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"WE ARE ALL GOD'S CHILDREN" "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." (Rev. 12:9)If there's one thing that the word of God makes abundantly clear about the devil, it is the fact that he is a deceiver. Our text deals with the Great Tribulation when Satan is cast out into the earth to become the Antichrist, which happens in the next chapter. When it does, the deception continues: "And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live." (Rev. 13:14) Speaking of Satan in John 8:44, Jesus said,"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." Satan is a liar, and the world at large is deceived by believing his lies, which is why we read many warnings in the scriptures about not allowing ourselves to be deceived: "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." (Col. 2:8) "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived." (II Tim. 3:13) "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners." (I Cor. 15:33) "Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous." (I John 3:7) "Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience." (Eph. 5:6) "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you." (Mat. 24:4) "For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." (Rom. 16:18) Satan is so subtle in his deceptive work that Paul even says in I Corinthians 3:18, "Let no man deceive himself . . ." It's not enough that we not allow OTHERS to deceive us. We must also be careful to not deceive ourselves. Clearly, the record of scripture is that Satan is a LIAR who has the entire world system living lies and believing lies. As seventeenth century French philosopher Blaise Pascal said, "Earth is not the home of truth. Unrecognized, she wanders lost among men." But the day is coming when God will put an end to all lying. In fact, the last two chapters of the Bible remind us of this, by saying, "And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life" (Rev. 21:27), and then Revelation 22:15 says, "For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." Lies will have no place in our new eternal home. But for now, the lies just increase with time as Satan keeps setting his stage for the Great Tribulation and the Son of Perdition. That being the case, I've decided that I would like to do a series on some of the greater lies that are told by Satan and believed by millions. After all, since there are no lies in heaven, God's people are going to have to get straightened out on their bad beliefs at some point, so why not now? Why not just go ahead and deal with the lies head-on, one at a time, so that we can be walking in truth when our journey ends? I call this THE BIGGEST LIES EVER TOLD for good reason. These are lies that Satan tells about God and God's word, lies that either hinder or destroy one's walk with the Lord. These are lies that help to hinder God's kingdom while helping, in one way or another, to advance Satan's kingdom. One might argue that some lies are bigger than these, based on the popularity of such lies in pop culture or in politics, for example, but when we consider the extent of the spiritual damage being caused to the souls of men, there is no question that the lies that we are about to expose are most definitely some of the greatest ones that Satan has ever told. I'm just going to start with some of the more common lies and then progress to some of the others in the weeks ahead. This will be the subject matter of most of my Sunday morning preaching for a while, except when we might occasionally take a time-out to do something different. So, let's get started with THE BIGGEST LIES EVER TOLD. We'll cover just one at this time and then more in the weeks to come, Lord willing. "We’re All God’s Children" The old belief in the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man is very ancient, but very wrong. The first man Adam was called "the son of God" in Luke 3:38, so there was at that time (Genesis 1-2) a Father and son relationship, but then Adam sinned and lost his position as a son of God. Not until Jesus paid for sin on the cross and rose again the third day was it possible for anyone to be a son of God. That's why John 1:12 says, "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." A "son of God" is something that one BECOMES, according to the verse, not something that one is from birth. The way one becomes a son of God is to BELIEVE on THE Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. I John 3:10 is even more blunt about the matter by saying that there are two kinds of people in this world: "children of God" and "children of the devil." Jesus even said to the Pharisees in John 8:44, "Ye are of your father the devil . . ." No one is a child of God naturally from birth. Galatians 3:26 says, "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." Faith in THE Son of God makes a man A son of God. The new birth turns a sinner into saint and a son, thus placing him into God's family. Only then can the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man be a reality. It would make no sense for Jesus to say, “Ye must be born again” (John 3:7), if we are already God’s children. It is the new birth that MAKES us God’s children by removing our sins and imputing to us the righteousness of Jesus Christ (Rom. 4:5-8; II Cor. 5:21). Therefore, we are not all God’s children. In fact, of the eight billion people who presently populate the earth, probably a very small percentage are truly born again and members of God’s eternal family. That’s why Jesus said, “. . . strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Mat. 7:14) We are clearly NOT "all" God's children.