The King's Church in Ilford
The following is the text of the talk given on 15th July by Robin Hawkins
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Fighting The Battle
- For the right words to say when sharing the gospel. Don't we just long for that?!
- That those words will be given by God to us. ie there'll be the anointing of the Holy Spirit on them. Prophetic evangelism.
- That we'll be utterly fearless in sharing the gospel. Paul risked being stoned, flogged or imprisoned. What is it that we're so afraid of? Rejection? Losing friends?
This is all about advancing the gospel. If you're not engaged in that you don't need to worry about spiritual attack. Satan's already got you neutralised. You're no threat to him. It's because, as a church we are advancing the gospel that our enemy wants to divide us, undermine our faith, destroy our testimony.
So we're going to pray tomorrow into these things. In the meantime, I want to urge you to take this opportunity to get right with God, to repent of your sins, and to put your trust in Jesus Christ to forgive you your sins, so that when you do eventually face your Maker, as we all will, you'll be able to do so knowing your sins have been paid for by Jesus on the cross; and that you can enter eternity as a child of God.
Reading: Eph 6:10-20
Tomorrow we're calling the church to a day of prayer. We have a sense that the battle is hotting up. Too many of us are beset by sickness, others are struggling with debt and poverty, sin and defeat. We appear to be under an intense attack from our enemy. Is it worse than usual? - Possibly. But let's get it into context. We the church, are at war. We have been since day 1. We are at war with a relentless foe whose avowed intention is to destroy us any way he can. This won't come as a surprise to us, but if that's the bad news, let me give you the good news: The war is already won. Our mighty King, the Lord Jesus has defeated our enemy totally, and we're fighting from a place of victory.
Ephesians is a manual on spiritual warfare. Unusually, it starts from a place of victory. Jesus conquered satan on the cross by the power of shed blood. The victory was sealed when the Holy Spirit exerted God's mighty power and raised Jesus from the dead and seated him at the right hand of God in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority. And God placed all things under His feet, and appointed Jesus to be head over everything for the church. He took Jesus from the lowest place in Hades and elevated him to highest place in the heavenlies.
And you know that all things includes Satan and his angels. And most of you know what I'm going to say next! In ch. 2:6, Paul states that you and I, being in Christ, have been raised from spiritual death and seated with Christ in the heavenly places. Thus if satan is under Christ's feet, he is under our feet also.
One thing that struck me this last week is that we can get bogged down in the battle. Our eyes are on the attacks, but if we could get a revelation of the magnificent, mighty, total victory that Christ has won; if we could see ourselves seated with Christ, and appreciate the view that we have from those heavenly places, we'd get a very different view of the battle.
So that's my first point this morning.
Learn to see the battle from Christ's point of view. We start from a place of victory. Christ has sat down. We have been sat down with him. Don't even think of going into battle until you've learned to rest in his victory first.
Watchman Nee's "Sit, Walk, Stand" is a great summary of Ephesians. We learn to sit first in Christ's victory; then we have to learn to walk the walk. Don't even think of going into battle until you've learned to walk the walk. You'll set yourself up for defeat. Remember all we learned in FIC. It was the milk of the gospel. It was learning to walk the walk.
The first thing Paul talks about is the grace of God. We are saved by grace, not by works. It's God's gift. Failure to appreciate the grace of God will take us into the bondage of legalism and self-effort.
The second thing he talks about is unity - unity between Jew and Gentile, the One New Man. If God could unite Jew and Gentile, He could unite anybody. Unity is vital if we are to withstand the attacks of our enemy. "Divide and conquer" - it's worked so well in the past. In ch. 4, he's still talking about unity. This is a major battleground. If satan can get us fighting each other, we'll stop working together to advance the gospel. The church will be rendered ineffective.
So let me urge you: guard your relationships. Do everything you can to avoid falling out with each other. Try not to take offence when we let each other down. Be the first to forgive; let love cover a multitude of sins. If you're married, work on your marriage. Don't take your husband or wife for granted. Give time to your children.
The next part of the Walk is godly character - holiness. We need to be men and women of integrity, pure in heart and thought, those who live in truth and honesty. Bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, gossip, and every form of malice need to be ruthlessly gotten rid of, or our enemy will neutralise us. If we don't, we'll be so busy complaining about what that person did to us, and how we don't talk to them anymore, that there'll be no room in our hearts to tell people about Jesus and what He's done for them. People will look at us and think, "He calls himself a Christian and he talk like that/did that? Forget it!" Satan's laughing all the way to hell because he's got you working for him now!
Paul talks about spiritual authority in the church, at home and at work. There is a godly submission required of us that is undermined by rebellion. Satan loves to stir up rebellion and criticism of leaders. Next time you're tempted to criticise your leaders, pray for them instead!
All this is the Christian Walk. We have to learn to walk before we can stand against the enemy. If we don't we'll be defeated. "Finally," Paul says, "be strong in the Lord, and in His mighty power. Put on the full armour of God..." Most of you have heard talk me about the armour before. What I want to say this morning about it is that if you want to know upon what fronts the enemy is likely to attack you, look what the armour is defending you against. Remember the armour is a picture of various attitudes we are to take - most of them in the mind, which tells us where the major battles are going to be fought.
The Belt of Truth - is central to the rest of the armour. It holds everything else together. Jesus describes himself as the Truth. He should be central to our lives, holding us together. We are to live our lives according to the truth of God's Word. We are to be men and women of truth and integrity. Any and all of these interpretations are valid.
The Breastplate of Righteousness - assures us that we are righteous in Christ as far as God is concerned. But it also reminds us that we need to live righteously or our witness will be undermined, and people won't listen to us.
The Gospel Boots - describes a readiness to take every opportunity to share the gospel. If we're on constant alert for opportunities, we won't have time to sin. Jesus said, "Look the fields are white for harvest..." The opportunities are all around us. Pray for eyes to see them.
The Shield of Faith - is our defence against those direct attacks that come. Loss of a job, loss of a loved one, undeserved criticism, persecution. It's our confidence that Jesus still loves me and is still in control, whatever may be happening. The Shield of Faith protects us from unbelief. Praise is a great expression of Faith. Praise takes our eyes off the problem and onto Jesus.
The Helmet of Salvation - This is a favourite. Doubts about your salvation. It's vital we guard our minds with the knowledge of God's truth about salvation. What Christ has done; who I am now in Christ; what God is really like, and how he really loves me. Go back to those truths we studied in FIC.
The Sword of the Spirit - which is the Word of God. This is our only offensive weapon. Jesus used it three times when tempted by satan in the wilderness. "It is written..." "It is written.." It is the truth that will set us free. How we need to be men and women of this book, knowing its principles and applying them in our lives.
Having got our defences in place we are to pray:
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Psalm 19:1