Three Battles Every Christian Must Face — E.A. Johnston

The message I'm going to bring before us today was originally entitled, Three Battles Every Preacher Must Face, but the more time I spent preparing it, I realized I should retitle it, Three Battles Every Christian Must Face, because it pertains, friends, to every born-again, blood-bought believer.

What are these three battles that every Christian must face? I will first list them and then elaborate upon them, and before I list them, I want to say this, friends. If you have a desire in your heart to be more useful to God in your generation, then pay close attention to what I have to say today, because it comes from many years of learning the ways of God.

I've had my share of setbacks and failures in my time, but hopefully I have learned a few things along the way, and I want to share those with us today. I believe that what God has put on my heart in this message can be helpful to the person who desires greater usefulness for God.

I remember a veteran evangelist telling me years ago, he said, if you want to stay an evangelist, then don't ever touch the gold, or the girls, or the glory. And that's really true, for I've seen some joyboys on TV who are evangelists who've made gold their God, girls their pleasure, and they've robbed God of His glory.

That's a good rule to follow for preachers. But the three battles every Christian must face are the following. Number one, pride. Number two, self-reliance. And number three, consecration. My text today is found in John's Gospel in chapter 14.

You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. We will be in verses 8 through 15. I will read us our passage now, and may the Spirit of the Lord attend the reading of His Holy Word. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffitheth us.

Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. And how sayest thou then, show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?

The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself. But the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me. Or else believe me for the very works' sake.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I shall do, he do also. And greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do.

That the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. I will stop there. We see in this passage that Christ is a revelation of God, and that his works are God's works.

And Jesus is telling his disciples that they have a promise to them, and a power at their disposal in Christ's name. And that those promises to them, and the power available to them, are met at the crossroads of faith and obedience.

Now friends, I want to address each of these three listed issues, and elaborate upon them one at a time. The three battles every Christian must face are as follows. Number one, pride. Of all the things detestable to God, pride is spoken of in scripture as a great evil.

Satan was cast out of heaven because of pride, through his defiant remarks of, I will. Let me read you some scriptures on how God views pride. Proverbs 8 .13 declares, The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.

Pride and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the forward mouth do I hate. God hates pride and arrogance, friends. Proverbs 16 .18 states, Pride doeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Listen friends, the most destructive aspect of a believer's life can be pride. Many TV evangelists grew prideful, and their empire was smashed out from beneath them. I've met the ugly face of pride in some deacons, in some pastors, in some seminary professors, and even some seminary presidents.

I can smell pride on a person a mile away. Sadly, I've had some Christian friends who through the years have grown full of pride. Some of my friends who became financially prosperous grew smug and prideful as their fortunes grew.

I've known some evangelists who have become prideful, and the more prideful they became, the less I enjoyed their company. God hates pride, and it's true, especially in ministry, that pride doeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

I know some famous ministries which fell into ashes because of pride, and I've known some churches to become prideful. It's easy for a megachurch as they expand their campus to swell in their pride and their achievements.

I've seen some big churches become useless for God because of their pride. In Jeremiah 29 .16 it states,. Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart. O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill, though thou shouldst make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord.

There are few things more detestable to God than an arrogant and prideful pastor. God will not bless that kind of ministry. If you want to be more useful to God, friend, then pride must be dealt with.

The battle of pride must be won. Pride is a great evil to God, friend. Sodom's downfall would do as much to pride as their wicked lifestyle. Nations can be brought low because of pride. Ministries can be brought down because of pride.

Denominations can be lowered because of pride. And individual believers can become useless for God because of pride. Jesus put pride on the same list as murder and adultery. Listen to his words from Mark chapter 7 and verses 20 through 23.

And he said, That which come out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, and an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.

All these evil things come from within and defile the man. Jesus called pride an evil thing. Dear friend, ask the Spirit of God to shine his holy spotlight upon your heart and life, upon your service to God, and to reveal to you any pride in your life that must be dealt with and brought to the cross.

You will find, friend, that each of these three battles every Christian must face all flow out from one another. I remember some good advice I received from Richard Owen Roberts. I was sitting in his home in Wheaton, Illinois, and he said the following to me.

He said he was preaching at a church, and when he was through, he stood in the lobby of the church to greet the people as they left the building. One man came up to him and said, You have no business being a preacher.

Your message was disgusting. You are a disgrace to the pulpit. My advice to you is to quit preaching altogether. Then that man and his family stormed out of the building. The next couple that came along told Richard Owen Roberts, We just loved your preaching and message this morning.

It was so helpful. God bless you. And then they left the building. Then Richard Owen Roberts asked me a question, and he said, Which of those individuals should I pay the most attention to? Well, I said he should forget about the bad comments and focus on the positive.

He shook his head no, and he gave me probably some of the best advice I've received as a preacher. He told me I should pay no attention to either one of them. It makes no difference what man thinks of my preaching as long as God is honored and his word proclaimed.

That's great advice for a preacher. I've had my share of bad comments as well as good. I don't let either sway me too much as long as God is pleased by my preaching. But pride is a great evil friend, and it must be a battle faced by every Christian, and a battle that is won.

Our second battle is with self-reliance. I want to make a comment to you, and I hope you hear me clearly, friends. And this statement may upset some of you. Some of you may disagree with it entirely.

Nevertheless, I will make the statement because it's a true and valid statement. And my statement is this. If what you are doing for God can be explained on human terms, then God is not actively attending your Christian service to him.

Let me repeat my statement because some of you may have missed part of it. Here it is again. If what you are doing for God can be explained on human terms, then God is not actively attending your Christian service to him.

We live in a day where a church can get more done on money and manpower, and many pastors have become self-reliant men whose ministry can be explained entirely on human terms. But in former times, the church was operated by prayer and holy ghost power.

Too many believers live a self-reliant life for God and miss out on vast opportunities for God to work his power through them. Jesus declared in our passage today, The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

There was a divine attendance to all that Jesus did in his earthly ministry. And Jesus gives all believers a promise and a potential to do the same by the very power that flowed out from him from the Father.

Listen to his words again from our passage from verse 11 and following friends. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very works sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do also.

And greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Listen friends, there is a promise here for available power from on high, if only we will appropriate it.

There is power in the name of Jesus. When I study the lives of men and women whom God has used in former times to reach their generation with the gospel, I see that their lives had a smile of heaven upon them.

There was a supernatural aspect to their lives. God attended their service to him with a power that can only be attributed to God. Let me restate my earlier statement. If what you are doing for God can be explained on human terms, then God is not actively attending your Christian service to him.

In other words, my preacher brethren, if that is the case with you, then there is no supernatural touch on your ministry, and without a supernatural influence there can be no true conversions. This explains why there are so many unconverted church members today.

We make our own converts today because God is absent from our ministry. Allow me to give you a good illustration of which I speak from personal experience. There was a time when my teenage daughter was being plagued by bad dreams.

They were not only nightmares, but there was an obvious demonic influence in her dreams. This alarmed me greatly. I prayed, I asked friends to pray for my daughter all over this country, but still the dreams persisted, and we had many terrible nights in our home because of these demonic dreams.

A dear preacher friend of mine who walks closely with God heard about my problem, that my daughter was having. He made it a point to travel a great distance to my home to be with us and to offer us his help.

After sitting in my living room and meeting with my daughter, he went back to his hotel room to be alone with God. He asked me not to disturb him until I heard from him. After two days, he called me and said he'd like to meet with me before he went back out of town.

I had dinner with him, and he related the following story to me. He said that for the past two days he'd been holed up with God and fasting for my daughter, and on his face with God and intercession for my daughter.

He told me that she shouldn't have any more problems with her dreams because God had now stationed two angels by her bedside. I thanked him, and we said our goodbyes. That evening, my daughter slept like a baby through the night without any bad dreams, and from that point forward, she has not been visited by those demonic dreams.

Now let me ask you a question, friend. Can that be explained on human terms? No, it cannot. My preacher friend has a supernatural touch on his ministry and his life because of his close walk with his God, and that same power which is available to him should be ours as well.

It should be ours as well, friends. Jesus said we have access to that very power. The works that I shall do, he do also. Now listen to me, friends. I believe the church today and the average Christian today is completely bankrupt of this power.

Read the book of Acts and see this power in action throughout the ministry of the early church. I had a seminary professor who mirrors the prevailing attitude of our day. I was having my oral exam for my Ph .D., and my two seminary professors were grilling me to see if I would pass this test, and I made the following statement to them.

I said that we today as believers should be turning the world upside down like the early church did in the book of Acts, and this one seminary professor cut me off, and in an arrogant voice he said, that was for that time and not for our time today.

We can't expect to have the same results as the early church did. I wanted to jump out of my chair and scream at the top of my voice, oh, why not? Why can't we have the same results when we have access to the same power they did through the Holy Spirit?

But I kept my mouth shut and didn't argue with my professor because I wanted to graduate with my Ph .D. But listen to me, friend. Listen to me, dear pastor brother. We have a promise from our Master that we have access to the same power, to His power, if we meet the conditions at the crossroads to that power, and that leads me into our next battle every Christian should face, and that is consecration.

Look at the words of Jesus from our passage in John 14 -15. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments. And there lies the secret to power, friends, of faith and obedience, trust and obey.

Somewhere in our personal lives we have forfeited that right to that power, but the power is there nonetheless. Look at China. Look at the underground church in China and see this mighty power manifested in that church, healings, deliverance from demons, millions coming to Christ every year.

Do we really believe Jesus to the degree that our faith unites with His promise to us? If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. And that leads us into our last battle every Christian must face, and that is a life of consecration.

If you love me, keep my commandments. But I fear we love ourselves more, we love the world more, we love our sports and entertainments more than we love Jesus. We give Him often last place in our lives, more than we give Him the place He rightly deserves, which is first place because He earned that right on a bloody cross.

But you won't hear many pastors today preach a message on the cross in the life of the believer. You won't hear many pastors today preach on the utter necessity of a life of holiness unto the Lord. But listen, dear friends, we lack power because we lack obedience.

God will not use a divided heart or a divided ministry. He must be preeminent in our lives through a life of consecration unto Him. Consecrated means to be set apart for His use. Do you know what that really means?

I believe one of the best descriptions of this is found in the words of J. Sidlow Baxter, who summed up a life of consecration up in the following words. What I give to Him, He takes. What He takes, He cleanses.

What He cleanses, He fills. And what He fills, He uses. I like that. Are you, dear friend, ready to enter into that experience where your life is so surrendered to your God that you cross your spiritual Rubicon and enter into a life of such usefulness that it is a fulfillment of Jeremiah 33 .3 which declares, Call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knewest not.

Are you ready for the great and mighty things in your life, friends? Things that are so fantastic you didn't even realize their potential. God's not a small God, friend. God does not do mediocre works.

I used to have a friend who wanted to become a famous novelist like Hemingway. He was always talking about the great American novel that he was working on. One day he asked me to read the finished product and he handed me the manuscript with these comments.

He said to me, It was as if God took my pen and wrote the book for me. I just sat there and let the Holy Spirit write the book. It was as if I didn't even write it but God wrote it through me. Well, that's what the man said.

Never mind the fact that God ceased inspired writing with the Bible but what got me was the fact that this man's manuscript was poorly written and mediocre at best. If God wrote that book for him then his God was a poor mediocre writer.

But God isn't, friends. God isn't mediocre at all. God is almighty. What he does is supernatural. Are you ready for the God of the universe to move through you in such a way that the only explanation is this is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes?

When I study the lives of men and women in former times whom God has used in remarkable ways to reach their generation with the gospel I see men and women whose lives were fully consecrated to God. God won't accept a partial consecration, friend.

You cannot say, Lord, here are most of the areas in my life but I'm going to hang on to this one for myself. No, that won't do, friend. He must have all of us in complete surrender because he gave all of himself in complete surrender to that ignoble cross.

When a man is nailed up on a cross he is in complete and utter surrender. If you're being crucified you have no rights and you cannot make any demands. Are you willing to give up your rights for Christ?

Are you willing to withdraw your demands? Are you willing to demonstrate your love for him by keeping his commandments? I think it's time now to be still. Let's get quiet before the Lord in our hearts right now, friends.

If you are willing to get serious with God and be more useful to him will you do the following with me? Do it with me right now. I'm going to read us the lovely hymn by Francis Riley Havergill. Take my life and let it be.

And as I read it to us let her words roll over your heart and let the Holy Spirit pierce your heart with conviction. If we are really serious about our usefulness to God then we must be serious about our consecration to God.

Remember Sidlo Baxter's words? What I give to him, he takes. That's a promise, friend. But are we willing to give it? Are you ready to give him your utter and final and full surrender? Listen to the words of this old hymn and ask the Holy Spirit to bring grace and conviction where necessary in our lives, friends.

We must ask ourselves are we willing to give God the full use of our lives? Listen to each part of our life and body that's required in a life of surrender to Him. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.

Take my moments and my days. Let them flow in ceaseless praise. Let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love. Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.

Swift and beautiful for Thee. Take my voice and let me sing always only for my King. Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from Thee. Filled with messages from Thee. Take my silver and my gold.

Not a mite would I withhold. Take my intellect and use every power as Thou shalt choose. Every power as Thou shalt choose. Take my will and make it Thine. It shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is Thine own.

It shall be Thy royal throne. It shall be Thy royal throne. Take my love, my Lord, I pour. At Thy feet it's treasure store. Take myself and I will be ever only all for Thee. Ever only all for Thee. Do it, dear friend.

Do it right now. Go to the Lord of the Bible. Go to the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer. And give Him what He has always wanted from you. And that is all of you. Give Him all, friend. He gave His all for you.

Go to Him now. Let us pray.