Satan's Method of Deception

that Satan is a liar. He is a
liar, and he is the father of liars. Our Lord said in John
8, 44, Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your
father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning,
abode not in the truth, because there was no truth in him. When
he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar. And he's the father of it. And
then something else the Master said about him. In John chapter
12, verse 31, he called him not only a liar and a murderer and
a father of lies, but he called him the prince of this world. The prince of this world system.
In John 12, verse 31, now is the judgment of this world and
now shall the prince of this world be cast out. That's Satan
he's talking about. And then over in the book of
Ephesians, chapter 6, the Apostle Paul talks about Satan, and he
calls him a ruler. He calls him a ruler of darkness. He calls him spiritual wickedness
in high places. Spiritual wickedness. In Ephesians
6, verse 11 and 12, let's look at this. Put on the whole armor
of God that ye may be able to stand against the wows of the
devil. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, or blood and flesh, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness or wicked spirits in high places. It's
awesome, isn't it? makes us tremble when we get
on this subject. The angel of God said, The Lord
rebuke thee, Satan. And then he is called in Ephesians
2, back just a little bit, he's called the spirit that worketh
in the children of disobedience. Ephesians 2, verse 2, Wherein
in time past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air. the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience. And then one
other scripture regarding this, 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4. He's not only called a liar and
a murderer and the father of lies, and he's not only called
the prince of the world and the ruler of darkness and the spirit
that worketh in the children of disobedience, he's called
the God of this world. In 2 Corinthians 4 verse 4, in
whom the God of this world, if our gospel be hid, it's hid to
them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them. Satan's not only a liar, and
he's not only a murderer, and he's not only the prince of this
world, and the ruler of darkness, and the spirit that worketh in
the children of disobedience, and the god of this world. But
I believe the outstanding or chief attribute of Satan, and
the one he uses the most, the one with whom we have to deal,
is deceit. Deceit. Satan is a religious
fraud. He is a spirit, and his work
of deception is in that area. Rulers of darkness, wicked spirits
in high places. Satan's chief work is in the
area of religion. If you only look for Satan in
the underworld, he has you deceived. If you only look for Satan in
the camp of the atheist or the den of iniquity, this is exactly
what he would have you to believe. He's a spirit. And Satan's chief
area of deception is in the spiritual area. Now let me show you some
verses. In 2 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul
has a lot to say about this. In 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verse
10 and 11, Paul says, To whom ye forgive anything, I forgive
also. For if I forgave anything to
whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of
Christ, lest Satan should get an advantage of us." Here the
Apostle Paul, who had seen the Lord, who said, I'm not one whit
behind the chief Apostle, and yet I'm nothing. Yet he's saying
here, this must be done, lest Satan get an advantage of us,
for we're not ignorant of his devices. We're not ignorant of
his deception, his subtlety, his craftiness, his wiles. And
then, if you will, turn to 2 Corinthians 11. Paul's talking about him
again. In 2 Corinthians 11, if this doesn't cause us to tremble,
you say, why are you so anxious about this particular message?
I'm anxious because we're invading his territory. Now, you can stand
off over there in the next county and talk about a fellow, but
you come into his county, you're in trouble. unless you've got
some forces with you that are greater than him. I know a lot of people speak
lightly of Satan and they stand up and preach on, resist the
devil and he'll flee from you. It's a good possibility they
never have encountered him at all. Job encountered him. The
Apostle Peter encountered him. The Apostle Paul encountered
him. He said, Satan hindered us. And here he's talking about
the church at Corinth, 2 Corinthians 11, 3. I fear, I'm afraid, Paul
said. I'm afraid, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety. So your mind should
be corrupted from the simplicity that's in Christ. Corrupted by
whom? By the same one that corrupted
the mind of your mother, Eve. And if you look for him, if you're
looking for him down there in the honky-tonk, you're looking
in the wrong place. That's not his territory. If
you're looking for him in the atheistic camp, you think Madeleine
Murray O'Hara is his spokesman, you've got another thing coming.
She's speaking for herself. His ministers are ministers of
righteousness. They're angels of light. That's
right. Read 2 Corinthians 11. Let's go back. Let's go on over
to verse 13. Let's look at it. He talks here
about false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. Our Lord said, try the Spirit,
whether they be of God. Read on. And no marvel, that's
no marvel, these deceitful workers, these false apostles transforming
themselves into ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
no marvel. Satan himself. is transformed
into an angel of what? Darkness, disease, drunkenness,
death. No, sir. Life. Life. Got a revelation from God. Want to listen to it? Had a vision
last night. God spoke to me. Who was it that
spoke to you? Preacher said, I sat right up
in bed. I got a vision from the Lord. He showed me this. Who
showed it to you? God speaks through His Good possibility. If you get
any kind of vision in this day, a vision that reaches your senses,
like your ears or your eyes, it's not God at all. God speaks
through His Word. If they add anything to this
Word, God said, I'll add to them the plagues. If they take anything
from this Word, I'll take their names out of the Book of Life.
If they speak not according to this Word, there's no truth in
them. The canon's complete. God's not going to give you any
special revelation. Our Lord said, if they hear not
Moses and the prophets, They won't hear, though, one rose
from the dead. People are having visions, religious visions. They're having dreams and religious
dreams, but it's not God. Oh, but the dream was so sweet,
and so it was light all about me, and the vision told me to
do something good. Sure. Satan's not going to tell
you to do something bad. He ain't going to tell you to
do something good. He's a deceptive, deceitful worker, an angel of
light. Now look at it, look at it carefully, no marvel. These
deceitful workers and these false apostles changing themselves
into the apostles of Jesus Christ, what they say at the judgment,
we preached in your name. His false preachers don't preach
in the name of the devil, they preach in the name of Christ.
We cast out devils in your name. Christ said, I never knew you.
Then whose apostles were they? Whose preachers were they? He
didn't know them. Look at verse 15. Therefore it's
no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness. Whose righteousness? Your righteousness. Satan's apostles don't preach
God's righteousness in Christ. They preach your righteousness.
Your righteousness. Let me show you one of the most
interesting illustrations. I read it a moment ago. I hope
you watched it carefully. When I read that scripture where
Satan said, the kingdom, the power, and the glory is mine,
Did you note that? Have you ever heard those words
in that order before? Turn to Matthew 6, verse 13. Matthew 6, verse 13. Now listen
to this. Matthew 6, verse 13. Now what
I'm saying is this. Satan moves in the area of religion. Satan is a ruler of the darkness,
wicked spirits in high places. His apostles are false apostles,
but they're ministers of righteousness, and he himself is changed into
an angel of light. He talks about God. He talks
about God to Adam and Eve. He talks about people's eyes
being opened, people understanding truth. He talks in that vein. And here in Matthew 6, verse
13, our Lord, the disciples came and said, teach us to pray. And
he said, when you pray, say, Our Father in heaven, who are
in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." And look
at verse 13, "...and lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil." And Christ, the authority who speaks for the
Father, the Word of God, says, thine is the kingdom, thine is the power, thine is
the glory. forever. Amen. Look back at our
text. Satan said, he showed him the
kingdoms, he talked about the power, and he talked about the
glory, and he said, it's mine to give. It's mine to give. And that's the issue, that's
the battleground. Whose is the kingdom? Whose is the power? Whose is the glory? That's the
issue. That's the battleground. Who
alone can give the kingdom? Satan's a liar. Old Dr. John Gill said, Satan's a liar.
The kingdom of nature is God's. The kingdom of providence is
God's. The kingdom of grace belongs to God. It's not Satan's. It never has been. It never will
be. It's not his to give. His, God's, is the power, the
power to kill or to make alive, the power to save or to destroy,
the power to forgive sin or to preserve. And the glory is His,
the glory in all is His in all, and to whom the glory all is,
is our God. Satan's a liar, he said. He lied
to Adam and Eve, he'll lie to you. This is the issue. Almighty God
is sovereign, absolutely sovereign, in the kingdom of nature, in
the kingdom of providence, in the kingdom of grace, but He's
not sovereign at all. Somebody says, well, we just
differ in form, we differ in ceremony, we differ in some minor
doctrine. No we don't, we differ on the
main issue, the main issue. God Almighty is sovereign, absolutely
sovereign, or he is not. Almighty God is king of this
universe, or he's not. He's king in every area, or he's
not. He has the power to give life,
he has the power to destroy, he has the power to save, he
has the power to damn, or he doesn't. Christ said, Thine is the kingdom,
Thine is the power, Thine is the glory, Satan said, and mine
to give, to whom I will." Now man is either absolutely faced
with six stubborn statements. In fact, twenty-some-odd years
ago, twenty-three or four or five years ago, I heard a message
on this subject, six stubborn statements. It gripped my heart. I had to wrestle with it and
deal with it. God's either absolutely sovereign or He's not. Man's
either totally dead in sin and totally depraved and totally
without hope and help and without God, or he's not. God Almighty
either did or He didn't elect the people to salvation. He either
did or He didn't. There's no compromise. You can't
get around it. You can't say, well, elections
like this, God voted for you and the devil voted against you
and you cast it aside and vote. The devil is not a registered
voter. in the kingdom of God. And this
election was held before you were old enough to vote, Cecil.
That's when it was held. So you didn't have anything to
do with it, and Satan didn't have anything to do with it.
It's God's election. Now God either elected a people
or He didn't. You see, the kingdom is His, and the power is His,
and the glory is His, or it's not. It's ours. That's what Satan
said. That's the issue. That's the
convict. He's a religious devil. He's a spirit. He's a subtle
devil. He's a liar. He's a deceitful devil. And he
even said to the Son of God, and he'll say it to you, the
kingdom is mine to give, the glory is mine to give, the power
is mine to give to whom I will. I will. That's what got him in
trouble. I will. You read Isaiah chapter 14, you'll
find that was his whole problem. I will be like God. I will exalt
my throne above the stars of God. I will ascend into heaven. I will! Five times he said it. I will. The fourth statement
is this. Christ either redeemed his people,
all of them, or he didn't redeem anybody. He effectually redeemed
them. Eternally redeemed. in a way
that God's holiness and God's mercy and God's righteousness
and God's truth might be honored. He either redeemed them, He either
saved my soul or He didn't save my soul. He paid my debt or He
didn't pay my debt. He satisfied God's justice or
He didn't satisfy God's justice. He got the job done or He didn't
get it done, one or the other. No compromise there. And the Holy Spirit has the power
the effectual power to bring sinners to knowledge of Christ,
or he doesn't. He's either an effectual spirit
or a trying spirit. He's either an invincible, conquering,
irresistible spirit, or he's a defeated spirit. Which is it?
Make up your mind. It's a stubborn thing, isn't
it? You get a hold of something you
can't turn loose of. Barnard used to say, you meet
a truth in the middle of the road. You've got to do one of
two things, either receive it or run from it. Receive it or
run from it. And the sixth statement is this,
God's people, every one of them will persevere, every one of
them will be raised, every one of them will be like Christ,
or none of them will. If one sheep of Christ could
fall away, your soul and my soul would fall how many times a day? Charles Spurgeon said this, you
say that's offensive, I know it is. But Christ said, Marvel
not, my brethren, if the world hate you, it hated me before
it even met you. It's despised. It's hated bitterly. It's hated in this century. It
was hated in the last century. It was hated in the days of Paul.
It's hated in the days of Christ. His is the kingdom. His is the
power. His is the glory. His is the
authority. Or is it vested in these? depraved lumps of clay. Charles Spurgeon said this. He
was preaching to an assembly of preachers in April 1890. This was less than two years
before he died. That great preacher, 57 years
old when he said this, he died when he was 58. But he was speaking
to an assembly of preachers one Friday afternoon, April 1890,
and this is what he said. is hated bitterly. It is the
out and out gospel of the grace of God. Especially if that hateful
word sovereignty is mentioned with it. The sovereign grace
of God. Dare to say it? Dare to say he
will have mercy on whom he will have mercy? He will have compassion
on whom he will have compassion? And the furious critics will
revile you without mercy. The modern religionist not only
hates the doctrine of God's sovereign grace, but he raves and rages
at the mention of it. He'd rather hear you blaspheme
than preach election by the Father, atonement by the Son, and regeneration
by the Holy Spirit. They won't have near as much
to say about it if you blaspheme, if you use God's name in vain.
They won't have near as much to say about it. The modern religionist
can stand beside a man at work, and that man can use the name
of God in vain, and that religionist won't say one word, but you let
that man on the other side of him say, God saves whom he will,
and that fellow climb a wall. That's right. He'll climb a wall. He'd rather hear you use God's
name in vain than to say God's is the kingdom and the power
and the glory. God will save whom he will, when he will. God
will deal with whom he will, when he will. The way will for
his own glory. The modern religionist will not
object to your blasphemy, but he objects to your doctrine of
redeeming grace. If you want to see a man worked
up until the satanic is clearly uppermost, Let him hear you preach
a free grace sermon. What we were talking about, Ronnie,
I mean free grace. I don't mean a mixture of grace
and works. I mean free grace. I don't mean 90% grace and 10%
works. He can take that. Or 99% grace
and 1% works. But a message of free, undiluted
grace. All of grace. You'll see some
rage. A gospel which is after men will
be welcomed by men. But a gospel which needs a divine
operation upon the heart and the mind to make a man willing
to receive it into his soul is a distasteful gospel. And then
Spurgeon said, My dear brethren, don't try to make the gospel
of God's grace tasteful to carnal minds. Do not hide the offense
of the cross, lest you make it of non-effect. The angles and
the corners of the gospel are the strength of the gospel. When you tone it down, you don't
increase the strength of it, but you pronounce the death of
it. If you take Christ out of Christianity,
Christianity's dead. If you take grace out of the
gospel, the gospel's dead. It's not good news. If people
do not like the doctrines of God's grace, give them a little
more of it. When its enemies rail at a certain kind of good, A wise
military general will provide them with more of the same. He
said a great general going in before his king stumbled over
his own sword, and the king said, I see your swords in your way. And the warrior answered, your
majesty's enemies have often felt the same thing. When our
gospel offends our King's enemies, it's no regret to us. I don't want to be harsh, but
we're in a struggle. We're in a struggle with a satanic
power. We're in a struggle with a deceitful
enemy. We're in a struggle with a powerful
enemy. We're in a struggle with an enemy who has access to the
minds of men. the spirit that worketh in the
children of disobedience. And what he says can't be true
if what Christ says is true. Christ said, Thine is the kingdom,
Thine is the power, Thine is the glory. And Satan says, it's
in your hands, it's in my hands to give it to whomsoever I will.
Who is God? Have you ever sat down, and I
did this the other day, in thinking about this message. You know,
turn to John 17, verse 3. Who is God? Who is God? John 17, verse 3. Our Lord said
this. He said to the Pharisees, you
don't know me or my father. You don't know God. Now these
people use the name of God. They met together in the temple
of God. They read the book of God. They
used the name of God. They claimed to be the children
of God. They prayed to God. And Christ said, you don't know
God. You don't know me or my Father. No man knoweth the Father
save the Son, he to whom the Son will reveal. Do I know God?
Is the God you worship the God of the Bible? I worship God,
preach, I know you do, but is He the God of the Bible? Is your
God the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? Is your God
the Creator of this universe? Is your God the One in whom we
live and move and have our being? Is your God the One who revealed
Himself in Christ? Is that your God? Listen to John
17.3. This is life eternal. This is it. that they might know Thee, the
only true God, not a God, some God, Thee God. There's just one,
the only true God, to know Him, Jesus Christ. This is what Paul
was talking about when he said, Oh, that I may know Him, Him,
Him. That I may know Him and the power
of His resurrected life. David said, as the heart panteth
after the water brooks like a thirsty deer in a famine, in a land of
famine, in a dry and thirsty land, as that deer panteth and
thirsteth for the water brooks, the cool flowing water, the only
thing that can meet its need and quench its thirst, my soul
thirsteth for the living God. I don't want the Methodist God
or the Baptist God or the Catholic God or the God of my fathers.
I want the true and living God. He's the only one who can meet
my soul's needs. He's the only one that can provide
my soul's needs. He's the only one with whom I
can walk and talk and fellowship. He's the only one who can save
my soul. I want to ask you three questions. I want you to think this over
carefully now. I want you to take it home with you. I want
to ask you three questions. First one is this, I want you
to turn to Romans 9, Romans 9. Now you think about this question,
you listen carefully to it, I'll think about it too. Our Lord
said, here's, thine is the kingdom, power and the glory. Now does
God have a right, does he have a right to save whom he will?
Now everybody arguing about the truth or the error of election
or the truth or the error of this doctrine or the other doctrine,
the truth or the error of particular redemption or universal atonement
or the truth or error of invincible grace. But just now come down
to this. Does God have the right to save whom he will? Now whether
you are an opponent of election or whether you are an advocate
of election, does God have the right? to save whom he will. God the Bible said he did. In
Romans 9 verse 20, listen, Nay, but, O man, who art thou that
replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the
potter power over the clay of the same look to make one vessel
unto honor and another unto dishonor, what if God, willing to show
his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might
make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy
which he had aforeprepared unto glory, even us whom he had called,
not of the Jews only, but also the Gentiles? He says, I got
the right to do with my own what I will. Because I'm God. His is the kingdom. His is the
kingdom. The kingdom of nature, when God
gets ready for it to rain, it'll rain. When Almighty God gets
ready for it to snow, it'll snow. He told, he asked Job that, have
you entered the treasures of the snow? God teaches the bird
to fly south in the winter. God teaches the bird to build
its nest. God teaches the bird to give birth to its young, to
take care of them, to push them out of the nest, to teach them
to fly, to teach them to do the things they have to do. God is,
His is the kingdom, kingdom of nature. His is the kingdom of
providence. One man is born blind, another
man is born with 20-20 vision, even so, Father, it seem good
in thy sight. One man is born to parents who are slaves, another
is born to parents who are kings and queens. One man is born in an era of
depression, poverty, another is born in a time of prosperity.
Even so, Father, it seemed good in thy sight. God said, turn
to 1 Samuel 12. Here at 1 Samuel 1, come on now,
who is God? Does he have the right to do
with his own what he will? Whose is this world? Who created
it? Who sustained it? Who keeps it?
1 Samuel 1, Hannah prayed, verse 6, the Lord killeth, the Lord
maketh alive, the Lord bringeth down to the grave, the Lord bringeth
up, the Lord maketh poor, the Lord maketh rich, the Lord bringeth
low, the Lord lifteth up, the Lord raiseth the poor out of
the dust. Lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill to set them
among princes, to make them inherit the throne of glory. Who did
it? God did it, for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's,
and he hath set the world upon them. He started this whole thing.
Long to hell. His is the kingdom. Satan,
you don't have anything to say about the kingdom of nature or
the kingdom of providence, and his is the kingdom of grace.
His is a kingdom of God. Second question. Are you with
me? Does God have the right to save
whom he will? Brethren, I answer with an enthusiastic
yes. Praise the Lord. Secondly, does
the Lord have the power to save whom he will? Does he have the
power to save whom he will? Turn to John 19. John 19. Pilate entered into a discussion
with our Lord on this subject, who has the power? Who has the
power? Pilate said in John 19, verse
10, Then said Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest
thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and I have power
to release thee, O little puny man, with all of his boasted
power, his boasted free will, his boasted ability, his boasted
self-confidence. Little old puny, I got power. Listen to what our
Lord Jesus answered. This ought to be sufficient for
every one of us. Thou couldest have no power at all against
me, except it were given thee from above. His is the power. That policeman down there on
the street wearing that badge, I saw a policeman, we were in
McDonald's having lunch the other day. Turned to Romans 13.1. The
policeman came in. He wasn't in uniform, but he
had a badge on his belt right there. He had a gun over here
on his holster. He had on a pair of blue jeans.
He looked to be about young enough to be my son. You know, they
say you're getting old when school teachers and policemen look young.
But that kid came in there with that badge on, you know, and
that gun on his hip. And I looked at that badge and
I thought, son, that badge on your belt don't mean a thing. Doesn't mean a thing to you and
a lot of people, but that badge says something. You know what
that badge says to me? That's authority. And that's authority
that he received from God Almighty. You say, well he's not a Christian.
I don't care. Now you read this, look at Romans 13, verse 1. Let
every soul be subject to the higher powers. There is no power
but of God. powers that be are ordained of
God. Therefore, whosoever therefore
resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they
that resist shall receive damnation. For rulers are not a terror to
good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid
of the power? It's God's power." That's right. Every husband here has power
in his home, that's God's power. Your school teacher's got power
in the classroom, that's delegated power, that's God's power. For thine is the kingdom and
thine is the power. There is no power. The strength
to raise that arm I got from God, that's right John. I'd like
to see you free willers, I'd like to see one of you get up
and walk down this aisle without God Almighty. Give her a try.
You've got that kind of courage, you say you've got a free will,
you say you're the master of your faith, the captain of your
soul, you say God's turned you over, get up and walk down this
aisle without God Almighty. Would you give it a try? His is the power. Satan's a liar. He quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sin. Satan's got no power. all
powers of God. Does God have the right to save
whom he will? That's an issue. Don't let Satan
deceive you. A bunch of folks came to Christ
one day and they said, Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar? Those Sadducees who didn't believe
in the Resurrection, they said, now here's a woman over here,
you talk about the Resurrection, she'd been married six or seven
times, who's going to be her husband in the Resurrection?
And then another fellow came around, he said, which is the
greatest commandment? You know, we've got a lot of
question-answers. I hear preachers on the radio
who say, write in and send me your question. Well, boy, you're
asking for a lot of baloney then. They'll really ask you some questions.
Not one of them will ever ask you how God saves sinners. They'll
ask you every strange thing in the world. That's a satanic deception. And before they left there, our
Lord, Matthew 22, he stopped them and said, What think ye
of Christ? Who is Jesus Christ? Whose son
is he? That's the issue. Who is Jesus
Christ? Who is God? Does he have the
right to save whom he will? Does he have the power to save
whom he will? And here's the last question.
Will any man be saved, or any woman, without his prevenient
grace? Huh? Will any person, will any
person be saved, come to repentance and faith, without God first
of all performing a work of grace in their hearts? Huh? an initial
work of grace, a prevenient work of grace, a preparing work of
grace, an enabling work of grace. Turn to John 6. John 6, verse
44. Now listen to this. John 6, verse
44. Listen to it. Our Lord said, He said in verse 43, Jesus answered. Jesus therefore answered and
said to them, murmur not among yourselves. No use arguing about
this. Let's don't get into a murmuring
contest. Verse 44, no man, whoever he might be, no man can, has
the ability to come to me. No man can come to me. Coming
to Christ is to believe on him, to receive him, to trust him,
savingly come. No man can, is able to come to
me, whatever his ability, whatever his talent, whatever his intelligence,
no man, except my Father, which hath sent me drawing, effectually
drawing, savingly drawing, graciously drawing, no man. No man can impart divine life,
only God. The dead cannot raise themselves,
only God. Darkness cannot create light,
only God. Man had a kingdom one time, but
he lost it. God gave him dominion, didn't
he? That's what he said, Adam, have dominion over the fish of
the sea and the fowls of the air. Man had some power one time,
but he lost it. Now in the flesh dwelleth no
good thing. Man had some glory one time,
turned to 1 Peter 1. We had some glory one time. It
hadn't always been this way. We had some glory one time, but
we lost it. 1 Peter 1, 24, Now all flesh
is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass.
The grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of God endureth
forever." Brethren, we're in a conflict, we're in a battle,
not an easy battle. But the battle is to decide who
is God, whose is the kingdom. Our Lord said, "...all authority
is given unto me." all authority in heaven and earth. Thou hast
given me power over all flesh, that I should give eternal life.
All power Thou hast given me over all flesh, that I should
give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given me." Old Brother
Stevens, down in Clarence Walker's school, 1954. I was down there
preaching one time, you remember him, old brother, you remember
him. He came up to me and he said, I was just a kid, I'm just
a kid now, but I was just a little kid then. And he came up to me,
I was about 28, 29, he came up to me and he said, Brother Mahan,
what do you think are the three greatest miracles that God ever
performed? I said, I don't know, Buzz Stevens.
I said, what do you think of the three greats? He said, I
think the three greatest miracles, number one is incarnation. The
Lord of glory became a man. He said, I'm astounded. Isn't
that something? The ancient of days became the infinite of days. He came down here to this earth.
The Lord of glory was pleased to clothe himself, to robe himself
in the likeness of sinful flesh, he dwelt among us. Think about
it. If you talk about an angel becoming
a worm, the condescension is not one millionth as great as
Christ becoming a man. Two extremes. Infinite holiness
identified with infinite darkness. I said, what's the second? He
said, regeneration. That's a miracle. And he said,
I'm not talking about decision. I'm not talking about making
a profession of faith. I'm talking about a dead center by the power
of God living. I'm talking about death itself
becoming life. I'm talking about being translated
from the kingdom of black outer darkness to the kingdom of God's
dear son. God Almighty coming down here
and raising a dead, helpless, hopeless sinner and making him
live spiritually, rectifying what happened in the fall, restoring
our souls. He said that's a miracle. Nothing
short of a miracle can do that. Men don't have divine life in
their hearts that we fan with a little illustrative, logical
emotional sermon and get them to make a decision. Won't you
decide tonight? Hey, dead sinner, won't you decide
to live tonight? Go out to Rose Hill and see if
anybody will decide to live tonight. Pull out a drawer in the mausoleum
and see if the brother there will decide to live tonight.
It's not his decision. God's decision. His is the power. to make Lazarus live. Brother,
they took old Lazarus and they wrapped him in winding sheets
and made him look better, and they anointed his body with precious
spices and made him smell better, and they rolled a stone over
the opening of that old dungeon and prison of the dead and made
the whole community a better place in which to live. But only
Christ could stand out there and say, You can take an old sinner and
make him quit his drunkenness and quit his carousing, and you
can make him look better, and you can take the filth off of
him and make him smell better, and you can incorporate him in
your church and get him to doing good deeds and make the community
a better place in which to live, but only God can give him life.
Only God. I said, what's the third greatest
miracle? He said, glorification. Think of it, one of these days,
he was old then, he said, they're going to bury my body, look at
it, wrinkled, old, fleshly, corruptible, weak, I'm so weak. They're going
to put it in the ground, and then one day my Lord is going
to descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
with the trump of God, and I'm coming out of that grave. And
I'm going to see him and be just like him. Think of it. I'm going
to be like Christ. The beautiful, multicolored butterfly
is going to fly out of that old cocoon. I'm going to be like
Christ. What a miracle. You don't

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