We were never designed to be bilingual

We’re only a few days away from the biggest celebration in Christianity. Easter is the appointed day each year to celebrate and honor the sacrifice and resurrection Jesus Christ made for our sins 2,000 years ago. Easter is a floating holiday that is determined each year by the spring equinox. It will fall on the first Sunday after the first full moon after March 21. The simple location of the date is synonymous with life. Trees bloom, days are longer, and the grass a bit greener. It’s no coincidence that God gives new life in everything we see concerning Easter, including ourselves. But we don’t live in Jerusalem 33 A.D. any longer; we live in a very different world than the one Jesus walked in, or do we?

We are surrounded by a new culture in the world today. Everything that appears different possesses within it the ability to offend, so if we can create an offense with something then our new culture is to cancel it. Simply remove it from our lives, our history, and our future. In the past few weeks and months, society has canceled children’s books and cartoons, businesses, statues, sports teams, complete American history, and even politicians because a few disagreed with them. Someone was offended, which quickly resulted in cancellation. So our culture is to cancel what offends us, and I think it would be safe to say that the most offensive person to ever walk the face of the earth just happens to have the greatest following of any person in history and is celebrated on April 4 of this year in what we call Easter. But who in their right mind would attempt to cancel Easter?

Well, this cancel culture didn’t just begin; it started about 2,000 years ago. And the one in charge of the great cancel movement is the same one in charge today, and he goes by the name of Satan. In the book of John chapter 8 and verse 44, he is described as “the father of lies.” His character is lying, and his native tongue or language is to lie.

Revelation 12:10 tells us that Satan makes accusations against God’s people non-stop, day and night. OK, so if his native language is to lie, and his sole focus is to accuse the believer, then he will lie about anything he can manufacture and try to cancel anything he disagrees with, including and especially Easter.

Our first introduction to him and his predictable schemes is located in book number one, shortly after God created everything. He entered the serpent in Genesis 3:1, with hatred for God and disdain toward his people. He approached Eve with a question of doubt concerning God, “Did God really say?” Eve responded from her lack of knowledge and the trap was set. Adam and Eve fell from grace and took mankind with them. And from that day in the garden, Satan set out to cancel Easter because the only reconnection to God is through a blood sacrifice. Jesus became that sacrifice, and his resurrection became our glory.

Satan continued his plan to cancel Easter throughout the history of God’s people. He tried to annihilate them in the book of Esther. He tried to enslave them, exile them, and erase them through vile acts of pagan worship throughout the Old Testament - all of this in an attempt to cancel Easter. Jesus is the single most offensive person to ever live, and that is because everything he taught, lived, and died for is an attack on our pride. Satan cannot spread his lies through a humble vessel; he can only accomplish this task through pride.

Satan even went inside of the Jesus team in a last ditch attempt to cancel Easter. Judas betrayed him, Peter rejected him, and all but John of his disciples abandoned him. He separated Jesus from his team in the worst hours of his life in an ploy to bring failure. He wanted Jesus to quit. He spoke his native language of lies to each of the disciples, and they understood and subsequently allowed fear to replace faith.

Notice with me that Satan is the opposite or counterfeit in every way to Jesus. We know through scripture that his native language is to lie, and his purpose is the cancellation of all that is righteous. Jesus calls himself truth in John chapter 14, and we are created in his image in Genesis chapter 1, so our God given language and native tongue is truth. If we are to hear a foreign language, then we will misinterpret or misunderstand the message. In other words, we are not designed to speak and understand Satan’s language of lies. God built us for truth, not to speak a language we don’t understand. The disciples were scattered and confused because they listened to a language they didn’t know. Adam and Eve lost paradise because they heard a language spoken they weren’t designed to comprehend.

Rest assured, Satan is working overtime to cancel Easter from your life. It is not just another day nor is it a three-day weekend off from work. Easter is our native language and Jesus is our way, our truth, and our life, and no one comes to the Father except by him. I challenge you to reject the lies of Satan and believe that Jesus died for your sins because Easter is coming, and no one can cancel it.

We are Christpoint Church on the square in Sparta. We will be waiting for you at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., this Sunday. We’re real people, living real lives, serving a real God. Welcome home.