Good morning, brothers and sisters.
Our call to worship this morning will be in 1 John chapter four. 1 John chapter four. Verse 13. Hereby know we that
we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his
spirit. And we have seen and do testify
that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment,
because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear
in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect
in love. We love him because he first
loved us. If a man say, I love God, and
hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
And this commandment we have from him, that he who loveth
God loveth his brother also. Our most heavenly Father, we
thank you for this time, for this place, that you've raised
your candlestick up here. Lord, we'd be so bold to ask
that you let it abide here many years. We thank you for sending
faithful men to bring forth your gospel, Lord. Cause it to go
forth with power and effectual grace. Lord, there's so many
in amongst us that suffer, that have ailments, trials that you've
set before us. We'd ask, Lord, that you give
us, show the mercy to us that we so desperately need but don't
deserve, and give us sustaining grace. Be with us as we go our
way. We know, Lord, that our unbelief
is our own worst enemy. Keep us, keep us from ourselves.
Keep us always under your watch care. We thank you for all these
things, thou most holy and perfect name. Amen. We'll stand again and sing 36
in the hardback hymnal. For still thou hast not seen. We're not the one, we're not
the son, the lamb of God's own choosing. So darkness will tremble on the
hill As days begin to do All is still and sure For the Lord
shall come That word of the Lord The Spirit of Israel will come
to Zion with the Holy Spirit. Be seated, please. Adam, you could not have led
us in a more perfect hymn to introduce the message that I
believe the Lord's given me for this morning. We're going to
begin in Deuteronomy chapter 20 if you'd like to open your
Bibles there with me. Martin Luther, writing that hymn,
knew that the religious establishment of his day, though they wanted
to kill him, was not his enemy. The enemy was the devil himself. was a spiritual power behind
that which could be seen. And the message I'd like to try to
preach this morning is a message of hope for sinners who are engaged
in a spiritual warfare every day. To encourage you that The
battle is not yours, it's the Lord's. It's the Lord's battle. We have some enemies. These enemies
cannot be seen with the natural eye and they cannot be fought
with natural strength. These enemies are spiritual enemies.
They are the enemy of sin. They are the enemy of the curse
of the law. They are the enemy of Satan himself. They are the enemy of this world
and its system. And they are the final enemy
of death. These are the believers' spiritual
enemies. And we have a word from God to
help us, to show us that the battle is not yours. It's the Lord's. These enemies
are too strong for you. We cannot contend with them. We cannot fight them. The weapons
of our warfare are not carnal. They are mighty through God to
the pulling down of strongholds, casting every imagination that
rises itself up against God and looking to the obedience of Christ. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. The obedience of Christ. You know, every other translation
I've ever looked at on that verse says your obedience to Christ. If my obedience to Christ is
the weapon of my warfare, then my weapons are ineffective, my
weapons are dull, my weapons are broken. I cannot defeat the
enemies that I have with my obedience to Christ. But if God is pleased
to show me Christ and His glory and His successful work of redemption
and His obedience to the law, then the obedience of Christ
will bring me hope that these enemies, though I contend with
them every day, are not mine, they're the Lord's. You have
Deuteronomy chapter 20, let's read this passage together. Verse one. When thou goest out
to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses and chariots,
and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them, for the
Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land
of Egypt. And it shall be, when you are
come nigh unto battle, that the priest shall approach and speak
unto the people, and shall say unto them." If you were here
the first hour, we looked at that word hear. It's the same
word that Samuel spoke when he said, speak, Lord, for thy servant
heareth. It is the word where God said,
hear, O Israel. It is a desire to know God and
to hear all that he has to say and whatever he has to say, without
objection, without question. And so the priest comes and he
says, Here, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against
your enemies. Let your hearts not faint, fear
not, and do not tremble, neither be terrified because of them,
For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you to fight for you
against your enemies to save you. Oh, sinner, that's what you need.
I know it's what I need, to be saved, to have my enemies defeated. to have a word from God that
encourages me that our Savior has gone before us and he has
defeated all our enemies. Turn with me now to 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles chapter 20. And we'll begin reading in verse
12. Now, Old Testament Israel had
some nations that they contended with. These are physical battles,
no doubt, but they are pictures for us of the spiritual battle
that we have every day. The spirit warring against the
flesh and the flesh against the spirit. Verse 12, O our God, wilt thou
not judge them? For we have no might against
this great company that cometh up against us. Neither know we
what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. Lord, we don't know
how to fight against sin. We don't know how to fight against
the devil. We don't know how to fight this battle against
death. It's too great for us. We don't know what to do. All
we know is to look to thee. And all Judah stood before the
Lord with their little ones, their wives and their children.
Then upon Jehaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah,
the son of Jael, the son of Matanai, a Levite of the sons of Asaph. came the Spirit of the Lord in
the midst of the congregation. There's our hope that the Spirit
of God will bless the Word of God and enable
us to see that the battle is not ours. It's not ours. We don't know what to do. We
don't have the strength. We don't have the ability. Only
Christ can fight this battle. And he said, hearken ye all Judah
and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem and thou King Jehoshaphat for
thus saith the Lord unto you. Be not afraid, nor dismayed by
reason of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours,
but God's. Oh, isn't that so simple? And
yet it's the hardest thing in the world, isn't it? That's what
Hebrews chapter four is speaking of when it talks of laboring
to enter into his rest. It's laboring not to work. It's the spiritual battle to
rest in Christ and to believe on him and to rely upon him and
to quit trying to fight the battle with the weapons that are carnal. Jeremiah chapter 31 verse 11
says, The Lord hath redeemed Jacob. and ransomed him from
the hand that was stronger than he. The Lord hath redeemed Jacob
and he hath ransomed him from the hand that is stronger than
he. Do you have a spiritual hand,
a spiritual enemy that has proven itself to be too strong for you? Here's a word from God. Here's
our hope. Here is our salvation. The battle
is not yours. It's the Lord's. He has ransomed
thee. Our battle is not people. It's
not things. It's not even other nations that
might threaten our freedom. The battle is spiritual. It's principalities and powers
in high places. And only God can defeat this
enemy. The first enemy that we all contend
with is sin. And here's a word from God. In
the end of the world, And when Bible speaks of the
end times and the end of the world, it's speaking of that
entire period of time between the first and second coming of
Christ. So when the Lord Jesus Christ was manifested in the
flesh, it began the latter days, the end days. We are living in
those end days now. And God says, in the end of the
world, he appeared once to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. He actually put it away. He didn't
make an offer to save us of our sins, he saved us of our sins. You shall call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. The battle's not yours. You can't
make up for your sin. You can't control your sin. It's the Lord's battle. He's
the only one that can do that. And he proved his success in
doing that when he separated our sin from us as far as the
east is from the west. And he said, I remember them
no more. I buried them in the depths of the sea. I've sewn
them up in a bag and thrown them behind my back. This is God's
language for what he's done through the sacrifice of himself to put
away our sin. And so when sin comes, when sin
is the problem, what do we do? We look to the obedience of Christ
and know that his obedience to the Father has conquered sin. The only thing that breaks the
power of sin is to know that sin's already been put away.
And the proof and evidence of that is the resurrection of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, how how much time and effort
we exert trying to control this thing called sin. When they answer, the Lord says
the battle's not yours. It's not yours. This enemy is
too strong for you. It's the Lord's. Lord, we don't
know what to do. So we come before you and we
look into you. You're the only hope I have. What is sin? Most think that it's just a bad
habit, a behavioral problem, the things
that my conscience really convicts me of. But the Bible says that
sin is everything that falls short of the glory of God. Now what in your life falls short
of His glory? If you have any understanding
at all of who he is, you know that everything in your life
falls short of his glory. You see, we do what we do because
we are what we are. We commit acts of sin because
we're sinners. And it's our sin nature that
has to be buried, that has to be put to death. And so when
Paul said, I am crucified with Christ, He bore my sins in his
body upon that tree. He put them away by the sacrifice
of himself." 1st John chapter 1. If we say
that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and we make God to
be a liar if we say that we have no sin. And what that doesn't
mean that, well, I'm living above sin right now. No, if you say
that any part of your life is not sinful, apart from Christ,
that you can find something in your heart, something in your
life that's not infected with sin, then you are deceived and
you make him to be a liar. That's what it is to say that
I have no sin. I think there's an article in
our bulletin this morning that John Chapman wrote. He said,
when I was 20 years old, I got saved in a religious meeting. And someone came to me afterwards
and he said, well, now you're a saved sinner. And John said,
well, I used to be a sinner, but I'm not now. And then two
years later, he heard the gospel and the Lord saved him. And he
said, I've been a sinner ever since. Can you understand that? Been
a sinner ever since. Oh, child of God, we've sinned
and in this is continuance and we shall be saved. Lord, I've
got a sin problem. I can't fight it, I can't defeat
it, I can't do anything about it. Oh, what trouble sin causes. It destroys lives, it divides
families, it causes war. It damns souls. And in the end,
it leads to death. The wages of sin is death. I
need someone who's able to conquer sin. I need someone who was able to
live above sin. Someone who was tried in all
ways as I am and yet was without sin. A sinless sacrifice to go
before God to bear my shame and my guilt and put away my sin.
The battle is not yours, it's God's. Men are deceived if they think
that they, because they've They've gotten over a particular bad
habit that they shouldn't have been doing to begin with, that,
okay, I've conquered that sin. No, this problem with sin goes
so much deeper, doesn't it? And only those who have a new
nature can see the evil of their old nature and their old man.
So child of God, we have one. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
nine, Hebrews chapter nine. Look at verse 24, for Christ
is not entered. Now, the book of Hebrews is comparing
the Old Testament ceremonial religion of Judaism to the spiritual
fulfillment of that religion in Christ. That's the book of
Hebrews. The key word in the book of Hebrews
is better. And so what Christ did is better
than all those Old Testament types and pictures. And here
he says, for Christ is not entered into the holy place made with
hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven
itself now to appear in the presence of God. Nor yet that he should
offer himself often as the high priest entered into the holy
place every year with the blood of others, For then must he often
have suffered since the foundation of the world. But now once, once
in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed, unto
men once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ, so Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that
look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. Mark, you read it. As he is,
so are we in this world, and that is our boldness in the day
of judgment, that my sins have been put away. The battle's not
yours. You can't fight this battle.
He fought it. He got the victory. Turn over
just a page to Hebrews chapter 10, and look with me at verse
17. and their sins and iniquities
will I remember no more." Now that's God speaking. Now where remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin. What are you going to
offer God to atone for your sins? There's no atoning sacrifice
that's sufficient other than the one that Christ made. by a new and living way, which
he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his
flesh. And having a high priest over the house of God, let us
draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water, let us hold fast the profession of our
faith without wavering for he is faithful, that promised. This is the promise of God, this
is where we hang all the hopes of our salvation on the fulfillment
of His promise. All the promises of God are yea
and amen in Christ. In Christ. So that in Christ we are presented
holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in God's sight. Although we are nothing but sin
in and of ourselves, we are perfectly holy and righteous in Christ,
in the person of our substitute. The second enemy that we have
to contend with is the curse of the law. The law is holy,
the law is just, and the law is good. And we love God's law,
but we cannot stand up to God's law. I cannot tell you how many
times I've asked somebody, you know, well, how are you doing
in keeping, you know, I'm trying to live a Christian life. I'm
trying to, you know, trying to keep the law. How are you doing?
Well, I'm doing my best. Well, that's not good enough.
God requires absolute perfect obedience to his law. in mind,
in heart, soul, thought, body, everything. Turn with me to Romans chapter
eight, Romans chapter eight. Look at verse one. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk
not after the flesh but after the spirit. They're not judging
their salvation by carnal things, that's what flesh is. They're not looking at their
obedience to determine whether or not they're saved. They're
not looking to what they're doing or not doing for the hope of
their salvation. By the Spirit of God, they're
looking to Christ. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and
death. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For they that are after the flesh, they do mind the things of the
flesh. But they that are after the Spirit mind the things of
the Spirit. Those that are walking after the flesh are looking to
fleshly means and fleshly methods and fleshly evidences for the
hope of their salvation. Those that are walking after
the Spirit are looking in faith to Christ. who died for sin to
put away sin and to satisfy the demands of God's law. Christ Jesus the Lord is the
end of the law for righteousness so there is now therefore no
condemnation to them that are in Christ. The battle is not
yours. You're not going to keep God's
law. You're not going to satisfy its demands. Christ is the only
one that did that. Thirdly, the enemy that we face
is Satan himself, a spiritual power much too strong for us. He is a fallen angel. We know
the power of angels. His name is called Lucifer, the
deceiver. He's called the devil. He's called
a serpent, a great dragon, the accuser of the brethren, the
father of lies, the prince of the power of the air. You have
no power against him in yourself. Think with me for just a moment
about what the Lord told Peter on the night of the Last Supper.
When the Lord said, you're all going to be scattered, I'm going
to be arrested, I'm going to die and you're all going to scatter.
And Peter looked at the other disciples and he looked at the
Lord and he said, Lord, they may depart from you, but not
me. And the Lord told Peter very plainly, very clearly, He said,
Peter, Satan, Satan has asked to sift you. And this very night,
you're going to deny me three times. But be of good cheer, I prayed
for you. I prayed for you that your faith fail not. Satan knew
just from what the Lord had told him very clearly a few hours
before what he was doing. You would think, you know, well,
the Lord's prepared me for this. He's told me Satan's going to
come and attack me. And so I'm going to be ready.
I'm going to have my... No, as soon as Satan came, he fell. And you and I do the same thing.
That's why the Lord said, When you pray, pray like this, Lord,
lead us not into temptation, deliver us from the evil one. Lord, if I'm tempted, I'm gonna
fall. Satan's too strong for me. The devil's God's devil. The Lord has him on a leash. just like the devil had to go
before the Lord before he could lay one finger on Job. So God
has to allow Satan to sift us. And he has power and control
over him. And we don't. He came to set the prisoner free. He came to break the gates of
hell. He came to bruise Satan under your feet. He came to destroy the works
of the devil, and that he did. Turn with me to Revelation chapter
12. Revelation chapter 12. Look at verse 10. And I heard a loud voice saying
in heaven, now has come salvation and strength and the kingdom
of our God and the power of his Christ for the accuser of the
brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day
and night. And they overcame him by their
determination, by their grit, By their commitment, by their
strength and their power, they overcame him by the blood of
the lamb. They looked in faith to what
the Lord Jesus Christ did in shedding his precious blood to
put away our sin and defeat the accuser of the brethren. They
overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their
testimony. They loved not their lives unto
the end. What is our testimony? It is finished. Christ is all
and he's in all. He's the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. He actually accomplished what
he came to do. Oh, what hope we have, brethren.
The battle's not yours. The battle against sin is not
yours. The battle to keep the law of God's not yours. The battle
to defeat Satan is not yours. It's the Lord's, and he got the
victory. Thirdly, fourthly, we live in
a fallen world. And though this world is not
our home and though the scripture says we are in the world but
we are not of the world, how tempted and how pressed into
the form of this world it's so easy to be. How the values of
this world and the philosophies of this world and the, yes, even
the religions of this world and you have one of those still in
you, child of God. You're a recovering Pharisee.
You've got a works gospel in your old man that you're battling
with, trying to satisfy God's justice by your obedience rather
than looking to the obedience of Christ. And we're constantly pressed
in to the image of this world. And here's our hope. Though the
lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of
the life are all of this world, the Lord Jesus Christ says to
you and me, in this world, you shall have tribulation, but be
of good cheer. I have overcome the world. I've
overcome the world. I was never pressed into its
form. I was never tempted by its values. I never strayed from
knowing that my kingdom was not of this world. And from trusting
my father perfectly and completely, I have overcome the world. And for that reason, you have
reason to be of good cheer. You have overcome the world because
greater is he that is in you than he that is within the world.
whosoever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory
which overcometh the world, even your faith." What is faith? Faith is what we're talking about.
Faith is depending on, relying upon, looking to, resting in
and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ for all my salvation.
That's what faith is. And so the Lord says, God's given
you faith in Christ. The gifts of God are without
repentance. That faith's never gonna be taken
back. And though we are constantly
being pressed into the form of this world, the Lord said you
have overcome the world. The spirit of God continues to
bring you back to Christ. And in the end, you'll not be of
this world. Why? Because he has overcome
the world. The sin, the curse of the law,
Satan himself, the world, these are spiritual enemies that we
have no power over. Are we not like the children
of Israel facing these enemies saying, Lord, what are we going
to do? There are too many for us. They're too strong. Lord,
we have no power. We've proven that over and over
and over again. Every time we try to contend
with these spiritual enemies, we fall. All we know to do is come before
Thee. And there's one last enemy that
each of us are going to have to continue. And that enemy is
death itself. And the Lord has overcome that. He has overcome that. He's abolished death and he's
brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Child of God, death is coming for each of us,
some sooner, some later. But our life is a vapor in this
world. It's a vapor. It fades away. It's a flower that blooms for
a moment and then it and then it dies. What hope do we have
in defeating this final enemy? The resurrection. That's what
hope we have. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. God raised him from the dead.
Why? Because he was successful in
defeating and putting away sin, in fulfilling the law, in destroying
the works of the devil, in overcoming the world. And he defeated death. And the battle is not yours.
It's not yours. It's God's. Our Heavenly Father, thank you
for the successful work of thy dear son. Lord, these enemies
are so real to us and so strong. Lord, we're so very thankful
of your promises and of your power and of your work. And we
pray, Lord, that you would that you would strive with us by your
spirit and cause us to keep looking to the obedience of Christ. For
it's in his name we pray, amen. Number 34, let's stand together,
number 34. This is in the hardback hymnal. That's not the right melody,
so we'll just do this a cappella actually. Immortal, invisible, God only
wise. In light, inaccessible, hid from
our eyes. Most blessed and glorious, the
Ancient of Days. Almighty, victorious, thy great
name we praise. Unresting, unhasting and silent
as light, nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might, Thy justice
like mountains high soaring above, Thy clouds which are fountains
of goodness and love, To all life thou givest, to both great
and small, in all life thou livest, the true life of all we blossom
and flourish as leaves on the tree and wither and perish but
not change it thee Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
thine angels adore thee, all veiling their side. All praise we would render, O
help us to see, Tis only the splendor of light hideth thee.