Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. In school, you may have read the famous epic poem called The Iliad. In it, Homer tells of a brilliant ploy the Greeks used to break into the enemy city of Troy.
The Greeks sent a gift to the Trojans, a massive wooden horse. But the gift was the downfall of the Trojans for inside the horse, the Greek soldiers were hiding. See, the Trojans opened themselves up to the enemy, falling for this great deception.
But our enemy uses similar tactics, doesn't he? We're not usually tempted to believe lies that are blatantly false. Satan often wraps his lies in a cloak of truth. Peter addresses this very concern in 2 Peter 2, 1-3. He warns his readers that false teachers will secretly introduce false teachings among them. Distortions of God's revealed truth often water down his word or deny key truths within it. Today, Pastor Rich lays out the damage such distortions bring to the one who believes them. And he shares with us how to recognize and counter the subtle lies that come our way. Let's listen to this message titled The Impact of Lies. This is part four of a message first preached on August 27, 2023 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.
If you'd like to hear the whole sermon and other messages, you can visit www.delightingrace.com. ...force in our culture today. It is a lie. By the grace of God, we must not participate in it. Lies degrade humanity and the image of God. Number three, here's number four, lies cast a shadow on godliness. Lies cast a shadow on godliness, or godly or righteous living.
Lies cast a shadow on it. The way of truth will be blasphemed, says in verse two. Faithfully following Jesus Christ is reviled as something odd, if not dangerous, today.
Good is called evil, and evil is called good, as Isaiah says in 5-20. Paul said he writes to Timothy, 2 Timothy 3-12, indeed all who desire to live godly life in Christ, Jesus, will be persecuted. And to faithfully follow Jesus, you can easily be called bigoted, you can be called uncaring, you can be called bad for the community. And in elements of Christianity, there are those who are buying into this thinking that we need to make the gospel relevant.
Let me stop and say something here, okay? We don't make the gospel relevant. The gospel is inherently relevant. But what they want us to believe is that truth is determined by human sensibilities and poles. It is a lie. Effect number five, lies use people for selfish gain. Many will follow their sensuality and because of them, the way of truth will be blasphemed, verse three, and in their greed, they will exploit you with false words. Lies use people for selfish gain.
There is a commercialized Christianity in our world today and people are being trafficked into what they think faith is by personal kingdom builders. People are attracted to energy. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it requires discernment. People are attracted to energy and they're attracted to novelty as well.
And so when they see both of those together, they're attracted to it. But we also know, as the apostle wrote, that in the last times people will be flocking to those teachers who will tell them exactly what they want to hear. And they want to hear the theological equivalent of cotton candy.
My apologies to you if you love cotton candy, but it is not good for the nourishment of your soul. Lies use people for selfish gain. There's a lot that could be said on that, but let me continue here as we draw this to a conclusion today. He says, look at the end of verse three, their condemnation from long ago is not idle and their destruction is not asleep.
There is a big picture. God is true. God is the triumphant sovereign of the universe.
He's a benevolent sovereign. There is an enemy of the soul who wants us to believe lies. And some of those lies will come in a Christian rapping. Loved ones, this requires our vigilance and our discernment.
Two points as I conclude today. The clearest way to recognize lies is to know truth. To know truth. One of my favorite texts in scripture, Colossians 3 16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all of its richness.
Let it dwell in you. This does not mean that it's just lodged in there. It does not mean that someone can just say, I know the scriptures. It's not what it's talking about. It's one thing to know the scriptures. It's an entirely different thing if the truths of scriptures have captivated you to the point of transforming your affections and your attitudes. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Notice, if you will, 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 3 to 9, that text that we all worked on memorizing a while back. 1 Peter 1 verses 3 to 9. Notice also a great text to memorize is 2 Peter 1 verses 3 to 9.
Kind of trying to make it easy for you. 1 Peter 1 verses 3 to 9. 2 Peter 1 verses 3 to 9. I encourage you to know them. I also encourage you to know well the first three chapters of Ephesians and review it often.
Know it well and review it often. Because those passages are not about commands that we're supposed to obey. They are about the reality of who God is, who Christ is, and who we are in Christ. And when we have this settled satisfaction and understanding and confidence of who we are in Christ, we won't fall victim to the lies that are perpetrated on us day after day. Biblical illiteracy, or what I sometimes call coffee mug theology. In other words, all you know about scripture is what's printed on some coffee mug.
That's biblical illiteracy. And that, unfortunately, renders you vulnerable to deception and being carried away by attractive ideas that are false, but wrapped in Christian garb. Colossians 2 8, Paul says, see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the worlds and not according to Christ.
In chapter 3 verse 17, Peter writes, loved ones take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. This is the ambition of our worship. What we do here is worship. This is corporate worship, but I would also love to believe that there is also a personal worship. And when we leave here, we don't cease to be worshipers. We continue to be worshipers. In everything we do, our ambition is to please God. Our ambition is to point others to Him, not live for self.
2 Corinthians 5 15. So the clearest way to recognize lies is to know the truth. The strongest, here's the last point today, the strongest way to counter lies is to live and speak truth. Edwin Blum says, the Christian faith is the way of truth. It is not only correct thought or truth, but is the way of life that responds to and is determined by the truth. True doctrine must issue in true living. The knowledge of God should lead to godly life. In other words, my life then, my attitudes, my affections, informed and impacted by the truth of God, the truth of the word of God, I live in the outflow of informed affections and attitudes. That is our ambition in our care groups as a church. When we meet together in smaller groups, when we meet together in a more informal setting, to practice the one and others, to serve in community, that is our ambition there.
Let me just encourage you on these three very brief statements as we close today. The truth, to live and speak the truth. The gospel lived, is the gospel lived faithfully, graciously. Jesus came in grace and truth, not just truth. Let's not use truth as a hammer.
It's a light, not a laser you point in somebody's eye. He came in grace and truth. So the gospel lived faithfully and graciously is three things. Number one, the most convincing witness. The gospel lived is the most convincing witness. The gospel lived is secondly the most powerful apologetic.
Thirdly, the gospel lived is the strongest deterrent to lies. That is our mission, to proclaim the truth, to live and speak the truth, to know the truth, to live and speak the truth. We are called to this and our world today desperately needs us to rise up to this call. Are you with me on this?
Let's do this. Would you stand with me please? Father, we humble ourselves before you acknowledging that you are indeed the benevolent sovereign, the faithful creator, the gracious redeemer. So Father we look to you because this is a call, these are tasks that we cannot merely do on our own Father. We look to you.
We need you. And we thank you for the grace that you have lavished upon us in your son, in your spirit, through your word Father, to raise us up, to equip us, to be your ambassadors on this earth as the redeemed calling to those who are yet held captive. Father may we move out of this place with confidence and with compassion for those who are yet held captive by the darkness. Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in Him, the one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.
