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Amen. OK, so, 2 Corinthians 4, we're going to look down again at verse 4. We'll look at verse 3 and 4, 4 being our verse of the week, which reads from 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 3, "'But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, "'in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them "'which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, "'who is the image of God, should be heard.' "'Who is the image of God, should shine unto them.'" And we're a week away from Christmas, aren't we? And for a few people around the world, it only seems to be a few people around the world, it's a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, isn't it? Think about what an amazing day that was, back, you know, a couple of thousand-odd years ago now, to have God come to this world as a baby in some of the most, what, humble beginnings possible. Yeah, I mean, that was pretty amazing, wasn't it? God came to this world and was born in a stable. And I was thinking, well, I suppose that's about as humble as you get while still being safe for a baby to be born, at least it was indoors and not outdoors or something, and, you know, it's cold at Christmas, isn't it? I mean, they've definitely got the dates right, I don't know. But he was born, yeah, he was born in a stable, he was put in a feeding trough, that's what a manger is, he was placed in a feeding trough, and, for me, that's a picture of his flesh being given for all, isn't it? You don't have to turn to John 6.51, it says, Jesus said, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. And what a day that must have been, eh? What a day that must have been for Mary and Joseph, for those shepherds in the field, for all the people that they went and told it about what they had just heard and seen and everything else. And that's why we celebrate Christmas here. OK, that's why we do as a church, we celebrate Christmas, we're celebrating the birth of the Saviour of the world. It was a big deal, wasn't it? That was a massive deal, yeah? The Saviour of the world, God was born, you know, on this earth a couple of thousand years ago, and, you know, there were, look, it was a big deal, OK? This isn't like, oh, well, this kind of prophet came. I mean, there were just prophecies, many prophecies relating to his birth alone that he was fulfilling just by being born. That's not the same for any other so-called prophet, is there? OK? None of these people were prophesied about... Look, this was something else because it was God, OK? It was God, the Son of God came, and that's why people were so excited. That's why Simeon and Anna were so excited. That's why those shepherds were so excited. That's why Herod tried murdering him as a baby and murdered who knows how many other young children just to hopefully get hold of Jesus Christ. That's why the wise men came from afar bearing gifts. They didn't say, well, nothing to see here, everyone. Let's wait until Easter time because we're too holy to celebrate Christmas. They didn't say that, did they? They didn't say, you know, wait 33 years for sort of the first Easter, then we'll kind of get celebrating because, you know, we don't really care about the birth... No, the birth of Christ is important. Now, some people say, well, you don't understand, brother Ian, because this 25th of December thing, it must be pagan. You know, he wasn't born the 25th of December. Well, it's a one in 365 chance that he was and those odds are good enough for me. I'll go with that, yeah? I like those odds. And, look, people play much worse odds than that, OK? I'm going for 25th of December, OK? So, look, other people might say, well, you know, I don't know, they might come along and say something along the lines of, what about the tree, though? The tree in Jeremiah 10? This is what's going on here. We're all worshipping trees. Well, there's a simple answer to that. Don't worship your Christmas tree, yeah? There we go, job done. OK, you're out of that one as well. So, what other arguments have people... You know, people go, well, yeah, but the world, the world has turned Christmas into this huge pagan monstrosity. They have, haven't they? Yes. Yes, they have. You can't really argue with that one, can you? Now, that has been increasing more and more, isn't it, in what were at least in name previously Christian nations. This was at least claiming to be a Christian nation and many others have started turning this into the monstrosity that we see today. And it is a bit of a disgrace, really, isn't it? Does that mean it's time to cancel it, then? Does that mean, right, well, let's just give up on Christmas, shall we just forget it, wait till Easter, pull it, it's too worldly. Well, isn't that when God's people attack when we're surrounded? We're surrounded, that's when we're meant to attack, that's when we're meant to fight back, aren't we? And today we're going to go straight for the jugular. We're going for the kingpin today, yeah? It's time to cut the head off the snake. Yep, Satan Claus. And the title of my sermon today is Rejecting Satan Claus and His Merry Devils. Rejecting Satan Claus and His Merry Devils. I'd like to pray before we continue. Father, thank you for your word, thank you for, well, that gift of, you know, the Lord Jesus Christ coming to this earth to live that humble life and to be the saviour of the world, Lord. Thank you for that. Help us to think about that at this time of year now, to focus on that and not all these otherworldly distractions and the way the world has tried to change it to something else. Help us to just focus on the truth, Lord. Help me to just preach this truth today, help me to preach it accurately and boldly and clearly, help everyone to have a tent of his, Lord. Jesus' name, for all of this. Amen. Because, look, that's what Christmas time is in this nation now, isn't it? And I think many other nations around, but this nation's got bad for it, isn't it? It's become basically all about this Satan Claus and his merry little devils and, I don't know, because when I was young, this elf thing, I don't even remember much talk of elves when I was younger, but that's kind of got big now as well. It's not just Satan Claus, there's the merry elves as well, isn't there? And they're everywhere and this is quite a big deal in this nation. And what's funny about it is you've got all these sort of Christ-rejecting, often God-hating types everywhere, getting more excited about Christmas than the Christians. I mean, these guys are going nuts for it around, aren't they? And we look at the state of some of their houses and the way they're all acting and the kind of... the melee in the shops, in the toy shops and everything else. The kind of people that kind of often mock anything supernatural, that laugh, you know, at the thought of a creator, are the ones going on about the magic of Christmas, aren't they? They're so magical and, yeah, the magic of Christmas and... You know, you're ruining the magic of Christmas, yeah? You come out with all that stuff. These are the ones whose houses are filled with all the kind of flying paraphernalia, flying reindeer, lights everywhere and all that sort of stuff, magic elves on shelves and, of course, the ringleader. Yep, Satan himself. Yeah, Santa Claus, the ringleader of the lot of them. They love it, don't they? These are the types that call it Xmas, that say happy holidays to you or seasons greetings, that refuse to even mention Christ at Christmas time, yeah? And these people absolutely love it now, don't they? And I would imagine that these probably same people, maybe several decades ago in this nation, probably the same types of people wouldn't have got so excited about Christmas, would they? Probably would have kept a bit quieter about it, maybe had a booze up on the day or something ridiculous and that was about it. These guys are kind of just all over it, aren't they? So how should we respond as Christians? Is it just a bit of fun? Is all that kind of Santa Claus and elves and flying reindeer and magic and all that, is it just a bit of a laugh? Is it all harmless? Well, let's see what the word of God says. We're in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 1. 2 Corinthians 4, 1 says, Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not. So Paul's referring to chapter 3's being ministers of the New Testament. In the next chapter he calls it the ministry of reconciliation. Okay, that's the ministry of reconciling people to God through the Savior Jesus Christ, okay? The we here is believers. When you got saved, you didn't just get saved, you automatically landed yourself a job as well. Pretty cool, isn't it? Not only did you get saved and got saved from eternal damnation in hell, you actually landed yourself a pretty good job. A job that you didn't even have to fill out your CV for. I mean, you didn't even have to tick any boxes other than the fact that you got saved to actually get this job. You walk straight into it and the job is an ambassador for Christ, okay? Having got saved, you are an ambassador for Jesus Christ. That's your job, you're in the diplomat's office, you're an ambassador. And look, forget the Ferrero Rocher, there are much better heavenly rewards to earn as one as part of the ambassador's receptions. Anyone remember those old adverts? They were terrible. I won't go into that kind of stuff. But anyway, so we've basically, all of us here have received mercy like, well, let's put it this way, imagine like some sort of unemployed bum, okay? You know they do those sort of things sometimes where it's kind of all like virtue singing, they get like this bum off the street and they shave him up and cut his hair and then they like put him in a job or something else, they try and prove how it just needs, people just need to have a bit of sympathy for these people and everything else. Well, think of it like yourself, that you're like that sort of unemployed bum. You've really landed on your feet, you've been cut a break here, you've been given an amazing job where you can earn eternal rewards forever and you didn't have to do anything to get that job, barring just accept it. Barring just accept the job. I mean, it's something else, isn't it? We don't then want to slack on the job, do we? Okay? Seeing as we have received this, we don't want to, you know, as we have received mercy says, we faint not. We don't want to slack, we don't want to get lazy. We don't want to just be like, well, I've got the job, but don't worry about that, I'm okay. I mean, what a shame. Take away the fact that, look, that's the way people get saved. Take away the fact that there's a big responsibility there. Take away all of that and just purely for the rewards alone. What a waste to be given an amazing job with eternal rewards to earn forever and to just faint on it, to just get lazy, to just slack on it. Well, I don't know, I'll do a bit now and again. I'll shine my light at work. You know, I'll try and be a bit more honest than usual and that'll get people saved. Well, it's an important job and there's many ways we can do that job, but the most important way is going out and winning souls, isn't it? We've received the ministry of reconciliation. Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we've received mercy, we faint not. Look, that's a lot of mercy to get that job. But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Now, renounce is disowned, denied, rejected, disclaimed. So the idea is to get rid of all of that dishonest stuff from our past, yeah? We want to get rid of that. The secret sins from our past, yeah? And a lot of people will, and sadly still do, have these secret little sins, yeah? We want to get rid of those hidden things of dishonesty. The dishonest earnings. A lot of people will just dishonestly earn a little bit of tax-free here, a little bit of slightly dodgy earnings off the books there. We want to get rid of that. The lying excuses about why you're not somewhere you're supposed to be. You know, that sort of stuff that seems to be so okay in the world. Yeah, that's the sort of thing we should renounce. The, you know, you're meant to be somewhere, you're running late, I'll just come up with an excuse. Or I can't be bothered to go there today. I want to just renege on that agreement, I'll just lie about it. A little lie here, a little lie there. Does it really hurt anyone? Well, yeah, we should renounce the hidden things of dishonesty. You're an ambassador for Christ. Like I said many times, often people know when you're lying, don't they? People know deep down when you're lying, they just can't prove it, but it's still a lie, yeah? We want to get rid of all that stuff. God sees it all. And he also sees that whopping great lie about some flying obese old man. God sees that whopping great lie. And it's a whopping great lie, okay? There isn't, there's not really another word for it. It's a massive lie. And it's a pretty, look, it's got far-reaching consequences, that lie as well. This flying obese old man who fits down chimneys, and sometimes they're pretty small chimneys, yeah? And somehow personally delivers gifts to about 2 billion children in several hours. That's a bit of a lie, isn't it? Yeah, in fact, it's not just a bit of a lie. That's a big lie. In fact, on the kind of, if you had like a grand scale of lies, I'd say it's quite high up on the lie because it's so ridiculous. It's not like, well, I've just kind of bent the truth a little bit. That's a lot of bending, isn't it? The title is Rejecting Santa Claus and His Merry Devils. And number one, because it's dishonest. Okay, just first off, just off the bat, it's dishonest. Yeah, it's massively dishonest. You've got millions of parents, okay, in this nation alone, just outright lying to their children for years on end. In fact, it's not just the parents because who else then has to get involved with the lie? The child, when they grow older, has to carry on lying to the sibling. The cousin has to lie to the younger cousin. The uncle and aunt, everyone's just involved in this whopping great lie. And then you're encouraging it, and then as the child starts to see through the lie, they start to know you're lying, but you carry on lying and lying and lying until eventually you can't kind of lie anymore. And they've finally put it all together, and now it's time for them to lie. Well, you've got to carry on lying to everyone else. It's ridiculous, isn't it? Now, in case you're sitting there thinking, well, yeah, but it's based on some sort of truth, isn't it? Come on, you know. There is at least some sort of St. Nicholas, isn't there? Let's have a look at the facts about Santa Claus, okay, and see how exaggerated this truth is. In case anyone is wondering if there is actually a flying saint somewhere in a sleigh with reindeer. There is such a thing as well. They just don't fly, do they? Apparently, they do at Christmas. But anyway, so it's based loosely on this guy, St. Nicholas. Okay, now, he was a monk from the region of Turkey back in 280 AD, apparently, okay? This is what I've kind of discovered recently about this. So now, the legends, and another word for that is old lies, yeah, have this guy apparently stopping storms. Funny, kind of reminds you of someone, doesn't it? He was apparently some sort of patron saint of sailors as well. Sailors, and I think there was a few other random things. Pawnbrokers, he was a patron saint of them as well. And apparently, there was legends, sorry, old lies about him bringing children back to life as well. Strange, that reminds you of someone as well, doesn't it? So a more believable one apparently had him donating money to some father so he didn't sell his kids, okay? Which was probably maybe, maybe there was a guy that kind of gave like a few pence to some old guy and that's kind of, and the rest is all legend, I don't know. Okay, but apparently parts of his skeleton after his death were sent to different Italian churches as relics in the Middle Ages, yeah? And then his legend after that started mixing with our elves and sky chariots and all this sort of thing. So Saint Nicholas became Sinterklaas in Holland apparently, so you kind of see where the name started to come from, yeah? Where he then became this tall white bearded man in red clerical robes who arrived every December the 6th, yeah, on a boat to leave, it was a boat by the way, to leave gifts of like coal lumps at children's homes, okay? That's like this legend started forming of this guy. Obviously this was before the mince pies, yeah? Because then I think sailing was off the cards and he started to get a bit bigger. Now, apparently it was lightly Dutch settlers who then brought him to the US, yeah, with the American author Washington Irving in 1809, then describing him as portly, which is like a bit larger, and flying around in a wagon dropping gifts down chimneys, okay? So he's gone from kind of being on the boat, so he's gone from just being this monk to now you can see the progression here, yeah? Now he's flying around the wagon. Now in 1822, Clement Clark Moore, now he's a poet, but he's also an Episcopalian minister. Now, if anyone's wondering what's the Episcopalian, just think C of E, just think basically Catholic barring a few things, yeah, okay? This Episcopalian minister wrote a long Christmas poem for his three daughters, entitled an account of a visit from St. Nicholas, but it's more properly known as Twas the Night Before Christmas, you might've heard of that before, okay? Twas the Night Before Christmas. Now this poem apparently is what is largely responsible for our modern image of Santa Claus as a right jolly old elf, okay? So then he became sort of elven and then the portly figure got a bit bigger, then he started having these supernatural abilities from a poet, okay? His poem apparently helped popularize the now familiar image of him like flying house to house on Christmas Eve in a miniature sleigh, it was a miniature sleigh led by eight flying reindeer to leave presents for deserving children, okay? Now in 1879, then there's this cartoonist, Thomas Nast, had him rotund and jolly and living in the North Pole with elves and Mrs. Claus, so you can see he just keeps progressing, keeps progressing, and by then he was being linked to Christmas presents and around stores, and there was even images of him now in all these different stores in the US, especially in 1890s, I think it was, around the 1890s, the Salvation Army were sending people in Santa costumes to collect donations, okay, for giving out to the poor their kind of food and blankets, all that sort of stuff. So basically, to summarize, what started with a Catholic monk getting venerated with his holy bones, probably making a fortune, yeah, and then got embellished a bit by some Dutch settlers, then got basically the full magic treatment, by what? By an Episcopalian false prophet, okay? And then it really took off in a sleigh after that, okay? Is this Christian at all? Anyone think this is Christian? No more Christian than the rest of the Catholic hocus pocus. In fact, it's probably worse than a lot of the Catholic hocus pocus, isn't it? But what's interesting is that there's also really similar stuff all around the world. So it's not just it's kind of Santa Claus or Jesus Christ. Around the world, you've got Christkind, or Christ kind of Christkringel, now known as as well, was believed to deliver a presence to well-behaved Swiss and German children. You can correct me on this, any of the people that lived in Germany afterwards. Apparently meaning Christ child, Christkind or Christkind is an angel-like figure often accompanied by Saint Nicholas on his holiday missions. In Scandinavia, it was a jolly elf named Joltumton, I'll probably pronounce that completely wrong, apologies if I have, was sought to deliver gifts in a sleigh drawn by goats. That was really quite cool, the goat drawings, sorry, goat-drawn sleigh. Then English legend explains at Father Christmas, because when I was younger, we knew him as Father Christmas, rather than the kind of Santa Claus thing has only been a bit more recent. So we knew him as Father Christmas, apparently he visited each home on Christmas Eve to fill children's stockings with holiday treats. So that was kind of the stockings were left out often on the end of the bed. I think the American angle was more by the fireplace. Then you've got Père Noël. Wonder where he's from. Not Germany, no, France, in case you're wondering what that accent was. He's responsible for filling the shoes of French children. So I'll tell you what, those kids with the big feet must have been chuffed. So he apparently filled up shoes. And then in Italy, there is a story of a woman called Labifana. Is that right? Yeah. So she was a kindly witch, apparently, who rode a broomstick down the chimneys of Italian homes. What about chimneys? We're coming down chimneys to deliver toys in the stockings of lucky children. So you kind of see, it's all got similar angles to this junk, isn't it? Now, like I said, over here, it was more Father Christmas. And when I grew up, that was the thing. It was Father Christmas. No, that's Father Christmas. Some people even still talked about St Nicholas a little bit, okay? And that definitely, in the last couple of decades for me, he's really been usurped by the big boss man himself, the anagram of Satan, Santa Claus. Okay, and why is that? Well, probably Hollywood movies, US popular culture, and here being an English-speaking nation, it's going to be even bigger, isn't it, okay, than other nations. I don't know if they're still, are they still with the witch in Italy? Yeah, so around, are they still with the, yeah, okay. So in different nations, Germany, Italy, still have their own kind of version of, but here we seem to have adopted Satan, Claus, and even his merry little elves as well, okay? That seems to be a big thing as well. So basically, it's gone from some monk who possibly helped a couple of kids to this magical elf-like creature that flies around squeezing down everyone's chimneys, yeah, aided and abetted by millions of lying through their teeth parents, telling outrageous lies to their children, which kind of heightens around Christmastime. Now turn to Proverbs 12. We just read 2 Corinthians 4.2. You're turning to Proverbs 12. 2 Corinthians 4.2 said, But of renounce the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. So we should be renouncing the dishonesty, the craftiness, you know, like the half-eaten mince pies, yeah, for the child to find in the morning, the kind of half-drunk glass of milk, or sadly, often something a lot worse, the bitten-off bit of carrot or something else. You know, nowadays I even sell, like, what is it, reindeer feed or something, just some overpriced glittery junk, yeah, that you can kind of put around your fireplace or something else. And, you know, it's all craftiness, isn't it? Yeah, you're just deceiving your children, just deceit, yeah. The lying about Santa not visiting if you're naughty. Yeah, that's a big lie out there, isn't it? And how many parents do you think around this country right now, probably while we speak, there's probably a lot more than you'd imagine right now, probably saying, if you don't tidy your room, if you do this again, if you don't come off your iPad or whatever it is, Santa's not visiting, yeah, or something else, or more like if you don't go and do that, I don't know. But anyway, the lying about who really bought those gifts, that's a big lie, isn't it? Yeah, who really bought those gifts? Where did those gifts even come from? Because, look, I'll tell you what, because I know, because I did partake in this, yeah. I did partake in this with my eldest children at the beginning, and look, it's not just a lie about Santa, suddenly they're asking all sorts of questions. Because kids aren't that stupid, they're like, where exactly does he get these presents for? Oh, and it's just lie after lie after lie after, it's wicked, isn't it? Hello, I'm confessing here, forgive me, father I've sinned, it's been an hour since my last confession. Okay, so look, in case anyone's wondering, no, we don't have to confess to any earthly father about our sins. Okay, so look, some of us have done this stuff and it opens up this can of worms, yeah, and they're questioning and they're asking and they want to know about this and know about that. And if you've got bright kids, they're just like, wait a second, how many kids is he going to? Then we get to magic, we're going to get onto that in a minute. Okay, Proverbs 12, 22 says, lying lips are abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are his delight. It says lying lips are abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are his delight. Okay, it's not okay just because everyone else is doing it, is it? Is it lying lips are abomination to the Lord, unless everyone else is doing it? No, they're still abomination. It's just a lot more abominations of lips in this nation right now. Yeah, it doesn't make it, okay, we don't want to add to that and go, well, it's okay because everyone else is doing it, right? And look, they're abomination and what a terrible precedent it sets to, doesn't it? Suddenly you're just encouraging kids, as they get older, they realise, okay, yeah, so glad I've sussed it, I'll be getting lied to for five, six, seven, eight, nine, whatever years it is. What are you saying to your kids? You're saying lying's okay. Lying about certain things, okay, now it's time for, now you need to adopt the lie and carry on with the lie. Title is rejecting Satan, Claus and his merry devils. Number one, because it's dishonest. It's dishonest, lying is abomination to the Lord, okay? People like to, and I've kind of had these debates with Christians before, try and come, well, it's okay to lie then, it's okay to lie here. Look, it's not okay to lie because the rest of your country is coming out with nonsense about magical flying, flying centers, whether or not you believe to preserve life or not is okay. I disagree, I don't think we should ever plan to lie, I don't think we should ever try and lie, I don't think we should ever think, oh, well, right now in this situation I'm going to, and obviously this came up with the COVID jab and all this sort of stuff, but it definitely, regardless of your view on that, yeah, definitely not when it comes to Satan, Claus, okay? So don't come out with that one. And I'm sure no one here would do. Okay, so lie and lie to abomination to the Lord. We're going to go back to 2 Corinthians chapter four. The title is rejecting, no, in fact, go to Deuteronomy 18, Deuteronomy and chapter 18. Title is rejecting Satan, Claus and his merry devils. Number one, because it's dishonest. And number two, because it promotes magic, Leviticus 20, verse 27, I'm going to read, well, you turn to Deuteronomy 18, Leviticus 20, 27 says, a man, also a woman, that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death. They shall stone them with stones, their blood shall be upon them. So that's what God thinks about wizards. And if, sorry, Santa, Santa Claus were real, he's either a wizard or a wizard, he's either a wizard or he's someone with a familiar spirit, isn't he? So we're trying to, so on one hand, we should be teaching our kids the Bible, shouldn't we? Should be teaching them the word of God, should be teaching them the principles of God. Yeah, so we're teaching that on one hand, and on the other hand, we're trying to justify some guy flying around in sleighs, doing all sorts of crazy magic stuff with magical reindeers and everything else. Whereas really, by God's standards, we should, when he gets down that chimney, we should be throwing rocks at him. Really, shouldn't we? He should be getting stoned to death. Again, just a disclaimer here, that's what a government should do, okay? However, under God's law, we would be stoning him to death, okay, but we don't live under God's law, unfortunately. Okay, so not giving him a drink and a snack. Yeah, don't worry, Mr. Wizard, we've got a lovely snack, some of our favorite, best mince pies, a nice pint of milk or something else. No, we should be stoning him. Now, Deuteronomy 18 in verse nine says the same thing. It says, when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. So are you listening to that, Christian? We should be avoiding their abominations, not joining in. Okay, that's a principle for life as a Christian. Don't join in with the abominations of the nations. Okay, there's no reason to do that, is there? We should be distancing, we should be making sure we don't do all this wicked stuff. It says in verse 10, there shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter pass through the fire that useth divination or an observer of times, or an enchanter or a witch or a charmer or a consultor with familiar spirits or a wizard or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God for these nations which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times and unto diviners. But as for thee, the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee to do so. You say, oh, but they're not real, brother Ian. Satan clause isn't real. You know, the merry little devils, the merry little elves aren't real, the reindeer aren't real. But what sort of message are you sending to your kids? What sort of message is a Christian that's still partaking of stuff, sending to their children about all this stuff? Because look, was God just coming up with imaginary things here? Divination, observers of times, enchanters, witches, is this just make-believe? They're real, they're real people. All of you that have been soul winning, how many of you have bumped into someone that claims to be a witch? Most of the room. Most of the room has raised their hands to having knocked on a door to someone saying, no, I'm a witch. And some of them are pretty creepy, aren't they? Like, not just pretty creepy, really creepy. And if you didn't have the Holy Spirit in you and you didn't, you could be a bit freaked out on the door, couldn't you? Okay, look, we've all bumped into witches, people that worship some sort of form of wicker and all that sort of crazy stuff. How many have bumped into people that claim that they're Satan worshipers? Yep, again, most of the room. We've all come across these people, haven't we? These people are out there. This isn't some laughing joke, is it? This isn't something, and notice the world nowadays, it's just pushing this stuff and promoting it more and more and more. What's one of the most popular series of books and movies amongst kids? Harry Potter, Harry Potter. Isn't he a sodomite as well? Is he actually a sodomite? Debatable? No one's going for it. Regardless, what on earth? Like, this is a big deal, isn't it? These kids are like trying to copy and cast these spells and think it's all so cool and so fun and everything else. But what does God say about this stuff? He says it's wicked. He says he sorts of people should be getting stoned. Harry Potter would be getting stoned under God's law, to death. He wouldn't be all over the big screen. He would be getting rocks thrown at his face. And too right. Look, and the rest of this lot, all this stuff, it's wicked stuff, isn't it? And it's powerful stuff as well. We shouldn't be glorifying that to our children. Now, like I said, those elves crept up quickly though, didn't they? I mean, where did they even come from? The next thing you know, people are like, all this Elf on the Shelf stuff. And I never got into that. I did, look, again, look, it's not one thing's better than the other. Satan Claus is bad enough, yeah? All that Father Christmas stuff. But you know, all these elves everywhere and disappearing. It's all just wicked, isn't it? It's all magic. It's all wicked. And sadly, many people have been deceived by this before. But we need to make sure we don't now walk in that dishonesty, yeah? Yeah, go back to 2 Corinthians 4. So what does it do? It sensitizes the kids, yeah? And then what happens as well, and this is kind of worldwide, because you go, well, my kids are going to get saved. They're going to hear the gospel. Maybe they already are saved, whatever else. Yeah, but maybe not them, but maybe them, and maybe others. What do they start doing? They start looking for a God, instead of looking for a God that requires faith. A God which said in Hebrews 11.1, now faith is a substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen. Instead, they're looking for this sort of magic genie and a lamp type God. It's all part of the con, isn't it? Like, well, if I saw the miracles or anything else, you shouldn't have to, because you have the word of God. And people are kind of looking, and they start to create this, again, this God in their own image, this magical sky fairy God who just gives you all your desires. And if he doesn't, if anything bad happens in my life, what sort of magical God is that? Shouldn't he have just clicked his fingers and stopped that, clicked his fingers and done that? And it creates this sort of image, this magic image, and they're almost, maybe you could say even disappointed by the Lord Jesus Christ, because he's not this magical slave-driving weirdo. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4.3 says, But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. And look, that glorious gospel of Christ, no, he's not flying around giving out presents, gifts that are usually just lusts of the flesh. No, he gives us something better than that, doesn't he? And we're gonna have a look at that now, because the title is Rejecting Satan Clauses, Mary Devils. Number one, because it's dishonest. Number two, because it promotes magic. And number three, because it hinders the gospel. Okay, it hinders the gospel. Without all of the magic stuff, okay, just take away the magic stuff for a minute. Satan Claus and his Mary little devils are in direct competition with Christ and his gospel at Christmas time, aren't they? Okay, he's a competitor. He's the adversary, isn't he, really? Because you've got basically one of the two times of the year when people could really think about Jesus. The other one is getting hijacked by a bunny, okay? And all other sorts of weird stuff that we're not gonna go into today, okay? But you've got Christmas. Christmas when, look, around the world, around at least much of the Christian nominally often, but whatever world, when people actually thought about Jesus Christ for a day, where people actually might have been more receptive to the gospel, at least would listen to it, would even maybe go to some form of church. Many people might have gone to a false church, sure. Many people might have heard a distorted version of the gospel and muddied waters. However, I reckon that was still a time of year where people were still at least more open to Christ, right? Where people still knew what it was about, why we're even celebrating, why we're coming together, why we've got holidays from work, why we're giving each other gifts. And instead, they're choosing Satan Claus. And he has replaced Jesus in so many households, isn't he? He's replaced him completely to the point where there are households where, I mean, I don't think probably Jesus even mentioned, other than the name Christmas, which they probably start, like I said, wanna change. And a lot of people do like changing to Xmas and holidays and all this sort of stuff. They prefer some monstrosity of make-believe junk outside their houses than a church invite, wouldn't they? They prefer that. They prefer to have all that rubbish, all that junk you knock on their door and some of these guys are offended that you've dared to just give them a church invite at Christmas. It's bizarre, isn't it? It's really bizarre. Often, they're so out of pocket, lighting up those huge Santas and reindeers and stars and whatever else it is outside their homes, they can't even afford to have their doors open for two minutes while you start trying to give them a few verses from the Bible because they've spent so much on electricity, lighting up the neighbourhood. It's a bit annoying, that stuff, isn't it? Garish rubbish. But look, like I said, we're getting to the point where they don't even associate most of this with Jesus Christ in terms of this Christmas anymore. He's hijacked it. He's hijacked it. It's all about Satan clause. I bet if you went across schools right now and started talking about Christmas and asking what Christmas is about and everything else, so many would just start talking about Santa, wouldn't they? Santa Claus, that's when he comes and gives presents. That's when he comes and gives you gifts. That's when, well, it depends how good I am, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So do you, as a Christian, want to be promoting the rival for people's, not just children's, but children's, adults' hearts and minds at Christmas? Is that what we want to do? Want to be promoting this guy? Want to be just encouraging it anyway? He's a rival, isn't he? Verse three says, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world have blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Who's the God with the small G of this world? It's Satan, isn't it? It's the devil. And look, they usually worship him in one way or another, some idol or other, some false god, some false version of religion, some false gospel. But at Christmas, it's Satan clause, who incidentally even messes with the definition of a gift, doesn't he? You ask, look, you ask people, you go, you know, do you have to work for a gift? How many are like, well, you have to be good to get a gift. And probably half of that comes to this rubbish. He knows if you've been bad or good. And that's when you'll get your gift. Even change that, yeah? This guy is a problem. This guy is a problem for the gospel. And what's the whole goal? What's the whole goal of it all? To stop people getting saved. That's what it always comes down to. It's to hinder the gospel, to stop the gospel, to distract, to weaken Christians who do partake in it. And for the most of the world, it's to give them an alternative to Jesus Christ at Christmas. And that alternative is being chosen by, I would say the majority of households in the UK. They seem to be more into Santa Claus and they do whatever version of Jesus their background kind of permits or teaches them. Now, the title is Rejecting Santa Clauses, Merry Devils. Number one, because it's dishonest. Number two, because it promotes magic. Number three, because it hinders the gospel. It definitely hinders the gospel, okay? This should be a time of year where people are getting saved, where people are hearing about Jesus Christ, people are thinking about Jesus Christ, where you could just use it as a great introduction to preach the gospel. And instead, they're too focused on this fat flying elf. So what do we do? What's the answer? Beat up people in Santa outfits? It's tempting, okay? Very tempting. Don't do that. Do we berate unbelievers for even mentioning him? Is that the answer? For mentioning him, the Merry Devils or any of the rest of that stuff? No, what we should do, just rebuke them hard. Tell them how wicked they are, it's magic. What do you do that about everything else? Do you do that about Harry Potter? Do you just go around like anyone with it? What's your kid doing? Hey, it's magic. No. Do we shield our kid's eyes every time we go past like one of those silly flashing houses? Don't look, look the other way. It's magic. It's gonna get you. Is that what we do? Tell people how holy we are because we reject all that stuff? That's gotta be the answer, isn't it? Really tell everyone how holy I am. Good conversation point. Forget Christ. You know, we don't do any of that, it's magic. We don't have to do that, do we? Verse five says, for we preach not ourselves. It's not about us, is it? We for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. We preach the gospel. We use the opportunity at Christmas to preach the gospel, don't we? That's what we should do. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And it does feel like our land is getting darker and darker, doesn't it? It's dark out there. And look, sometimes it can be surprising, can't it? How many people are so into that stuff and so offended by the Lord Jesus Christ? But that's why we need to shine that light more, don't we? We need to get out, shine that light, shine that light at this time of year. When someone asks your kid about Santa, rather than maybe rebuking them, and it is tempting, isn't it? I had one the other day. I was in a checkout with my son, Charlie, and the woman behind's gone. She's gone, are you excited about him coming? Charlie's gone. Ooh. And I was like, don't worry about that. What about when she said something about, ooh, are you looking for the elves? He's like, what? I was like, he's not into elves. But did I need to be rude to her? No, not really. What should we really do? Preach the gospel. It's a good opportunity. Maybe you could say something along the lines of, well, actually, you know, we're Christians, and we just, we focus more on Jesus, quite without him being, we're not into all that. You know, you don't want to make people feel like rubbish, do you? You know, a lot of these people aren't wicked. They're just worldly. They just need to hear the gospel. Good chance to talk about it, though, isn't it? Yeah. Oh, well, actually, you know, we're Christians, and, you know, we like to just focus on Jesus Christ, and what he did for us, what it's all about. Not just about, because I sometimes talk, when I talk in gospel presentations, some reason, sometimes, I just feel obliged to start saying, look, you know, it's not just about some baby born in a manger, and then, especially at Christmas time, it's a good time to start talking about, well, actually, do you know what that was all about? Why we still celebrate it, theoretically, just about. Yeah, it's a great time, really, for that. Good time when you're knocking on doors. They're a little bit less reject-y when you say, oh, you know, we're just giving out some church invites for Christmas time. They kind of have to let it go a bit more, don't they, than they usually would, and it's a good time, and it's not just when you're knocking on doors, when those family members want to go on about stockings and elves to your kids, and act like you're some sort of mean parent, because you're not letting them enjoy the magic of Christmas. Oh, it's a good time to maybe talk about the best gift of all, isn't it? Yeah, good time to go, well, actually, you know, our kids have been given, if they're old enough, well, they're going to be given a better gift than all of that, let me tell you about it. Yeah, why not? It's a great chance, isn't it? Great time. Look, people want to bring up Christmas stuff to you, bring it on. Bring on Christmas, yeah? Bring it on. Yeah, you want to bring about Satan Claus? Bring it on, because I'm going to turn it to Jesus Christ. You want to talk about elves? Bring it on, because I'm going to turn it to the gospel. Yeah, you want to talk about flying reindeers? Bring it on, because we're going to talk about Jesus Christ dying on that cross, yeah? And going down to hell for three days or three nights and paying for every single one of your sins, yeah? Let them come and bring it on and do it politely, and time to detour that conversation. You know, like when you knock on the door and people love to try and detour your conversation, they love to just take you down a dark, blind alley somewhere else, and sometimes they just want to distract in the middle, they're like, they start getting bored, and they're like, oh, so where's your church again or something? Well, do the same. They want to talk about Santa Claus, they want to talk about elves, they want to talk about flying fairies and the rest of it. Let me tell you about Jesus Christ. Let me tell you about the gospel. Let me tell you about what this time of year's all about. Yeah, it's a great conversation that can be had. Great verses, maybe there's some great, great salvation that can be got as well, yeah. Verse six says, for God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, have shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So that's our job, isn't it? Okay, that's our job. We're commanded to do it. We're commanded to preach the gospel. We're not commanded to make up wild stories about magical old elves, or whatever he is. I don't know, it keeps changing. Okay, and this is a time of year where, which is meant to represent the birth of our savior, and it's a time of year where really, that's what we should be talking about, yeah. And look, if there's any parents out there that may be being drawn into this, or maybe they still want to get on with this, maybe I've just, I doubt it, but maybe I've literally just ruined your children's dreams and fantasies about Santa. I'm pleased, I am, because look, that's a wicked thing to be doing, really, isn't it? Yeah, I'm glad that I got convicted about that. You know, a few years back now, I'm glad that many others have as well. And I'm glad for preaching like this, because look, we need to get right about this sort of thing. We don't want to be glorifying magical Santa clauses. We don't want to be encouraging. Even like, just another point about it, it's just encouraging that it's okay for some creepy old man to come in your room at night and put stockings at the end of your bed, or come in your house in the middle of the night. It's just weird, isn't it? The whole thing's weird. You know, it's okay to just be like writing lists about all the things you want. I want this, I want this, I want this. It's just weird. The whole thing's weird, like, just get rid of that, let alone the lies around it, the magic around it, and the fact that he is our Lord's adversary at Christmas time, isn't he? Yeah? That was Satan Claus and his merry devils. On that, let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the gift of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for that first Christmas, you know, over 2,000 years ago now. Thank you for what that means for all of us. Thank you for what that means for a sinful world, Lord, and help us to just, you know, proclaim that truth loud and clear at this time of year, especially, Lord, and just to preach the gospel, to not be, you know, to not be impolite about it, to not be, you know, holier than nows with people about it, to just find a way to get it back onto Jesus Christ, Lord, find a way to just bring it all back to what this time of year should be about. Our Lord and Savior, please help us to preach that loud and clear, Lord. Help us to go out this afternoon and do that. Preach the gospel, lead us to receptive people, Lord, people that wanna hear about the truth, wanna hear the gospel, wanna be saved, Lord. Help us to return for this evening's carol concert. In Jesus' name, for all of this, amen.