Title: Two Kingdoms at War

Text: Colossians 1:11-20

During World War I, on the morning of March 18, 1915, Admiral de Robeck led an allied naval force through the Dardanelles straits.

The Dardenalles straits is a narrow 1-4 mile wide, 40 mile long body of water, which connects the Black Sea to the Aegean and Mediterranean seas.

The plan, which is widely credited to a young Winston Churchill, was for the armada to blast its way through the Dardanelles straits... and destroy the big guns at the Turkish forts.

http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/overview_gf.htm

Then, anchoring in the shadow of Constantinople, its sheer presence would lead to revolution in Turkey and cow the Turkish government into surrender.

At 10:30 a.m., the first ships penetrated the Dardanelles straits.

Immediately, the French battleship Bouvet struck a mine and sank.

The Allies began pounding the shore batteries and the Turks returned fire.

Then mines also struck and damaged the British battle cruisers HMS Inflexible and HMS Irresistible.

After Losing three ships and failing to destroy the Turkish shore batteries, at 5:00 that night, Admiral de Robeck gave up and ordered a retreat.

What he didn't know was that the Turks had just run out of ammunition and they were preparing to surrender.

(Full Article: Source Unknown)

They should not have given up.

Years later Winston Churchill would become famous for saying,

"Never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.'"

http://www.winstonchurchill.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=435

We too are in a war, a war between two kingdoms:

The kingdom of God.

And what Colossians 1:13 calls, the "dominion of darkness."

This is not a battle of nations.

It’s a spiritual battle, a battle of God and his faithful people against Satan.

 

Jesus is the King of the Kingdom of God:

God’s Word tells us in Exodus 15:

3The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name.

18The LORD will reign for ever and ever."

Exodus 15:3 & 18 (NIV)

Revelation chapter 19 declares Jesus as:

16...KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

Revelation 19:16 (NIV)

In Isaiah chapter nine, God’s Word foretold the first coming of King Jesus. It says:

6For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7Of the increase of his government and peace

there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness

from that time on and forever...

Isaiah 9:6-7 (NIV)

Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords. He will reign for ever and ever.

Jesus came into this world:

1. To cleanse us of our sins and give us eternal life.

2. To defeat His enemy, Satan.

King Jesus defeated Satan through his death on the cross.

The first messianic prophesy in the Bible clearly proclaims Jesus’ defeat of Satan. It’s found in Genesis 3:15. God said to Satan:

15And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

Genesis 3:15 (NIV)

Throughout history there has been hostility between Satan and God’s people. He has influenced murder, theft, perversion, oppression, rebellion against God.

A descendent of Eve – Jesus – was born. Satan struck him. He wounded him on the cross. He orchestrated his death.

Yet, through his death and resurrection, Jesus crushed Satan’s head, He soundly defeated him.

As Colossians 2:15 says,

15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he [Jesus] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Colossians 2:15 (NIV)

In ancient times, when a king defeated another kingdom, he would make " a public spectacle" of the defeated king.

He would disarm him, strip him of his kingly robes, and sometimes put out his eyes and break his teeth.

Then he would march the defeated king through the streets to make "a public spectacle of" him.

That is exactly what Jesus did to Satan through His death and resurrection.

Satan is a defeated foe.

Even though Satan is defeated, until Jesus’ Second Coming, Satan continues to ruler over the Dominion of Darkness.

He reigns not through right or power, but through deception, accusations, and lies.

First Peter chapter five reminds us:

8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, standing firm in the faith...

1 Peter 5:8-9 (NIV)

Satan is a roaring lion:

One who growls subtle temptations.

One who roars believable lies.

One who lunges at you from the darkness.

He tries to manipulate and terrify you.

This roaring lion is huge and fearful.

But this roaring lion has all his teeth kicked out through the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus.

This roaring lion is chained and cannot reach those who "stand firm in the faith," those who "resist him."

As Saint Augustine of Hippo once said,

"The devil is like a mad dog that is chained up. He is powerless to harm us when we are outside his reach, but once we enter his circle we expose ourselves again to injury or harm."

Aurelius Augustine, Leadership, Vol. 9, no. 2.

Satan tempts Christians to:

1. Ignore his kingdom; to ignore the dominion of darkness, to pretend it doesn’t exist.

2. To give up or give in.

As Churchill learned at the Dardanelles straits:

We must never give in.

We must never give up.

The truth is, "when you are doing the Lord's work, you will encounter opposition."

As World War II bombers found:

"If you’re not getting flack, you’re not over the target."

 

If Jesus is your King.

If you have sworn fealty to Him as your Lord and Master.

Then you are in the Lord’s army.

Not a army with guns and bombs, with the intention of harming others.

But an army with spiritual weapons, with the intention of defeating Satan.

Often people totally misunderstand the song, "Onward Christian Soldier."

They think it’s about our American military and defeating non-Christian nations. Nothing could be further from the truth.

It’s about Christians who are prayer warriors for Jesus.

Several years ago I saw a comic in the magazine Christianity Today (1999):

It showed a priest who looked angry at a parishioner who had obviously just changed the name of the morning hymn on their hymn board.

The priest had changed the name back and the parishioner was questioning his decision.

In response the priest said,

"Because ‘Onward Christian Conscientious Objectors’ doesn’t fit, that’s why."

As servants of the King of kings, as prayer warriors, we cannot be "conscientious objectors." We cannot avoid spiritual warfare.

As John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, once said,

"Satan trembles when he sees The weakest saint upon his knees."

Hymnwriters William Cowper and John Newton. Leadership, Vol. 16, no. 1.

In Bishop Festo Festo Kivengere’s book Revolutionary Love, he told the story of Anglican Archbishop Janani Luwum’s martyrdom in Uganda:

In 1977, the bloody dictator, Idi Amin had accused him of hiding weapons for an armed rebellion against him.

He had no guns or grenades.

His weapons were the Bible, prayer, and love.

On February 14, 1977, Idi Amin went into a fit of rage and right there in his presidential office, he pulled out his pistol and shot the archbishop to death.

In the end, the archbishop’s weapons proved more powerful than Idi Amin’s.

Within two years, Amin was overthrown and fled to Saudi Arabia in exile.

His bloody satanic rule was over.

The Church of Uganda flourished, even during their persecution.

During Idi Amin’s reign of terror, Christians increased from 52% of the population to 70%.

Today 86% of the population is Christian.

(Revolutionary Love by Festo Kivengere 77-78)

http://www.ird-renew.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=fvKVLfMVIsG&b=401661&ct=3950911

Here in Memphis, we cannot escape the spiritual battle:

It’s in our schools.

It’s on the airwaves.

It’s on the Internet.

It’s in our homes.

It’s even in our churches.

We must remember who our real enemy is:

It’s not the school board or the teachers.

It’s not actors or reporters.

It’s not our spouses, our children, or our parents.

It’s not your fellow parishioners.

 

Like it or not, know it or not, a spiritual battle is raging all around us.

Two kingdoms are at war:

The kingdom of God.

And the dominion of darkness.

 

As Martin Luther’s powerful hymn – A Mighty Fortress is Our God – so accurately declares:

1. A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;

our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills prevaling.

For still our ancient foe [Satan] doth seek to work us woe;

his craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate,

on earth is not his equal.

2. Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing,

were not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing.

Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is he;

Lord Sabbaoth, his name, from age to age the same,

and he must win the battle.

3. And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,

we will not fear, for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us.

The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;

his rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure;

one little word shall fell him.

4. That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;

the Spirit and the gifts are ours, thru him who with us sideth.

Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;

the body they may kill; God's truth abideth still;

his kingdom is forever.

http://www.hymnsite.com/ Text: Martin Luther Trans. by Frederick H. Hedge
Music: Martin Luther Harmony from The New Hymnal for American Youth

You might ask,

"How do I fight this spiritual battle?"

"What are my weapons?"

According to 2 Corinthians chapter 10,

3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. ⁴The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
2 Corinthians 10:3-4 (NIV)

Five of the weapons God has given us to defeat Satan are:

The Word of God.

Prayer

The blood of Jesus

Your testimony

Your being faithful even unto death.

 

Ephesians chapter six describes the Word of God as the sword of the Spirit, our primary offensive weapon against the wiles of the devil.

Jesus used God’s Word to defeat Satan’s temptations in the Wilderness.

2 Corinthians chapter 10 goes on to say,

5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (NIV)

When Satan attacks us with thoughts contrary to God’s Word, "we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

We are able to distinguish good from evil, sin from holiness by the Word of God we have hid in our hearts.

Your second weapon is prayer.

E. M. Bounds once said,

"Prayer is not preparation for the battle. Prayer is the battle."

 

Your third weapon is the blood of Jesus.

Revelation 12:11 says,

11They overcame [Satan]...by the blood of the Lamb...

Revelation 12:11 (NIV)

A man by the name of Kaezad was returning to his south Asian country.

He saw a man wearing pagan religious robes running toward him and holding an object used for casting magical spells. He was about to launch a spiritual attack against Kaezad.

Kaezed said, "Immediately anger rose up within me, not toward the man, because he needed salvation, but anger toward the devil."

Kaezad shouted, "The blood of Jesus! The blood of Jesus!"

Immediately, the man fell down weeping and apologizing.

Satan had been defeated by the blood of Jesus.

(The Servant Who Rules by Ray Stedman)

Your fourth weapon is your testimony.

Revelation 12:11 says,

11They overcame [Satan]...by the word of their testimony;

Revelation 12:11 (NIV)

People can argue with you knowledge of Scripture.

They can argue with your theological beliefs.

They cannot argue with your personal experience with Jesus.

Your fifth weapon is to be faithful to Jesus, even unto death.

Revelation 12:11 says that as they overcame Satan,

11...they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

Revelation 12:11 (NIV)

In the original Greek language of the Bible, the word "witness" is "martus"

(mar'-toos), also meaning martyr.

To be a witness for Jesus is to be willing to be a martyr, to be faithful even to death.

As you love Jesus more than your life, Satan will tremble, strongholds will fall.

Two kingdoms are at war.

Let us side with Jesus.

Let us defeat our ancient foe.