No Escape from Tension/Conflict #2

Introduction: The Inevitability of Tension and Conflict in the Christian Life

0:03 The following message was delivered on Sunday evening, October 11, 1992, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now let us again ask the Lord's blessing upon the ministry of His Holy Word.

0:23 Our Father, we confess that it has been good for our souls to reflect in our hymns tonight on the great realities of the age to come. And we thank you that as surely as we sit in this place and breathe in the air that sustains our present life, that an hour is certainly coming in human history when our Lord Jesus will break through the clouds in power and glory with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God. And we thank you that the last enemy shall then indeed be destroyed and that the last enemy shall then indeed be destroyed And we thank you that the last enemy shall then indeed be destroyed and all of the redeemed of all ages shall be called out of their graves and reunited to their perfected spirits shall forever be with our Lord Jesus in the new heavens and in the new earth. And we pray that as again tonight we contemplate what it is for us to live to His praise, to live according to His word in this overlapping of the ages, and we have known something of the down payment of the glory to come, and yet the best yet awaits us. O Lord, may we not be deceived by false teaching on the Christian life,

1:48 but may we be instructed by the word and the spirit that we may walk surely because we walk biblically. Teach us then by the Holy Spirit, we pray, and visit our needy and waiting, our waiting hearts with encouragement, with light, with rebuke, whatever we need, Lord, give it to us, we pray, for our good and for Your glory. Amen. Now for those who were not with us in our morning worship hour, our study in the word of God this evening is really the continuation and completion of that which was begun this morning in our regular morning exposition. We have been considering for a little over a year now a series of studies entitled A Manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church, a series of studies in which I have been attempting to state in terms of focused propositions those biblical truths which have formed the very heart and soul of our life together as a congregation and which, by the grace of God, will come to us in the coming days. Amen. Amen.

3:07 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:07 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:07 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:07 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:08 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:08 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:10 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:11 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:11 Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:18 Amen. Amen. Amen. We are presently engaged in a study of the ninth of these affirmations which I have stated as follows, that we are determined to maintain a balanced New Testament perspective in our teaching and expectations concerning conversion.

3:37 conversion, the Christian life, and the mission of the church. And the present focus of our study is the second of those three things, namely a balanced New Testament perspective in our teaching and expectations concerning the doctrine of the Christian life. And we're opening up some of the major lines of that doctrine in terms of principles which, if grasped, and which, if we are indeed convinced they are biblical, hopefully will form the major building blocks of a biblical theology of the Christian life and will, under God, immunize us against so many prevalent errors. The first principle which we studied last Lord's Day is that there is, no, no one master key to living the Christian life with success and vigor. The second principle we began to consider this morning. There is no escape from tension and conflict in living the Christian life.

4:53 And after giving an explanation of that assertion, I then began to set forth a demonstration of the biblical basis of the Christian life. And I likened that assertion, and I likened that biblical basis to four strands which, woven together, form a strong cable which I trust will anchor us to the overarching teaching of the Word of God. Why is it that there is no escape from tension and conflict in the Christian life? Well, we considered the first two of those strands, this morning.

The Third Strand: The Presence and Activity of the Devil and Host of Darkness

5:35 First, the reality and activity of indwelling sin make tension and conflict inevitable. Secondly, the presence and activity of a hostile world make tension and conflict inevitable. Now we move on to consider the final two strands tonight. The third is this.

6:01 The presence and activity of sin and conflict make tension and conflict inevitable. The presence and activity of the devil and the host of darkness make conflict and tension inevitable. There can be no release from tension and conflict in the Christian life in this world because the presence and activity of the devil and the host of darkness make conflict and tension inevitable. In our unconverted state, in addition to being under the dominion of sin and under the control of this world system, according to the Scriptures, we were also the blinded captives, the willing bond slaves, and the spiritual sons of the devil. Now that is not a very flattering description. Now that is not a very flattering description. know. But it is the clear and unmistakable teaching of the Word of God, that by nature

7:13 every man, woman, boy, or girl in this place was, and some of you may yet be, the blinded captives, the willing bond slaves, and the spiritual sons of the devil. And what Scriptures teach us? That reality? Well, in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 4, the Apostle is explaining why it is that though he preaches plainly the doctrine of Christ crucified, and salvation to be found only in the person and work of the Lord Jesus, yet for many the gospel is a veiled reality. Veiled? Veiled? Not because the Apostle hides it behind lofty philosophic terms, not because he treats it as some under-the-cover product only to be shown to the initiate who know the special password to say in order to have it laid out before them. In the previous verse

8:23 in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, he says that he and his companions did not handle the Word of God. He did not handle it conceitfully, but by the manifestation of the truth, commending themselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. But he recognized in verse 3 that that did not make the gospel plain to all men. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord. You see, there is no defect in the preaching. There is a full manifestation of the truth of God. Furthermore, Paul says that preaching, that display, that preaching, that

9:31 manifestation of the truth, comes from a vessel that is a true vessel. He says we commend ourselves to every man's conscience. People are not turned off from my gospel, Paul says, because they can point to my shoddy life and say, ah, phooey on your gospel. If it does no more for a man than it does for you, I don't want to hear it. He said, no. If our gospel is veiled, it's not veiled because we preach it out of the context of the gospel. It is the context of an inconsistent and hypocritical life. If it's veiled, it's not veiled because we do not fully display the truth. We do preach Christ. We do make a full manifestation of the truth. Why then do people not believe? When we hold forth the offer of a glorious Savior who is God in man, who fulfilled all righteousness for sinners, who died under the wrath of God on behalf of the world, we do not fully display the truth. We do not sinners and tell men all they need do is throw themselves upon the Savior and He is theirs and they are His. Why do they not see it? Why do they not believe? The answer

10:45 is this. The God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving. So blinded that, that though Christ is preached as though the sun were shining in its new light, the moon day seemeth with its bright and burning lights coming down upon the souls of men, there is no response for their spiritual optic nerves are dead, seared and cauterized by the God of this world. You see, to Paul, the devil was not again an abstract theological concept, let alone some meaty evil nonsense. He was a real spiritual being with power to sever the spiritual optic nerves of men so that no matter how clearly and passionately Christ was preached, they would not believe. Why? Because they saw none of His glory and none of His beauty. And that's your state

11:54 and my state by nature. The blinded captives of the devil. The blinded captives of the devil. But also his willing bond-slaves, for we read in 2 Timothy 2 this description of those who are under the influence of the devil.

12:21 Paul is writing to his spiritual son, Tinnitus, and among the many instructions he's giving him, he's exhorting him not to become combative and argumentative in his ministry. Not to become a verbal pugilist. In the work of the gospel, but rather 2 Timothy 2.24, the Lord's servant must not strive, but be gentle toward all, apt to teach, forbearing, in meekness correcting them that oppose themselves, if peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth, that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him unto his will. That's a horrible picture of what men are left to themselves. They have been ensnared by the devil, taken captive and carried away to do his will. Well, lest you think, it's the picture of the captive struggling and fighting against his captors and doing his best to escape.

13:40 I say they are not only blinded and captives, but I said his willing slaves and sons. For when we turn to John 8.44, Jesus clearly teaches that there is a voluntary cooperation between the will, the will of the sinner, and the will of his master, the devil. John 8.44, speaking to the spiritual leaders in Israel, who were yet unbelieving and impenitent, John 8.44, ye are of your father, the devil, and the lust, the desires of your father, it is your will, and the lust of your father, and the lust of your father. It is your will that you are made to do. Here is not the picture of someone who is made a slave against his will, and who continually fights against the master who holds him in bondage against his will.

14:47 But here is the picture of one who is blinded by the God of this world, sees no beauty and worthiness in Christ, is taken captive by the devil, and loves his captor, and loves his captor, and willfully, volitionally, chooses to do the will of the one who is not only his master, but who is his spiritual progeny, his spiritual father, the one who is doing the lusts of his father, the devil. No wonder, then, when the apostle says, Paul was commissioned, and we find that commission recorded in several places in the book of Acts, I refer now to Acts 26, that the Lord Jesus said, Paul, as I send you out to preach, here is something of the magnitude of your task, as you go forth to be a minister and a witness, verse 16, of the things that I have already revealed to you, and the things that I shall yet reveal to you, and the things that I shall yet reveal to you, and the things that I shall yet reveal to you, and the things that I shall yet reveal to you, I will deliver you from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom I send you, and this is your task, to open their eyes.

16:16 Paul, they are blind! Their eyes must be opened, that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive, remission of sins. He is telling his servant Paul that he is going out to a world filled with Jew and Gentiles, who both, in spite of their many differences, and the tremendous difference of privilege and light and opportunity, are all without exception spiritually blind, and under the power, the authority of the devil himself. No wonder John said as he did in 1 John 5 and verse 19 these very pregnant words, We know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in the evil one. It's the picture of the world being a Samson with its head resting upon the lap of its Delilah. And if the world is sinning, it's the picture of the world being a Samson with its head resting upon the lap of its Delilah.

Conversion: Delivered from Satan's Power, Marked as His Adversary

17:36 The Samson, Delilah is the devil and the whole world lies in the lap of the evil one. Now dear people, very few in our day take this stuff seriously, but this is clear explicit biblical teaching, that in our unconverted state, in addition to being under sin's dominion, and under the control of this world's system, we are the blinded, captives, slaves, and sons of the devil. But blessed be God in our conversion, we are delivered from the power of the devil. We are delivered from the blinding power of the devil. 2 Corinthians 4, 6 says, The God who commanded light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts and has given us spiritual sight to behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And when the human heart beholds the glory of God reflected in the face of Christ, then it turns from its wretched subjugation to the devil and to sin and to self and is taken up with the wonder and the glory and the worthiness of Christ regarding Him worthy of being trusted

19:03 and owned as Master as Sovereign, as Lord, as well as Savior. And when that happens, the Scripture tells us in the language of Colossians 1, 13, we are delivered out of the kingdom of darkness. We are brought out from underneath His government, His rule, His power to blind and to bind and take us captive unto His will. We are delivered out of the kingdom of darkness.

19:36 And brought into the kingdom of God's dear Son. But now, how does our former Master regard that transition of every true Christian from the realm of his slavery to joyful, bond service to Christ? Does he regard it with indifference? Does he regard it with neutrality?

20:04 Does he regard it with some measure? Does he regard it with some measure of irritation? Or does he regard it with fiendish hatred and diabolical determination to do all within His power with all of the minions of hell cooperating to drag us back into His service, which is it? Well, if you know your Bibles, you know it is the latter.

20:32 The Bible makes it very clear that though the devil has lost us as his sons, and we are now sons and daughters of the Almighty, though he has lost us as his slaves, and we are now the bond slaves of Christ, though he has lost his power to blind us to the glory of God in the face of Christ, he is determined with fiendish zeal to drag us back, to render us ineffective and unconvincing, as the people of the world. He is determined with fiendish zeal to drag us back, to render us ineffective and unconvincing, as the people of the world. As monuments of the liberating, illuminating, gracious power of Jesus Christ.

The Devil as a Roaring Lion: Be Sober and Watchful (1 Peter 5:8-9)

21:20 Now, is that just a bunch of preacher's blow? No, my friends. That's an attempt to put into human language what these texts clearly teach. 1 Peter 5, verses 8 and 9.

21:34 Why can there be no cessation of conflict and tension? Because of the presence and activity of the devil and the hosts of darkness. Peter, writing to suffering saints, says to them in 1 Peter 5, verses 8 and 9, Be sober. Have all of your wits about you.

22:05 Be in the realm of spiritual things what a man is in the realm of the physical, who will allow no alcohol to go to his brain and dull his faculties, but keeps sober. Be watchful, a military term. Be like the sentinel who sits at his post and strains his squinted eyes with his dilated pupils, piercing into the darkness, looking for the slightest movement that might indicate the presence of an enemy. Strain your ears to hear the cracking of a torch, the twig, the rustling of any grass, the snapping of a leaf or a twig upon a tree.

22:48 Be watchful. That's the imagery. Be sober, fully awake, watchful, intensely alert. Why?

22:55 Your adversary, the devil.

23:00 You say, but wait a minute. I never declared war on him. You don't need to. The moment Christ delivers you from his power and makes you his own bond slave, you are marked.

23:11 You are the devil's adversary. Your adversary. And we don't need to consciously decide to become his adversary. When Christ decides to make us his own, the devil decides to mark us as one of those to whom he will be adversary.

23:30 Your adversary, the devil, does what? Walks about seeking whom he may cause to jump with a threatening roar. No. The devil takes no delight in going around occasionally roaring to surprise people.

23:53 The other day I walked through the book room on Friday when I had finished teaching and one of the employees was backing up toward me and I had a cup of hot coffee and I didn't want them to back into me and end up having hot coffee down his or her back. So I just went, whoop! And the person jumped about six, six inches off the ground. Now thankfully they didn't jump backwards.

24:20 But you see, I meant no harm by my whoop. Your adversary, the devil, goes about as a roaring lion, roaring to make us jump. No. But he goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

24:48 He's not just going about to leave big, big fang marks so when people see you and say, hey, where'd you get those? Well, those are the devils. So he gets a reputation for having big fangs. He's seeking so to deal with you and me that when he's done, no one will see us anymore.

25:06 We are nothing but muscle and bones and fat in his belly. Devour. You've seen pictures of lions devouring their prey. Their manners are not very commendable.

25:22 But friends, that's the reality in affluent, easygoing, soft, 20th century America. There is a roaring who's out to get you in his god-tuned and torn flesh. That's what he's committed. That's the reality.

25:46 Peter says keep away. Don't allow the dulling, soporific influence of the alcohol of spiritual insensitivity. And the booze of preoccupation with money and things and face and form and sports and fashions. Don't allow these things to cause your brain to be out of touch with reality.

26:15 It's over. Don't fall asleep. Be watchful. Keep alert.

26:22 Keep your spiritual pupils dilated and your ears unclogged from the wax of this world. Because there is a devil who's out to get you in his gut. Now, am I saying anything more than what the text says? That's what the text says, folks.

26:43 Do you believe it? Do you? Do I believe it? I wonder.

Spiritual Warfare: Standing Against the Wiles of the Devil (Ephesians 6:10-12)

26:50 Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6. Why can there be no ending of tension and conflict in the Christian life? Well, the devil and the host of darkness are present and they are active.

27:20 As the apostle brings this wonderful epistle to a close, he exhorts as his final exhortation. Verse 10 of chapter 6. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God in order that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, the trickeries of the devil, the manifold schemes and plots of the devil that are going to be aimed at you.

28:02 Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And why do I need to be concerned about standing against the wiles of the devil? I haven't gone out and declared warfare, no.

28:21 You may not have, but he has. Look at the next verse. For our wrestling is. Not our wrestling may be.

28:33 Our wrestling sometimes might be. It's an indicative. Our wrestling is. Our wrestling is.

28:42 Our wrestling is. Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but it is against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places. Wherefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil devil. And having done all to stand.

29:17 What's the picture? The picture, folks, is of a warfare in which there is no temporary truce over the holidays. There is no mutually agreed cessation of conflict so that there may be some diversionary activity as long as we are in this world. We have an adversary, the devil, who with his wiles in cooperation with principalities and powers, world rulers of the darkness, spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places, are out to do what?

29:58 To beat us down. That's the opposite of standing. The picture of standing is the warrior who's on his crown, holds his crown, and all the enemies come and attack him. When it's all over, the enemies lie dead.

30:11 Then he's on his crown, and there he stands to hold his crown. He doesn't lie down to nap because that crown is not to be a crown that will not again be contested. So having stood, I must continue to stand. Dear people, you want cessation of conflict and tension.

30:34 Then what you're saying is you're prepared to roll over and play dead, hoist up the white flag of society, the white flag of surrender, and give up ground to the devil when God has said in Ephesians, neither give place to the devil. Notice in his pastoral dealings how conscious the Apostle Paul was of the activity of the devil among Christian assemblies. You see, he did not have some silly notion that because the assemblies of the saints are the place of the special dwelling of Christ, therefore they were somehow immune from the activity of the devil in their congregational life. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. 2 Corinthians chapter 2. The Apostle is giving directions to the Corinthian church, urging them that they might now confirm their love to one who had grievously sinned, who had manifested deep and thorough repentance. Notice he does not urge what he's urging, simply become someone who's whimpered in self-pity, I sinned and I got caught, pity me.

Satan's Devices in the Church: Exploiting Repentance and Corrupting Minds (2 Corinthians 2:10-11, 11:3)

31:52 No, he could speak later on of the depth of the grief and sorrow that was not like the sorrow of this world, but godly sorrow that worked true repentance, repentance that resulted in great vengeance and seal and self-clearing. Chapter 7. But now he says in this portion of 2 Corinthians 2, verse 10, But to whom ye forgive anything, I forgive also. For what have I forgiven if I have forgiven anything for your sakes?

32:24 Have I forgiven it in the presence of Christ, that no advantage be gained over us by Satan? For we are not ignorant of his devices. He is saying, look, confirm your love to this penitent man. Forgive him.

32:47 Receive him back with open arms and open heart. Why? If you don't, verse 7, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his over-much sorrow, not his over-much self-pity. If Paul had seen him swallowed up with his self-pity, he'd say he's been given over to Satan, leave him alone.

33:12 But he sees him grieving, truly broken, with the shame, with the shame that he's brought to Christ, and the grief to his people. And now he says, I know that Satan, as it were, with all of the host of darkness, moves among a Christian assembly, seeking to see a man whose repentance is so deep and thorough that the devil will drive him into self-despair. Now he says, we're not ignorant of Satan's devices. As surely as he'll try to keep a man from deep and thorough repentance, by going off into a dead-end street of self-pity, nobody loves me, everybody hates me, I'm going out and eat worms.

33:56 To such a one, Paul would say, eat your worms and perish. But he knew that when a man was off here, in the path of going to the throne of grace, with broken soul, God, against me and beyond me, have I sinned, done that which is evil in thy sight. I've grieved thy heart, Lord Jesus. I've broken the hearts of your people.

34:22 I have shamed the name of Christ and the congregation of your people. Can there be mercy and forgiveness for a sin such as mine, with all of its concentric circles of horrible influence? O God, surely your forgiveness somehow must stop short of the extent of my sin. And if there's no hope for me, and my sin is such that it deserves all of the despair, what's the use of even trying?

34:56 Then the devil would come along and say, see, there's no hope for you. Why not throw it all over? At least go out and feed your flesh and have a fling and have a few sensuous delights before you end it all and go to hell. He says, we're not ignorant of the devices of the devil.

35:14 The devil who will seek to take the grace of deep and thorough repentance wrought in the heart of a boy, a believer by the Holy Ghost, and used it as tracks on which to put a man to bride him into apostasy and despair. He says, we know the devil's devices and we're going to cut him off at the pass. So he writes to the Corinthians and says, confirm your love. Shower this truly broken man with forgiveness.

35:44 Why? Here's my point, dear people. He believed in the devil's activity in a congregation where a disciplined man is truly penitent. He believed even that didn't drive the devil away.

35:58 But the devil was there to take advantage even of an abundant grace of repentance in the heart of a true believer. That's how wicked and rotten and stinking the devil is. That he'll try to ride his agenda on the rails of deep repentance laid by Almighty God in the heart of a penitent believer. And that's what you see in the passage.

36:25 That's what I see. One other example. Turn to chapter 11. It's not one wile, one wily way, but he says there are stratagems, wiles of the devil.

36:41 Now in chapter 3 notice how here again he's conscious of the devil's activity in a Christian assembly. Would that you could bear with me in a little foolishness. But indeed you do bear with me. For I'm jealous over you with a godly jealousy.

36:59 For I espoused you to one husband that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I fear. But I fear. Paul, I thought Christians weren't supposed to be afraid.

37:13 I thought Christians were supposed to like David say what time I am afraid I will trust in thee. I will fear no evil for thou art with me. Fear not for I am with thee. Be not dismayed for I am by God.

37:28 But he says I fear. And what does he fear? He says I fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ. And then he specifies the particular area of his fear in the subsequent context.

37:55 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus whom we did not preach or you receive a different spirit which ye did not receive or a different gospel which you did not accept ye do well to bear with him. This is his concern that as the devil came with plausible reasonings and arguments and propositions to Eve in a stage of perfect innocence with no darkness over her mind no inclination to sin within her soul in a stage of perfect innocence and pure light in the mind she was beguiled by the devil and believed his lie and was drawn away from her God. So he said I am afraid that that wily beguiling devil working upon you Corinthians who do not have the native innocence of an Eve whose minds still have that partial darkness even though they have been enlightened by the gospel and in whom though the reign of sin has been broken remaining sin has an affinity for error. I am afraid as the devil will turn your minds away from the simplicity that is in Christ that is turn you away from a wholehearted retention of the straightforward

39:24 pure apostolic gospel that I preached to you. In other words he did not sit back and say since I was your spiritual father and he was and I know that my gospel came with undiluted integrity I can just sit back and be sure that you are going to maintain such embracing of gospel in its integrity no matter what. No! He had holy fears as a pastor that their minds would be corrupt and they would embrace something other than the apostolic gospel and something other than the spirit of Christ given in conjunction with faith in the gospel!

The Dragon's War Against the Seed of the Woman (Revelation 12:16-17)

40:09 And his heart is greatly agitated with legitimate fears because he believes the devil is active in the best of Christian assembly. And I want you to look at one other text I don't want to indulge in overkill but neither do I want to stop short of convincing your judgment by the word and the spirit that there will be no cessation of conflict and tension in this life folks. Revelation chapter 12 Revelation chapter 12 and here in this particular chapter as in many of these other sections in the book of the Revelation the great age long conflict between God and Satan Christ the seed of the woman and the devil and his seed this conflict is set before us under various images and now notice in verse 16 of Revelation 12 and the earth helped the woman and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth

41:35 and it sought to kill the woman's child and that child was protected what does the dragon then do and the dragon waxed wroth with the woman and went away to make war with the rest of her seed he can no longer get to the child of the woman to the Lord Jesus therefore he says I'll do the next best thing to the seed the offspring of the woman and who are they they that keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus that's every true Christian all true believers are the objects of the hatred of the dragon the same qualitative hatred that he has to the Lord Jesus now that's reality whether you're in touch with that reality in your own conscious spiritual experience or not that is reality and this is why there can be no cessation of tension and conflict so long as a vicious devil and the host of darkness

43:02 are not yet cast into the lake of fire as Jesus anticipates the temptation of Peter he sees behind the voice of the little maid and behind the presence of the soldiers and behind all human factors and in predicting Peter's temporary declension he says Satan has desired you to sift you as wheat he sees behind all of those things the activity of the adversary and you know this morning you thought of passages in John Bunyan as I preached on those first two points this morning and I'm sure some of you or I'd be very surprised if some of you did not think of the incident of Christians encounter with Apollyon on his way to the celestial city and I want to close the message tonight I'm just going to get to this one point I said this morning I am determined but by the grace of God to preach them in and I'm sticking with that determination and so Bunyan in his allegory writes then I saw in my dream that these good companions

Christian's Battle with Apollyon: A Call to Stand Firm

44:29 when Christian was got down to the bottom of the hill gave him a loaf of bread and a bottle of wine and a cluster of raisins and he went on his way but now in this valley of humiliation poor Christian was hard put to it and come of a little way when he espied a foul fiend coming over the field to meet him his name was Apollyon then did Christian begin to be afraid and to cast in his mind whether to go back or to stand his ground but he considered again that he had no armor for his back and therefore thought that to turn the back to him might give to Apollyon the greater advantage with ease to pierce him with his darts and he resolved to venture and to stand his ground for thought he had I no more in mine eye than the saving of my life it would be the best way to stand and so he went on and Apollyon met him now the monster was hideous to behold he was clothed with scales like a fish and they are his pride he had wings like a dragon feet like a bear and out of his belly came fire and smoke and his mouth was as the mouth of a lion when he was come up to Christian he beheld him with a disdainful countenance and thus began to question with him Apollyon

45:58 whence come you and whither are you bound Christian I am come from the city of destruction which is the place of all evil and I am going to the city of Zion Apollyon by this I perceive that thou art one of my subjects for all that country is mine and I am the prince and the god of it how is it then that thou hast run away from thy rightful king were it not that I hope thou mayest do me more service I would strike thee now with one blow to the ground Christian I was born indeed in your dominions but your service was hard and your wages such as a man could not live on for the wages of sin is death therefore when I was come to years I did as other considerate persons do look out if perhaps I might mend myself Apollyon there is no prince that will thus lightly lose his subjects neither will I as yet lose you but since thou complainest of thy service and wages be content to go back what our country will afford I do here promise to give thee Christian that I have given myself to another even to the king of princes and how can I with fairness go back with thee

47:27 Apollyon thou hast done in this according to the proverb changed a bad for a worse but it is ordinary for those who have professed themselves his servants after a while to give him the slip and return again to me do thou so too and all shall be well Christian I have given him my faith and sworn my allegiance to him how then can I go back from this and not be hanged as a traitor Apollyon thou didst the same to me and yet I am willing to pass by all if thou wilt now turn again and go back with me Christian what I promised thee was in my non-age besides I count the prince under whose banner is able to absolve me yea and to pardon also what I did as to my compliance with thee and besides oh thou destroying Apollyon to speak truth I like his service his wages his servants his government his company and country better than thine and therefore leave off to persuade me further I am his servant and I will follow him Apollyon again when thou art in cooler blood what thou art like to meet with in the way that thou goest thou knowest that for the most part

48:56 his servants come to an ill end because they are transgressors against me and my ways how many of them have been put to shameful deaths and besides thou countest his service better than mine whereas he never yet came from the place where he is to deliver any that served him in our hands but as for me how many times as all the world very well knows have I delivered either by power or fraud those that have faithfully served me from him and his though taken by them and so I will deliver thee also and then you know what happens they move from dialogue into bitter hand to hand combat and in that combat Apollyon has one thing in mind and that is utterly to slay Christian and you remember how he lost his sword and then in his moment of near despair he took hold of the promise of God rejoice not against me O mine enemy when I fall I shall arise and with that gave Apollyon a deadly thrust which made him give back his one that had received

50:24 his mortal wound then Bunyan goes on to give an epilogue of the lessons that Christian learned from this encounter with him and concludes with this poem Rage beelzebub the captain of this fiend designed my ruin therefore to this end he sent him harnessed out and he with rage that hellish was fiercely me engaged but blessed Michael helped me and I by dint of sword did quickly make him fly therefore to him let me give lasting praise and thanks and bless his holy name always he knew that Apollyon had nothing less than his destruction in his heart in his fiendish heart but he stood his ground and by the means of God's appointment and in the acknowledgement of the mercy and grace and upholding power of his God he pens his hymn of praise that he had overcome the wicked one by the blood and promise and strength of the land and so it will be for all of God's warriors who seek no way to heaven in which

51:52 they can afford for an hour to lay down either their armor or their weaponry there is no there is no cessation of conflict and tension in the Christian life not only because of the presence and reality of indwelling sin the presence and activity of a hostile world system but because of the presence and activity of the devil and the host of darkness if you and I are to make it to the celestial city we too shall have our greater and lesser skirmishes with Apollyon but remember he is out for one thing alone to slay your soul by bringing you back into his service may God grant that we shall seek no easy way but that we shall not be dispirited or disheartened in this one way that lies before us for we have a mighty conqueror who despoiled principalities and powers triumphed over them in his death and in his resurrection the exceeding greatness of God's power has been manifested

53:19 in that he raised him far above all principalities and powers and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this world but in the world to come and we are united to that victorious Lord if you're here tonight and you're not a Christian friend will you not admit the reason you're not a Christian is you see more beauty in the things of this world in the lust of your flesh in living for yourself than you see in Jesus Christ crucified that's living proof that the devil is blinding you this world and all it has to offer is tawdry rusted rotten junk compared to the beauty and the glory of Christ and yet you're giving your soul to tawdry rusted junk because you see no beauty in Christ the devil's got you blind come like the blind man in the gospels and hear that Jesus Christ is passing by in the preaching of the word this night and cry out son of David have mercy upon me and when he says what will you that I do to you say Lord Jesus that I may receive

54:46 my sacrifice acknowledge that you're the devil's lackey taken captive by him unto his will the lust of your father it is your will to do to the Lord Jesus the great emancipator and though we do not offer you that you'll be carried to the clouds on flowery beds of ease you will enter upon that way where you will be the adversary of the devil and he will be your adversary but greater is he that is in you than he that is in the grove and we shall be more than overcomers through him that loved us let us pray oh our father we bow in your presence tonight and thank you with all of our hearts that you have not given us a picture of reality that is distorted rose colored but we thank you that you have laid out in your word things as they really are oh give us hearts to believe that we are indeed engaged in this mortal combat

56:16 with a fiendish enemy who hates the fact that we are no longer his servants that we no longer own him as our master no longer present ourselves to do his will and oh as he would seek in his subtle ways to drag us back into his service give us sensitive ears to know his voice from the voice oh heavenly master and sovereign the lord jesus our great captain and protector oh lord we ask for any who have hoped that somehow somewhere they would discover some truth that would insulate them from the reality of these encounters with apollyon these dealings with the host of darkness oh god forever drive from their hearts all such dreams and carnal desires and rather lord may all of our energies be poured into praying and watching and standing and fighting the good fight of faith that we shall be found among those overcomers at last standing in the presence of you our god and of the land and casting our crowns at your feet saying worthy is the lamb that was slain oh god in mercy

57:44 deal with those who are yet the slaves of the devil come with your liberating grace oh god