<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Muskegon SDA Church

Jason Sliger

Wartime

Father in heaven, we've come to another time in the week where we sit together as a church family in worship of you.

Father, you have blessed us more than we deserve.

And it's because of your multitude blessings that we linger a little bit longer to receive yet another blessing from your word.

So Father, we ask that you will take the message That you would take your word and apply it right in our hearts where it needs to be that we will leave here different because of our encounter with you.

The Bible describes the Christian experience in many different ways.

Sometimes the Bible describes it in the illustration of farming.

Sometimes it uses the athletic pursuits as a way of illustrating the Christian walk, building, shepherding, the illustrations are endless in the Bible that are used to describe the Christian experience.

But these analogies, as good as they are, they are serving a purpose to help us understand different facets and different elements of our Christian walk.

But there is 1 way that the Bible describes our Christian walk, our Christian experience that you will find throughout scripture, And that is using the illustration or the metaphor of war.

Our sermon entitled this morning is War Time.

War has ravaged this planet since the beginning of time.

We know that Satan made this thing come to pass many years or much before sin even entered into the world.

The Bible tells us in Revelation 12 and verse 7 that there was war in heaven and of course there is where it all began.

And we can trace this history throughout Scripture from the beginning in the book of Genesis all the way through to Revelation.

There is this common theme or thread of constant warfare that is taking place.

Revelation chapter 13 and verse 7, the Bible says, and it was given unto him to make war with the saints during the time of religious persecution in the Dark Ages.

Revelation chapter 12 and verse 17, the Bible says, and the dragon was wroth with the woman, that is Satan.

He was angry with God's people and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

War is a theme that we find throughout scripture.

But the good news this morning is that the Bible tells us what the result of this war is, and perhaps my favorite passage in the book of Revelation is Revelation 17 and verse 14, where the Bible says, "'And these shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome.

So yes, there is this theme of this constant theme of war throughout Scripture.

You will find that The Bible does not describe a wartime part of life and a non-wartime part of life.

The Bible simply describes that we are in a war.

In his book, Prevailing Prayer, Taylor Bunch says this, Christians are not on a playground enjoying a picnic.

We are on a battlefield engaged in a fight to the finish.

We occupy a fortress, not a pleasure house.

The sooner we grasp this understanding that we are living in a constant war, the better soldiers, I believe, we will become.

As long as we continue going around as though there is no war taking place, as though we live in a time of peace, we will find that we will be defeated 1 time after another.

Can you imagine what it would be like to have a civilian dropped in the middle of a chaotic battle?

We are not civilians, but we are soldiers.

This war that we are fighting is a war of a surrendering of our souls to God.

That is a war that we must constantly fight.

Inspiration tells us this, the Christian life is a battle and a march.

With earnest, determined efforts, we must constantly oppose the forces of the enemy.

We do not get a break from this until we get to the kingdom of heaven.

Sure, we live in a country where we are free to worship God according to the dictates of our conscience, and we are grateful for that.

But sometimes I wonder if that serves to lull us into a state of complacency in this war that we are fighting because we are no longer persecuted for our beliefs as it was in times past.

In fact, as you look at the Bible, you will find particularly in the writings of Paul, writing to the young man Timothy, he encourages him to view his whole life and his whole ministry in the context of war.

The Bible says, this charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare.

And then in his second letter to Timothy, he says this, chapter 2 and verse 4, no man that warreth entangleth himself in the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him "'to be a soldier.'" I like the way the ESV translates this verse.

It says, "'No soldier entangles himself "'in civilian pursuits.'" And then Paul, writing to Timothy as a soldier who is in warfare, he says in 1 Timothy 6 and verse 12, Fight the good fight of faith.

Lay hold upon eternal things, whereunto thou art also called, and has professed a good profession before many witnesses.

And then of course, Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 4, verse 7, I have fought the good fight of faith.

Throughout the writings of Paul, especially writing to Timothy, that we are engaged in a war, that we are to view our life, our ministry, our existence here on this earth as an all-out battle between us and the forces of evil.

But perhaps the greatest tragedy, in my humble opinion, is that there are many who have accepted Christ as their personal savior, who are defeated in this battle time and time again.

And in my understanding of scripture, this ought not to be.

God wants us to experience victory, uninterrupted victory, 1 after the other, But because of the constant stress and strain of the battle that we are raging, people lose their hold and their sight upon God and they end up doing things that they regret.

Perhaps there are many answers to be found in scripture as to how we can be successful in a war such as what the Bible describes.

But I would like to submit to you 1 thing and it's this.

If you knew that tomorrow, that there was going to be World War III, that the epicenter of that war was going to be Muskegon, Michigan, how would that change your life today?

Would you go home this afternoon and put your feet up and take a nap?

If you knew that World War III was going to be fought and that Muskegon, Michigan was going to be at the epicenter of that war, how would that change your life today?

It would change it drastically, wouldn't it?

Your whole life would shift in just a moment, the moment you found that out.

Because you would want to be prepared when that battle began to be fought tomorrow, would you not?

Now the reality of it is, you know where I'm going with this.

The reality of it is World War III has already started.

That World War III started this morning when you woke up and breathed, you know, that first breath as you woke up this morning and you had to make decisions whether or not you were going to commit your life to the Lord and start your day off with devotions and prayer, whether or not you were gonna come to church, all of these decisions, that war started at that very moment.

And every moment when we wake up, we have to realize that we are at the epicenter of this cosmic battle that is taking place, that the Bible describes to us, and the decisions that we make today will prepare us to face that war.

And herein lies the problem, why there is defeat in this battle, it comes from a lack of preparation.

We know that we're going to be in a battle, we will prepare so that when that battle comes, we might be successful.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 6.

This is perhaps the most familiar passage in all of scripture on the concept of war.

I wanna take a look at it through a new lens today and also in our time together next week.

Ephesians chapter 6, Paul is summarizing his epistle to the church of Ephesus.

He has given them a lot of advice up to this point and now he's making his concluding remarks, his PS, if you will, to his letter.

And he says this in verse 10, it begins, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Paul, in chapter 6 of the book of Ephesians, he starts off by writing to children and parents about obedience, he talks a little bit about servants and masters and how they are to treat 1 another.

But then he makes this concluding remark, finally, my brethren.

And of course we understand that as Paul is writing here in the book of Ephesus, or the book of Ephesians, it's not him that is speaking, but it is God that is speaking through him.

And what is The first thing that God tells His children to do, there in verse 10, He says, finally, my brethren, what does it say?

The first thing that we are told to do is that we need to be strong in the Lord.

Listen to me, brothers and sisters, as we engage in this battle, the strength does not come from within, but the strength comes from above.

And I'm thankful for that little verse, because oftentimes, when we think about the armor of God, we start, we go straight to the different elements of the armor.

But before we even get to the armor, Paul tells us to be strong in the Lord.

It's not in our own strength that we meet this battle, but it's in the power and strength of the Lord.

Back to Menu

Wartime

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Sound Doctrine