I SAW SATAN FALL! Series
1. The Accuser/Adversary Fell
2. The Pride Example Fell
3. The Ruler of Darkness Fell
4. The Father of Lies Fell, John 8:44
Lies are a big problem these days. Statistics are showing that more and more youth think it is okay if you lie, and if you get caught it just means you need to become a better liar, not that you’ve done something wrong!
Now how many of you have ever lied? Go ahead and put your hand up, because this may have been the 2nd time you’ve ever lied!
The Bible tells us in Col. 3:9, “Do not lie to each other…” Eph 4:25 says, “Put off falsehood and speak truthfully” to each other. So we all know lying is wrong. We wouldn’t want people lying to us, would we? Well then, the Golden Rule helps here, that as we’d want others to do to us, we do that to them: So we don’t to others because we wouldn’t want to be lied to.
But when are you tempted to lie the most? I believe I am tempted to lie the most when (1) I think I am going to get in trouble and so I get afraid, or (2) I think I can get more than I have so I stretch the truth. Do you ever find yourself tempted in those situations to lie just a little bit? Because you are afraid something really bad is going to happen to you OR you become greedy? Fear and greed fuel our temptation to lie to people. We literally sacrifice OTHER PEOPLE when we lie! When we lie, we are saying, “I’d rather YOU live without the truth than for me to live with the truth.” Lying is another form of hate…and that’s pretty strong if you stop and think about it. Proverbs 26:28, “A lying tongue hates those it hurts...” I didn’t say it, God did.
If you struggle with temptation to lie and I struggle with temptation to lie, perhaps knowing how this whole lying thing got started might help us to see our way out of it.
JOHN 8:42-47
I want to point out a few things about what John is telling us Jesus is saying here:
Satan wants to rid the earth of you, he was a murderer from the beginning (shown in his temptation of Adam and Eve in bringing DEATH upon the whole human race and upon the earth; and then also in Cain when he killed his brother Abel). Satan wants you and all people dead! How does he do it? What is one of the most effective ways he destroys people and takes their life away from them?
Murder: All out physical attack upon your body. He tries to get someone, somewhere, somehow to kill you. And he is setting up death traps all over to do it. And if he can’t KILL you quickly, he uses other means; they are slower, but still effective. One of those ways is LYING.
Let’s say Satan has a death trap set over here for you; he has been studying your life from before you were born and he knows all of your weaknesses; so he is scheming, plotting, writing out assignments against you and sending them off to his demons about how to get you to go in this direction. He has a DEATH trap setup for you.
LYING leads people to believe everything is safe and all right so they will keep heading in the direction of the trap!
Satan is called what in this passage, besides a murderer? A liar and the FATHER OF LIES! A parent has children and those children often look like their parent, act like their parent, even talk like their parent.
So when we lie, we are literally acting like what? Children of Satan.
This is not just a new thing in the NT, but the OT actually has much to say about LYING and LIES. Another word for LIES is FALSEHOOD. When you speak something that isn’t true or truthful, you have shared a false representation of reality and you’ve lied—whether by mistake or not. In the Psalms and Proverbs, a person who is known to do this—who has a reputation for speaking things that are not true—is called a fool, and is doing things God himself hates!
Proverbs 6:16–19; There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: and one of them is a lying tongue, and it sits among things like “Haughty or prideful eyes, hands that murder the innocent, a wicked scheming heart, feet which run fast to evil—what is needed is a godly chiropractic adjustment!
In the OT law, in the Decalogue or the TEN COMMANDMENTS, what is commandment #9? Clue: It has to deal with lying. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
Let me give you some Thesaurus words when it comes to “false witnessing or false testifying”:
Deceives = cause others to believe something is a certain way when it is in fact not
Fraudulent acts = pretending to have done something or be something that you in fact are not for your own personal gain!
Disappoints you for nothing = for no rhyme or reason
Betrays = to gain the favor of person A, person B is deceived
Wrongful acts = just plain wrong, disrespectful, harmful
Swears falsely = making everyone believe you lie by taking an oath in God’s name
Prophecy falsely = making everyone believe you are speaking for God and in God’s name about something when you in fact are not
Deal falsely with = causing another person to believe something is a certain way when it is in fact not that way
Lie = speaking words that are not true or do not totally reflect reality (i.e., the way God sees it)
Now, what are some ways we do this in everyday life?
1. When we share information we know nothing about just to be looked at by others as an informant or as knowledgeable; why? Because we think it makes us somebody in their eyes—it gives us status for us status seeking people and we think it makes us look good in the eyes of others—but we deceive ourselves with this thought, because in God’s eyes, we already are somebody because He made us; but we try to become more or get more respect from others (greed) or are afraid people won’t notice and love us (fear) and we seek to get from others through ungodly means and what we end up with is deeper in those feelings of rejection and insignificance. So we share information that is beyond our knowledge in hopes of getting attention—we stretch the truth or we pretty much lie.
2. Everything else seems to be a spin off of this self-deceived state where GREED and FEAR are operating SUBLEVEL.
We lie or skip over some income on our taxes “just because”—but the fact is God knows it is income. But we want more by our means to get it.
We take up extra time at the office or at the store to get what we want even though we are running late and then we get back to the office or home and share a little white lie about how bad traffic was or the lines were at the store—but God knows you were thinking only of yourself and what YOU could get out of it!
My kids say to me, “Don’t tell her I’m in here,” and I always say, “I will not lie for you.” I won’t share if she doesn’t ask, but if she asks, I will not lie—even in a game? Especially in a game and when I have a chance to teach my children that no matter the sate in your life you are in: home, school, church, community, work, or play—no matter the arena, my integrity is the same and theirs can be too! It is all a value statement, a moral judgment, I am not given to situation ethics where truth changes because it doesn’t! The TRUTH from God’s perspective doesn’t change! And THAT TRUTH he has given and revealed to us!
That is why is such an evil thing, because it goes entirely against the character of God and against Who He is and it goes against who He has made you and I to be in relationship to everyone around us INCLUDING HIM! You cannot build a relationship on lies—you can’t do it!
Heb 6:18, “…it is impossible for God to lie…”
1 John 2:27, “…no lie comes from the truth.”
But Romans 1:25 speaks of a world we have around us so much today in what they will exchange for GREED and FEAR, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
When Jesus saw Satan fall, he saw the undoing of Satan’s kingdom of lies, for the TRUTH was now penetrating that kingdom on a grander scale! Soon, Jesus would die, His Spirit would fill up and live in every believer set free by the Truth! And they would then take that Spirit of Truth onto the Devil’s own turf and start mopping up the lies people in this world are believing.
Lies like:
I must hold on to my anger because it gives me power
I must hold on to my unforgiveness because it is the only thing that punishes that person for what they did to me
I must make others look bad to make myself look good
I must always win and never lose or I am a loser.
I must always be in control to feel safe and to be accepted
I must always understand so I won’t feel insignificant
I must know more than those around me or I am a failure
I must make sure everyone around me is all right and be sure they are pleased if I am to have a safe environment
I’ll just take these drugs one more time to get me through this
It’s okay to just look at pornography as long as I don’t act it
I know if I just love him more he will stop beating me
I am afraid something will happen, so I must worry and take every precaution to see that nothing will happen
Satan has death traps set for you, and if he can’t KILL you, he will lie to you so you will choose to go down the path to your death yourself.
The power of the enemy is in the lie. Jesus saw Satan FALL! The enemy is not over you, but he is UNDER YOUR FEET! YOU are seated IN THE HEAVENLIES next to Jesus on the throne! You have NO NEED to lie! You have need FOR LIES! And you have every right to be a child of God,
John 1:12, For those who received the Truth of Jesus Christ, and believe in it, to them God gave the RIGHT to be called HIS KID!
But Rev 21:8 speaks of the fate of all liars. “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
So what does that mean for us?
1 John 1:6, If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
There is NO LIE in the truth. 99% truth = 100% lie! It is the way God sees, it Jesus sees it, the Holy Spirit sees it, and if the Spirit is alive within you, you will want to see it that way too.
1 Timothy 4:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. THERE IS A PLAN AGAINST YOU! Satan has DEATH TRAPS set for you! He was a murderer from the beginning and he wants you DEAD! And if he can’t kill you right away, get you to take your own life tonight, he will o what it takes to get you on the path that leads towards his traps. LIES are what he uses to get you off track.
EXPOSE THE LIE, and Satan flees! Jesus saw Satan fall. You have hope!
REV. 20:10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
v15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Jesus said, You can know the truth, and the truth will set you free. The Spirit of truth is here today. If you are needing freedom from lies you have been believing; freedom from the pain and hurt you’ve been suffering over and over again—well, it’s been too long! Step out in faith and receive the truth of God—exchange the lies for the Truth He has for YOU If the Spirit is speaking to you today, will you come? Let us pray God’s grace upon you—let us love on you and see that you are filled with the grace of God!
There might not be a lot of us here, but little is much when God is in it! Tell Satan NO and let God’s truth come in. If the Spirit is speaking to your heart today, will you step out and come and kneel here and ask God for His Spirit of truth to come into your heart and change you!
