Satan's Gospel Vs God's Gospel

In verses 1, 2, and 3, we have
three very obvious things. First of all, we have Paul's
confession. Secondly, we have Paul's motive. In verse 3, we have Paul's fear.
In verse 1, he says, "...would to God you could bear with me
a little in my folly." Like any true minister of Christ, Paul
recognized his infirmities. My folly, he calls it. Many times
he made statements like this, expressing his lack of confidence
in the flesh, his flesh or anyone else's. He said, on one occasion,
I'm less than the least of all the saints. He felt that. He
really felt that. He said, I'm not worthy to be
called an apostle. He said, I'm the chief of sinners.
And he said this one time, who is sufficient for these things?
He talked about the power of Satan and the power of God. He
talked about the depravity of the flesh. He talked about the
gospel being a revelation. And he said, who's sufficient
for these things? Certainly, the sufficiency is
not in us, it's in Christ. So in verse one, you have Paul's
confession, my folly. And then in verse two you have
his true and proper motive. He says, I am jealous over you. I am jealous over you with a
godly jealousy. His jealousy was for the glory
of Christ, for the glory of God. Look at the next line, for I
have espoused you to one husband. I am jealous over you with a
godly jealousy. It is for the glory of Christ
that I desire that you be married to one husband, that you find
that protection and provision and security in Christ. Now, when a woman is happily
married to a faithful, strong man, she finds in him security
and rest. A woman who is married to a strong
individual does not worry about what she'll eat. She knows he'll
provide. She doesn't worry about where
she'll live. She's not concerned about those
things. She doesn't worry about what
she'll wear. She knows that she'll have something to wear that her
husband will provide for her. She's comfortable and secure. She rests in him. She does not
concern about those things. Now, the man may be. He may be
concerned about what his family will eat and what his family
will wear and where his family will live. But the wife who is
married to that man knows that he always has provided and he
always will. And she's secure. And she doesn't
worry about her safety or the safety of her children because
he'll protect. Now, if he's away from home,
she may be concerned. But if he's there, she leaves
it to him. She doesn't feel unwanted. She
doesn't feel insecure. She doesn't feel unloved because
she knows he loves her. And she has a sense of security.
Now, Paul says, when you are married to Christ, when you are
married to Christ, if we have properly espoused you to one
husband, then you have a sense of confidence and security. You rest in him knowing that
he'll provide, he'll protect, he loves you. Having loved his
own, he loves them to the end. And we have found in him a rest
and a security, and that's the true minister's motive. He does
not want people looking to him, nor to his doctrine, nor to his
arguments, nor to his abilities, nor to his power. He wants his
hearers to be married to Christ. For they can find in Christ a
perfect security and a perfect rest, and in Him perfect provision,
protection, and all these things. To know Christ in a personal,
living, vital union. And he refers to it here as a
state of marriage, spiritual marriage to Christ. It's finding
rest. You see what I'm illustrating?
The women in this congregation whose husbands are dependable. and whose husbands are faithful
and whose husbands are strong. They are secure, they're comfortable,
they're happy, because they leave it all up to Him. And Paul said,
if you have truly come to a knowledge of Christ, if you've been vitally,
permanently, personally united to Christ in that type of relationship,
you can find a rest, a security, leaving it to Him. taking no
anxious thought for tomorrow, what I shall eat, what I shall
drink, what I shall wear. Your father knows you have need
of those things. It's also a father and child
relationship. When a child in a home, if his
father and mother are the type of people they ought to be, he
doesn't worry about what he's going to eat. He just knows it's
always been on the table and always will. He doesn't worry
about being protected or being provided for or these things. He rests. comfortably knowing
that his parents care for him. So we have first of all Paul's
confession, I can't meet your need. I have as many inconsistencies
as you do. I confess my infirmities the
same as yours. Elisha was a man of like passion. We were dug, one of the prophets
set out of the same pit. Paul said, I'm less than the
least of all the saints, but my godly jealousy for the glory
of Christ is that you personally might not rest in yours or anybody
else's flesh, but in His, in His power, in His grace, in His
love, in His mercy, that you be joined to Christ. Now here's
Paul's fear, verse 3. Paul said, but I fear. lest by
any means, and that's the way Satan operates, he'll use any
means, any means. He's not a person of integrity. But I fear lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his craftiness, through his cunning,
through his abundant talent, So your mind should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. Satan will use
any means, any means, to deceive you, to corrupt your minds, that
you might be corrupted from the simplicity of Christ. This is
his purpose. Paul said, my motive is that
you might be married to Christ. My motive is that you might be
one with Christ, that you might be brought into that most personal
union with Jesus Christ. Satan's purpose, his motive,
is to deceive you, to direct your mind away from Christ, away
from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. If Satan can turn
your mind to religion by any means, if Satan can turn your
minds to good works, to doctrine, to tradition, to ceremony, to
self, to anything. But Christ, He's cunning, He's
crafty, He's brilliant, He's talented. We expect Satan to
come in like the artist portray him, as an obnoxious, ugly, evil
person with horns and pitchfork and cloven hoofs and a pointed
tail. It's not the way it comes. How
does he come? Well, look at verses 13, 14,
and 15. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ, and no marvel. For Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light. That's the way he appeared to
Eve in the garden. And therefore it's no great thing
if his ministers Now, what is Satan's purpose? His purpose
is to corrupt your mind from the simplicity of Christ. Who
are his agents? His agents are deceitful workers,
ministers of righteousness, angels of light. What is his arena,
his theater of operation? Well, the beer halls. You're
wrong. The houses of prostitution, you're
wrong. The gambling dens, you're wrong. The worldly places of amusement,
you're wrong. That's where preachers have missed
the whole thing. His area of operation, his theater
of operation, his arena of conflict, is religion. That's exactly where
it is. Look at those verses again. What
are they? Verse 13, they're false apostles. What are they? They're deceitful
workers. What are they? They transform
themselves into the apostles of Christ. They come as ministers
of Christ. And that's no marvel. Satan himself
came that way. Whatever method that he can employ
to take your mind away from Christ, he may come to you as a very
suave, educated, brilliant, minister. He may come to you
as a very personable individual. When our Lord Jesus was going
to the cross, he told his disciples that he must suffer and die on
a cross, that he must bleed for our redemption, and one of the
apostles, Peter, the leading apostle, the one who always did
the the talking, the one who had said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God, the one who always spoke for the
others. He spoke up and said, Far be
that from thee, Lord, thou shalt not suffer, thou shalt not die. And our Lord spun around and
pointed his finger at the apostle Peter, and he said, You get behind
me, Satan. You get behind me. Was Peter
Satan? No. But Satan used Peter. By any means, by any means. Satan is opposed to the cross. Satan is opposed to substitution. Satan is opposed to redemption.
Satan is opposed to the simplicity of Christ. And whatever means
or methods that he can employ, he'll do it to direct your mind
away from Christ. Satan is not a physical person.
He's a spiritual person. He's an evil spirit, and his
area of operation is in the spiritual realm. Now you turn to Genesis
3, and let's listen to how he deceived Eve. Paul said, I fear
lest Satan, through his craftiness and cunning and subtlety, will
come to you and corrupt your minds. That's where the area
where he operates, the mind. We think if we can keep people
out of the beer halls and keep them out of the gambling dens,
that we can make good people out of them. You may make outwardly
good people out of them, but Satan's theater of operation
is the mind, the thoughts. That's where he operates. He's
a spirit. And in Genesis 3, he came to
Eve. The serpent was more subtle than
any beast of the field which the Lord God had made, and he
said to the woman, What's this? Yea, hath God said you shall
not eat of every tree of the garden? What's the first place
he attacks? The Word of God. He admitted
that God said something, but is this what God said? Is this
true? Hath God said that's the first
place he attacks? The Word of God. All right, notice
his second argument now. The woman said, we may eat of
the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the
tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you
shall not eat it, lest you die. The serpent said, you shall not
die. His second attack was upon the justice of God, the holiness
of God, the righteousness of God. God will not punish sin. There is no judgment. There is
no eternal condemnation. There's no eternal separation
from God. That's not true. You shall not
die. All right, watch his third argument
now. For verse 5 he says, God doth know in the day you eat
thereof your eyes will be opened and you'll be as God. You'll
be as God. His third place of attack was
the glory of God. You don't need a Savior. You'll
be God yourself. You don't need to redeem. You
don't need to bow to God. You don't need to worship God.
You don't need to adore the Almighty. You'll be God yourself. And that's the way he deceived
Eve. Now, in verse 3, I fear lest by any means, as the serpent
beguiled Eve through his craftiness and through his cunning, through
his subtlety, So your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ Jesus. When Satan tempted Eve, he put
a question mark on God's work. He put a question mark on God's
justice. He put a question mark on God's
sovereignty, God's glory. Now the simplicity of Christ
is the opposite of this. First of all, the simplicity
of Christ, the simplicity of Christ bows to the Word of God. The simplicity of happiness and
assurance in the Savior bows first of all to the Word of God.
It puts no question mark on God's Word. It doesn't matter about
the outward circumstance. It doesn't matter about these
things. God's Word is true. Let God be true in every manner
of life. It doesn't ask for an explanation. It just says God's
Word is true. Now in Luke chapter 5, it came
to pass that as the people pressed upon him to hear the Word of
God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret. He saw two ships
standing by the lake, but the fishermen who had gone out of
them were washing their nets. Now this must have been in the
morning. And these men had come in from fishing all night, and
they were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the
ships, which was Simon, Simon Peter, and he asked him if he
thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught
the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking
or finished his message, he said, launch out into the deep and
let down your nets for a draft. And Peter answering said, Master,"
now watch this carefully, "'Master, we have toiled all the night,
and we have caught nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word I'll
let down the net.'" That's faith. That's the simplicity that's
in Christ. I don't understand Why God permitted Adam to fall?
Because God knew about the fall. He had the Savior before the
fall. Christ was a lamb slain before the foundation of the
world. I don't understand about the sons of God going into the
daughters of men and giants in the land. I can't explain that
at all. I wouldn't even attempt it. I don't understand why God
was pleased to destroy this world by a flood, preserve Noah, the
miracle of the ark. I don't understand why God permitted
Saul, who stood head and shoulders above all the people of his day,
wise. I don't understand why he permitted
Saul to go the route he did, or David the route he did. I
don't understand those things. I don't understand why God Almighty
permits sin to reign as it does, error to flourish, David said
one time in Psalm 73, he wept over this and was troubled over
this. He said, Lord, the righteous, the righteous suffer and the
wicked prosper. The wicked people are corrupt.
They speak wickedly. They speak proudly. They set
their mouths against heaven. Their tongue walks through the
whole earth. They persecute your people. And yet they prosper
in this world. They increase in riches. Have
I cleansed my heart in vain? Have I washed my hands in innocency?
All day long I've been persecuted and plagued and chastened. I
don't understand those things. People can preach error and they
can get a crowd of 50,000. A man who is interested in the
glory of God and the sincere dedication of people's hearts
to Christ can't get a corporal's guard out to hear him. I don't
understand those things. But I believe God's Word. I believe
God's word. Nevertheless, Peter said, I fished
all night and I haven't caught a thing. But nevertheless, at
your word I let down the net. And I say there's not going to
be any right knowledge of God apart from this book. Now you
can stand out on the heavens and you can see the power of
God, you can see the glory of God to some extent. You can walk
among the forest and the trees and nature and you can see to
some extent the wisdom and power of God, but you can't know much
about God's grace and God's mercy and God's love and God's purposes
and God's will and God's way except as He reveals Himself
in the book. You've got to come to know this Word. You're not
going to know God apart from his word. Faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. Desire the sincere milk of the
word, that you may grow thereby. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and is profitable for doctrine, correction, for instruction,
and reproof, that you might be mature. Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth
of God. Christ said to His disciples, I've got many things to say to
you. You cannot bear them now. Nevertheless, when He, the Holy
Spirit, has come, He will guide you into all truth. There cannot
be any right knowledge of sin apart from this word. I know
what the world calls sin, but what the world calls sin and
what God calls sin are two different things. The foolishness of this
world of God is the wisdom of God is foolishness to this world.
There cannot be any right knowledge of sin, any right knowledge of
Christ, any right knowledge of salvation, any right knowledge
of redemption apart from the Word. Paul said to Timothy, from
a child thou hast known the holy scriptures that are able to make
thee wise unto salvation. And that's the way Satan comes.
He came to Eve and he said, Uh, is this, is this what God says?
Yeah, that's what he said. You don't believe it, do you?
You don't believe it, do you? And he may come to you. He may
deceive your and corrupt your mind. I don't know, through his
cunning, crafty, subtle way. But he's not going to come to
you as a red devil in a pitchfork. You needn't look for him that
way. Look for him in a pulpit. Look for him as someone who knocks
on your door and comes into your home with a Bible and sits down
with the sweetest smile in this world on his face. That's where
you look for Satan. Look for him in a friend. Look
for him in someone in whom you have the greatest confidence.
That's where he'll appear. He's crafty, he's cunning, he
changes himself into an angel of light. and his messengers
in the ministers of what? Righteousness. But remember this. Here's the
way you can discern the Spirit. Someone said, can you discern
the Spirit? Well, John said, for us to discern the Spirit,
he said, try the Spirit. Try the Spirit. There are many
antichrists in this world, and the first place is he'll start
putting a question mark on this word. It doesn't mean that. That really didn't happen. That's
just figuratively speaking. That's a myth. That's just a
story. That's what he said to Eve, hath
God said? All right, the next thing, turn
to Romans 7. The simplicity of Christ in the
first place, and I say this confidently, boldly, I'll never take it back. The simplicity of Christ bows
to this book. Nevertheless, at thy word. Take
no man's word. Do not take my word. Do not believe
it because I said it. Believe it because God says it.
You search the scriptures whether these things be so. You look
into God's word and find out what he said. You cannot be deceived
by following the scriptures. But you can be deceived following
a man interpreting the scriptures. And secondly, the simplicity
of Christ recognizes the holiness and strictness of God's law.
One of our men said last week, he was with me down in Florida,
and he said, one day God taught me what sin is. I didn't know
what sin was. Religion, religious all my life. But God taught me What sin? That's what Paul said. One day
God taught me what sin is. And He taught me sin by showing
me the holiness of His law and the holiness of Himself. Look
at Romans 7. Here's when Paul learned what
sin was. In Romans 7, verse 7, what shall
we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. I
had not known sin, but by the law. I had not known lust, except
the law said, Thou shalt not covet. Sin, taken occasion by
the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.
I saw it all. Without the law, sin was dead,
dormant. It was there, but it wasn't revealed.
I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came,
sin revived and I died. And the commandment which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. What's Paul saying
here? He's saying this, that sin is
an inward condition. It's not just an outward act,
it's an inward state, it's an inward principle. God said to
Samuel, the Lord seeth not as man seeth, man looketh on the
outward countenance, God looks on the heart. This is where Saul
of Tarsus, the Pharisee, the religious man, the good man,
the moral man, the perfect man, this is where he died, this is
where God slew him, this is where God stripped him. God revealed
that sin was an inward principle. The perfect law reveals the character
of God. God is perfect love. God's not
just love, He's perfect love. God is perfect truth. God is
perfect holiness. When we compare ourselves to
those about us, we look pretty good because we're careful about
whom we compare ourselves with. We'll always pick someone a little
worse. But when we compare ourselves
with a holy God, our thoughts, our motives, our attitudes, that's
when Paul said, The perfect law convicts of sin. The perfect
law destroys righteousness. The perfect law shuts us up to
Christ. It shuts us up to substitution.
It shuts us up to redemption. It shuts us up to Christ's personal
work for us. That's what the holy law of God
does. And the simplicity of Christ does not try to catalog sin. But it recognizes sin in the
light of God's holiness. It recognizes the strictness
of God's holy law. It recognizes the imperfections
of the flesh. That's the simplicity of Christ. And then thirdly, the simplicity
of Christ. And this is so important. And
on that second point, The simplicity of Christ recognizes that we
deserve condemnation. Now, my friends, most people
believe that God is obligated to take us to heaven when we
die. God is obligated to let us into his presence. That's
not true. If God Almighty damns my soul,
he'll be just, and yours too. God's holy, we're unholy. God's
righteous, we're unrighteous. I believe in God. I know there
is a God. I know that Christ is His Son.
I know that God has been pleased to call out a people for His
name. That's what His Word says. I know that God will punish sin,
either in Christ or in the sinner. God will punish sin, either in
Christ or in the sinner. I thank God we have a Savior
who took our sins, and He's able to save to the uttermost those
that come to God by Him. And God's going to have a people
in heaven, and there's going to be a people inhabiting eternal
condemnation. And if I'm one of those whom
He condemns, He'll be perfectly just. Do you believe that? Well,
you say, yeah, I believe if He condemns you, you'll be just,
but how about yourself? How about yourself, huh? Can
you say God is just if he passes me by? But if you ever come to
see the holiness of God's law and the holiness of God's person
and your own evil and your own corruption, you'll say that. Then the simplicity of Christ
bows to God's sovereignty. Eve, hath God said? Will God punish sin? Is he sovereign? Is he worthy of your reverence,
your fear, your awe? That's what Satan said. Why?
God's not that sovereign. You're God. You're important,
Eve. You're God yourself. God's keeping
you suppressed. He doesn't want you to know just
how dignified and how good and how powerful and how great you
are. Men are most willing for God
to occupy every place but the throne. Did you know that? This religious world and Satan,
that was Satan's sin. If you'll sometimes look at Isaiah
14, not now, but another time, what was Satan's sin? He said,
I'll be like God. I'll exalt my throne above the
stars of God. Why should I bow to God? Pharaoh
said, who is God that I should serve him or obey him? Who is this God, Moses, you're
talking about? Let my people go. Who is God
that I should obey him? That's what they said when they
crucified Christ. We'll not have this man reign
over us. We have no king but Caesar. We have no king but Caesar. And I'm telling you God's King.
And I make no apology. I say the simplicity of Christ
bows to this book. Let God be true and everybody
a liar. I don't care how many degrees
he has or how much theology he's studied or whether he's been
to Westminster or Union or Southern Baptist or where he's been. Let
every man be a liar and God be true. No matter how suave and
personable and talented and argumentative he is, you know a lot of people
think just because it says something in a book, it's true. If it says it in this book, it's
true. But you can have all the books of men and all the arguments,
the simplicity of Christ The simplicity of Christ not only
bows to the Word, but the simplicity of Christ recognizes my evil
nature, and evil heart, and God's holiness, and bows to His sovereignty. Now, when you take God off the
throne, don't you think a minute. First of all, you rob Him of
His glory. You rob Him of His glory. Moses
says, show me your glory. And God said, I'll cause my glory,
my goodness to pass before you. Moses, I'll be merciful to whom
I will be merciful. That's my glory. He said he chose
the weak to confound the mighty, the base to bring to naught the
things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. When you take God off His throne,
you take away His power to save. Our Lord, in His priestly prayer,
and these are important moments in the life of Christ, and this
one of the most important, when He was talking to the Father,
He said, Father, glorify Thou, Son, with the glory which I had
with Thee before the world was. Thou hast given Me authority,
sovereignty, power over all flesh that I should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given me." When you take away his sovereignty,
you take away his power to give eternal life. When you take away
his sovereignty, you take away his minister's commission. He
said to his disciples in Matthew 28, 18 and 19, All power is given unto me in
heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and preach the
gospel." Why do preachers, to fulfill their purposes, quote
half of a verse of scripture? "'Him that cometh to me I'll
in no wise cast out.'" That's not what the Bible says. It says,
"'All that my Father giveth me will come to me, and him that
cometh I'll in no wise cast out.'" Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel. That's what it says, but there's
a line before that. All authority is given unto me
in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and preach the
gospel. Then when you take away his sovereignty,
you take away the sinner's hope. In John 1.12 it says, to as many
as received him, to them gave he the right to become the sons
of God who were born, not of blood, not of the will of the
flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. You take away the believer's
security. 1 Peter 1.5 says we are kept by the power of God
through faith. We are kept by the power of God.
The simplicity of Christ vows to Christ as the King of kings
and the Lord of lords, having no rival. And then fourthly, the simplicity
of Christ acknowledges the redemptive work of the cross. Turn to Hebrews
chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. Paul said, I'm rude in speech,
I've got plenty of infirmities, plenty of folly, but you do well
to bear with me, for these angels of light, these ministers of
righteousness, these disciples of Satan who portray themselves
as ministers of Christ, come to you preaching another Jesus
whom we have not preached, another gospel which we have not declared,
and by another spirit But that's their arena, that's their theater
of operation, religion. Christ said that. He said they'll
come in their own name and you'll receive them. I come in my Father's
name and you receive me not. But Satan, by any means, Paul
said, I'm afraid that he'll corrupt your mind. That's where he's
working, your mind, your spirit. Away from the simplicity. And
I'll tell you, when religion gets complicated, the minister has to go to school
to find out just exactly what kind of robes to wear. a certain
one he puts on under a certain one, and another one on top of
that, and certain colors to wear, and a certain crown to wear,
and a certain time to walk in and walk out, a certain time
to kneel and stand, a certain kind of gold cup to use, a certain
type of wafer, a certain type of wine, a certain type of music,
a certain time that the choir sings. When religion gets complicated,
it's not Christ. It's the simplicity of Christ. It might do us well to go back
to the brush arbor. It might do us well to go back
to the place with the wooden seats, straight back seats, uncomfortable. It might do us well to go back
to the open windows where you hear the birds sing instead of
all of this finery and this gold and silver and ceremony and ritual. God's not in it, I promise you
He's not in it. When people just got together
and lifted their voices in unison, in singing, what a friend we
have in Jesus! Amazing grace! And somebody got
up and with a... who couldn't explain away this
word, but just read it and said, I don't understand it, but there
she is. And some preacher got up and
exalted and praised the Master, the Lord, the Savior, and talked
about, there's a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Immanuel's
veins. Most churches have taken the
songs with the blood in it out of the songbook. Would you be freed from your
burden of sin? There's power in the blood. Would
your evil of victory win? There's wonderful power in the
blood. Look at Hebrews 9. Verse 26, Then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now, once in
the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. Sin's pretty hard to put away.
The Jewish sacrifices wouldn't do it. Paul said, It's not possible
that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. Good works
won't do it, but the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified
in God's sight. Church membership won't do it.
Demas, Simon Magus, Phagellus, Homogenes, all these
men were members of the church. Being one of the official family
won't do it. Judas was the treasurer of the
early church. It didn't save him. Death won't
put away sin. Hell won't put away sin, but
Christ can. Christ can. He hath appeared
to put away sin. He hath appeared for the sole
purpose of putting away sin. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
he shall save his people from their sin. Behold the Lamb of
God that taketh away sin. He hath appeared to put away
sin. How? Well, underline this. By the sacrifice of himself. That's what God said. I'm willing
to, I'm willing to rest my soul's hope for eternity on that. Are you? By the sacrifice of
Himself. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Jesus Christ is made to me all
I need. All I need. He alone is all my
plea. He's all I need. Wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, holiness forevermore. My redemption full and free.
He's all I need. That's the simplicity of Christ.
You want to complicate it, you're welcome to. But I know who's
leading you to complicate it. That's what Paul says here, I
fear, I fear. lest Satan, like he beguiled
our mother Eve through his subtlety and his craftiness and his cunning. This is 1976. We're smarter than
the apostles. We've got more wisdom than these
great men of God who walk with Christ. The simplicity of Christ bows
to this word. The simplicity of Christ recognizes
sin for what it is. The simplicity of Christ bows
to God's sovereignty, let God be God. Let him reign in the
creation, let him reign in providence. Oh, Eli said, it's the Lord,
let him do what he will. Job said, naked I came into the
world, naked I shall depart. God gave and God took away. Let
him be sovereign in salvation. Lord, if you will, you can make
me whole. Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And
the simplicity of Christ rests in the blood to put away sin. Not in the altar, not in the
water, not in the sacraments, Not in some man sprinkling water
in your face and saying certain words and making all kind of
crosses and you going into a little cubicle and confessing your heart's
sins to that wicked individual. That's not the way God puts away
sin. God put away sin at Calvary when Christ died on that cross.
His blood cleanseth us from all sin. That's the simplicity. And I call you back to it. And
I say anything, anyone, I don't care how crafty and cunning and
subtle he is, that corrupts your mind from that simplicity of
Christ. It's satanic. It's the spirit
of Antichrist. Our Father in heaven, teach us to pray. not to try
to be impressive, but to call upon God. Teach us to worship,
not to go through rituals or ceremonies and form, and try
to appear righteous and holy to men, but teach us to call
on God. Teach us, O Lord, to believe,
not to rest in the arguments of men, the creeds and catechisms
of our denominations, but to believe thy word." To be able
to say with the humble fisherman by that seashore that day when
he declared, Lord, I have fished all night and I haven't caught
anything. I have exhausted human reason, human effort, human strength. Nevertheless, at your word I
let down the net, whatever you say. Teach us to bow to thy sovereignty,
O God, thou art my God, thou art my Lord. Do with me what
you will, only show me mercy. Let thy blood be propitiation
for me on the mercy seat, the chief of sinners. Take away our
pride, our arrogance, our haughty spirit. For pride goeth before
destruction, the Holy Spirit before the fall. God resisteth
the proud and gives grace to the humble. Reveal unto us thy
wisdom, O God. Do a work of grace in our hearts.
For Christ's sake we pray. Amen.

Satan's Gospel Vs God's Gospel

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