Satan the Counterfeiter

I forget, Norma wanted me to send her love to everyone. She was just absolutely worn out this morning. We had too much traveling going on. So I come back, I get on the computer, she comes back, she washes clothes, unpacks, and shops, and does other things. But she was thinking of everyone. Wish she could be here. Counterfeiting is a major problem in our society today. Actually, it's a major problem around the world. There are knockoffs of everything you can think of. There are black market records, music, videos, movies, copies of clothes, purses, jewelry, watches. You can get fake Rolex watches. Somebody comes up and says, hey, I've got a Rolex for you and it's only $100. You know it's a fake. And drugs are counterfeited around the world. Actually, they're drug companies that are counterfeiting drugs and don't put the proper ingredients in them. In many cases, it's very hard to tell the fake from the genuine article. Money counterfeiting, we know, has been a long-standing problem in this country and around the world. I'd like to quote to you an article from the U.S. Secret Service. Many of you may not realize that the Secret Service was started because of counterfeiting. It says, counterfeiting of money is one of the oldest crimes in history. It was a serious problem during the 19th century when banks issued their own currency.

At the time of the Civil War, it was estimated that one-third of all currency in circulation was counterfeit. At that time, there were approximately 1,600 state banks designing and printing their own notes. Each note carried a different design, making it difficult to distinguish it from 4,000 varieties of counterfeits and from the 7,000 varieties of genuine notes. So, you know, who could keep up with all of that? It was anticipated that the adoption of a national currency in 1863 would solve the counterfeiting problem. However, the national currency was soon counterfeited so extensively, it became necessary for the government to take enforcement measures.

On July 5, 1865, the United States Secret Service was established to suppress counterfeiting. We tend to think of Secret Services protecting the president or government officials, but it started because of that. I want you to notice the extent that the U.S. government goes to protect our money to make sure that it's genuine. Counterfeiters tried to deceive us into accepting money that is fake. It's not worth the paper it's printed on. But, you know, they try to get us to accept it.

From an article, U.S. Currency Security Features, to show you how the government tries to stay ahead, it says to stay ahead of counterfeiters. Currency is periodically redesigned to include advanced security features. These features are difficult to duplicate and make it easier for cash handlers and consumers to make sure that it's genuine. Now, I don't have a lot of money, but I notice I happen to have a 20 here. Now, I'll just pass this around so, no, we won't do that.

I'll keep my 20. But it talks here about, and we're all familiar with, you've got a 20 and a 10 and a 5. Most of us have 5s and 1s. Occasionally, we'll have a 10 or a 20. But, you know, you have money, and the 5s, the 10s, the 20s, and the $50 notes in this country were redesigned and entered in the circulation in March 2008, May 2006, October 2003, and September 2004. Now, what has the government done to try to protect our money and our currency?

Well, they have watermarks. This is part of the paper itself, and visible from both sides when the note is held up to a light. On the 10, the 20s, and the 50 notes, it's a faint image of a larger portrait. The 5 notes features two watermarks. Then, security thread embedded in the paper that runs vertically in a unique position on each denomination, and glows, when exposed to ultraviolet light in the dark, are threads. Located to the left of the portrait, on the $5 bill, glows blue, the word USA5. In fact, I was looking at some of the bills, and you can see a very small print printed inside the paper. It'll tell you a $5 bill, or a US $5 bill, something of that nature.

On the 10 note, located to the right of the portrait, and it glows orange, the word USA10, and a flag are printed on the thread. Now, that would be very difficult to duplicate, even with the best printers that we have today. They have color shifting ink in the numerals on the lower right corner of the dollar.

It looks gold, you can change the position, it'll look green. And so, different ones have different colors. They also have raised printing. It gives the surface of the note a slightly raised feeling. Again, a printer cannot duplicate that type of thing. And micro printing is very small text that is hard to duplicate due to its size. And, you know, there are a number of other features that they go on to talk about. And then they have centrifuge fine line printing, as found on most notes in the background of the portrait, and also in the back of the note.

So the government has to go to all of this trouble. Why? Because people aren't honest. And people try to take advantage of you. Now, anciently, when they made coins, they would shave a little of the gold off, a little of the silver off, whatever it might be. Now, all you'd need was a sliver here and a slither there. And after a while, you would have a pile that you could melt down and make another coin out of. And so, you know, they did it that way. Well, the reason why I mentioned this is counterfeiting is a problem, and yet most people are totally unaware of who the greatest counterfeiter is.

Satan the devil is the greatest counterfeiter of all time. Today, we want to take a look and see how he counterfeits the truth, what he counterfeits, how he is able to deceive people and mislead the masses of people in society today, and also how he tries to mislead us as Christians.

We need to especially be aware of his ploys, of his tactics, his tricks, and his shenanigans. Now, let's begin in Revelation 12.9, Revelation 12.9, and we read this about the devil. So, the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.

So, how powerful is this being? How great is his deception? Well, it says he deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. So, he has angels under his authority. Now, I want you to notice the word for deceiver here. There are one who deceives. The word means, in the Greek, to cause to stray, to lead astray, to lead aside from the right way, to go astray, to wander, or to roam around, to lead away from the truth, to lead into error, to deceive.

And so, you discover that he is the one who has led the whole world astray. Let us decide from the right way. And that's true when it comes to religion. That's true when it comes to economics. That's true when it comes to culture. That's true when it comes to philosophy, education, any aspect of society that you want to look at. Now, Webster tells us that the word deceive means to make a person believe what is not true. To believe what is not true. To delude them. To mislead. To deceive implies deliberate misrepresentation of facts by words' actions, generally to further one's end.

Now, Satan has an end in mind, as we will see. The word mislead, to give you some synonyms here, is to cause to follow the wrong course, or to err in conduct or action, although not always by deliberate deception, to mislead somebody. To beguile implies the use of wiles, and enticing prospects in deceiving are misleading.

To delude is to fool someone completely. That what is false is accepted as being true. So, somebody who is deluded believes that what is false is true. And to betray implies breaking of faith while appearing to be loyal. Now, Webster also defines counterfeiting as to make an imitation of something genuine so as to deceive or to defraud a person. An imitation made to deceive forgeries, something so closely resembling something else that it misleads that individual.

Now, we know that Satan is the great deceiver. Doesn't it have we ever stopped to think about how Lucifer was able to influence one-third of the angels, how long that took, and how he was able to do that, and that he has never deviated from his game plan since that time? That the beguiling nature that he used then is still being used? The Bible tells us certain things.

It says that the angels sin, so we know these sins. Sin is going against God, his way, his law, going against what's right. So, they sin. The Bible says that Satan was lifted up with pride, pride and vanity, so he became stuck on himself. So, Lucifer was able to influence the angels. Now, at some point, he had to tell them that God was wrong. Now, did he come right out and say God's wrong? I doubt it. I think they would have said, wait a minute, what do you mean God is wrong? But what if he approached them from the point of view?

You know, God isn't treating us fairly. Because there's one thing that Satan hates, and that is the plan of God, the plan of salvation. He wants to be God, and he rose up against God to try to cast God off of his throne, and he was cast back down to this earth. Now, he had been placed on this earth, and he probably was going to be given the responsibility to be over the angels, to help us as human beings to come into the kingdom of God, to be a part of the family of God.

But he didn't want that. He wanted to be there. And so, he hates us, because he knows that one day we will be over him. And so, he tries everything in the world to undermine the Church of God to deceive the people of God. So Lucifer influenced a third of the angels. They went with him in his rebellion against God. Now, let's notice over here in Matthew chapter 4.

Down through the years, he's been the unseen influence behind a lot of what goes on, the rebellions against God, his way, his government, his authority. Let's notice an interesting situation here. This is Satan tempting Jesus Christ. Now, what did he do where here's Jesus Christ in the flesh, God in the flesh? What did he try to do to deceive him or to mislead him? Let's notice his approach. Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil.

When he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, afterwards he was hungry. When the tempter came to him, he said, If you are the Son of God, Now notice, if you are the Son of God, he could say the same thing to us. If you are a Son of God, If you are a true Christian, If you have God's Spirit, Whatever. But here it says, If you are the Son of God, Command that these stones become bread. So, he's hungry. He certainly had the power to do that. Did he not multiply fishes and loaves and feed 5,000?

He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, But by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Then the Devil took him up to the holy city, set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said, If you are the Son of God, See, there's no doubt about it. He was the Son of God. Cast yourself down, for it is written, He shall give his angels charge over you.

Now, I want you to notice something here. Did the Devil lie? He quoted Scripture. Did he quote the Scripture wrong? He quoted Scripture when I say quoted it wrong. Did he leave words out or that type of thing? He quoted the Scripture. It is true that God gave angels charge over Christ to be there to protect him, to look after him.

But what he was asking Christ to do was to deliberately put himself in danger and then expect God to protect him. So, Satan the Devil is very clever. He can actually quote Scripture, and it can be correct, and yet he misapplies it. He applies it in a way. And, notice, in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against the stone. And notice what Jesus said, because Jesus immediately understood.

He said, it is written again, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. You don't deliberately do something to tempt God so that God will take action. And again, the Devil took him up to an exceedingly high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world, said all these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. Now we see what he's really after. He wants Christ to fall down and worship him.

Now, what if Christ had done that? Well, the plan of salvation would have been over. We would not have a Savior. Well, Christ told him, get away from me, Satan, because it's written that you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. So, Christ quoted the Scriptures correctly. Lucifer, or Satan the Devil at this time, quoted them and misapplied them in a way that is wrong. And so, you'll find that Satan is the Great Deceiver. And he was trying to manipulate Christ, and Christ did not fall for his deception.

Now, sometimes we're not as smart. And you find that we can succumb to these things. Certainly, Satan has done this to the world. Let's notice over here in 1 Timothy 2 and verse 13, we have the classic example of how this began with the human race. 1 Timothy 2 and we'll begin in verse 13. It says, Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived fell into transgression.

So Eve was deceived in the Garden of Eden. Satan talked to the woman. He reasoned with her. The man, he may have been there, but we don't have any knowledge. At least, he didn't say anything if he was around when the dragon talked to the woman. It was the wife who listened to the serpent, who the serpent reasoned with, and who followed him. And then she gave to her husband, and he ate. So here's Eve.

She takes a bite of whatever the fruit is. God said what? The day you eat thereof you shall die. She's eating. She's not dead. She can drop dead. Her husband looks at her and says, well, you didn't drop dead. I wonder if God told us the truth.

So he takes part of it, and he eats likewise. What mistake did they make? Well, number one, they didn't trust God. They didn't believe what he said. Instead, the devil did what? What did the devil do to the woman? He placed a doubt in her mind. He didn't come out and just say, God's lying to you, woman. Let's go back to Genesis chapter 3. Genesis the third chapter.

You see, she was misled by her five senses. What did she evaluate by? Well, she evaluated by sight. It was a fruit. You know, the tree to make one wise. What she could see. By taste. By hearing, smelling, feeling. What are those called? They're called the five senses. And human beings judge by what they can see. And yet, God had clearly told them, You can eat all of the trees in this garden, but don't touch this one.

Don't eat of it. And that's exactly what she did. And so we read here, The serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field, which the Lord had made. And he said to the woman, As God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. See her problem? She began to reason with him. And you're always going to lose if you try to reason with the devil.

But the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die. And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die. He didn't come out and say, God's a liar. And he just said, You won't die. For God knows something that He's not telling you. Now, is this what Lucifer told the angels? God knows something that He's not telling us? God hasn't revealed everything to us? I think I've cited to you the example of years ago, Dr. Hay in the counseling department in Pasadena, had a man come in who was obviously demon-possessed.

And Dr. Hay, before he cast the demon out, started talking to the demon. And asked him several pointed questions. But one of them was, Why did you rebel against God? And what his answer was, God was not fair. God didn't tell us everything. In other words, maybe God didn't reveal to them everything about the plan of salvation. And so, they felt God was unfair. They weren't being treated properly. Well, what do we have going on here? You see, he says, Well, you won't die.

God said you'll die, but you won't die. See, God hasn't told you everything. He knows. Verse 5. He said, In the day you eat of it, your eyes will be open, and you'll be like God to know good and evil. So, what did the woman do? Well, when the woman saw sight, five senses, that the tree was good for food. How'd she know that? Well, she just saw. Looked good. There was pleasant to the eyes.

So, here's sight now. And the tree desired to make one wise. Okay, now here's an appeal. What? The vanity. The pride. She took of the fruit. She's handling it now. And she ate it. So now her tastes are involved. And she also gave her husband with her, and he ate. And the eyes of them both were open.

So, when God said, You'll die, she ate, she didn't drop dead. But notice the deception. And this is the pattern that has been set ever since. Satan the devil has taken everything that God has said, and he has twisted it. He has misled the human race. The pattern has been set here. Man has, ever since this time, believed that he has an immortal soul. He won't die. Now, we know when God said, In the day you eat thereof, you won't die. He wasn't talking about the very day, 24-hour period. He was talking about a day. The very day that they took it, they were going to die because they sinned. The wages of sin is death. But their eyes would be open. They would know something good and evil like God does. God is good, but He's never participated in evil. Man participates in evil. Man sins. Man goes the wrong way. Man has experienced all the woes of evil, of going the wrong way. Remember the word deceive means to cause, to go astray, to lead astray, to lead aside from the right way, to make a person believe what is not true. And this is exactly what the devil did. So we see from, one, how he dealt with the angels, two, his first encounter with human beings, three, how he tried to deal with Jesus Christ, how Satan operates.

And it's all the same and never deviates. How did he appeal to Christ? You're hungry! Same things we have back here. You need food. And God wouldn't want you to go hungry, so go ahead and eat. And so he appealed to what? His senses. He appealed to the fact that he was hungry. Took Christ out and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world. You can have these. Appeal to pride and vanity. You don't have to wait another 2,000 years. I'll give it to you right now. You can rule over all nations. And he was trying to hasten the process up. Christ didn't fall for that. And so Jesus Christ overcame the devil. Most human beings don't even know what's going on. And so therefore, they're deceived. So, I want you to notice what happened at the very beginning here. The major concepts that were introduced. The major deceptions that took place. Satan the devil counterfeited the plan of salvation. When I say counterfeited, you don't need God to live forever. You're already immortal. You already have life. He deceived mankind into his ultimate destiny. And what his ultimate destiny was going to be. He distorted the truth about God. God is not the supreme authority. God hasn't revealed everything to you. God is not the source of all truth. You can rely upon your own judgment in deciding what is right or wrong. You can decide for yourself right and wrong. And that's what human beings have done for the last 6,000 years. He introduced a false concept of how man could solve his own problems. That the human race could figure it all out. Man has been trying to solve his own problems since that time. Remember Proverbs 14, 12, there's a way that seems right to a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death. Man was cut off from God from the tree of life, and he's come under the sway of Satan the devil ever since. 2 Corinthians 4, 4 shows that Satan is the God of this world, and he's blinded the minds of people. He's deceived the human race. Remember, a counterfeit is to make an invitation of something genuine, and so thereby to deceive are to defraud. One of the major counterfeits that Satan the devil has found off on the human race is counterfeit religion. Let's go back to James 2, 19. James 2 and verse 19. And we will read here, James 2, 19. It says, you believe that there is one God? Great! You do well, it says. Even the demons believe and tremble. They know that there is a God. He's dealt with them. He created them. They've seen Him. Who knows how long they were around Him before they disobeyed? They know how powerful He is and what He's capable of. And yet today, people have been convinced that there is no God. Or, they've been convinced of a God, but He's a false God. What about the God of Islam? The God of Shintoism? The God of Confuciusism? The God of Hinduism?

What about the gods of this world and the false gods of Christianity? God the Father is pictured as a harsh, mean God, Jesus Christ, this loving God. Mr. Armstrong used to talk about how mankind has worshipped the false Christ, a false God, and that Jesus Christ came to reveal the Father. The world believes in a Trinity, the Christian world. Satan has wanted to be a part of the family of God and has pommed himself off over the years as the Holy Spirit, the power of God. Let's notice in Revelation 13 that at the end time, Revelation chapter 13, beginning in verse 11, that here at the end time, mankind is going to be deceived even further by a very powerful deception. In verse 11, it says, Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, in other words, he looks like a lamb, looks Christian, and he spoke like a dragon, and he exercises the authority of the first beast, the political power, what we would call the resurrected Roman Empire, the United States of Europe, the beast's power, he exercises power over that in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth, from the sight of men, and he deceives those who dwell on the earth. So notice human beings in the future are going to be deceived. Why? Because they will see signs and wonders for the signs that will be granted to him, and the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast, who was wounded by the sword and lived.

See, not everything that is supernatural is of God, as we know. So when you look at the counterfeit that Satan the Devil has fawned off on mankind, he's deluded mankind, we know, into believing many things, many false ideas, just like a counterfeit dollar bill.

Today, there are hundreds—well, it's estimated that there are over 300 denominations. There are thousands of splits from those. Today, the false idea that any church is okay, there are thousands of different denominations, doesn't matter which one you go to, they're all going to the same place, supposedly going to end up in heaven.

Satan the Devil has set up a false system of religion called Babylon the Great, and it perpetuates the way of Cain and the teachings of Nimrod and Semiramis. It has perpetuated that idea. The spirit in man has been counterfeited by the immortality of the soul. Grace has been counterfeited. Freedom from law. You don't have to keep the law of God, the commandments of God, and they use grace in a false way to try to say that.

Salvation has been counterfeited. Salvation isn't to become a part of the family of God. Salvation is a picture to something else. Death is not really death. You don't die. You live forever, either in heaven, or in purgatory, or in Olympus and Phanthemum, or in hell, whichever one you're in. They worship God in vain. As Christ said in Matthew 15, verse 9, Mark 7, 7, in vain do they worship and eat, teaching for doctrines, the commandments of men.

But about all of the pagan holidays and so on. Now, we're all very clear about that. We understand that God, when He opened our minds, and He called us into His Church, called us out of that religious chaos, religious confusion, religious Babylon. We are the undeceived. However, is it possible for us to still be deceived? Is it possible for us to be misled? God has called us out of this world into His truth. And in this particular case, God has opened our eyes. Now, He's opened our eyes to what?

Well, to the truth. Back in the garden, back in the book of Genesis in the Garden of Eden, their eyes were opened to no good and evil. In other words, they took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So therefore, they were going to experience good, they were going to experience evil. Now, God has revealed and opened our minds to understand His truth. And we describe it that way. When did you learn the truth?

When did you understand the truth? And we've used that type of terminology. How many people remained faithful in the Church back in 1995? Well, we know that the vast majority did not. Did they begin to believe in some counterfeit doctrines and teachings? Well, of course they did. Did they believe a lie? Yes, they did. Or lies? You see, Satan the Devil's objective never changes. He wants to destroy the plan of God. He wants to undermine the plan of God. And Satan will constantly split, scatter, and divide people. And that's his objective. He's done it for thousands of years. He is a master at it. Now, how does he do that?

And how can he do that in the Churches of God? How did he do it back in 1995? How did he do it back—I've gone through all of this with you before— back in 1986, 1980, 79, 78, 76, 74, 72, when we lost thousands of members, dozens of ministers, back during those days. He creates confusion, he creates doubt, and he creates suspicion.

And he misleads people. Let's notice the word doubt in the Greek language. If you want to look it up, there are several words that are translated. But one of the major words means twice. The word means twice or two ways. Now, to doubt means to waver or hesitate to be uncertain between two ways. Here's one way, here's another way, which is right. And so you doubt. It's like coming to a crossroads. You ever be on a long trip, you come, the road divides, and you, wooooo, which way should I be going here?

And you don't know which way to go, and you've got to get your map out and look and make sure that you're on the right path. Well, that's what doubt means. It's used in Matthew 14.31 and Matthew 28.17. It is a figurative word taken either from a person standing, where two ways meet, and those ways can be ideas, philosophies, approaches, teachings, or from a person standing where two ways meet, and not knowing which way to choose. Not knowing which way to go. Inclining sometimes one way, sometimes to the other. In other words, vacillate back and forth.

Or from the quivering motion of a balance, when he weighs on either side that are approximately equal. Or you've got a scale, you've got a balance, and it's almost equal on both sides, and yet it will go like this. It will go back and forth. It's what it's talking about. And when one side and then the other seems to be predominant. In Matthew 28.17, the verb is translated, some doubted. When Christ appeared to His disciples, you might remember, it says, some of them doubted. It says, should rather be translated, they hesitated. They hesitated. I hadn't written this scripture down, but let's go back here to the book of James, I believe.

Let me see if that's what I'm thinking about. It's always good to write a scripture down before you quote it. I'm sure it's here in James, but remember where the Bible talks about a double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways? A double-minded man is one who doubts. He doesn't know the course of action. He doesn't know what he should do.

So how can Satan mislead people today? How can he mislead members of God's church? How could he mislead you or me? By undermining our faith, causing confusion in the mind through doubt and uncertainty. You and I have to always be on guard. Remember in 2 Corinthians 2 and verse 11? It talks about lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his objectives or his devices.

You and I are not ignorant of how he works, how he tries to deceive people. His devices are always the same. Conquer and divide. He divided a third of the angels from God when God was absolutely perfect, and yet he found something wrong to accuse God of. Now God was not wrong, but this is the way he portrayed it. He separated mankind in the garden from God. He tried to separate Christ from trusting in the Father and was not successful. Christ overcame him. You read through the New Testament, and through especially beginning in the book of Acts and Paul's epistles and the general epistles, and you'll find you can see his footprint, his fingerprints, all over the church, where false teachings, ideas, thoughts, and philosophies were brought in.

I want you to notice very quickly here, and this in itself is an interesting study. Let's go over to Matthew 9 and verse 9, Matthew 9. When Jesus Christ was on the earth, and he went about teaching, he was God in the flesh, he was the Messiah, he never sinned, he was without sin, the Bible very clearly says, otherwise he could not be our Savior. But yet, I want you to notice that those who were religious leaders of his day were constantly finding fault with him, constantly telling the people what was wrong with him.

Now, why would they do that? Well, because they wanted...they looked on Christ as a competitor, and if Jesus Christ continued to get the people to follow him, I mean, after all, and you go out and you can feed 5,000 people, you can get a big crowd to follow you. If you've got a very popular message, and you're going against the traditions of the day, well, they might follow you. But let's notice here, in verse 9, this would be like working for the IRS today.

They didn't like them. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? Horror of horrors! How many of you have eaten with a sinner recently? Well, every time I sit down and eat with myself, we all sin. But here, they were so self-righteous in their approach. They thought they were so good that they wouldn't dare mingle with sinners, especially someone that they knew was a sinner.

And so, they condemned Christ. Now, why did they constantly bring these things up? Because they didn't keep it private. They would tell these disciples, they would tell the people, Why would you follow him? He's doing such and such. Well, because they wanted the people to follow them, and not Christ. Let's notice in verse 32, in the same chapter, As they went out, behold, they brought to him a man, mute, and demon possessed. And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke, and the multitude marveled, saying, It was never seen like this in Israel.

But the Pharisees said, He cast out demons by the ruler of the demons. The only reason he's able to do that, he's got Satan on his side, is what they're saying. And so, again, they belittled him, and they made fun of him. Chapter 12, the book of Matthew, verse 1. Chapter 12, in verse 1, it says, At that time, Jesus went through the grain field on the Sabbath, and the disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain, and to eat.

And when the Pharisees saw it, they said, Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. And then, of course, then Christ corrected him, and he gave the example of David, and the prophets, and the ministers, the priests working on the Sabbath, and how they're held without guilt.

And in verse 9, When he had departed from there, he went into their synagogue. Now, I want you to notice, all of these examples here are on the Sabbath. This is just one Sabbath day. Christ is out trying to do what's right, keep the Sabbath, and observe it. And here he's got his critics walking around, condemning him, and he goes into the synagogue, and, Behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, that they might accuse him? And he said to them, What man is there among you, who has one sheep, and if he falls into the pit on the Sabbath, would not lay hold on it, and lift it out?

And so, how much more value, then, is a man than a sheep? Therefore, it is lawful to do good. So he told the man, Stretch your hand out. He healed it. In verse 14, the Pharisees went out and plotted against him how they might destroy him. You see, they had a wonderful attitude, didn't they?

They're condemning him because he heals someone, and they go out and they plot murder. They're talking about how to kill him. What kind of an attitude is that? I mean, how can you compare the two? But yet, this is exactly the way they were. As I think I covered, I know I'm one or two sermons behind here.

I covered in a sermon recently the attitude of the Pharisees and Matthew 23, where they are beautiful outside, like a clean cup, whitewashing sepulcher, but inside are full of dead man's bones and rotting flesh, such as you find in a tomb. Now, in chapter 12, again we find the example of Christ. They brought to him somebody with a demon, blind and mute. He healed the blind and the mute, so that he spoke and saw.

The multitude were amazed and said, could this be the son of David? Now, when the Pharisees heard of it, they said, this fellow does not cast out demons, except by the elves above, the ruler of the demon. So again, they accused him before the people of doing this through the power of Satan. Now, why did they accuse him? Well, because they had their own interpretation of how to keep the law, how to observe the Sabbath, and they were not keeping it in the way that God intended.

I want you to notice here, he very clearly brings out how they were misapplying and misusing this. Notice in verse 30, it says, He who is not with me is against me, and who does not gather with me, scatters abroad. So Christ clearly knew that they were trying to scatter abroad. Now, in John chapter 7, there are literally a number of scriptures like this we could read, but I just picked out chapter 3 to illustrate the point.

In John 7.32, it says, The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him. So again, they wanted him taken. They were going to lock him up. Why? Because he was a competitor.

Now, let's notice in verse 45, Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, Why have you not brought him? We sent you to get him. Why didn't you bring him? And the officers answered, No man ever spoke like this man. And then the Pharisees answered them and said, Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed in him? But the crowd that does not know the law is accursed. See, these dumb people out here don't know the law like we do. We Pharisees, we Sadducees, we know the law. We're not deceived. None of us are following him. And so therefore, what were they saying? They were saying that Jesus Christ was a deceiver. Were they not? They were saying none of us had been deceived by him. But notice Nicodemus. Nicodemus, the one who came to Jesus by night, being one of them, said to them, Does our law judge a man before it hears him, and knows what he is doing? And they answered and said to him, Are you also, from Galilee, search and look for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee. You see, they're saying he couldn't be the Messiah because he came out of Galilee. And so, not understanding where he actually came from. And so they were misleading the people. Do you remember when Christ appeared before Pilate? What Pilate had to say? Pilate said he knew that they had delivered Christ out of envy. So what was their motive? They presented one motive to the people. Well, this man's a deceiver. He's misleading. But what was their true motive? They were envious of Jesus Christ. They looked on him as a competitor. In Acts 6, you read one last scripture here, Acts 6, verse 8, concerning Stephen. Remember, Stephen was brought before the religious council of that day to give an answer. And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. And there rose among what is called the synagogue of the freed man, Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen. Now, this is what Melvin Rhodes was talking about. Here were all these various sects of the Jews. They all had various aspects of how they would interpret things. And so they were upset with Stephen, and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke. And then they secretly induced men to say, We've heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God. Now, did he blaspheme Moses? Did he blaspheme God? Absolutely not.

But this is what he was accused of. So they brought accusations against him. And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes. And they came upon him, and they seized him, and they brought him to the council. And they also set up false witnesses who said, This man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against the holy place and the law. For we have heard him said to Jesus of Nazareth, Well, destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered unto us. And all who sat in the council looked steadfastly at him and saw his face as the face of an angel. And then he preaches to them, and I think he knew when he got through they were going to kill him. And they took him out and stoned him. And there was Saul at his stoning, giving consent to him being stoned. And we know that later on God used him, but they twisted what he said. And so you find this is the way that Satan gets at people. He will twist the truth. He will manipulate. He will cause confusion.

And so you find Babylon meaning confusion. He confuses people. Rather than we need to realize that Satan hates the Church of God. He hates the people of God. He absolutely despises you. He despises all of us. He will do anything to scatter us, to weaken us. Why? Because, number one, he doesn't want the gospel preached to the world. That's one reason. He doesn't want more people to be called now. He wants us to destroy ourselves. He doesn't want us ruling over him in the future. So every truly converted person that he can lead astray, or he can mislead and take away, he knows that they will not be there to rule over him. Because, what does the Bible say that we're going to do in the future? It says we will judge angels. We will rule over the angels. We will be in the very family of God. The angels will come and worship before us in the future. We can see how he influenced and divided the angels. We can see how he has done it throughout the Bible, how he tried to do it with Christ.

How he's busily trying to do it today. For rather than let's not fall for his deception. So we need to realize that there is a powerful being out there who tries to counterfeit everything that God does. And he has deceived the world. And we know that. But he's also trying to manipulate, mislead, and misguide us. Let's not allow him to do that. As we read back in 2 Corinthians, let's not be ignorant of his devices.