Never Surrender!
Good morning. This past Sunday at New Life Christian Church we began a new series of sermon messages that I proclaimed to be “sermons that our enemy desperately does not want me to preach, or for you to hear.” I absolutely believe this to be true because these messages, the theme being “Free indeed,” are concerned with opening our minds; hearts; and spirits to the reality that we are all under attack by demonic influences. I hesitate to say “possession” because that conjures up images in our minds of persons who are so overwhelmed by the forces of evil that they are for all purposes, considered psychotic and/or completely insane. It is my intention with these messages to present the idea, backed up carefully with scriptural truth, that while falling to temptation may be defined as a momentary lapse or a sudden failure in the face of a desire, there is another category of sin. This category is one where we do not suddenly fail for a moment, but rather when we fall under the control of an evil, a particular temptation for sin, to the point that we no longer believe we can win the victory. This feeling of failure is often so complete that while we may say “our Lord wins the victory,” in our hearts we question whether it is true of our own situation.
The truth is that our Savior does win the victory when faithful people will give the battle to Him and obey His commands for the fight. But before we will give the battle to the Lord, we must come to a point of acceptance of the need to fight it. We often live within various states of self-denial, refusing to accept the reality of our need. This too, is the work of our true enemy.
One of my favorite persons to read about, and I confess he is one of my favorites for quotations, is Winston Churchill. At the outbreak of WWII, England found itself rather alone in fighting against the might of Nazi Germany. Hitler was fond of pointing out the ridiculous notion that England should feel that it stood any chance against the military might of the Third Reich. The following is one of my favorite Churchill quotations. He spoke the words after being asked to describe and define what would be the British policy in the face of such a terrifying enemy. He said: “You ask what is our policy? I will say: It is to wage war, by sea, by land, and by air, with all the might and all the strength that God can give us…You ask, ‘What is our aim?’ I can answer in one word: Victory…at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.
We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be; we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender…we shall never surrender…never.”
Yes, those are a couple of seriously run-on sentences, but you cannot escape his point or his passion: Victory, we shall fight for it until it is ours.
We too face a terrible enemy, and if we are left to our own strengths for defense, we have no reason for hope. But we are not left to our own strengths for defense, or for the attack. Consider the words from 2 Chronicles 20:12-15 when God’s people, who had been guilty of falling away from Him, faced a coming enemy and knew that they had no chance to defeat that enemy with their own resources: For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” (his reference is to God)
Meanwhile all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. And He said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours, for this battle belongs to the Lord!’
This will be a significant part of our focus in the coming sermon messages, our battle belongs to the Lord!
Do not be discouraged or dispirited no matter what you face or what your history in previous battles may have been. Give the battle to the Lord, for all power and authority have been granted to Him!
God bless your victories today!
Vern