Exposing The Liar

Exposing the Liar

Read: John 8:31-47

“When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

John 8:44

“The spiritual battle, the loss of victory, is always in the thought-world.”

—Francis Schaeffer

IN WORD The father of lies will try to deceive us in many ways. But he seems to have an overarching strategy that is twofold: (1) He wants to tell us we’re more than we are; and (2) he wants to tell us God’s less than He is.

There is a huge gap between sinful humanity and holy God. God bridged that gap with the perfect blend of justice and love—the Cross. Satan wants to bridge it in any alternate way he can. He elevates us and devalues God. If we can be reconciled with our Creator by our being a little bit better and by God being a little more reachable, then he has nullified our sense of need for the Cross. He has undermined the legitimate craving we have for reconciliation with the holy.

How does the liar elevate us? He tells us that we’re not as bad off as the Bible makes us out to be; or that sin isn’t really that serious; or that sin doesn’t really exist; or that we’re able to overcome it with our good works; or, as in this passage, that our heredity is enough—we’re of decent enough stock as children of Abraham or any other tradition.

And how does the liar devalue God? He can’t, really, but he can change our perspective. He makes God appear unloving and distant, not worth pursuing; or so loving that He has no real concept of sin and tolerates all we do; or that He is pleased as long as our good works outweigh our bad; or, as in this passage, that our own thoughts and judgments seem so right to us that they must have come from God Himself. Regardless of the lie, our twisted perspective makes God the sanctioner of all we want Him to sanction.

IN DEED Expose the liar. The gap between the infinitely holy and the utterly sinful can only be bridged by the blood of the Savior. Satan will do anything to convince us otherwise. He wants us to compromise the truth of the gospel of salvation. But he lies. Always has, always will. Expose him everywhere you go.