The Battle Ground of Life…
Am service November 18th 2007
1 John 4:1-6
Introduction
Many Christians, don’t realize they are living on a BATTLEFIELD and not a PLAYGROUND!
Do you remember the hymn, ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS?
It goes like this…
Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before. Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe; forward into battle see his banners go!
At the sign of triumph Satan’s host doth flee; on then, Christian soldiers, on to victory! Hell’s foundations quiver at the shout of praise; brothers, lift your voices, loud your anthems raise.
Like a mighty army moves the church of God; brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod. We are not divided, all one body we, one in hope and doctrine, one in charity.
One thing is for sure: We are SOLDIERS in the Army of Jesus Christ.
The ENEMY? Well, there’s a 3-fold assault going on against us.
The WORLD, the FLESH, and the DEVIL.
We have our own FLESH wanting our old life back.
We have the WORLD trying to drag us back.
And we have the DEVIL making sure it all goes according to plan!
This life that we are living is indeed a battleground, satan’s plan is to steal, kill, and destroy. (Intro. borrowed from Sermon Central.com)
Today from this passage of scripture, the apostle John is going to layout a battle plan for us to fight satan on every front.
Read Scriptures: 1 John 4:1-6
I. In the battleground of life, satan will make every attempt to lead you astray.
Vs. 1 “1Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
If you remember the passage in Luke chapter 4 when Jesus was tempted by satan, he didn’t just tempt Him one time and leave Him alone the bible say in Luke 4:2 “where for forty days he was tempted by the devil…”
I really want you to see this with your spiritual eyes, Luke 4:13 “13When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.”
Satan’s battle with Jesus, didn’t end with this passage, it says he left Him, but the also was going to wait and comeback at an “opportune time.” Satan continued his all out assault on Jesus, culminating at the Garden Gethsemane.
This passage explains to us that many false prophets are involved in the war, satan has his army trained and ready to attack us on all fronts, he will attack our weaknesses until the end, and make no mistake he knows your weakness.
II. In the battleground of life, we must be able to discern the truth of God and the lies of satan.
Vs. 2-3 “2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”
Satan will lie to you, he wants you to believe that he is the way, the truth, and the life, but we must remember what Jesus said of satan in John 8:44 “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
How do you discern in today’s culture the truth of God and the lies of satan? In verse 2 John tells us “every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,”. This means more than just a simple acknowledgement or head knowledge of Jesus, but a heart knowledge knowing and believing and trusting that Jesus is the Christ or the Savior, and he was sent from God the father. Upon accepting Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit who will help us to discern the truth of God and the lies of satan
III. In the Battleground of life, as followers of Christ, we can live victoriously.
Vs. 4 “4You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”
We don’t have to live our lives as being defeated, satan will do all that he can to knock you down, to drag you through the mud, to slap you in the face with your inadequacies and your failures.
However, Jesus says in John 16:33 “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
The apostle John in verse 4 of this passage tells us as children of God, “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”
If we are going to live victoriously we will only do it by following Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit who is greater than our enemy satan.
IV. In the Battleground of life, what makes Sense to us is not always right.
Vs. 5 “5They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.”
“If it feels good do it, if it makes me happy it must be right, if everybody else is doing then it must be okay.” This is the world’s philosophy on how to live and it is the most popular. The false teachers are successful in the world because there thinking accommodates the world’s beliefs. But it is contrary to a biblical worldview, and sadly many well meaning Christians live by this worldly philosophy than a biblical viewpoint.
As Christians the way that we live should always pass the litmus test of the scriptures, and when we search the bible, the apostle Paul lays out a plan on how we should live when he writes “8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
In our lives every aspect of your life should be measured by this, if professing Christian would live like the apostle says, then we could and would change the world.
V. In the Battleground of life, if you are turned off by the Gospel, then you are under the influence of satan.
Vs. 6 “6We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit[a] of truth and the spirit of falsehood.”
The apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:18 “for the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
In John’ s gospel he says in 8:47 “He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is because you do not belong to God.”
When confronted by the truths of the scriptures and you choose not to listen, and you become angry then chances are you are under the influence of satan. We must as soldiers of Christ have a daily regiment of dying to self, the lust to the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. If we will die to self daily we will remain under the influence of Christ and thereby will be able to hear God clearly.
Conclusion
Do you believe that this life is battleground or a playground, if you think it is a playground then you will be in serious trouble spiritually. Satan will make every attempt to lead you astray, we must be able to discern the truth of God from the lies of satan, we must understand that the world’s philosophy is not always the biblical one, and we must remain under the influence of Christ daily, because if not there is only one other option and that is satan, but praise God through Jesus we can live victoriously in this life by the power of the Holy Spirit. Are you battle ready? You need to be because we are in an all out war. It may start with a trip to this alter so that you can receive your marching orders from Jesus.
