Tony Evans - God Can Not Be Trusted: And Five Other Lies of Satan

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

THE FATHER OF LIES

Have you ever heard it said of someone who wasnt the most honest person in the world that he wouldnt know the truth if it bit him?

Today, its not considered politically correct to call someone a liar, even if everyone can see that the person has a problem telling the truth. But when Jesus walked the earth, He didnt hesitate for a second to refer to His number one enemy using that very word:

He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

J OHN 8:44

That murderer Jesus referred to, not just as a liar, but as the father of lies, is Satan. When it comes to lying, deceiving, and twisting the truth, the devil is truly in a class all his own. Hes a liar by his very nature, and his entire motivationhis reason for beingis to lie and deceive.

Part of what makes the devil such an effective liarId say the best who ever livedis that hes extremely smart. He knows how to manipulate and work through this worlds systems. He also knows our strengths, our weaknesses, and the things we like when it comes to sin. And after doing these things for thousands and thousands of years, hes perfected them.

In the Bible, we first read of Satans lying ways in the third chapter of the book of Genesis. The devil appears to Eve as a snake in the Garden of Eden and begins spewing his deceptions in an effort to get her to do the one thing God had told her and Adam not to do, namely, eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Satan lied, Eve believed him, and the world was thrown into chaos. But that doesnt mean the devil is done lying. Not by a long shot!

Adam and Eve lived in a perfect environment where there was no sin or death. Yet Satan was right there, throwing around his deceptions and lies. Now if the devil came at these folks who knew nothing of sin or evil, what do you think he wants to do to you and me, people who are exposed to all kinds of evil every day of our lives?

We simply dont have the option of just ignoring Satan or his lies. To do that would be to give him a huge head start in his deception. No, the devils lies must be confronted, refuted, and defeated once and for all. But how do we do that?

This may surprise you, but you cant beat the devil. Hes far too powerful, intelligent, and crafty for even the most gifted among us. We cant overcome the devil through positive thinking, through gritting our teeth and working harder, or through making the most sincere resolution to do better.

If we go face-to-face with the devil using those kinds of personal strengths, its game over before we even start.

So far, this seems like a pretty hopeless situation, doesnt it? It sounds like no matter what we do, the devils going to win. But its far from hopeless, because God has given us the one weapon that will defeat Satan and his lies every time: the truth.

The devil can handle anything we throw at him in our own strength, but the one thing he absolutely cant handle is the truth, and especially the truth of Jesus Christ as its recorded in the Bible.

The Bible isnt just a book full of nice stories and good life principles. The Bible is truthGods truth. Its eternal, complete, and all-powerful truth that easily takes the devils lies and puts them in their place. When that happens, we have the abundant, victorious life God has promised us.

This little book youre holding right now lists the six biggest lies of Satan and, more importantly, how the truth of the Word of God overwhelmingly and eternally counteracts and refutes each of those lies.

As you read on, you may recognize times in your life when Satan has sent one of his whoppers your way. It is my hope that you wont just recognize the lies youve been told, but that youll be empowered to do something about them.

LIE #1

SATAN DOES
NOT EXIST

In the short story The Generous Gambler by nineteenth-century poet Charles Baudelaire, a preacher says, My dear brethren, do not ever forgetthat the loveliest trick of the Devil is to persuade you that he does not exist.

Satans first and probably most important lie is that hes nothing more than a fable. The devil does everything he can to convince us that hes not real or that if he is real, his existence shouldnt matter to us because he cant do anything to us.

Why do you think a character of such pride and arrogance wants us to believe either that hes a myth or that he doesnt spend his time thinking of ways to harass us? Because he knows that if an enemy isnt perceived as real or as a threat, then it is easier for that enemy to attack and do damage.

But the Bible has some very direct warnings about Satan and what he has the power to do. Over and over, the Scriptures tell us there is a real devil and that he works tirelessly to harass humanity in general and the people of God in particular, hoping to either keep us from Christ or to make us ineffective for the kingdom of God.

As the Word of God tells us, the devil didnt wait long before he began to do his evil business with us humans.

A R EAL S NAKE IN THE G RASS

As I said earlier, Satan first made his appearance in human history way back in the Garden of Eden. God had finished His creation and everything was perfect. There was no sin, no fear, and no death. Adam and Eve were so comfortable with themselves and with their God that they walked around this indescribably beautiful garden completely naked but felt no shame or embarrassment (Genesis 2:25).

Enter Satan to begin his temptation of humankind: Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the L ORD God had made. He said to the woman, Did God actually say? (Genesis 3:1).

Not only do we have a crafty snake, but we have a crafty snake who can talk in Eves own language. But whats really startling about this scene is that the woman seems unfazed by what shes seeing and hearing.

The devil had achieved his objective of sneaking up on Eve without her knowing that it was actually the tempter in snakes clothing.

As we read of the serpent tempting Eve, we suspect that its actually the devil taking the form of a snake. And later on in Scripture, we see with certainty who the serpent really was. The passage that spells it out for us is in the book of Revelation: And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent , who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole worldhe was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him (Revelation 12:9, italics mine). Later in Revelation we read, And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent , who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years (Revelation 20:2, italics mine).

But how did the devil get here in the first place? The Bible gives us the story.

H OW THE D EVIL G OT H IS S TART

Before God created humans, He created angels, the chief among them being one named Lucifer. The name Lucifer literally means the shining one, and he was certainly that. Ezekiel 28:13-14 describes him as a magnificent created being who was called an anointed cherub. This means that God had a special and blessed purpose for creating Lucifer.

Originally, Lucifers reason for being was to lead all the other angels in the worship of God, and for a while everything went according to Gods plan. But one day Lucifer looked at himself in the mirror, saw his own spectacular beauty, and began to be filled with pride. His pride was so great that he wanted what God says no created being will ever have: equality with God Himself.