you in the age bracket, probably 11 and 12 onward. You'll understand every word I say there are times when I'll try to drop down and speak at the level of the six and five year olds.

27:39 I can't address everything to one age bracket. But here's the first lie of the devil. It's the one he floated to our first parents. I'm going to state it.

27:49 Then I'm going to show you that this is exactly his lie from the text of scripture. Here's the lie. You can only be truly happy by having and doing what God forbids. You can only be truly happy by having and doing.

28:13 What? forbids now let's look at Genesis chapter 2 at the end of chapter 1 it tells us that when God had finished his work of creation he looked at everything he had made and it was good he had pronounced blessing upon Adam and Eve and given them some clear guidelines as to how they were to serve him in his world and then we read further on in chapter 2 that God commanded the man verse 16 saying of every tree of the garden you may freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it for in the day you eat you will surely die now Eve was not yet created when God spoke these words God comes to Adam and says Adam I have made you what I have made is good I'm putting you into the garden I'm giving you a task but now I'm telling you Adam all the trees you may freely eat all of the delight of enjoying different tastes and the smells of the different foods that will come from the various trees

29:35 Adam it's all your there is but one tree that specializes tree in the midst of the garden and of that tree you are not that forbidden tree. Blessedness is to be found. What I can do. Blessedness, your happiness will come to an end. You'll die. Now

30:21 then God sees the man in his singleness and to further show that that command was not given out of a narrow heart, the heart that wanted to cramp Adam's style initiative and says in verse 18, it's not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper to his needs. And you have that beautiful account of the creation of the woman. And then the creation account ends with this beautiful, chaste and lovely description of the man and the wife in total nakedness before God and one another. And I believe inferred in the passage in the total intimacy of their situation. Sexual embrace the creation account with that glory. They were wicked the man's wife and were not ashamed. And how do you think the devil looked upon Adam and Eve perfectly happy because

31:28 the obedient taking now blessedness and he's determined to do what he was a murderer from the beginning. He could not in the faith that God had given. He was out of his mind. He was out to lay them. So what did he do? Chapter three, verse one. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And we know from the New Testament, there is no question who this serpent was, that the serpent was an embodiment of this evil spirit, the devil. And he said unto the woman, you shall not eat of any tree of the garden. And the woman said, unto the serpent of the fruit of the trees of the garden, we may eat, but he, which is in the midst of the garden, God is, you shall not eat of it. Neither shall you touch it. And there is some

32:54 debate about whether or not she added to the word of God or whether that was part of what God originally said to Adam. But that's not important. This is what's important. She says to the tempter, to Satan, to the devil. Yes, God has said, something forbidden. And God has made known that it is forbidden for our well as his glory.

33:51 It's how the devil comes with his lie. And the serpent said unto the woman, you shall not surely be opened. You shall be as sickness to be gained, to have it and to do it. I've got the inside track.

35:16 Happiness comes having and doing what God. And in person, the woman's good for food and is aesthetically pleasant, a delight to the eye, which would make

36:10 me wiser. Tragic words in the Bible. She took and did eat. She gave unto her husband with her and he eat. And then what happened? We're open. And they into a new mention of blessedness and happiness and communion with God and destruction. And as he come down, he will fall in humanity as it flows by our feet tonight. And how did it all begin? When that fiend, that murderer, that man's like the New Testament says Eve was

37:22 utterly deceived. That is, she bought the lie thinking it was the truth. She bought the lie thinking it was the truth. And when she did, she found that God's word was true. In the day that you eat, you die. You die. You die. You die. You die. You die. You die. You die. You die. You die. You die. You die. You die.

37:41 There was immediate spiritual death, alienation from God into God and discomfort at the thought of communing with God. And there was physical death. And if God did not intervene in grace, there would be eternal death, separation from God in the place prepared for that very murderer, the devil himself. Hell is described as the place prepared for the devil and his angels. Now, you see, that's exactly the lie he's floating to you young people. You look at the Ten Commandments and you say, are you crazy? I'm not going to take those seriously. I mean, let's be fulfilled. It's my news.

39:04 Jealous to have no other before the true God. You go right down through all the. I mean, I couldn't take the whole of the Lord's distant Sabbath and give it to thinking of God to say that if I regard my sexual appetites as not my own property to do with as I please. And I determined that I shall come to marriage not only as a virgin, as a man or a woman, but with my hands having never indulged in petting, and the other parts of my body having never been given to sexual indulgence. A person

40:13 can come to full. You see, the devil's lie is, you want true happiness? The devil's lie is that you can only do what God forbids. You have fallen and who by nature do not keep

41:18 of determining. Repentance is unto life. It's 1118. It's given to the Gentiles. Repentance says no. That's the way of death. The way of life is the way of keeping precepts as a forgiven sinner who has been given the power of the Holy Spirit both to love God's ways and to keep God's ways. Now I ask that the devil

42:16 has changed his tactics. Do you believe you are so special that God has some kind of spiritual influence to surround you that you are not vulnerable to that same lie? If he dared to come to Adam and Eve in innocence and float that lie and get away with it, can't you imagine how bold he is to come to you and to me in our fallen state and believe that he can float his lie? And isn't that precisely why some of you teenagers sit here tonight in spite of all the reality you've seen in your mom and dad, in other Christians, in spite of all the truth you've heard? The reason you're still in your sins is because you're believing this lie! What God forbids. That's why you won't repent. Because you think to repent is to turn from

43:27 the way of life into the way of death. And that's the lie of the devil. And I want to put it as bluntly as I know how. Continue to believe that lie and you'll perish in hell.

Lie #2: Sin Without Consequences (Genesis 3)

43:38 You'll never become a Christian until you repudiate that lie. But there is a second lie and it's right here in the Garden of Eden as well. And it's this. You can sin and not have to pay the consequences. You can sin and not have to pay the consequences. God had said in chapter 2 and verse 17. Therefore those of you who know the Hebrew language well, that a good rendering will be died. Pay the consequence.

44:29 Well, you talk about the devil's lie in direct opposition. No subtlety now. Verse 4. And the serpent said unto the woman, Genesis 3, 4, You shall surely.

44:44 Now, the issue is very plain, isn't it? Will I believe God or the devil? God says you'll pay the consequences. The devil says sin, and you'll not definitely have to pay the consequences.

44:58 Now, what will Eve do? Believe God or believe the devil? Will she believe the word manifested?

45:16 Or will she believe this unknown creature who has come and floated alive at the very throne of God's throne is established upon truth and righteousness? You see, the devil lied to Eve and said, No, you can sin and get away with it. And do you believe Eve would have ever reached out to take that fruit and let she first of all believe the lie? Do you believe if she...

45:46 Really?

45:51 Of what death might mean that she could have ever... Very wordly she would have said, No, that you shall surely die.

46:15 To you and to me, God is sinning leads to bondage. You see, each act in is not an independent, isolated act. It says the wicked shall be held by the core of his own. And Jesus said, Whoso commit is the bonds.

46:37 Each act in forges another chain, which eventually... God says, If in any...

46:50 You are giving yourself over to... And the devil says, No, you can sin and stop anytime you want.

47:01 Seen people in their midlife who would give their right arm if they could quit puffing on cigarettes that they knew were going to lead them to an early grave, but they couldn't stop. You see, the first time they took that puff behind the barn or down at the schoolyard with the other guys or gals to prove that they were big shots. Do you think they believe the time would come when, as a mature man, a mature adult, able to raise a family, hold a job, in the pictures,

47:52 cigarette in there, to suck in the next butt?

48:02 That's right. You think the first time you, young man,

48:10 glanced at that girly magazine, you think the time would come when you could not go through one week without buying your... without buying some other filthy, glossy sheet?

48:25 You didn't think so, but that's where you are tonight. I would be very surprised if...

48:31 I'm not speaking... I'm not going to lie to more than one man, one young man, or...

48:44 And sin again, and stop any time you wanted. But your sins become your master. Same way with lying. First time you thought that up, that lie, and said, oh, I can just tell one lie to mom and dad, and I would never...

49:00 I mean, I think too much of mom and dad ever to make a pattern of lying. That would destroy all communication. I won't...

49:08 What's happened? You've become an inveterate liar. You can lie easier than you can breathe. What's happened?

49:17 The wicked shall be happy. The wicked shall be happy. The wicked shall be happy. The wicked shall be happy.

49:21 The wicked shall be happy. And so, in the place of sin, all kinds of God. The wicked shall fall, get rid of sin, and be filled withaction, have a passion, and be slain, and be led out, and be driven to hell by the cords of his own iniquity. God says you cannot sin and get away with it.

49:32 Sinning produces bondage. Furthermore, the scripture tells us sinning in the face of light produces hardness of heart. Sinning in the face of light produces hardness of heart. So God says you can't go on in a path when your conscience has the light.

49:43 Not only of nature, but of the Word of God, coming straight from your Christian family, the Christian school, from your Sunday school, family, the Christian school, from your Sunday school, from the pulpit. In the face of that light, your heart will get harder and harder. He that being often reproved shall suddenly be cut off in that without remedy. Romans 2.5 says, After thy hardness and impenitent heart, you are treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. The devil's lie is, you can sin and get, you can do an isolated act of sin here and there. There's no bondage. God says no. Sin produces bondage. The devil

50:38 says, you can sin without hardness. God says no. Sinning in the face of light produces hardness. And then the ultimate lie of the devil is, you can sin and not pay its wages or have its wages paid out, but the wages will be paid out for the wages.

50:57 Sin is death. Would God, would God, that somehow we would take seriously for just 30 seconds, just one of those phrases quoted by Pastor Nichols this morning about hell. Just take seriously for 30 seconds, weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, the smoke of their torment, sending up where sin will take. The devil says, you shall not surely die. God loves his creatures. Too much to send them. If that's so, why did he send his son to hell upon the cross? If God loves, there's one. Do you think you'll escape? Don't believe the devil's lie. As I said a few weeks ago,

52:15 I repeat, I've searched in vain in my Bible to see that there's a teenage hell, a preteen hell, a midlife hell, and an old man's hell. I do read in my Bible, there'll be degrees of punishment in hell. He that knew his Lord's will and did it not shall be beaten with many souls. He who knew not and did not beaten with few stripes. The Bible does teach degrees of punishment in hell. More tolerable in the day of Sodom and Gomorrah than for the people of Jesus' day. Yes, but I don't read there's some other hell. Hell is hell, dear people. Outer darkness is outer darkness. Weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. And frankly, I don't understand how some of you young people are able to sleep at night with all the light you've had. And you know, God, that your heart has become hot. It's the devil's lie. He's bringing to you to destroy you. In closing, time has

Lie #3: Repentance at a Convenient Time (Acts 24)

53:38 gone from us. Let me touch just briefly on this third lie because it's so vital and I believe so relevant to not a few of you. And it's the lie that we don't find in the book of Genesis, but we find it in the book of Acts, very clearly illustrated. It's the lie that you can.

53:58 Repent and believe when it's more convenient to do so. You can repent and believe when it's more convenient to do so. Turn to Acts chapter 24. The great Apostle Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, stands before one of the great ones of the earth and he speaks to him about the things of God. Acts 24 and verse 24. But after certain days, Felix came with Drusilla, his wife, and his wife, and his wife, and his wife, and his wife, and his wife, who was a Jewess, and sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ Jesus. Paul became a gospel preacher before this man, Felix, Drusilla, his wife. And as he's preaching Christ, he's trying to bring this man to see why he needs Christ. You've heard the old adage, someone had a bumper sticker, Christ is the answer, and someone looked at it and said, fine, what's the question?

55:07 If Christ is the answer, then he's the answer. If Christ is the answer, then he's the answer. What's the question? Well, Paul, about the faith in Christ, Christ is the answer, but he's also telling him what the question is. The question is, how can unrighteous, undisciplined, self-indulgent, guilty sinners be right with God? Of righteousness, God's inflexible standard of right and wrong, the holy law of God. Control we must have if we're to live in the light of that law. The judgment to come, the results, because we have self-control. The judgment to come, the results, because we have self-control. In the light of the standard of righteousness, we've broken the dog's dark foot. We have given ourselves up to the lust of the flesh and of the mind. Ephesians 2, and therefore we stand under judgment. That Christ is the

56:04 answer. That's why Christ died. That's why he rose. That's why he's given us his word.

56:18 That's why he equips and commissions his servants to plead with you in his name, to be reconciled with God. You know what happened? Some of this began to get under the spiritual hide of this man. Felix, look what happened. As Paul was reasoning of these things, Felix was carrying this in the day when somebody under my preaching will get terrified. Until you're terrified, you'll never be comforted. With a comfort that'll stand the test of death and the judgment. It got under his hide, and he was terrified. I mean, the next meal wasn't going to go down

57:13 so easy. The next television program wasn't going to bring him much comfort. The next tumble to bed with his wife wasn't going to bring him much joy. He should have done what the Philippian jailer did when he was full of terror, fell down before the servants of God and said, Sir, what must I do to be saved? But instead, you see what he did? Look what he did. The devil came along and said, Felix, this is all right, but there'll be a more convenient time. He answered, go you for this time. When I have a convenient season, I'll put myself right back into this present frame of mind and pick up where we left off, and we can move from there to faith in Christ. I'll be in control. When I'm ready to settle this, in his case, you know what the issue was? He hoped to have his palm rubbed by Paul. Look at the next verse. He hoped with all

58:37 that money would be given him of Paul. Therefore, he sent for him the oftener in commune with him, but there's no further record he was ever terrified again. When he believed the devil's lie, you can repent and believe when it's more convenient for all we know from the record. He passed the line, and there's no further record.

58:58 There's no indication he was ever terrified again. He crossed the line. Now let me ask you honestly, let me ask you honestly, unconverted man, woman, boy or girl, has there never been a time when you felt something of the terrors of God? Has this generation, with its jungle music screeching in your ears, with its pot and its coke and its uppers and downers and its quaaludes and the rest, so blown the mind of this generation?

60:00 Have you felt any terror that you would stand before God with all that hanging upon you out to the God of the universe to send you to hell? Have you never felt any terror? If you have, what have you done? I'll tell you what some of you have done. The devil's breathed his lines. That's all right to be terrified. That's fine. Just don't do anything about it now. There'll be a more convenient season. And for you, it's not been your hope to love

61:09 your girlfriends and burn in hell. Friends, my friend. My dear young girlfriend. My dear young man. Listen to me. Which of those friends can take those sins off you so you won't have to go to judgment with them? Come on, answer. Friends can take you by the hand and lead you into the presence of Almighty God. There's only one friend who's worth anything in that day, and that's Jesus. And to have him, you've got to be prepared to be mocked out. That's the cost of discipleship. You've got to be prepared to be rejected if necessary. Yes, you have to mark over a particular relationship that I have. And I'm in that relationship deeply. I'm tired. I get serious. Relationship

62:22 may be X'd off by the word of God. My friend, let me ask you. That person you're so tied to may be tied to them because you've already been bonded by illicit sexual intimacy and you're not even married. But you're bonded by that intimacy. Listen to me. Listen to me. Can that friend plead your cause at the judgment? Yes, he can. He can. He can. He can. He can.

62:41 He can. He can. He can. He can. He can. He can. He can. He can. He can. He can. He can. He can. He can. He can. He can.

62:42 He can. He can. He can be the judge at judgment. Can that friend at you from your sins Area 28 enclose you with the righteousness that will enable you to stand pure in the day of judgment and acquitted by the God of heaven. You see it's the devil's lie. You can repent and believe when it's a more convenient time No the Bible knows only one time Today is the day of salvation to gay If you hear his voice in the lecture hall. Yes. Today, salvation would to God that this night, boy, girl, young man, woman, older man or woman, it matters not. There is not a one of you who ought not to be terrified if you're yet in your sins.

63:37 But there's not a one of you who cannot know the comforts of the gospel if you will only repent of your sin and run to Jesus. There's not a verse in the Bible that says he won't receive you. And there are dozens and hundreds that say he will seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near.

Summary of Lies and Call to Flee to Christ

64:01 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord. For he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Jesus said the devil. He's a murderer.

64:19 His murder weapon is the lie. The lie that he floated in Eden was the way to happiness is to have and to do what God forbids. That's a lie that will damn you if you go on living by that lie as though it were truth. His lie to our first parents was you can sin and get away with it.

64:43 The truth is he that covers his sin shall not prosper. The wages of sin is death. Be sure your sin will find you out. His lie to Felix was you can repent and believe when it's more convenient for you.

65:01 The truth of God is today is the day of salvation. God is under no obligation to cause his word to come home to your heart with power and make you to feel the powers of the world to come. If you've known the slightest motion. That power don't say a more convenient time cry to God.

65:25 And if there's been no sense of terror, cry to God.

Personal Testimony and Final Exhortation

65:31 Ask him to take away the hardness and the blindness until spiritual realities terrify you and then bring you a comfort known only to those who are in Christ. I want to close by just giving a little bit of my own testimony, something I rarely, rarely do.

65:51 But because I believe many of you. Young people do regard me as your friend. I hope you do. I love you as my friends.

66:01 When Pastor was just a little boy, just the age of some of you younger ones here. As long as I can remember who I was and where I slept in the homes in which we lived, I can remember going to bed almost every night, fearful that I might die in my sleep.

66:27 And, you know, I was afraid I might die in my sleep. Because I believe what the Bible said. It's sinners who don't have their sins washed away in the blood of Jesus will go to hell.

66:41 And as I got older, that terror deepened and I tried to drown it and I tried to avoid it until to my shame. I say this to you, teenagers. I had the audacity and I marvel now God didn't kill me. I had the audacity after living to please myself.

67:01 Though. God. Kept me from a lot of outward sin. And I thank God I didn't live in the midst of the tremendous waves of ungodliness that crash upon the shores of society.

67:13 Or I'd have been a thousand times worse than I was. But I can remember having the audacity to live the whole day indulging my own desires and yet daring to pray as I drifted off to sleep. Oh, God. Don't take me in my sleep.

67:32 Oh, God, let me live another day so I don't die and go to hell. I tell you, since my senior year in high school, when God brought me to embrace the Lord Jesus, to throw off the devil's lies and find peace of conscience through the blood of Christ, you ask me, has the Christian life been easy? I'll tell you, no, I paid a price. No sooner did I embrace the Lord Jesus than I lost almost all my friends.

68:08 I was mocked out even way back in the dark ages of 1952. Yeah, I was mocked out. I'd walk down the hill from my high school and the guys would roll down their windows and shout out the windows. Hey there, holy roller.

68:23 Walk on your heels. Save your souls. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Yeah, that's right.

68:29 I got mocked out. That's right. You think it cost something when I felt all the passions and sexual drives of any young man to determine that I would keep. Pure and in my dating relations to keep my hands to myself.

68:47 Sure, it cost times when every cell in my body sexual fulfilled. You think it didn't cost to remain pure? You think it hasn't cost through the years to be hated, to have your purest motives maligned? Sure, it costs.

69:12 But listen, you can take all of that cost and multiply it a thousand times over and I wouldn't trade it off for the privilege of just going to bed one night with a conscience at peace with God. What a wonderful thing to go to my bed at night and know in the language of that simple little prayer, if I should die before I wake, not I pray the Lord my soul to take, but now I can pray I know the Lord my soul will take. For to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. To depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. Oh, dear children, young people, men and women, don't believe the devil's lie, but flee to him who is the truth, who came to give us life, not to murder, but to give life, who proved his claims by his death. Take all the devil's lies and unpack them at the foot of the cross and look at his lies in the light of the cross. How can you believe his lie that happiness comes in the way of having and doing what God forbids,

70:29 when that's what resulted in the wounds and the suffering and the blood and the gore and the cries and the agony of the cross? How can you believe the lie you can sin and get away with it while you look at Jesus on the cross? How can you believe the lie that there's a more convenient time when from his cross he calls you to himself? Oh, run to him. Embrace him.

70:55 Become his child. Live for him. And in a few short years, you'll then be with him and with him forever. Let us pray.

Prayer of Confession and Supplication

71:05 Our Father, we confess that we feel such a mingled sense of anger and hatred at the devil when we think of his vicious, murderous lies and how the destruction and sorrow and grief and death have come. In the wake of those lies. And yet our hearts are filled with joy and wonder and amazement that you would, in Jesus Christ, come and expose the lies of the devil and do everything necessary that we could have our sins forgiven and be accepted with you through the blood and righteousness of another. Oh, Lord, may there be none who will be like Felix tonight, saying a more convenient, a more convenient season. Oh, God, this night.

72:11 Then with the gospel. Oh, Lord, may this word not be preached in vain, but may we yet live to see the fruit of it in the conversion of some who have sat here this night. We thank you for your grace. Thank you for opening our eyes to the lies we once believed and which were the rule of our lives.

72:33 We thank you. How we praise you. Seal your word to our hearts and dismiss it. Dismiss us with your presence and with the sense of your word burning in our hearts, abiding with us as we leave this place.

72:51 Amen.