[Skit idea: A guy talking big (“saved by God, power of Holy Spirit, etc.,” he has a sword of the Spirit) then when an enemy comes and engages him in battle, he cowers, girl-screams, hops backward in retreat, head tucked down, blindly and wildly waving his sword around in the general direction of the person. Eventually flees. Enemy says, “That was quite a warrior.”]
HOW DO I USE THE BIBLE TO WIN SPIRITUAL VICTORIES? The Bible is our spiritual weapon for when we want to go on offense.
- Ephesians 6:17.
- Jesus tells Peter that the gates of hell will not be able to overpower it.
- Matthew 16:18.
- Now this is a verse that people misunderstand. They presume an image like this: as the enemy comes against us, we swing our sword to defend ourselves and to try not to retreat too far. That is a misunderstanding. The key word is “gates.” You don’t pick gates up and move them forward. Gates are stationary.
- This is not a verse about us being able to defend ourselves when the enemy attacks us. Just the opposite. This is a verse saying that the enemy will not be able to withstand our attack when we move forward against them. That’s a great picture!
- Too often the main thing that we want when it comes to the Kingdom of Darkness is for it to stay away from us. As long as they’re off bothering someone else, we’re fine.
- That’s not what we’re supposed to be doing. We’re supposed to be attacking, advancing, occupying enemy ground, forcing the enemy to retreat.
- One of the biggest problems the church has today is the pathetic timidity of its members in facing evil. We’re overwhelmed with fear. We’re too self-centered to be bothered with others’ struggles.
- We need to do more than just hope that the battle stays far away from us. We need to go on offense and work to defeat the enemy.
- In going on offense, among the “armor” mentioned here, it is the sword of the Spirit that is our lone offensive weapon.
- This morning we want to explore what it means that the Bible is an offensive weapon and how we are to use in that way.
WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE TO USE THE BIBLE AS AN OFFENSIVE WEAPON? We use the sword of the Spirit to break chains and set the prisoners free.
- Luke 4:18-19; Romans 6:6, 16-22.
- In Luke 4, Jesus is beginning His ministry and He’s in His hometown synagogue. He gets the scroll and turns to Isaiah 61 and reads these words (read Luke 4:18-19).
- This is the “mission statement” for His fledgling ministry.
- Notice the specific things He says He intends to do:
a. Preach good news to the poor.
b. Proclaim freedom for the prisoners.
c. Recovery of sight for the blind.
d. Release the oppressed.
e. Proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
- For our purposes this morning, it’s the second and fourth statements that we want to focus on: He is going to give freedom to prisoners and release the oppressed.
- What’s that mean? As far as the Bible tells us, Jesus never went to a prison and did a big jail-break. That’s not what it means – it’s a spiritual thing.
- The prisoners are spiritual prisoners. People who are bound in their souls by their sin.
- The oppressed are those who are stuck in their sin.
- This is what Jesus says a huge part of His mission is.
- To put it in the offense analogy that we’re using: He intends to take those who are spiritual prisoners to the Kingdom of Darkness, break their chains, and set them free.
- He intends to go on offense, push forward into places where darkness rules, drive back those forces, and set free the prisoners.
- He’s going to occupy enemy ground. He’s going to force the enemy to retreat.
- How does He do that? The spiritual truth that He shares sets people free.
- John 8:32 – “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
- We are bound by sin’s lies and the truth sets us free.
- Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross makes it possible for us to receive that spiritual truth into our lives and become different people. Then that truth changes us, breaking our bonds.
- The reason the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, is our offensive weapon is that it has the ability to sever the chains of sin. It breaks the bondage of the lies we’ve been fed. It gives us the chance to be free.
- When we see people bound by the lies of Satan, what is our offensive weapon to set them free? The Word of God.
- When we see people oppressed by the weight of sin, what is our offensive weapon to confidently proclaim that there is forgiveness? The Word of God.
- We shatter chains with the Word of God.
- We need the Word of God in this way because the truth is not what people would expect it to be.
- People presume that the truth is self-evident. It’s not. So much of the truth that Jesus proclaimed even still sounds strange to our ears. Why? Because even 2,000 years after Jesus’ teaching, the world is still preaching a different truth than He did.
- People live their whole lives presuming things are true that are lies from the pits of hell. (We’ll get specific in a minute about what that looks like.)
- We are called to speak truth to the darkness.
- In so doing we set the captives free.
- This raises a part of the war analogy that we usually get wrong.
- Having been embroiled in the culture war for some 30 years now, we have become conditioned in the church to see those on the other side of that culture war as our enemies. Fill in the typical blanks: the atheists, the liberals, the homosexuals, the pro-abortionists, etc.
- They are the enemy, right? Wrong.
- They are the POWs.
- If you’re going to use a war analogy, use it correctly. In a spiritual war analogy, our enemy is Satan and his demons. The people who have been convinced by his lies are the POWs that we are seeking to release.
- When we hear people who are saying things we know to be untrue, we should not hate them. We should hope and pray that they would be set free from the spiritual bondage they’re in. We are here to set people free.
- When you see an abortionist, you shouldn’t say, “I hope he’s destroyed.” You should say, “I hope he’s set free (from the sin he’s allowed himself to participate in).”
- When you see a murderer, you shouldn’t say, “I hope he’s destroyed.” You should say, “I hope he’s set free (from the sin that’s led him to do such wrong).”
- Are they guilty? Yes, just like we were. But someone used the sword of the Spirit to set us free.
- In Romans 6:6, 16-22, Paul spends a lot of time on the idea that when we are in our natural condition, we are slaves to sin. That is, we are bound to that sin.
- When we are away from God, sin rules in our lives. Our wrists have shackles on them – the shackles of sin.
- God coming into our lives frees us from the chains of sin.
- Of course, this is the opposite of the way we normally talk, because we normally act like being away from God is the biggest freedom. I can do whatever I want! I can act however I want! I can say whatever I want! I’m not bound by anything that God might demand of me.
- In truth, though, the sin is calling the shots, not us.
- Like the old saying about money: do you own your money or does your money own you?
- Or like another old saying: everybody’s gotta serve someone.
FOUR EXAMPLES OF USING THE BIBLE OFFENSIVELY:
1. “I am consumed with worry.”
- Matthew 6:25-34; Philippians 4:6-7.
- Worry comes naturally, so we presume it’s just something that we have to live with. In truth, though, God desires for peace to be the natural state of our lives.
- When we see someone consumed with worry, complaining about it, we can use the sword of the Spirit to break those chains. “God has something better for you than being consumed by worry all the time.”
2. “I could never be forgiven.”
- Matthew 9:12; Romans 10:9, 13; 1 Timothy 1:15.
- Someone may look at the sins they’ve done and give up on ever having God in their lives. I’ve heard folks say time and again: “You don’t know what I’ve done.” Well, I don’t, but God does and He said He’s willing to forgive.
- Think of all the people who live in spiritual chains because they presume it’s too much to hope for that God would forgive them.
- We can break those chains by pointing out the amazing promises that Jesus made about being willing to forgive. Not just being willing, but it was the very reason that He came in the first place!
3. “I’m living the American Dream, but I still feel empty inside.”
- Luke 12:15; 1 Timothy 6:10.
- We are such a materialistic society. The goal of life is achieving the American Dream. Yet many seize it only to find that it doesn’t satisfy them.
- We know why. Money and possessions are not enough to satisfy your soul. Jesus said that a man’s life does not lie in the things he possesses.
- We can point them to truth: that they need to think less about filling their wallet and more about filling their soul.
- Yet many work to try to climb higher on that ladder, figuring that at some point they’ll reach the point where they’ll finally be happy.
4. “I’m going to find myself.”
- Matthew 16:24; Luke 9:23.
- It’s such a common phrase that it’s a cliché: “I’m going to find myself.”
- It’s been the plot for thousands of movies and books: the hero finding his answer within his own heart’s wisdom. “Just listen to heart.” “Believe in yourself.” “When you know what’s inside you, you’ll know the answer.”
- Unfortunately, that doesn’t work.
- Jesus pointed us down a different path: you have to deny yourself, carry your cross, and follow Him. He said the path to a deep life comes not through self-actualization, but through self-denial.
- The fact that it’s not a trustworthy path stems largely from the fact that our heart is not intrinsically good.
- We can help those who are in chains to the mistakes that they’ve made while listening to their heart by pointing them to the true path.
WHY DON'T WE DO THIS MORE?
1. You’ve got to know how to handle the sword.
- Acts 17:11; Romans 15:4; 2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 2:2; 2 Peter 1:19.
- You can’t speak truth into people’s lives if you don’t know the truth.
- “Well, I come to church every week.” That’s not enough to be familiar with the Word. You need to be reading it every day.
- Many of us can’t identify the lies that are binding people because we don’t know what the Bible actually says.
- I remember years ago happening to be in the room when someone had Oprah on (it wouldn’t have been my first choice for TV watching). She had a spiritual guru guy on there, who was spewing this really slick-sounding spiritual message. Jesus was getting mentioned in it, even though it was far from the gospel message. But, man, was it smooth. I remember listening to him talk and thinking, “If I didn’t know what the Bible actually said, it’d be so easy to fall in for the lies he’s telling.”
2. We’re too cowardly to speak truth into people’s lives.
- Romans 1:16; 2 Corinthians 3:12; 2 Timothy 4:2.
- A second problem that’s common is that we know the truth but we keep it to ourselves. We just stand back and let people live in their sin.
- You might object and say, “It would rude for us to just run around giving unwelcome advice to people.” Point taken – and you’re probably right.
- I’m away of the two meanings of the word “offensive” that I’ve used this morning. When we think of using the Bible “offensively,” we normally think of “offensively” as in being rude, disrespectful, and leaving enemies in our wake. Of course, today I’m using the world “offensively” as in not defensively.
- The other meaning of the word comes into play here, though, when we think of people who rudely stick their nose into everyone’s business.
- It’s like the idea of hitting someone upside the head with a Bible – using it as an “offensive weapon.”
- How do we avoid doing that?
- One idea is a simple one: ask for permission.
- “I don’t know if you’re interested, but there’s something in the Bible that would help with that. . .”
- “There’s another way to look at it if you want to know. . .”
- “You know, I’ve dealt with the same kind of problem in my life. Can I tell you something that worked for me?”
- “If you’re just venting, I’m happy to listen, but if you’re looking for a new idea to try, I think I have one.”
