In a world full of broken dreams Where the truth is hard to find For every promise that is kept There are many left behind Though it seems that nobody cares There is much that you can do Cause there's a difference you can make But the choice is up to you Will you be the one to answer to his call? And will you stand when laws around you fall? Will you be the one to take his life And go with the other in the world? Will you be the one? Tell me will you be the one?
Though sometimes it's so hard to know Who is right and what is wrong Where are you supposed to stand When the battle lines are drawn? There's a voice that keeps calling out Someone who's not afraid Take a stand into the night Where a world has lost its way Will you be the one to answer to his call? And will you stand when laws around you fall? Will you be the one to take his life And go a darkened world?
Tell me will you be the one? There are battles that we must fight from day to day But the Lord provides the power For us to stand and stay Yet I'll be the one to answer to his call And I will stand when laws around me fall I will be the one to take his life And go a darkened world Will you be the one? Yes I'll be the one Thank you Mike, thank you to all of our musicians who have led us this morning so powerfully in our worship time.
I want to remind you that this evening we have a very special service at our church. We have a guest from out of town, Dr. Neil Anderson, a man that God is greatly using across our country today and helping people to understand and to enter into their freedom in Christ is going to be our guest at 6 o'clock tonight. I urge all of you to be back and to bring someone along with you. How many of you have read one of Dr. Anderson's books and or been to one of his seminars?
Would you lift your hand? Okay, that's probably 50 people in here. We carry them in our bookstore, we use them in our discipling and our instruction here because of the way that they help us to understand our position in Jesus Christ. And I'm very excited about him being here on our 13th anniversary and it's a great way for us to celebrate together and having him minister to our congregation. He is in town for a conference later this week.
There's a flyer in your bulletin about that this morning. And if you're free to be able to go to one or two of these public meetings later in the week, I would encourage you to take advantage of hearing him again. Nothing more important is happening in the Twin Cities today than that which is happening in the churches of Jesus Christ where he is being exalted and his word is being proclaimed.
There may be events that are more noted on the news or which have even larger crowds, but what's happening in the churches is eternally important because you see eternities hang in the balance. Destinies of people are being determined throughout the Twin Cities this morning in the churches. Lives are being changed. Homes are being brought back together. People are turning from the light to the light from the darkness and to God from Satan.
Nothing more important happening in all of the Twin Cities today than that which is happening where the churches of Jesus Christ are gathering. Grace Church Roosevelt has sought for the last 13 years to be the kind of a church where the work of advancing the gospel is the primary priority. There are a number of things we want to do, but the primary priority is advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ. There's really no other agenda for God's work, it seems to me.
May it always be our first priority to see that people are one to faith in Christ and then nurtured or discipled in the faith of the Lord. One thing we can say about God's work is that it is a supernatural work. It is a supernatural work. Open your Bible to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and you'll understand at least part of the reason why it is a supernatural work. What I'm saying is that we can't do God's work in our own strength, in our own wisdom, in our own power.
It requires something beyond human strength and power and wisdom. It's supernatural. In verse 3 it says, And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord. You see, we are being opposed by a supernatural enemy.
Not only are we working with the hearts of people that are sinners, and therefore their hearts are deadened and darkened, but there is a supernatural blindness that is cast upon those perishing, that they might not be able to see the light that is in Jesus Christ. It is only the supernatural power of God who created the light in the beginning, who can cause the light to shine into their eyes, so that that darkness is dispelled and they're able to see.
Back in chapter 2 of this same book, the apostle Paul says in verse 14, Thanks be to God. It is a supernatural ministry, but God enables us. He says, Thanks be to God, who always leads us in his triumph in Christ. We are not battling an enemy who is going to win. He thinks he is, but he cannot because his victory has already been accomplished at the cross.
He's already defeated. Jesus Christ is already leading his triumph march, like the Roman generals of old, who after their military victories would lead their soldiers into the capital city with great pomp and circumstance, and back at the end of the line would be the prisoners of war that were taken. And part of the celebration was the offering up of incense to the gods of Rome and in honor of the conquering general.
It was called a triumph march. Paul uses that picture and he applies it to Jesus Christ. He says, He is our general and we are following him in his triumph march. He says, And he manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one an aroma from death to death and to the other an aroma from life to life.
You see, when the conquering soldiers smelled that incense in the triumph march, to them it was a wonderful thing. Because it symbolized to them that they were the conquerors, they had triumph, they were the victors, and to them belonged the spoils, but to the people at the end of the line in chains. When they smelled the incense, they knew it was defeat. They knew it was death. They knew they were going to be killed. And so it is when believers live in the world, we are a fragrance to God.
And to those who trust Christ and are being saved, we are the fragrance of life. But to those who are perishing, says Paul, the fragrance of our lives smells like death to them. And then he responds by saying, And who is adequate for these things? With that kind of pressure on you, with that kind of responsibility in the world, he says, Who is sufficient for these things? Well, in this whole book he talks about the fact that God makes us sufficient in this supernatural ministry.
But back in chapter 1 in verse 18, he says, God is faithful. Who is sufficient for these things, for the ministry that causes us to battle against supernatural foes and causes our very lives to be a fragrance to God that means salvation to some and death to others? Who is sufficient? Well, only God can make us sufficient. He says, God is faithful. And that's the theme I want to think about this morning.
We have this assurance as we stand on the verge of another year of ministry as Grace Church Roosevelt. The assurance is that God is faithful. God is faithful. He has proven it in the past, and he has pledged it in his Word. Turn back with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, where we're going to pick up this theme of the faithfulness of God and see several of the ways in which God has pledged himself to be faithful.
1 Corinthians chapter 1, beginning in verse 4, I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift.
Awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. God is faithful. In the first place, he is faithful in the church's provision. In verses 4 through 7, he tells the Corinthians that God has given them everything they need to serve him.
He says, you have been enriched by God in all of the spiritual gifts that you need to fulfill the supernatural ministry God has called you to as part of his kingdom. You don't lack anything that you need. God is faithful to you in the provision you need for ministry. That's good for us to know too.
We as a church, 2,000 years later, or something like the Corinthian church, not in a bad way I hope, but in this way, that we too are not left to our own natural talents or abilities in serving God, but like them and like the people of God through the ages, we have been endowed by the Holy Spirit with spiritual gifts that when developed and under his control can accomplish the supernatural ministry of God.
These gifts enable us to accomplish a permanent work in building the church, in advancing the gospel. So we dare not serve our God merely in our own wisdom and our own skills, although God is pleased to use the total us, but we want to serve him according to the giftedness that he's given us. God is faithful in giving us the gifts that we need. In this congregation, every Christian has spiritual gifts given by the Holy Spirit.
These gifts, when developed and used in the power of the Holy Spirit, will do unbelievably good things in the work of Jesus Christ in this congregation. God is faithful in his provision to us. Of course, our job is to find out what the gifts are that God's given us and to employ those and to serve God in his strength in the church. And then in verses 7 and 8 we see a second way in which God is faithful. God is faithful in the church's prospect.
Although we are living in a world that is growing more and more hostile to the values of the Bible and to the presence of the true church and to the preaching of the gospel, although we live in a world where persecution is now taking place in our nation, although we are living in a world where persecution is going to become more severe, perhaps soon, we do not fear. We do not lose hope because God is faithful in our prospect. Because our prospect is the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It says we are awaiting eagerly his appearance. That appearance will take place, he says, in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is in the rapture, when Jesus comes for us. We today are looking for the return of the Lord Jesus. We are looking for him to come and to take us to our heavenly home, to deliver us from this world of ungodliness, which is under the judgment of God. We are looking for him to come and God is faithful in this prospect. He will bring his son.
There is nothing that anyone can do to keep the prophecies of the Word of God from coming to pass. Should men try to build a scheme to prevent the coming of Christ, they would only fall right into God's plan. They cannot stop it. God's purposes will be accomplished. Jesus will return. Our prospect will be fulfilled. God is faithful. Now, I don't know if that's going to be this morning, or if it's going to be this fall, or next year, or a hundred years from now.
I don't know when it's going to be, but I know this, that Jesus Christ is coming again. That is our prospect. That is our blessed hope, his glorious appearing. And God is faithful. He is going to send his son at just the right moment. There's a third way in which God is faithful to the church. We see this in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 13. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man.
And God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it. The people of Israel were under pressure in the wilderness. They were in a period of trial and testing, when God was seeing what their faith really was. Now Satan, as he always does, tempted them in that time of trial to turn away from God and to follow idols. And they did. They did.
And the Apostle Paul in this chapter recounts for us just a few of the lowlights, shall we say, not highlights, the lowlights of Israel's failure in the time of trial. And he tells us not once but twice, these things happened to them for your example, that you might learn from them. Never has the church been more in danger of idolatry than today.
Never has the culture of the world been so enticing and alluring to the church to leave the worship of Christ and obedience to God and to follow idols as today. Because you see, the idolatry of our day and our culture is not of wood or metal idols. It's the idolatry of self. And so we worship ourselves and we give ourselves priority before God or His church or His Word. We are our own gods. That is the same kind of idolatry that Satan gave into when he was cast out of heaven.
It is the same kind of idolatry he brought to Eve and to Adam in the garden to worship oneself. You'll be like God. Never have we as the church of Jesus Christ been more in danger of idolatry than today. That's why this verse is good. Because what it tells us is that God is faithful. The kinds of trials that we're in today are like the trials, at least in character, which Christians have faced through the ages, to turn away from God.
But he says God is faithful and he is not going to allow those trials to become more severe than we can deal with. He is going to make the way to escape those trials. That means the way to be able to pass through them so that we stand and we don't give in to the temptation of idolatry, to turn away from God. God's faithful. God is faithful and the church's purity is my point. He is faithful to provide a way of escape. You know that's true in your personal trials today.
Whatever you're passing through, God is faithful not to allow that trial to overwhelm you. Now the response is, the key rather, is our response. You see, we can get into a trial and although God is carefully measuring it, we can just give up. We can fail to believe God, we can fail to be obedient to God, and the result is that we give in to Satan's temptation in the trial and we flunk out.
But he says God nonetheless is faithful to us. He will carefully measure our trials so that if we will believe God and obey God, we will not be overcome by the trial, but we will pass through it victoriously. God is faithful. And his intent is that we be a pure church, that we be pure people and not give in to idolatry. But follow him and him alone. There's a fourth way in which God is faithful to his church. We go back now to 2 Corinthians chapter 1.
Verse 18 I've read, God is faithful. In verse 20 he says, as many as may be the promises of God in him, in Christ, they are yes. Wherefore also by him is our amen to the glory of God through us. God is faithful in the church's promises. All of those promises of the word of God that are rightfully the church's have been affirmed by Jesus Christ.
The promise of salvation, of freedom, of forgiveness, the promise related to our future, of God's presence with us now, of his power in our lives, his protection over us, all of those promises have been affirmed by Jesus Christ. And we respond by saying, amen, I claim that. God is faithful in our promises. He does not vacillate. With God there is no yes or no well maybe. When God says yes, he means yes. And in all of his promises to you and to me, God has said yes, I give you this in Christ.
And our response to that is, Lord, amen. I take that promise, I appropriate that promise for myself, for my family, for my church. We need to live in the light of God's promises. God is faithful in the church's promises. One other place where we find the faithfulness of God explicitly stated that I want to look at this morning is in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. In the third verse where the apostle says, but the Lord is faithful and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.
Of course we have believed in the devil, we believe the Bible. Of course we assume that the devil is real because the Bible is true. But somehow that theology has often escaped our daily lives and our practice. We've said we've believed it, but we haven't faced it, we haven't lived it, we haven't utilized our spiritual weapons in the warfare. And so it's a theoretical battle, not a real one.
The problem with that is that if we don't see the reality of it, we're already defeated because it's real. What he says here is, the Lord is faithful, he will protect you from the evil one. God's faithfulness protects his own. There is no evil that can be done except as God for his own purpose and his own glory might permit that evil to be done. We are protected by God. The word here means a military guard against violence.
One of the names of God that has become precious to me in the last year or so is the name the Lord of Hosts, which means the Lord of the armies. He is talking about the armies of angels that are at the disposal of God and whom he sends forth to minister to those who shall be the heirs of salvation. You and I need not fear the evil one, and we don't.
I think it's probably appropriate to say to you as a larger church body, as I have said to our Sunday night prayer group, that we have been in an intense battle spiritually as a church against the forces of darkness. And since Halloween Sunday, we've had Satanists visiting in our services. They may be here this morning. I haven't had a chance to look yet. Some of them we recognize.
They have come in order to bring division and confusion and destruction to our church, but they've also come to intimidate one of their coven members who has come to faith in Jesus Christ and to whom we've been ministering and who has found wonderful freedom in Christ. I've shared a little of this with you last December when she shared her testimony here. I want you to know if you're here today as one of the followers of the evil one, that we are not afraid of your master.
We intend to be vigilant and sober because he is like a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour, and we recognize that if we are careless in this spiritual warfare, we leave ourselves vulnerable. But I want you to know that we are not afraid. And our prayer for you is that you will come to faith in Jesus Christ.
Our prayer for you is that your ears will be opened and your eyes will be opened, that you may see the glory of God in Jesus Christ and repent of your sin and follow the true God. We as a church must be vigilant and on guard, but let's remember this. God is faithful, and he will protect us from the evil one. This is not theory, folks. This is truth. And God today is protecting this church.
Some of us met for prayer this morning as we do every Sunday morning, and I believe with all of my heart that there are angels and perimeter around this building. They are present here in this service this morning, and they are holding in check the evil one and what he might like to do. We don't have to be afraid of the devil.
This whole matter of spiritual warfare is crucial for us to understand, and that's one reason I want to encourage you to be back tonight, because you'll be hearing some things that will help you to begin to understand if you don't understand it. And there's training you can take so that you can be a spiritual warrior for Christ. Jesus Christ is faithful to his church. How can we be anything less? How dare we be anything less than seek to be faithful to him.
To the suffering church in Smyrna, Jesus said, I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich. He reminds them. And the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, he says, that you may be tested. And you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
And so our Lord tells us, be faithful, even if it's unto death, be faithful, and we'll receive from him the reward. What an appropriate time for us to come to the Lord's table as we close the service and to be open before God and allow him to examine our hearts so that we may confess unfaithfulness, repent of it, and give ourselves afresh to him this morning to be faithful. Let's pray. And now, fathers, we gather around this table.
I pray that you, by the Holy Spirit, will minister to our hearts. In your faithfulness to us, show us where we have been idolaters, where our priorities have been wrong, where we have given in to sin. We would repent of that, that we might partake of these elements in obedience. And so we pray that you will bless us as we partake of this bread and drink this cup. We confess our sins to you, even as we bless you for your faithfulness. Because if we confess our sins, you're faithful.
And just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Amen.