How to Vanquish Enemies (Luke 6, Jeff Kliewer)

Jesus. That's the Mormon religion. Someone might come and say, well the

Bible is good, but it didn't quite get it straight. We have a final revelation and the

Bible says what it says, but it is supposed that Jesus was crucified, but really they crucified him not.

It only appeared that way to them. That's the Quran. The Muslim religion teaches that Jesus was never crucified, never died, and so real people with hands and feet and with mouths to speak will oppose the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And we could go on and on with lists of cults and others who claim to accept scripture and yet reject

Christ and his word. But I would say for every cultic person that we encounter, especially here in America, for every person who comes teaching a different Jesus and holding to a

God that's outside of themselves, there's probably 20 people that we'll encounter that preach a different God but don't know it.

Probably the biggest enemies of the cross in this culture are those that I would call secular humanists.

People who believe in human autonomy as the highest religion.

Human autonomy. The word autonomy means self -law. Autonomous.

There's no law but what's in the self. And so the view of these religionists is that the human individual determines what is true.

The human individual will say what is moral and right based on their own conscience and they are the standard.

Therefore, each individual person is like a little God walking on this earth.

And they will be very offended if you say there is an objective reality beyond that individual which determines right and wrong.

They will call you narrow -minded for saying that because in their religion, in their worldview of human autonomy, the person is the highest standard.

Individual belief is what determines what is true, not something outside of the individual. So for every

Muslim and Mormon that you'll run into, you'll probably run into 20 secular humanists who will oppose your gospel and your

Christ because they are a law unto themselves. Here is a quote from from one of their writers.

His name is A .N. Wilson but it could be anything because most people in America think like this.

He says, it seems as impractical as it is undesirable to try to recreate the ethics and behavioral patterns of a vanished age.

Do they condone slavery as Paul does in his epistle to Philemon? Do they, meaning

Christians, pool all their property and hold everything in common as the first Christians did?

Do they condemn giving money upon usury and if so, how do they manage to invest in the stock market, putting savings into pensions or even have a bank account?

How many Christian fundamentalists in America today keep the Jewish dietary laws? How many of them would approve of stoning adulteresses?

Yet all these things are part of biblical morality. Paul advised his followers not to marry at all.

The early church was consistently hostile to family life. A true biblical faith recognized that the

Bible is not a book of answers. It is the story of the human race getting it wrong over and over and over again.

Even St. Paul frequently contradicts himself. So this author, Wilson, is saying that the

Bible cannot be taken as an authority for us because it has contradictions. Because we don't follow all of Leviticus, meaning the dietary laws and things that were part of the ritual tradition of the

Old Testament, that we can't hold to the morality of the Old Testament or the moral law that's there or the teachings of the new.

The argument that this secular humanist is making against the

Bible is that the Bible contradicts itself and is no authority whatsoever.

These are enemies of the cross. My question is how can we overcome them?

How can we as Christians advance in this culture, recognize that the culture in which we live is exceedingly dark?

There are many who will say it's fine if you believe the Bible, as long as you keep that to yourself. But their

Bible, their authority, is their own human reasoning. And they will oppose you if you try to preach this message.

This is what happens with Jesus. Luke chapter 6, let's begin.

Jesus will be opposed by religious people who refuse to accept

Christ and his Word. Here's how he deals with them. Beginning with chapter 6 verse 1, on a

Sabbath, while he was going through the grain fields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in his hands, in their hands.

But some of the Pharisees said, why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the

Sabbath? And Jesus answered them, have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him?

How he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the presence, which is not lawful for any but for the priest to eat, and also gave it to those with him.

So what is the criticism in Luke 6 .1? The disciples are walking along with Jesus and there's wheat growing in by the side of the road.

And as they walk along, they take from that wheat and they rub it between their fingers and they eat.

Notice the criticism is not, hey you're stealing that guy's wheat. Why? Because Deuteronomy chapter 23 verse 25 gave provision to do that very thing.

If you're walking along the road, you can pull off grain, rub it in your hands, and eat from it.

You can do that. You're just not allowed to take a sickle and harvest the wheat of your neighbor.

But you can take what grows by the side of the road and glean from that. So that's lawful. The Pharisees know the law, so they don't criticize that.

But look what they find in fault against him. Verse 1, they're rubbing it in their hands.

Some of the Pharisees said, why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the

Sabbath? You see their criticism is that by rubbing this wheat to let the chaff fall away and eat the wheat, they are working on the

Sabbath. Their rules say that this constitutes threshing.

They're threshing the wheat and therefore violating the Sabbath. So recognize,

God said in the Ten Commandments to honor the Sabbath. But Pharisees have come along and added to God's law specific details which go beyond what was written.

And here's how Jesus answered. And here's the point I want you to take away. You must have a very sharp sword to battle religious liars.

Because religious liars will come to you using this book. And if you're not prepared to sword fight with that, they'll cut you up.

They'll cut you up. But Jesus was prepared for this. And Jesus answered them essentially with the question which they couldn't answer.

Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him.

These Pharisees hearing this question would have no answer. Because by their reasoning, the priests who encountered hungry

David should have let him die. You can't eat the bread of presence.

And yet Jesus showed from the text that the priests did what was right.

Why? Why is that right? There was a higher law. The Son of David in this case.

But notice, it was the priests that gave the bread. The priest understood that there was a necessity here.

There was no other food. I liken it to, and you guys know the story well, Corrie ten

Boom. When Nazis came to capture

Jews and put them in concentration camps and kill them, they were, Corrie ten Boom was hiding people in the walls of her house.

And if a Nazi came looking for Jews, you know what she would say? They're not here.

She was lying, wasn't she? Or was she saving lives?

It's a difficult question to actually have to tell a lie rather than hand over this

Jewish person who's hiding in her walls. She did what was right. In this particular case,

David and his followers, his friends, were in desperate need.

They would starve to death. The only bread that was left was the bread of the presence. And understanding that particular need, understanding that the king was in the presence of the priest, the priest gave the bread.

It's not like David came in and snatched off the table, which wasn't lawful. The priests understood this higher law in this case.

It was a difficult question, but one the Pharisees couldn't answer. So keep going in verse 5.

So that's the first thing. Learn to fight for the kingdom of God using the sword of the

Spirit. Jesus confounded them with the Word of God. They had no answer for the sword that he brought against them.

Now verse 5, And he said to them, and this ties in with David being higher as the king in this sense, the

Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. The Son of Man is

Lord of the Sabbath. Here's the second thing. In battling against religious lies, in advancing the kingdom of God, standing for Christ and him crucified, assert

Christ's authority. Recognize that he has authority.

Don't allow the human mind, the person who thinks that they're on the throne, to be the final arbiter of truth.

When you come preaching Christ, come preaching with authority, recognizing this, that all authority has been given to Christ in heaven and on earth.

And we go making disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and Jesus promises that he is with us.

I think very often in apologetics, Christians can get into trying to boil things down to a common denominator and a common understanding, an appeal to human reasoning.

And there's something good about clearing away obstacles to the gospel, but recognize at the end of the day that we cannot argue somebody into the kingdom of God.

And our job is not to convert people on their own terms, because unless the quickening of the

Holy Spirit changes their mind, they will keep arguing as long as the day is long.

Christ doesn't argue all day. What does he say in verse 5? The Son of Man is

Lord of the Sabbath. He asserts that he's the one who wrote

Exodus 20. He's the one who gave the law to man, not the other way around.

He's on the throne, they're under him. He doesn't give up that ground. And this is important for us as witnesses.

How did Jesus teach? They took notice of him. Earlier in Luke, we saw this. Why? He taught as one having authority.

He declared the truth. He proclaimed the truth from a seat of authority.

Jesus now is seated at the right hand of the Father, and we are ambassadors here of his kingdom. And when we speak and proclaim that Jesus is

Lord, and that he is higher, and that he is real, and he is risen, we do so as ambassadors of the

King, delegated authority from him. We're not here arguing our ideas against the opposing views of men.

That's their turf. That's how they think. We come with authority preaching.

And that's why preaching is held up in the Scriptures, because it's a position of submission to this book, that this is the

Word of God. I preach Christ and him crucified. Not as a suggestion, not as a worldview, not as my own opinion, but as an ambassador of the

King. This is how you should go forth telling your friends about Jesus. Preach him crucified and risen, because he is, not just because you believe it.

So that's the second thing. Asserting the authority of Christ over everything. That's what

Jesus does. He claims his authority. Now let's read 6 through 11 for the third thing.

Notice how he outdoes them in compassion. He outdoes them in doing good.

On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered.

And the scribes and Pharisees watched him. Can you just picture them playing with their fingers and just looking, trying to find a way to accuse?

They're watching him to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath. There's that issue for them again.

On the Sabbath. So that they might find a reason to accuse him. They're looking for reasons, but he knew their thoughts.

And he said to the man with the withered hand, come and stand here. And he rose and stood.

And Jesus said to them, I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm?

To save life or to destroy it? And after looking around at them all, he said to him, stretch out your hand.

And he did so, and his hand was restored. But they, meaning the

Pharisees, were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

He's got real enemies at this point, and they're already plotting to kill him. And ultimately, they'll hang him on a cross.

But notice in this interaction that Jesus overcomes enemies by outdoing them in good.

As the Pharisees sat back, not caring at all about this man with the withered hand, Jesus says, come stand here.

And in compassion, he heals him. I'll tell you what. When I was in the inner city, for those years as a missionary,

I saw Mormons all the time walking the street. And they're there trying to convince people of their religion.

And three months later, they'll rotate out and be gone. I didn't see them changing anything or helping anyone.

I saw them preaching what their views of the Bible are. Distorted views they are. But I'll tell you what.

If we in this church will be known for our compassion, which

I think we are, for helping the homeless, for caring for people who are hurting, our testimony will be strengthened by that.

If they find us doing good, our testimony is strengthened.

Jesus outdoes them in good. Notice worldwide what Christians have done for the poor.

Think about the Salvation Army and Compassion International sponsoring kids. Think about Samaritan's Purse and all of the compassion ministries that Christians have invented.

The Red Cross, originally a Christian mission. Let us be known for doing good, and let's go outdo the world in being good.

We know Ephesians 2, 8, and 9, right? We're not going to be justified by these things. For it is by grace you are saved through faith, this not of yourselves.

It's a gift of God, not by work, so no one can boast. We know that, right? You can't be saved by doing good.

It doesn't justify you at all. What does Ephesians 2, 10 say? For we are

God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.

As saved people, let's be like our Savior. Let's show compassion on the man with the withered hand.

Let's outdo the religious liars in doing good. So many people who sit back criticizing

Christians have no idea what we do. And to be honest, they're not the ones in the inner city.

When I go there and I see people who are working and pouring their lives out almost to a man, it's the evangelical born -again

Christian who's laying his life down for the gospel. Let us be known as that people of compassion.

Fourth thing, verse 12, pray all night. In these days he went to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.

Jesus communing with his Father. He goes to talk to God, and he never goes to sleep that night.

So close was that intimacy. He loses a night of sleep because he's spending so much time in prayer.

I think this is recorded for us as a model for our own prayer. We become sleepy when we pray, like the disciples, right?

Stay up and watch with me. Next thing you know you're praying and boom, you're out. Jesus prayed all night.

Tonight we have a prayer meeting at six o 'clock, and we're trying to make an emphasis on the first Sunday of each month to pray.

However, I know that the Super Bowl is next Sunday, which might keep some people away. So I'm going to encourage our congregation in this right now, please hear me.

Tonight at six o 'clock I want everyone to come. I know there might be a previous commitment that could keep you away, and that's fine,

I understand that. But if it's at all possible for you to be here, I want us to come fill this place to pray.

And we'll just pray from the get -go. I want to focus on missionaries tonight, in praying for our missionaries.

And we have a few other things to really pray about. We'll come in and we'll pray, we'll group up together and we'll pray, but let's follow the example of our

Lord. Let's be a people of prayer. He prayed all night, that's the fourth thing.

Thirteen and following. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve whom he appointed apostles.

Simon whom he named Peter and Andrew his brother, and James and John and Philip and Bartholomew, and Matthew and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the

Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot who became a traitor.

What an interesting group of people he calls. Notice that Jesus doesn't fight alone.

Although he could, he could vanquish the enemy with the breath of his mouth, Isaiah 11 1. When he comes the second time with the breath of his mouth, he'll slay the wicked.

And yet, for our sake again here, he calls apostles, twelve men to stand with him.

In Philippians 3 17, Paul says, join with others in following my example and take note of those who live according to the pattern that we gave you.

Join with others. If we want to advance as a church, to advance in preaching

Christ and winning people to the Savior, we need to join together to do it.

We need to jump on board in ministries together, work together, join with others. Notice the twelve that he called.

One of them was a zealot. The group of zealots within Judaism were those who were militaristic against Rome.

They wanted to overthrow the Roman empire. If they saw a soldier walking alone in a field, he might have a sword for him to stab in his back.

This is a zealot. And notice another of his disciples was Matthew, a tax collector for Rome.

If he could put Matthew and a zealot together and call them both as his apostles, he can bring different kinds of people together, can't he?

And make them one. He appointed them this day though as apostles.

And I wish I had more time to talk about this. This is something we'll come back to again. What does it mean that he named them apostles?

Well, the word means sent ones. But I want you just to notice for our sake here, that these are unique individuals.

And this office of apostleship can no longer be filled today. These are ones given authority because according to Acts chapter 1, they had seen

Jesus, been with Jesus the whole time, and they were witnesses, eyewitnesses of the resurrection.

And so when Judas Iscariot, who turns out to be what? A traitor. When he hangs himself and the number is down to 11 and they need to repopulate that back to 12, they have to choose an apostle who had been with Jesus, who was an eyewitness of the resurrection.

And they cast the lots for Matthias. So what does that mean for us today?

There's a big movement afoot, kind of based out of California, but it's kind of a worldwide thing within Christianity called the

New Apostolic Reformation. And that is to find apostles among us to follow their lead and their example, that they would be the leaders of the church.

And so many presume that authority for themselves, but all I want to say about that now is that it's completely unbiblical.

Jesus appointed and ordained his apostles. And so how do we then follow Jesus' teaching in this?

We accept the apostolic word. This word that was written and overseen by the

When Luke is writing, Luke is a traveling partner with Paul.

And Paul is overseeing the writing as an apostle. And Peter is relevant in that discussion too.

They're close as well. So the living apostles oversee the writing of the New Testament. And this book then gets handed down for us.

This is the apostolic witness. This is what we look to for our guidance. So if you want to know where we should go as Christians and what we should do, don't look to the

New Apostolic Reformation. Look to the apostolic word. These are the 12 that Jesus appointed.

And this is what we must follow. So 17 to 19, he came down with them and stood on a level place with the great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all

Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.

And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him for the power came out from him and healed them all.

So he's healing crowds. There's a big group gathered. But notice in verse 20, now we shift in the text from Jesus by example overcoming adversaries to a didactic section where he teaches us how to do the same.

Verse 20, and he lifted up his eyes on his disciples. He's looking for disciples, those who will follow him in this.

Not necessarily the crowd. And by the way, another thing about the crowd. When I mention that Mormons are enemies of the gospel or Muslims are enemies of the gospel, most

Mormons or Muslims or Jehovah's Witnesses are part of a crowd. A Mormon born in Salt Lake City and is only known

Mormonism is part of a crowd that's being led like a sheep to the slaughter. They're part of that school of fish that just swims with their leaders.

And so there's Pharisees among them that are teaching the teachings of Joseph Smith. And they're going out trying to make converts.

And like Matthew 23 says, making them twice the son of hell that they were before. But most of that crowd are just sheep.

They're just a crowd. So we come to them with compassion. Preaching Christ to them, not condemning them, but recognizing that there will be leaders among them who are

Pharisees. These are the ones that have the crowd deceived. And so here the crowd comes from all different backgrounds, but out of that he calls disciples.

And by the way, God is even powerful enough to convert some of those Pharisees. Paul was a

Pharisee. He was a shark. He was opposing the church, and yet God opened his eyes to see the light of the gospel.

So we'll make sense of this as we go now. Verse 20 and following, he's speaking to disciples.

Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and spurn your name as evil on account of the

Son of Man. Before I tell you the final point here from this,

I'm sorry, point six from this. Notice, this is us today.

The more aggressive you are in proclaiming the authority of Christ, the more you will be hated. It was true back then, it's true today.

And in America, there's protections, and there's a strong government that punishes those who do evil, so nobody can hit you over the head with the club without going to jail.

But they can hit you with words, calling you a bigot, and narrow -minded, and intolerant of other religions, self -righteous.

They'll hit you with labels as you preach Christ. They will revile your name as evil.

They will revile you on account of the Son of Man. What do we do? Verse 23, rejoice.

Wow. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Christian, if you will have the joy of the

Lord in your heart, no matter what opposition comes against you, you vanquish it.

They cannot fight your joy. When they see the outcome of your life, when they see the joy of the

Lord in your heart, it's overwhelming. It's overpowering.

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward in heaven is great.

For so their fathers did to the prophets. But look at verse 24 and following.

Here's the next thing. If you really want to vanquish your enemies, you better cut ties with the world.

You better cut loose the things of this earth and be willing to have nothing, to be willing to say,

Christ is all I have, because the world will strip it away. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

The Pharisees were the esteemed ones of Israel. They ate well. They were well fed.

They were rich and highly esteemed. But these followers of Jesus were walking along and having to pick the grain from the field and rub it in their hands, because that's the only food that they had, just like David when he was on the run, because he was being persecuted by a dying dynasty.

In the same way, Jesus and his apostles will be persecuted by a dying dynasty. And here we are in a world that's dying.

We will be persecuted. We need to be willing to let go of everything to take hold of Christ.

If our comfort is in things, the things of this earth, it's going to be an entanglement.

And when the battle gets fierce, we might find ourselves on the losing side, because we love this earth too much.

Didn't that happen to the rich young ruler, where Jesus affirmed, yeah, you've done many of the

Ten Commandments. And then he said, yeah, now leave everything and follow me. And the rich man went away sad, because he had many possessions.

He missed the kingdom of God, because of his love of money. It was an entanglement to him.

If you want to be a victorious warrior for Christ, you're going to have to cut loose some things. And being willing to have nothing.

27 and following, and this is the most radical thing you'll ever hear. This is radical.

The world has nothing like this, but this is essential for vanquishing Satan and vanquishing our enemies.

But I say to you who hear, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you.

Don't you love that? That's our Lord's teaching. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also.

And from one who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you.

And from one who takes away your goods, do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you?

For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you?

Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, and expect nothing in return.

And your reward will be great, and you will be the sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.

Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Even as our

Father so loved us while we were yet sinners, that He gave His only Son.

Romans 5 .8. The gospel is the story of a God who loves us who were enemies against Him.

It's an amazing picture of love. Anybody can love those who love them. We all naturally love our children.

But to love an enemy, that's Christianity playing out. It comes from someone who's been transformed and captured by the gospel.

And so when you see that crowd of Mormons, or Muslims, or all around us, the secular humanists who hate the

Word of God, who oppose the Word of God, who call it contradiction, who call us hypocrites for supposedly picking and choosing whatever we want to have, love them who ridicule you.

Turn the other cheek when you're insulted. Don't get into a battle with them. Preach Christ, do so lovingly, and care for them.

And if they need something, try to meet that need. To love your enemies. This teaching is amazing.

Verse 37 and following. Judge not, and you will not be judged. Condemn not, and you will not be condemned.

Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.

For with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you. What a picture of Christian compassion for people.

Finally, we have 11 verses left. Follow the only wise

Christ as a disciple in the truth. He told them a parable. Can a blind man lead a blind man?

Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

If you want to be victorious as a Christian, if you want to vanquish evildoers and those who hate the gospel, you yourself must first have the thing you're trying to give away.

You can't be a blind man walking with a blind man. You'll fall into a pit.

But if you are a disciple, you will become like your teacher. Who vanquishes the enemy?

Who overcomes the lies of the devil? And those who are inspired by Satan to preach false religions and false worldviews?

It's the true disciples, those who walk with Christ, those who know him and learn from him, that are like him.

Verse 41, why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

How can you say to your brother, brother let me take out the speck that is in your eye, when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye?

You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to take the speck that is in your brother's eye.

Don't you love Jesus here? And the visual picture saying you want to help someone get a speck out of their eye, but you don't recognize that you have a log in your own eye.

Here's how we vanquish the enemy. We're true disciples, we take the log out of our own eye.

We follow as disciples in the truth, genuine disciples that are not hypocritical.

The world will notice our hypocrisy, but if we will be genuine as disciples, then we can make judgments and write judgments between right and wrong and proclaiming the true

Christ versus the lies. Verse 43 through the end, for no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its fruit.

For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my word and does them,

I will show you what he is like. He is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock, and when a flood rose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been built well.

But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.

When the storm broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.

Guys, I wanted to get through the end of the text today in Luke 6, and I know I would love to spend so much time in every verse, but we see the grand sweep of what

Luke is doing by introducing crowds and Pharisees, and how Jesus deals here with the

Pharisees on the Sabbath question, and then moving on to the teaching on how to deal with enemies, to love your enemies.

We need to see the grand sweep of what Luke is doing to follow the train of thought.

But I wanted to get to this last verse, verse 49, because it's a warning, and it drives home the reality of what we're really talking about here today.

In closing, the ruin of that house was great. We need to recognize, brothers and sisters, that there is a real war going on, and our kids' lives are at stake, and my life is at stake, and your life is at stake.

So often in a comfortable country that we live in, where there's an abundance of things, and there's a just enough government to keep the peace and to fulfill the function of 1

Peter 2, 13 and 14, remember that? To restrain the evil, punish those who do evil, and to reward the good.

Under that common grace, we have things well here, and the problem is it's enough to lure us into a sleep, that we would think that we're on this

Christian cruise ship, just sailing along until we get to heaven, or until Jesus comes back, and not realize that this thing called

Christianity is a warship, and it needs to be a warship because our enemies are real and seeking to pick us off one by one.

1 Peter 5, 8, like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Yes, there are cultic people who will come knocking on your door, but most of this influence comes from enemies of the cross, who will never identify themselves that way.

They're gods in their own right, and they seek to undermine your faith in this

Word of God. But I tell you, if you will do what's in Luke chapter 6, if you will take up this sword and know it front to back, like Jesus did in order to cite the story of David, to refute their lunacy about the

Sabbath, if you will have the faith of a disciple, if you will declare the authority of Christ, and not just try to massage somebody into the kingdom, but to preach

Christ with power and authority as one sent from God, like John the

Baptist did. Yeah, it got him into trouble. Remember where he ended up? He ended up in jail because he had told

Herod that it was not lawful for him to be married to Herodias, and ultimately that cost him his head.

The battle is real, and it's a spiritual battle, but it involves human flesh and blood. Do you recognize what we're up against?

We are the minority. Christianity is always the minority. Even when the culture turns towards Christianity, there's many false converts, and there's many who are born and even baptized, and there's still state churches in Europe.

You know, the EFCA comes from Scandinavia. There's still state churches in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, where 95 % of the people are claiming to be

Christian, and yet less than 5 % are saying they believe this book. Something's not connecting. Just because we live in a

Christian culture, in some sense, doesn't mean that we're part of the majority.

Your soul is at stake. Are you a disciple building on the rock, or are the enemies that you don't even see surrounding you and stealing your joy, and leading you into a worldview which contradicts this book?

This battle is real. We're gonna close in prayer. I'm gonna ask the worship team to come on up. Let's pray that we would not only win, because in the end, guess what?

We shouldn't be afraid. The gospel promises what? We win. Go read Revelation 20 to 22.

We win in the end, okay? We win, but while we're here,

I would rather be one who tramples on serpents than runs away from the snake pit.

I would be rather one who vanquishes the enemy. What does it mean to vanquish the enemy?

It means to trounce on him, to overcome him thoroughly. I would rather be more than a conqueror in Christ, not limping my way to the finish line, but running like a runner in a race.

Paul talks about that imagery, and fighting as a soldier at war. We do that by loving our enemies.

We need the conviction of the Word of God. Let's take these lessons. Let's pray all night. Let's come tonight at six o 'clock as prayer warriors, not to do a duty, not to make a list and then check it off, but to come and pray and seek

God's face, and beg him for mercy, beg him for more power in our lives.

Let's join with one another in that. Let's rejoice. Let's let go of the things of earth. Let's love our enemies, forgive, and let's follow as true disciples in the truth.

Let's pray. God, as we sit here this morning, open our eyes to see the battle that we are in, the enemies of the cross, and help us to cry about that,

Lord, like Paul did, Philippians 3. And yet open our eyes to see the

God of angel armies, like a he's he saw, that those who are with us are far more than those who are with them, because we have the

God of heaven and all the angels. God, we are more than conquerors through Christ.

And this morning, turn our eyes to Jesus, who conquered enemies by love, what looked like defeat, strung up on a cross, emptied of everything, having nothing, bleeding out, dying there on that tree, and yet conquering the serpent with the sole of his foot.

Help us to vanquish the enemy, Lord. Teach us to pray, teach us to study, let our sword be sharp.

Bring us together as one, with love for one another. And let us go forth, triumphing in your name,

Jesus. To your name's sake and for your glory, we pray. Amen.