The Battle Belongs to the Lord
A man had a dream where he saw two gated corrals and in one pen there were sheep – in the other goats. As he sat on top of the fence in between and he watched as Jesus came out and led the sheep out of the pen to their eternal reward. Then he watched as the devil forcibly dragged the goats through a great crack in the ground to their eternal punishment. He watched until the last one was taken and he was the only one left sitting on top of his fence, and he thought, “Well that was interesting. I avoided hell and never had to make a decision to follow God or anything weird like that” Just a few minutes later the devil reappears and comes over to the fence and begins to claw at the man and begins dragging him off to the pit. The man cries out, “Wait a minute. I don’t belong to you. I was on the fence.” And the devil replies, “I guess no one ever told you; I own the fence”.
This sermon is for Christians. Not for fence sitters. But I want you to understand something. Many Christians think that you can be a Christian and somehow find a safe place between the front lines of spiritual warfare and the command center. It doesn’t work that way. The minute you gave your heart to Jesu you were thrust into the battle.
Here is the good news.
Just as the Lord spoke to King Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20:15,
NKJV And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the LORD to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ
I want to look at three quick points from our passage to see what the Lord is trying to tell us here.
I. THE PLACE WHERE WE LIVE DOES NOT DETERMINE WHO WE ARE… In writing this section of his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul is addressing one thing – There is a group of “so called” apostles who have risen up against him. He is speaking in defense of himself. Their arguments against Paul’s ministry can be seen in the verses right before and after these. His enemies accused Paul of being “bold” in his letters, but “timid” in person. 7 You are looking only on the surface of things. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as he.8 For even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than pulling you down, I will not be ashamed of it. Paul says, hey, don’t look at things the way that sin the natural. The complaints that are being raised against Paul are from a worldly point of view. 3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does… The enemy of your soul will attack you from that same perspective. Your Christian life doesn’t make any difference. Your kids will never get saved… that disease will never be healed… You’ll never get past that roadblock in your life to become what God wants you to be… God doesn’t really care; if He did why didn’t He protect you? All of those things come from the natural realm. The enemy uses the things of the word to battle against you. So we fight back. But not as the world fights. We fight back standing in the power and authority given us as God’s kids. Sometimes we forget that.
When Christian Herter was governor of Massachusetts, he was running hard for a second term in office. One day, after a busy morning chasing votes (and no lunch) he arrived at a church barbecue. It was late afternoon and Herter was famished. As Herter moved down the serving line, he held out his plate to the woman serving chicken. She put a piece on his plate and turned to the next person in line.
"Excuse me," Governor Herter said, "do you mind if I have another piece of chicken?"
"Sorry," the woman told him. "I'm supposed to give one piece of chicken to each person."
"But I'm starved," the governor said.
"Sorry," the woman said again. "Only one to a customer."
Governor Herter was a modest and unassuming man, but he decided that this time he would throw a little weight around.
"Do you know who I am?" he said. "I am the governor of this state."
"Do you know who I am?" the woman said. "I'm the lady in charge of the chicken. Move along, mister. "Bits & Pieces, May 28, 1992, pp. 5-6.
We don’t have to fight the way the world fights.
II. THE WEAPONS WE FIGHT WITH ARE SPIRITUAL… 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. Look at the two parts to this verse. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. What are our weapons then? 1) We have the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God… You know Paul’s story… According to Acts 22..He was a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.4 I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison,5 as also the high priest and all the Council can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished. He was fighting the way the world fights. Then in Ephesians 6 he talks about the armor of God and the one weapon that we have to use as an offensive weapon…. The sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. And Hebrews 4:12 goes even a little deeper… 12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Now look at the second part of the verse, , they have divine power to demolish strongholds… Since our weapon is the Word of God, it has power. Jesus told his disciples right before He was crucified that it was better for them if He were gone, because once He is gone, He will send another comforter – the Holy Spirit. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you… For those of you who think otherwise, the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is for power not for tongues… Tongues is the evidence and a wonderful benefit, but it is power that we have that makes us the church that Jesus said He would build. One New Year's Day, in the Tournament of Roses parade, a beautiful float suddenly sputtered and quit. It was out of gas. The whole parade was held up until someone could get a can of gas. The amusing thing was this float represented the Standard Oil Company. With its vast oil resources, its truck was out of gas. Too often, Christians neglect their spiritual maintenance, and though they are "clothed with power" (Luke 24:49) find themselves out of gas. Steve Blankenship in God Came Near by Max Lucado, Multnomah Press, 1987, p. 95. So get this… You have the Spirit inspired word of God to guide you… You have the One who wrote the book living on the inside of you. What happens when you stand by faith and in power on that word when the enemy comes against you? You begin to demolish strongholds. The Greek word translated stronghold is ochuroma (o-chï?'-ro-ma) n. a castle. The devil, fighting the only way he knows how to fight, will build that castle of lies in your mind But what you have tears those walls down and lets the truth out.
III. THE RESULTS WE WILL SEE ARE POWERFUL. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. Take a look at this… It doesn’t say that God will tear down walls – we will. Because we get hold of God’s Word and stand on it. When the enemy reminds you of how bad you once were and that you can never have any hope of heaven, the Word says in Romans 5:8, But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. When your paycheck says you’ll never have enough the Word says that God will supply all your needs according to His Riches in Glory. When the dr. says your condition is hopeless, God says, “I am that God that Heals you, and “By His stripes you are healed.” In Luke 4, talking about Jesus,
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read.17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him,21 and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
I am proclaiming to you today, in your hearing that Jesus is still Jesus. His promises are still true. You have everything you need inside of you to tear down those strongholds.
Listen to me… in the first three chapters of Ephesians Paul focuses on the authority we have as children of God. He repeated uses the phrase “in Him” or “in Christ” at least 14 times.
He wants us to know who we are… not the place where we live…
He wants us use the weapons we have and not give the devil a foothold…
He wants us to see that results are powerful.
Ephesians 3
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father,15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
You are right in the middle of the battle, but don’t be concerned, for the battle belongs to the Lord.
