Deceived and Defeated
Have you ever believed a lie? Is it dangerous to believe a lie? Can a lie make the difference between life and death? You better believe it!
Not knowing the truth can cost you your life!
Do you know the truth? In John 14:6 Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Only in Jesus can you find the way that leads to life everlasting? Only in Jesus is there truth. And only in Jesus is there a life worth living.
In John 10:10, Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Jesus doesn’t want to just give us a life. But what kind of life does Jesus want to give to us? He wants to give us a life that is abundant.
Let’s turn to John 10:10. “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
Who is the thief that Jesus speaks about? The thief is the devil. The thief comes to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. This is the devil’s job. The devil wants to make life hell for you. He’s is out to destroy you!
Do you know how he destroys people? If the devil could have it his way, he would snuff out your life. He doesn’t want you to have eternal life. Before you surrender your life fully to God, he wants to take you out. He knows that he is going to hell, and he wants to take as many people with him. If the devil could have it his way, you would all have been dead a long time ago.
We need to thank God for His protection. The devil can’t have his way. The devil is limited in what he can do. He has to play by certain rules.
Do you know what the devil’s main strategy is to destroy us? His main strategy is to use deception!
Mount of Blessings (by Ellen White) p. 31 “Ever since his fall, Satan has worked by means of deception.”
And he is very good.
In John 8:44, beginning with the second sentence, listen to what Jesus says about Satan. He says, “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”
Satan has mastered the art of lying. He’s the father of it. He deceived a third of the angels in heaven. Is he good? You bet he is. Is he someone to be afraid of?
Testimonies vol. 5 (by Ellen White) 294 Satan is busy every moment, going to and fro, walking up and down in the earth, seeking whom he may devour.
Satan doesn’t need to sleep. He is busy working round the clock.
So what are the lies that we believe? How successful has the devil been with us? You are probably thinking, “I don’t believe any lies.” Well, if you’re deceived you wouldn’t know.
Do you know the truth about forgiveness? One of my professors at Andrews Univ. was telling us that when he was working in Japan as a missionary, he met this one woman who was suffering terribly from guilt. She came to him one day and told him that she had had an abortion many years ago, and that she asked God for forgiveness, but she kept experiencing guilt and started thinking that God couldn’t forgive her. And the guilt was driving her insane. The professor had to explain the truth about forgiveness to this woman. As Corrie Ten Boom put it, “when we confess our sins, God casts them into the deepest ocean, gone forever. And then He places a sign out there that says, ‘No Fishing Allowed’.” My professor led the woman in a prayer. They first asked God for forgiveness for not believing what the Bible had to say about forgiveness. He then told the woman that if the devil comes around and tries to make her feel guilty to pray to Jesus to deal with him.
John 8:32 “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
By the way, would it be equally correct to say, “And you shall know Jesus, and Jesus shall make you free.”
How many of you have suffered terribly from guilt, and you thought it was God punishing you? Could it be that the devil lies to you and says, “God is punishing you?” How often have you heard Christians say, “I think God is punishing me.”
What are some of the lies that we as Koreans believe? We believe that our worth depends on the grades we get. We get an A-, so our GPA drops down to a 4.0, and we start thinking, “I’m so stupid, what’s wrong with me.” Our parents look at the report card, and say, “What wrong with you? Jung shin ee-ruh suh?” And for the whole week you are thinking, I’m such a babo. Is that a lie? The devil is very crafty. The devil can come in the voice of the first person. Instead of saying, “You’re a babo.” He’ll say, “I’m a babo.” Now you think you are just speaking to yourself. Do you know the truth? Do you know the truth about your worth? Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying it’s okay to settle for mediocrity. As Christians, we should strive for excellence in all that we do. As working professionals, we should strive for excellence in the work place. As students, we should strive for academic excellence. And as Christians, we should strive for spiritual excellence.
We also believe that our worth depends on what we drive and what we wear? Should our income and our possessions make a difference in the way we feel about ourselves? How sad God must be to look down upon this earth and to see His children so depressed and feeling down because of the lies that they believe. I can hear God saying, “I am your Father, I own all the silver and the gold. The cattle on a thousand hills are mine. I will take care of you. Don’t worry about living to please others. You keep your eyes on Me, I will take care of you!”
Do you know the truth about beauty? The world is deceived. That’s why plastic surgery is such a big deal these days with programs like extreme makeover. Do you know the truth about beauty? I’ve got a whole sermon on this topic too.
By the way, don’t ever just take my word. You better make sure you see it for yourself in the Bible. What if I’m deceived? There are too many people in the world that are blindly following ministers.
Do you know the truth about marriage and family?
When my wife was in Korea she sent me an e-mail telling me that the people in Korea are being so terribly deceived by Satan. They live in a culture that is saturated with lies.
When Liana was in Korea, she met two of her close Junior High School friends. One of her friends is married with a four year old child, and the other one isn’t. The one who was married had had a very nasty fight with her family members because they found out that she had been involved in a relationship with another guy.
Some of you are probably thinking, “What kind of people does Liana hang out with?” I used to think that. I used to pray, “Lord, help Liana to know that she needs to ditch these friends. But then I saw God using Liana to influence her friends in a positive way. Do her friends need Jesus? They need Jesus. Who is going to reach them? Is a pastor going to be able to reach these friends of hers? Are you kidding?
Anyways, Liana’s two friends asked her, “Do you miss your husband?” And Liana replied, “of course, I miss Martin so much!” They said to her, “Are you serious?” And then the married friend said, “Something must be wrong with me.” But then she said, “You know what, I’m the normal one. Liana is the weird one.” “It’s not normal to still be in love after one year of marriage.”
In Korea, it is believed that marriages are supposed to turn sour after one year. What happens when you believe this lie? Every marriage will encounter tough times. But when you believe this lie, you don’t think twice about trying to work through the difficulties.
Korea is going down hill morally. Wife swapping is becoming more popular. My dad told me that he read in the newspaper that it is becoming common for married men and women in Korea now have one to two boyfriends and girlfriends outside of the marriage relationship. Young people are saying, “What’s the point in getting married?” So cohabitation is on the rise. People are just living together without getting married.
Now we wouldn’t do any of these things, would we? No way! But we enjoy watching TV programs that are saturated with lies. What am I talking about? I’m talking about Korean dramas. We love watching Korean dramas. Actually it our parents who like it so much. Do you think KBS, MBC, and SBS are going to give you the truth about love, the truth about life, the truth about happiness?
But TV is just TV. It’s not reality. Maybe that’s why that they to come out with the reality shows.
Dr. Brandon Centerwall wrote an article titled “TV and Violence” for the Journal of the American Medical Association vol. 267, no. 22. He found that following the introduction of television in the U.S., the annual white homicide rate increased by 98 percent from 1945 to 1974. While he doesn’t blame TV as the sole factor behind the rise in violence, he concludes that “if, hypothetically, television technology had never been developed, there would today be 10,000 fewer homicides each year in the United States, 70,000 fewer rapes, and 700,000 fewer injurious assaults”
Does TV affect people? You tell me!
“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Are you free? Or do you feel like you are in bondage? Maybe you are in bondage to television. You keep hearing this voice that says, “I need the television. I can’t live without it!” Could that be a lie that you are believing?
Turn with me to Luke 4:18. We were just in this passage a couple of weeks ago. Jesus says, “I have come to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” Many of us are oppressed. We are not physically oppressed. We are mentally oppressed. Do we need to be set free? Do we need Jesus who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life? I’m not going to tell you to throw out your TV. But what I want you to understand is that you have to be very selective in what you watch. And for you parents here who don’t monitor what your young children watch, all I can say is “Lord, have mercy!”
Do you want to know more truth? Even if it hurts, do you want truth? You asked for it, I’m going to give you some truth.
Satan is busy at work filling our minds with lies. Do you know what else he is busy doing? Turn with me to Revelation 12:9-10.
(9) “So the great dragon was cast out, that sepent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
(10) Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.”
What does Satan do full time besides lie? He is busy accusing day and night.
Now this liar and accuser wants us to be just like him. Right? He doesn’t want us to be like Christ. He doesn’t want us to be honest and holy. Right? Now if the devil came right out and tempted you to lie, you could easily say, “It is written, ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor’.” By using truth you could resist temptation. Satan, being a genius, has come up with a different way to teach us to be just like him. Satan was really good. I’ve got to hand it to him. What Satan decided to do was employ youth pastors to carry out his schemes. And many fall for his deceptions hook, line, and sinker.
What am I talking about? I’m talking about a game that youth pastors love to play. I’ve seen more youth pastors enjoy this game more than any other group of people. I’m very embarrassed to admit it. I’ll also admit that I used to love this game. Now when you see the youth pastors enjoying it, it’s easy to think, “I guess it must be alright.” The game I’m talking about was not manufactured by Parker Brothers, I believe it comes straight from the laboratories of hell. I’m talking about the game Mafia. It’s all about lying and accusing. It’s so exciting to point the finger and say, “it’s you, you’re the bad guy, I know it’s you” without knowing the truth. And it’s just as exciting to lie. There’s something in me that just finds it so exciting to lie and point the finger. I’m talking from experience. I used to love this game when it first came out. But after every Saturday night of playing this game, I’d go home feeling very empty and sick inside. And I’d find myself saying, “Lord, did we glory you tonight when we played this game?” I finally gave it up.
Let’s put it this way. I’m already very evil. I don’t need any additional practice.
Now I know that many people like to argue that it’s not for real. It’s just a game. It’s kind of like television. It’s not real. They are just acting. What did Dr. Brandon Centerwall write? He wrote, “if, hypothetically, television technology had never been developed, there would today be 10,000 fewer homicides each year in the United States, 70,000 fewer rapes, and 700,000 fewer injurious assaults.”
The truth is not popular. But I tell you the truth because I want to see you saved. I don’t want you to be led astray. I pray that none of you would go away feeling offended.
Spiritual Gifts vol. 2 (by Ellen White) 277 “The power of Satan now to tempt and deceive is ten-fold greater than it was in the days of the apostles. His power has increased, and it will increase, until it is taken away. His wrath and hate grow stronger as his time to work draws near its close.”
In Revelation 12:12 it says, “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”
Do you think you are smart enough and strong enough to withstand his temptations?
Great Controversy (by Ellen White) 593 “The last great delusion is soon to open before us. Antichrist is to perform his marvelous works in our sight. So closely will the counterfeit resemble the true that it will be impossible to distinguish between them except by the Holy Scriptures…. None but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict.”
The nation of Korea is being taken captive by Satan’s lies. There will come a time when the whole world will be taken captive. “None but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict.”
I am so thankful for the Word of God! This book is full of precious truth. This past year of my life was the best year of my life. I would not trade for any other year of my life. Do you want to know why it was the best year of my life? Because I have learned more truth and because of truth, I am more happier and freer than I have ever been. I grew up believing so many lies.
God needs missionaries. You don’t have to go overseas to be a missionary. That’s what I grew up believing. We need missionaries here. By the way, in Desire of Ages Ellen White says, “Every true disciple is born into the kingdom of God as a missionary.” She mentions this in chapter 19 “At Jacob’s Well” where the Samaritan woman who after meeting Christ went back into her city and said, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did.”
We have friends, neighbors, and family members who don’t know the truth. There are people in our cities who are going insane believing that their loved ones are now in hell burning because they went to their graves without knowing Christ. There are people who don’t know the truth about God’s love. Would you be a missionary for Jesus? Jesus needs missionaries.
Please bow your heads and close your eyes. Is anybody willing to be a missionary for Jesus? I want to make two appeals this morning. This morning, if you have heard God speaking to your heart, and you have come to realize how important it is to know truth, and you want to say, “Lord, I want to grow in my understanding of truth,” I want you to raise your hand. Amen. Is there anyone else? Amen. God will answer that prayer. You may put your hands down. The second appeal is this: You realize that we in the Seventh-day Adventist church have been blessed with so many precious truths. And God has impressed you with the need to share the precious truths that we have with others who are lost in darkness. And you want to say, “Lord, I want to be a missionary for you.” If that is your desire, will you raise your hands.
Lord, you see the heads that are bowed, you have seen the hands that have been raised. Lord, you know the hearts of each one of these individuals. Lord, I pray that you would bless them. Lord, I believe that none of us are here by accident. It is your love that has brought us here. Lord, prepare us to go out to share that love with others.
Closing Hymn – Rescue the Perishing 367
