Call Him a Liar

John 8:44b

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Today I want to talk about temptation and spiritual attacks, especially those of the devil. Jesus, in John chapter eight, he’s talking about the devil. When he says this,

Whenever he lies, he speaks from what is his, because he is a liar and the father of lying. (John 8:44b)

I think this is such a helpful picture as we face temptation to view every temptation as a lie from the devil. Each time that Satan attacks us, it’s usually in one of two ways. It’s either through a temptation or an accusation. And if we can view every single one of these as a lie and identify the lie through God’s word, it makes it easier to resist these things. There’s a famous hymn that was written by the leader of the Reformation, Martin Luther. The hymn is called A Mighty Fortress is Our God. And in this hymn he uses this beautiful, powerful poetry to paint us a picture of the power of Jesus Christ, but also the power of our enemy of the devil.

He says the old evil foe now means deadly woe. Deep guile and great might are his dread arms and fight, and on earth is not his equal. We’re reminded here that if we go against Satan by ourselves, if we try to battle this enemy, we will lose every single time. But thankfully, there’s more verses to the hymn. He continues on, for us, fights the valiant one. He’s pointing us to Jesus, and he reminds us that the fight is not ours alone, but that Jesus took on human flesh to fight for us. And every single day he resisted the temptations of Satan, that every single day he fulfilled the law of God in our place. And that as the completion of this defeat over the devil, he goes to the cross and he wins for us salvation. It’s through his laying, the laying down of his life that our sins are forgiven. He defeated the enemies that we can never beat. He overcame sin, death, and even the devil for us.

Through faith in him that victory is ours and we no longer have to fear the devil and his lies. Verse three of that hymn says this. This world’s prince may still scowl fierce as he will. That devil has been defeated for us. Yet that doesn’t mean that he won’t attack. That doesn’t mean he won’t bring to us his temptations and accusations, his lies. But he can harm us none. He’s judged the deed is done and one little word. Can fell him.

I’ve sung this hymn hundreds of times growing up, and I always assume that that one little word was Jesus. But Luther in his writings, he reveals exactly what he was thinking about when he wrote this line. He says that the one little word that he was thinking of is liar. So when Satan comes to you with the temptation, he comes to you with a lie and he says, look at the things of this world. Look at the things that are bad, that God has said is bad. Look at them. They’re good. Look for material possessions and money and power to fulfill you, to give you happiness, to bring you contentment. Call the devil what he is. Say no, you are a liar. There is one thing needful. A right relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. This is the one thing that can bring us contentment. The one thing that can satisfy. The one thing that can bring us joy.

When Satan comes to you with these accusations about who you are, he says, you cannot be loved by God. You are still in your sin. You have done too many evil things. There’s too much sin in you. You can’t actually think that you are going to heaven. Call him what he is. He’s a liar. Say no, I know that I am not good enough for my God. But I know that Jesus has done everything necessary, that Jesus is good enough, that He has won the victory for me, that he has fulfilled the law, that he has laid down his life for me, that the victory has been won and that I get to share in that victory with Christ through faith.

Each and every time that we face temptations or accusations. Stand on the truth of the gospel. Call the devil what he is calling him a liar, knowing that the truth of God’s word is our foundation, our comfort, our confidence and our joy. Amen.