We're going through 1 Timothy, and I kind of got off on a little bit of a tangent here. I kind of got distracted by this verse, 1 Timothy 1.18. So turn there, 1 Timothy 1.18, and I'm going to get back on track with 1 Timothy next week. But Paul says to Timothy, he says, This charge I entrust you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare.
And my brain just kind of hit that for the last couple of weeks. We are involved in a war. I was reading a Breitbart, it's a secular Breitbart news article this past week, where even secular people are saying there is a spiritual war going on all around us with demons.
It's kind of interesting. The secular world seems to recognize the reality of the warfare and the demonic more than the body of Christ does. And remember I said there are similarities in being a follower of Jesus Christ, being a Christian, and being a soldier. We said like a soldier, we have a commanding officer. We said like a soldier, we are in a war. Like a soldier, we have enemies.
We hit all that last week. You ready for number four here? Here's a fourth similarity between being a Christian, following Jesus, and being a soldier.
And that's this. Like a soldier, sometimes we suffer. I want you to look at another verse we've been hitting for the last three weeks, talking about warfare. 2 Timothy 2-3, Paul again writing to Timothy says, Timothy, share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Now Paul's not just talking about general suffering that everybody's going to go through. Lost people get cancer, saved people get cancer.
Lost people go bankrupt, saved people get bankrupt. That's not what he's talking about. Paul is saying if you follow Jesus Christ, you will suffer, you will have a tax come at you in a way that the rest of the world does not. Timothy, you need to understand if you're going to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, you will suffer for Jesus Christ. And Paul knew what he's talking about.
2 Corinthians 11 lists some of Paul's sufferings that he went through because he belonged to Jesus. Five different times he was whipped. His back was torn to shreds on five different occasions with 39 lashes. Three different times he was taken before governmental magistrates and they took a stick and beat the fire out of him. He was stoned to death one time and God brought him back. He was shipwrecked three times.
He was lost at sea. He was put in prison numerous times. He says I dealt with hunger and exposure and threats from people. He was even, for me the worst thing of all, he got bit by a snake.
I'm terrified of snakes. To me that's the worst person you can go through. Following Jesus Christ actually got snake bitten. Now here's what Paul's saying, if you're going to follow Jesus, you're going to suffer. And the American church is not ready for that because we have been sold a false gospel that says if you follow Jesus Christ, he's like Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite.
Follow Jesus Christ and all your dreams will come true. That's not what it means to follow Jesus Christ. You follow Jesus, you're going to be a real soldier.
You're not going to be a pencil pusher in an office somewhere for the cause of Christ. That's not the kind of soldier you're going to be. You're going to be a lone survivor soldier. You ever read that book Lone Survivor, seen that movie? This guy's in Afghanistan, they're surrounded by a Taliban and as they're fighting the Taliban, this guy gets his eye blown out, his hand blown off, shredding all over his body and he's still fighting the enemy.
That's the kind of soldier that Paul is portraying here. You follow Jesus Christ, you will suffer for Jesus Christ. And we don't seem to get that even though it's all over the Bible. 2 Timothy 3.12, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus.
Stop right there. How many of y'all want to live godly? You just want to be sold out to the Lord Jesus. You want to follow Jesus Christ? You want to be on fire for Jesus? You want to make a difference for this world?
Anybody like that? Everybody who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. It's not either or, it's both and. Listen to me. You follow Jesus Christ, that verse right there, right there, says you're going to suffer. Book of Acts, chapter 14, verse 22. We must suffer many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.
And why is that? Why is it that in this world, when you decide to finally stop playing the Christian game and stop playing the church game and get sold out to the Jesus Christ, why in the world does the suffering come against us? Jesus Christ answers that very clearly in John 15, 19. Jesus says, do you want to know why? Seriously, if you don't want to go under spiritual attacks, just be a half-hearted, mediocre Christian. That doesn't scare Satan at all. You understand, one of the worst insults Satan can give you is not attacking you. Because if he doesn't attack you, you're not threatened.
You're not a threat to him. Jesus says, do you want to know why you're going to suffer hardship if you follow me? John 15, 19. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you're not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore, the world hates you. Remember, I told you last week, we have three enemies we come against.
It always depresses me when I try to do a review of last week's sermon here. Let's see if we can remember. We have three enemies. Number one, anybody remember who the first one is?
Satan, good. Number two, the flesh. And number three, the world. Remember, I said the Greek word is cosmos.
There is a system. It's the collective flesh of humanity. There is a system set up against Jesus Christ, against the things of God. Remember, I told you the analogy last week. Hitler was the leader of the Nazi party. That was his party. Satan is the leader of the cosmos party, the system that is against Jesus Christ.
And Jesus is right there. You want to know why they don't love you? You want to know why they're going to come against you? Because you're not one of them. You're not part of the world system. Watch the Super Bowl tonight, enjoy the Super Bowl, whatever, but just kind of have it at arm's length because you're not part of this world system.
You're not part of the advertisement that you're going to see on TV. You're not part of the political system. You are not of this world. We're in the world. I understand we interface with the world, but you're not part of this system.
And because you're not part of this system, the world's going to persecute you. Again, I don't want to get off on this tangent too much, but we're making a huge mistake in our gospel presentation. We're telling people, follow Jesus and your life is going to be peaches and cream and unicorns and rainbows are going to be absolutely wonderful.
It's wonderful, but there's some suffering involved. Look, that's why we have so many people. Do you know when you have the big crusade evangelistic event and hundreds and hundreds of people come forward, maybe one out of 10 will stick with it.
Here's a problem. We have watered down the gospel to the point where we have not told people there's going to be a cost to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. We've done a bait and switch on everybody.
And that's why we have people walk away after making a decision. Ray Comfort has a great analogy. He said, if I get on an airplane, and the airplane is taxing down the runway, and the stewardess comes up to me and says, Hey, I want you to put this big parachute on.
Why? Well, because that's what all the cool people are doing. And everybody on the plane is going to think you're so cool if you put the parachute on, and it's actually going to make your trip much more comfortable. Okay, and I put it on, and a few minutes into the flight, I noticed everybody snickering at me. They're laughing at me.
I am kind of the oddball because I got a big parachute on. And it's not comfortable. My back is starting to hurt. In fact, this plane trip would be a lot easier if I didn't have this big thing attached to my back. At that point, I'm going to say, Forget it.
She doesn't know what she's talking about. They're laughing at me. This hurts, and I'm going to take it off. But if I'm taxing down that runway, and the plane's taken off, and the stewardess comes up to me and says, I want to tell you something between you and me, I know for a fact that when this plane hits 20,000 feet, it's going to blow up. Put this parachute on.
This is your only way of escape. I want to put that parachute on. I don't care if they're laughing at me or not. This thing is going down. You can laugh at me all you want. I got my parachute on.
I don't care if this is sore and uncomfortable and hurts a little bit. I want to keep it on because this is my one way of escape. Listen to me. Jesus Christ is our one way of escape. Why follow the Lord Jesus Christ when people are going to laugh at you? Why follow Jesus Christ when you're going to go through suffering? Because this plane is going down, and my one way of escape is Jesus Christ.
I'm going to cling to him no matter what it costs me. And so, like a soldier, sometimes we suffer. Number five, like a soldier, sometimes we lose our battles, not the war.
The war is won in Jesus Christ. Sometimes we lose our battles. I don't know if it's just the way I'm wired.
I don't know. I look back on my life. Maybe the Lord's just doing it to try to keep me humble. Whatever. I look back on my life, and I am more aware of my failures than my successes.
Are you like that? You look back, and you see all these times you've messed up, and I mess up again. I promise God this is the last time. I'm never going to lose my temper like that ever again.
I know, but God, I mean it this time. God kind of yells, I've heard that before. How many times do we mess up, and we promise God we'll never do that again, and we turn around the next day, and we've done the very same thing. For a lot of us, that's our walk with Jesus Christ. We look back, and we see more defeats than we see victories. I'd urge you, get Jay Adams' book called The War Within. He's talking about how the Christian life is like a spiritual warfare, like being a soldier. Here's what Jay Adams says in this book, The War Within. He says defeat is actually one of our greatest teachers.
He said if you look in history, numerous armies were successful after they failed because they analyzed their failures and used those failures to set themselves up for victories in the future. George Washington, we all respect George Washington. During the American Revolution, George Washington lost more battles than he won.
Did you know that? I was reading that one of my favorite people in history is Nathaniel Green. Nathaniel Green was the head of the Southern Continental Army during the American Revolution. In fact, have you ever seen the movie The Patriot with Mel Gibson? That whole war down there in the South, that's what the movie The Patriot was based on.
Nathaniel Green is the head of the Continental Forces in the South. He lost way many more battles than he won. Somebody asked him one time, they said, General Green, what is your battle strategy?
He said, here's our strategy. Quote, we fight, we get beat, we rise up, and we fight again. I've just described the Christian life to you right there. You fight, you get beat, you get back up, and you fight again. I'm talking to somebody in this place who's been lied to by Satan and said, you've used up all your points with God.
One more failure and it's over with. I'm going to tell you something, God looks at you and he says, you're a warrior, you're my soldier. If you get shot tomorrow, get back up tomorrow. If you get wounded tomorrow, get back up tomorrow.
That's part of being a follower of Jesus Christ. Now look, some of y'all want to chat, I'm not into history, I don't even know about history. Okay, if you're not into history, let me give you some Hollywood here. Rocky I, remember Rocky I? Rocky is a no-name fighter from Philadelphia and somehow he gets to the point where he can fight the heavyweight champion of the world.
Anybody know what his name is? Apollo Creed. They get in this boxing match and Apollo Creed thinks it's a big joke. All of a sudden, early on, he begins to knock Rocky down time after time after time. Rocky is losing this and he's losing it badly. Apollo Creed is barely breaking a sweat and finally, Apollo Creed rings Rocky's bell. I mean, he hits him and Rocky hits the ground and everybody knows it's over. And Apollo Creed goes to the crowd and he's doing this and he's cheering and they're shouting and he's doing this, it's over.
And then somebody says, you better look behind you. And he turns around and looks and Rocky, eyes swollen shut, blood going everywhere, Rocky is back on his feet again. And Rocky does this.
Come on. My favorite part of the movie, I don't know why I love this, Apollo Creed looks over at Rocky and he does this. Like, I can't believe this guy got back up again. Rocky's doing this and Apollo's doing this.
That illustration is for you, Carl Weathers. Rest in peace. But that's the Christian life. Satan knocks you down for the 5,225th time and he thinks it's over. They're not getting back again. They're tired of failing. They're down for the count and the Holy Ghost comes in you and you stand back up and you say, come on, there's some more fight left in me. It ain't over with yet.
That's the Christian life. Now, I want you to listen to me because I get some critique because I don't counsel. I'm counseling right now.
You ready? The counselor is in. I'm talking to a man and I'm talking to a woman who has been lied to and said, you're done. It's over with. God's tired of your failure. Even God's grace has its limits.
That's what you've been told. I'm here to tell you today, the blood of Jesus Christ has not changed in the last 2,000 years. The blood of Jesus Christ still cleanses us from all unrighteousness.
You've been knocked down and Jesus says it's time to get back up again. In fact, I love this old story of Martin Luther, the reformer. Luther said that one night he was asleep and he woke up and there sitting in the corner of his room was Satan. He said Satan had this diabolical grin on his face and he had a scroll. Satan said, Martin, Martin, Martin, I've got a list of all of your sins right here. Martin, you've been a really bad boy.
Martin, let me read some of these things that are written down that you have done. He unrolled the scroll and he read a filthy thought that Martin Luther had had and Satan pointed a fiery finger at him and said, Sinner. Then he read something else that Luther had done and he said, Sinner. He unrolled the scroll a little bit more and read something else that Luther had done and pointed that fiery finger, Sinner, Sinner. Every time Luther said, he pointed that finger at me and said, Sinner, it was like a sword piercing my heart.
He's just cringing, cringing and he's at the height of his despair as Satan is reading one sin after another. Then another voice came into the room. That voice said, Martin, tell him to read the end of the scroll. Martin said, well, Satan, you heard him, read the end of the scroll. Satan said, no, I've got some words I've got to be, I'm done. He said, no, no, read the end of the scroll. No, it's getting late.
No, I'm telling you the name of Jesus Christ, read the end of the scroll and Satan unrolled the scroll and at the very bottom was written these words and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Somebody in here, you've been shot and you've been hit and today is the day for you to get back up in this place. Like a soldier, we're going to suffer. Like a soldier, sometimes we lose our battles.
David is an example of this. He's a warrior that's lost his battle. He's had an affair with a woman, a married woman and he's gotten her pregnant and to cover up his crime, he as a military leader has now sent her husband to the front lines so that he can be killed and cover up his crime.
So he's an adulterer and he's complicit to murder. God finally nails him to the wall. David writes this in Psalm 51, have mercy on me, oh God, because of your unfailing love, because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin for I recognize my rebellion.
It haunts me, God, day and night. Against you and you alone have I sinned. I have done what is evil in your sight. Purify me from my sins and I'll be clean.
Wash me and I'll be whiter than snow. Oh, give me back my joy again. You have broken me. Now let me rejoice. Don't keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and make me willing to obey you. You do not desire a sacrifice or I give you one. You don't want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, oh God. God is saying to somebody here today, I'm not going to reject a broken and repentant heart. You got shot. You fumbled the ball. Now it's time to get back up to the power of the Holy Spirit.
Let me give you one more. Number six, like a soldier, we must choose sides. 2 Timothy 2, 3 again. Share in suffering as a good soldier of who?
Christ Jesus. As a soldier of Christ Jesus. I need you to listen to me. This light bulb is going to go off in somebody's brain right now. You're going to serve in somebody's army. Do you know there's two kingdoms in this world?
The kingdom of the cosmos, the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're going to serve in somebody's army. Somebody is going to be your commander. No, no, I am totally self-sufficient.
That's not true. You're either going to serve Satan or Jesus. Somebody is going to direct your life. Either Satan is going to direct your life or Jesus Christ is going to direct your life.
I'm going to keep saying this until somebody gets it. You are in somebody's army. You are in Christ Jesus' army or if you're not, then by default you're in Satan's army. Here's what's important. When I say somebody is going to direct your life, listen to me.
Never forget this. Your director determines your destiny. Your director determines your destiny. Which army you are involved in will determine your destiny. Paul says to Timothy right here, I have made the choice that I am a good soldier, not a Satan. I used to be his soldier.
I'm a soldier of Christ Jesus. That director, whatever happens to Satan, if you're allied with him, that's your destiny. Whatever happens to Jesus, if you're allied with him, that determines your eternal destiny. In Revelation chapter 19, we have the destiny of our director, Christ Jesus. Revelation 19 says he comes back as a triumphant victory general on a white horse. It says the armies of heaven followed.
That's you and me. We follow the Lord Jesus Christ and we rule and reign with him forever if he is our director. If not, then Satan is your director. Hear his eternal destiny in Revelation 20, 10.
The devil who had deceived them were thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Do you understand what I'm saying? If you belong to Jesus, you share in Jesus' destiny. If you're in the army of Satan, you share in his destiny. Some of you kind of laugh and say that's old time Pentecostalism. That's fundamentalist Bible believe in Christianity. I am more urbane than that. I'm more intelligent than that.
I don't believe in this thing of hell and eternity in hell. Maurice Rawlings was like that. Maurice Rawlings is a brilliant man. In fact, he was a White House physician. He was a cardiologist. He was also the associate clinical professor of medicine for the University of Tennessee. When people like me would preach on you that belong to Jesus, you belong to Satan.
You're either going to spend eternity with Jesus in his destiny or Satan in his destiny. He kind of dismissed all that because again, I'm a White House doctor. I'm a professor. Maurice Rawlings says when he was in Chattanooga, Tennessee, he began doing tests on a 47-year-old man on a treadmill who'd had some heart issues. He said the man's heart stopped and he died. He was clinically dead. Dr. Rawlings said he began to do chest compressions and the man came back. But here's what alarmed him. When the man finally came to, the patient screamed, I am in hell.
I am in hell. He was terrified and he pleaded with me to help him. He flatlined again.
I did compressions. I brought him back and he was screaming, I am in hell. Doctor, how do I stay out of hell? He's asking this right there on the floor of the clinic. He said, I told my guests it was the same principal I'd heard in Sunday school one time that you'd have to ask Jesus to save you. I didn't know what to say.
Then he said, I don't know how. Pray for me. Pray for him?
What nerve. I told him I'm a doctor. I'm not a preacher. Pray for me, he screamed. I knew I had no choice. It was a dying man's request. So I had him repeat the words after me as he worked right there on the floor of the clinic. It was a very simple prayer because I didn't know anything about praying.
But it went something like this. Lord Jesus, I ask you, keep me out of hell. Forgive my sins. I turn my life over to you. If I die, take me to heaven. I didn't know what else to tell him. He said the patient's condition finally stabilized and he was transported to a hospital. I went home, dusted off my Bible and started reading it. That took him on a journey where as a doctor he began to chart individuals who had these near death experiences and in their final moments they're either praising the Lord Jesus Christ or Dr. Rawlings said in their final moments they're screaming in agony. Why?
Because your director determines your destiny. Now we're about to baptize some people. We've got a lot of people signed up to be baptized today.
I'm going to celebrate that. It's wonderful. And what's the meaning of baptism?
It's kind of interesting. The Bible gives us, baptism is so powerful, so beautiful that it's multifaceted in its meaning. And so we're going to baptize some people. And what some of these people are going to be saying is I've given my life to Jesus and what's sticking out in my mind today is the old me is dead. And all these sins I've committed died with Jesus when Jesus died on the cross. And I'm buried in this water right now. When I come out of the water, it's a new me.
It's a new day. I'm a new creature in Christ Jesus. I'm getting baptized today because Jesus Christ has saved my soul. Some people be getting baptized today as their way of saying I want the whole world to know. I want demons to know, Satan to know, the cosmos to know. I now belong to Jesus Christ. I've chosen my sides.
He's my commander for the rest of my life. In fact, 1 Peter 3 says baptism is a pledge to the Lord Jesus Christ. Did you know that? Do you know in the early church, it's kind of interesting. When people got baptized, they had to do this. They had to say I now renounce the works of Satan in my life.
Did you know they would say that? What they were saying is I'm no longer in his army. I'm in his army. I belong to Jesus. I want you to stand with me right now.
Because I believe there are some men and women, people in this church, you've gotten hit by the enemy. And you smile on the outside and you're like everything is together. But when you're alone with your thoughts, you remember that affair. You remember that failure.
You remember that porn addiction that has knocked you down. You remember that abortion. You remember that relation. You remember. And you can't let it go.
And you don't understand this, but you need to listen to me. Satan now has you trapped. You now see yourself as a wicked sinner with no hope. You feel guilty. You feel guilty. You feel condemned. And like Martin Luther, you're at the point of desperation.
What do I do? And I'm going to say the same thing that Luther said to the devil. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you from all unrighteousness. And in a moment, we're going to pray a prayer and you're going to surrender your life to Jesus Christ.
And I want every person in this place who has been hit by the devil, who is now dealing with guilt, I want you to come forward. I don't care if you brought clothes or not. We've got towels and stuff to put over the top of your clothes.
We've got all that stuff. Don't worry about your clothes, okay? I've said this before. If you're more worried about your designer clothes getting wet than getting right with Jesus, you're not ready, okay? If that's you, I want you to come forward.
And I want to tell you what's going to happen. I'm finding this. The blood of Jesus gets rid of guilt. And I'm finding for a lot of people in our church, baptism gets rid of the feelings of the guilt.
That's really interesting. I've seen people who have been dealing with guilt for years. They have confessed their sin to Jesus. They've pled the blood of Jesus. You are forgiven by the blood of Jesus, but that guilt still haunts you.
And I don't understand it. There's something powerful about you standing in this water and saying, right now, that old memory, that sin goes under this water, and I'm leaving it right there. I don't understand it, but God's about to break something in some of your lives today. Some of you, if you have never surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, then the Bible makes it very clear, by default, Satan is the director of your life. And if you were to die today, you're going to spend eternity in the place where your director is going to spend eternity.
But when you repent of your sins and come to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says you pass from death into life. Some of you all have never made a decision to follow Jesus. And when I say in Jesus' name, amen, I want you to come forward as well, and we're going to baptize you, and that's going to be your way of saying to the entire cosmos and the demons and Satan and family and the church, I've now chosen sides. I belong to that man, Jesus Christ.
There's something powerful happening in this place. So I'm going to pray. Everybody listen to me. I'm going to pray, and when I say in Jesus' name, amen, if you're signed up to be baptized, I want you to come. Look, you all are bad about shuffling around. We've got to give you more coffee, because you all shuffle when I say, when I say in Jesus' name, amen, no shuffling.
You come straight forward. If you're one of those who said, I wasn't planning on being baptized today, but I've got to deal with this guilt thing once and for all. I've got to leave that buried in this water.
I've got to make a decision today once and for all. Am I going to follow Jesus? When I say in Jesus' name, amen, I want you to come forward as well.
Does that make sense? Let's pray. Let's pray. Father, in my spirit right now, I sense that there's a battle for some souls in this place. Father, for way too long, Satan has had the victory in some people's lives, and that besetting sin, that sense of unworthiness and guilt, it is driving some people spiritually crazy. And today is the day to plead the blood of Jesus, and Jesus' blood will wash even the foulest sinner of the most wicked sin. There are some people, Father, in this place, they've been straddling the fence for way too long.
They've been trying to play both sides of the game. Today is their day to say it's Jesus. As of this day, for the rest of my life, I'm going to follow Jesus Christ. Spirit of God, draw people now. In Jesus' name, amen. You come right now. Come, come, come. Come on. Everybody just kind of stand down front here if you would. Stand right down here. Yeah, everybody just come right, right down here. I don't play, you know me, I don't play mind games.
I don't. There's somebody here in this place. This might be your last time to decide who you're going to follow, Jesus or Satan.
I'm going to leave this open for a few more moments here. If that's you, I want you to come. And I want the rest of us, you guys who are standing down front here, I don't know what you've been through, I don't know what your backgrounds are, I don't know why everybody's here, but I do know this. Jesus Christ can forgive you of all of your sins. Jesus can give you a fresh start and a new beginning. And the Bible says, choose today who you're going to serve. Jesus or Satan. And you being down front here tells me, as of this day, you're going to follow Jesus for the rest of your life. Does that kind of capture what's going on in your heart? Pray with me right now.
Just to make sure we're all on the same page. I want you to forget about me, I want you to forget about everybody else standing here watching you. Right now it's just you and Jesus. Pretend it's just you and Jesus in this sanctuary.
And I want you to say this to him and I want you to mean it with all your heart. Jesus, I am a sinner. I don't deserve to go to heaven. Say this to him, but Jesus, I believe you died for my sins. Jesus, I believe you were buried. Say this to him, and I believe three days later God raised you from the dead. You're alive right now, Jesus.
I believe you're alive right now. Now this is so important. Say to him, I turn away from my sin and I turn to you. Please forgive me of all my sins. Come and take control of my life. Take me to heaven when I die.
I want to add this on. Say this to him, as of today I'm going to follow you the rest of my life. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. Church, can we thank the Lord Jesus for these people who've come and made a public stand for Jesus. You guys are going out there. We're going to start baptizing you in just a second. Can we have somebody maybe lead them out to the side here. I don't know if we've got anybody to lead or not.
Here's what I want you to do. These people are going to go into the water, one person, and they're going to come out of the water, a new person. I say this all the time. The Bible says when just one of those people did that, there's like this big old raucous party in heaven. Can we out shout, out clap, out sing the angels in heaven. When they come out of that water, will you all just praise God and shout. Would you do that? Gang lead us in this. Let's see what God does here.
