FOUR
STAND
“If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.” — Alexander Hamilton
The following passage informs us that if we stand, we win:
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; Ephesians 6:12-18
The enemy will fight like mad, but our military might is MUCH stronger. Jesus declared, “…I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Matthew 16:18
The apostle Paul uses the image of a soldier to imply the Church is armed and dangerous. We battle here on earth as a well-trained army who stand against the forces of darkness. The devil fears the Christian dressed in the armor of God!,
But, but, but…
The devil and his soldiers are not pushovers. They have strategies too! They will devour the weak and fearful without hesitation. Therefore, be strong in the Lord and the power of HIS MIGHT! Learn to fight with his strength.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Ephesians 6:10
The devil and his cohorts are fallen angels who have been around for millennia—they know how to try our patience and exploit our weaknesses. They resist us by impeding our effort to move forward and take ground.
Even though Jesus has already defeated them, it is our responsibility to dig in, take a stand, and hold our ground. They are out after blood—your blood. And if they can take an inch, they will steal a mile.
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10
The Church Must Stand
Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. 1 Corinthians 16:13
Jesus not only defeated the devil, he gave the church power and authority. The early church healed the sick, raised the dead, and preached until they filled the world with their message.
From Acts to Revelation, the disciples stood against hostile opposition. They rallied together and unified even while persecuted by religious leaders and false accusers. Nothing could stop the preaching of the Gospel and winning of souls.
We read in Acts chapter four that Peter and John “grieved the Sanhedrin for preaching the resurrection,”. They warned them to stop. “And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.” Acts 4:17
They stood fearlessly against the Sanhedrin. This was risky for any Jew in that day. To contradict the elders or oppose the Jewish leadership put them on thin ice, but they willingly paid the price as they chose Jesus over Judaism.
If you are a Christian in this twice fallen world, then you can expect persecution. I am not suggesting that they will stone you to death if you believe in Jesus, but we must ask the question, “Are you one who stands or one who draws back?” Heb 10:38,39.
This is an example of the uncompromised church being persecuted. It is the Church taking a stand for the Gospel even in the face of death. Yes, even death. In the book of Acts they martyred the apostle James. They also martyred Stephen, one of the first deacons.
On another occasion, they beat Peter and John for standing strong and not denying the name of Jesus:
And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. Acts 5:40-41.
False Teachers
The Bible warns against false teachers and their deceptive doctrines. Yet many in the modern church go along with the seeker friendly, new Agey, pop-psychology gospel. Where did loyalty go? Or holiness, Godliness, and faithfulness.
A case in point is the doctrine of “hyper-grace.” You may be familiar with this term.
It is the belief that once he saves us, God’s mercy and grace will always be with us and never withdraw under any circumstance.
The following is a definition I gleaned from a quick Google search and is quite poignant:
Hyper-grace teachers maintain that all sin, past, present, and future, has already been forgiven, so there is no need for a believer to ever confess it. Hyper-grace teaching says that, when God looks at us, He sees only a holy and righteous people. The conclusion of hyper-grace teaching is that we are not bound by Jesus’ teaching, even as we are not under the Law; that believers are not responsible for their sin; and that anyone who disagrees is a pharisaical legalist. In short, hyper-grace teachers “pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality (Gotquestions.org)
In response to this definition, I refer to the epistle of Jude where “certain men” turned the grace of God into perversion:
For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 1:4
They, like the hyper-grace teachers, do not see any problem with sex, drugs or rock-and-roll because God will never judge us for any sin. And after all, don’t we have a fleshly sinful nature that, some would say, is uncontrollable?
Another term you may have heard, which is synonymous with hyper-grace, is eternal security or, “once saved, always saved.”
I once discussed this doctrine with a minister who taught eternal security. I asked him, “If Adolf Hitler received Christ, let’s say at the tender age of ten years old, and he was truly born again, but later backslid and caused World War Two which killed fifty-three million people, gassed six million Jews, then leveled Europe to rubble. Would he be saved?”
Without hesitation his reply was, “Absolutely yes!”
Are you serious? How can that be? This doctrine is not grace, it’s ludicrous nonsense. It’s pathetic psycho-babble and not based on the reality of God’s Word.
If you knowingly do that which is contrary to the word of God, it is as if you are standing in the presence of God, face to face, and telling him he sucks and his rules suck. And why doesn’t he just leave you alone and let you do what you want because you know he will never ultimately reject you. Right?
And at the end of your life, his grace will overlook all your luke-warmness and cheekiness and rebellion anyway…right?
No, wrong again!
If you believe this lie and are too naïve to see it any other way, then have it your way. Be my guest. But in the end, on judgment day, we will find out which viewpoint is correct. Do you really want to take that chance?
In the meantime, those of us who walk by faith and common sense will play it safe by hearing the word of God and do it.
Listen to these verses:
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: James 1:22-23
And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. Matthew 7:26-27
Also, let’s not forget the fate of the disobedient.
For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance (is denied entrance) in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Ephesians 5:5-6
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: Colossians 3:5-6
Which part of WRATH don’t you understand?
It appears the wrath of God is for those that do not know God and are rebellious and disobedient. But what if you profess to be a Christian but continue down the same path as the disobedient? Wouldn’t that classify you as disobedient?
What makes us think we can do the same things as the disobedient but expect different results?
But for those that love God and are sober and watching, they will avoid judgment and obtain mercy:
But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. 1 Thess. 5:8-10
I will re-iterate an all-important point: To walk with God is a process and takes time and a daily fellowship with Him. You WERE disobedient, but NOW, you are sober and a watchful child of God.
To Keep One’s Standing
But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Romans 14:10
Whether we like it or not, we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ where we must give an account for our lives.
What makes some Christians think they have no moral obligations or duty to serve our Lord? What makes us think we can get away with murder, so to speak? The reality is we cannot because God is no respecter of persons.
I am saying this, not to frighten you, but to inform you of the reality of God’s Word. On the day you die physically you will leave your body behind, and judgment will begin. One day, he will judge you faithfully, accurately, and justly.
This does not mean that God weighs you in the balance to see if your good deeds out-weigh the bad.
That is wrong-headed and is bad religious thinking because grace saves us through faith. Along with the gift of eternal life, we live as if it was our last day on earth, ever ready, anticipating our face to face meeting with the living God.
Our salvation is secure. We have received Christ as our one and only Savior, and we conscientiously walk with our God. When we do wrong, we quickly confess it as sin and repent.
We need to take our Christian lives and eternal life seriously.
“As serious as a heart attack,” as I heard one person say it.
To sum up, we are here on earth temporarily, as sojourners. Therefore, no one will get out of this world alive. We then depart to the glorious reality known as the Kingdom of God, and it is eternal.
Why then do we cling so tightly to the temporary?
The simple answer is, the fear of the unknown. Because this world is all we have ever known, we have nothing to compare it to. We do not want to leave it and die.
Perhaps you have heard the one-line joke:
“I am not afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”
We ought to take a stand against anything and everything that would stop us from moving forward on the path to the eternal kingdom of life. That includes:
The world, the flesh, and the devil who is by the way, a big dope!