Sermon: Truth-Based Worship Vs Spiritual Confusion

#1522
Martin G. Collins
Given 28-Dec-19; 74 minutes

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Why is it that when people leave God's church, they often go back to keeping Christmas? They claim they are looking at it from a Christian perspective, but in reality, they are looking at it from their humanly reasoned opinions.

I would like to begin by reading an excerpt out of an article by a Protestant writer who tries to point out the main problem in her opinion of what is wrong with the way Christmas is kept. The irony of this article is that in her effort to defend Christmas, she instead admits to its spiritual confusion and total lack of truth-based worship. I do not want to embarrass or ridicule her in any way because she is sincere in her beliefs. So I will just keep her name and the title of the article off the record. But she writes this:

The main problem is not the way we trivialize shepherds and reinvent angels, nor is it the season of the year. I doubt that Jesus cares whether we celebrate His birth in December or closer to the unknown date. Nor is it the world's religious alternatives to Christianity. While Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice may have replaced Christmas programs in public schools and homes, they alone wouldn't weaken the true church. Even socialism and communism can't quench faith. Their darkness only makes the light shine brighter and His promises more precious.

Just look at China and North Korea. Where true believers face the deadly threats to their lives and churches, they demonstrate a growth in faith and perseverance as well as in numbers that puts American churches to shame. Nor is it the pagan roots of the most popular Christmas customs. Few are even aware of the pagan history behind Christmas trees, mistletoe or the ancient midwinter celebration of a mother goddess with a midwinter baby. While these unholy roots may contribute to spiritual confusion, the real crisis is more personal.

Our main problem has to do with our view of God and our relationship to Jesus. Many have been taught to think of the King of the universe more like a super-Santa than a sovereign God who holds us accountable to His Word. We forget that life's trials, as well as His gracious gifts, are designed to conform us to His image, not meet all our wants.

So while she admits that the roots of Christmas cause spiritual confusion, she tries to justify keeping it by suggesting that it is proper to worship God and Jesus Christ by celebrating it with recognition of God's sovereignty. Her argument itself is self-contradictory and confusing.

Does Jesus care whether we celebrate His birthday in December or closer to the unknown date sometime in the autumn? Should we even celebrate His birthday? Does it matter to God that most professing Christians do not care that Christmas has a pagan history and that its roots are confusing and unholy? Can we be conformed to His image while celebrating unholy celebrations like Christmas, Easter, and Halloween?

With so many falsehoods and deceptions surrounding and embedded in these holidays, we would be foolish to believe that God would approve of their celebration. John 8:32 records that Christ said, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." So these people are not free when they are just listening to the lies of Christmas.

Please turn with me to John 18, verse 37. Now does Christmas teach us to uphold the truth? Truth is very important to God. It is one of the main attributes of Jesus Christ and one of His requirements for membership in His Body.

John 18:37-38 Pilate therefore said to Him [that is, Jesus Christ], "Are You a king then?" And He answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." [And of course, Pilate says that infamous], "What is truth?"

Only those who are truth-seekers hear Christ's voice. So how can someone who promotes and celebrates lies hear what Christ has said in His inspired written Word?

Now please turn over to Romans 1, verse 18. Most people do not really want to know the truth because it interferes with what they want to do or believe. The apostle Paul had something to say about this to the Roman members of the church because it was also common during his time as well. That is, not wanting to hear the truth or know the truth.

Romans 1:18-25 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness [that means anyone who promotes Christmas in any way is suppressing the truth], because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and divine nature, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man [I think Santa Claus would fit that statement]—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

So the amazing thing about truth is it gives us a realistic view of everything in life: religion, politics, science, history, which all are useless to us, even detrimental to us, if they do not advance the truth. Even so, people would rather hear a lie that initially pleases them than the truth that ultimately exposes them.

Isaiah saw the way that the human mind naturally works when he wrote that sin separates us from God and sin causes people to not want to hear the truth for fear that it will expose their sins. And that is why he writes in,

Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.

Isaiah 59:4 No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; they conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.

But in contrast,

Psalm 145:18 The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.

This means no matter what your attitude is on Christmas, if you are keeping it or celebrating it, then He does not hear because it is not of the truth.

Please turn with me to II Thessalonians 2, verse 9. This applies to all things in life, even such things as buying a car or house, developing and building a friendship, choosing whom to marry, or how to raise children. None of that can be done successfully without a foundation of truth. So what do we see in the misbehaving children of the world? We see them following the misconceptions, the lies, and the deceits of those who promote themselves as experts on child rearing. But all of it is based on the foundation of lies and so the children are misbehaved and disrespectful.

Pride, greed, and exchanges of lies are the main reasons for wars between nations and even within each nation, the citizens give their support to their leaders to engage in war following propaganda based on half truths and flat-out lies to convince people to support the cause.

Now you remember the apostle Paul's warning prophecy to the church in Thessalonica in II Thessalonians 2.

II Thessalonians 2:9-10 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception [so there is both lying there and deception mentioned] among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure and unrighteousness.

We see there why even when people keeping Christmas hear the truth, or the pagan origin of it or whatever, they do not care because they are going to keep their traditions or what they have been taught. They willingly refuse to believe the truth. So we see from these scriptures that the natural mindset of mankind, especially at the end of the age, is to want to be told lies. And the reason that Paul gives for this is that they had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Now this may shock you. But Joe [Baity] sang to me the words, "Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies" yesterday. And we both agree that is the banner of this society, is it not?

Many people today are well aware of the tainted origin of the history of Christmas. Even still, this holiday flourishes in this materialistic Western world and its reverie is rapidly spreading around the world.

Please turn with me to Revelation 17, verse 4. Now there has been enough published on the Internet, in magazines, in newspapers, and shown in newscasts, that people are not surprised to find out that it has a non-Christian background. It is easily seen in its syncretistic blend of pagan rites and Christian themes. Christmas is nothing more than a quagmire of deceptive traditions.

Because its origin and history are so well known, I do not want to spend a lot of time on that. I prefer to look at the spiritual principles that exposes this holiday as an abomination. In Scripture, the term "abomination" is used symbolically of sin in general, idols, the ceremonies and celebrations of the end-time world religion, and of detestable actions. One vivid example is this here in,

Revelation 17:4-5 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

Now, the Lord God hates lying and finds it abominable. And He tells us in,

Proverbs 6:16-19 These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren.

God finds lying so abominable, so despicable, so detestable, that He mentions it twice here. Two of the things that God hates and are an abomination to Him involve lying. God does not distinguish between bald-faced lies and what society calls white lies when it comes to whether a lie is a sin or not. A lie is a lie is a sin.

Notice how this abomination was mixed into Christianity. It was not by any true member of God's church, it was by the pagan world of Rome. Syncretism destroys truth and a mixture of truths and falsehoods makes the whole thing a lie. So notice how pagan worship was given a Christian sounding name. How many historical sources show that Christmas was not observed by Christians from Christ's time all the way to about the 300 AD? Saturnalia, December 17th through the 24th, and Brumalia, December 25th, continued as a pagan celebration by the Romans well into the fourth century. They had already been celebrating these pagan holidays that worship the sun.

The Catholic Encyclopedia 1911 edition, in the article "Natal Day" records that the early Catholic church father Origen, acknowledged,

In the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a banquet on his [that is, Christ's] birthday. It is only sinners like Pharaoh and Herod who make great rejoicings over the day in which they were born into this world.

That is pretty powerful language. Did you know, and I repeated this in sermons a long while ago, that the most important day to a Satan worshipper is a person's own birthday? What does that tell you? It is right up there with Halloween.

During the fourth century, the Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and changed Sabbath keeping from the seventh day to the first day of the week. Sunday was the day that he worshipped the sun as his god. This made it easier for the Romans to call their pagan December 25th winter solstice festival, in which they had celebrated the birth of the sun god, the birth of the "Son of God."

Now, the New Catholic Encyclopedia in 1967 says,

According to the hypothesis accepted by most scholars today, the birth of Christ was assigned the date of the winter solstice, December 25th in the Julian calendar and January 6th in the Egyptian, because on this day, as the sun began to return to the northern skies, the pagan devotees of Mithra celebrated the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, which means birth of the invincible sun. On December 25th, 274 AD Aurelian had proclaimed the sun god principal patron of the empire and dedicated a temple to him in the Campus Martius. Christmas originated at a time when the cult of the sun was particularly strong at Rome.

It was not until the fifth century that the Roman Catholic Church ordered that the birth of Christ be observed on the 25th, the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol, the sun god. Thus, they named this day Christmas.

This is in the historical record by those who keep it. There is much more wrong with the celebration of Christmas than its origin and history. A mixture of truths and falsehoods makes the whole thing a lie because it misrepresents its object and therefore, a person cannot trust in lying words.

Proverbs 12:22 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are His delight.

Please turn over with me to Jeremiah 7, verse 1. Now, Jeremiah wrote about not trusting in lying words. In fact, the caption of this section is "Trusting in Lying Words." His message was to the people of Judah who claimed to be the people of God and who came to worship God in the Temple of the Lord. But although they came to worship the Lord God, they mixed pagan rites and celebrations in with their worship. As we read this, apply it to this nation today and its celebrations, its religious celebrations.

Jeremiah 7:1-10 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, "Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord!'" Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: "Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Do not trust in these lying words, saying, 'The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.'

For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. [So that is the promise for obedience, for living in truth.] Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, 'We are delivered to do all these abominations'?"

Jeremiah 7:13 "And now, because you have done all these works," says the Lord, "and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer, . . ."

Jeremiah 7:16-18 "Therefore do not pray for this people, nor live up a lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you. Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, their fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven [there is Mary worship]; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger."

Jeremiah 7:23-24 "But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.' Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward."

Jeremiah 7:26 "Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. . .

Is that not what these people do that find out what the pagan origin of Christmas is? Or they find out that you do not go to heaven when you die. They just shrug it off and say, "Well, our tradition says otherwise." So they will not hear God's Word because their tradition supersedes the Bible, the written Word of God.

Jeremiah 7:26-28 "Yet they did not obey Me nor incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you. So you shall say to them, 'This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God, nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.'

A complete description of this nation. They trusted in lying words that would not benefit them, words that were of no value and did not enhance or improve their relationship with God. Lying words cannot bring us closer to God. Lies are sins and sin separates us from God. God does not accept worship that is a mixture of pagan and holy. How much clearer can it be about Christmas and Easter and even Halloween, which is just completely pagan, but yet it sells good pumpkins so the churches make money. What a shame.

Today it is not just governments that want to mix religious beliefs into one global religion, but most religious leaders are doing the same thing. Ministers of so-called Christian churches are stealing God's words for their own gain. The Lord God is against ministers who steal His words, saying, "God says we should do this or that."

Over a few chapters to Jeremiah 23.

Jeremiah 23:30-32 "Therefore behold, I am against the prophets," says the Lord, "who steal My words every one from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets," says the Lord, "who use their tongues to say, 'He says.' Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams," says the Lord, "and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all," says the Lord.

So false prophets and teachers quote each other's false interpretations of God's words and purposes, and they teach their traditions rather than God's truth. That is a description of mainstream Christianity, of Catholicism and Protestantism. Spiritual adultery is encouraged by ungodly spiritual leaders and such false teachers lead people down slippery paths into spiritual darkness. People need spiritual leaders who are exemplary examples of faithfulness and commitment, not leaders who compromise by accepting and teaching lies.

Please turn over to a very familiar passage in Galatians 5, verse 19. Christmas turns people's hearts away from God. Think about what characterizes this pagan holiday. It is infamous for its decadence, lying, greed, cavorting, drunkenness, gluttony, murder. In this there can be no true worship of God and Jesus Christ because they must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. Now, look at the comparison that the apostle Paul makes between the ways of the world and the ways of true Christians. This is also something that can be used to expose anything that the world is doing compared to what we should be doing in God's church. The traditions and celebrations of the world are marked by the works of the flesh.

Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, reveries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

That is a definite, there is no doubt God said it. The apostle Paul recorded the inspiration and also we read about it throughout the Old Testament. These are the actions toward which sinful human beings tend to gravitate. Our bad attitudes are from our innermost desire to please the self, which produces the works of the flesh. And since we have human nature just like everyone else, but we also have God's Spirit. we have to use God's Spirit to resist all of those works of the flesh.

It is sad, but this whole nation is guilty of every one of these things. And they promote it in the movies and books, and even in the advertisements and in the restaurants and the bars and the pubs and on and on and on.

Now look at what marks God's holy days. They are full of the fruit of the Spirit. What a comparison or contrast this is!

Galatians 5:22-26 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires [that has resisted all of those things mentioned in Galatians 5:19-21]. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

That last sentence there is exactly what happens during Christmas that is promoted as well.

The positive influence of God's Spirit produces the fruit of the Spirit. And these attributes are manifested in our actions. The Holy Spirit empowers us to fight against sin, not merely in defense, but also in attack by producing in Christians the positive attributes of godly character.

In a positive sense, truth in thought manifests itself in truth in action. So if our thoughts are not truthful, if we are lying to ourselves in any way because of what our human nature is pressing us to believe, we must resist that. Because if we aligned ourselves in thought, we are going to be lying in our action or deceitful or whatever it might be.

Take for example, the giving of gifts on Christmas. People claim that they give gifts on that day because Christ received gifts. But the truth is that the wise men brought gifts to the King of the Jews when He was a young child, not when He was born or when He was an infant, but much later. The gifts were not given to honor His birth, but to show esteem to a king, as was the custom in the Middle East.

Now further, the wise men did not exchange gifts with each other. So why do people today exchange gifts? Because the origins of these customs are based on gift giving and getting in ancient pagan worship! It is interesting to note that offerings to churches decline at this time of year because people are spending their money on themselves and each other. How hypocritical!

What difference does it make if we use such human traditions to honor Christ? I think I have given you quite a few reasons why not to. Is Christ truly honored by customs that were once used to honor other gods? Can pagan customs assimilate and become an accepted part of the worship of the one true God?

Turn with me to Exodus 32, verse 5. After Moses led the children of Israel out of the Egyptian bondage, the newly-freed Israelites demanded a golden calf to worship, presumably as they had seen in Egypt. So Aaron attempted to satisfy their human religious desires because they continued to believe the lies of the pagan Egyptian religion, even after witnessing the power of God in crossing the Red Sea, many remained bound in spiritual slavery.

Even though Aaron should have known better, he reasoned that a compromise would resolve the potentially dangerous situation. He mingled what seemed to be harmless religious customs like those of other nations with the worship of the God of Israel. And he took it upon himself to set aside a day as a feast of the Lord. He himself decided he was going to choose a day for "a feast to the Lord."

Exodus 32:5-7 So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord." Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. [That "play" there in the Hebrew definitely means rose up to cavort or be unrestrained in what they were doing.] And the Lord said to Moses, "Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves."

It is interesting that God does not call them "His" people. He is saying "your people, Moses."

This compromise seemed to satisfy the people, but it was not God's way.

Exodus 32:21 And Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?"

Exodus 32:25 Now when Moses saw that the people were unrestrained (for Aaron had not restrained them, to their shame among their enemies), . . .

So Aaron gave into the unrestrained people because of fear and lack of conviction on his part. His beliefs, even Aaron's beliefs, were preferences. He preferred to believe that; however, they were not convictions yet. They did become that later. And he established a new unauthorized feast day on which the Israelites ate, drank, and partied.

Please turn to Deuteronomy 12, verse 29. Later, the Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land and the land was inhabited by various peoples who worshipped other gods. So God gave Israel a strict warning. He commands them to not look at other nations and to not inquire after their gods, not even to inquire about it.

Deuteronomy 12:29-32 "When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their god saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.' You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods [which, as you know, later Israel did]. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it."

So not only are we to keep what God says, we are to stick very closely to it and not add things to it.

Now, combining idolatrous practices with the worship of God was a recurring problem among the Israelites. They often willfully mixed pagan religious customs with their worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (similar to what mainstream Christians do today in their pagan religious celebrations of Christmas and Easter.) Remember what God says there. He says, "You shall not add to it nor take away from it."

We have to even be careful how we keep the Night to be Much Observed because it does get out of hand sometimes. The amount of effort put into it is tremendous and then it becomes a great party with lots of alcohol sometimes, or it did in Worldwide, I know. And so we have to be careful that we are not going beyond it and forgetting what the night is even about. It is easy for that to get out of hand. So we have to be careful about that. And remember that the Israelites, when they kept that Passover, they were fearing for their lives and they were being careful to just eat what they had there for Passover. I am not saying we should do that little but you know, it is not a party. This is just as a reminder because it did turn into a party in Worldwide. And so we should learn from the past.

Turn with me to I Corinthians 10, verse 1. There are always people who wonder whether the Old Testament scriptures apply to the New Testament Christians. The apostle Paul answers this question emphatically. The caption in my Bible says "Old Testament Examples."

I Corinthians 10:1-5 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. [Is that not what we have done as members of God's church so far?] For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. [So in a sense, this is a type of the members of God's church up to this point of what it says there. What they did we have done or are doing.] But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

How many people come and go in God's church? We call it a revolving door sometimes because there are so many people that come into the church and leave and many of those start keeping Christmas and Easter again, even though they know what we know. So God removes knowledge. He removes conviction from people who disobey Him.

I Corinthians 10:6-11 Now these things became our examples [the things that are written in the Old Testament], to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose to play." Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

Now, you remember that Paul also said in,

Romans 15:4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

So when it comes to matters of religion, Paul plainly instructed Christians to not mix together Christian and idolatrous practices. And here is the principle in II Corinthians, if you will turn with me there.

II Corinthians 6:14-16 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers [nor the wrong things that they do, I will add to that]. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people."

Notice the question in verse 15. What accord has Christ with Belial? According to Barnes' Notes,

The Hebrew word Belial means literally "without profit, worthless, wickedness." It is here evidently applied to Satan. The Syriac translates it "Satan." The idea is that the persons to whom Paul referred, the pagan wicked, unbelieving world, were governed by the principles of Satan and were taken captive by him at his will and that Christians should be separate from the wicked world as Christ was separate from all the feelings, purposes, and plans of Satan.

Turn over to Mark 7, verse 6. Jesus, of course, was very clear about the way we should worship God.

Mark 7:6-7 He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'

Mark 7:9 He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition."

Mark 7:13 "Making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do."

Please turn over to I John 2, verse 21. Now, the result of this practicing of lies is a worthless, repulsive worship. How absolutely unchristian it is to celebrate the manmade and humanly-reasoned holiday of Christmas, a day mixed with pagan symbols, a day God did not ordain.

I John 2:21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

And that no Christmas or Easter celebration is of God. We can add even beautiful music, singing, happy family dinners, treats, gifts for children, do not justify celebrating a lie. Silent night, holy night with its mother and child theme. Santa Claus is coming to town. It is not a holy night and he is not coming down that chimney. An obvious lie!

Who has the right to decide how we worship God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? Well, according to mainstream Christianity, they do, people. God is not someone who accepts worship that is conceived through human reasoning. There must be truth in worship and that truth comes from God. John 4:24 says, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth."

What is the primary consideration in worshipping in Spirit and truth? God is without a physical body. He is not material and composed of parts. He is invisible, omnipotent, pure, and holy. And this is one of the primary truths of worship and the most in awe inspiring ever presented to the human mind.

Most nations have had some idea of God as a material being. But the Bible declares that He is a pure Spirit because He is such a Spirit. He does not dwell in temples made with human hands. He is not worshipped by human reasoning as though He needs anything, since He gives life, sustenance, and all things to every living creature. And because God is Spirit, the Israelites were not to make idols in the form of anything in creation as did the surrounding nations.

Have you ever wondered why archaeology finds very little of the children of Israel throughout history? Because all the Gentile nations, all the pagan nations always rose up idols to their gods and memorials to their heroes and buildings and temples and this and that, and we can see those things. But Satan has been very clever and God has been very accurate, of course, in having the Israelites not make graven images of Him or anything else. So in archaeology, there is very little material proof of that kind. For that reason, God should be the first consideration.

Turn with me to I John 1.

I John 1:5-9 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

There are two principles regarding the source for truth that I would like to point out here in verse 5. They are very simple principles, but they are foundational reasons to why the world does not get it.

The first principle is this: we must always start with God. What does man do? Man always starts with his own mind, with his own traditions. God is light and light represents truth. The apostle John has already said in verse 4, "And these things we write to you that your joy may be full." And in verses 1 through 3, John explains that joy is being in fellowship with the Father and His Son.

Then John says in verse 5, "This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all." So the starting point must always be God Himself.

Now, why do I emphasize such an obvious principle? Certainly, the very first and basic thing for Christians is that we start with God. And yet it seems that half our troubles arise in our lives because often we do not start at this point. It is because human beings tend to assume that they know the truth about God. It is because they tend to assume that everything is all right in their ideas of about God, that many, if not most, of their problems occur because they constantly start not with God, but with themselves, in their own human reasoning.

Most people start with the self and it affects the way they view and worship God. And this is why pagan celebrations are acceptable to them in their worship of God, while it is not acceptable to God. Many people assume that they believe in God and that therefore they need not be concerned about examining their belief. Many people say, "I've always believed in God. It's never occurred to me not to believe in Him." But

James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble.

So believing that God exists profits us no more than the demons if that is all we believe, because that just puts us equal to the demons. The demons believe in God, we believe in God. (We are speaking of mainstream Christians.) If that is all there is, then how are they any better off unless they have the rest of God's truth?

Turn with me to John 8, verse 44. So in all their thoughts about these things, they tend not to start with God, instead they tend to start with themselves. The Satan-influenced world puts humans at the center, and all thinking and all philosophizing has tended to start with them. And Satan deceives them into placing themselves at the center of the universe.

John 8:44-47 [Jesus said to the Pharisees] "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. [this is Jesus speaking of course] For which of you convicts me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."

These scriptures are so powerfully obvious! Who could ever keep anything like Christmas or Easter after reading these scriptures? But those people, the mainstream Christians, do read these scriptures, but God has not opened their minds with His Holy Spirit. He has blinded them, actually, because of their sin.

So man thinks he has been placed on the throne and everything—God included—has been put in terms of man. According to human reasoning, Satan has convinced man to set himself up as an authority. It is always man in his need and condition that is his starting point. That is his initial error and the source of the most misunderstandings.

The Bible is constantly reminding us that we must start with God. When anyone starts with man, he ultimately goes wrong in all his thinking about truth. Because if he starts there, everything accommodates itself to a false doctrine of men. The teaching of Scripture is that we can never truly know man unless we look at him from God's perspective. We cannot even look at ourselves and see ourselves for how we really are unless we look at it from God's perspective. And the way we do that is by getting into the inspired written Word of God and seeing what He says about us and what He warns us not to do and what He tells us to do.

The teaching of Scripture is that we can never truly know man unless we look at him from God's perspective, so we must always be careful not to start with ourselves. It is difficult for people not to do this. Their whole approach to the truth naturally tends to be from that self-centered and selfish perspective, which immediately perverts the truth.

The world, and many professing Christians, approach their situation in this condition. They are in this world with its troubles and they are unhappy. They are looking for something that they do not have. They are aware of their needs and desires and they are aware of a lack of happiness and contentment. And the tendency for most of them is to approach God and truth and everything else in terms of their own desires and demands.

One of the most common justifications for Christmas is "it's for the children." So they ask, what can I get out of the religion? What in religion will ease my problems and help me in this dark world? And they immediately put together their own smorgasbord of religious beliefs. But that, according to the apostle John in I John 1:5, and also according to the rest of the Bible, is the root source of error. It is the initial fallacy. So people must forget themselves and submit and obey God.

The principle that we have heard from the apostle John is: it is not that your needs and mine can suddenly be met by religion, but rather that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. Immediately we start with God and not with ourselves, and immediately our problems start to dissipate.

False religion is always popular and successful because it seems to give people what they want. People have their wants and needs and false religion seems to offer them everything just as they want it, seemingly without initial pain or difficulty, and without any negative consequence and without any suffering.

Knowledge and understanding of God's truth starts with God and we are silenced. We are put into the background and we are not considering ourselves first and foremost. It all starts with God—"In the beginning God." We should have that in the forefront of our mind every day and especially when we are facing a problem. "In the beginning God."

The point is that the starting point always must be God and not ourselves or our needs.

The Bible's approach to the whole situation is quite unique and entirely different. It does not start by saying it can aid or help us, even though its effect helps us. It confronts us with God's truth. It is the message from God that comes down to us and it does not come from human reasoning.

So the second principle in I John 1:5 regarding the source for truth is this: we must accept the revelation concerning God that we have in Scripture and in the testimony of Jesus Christ. "This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare it to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all."

And where is that light recorded in the inspired Word of God? In other words, it is not enough to say that we must always start with God. The vital question is, what is the truth concerning God? Who is God? What is God? And what do we know about Him and His Son Jesus Christ?

There are some people who lie to themselves saying they do not believe in God, but deep down, everyone knows He exists. "For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and [divine nature], so that [human beings] are without excuse."

But the average worldly person who admits His existence says "Yes, of course, I do." And then if you ask him what his ideas of God are, he says, "If God is a God of love, I can't understand why He allows conditions to be so bad." "Why does God allow wars?" "Why does God allow suffering?" That immediately tells you that person is thinking from human standpoint and not starting with God. Because if you start with God, the reasons come first and then you are able to understand the answers to those questions.

Notice that, immediately he is telling you, that is, the man of the world, what he thinks of God. And that again, according to the Bible, is one of the first fallacies. To believe in God, we must accept the revelation concerning Him. And that foundational revelation is only found in His inspired written Word—the Old and New Testaments. He does through His Holy Spirit reveal things to us on how to apply those things. I am talking about the foundational truth.

Now remember that dogmatic assertion by the apostle John in I John 1:5, "This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all." This, then, is the message that Christ's apostles heard from God and proclaimed to us. John does not say, this is sort of the picture I have of God. He does not say, as the result of a lot of thought and meditation and reading, and as a result of my own study of Greek philosophies and contemporary thought, this is the idea I have come to concerning God. That is not what John is saying at all. He is speaking what has been revealed to him and what he has learned in Scripture.

No, that is not what John is saying. He goes out of his way to say the exact opposite. John says, "What I am telling you is what my fellow apostles and I heard from God and heard about God." John has already referred to Jesus Christ as, "that which was from the beginning, which we have heard and seen and looked upon."

John had to start with God because he says in effect, "In fact, I did not know God and my ideas concerning Him were false until I was taught by Jesus Christ, who is in God the Father. And I heard His words with my own ears and the others disciples heard and saw as well."

Just a few chapters over to John 14.

John 14:9-10 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father?' Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you, I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works."

So there are only two ultimate positions. We either regard the Bible as authoritative or else we trust in human ideas and to human philosophy. The whole case of the Bible is that this is the unique revelation of God.

Now, interestingly enough, the Bible itself has been translated by men and so there are human errors in the translations, but not in the words, not in the original words. So we have to sometimes look back and see what the true meaning of the words are today. The King James version was translated by authority of King James of England in about 1611. I think it was either finished or started then. And so the wording is antiquated from that time period. So quite often, we look at other translations that have modernized it somewhat. But the foundational Bible with its books is the written Word of God. We just have to be very careful that what we are reading is indeed translated correctly.

The point is that we are left ultimately in this position of relying upon the revelation of the meaning of Scripture made possible by the Holy Spirit. And this revelation is the challenging effect of faith. Faith calls upon us to come to this truth as little children, acknowledging our failure, acknowledging our incompetence, and it confronts us by these revelations and it inspires us to accept this truth. We cannot know God ultimately apart from the revelation that He has been pleased to give us of Himself, and we cannot know God ultimately in the sense of truly having fellowship with Him unless we are in Jesus Christ.

Now back a few verses in John 14 to verse 6.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

Jesus is absolutely essential in that way. And we cannot hold some view of God that makes us believe we can find God at a whim or that we can arrive at God by our own efforts. We arrive at Him, so to speak, through Jesus Christ. No one comes to the Father except through Christ. He is essential! And we cannot truly know God unless we believe this revelation in Scripture concerning Him, not according to what man has devised in his own mind.

We believed certain things about God before we actually met Him. We had ideas concerning God before our calling and conversion. But when we met Him and listened to Him and knew Him, which is possible only through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, it was only then we really came to know God. Human tendency is to say that we are all right in our belief of God. From that perspective, it is our thoughts of God that are ultimately wrong before we receive revelation by and through the Spirit.

It is in our approach to Him that we go astray. We must start with Him and we are confined entirely to the revelation that has been given to us, not what has been given to the world or to men who have not been given the Holy Spirit, or philosophy. And it is interesting that quite often in universities and colleges, what they teach is philosophy and religion together, or if you are going into religion, they make sure they teach philosophy. So it is tainted, whatever they do learn.

He gave it to the patriarchs of old. He gave it in His law and statutes. He gave it to the prophets whom He raised up one after the other. God is emphatic in His revelation to David in Psalm 119.

Psalm 119:142 And Your law is truth.

Psalm 119:160 The entirety of Your word is truth.

So the question is, do we believe that or not? Is it a conviction or is it a preference? Do we look at parts of Scripture and say, well, I do not quite agree with that so that is really a preference to me. Or are we convicted by all of it?

These are intended to give us knowledge and understanding of God, but it is only in His Son that we really come to know Him and it is only there that we can possibly know Him as Father and truly have fellowship with Him—and we cannot have fellowship with Him through false pagan holidays.

The truth is in Jesus Christ. It is incompatible, even blasphemous to claim that Jesus Christ was ever part of Christmas. He is the epitome of truth. He was the Lord God of the Old Covenant and He is the Lord and Savior of the New. The Psalms tell us that He is the Lord God of truth and that all His work is done in truth, that His truth preserves us, and that He will judge the people of the world with His truth when He returns. The truth is in Jesus Christ.

Christianity is not a vague, indefinite, nebulous kind of feeling or experience. It is something that can be defined and described. It is based on true knowledge.

We are no longer in the world of sin. We are in the church of God because we have learned the truth about God the Father and His Son. We have learned Christ. We did not teach ourselves.

Go with me to Ephesians 4, verse 17. The essential trouble with non-Christians is that their minds are darkened and the truth is not in them. The true Christian is a person who primarily, in the first place, has received something in the realm of understanding by way of God's Spirit. And when God calls a person, He first opens a person's mind to understanding and reveals the truth of His inspired written Word through Christ.

Ephesians 4:17-25 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind [that has received revelation from God], and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another.

So the knowledge of Christ is the truth that is in Jesus. The saints of God have a faith that has existed throughout the entire history of mankind from its beginning and thereby differs from the world's humanly invented religions. All religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, and the rest, and even Judaism, are built upon human reasoning, teachings, rituals, traditions, and customs. They say that if you accept them and follow them and put them into practice, you will be helped and your life will be changed. They promise change but the result is a change into spiritual slavery.

This is not true of true Christianity at all! The true religion of the saints of God announces certain facts and events that have taken place in history and will take place in the future. And it tells us that our salvation is based upon them and that in the fullness of the time God sent forth His Son made flesh to redeem people who were or are under the penalty of the law.

He saves us. He is essential. So we are tied to the truth as it is in Jesus. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and of truth are in Him and there is no truth apart from Him.

Please turn with me to I Timothy 6, verse 20. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" because everything is in Him. He is the truth. If we are true Christians, Christ is in us and if He is in us, truth is in us and we must use it every day to direct our thoughts and actions. We must live by it and we must guard it. So remember Paul's instruction to Timothy:

I Timothy 6:20-21 O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge [Christmas and Easter turn people's hearts away from God and they certainly fit this bill.]—by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen.

Let us begin to wrap this up. Those who celebrate Christmas end up breaking many, if not all of God's commandments. Christ's name is used in vain because He never put His name on Christmas.

Now, I was going to list some of the lies in Christmas, but you are familiar with them. I will just skip them for now. There are just so many, it is almost an endless list. You almost can just pick anything out of Christmas, even one word, and you are going to get some falsehood.

But there are many more lies connected with Christmas and this is what I was going to give you. It is just a sampling, but coveting material things seems to be the true spirit of the holiday by receiving gifts; and by drunkenness and gluttony individuals are self-gratified, which inevitably leads to sin.

Crime. Police forces work rigorously to cope with the increased murders and suicides and robberies and domestic disturbances at this time of year. It is the fruit of what has been born from this pagan holiday. The whole accent of the Christmas season is on get, contrary to Jesus' statement recorded in Acts 20:35 that "it is more blessed to give than to receive."

The question most often asked at this time of year seems to be, "What did you get?" "What did you get?" "Oh, what did you get?" Not, "What did you give?" It encourages getting, especially to children, more than any other day of the year except maybe one's own birthday celebration. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging somebody's birthday. Should we celebrate it and glorify the person? The church does not dictate what is and what is not right there. We leave that up to each individual to ask God what they should be doing.

Christmas is a deceitful misdirection that entices people away from God's holy days. This reverie should, in and of itself, show that this holiday is in no way related to the Father and Son of righteousness. Their holy days lead to peace, joy, hope, spiritual growth, and so on. And that is why God instructed the Israelites not to follow pagan customs or worship Him as the world does.

Deuteronomy 12:31 "You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, . . .

Deuteronomy 12:32 "Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it."

So why meddle with the paganisms of Christmas when we can enjoy the purity of God's real holy days revealed in His Word? In following God's instructions, we will grow in developing the true and godly character that God expects us by keeping His days, not the world's. God commands His people to observe and keep His seven holy days listed in Leviticus 23.

There is always great rejoicing associated with God's annual feast days and we do not leave them with a hangover, do we? And these are the only religious days that the patriarchs of old—God's prophets and Jesus Christ and His apostles—kept and that the church Christ founded has kept since.

These joyous occasions teach and remind God's people how He is accomplishing His great master plan for mankind. And it is through the knowledge of these days that we can understand what man is, the purpose of life, and about the Kingdom of God. But we must start with God, therefore, in seeking truth. And we must accept that the inspired written Word of God is God's sovereign truth and therefore supersedes all human traditions.

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