Sunday Sermon Title: Subtle Lies

Speaker: Pastor Samuel Sam

Date: 8 December 13

Church: Lighthouse Evangelism 

Introduction

Confession of  faith in Christ brings newness of life. Our lives then become a living sacrifice desiring to walk in the Will of God. However  we soon realise our walk is no smooth sailing as we are surrounded by the world filled with lies, deceptions and counterfeits. The source of these are from Satan, the father of all lies.  He operates in three basic areas in his deceptive scheme. They are:  a. Lust of the flesh  b. Lust of the eye  c. Pride of life.  Two parallel passages revealed this scheme: 1 John 2:16 and Genesis 3:1-5

1. In Genesis 3:1-5, we see two conditions for Satan's strategy to work.
a. Eve was near to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

Reflection: Christians often choose  to walk near the edge of the cliff thinking that they are strong enough not to fall, instead of “miles” away from the source of tempation
b. Eve was alone.

Reflection: Christians who are detached from God’s people and church’s involvement tend to be easy target for the Devil and easily fall into his scheme.

2. When examining the response of Eve, one can see the beginning of doubt working in her mind.  This makes her mind vulnerable to Satan’s subtle lie.  In Genesis 3, we see the first mention of Satan’s scheme of deception basically in these three areas, namely, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life.

3. In Matthew 4:1-11, Satan repeated his deceitful tactics in tempting Jesus. However Jesus defeats him with the Word of God.

a. Tempted by the lust of flesh, Jesus responds by saying that one shall not eat by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
b. Tempted by pride of life, Jesus responds by saying that no one should put God to the test.

c. Tempted by lust of the eye, Jesus responds by saying that one should worship God only.

d. Important principle: Just as Jesus rebukes Satan for all his deceptive tactics, Christians should boldly expose and rebuke every scheme of the Devil.

4. Subtle lies of Satan in three categories.
A. Concerning God - God's Word is not final.

1) Satan deceives man by making them believe that the Gospel of man’s redemption are found in philosophy, sciences, religions and man's experiences.

2) Question like “Did God say?” often causes doubt in the mind of Christians.  It clearly states  in 2 Timothy 3:16 that “All Scripture is God-breathed” and in 2 Peter 1:21, it affirms that “prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

3). In Psalm 19:13, David says, “Keep your servant also from willful sins”. This indicates that Christians are capable of testing God through willful sinful act.

Reflection: Every Christian should never presume that since God is merciful, He would easily forgive our willful sins.  We should learn from King David whose willful sin of adultery, and subsequent sin of murder had terrible consequences.

B. Concerning Sins - Show the bait but hide the line and hook
1) Sadly many Christians fall into this deception rather easily.  Though there are pleasure in sins, they would make you pay more than you would ever think of.  Oftentimes, the consequences are more  than one could bear.  God's love is always not in the equation when Christians deliberately choose to sin.

2) One common weakness of Christians is the tendency to minimize or rationalise sin.  One unconfessed sin would quickly lead to another and before long, like David, the sin of adultery led him to commit the sin of murder!

3) Christians are also prone to compare their sins with others, even quoting the sins of biblical characters like Noah’s drunkenness or Peter’s  denial of Jesus.  They fail to see the biblical lesson God wants us to learn from the sins of these men, for example, the need for  true repentance  - keeping short account with God.

Reflection: The great American Evangelist once said, “Either sin will keep you from the Bible or the Bible will keep you away from sin”.

C. Concerning self
1) Every Christian needs to understand that true repentance is a change of mind leading to a direction towards God as mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:25-26.

2) Once a Christian holds to this false assumption that he can handle a particular  temptation, he is deceiving himself by falling into the trap of the evil one. We shall always remain victorious if we take seriously the clear instructions of God’s Word in these three passages:

(a) Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned? (Proverb 6:27)

(b) So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall (! Corinthians 10:12)

(c) Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those call on the Lord out of a pure heart (2 Tim 2:22)

3) Satan likes to whispers this into our ears “You cannot accomplish anything significant for Christ!’.  Our immediate response is to use the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. These two passages affirm every Christian that he is gifted in God’s sight!

(a) Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. (1 Corinthian 12:7)

(b) For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith (Romans 12:4-6)

Conclusion

1. Let’s humble ourselves and obey God, if you are easily given to the pride of life.  The Lord exalts those who humble themselves before Him.

2. Look to God and surrender to Him wholeheartedly, if you have been struggled with the lust of the eye.  God understands your weakness and He wants to set you free so that you can truly live an abundant life with Christ.

3. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Renounce all fleshly desires that easily entangle you to live an effective Christian life.

4. No longer let any Satan's lie make you live a defeated life. God is calling us to walk with a pure heart and simple faith in Him.