Sermon Central
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Gods Battleplan Series
Contributed by Brian Menear on Apr 13, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: God has a battleplan for victory in his war against Satan. We have a role in that plan.
Gods Battleplan(NIV)
The overall message of this series has been the battle between God and Satan, and our parts in it. War is defined as this-an aggressive struggle or competition between 2 or more powers. Someone once said WAR stood for “WE ARE RIGHT”
Last time we looked at Satans battleplan with lies and deception.
Today we will look at Gods battleplan.
Satans primary goal in his battleplan-keep souls form being saved.
In war there are both victories and defeats. Every soul won by the Devil may only be temporary. But a soul won by God is a permanent victory.
Romans 8:35,39
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nobody wants to go back to the darkness once they have stepped into the light of the Kingdom of God.
6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.
Does that mean we will never fall again? No. Its says “seed is in him”. What happens with seeds? They grow, just as Christ grows in you and changes you once he is planted there.
In this war we must face and defeat our enemies and our foes. We cant just sit on the sidelines. Remember that innocent bystanders die in war also.
Who/what are our foes and enemies?
1 Satan
2 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Unknowingly we can be on Satan side and assist him. How do we assist the Devil and help his work on Earth? Sin
8 He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.
What work of the Devil has Jesus helped to destroy in you life? Debt, Lust, Greed, Adultery, Addiction?
2 Our own flesh
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
Our own sinful nature and desires should die if we truly belong to Christ. If we still have sin in our lives we have not reached the point of our crucifixion. If you have picked up your cross you have begun your journey.
ILLUS-”Carry My Cross/Live vs. Die for you”
Your soul and you Spirit will always war against earthly desires. It is impossible for them to agree.
17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
1PE 2:11 Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
“Aliens and strangers” think about that when your non-Christian friends think you are weird because you don’t drink or do drugs, or that you go to church twice a week and not just on the holidays.
3 The World
The world is controlled by the Devil. We are therefore enemies of this world and want no part of what it has to offer. Our reward is not in this world but in the one we go to when we leave this one.
JN 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
Jesus knew how hard it would be for his followers to be in this world.
4 Death
Every person and every living thing will eventually die. 10 out of 10 people die. Death is the only certainty in life. “Death and Taxes”. You may not ever have to pay taxes. We may never be born (miscarriage), but we will eventually die. I we are alive in Jesus Christ, we will live forever. We should not fear our time when it comes but be prepared for it when it comes. When Jesus returns or when we return to Jesus, death will no longer hold any power over us.
Hebrews 2:14,15
HEB 2:14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil-- 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
