How To Collapse The Super Power Of Darkness

How to collapse a super power?  By destroying the faith of the people in the establishment at every level.  How to prepare hearts to receive the Gospel?  Pretty much the same way: By destroying unquestioning faith in their respective establishment at every level. 

For once the faith that a man has in those things that have blinded him to the truth of the Gospel and have even hardened his heart against the receiving thereof has been destroyed, it is only then that he may find himself open to the receiving of that faith which will never disappoint but will be unfailing and be fulfilled, delivering his soul from the everlasting torments of eternal damnation.

But what are those things in which a man or people place their utmost confidence and unquestioning faith in?

They trust in their respective religious establishment, whatever that may be to each person to serve as the spiritual and moral conscience of their society; their entire worldview and decision making process may be based upon the doctrine, teachings, and opinion of that religious establishment and it is to that religious establishment they look for comfort in times of trouble and to be the voice of reason when faced with moral dilemmas and conflict.

They trust in the academic establishment to provide a factual education devoid of bias and agenda.

They trust in the media to report accurate and truthful information.

They trust in their respective governing authorities to maintain public order and safety and to properly administer justice as often as is necessary.

They trust that all laws and decrees are made with the best interests of the public at heart.

They may place their trust in the faithfulness and love of those whom they hold dear.

They may place their faith and confidence in their own understanding, wisdom, skills, intellect, and resourcefulness, and even wealth.

The only way to break their faith in the media is when they are shown that everything that the media has been reporting to them is either a lie, has no basis in fact, is only partly true, or is not the complete picture of what is actually happening.

What will break their faith in their academic institutions will be to show them that what is presented as education is not always education and that when they suppress knowledge and information that challenges the favored theories, doctrines, and narratives of the academic establishments and suppress honest debate, then what they are teaching is not really an education but an indoctrination built upon lies which they will desperately fight to keep from being exposed and discredited.

What will break their faith in their governing authorities is when they learn that they who are in power do not always govern in the best interest of the public but only according to their own self-interests or even worse, the interests of dark unseen powers, that justice is not always properly administered, and that those in power are not the sole definers of right and wrong and that not every law or decree is just or good.

What will break their trust in themselves is when they face adversities and challenges beyond their control and they come to the end of themselves.

What will break their trust and confidence in those closest to them is when those whom they hold dear betray, abandon, and turn against them.

But the hardest thing to break their faith in is their respective adherence to a religion, creed, or philosophy that they have embraced as truth and yet is a lie that keeps them blinded to the actual truth of that which can deliver their souls from damnation, instill a purpose and meaning in their lives that was never there before; a purpose going beyond themselves and the cares of this present world, give them a peace that they have never known in any and all given circumstances, and an unfailing hope that will see eventual fulfillment.  As long as they are blinded to that saving truth of that soul saving and life-changing Gospel, they will either be lulled into a false sense of security and comfort or kept in despair, futility, and discontentment and kept either unaware or uncertain of their eternal fate, hoping in vain that they have somehow led a good, pious, and moral enough life to be granted entry into a good afterlife.

Whenever a man’s most cherished and adamantly held beliefs are challenged, he may very well consider the validity of the challenge or he may react with hostility and even violence either out of pride and hardness of heart or because he is somehow has already decided that any challenge to that which he embraces as truth is an act of heresy.

Scripture illustrates the heart of man as being any four different kinds of ground upon which a sower scatters his seed.  Some seed fell on hard ground, some fell on shallow rocky soil, some fell among thistles and thorns and was choked out by them and then there were those that fell on good fertile soil and produced anywhere between thirty and a hundredfold of what was sown. (Mt. 13:1-9, 18-23)

Perhaps the greatest error, when taking the Gospel out to the world, is that failure to examine the soil upon which the seed is to fall and because the Church has not taken the time to examine the nature of the soil, they fail to truly win the mind, heart, and soul over.

Only when the soil is examined will we know how to properly prepare it.

The hard soil must be broken up.

The rocky shallow soil must be smoothed out.

And the competing weeds must be eliminated.

And it is only when we go about preparing the soil that the nature of the heart we are attempting to reach for our Lord is revealed.

They who will be the most open to the hearing and receiving of the Gospel will not be they who are full and content, but the already discontented, down-trodden, and broken in spirit for they who be content will feel in need of nothing, but the discontented, no matter how much substance they may attain, no matter their prestige or station in life, and no matter how stable and secure their closest relationships may be, never feel satisfied, attempting to fill that seemingly bottomless void with every pleasure imaginable and everything that men tend to look to for fulfillment, but in vain because that empty void will always remain bottomless and unsatisfied until the very thing that is meant for that void fills it and thus bringing to that discontented soul a contentment, peace, and fulfillment that nothing of this present life and world can ever bring.

But that discontent may not always be in the form of that which cannot be satisfied but rather a disillusionment or disenfranchisement with the established culture at every level and it is at that point that the one discontented realizes that the institutions and figures in which he has placed his trust not only are either powerless to or had no intention to deliver on the promises made, but that they are not immune to the corruption and wickedness that causes them to be far removed from being able to serve the interests of the public that they were expected to.  But either way, it is that discontentment that must be tapped into in order to reach the mind, heart, and soul for the God who created them and offers them redemption in Christ Jesus who gave Himself as the required sacrifice for the sins of all mankind and then was raised again from the dead so that anyone placing their trust in Him will be saved from what would otherwise be eternal damnation and with that salvation be transformed inwardly from a worldly self-serving person taking pleasure into one who is selfless, pursuing heavenly interests, and striving to live a life pleasing to their Maker in faithful devotion to Him with the understanding that though He does not promise a life free of adversity, He will not fail them in their time of need and that nothing that He does is unjust, that He is able to provide for every need, is the sole definer of morality and righteousness, the source of all truth, and from whom is given a meaning and purpose in life that can come from nothing apart from the God who gives life.

The broken in spirit have nothing to lose since everything in which they have placed their hope and trust has failed and betrayed them.  They have come to the end of themselves and it is only when they come to the realization that they have nothing left to lose that they are ready to be remade, reshaped, and transformed by the God who made them in the first place and who is able to redeem, heal, restore, renew, revive, and lift up that which was once broken but in the Redeemer, is made anew with a fresh and unfailing hope and a faith that will not fail.

The down-trodden and oppressed have no cause to place their trust in man to deliver them from evil.  They can only rely on the God above to either deliver them from evil or at least sustain them through evil times, placing all their hopes not in this present world which is a fallen, corrupted, dark, and distorted state from what it once was, but in the world to come in which dwells no darkness, evil, sin, injustice, corruption, decay, adversity, hardship, suffering, grief, sorrow, or anything that causes pain.

But in any case, it is the hearts of the discontented, disenfranchised, disillusioned, broken down, and down-trodden that are best prepared to receive that seed, being the Word of God that will bring thirty, sixty, and even a hundredfold of what is planted.

But if the hardened ground is not shattered, the seed has no affect.

If the rocks are not removed from the soil, then the seed will not be prepared for difficult times to come.

And if the thorns, thistles, briers, and weeds are not removed, then the affections of the seed meant for the Creator may be carried away by competing forces in whatever form they may come.

Not only has the neglect of preparing hearts to hear and receive the Word of God been among the greatest failings of the Church, especially in this day, but so has the maintaining of those who profess to be in the faith.

The super power of darkness is not only competing for the souls of men out in the world, but they are also infiltrating the ranks of the faithful and sowing their seeds of doubt in the hearts and minds of many which have led to weakening and even overthrow of faith in many, especially our children and young people for when they are sent out into the world and are confronted with challenges to their professed faith, they then are led away therefrom by the lies that they have been poisoned with because those of us who should be prepared with the answers and arguments needed to enable them to present reasoned and sound defense of the faith are unprepared to do so because we have been ignorant of the devices of the adversary, and I fear, even willfully so, have relied upon our own understanding and the wisdom of men rather than seeking God out for wisdom, and we have largely neglected the diligent study, teaching, and application of the Word of God, being those scriptures divinely inspired (2 Tim. 3:16) and when it is taught, it is only taught in part and not in its entirety nor is it taught how what the scriptures say have to do with us or with this present day, or they are taken and taught out of their proper context, subjected to renderings to which they bear no witness, or even disregarded altogether. 

If the exploits of figures such as Moses, Joshua, Samson, David, the prophets, and even the Apostles are relegated to being presented as bedtime stories without a case presented for their relevance today, then how can the preaching of the Word be of any affect?  How then can the scriptures be regarded as authoritative and sufficient for addressing every issue of life?

Ever since the temptation of the first woman Eve in the garden into the eating of a fruit forbidden to man (Gen. 3) which led to the fall of humanity into sin and as a consequence made mankind estranged from His Maker and subjugated to the sentence of death (Rom. 6:23) and endangering every soul to the torments of hell itself, that serpent who is also called Satan or the Devil, being that very tempter who led the world into its present condition, has continued to sow the same seeds of doubt, even within the minds and hearts of those who profess to follow the Lord, that he did in Eve; (Gen. 3:1) doubt and confusion concerning the authority and sufficiency of scripture and with that, its very truth, and with its very truth, the Gospel of salvation itself which is preached by the scripture.

In the Apostolic generation, the Apostles had fought very hard to retain doctrinal purity and godliness within the ranks of the Church and to confront anything that might challenge the faith and the teachings of scripture, but after the passing of that generation, sin and falsehood began to slowly creep into the body of Christ because the succeeding generations were not as careful to retain the soundness of doctrine that the Apostles were which is the very reason we should not look to any denomination, so-called church father, reformer, or any influential figure as the epitome of doctrinal purity but rather we should instead look to that first century generation who had full confidence in what they preached and adhered to for they had witnessed and lived what we only read about in scripture and in history but nevertheless the God who made us has not left us without evidence of His truth and existence to which even nature itself bears witness, whose workings history itself testifies to, and whose Spirit speaks to our hearts and conscience, and who seeks to reason with us in every way to persuade as many as are willing to saving repentance and for those willing to seek out evidence of our Creator and His truth, they will find an overabundance but whether or not they are willing to accept the case on His behalf depends upon the attitude of the heart of each to whom the Gospel of salvation is presented.

The adversary of our souls and that very enemy of God knows both our strengths, weaknesses, and devices and attempts to exploit our weaknesses, rob us of our greatest assets, use our greatest strengths against us, and disarm us of our resources.  He is a master deceiver, infiltrator, manipulator, corrupter, divider, and conqueror over those either ill-prepared for his attacks or who rely on things subject to defeat and failure to overcome him rather than the delivering power of God which is able to overcome.

When his temptations fail, he brings distraction, diversion, and a false sense of security that can lull a man into complacency and to take the peace and prosperity he enjoys for granted and to forget who provides him that peace and prosperity in the first place.

When that fails, he brings doubt.

And when that fails, he intimidates, threatens, and even brings violence and destruction to our livelihoods, property, the people and things held dear to us, and even our own persons, but when we retain a firm and unyielding commitment to our Maker in spite of all that the adversary may throw at us, we then show ourselves to be the victors in Christ that our God intended for us to be even when we appear defeated for even that which appears to be a defeat can be turned into a victory by the God in whose hand is victory everlasting and we will witness victories for the Kingdom and experience triumphs in our own lives.

But the greatest defeats we suffer are not from the ridicule and mockery we may receive from those who count our faith as foolishness.  It is not from the shunning, rejection, and ostracization by unbelieving friends and family.  It is not from the discrimination that we may suffer on account of the name of Jesus.  Nor is it from the prisons, violence, torture, death or the threats thereof. 

Instead our greatest defeats come when we become lazy, fall into complacency, give into cowardice, become apathetic and faithless, and give place to sin and falsehood when we should be diligent in our service to God, zealous in our devotion to Him, vigilant in maintaining the soundness of doctrine within our ranks through the careful teaching and study of scripture and retaining godliness and righteousness among the saints by way of holding members accountable for their conduct, and steadfast in our faith not giving into the fear of man but fearing God above all else, seeking His honor and favor instead of that of this world, pursuing the rewards that only Heaven can bestow instead of building up the temporal treasures of this world which we will not take with us when we leave it, and setting ourselves apart from the ways of this present world instead of conforming to them.

But if we get too caught up in the cares and interests of this life, too attached to its temporal pleasures, remain silent and passive in the face of evil instead of exposing, speaking out, and fighting against it, become appeasers and enablers of sin instead of condemning it, giving no place for it, and urging repentance therefrom, honor other things above the Lord, place men’s favor and praise above that which comes from God, fear man more than the God who will judge every man and give to each person either their proper reward or sentence, affirm and submit ourselves to the ways and norms of this present world instead of setting ourselves apart from this present world, seek our own glory and fortune instead of that of the Creator and His Kingdom, place our hopes in the things of this world rather than in the things of the world to come, and rely on our own understanding and that which comes from men instead of seeking the God who is the source of all knowledge, understanding and wisdom, then we are no longer serving as the light of Christ that we were called to be but instead an enabler of the darkness brought to this world by the evil one, made inept in the mission for which were commissioned, and instead of being the instrument intended to point the world to the solution to all of the problems therein, we become a part of the problem for if we appear to have nothing different to offer than that which is being offered by this present world, then we will not be able to effectively persuade and draw others to salvation in Christ nor will we be able to retain many of those who profess to be in the faith whose faith may be overthrown by cleverly devised challenges thereto, elaborate false teachings, and rampant hypocrisies, apostasy, sin, and wickedness within the ranks of the professing faithful due to a lack of accountability within the ranks, negligence of prayer and scripture study and sound teaching, dismissiveness of the formidability of the dangers, adversities, and enemies we face, ill-preparedness for attacks against the faith which come in various forms. 

If we are to be that intended formidable force against those power of darkness which opens the eyes of those blinded to the truth of the saving and transforming message of the Gospel and effectively persuade the lost to come to repentance in Christ, we first must purge ourselves of the complacency by which error in doctrine and conduct crept in, the laziness and distractions that took us away from tending to those things pertaining to the business of the Lord, the apathy that has led us away from faithful service and obedience to the Lord who redeemed us, the faithless cowardice that has caused us to appease and capitulate instead of remaining steadfast in the faith, and of the carnality that has caused us to be consumed by the cares and worries of this life, to pursue and build up for ourselves earthly wealth instead of heavenly wealth, and which has caused us to love this present world rather than look forward to the world to come.

The enemies of the Gospel are diligent in their various attempts to undermine the authority of the Word of God by which the message of salvation is delivered, to render inept for the Kingdom they who are of the Lord, to lead they who profess to follow Christ to turn away from him and to their false doctrines by which many are led into perdition, to sow discord amongst otherwise united saints, and to bring obscurity and confusion to what would otherwise be made clear and easily understood.  They are vigilant in maintaining the ground they gain by crushing any dissent within their respective territories, punishing those who refuse to abide in their wicked, unjust, oppressive, perverse, and vile laws and traditions, by suppressing anything that may expose and discredit the lies by which multitudes are deceived and made blind to the truth that sets the soul free from darkness, and attempting to silence any voice that dares to expose their wickedness and discredit their lies and those doctrines contrary to that which comes from the Creator.

Why then are we not diligent in frequent prayer or in the study of the scriptures inspired of Him that we may get to know the God we serve better and what manner of followers He commands us to be?

Why are those who profess to know the Lord God who made Heaven and earth and who is the redeemer of our souls forsaking the fellowship of the saints? 

Why are they not showing faithful devotion to the God they profess to follow in everything they do, the manner in which they live their lives, the company they keep, in the closest of relationships that they choose, in how they raise up their children, in their priorities, and in their way of thinking?

Why are we allowing ourselves to get carried away by the cares of this life, setting our sights on building up for ourselves worldly wealth and accumulating earthly possessions that will not follow us but will either one day perish or be given to another instead of building up for ourselves treasures in Heaven that will never perish nor be given to another?

Why are we so concerned about what the world thinks us, which will one day perish to make way for a new and better one, instead of what God thinks of us?

Why are we placing our faith and hope in those things corruptible and subject to failure instead of that which is incorruptible and will never fail?

Why are we seeking the favor of men instead of that of the Lord?

Why are we more fearful of men than of God before whom all men will stand?

Why are we relying more upon our own understanding and trust so blindly in worldly wisdom instead calling upon the God who is the source of all wisdom knowledge, and understanding?

Why do we go forth in the power of our own strength, a figure of renown and influence, an activist movement, or even a religious organization instead of the power and authority of the God who is able to deliver and who raises up vessels and instruments that He wields and uses for our deliverance?

Why are we so dismissive of the dark forces that have fought and still continue to this very day to fight against the King of Kings who is the redeemer of our souls and who do all in their power to hinder the spread of the Gospel message, and to turn those who would otherwise repent away from the faith by which we are saved and who infiltrate our places of worship, ministries, academic establishments, our political movements, places and vessels of entertainment, and even our own homes to render the Church at every level unprofitable for the Kingdom by tempting the saints into sin so as to disgrace their witness and bring shame upon the holy name of Christ, diverting them away from the service of the Kingdom by distracting them with the cares and pleasures of this present life, casting doubt upon the faith that they would otherwise hold to so steadfastly and shaking confidence in the authority of the scriptures upon which our faith is founded through the presentation of various challenging arguments, leading those otherwise devout followers of Christ away from adherence to the pure and sound doctrine through the introduction of various false doctrines and in many cases ever so subtly, by bringing hopelessness, apathy, and despair in the hearts of God’s people by afflicting them with various kinds of adversities, and intimidating them with various persecutions into disobeying the teachings, counsel, and commands of the God who is able to deliver us from all evil and sustain us in adversity?

If we are to have any hope of collapsing the super power of darkness, we must first start by cleansing and purifying our own house and ranks because it is through our own failings, folly, negligence, distractions, needless divisions, the harboring of sin and various falsehoods, the underestimating of our enemies and the dismissiveness of their formidability, and our ill-preparedness to face and confront the various challenges and attacks upon our faith that the super power of darkness seeks to collapse the super power of the church and it is in this manner that the adversary has performed his best and most effective attempts at weakening and discrediting the super power of the Church and more so than through the use of any threats and attacks from without.

We must learn to give ourselves over to fervent and daily prayer.

We must devote ourselves to the daily reading and study of scripture that we may get to know the God who made us and has redeemed us through Christ Jesus our Lord, who we are in the Lord, what is expected and commanded of us as His servants, how we are to treat one another and all people, what manner of life we are supposed to be living, how we might honor and please our Lord in what we do, the good things that await us, and the challenges and adversities we are expected to face in our walk with the Lord, how this present world came to be, what the world was like before its present fallen state, and what its ultimate fate and the fate of all mankind will be.

We must not forsake our assemblings together but ought to meet together regularly.

Our faith is not to be carried out like it is some weekend hobby, but it must be the dictator of how we live our lives, the director of the course that our lives take, and decider of every important choice we make.

We must learn to treat and teach the divinely inspired scriptures by which we have received the faith by which we are saved as authoritative in all that they address and as bearing as much relevance today as when they were first written, if not more so.

We must be ready to give an answer on behalf of the faith we profess to all who ask concerning.

We must be ready to make as sound of a case for the faith that we embrace as we possibly can in order to dispel those vessels of doubt that may assail the faith that we hold to.

We must be vigilant in preserving sound doctrine within our ranks by confronting any false doctrine brought into our ranks.

We must test all things against the scriptures instead of imposing a rendering upon them to which they bear no witness.

We must rely not on our own understanding or worldly counsel but seek the counsel, wisdom, and knowledge that comes from Christ who is the source thereof.

We must hold accountable those among us whose conduct, behavior, and way of life is not becoming of those who profess to be of the faith and who persist in teaching doctrine contrary to what is given to us by the divinely inspired scriptures and if necessary, purge them out from among us so that they do not corrupt our members, remove us from our mission, and bring shame upon the name of the God we serve.

We must not be ignorant of the devices of the adversary who wars against our Maker and by nature wars against us who strive to faithfully serve Him nor should we underestimate his formidability and resourcefulness but instead learn as much about the enemy as we possibly can and be mindful of his strategies so that we will be made ready for his attacks.

All things must be done in the power and authority of the God we serve and in no other name, authority or power.

We need to fear God above all else for by Him and Him alone will we be judged.

Our sights need to set on the riches and honors that come from above and not those things that are temporal, which can be lost, and which we will not take with us when we leave this life.

Our greatest ambition should be to further the Kingdom of God which is has no end and not earthly kingdoms and empires which eventually see their end and will be made subject to the everlasting King.

If we will but examine ourselves and strive to commit ourselves to doing these things, we will then be strengthened and purified, made ready and able to be mightily used by God to advance His Kingdom, being vessels fit to be used by His light to pierce and dispel the darkness, expose the evil works that it hides, and discredit the lies that blind the lost to the saving truth of the Gospel of our Lord, soften hardened hearts that they may be open to receiving the saving message, and draw the lost to Him that they may repent of their sins and call upon the name of Jesus for salvation.

But there are many strongholds and barriers that must come down (2 Cor. 10:4) in order for anyone to be persuaded of the truthfulness of that Gospel message announcing salvation in Christ and they are not all the same but they often come in the form of doctrines, creeds, philosophies, and religions designed to blind men to the truth, and in the form of lies and misrepresentations concerning the faith that may cause some to harden their hearts and turn away therefrom.

When the Apostle Paul went to Athens, he identified the strongholds which consisted of idolatry. (Acts 17:16)  He then found an altar made to a god unknown that served as a platform for him to tell everyone about who this God is. (v. 23-27)  He appealed to things to which they could both relate. (v. 28)

Now, the strongholds we may encounter may not necessarily be the same as what the Apostles encountered, but they will often come in the form of worldly philosophy, doctrines inspired by devils and the deceitfulness of men, fearful superstitions, and futile and even oppressive customs, traditions, laws, and decrees and it is vitally important that when we go to take that message of salvation out to the world, calling to repentance as many as will come, to know what those strongholds are with which we will be confronted and how we might present a case for the faith that is able to take down these strongholds and wicked imaginations that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God in order to bring into obedience to Christ every thought.

But we must remember that it is not men that we attack, but rather it is those things that keep the truth that leads to repentance hidden from those who might otherwise come to repentance and those things that have harden the heart which might otherwise be soften.

In order for the lost to even so much as consider embracing Christ, he must be given reason to doubt that which runs contrary to the Gospel and therefore we must work to sow those seeds that may cause him to doubt those things that oppose the God who is calling all to repentance.

The things in which a man places his faith, directs the course of his life, and influences his decisions are the following:

 

1.  Ideology

2.  Established institutions

3.  Their own abilities, talents, intellect, strength, resources, and wealth

4.  Friends and family

5.  People in authority and of renown and influence

 

He goes through life not considering that the ideology that he has been brought up in could be a lie until he is presented with question regarding thereof that he cannot answer or a challenging argument that he cannot effectively refute.

He may blindly trust in the institutions that have had a hand in shaping his worldview until it is made clear to him that they are not immune to corruption, wickedness, deceit, and dishonesty and once this is made clear, then his faith in those institutions is weakened which then will make way to lead him to place his faith in the incorruptible God whose promises never fail, whose mercies are new every day, who is able to both deliver from evil and sustain through adversity, in whom is found redemption, who instills in men a purpose and meaning to life never before realized, and who will one day set things aright in a way that no man ever could, and which will lead him to give himself to the service of that Kingdom which will never fail.

Only when he comes to the end of himself in the face of a humanly insurmountable challenge might he ever cry out to the God who can deliver and sustain him.

Only when he is abandoned by all those whom he has held dear might he ever look to the God whose love never fails and who is able to provide him with friends and loved ones who will stick closer to him than those he had before.

It is only when he finds that those to whom he has looked up to are subject to error might he ever considering looking to the God who made Him and offers forgiveness and redemption to him as that perfect and unblemished example of upright living, the definer of right and wrong, good and evil, the deliverer of true justice, and the source of truth, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.

But what needs to be understood by they whom we seek to win over for Christ, is that mankind by nature is inherently corrupt and wicked and because of that inherent corruption, no established institution, movement, trend, or figure of authority and influence is immune to corruption or exempt from error and therefore can never be worthy of full unquestioning trust. Only that which is perfect, pure, holy, and incorruptible is worthy of full unquestioning trust.

They must be brought to an understanding of the following:

 

1.  That this present world has not always been the way it is now, but that when it was created, it was a different place; a better place in which all that was made was good.

2.  That we are made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26) and from one blood we all descend (Acts 17:26).

3.  That man was given a choice between eternal life and death (Gen. 2:9) and when he chose the way of death (Gen. 3) sin entered into him and from him was sin passed down to all of mankind (Rom. 5:12) and as a consequence man became subject to death (Rom. 5:12, 6:23)

4.  That the effects of sin are not confined to just humanity but to all of creation as well (Rom. 8:19-22)

5.  That sin and those who persist in their sin have no place in the Kingdom of God and must face eventual punishment

6.  That all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23)

7.  That because we all have fallen short of God’s standard of moral perfection, and because we cannot save ourselves by our own goodness which is ever tainted by our inherent sinful nature, we can only be saved by one who is without sin (2 Cor. 5:21, Heb. 4:15) which is the reason why Christ, being God incarnate, came to earth to die on the cross for our sins, thereby satisfying both the demanded penalty for sin and the need for mercy, and then was raised again from the dead that we might be justified in Him (Rom. 4:25)

8.  What salvation does for us, how it changes us, and then influences the course of our lives.

9.  The consequences of remaining in sin.

10.  That Christ is returning again. (Rev. 19-20)

11.  That this present world will one day pass away to make way for a new and better one (Rev. 21-22)

 

And just as it is important for the lost to adequately understand the need to embrace the Christ who is just to forgive all sins and redeem us from what would otherwise be a fearful, terrifying, and everlasting punishment, it is vitally important that we ourselves properly understand what it is that we are being sent out to preach.

But there is always the condition and attitude of the heart as well and when we begin to assail those ideologies that blind them to the truth of the Gospel that saves from eternal damnation, they may very well consider the message of our Lord, they may be indifferent, or they may shun and ostracize us, or lash out with anger, hostility, and even violence.

There be those who will not need much to persuade them to repentance and salvation.

Then there be those who will need much to persuade them, who will have questions to which a satisfying answer will be needed, who may present challenging arguments that will need a reasonable response, or who may have a hardened heart that may need to somehow be softened before they are convinced of the sure truth of the Gospel and that the faith placed therein will never fail.

And then there yet be those who will refuse to come to repentance no matter how convincing and credible of a case for the Gospel may be presented and no matter how persuasive of a manner in which the Gospel is presented to them because they love their sin too much, are too attached to the things of this present life, or can’t bear the prospect of the sacrifices they may have to make on behalf of the Christ calling them to repentance because they cannot bring themselves to trust that God will not leave their sacrifices unnoticed or uncompensated.

It is never enough to simply attack the manifested symptoms of the super power of darkness, but the causes of the symptoms must be identified and when discovered and addressed, expect they who are under the control and service of this super power to aggressively defend the foundational causes of the symptoms manifested and even more so than the symptoms themselves.

It is easy enough for most to identify the manifested evils in the world and attempt to treat the symptoms but it is another and much more difficult thing to identify what is causing the symptoms and address it just as fervently as the symptoms and among the greatest logical fallacies that there could ever be is believing that we can forever rid ourselves of the manifested evils without addressing their actual cause and this is the folly not just in the world of the lost but also in the Church as well but when the foundational causes of the manifested problems are addressed, there will be denial, there will be wrath, and in other cases there will be acceptance and then transformational change.

But the lost are not just outside the four walls of the church building.  I fear that there are more lost souls sitting in our pews on a regular basis among our members than we know.  As we go about the business of calling the lost to repentance, we need also to be at work regaining ground lost within our members and not only regain it but also keeping it.

 

Scripture references:

1.  Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

2.  2 Timothy 3:16

3.  Genesis 3

4.  Romans 6:23

5.  Genesis 3:1

6.  2 Corinthians 10:4

7.  Acts 17:16, 23-28

8.  Genesis 1:26

9.  Acts 17:26

10.  Genesis 2:9

11.  Romans 5:12

12.  Romans 8:19-22

13.  Romans 3:23

14.  2 Corinthians 5:21

15.  Hebrews 4:15

16.  Romans 4:25

17.  Revelation 19-22