All right, everybody. How you doing today?
Good. All right. My name is pastor Stephen Anderson. I'm from Arizona in the United States of America
Arizona is the state that's right next to California and
That's where the Grand Canyon is who knows what the Grand Canyon is you heard of that?
All right
And then Arizona is also the only place in the world that has those cactuses that have the arms that come out
the typical like Wild West type of cactuses and
there are a lot of like cowboys and old Western type stuff in Arizona like
Tombstone and Wyatt Earp and stuff like that if you might have heard of that and also a lot of people in Arizona carry guns
you know on their hips in a holster like a gun belt with a holster and
Like if we go to church we have like at least like 50 men at our church will be like just in church
Just with a gun on their holster like you know like a Wild West, so that's where we're from in Arizona
And this is my second time in Guyana. I really like Guyana. It's a very beautiful country
I really like the people here, so you're actually very blessed to grow up here. It's a nice place to grow up
but today I want to talk to you from the Word of God and
The title of my sermon today is that the devil is a deceiver
The devil is a deceiver the Bible talks about the devil a lot and the one thing that it emphasizes over and over again
is that he is a deceiver meaning that he wants to trick you or fool you or
Beguile you now the Bible says in Revelation chapter 12 verse 9 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 them
so the Bible calls the devil a great dragon and a serpent and
It says that he deceives the whole world now notice
It doesn't say that he tries to deceive the whole world
It said he deceives the whole world why because most of the world is deceived today
most people do not believe the truth today the Bible says broad is the way which leadeth to destruction and
many there be which go in there at because straight is the gate and
Narrow is the way that leadeth unto life and few there be that find it so most people today are deceived
Most people are being lied to and they don't even know it because the serpent the devil has deceived them now in
Revelation chapter 20 verse 1 the Bible says and I saw an angel come down from heaven
Having the key of the bottomless pit that's talking about hell and a great chain in his hand and
he laid hold on the dragon that old serpent which is the devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years and
Cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more
Till the thousand years should be fulfilled and after that he must be loosed a little season so the Bible talks about the devil again
deceiving the whole world being a snake being a serpent being crafty and
Tricking people it says in Revelation 20 verse 10 the devil that deceived them
Was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night
forever and ever but not only is the devil a deceiver but the devil has his workers his minions his henchmen if you will and
the Bible says that the devil is transformed into an angel of light and that his ministers or his workers are
transformed into the ministers of light
The Bible says in second Timothy 313, but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse
Deceiving and being deceived the Bible says in Matthew 24 take heed that no man deceive you
It says in verse 11 and many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive
Many so one of the ways that the devil deceives people is through false religions
Through false preachers that lie to you and and beguile you and deceive you now the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 verse 3
but I fear
Lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety
So your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus whom we've not preached or if you receive another
Spirit which you've not received or another gospel, which you've not accepted you might well bear with them
So the Bible's warning that there are deceivers that would preach another Jesus
another gospel
Another spirit and he's warning us about these people and we want to make sure that we're not deceived by them
Because there's only one Jesus and there's only one true gospel
But there are a lot of false prophets a lot of deceivers out there that would lie to us and the Bible says
That they want to corrupt your minds
From the simplicity that's in Christ. Now, what does simplicity mean? What does it mean when something simple?
Basic easy so if something is simple
I should probably be able to explain it to like a seven-year-old and they can understand it, right?
Or if I explain it to a six-year-old if it's very simple, they might understand it, right now
I was looking at some of this stuff. This doesn't look very simple
You know
So I like I don't even a lot of this stuff
I know I used to do this back when I was in school
But a lot of this I have no clue what a lot of this even means. This is not simple
All right, but see a lot of preachers. This is how they make the gospel and
You're sitting there like what you know what and you're trying to figure out like how do I get to heaven?
How do I get saved and they're like, oh, it's just right here
Yeah, I mean right there
So here's the thing God did not make the gospel this complicated
Okay, the gospel is actually very simple, but there are a lot of preachers that will beguile you or deceive you
they'll come at you with something like this and they'll use a bunch of complicated words and
Complicated language and they try to make the gospel complicated where you ask people. Hey, do you know for sure?
You're going to heaven and they don't even know
People go to church their whole life and you're like, hey, what do you have to do to go to heaven? I don't know
Or hey, do you know for sure you're going to heaven? I hope so. I mean
I'm living a good life. I don't know because they've complicated the gospel
To deceive you the Bible says don't let the devil deceive you from the simplicity that's in Christ
See being saved is actually very simple
The Bible compares being saved to drinking a glass of water
The Bible compares being saved to eating a piece of bread the Bible compares being saved to opening a door and walking through it
Pretty simple, right?
It's easy to be saved and I'm gonna tell you exactly how to be saved right now very simply very easily
From the Bible and in fact, I'm gonna use a Bible verse that you've already heard your whole life to do it
Okay, John 3 16 who knows John 3 16 put up your hand
Okay, let's say it together for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that
Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life now that verse right there tells you how to be saved
but I can't even count how many times I've
told somebody that verse and
as I told him that verse they started to quote it because they already had it memorized and
Then I asked them. So what do we have to do to be saved? They said live a good life
Does that verse say live a good life and you'll be saved?
No, that verse says that whosoever believeth in him
Should not perish but have everlasting life. So what's the one thing we have to do to be saved according to John 3 16?
Believe now is that hard? Is that complicated? Is that simple? That's pretty simple
All you have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved
But other people will complicate that and say well, there's seven steps to salvation
You know, no, no, no, there's one thing we have to do to be saved and that's believe in Jesus Christ
Some people will say oh you got to get baptized. You got to get catechized
You got to confess you got to go to the priest you got to draw and they'll make a big complicated process
But the Bible says the gospel's simple the simplicity of Christ is this
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved
That's what the Bible says
The Bible says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in my heart that God has raised him
from the dead
Thou shalt be saved
you just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died and was buried and rose again and
Confess that with him to your mouth and the Bible says you shall be saved. Isn't that good? Isn't that simple now?
Why is that so important? Well because a lot of people think they're going to heaven because they're a good person, right?
Well, let's see how well that lines up with the Bible. I
Can't even tell you how many times I've asked someone. Why do you think you're going to heaven and they say cuz I'm a good person
Okay. Well, here's what the Bible says. There's none that do it good. No, not one
Jesus said there's none good but one and that's God
The Bible says no one's good
Why because the Bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God has anyone in here never sinned before
Everybody's sinned right I've sinned you've sinned. So if we go to heaven by being good, none of us are going because we've all sinned
Not only that but the Bible says the thought of foolishness is sinned
so even just thinking a bad thought is a sin and
I'm sure we've all thought many bad thoughts. We've all sinned. We probably sin every day because none of us is perfect
So if we had to go to heaven by being good, no one would go to heaven
Okay. Another thing I hear is that some people say well, you got to be baptized to go to heaven if you get baptized
That's how you get to heaven. I heard that a lot
Well, here's the problem with that is that first of all, that's not what John 3 16 said
That's not what the Bible said anywhere
The Bible said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be safe
The Bible said that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life
But here's the other problem you don't baptize yourself. Do you you go to church and the church baptized you?
Well, here's the thing that means you're relying on someone else to save you
You're relying on a church or a preacher a pastor to save you instead of just putting your faith and trust in Jesus to save you
Now it's a man that decides whether or not, you know
You get baptized and whether or not you go to heaven
That's not what the Bible says the Bible says that we are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus not by baptism
Baptism is a good thing to do but that's not what gets you into heaven. We're saved by believing in Christ
Another thing that people will bring up as being away to heaven is they'll say well you have to repent of all your sins
You know if you repent of your sins, you'll be saved. Well, the word repent means to turn from
so if I have to turn away from all my sins to be saved then that would mean I have to stop sinning and
Guess what? That's impossible because nobody's that perfect. Nobody's ever turned from all their sins
Now we could try we should try we should try to turn from our sins
But are you ever gonna really turn from all of them?
Are you ever gonna be perfect? No, because we're human the Bible says that if we say that we have no sin
It says that we make him a liar
It says if we say that we've not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in us
The Bible says if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us if you say
Hey, I turn from my sins. You're a liar because all of us are still sinners
None of us is righteous. None of us does good all the time, right?
I mean is anybody here gonna stand up and claim pastor Anderson. I'm perfect. I've never sinned
I've turned from all my sins. I've repented always and no one would say that
because if you did it be ridiculous because we know you and
So the Bible says that we're not saved by turning from our sins or repenting of our sins
That's a works based salvation and the Bible says we're saved not of works. Let's see man should boast
So it's not by being good or we'd all be going to hell
It's not by repenting of your sins or we're all going to hell
It's not by baptism because then we'd be relying on a church or a man
To save us when in reality salvation is a personal thing between you and Jesus. It's in your heart
The Bible says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart
That God has raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved a
lot of people will say this well
Yeah, okay believe on Jesus to be saved but then if you don't live right you'll lose your salvation
Who's ever heard somebody say you could lose your salvation?
You could lose it. You heard that before like you'll lose it. Okay, but here's the thing the Bible says
The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord eternal means forever
So if God gives you a gift that lasts forever, how many times do you have to get that gift?
If it's gonna last forever
One time now if God were to take that away from you
He lied when he said it was eternal
The Bible says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life
Jesus said I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand the Bible says
Verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me has
Everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation
But is passed from death to life once you believe on Christ you've already been passed from death to life
You'll never come into condemnation you have eternal life. You cannot lose your salvation now
Let's say you did something really bad after you got saved. Let's just get crazy and say that you killed somebody
God's gonna punish you for that. Obviously you're going to prison or whatever. He's gonna make sure you get your punishment in this life
But you would still go to heaven if you believed in Christ why because once you believe in Christ
There's nothing you could ever do to lose your salvation because God has promised us eternal life and he will never break that promise
That's why in the Bible there's a famous quote
About the people who go to hell that Jesus will say to them one day depart from me. I never knew you
Who's ever heard that before depart from me? I never knew you
He didn't say I used to know you he said I never knew you because once he knows you he knows you you're saved
Once you're born again once you're a child of God
You'll always be saved and there's nothing that could ever cause you to lose your salvation now. It's sort of like this
I have nine children
Okay, this guy in the green shirt here is my oldest son, but he has eight younger brothers and sisters
Okay, so I have nine children now if my son disobeys me. Do you think I just smile and tell him that's okay?
That's alright. Just do what you want to do man. Just express yourself
No, if he disobeys, I'm gonna punish him
But am I gonna throw him out of the family?
Tell him you're not my son anymore
Who here who here wants to give me a rule? What's a rule in your house?
Who's got a rule in your house that you want to share with us? What's one of the rules that you have in your home?
What you got something?
Don't be disrespectful, right?
So what would be an example of being disrespectful?
Cursing so what if you what if what's your name?
Ariel
Ariane all right, so let's say Ariane comes home today and says hey mom blankety blank blank
Hey, what the bleep is going on mom now, do you think do you think that she's gonna say all right Ariane?
You will leave this house and you can never live here again. You're not my daughter anymore
Okay, or or
Or is she gonna say or is she just gonna say wow Ariane you learned a new word in school today
Now the true story is she's not gonna do either of those things
You know, you know what she's gonna do. She's gonna punish
Ariane Ariane's getting a whooping. Okay, but
But she's still she's still their daughter
Okay, and and here's the thing even if Ariane were to run away from home. She's still their daughter
That's not gonna remove the DNA from her body that those are her parents
Because your parents will always be your parents. No matter what happens. They're your parents now if you disobey your parents
You're getting a whooping
But they're not gonna throw you out of the family and say you're not our daughter anymore because you've used the wrong language
That's not gonna happen. Do you understand what I'm saying? Now, who do you thinks a better parent our parents or God?
God is our father in heaven, right? Well, here's the thing if we break God's rules
He's gonna punish us just like Ariane's mom would wash her mouth out with soap if she came home talking that way
She'd shove a bar soap in her mouth. But here's the thing God's gonna punish us for our sins on this earth if we're a Christian
But if we're truly a Christian if we believe on Jesus if we if we receive Christ as Savior
He's never gonna throw us out of the family
Does everybody understand he'll discipline us, but we still have eternal life. We're still going to heaven
So look no matter what I do. I'm going to heaven, but if I go out and live a sinful life
God's gonna punish me and if I live a good life, God's gonna bless me
But at the end of the day, I know where I'm going and I'm going to heaven for one reason not because I'm good
Not because I turn from my sins not because I got baptized or did anything else. It's because I do what I
Believed on Jesus Christ as my Savior. I believed on him
So do you see how simple the gospel is you could express the plan of salvation in one word believe
It's just believing on Jesus. That's it
His death his burial and his resurrection now. I want to ask you a question today who here believes
what I just preached to you who here believes that Jesus died for all your sins and
That he's the only way to heaven put up your hand if you believe
That Jesus died for all your sins and that you go to heaven by believing in him
Just if you believe in him, you'll be saved
It's a free gift who believes that put up your hand nice and high if you believe that okay
All right. Now, here's the thing. I want to lead you in prayer right now to tell God that that's what you believe
So that you can know for sure you're going to heaven if you believe that only if you believe that all right
So let's bow our heads right now. And if you believe that you could pray with us with me out loud unto God say dear Jesus
I
Know I'm a sinner. I
Know I deserve hell
but I believe
That you died on the cross
for all my sins and
Rose again
please save me right now and
Give me the free gift
of eternal life
I'm only trusting you Jesus and
Thank you for making it simple
Amen
Now who just prayed that prayer and you meant that right now put up your hand nice now
Look that right there is what the Bible says you have to do to be saved
just confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and just believe that Jesus died and was buried and rose again and
Thou shalt be saved
I mean it's that simple that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and
Shall believe in thine heart that God is raising from the dead thou shalt be he didn't say you might be saved thou shalt be saved
So you're saved now if you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior you're saved you already know
That no matter what happens between now and the day of your death
You will be in heaven
But the question is how do you want to live your life in between?
You could just say oh, well, I'm going to heaven no matter what I'm just gonna go out and and party
Well, here's the thing if you do that if you do that you will still go to heaven
But you're gonna screw up your life on this earth bad and God's gonna whoop you harder than arienne's mom will whip her
When she comes in and starts blankety bleep blank blank. Okay, so God is gonna punish you if you do that
You don't want to do that
But if you choose to live a life that follows the Bible that follows God's Word you know what God's gonna bless you
It's a much better way to live your life
Plus if we love God we should obey him we should want to serve him and please him you know
I don't want to just go waste my life
Getting drunk and sleeping around and being an idiot and getting diseases and and hurting other people and hurting myself
You know I'd rather live a life
Trying to get other people saved trying to get other people to heaven with me by preaching the word of God
Isn't that a better way to live your life than just puking your guts every morning because you're out partying the night before
I'd rather do something valuable with my life
I'd rather study God's Word preach God's Word and get people saved so that when I get to heaven
I want there to be a whole bunch of people there that got there because I preach to them
Wouldn't that be a good thing to have up in heaven for all eternity?
That's how you want to live your life, and I want to thank you very much for listening
So well and being so respectful you nobody cursed me out or anything
I appreciate it and so God bless you all and have a great day. Thank you