More Than Conquerors - Romans 8:37

"I am not a defender of the faith! I am an advancer of the Kingdom!"
-Pastor Stewart Roberts, Oasis Life Training Center, Palm Desert, CA, Sunday, April 17, 2005

As I sat in the service last Sunday evening and listened to the impassioned preaching of Pastor Roberts, I realized that in this age of "political correctness" the church must be careful not sell out the truth of the Gospel for the sake of being liked by the community and other religious leaders. As I have mentioned before, I believe that truth, to be truth, must be held in tension.

It is true that Our Lord and Savior is also our peace (Eph. 2:14) but He is our peace in that through Him, we have been reconciled to the Father. (Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:18). However, Jesus also said,

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn "'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law- a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.' " Matt 10:34-36 NIV

In one recorded conversation Jesus asks His disciples who the people are saying He is. In reply they give of long list of long dead prophets and such. Then Jesus asks,

"Who do you say I am?"
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Matt 16:15-18 NIV

There are many interpretations as to the rock but my interest at this moment is the phrase, "and the gates of Hades shall not overcome it" Among the many commentaries about this phrase, my favorite refers me back to Pastor Roberts' statement. The church is not to just stand and take all the assault of the enemy and his deluded, deceived followers but we are to do as Paul exhorts us,

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Phil 3:13-14 NIV

We sing an old chorus in English and Spanish.

"I went to the enemies' camp and I took back what he stole from me!"

We cannot sit idly by and wait for the battle to come to us. If we do, we will lose! In some states, we have already lost. We lost prayer in school. We lost the right to display the Ten Commandments. We have lost Christmas displays and even the ability to say "Merry Christmas" in some workplaces. We nearly lost "one nation, under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. We have lost the ability to protect the unborn and now we are on the verge of losing the ability to protect the infirm, the disabled, those who have no voice and cannot speak for themselves.

At the end of seven days the word of the LORD came to me:
"Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you
do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.

"Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning, and you will have saved yourself." Ezek 3:16-21 NIV

We are the watchman! We must speak the truth! We have He who is the Truth and we must one day give an account for how we handle that Truth.

But what if they get offended or don't like us anymore?

For in Scripture it says:
"See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone," and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message-which is also what they were destined for. 1 Peter 2:6-8 NIV

If we fulfill our call, if we are pressing on, if we are speak the Words of Life, we will offend. But why does this worry us? Those to whom we must speak are either in sin, if they profess Christ, and we must speak or be held accountable or they are already condemned, if they have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

We love John 3:16 and rightly so. It is our anthem and hope.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17 NIV

There are even those who wax sentimental or romantic regarding God's love, saying that He loves and accepts all men but this is not so. God does indeed love all mankind but there is but one way to the Father and that is through the Son. (John 14:6) However, read on.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. John 3:18 NIV

They are already offended. They are already lost! We have nothing to lose and everything to gain if we will but speak and speak the truth in love! Remember the love of God is neither weak nor is it a human emotion!

We stand at the cusp for the Church. As Joshua said,

"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Josh 24:14-15 NIV

You must choose whom you will serve. Will you bow to the altar of the politically correct? Will you sell your inheritance for a mess of porriage at the table the status quo? Will you sacrifice your children to the god of the ACLU? Or will you "...put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." Eph. 6:13 NIV

Standing means not retreating, not fleeing and not giving up any ground!

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Eph 6:12 NIV

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We 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. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete. 2 Cor 10:3-6 NIV

We are in a war - a war for our children's minds, a war for righteousness in the public forum, a war for integrity in leadership, a war for the freedom and liberty to proclaim the Gospel, to gather openly to worship the One True God. Without the influence of God's Word through His messangers - you and I - all will inevitably descend to the lowest common denomination - human nature.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Gal 5:19-21 NIV

However, if we stand, if we fight through prayer, faith and obedience, we can know that we will not be liked. We will be persecuted. We will be vilified. We will be mocked. However,

"...in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Rom 8:37 NIV

To be more than conquerors means that we do not just barely eke out a win but that we gain a decisive victory. There is no dispute as to who wins and who loses. We are not getting by "by the skin of our teeth." Through our Father's abundant grace, we are the victors!

Do not settle! Do not compromise! Do not tolerate! Vanquish! Overcome! Arise!