As long as people have been on the earth there has been conflict. various scientist, socialist and secular thinkers from various fields have voiced concern about the darkness they are seeing in the world. and they have tried to lay the blame at the feet of recent technology 24hr news and the dawn of social media. and although they may be right is some of their analysis all conflict we understand from scripture comes down to mans conflict with God as he believed the lies in the garden, specifically that he doesn’t need God or that God doesn’t have hos best interest in mind.
and this conflict, this war against God came to a point were God came to earth as a man and walked among us as one of us. and he gave us a solution to this eternal conflict.
in his conversation with Pilate during his trial Jesus say two key things that we should reflect on this morning that will perhaps give us a better perspective of our struggles in this world.
(33) Then Pilate went back into his headquarters and called for Jesus to be brought to him. “Are you the king of the Jews?” he asked him. (34) Jesus replied, “Is this your own question, or did others tell you about me?” (35) “Am I a Jew?” Pilate retorted. “Your own people and their leading priests brought you to me for trial. Why? What have you done?” (36) Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to
the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.” (37) Pilate said, “So you are a king?”Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.” (38) “What is truth?” Pilate asked. Then he went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime.
John 18:28-40 – NLT
1.Our Kingdom is not of this world–
- it is a spiritual kingdom in the hearts of those who follow Jesus.
- it is more than just a following a new way of life.
- It is the kingdom of God at war with the kingdom of this world and the god of this age Satan
2. Declaring war on the devils kingdom.
(4) Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
2 Corinthians 4:4 – NLT
- For those who are new to the Bible and Christian theology it might surprise you to find out that the god of this world is the devil.
- if you doubt that remember when Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness and showed jesus the kingdoms of this world and said bow down and worship me and i will give you these kingdoms.
- Which makes sense at what we observe about our world and why it seems everywhere we try to do good Evil is always there to oppose us.
- So you have two spiritual kingdoms at war, the kingdom of God (believers in Christ filled with the Holy spirit) and the Kingdom of this world (all who fall under the influence of devil and are held captive and enslaved by sin)
- this is emphasized the apostles James, John and Paul
(4) You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.
James 4:4 – NLT
(4) For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.
1 John 5:4 – NLT
(2) Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Romans 12:2a NLT
What sets these two kingdoms apart?
3. The king of truth vs the Father of lies– Jesus said two powerful things that need be understood in context.
- His kingdom is not of this world. –
- meaning 2 things.
- 1 he’s not an earthly king yet. that time is yet to come and
- 2. that his kingdom operates differently than the kingdoms of this world that are under the influence of the Evil one.
- I came to testify to the truth- translation i came to declare war on the father of lies..
(44) For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.
John 8:44 – NLT
- Our king Jesus is the Truth and his is a kingdom of truth.
- We are in a constant battle against the lies in this world.
- So many serve Satan’s purposes and don’t realize they are being used to tear down everything that is good and wholesome and true.
- Do you think these attempts to tear down Biblical based values in our time is something new?.
- Every perverse ideology or belief system is first vetted through the devils war room and then introduced into our world to create chaos.
- Consider this quote from C.S Lewis’ the Screwtape letters in which he imagines a high lvel demon giving instructions on how to influence the human race to accept nonsensical ideas keep in mind this was written in 1942.
- Progressive Ideology as a Trap (Letter 25): “But the greatest triumph of all is to elevate this horror of the Same Old Thing into a philosophy, so that nonsense in the intellect may reinforce corruption in the will. It is here that the general Evolutionary or Historical character of modern European thought (partly our work) comes in so useful. … If we can keep men asking ‘Is it in accordance with the general movement of our time? Is it progressive or reactionary? Is this the way History is going?’ they will neglect the relevant questions.”
- commentary-gutenberg.ca (Screwtape boasts that Hell has helped turn the lust for novelty into an intellectual creed. By indoctrinating people with an idea that “newer is always better” – an evolutionary view of thought – demons ensure that people ask whether an idea is trendy or “historically inevitable” instead of asking “Is it true or good?”. This way, philosophic fashions replace real wisdom, and moral questions are glossed over in the name of “progress”gutenberg.ca.)
- Translation: The Devil is a liar and lots of people are falling for his lies.
3 . A strategy for spiritual warfare.
(4) We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. (5) We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 – NLT
We are called to destroy lies and faulty human reasoning with God’s Word not to destroy people.
What good is it if we win every argument and outsmart every opponent and we shout I have won the victory waving our bible in the air but find ourselves standing in the middle of a battlefield strewn with lost souls.
- Make sure your allegiance is to one king only.-
- You cannot profess to follow Christ and yet follow the ways this world. you have to know who your fighting for. too many are asking can i dop such and such and still be a Christian. sort of a sin management system. No we should be asking. does this thing in my life, my behavior, my attitude bring glory to God?
- Make sure you are trained for battle-
- a soldier doesn’t just read their manuals they discipline their mind and body to be battle ready. in the same way we must train ourselves to live according to God’s word so that we will be effective in spiritual battle
- (27) I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
1 Corinthians 9:27 – NLT
- living out God’s word in our lives through faith and obedience takes conscious effort and gives power to our prayers.
- Use the sword of the spirit to set the captives free- picture yourselves sneaking into the enemy camp and cutting loose the bonds of those taken captive. and rescuing them, that is our task when we share God’s word.