Guarding Sound Faith By Unmasking Old Lies

As we open to Acts 20:17, may I remind you of an old truth? “There is nothing new under the Sun”, that's what God's Word said three thousand years ago by Solomon (Ecclesiastes 1:9). When it comes to the state of Christ's Church, that truth is very helpful.

Satan has just one old playbook. His lies and tricks are old, have been used repeatedly through the centuries, and are all clear to spot. Each generation of believers faces very new and real attacks of these very old and familiar lies and deceptions. For years I have reminded you of Satan's original pack of deceptive lies in Genesis 3. They are still with us. Remember the tools Satan used in the Garden of Eden—

• Doubt God's Word: “Hath God said” (An attack on whether God has even spoken);
• Doubt God's Plan: “ye shall not surely die” (An attack on the Penal Substitutionary Atonement—only those who will trust in the perfect death of God's Substitute will be saved).
• Doubt God's Authority over Life: “your eyes shall be opened” (An attack on Biblical Epistemology—whether God's Word is the source of truth to live life God's way.)

One of the current issues that many are talking about is called the Emergent Church Movement. When examined closely, we find these same three errors present. But before we dive into the present, we need to see that some of the errors of the ECM are also the very same issues that Jesus confronted in the main stream of Bible believers in His day. In fact, we could say that Jesus faced the same situation.