CHRISTMAS:
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
Rev. 11:15
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: Survivor
1. Did you hear about the three college students who were selected to take part in the next series of “Survivor?” 2. One was from UT, one was from SHSU, and the third one was from A & M. They were going to the desert to be a contestants on “Desert Survivor.”
3. Each was told he could take one item. Jeff Probst, the host, asked the Longhorn, “What one item will you take?” He replied, “Water, so I can drink when I'm thirsty.”
4. Then Jeff asked the Bearkat what one item would he take, and he said he'd take a sandwich to eat when he was hungry.
5. Finally Jeff asked the Aggie what he would take, and he said he'd take a car door, so that if he got hot he could roll the window down.
B. STAR WARS’ PARALLEL
1. A new Star Wars movie, “The Force Awakens” came to theaters on Dec. 18. It picks up from the earlier Star Wars series that included the classic, “The Empire Strikes Back.” There are many parallels between the movie & the Bible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNwNXF9Y6kY
2. In a way, that’s what Christmas is; the Kingdom of God striking back against the tyranny of Satan, to retake planet Earth. In the Garden of Eden, Satan deceived Adam & Eve and caused them to sin, and since that time “the Dark Lord” of evil has dominated the human race through Sin.
3. Christmas was really God invading this world in human form as a Baby – Christ – and dying to save us from our sins. Since that time Jesus is taking over this world, not visibly, but one heart at a time.
C. TEXT & THESIS
1. The Book of Revelation foresees the day when this world will be completely delivered from the presence of evil: “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever’” Rev. 11:15.
2. So the beginning of the End of the rule of Satan started in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago when a baby boy was born to an obscure carpenter and his wife in a barn.
3. But the final end will come when the Lord comes back with the armies of heaven and overwhelms all the evil of the world. John in Revelation saw this:
4. Rev. 19:11, “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. 13 He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20 But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.”
5. The title of this message is, “The Empire Strikes Back.”
I. WHO WAS THIS CHILD?
A. HIS IMPACT ON HISTORY
1. The great historian Kenneth Scott LaTourette said: “Jesus has had more effect on the history of mankind than any other of His race who ever existed.”
2. He never wrote a book that we know of; and yet, library after library could be filled with the volumes, the multiplied millions of volumes, that have been written about the Lord Jesus.
3. He never painted a picture, so far as we know; and yet, the world’s greatest art, the world’s greatest dramas, the world’s greatest music, the world’s greatest literature has Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, as their center.
4. Jesus never raised an army, as far as we know; yet multiplied millions have died for Him. He never traveled very far from His birthplace; and yet, His testimony has gone around the world, and today, over 30% of the world’s population call Him Savior — this Jesus of Nazareth!
B. HIS NATURE: GOD IN THE FLESH
1. A Pastor (Jerry Vines) imagined Jesus Christ going into the temple and having a conversation with the teachers when he was a 12-year-old boy.
2. One of the learned doctors there strokes his beard, and says, “Son, how old are You?” “Well,” He says, “On My mother’s side, I’m 12-years-old, but on My Father’s side, I’m ‘He whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting’” (Mic. 5:2).
3. On His mother’s side, He got thirsty; on His Father-God’s side, He said, “I am the water of life.” On His mother’s side, He got hungry; on His Father’s side, He took a little boy’s lunch and fed 5,000.
4. On His mother’s side, He was homeless, and didn’t have a place to lay His head; on His Father’s side, He owned the cattle on a thousand hills.
5. On His mother’s side, He wept at the grave of Lazarus; on His Father’s side, He said, “Lazarus, come forth,” and raised him from the dead. He is God manifest in the flesh!
6. Now, don’t get the idea that Jesus’ birth was His beginning. Jesus never had a beginning. There never was a time when Jesus was not. Jesus said in the Gospel of John, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). Not, “I was” or “I will be,” but the eternal “I AM.” He didn’t have His beginning at Bethlehem, He’s always existed.
II. HOW THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
1. When I say, “The Empire Strikes Back,” I don’t simply mean that Jesus will some day come back.
2. Rather, I mean that Jesus in His first coming dealt the deathblow to the devil AT CALVARY! Jesus is trying to liberate us right now from the things that keep us bound.
3. The Gospel of Jesus strikes at the root of things that bind us up. Let’s look at some of those things.
A. IT STRIKES AGAINST SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS
1. The Pharisees of Jesus day thought that their godly behavior was good enough to get them into heaven.
2. But Jesus delivered the painful message that “There’s none righteous, no not one!” He let them know that their best righteousness was as filthy rags (Isa. 64:6).
3. 85% of Americans believe they’re good enough to go to heaven. When I was 20 I received a vision. Jesus Christ
appeared to me in blazing glory and shown His light right through me.
4. Prior to this experience, I thought I was 99% good and 1% bad. During this vision, I discovered that - in the sight of God - I was really only 1% good and 99% bad.
5. God’s view of us is very different from our own. We intentionally choose not to see our sins.
6. You have no righteous of your own; you are completely dependent on Jesus Christ.
B. GOD’S EMPIRE STRIKES AGAINST SIN
1. Jesus said, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin” Jn. 15:22.
2. Paul said when “the Lord comes…[He] will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart.” 1 Cor. 4:5.
3. Jesus said, “When [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world of…sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” Jn. 16:8.
4. It’s the very nature of God to expose sin and shine His light on our defects. We can ignore, deny, or excuse them but what we need to do is repent and repent. But many won’t.
5. “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” Jn. 3:19.
6. Many men don’t want to go to a doctor because they have male pride and don’t want to expose themselves or have their privacy violated.
7. The same thing can happen spiritually & can keep us from confronting our sins and going to God.
8. But thank God that the Blood of Christ is still fresh; it still has the power to obliterate sin!
C. IT STRIKES AGAINST LETHARGY
1. Jesus had passion. He stayed up late ministering to the multitudes and got up before dawn to spend time in prayer with God. He was moved with compassion when He saw the multitudes. What moves you? Does the Cross of Jesus?
2. We ought to be sensitive to the Cross, to the suffering of Jesus. The sacrifice of Jesus ought to still be fresh!
3. Jesus’ love should turn our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. May God take away our Laodicean spirit and give us back our first love!
4.We need to quit playing church! “We should all be wearing crash helmets [to church]. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews.” (Annie Dillard)
5. Do we realize what we have here today? We have the gospel, which is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16).
6. God wants to do some awesome things in our lives, and God wants to use us is some awesome ways. So let’s quit playing church!
D. STRIKES…BY GIVING SPIRITUAL POWER
1. “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them” Acts 2:1-4.
2. Where the heart is hungry, the Spirit automatically comes in. It’s a law of physics that where there’s an area of low (air) pressure, the surrounding higher pressure air will rush into the vacuum.
3. If the Spirit of God isn’t rushing into you, it’s probably because you’re satisfied without Him, you’re already full of other things.
4. But if you’ll get hungry for the Spirit, God will rush in to fill the void. “They that hunger and thirst shall be filled.” It’s a Law!
5. Also, we must utilize the power when we get it – by sharing the Gospel and the power of God’s love. If we don’t use it, we’ll lose it!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. When George H. W. Bush was vice-president, a year before he was elected president, he attended the funeral of Soviet leader, Brezhnev.
2. The July 18, 1987 issue of the Washington Post quoted Bush’s comments about the funeral. He said, “An amazing thing happened… Things were run to a military precision; a coldness and hollowness pervaded the ceremony – marching soldiers, steel helmets, Marxist rhetoric, but no prayers, no comforting hymns, no mention of God.”
3. “I happened to be in just the right spot to see Mrs.
Brezhnev,” Bush said. “She walked up, took one last look at her husband and there – in the cold, gray center of that totalitarian state, she traced the sign of the cross over her husband's chest. I was stunned. In that simple act, God had broken through the core of the communist system.” (George Bush, quoted in the Washington Post, July 18, 1987; www.PreachingToday.com)
4. Just a few years later the whole system came crashing down and the Iron Curtain was gone! So don’t fear any earthly power!
5. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t be mesmerized like the people of the world, because God’s power is greater than any earthly power. Instead, focus on the fact that in the end you are destined to win!
B. THE CALL
1. Dear friend, no matter what you’re going through, hang in there. Don’t give up. Persevere, because in the end WE WIN, even though it may seem like we’re losing right now.
2. There is a story of an old dog that fell into a farmer’s well. After assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the dog, but decided that neither the dog nor the well were worth saving.
3. So he planned to bury the old dog in the well and put him out of his misery. When the farmer began shoveling dirt into the well, the old dog was hysterical.
4. But as the farmer continued shoveling and the dirt hit the dog’s back, a thought struck the old dog. It dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back, he should shake it off and step up.
5. And that’s what he did, blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up. Shake it off and step up. Shake it off and step up,” he kept saying to himself.
6. No matter how painful the blows or how distressing the situation got, the old dog fought panic and just kept shaking it off and stepping up.
7. It wasn’t long before the dog, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well. What he thought would bury him actually benefited him. (Bruce Shelley)
8. Prayer & Recommitment.
[This message had contributions by C. Philip Green and Adrian Rogers]
