Battleground: Battle For the Pew

[00:00:00] Welcome to Truth for the Journey from Clifford Baptist Church, 635 Fletcher's Level Road in Amherst. Tonight, Pastor Jeffrey returns to the Battleground series using various scriptures. [00:00:11] Tonight is going to kind of end our study together as we think about the battleground of spiritual warfare, what that has looked like. [00:00:20] So I'm going to just ask that you turn back to Ephesians, chapter six. We're going to refer to that a little bit, and we're going to go elsewhere as well in your Bible. [00:00:29] But tonight I've just titled this last message the Battle for the Pew. [00:00:36] And I think if you boil it down, that's what we're looking at as we think about that battle after we have been studying. [00:00:45] My goal for this series is just to make sure that you are aware that Satan wants each one of us. He wants us to quit, he wants us to stop. He wants us to lay down and he wants us to give in. But I hope that this series has made you aware of the enemy, of his tactics. I pray that you understand the importance of learning the word of God and having it near to your heart or in your heart. [00:01:11] And I pray that your faith carries you through those battles. Some of you sitting right here tonight may be going through a spiritual battle, but the culmination of this series reminds us that victory can be ours. Victory can be obtained through Jesus Christ over the enemy, over Satan. And it's just not when we close our eyes. [00:01:36] We should walk in that victory every day. [00:01:40] Even if we're in the middle of a battle, we can walk in a victory knowing that Jesus is our source of strength. [00:01:47] And looking at Jesus, temptation himself, we understand the greatest battle, the greatest battle is the battle for the pew. [00:01:58] And as we think about that as believers, the person in the pew, the believer, is under attack. [00:02:05] And if Satan can get you to stop or to quit, he has won. [00:02:11] I believe, and maybe I'm a little partial, I, I believe the word of God is preached at Clifford Baptist Church. [00:02:22] And Sunday, if you just think back to Sunday's message, you remember that the birds want to devour the seed. [00:02:32] The seed is the word of God. [00:02:36] And so all Satan wants to do, all the birds want to do, eat the word so it does not reach the destination. [00:02:45] Satan wants to devour the word so it doesn't reach your heart, so it doesn't reach your life or impact your life or even your soul or your friends. [00:02:55] So as we've summed up what we've learned, how do you win the battle? How are you victorious when the attack Comes now. This is not a culmination from the pew, from being a believer, from being a regular church attender, from being in the house of God, from hearing the word of God. How do you win the battle against the enemy tonight? That's the goal of the lesson, the battle of the pew. I am a believer. I faithfully come. I trust the Lord. I receive the word of God, I hear the word of God. How can I win this battle? [00:03:29] Well, tonight I'm going to give you six things. [00:03:33] All of them start with the S. [00:03:36] And none of them are sit in the pew. Okay? I want to say none of them require sitting in the pew. [00:03:44] All right, Are you ready? As we think about this entire series, how do we sum it up? Here's how I would sum up how to win the victory against the enemy, against Satan, as a believer, as a committed person who walks with Jesus, a committed person, to hear the word of God as we together, Clifford Baptist Church. How do we win the battle? The first thing that you need to do every single day is suit up. [00:04:13] Suit up. [00:04:14] We have learned throughout this study that that spiritual battle rages, and you cannot enter a battle unprepared. [00:04:24] Imagine a police officer getting ready for work, and he says, nah, I'm not gonna take my. I'm not gonna take my pistol today. [00:04:33] Imagine a police officer, if he gets ready for it, I'm not gonna wear my bulletproof vest today. Things have been quiet. I'm not gonna wear that today. [00:04:41] Now you sit there and you shake your head. That's not a good idea, is it? Absolutely not. Cause you never know what's gonna happen in one day. Right? We understand that when it comes to our law enforcement. [00:04:53] Well, we need to understand that as Christians, too. [00:04:56] And as we think about suiting up day by day, the battle without the armor of God, you are taking a serious chance. [00:05:10] When we understand that truth and righteousness and the gospel of peace and faith and salvation and God's word and prayer, you've got to enter the battle prepared for the battle. You've got to suit up every single day. [00:05:28] And I'm thankful that God's word teaches us that in Ephesians, chapter 6. Look at Ephesians 6:13. This is just a reminder. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that you might be able to withstand in the evil day. Having done all to stand the whole armor of God every single day, you must be prepared to enter the battle, enter the battlefield. God has gifted us with exactly what we need, and we just need to make sure, we're suited up every day because Satan is ready to devour the one piece. The one time, the one day that you don't pray and prepare yourself, guess what? You better be ready for a hard day. I don't have to tell you that. You know. [00:06:21] Point number one, as we think about defeating the enemy, is you need to suit up, put the full armor of God on every single day. That's point number one. [00:06:36] Point number two, submit to God. [00:06:41] Submit to God. [00:06:42] When we think about submitting to God, I'm going to read from James 4. 7, and you can flip back if you want to, but keep your hand. We're going to come back to Ephesians. James 4. 7 says, Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. [00:07:04] All right, I have to take God's word at face value, right? [00:07:08] Point number two, when we submit to God, the battle for the pew is to submit to God, to be ready when that attack comes. That you are looking to God, you know that your life is in his hands, the situation is in his hands, and you have to give it to God. [00:07:30] Really. This verse says three things. [00:07:32] Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee. Satan must flee as God pours his grace out to the humble. In verse number six of James chapter four, we must look to God and His direction in our life, his design. As he created us, he loves us, he leads us, and he wants us to be in submission to his will. [00:07:59] So every day when we think about submitting to God, what does that mean? Every day when you wake up, you need to whisper some sort of prayer. God, keep me in your will. Protect me today. Guide me, keep me close to you. I want to follow you, be obedient to you. Today I feel like that is what it means to submit to God. [00:08:20] God, today is yours. [00:08:22] I need you to lead my life. [00:08:25] So you submit to his will. You walk and you follow him faithfully. And by doing that, when the time comes, you can resist the devil by not falling into that tempter's snare. [00:08:37] Now, listen. [00:08:40] For the strongest believer, the tempter's snare is very tempting. [00:08:50] Over the past couple of two months, some mighty men of God have fallen very publicly. [00:08:57] That's hard for me to watch. [00:09:00] How does somebody reach that point? [00:09:08] Number one, they don't suit up. [00:09:11] And number two, the tempter snare becomes very tempting. [00:09:17] And so when we submit to God, we resist the devil and we must look to Jesus. When Jesus is your Lord, you surrender your desires and your wants and you seek after him. [00:09:33] One of the greatest ways that you can submit to God is, is be in his word. [00:09:40] Now I'm just telling you very elementary principles. If you are not in the word of God every single day, it's hard to submit to God's word. [00:09:50] It's hard to submit to his will. [00:09:53] And so I would challenge you. Part of submission to God is being in the word of God and putting God's word in your heart and in your mind, that you can have it at a moment's notice. [00:10:03] Surrendering to self, surrendering your flesh, those things are necessary day by day. [00:10:14] And so submitting to God, resisting the devil. And the Bible says this, he will flee. [00:10:21] Now what I want to remind you here is it doesn't say he's going to flee immediately. [00:10:26] It doesn't mean it's going to be a short, short temptation or a short battle. No, eventually he will leave you alone. [00:10:35] When you walk so close to God, when you're submitted to the Lord, the devil does not have a chance. That's what James, chapter four, verse seven says. He's gotta leave because you're walking so close to God. [00:10:50] That's the challenge when you submit to God, that you walk with him closely every single day. [00:10:57] The third point takes us back to ephesians, chapter number six, verse number 17. [00:11:03] And I want to read that and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God in my little language, my little brain, here, here's what I'm going to encourage you. Swing the sword. [00:11:17] In order to win the battle, you've got to swing the sword. You've got to use the sword. [00:11:22] Now remember, as we studied the armor of God, that sword was the only offensive weapon that we studied. You all remember that. And so we need to be able to use the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Now remember, that's what Satan wants to get out of you. That's what Satan doesn't want you leaning on. That's what Satan wants to devour so the seed can't get into the ground, right? [00:11:49] Satan does not want you to have the word of God. And so the word of God is vital to defeating Satan. We are blessed to be able to live in a place where we carry God's word openly in our hands. [00:12:05] We can carry this Bible. You can do like I do. You can put it in my. I put it in a book bag most of the time, but there are times I tuck it under my arm, right? We can carry it openly with we don't have anything to worry about. Nobody's going to harm us. And we're thankful that we can carry that openly. But listen, this is more than just carrying the word of God under your arm or in a backpack or bringing it to church. [00:12:31] When those moments come, where will you turn? [00:12:38] You can turn to friends, you can turn to one another, you can do all those, all those are good things. [00:12:43] But ultimately, every single day you must turn and return to the Word of God. Every single day. And then you use that God. You use God's word against Satan. Listen. [00:12:57] Start small. [00:13:00] Memorize James 4, 7. [00:13:03] Memorize that verse. [00:13:05] And next time you're in a spiritual battle, next time you're feeling tempted, quote the verse, use God's word. [00:13:15] We see Jesus did that when he was tempted. He used the word of God to defeat and to make Satan flee. [00:13:23] When we think about the Word of God, Hebrews 4:12 tells us it is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. It pierces. It discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. God's word, when it is used, it is a means of protection against lies, accusations, confusion and deception. [00:13:47] But the Word of God is a means of protection. [00:13:52] So it's defensive as well as offense. [00:13:56] Sometimes to defend yourself, you got to block, you've got to swing the sword. [00:14:02] But we also must press forward. [00:14:07] This offensive weapon is to be used to stand against and to resist and to swing against any attack that comes at you. [00:14:19] How many of you tonight can testify that the Word of God can move the front line of battle? [00:14:29] Do you know, do you realize that just the word of God using it can move the battle line? You can move forward even if it's just one step. Every single day, the battle line is moving. [00:14:42] And so when we realize the Word of God can push the enemy back, it causes Satan to flee. [00:14:52] I'm so glad tonight that I can proclaim very, very strongly that the Word of God. Of God prevails. [00:15:02] The word of God prevails. [00:15:05] And so church tonight, Christians tonight. Don't just carry it in your hand. [00:15:11] Don't just open it when the preacher tells you to use this sword every single day. [00:15:21] You know the King of England carries a sword. [00:15:28] I'm sure you've seen him on tv, right? [00:15:30] He's got a pretty sword. [00:15:33] He brings that sword out on very special occasions. The only way the King of England uses his sword is in ceremonies and coronations. [00:15:43] It's only a symbolic piece for the King of England. His physical sword is only symbolic. [00:15:52] He Never uses it in a battle. [00:15:55] And I believe the tip is even blunted. [00:16:02] Tonight. [00:16:05] Are we carrying God's word in that manner? [00:16:08] Is it just a symbolic piece that we put under our arms and carry? Or do we really want to use it? Do we want to swing it? [00:16:19] Especially when Satan comes to defeat the enemy. Point number three tonight is you need to swing the sword. [00:16:30] Point number four comes from Ephesians chapter six again. And we've read verses 13 and 14, but that point I'm going to read them again, Ephesians 6:13. [00:16:44] Wherefore you take it to the whole armor of God that you might be able to withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand, stand. Therefore, having your loins gird about with truth, having the breastplate of righteousness, you need to stand firm. [00:16:59] Stand firm. That's point number four tonight. [00:17:02] Victory comes. When Christians take a stand against Satan. [00:17:10] It's closely related to resisting, but standing against whatever comes your way. [00:17:16] And the person that came to my mind is Job. You know, Job lost his servants, his sheep, his camels, his sons, his daughters, and even his own health would come under attack. [00:17:29] And the Bible says in Job, chapter one, verse 22, in all of this, Job sinned not, nor charged God with foolishly. [00:17:37] You know, when the temptation comes and discouragement hits and the attacks happen, the calls to just be done with it all and to curse God and die are loud and clear. [00:17:50] And we understand that came from Job's wife, but ultimately it came through Satan. [00:17:58] And sometimes the voice of reason is not the voice of God. [00:18:02] Sometimes what you feel like doing is not God leading you. [00:18:08] And so Job's wife just said, job, crush God and die. [00:18:13] And we know the story. We know that Job would not have any of that. [00:18:18] Job stood. [00:18:20] And you know how he stood? [00:18:22] By falling down before God. [00:18:25] He fell down before God mourning for his loss. [00:18:29] But he fell down before God in worship of the Lord. [00:18:33] And sometimes standing means you kneel, means that you look to the Lord. [00:18:40] You say, God, I can't do this. Everybody around me is telling me something different. [00:18:45] But God, I want to stand in your truth. And I want to stand against this temptation, the temptation to just blame God or to curse God or to be done with God or listen to me, to vacate the pew is very real. [00:19:01] It's very real. [00:19:04] And so when we understand that, we understand that standing firm is what Job wanted to do. [00:19:14] And we're told that Job sinned not. [00:19:19] You remember that hymn? Some of you do probably that are a little older than me. I'll just put it that way. [00:19:27] I shall not be moved. Do you remember that? I'm not going to sing it for you, but that little chorus. I shall, I shall. I shall not be moved. Like a tree planted by the water. I shall not be moved. I remember as a little boy singing that song. [00:19:46] And you don't know how many times that little refrain has come back in my mind. [00:19:52] What does it mean? [00:19:55] Tonight, before you close your eyes, go read Psalm chapter one. [00:20:01] Read Psalm chapter one before you close your eyes and sleep tonight. [00:20:04] And what that's going to tell you is, like that tree planted by the water, your roots run deep because they are in the Lord. [00:20:11] And though the storms come and blow and beat against you, I will not be moved. [00:20:19] I'm going to stay right here. [00:20:21] Job took a stand against Satan, and he took a stand even against his wife. [00:20:31] But sometimes victory is won when you refuse to move backwards. [00:20:38] I'm just going to stand here. I don't know what else to do. [00:20:43] Lord, I trust you tonight. Maybe you need to draw that line. [00:20:48] You need to take that stand. [00:20:50] Victory is won. When people say, I'm not going to go, that I'm not going to retreat, I'm going to stand. [00:20:59] Point number five. [00:21:03] Stay in prayer. [00:21:06] Stay in prayer. [00:21:10] Ephesians 6, 18 mentions praying always first. Thessalonians 5, 17 tells us to pray without ceasing in Matthew, chapter number six of verse number nine. And that's where I'm going to read tonight. I'm going to read a little bit from Matthew, chapter number nine. Or, excuse me, Matthew, chapter six, verse number nine. Here's what God's word says. Matthew 6. I'm going to read verses nine and ten after this manner. Therefore, pray ye. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. [00:21:50] Adrian Rogers says this Satan can't keep God from answering our prayers, but he will keep us from asking. [00:22:00] So true prayer looks to God to do what only God can do. [00:22:07] And here's what we need to realize. We cannot defeat Satan in our own strength. We must look to the Lord and depend on his help. [00:22:15] We can put on the armor. We can have the sword in hand. We can stand firm. [00:22:21] And I want you to know, while we make that stand, you must be in prayer, because you can't do it in your own strength. [00:22:32] Prayer is a vital part of the battle. [00:22:36] But here's what I want to encourage you, Christian tonight, don't wait till you're in the battle to pray. [00:22:44] The hard part about my job is when I find out that somebody needs help. [00:22:54] A lot of the times it's too late. [00:22:57] That breaks my heart to know that families have been struggling, maybe marriage is breaking down, people have been getting are under attack. [00:23:08] And guess what? [00:23:10] Last resort, I'm going to call a preacher. [00:23:15] Well, listen, there's somebody greater that you can call than the preacher. [00:23:23] You can pray to the Lord and don't use it as a last resort and an emergency latch. Don't use it as something that you need, you know, in case of fire, bust the glass, you know, don't do that. [00:23:39] No, use it. [00:23:40] Pray before. Make prayer a part every single day of your life. If you are a prayer warrior. Look, you walk in prayer, you live in prayer. [00:23:52] Be somebody that lives their life in prayer. [00:23:57] Pray before the battle comes. Pray when the good days are there. Pray every single day. So many times in Scripture we're told to watch and what? Pray. [00:24:09] Watch and pray. [00:24:12] Matthew, chapter 26, verse 41. Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak. You know it. [00:24:25] Where did Jesus say that? [00:24:27] The Garden of Gethsemane. [00:24:31] He asked the three closest people to just pray. [00:24:37] And guess what? [00:24:39] They fell asleep. They couldn't do it, could they? They couldn't do it tonight. [00:24:46] I've told you this before, and I'll tell you this again. [00:24:50] I believe the Wednesday night group of Clifford Baptist Church is a core group of prayer warriors. And I'm not saying everybody else is not. [00:24:59] I'm just saying when people gather on Wednesday night to pray, God has moved on Wednesday nights in this building. Amen. [00:25:07] God has answered prayer on Wednesday night. [00:25:11] And that happens when people just gather together and what? [00:25:14] Pray. [00:25:16] Pray. [00:25:17] Watch and pray. [00:25:20] And so tonight, as we enter our prayer time, I pray that you don't take that lightly. [00:25:27] Every morning there's a list of names on my desk. Every morning at 6 o', clock, I'm going through these names and some of your names are on that list. [00:25:36] You need to know that somebody's praying for you. [00:25:41] But if we will just watch and pray, if we will just pray, put our dependence on the Lord. [00:25:49] Colossians 4:2 says, Continue in prayer and watch. Luke 21:36. Watch ye, therefore, and pray always. [00:25:58] The early believers used prayer to overcome opposition and move forward with the Gospel. What I mean by that in Acts, chapter four, if you read Acts chapter four, that the early church, as Peter stood and he proclaimed, there's nowhere salvation in any other, for there's no other Name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved. That was Peter's proclamation in Acts chapter four. [00:26:26] And what happened? [00:26:31] They arrested him. [00:26:38] As he was turned loose in Acts chapter four, people gathered around and they prayed in the end of Acts chapter 4. [00:26:47] Here's what they wanted to do. They just wanted to pray with boldness. [00:26:55] Does anybody in here know a bold prayer? [00:27:00] A bold prayer warrior? You know, I often thought for 10 years of my ministry, my prayer life was horrible. [00:27:08] I still don't think I'm the best prayer. Not that you have to judge that or not. My own. I don't pray probably like I should or enough or anything. [00:27:18] I don't feel like I'm that. But listen, when somebody asks you to pray, just pray. [00:27:22] We'll get in our own heads enough as it is. [00:27:26] But there are people that you know that are prayer warriors. [00:27:29] When you need something from God, who will you ask to pray? [00:27:39] Here's my other question. Will you pray? [00:27:43] Watch and pray. [00:27:45] It seems like a very simple command. [00:27:48] The early church in Acts chapter four, they not only desired that boldness and the power of God, but they moved the church forward through prayer, through depending on God. Even when the circumstances were dire, they faced a lot harder things than we do here. [00:28:07] Their lives were on the line. [00:28:09] And what did they do? They prayed to win the battle. [00:28:14] To win the battle, you must stay in prayer. There's one more point and I'm done my portion of the night and we'll move into prayer. And that is this. Seek God's help. [00:28:24] Seek God's help. Well, you said. Jeffrey, you've already covered that. You talked about praying. Well, maybe I have, but I want to read this verse from 2nd Corinthians 10:4. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds. [00:28:42] Ephesians 6, 10. Be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. [00:28:48] We don't win because we are strong. We win the battle because God is stronger. [00:28:55] Psalms 28. 7. The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusteth in him, and I am helped. I'm thankful for that verse. [00:29:07] And then we're reminded in James 1 to count it all joy when you fall into various trials. [00:29:16] The shield of faith. [00:29:18] That's part of the armor in Ephesians 6. The shield of faith can block fiery darts. [00:29:25] And so tonight, when we think about just seeking God's help, our faith must lead the way. We must look to the Lord and we must hold that shield to quench the fiery Darts of the devil. [00:29:41] And so tonight, I end this part with one verse. First John, chapter four, verse number four. [00:29:52] Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them. [00:29:56] Because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. [00:30:03] You've got something, someone inside you that is greater than the ruler and the power of this world. [00:30:12] Jesus is greater than Satan. [00:30:17] And here's what we need to realize, and I'm not trying to be enough prosperity. [00:30:20] You've got to live your life from the point of victory. [00:30:24] The battle's already been won. [00:30:27] Satan is fighting from the position of defeat. [00:30:31] He knows he's a defeated foe. [00:30:34] Tonight we've overcome it not by our own strength, but by the Lord. [00:30:42] Let your faith lead you every single day. [00:30:47] For those of you that are writing down, I'm just going to run back through those six real quick. [00:30:53] To win the battle for the pew, number one, you need to suit up. [00:30:57] Number two, you need to submit to God. [00:31:00] Number three, you need to swing the sword. [00:31:03] Number four, you need to stand firm. [00:31:05] Number five, you need to stay in prayer. And number six, you need to seek God's help. Let your faith lead the way. [00:31:16] Tonight, here's my prayer. [00:31:20] As we come before the Lord in a time of prayer, we're all dealing with something. [00:31:26] We've all got something. [00:31:28] And so as we come before this time of prayer, it's very important and I pray that this little study, not that it's perfect or it has told you everything, but maybe it's opened your eyes. But my prayer, it's opened your heart to anticipate what's coming, to look for, to be prepared and to fight from that place of victory because of Jesus Christ. [00:31:53] Let's pray. Father, thank you for tonight. [00:31:55] Thank you, Lord. As we look to your word, Lord, there is so much to glean tonight. I feel like I've only scratched the surface, Lord. And I preached seven weeks on spiritual warfare and I only scratched the surface. [00:32:11] I probably made Satan upset. [00:32:15] I realized that. [00:32:17] I realized the target on Clifford has probably gotten bigger tonight. Lord, I'm just asking that you use a handful of Wednesday night prayer warriors to go to battle, to suit up, to swing the sword, to stay in prayer, to stand firm, to depend on God as you lead us day by day. [00:32:52] God, thank you for this church, Lord. I don't want a prayer to lift up ourselves. I don't want to pray to lift up ourselves tonight. But I just want to thank you for what you are doing through the people of this church. [00:33:06] God, may we continue to move the battle line forward. [00:33:11] The name of Jesus. [00:33:14] Lord, help us where we are weak. [00:33:16] Lord, be our strength. Lord, we pray tonight we turn our eyes to you and we look to you. [00:33:22] We turn the issues and the temptations and the troubles over to you. [00:33:27] We are dependent on you. Lord, we pray that you meet our needs in this place. Lord, we love you. We thank you. We pray for your leading and your direction and your care over this church and the people of this church tonight in a very particular way. Bind Satan. Build the hedge. Lord, tonight I pray. Build the hedge about us. [00:33:49] Bind Satan. [00:33:51] Make him flee. Lord, I pray. We love you. In Jesus name, amen. [00:33:58] Clifford Baptist Church invites you to join us for worship every Sunday morning at 11am for more information about our church, please call our church office at 434-943-605 55.