Devil's Murderous Lies

Introduction: Jesus' Amazing Claims and Confrontation with His Enemies

0:02 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday evening, June 25, 2000, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, I would encourage you to turn with me in your own Bibles to the 8th chapter of the Gospel of John, John chapter 8.

0:28 Now, those of you that have any familiarity with this portion of John's Gospel know that in the 8th chapter of John, as in so many of the chapters of John's Gospel, the Lord Jesus says some very amazing and wonderful things about Himself. It is here in John 8 and verse 12 that the well-known words of Jesus are found, I am the light of the world. He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall walk in the light of the world. He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall walk in the light of the world.

1:04 He that follows me shall have the light of life. Christ claims not to be one light among many, but the light of the world. In verse 23, He makes another amazing claim. He said unto them, You are from beneath, I am from above.

1:24 You are of this world, I am not of this world. Appearing in true human nature, with a real body, if someone pricked the finger of Jesus, he would have shed real blood. When he got bumped in a little neighborhood game with his buddies as a boy, he got bruises like everyone else. If he fell on the parking lot, he'd scrape his knee and need to have Mary clean out the gravel and put a band-aid on it.

1:53 And yet he says he's not of this world. His origin is from heaven itself. An amazing claim. And then in verse 29, he makes a claim that no other human being could ever make.

2:09 He writes, he says, and John writes, He that sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I do always the things that are pleasing to Him. Think of it. He could claim that there was never a circumstance, never a situation in which the words, the deeds, the thoughts of Jesus were not fully, completely, without quality, qualification, acceptable to His Father.

2:39 And then in verse 36, he makes another amazing claim. He says, If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. He claims to have the power to break the very chains by which sin binds all of its servants. He had said earlier, Who so commits sin is the bond-slave of sin.

3:01 But he said, I, the Son, can make you free. And free indeed. But as so often is recorded in the book of John, when Jesus made these claims, He was frequently making them in the face of some of His most bitter enemies. In fact, much of the content of the Gospel of John is structured around Jesus' controversies with the religious leaders of His day.

3:28 And often the controversy focused upon Jesus' claims about Himself. And that's exactly what happens in this 8th chapter of John as well. For in verse 40 of this chapter, Jesus said to the very ones in whose presence He claimed to be light of the world, the One who came from above, always pleasing the Father, the One who can make men free from the bondage of sin, He said to those who heard those very words, Now you seek to kill Me, a man that has told you the truth which I heard from God. He's looking into the face of people whom He knows are intent on murdering Him. And in that very setting, Jesus, as it were, drops the gloves, not to go into fisticuffs with His enemies, but He assails them with His words of truth. And in that setting, He speaks the words to which I now draw your more focused attention in verse 44. Jesus says to these religious leaders, now seeking to kill Him, You are of your father the devil, and the lusts or the desires of your father, it is your will to do.

The Devil's Essential Character: A Real Murderer and Liar

4:54 He that is the devil, 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. But because I say the truth, you believe me not. We're going to look very closely at one part of this passage that I've read in your hearing as we consider tonight this subject from this text, and then we will go to another basic text in the Old Testament, the devil's murderous lies. The devil's murderous lies. And to form the biblical basis of our consideration of this vital subject, I want you to note with me from verse 44, these three very obvious truths asserted by the Lord Jesus. First of all, Jesus asserts, that there is a real, personal, intelligent, spiritual being called the devil.

6:11 Look at his language. You are of your father, the devil. The lust 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.

6:25 When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar, and the father thereof. He says, you are of your father, the devil. He, not it, some impersonal force, but he was a murderer. There is no truth in him.

6:46 He speaks. He influences. He powerfully and effectually works in other human beings so that his very desires are done by them. For our Lord Jesus, the concept, the term, the devil, is not a religious notion.

7:09 It is not some kind of an antiquated bit of religious rubbish, rubbish held over from a day that now men have outgrown. He was a real, personal, intelligent, spiritual being. Remember, our Lord Jesus, immediately after his baptism, was driven by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness, we are told to be tempted of the devil. And when we read in Matthew chapter 4 and in Luke chapter 4 of the temptations of our Lord Jesus, we see our Lord Jesus interacting not with some vague, abstract notion of evil personified in some thing called the devil, but a real, personal, intelligent, spiritual being who seeks to seduce us and to seduce us and to seduce our Lord Jesus to sin and to violate the will of his Father. For our Lord Jesus, the devil is indeed real, personal, intelligent, spiritual being. And furthermore, in our Lord's ministry, he was constantly encountering the devil's own lackeys and servants called demons. And wherever the Lord Jesus ministered, demonic power was stirred up and manifested itself.

8:38 And we are told in the gospel records that Jesus not only healed many of their diseases, but cast out demons. These lackeys, these servants of the devil who accomplish his will and purpose. That's the first truth established by our text. Secondly, our Lord establishes in these words the essential character of the devil as that of a murderer and a liar.

9:09 Look at the language of the text. 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. Two things our Lord says about the devil.

9:28 When I'm preaching on this text to children, as I did last Lord's Day, morning down in Miami, Florida, I said in the gathering of the whole church that anyone over 14 could not answer the questions. I wanted all those 14 and under to expound this verse. And when I asked the children what are the two things that Jesus says about the devil, little six and seven year olds saw it immediately. One cannot miss it.

9:54 He was a murderer. He is a liar. Those are descriptions of his existence. Essential character.

10:04 He is a murderer from the beginning. He is a liar and the father of it. That is the father of the lie. Now let's pause for just a moment and define what is a murderer and what is a liar.

10:21 When Jesus said he was a murderer, what was Jesus saying? What constitutes anyone a murderer? If you say the taking of another life, that's not a murderer. That's not precise enough.

10:35 And when I want to gross out the kids, I go into an extended illustration of what would happen if a big fat cockroach came up the stairs and across the platform, reared back on its hind legs and began to insult me. And I would have bring my size 12 right down on that cockroach's back and you'd hear the cracking crunch and the squish and the kids usually go, yeah, and whisper, that's gross. But no matter how gross it is, no one would have the right to rise up and point a finger at me and say, you murderer, you took another life. Well, it is true.

11:10 I would have taken another life if I squashed little Charlie Cockroach. But I wouldn't be a murderer. Some of you here are hunters. You see a nice eight-point buck in your crosshairs through your scope and you pull the trigger on your 30-06 and that deer drops.

11:29 No one can come and put you in cuffs and haul you away as a murderer. You've taken another life. A life more complex and more fascinating and in some ways more dignified and noble than the life of a filthy little cockroach. But you've taken another life yet you're not a murderer.

11:47 We read in the scripture tonight that David was blessed of God in military conquest and he slew many. He slew the giant. Yet God did not charge him with murder. Why?

12:00 You see, to be a murderer is essentially to take another life. To take another human life without divine warrant. That's what constitutes someone a murderer. When the civil governor takes another life in obedience to God as we learned in the adult class this morning the civil governor is not to be charged with murder.

12:23 When a soldier takes another life in a just war he is not charged with murder. When someone defends himself from another life who would brutally and wantonly take his life he is not charged with murder. To be a murderer is to take another human life without divine warrant. And that's what the devil is.

12:49 He is in his very essence a murderer. Jesus said a murderer from the beginning. He was a murderer in his first appearance upon earth as we shall see. He was a murderer then.

13:05 He was a murderer now whose intent is nothing less than to destroy your life and mine. As we saw a few weeks ago in our study of 1 Peter your adversary speaking to believers your adversary the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may literally gulp down as a ravenous beast is not content to go out and play with another creature the devil is in his very essence and being a murderer one who seeks to destroy human life. And then Jesus said he is a liar. What is a liar?

13:48 A liar is one who willfully distorts or denies the truth. That's a liar. One who willfully distorts or denies the truth. And to be an effective liar you've got to spawn your lies so that they have a semblance of the truth.

14:09 Then were I speaking to children I'd use this illustration. If you children should ask me how old are you Pastor Martin? And I'm determined to lie to you and to really get you to believe my lie would I be stupid enough to say well I just had my 21st birthday? Yeah, you'd do exactly that.

14:29 You'd smile and hold back your laughter and say who are you trying to kid? You're going to lie about your age you've got to do a better job than to say you just had your 21st birthday. But for those who don't know if I were to say well I'm 59 64 67 should I take a vote? I did that with the kids last week and it was just about even except the 67 I only had 2 or 3 takers.

14:58 I said but every one of those would be a lie. I'm neither 59, 64, 67. If I don't know what I really am that's my wife. 66.

15:12 But you see the devil in his murderous intent is a very effective liar. He has learned how to present his lies that have a semblance of reality or else men would run in horror from him and from his murder weapon. There is a real personal intelligent spiritual being called the devil. Secondly, the essential character of the devil is that of a murderer and a liar.

15:43 And then thirdly, note from our text the devil has always been in the business of murdering with his lies from the beginning. He was a murderer from the beginning and stands not in the truth because there is no truth in him. And when we ask what is his murder weapon Jesus tells us the dagger in his hand that drips with the blood of human souls is the lie. And it's been that way from the beginning. He was a murderer from the beginning. He speaks a lie. He speaks of his own for he is a liar. So for at least six thousand years he's been in the business of murdering men, women, boys and girls and his murder weapon his dagger by which he destroys is the lie.

The Devil's First Murderous Lie: Doubting God's Word

16:47 And if God has in his word revealed his lies and set them in contrast to his truth then it is a matter of spiritual eternal life and death to take the words of Jesus seriously. Every one of you sitting here lives by what you believe to be the truth. Each of us lives by what he believes to be the truth. And we either live our lives believing the devil's lies or our lives are framed by believing the words of truth. See what Jesus says in this very chapter in verse 31. The Jews therefore said, Jesus said to the Jews that believed him, if you abide in my word then are you truly my disciples and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. He says if you live by that truth that I am and that I speak, you will know liberty and freedom. You live by the lies of the devil, you will know nothing but bondage and death.

18:08 And it's not very flattering when the word of God tells us in passages such as Ephesians chapter 2 that all of us by nature framed our lives by the lies of the devil. Look at Ephesians 2, 1 to 3. You did he make alive when you were dead through trespasses and sins wherein you once walked. Here are walking dead men and women, boys and girls. You were dead through your trespasses and sins wherein you once walked. And what framed our walk? Our patterns of life. Look at the text. You walked according to the course of this world. What lies behind the patterns of life established by the world? According to the print of the powers of the air, of the spirit that now is working in the sons of disobedience. Paul says that by nature we live by the lies of the prince of the powers of the air, the devil himself.

19:17 So that when anyone is truly converted by God's grace, that conversion involves among other things being delivered from this power of the devil by which he holds his subjects captive. So when the Lord Jesus commissions his servant Paul as recorded in Acts 26, 18, the Lord Jesus says to Paul, here is your ministry and this is what I will do. I will deliver you from the people and the Gentiles unto whom I send you to open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God. The Lord Jesus says, Paul, my servant, as I send you forth to minister to the people, that is the Jews and to the Gentiles, wherever you go, into whatever circumstances you come in ministering the word, assume that your hearers are held in the power of the devil himself. And that if they are truly converted by my spirit working by and with my word of the gospel, their eyes will be opened and they will be delivered from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sin and an inheritance among them

20:45 that are sanctified by faith in me. It is not a very humbling thing to face what God says you and I are by nature, held in the power of the devil. And how does he hold his subjects by the influence of his lies? And once the eyes are opened to see his murderous lies, we turn to Christ, to his truth. We are delivered from the damning, destructive power of the devil's lies and come into the gracious, liberating, sanctifying power of Jesus' words of truth. And it's a sobering thing to stand here tonight and to know that in a very real sense, not in some flourish of rhetorical exaggeration, I stand here to beard that foul fiend of hell in the name of my Savior, that some of you might be taken out of his clutches. And he knows that. He's not omniscient, but he knows when he's fronted. And if you

21:55 find your mind being distracted, you find your spirit rising up to think of other things, remember, there's some one seeking to hold you in his power by his lies. Cry to God that Jesus' word of truth will expose you. Open your eyes and deliver you from his power. We're going to look at four or five, as time permits, of those major lies by which the devil does his murderous work.

22:26 And we take our clue from the words of Jesus. Jesus said he was a murderer from the beginning. What beginning? Not the beginning of creation.

22:37 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1-1. John 1-1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that hath been made. But he's a murderer from the beginning. That is the beginning of his first appearance. And we want to turn and see him. As he comes to our first mother, Eve, with his murder weapon very artfully concealed, but nonetheless present as he seeks to murder Eve and Adam. What is his first lie to our first parents? Genesis 3 in verse 1. Now

23:31 the serpent was more subtle, more clever, than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. This is not speaking of some subtlety that the devil had injected, but notice of any beast that the Lord had made. God looked upon all that he made and it was good. And here was a creature in some form that was inherently more wise, more subtle than any other creature that God had made. But God had not made any other creature but man as a talking creature. So when we find this creature of God talking immediately, there's an abnormality. And he appears. Follow the narrative. This serpent

24:21 who was more subtle, more clever than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, and he said unto the woman, Yea, indeed, has God said you shall not eat of any or all of the trees of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, The fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God has said you shall not eat of it. What is the devil's first lie? It's so subtle. It doesn't come as a blatant, outright lie, but it is a lie nonetheless. And you know what it is? Here it is. God's word may not be clear or true.

25:10 That's his lie. His lie is the affirmation, the insinuation of a doubt. God's word, Eve, may not be as clear or as trustworthy as you think it is. The first time the devil is introduced, he's a talking devil. And he said, Indeed, has God said you shall not eat of all the trees of the garden? Eve, are you really certain that what God said was as clear as you presently perceive it is? Or as true and trustworthy as right now you believe it to be? Seeking to shake the foundations of Eve's conviction concerning the clarity and the unquestioned truthfulness of God's word. Is his word,

26:11 Eve, really clear? Is his word really true? And at this point the murderer is poised to strike. How should Eve have responded if indeed she should have been separated from her husband in the first place and engaging this strange talking serpent there in the garden?

26:36 Eve should have responded by saying, I don't know who you are. And I don't know what you are doing talking to me. But in answer to your question, yes, God's word is clear. God's word is true.

26:54 End of discussion. But the murder weapon has in a sense been poised and now is brought to the surface of her heart, ready to be plunged into its very center. Last Lord's Day morning early as I was meditating upon this matter and thinking of how Eve should have engaged in a little holy poetry, doggerel if you will, when the devil said, has God said? Is his word really as clear as you think it is or as true as you believe it to be?

27:34 Eve should have responded, talking serpent whoever you are, God's word is clear. God's word is true. Get lost, talking serpent. I'm finished with you. That's what she should have done. God's word is clear. God's word is true. Get lost, talking serpent. I'm finished with you. That's exactly the way you must respond if you have any value for your never dying being. I didn't say never dying soul. You have human existence body soul. And the devil's out to murder the whole of you. Body and soul with him in hell. When he comes saying, look you've been rearing a Christian home. You sit under this preaching that assumes all the time that what God says is clear and what God says is true.

28:35 You are indeed stamped with immortality. You will live somewhere in body soul existence forever. God is the creator and the law giver and the judge. It is clear.

28:49 Christ is the only way to life and salvation except you repent. You shall perish. He that believes not shall be damned on the great issues of who am I? Why am I here?

29:06 Why do I do what I do? And you are told from a Bible that is true and clear. You do what you do because you are what you are. That is a sinner as we read in Psalm 51. Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it? For from within Jesus said out of the heart proceed. And he lists every form of sin. What happens to me when I die? Where will the world eventually end up? All of the great issues answered by the scriptures truthfully and with clarity. The devil's murder weapon is to come and raise a great question mark. Indeed

30:00 has God really said it? My dear listener young or old if you do not see in that gray question mark painted over any statement of God's word the knife dripping with the blood of human souls, may God have mercy upon you. He is a murderer and his murder weapon is the lie and his ancient lie is God's word. May not be as clear as you thought it was or as true and as trustworthy as you believed it to be. The truth is hear the words of Jesus. Though heaven and earth pass away my word shall never pass away. The words that I speak unto you are spirit and are life.

31:04 Jesus speaking through the psalmist your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. Jesus own words in John 17 17 sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. For the psalmist the sum of your word is truth. Put all of God's words from Genesis to Revelation in a column. Draw the line and say what is their sum? One word truth.

31:38 Not truth plus men's ideas. Truth plus men's conjectures. Truth plus ancient religious prejudices and ignorance. No!

31:49 The sum of your word is truth. Whenever that gray question mark is raised see the blood dripped dagger aimed at your heart. He is a murderer and a liar and he's been such from the beginning. Then there is the second lie that he tells our first mother.

The Devil's Second Murderous Lie: God's Will is Mean and Restrictive

32:15 Look at the passage again. Verses 3 and 4. Eve responds of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat but of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden God has said you shall not eat of it neither shall you touch it lest you die. Now the commentators make a great to do about the fact that those words neither shall you touch it are not found in the original prohibition given to Adam as recorded in chapter 2 and verse 17.

32:48 What is recorded by Moses of God's word directly to Adam verse 16 and 17 the Lord God commanded the man 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 that you eat thereof you shall surely die. Now Eve says well this is what God said you shall not touch it as well as eat of it. Was she adding to God's word? I don't know.

33:18 She obviously received this prohibition through the mediation of Adam her head. This was spoken directly and immediately to Adam and as the head and guide and protector and spiritual instructor of his wife Eve he may have said as an implication if God says don't eat of it Eve God's telling us don't touch it you don't touch it you ain't going to eat of it unless you tie your hands behind your back like ducking for apples in a barrel. If you don't take it you won't eat it. So perhaps she extrapolated from the clear word of God given to Adam perhaps Adam by way of just and necessary deduction I don't know but this much is clear when she states the essence of God's prohibition notice how the serpent the devil responds and the serpent said unto the woman verse 4 you shall not surely die for God knows that in the day you eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened you shall be as God knowing good and evil what is the lie here well I want to show that the lie is just this the devil proposes to Eve God's presented himself as your great benefactor he has conned you into Eve into thinking all that he's given you

34:47 all that he has said is nothing but the overflow of his goodness and his love and his kindness but I've got the inside track God's really mean and his will is unreasonable and restrictive God is mean his will is really mean his will is unreasonable and restrictive you see Eve God has said to you to eat is to destroy yourself is that what Adam says God says you shall not eat of it nor touch it we'll leave that suspended lest you die God's told you to eat of it is to destroy yourself but Eve I've got the inside track to eat is to fulfill yourself that's what he says you want real fulfillment God's put you on this lower scale of being and he's conned you into thinking that's for your good and he said be content to keep in your lower scale of being oh yes you are made in image of God and in image of God you must remain joyfully voluntarily under the preceptive will of God but that's not for your good because God's got a narrow heart and a mean spirit and his will is unreasonable and restrictive Eve

36:17 fulfill yourself become as God something to know which God knows that you don't know and which I know that if you know it will be true self actualization sound contemporary you'll have a new level of self esteem Eve you look in the mirror now and what do you see image of God I want to fix you up so when you look in the mirror you'll see God himself I mean there's a whole new scale of self actualization of self fulfillment Eve don't believe God he is mean his will is unreasonable and restrictive how can it be reasonable that the tree should be there and it should look so good and apparently would taste so if God were all he's made himself out to be why forbid that tree of all trees subsequent verses say if it was some kind of shriveled gnarled rotten looking thing there'd be no temptation it had the appearance of something that would indeed be good why did God say of all the trees you may free me but not that one if he's a good God as he made himself out to be and if he's a good God and his heart is

37:46 not narrow why would he restrict us that tree which has such nice looking fruit and according to this talking serpent I'll come to a new level of experienced fulfillment in a new level of being I'll be as God no longer just image of God but as God now at this point what should Eve have said she should have turned to the serpent if she carried any dialogue at all and said look talking serpent the God that made me and placed me in this perfect environment gave me a perfect husband and has surrounded me in the midst of perfect delight in himself he has proven in every way the largeness of his heart and the goodness and beneficence of his own disposition toward me all that I see is the goodness of God I am buried under his she should have again engaged in little poetic license and said to the serpent God's will is good his ways are right go hence lying serpent get out of my sight but she didn't do that she didn't do that she believed

39:15 the lie and now the dagger was no longer in its point at her heart it's plunged into and that's precisely the way the devil murders souls some of you sitting in this very place and the law of God speaks and says here's the way of blessedness Psalm 1 blessed blessed perfectly happy fulfilled contented fullness of life and all that that means oh the blessedness of the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly doesn't frame his life by what the ungodly say it's fulfillment and life with a capital L he walks not in the counsel of the ungodly nor stands in the way of sinners nor sits in the seat of scoffers but his delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law that he meditate day and night he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bring forth his fruit and his seeds and whatsoever he does shall prosper God says the way of obedience to his law is the way of blessedness you know what the devil says God's pulling a con job on you God's law with its thou shalt and thou shalt not is the reflection of a mean God whose will is unreasonable and restrictive why should God

40:44 give you eyes that can see things and a temperament that can enjoy things and then say you shall not be content with what I've given you that's restrictive why should he give you sexual powers and appetites and capacities for enjoyment at so many of your nerve endings and then say you've got to keep that wall shut up like a walled garden and wait until your wedding night and from there on in with the wife of your youth alone you shall not commit adultery and all adulterers shall be cast into hell you want any greater proof that God's mean look at that and hear the echoes of Eden why would the fruit look so good if God's good why does he say that fruit's a no-no why should you begin to sense and feel your sexual awareness and drives and capacities and not be able to just let them rip if God's good and God is kind if God's will is beneficent that's why some of you indulge in personal private sexual auto erotic perversion you don't believe God's word you believe the devil's lie that's why some of you indulge in fantasies known only to you and God

42:13 that Jesus knows them and he says the willful thought of the mind is the violation of the law because you really believe the devil's lie that to remain chaste in body in secret in mind is restrictive it's unreasonable keep a whole day and seven unto God Sunday's got to be at least half fun day and he has so propagated that lie that half of evangelical Christendom now is like Roman Catholics you can go to church on Saturday night so all of Sunday can be fun day you've got eight o'clock services in the morning so people can have the day for fun day Sunday night services dropping like flies across our country why the devil's lie what could be more burdensome than a whole day unto God oh but I'm going to heaven when I die and I'm going to enjoy God forever but one day is too much here on earth and a bunch of nonsense the devil's lie you go right through all the commandments and the devil says of every one of them they're a reflection of a mean tight-fisted unreasonable God if you believe that lie and go on

43:40 wantonly and deliberately in the violation of God's law you're a living proof that he's a liar and a murderer from the beginning third lie of the devil and here he gets very bold with Eve and says in now a flat out contradiction of God in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 4 and the serpent said unto the woman you shall not surely die and she had it straight when she said in the day that we eat dying we shall die that's what God said sin Adam and Eve and you'll pay the consequences sin will be your voluntary choice the consequences will be the inevitable result in the day you eat you shall die the devil comes and says you shall not surely die you can sin and get away with it that's his lie you believe for a moment that if Eve really believed at this point God's word that to eat of that fruit would be to go into something horrific called death

The Devil's Third Murderous Lie: You Can Sin and Get Away With It

45:09 to be separated from the God whose presence and communion was her highest delight to have her husband changed from a perfectly loving sensitive caring compassionate husband into a insensitive cruel accusing man the woman you gave me God who in God would you give me this creature for that's death to the soul cut off from God and reflecting the image of God in human relationships cut off from the very life of the soul communion with God and then physical death and then eternal death Eve had to block off from her mind with the devil's lie the pressure of God's truth in the day you eat you'll die the devil's lie penetrated her ear and her soul you shall not surely die the only reason she was willing to take the risk that there might be something in that fruit to bring her to greater self fulfillment she believed the devil's lie you can deliberately sin and get away with it and that's exactly exactly what he's saying to some of you sitting here tonight the truth is she and Adam did die the most tragic description of

46:37 that immediate spiritual death is found in this very passage verse 7 the eyes of them both were opened they knew that they were naked they sowed fig leaves to gather and made themselves aprons now listen to this one of the saddest verses in all of the bible and they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day apparently God came to them in what the bible scholars call a theophany a physical manifestation of his presence and in the cool of the day when the day's labors would ordinarily be done and God comes to hold peculiar communion with those made to know him to find delight in him whereas Adam and Eve's pulse would have increased and their breath become short with holy anxiety when they heard whatever rustling there was that indicated the approach of God in this visible manifestation their hearts would leap to meet him long before their feet could run to greet him and now what do they do look at this sad sad record and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden

48:03 does it make you want to weep hiding running from this God whose goodness whose love whose kindness is funneled in concentrated waves into their very being into their inviting firemen into their relationship Adam doesn't even know what's lacking and God says it's not good for the man to be alone he looks at all the animals he analyzes their structure and function in God's world and he gives a name appropriate to the animal but the scripture says there was not found in any of those beasts a helper answering to his need he couldn't put his arms around the horse after he named it and say isn't God good to make you a horse all the horse could do is look at him and whinny and when he stooped down to stroke a little cat if there were such a thing in the garden and it purred and rubbed against his leg Adam might say that feels nice but I can't snuggle up to you at night when I go to bed he didn't know what was lacking God did the only thing that wasn't good was the man alone and God said I I will make a helper answering to his need and he puts Adam to sleep takes a rib forms the woman

49:31 brings her to the man and he looks upon her and he says this is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh she's not me but she's like me she's from me and she's brought to me and he speaks and her eyes light up and she responds with words and Adam says ah now I know what was lacking God's brought me and in the embrace of Adam he finds her true identity as he taken from man

50:08 and the two were made one and God performs the wedding ceremony if you have any ounce of romanticism you read Milton's Paradise Lost in the section on their wedding night in Eden if that doesn't thrill you you are a hopeless unromantic dud well enough for promoting Milton now the devil comes and says you shall not surely die there's something new to be had she believes the devil's lie and that God who had showered his goodness upon them who had manifested it they run from him that's enough to make angels weep they run from him why because they now know that they've stained and defiled their souls and in a way I cannot explain nor fully fathom it is somehow sacramentally and physically covered in their nakedness which before was their shameless delight if you have any problem with biblical holy eroticism read the creation account it closes in chapter 2 with the man in his white boat naked and unashamed in the embrace of each other and in the larger embrace of their God

51:34 and now they're ashamed before one another and they've run from their God that's why some of you are living, walking, dead men and women boys and girls because you have an aversion to God a carnal mind is enmity against God it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can it be Romans 8.7, Romans 3.10 none righteous, no not one there's none that understandeth there's none that seeks after God think of it none who seeks after God made for God made with a capacity to know Him delight in Him to give Him pleasure that's the devil's lie he believed that you can deliberately sin and get away with it God said if you sin you'll suffer the consequences you shall die and they died spiritually eventually they died literally and physically read Genesis chapter 5 what a sad chapter so and so lived hundreds of years and he died and so and so lived and he died and every time you read the words and he died see the unwritten parenthesis the devil is a liar the devil is a liar

53:02 every tombstone is an eloquent voice saying devil you're a liar devil you're a liar the truth is what God said to Adam and Eve in Eden God says in Ezekiel 18 for the soul that sinneth it shall die God says in Proverbs 28 13 he that covers his sin shall not prosper in the book of Deuteronomy God says be sure your sin will find you out Romans 6 23 the wages of sin is death you cannot deliberately sin and get away with it for the soul that sinneth it shall die be sure your sin will find you out the wages of sin is death he that covers his sin shall not prosper that's God's word God is serious and all the devil's lies cannot neutralize the truth of God and some of you sit here at the devil's feet a monument to the conquest of his lie mom and dad don't know my sin I've conned mom

54:30 I've conned dad I've conned my teacher nobody sees nobody knows you may effectively cover it from the sight of every man woman boy or girl but a day is coming Paul says in Romans 2 16 in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men according to my gospel the devil's lie the devil's lie then there's another lie that the devil seeks to use as a murder weapon not only God's word may not be clear or true God's mean in his will is unreasonable and restricted you can deliberately sin and get away with it and here's where I'm delighted to expose his wicked damning killing lie you've sinned too much and too long for God to forgive you and loose you from the power of sin in the devil you've sinned too much and too long for God to forgive you and to loose you from the power of sin in the devil you see the devil is utterly unscrupulous liars are unscrupulous the devil comes and says look the sin is a little thing

The Devil's Fourth Murderous Lie: You've Sinned Too Much for Forgiveness

55:57 go ahead and sin God will forgive you then after you sin what does the devil do when you know your sin is known and you begin to take it seriously and you begin to seek the Lord the same devil who said oh just sin God will forgive you easy thing Christ died sin's all ready payment's made you just go to Christ he'll forgive you so you believe his lie and you sin and then you come into blessed be God and awareness and it caused the life blood of the son of God to be poured out upon the cross you begin to take all that gospel reality seriously that though God has a controversy with you he so loved the world that he gave his only begotten that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life and God presents himself as a God with outstretched hands saying in Christ come to me him that comes to me I'll in no wise cast out you know what the devil says you've sinned too much and too long there's no mercy for you the same devil that said ha there's mercy sinned you've sinned now he comes and says there's no mercy he'll do anything to take you away from God and Christ and then he'll do anything to keep you from going back to God through Christ you got that he'll do anything to get you to go away from God and Christ and when God through his spirit

57:25 and the word and the enlivening will disturb you then the devil comes and says you can't go to God through Christ you've sinned too much you've sinned too long and there are few things more grievous than the person locked in a prison of unbelieving despair who knows he or she is a sinner conscious of the chains every motion they make they hear their chains clanging in their own ears and the devil says you're hopeless but what does Christ who is the truth say well right in this 8th chapter of John he says whoever commits sin is the slave of sin but whom the Son sets free is free indeed and one of my most favorite verses in the Bible in Matthew chapter 12 a passage that disturbs people unnecessarily about the unpardonable sin contains one of those marvelous gospel promises in all of the Bible Matthew chapter 12 in verse 31 therefore Jesus speaking I say unto you every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men now what have you done that doesn't fit there ah but you say I've been an inveterate pathological liar

58:52 I've lied to my mom to my dad to anything that walks and breathes and has ears every sin yes but I've been a slave of the past I'm ashamed of all the thoughts that go like evil ghosts through my mind and all the pictures embedded on the walls of my mind and my soul every sin shall be forgiven I've denied nature I've done that which is against nature as a woman I've given myself to sinful passions to be satisfied with another woman as a man I've done that and given myself to elicit romantic attachments and physical involvement without a man how can I be forgiven every sin every sin my dear friend every sin shall be forgiven but you say I've blasphemed not openly but in my heart Pastor Martin I've sat there when you've been preaching and I've said in my spirit blasphemous words in my heart I've damned your God and your Christ I've blasphemed in my heart listen to Jesus words every sin and every blasphemy shall be forgiven every sin

60:21 every blasphemy don't believe the devil's lie there's only one blasphemy that is unforgivable that's blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and that's not saying God damn the Holy Spirit that is not what that is you read in the context that was a settled determination on the part of these Jewish leaders who could not deny that Jesus was doing mighty works and he says I do them by the finger of God and they said no you're in cahoots with the devil and they didn't say it as a passing thought they said it as the settled disposition of their hearts that is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit as a steady state disposition of determination to say Jesus Christ is in cahoots with the devil that's not the disposition of your heart you're not in that category you're in this category every sin and every blasphemy the every carries over to the compound subject every sin and every blasphemy shall be forgiven oh but Pastor Martin you don't know I don't care to know what you've done Jesus who said every sin and every blasphemy he knew it and he covers it with this word the devil's a liar you see the last thing he wants

61:50 is to have you with all of those sins and all of those blasphemies sitting here praising the God of grace and saying amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now am found was blind but now I see the devil hates the God of grace he hated him in the garden of Eden he hates him now and he'll hate him when he's burning in hell with all who've believed his murderous lies and refuse to repent of them and embrace Jesus and his word of truth he's a liar you have not sinned so much that your sin goes beyond the power of his blood to cleanse the liberating strength of his grace think of that gathering so invaded and possessed by the devil when you read those words and take them at face value no one could find a chain thick enough and big enough and enough of them to bind it this man would make the incredible Hulk look like a 98 pound weakling he broke not paper mache chains for the camera

63:17 but real chains powers of darkness and soul possessed him what is your name? there were enough of them to possess at least 2,000 pigs and they said he sat clothed and in his right mind and he said Jesus I want to go with you he said no you go back you tell them what great things he's done for you my friend don't believe the devil's lie and keep it a distance from Christ you've already believed enough of the devil's lie you believe the devil's lie that maybe God's word was not true and clear and you believe this lie that he was mean and his will unreasonable and restricted you believe this lie that you could deliberately sin and get away with it don't believe his lie that you sin too much or too greatly and put yourself beyond the grace and power of Jesus as the devil's lie to keep you from going to God through Christ when he managed to estrange our first parents from God his great determination was now I'll keep them I want us to turn there in closing I want you to turn to the latter part of Genesis 3 man had aligned himself with the devil

God's Sovereign Grace: Breaking the Devil's Power and Lies

64:42 he was in league with his lies spiritually dead and look what God does he comes seeking the man and the woman he deals with them not only in judgment but in mercy and look at verse 15 of chapter 3 he says I will put enmity I will put warfare between you that is the serpent and the woman and between your seed and her seed what had happened there was now amity between the woman and the serpent she aligned herself with the devil she believed his lies she was now his child the lust of her father it was her will to do God could have taken his hands off and said alright Eve and Adam you made your choice to live with it I'll go to another universe I'll create another pair and I'll populate another world in pristine righteousness no God didn't do it God says I'll break up the alignments you and the devil have made you talk about sovereign grace I God says will put enmity there is now amity friendship between the woman and the man and the devil and God says I'm going to bust up this friendship I'm going to put enmity between you and the woman between her seed and your seed and I'm going to be the conqueror in the enmity that I inject

66:09 into the human race the seed of the woman is going to crush your head serpent now in the process you're going to be able to crush his heel he'll crush your head that's the first gospel promise and that promise has been and is being and shall continue to be fulfilled until all the seed of the seed of the woman are gathered out of everything every kindred tribe and tongue and nation and are gathered before the throne in the new heavens and the new earth and sing worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive glory and power and riches and wisdom and might and every created thing John says I heard in heaven on earth and under the earth saying blessing and glory and honor and power and the devil that deceived them John says was cast into the lake of fire and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire for there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever and they have no rest day nor night those are the words of God

Pastoral Exhortation: Resist the Devil's Lies and Embrace Christ's Truth

67:37 we come back to John 8 44 he was a murderer from the beginning he was a liar and he abhorred not the truth these four murderous lies of the devil have you been believing them may God grant that this night you will turn away from the devil and his lies and embrace him who is the truth and all of the truth that radiates from his person and his lips and supremely in his gospel dear children dear children the devil means business with you and the only way to escape him is to do business with Christ dear young adult on the threshold of your prime years if the Lord spares you Jesus said the thief referring to the devil comes not but for to steal to kill and to destroy and the devil holds out before you know the way of God's will and God's word is restrictive and narrow and you've got to fulfill yourself in my way it's a lie my friends in high school God by grace captured me said poor Al my nickname then was Ab for some reason they called me Abbot I don't know short for Ab look at all the fun you're missing

69:05 we're going to do this we're going to do that and here you are reading your bible passing out tracts preaching on the street corner you won't do this you won't do that I wish I could gather them all together and sit them down here tonight and look them straight in the eye and say Uncle Sam's throwing my social security checks at me I'm joining over the hill gang look back over almost 50 years I can say that my master's yoke has been easy and his burden has been light his commitments have not been brief he has been kind to me can you say that of your master you see their sunken eyeballs and the haunting look of disappointed dreams and shattered marriages and wrecked lives the devil has been cruel to them Christ has been gracious to them he's a gracious Savior that English teacher that shook her head when I told her that I felt God's hand was on me to preach the gospel I can still see her standing there with her tailored suit shaking her head Albert what a waste I'm sure she's dead now

70:30 I wish I could bring her back from where she is if she didn't repent and say it's been no waste it's been no waste dear children I plead with you tonight don't believe the devil's lie he's out to kill you to destroy you I plead with you I plead with you if I never plead again may my words ring in the chambers of your heart and Jesus said I'm come that you might have life and have it more abundantly and you who are God's children who may have fallen by a temporary lapse of spiritual sanity in believing some lie of the devil that's what David did he looked at Bathsheba's flesh and he said there's something God's holding back from me to be found in Bathsheba's flesh and what did it bring him it brought him hands dripping with blood he murdered her husband it brought him his family becoming a wreckage it brought him to go to his grave cut off at the knees he'd lost the conscience of all who knew him he went to his grave a battered

71:59 broken forgiven cleansed yes but a battered and broken man because he believed the devil's lie child of God enmeshed in some wretched sin don't go out of here tonight clinging to the lie there's something to be had in that sin that is not to be found in Christ and in a life of holiness and purity come clean come clean few things more grievous for a pastor to try to help someone get extricated from sin that'll ruin their testimony and grieve the spirit and to have them play cat and mouse with you and fight you like you're their enemy or not your enemies we want to see you go to heaven with all the bells ringing we don't want to see you go like David crippled and cut off at the knees you get there yes we want to see you go like others who are scattered throughout the pages of the bible walking with uprightness and integrity let's pray our father how we thank you for your word we thank you for our Lord Jesus

73:26 we thank you that he speaks only words of truth and how we beg of you Lord were our desires the measure of your working none would leave this place enmeshed in the devil's lies but father we acknowledge our desires cannot open blinded eyes and quicken the dead but you can and we beg of you that you will oh Lord we have not preached simply to know the joy of speaking your words we long to see fruit from our labors this night surely Lord it would not please you that tonight's ministry would only result in further hardness of heart and increase damnation in the everlasting burnings oh God make your truth the savor of life unto life we pray that it will act as an immunizing power in our spiritual lives that when is your children the devil would whisper his lies we may face him with truth and by your grace resist him steadfast in the faith seal then your word we plead for the glory and for the honor of your name and the good of our souls amen