Student Study Guide
Lesson 30
The Seven Lies of the Enemy - Pt. 2
Section 1 - Lie Four: "I Didn't Want to Do It"
The Lie That Avoids Ownership - and Therefore Avoids Freedom
We continue from Lesson 29 where we covered the first three lies: "I can't resist it," "the devil made me do it," and "it came upon me all of a sudden." Now we move into the remaining four - including the biggest lie of all.
⚠ Lie Four - "I Didn't Want to Do It"
1. Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own and enticed. Then, when desire has , it gives birth to ; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth .
✍ The "Because You Want To" Account
As a young Christian, struggling in a particular area, crying out: "Why, God? Why do I keep doing this?" And He answered: "Because you want to." "No, I don't." "Yes, you do." We went back and forth. Advice: do not argue with God.
Whatever your struggle is - you must stop lying to yourself. Every sin you did, you wanted to do. That level of honest ownership is precisely where freedom begins.
The Adam Pattern: God asked Adam: "Did you eat of the tree?" - giving him every opportunity to say, "Father, forgive me. I sinned." Instead Adam said, "It was the woman." Then: "The woman whom You gave to be with me" (Gen. 3:12). He was blaming God. As long as those lies hold - that it was not me, that I could not resist, that God made me this way - the bondage holds.
2. Adam he sinned. He just refused to take for it. Many of us do the same. We cry over our sin, feel genuine guilt, but will not truly own it. As long as we will not it, we will not be free from it.
3. Notice the requirement: . Not explain. Not justify. Not, "I did it but the circumstances were impossible." Simply: "I sinned. I wanted it. I chose it. Forgive me." That level of honest ownership opens the door to real .
Your Reflection
Section 2 - Lie Five: "I've Already Sinned This Far - I Might as Well Go All the Way"
The Lie That Turns Mercy Into Permission to Go Deeper
⚠ Lie Five - "I've Already Gone This Far, Might as Well Go All the Way"
4. What God is actually saying in that moment of conviction is: "I am still . It's not too late. Turn around now." The moment you dismiss that voice and harden yourself to it, the begins to lift - not because God has abandoned you, but because you have chosen to harden your .
5. Today. Not tomorrow. Even if you have already stepped partway down the wrong path - right there. Turn around. Run. It is far worse to hear the Holy Spirit in the midst of your sin and Him than to have already fallen some way and then immediately .
The direction you turn matters more than how far you have gone.
Always respond to the Holy Spirit. Never grieve or quench His voice.
Your Reflection
Section 3 - Lie Six: "I'm Too Old, Too Young, Too Weak, Too Broken"
The Lie of Excuses - in Every Version and Dialect
⚠ Lie Six - The Lie of Excuses
6. To those who have said "I'm just not strong like you are": you have no idea what I came out of, what I battled through, what God had to do in me. It was not me. It was the power of the . And that same power is available to .
The Hardest Version of This Lie: "Certain communities cannot be expected to live holy because of what they have suffered historically." That is a lie from the pit of hell. The blood of Jesus is sufficient to deliver anyone from any bondage, regardless of history, background, trauma, or circumstance. As long as you give license to the excuse, you will not walk free - not because God cannot free you, but because you are using your excuse to avoid the very step that leads to freedom.
7. There is no temptation that is not to man. And God has always made a way out. Your excuse does not change His . As long as you give license to the excuse, you will not walk .
Your Reflection
Section 4 - Lie Seven: "As Long as I'm in the Flesh, I'm Going to Sin"
The Greatest Lie of All - and the Truth That Destroys It
⚠ Lie Seven - The Greatest Lie of All
8. Jesus came to (destroy, loosen, and dissolve) the works of the devil - including sin, sickness, and death. He came to the bondage that entered into man through Adam, the nature itself.
The Sin Nature in History: When Adam and Eve sinned, they took on a sin nature. They were created in the image of God, but after they sinned their children were born after their own image - no longer after the image of God. The sin nature was passed through the bloodline. Jesus, through the cross, has broken the power of the sin nature.
9. Divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and (2 Pet. 1:3). We have become " of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Pet. 1:4). As a born-again believer, is now a matter of will, not a matter of nature.
Section 5 - Romans 7 Is Not Your Christian Experience
Understanding the Text That Has Been Misread to Excuse Defeat
Many want to run to Romans 7 where Paul said he couldn't do what he wanted and kept doing what he hated. If Paul lived like that, surely this is the normal Christian experience. But this is a serious misreading of the text, and context makes it clear.
10. Paul says: "I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, revived and I died" (Rom. 7:9). He is describing the age of - his childhood before the law became real to him. This happened once, in his past - not as an ongoing experience.
The Key Distinction: Nowhere in Scripture does it say that a born-again believer dies every time he sins. If that were true, we would have to be born again repeatedly. Paul is describing a past event. It was common in ancient Jewish writing to describe past events in the present tense for storytelling effect - that is what Paul is doing throughout Romans 7.
11. At the end of Romans 7, Paul cries: "O wretched man that I am! Who will me?" And then: "I thank God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" That cry and that answer is the into chapter 8.
12. Romans 7:7-23 is Christ. Romans 8 is . As a born-again believer, sin is now a matter of will, not a matter of nature. You do not have to obey it any longer. Stop accepting the lie that you will always be a to your flesh. It is finished.
He condemned the sin nature in the flesh. He broke its power.
You do not have to obey it any longer. It is finished.
Final Reflection
Lesson 30 - Practice Test
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Part A: Multiple Choice (5 questions · 2 pts each)
1. According to James 1:14-15, why does the lesson say "I didn't want to do it" is a lie?
2. What does the lesson say actually happens when a believer dismisses the Holy Spirit's conviction mid-sin using Lie Five?
3. What does the lesson say about the claim that certain people or communities cannot be expected to live holy because of their background or historical suffering?
4. What does the lesson say Romans 7 actually is - and what it is not?
5. According to the lesson, what is the most important thing the lesson says about what Jesus accomplished in relation to sin - beyond forgiving sins?
Part B: True or False (6 statements · 1 pt each)
1. The lesson teaches that Adam confessed his sin to God and therefore serves as a positive model of genuine repentance in the face of failure.
2. The lesson says that when the Holy Spirit convicts you in the midst of sin, the direction you turn matters more than how far you have already gone.
3. According to this lesson, the sin nature inherited from Adam has been broken in power for the born-again believer through the work of Christ on the cross.
4. The lesson teaches that in Romans 5:12, Paul shifts from discussing sins (plural, individual acts) to sin (singular, the inherited sin nature), and that this shift carries through to Romans 8.
5. Lie Seven ("as long as I'm in the flesh I'm going to sin") is described by the lesson as a minor theological error - essentially correct in its diagnosis, even if its pastoral application is harmful.
6. The lesson concludes that Romans 8 describes the normal life of the born-again believer: no condemnation, freedom from the law of sin and death, and the sin nature deprived of its power.
Part C: Fill in the Blank (5 items · 1 pt each)
1. James 1:15: When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth .
2. 1 John 3:8: For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might the works of the devil.
3. Romans 6:14: Sin shall not have over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
4. Romans 7 is Paul's experience - before Christ - not the normal Christian life.
5. For the born-again believer, sin is now a matter of , not a matter of nature.
Part D: Short Answer (completion credit)
1. Explain why "I didn't want to do it" is a lie according to James 1:13-15, and what genuine confession looks like in contrast to Adam's response in the garden.
2. The lesson says Lie Seven is the greatest lie of all. Explain what Jesus actually came to do beyond forgiving sins, using 1 John 3:8, Romans 8:3 (AMPC), and 2 Peter 1:3-4 to support your answer.
3. Explain the correct context of Romans 7. What is Paul actually describing, how does the narrative technique he uses create the misunderstanding, and what is the correct relationship between Romans 7 and Romans 8?
Part E - Before You Leave
Name the specific excuse (Lie Six) you have been carrying that explained why you could not walk in full victory in a particular area. Lay it alongside Philippians 4:13 and Romans 8:37. What does it cost you to keep that excuse? What will you say to God right now instead?
If Romans 8 - not Romans 7 - is your normal Christian experience, what changes in how you relate to sin in your daily life? What lie have you been living under that this lesson has exposed? Write it out and surrender it.