Satan’s Three Big Lies – Part I

In this three part series I plan to discuss three of Satan’s biggest lies. We know that Satan is the father of lies and sadly many people, including some  Christians, buy his deceptions without ever questioning if they have any validity. 

Lie #1 – People are basically good.

The number one reason I hear, when asking people if they believe they are going to heaven when they die, is that they are basically good. The problem is that being good won’t get you to heaven – only being forgiven for our sins will. And the other problem is that none of us are really good. We read in (Romans 3:10): “There is none righteous, no, not one.” While Satan tries to convince us that we are good people, the Bible teaches us that we are sinners with, in the words of Jeremiah, a desperately wicked heart (Jeremiah 17:9).

But some may say can’t even sinners do good things? While it is true that we can do good deeds our motives, before coming to Christ, are not so pure. Our motives in fact are actually selfish. The main focus in our lives, because of sin, is not on God, or even others, but on self. Sin always seems to find us out when we examine the motive behind our actions. I share the following personal testimony to demonstrate the all-encompassing nature of sin.

Back in 1981, I used to do volunteer work at a community center for mentally disturbed individuals in New York City. Twice a week I would donate my time to help feed, socialize with and listen to the problems of these hurting people. Years later, when I began to analyze my motives behind doing such a worthwhile activity, the answer suddenly became obvious. Back then there existed a great void in my life, and a desire to find meaning. I thought that this work would help fill that void in my life. The real reason behind my outwardly good deed was not to help others, but to help me.

The undeniable truth is that man is totally depraved. Again, even the seemingly good things he does are ultimately done with sinful motives. And if you think this is an exaggeration just go back to (Genesis 6) and read what God said about mankind prior to the Flood: “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5).

The reality is that if Satan can make you believe that you are basically good then he can also make you believe that you don’t need the message of the gospel. Maybe you believe that you sin now and then but that you aren’t that bad. After all you reason that you don’t murder people and don’t steal, so God will understand when you do sin. Scripture, however, tells us that we are grave sinners who are spiritually bankrupt and in desperate need of a Savior. The problem is that we love our sin too much and God too little. We try to rationalize that our good outweighs the bad and that somehow God will accept us.

And that is why we need to read our Bible to see what God says about who we are. The clear teaching of Scripture is that we have sinned against a holy God and as a result we are in desperate need of the forgiveness of Christ. Remember that there is no one good except God. But the good news is that God came to save sinners like you and me when we admit we are not good and in need of a Savior.