This We'll Defend

This We’ll Defend

CCCAG Sept 14, 2025

Scripture: Matthew 24:9–13; Esther 8:11; Luke 22:36–38; Matthew 24:14)________________________________________

Introduction:

This has been a hard week. Next to where I’m preparing my sermon is a book called The Pentecostal Pastor which tells me I should project calm assurance to people in times of upheaval and crisis.

But that’s not how I really feel. I’m going to be very real with you this morning.

There’s an old quote — some attribute it to William Booth, others to Charles Finney. I actually found it was a famous theologian named Karl Barth — that says: “The effective preacher preaches with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.”

I want to take that advice today, because this week, the news has shaken many of us. It started with a brutal murder of an unarmed female on a train, and then Charlie Kirk, a brother in Christ, a young man leading a movement to call this nation back to truth, was killed in Utah.

Some will call this an assassination. That’s true in political terms—it was the deliberate use of murder to silence his voice.

But in spiritual terms, Charlie Kirk was martyred—killed because his witness for truth confronted darkness.

Since I heard the news, and saw the video- by the way if you haven’t seen it don’t look for it- it’s horrific and gruesome. I looked at it frame by frame and saw that it was an immediately fatal wound, so you don’t want that living in your head and that’s coming from a paramedic and ER nurse who has witnessed that and worse in real life.

Since the murder, I have to confess, I had this quiet, burning rage within me. In the days since then, it’s been like a monster kicking at the doors of it’s cage, and I feel the cage door starting to bend.

I’m not the only one- His death has not only shaken the political world but our culture. People are finally waking up.

One of the questions being asked of pastors in this last week is-

In the face of evil, do Christians have the right to defend ourselves against evil?

Or another way to ask- Can we use violence when violence is used against us.

This is a question that the church has wrestled with since Jesus Christ was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.

On one side, you have the pacifists who say that Christians should lay down and take whatever comes, as if to resist is unspiritual.

Others are calling right now for Christians to arm up and take the fight to those on the extreme left.

Both extremes miss the heart of God’s Word.

So today we’re going to answer this question biblically. What does God’s WORD say about our witness in a world filled with hatred, and now has turned into violence and persecution?

Do we have a right to defend ourselves? And if so, how do we balance that right with our call to love our enemies and proclaim Christ?

Our title today is This We’ll Defend.

That’s not just a sermon title — many of you recognize it’s the official motto of the United States Army. And since many of you in this room have worn that uniform, you know what it means. It means you were willing to defend what is precious — your country, your people, your brothers-in-arms.

But today I want to show you from the Word that as Christians, we also have a call and a duty:

To defend the faith.

To defend the weak.

To defend our families against evil.

And above all, to stand firm until the end.

That’s where we will start today.

Let’s look at what Jesus said about the condition of the world right before HIS return.

Matthew 24:9–13

“Then they will hand you over to be persecuted, and they will kill you. You will be hated by all nations because of my name. Then many will fall away, betray one another, and hate one another. Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

Prayer- to walk the tightrope between defense and our human need for vengeance.

I want to again remind everyone that Jesus told us in advance that those who live in the end times would be challenged.

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1. The World Jesus Foretold (Matthew 24:9–13)

Jesus never sugar-coated the Christian life.

Jesus never said “Follow Me and everything will be comfortable.”

He said the opposite: You will be hated. You will be persecuted. Some of you will be killed.”

We saw the last point on Wednesday.

Friends, we live in the days Jesus described. Persecution isn’t any longer something that happens in China or the Middle East.