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Steve Brown: Deliberate lies can kill you. Let's talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew: Being adopted into the family of God is not about doing more or trying harder. It’s about being welcomed by God because of his radical grace, free from the penalty of sin and never alone in your suffering. That grace is what Key Life is all about.

Steve Brown: Thank you, Matthew.

If you were listening yesterday, we were talking about the kind of lies that we sometimes believe. And we saw that there’s sometime lies that are unintentional. They just happen. People say things so often that it becomes a kind of folk truth and we all believe it. And I illustrated that with the untruth that you’ll get cramps if you go into the swimming pool too soon after you’ve eaten. That’s not true. But I grew up believing it and my mother got rest because of it.

But there are other kinds of lies too. And there are calculated and deliberate lies. And their purpose is to take something of value from you or others for themselves or grant them something unearned and undeserved. Most of the time those lies are spoken by those who are intentionally looking for ways to acquire sex or money or power, etc. As the father of lies, as Jesus said, Satan’s lies are calculated and deliberate. And because they are, those lies will destroy those who believe them.

There are some cases when, of course, even calculated lies are unintentional or the liar is unaware that the liar is telling lies. Someone has said that the con artist, to be successful, must first con himself or herself. There are those who lie to themselves before they lie to others.

My wife and I recently hired a man to do some work around our house. His fees were exorbitant, but we reasoned that excellent work was sometimes expensive. Then we noticed that his fees became even more exorbitant while his work was less and less acceptable. In fact, on several occasions, he didn’t show or he failed to do what he said he would do. I finally had enough. I told him enough was enough and terminated our agreement. He said to me, "I know what you think. You think I’m a con artist and I’m not." Well, he was. But I think he honestly believed that he wasn’t.

And then there's another kind of lie called communal lies. Those lies have been repeated so often that they become acceptable narratives affirmed by everybody who counts. They are often cultural, political, religious, or social lies. These lies allow no debate or questions. They are often used to silence or cancel those who disagree with the acceptable narrative.

I could give you a thousand examples of those lies, but frankly, they're so pervasive, my examples would only make you angry. So it's best just to state that some lies are lies that everybody believes, even you, even me. Our cancel culture reflects that in both the formal and hard cancellation and the far more subtle soft cancellation.

While the cancel culture is destructive, the religious one is even more dangerous because it cuts the heart of the Christian’s joy and freedom away. I hate it. But frankly, the church has had a cancel culture for hundreds of years. In a number of ways, it still does. Because I’m a Christian and love the church, it’s hard to look at religious lies. However, if we don’t deal with those sacred cows, the suffering and the loss caused by those lies will continue.

Cultural lies critique, measure, and shape how we live. They often smell religious and are even spoken by religious leaders, me included on occasion, with the promise to change lives, to make people healthy and wealthy and wise. Cultural lies are reflected, for instance, in the self-image culture that so much of our efforts at parenting and education are involved in.

Some parents teach their children they are always wonderful and beautiful and handsome and gifted and good. Because that’s true, their children come to believe they are indeed special and deserve to be affirmed and praised and held in high esteem by others. Those kinds of lies creep into the culture and for those who believe them, lead to shrill demands for safe places, for instance, removal of anything or anyone who makes that person feel uncomfortable, and an expectation that the world was created for them.

I might say that those who believe those kind of lies are often faced with an unusually high suicide rate, depression, and an inability to function in a normal world. And ultimately, the lies lead to guilt, shame, fear, and regret. You say, "All right, what are those lies?" Look, don’t let me get ahead of myself. We’re going to talk about those for the next few weeks, maybe even months.

But it need not be so. Because we believe lies, that doesn't have to be our experience. So many Christian—I get countless letters and emails from a lot of them—wonder about the rules and the regulations of the Christian faith. They are devastated by teaching that is challenging or convicting. They’re confused by impossible demands and are frustrated teachers being faithful to God’s word and prophetic, or by those pretending to be something they’re not.

And the questions come: What’s wrong with me? Is God through with me? Am I going to hell? Do I matter? Is there a God? Does he care? Does he love? Does he love me? And it goes on and on. Now before we get into the specific lies and narratives that are a part of the book I’m working on, let me share some basic biblical truths, verities, or assumptions that I’ve learned about dealing with the lies that all of us on occasion have believed.

Let me give you the first one and we’ll talk about some others on tomorrow's broadcast. First, I have a basic assumption that the Bible is true, revealed truth. Paul said that scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. That's 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

I didn't make up what I'm going to be teaching over the next few weeks or what I’m writing in the book. I got it all from the Bible, and the Bible is a gift God gave to his people. Basic assumptions are a part of every worldview and the proof is in the pudding. In other words, basic assumptions are almost always verified by what follows and built on those assumptions.

The question is, how’s that working for you? That’s always a good question that needs to be asked. If one’s life is defined by guilt or shame or fear or regret, the world is meaningless or one’s basic assumptions are false.

So in what I’m going to be teaching and writing, I’m going to show you basic biblical truths that are life-changing. They aren’t true because they work; they work because they’re true. Jesus said, "If you abide in my word, you’re truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free." John 8:31-32. So you think about that. Amen.

Matthew: And thank you, Steve. That was Steve Brown continuing to guide us in our new teaching series about dealing with fear, guilt, shame, and regret. You ever tangle with those? Yeah, me too. What do you say we meet up again here tomorrow and we’ll keep on learning together?

Say, have you claimed your free copy of the new Key Life print magazine yet? This new edition features an article from Steve about what to do when we feel lonely. There’s also pieces from Matt Hurd, Barry Smith, and an article from Justin about the voice that changes everything. Plus, you’ll find info on a whole bunch of new and exciting features and products.

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