2 Corinthians 3 (New Covenant Confidence, Jeff Kliewer)

New Covenant Fire and Glory in the Face of Jesus Christ

The Gospel, as the Holy Spirit filled Him and empowered Him to preach the Gospel on Pentecost, we pray for the same fire to fall into each one of us. That new covenant fire of the Holy Spirit, changing us from the inside out, that we would be ministers of the Gospel.

We pray for Your Word to accomplish this in each one of us who believe. I also pray for those who might be in the sanctuary right now, who have not yet seen the glory that is in the face of Jesus Christ.

We pray that You would reveal glory to that person today, in Jesus' name. We pray, Lord, that You would open our eyes to behold wondrous things out of Your Word. In Jesus' name, Amen. Newcomer confidence is the naive expectation that everything is just going to work out fine, based on ignorance of the things that could make something complicated.

So, you guys all recall the first time you were shown a Rubik's Cube, right? And you thought, oh, easy, I'm going to be able to solve this, I'm really smart. And next thing you know, you can't even get one side to match all the same colors, because it's actually more complicated than you assume.

I had that experience playing my five-year-old nephew in checkers. At first I thought, I'm just going to have to let him win, because he's little. That was the newcomer confidence in me. I had never played him before, but what it turns out is, halfway through I realized I needed to go all out, and then I still lost badly.

So, sometimes we just have confidence because we don't know what we're up against. You see that in sports as well. When someone is the dominant player in high school, and all of a sudden he goes to college, and he's all confident and cocky walking around the campus, and then realizes that everybody on that team and in that league used to be dominant in high school, and it's a whole new game.

I had this happen to me this week in removing a tree branch at my house. It was a large branch, and I thought to myself, how hard could this be? You just go and get a saw, and you cut down the branch, and you chop it up and put it on the curb.

Newcomer confidence. So, when I get to Home Depot, I ask for the saw for cutting down branches. First of all, it was a bad sign that I couldn't find it myself. But when I finally got there, he called it the Widowmaker.

And I said, oh, not scared or anything, but just more out of curiosity. Why is it called the Widowmaker? And he said, because many people just stand under the branch cutting and thinking, you know, I'm cat-like in my reflexes.

As soon as it comes down, I'm going to jump out of the way. So, it's called the Widowmaker. Well, anyway, as I started to cut this branch down, I got it halfway. The tree split, the branch split, and then just hung straight down.

And so now, because the angle changed, I could not cut this thing down with the fiskers. And I spent so long. Finally, my father-in-law bailed me out, got that thing swinging, and it just broke off and fell down.

But what I realized is newcomer confidence is not a good basis of confidence. It's based on ignorance. I had never cut down a giant tree branch before. I'd never played my nephew in checkers. I'd never tried to solve a Rubik's Cube.

But the point is, often we come to things with newcomer confidence that's founded in some shifting sand. It doesn't uphold. Contrast this with New Covenant confidence. Not based in ignorance, but based in revelation.

As we sit here this morning, as the congregation gathered, many of us need New Covenant confidence. Based on knowledge of what the New Covenant is, you can become confident to minister the gospel of Jesus Christ for three reasons.

We'll look at them today. Number one, the Holy Spirit now lives inside of you, and the same power that raised Jesus from the dead now lives inside of you. If you can come to terms with the knowledge of what that implies for your life, you will minister with confidence.

Great boldness. Number two, that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to you through faith, not through merit of your own. It's not yours to earn. And if you have imputed righteousness, you stand in the righteousness of Christ, and you can minister with confidence.

And then number three, this thing is permanent. It never fades. And in the end, you're transformed into the image of Christ. It is a permanent change. So the New Covenant creates a lasting and sure confidence that enables you to minister.

It enables me to stand here today. Understanding the New Covenant will give you the confidence that you need. So let's go now to 2 Corinthians 3. There were really two big reasons why I chose 2 Corinthians for the book for us to study.

One is because 2 Corinthians brings us to maturity. And you guys need some maturing. We all do. We all need maturing in the faith. But number two, ministry. 2 Corinthians calls us all to be ministers of reconciliation.

And I think our church is at a particular place of growth where every believer needs to recognize that you are called to minister. That you have a ministry that God is calling you to in the power of the Holy Spirit.

So let's read it.

Paul’s Letter of Recommendation and the Spirit’s Work

2 Corinthians 3. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation written on our hearts to be known and read by all.

And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God. Not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us but our sufficiency is from God who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant. Not of the letter but of the Spirit.

For the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry of death carved in letters on stone came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory which was being brought to an end will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?

For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed in this case what once had glory has come to have no glory at all because of the glory that surpasses it.

For if what was being brought to an end came with glory much more will what is permanent have glory. Since we have such a hope we are very bold. Not like Moses who had put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end but their minds were hardened for to this day when they read the old covenant that same veil remains unlifted because only through Christ is it taken away.

By the way you should love to hear the reading of scripture because the veil has been lifted the word itself has power. Even before I preach anything let's read on a few more verses. Verse 15 -18. Yes to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts but when one turns to the Lord the veil is removed.

Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is.

There is freedom.

And we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. So today we are talking about new covenant confidence and I think this passage is fit to impart that to each of us new covenant confidence.

Notice the first three verses Paul's confidence does not come from the recommendation of people outside of himself and that was probably a criticism of Paul. Where did this guy come from? He sailed in from another continent and told you Corinthians about the Jesus that he worships.

But now some false teachers have come into Corinth and they bring with them letters of recommendation. Perhaps they were schooled at Athens and they have the recommendation of some famous stoic philosopher.

They come with their letters of recommendation but here's what Paul says are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need as some do letters of recommendation to you or from you? Make no mistake that was a burn.

That!

He just eviscerated his opponents with his rhetoric at that point in the text. These are people who have behind the scenes been criticizing Paul for the lack of scholarly recommendation behind his name.

And he says do we need that? As some do implying the false teachers who remain among them in Corinth. He takes direct aim at them and says look we don't need that.

Why?

Because Corinthians you are our letter. They themselves are the letter of recommendation meaning Paul came to Corinth when all they knew was the worship of pagan deities. And this stranger like Jonah coming in to Nineveh Paul comes into this pagan city and proclaims Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit one after another they come to believe and for 18 months he preaches among them and when he leaves he leaves a church.

So Paul doesn't need a letter from some stoic philosopher. He says here's my letter.

It's you.

The very church that was planted by the power of the Holy Spirit it shows that what was written on their hearts.

Was deep.

It was the Holy Spirit. He didn't need ink to write the Holy Spirit. You see this is the first reference now to the spirit of the living God.

In verse 3.

The letter is transformed hearts. Changed hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit. That validates him. Guys I would take a powerful ministry that bears fruit for the kingdom over a PhD from Harvard or Princeton or Yale or any school that can put letters by your name.

Paul did not appeal to that as his commendation. He appeals to the power of the Holy Spirit. In our churches we don't need more intellect humanly speaking. We need the intellect of the scripture we need the knowledge of God.

But what seems so lacking in churches and pulpits is the power of the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit. I don't need more books I need more of this book. And if I'm going to preach I don't need more of me.

I need more of him filling me to proclaim the truth that's written in this book. We need the Holy Spirit and that goes for each one of us in the ministries we're called to. Let's see that. Such is the confidence verse 4 to 6 that we have through Christ toward God.

This is the confidence. It's not self-sufficiency it's not how wise or brilliant it's not how your personality enables you to work situations. It is a competence that comes from above. In verse 5 not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us.

Don't you love how Paul deflects glory? He deflects all the glory back to the one who's doing this work through him.

It's not of him. It's not Paul.

Our sufficiency is from God who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant. It doesn't apply to clergy alone. There is a such thing as clergy. It applies to the priesthood of all believers.

To everyone who names the name of Christ and has the Holy Spirit. You are a minister of reconciliation and you are sufficient to a ministry to which you're called by the Spirit that now lives inside of you.

He has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant. Not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills but the Spirit gives life. Now a lot of people have run wild with this verse thinking that it refers to a juxtaposition of God's Word versus the more personal non-religious spiritual aspects.

That is not the dichotomy here. It's not the Word versus the Spirit because the next verse is going to reveal the letters here refers to the Law of Moses. Outward obedience to moral code. As if you can obey the letters of the Law.

The person who thinks they can earn righteousness.

By the Law.

Dies by the Law. That's the juxtaposition with letter and Spirit. So the Word itself is good. And the new covenant is being promoted here as better than the old covenant of Moses. Before we move on to that in verse 7 I did want to point out one other thing.

Notice the Trinitarian nature of this relationship. The Father in verse 4 and the Son are in verse 4. They're the ones who give the Spirit. The confidence we have through Christ.

Toward God.

God the Father. What is that confidence? That God has done this work in us and given us His Holy Spirit. All of the Trinity is exalted and each member is distinguished one from another. This is the ministry of the Triune God.

It's His competence in us. So now verse 7 the next thing I want you to notice the new covenant, the first thing really the first big promise of the new covenant. Remember I said there's three promises of the new covenant that change us and give us the confidence we need to minister.

The first one is that the Spirit will be working inside of us to accomplish what we can't do on our own. The inward work of the Spirit a powerful work of the Holy Spirit. Spurgeon said a man who is really saved by grace does not need to be told that he is under solemn obligations.

To serve Christ.

The new life within him tells him that. The man who's been born again knows and desires ministry. 7 to 9. Now if the ministry of death carved in letters on stone came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory which was being brought to an end will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?

So to understand that comparison you have to go back and remember Exodus 34 remember when Moses comes down from the mountain his face is literally shining with the glory of God probably like Stephen's was right before he was stoned.

His face is shining with the glory of God so bright that the people of Israel were afraid to look at him turning away for fear of that glory hiding their eyes. That's how glorious this ministry was but what Moses carried was a ministry of death.

How so? The letter kills but the Spirit gives life. He brought them a moral code the Ten Commandments that not one of them were able to keep including Moses. An outward set of rules that the heart of fallen man was unable to attain to.

Thou shalt not commit murder. But Jesus heightens that and pushes it to the heart and says if you even have hatred in your heart towards a brother you're violating the deeper meaning of thou shalt not commit murder.

And so the letter kills. That's the concept here. No one can keep it. It's made of stone and you break yourself against that stone. But the ministry of the Spirit is different. The New Covenant promises what the Old Covenant could not accomplish.

And that is an inward heart change that cannot be explained by outward religion. It can only be explained by God himself entering into the heart of a person. Now don't miss this part because this New Covenant teaching is crucial.

Jeremiah 31 promised it. Ezekiel 36 promised it. Now like a sprinkling of water a changing of the heart to keep the law not just outwardly.

But from the heart.

The Holy Spirit now is promised to come and live inside of the believer and change us from the inside out. The promise of the New Covenant is that the Spirit himself will live with us and dwell with us.

And never leave.

Ezekiel 36 says I will put my Spirit within you inside of you. Probably the clearest illustration that I can come up with to show the difference between Old Covenant and New Covenant with regard to the power of the Spirit.

Is Peter B .C. versus Peter A .D. still under the Old Covenant when Christ was being led away to be killed? Peter denied Christ three times. Three days later in 40 until Pentecost came. The day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended on him.

That same man stood before the same people who crucified the Lord in Christ and boldly proclaimed that Jesus is Lord without fear of being killed with a boldness that did not come from himself. This is what I'm trying to communicate.

The Holy Spirit in the New Covenant is promising a power in you that is not your own. To give you the boldness to witness to your friend at the gym. To witness to the guy walking down the street or at the grocery store.

The power to do what you would not do in and of yourself. The power comes from above. It comes from the Holy Spirit. They say D .L. Moody. I think he was a shoe salesman. Just a regular guy. On some trip to New York City.

I think he was from Chicago. He went to New York City and as he was walking through Brooklyn he was praying and had such a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirit that his life was turned upside down.

He became kind of the preacher, the Billy Graham before there was a Billy Graham. D .L. Moody. That power to preach did not come from himself. It came from the Living God. And that same power that D .L. Moody met that day in Brooklyn is available to us in Mount Laurel right now in 2019.

He is here.

The Holy Spirit. And if you have prayed and believed in your heart that Jesus is Lord, trusting Him, that Spirit lives in you already. The New Covenant promises.

That He is now in you.

The same Spirit that caused Peter to stand up and preach. And 3 ,000 believed in one day. That same Spirit lives in you now. There's a second great truth here if you look in verses 9 and 10. Not only are we promised the indwelling Spirit, how confident should we be if the Spirit of the Living God lives in us?

How bold should we be? But secondly, the righteousness that we have before God.

Is given to us.

It's not something you're earning. It's not something you're maintaining with your works. It is imputed. It's credited to you from Christ. So this is part of the New Covenant. Verses 9 and 10. For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation...

So there's a parallel there to verse 7 with the ministry of death. That's the Old Covenant. The ministry of death is also a ministry of condemnation. So now we're speaking in legal terms. You're condemned on account of your sin.

A ministry, so a diakonos, a serving up of what? What are you served up if all you have is the law? You're served up condemnation because you will not keep it. If there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, if Moses' face was shining because God spoke, it's powerful.

If there was glory there, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Isn't that beautiful? Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all because of the glory that surpasses it.

What is the glory that has surpassed the Old Covenant? Carved in stone. What is more glorious than that? Could it be the Word made flesh and dwelling among us and living a perfect life and dying a sinner's death and rising from the dead and ascending to the Father and now imputing His righteousness to you and I who believe?

In Romans chapter 3, we see how desperate we are and how wicked we are. No one seeks God. Our mouths are like poison and our hearts are far from Him. But now, Romans 3 .21, a righteousness from God is revealed.

What does that mean?

No longer a righteousness that's attempted to be earned. It's a righteousness that's credited to my account on the basis of Jesus having satisfied the penalty for sin, having made propitiation for my sin.

He dies the death that I deserve and now His righteousness is credited to me. My sin was imputed to Him and so He died and now all of His righteousness.

Is given to me.

And I'm regarded as if I never sinned. My sin is taken away and I'm clean. What does this have to do with the New Covenant? Well, there was imputed righteousness in the Old Covenant but it wasn't fully revealed.

The people who were trusting in sacrifices because they knew they were sinners, they were making sacrifices that only pointed forward to the shed blood of Jesus. So the Law and Prophets did testify to this.

But now,.

Christ has come. We live on the A .D. side of the cross. We can look back into the Gospels and read about Jesus and the life that He lived and the death that He died. And we can say His righteousness.

Is given to me.

On the basis of faith. That's the promise of Romans 3. If that's the case,.

We are very bold.

Because we know, every one of us here knows that we do not deserve to minister the Gospel. And therefore we fall silent. Who am I to go tell somebody else about the Jesus of the Scripture? I'm not living up to that.

I'm falling short of that. And so we think, I need to get my act together. I need to really pull it together, become a good strong Christian and then I'll go tell my friends.

You'll never get there.

But if you'll receive this truth, right now, you're free. You're free to minister. Now it doesn't mean you're necessarily free to teach because there are disqualifying things. Not everybody should presume to be a teacher.

James 3, verse 1. There's a stricter judgment associated with that. But every person in here is free to minister the Gospel if you believe in Christ. Because your merit to do so is not how perfect you are, how well you're living up to the standard.

Your merit to preach Christ.

Is given to you.

It was accomplished and it is finished.

So you should be very bold.

That's the second reason. Your righteousness is an imputed righteousness. It's all Christ given to you. All of his righteousness given to you. And finally, the third thing. This blows my mind. It can make you bolder than Moses who stood before Pharaoh and said, let my people go.

And led the people out of Egypt and into the wilderness. Verse 11. We did 9 and 10. For if what was being brought to an end... There's three repetitions of this phrase. Verse 7, brought to an end. Verse 11, brought to an end.

Verse 13, brought to an end. If what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent.

Have glory.

We read in verse 12, since we have such a hope,.

We are very bold.

Not like Moses who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.

You ever wondered,.

What is this veil that Moses wore? What was the purpose of that? The veil was a covering that he put over his face because the glory that would appear on his face when he met with God, first of all on the mountain, and then whenever he'd go into the tent of meeting and the cloud of glory would overshadow and he would talk to God face to face as a friend talks to a friend.

His face would be shining when he would come out of that meeting. But it was not permanent. That's the point. It began to fade as soon as he left the presence of God. And so he would put the veil over his face so that the Israelites would not see.

The fading glory.

Isn't there a line of clothing called faded glory? The glory is fading in the old covenant. It's not permanent. It's pointing to something permanent, the new covenant, but it's not permanent. Why does this matter so much?

Because in this new covenant where you believe in Christ, His righteousness is given to you, His Spirit comes to live inside. This ministry is permanent. It is permanent. He will never leave you. And you say, wait a minute, I've really stumbled pretty bad here.

I've fallen into sin. I'm sure He's done with me. No, He's not. That new covenant is a permanent covenant. He will never be done with you. Jude 24 says, He will present you faultless before His throne with great joy.

He can keep you from stumbling. He has keeping power. And it's not like Moses. Moses was stricken by anxiety because he saw that the glory was fading. We do not have to live with that anxiety any longer.

We can stand on the promise here in the Scripture. You can see it yourself. This covenant, verse 11,.

Is permanent.

It came with glory. Much more will what is permanent have glory. I was watching Mike Huckabee the other day and he had a funny one. He said that this doctor was a veterinarian but also a taxidermist. And the sign on his door, his little motto said, Either way, you get to take your dog home.

Listen, that's not the kind of permanence we're talking about here. We are talking about a permanence that comes from God that never leaves you nor forsakes you. A boldness that's greater than the boldness that Moses had.

Can you imagine that?

The one who led the people in the wilderness. We have such a hope. We are very bold but not like Moses who would put a veil. So then, next, whatever came of that veil, Moses died. Figuratively speaking, that veil remains over the eyes and the heart of those who reject and don't see the glory in the face of Christ.

So we'll see that now. You'll notice that when you go out preaching, a lot of people reject what you have to say. Probably the majority, right? And you think, well, maybe I'm just not a good and powerful minister.

No, that's not the problem. You do your part and preach but here's where the problem lies. Their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the Old Covenant, that same veil remains unlifted.

What same veil? The veil that was over Moses to hide the glory from the people seeing it. Now, on an individual basis, every person who has not yet received that glory, hasn't seen it, it's because there's a veil.

It says that same veil remains unlifted because only through Christ is it taken away. Through the supernatural power of the triune God lifting and removing the veil. Through Christ. That's the only way.

Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. The lifting of that veil means the opening of their eyes, the opening of their heart to hear and believe the Gospel that we have to minister.

John Owen said, the most tremendous judgment of God in this world is the hardening of the hearts of men. The hardening of the hearts of men. When God, like in Romans 1, gives people over to their own suppression of truth.

Gives them over to do what ought not be done. And a hardening comes in, like a veil over the heart. John Owen calls that the greatest judgment of God.

To be given over.

It's a terrible place to be. It's not the case with us, brothers, sisters. The last two verses. Where does this permanent hope end up for us? Unveiled, looking at Christ empowers our transformation in ministry.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is what?

Freedom.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. Again, that Trinitarian language.

It comes from God, and the Spirit actually is God. Here's a great proof text, if you need a verse to prove that the Holy Spirit actually is God. Even as the Father and the Son are God, the Spirit is God.

But what's happening in this verse? That Spirit who lives inside of you is transforming you. It's a permanent relationship. He's never going to leave you. He will complete the work, Philippians 1 -6. What is that work?

Your transformation, your sanctification. If you have to pick a life verse and you don't have one yet, here's a good candidate. Verse 18. Because the way sanctification happens is not by greater and greater effort, by creating a checklist of all the things you have to do.

That's not how sanctification happens. Now, we do the ordinary means of grace. We read the Scripture. We pray. We take communion. We encourage baptisms, and we enjoy baptisms of others. And we witness.

And all these things help us in our faith. But where does sanctification fundamentally come from? Contrary to what the world would probably assume, which is you have to do it, you have to work for it,.

You've got to earn it. No.

What does this text say? You have to behold His glory. You have to look at Christ. You have to set your eyes not on yourself,.

But on Christ,.

The author and finisher of your faith, who for the joy set before Him,.

Endured the cross,.

Scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in Heaven. You have to look to Christ. You have to go to the Scripture and say, open my eyes that I may see wondrous things out of Your Word.

And you look for Christ in the Scripture. You read of Christ. And you set your mind on Christ because you have the mind of Christ. You think about His sacrifice. You become Christological in everything you do.

It's how you behold Him. In prayer and in the Word, you set your mind on Christ, on the things above. You think about Heaven, that day when you'll see Him. You remember that song by Mercy Me? I actually saw that last night.

We got tickets that were given to us to go see Mercy Me. It was awesome. But when that song came on, I can only imagine. That's when in your mind, you transport yourself and you say, what's it going to be like when I see Him face to face?

I noticed there was a Muslim lady there because she was hired to be an usher at that particular place. And all through the concerts, she just sat there, eating her snacks and looking at her cell phone.

But when the people stood up to sing I Can Only Imagine, she looked mesmerized. And then it just went into amazing grace. How sweet the sound. And you could just see this woman. She had a head covering on.

You could see the look on her face that she was seeing a glory that she never saw before. The glory of the Spirit and truth. The message of the Gospel being sung. And the look on the faces of the people in worship confirmed that they were seeing glory.

That's where sanctification happens. It happens in the Spirit, in worship. That's why it's so important when we gather on Sunday morning that you're not just here to sing the words of the song. You're here to worship in Spirit and truth.

To behold His glory. When Michael, he's about to come up, to lead us in song. When we sing this last song, sing in Spirit and in truth.

Beholding glory.

The veil's been lifted. Your eyes are open to see. Now look! Don't be distracted by the things of this world. Because I admit it, I'm distracted.

Are you?

I get distracted by basketball, the NBA, you know, what trades are happening. It's the off-season I'm interested. What's distracting you? Is it watercolor? Is it another sport? Is it a certain relationship?

How about get your mind on things above, not on the things below. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will go strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

So worship team, come on up. I want you to be confident. I want you to be confident in the new covenant that you are indwelt by the Spirit of the living God. Be confident in the imputed righteousness of Christ.

Be confident in the permanence of His work in you. Not like Moses. You're in the new covenant. You are kept and you are secure in Him. So look at Him and be transformed. And go in power. What does it say?

Such confidence belongs to us. We are very bold. Very bold with the gospel. Every one of us having a ministry. What's a ministry you're called to do? Maybe it's serving the kids in children's church. Maybe it's going out witnessing at Laurel Acres Park every Tuesday night.

Maybe it's a prison ministry. Or some other ministry. But we are all called to be ministers of this gospel. And the new covenant gives you the confidence that only grows. It's not a confidence of ignorance, but a confidence in the new covenant work of God in you.

So let's pray. Father, we thank You for this passage of Scripture. And we pray that You would embolden us today. My mind just goes to Churchill right now. When England was under assault by Hitler's army, and Churchill led England like a lion.

And he says, I had the privilege to be the roar of the lion, but England had the heart of a lion. I thank You, Lord, for every Christian who fought in that war. They had hearts of lions to fight for their country and their family.

How much more the church of the living God. Pray in Jesus' name that You give us the hearts of lions for the battle that we face. Because this enemy is just as ferocious as Hitler and the Nazis. It's an ideological enemy.