Good morning:
Any well crafted lie is going to look like the truth. Take for instance the time that Barney Fife from The Andy Griffith Show was swindled by a nice little old lady selling him a lemon of a car. Though, she seemed sincere and the car seemed nice, the supposed truth of her story ended up being a bag full of lies. The comical naiveness of Barney, the fortunate reclamation of his lost nest egg, and the just desserts the little old lady and her accomplices are not usually the ways that lies play out in real life. Lies in life hurt, harm, and wreck. This is true of lies about both earthly and spiritual matters.
Earthly lies can often be sniffed out with the help of sincere friends and family, who really do want the best for both you and the liar. They want you to stop being deceived and the liar to repent and stop the lies. Spiritual lies though need some extra help to spot. The sinful flesh is never going to spot the spiritual lie and instead will happily go along with it. Even the sinful flesh of friends and family will miss the lie. Even the new man is not always equipped to notice every lie false prophets speak. Ultimately there is only one who spotted every lie of the devil and He is the same one who still sees them all for the lies that they are. Thankfully the apostle John sayss that this mighty God lives with you. “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them [false prophets], because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)
The lies of false prophets who preach great errors such as salvation by works, decision, or personal sincerity can at times seem full of truth. Every great lie seems like a great truth to those who believe the lie. The lies of false prophets who preach small seemingly insignificant errors can at times seem close enough to the truth to be the truth. The greater truth however is that God has given us his pure word, which is the ultimate truth and shows the lies for the what they are. In addition even to that He has given us the truth of the forgiveness of all our sins of believing those lies at times and every other sin in our life as well. Praise be to God for this most wonderful and greatest of all truths.
In Christ,
Pastor Naumann
