24-1006a Transcript

Preacher: Mike Mathis

I want to thank the reader this morning. Now, the lesson that I am going to present this morning, it comes from the email that I received from having the Bulletin Digest.

And this Bulletin Digest receives, we receive every month, or maybe every week, but anyway, they have articles, short articles, that can be put into a bulletin that a local congregation may have. And the email that I received from this Bulletin Digest, I get preaching ideas. And this lesson that I’m going to present comes from that.

The one who wrote this lesson, his name is Mike Vessel, but it didn’t give any address, so I couldn’t contact him, but it said, Preaching Ideas. But what I did, I changed the title, but I kept along the lines of what he wrote. So what I present to you is basically what he put in that article.

Now, I entitled that lesson to be victorious. To be victorious. I’m sure that no matter whether we are a saint or someone that is just a sinner, that is under the clutches of the devil, that we have battles that we fight, and it doesn’t make any difference whether we are in Christ or outside of Christ.

We have battles that we struggle with. And if we do not recognize the devil, understand his schemes, and prepare for battle, we are already a casualty in the war for men’s souls. If we’re outside of Christ, we just do not have Christ to help us.

The devil is, he already has us in his clutches. And if we are in Christ, we need to be careful. Because as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2, verses 10 and 11, Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive.

For indeed I have forgiven. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven. That for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices.

The devil has devices and he has his schemes that he can get us. And he knows everyone’s weak points. Things that I am strong in, somebody else may be weak.

And where somebody else may be strong, I may be weak. The devil knows. And the devil will attack us in our weakest point.

We have in 1 Peter 5, verses 8 and 9, well, especially verse 8, we are told, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Just picture a lion moving about. He’s seeking prey.

And this lion is walking about only to find something that he can pass upon and kill that he may be able to eat. This is the devil. And the devil is seeking to devour us.

So the question is asked, how do we rise above doubts, discouragements, indifference, and sin to walk worthy of our heavenly calling? That is spoken of in Philippians 3 and verse 14. God’s Word gives us a powerful strategy for victory over Satan and his forces. We need to recognize victory is possible.

We need to know that the devil is a powerful foe, as we’ve just seen. He can take advantage of us. He’s got schemes and devices that he knows to use.

And if he can, he can lead us astray. He’s already got those that are out in the world. And those that are in Christ, he wants to deceive us if it is possible.

Sadly, there are those of the Lord’s body that gives Satan his desire. Christ came to bring to naught the devil’s power in 1 John 4, or rather in 1 John 3 and verse 8. We’re going to see what John has to say in this passage about Christ and about the devil. 1 John 3 and verse 8. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. So Christ came, and it is through his death that he destroyed. He also came forth from the grave because his death was not right.

Jesus was put to death, and his death was not legal because he did nothing to deserve death. But he was put to death, and his death was to bring to naught the devil’s power. In Hebrews 2 and verse 14, the Hebrew writer says, Inasmuch then as the children have her taken of flesh and blood, he himself, speaking of Christ, likewise shared in the same, that through death he might destroy him

who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

His death took away the devil’s power, and Christ arose from the grave. He is declared to be the Son of God through his resurrection. According to the first chapter of Romans, he is the one who was victorious.

He wrestled the keys of death and Hades from the devil. And we need to realize that salvation is only through Christ. As it is stated in Acts 4, 12, there is no other name under heaven whereby man can be saved except through Jesus.

We see that it is through Jesus that we have salvation. To be victorious is to realize the power of Jesus in our lives. The reading that was read from 1 John 5, 4, we see that faith is the victory.

But before I get to verse 4, beginning with verse 1, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And everyone who loves him who begot also loves him who is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments.

For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith.

Maybe a copy might read your faith. We are told by Jesus in John 8, 24, For except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. So we must believe that Christ is the Son of God.

And here in 1 John 5, verse 1, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And everyone who loves him who begot also loves him who is begotten of him. We become children of God when we obey him and obey his commands.

For those that have not obeyed the gospel, or have not come to Christ, need to do so believing in him. Believing the gospel that Jesus is the Son of God. That he came to die for us.

That through his death we can have remission of sins. And through his resurrection, coming forth from the grave, we can have life. And we can have newness of life.

And we are to walk in newness of life. And we can show that we love the children of God. Those who are in Christ, when we love God and keep his commandments.

This is the way that we can show our love. And in this way, our faith that Jesus is the Son of God, this faith will lead us to do what has been commanded of us. Thus, for whatever is born of God overcomes the world.

And this is the victory that has overcome the world. Our faith. Our response to the grace of God gives us strength to keep on keeping on.

As Philippians 4.13 says, Paul says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So we get our strength from Christ. Because Christ promised to always be with us.

He promised that to his disciples. When he commanded them to go and to teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all

things whatsoever I have commanded you. And, Lord, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

God promised the children of Israel long ago that I will be with you. I will not forsake you. And the same thing is repeated in Hebrews 13, about verse 5, if my memory serves me correct.

Yes. Let your conduct be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have.

For he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Therefore we have our strength, our help, and it is through the Lord. So that we may boldly say in verse 6, the Lord is my helper.

I will not fear. What can man do to me? This is our strength. We may be bombarded with all kinds of things for a fellow man.

For righteousness sake. For being believers in Christ. And being in Christ.

But if we suffer for righteousness sake, for the Lord’s sake, we will be victorious. And then in Ephesians 6, the second scripture that was read in your hearing. We have the apostle Paul telling the Ephesians to put on the whole armor of God.

He, in verse 10, he says, By me brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. We need to understand that it is God that has the power to defeat Satan. It is God that has the power to overcome him.

But we can overcome him by putting on the whole armor of God. That you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. That means what his devices are.

Oh, he has these tricks up his sleeve, so to speak. That he can get us out of worse if we let our guard down. That’s the reason that we must put on the whole armor of God.

It’s not against flesh and blood that we are battling. We may be badly false teachers and these that tell us just anything. But it is against, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood.

But against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age. Against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. That doesn’t sound very good to us, does it? We don’t have a choice of who we are battling here.

And if we don’t have a gun, we’re not vigilant, we’re not aware, we’ll be defeated. Because we cannot fight this battle all by ourselves. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day.

And having done all, to stand. We need to stand. We need to be firm.

Steadfast as another portion of the scripture says. That means that we stand firm. Therefore, stand.

Therefore, having guarded your ways with truth. Having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Truth, that is what we need.

Is the truth. The truth comes from God’s word. Jesus, in John 17, in his prayer to the Father.

He says, sanctify them in thy truth. Thy word is truth. The truth comes from the word.

Myths. And we, having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Doing what is right, is what righteousness is.

Is doing the things that we aren’t supposed to be doing. It says we have the breastplate. The army men, they had the breastplate that protected their chest area.

Chest, in this area. Then he said, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. The gospel.

The good news of Christ. There are those that wish to make a differentiation between gospel, the word, doctrine. But they’re all the same.

The gospel of Christ. It’s his teaching. Doctrine.

It is the word of God. And it is preached through the word. Above all, taking the shield of faith.

The shield of faith. They had a shield that they would hold up in front of them for protection. There were darts that would be thrown.

Some of them would have fire on these darts. Above all, taking the shield of faith. With which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

That is the devil. The shield of faith. And the helmet.

And take the helmet of salvation. You have a helmet on your head. You know, when one rides a bicycle or a motorcycle, they would rather you have a helmet on your head.

And there are those who may not wish to put a helmet on their head. But if they were to be in an accident and they hit their head, they would get a concussion. It would be very dangerous.

Hitting their heads. And if this helmet was on their head, it could very well be their salvation. And in the army, there is a helmet that you put on the head.

And it is also for protection. But the helmet offers salvation. And then, the sword of the spirit.

Which is the word of God. That’s the weapon that we use. The word of God.

Too often, though, our battles are lost. Because there are those who will not use the word. And if they do, they only use part of it.

But consider this. A soldier wouldn’t go into battle with just part of the sword. He would have the sword.

All of it. This is what we need. The sword of the spirit.

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit. Yes, we have prayer. We have commandments.

We have the word that tells us what God wishes for us to do. And the command to take and put on the whole armor of God. These things.

This is a command. And if we do these, this is what God desires us to do. But now, we have desires too, don’t we? Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit.

Now, we might pray for things that are unnecessary. We might pray for things that is not beneficial to us. But God knows what it is.

And if we pray right, such as praying always with all prayers and supplication in the spirit. The things that we pray for then, may be that we would persevere. Persevere.

Because there’s going to be times when we’re going to feel like giving up. And let’s not give up. Let’s pray that we can persevere.

And perseverance and supplication for all saints. We don’t pray just for ourselves. Let’s pray for all the saints, all the brethren in the church.

And Paul says, and for me, or just Paul writing to the Ephesians says, that others may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to be bold, to make known the mystery of the gospel. We need to be bold. When we look at things going on, how can we overcome these things? We can do that.

We can overcome these things through Christ. I’m going to stop this right now. I’m going to have part two of this lesson tonight.

If there is anyone that’s subject to the gospel invitation in any way, we would ask that you come forward. If there’s any need that needs to be made known, let it be known. And the church will pray that these things can be taken care of.

So in any way that you’re subject to the gospel invitation, why not do so while we stand and sing?