SATAN’S COUNTERFEIT OF THE GOSPEL

                                                                         Mark 2:18-22

INTRODUCTION: Satan, God’s Word tells us is a master deceiver and he continually counterfeits

every good gift that comes from God. Satan counterfeits love with lust, obedience with

legalism, and confidence with pride. But Satan’s greatest counterfeit has been the counterfeit

of the Gospel with religion. Religion and the gospel both promise the same thing; a relationship

with God. Religion is man’s way of getting to God and the Gospel is God’s way of getting to

man. Religions home rests in human effort. But the Gospel’s hope rests in the cross of Jesus

Christ. The difference between the Gospel and religion is that religion says “DO”. The Gospel

says “DONE.” Religion is about “you do.” The Gospel is about what “Christ has done!”

Mark 2:18-22.

I. THE GOSPEL BRINGS CELEBRATION!

Religion brings condemnation. The Gospel brings celebration! When Levi, the tax collector

got saved through faith in Jesus Christ he threw a party for all his friends: Mark 2:15. Religious

people must compare themselves to others in order to feel good about themselves. Religion

says” “They are not as good as us!” Mark 2:18. In God’s Word only one day a year was

mandated for fasting: the day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The Pharisees fasted 104

days a year. Religion takes what God has said and tries to use it to wrestle blessings from the

hand of God. The Gospel puts Jesus in the spot light. Religion puts man in the spot light. Jesus

taught that our fasting should be private, not public: Matthew 6:16-18. Jesus explained why His

disciples were not fasting at present: Mark 2:19. A Jewish marriage celebration often lasted for

a whole week. Jesus in this party is saying I am your Messiah, your creator God! Mark 2:20.

Jesus is saying He will be violently taken away and then His disciples will fast. But three days

later their mourning will be turned to joy at Christ’s resurrection. The true Christian life should

be more like a wedding celebration that a funeral. The Christian life is not to be a burden but a

joy: Matthew 11:28-30.

II. THE GOSPEL PRODUCES NEW LIFE!

Man’s religion produces a repaired life and that is the best religion can do. Religion can

never make a new man: Mark 2:21-22. Jesus is saying He did not come to repair us but to make

us new: 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. The true Gospel message is unlike any other religion on this

earth. The Gospel is exclusive: John 14:6; Acts 4:12. Scripture says that man’s religion is a

counterfeit. Jesus is saying He didn’t come to repair the Old Testament or the Old Covenant

with Israel, He came to replace it! Hebrews 8:6-13. When the New Covenant came, the

Gospel, the old, Judaism, is obsolete. We don’t need to be repaired, we need to be reborn!

III. THE GOSPEL MAKES US FLEXIBLE!

Religion makes you brittle: Mark 2:22. Jesus is saying the new wine of the Gospel must be

put into people who are new or reborn, someone who has been transformed with the Gospel

message. The Gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be put into someone locked up with religion. As

true believers in Christ we are not in control any longer. It is that new wine of the Gospel now

that compels us to live in a new way. The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ perfectly

fulfilled the law, sacrificially died for our sins, physically rose from the dead to permanently

reconcile His people to a holy God through their repentance of sin and faith in Christ. We as

Christians simply rest in what our Lord Jesus has already done!