Satan

Before I actually start the sermon, just comment or two. Just please keep each other in your prayers. We have so many facing trials, and obviously the day that we're observing here, the day of atonement, it reminds us that we have an adversary, and he hates the meaning of the fall holy days, and runs amuck and tries to just disrupt as much as possible. So many church members having one trial after another as we're trying to get away from here and go off and appear before God. So we'll have you in our prayers. We'd appreciate your prayers because the world's full of crazies out there. And of course, there's just time and chance, but at any rate, we leave for the airport in the morning at 4, and then fly from Huntsville to Houston to Honolulu to Guam and on down to Manila. So we'll be on planes for over a day and being able to get there. Earl Romer from Alaska is already at Hong Kong. He and Terry Franke, who's an elder from Alaska, are in Hong Kong. We have a small congregation there of about 25 people, which this year, the home office asked the senior pastor of the Philippines to also take oversight of that small congregation. So they're in Hong Kong right now, and if you've been looking at the news, there have been protests and clashes there. So it's a perilous time, I believe was Paul's phrase. OK, I'll go ahead to this sermon. I want to give credit to Dan Dowd. He's one of our pastors up in Minnesota. Dan Dowd worked for years as a visual artist. A number of years ago, he offered a set of some slides, some optical illusions, and then a basic sermon outline that I was able to get. I had it for several years, and I found them last year. I find all kinds of things on my computer. It's kind of nice when I need a set of sermon notes, and I find somebody else's notes where they said, you know, use if you can.

So I took his notes and worked them up and made them mine and changed. But anyhow, there are some slides we'll look at here in a little bit that came from Mr. Dowd, and I do appreciate that. Working as a visual artist, he mentioned that a lot of what they do is look at color, style, the layout, whether it's a publication or whatever it is that they're working on. And he said a lot of design work is not always so much what you see, but what you do not see. And they have what they call the negative space, the things that you don't normally see and focus on. And yet then, in a little while, you realize, well, it was right there before my eyes all along.

Denise and I, with our AAA membership, we received AAA Alabama magazine. And one thing they do in this, whenever we get one, about the only thing I do with this magazine, is I flip through it because they've got a little red icon in the shape of the state of Alabama.

A little red icon. And I flip through this magazine because somewhere in each issue they hide one. And when I finally find them, like this one, eats on the streets article. And here in this picture of a deli down out of Birmingham, on their menu board, is this little red Alabama icon.

And it might take me two or three times flipping through, thinking, okay, I know what I'm looking for. And then when I finally see it, I think, why didn't I see that the first time?

Well, optical illusions. I like them. They can be fun because your eye sees one thing, and then it sees something else.

You may be familiar with, especially if you're on the Internet, you'll see these photos will come around of sidewalk, of chalk drawings. And some of them are, and I know from a distance you can't see this well, but here it looks like this guy is hanging up on a pole.

And there's this hole, and way, way down below is that field.

And it's just a chalk drawing on a flat surface. The guy is just there, squatted down on this flat pavement.

And then this other one looks like a road with this sinkhole that has appeared, and here's the bicyclist crossing on this little stick, this little piece of board.

It's just a flat pavement that somebody has painted that and made it look that way. And it just fascinates me that they have the talent to understand how to make it look so real, but it's a mirage.

It's a deception.

Here are some more of somebody squatted down there by what appears to be a hole where people have or are falling in.

But again, it's a flat pavement. This one, as if there are kids on a raft about to go down the little rapids, and here's a crocodile down in there.

That's a flat pavement.

Now, our title today is Satan, Master of Deception.

Turn with me, if you will, over to 1 John 5.

We covered this in the last Bible study here as we wrapped up John's first epistle.

John said in 1 John 5 verse 19, verse 19, We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

And so today we want to talk about Satan the Devil. He is truly the master of deception because he is the originator of presenting things in such a way that what you think you're seeing is not really what you see.

Now, here are some other optical illusions.

When you first see this, what are you looking at?

A cup? Goblet? Anyone see anything else? Two faces? Very good.

Is it this goblet, or is this someone's brow and eye and nose and lips and chin and then on the other side?

Generally, you look at it first, you see this cup. And then as you look a little longer, and everybody's different, some will first see two people facing looking at each other.

Here's another one.

Now, this one's a little tough to make out, but you look around here and you see these are clearly leaves around here.

Or is it?

What do you see in that picture?

A face? A man and a woman kissing? Now, I haven't heard that one yet. I don't see that.

But, as far as the face of, let's say, an old man, forehead, eye, sagas, nose, lips, beard.

Okay, the eye socket on the left is the man's hair, and the eye socket on the right is the woman's hair.

Eye socket on the left is the man's hair. Hey, okay, gotcha! Thank you very much!

See, that's the fascinating thing.

And the beard is her dress, actually.

His beard is her dress. You're right.

I showed these last year in Murfreesboro & Huntsville, and no one pointed that out.

But, old man in the woods, couple kissing.

You have to study these things for a while. And then, usually, we think, you know, I didn't see that before.

Okay, what do we have here?

Is it a young woman or an older woman?

Okay, so if you look at this, you know, here's the young woman's hair, her eyelashes, nose, she's looking the other way, you know, her chin, kind of the side of her ear, has a feather coming out.

Or, on the other hand, is this the hair, is this an older woman?

The shawl over her, this is her nose, and this is her mouth, and kind of a pointy chin.

So, it's all the same photo, but just the perception.

Now, these are fun examples of being deceived or misled, but in a fun way.

There's a flip side to that, though, and that is, you know, the title of our sermon.

Satan is the master deception. Let's turn over to 2 Corinthians 11, because here it speaks of Satan and his ministers.

As those who are in the business of deceiving us.

And we see that from the very beginning, where Satan went to Eve, and here's the fruit.

God said, you can have all this fruit in this garden, but this one, and he holds that out to her.

And it's a fruit to be desired, and you can have power, and we know the rest of the story.

But in 2 Corinthians 11 verse 13, and I'm breaking down on his thought here.

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

And no wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.

Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

So, you know, what's in a while? We run across, there's an old Latin phrase, and it's translated in English.

It means, the world wants to be deceived. The world wants to be deceived.

Now, think of advertising. Advertising is based upon deception.

Think about politics. Politics is based upon deception.

Darren and I were talking the way down. Yesterday on a talk show, I heard, I don't even remember who it was, but he talked about the elections of 2012, where the news would say, well, there's never been a president re-elected if the unemployment rate is above 8 percent.

And at that time, it was somewhere around 8.2, 8.3. I think in real terms, it was much higher than that.

But at any rate, that was the official published point.

And a week before the election, at a press conference, it was announced that it had fallen to 7.9.

And all of these members of the press in this room just broke into laughter because, even though they were a part of the deception, they knew the government has to come out and present that.

And so, again, the world wants to be deceived, and in my estimation, we see that so much so in advertising and in politics.

We see that in media as well. We have movie scenes where the set is in such a way. I remember going to Old Tucson years ago when we would go to Tucson for the feast and go out to the Old Tucson movie set.

And I used to wonder, you know, how did John Wayne was tall? 6'4", I believe. And Clint Eastwood is tall. 6'3", I believe.

But I thought, you know, these guys, their head's about to hit the door, which is usually a door jam, what, 6'6".

And yet you go to the movie set and you realize, you know, the thing's just about an inch above my head.

Oh, it's built differently. It's all a part of the set so as to, you know, build the suspense and make things look a little different than they really are.

Now, here are some other types of optical illusions. With that one, there's a dot in the middle.

And I don't know if you can do it from a distance, but if you look at the center dot and move toward it and move back, your circle's around it. One goes clockwise, one goes counterclockwise.

But reality is what? Reality is, it's just something I've projected on us. It's not moving at all.

But it messes with the mind. It makes it look like something it's not.

Now, the bottom line of all this is, Satan the Devil, is, he has beyond a doctorate degree at this. He's the master of all masters at deceiving us and making things look so good when they are contrary to God's law.

Another one. That one just really messes with my mind. But if you would look at one of these circles and just focus on it, if you do that for a while, I'm not going to do it. But if you do that for a while, in your peripheral vision, some of the other circles start slowly spinning.

So, some of you see that. The world wants to be deceived.

Again, interesting in the light of the results of any of these. Truth is bent, it's shaded, it's pushed aside. Reality is distorted, and a lot of times people literally don't want to know, for instance with advertising, they really don't want to know what's in their food.

They want to believe that advertisement that Coke really is the real thing.

No, there's not one thing in Coke except if you could distill out the water that we ought to have. You can see the advertisement for whatever restaurant down here, and a new entree they have, and it looks so good, but it can be so bad for us in reality.

Now, we see deception in news reporting. Once in a while, you have authors who just simply make up their sources.

We have photographers taking shots from a particular angle that obscures the reality, but just focuses on a message they want to project.

Once in a while, there's an outright fabrication of material.

Now, we read in the sermonette, Leviticus 23. So I'm not going to turn back there. We read those verses.

But that Hebrew word kathar translated atonement, to make an atonement, generally.

Some of the translations will present it to make reconciliation, or to forgive, or to pardon. So this day today could just as easily be called, aside from the day of atonement, a day of reconciliation, a day of pardons, a day of forgiveness.

Because the term covers, the word covers, all of those. And it deals with the relationship between human beings and God.

There is a need for sin to be covered, to be pardoned, to be atoned for.

Now, when the King James Version was translated, which is coming up on 400 years ago, came out in 1611.

Is my math right? I've been ruined by calculators. I can't do math in my head very well anymore.

But when it was translated, the term atonement literally meant becoming at one.

You'll hear us in the church. We'll talk about atonement and break it down. At one meant with God.

But in 1611, reconciliation or atonement meant that. Becoming at one, becoming, or being restored to a state of oneness.

And so this day celebrates a reconciliation that we've already been given with God, but we look to the ultimate blanket, worldwide, reconciliation that God will offer to human beings there at the time Christ returns.

Now, we have another one here. And this triangle, it kind of messes with my mind, too, the way it's put together.

Which triangle is in front? This would appear to be in front, but then it obviously goes back behind, so maybe this one is.

But the way it's constructed, it just leaves you wondering which side is up? Which one is in the forefront?

Now, we... In fact, let's go back to Leviticus 16.

And I think we saw the basics of what we need from here, but once again, we have these two goats.

You have verses 1 through 10, God through Moses giving instruction to Aaron and his sons regarding what they're to walk through annually on the day of atonement, what Aaron would go through.

And then the taking of the two lambs, or excuse me, the two goats, pardon me.

Verse 7 speaks of taking the two goats. Verse 8, the casting of Lot, the one for the Lord, the other one for the scapegoat, as it was mentioned in the Hebrew, a zazel.

Perhaps more accurately, it could be said, the escape goat, because this is a goat that's going to be taken out in the wilderness and allowed to escape and go free.

But the Hebrew, a zazel. Now, years ago, one of our ministers wrote a little article on the zazel goat, Bill Johns.

And let me read just a little portion from what he wrote. In Leviticus 16, verse 5, the priests select two goats. One is taken to be the sin offering, the other as what is called the scapegoat.

Many translations, such as the New Revised Standard, simply use the term zazel in the text.

The Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate translate zazel as the goat of departure, because that's the goat, the sins of Israel would be confessed upon, and then it would be left to depart into the wilderness.

Continuing, Mr. Johns wrote, often when interpreting what a word in Scripture means, it is necessary to look at what the meaning of the word is in literature outside the Bible.

Consider some of the following resources. Here is from William Jacinius, Hebrew Cality, Lexington. He said, The name zazel has been used by the Arabs as that of an evil demon.

So they recognize some type of connection with that zazel word, the meaning of this goat connected to an evil demon.

This comes from the Cambridge Companion of the Bible. It says, The high priest shall cast lots upon the two goats, one to be the Lord for sin offering. The other was the zazel, the completely separate one, the evil spirit regarded as dwelling in the desert, to be sent away into the wilderness. So there, too, the Cambridge Companion draws a parallel between this zazel, this escape goat, this goat of departure, and an evil demon. Okay, let's go to Revelation 20, because Revelation has many inset chapters, but in large part it is walking through a chronological story.

And we have the beast power in chapters 17 and 18, and it goes down. And we have Christ's return in chapter 19, and the church has made herself ready. And then we go on to chapter 20, verse 1.

And it says, So, the devil, Satan, he is the one who has deceived the nations. He will be removed. Let's go down to verse 7. Now, when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison. He will go out to deceive the nations, you see. That is what he does. Satan means adversary. It means enemy, and he deceives. He makes things look one way when in reality they are completely different. To deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog.

Down to verse 9 speaks of the fire from God coming down and devouring those who rebel. Verse 10, Again, another topic there. But the devil deceived the whole world. Let's back up to chapter 12. Chapter 12, verse 9.

The context here is war in heaven again. They are going to be cast down once again. But the point is, it draws a connection, this great dragon with the serpent of old, so it ties him in with the being that appeared Adam and Eve in the garden, called the devil and Satan, and he deceives the whole world. The Day of Atonement focuses primarily on the rest of humanity around us. Our calling is now. With the calling of God, with repentance, with faith in, acceptance of Christ's sacrifice, our sins were covered by the body and blood of Jesus Christ. The Day of Atonement, and of course we celebrate that at Passover. The Day of Atonement, though, looks at the rest of the world. There is this phase coming in God's plan. When humanity will, in a blanket sense, be offered to have the covering blood of Jesus Christ pay for their sins.

Here's another picture. How many legs does the elephant have? Because there's a hindquarter and there ought to be a leg going down there. And there's a front shoulder and, well, it's just downright confusing. But you know, the greatest deception of Satan, in fact, I've got a quote in France. There's an author and poet named Charles Beaulieu. He wrote this short story about meeting the devil. And this famous quote that comes from that story is, The devil's greatest accomplishment was convincing the world he doesn't exist. How many of you have seen the movie years ago, The Usual Suspects? Probably not. I didn't think there'd be many. But it was well done. Wow, I'm drawing a blank. Gabriel Byrne. I'm drawing a blank on the names of actors in it. But it was this crime scene and then the detectives trying to piece it all together. And it was like there was this other character that appeared to be someone just as their imagination. And the name kept coming up. Different times during the movie, it would mention, The Devil's greatest accomplishment was convincing the world he didn't exist. And at the end, the guy who was guilty just poof, he just disappeared into the city. The Usual Suspects. I looked up some miscellaneous quotations with respect to the existence of the devil.

This one says, there is no sin as it is known in the world. Okay, we've got a problem already, don't we? The only thing that has any meaning in the spirit world is what we think. The very core of our being is perfect love and light. And that's attributed to someone named Jane Smith. The statement that there's no sin is one of Satan's great deceptions. That there's no law, therefore there's no sin. Okay, another quote. This is from Thomas Benedict. There is no evil in any human soul. Okay, we've got a problem, don't we? The heart is, what? Deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? So, Benedict said, there is no evil in any human soul. It is the lack of love that distorts people. That statement, we could say it'd be true, but there's the spin that's attached. We are designed by God to self-correct just like the rest of the universe. Self-correct. No one is lost because everyone is already saved. Okay, we have problems with that. Kevin Williams. Evil and the devil do not exist. What people consider evil is really ignorance. Hitler was not an evil man. He was just so incredibly ignorant that he was practically retarded at a spiritual level. Well, I would have to disagree with that. You would, too. I would apply the term ignorant toward an author here in this case. But the devil's greatest accomplishment was convincing the world that he didn't exist. The master, making things that are one-way, look totally different. Now, try another. What do you see here? A duck? I'm by that. Actually, I would say a gull. It looks more like a seagull, but it's not really... But anyhow, here's the mouth of the beak, the round head, the eye. What's that? Okay. Or we're going to turn it around. We're going to go first, or as a rabbit, as was said. Here are two ears, and there's the head, and there's a little nubbin' of a nose looking that way. One way or the other. Let's go back to Ezekiel 28, because we should consider the origin of sin, and the origin comes from this being that this day focuses on, at least in part. Not the total focus, but certainly a primary focus of this day. Ezekiel 28, and let's begin in verse 12. This is a chapter where he first speaks to the Prince of Tyre. It's all figurative language, and then here he shifts to speaking to the King of Tyre. That there is this power behind the human power. And as we look at the phrases, we realize this has to be speaking about much more than any limited human being. So verse 12, Son of Man, take up a lamentation for the King of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God, You were the seal of perfection. Now, this would not be said of any human being, but notice the were past tense. Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the Garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering, the sardius, topaz, diamond, barrel, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. So this is not God the Father, this is not the Word, Jesus Christ. This is one who was created. And for Ezekiel to be writing in the 500s BC, if this one was in Eden, this is someone whose spirit, whose living, has lived a long time.

You were the anointed carob who covers. Now, think back to Exodus 25. In Exodus 25, God is giving the blueprint to Moses on building the tabernacle tent, the Ark of the Covenant, the mercy seat, and on the top of it, there are to be two carobene, where two of the wings of each of them are to overshadow that place where symbolically God is seated. This, of course, that human Ark of the Covenant was patterned on the reality of what is in heaven.

So, this being, once upon a time, was one of those covering carobs whose wings spread out over God right at the very throne of God. I established you, God is saying. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You go to Revelation 4, and you have this beautiful picture where John and Vision seized this throne. One sat on it, sight like an emerald, but there's this rainbow roundabout, sea of glass. So, he seems to be referring to this same setting. Verse 15, you were perfect in your ways. Now, how long that was, we don't know. We know that when the physical creation, the physical universe, was created that, back in Job 38, the early verses there, verse 5, 6, 7, it says that the sons of God shouted for joy at that moment. So, the angels had been around a long time before the physical universe was created. We don't know how long. But you were perfect from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trading, you became filled with violence within, and you sinned. Therefore, I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God, and destroyed you, O covering carob, from the midst of the fiery stones. What that destroyed you means to cast out from, not literally to be destroyed, but to be thrust out of the area of the throne of God. Remember when Christ walked the earth, Luke 10, verse 18. Christ said, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. So, there was a time when he was cast out and fell to the earth. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I laid you before kings that they may gaze at you. Anyhow, the story goes on as far as we need to read. Let's back up a bit further to Isaiah 14. Because in Isaiah 14, we have insight into the thinking process of this same being when he was working himself toward the point of somehow thinking, I can take over God's job. Erotic thinking here. Detached from reality. But isn't that what he does? He's the master of diverting our eyes from what is real toward what his deception may be. Isaiah 14, verse 12, How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer? Son of the morning, Lucifer, day star, light bringer, as some would say.

How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations. For you have set in your heart, and notice the eyes, the five eyes here, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. Stars, of course, in Revelation 1, verse 20, are identified as one of the biblical emblems for angels. He wanted to be over all of the angels. I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farther sides of the north. Verse 14, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High.

And I think the only conclusion to come to is that he wanted to be the Most High. He wanted to be over all of the angels. He wanted God's job. And so there was then a subsequent rebellion. He was cast back down. Jude, I think, verse 6, mentions the angels that did not keep their first estate. They were here on the earth. The pieces of the puzzle we have as we piece them together, we conclude that they were preparing the earth for the creation of human beings.

But they left that responsibility to rebel with Lucifer against God. And they lost. The origin of sin. Satan rejected God's way. He rejected God's law. He rejected the way of love. God is love. Satan became, think of his biblical names, the tempter came to Christ. He is the accuser of the brethren. He is the wicked one.

He is the father of lies. He is the prince of the power of the air. And of course, we know in 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4, it talks about the God of this world, who has blinded the minds of those who do not believe. Let's talk about some of his primary deceptions. I mentioned a while ago, he says there's no law, therefore there's no sin. He has foisted this deception that there's no sin, that human beings can't sin.

He has brought about moral relativism. He has brought about all kinds of things that just essentially break down the law of God as having any authority. But of course, the Word of God tells us that sin is the transgression of the law. Sin is lawlessness, and it also tells us that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And that's what we have to go to.

That is reality. But is sin simply a list of laws that we break, or how we fail to serve God, or any number of shortcomings that humans may have? Sin involves finding a way around the law of God. And God's purpose is for human beings to enter His eternal family, His eternal sons and daughters of God. We rehearse that through the Holy Days each year.

We rehearse it especially at the feast and at the last day. But for that to happen, God knows that He's not the author of confusion. We have to learn to dwell together in harmony, in unity, in concord, in oneness. God seeks for us to share His mind, His will, His thoughts, His approach, and embrace His way. And that involves walking by the words and the intention behind every word that is in the law of God. Let's go to Romans 8. Romans 8, let's begin in verse 5. Verse 5, for those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, He is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Because as far as we need to go there, we could go on down verses 20 through 23, talks about the creation and the whole creation being subjected to this futility and waiting for a time of the birth of the sons and daughters of God. This present world doesn't realize what it needs.

We live in a world, again, think of the deception of this nation. We have a major percentage of this nation who see themselves in their mind as being good Christian people. They see themselves as being Christian. They go about their life, including all of their sins. They clean up. They go to church sometimes. And they see themselves as being good Christians. There is a deception that's taken place. Some surveys still show some 80% in this country believe in God, which is amazing with the way we're losing ground in the last years.

But Satan has that deception. There's no law, therefore there's no sin, therefore there's no need to change. We're kind of a standard of morality to ourselves. We have one of the letters I read from the Philippines, I think. The person wrote about the difference between the world's holidays and the people trying to get that person to just go along with them. It's all about fun. And you know, you think about it, that's a pretty good summary of the world's holidays. Whether it's Valentine's Day, it's just cute, and it's fun, it's kids having fun. Whether it's Halloween, even though it's demons and ghouls and goblins and all of that, people just say, oh, it's just having fun. And churches will even in their parking lot have their trunk or treat to make it a little safer than going down knocking on doors. Christmas, of course. How many people do we know who don't darken the door of a church all year long and yet they're all just overdue Christmas? All the decorations? Why do you do Christmas if you don't believe there's a God? It doesn't make sense. But then, again, that person's letter, they come across the Sabbath and the Holy Days and what a distinct difference. Because, you know, God's ceremony, if we can call it that, always teaches something. It always points forward to something. Well, we have another deception, is that of free will? But, you know, God gave us a power of choice. And when we have a power to choose, we can choose a different path. We can stop the way we're going with His help, turn around and go the other way. And then another deception is to say there are no absolutes. And, you know, that breaks down everything. If you really believe there are no absolutes, that breaks down law, throws sin out the door. It's all what you perceive. That's moral relativism. It's what you perceive as being right and wrong in your life at that time, in that setting, in that situation. Now, here's another slide I'm going to show you. Tell me what you see. What do you see? All right. I'll buy both of those. You've got a skull here. Yeah, all the way down. Teeth, jaw, eye sockets, nose. So you do have a skull. But, as it was mentioned, we've got two people here. You've got two people sitting out eating. You know, there's the lady's head, face, her shoulders, long flowing dress. Her hand is around here on the table. There's the man's face, his shoulders. Here's a table with some, looks like, some glasses of wine or something. So is it a skull, or is it two people sitting at a table having a drink? It's both. It's both. But, you know, generally, you look at it. Usually, we don't see both of those at the same time. We see it a little later. You have to look at it for a while. And so, Satan is the master at obscuring truth. And truth may be right in front of a person's eyes, but he can't see it. Because the God of the world has blinded the minds of those that believe in the night. Lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them. Let's go to 1 Timothy 1, because Paul reminded Timothy why we have law. The law is given to us to show us what wrong behavior is.

1 Timothy 1, verse 8. Verse 8, But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. Knowing this, the law is not made for a righteous person. Now, let's pause there. A person who is living righteously is living within the realm. It's become a part of that person. The law doesn't have as much benefit to that person who's already living that way. But the law is for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers.

And if there's any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, here he speaks of the purpose for law. It shows us, it illuminates what is wrong. And one part of Satan's deception is that there are no absolutes. The law of God is all about the fact that there are things that are right, and they are always right.

There are things that are wrong that are always wrong. They are absolute. But Satan wants to sweep that away. It's increasingly hard to even say something is wrong in this society. Society teaches that we have to come to the place where feelings are just as valid as fact. You listen to what's said around here. It's all about, well, I feel this. I feel that. Instead of, here is our moral compass, what does this word say? It's right or it's wrong. And we're given a choice. All the way back to Deuteronomy 30, Moses told them, God sets before you life and death.

You choose. Here is another slide. A whole bunch of squares and gray lines dividing them at each intersection of white dots. But if you look at one of those white dots, you start seeing these black dots start showing up around. And again, it kind of skews your perspective there. We are instructed, let me just give you the Scripture 2 Corinthians 6, 11 through 18.

And just the basic thought there is that Paul says, come out from among them and be you separate. We live in the midst of a world that sees things differently. Moral relativism, worshipping the almighty human mind, feelings, and they've accepted the deception of Satan and of various of the major religions of the world.

We are told, John wrote, love not the world. Don't be a part of the world. Come out of the world. We have holidays of the world that are based on lies. They are deceptions. We have to come out of that. Now, another one, another slide. Who do you figure this character is? Abe Lincoln. Alright, look at his hat. Is it taller than the brim is wide? Sure looks like it.

You put a measuring stick on it and you find they're equal. But it messes with your mind. It looks to me, it looks a third again tall as the distance from brim to brim. But on my screen, I got my little measuring stick. They're the same. It just, again, it's the reality is distorted a bit. Okay. Lack of morality. And the guide for morality is right here in the Word of God. Lack of morality is lack of character. Lack of proper character is pride. The pride that says, I know better than God in regard to what is good and what is bad, what is acceptable or what is unacceptable.

And that's where it all began with Adam and Eve. They decided that they would decide for themselves what was right from what was wrong. And six thousand years later, human beings are still doing the same thing. Here's another slide. Okay. That one. You've got these circles, and you have them the red lines. Is that a square? Or is it diamond shaped? Sure. Sure looks like diamond shaped to me. I would say these pieces are longer than these lengths up here. But at any rate, the shape is a square.

Now, each side, as it goes across these circles, does it bend? Or is it a straight line? All four sides are straight, though. But it's just, again, it's the deception. Another one. Okay. Here's, say, a three-pane window. And back behind it, you have these parallel bars. Two bars that go behind window one, behind window two, and then only one down here.

But this one has a continuation of one of the other lines. Which one? Is it this bottom line or this top one? But what does it look like? It looks like it's in the middle. Until you lay a yardstick or a majoring stick and you see the top line, it's just a straight continuation. Those are fun. We used to hear the word spin decades ago.

Somebody would refer to, you know, this guy or this gal. They can really spin a story. You know, they can tell a story and kind of glamorize it and colorize it and add to it. But you know, the word spin has, in a very mild sense, you'd say, well, to spin a story was to deceive because you're adding to it. But today, what does Bill O'Reilly have? This is the no spin zone. It's all through politics. There is this spin that is put to it to deceive and to make things look different than they really are.

And polishing the truth. I read one phrase that was spinning is to polish the truth. Well, I hate to sound like an old cynic, but with me, I want to grab my wallet and make sure somebody's trying to get my wallet out of my, you know, and get my money out of my wallet.

Spin is now more of an augmenting or deflecting of truth to create a completely different picture than is real. Esquire magazine, December 1996, there's an article on the age of spin. The age of spin, the author, Randall Rothenberg, and the key quote from that article, in this era of exploding media technology, there is no truth except the truth you create for yourself.

Now, that's scary. No truth except the truth you create for yourself. And I read that statement. I think, you know, that sounds rather familiar all the way back. In fact, let's just go to Genesis 3. The serpent beguiled Eve.

Genesis 3, the serpent, verse 1. In verse 1, he said to the woman, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So, an outright lie, a distortion, a deception, because reality was that she was going to die. And every human being who sins will die unless there comes a time where there is a covering, a covering, an atonement, a reconciliation for the sins of mankind. Alright, too much material here, but let us close in Romans 16. Let's close on the good news that this day reminds us of. There is a spirit world. They have great power, but their time is just about up.

Help is on the way. Romans 16, verse 20. Verse 20, And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. So, our day of atonement message is to move beyond Satan's deception and to board the development of Godly character, which has to do with living by the way of the law of God.

Jesus Christ is the way and the truth and the life. No illusions, no spin, no lies, no deception, because sin will be covered. Have a wonderful feast wherever you go and see you about a month, I suppose it is. I think it is November 1st when I plan to be back here again. God willing.