Our good fight |
Introduction
|
|
We
believers in Jesus Christ are soldiers of the Lord and as soldiers we are
continually at war. We must fight what the Scripture calls “the good fight”
(1 Timothy |
Now Paul
wrote to the Ephesians: “Put on the whole armour of God,
that ye 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 armour of God,
that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to
stand” (Ephesians |
Now, know
this, that all these spiritual beings are our enemies; they do not love us,
they do not pursue what is good for us, they don’t want us to be edified,
they don’t protect us, they do not show any mercy toward us because they are
merciless. Here is what they desire: they desire us to deny the Lord, so that
we may be again entangled in the pollutions of the world from which Jesus
Christ has delivered us by His precious blood, and thus we may go to
perdition. Through their schemes they try to cause us to wander from the
faith and from the truth. Here is how they try to achieve their evil aim:
they try to keep us from reading and searching the Word of God, and from
meeting the saints; they try to induce us to believe destructive heresies;
they try to induce us not to pray to God; they try to induce us not to pursue
holiness, for they know that it is written that without holiness no one will
see the Lord; they try to induce us not to forgive those who wrong us and
must be forgiven; they try to induce us to doubt the faithfulness of God;
they try to induce us to forget the poor among the saints (for they don’t
want us to meet their needs). In other words, they try to keep us from
knowing and doing the will of God. They are indeed our enemies, because they
do not want us to do what is good, rather they want us to practice evil (while
the Scripture commands us to abhor what is evil - Romans 12:9). |
However, know
this also, that God knows all the wiles of Satan and his servants, and He
enables us to stand against them. This is why He has provided us with His armor
and commanded us to put it on, so that we may stand against the wiles of
Satan. |
|
|
How Jesus was tempted by the devil and how He
resisted the tempter
|
|
Before I
speak in detail about the armor of God, I want to dwell upon the temptation
that our Lord had to face; yes, because Jesus Christ “was in all points
tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15 – NKJV). Reflect upon this:
Satan tried to induce Jesus, the Son of God, to sin so that He might not be
able to save us! The devil did not want Jesus to die on the cross bearing all
our sins in His own body because he knew that in so doing Jesus would condemn
sin in the flesh and would rescue many men and women from the hands of the
devil through His precious blood. That’s why the devil tried to induce Jesus
to sin, because he knew that if Jesus sinned, He would not be able to die for
men’s sins and thus men would continue to be under the power of the devil. |
Satan
tempts us in the same manner he tempted Jesus, thus we must know how Satan
tempted Jesus, but above all we must know how Jesus resisted the devil so
that we also, following His steps, may resist the devil and put him to flight.
Yes, because we must resist the devil without giving place to him and without
treating him with familiarity. For this is what the apostles wrote to us:
James wrote: “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from
you” (James 4:7 – NKJV); Paul wrote: “Do not give the devil a foothold” (Ephesians
|
Let us see
now how Jesus was tempted by the devil and how Jesus resisted the devil.
After Jesus Christ was baptized in the |
● It
is written: “And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was
afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to
him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command
that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God” (Matthew 4:2-4). Note that the devil tempted Jesus when He had
fasted forty days and forty nights; he came to Jesus when He was hungry, that
is to say, when He needed something to eat. Now, in the wilderness there was
no bread but there were some stones and the devil tempted Jesus to command
stones to become bread. The fact that Satan began to tempt Jesus by saying:
“If thou be the Son of God …” (Matthew 4:3), indicates that the devil knew
that Jesus Christ was the Son of God but by his words he tried to deceive the
Lord into believing that since He claimed to be the Son of God He could,
because of His authority, turn stones into bread, and also that if he had
seen Jesus turn those stones into bread he would have believed that He was
the Son of God. Also when Jesus was crucified, He was tempted in a similar
way, for while He was on the cross, those who passed by “blasphemed Him,
wagging their heads and saying, ‘You who destroy the temple and build it in
three days, save Yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the
cross” (Matthew 27:39-40 – NKJV), and the scribes and the chief priests said:
“If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we
will believe Him” (Matthew 27:42 – NKJV). As you can see, even on the cross
Jesus was tempted to rebel against God because his enemies wanted Him to show
them that He was the Son of God by coming down from the cross; however, Jesus
showed them that He was the Son of God not by coming down from the cross but
by rising again because that was the command He had received from His Father.
Let us go back to the temptation in the wilderness; the devil tempted Jesus
to command those stones to become bread not because he wanted to see Jesus
perform a miracle and to believe that Jesus was the Son of God but because he
wanted Jesus to fall into transgression, for he knew that if Jesus had obeyed
him He would have disobeyed God; nor because he wanted Jesus to eat some food
and be strengthened, for the enemy did not care about the needs of Jesus or
His physical weakness (“he was a murderer from the beginning” John 8:44 –
NKJV, therefore if the devil could have killed Jesus he would have killed Him
on that occasion), but the devil used His desire to eat some bread in order
to induce Jesus to do things His own way and not according to the will of
God. Jesus resisted the devil by the Word of God, quoting that passage of the
Scripture which states that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
word that proceeds from the mouth of God. By those words Jesus meant not only
that it was not yet time for Him to eat some bread but also that in order to
come out of that distress He did not have to command stones to become bread
because God had decided to deliver Him from that distress in another way. The
adversary still tempts in the same way, for he tries to induce us to believe
that the end justifies the unlawful and dishonest means. However, let us take
heed to ourselves, because the fact that we need something must never lead us
to do things our own way or by fraud or by craftiness in order to obtain what
we have the right to have. On the contrary, we must make every effort to
obtain what we need by observing the divine laws, that is to say, by walking
in righteousness and holiness. It is true that in acting in this way we
suffer, but it is better to suffer, wrestling according to God’s laws, than
to lose our patience and thus fall into temptation (remember that “he sins
who hastens with his feet” Proverbs 19:2 - NKJV). Know that in the midst of
all our distresses and afflictions, Satan tries to cause us to fall into
temptation because he sees our weakness, he sees our need and he ‘advises’ us
to come out of our distresses and afflictions by disobeying God; he never advises
us to obey God in everything. Jesus, the One who turned the water into wine
at Cana of Galilee, could have turned those stones into bread because He was
able to perform that miracle; but Jesus did not do what the devil tempted Him
to do because even when Jesus was hungry His main food was to do the will of
Him who had sent Him and to finish His work. For us also, when we are hungry
and thirsty, our favourite food must always be to do the will of God. “Foods
for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and
them” (1 Corinthians |
●
“Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a
pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast
thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning
thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash
thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou
shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” (Matthew 4:5-7). After Jesus told the devil
those words of the law of the Lord, the devil tried to cause Jesus to sin in
the following manner. He took Jesus up into |
What
happened to Jesus teaches us that sometimes the devil wants to induce us to
tempt God by quoting the Word of God incorrectly or misinterpreting it; but
it teaches also that every time the devil quotes a passage of the Word of God
there is always another passage in the Scripture which can be quoted to him
in order to put him to flight. |
Brothers,
we must watch, because the fact that God promised to keep us and to protect
us from the evil one must not lead us to think that no matter what we say or
what we do or where we go, God will protect us; let us not tempt God, but let
us walk in His holy ways and then we will be sure that God will preserve us
from all evil. |
Let us see
now how the children of |
Now,
through the Word of God I am going to give you a practical example so that
you may understand what it means to tempt God. In Isaiah it is written: “When
you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame
scorch you” (Isaiah 43:2 – NKJV). However, if a believer, tempted by the
devil, decides to walk on living coals or through the fire in order to show
off his faith, for sure he will tempt God even though God made the above
mentioned promise. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego did not go into the
burning fiery furnace voluntarily to show off their faith in God or to become
famous, because they were cast into the fiery furnace against their will. In
this case we cannot affirm that they tempted God, for they were cast into the
burning fiery furnace by their enemies because they had obeyed God and so God
delivered them. God fulfilled His promise toward His servants who had put
their trust in Him, for they walked through the fire (King Nebuchadnezzar saw
them walking in the midst of the fire) and they were not burned, as it is
written: “Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery
furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, ye servants
of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abed-nego, came forth of the midst of the fire. And the princes,
governors, and captains, and the king's counsellers, being gathered together,
saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of
their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire
had passed on them” (Daniel 3:26-27). We see in that powerful deliverance
worked by God the fulfilment of the above mentioned words of Isaiah. In the
prophet Isaiah we read also the following promise: “When you pass through the
waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow
you” (Isaiah 43:2 – NKJV), however, it is evident that if a believer, tempted
by the devil, decides to pass through a swollen river in order to show off
his faith, he surely will tempt God. |
● “Again,
the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all
the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All
these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then
saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil
leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him” (Matthew
4:8-11). In this temptation, the tempter showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the
world and their glory and told Jesus that if He fell down and worshiped him
he would give all those things to Him. From that temptation we learn the
following things. |
The devil,
as the Lord Jesus said, “is a liar and the father of it” (John |
In order
to cause us to fall into temptation, the devil plays on the lust of the eyes,
for he tried to cause Jesus to fall into sin showing Him all the kingdoms of
the earth; therefore we must watch out lest we be overcome by the lust of the
eyes, which is of the world, and as you know the world lies under the sway of
the devil. |
Jesus did
not desire to have an earthly kingdom on the earth in the days of His flesh,
even though He was a king, because His kingdom was not of this world.
Therefore, we must not desire to become powerful and rich according to the
flesh because we are not of the world, just as Jesus was not of the world. We
must continually desire to inherit the Kingdom of heaven, and we must not
desire to have a high social position or to create an earthly kingdom. |
The devil
gives nothing freely because he always wants something; when he gives some
supernatural powers or some material things to some people, he wants them to
worship him. Even though he is not worthy to be worshiped, he induces many
people to worship him as God in exchange for supernatural powers and
‘commercial successes’. On the one hand all those who accept to do what he
wants them to do manage to become famous and rich, but on the other hand they
lose their soul; for this is the purpose of the devil, to send to perdition
as many people as possible blinding their minds through worthless idols and
distracting them so that they might not seek the Lord. Jesus Christ refused
to fall down before the devil and to worship him, and once again He quoted
the Scripture to resist the devil. It is written: “You shall fear the Lord
your God; you shall serve Him …. He is your praise” (Deuteronomy |
From the
temptation Jesus had to face and the way He resisted the devil we learn the
following things. |
First of
all, we learn that the devil is a real spiritual being and not a myth as some
people think (thus these people in thinking such a thing deceive themselves).
The Holy Scripture speaks also of the devil and his works and the destiny
which awaits him and we accept all the things it tells us about the devil
because we believe that the Word of God is truth and does not lie to us. |
Secondly,
we learn that the devil uses the lust of the flesh, the pride of life and the
lust of the eyes in order to cause the sons of God to fall into
transgression, for he tried to induce Jesus to sin through the wish to eat
first, then he tempted Him trying to induce Him to exalt Himself by throwing
Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple, and in the end he tried to
seduce Him showing Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory in the
hope that He might desire to possess them. As I said before, the tempter uses
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life in order to
cause us to forsake the Lord; all these things are of the world and since the
whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one, these things lie under the
sway of the devil. That’s why we are commanded not to love the world or the
things in the world, because he who loves them, loves
what lies under the sway of the devil. The world and the things which are in
the world oppose the Word of God and the Holy Spirit for they lie under the
sway of the one who is the enemy of God and thus those believers who love the
worldly lusts and the pride of life are enemies of God, as it is written:
“Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy
of God” (James 4:4 – NKJV). Therefore, since we children of God live in this
world and we are surrounded by the things of this world, we must watch and
pray without ceasing lest we be overcome by the worldly lusts and the pride
of life that Satan uses to cause us to fall into his trap. Know that if there
is someone who wants us children of God to walk according to the flesh, well,
that ‘someone’ is Satan who knows perfectly that the Word of God says to us:
“If you live according to the flesh you will die” (Romans 8:13 – NKJV), and
thus he tries to deceive us by his craftiness saying to us the same thing he
said to Eve, that is, “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4 – NKJV). He
tries, by the outward beauty of the pleasures of life, riches, corrupted
women, the fashion of this age, philosophy, modern music and many other
things, to induce us to love them and to be overcome by them, because he
knows that once a believer has been deceived and overcome by these evil
lusts, he ceases to keep the commandments of God and to bear fruit to the
glory of God, and thus he dies spiritually. |
But we are
not ignorant of his devices and we know how to resist him when he attacks us
because Jesus left us an example. We must use the Word of God to resist the
devil, for Jesus answered the devil quoting the Scripture. |
Brothers,
know that “the Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35 – NKJV), and that when
we resist the tempter quoting the Scripture he cannot break the Word of God
and he cannot demonstrate that it is false and thus he is forced to leave us. |
However,
there is another thing that must be said: when we answer the devil we must
answer him in the right way because he is still one of the dignitaries, in
that he is the prince of this world. When Jesus answered the devil, He said
to him: “Get thee hence, Satan” (Matthew |
|
|
The armor of God
|
|
We
believers don’t have of ourselves any efficacious weapons by which we can
resist the devil, we are fully aware of this because we know that in us (that
is, in our flesh) nothing good dwells. But thanks be
to God through Jesus Christ because in His goodness and wisdom He has provided
us with a complete and mighty armor. It is complete because it protects
believers from every attack of the devil and so it does not allow the devil
to open a breach in them; it is mighty because it is so powerful that through
it we are able to resist the devil, to pull down his strongholds and to cast
down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge
of God. |
The armor
of God helps us both to defend ourselves and to attack our enemies,
therefore we will do well to put it on in order to live a victorious life on
the earth, while we wait for the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul said that we must put on the whole armor of God, that we may be able to
stand against the wiles of the devil and that we may be able to withstand in
the evil day, and having done all, to stand. The apostle said ‘in the evil
day’ because he knew that the day on which the devil tries to cause us to
fall into temptation is an evil day. Therefore, bearing in mind the reason
why we need to put on the armor of God, let us examine the weapons that God has
brought out of His armory to equip His soldiers, who are in this world of
darkness. |
|
Truth |
|
“Stand
therefore, having your loins girt about with truth” (Ephesians |
The
following examples show that God confounds and punishes those who lie. |
►
Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, lied to Elisha, for when Elisha asked him:
“Where did you go, Gehazi?” (2 Kings 5:25 – NKJV), Gehazi answered: “Your
servant did not go anywhere” (2 Kings 5:25 – NKJV), while a short time before
Gehazi, driven by his covetousness, had hurried after Naaman and had asked
him for a talent of silver and two changes of garments and stored them away
in the house. Elisha came to know that Gehazi had lied to him because God
revealed to him what Gehazi had done, and he foretold him the judgement of
God upon him saying: “Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and
your descendants forever” (2 Kings 5:27 – NKJV). In this case Gehazi told a
lie to cover an evil deed, but God confounded him through a revelation and
struck him with leprosy. |
►
Ananias, one of the early Christians, lied to the apostles of the Lord and
God put him to death. It is written: “But a certain man named Ananias, with
Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, And kept back part of the price, his
wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the
apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to
lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles
it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was
sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou
conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not
lied unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and
gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things”
(Acts 5:1-5). Ananias was a believer and he lied to the apostles about that sum
of money he had laid at the apostle’s feet after he had sold a possession,
and God put him to death because he had lied to God. Note that in this case
also, a man of God (an apostle and not a prophet as in the above mentioned
incident) came to know in a supernatural way that a person had told a lie. |
►
The false prophets who were in the midst of the people of |
You must
always bear in mind that the father of lies is the devil, therefore every lie
comes from the devil and not from God; and we as believers must not tell
lies. If we tell lies, we will give place to the devil, and we will make God
angry and surely He will punish us and put us to shame. Lie is lie, and a lie
which is told to uphold the truth is always a lie, even though it is told to
‘defend and honor’ the Gospel. Know this, that the
Gospel does not need any lie in order to be defended and to be believed. I
say this because I know that there are some preachers who urge some believers
to testify that they have been healed by the Lord while they are still sick;
they behave in this way to show that Jesus still heals; however sooner or
later what they have testified will prove to be a lie. Many believers who had
testified before many people that God had healed them of a certain sickness,
after a short time died of that very sickness. Unfortunately, these scandals happens in the midst of the brotherhood,
and because of these lies the doctrine of God and the way of truth are
blasphemed among those who are outside. Why does this happen? Because since
the true miracles and the true healings are missing, some preachers, in order
to draw large crowds of people to their meetings, use lies in order to arouse
great interest. However, there is another horrible thing which happens in the
midst of the people of God: some believers slander other believers so that
they may be destroyed morally and may have a bad testimony among the Church.
To spread a false accusation against someone means to spread a groundless
charge thus an invented charge. Today many believers take pleasure in
slandering their neighbour, and they wilfully forget that “whoever digs a pit
will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone will have it roll back on him” (Proverbs
26:27 – NKJV). |
Brothers,
first of all I remind you that it is written: “Do not spread false reports”
(Exodus 23:1 – NIV), and secondly that in order to receive an accusation
against someone the accusation must be confirmed by two or three witnesses
(trustworthy witnesses and not false ones) for one witness is not enough. Therefore
if you hear an accusation against Tom wait for that accusation to be
confirmed or investigate in order to find out whether that accusation is
true. I tell you these things because some believers spread false accusations
in order to ruin their neighbour. I say it again: for the sake of truth, do
not spread false accusations and do not give heed to false lips. |
Beloved,
those who speak the truth are secure as a young lion and are not afraid to be
put to shame because truth does not confound those who love it and speak it. To
face our enemies we must tell the truth, lest we be put to shame in their
presence; yes, because if a child of God resorts to a lie, which is nothing
but a weapon of the enemy whom we fight, he will surely be put to shame
before the enemy. who will throw the lie into his
face. What I have learned over the years is that it is better to confess our trespasses
to one another telling the truth than to cover our transgressions telling
lies. |
|
Righteousness |
|
“Having on
the breastplate of righteousness” (Ephesians |
We as sons
of God must show no favouritism because James says: “If you show partiality,
you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors” (James 2:9 –
NKJV). Therefore we must not consider white people superior to black people
or to yellow or red people; we must not consider the rich more important than
the poor, nor the wise after the flesh (those who have a degree or are holder
of a diploma) superior to those who are illiterate or have not studied much
at school. Furthermore, since many people tend to justify or tolerate the
evil actions committed by their friends or loved ones while they hate and
condemn the evil actions committed by their enemies, we must not behave like
them. God shows no partiality and we as sons of God must imitate Him. It is
not easy, however, it is not impossible either. May God
help us to imitate Him, so that we may conduct ourselves in a manner worthy
of the Gospel. |
In
addition to this, we must not cheat people out of their goods and we must heed
the wisdom of God, which says: “Better is a little with righteousness, than
vast revenues without justice” (Proverbs 16:8 – NKJV). According to what the
Scripture teaches, we must not practice usury or lend money on interest to
our brethren, as it is written: “You shall not charge interest to your
brother – interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest”
(Deuteronomy |
We must
not forge scales nor do any injustice in measurement of length, weight or
volume, for it is written: “You shall do no injustice in judgment, in
measurement of length, weight, or volume. You shall have honest scales,
honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin ….” (Leviticus 19:35-36 –
NKJV). The Scripture teaches that those who think that it is better to have
vast revenues without justice (that is, by cheating their neighbour) than to
have a little with righteousness are fool people who receive the due penalty
for their injustice. |
In the
book of the prophet Amos we read about the injustices which the Israelites
did in those days, and we can read also that God rebuked them and foretold
them that if they did not turn from their evil ways He would punish them. The
children of |
If any of
us has a dispute with another, he must take it before the saints for
judgement and not before the ungodly. For I remind you that in the Church of
Corinth there were some disputes and Paul rebuked those who, having a matter
against others, went to law before the unrighteous. Here is how Paul rebuked
them: “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the
unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge
the world? and if the world shall be judged by you,
are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall
judge angels? how much more things that pertain to
this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set
them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is
it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no,
not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth
to law with brother, and that before the
unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go
to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why
do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? Nay, ye do wrong, and
defraud, and that your brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not
inherit the |
We must
share our material things with those who are in need, as it is written: “But
do not forget to do good and to share, for with such
sacrifices God is well pleased” (Hebrews |
Remember
that “righteousness guards him whose way is blameless” (Proverbs 13:6 –
NKJV), just as the breastplate protects a soldier, and also that God “loves
the righteous” (Psalm 146:8 - NKJV) |
|
The
preparation of the Gospel of peace |
|
“And your
feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Ephesians |
|
Faith |
|
“Above
all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the
fiery darts of the wicked” (Ephesians |
Now, let
us see some examples of men who, by the shield of faith, obtained what was
promised to them and quenched the fiery darts of the devil. |
►God
promised Abraham that his wife would give birth to a child (Genesis |
As you can
see, Abraham was old and even though he was not able to beget a child, he did
not doubt the faithfulness of God nor His power. Of course, his faith was
tested, but he obtained what God had promised to him because he firmly
believed that God would cause Sarah to conceive and bear a child, even though
Sarah’s womb was dead. What happened to Abraham teaches us that nothing is
too hard for the Lord: He can do whatever He has promised; our God can
deliver us from any distress and meet all our needs; however on our part we
must trust in Him with all our heart. |
► The
Scripture says that king Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold and set it up
in the plain of Dura, in the |
This is
another biblical example which shows that through faith we can face any
distress, being sure that the deliverance of the Lord is at hand. In the
midst of a distress, against all hope, the righteous in hope believes; he
sees that all circumstances are contrary to him and he knows that no man can
deliver him from his trouble for the help of man is useless, however he has
the promises of God in which he trusts with all his heart and he calls on God
so that He may deliver him. And God, in His faithfulness, delivers him and
shows everybody that He is indeed “a God of deliverances” (Psalm 68:20 - ASV)
and that he who puts his trust in God will not be put to shame. |
►
Let us see now how Daniel and his three companions through faith “escaped the
edge of the sword” (Hebrews |
As you can
see, not only did Daniel believe that God would reveal him that secret, but
he also declared it with his mouth, as it is written that “Daniel went in and
asked the king to give him time, that he might tell the king the
interpretation” (Daniel 2:16 – NKJV). Daniel also had the same spirit of
faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed and therefore I spoke” (2 Corinthians
|
Our God is
a God who reveals secrets; we firmly believe and proclaim that. Any child of
God can call to Him concerning a secret, for He says: “Call to Me, and I will
answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jeremiah
33:3 – NKJV). Beloved, what do you need to know about the will of God for
you? Do you want to know the ministry God wants you to fulfil? Do you want to
know where to go to preach the Gospel? Do you want to know the person you
must marry or some other things? There is a God in heaven who reveals
secrets, call upon Him and you will receive the revelation you need. However,
call upon Him in faith, with no doubting, otherwise
you will receive nothing from the Lord. I myself have called upon God several
times concerning certain things about the will of God for me and God has
answered my prayers; He has not disappointed me, because He is faithful. |
►Here
is what happened in the days of king Hezekiah: “After these things, and the
establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of |
In this
case also, a man experienced a great deliverance through his faith; simply
because he trusted in God with all his heart. We can experience powerful
deliverances through the faith God has given us, I have said ‘we can’ because
we have to exercise faith in the midst of our trouble in order to see God
perform mighty things for us. A soldier can have a shield, however, the fact
still remains that if he does not use his shield when the enemy shoots his
arrows at him that shield will be useless to him. Likewise, if we prefer to
trust in man we cannot affirm that we are fighting the devil with the shield
of faith because we refuse to put our trust in God; we can say with our mouth
that we trust in God, but the fact is that men, seeing our behaviour which
attests the opposite, will not affirm that we are of those who trust in God
with all their heart. If we proclaim that we trust in God, we must also show through
our life that we trust in God; the children of this age hear many insincere
words from many people, so let us see that we speak sincere words, so that
they might not affirm that we are of those who speak insincere words. |
►Another
example of faith, which in my opinion is a great example of faith, is that of
the woman who had a flow of blood whom was healed of
that affliction through her faith in the Lord after twelve years of
sufferings. It is written: “And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood
twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent
all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, When she
had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For
she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway
the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was
healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue
had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my
clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging
thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? And he looked round about to see her
that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what
was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace,
and be whole of thy plague” (Mark 5:25-34). |
In this
case, a woman who was in need of healing and could not be helped by any physician, put her trust in the Lord and through her faith
she obtained what she desired. That woman did not doubt, not even for a
moment; she had heard about Jesus and His mighty healings and she was
convinced that if only she might touch His clothes she would be healed. She
came behind Jesus in the crowd and touched His garment and she was healed at
once; in this case, therefore, the shield of faith turned out to be a
powerful weapon against sickness. Faith in the Lord has always been an
invincible weapon, which has always quenched the fiery darts of the devil, so
that when a person takes the shield of faith the devil will not manage to prevent
him from receiving the fulfilment of the promises of God. |
►The
greatest example of faith we find in the Scripture is that of our Lord Jesus
Christ. The Scripture says: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about
with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the
sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that
is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews
12:1-2). In the book of the prophet Isaiah it is written: “Yet it pleased the
LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the
travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah
53:10-11). |
Now, the
Lord knew that in order to justify many He had to offer Himself for our
iniquities first, therefore He had to suffer first and then to rise again (as
Paul says that Christ “was raised because of our justification” – Romans 4:25
NKJV). By faith Jesus, knowing this beforehand, that is to say, knowing that
through His sufferings many would be brought to glory (that was the joy that
was set before Him), endured the cross despising the shame. Our Lord did not
draw back in the face of death, but He faced it by faith, being sure that His
Father would not leave His soul in Hades and would not allow Him to see
corruption. Remember that even Jesus had to put His trust in God in order to
fulfil the will of the Father, and that if we rejoice in the Lord for we have
been set free from our sins we owe our great joy to the unshakeable faith the
Son of God, in the days of His flesh, had in God His Father. God is a great
God, brothers, when you are in a distress have faith in Him; do not give
place to doubt, which the devil tries to put in your mind, for it would
destroy you. |
To show
you that if we doubt, the promises of God will turn out to be useless, I
remind you of an incident which happened on the sea of Galilee in the days of
Jesus. It is written: “But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed
with waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night
Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they
cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good
cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it
be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he
said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the
water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid;
and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus
stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little
faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” (Matthew 14:24-31). As you can see, the
Lord Jesus commanded Peter to come to Him on the water, as He said to Peter:
“Come” (Matthew |
Beloved,
when you are in trouble, stand firm in the faith (do not worry if everybody
will forsake you) and you will experience the great deliverances of God, that
He will perform to the glory of His name; yes, because God delivers you out
of all your distresses so that you may glorify His name, as it is written: “ Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you,
and you shall glorify Me” (Psalm 50:15 – NKJV). |
|
The hope
of salvation |
|
“And take
the helmet of salvation” (Ephesians |
|
The Word
of God |
|
“And the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians |
You must
understand that through this sword we frighten our enemies because by it we
pull down their strongholds, that is to say, all the arguments which exalt
themselves against the knowledge of God. It is by the Word of God that we
refute all the false doctrines that the devil has introduced into the world
and even into the Church; we are glad to see that the devil is unable to
overcome us who use this mighty sword against him. The devil is defeated when
he tries to induce us to accept doctrines which are contrary to the Scripture
for the Scripture cannot be broken; the devil opposes the Scripture but he
does not manage to destroy it. |
Brothers,
we need to know the Holy Scriptures in order to fight efficaciously against
our enemies, for they try by their craftiness to pass off false doctrines as
true doctrines, and to pass off true doctrines as false doctrines. Therefore
we have to draw the sword of the Spirit and destroy their arguments lest we
be deceived and led astray from the truth. We can see a clear demonstration
of the efficacy of the Word of God in the temptation that the Lord had to
face, because three times Jesus Christ answered the devil saying: “It is
written“ (Matthew 4:4,7,10). Jesus quoted the law in
order to defend Himself against the attacks of Satan; He did not try to show
the devil that he was wrong by words of human wisdom, but He quoted the Word
of God. This teaches us that we must resist the devil with the unadulterated
Word of God, lest he take advantage of us. I have said ‘with the unadulterated
Word of God’ because the example of Eve in the Garden of Eden teaches us that
it is no good resisting the devil with the Word of God mixed with lies. When
the serpent said to Eve: “Has God indeed said, You
shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (Genesis 3:1 – NKJV), the woman
said to the serpent: “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of
the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You
shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die” (Genesis 3:2-3 –
NKJV). The woman told the serpent some words that God had not said to the
man, for God had not commanded the man, ‘Don’t touch the fruit of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil’, but He had commanded him not to eat of that
tree, while the woman told the serpent that God had also commanded them not
to touch it. Even the fact that the woman said to the serpent: ‘Lest you die”
(Genesis 3:3) rather than: ‘You shall surely die” shows us that the woman
made the warning of the Lord weaker. The words of God are powerful and pure,
but if we adapt them in order not to offend people we will deprive them of
their power and purity, thus we must see that we quote the words of God just
as they are written without trying to soften what both the flesh and the
rebels do not like because it is hard to accept. Considering those specific
temptations Jesus had to face, we can see that the law of Moses also is a
powerful weapon if one uses it lawfully, and that reminds us of what Paul
wrote to the Romans: “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly
not! On the contrary, we establish the law” (Romans |
|
Prayer |
|
“Praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; And for me, that
utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make
known the mystery of the gospel, For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that
therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak” (Ephesians 6:18-20). |
According
to these words, both the prayer made with the Spirit and the prayer made with the understanding are efficacious weapons
against our enemies. Prayer is a weapon, this is why
we say that we wrestle in prayer for the saints, for we are aware that when
we pray for them we are fighting on their behalf. When we pray to God for our
brothers we ask God to do, in one way or another, always good
to the saints; while the devil does not want the saints to be helped and
blessed by God. |
Beloved,
do not underestimate prayer because through prayer the saints are helped,
comforted, corrected and blessed by the Lord. In order to realize that you
also, in your room, secretly, can fight the good fight, consider the fact
that with your prayers you can do good to some
brothers whom you don’t know or who are not present with you in your room.
You must understand that the good fight is fought not only by those who
proclaim the way of salvation to the unbelievers in the remote places of the
earth, or by those who preach the Word in the place of worship, but also by
those who pray earnestly for all the saints; be among them for the Lord’s
sake and the sake of His people. Know this, that we show love toward the
brothers by praying for them. |
Now I want
to dwell upon the things Paul exhorted the saints to ask of God. Paul wished
to preach the Gospel with all boldness and was convinced that the saints,
through their prayers, could help him to preach with boldness. We too are
convinced that we need your prayers in order to preach the Word as we ought
to preach it, that is, with all boldness. Yes, because this is the way the
Gospel must be preached. The Gospel must not be preached with words of human
wisdom nor with excellence of speech, lest the Word
of God be emptied of its power. Yes, the Word is emptied of its power when it
is preached with words of human wisdom or with excellence of speech because
Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to
preach the gospel – not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ
be emptied of its power” (1 Corinthians 1:17 – NIV). Therefore the devil makes
every effort to make believers preach the word of Christ with words of human
wisdom. He has deceived many preachers into introducing into their preaching
those things which empty the cross of its power, and these things are the
words of human wisdom and the excellence of speech. When I speak of
excellence of speech I refer to all those verbs and words whose meaning is
unknown to most people and which are used in their speeches by politicians,
scientists, economists, professors, philosophers, and unfortunately even by
some of those who preach the Word, and that grieves me because in this way
the cross of Christ is emptied of its power. So that you may understand how
the Gospel ought to be preached, read how Christ evangelized and how the
apostles preached (in the book of the Acts of the apostles are recorded some
sermons preached by Peter and Paul to unbelieving people). After reading the
sermons of the apostles one cannot but conclude that today many preachers
don’t preach the Word with the same boldness and seriousness which characterized
the apostles’ sermons. Many preach the Gospel with jokes and quips, mixing
the sacred with the profane; it grieves me to see that some false prophets
are more serious than these preachers of the Gospel. It is a shame and a
scandal to see preachers entertaining the hearers with jokes and quips, and
they even laugh their head off when they tell those things which do not edify
at all! In addition to this, many deliver long speeches without saying with
all boldness what they ought to say because they stuff their speeches with
their beloved words of human wisdom, and that also grieves me. God said to
Jerusalem: “Your choice wine is diluted with water” (Isaiah 1:22 – NIV), and
we know that if wine is diluted with water it loses its original flavour and
the more water you put in wine the less strong wine becomes. Is it not what
we see? Is it not true that very often the Word of God is preached with words
of human wisdom rather than with the Spirit? Is it not true that some sermons
are almost tasteless because they are stuffed with improper things? The Word
these people preach is less powerful than the Word which was preached by the
apostles, sometimes it is unrecognizable because they have stuffed it with
words of human wisdom, for they prefer form to substance and replace
substance with form. Almost all soften what we must not soften and almost all
speak only of smooth things so that the listeners may not be shaken, so that
the hearers may not weep and cry out: What must I do to be saved?‘ The message of the Gospel which is being preached is
much different from the message of the Gospel which was preached by the
apostles also because many have taken away some strong expressions from their
sermons and they have softened them (also with the aid of some Biblical translators).
It is a rare thing to hear preachers speak of Christ and of Him crucified,
and of His glorious resurrection, the way the apostles spoke of Christ, of
His crucifixion and of His resurrection, because unfortunately in the midst
of the people of God many have decided to preach the Gospel in a way that
does not edify and which is clearly different from the way of preaching of
the apostles. On the other hand, in order to grant the wish of most people,
who want to hear smooth things and not things which arouse fear and terror, a
preacher must preach in this way! From what we see, we conclude that sinners
must feel at their ease in the congregation of the righteous, or, as some
say, they must feel at home; the wicked should not be seized with fear, the
wicked should not be afraid of the eternal fire nor should they feel so much
sinful in the sight of our God!! Some preachers even exhort the saints to
clap their hands in order to welcome the wicked who are in their midst
warmly! |
But there
is something else which must be said. These preachers speak of sin their own
way, for they induce the hearers not to consider sin a thing so much serious
or so much burdensome for those who are slaves of it. They often say to the
wicked: ‘Come to Jesus and He will solve all your problems and you will find
in Him a great friend!’, but they never say to them: “Turn, turn from your
evil ways!” (Ezekiel 33:11 – NKJV) or: “Save yourselves from this corrupt
generation” (Acts |
Beloved,
we must not flatter sinners, lest we spread a net for their feet and we
deceive them; they are on the way which leads to the unquenchable fire, they
are not on the way which leads to the paradise of God. We must urge them to
forsake the way on which they are and we must make every effort to make them
feel insecure on that way. I am convinced that it is necessary for every
preacher to return to preach repentance from dead works with all boldness,
and that he must not be afraid of anybody and anything. What do we want
sinners to think? Do we want them to think that to join us means to change
religion or just to change some rites? Listen, we must want them to think
that to join us means to join the people of God, which He purchased with His
own blood, and that they can join us only by repenting of their dead works
and believing on our Lord Jesus Christ. It is time to raise our voice and to
preach repentance in order to see people really turn to the Lord. Jude tells
all of us to snatch them from the fire and to save them (Jude 23), however,
some believers do not want to snatch sinners from the fire because they want them
to laugh and to be at their ease in the congregation of the righteous. They
don’t want sinners to hear that if they don’t repent they will go to hell, they do not want to see sinners weep and become sad in
hearing of the place where they will go after death if they don’t repent. On
the other hand, the saying of many is ‘the more, the better!’ because they
only think of swelling their own denomination so that it may appear big and
more and more prestigious to the society and to the other denominations; the
more they are and the more secure and powerful they feel, they don’t care if
those who go to listen to them don’t repent because what matters is having
the place of worship full of people on Sunday so that the name of their
denomination may be honoured. Consider this: these people think that it is
better not to speak of repentance in order to collect the offerings of the
rebels, than to speak of repentance and see the offerings decrease. |
What shall
we say then about the lake which burns with fire and brimstone? We hear about
it so rarely that it seems that it does not exist. Yet the fire is still
burning in that place; yet it was prepared by the Lord for the devil and his
angels and all those who refuse to obey the Gospel will be cast into it in
the day of judgment. Why do many preachers avoid speaking about it then? |
Brothers,
all those who preach the Gospel must preach it with the Spirit, with power,
and with deep conviction so that sinners may repent of their sins and believe
in the Gospel; therefore pray to God for His servants so that He may enable
them to preach with great boldness. |
I want to
say another thing; if the apostles were still alive, they would preach as
they preached in the first century after Christ, they would not change their
way of speaking to please their listeners or some denominations. Some
preachers, in order to win the support of some denominations, do not declare
any longer the whole counsel of God, but they declare only a little part of
it, lest they annoy those who refuse to accept the rest of it. As things are,
let us make friends with sinners, drunkards, sodomites, thieves, fornicators,
saying to them just these words: ‘Jesus loved you and gave Himself for you
also’, and let us not say to them: ‘Repent of your dead works, or else you
will be cast into the everlasting fire!’ because these words might annoy
them!!! Far be it from us to do such a thing, for we want to please God
rather than men! Paul said to the Galatians: “For do I now persuade men, or
God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a
bondservant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10 – NKJV), therefore those who seek to
please God do not shun to declare the whole counsel of God for they do not
care about the approval of men at all; instead, those who shun to declare the
whole counsel of God show that for them the approval of men is more important
than the approval of God and they are greatly mistaken. |
John the
Baptist rebuked Herod the tetrarch concerning Herodias, his brother Philip’s
wife, (and for all the evils which Herod had done), for John said to him: “It
is not lawful for you to have her” (Matthew 14:4 – NKJV). John did not say to
Herod: ‘Herod, listen, it is lawful for you to have Herodias if she left her
husband for he was unfaithful to her!’ or: ‘It is lawful for you to have her
if Herodias and Philip decided to divorce by mutual consent!’, but he said to
Herod: ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife” (Mark 6:18 –
NKJV), and that’s that. That’s why Herodias hated John and wanted to kill
him. Of course, if John had sought to please men or Herod who lived in
adultery, he would not have rebuked Herod in that way. |
If Jesus
had sought to please men, He would not have called God His Father nor would He
have rebuked the scribes and the Pharisees for all their wickedness and hypocrisy. |
The
apostle Paul knew that the Greek philosophers did not believe in the
resurrection of the dead, yet when at Athens in the Areopagus he had an
opportunity to speak he did not try to avoid speaking of the resurrection of
the dead for fear of the reaction of the Athenians and the foreigners who
were hearing him. |
When Paul
appeared before Felix the governor, he spoke with boldness about
righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, and Felix was afraid
and sent him away. Paul did not flatter Felix because Paul was not afraid to
become an enemy of Felix or to spend more time in prison. |
At
Caesarea, in the auditorium when Paul appeared before king Agrippa and
Bernice and the commanders and the prominent men of the city, Paul told them
with all boldness the story of his conversion, how he turned to the Lord and
how the Lord Jesus had appeared to him in a vision and he had spoken to him;
he did not care about the reaction of his listeners. |
The time
would fail me to tell of the prophets, that is to say, of the way the
prophets of God spoke to the Israelites, to their princes, and their priests,
to their shepherds who had forsaken the Lord and His law. Do you know why the
prophets were mocked, scourged, imprisoned, chained, and many of them were
killed with the sword and stoned? Because they spoke with boldness from God,
without omitting any of the words God commanded them to speak to the
obstinate and rebel people. If you want to know what it means to speak with boldness
read the messages of the prophets. Read what the prophets of old told to the
rebels and you will realize that they risked their life because with all
boldness they told the people what they had to do and what they had to stop
doing in order to please God. What sort of quips did the prophets tell to the
rebels to make them laugh? |