Pastor, teacher, and author Adrian Rogers has introduced people all over the world to the love of Jesus Christ and has impacted untold numbers of lives by presenting profound truth simply stated. Thanks for joining us for this message. Here's Adrian Rogers. Find God's word, Genesis chapter 3. We're continuing our series on challenges to the cross.
Things that we meet in today's world. that we need to have Bible answers for. The title of the message today, Four Lies. that ruined the world. These are Satan's Four biggest lies.
Satan's whole system is built on a lie. Jesus said in John chapter 8 and verse 44 to the unsaved Pharisees, you are of your father the devil. And the lust of your father you will do. He was a liar. From the beginning.
and abode not in the truth. And when he speaketh a lie, He speaketh of his own, for he is a liar. And the father Of it. That is, every lie that's ever been told. has been spawned by the daddy liar.
The liar of all liars, the father of all lies, who is the devil himself. Satan is a liar. Jesus said he is a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth.
Now listen. His motive is murder. His method is the lie. Never forget that. His motive and his method.
They're in John chapter 8 and verse 44. Satan wants to bring death to life, to joy, to peace, to happiness. To fruitfulness. He wants to bring physical death. He wants to bring spiritual death.
He wants to bring eternal death. And he does it through deception. He is a dirty. Liar. And we're going to find four of Satan's biggest lies.
These are foundational lies, and they're lies out of which all other lies come.
Now, remember that Satan is the master liar. And because he's the master liar, his lies are very good. Satan knows how to tell lies. His lies are very clever. Let's look here in Genesis chapter 3, verse 1.
Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field. Just underscore that word, subtle.
Now, Satan's lies are not lies that are Obvious lies on the surface. You have to look beneath the surface to see his lies because he's very clever.
Now, let me tell you something. The best lies sound the most like The truth. And so there is some proof. in most lies. A clock that doesn't even run.
is right twice a day, isn't that right? But now wait a minute. If a clock is only right twice a day, You look at it and you say That's wrong. It may be right twice a day, but it's still wrong. What is more dangerous?
Our clock 12 hours wrong? Our clock five minutes wrong. A clock five minutes wrong is far more dangerous. 9 o'clock, 12 hours wrong. When you look at a clock that's 12 hours wrong, you say, that's wrong.
Somebody tell me what time it is. A clock five minutes wrong, you miss your airplane.
Now, there's a difference. Satan's lies are very close to the truth and yet so very far from the truth. Again, Satan had rather you think A wrong thing. Believe a lie than to do a wrong thing. Why?
Because the thought is the father of the deed. It is more dangerous to believe a wrong thing. than to do a wrong thing. You can do a wrong thing by mistake and the next time do the right thing. But if you believe a wrong thing, you keep doing the wrong thing over and over again.
For the Bible says, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. And so the devil is the original liar. The devil is the master liar, and the best lies sound the most like the truth, and those that are nearest to the truth and still alike are the most dangerous. Satan, being a very clever liar, Satan being the master liar, Satan wanting to do his work through a lie, which is murder. We'll tell a lie.
about the biggest subject. He's not interested in telling lies about little things. He wants you to believe lies about the biggest subject. What is the biggest subject? God.
God is the biggest subject.
Now, if Satan can get your mind twisted about who God is and what God does and what God is like. Then he's got you. Because the thought is the father of the deed. A.W. Tozian.
A great leader in the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church said, and I want you to listen to this quote: no religion can rise higher than its concept of God. That is so true. No religion Can rise higher than its concept of God.
Now, Satan, in the very first book in the Bible, The very first pages of history is going to tell four big lies. And all of them are going to deal with the character of God. Satan does not want you to understand who God is.
Now it may surprise you to learn that Satan is an evangelist. What Satan wants is not casualties, he wants converts. over to his own ideas. And so Satan comes as an evangelist. To Eve to evangelize her for the devil's religion.
Eve was his first Congrat. And rather than four spiritual laws, there are four spiritual flaws. Four lies. That he wants Eve to believe. And Eve takes the bait.
And these lies are not just what Satan has done. Eons ago. These are the four lies that you meet today. And tomorrow. They're very fresh.
They're very up to date.
Now, Satan really, he may be... Double-faced. But he's not double-minded. He wants to do the same thing today that he has done always.
So, are you ready for these four big lies? All right, lie number one. God is not loving. That's the first lie.
Now notice again in chapter 3 and verse 1, now the serpent, that's the devil, was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made, and he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden.
Now what's he trying to do? He's trying to get Eve to think negatively about God. You get the idea that God is withholding goodness. from her. Therefore, God himself is not good.
that God is severe. God is cruel. Here's the beautiful Garden of Eden. And God made it. And then God said, You can't touch it, you can't eat of it.
Of course, God had not said they could not eat of the fruit of every tree of the garden. That was a lie. What had God said? Look in Genesis 2, verse 16. You in the Bible?
Just turn backward one chapter. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden, Thou mayest freely eat. Do you see it? of every tree. Thou mayest freely eat.
Now what did Satan say?
Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field. And he said unto the woman, Hath God said ye shall not eat. of every tree of a garden. God said, help yourself. Satan said, God says you can't have it.
Now what is Satan trying to do? He's trying to get Eve to think negatively about God. That God is cruel. God is harsh. God is unloving.
He wants to deny you, Eve, of any ultimate joy. Anything that brings pleasure is a no-no. Anytime God sees anybody having a good time, God moves in to break up the game. The truth of the matter is that God had said a resounding yes. Yes.
To their joy and to their pleasure. When God created Eden, In all of his luxury, all of his beauty, all of his bounty, God said to Adam and Eve, There, children, that is for you. Help yourself.
Now, there are a lot of people today who have the idea that God is some sort of a cruel God. A vengeful deity. Sitting up there on his big throne. curling down laws. To make us squirm like a worm in hot ashes trying to keep them.
That God is a cosmic killjoy. That God is trying to keep things from us. That is not true. God loves us. Let me give you some verses.
I've given you these before, but jot them down. Psalm 37 and verse 4. Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee. The desires of thine heart. Isn't that great?
What your heart yearns for. You'll find in him Some 84 verse 11. The Lord thy God is a son and a shield. The Lord will give grace and glory.
Now, listen to this. No, Good. Saying. Will he withhold from them that walk uprightly? No good thing.
If it'll make you healthy, happy, holy. Wholesome, God says help yourself. Every time he says, Thou shalt not eat. Don't hurt yourself. Every time he says, thou shalt, He's saying help yourself to happiness.
God loves you. Listen to this one. 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 17. Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded. nor trust in uncertain riches.
But in the living God who giveth us, now listen to this phrase, who giveth us richly. All things to enjoy. Isn't that great? Now, if the devil can get you thinking negatively about God, he's already got you. That's the very first thing you did.
When he's crawled, his slimy, corroding Path. Into history. To get Eve to think negatively about God. Lie number one, God is not good. God is good.
all the time. All right? Line number two. Lie number two. First lie, God is not good.
Lie number two. God is not truthful. God is not truthful. Now notice he said in verse 1, God said.
Now that's a doubt. The doubt leads to a denial.
Now, notice in verses 2 through 4. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. She knew better. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ye shall not eat of it. Neither shall you touch it.
Lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not Surely die. Verse 1 doubt.
Now in verse 4, denial. You'll not die. You don't have to worry about God.
Now, you see what Satan did, first of all. was to get Eve to think negatively about God. Then the next step is easy to get Eve to think skeptically about God. Lie number one, God is not good. Lie number two, God is not.
Truthful.
Now, what Satan had done in verse 1 is to put a question mark after the Word of God. I want to say clearly and plainly that anyone Who causes skepticism concerning the authority, the accuracy, and the acceptability, the impeccability, the infallibility, the authenticity of the Word of God is doing the work of the devil. That's the work of the devil. I don't care what seminary he's in. I don't care what degrees he has.
If he puts. If he puts a doubt, a question mark, or a denial after the Word of God, he is of the devil. The devil. The devil is out to destroy the truthfulness of God. In today's society, we have substituted many things for God's word, and all of them are based on the devil's lies.
Let me mention some of these. First of all, relativism. What is relativism? Relativism is the idea that there's no fixed truth. A professor in the university stood up and said, students, I want to tell you, there is nothing that you can say is absolutely true.
There's nothing that you can be absolutely sure of. A student lifted his hand and said, Professor, are you sure of that? He said, absolutely. Relativism. Everything is relative.
That roots back to a philosopher whose name was Hegel, H-E-G-E-L. He had sort of a A dialectic. What Hegel said was over here is a thesis. Belief, and over here is an antithesis or an antithesis that says I argue with that. And these two get in a big argument, and then they come together to a synthesis.
Thesis, antithesis, synthesis. And so maybe the thesis over here is capitalism, the antithesis is communism, and then the synthesis is socialism. And then that synthesis in the minds of many becomes the new thesis.
Now, this is true. And then over here, you get another antithesis. And then, after a while, you get another synthesis. Do you see what is happening? Everything is relative, there's nothing fixed, there's no anchor, there's no standard.
Plato in his Republic talked about some sailors. who having lost the chart and compass, put a light on the bow of the ship and steered by that. That's what we're doing in today's society. Number one, relativism. Number two, subjectivism.
What is subjectivism?
Well, I feel this. Or I Feel that. Let me tell you about my experience. There used to be a time when preachers would stand in the pulpit and say, the Bible says. Then they start saying the church says and now they just say well it seems to me Or I feel.
as they kind of scratch their head. Subjectivism. Our other substitute for the Word of God is rationalism. Rationalism. That is, we bring logic.
We bring our computers. We worship at the shrine of our intellect. And rather than saying, thus saith the word of God, we say, thus saith the mind of man. We try to put God on our scales, put God in our test tube, put God in our cyclotrons, put God in our computers, but God will not fit there. What do you say, Pastor?
I think we ought to be reasonable. Sure, you ought to be. But, friend, where reason Cannot wade, faith must swim. What we believe is not contrary to reason. Listen, it is not contrary to reason.
It is beyond reason. Beyond reason. God is not an unreasonable God. But can a man by reason find out God? Absolutely not.
And so we try relativism and subjectivism and rationalism, and if that doesn't work, what most Americans like is pragmatism. What is pragmatism? Pragmatism doesn't even bother to ask, is it true? We just ask, does it work? We're very pragmatic about it.
But the most dangerous of all, and this is the thing that is happening in the society we live in, is something called post-modernism. Postmodernism.
Now, modernism would argue with conservatism about what is right or what is wrong. The postmodernist doesn't even bother to argue. The postmodernist doesn't even believe there is anything. Yeah. Or he might believe that Truth is everywhere, but no one truth is over against another truth.
So somebody might say, Look, you're into Buddha, I'm into Jesus. What is true for you? is fine, that's your truth. What is true for me is fine, that's my truth. And this is called post-modernism, and it's a big word for a lot of silliness and foolishness.
But the devil doesn't want you to believe that God is the God of truth.
Now, if you have children. And you're raising those children. Your children have been infected by these other forms, substitutes for the truth of God. And the big daddy liar is behind it all. And you're going to have difficulty raising your children unless you get them to believe that the Bible is the inerrant, inspired, infallible word of God.
And when you talk to them and say, you should not commit fornication, you should not commit adultery. You don't say because it's bad for you or because society, you say because God says so. You don't tell a lie? Why? Because God says so.
It's wrong to steal because God says so. You worship only one God? Because the Bible teaches that. The devil does not want a society to have a fixed standard of truth. God is good.
Say amen. God is truth, say amen.
Now, if you don't believe that, the devil's got you going his way. He wants you to think negatively about God, then he wants you to think skeptically about God. Lie number three. Lie number three, God is not righteous. God is not righteous.
Look, if you will, now in Genesis 3, verse 4. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. That is, God is not really going to punish sin. There is no God of judgment. You don't have to worry about facing a judgment.
I want to tell you, friend, God is good. But God is also righteous. God is loving. Yeah. God is loving.
But God is righteous. And now, if you preach the love of God to the exclusion of the holiness and the righteousness of God, you only preach half of the truth. And when you take half of the truth and try to make half of the truth all of the truth, that half of the truth becomes an untruth.
Now Satan is moving them along.
Now, since you don't believe that there is the God of the Bible who's good and loving, and since you don't believe that the God of the Bible is Truthful. Are the Bible, the word is true? Uh then you don't have to worry anymore about judgment.
Now, when God gave the Ten Commandments, God was not giving advice, He was giving law. And law without penalty is only advice.
Now, there are a lot of people today who take these things of pragmatism, rationalism, subjectivism. and they do away with the idea of eternal punishment. I would be unfair to you as a preacher if I did not tell you there is an eternal hell. If you die without Jesus Christ, you're going to die and go to hell. There is a fiery burning Hell, H-E-L-L.
for those who reject Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord. You say, well, that's un-American. It may be. I have an idea that if the Supreme Court of the United States of America could vote on it, they would outlaw hell as cruel and unusual punishment. May God has no right.
God has no authority to do that. But God is a righteous God, and God will not let one half of one's sin go unpunished. New Ageism. comes out of the idea that you will not surely die. You know what the new age is?
It's just a blend of Eastern religions that's come into America today. Satan knows that man fears death. That's the reason we have the, some believe in reincarnation. You'd be surprised how many. People in evangelical churches say they believe in reincarnation.
As you just keep going around and around and you get as many chances. As you need. You see, these people believe that men and animals we're all interrelated and we're all transmigrating. And if your karma is good, you keep moving up high. And if your karma is bad, you move down.
So in your next life, you might be a worm. That's right. Or you might be a cow or a spider. That's the reason many of them are vegetarians. They won't go to McDonald's, afraid they might be eating their grandmother.
Hey, believe it's stuff. Because finally, one day, if your karma is good enough, you reach nirvana. But they reject the idea of a righteous God, a God of judgment. Their little imaginary God says, God is too good to punish sin. Friend, God is too good not to punish sin.
God is righteous. The devil would have you have the idea that you can sin with impunity. Friend, God is good. God is truthful. God is righteous.
But these truths are being taken away from our society. These are big lies on which the other lies are built. Line number four. God is not gracious. God is not gracious.
Look, if you will, now in verses four and five, And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. For God doth know that in the day that ye eat thereof, then your eyes will be opened. And ye shall be as gods. Knowing good And evil.
Now what he was saying in effect is Since God is not good, since God is not truthful, and since God is not righteous, you need not to fear Him. You need to be your own God. You need to experiment a little bit. You need to work your way up until you are Like God.
Now Eve, you can never be capable of being all that you ought to be. Until you become Autonomous. You don't need to depend upon God. This idea of God is cramping your style. Eve You need to be liberated.
Adam's rib, Satan's fib, women's lip. God came to set every woman. free every man free, every boy and girl free, because He is a God of grace. But notice I said the best lie.
Sounds so much like the truth. Thank you. He said, God does know that in the day that you eat, then your eyes will be open. And you will be As God. That's what Satan wanted to do to begin with.
He wanted to be as God. But you see, the Bible teaches we're to be Like God. Not as God. Smaller difference. Satan says, you be your own God.
Your own little autonomous God. You have your own way.
Well, what does God's grace want us to be? God's grace wants us to be like Him. God created us in His image so He could have fellowship with us, as talked about in Revelation chapter 22 and verse 4. And they shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads. What does that mean?
His name in our foreheads? That means God-likeness. What has God prepared for us? 1 Corinthians 2, verse 9, as it is written, I hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But what Satan was saying all?
You don't have to believe in God as a God of graciousness. God has a great eternal destiny for you. Why, God. has a monopoly on this thing of being God. And God doesn't want you to get in on it.
God is heading you off at the pass. You can never ever be fulfilled until you do your own thing. Eve, what you need to do is experiment, try it. You might like it. How do you know it's wrong?
Because he said so? Because he said so? How do you know? After all, experience is the best teacher. Friend, when it comes to sin, experience is not the best teacher, it's the worst teacher.
Sin. deceives. Those who know the least about sin are those who are the deepest into it. The Bible speaks of the deceitfulness. of sin.
But what Satan is saying to Eve is, Eve, you create your own little God, you will be like God. And again, that's New Ageism. All the New Agers believe that they are God. They believe, however, that everything is God. You know, in India, They would say love is God.
Now, God is love, but love is not God. Listen very carefully. God is over all things, and God is in all things, but God is not all things, and all things are not God. People today had the idea that they are all a part of God in some way. This new ageism has pervaded and perverted.
Our ways Let me illustrate. How it goes. Today In our schools in the springtime, We dare not mention Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I'll tell you what we can mention. Is Earth Day We can't mention Father God.
But we can mention Mother Earth. Why? Because they believe everything is God. The birds are God, the trees are God, the sky is God, the air is God, I'm God, you're God, they're God, we're God, dirt is God, we're dirt. Wait a minute.
If God is dirt and I'm God and God is dirt. That makes me eat dirt. And the animals are God. this new ageism. It doesn't elevate men.
Humanism really animalizes. Man. But you see, Satan is behind all of this.
Now you say, Pastor, why are you saying, oh, this friend is in the air like a fungus? Every ism, as Dr. Lee used to say, ought to be a wasm. They all go back to these four big lies. They deny A.
The goodness of God. B the truthfulness of God. See the righteousness of God. And D, the graciousness of God. God loves you.
God wants you to be Like him. God wants you to enjoy eternal fellowship with Him.
Now, Let's come to a conclusion. How are we going to deal with these lies? How are we going to overcome them? Just leave Genesis and go to Revelation. May I tell you, there are two books the devil hates, one is Genesis and the other is Revelation.
Because in Genesis The devil Doom is pronounced. In Revelation it's carried out. Look, if you will, in Revelation 12, verses 9. And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent.
Now we've already seen him, that old serpent. called the devil and Satan which deceiveth the whole world. Those are his four big lies. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And that's the reason we have such mayhem here on earth.
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now has come the salvation and strength and kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. Listen to me, friend. Here's how we're going to overcome these lies. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night, and they overcame him. Here's verse 11: by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they love not their lives unto the death.
Now how are you going to overcome these lies? How? First of all, by Calvary's conquest. By Calvary's conquest, by the blood of the Lamb. on the cross.
Satan's back was broken. His lies are exposed. He's shown to be what he is, a fake, a fraud, an imposter. And you're never going to overcome Satan and his lies until you come to Jesus. Have you been to Calvary?
Has the blood of the Lamb, the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, become a covering for your sin? I know again it's politically incorrect to talk about the blood today. We're supposed to talk about feel-good religion. The Bible says without shedding of blood is no remission of sin. Billy Graham, when he first started preaching, had a professor from Cornell University come to him and say, young man, you're gifted, you're a great speaker, you're very persuasive, but if you want to go places, you're going to have to leave out that blood stuff.
Billy said, I determined to preach on the blood of Jesus more than ever. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. Have you been saved? Number two, by the word of their testimony. What is the word of our testimony?
Not just standing up saying, I won't tell you what Jesus has done for me. This is the word of our testimony. The Word of God. Bring the word of God against these lies. Make certain that you're saved.
Know the Bible, the Word of God. That pulls the veil of darkness away and exposes Satan's lies like we're doing this morning. And they love not their lives unto the death. What does that mean? not only Calvary's conquest.
Not only courageous confession. But complete commitment. They love not their lives unto the death. They said I'm going for God. Every ounce, every inch, every nerve, every fiber.
Even if I die serving Jesus. I love not my life unto the death. Until a man is no longer afraid to die, he's not yet ready to live. Friend, do you know Jesus? Are you saved?
See if you've got any of these ideas in your head. Have you been thinking That God is not good. Running from God. You ought to be running to him. God is good.
Have you been thinking that God is not truthful, that the Bible perhaps has errors?
Somehow you can do it some other way. It's a lie from hell. God is truthful. Have you been thinking that somehow you can just skate on through and that you will never come to judgment? God is righteous.
Have you ever been thinking that perhaps God doesn't have a wonderful plan for you. He does. God is gracious. For by grace are you saved through faith. I want you to know it.
And you can know him. And if you're not certain that you're saved, I want to guide you in a prayer right now. And you can ask Christ to come into your heart. Would you pray this prayer, dear God? I am a sinner.
And I need to be saved. And I know that the wages of sin is death. But Jesus, I thank you that you shed your blood on the cross for me. Thank you that you paid my sin debt. And now by faith.
I receive you as my personal Lord and Savior. Begin now to make me the person you want me to be. And Lord, I'll make it public. I'll not be ashamed of you. Amen.
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