Wednesday evening in our study
in Exodus chapter 5, we talked about how the sinner
was represented by both the Hebrews and Pharaoh. In their preaching
to the two, one was represented. In that study, I talked about
Satan, of whom Pharaoh is a clear type, ruling and influencing
all those in his kingdom. The Hebrew children served him
as much as the generals in his own army. They lived out their
days according to the dictates of Pharaoh. He made and interpreted
the laws and punished them accordingly. He dictated the deities they
worshipped. He enslaved the children of the
covenant and force them by His power to build monuments to His
name. And this is a clear picture of
every son of Adam and especially of God's elect before they are
delivered, as Paul said, from the power of darkness and translated
into the kingdom of His dear Son. I invite you this morning
to take your Bibles and turn with me to 1 John chapter 4. I want to show you from the Scriptures
that spirit of Antichrist that holds men in bondage, dictates
their works and wills, and show you side by side the spirit of
Christ that delivers us from that root. I have no desire,
Brother Mahan told me one time, to be careful about preaching
too much Antichrist and not enough Christ. So that's my desire this
morning is to lay these two things side by side, exposing the one
and encouraging you to the other. And there's a sense in which
everyone in Egypt was possessed by the power. He owned everything
in Egypt. He owned Egypt and the people
in it. Pharaoh owned the whole shooting match. And he possessed
them, but not personally. He didn't put a collar on them
and lead them around on a chain. That's not how it worked. But by well-organized, long-time
established, and very powerful people, you can go all the way
back to the days of Abraham in Egypt. Egypt's been there a long
time. A long time. In much the same way as Pharaoh
ruled over Egypt, Satan rules over men. Pharaoh was a deity. Did you know that? He claimed
to be God. The Pharaohs of Egypt claimed
to be God. And he gave to the people such
gods that appealed to their lusts and their carnal appetites. All
these different gods that were represented in these different
things. And God, when He brought in the plagues, each plague was
designed specifically to kill one of the deities of Pharaoh.
Each one of them. The rule, the presence, and power
of the Spirit of Antichrist is undeniable. You find it, I just
read to you about it. Here's a family isolated out
here in the middle of nowhere, and John writes to that family
calls her the elect lady and her children. And what does he
tell her? What does he tell her about?
He tells her about Antichrist. He tells her about the danger
of all of these things that would take her away from the hope and
the work which was established by the Holy Spirit of God. It's undeniable. But what makes
it undetectable We talk about that spirit of Antichrist, and
for the most part, when I was up in Kansas City the other day,
I just sat quietly and listened. And there was some folks there
that I believe have some signs and evidences of true conversion.
And there's some there who didn't. And I listened to them talk.
But I especially remember the conversation that some were having
over this Antichrist. And they were looking forward
to this time, not with anticipation, but they were talking about this
time when this incarnation of evil was going to appear in the
world, this Antichrist. And that's how most men think
when they think about Antichrist. They think about this person
who's going to come sometime at the end of time and he's going
to reveal himself and he's going to run around and everybody in
his kingdom is going to have 666 on their forehead They're
right now talking about computer implants and they're calling
that, that's how you're going to put this number and all this. Antichrist. Antichrist. What makes it undetectable and
therefore unbelievable is how it works and appears in the world. This evil spirit and power is
not manifested in the man who phones at the mouth and screams
out obscenities. It's not in the Charlie Mansons
and all of these type of men, although that may be inclusive
in this possession. And while all of these different
things might be included in it, it's more commonly seen in the
everyday lives of men and women who believe not the truth of
Jesus Christ. That's where that Spirit of Antichrist
is manifested. And that's on whom the devil
preys. That's his prey. And he rules
over them. And he reigns in them. In Ephesians
2, verse 2, it describes our condition before conversion as
walking according to the course of this world. And here's the
part I want you to see. According to the Prince of the
power of the air, the Spirit, that now worketh in the children
of disobedience." Now in this sense, every son of Adam is possessed
by the spirit of the devil. Does he have them on a collar
and a chain? No. Does it appear in some drastic way? Does it come out
and appear before men like it did in the Gadarene demoniac
who they couldn't chain and he ran around with no clothes on
and living with the dead and sleeping in caves? No. No. It's not in a sensational
way like that demoniac. But it's more along the lines
of what's being pictured in Egypt. You read through that Exodus
chapter 5 and 6 and so on, and you see old people down there
in Egypt, that's how Satan rules and reigns in the kingdom of
darkness. One people convinced that they were highly
favored of the deities, the Egyptians. People convinced of God's favor
by their wealth and education and social structure. We're of
God. God blessed us. Look at us. We're rich. We're
rich. We're free. We're educated. We have the finest libraries.
God's favored us. The other oppressed and forced
to build monuments to the God of this world. This is what this
that now worketh in the children of disobedience. That's what
he's talking about. The spirit of the prince of darkness,
he said, now worketh in the children of disobedience. If you look
that word up, John, it's a working. It's not a working like you pack
up your lunch bucket and go to work. That's not what he's talking
about there. He's talking about a working. Working, working,
working. The best example I can give you
is living. When you put it in the flower,
it begins to work. It begins to work. It begins
to cause a change. That old flower that was just
laid there, now it rises. It takes on a change. It swells. It's working, working, working.
That's what that Spirit does. The Spirit of Satan in this world
is working. Working in the hearts of men.
Bringing about a change. He said, Beware of the leaven
of the Pharisees. And over and over the Lord says,
He says to them, He said, Ye are of your father the devil. Now that's what He's talking
about. That's what He's talking about.
He was a liar from the beginning. He was a murderer from the beginning.
You're His children. You sit under His influence.
You're a true Egyptian. As the children of God are known
by the influence and power of the Spirit of God, so natural
men are known by the Spirit and influence of the God of this
world. But I think perhaps one of the clearest passages on this
subject is in the chapter preceding our text over in 1 John 3, verse
8. Now, he tells us, if you read
through these letters of John, in 1 John 1 he said, If you say
you haven't sinned, you make God a liar. You say that sin, you don't have
any sin in you, you make God a liar. You deny the truth, you
don't know the truth. Now watch this, 1 John 3, verse
8. He that committeth sin is of
the devil. He's of the devil. For the devil
sinneth from the beginning, For this purpose, the Son of God
was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil. Now read with me these first
several verses here in 1 John 4. Beloved, believe not every spirit. Anybody know what that's talking
about? Why on earth would He call a preacher a spirit? It's not a confusion of language
because in other places he uses the term, how shall you hear
without a preacher? He uses the term. He could have
used it here, but he didn't. Because it implies more than
that. It implies more than that. It's
talking about preachers, but it's talking about more than
that. It's talking about the spiritual, their spiritual interpretation,
motivation, their understanding and explanation of the doctrine
of Christ. In conversations with my friends
and relatives, they often point their finger at me and say, that's
your opinion. Have you ever had one do that? That's your interpretation. That's what he's talking about
here. He's talking about that interpretation. That's exactly
what he's talking about. Believe not every spirit, but
try the spirits, whether they be of God, because many false
prophets are gone out into the world. I want you to think about
that for a minute. Many. Many. Not a whole lot of great preachers
around, but there's many false prophets. Many false prophets. Not a handful, but many. Our Lord said the way of destruction,
He called it a broad road because many there be that go on. He said, do not believe or submit
to or give honor to just any man with any message because
he says he's God's preacher. Because there's a whole shoot
match out there. There's a whole multitude out
there. Every one of them jumping up
and down saying, I'm God's preacher. That's what he's telling them. Don't believe everybody stands
up and tells you they're a preacher. Don't believe them. Prove them.
Prove them. whether they be of God. Try whether
they be of God. Try the Spirits. Verse 2. All right. How are we going to try them?
Hereby know ye the Spirit. See that capital S? Whenever
that word Spirit is capitalized, he's talking about the Holy Spirit.
Whenever it's a small s, he's talking about spiritual understanding.
Try the spirits. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God. You know His man, His teaching.
You know His means, His revelation, His regeneration, His reconciliation. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come into
the flesh is of God. I know that this is not talking
about an historic fact, because you can't hardly find any religion
today that don't believe that. That's not what this is saying.
And if you look at it, I'm not a linguist or anything, but just
take me at my word this morning. I've looked into this thing,
and there's a couple of words there that are unfortunately
interjected into this. And the two words is that and
is. Now if you take them out, here's
the way it reads. Every spirit that confesses Jesus
Christ come into the flesh is of God. He's not just confessing
the historic account, but it's the very heart of His faith.
This confesseth is talking about a constant confession here. He's
talking about a working, just the same as that working of that
evil spirit, there's a working of the Holy Spirit. And His confession,
His constant confession, His confession of life, His confession
of mouth, His confession of habit, is that Jesus Christ came in
to this world. He confesses the incarnation
of God in the man, Christ Jesus, that permanent union of deity
and flesh. He confesses the necessity of
it, the offices assumed by Him, the origin of Christ, being of
God, the accomplishments of His coming, the sufficiency of His
sacrifice, and the divine purpose of the Father throughout. And if you read all these Just
get you a strong concordance or something, look up the word
Antichrist, see if what I'm telling you is not so. Go over and read
all these, we don't have time this morning, but read all these
separate accounts and you'll see that what I'm telling you
is so. Verse 3, and every spirit that confesseth not Jesus Christ
come into the flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit
of Antichrist whereof you have heard that it should come and
even now already is in the world. Ye are of God, little children,
and have overcome them, them possessed with the spirit of
antichrist, deceived by his subtlety and lies, because greater is
he that is in you than he that is in the world. You see what
he's talking about there? He's talking about this spirit
of Antichrist that rules and reigns in Egypt. It reigns in
this world. It reigns over the Hebrews. It reigns over the children of
the covenant. And it reigns over the Egyptians. It reigns over the whole land,
over the whole world. But God comes down. And through
the preaching of the Gospel, and the presence and power of
the Holy Spirit of God, He enters in and performs a work. And greater, He said, is He that
is in you than he that is in the world. Verse 5, they are
of the world. Therefore speak they of the world,
and the world heareth them. We are of God. He that knoweth
God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth
not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth and that spirit of error, that spirit of anti-crime. Now, the presence and power of
the God of this world working in the children of disobedience
is undeniable. But what makes it so undetectable
is this strong delusion that falls upon men. Paul said, if
our gospel be hid, it's hid to the law, in whom the God of this
world have blinded their minds. It's a delusion. You talk to
the average person about a spirit of Antichrist, the spirit of
Satan, and ruling and deceiving, and he just looks at you like
you've been reading to him. Like that one king that heard
Paul and he said, much study hath made thee mad. That's how
men look at you when you talk. And yet it's on every page. It's
on every page throughout the Word of God. And you can call it what you
want to, you can call it worldliness, ungodliness, being lost, being
a sinner, ignorant, you can call it all, whatever you want to
call it, but it all boils down to this. We walk before our conversion
according to the prince of the power of the air, that spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience. And by nature,
we are the children of wrath even as others. I want to give
you five things this morning that evidence, this evidence
of the spirit of the devil working in the minds and hearts of all
those who yet do not know the Lord. And at the same time, I
want to show you that spirit of Christ in us, that spirit
of Christ and how it conquers that spirit of antichrist. I'll
give you five things. Now understand that this Spirit
is exposed in its attitude and conduct toward the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is anti-Christ. If you just
take that, if you don't get anything else I say this morning, you
get that. It's anti-Christ. They're anti-anything that has
to do with Christ. They're anti-His sovereignty
and anti-His offices, anti-His kingship, anti-His eternality. They're anti-everything when
it comes to Christ. It's expressly defined over and
over in the Scriptures as anti-Christ, and it's exposed in its opposition
to the person and work of Christ. Now, here's the first thing I
know about this spirit of anti-Christ. It's exposed to the mediatorial
rule of Christ. Turn with me to Psalm chapter
2. The Bible said there is one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. A mediator is one
representing two parties that are at odds with one another.
They have differences that cannot be settled. And He representing
both parties works out the differences and makes the peace. And this
mediation is brought to pass by His obedience and blood. And
then having satisfied God on the part of the sinner, he brings
him the good news of peace and reconciles him to God. He reconciles
God by his righteousness and shed blood, and he reconciles
us by bringing to us that peace that he made with God. He's given
to us the ministry of reconciliation. that God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto Himself. And to accomplish this work,
this eternal purpose of grace, God appointed Him as the Mediatorial
King and committed all things into His hand. Psalm chapter
2. Now watch this. This is a perfect description
of what I'm preaching to you here this morning. Just try to
picture the world. The world's out here possessed
with this Antichrist spirit. They're possessed by it. Not
personally. He don't come in here and put
a chain on Winston's neck and just leave Winston around and
then you know he's demon possessed. That ain't how it worked. That
ain't how it worked in Egypt. That's not how it works today.
But it works through this organized religion. It works through this
long established community. That's what he's picturing there
in Egypt. And Pharaoh sits up here and runs the whole shebang. But just as surely as He put
that collar on your neck, He put that man to put that collar
on your neck. And so He controls these demon
spirits, and so He controls these so-called preachers of righteousness.
They are called His ministers. His ministers. Now watch this. Watch this description. Psalm
2, verse 1. Why do the heathen rage and the
people imagine a vain thing? Why do they do that? The kings
of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against His anointed saying, let us break
their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. Why
would any man despise the benevolent rule of Christ whose rule is
given to him to give to you eternal life? That's what he's asking. Why do they do that? Even the kings, the rulers, why
do they do that? Why do they do that? A rule given to them to give
life to helpless sinners. Why is it that both the heathen
and the people of Israel and the kings and rulers of this
world would set themselves in opposition to God and His Son? Why would they do that? There's
no evil in it. It's all purpose for good. Why
would you despise it? Acts chapter 4 verse 28 gives
the answer. Because God, it's for to do.
He uses the same scripture in Psalm chapter 2 over there. He
said they all come together. Here's where this thing is at
its brightest revelation. And he said, all these kings
over here, they're all gathered together, and Israel's all gathered
together, and the Gentiles are all gathered together. Well,
they don't. They're going to do what God's
hand determined before to be done. That's what they're going
to do. In spite of all the demonic influence
and powers in the world, God says, I've sent my king upon
my holy hill in Zion. That's where he's at. By my decree,
I begotten Him as my Son. And whatever He asks, He gets. Whatever He desires, it's His. If He asks for the heathen, I
give them to Him. Whatever He asks, this is my
King. You'll kiss the Son or you'll
perish from the way. That's the message of Psalm 2.
This mediator of God, God's King. set Him on the hill, and He rules
and reigns everything. This world despises that. They
despise that. A believer is a person who is
brought to see the King of glory, seated upon the throne of grace,
ruling and reigning over everything that is for the good of his elect
and the glory of God's redemptive name. Antichrist manifests itself
in a rebellion of heart that will not bow to the person, means,
the providential arrangement of God's mediatorial king. Secondly,
that spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
it opposes itself and exposes itself in an opposition to the
redemptive work of Christ. It ain't gonna have it. Not gonna
have it. They will not take the redemption
accomplished in Christ as it's stated in this book, word for
word. Won't do it. They turn it around. They'll
add to it or deny it altogether. In Hebrews 9, verse 12, the Holy
Spirit of God declares that by His own blood He entered in once
into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us. Verse
26, once in the end of the world has He appeared to put away sin
by the sacrifice of Himself. Hebrews 10, verse 14, For by
one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. World, the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. The message of the Holy Spirit
of God is that by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ,
our sins and iniquities are put away, and God remembers our sins
no more. He remembers them no more. Hebrews
10, verse 17. The spirit of the devil, the
spirit of antichrist, manifests itself in a dissatisfaction with
the atonement of Christ. I'm happy with that. The spirit
of the devil suggests that we add to the blood of Christ. What
are we going to add? We're going to add your will.
Sure. What are we going to add? We're
going to add your works. We're going to add your commitment.
We're going to add, add, add, add, social reform, whatever.
We're going to add to it. We're going to add to it. Even though they're told over
and over and over, it's not according to their works, not according
to their will, and yet they talk about their will and their work.
He tells us we're justified freely by His grace through the redemption,
are you with me? through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation, that is, to
make God propitious, to enable God to show mercy justly. And then Paul goes on in Romans
10, and he said, if we sin willfully, what in the world is that? All
sin is willful, isn't it? That's not what he's talking
about. He's talking about if you sin willfully having received
this knowledge, this knowledge of the truth, and you want to
depart from that or add to it, there remaineth no more sacrifice
for sins for you. Just a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation. That's all there is. There's
just one atonement. There's just one sacrifice. If
it's not sufficient, you're a goner. You're a goner. That's what he's
saying. And to Christ, he insists on
adding to it, adding to it, adding to it. Third, the spirit worketh
in the children of disobedience by an opposition to his righteousness. They say his righteousness is
not sufficient. They said his righteousness,
this obedience of Christ as a servant in this world, his righteousness
that he brought out was only an example. It shows you how
to live. They deny completely that that
righteousness was the righteousness of our representative and imputed
to us through faith. They say, do this and live. The Bible said the just should
live by faith. Their righteousness is imputed
to them the same as it was to Abraham. Abraham believed God. And it was charged to Him, imputed
to Him for righteousness. And it wasn't written for His
sake alone, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed if
we believe on Him that raised up our Lord from the dead. All believers do good works.
They all love one another. They all support the ministry.
They all believe. They all worship and so on. But
no believer does these things to be accepted of God. He's accepted
of God on the basis of that shed blood and that righteousness
accomplished by Christ. He's the end of the law. That's
what it says. What's that word end mean? You
name it. It means end. That's what it
means. Well, you talking about the goal? Yeah, I'm talking about
the goal. It's the end. Well, you talking about the dissolving
of it? Yeah, I'm talking about the dissolving
of it. You talking about the end of it? I'm talking about
the end of it. He is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. Fourthly, the spirit of Antichrist
that rules in the hearts of all unbelievers is exposed by his
opposition to the reconciliation of God. He is not happy about
that. He says that when he wants to, he can turn over a new leaf
And he can reconcile himself to God. He can say he can make
up his mind. I couldn't even tell you how
many people have told me that over the years. Well, I'm still a young preacher. We get settled down. He said,
I'm going to make things right with God. That ain't how God
reconciles sinners. But Antichrist will make you
believe that. He'll make you believe that. He'll make you
believe that Christ is no more than a fire escape. You just
keep Him up your own, and if you need it, you can put Him
down real quick. That's not how God reconciles sinners. He labors to find and insists
on something other than Christ alone to be sufficient to reconcile
himself to God. Now, here's what the Scripture
says. Here's what the Holy Spirit reveals on this matter. 2 Corinthians
5, 18. All things are of God who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and, see that and, hath
given to us the ministry of reconciliation. to wit that God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now that's God's way of reconciling. And you bow to it, you bow to
it, or you bow to the teaching of Antichrist, one or the other.
There is no reconciliation of men to God except in a substitutionary
work. and righteous representation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. One God, one mediator between
God and me and the man Christ Jesus. And there's nothing else
implied, nothing else example, nothing else to preach except
the righteousness and blood of our substitute. A fella said one time, he said,
now I get it. Now let's move on. And you know,
you don't get it. If you got it, you wouldn't want
to be moving on. This is it. This is where it
is. Antichrist suggests reform, a righteous life, good intentions,
joining the church, commitment, self-sacrifice, and all of these
things. He's always opposed to the reconciliation
of God in Christ. And then last of all, the spirit
of this wicked one worketh in the children of disobedience
by denial and opposition to the second coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This being possessed by the spirit
of antichrist is to live out your days in total disregard
of that day of God. That's what it is. Boy, that
goes home, don't it? It did to me. It's living out
your days in total disregard. Do you really believe that there's
a day of judgment? Do you believe that? Huh? Boy, we don't live like it, do
we? And you think this is unbeliever.
What is this spirit and attitude in the world toward that day?
Total disregard. Total disregard of it. 2 Peter 3, verse 3. He
said, knowing this first, that in the last days there shall
come scoffers, mockers, mocking the Word of God, walking after
their own lust, saying, where is the promise of His coming?
For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were
from the beginning of creation. Springtime, harvest, summer,
winter, day under day, night under night, year after year.
Life and death. No interruption. No intervention. Without any type of change, any big visible
change. It just all looks like it's the
same. All looks like it's the same. This they say, being ignorant
of. and denying altogether the destruction
of the ancient world. That's what Peter said you're
ignorant of. They say this not realizing that
it was standing in and out of the waters, suspended by the
decree of God. You go back to Genesis chapter
1 verse 9, you'll find out that He gathered those waters into
a certain place and by His decree, He said your proud waves are
going to come this far and no further. They're ignorant of that, John.
Ignorant of that destruction. God said, now I'm going to destroy
the world. I'm going to destroy the world. And I'm going to save these eight. And he told them that. But he
didn't destroy it right that day. It was 120 years later when
he destroyed it. And when he did, He took that
decree from that water, and that water came up, and the great
springs of the deep came up, and the rain came down, and He
covered this globe in water and swallowed them up in judgment.
2 Peter 3 verse 7, But the heavens
and the earth, which are now by the same word, are kept in
store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition
of ungodly men. God not in a hurry. Not in a
hurry. Not affected by man's foolish
notions. Verse 9. He not slack concerning
his promise. Don't ever, don't ever mistake
God's patience and long suffering as a sign of weakness or inability
or change in his mind. God doesn't change. But God is
long-suffering, He said, to usward, to His elect, to believers, not
willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
And He preserves this world in long-suffering, tolerating the
vessels of wrath, pitted for destruction, until His vessels
of mercy are all gathered into Christ. And seeing then that
all these things, verse 11, Seeing that all these things shall be
dissolved, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation
and godliness?" You see that? The Spirit of Christ, John, sobers
a man up. It gives him eyes to see and
it sobers him up and he understands this thing is so near you could
touch it. And Peter said, we're hastening,
we're running headlong into judgment. Sober, aware, live that way,
he said. What manner of person don't we
be? Looking for, hastening unto the
coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire shall
be dissolved and the elements shall melt with the fervent heat.
Nevertheless, in spite of man's obnoxious rebellion and attitude
and conduct, in spite of that spirit that
now works in the children of disobedience. Nevertheless, we,
according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness. Old Noah looked with eyes of
faith at the destruction of the whole known world. Nobody else saw it. Nobody else
lived that way, did they? It said, Noah moved with fear. Ain't that what Peter's telling
us to do? Sure it is. Believing that what was revealed
to him would preserve him from this judgment, he prepared an
ark to the saving of his house. And then he got in that ark,
and he looked out that window in the ark and looked for a new
earth. Isn't that what Peter says? Nevertheless,
we look. We see that destruction. I see
it right now. I see that wrath of God abiding,
abiding on all those who believe not. I see it in opposition to the
very glory of God in Christ, to all of these things that I've
mentioned to you here this morning. Nevertheless, out that window
of grace, I look. I look. I know he's going to
burn this place up. But he said he's going to create
a new heaven and a new earth. That's what Noah looked for.
I tell you, when God shut the door on Noah, he shut that door. He stood in that ark. He kissed
his world goodbye. Yes, he did. He heard the thunder.
He heard the lightning. He heard the rain. And he kissed
his world goodbye. He didn't look for that anymore.
What he looked out was that window of grace and he looked for new
heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. That's
the Spirit of Christ. Spirit of Christ rejoices, receives,
is not in opposition to anything that has to do with Christ. They
rejoice in Him. The Spirit of Antichrist, He
rebels and He's in opposition to everything that has to do
with Christ. And just write it down. When
you stand and you talk to a man and he does it, that's that spirit
of antichrist in him. And if he brings that into your
house to preach, or he brings that into the church to preach,
don't bid him Godspeed. Don't help him on his way. Don't
pat him on his back. Tell him, hit the road. Hit the
road. Father, use the message this
morning. Teach us something of the power and presence of sin
and of its subtlety. Oh, we look around and with eyes
of faith we see what You say in Your Word. We see that Spirit
of Antichrist bubbling and working and all of these things in the
hearts of men. And at the same time, we see
the Spirit of the living God demonstrated in the hearts of
men, called out of that kingdom and power of darkness and translated
into the kingdom of your dear Son. Be with us as we stand and
minister to this community and minister to this congregation.
Give us the words and the teaching and be with us. Oh, we pray that
your Spirit be with us. and guide us, and help us to
see it, to believe it, and to walk in it. For Christ's sake,
amen.