Sermon - Your Enemy in Focus - The Overcomers

But the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 6 that our battle is not against flesh and blood.

It is against the powers and the principalities of darkness.

In other words, please hear me, the person in front of you who you think is causing all your problems, that's not your ultimate enemy.

No, no.

There is a battle happening beneath the battle.

Welcome to the Church of the Lakes Weekly Sermon Podcast.

We're so glad you've joined us and we're honored to be part of your spiritual journey.

This year, Church of the Lakes is focusing on having a team of mindset that helped you by living counter-culturally to the world to become more like Jesus.

Today, Dr.

Jared's priest continues our sermon series called The Overcomer, which comes from the book of Revelation.

The title of today's message is You are Witness to the World.

In a world experiencing both God's judgment and grace, believers are called to faithfully bear witness to Jesus with courage, truth, and love.

And now, here's Pastor Jared.

Be blessed.

Good morning, all.

What a beautiful day we've been given.

One of the three weeks we live in Ohio is the reason we live in Ohio, right?

I'm sure it'll be snowing here soon.

But it's a joy to gather with you in the house of the Lord to worship Jesus Christ, to direct our attention to the one who is worthy of our attention.

The Lamb who was slain, who hung on a cross and shed his blood.

So we could have a promised future that we can hope in, that we can be motivated and compelled to.

We are in the midst of a series out of the book of Revelation.

And Revelation, I think we're week five now.

We're going to go eight weeks in it.

Which honestly is not enough time to be studying the book of Revelation, but we're doing kind of a you know 30,000-foot flyover.

And uh part of that flyover, what we're what Revelation has been teaching us is really to look beyond what we can see.

That's what the word revelation actually means.

It's an unveiling of sorts, it's the curtain being pulled back.

Uh and John is being shown that there's more happening than meets the eye.

There's more happening than just what we see on the surface.

So a few weeks ago, uh John was transported into the heavenly realm, uh, where the Lord opened up a window to him and he saw in Revelation 4 a throne.

Uh he tried to describe that throne in Revelation 4 the best he could, but how do you describe the indescribable?

Amen.

And so we get what we have in Revelation 4, and then we turn to Revelation 5, and in the midst of all the chaos and uncertainty and suffering that we see and that we navigate through in the here and now, John not only sees a throne, but he sees one who is sitting on that throne, who's holding in his hand a scroll, scroll bound with seven sears, uh seven seals.

And uh John is the one who finds out that the one holding that scroll is worthy to open that scroll.

And what is the scroll?

It is God's purpose is finding their appointed end.

And so that's something to celebrate.

And last week we looked at how our world is a world under judgment.

Uh God will judge our world and creation because of the sin of humanity.

And uh, in the midst of that judgment, what John what God then shows John are these witnesses that are faithfully proclaiming the Christ, even in the midst of judgment, which really speaks to the heart of our Father in heaven, doesn't it?

Uh Peter says in his letter to the church that our God is not slow in keeping his promises, as some understand, slowness, but he's patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish but all to come to the saving knowledge of who Jesus Christ is.

And so he sends out these witnesses the church, even in the midst of dealing with judgment.

Well, today God is gonna pull back the curtain even farther, because beneath all the conflicts you and I navigate or see on a day-to-day basis, there is a spiritual battle that we cannot see.

And if we don't understand the battle, then what we're gonna do is we're gonna spend our energies and our days fighting the wrong enemy.

Have you ever done that?

You fixated your attention on a person who you thought was the problem, and maybe in fact they weren't the problem.

Maybe you're frustrated with somebody at work and you're taking your frustration out on them, or you're really frustrated at a spouse or a mother-in-law, or maybe you're fighting with a prodigal child.

Maybe you're looking at the culture in which America finds itself and our society, and you start identifying certain people as the problem.

Friends, uh, before long, if we start fixating on the wrong person or enemy, what we can start to believe is if that person just would change, if those groups of people would just go away, if we could just defeat them at the next election cycle, then I know beyond a shadow of a doubt everything's gonna be better.

But the apostle Paul says in Ephesians 6 that our battle is not against flesh and blood, it is against the powers and the principalities of darkness.

In other words, please hear me.

The person in front of you who you think is causing all your problems, that's not your ultimate enemy.

No, no.

There is a battle happening beneath the battle.

And today, Revelation chapter 12 is gonna pull back the curtain and show us all something that we desperately need to see.

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

Hear me, church.

We have an enemy.

We need to know who that enemy is, and we need to understand how that enemy fights.

But most importantly, what Revelation 12 is gonna show us is that we know that Jesus has already defeated that enemy.

Now, before we get into the text, let me just remind you of why we're approaching Revelation in this new year.

And I say that because Revelation is full of a lot of apocalyptic and prophetic symbolism and numbers and imagery.

And if we don't read it through the right lens, we'll walk away from Revelation, a study on Revelation, more afraid than when we started.

But church, revelation was not given to incite fear in the hearts of the people of God.

No, it was instead was given to evoke courage in the people of God.

As Pastor Matt Chandler says, to put steel in our spine, regardless of what we're facing today.

Remember, John is writing initially this letter or this book, excuse me, to a church that is facing pressure.

I mean, they are being persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ beyond what you and I could ever imagine.

And in the midst of all of what's going on, God is showing John what really is happening.

He gives him an image of ultimate reality.

Again, we see chaos, he sees a throne, we see suffering, he sees a lamb that has overcome, we see evil, he sees the kingdom of God that will endure forever.

So in Revelation chapter 12, again, the curtain opens.

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

And this time John, uh God shows John the enemy that is behind all the conflicts we face.

Uh Revelation 12.

Um, if you've never read this chapter of scripture, this is another version of the Christmas narrative that may make you a little excited.

Uh, it's very different than the Gospel of Luke and Matthew or even John's uh version of the Christmas narrative.

When I finish it, let me know if you want me to preach out of this text on Christmas Eve in a couple of months, okay?

But listen to John writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit these words.

Again, he's getting another glimpse behind the curtain.

He says, A great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun with a moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains, in the agony of giving birth.

Then another sign appeared in heaven, a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems on his heads.

His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.

Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born.

And she gave birth to a son, a male child who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.

But her child was snatched away and taken to God into his throne.

And the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God, so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

It's not on the screens, but I'm going to continue two more verses.

Verse 7 And war broke out in heaven.

Michael and his angels fought against the dragon.

The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

The great dragon was thrown down, the ancient serpent who was called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

What do you think?

Was it a silent night two thousand years ago in Bethlehem?

Where all was common, right?

There's a battle raging that was beneath what could be seen.

Friends, this is the word of God for the people of God.

Thanks be to God.

Let's pray.

Lord God, I thank you for the gift of this morning, for the chance to gather in this space and simply offer you the worship and praise that you are worthy and you deserve.

So, God, as I offer a reflection on your life-giving word, I just ask that you soak this with the blood of Jesus that saves.

That you help it to edify us and encourage us and strengthen us in the battles that we face each and every day.

God, we praise you and we love you and we give you this moment.

It's in Christ's name.

Amen.

So what is happening?

Okay, John sees a woman, sees a child being born, he sees a dragon, he sees a war in heaven.

And maybe your first reaction, if you have never read Revelation 12, is what in the world do I do with that?

Friends, Revelation 12 is showing us spiritually what's happening behind what we see visibly.

There is a battle beneath the battles that we face.

Behind the temptation, behind the accusations, behind the deception, behind the division, there is an enemy who opposes God and wants to destroy what God loves.

But here's the good news God doesn't reveal this enemy to make us afraid.

No.

He reveals the enemy so we can first recognize him and then remember that Jesus has actually already defeated him.

So let's pull back the curtain and let's start this conversation.

The first thing is we have to make sure we reveal or we um recognize the real enemy.

Again, John sees a woman clothed with the sun, the moon is being used as her footstool, she's pregnant, she's crying out in labor.

Then there's another sign.

It's a giant red dragon.

Verse 4 tells us that the dragon stands before the woman, waiting for this child to be born.

Why?

So he can devour him.

Okay, so who's the child?

Well, verse 5 says that he's a male who will rule all nations with a rod of iron.

This, by the way, is out of Psalm 2.

Remember, Revelation, there's no new material in this book of the Bible.

Everything written in Revelation has been written somewhere else in the biblical narrative.

This came out of Psalm 2.

Who's the child?

The child is the Christ.

Who's the dragon?

Well, verse 9 identifies him as the ancient serpent who is called the devil, Satan.

So John is showing us that the conflict surrounding Jesus, it doesn't begin actually with Rome or with Herod or even with Judas.

No, behind the visible conflict we see in Jesus' life was his invisible enemy, again, opposing the purposes of God and trying to destroy those that God loves.

Friends, this is happening all throughout the biblical narrative, from the beginning to the end.

I mean, think of Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

God places Adam and Eve in this perfect paradise where he walks with them in the cool of the day, calls them to multiply their and have offspring, to subdue the land and to be stewards of creation, and they're to do all of that in, again, perfect relationship with God.

But the devil shows up and takes the form of a serpent, and he deceives Adam and Eve, who do the one thing they're not supposed to do, and that's eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And as soon as they ate from that tree, brokenness became the reality of not only humanity but creation.

And that brokenness is just perpetuated from one generation after another.

We as human beings are born with this sin nature, this compulsion to do things that are not of God.

And that's where it starts.

Move just a book over in Exodus 1 and 2.

The Hebrew slaves in Egypt are starting to outnumber the Egyptians, so Pharaoh says, You must kill all the Hebrew boys.

Fast forward into the New Testament, you got the gospel narrative around Jesus' birth.

Herod finds out that this king of the Jews is born in Bethlehem, and he's concerned that this king will usurp his throne.

And so what does he do?

He kills all the Hebrew boys that are born around the time Jesus was born.

Fast forward toward the end of Jesus' earthly ministry.

He's tempted.

Judas betrays him, Rome crucifies him.

Different faces, different moments, same enemy.

And there is a battle beneath the battle.

Now it does take some witness to wisdom to discern it.

I mean, let's be honest, not every flat tire you get on the road is a demon, okay?

Not every bad day is spiritual warfare.

When your router goes out, when you're watching the Buffalo Bills win a game this season, or the Cleveland Browns, way to go, guys.

When that router goes out, it might not be the devil trying to ruin your day.

It might just be because you have a bad router.

Get a new router.

But scripture also refuses us to believe that what we see is all there is.

Again, the Apostle Paul says, our battle not against flesh and blood, but against the powers in the principalities of darkness.

Friends, if you're feeling the heat, it might be because you're doing something right.

And here's why that matters.

If we misidentify the enemy, then we're going to be fighting the wrong person.

Have you ever misidentified the enemy?

Maybe if you're a Republican, it's the Democrats.

If you're a Democrats, it's the Republicans.

Ouch.

Think about a soldier in war.

Imagine a soldier in war begins to get so confused because of all the chaos around him that he turns around and he begins shooting people in his own platoon.

If that actually happened, the devil doesn't even have to get involved anymore.

He just has to sit back in his own lazy boy sipping a pina colada and watching it unfold in front of him.

Like, friends, the devil wants nothing more than to get us fighting with each other.

Because if he can get us fighting with each other, spick a space, then guess what?

He doesn't have to do anything.

He can sit back in that lazy boy and drink a chilled dye of coke watching his favorite football team play.

Please hear me when I say this.

Your spouse is not your ultimate enemy.

Your prodigal child, not your ultimate enemy.

Your mother-in-law, not your ultimate enemy.

I'm not saying that because I have a bad mother-in-law.

She's a wonderful human being.

I love her to death.

Your coworker, your boss, not your enemy.

The person who thinks differently than you or votes differently than you, please hear me, not your ultimate enemy.

The person who even is caught up in besetting sin, not your ultimate enemy.

Listen, people are not the enemy.

People are the mission field.

Friends, when we get that mixed up, we start fighting people instead of fighting for people.

How do we fight for people?

We pray for them, we serve them, we love them without condition.

We witness to them, we stand in the gap for them.

We witness or we fight for people, we don't fight people.

So before we enter the fight, we have to again ask who is my real enemy?

The real enemy is the devil, the powers and principalities of darkness.

Now, once we recognize that as true, the next thing is we need to know how to fight that enemy.

Look again at the dragon in the text.

What does the dragon want in verse 4?

He wants to devour the child, doesn't he?

Jesus in his earthly ministry calls Satan a liar, calls him the accuser.

Says he's a thief who only comes to kill, steal, and destroy.

The apostle Peter, in his letter to the early church, the first letter he wrote, describes the devil as a roaring lion who's looking for someone to deceive and steal and destroy and devour.

And here's what makes him so dangerous.

The enemy rarely looks like the enemy.

Wouldn't it be so easy if the devil showed up in a red jumpsuit with horns and a pitchfork?

It'd be really easy to identify the devil, right?

But he doesn't do that.

He shows up as a counterfeit.

It's a little bit of truth wrapped in a whole lot of lie.

He shows up in a whisper.

You deserve that.

Nobody will ever know what he's saying.

You're alone and you always will be.

Same enemy.

Just different faces.

So how do we fight the enemy?

Well, sometimes the enemy looks like temptation or accusation or deception or division or isolation or fear.

And friends, if we don't recognize his voice for what it is, we're gonna start believing his lies.

Again, go back to counterfeit.

Think about counterfeit money.

Our U.S.

uh Secret Service, they deal with our treasury, with our currency.

We know they protect the president, but they do more than that.

They deal with our currency.

And uh they become experts on spotting counterfeit bills and currency.

You want to know how?

Not because they're trying to become experts in every type of counterfeit bill out there, because they've spent so much time studying the real thing that when a counterfeit comes down the road, guess what?

They can spot it immediately.

That's however what makes counterfeit money so dangerous to you and me.

Most of us probably can't spot it when we see it, because the best counterfeit doesn't look obviously fake, it actually looks real.

That's how Satan operates all the time in our lives.

It's with counterfeit.

Genesis 3.

Did God really say?

It's a little nugget of truth wrapped up in a lie.

In church, we don't fight um lies with feelings, we fight lies with truth.

We may feel a certain way, but we have to become an expert on the truth if we are going to combat the lie.

We gotta that's why we gotta memorize scripture.

So when the the devil whispers in your ear, God has to abandon you.

You can say no.

The Bible tells me God says he will never leave me nor forsake me.

Or when the the enemy says, Your sin defines you, live in shame, you can say, No, no.

Romans 8, 1 says, There is now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus.

When the devil says to you, you're too far gone, just give up.

Cut your losses, you get to point to the cross and say, No, the blood of Jesus tells me otherwise.

Friends, that's why we read scripture, why we pray, why we witness, why we come and gather for worship.

These aren't things we do just because we're good Christians.

You know what they are?

They're weapons that we equip ourselves with to fight the lies and the deception of the enemy.

Let's sit here just for a moment.

What voices have you been listening to lately?

What lies have started sounding like truth to you?

I'm alone, I'm a failure, my marriage will never change, my child is too far gone.

I'll always be addicted, I'll always be afraid.

Church, recognize the voice for what it is.

Because once the enemy is exposed, the question again becomes how now do we overcome it?

Now part of the way we overcome it is by equipping ourselves with the um instruments to to fight the enemy prayer, scripture.

Uh prayer, uh, scripture, worship, witness, so on and so forth.

But really, the most important piece of of being able to fight the enemy and overcome is realizing.

That you and I fight, hear this, from the vantage point of Christ's victory at the cross and in the empty tomb.

The dragon is there.

We don't see it in Bethlehem, but he's there wanting to devour this child as the woman gives birth.

Verse 5, however, says that her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne.

Do you see what John just did there?

He took the entire birth, ministry, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ and put it all into one verse in our Bible.

Like the whole story, because where is Jesus now?

Well, Revelation 4 and 5 tells us he's sitting on a throne.

Like the devil tried to destroy the Christ child and he failed.

Like the cross looked like Satan's greatest victory, victory.

It became his greatest defeat.

The grave looked like the end, but Jesus walked out.

And then verse 9 says, war broke out in heaven.

Michael and his angels fight against the dragon, and the dragon was overthrown.

And verse 11 tells us how God's people overcome.

Underline this verse in your Bibles.

Here's how we overcome: by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.

That's how we overcome.

When you find yourself face to face with deception or accusation or temptation or division or isolation or fear, you cry out the blood of the Lamb.

You plead the blood, and you give witness of your testimony of how Christ has saved you.

That's how we overcome.

We don't overcome because we're stronger than the devil.

Goodness, he's an angel, a fallen angel at that, but still an angel.

We don't overcome because we're smart.

We can outsmart the devil.

Do you realize the devil has game real tape on humanity over the course of however many thousands of years?

No, we overcome the devil, not in our own strength, but by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.

Church, we don't fight for victory.

We fight from a place of victory, a victory that has been secured for us at the cross and in the empty tomb.

Please hear me.

You don't fight for victory.

You fight from victory.

Yes, the battle is real.

Yes, temptation is real.

Spiritual attacks are real, suffering is real, but at Calvary and in the empty tomb, the decisive blow was struck.

Jesus paid for our sin.

He died our death and defeated it on our behalf.

He ascended into heaven and sits in the feet of authority, and one day every enemy will be under his feet.

So hear me, Satan can accuse you, but the blood of Jesus offers a better word.

Satan can tempt you, but temptation doesn't own you.

Satan can attack you, but he cannot overturn the victory of Jesus at the cross and in the empty tomb.

That's why revelation should create courage and not fear.

That's why it should create clarity and not obsession.

Friends, I know it's apocalyptic and prophetic imagery, but don't get so fascinated with the dragon that you fail to fix your eyes on the conquering lamb.

The dragon is dangerous, yes, but he is not God's equal.

The devil's created, God is creator.

The devil is limited, God is almighty.

The devil's time is short, God's kingdom is eternal.

Let's make this very uh very personal as we're starting to wind down to get into Holy Communion.

In about a moment, we're going to partake in the Lord's Supper together, and we're going to do it in a different manner today.

We're just going to do it in our pews, in our seats.

Uh, people will pass the elements uh down the rows, and as a statement of our unity as a church, we're going to partake together.

But the cool thing about this Sunday is it's World Communion Sunday.

Whoever decides these things decided that all the churches around the entire globe are going to take communion on this same day of every year.

Why?

So we can declare our unity under the cross, under the blood of Jesus.

So before we receive communion, I want to ask you a question to reflect on for a moment.

You've been hearing my voice for the past 23 or so minutes.

I want you to take a moment, provide you space to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Here's my question.

What face of the enemy have you been contending with lately?

Personalize it.

What face of the enemy have I been contending with lately?

Maybe the face of the enemy for you is that of accusation.

Like you know in your head that Jesus has forgiven you, but the enemy keeps dragging you back to what you've done in the past.

Or maybe the face of the enemy for you is temptation.

Like something keeps pulling you back.

Something has more control over you than you'd care to admit it does.

Or maybe it's fear.

You've been rehearsing everything that could go wrong in your life, with your children, with your finances, with your health, with your future, to the point where fear has become a louder voice in your life than faith.

Maybe the face of the enemy you're contending with is that of division.

You've started treating other people like the enemy when God is actually calling you to fight for those people.

Maybe it's a spouse that you're at odds with, or a prodigal child, or a mother-in-law, or a political opponent who thinks differently than you.

Maybe the face of the enemy for you is isolation.

The enemy keeps whispering into your ear and your heart, nobody understands you.

Don't tell anyone, handle it yourself.

Or maybe it's deception.

You believe the lie for so long that it started sounding like your own voice.

I'm worthless, I'm a failure.

I'll never change.

God can never use me.

Church, whatever it is, whatever face it is, whatever battle you're in right now, can I encourage you not to take it to the table with you?

But before we receive the bread and cup, I want to give us a moment again in silence.

So right where you're sitting, what I want you to do is make for yourself an altar.

Certainly it's gonna be just figuratively speaking.

Make for yourself an altar.

And then name the battle, name the lie, name the fear, name the temptation that has gotten you wrapped up right now.

And then simply lay it on the altar and surrender it to Jesus.

Because, friends, we don't come to this table pretending the battle isn't real.

No, we come to this table remembering that the battle has already been won for us.

The blood the b the bread reminds us that the body was given for us.

The cup reminds us that the blood was shed for us, and God's people overcome.

How?

By the blood of the Lamb Testimony of our Word.

The word of our testimony.

Praise be to God.

Before we come to the table, will you just go in an attitude of prayer with me and offer this time?

Lord Jesus, you know every battle represented in this room.

You know the accusations we carry, the temptations we fight, the fears we hide.

You know the relationships that are broken, the lies that we have believed.

And so, Lord, before we come to the table this morning, we don't want to carry what you are asking for us to surrender.

So, Lord, in these next moments of silence, will you search our hearts?

Will you show us what needs to be confessed?

Will you show us what needs to be surrendered?

Will you show us what needs to be placed beneath the victory of your cross?

Lord Jesus, we give you these things.

We lay them on the altar before us, we confess our sin, we surrender our fear.

We reject the lie of the enemy.

We receive again the truth of the gospel that your body was given for us, that your blood was shed for us, that your grace is sufficient, that your victory is ours.

So, God, prepare our hearts now to receive this holy meal.

And as we eat the bread and drink the cup, remind us that we don't fight for victory, we fight from a place of victory.

Because Jesus Christ has overcome.

It is in his name we pray all these things.

In all God's people's time.

Amen.

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