SERMON

Strong in the Lord

Last week we received an introduction into being strong in the Lord.

This week we are going to go a little deeper into what that means for us.

We will concentrate on the first part of the verse from Ephesians 6:10:

“Be strong in the Lord.”

Doctrine:  The Christian’s strength lies in the Lord, not in himself.

The strength of the General lies in his troops.

If their power is broken, he is lost.

In the army of the saints of God, the strength of every saint lies in the Lord of hosts.

God can overcome His enemies without our help, but we cannot defend ourselves in any way with His arm.

One of God’s names is “the strength of Israel” (1 Samuel 15:29)

“Without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

“Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.” (2Corinthians 3:5)

“It is God who works in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)

We are helpless until God starts to act.

“To will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not.”  (Romans 7:18)

Jesus prayed “Father,  keep them” (John 17:11), because without the support of God, we would be shiftless children not knowing what to do and not having the strength to do it.

To do any duty of God’s worship, still our strength is in the Lord.

1.  Prayer

If we are left alone, we would not “know what to pray for as we ought” (Romans 8:26).

We would end up praying ourselves into a quicksand if God did not guide us in our prayers.

We must allow the Holy Spirit to groan through us, and give us the words to take to the Father in prayer.

David received strength from the Lord: “In the day that I cried, you answered me, strengthened me with strength in my soul.”  (Psalm 138:3)

He received strength in his praying, but not from it.  He got his strength from God,   He did not pray himself strong, but God strengthened him in his prayer.

2. Hearing the Word preached

God opens the heart to attend (Acts 16:14)

He opens the understanding of the saint to received the Word, so he can understands what it means.

When David sinned through Bathsheba, he sat for six months under the public lectures of the Law, but his heart was shut off until Nathan came and told him the Word of God that he needed to hear.   It was then he started to understand, and we see his response in Psalm 51.

Isaiah 48:17 says that God “teaches His people to profit.”

You can sit and hear sermon after sermon and possibly understand what is said at a surface level, but it is when the Holy Spirit comes and reveals the deeper meanings of what the preacher is saying, that you understand what God is teaching you through it.

There are some reasons why a Christian’s strength is in God Himself:

a.  It is the nature of God’s created beings to depend on His grace.

Although after the sixth day, God did not create anything else, He has not ended His work of providence.

Jesus said “My Father works hitherto”

God preserves and empowers what He has made with strength to be and to act.  He holds our souls in life.

When Jesus rose from the dead, He made an end of purchasing mercy, grace and glory for believers, and “having by himself purged our sins. Sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”  (Hebrews 1:3)

But He does not stop interceding for us and being our advocate in Heaven.

b. The Christian is a weak creature conflicting with enemies stronger than itself, and therefore cannot stay in battle without strength from heaven.

When the Germans occupied France in World War II, there were some who yielded and became willing subjects;  and there were others who plotted resistance against the occupying power.

Jesus, through his death and resurrection, has conquered our ‘city’, and part of us have willingly come under His Lordship.

But in every Christian, there are parts which continue to rebel against that Lordship, because they are discontented with the Christian’s change of heart.

The Sodomites did not want Lot, who was a righteous man before God, to judge them.

Satan leads the mutinous parts of us, and it needs constant input of God’s strength for us to keep control of those areas of our lives, so they don’t eat up what little grace we have.

c.  God has a grand design in which He is involved in the saints’ salvation.

This is two-fold:

1.  God would bring his saints to heaven in such a way as might be most expressive of his dear love and mercy to them.

I will just give you a taste of this, and expand on it more fully when I next have my turn to share the word here.

a.  There is a sweetness that we experience when we realize that God is strengthening us.   When His Spirit increases our faith and gives us a clearer picture of His love toward us, we find that serving God is pleasant and meaningful to us.

b.  This way of dealing with us adds to our stability and strength.

Our service is imperfect, and there are many leaks in our container.  If it were left to itself, our resources would run out and our tanks would be empty.  God continually comes and fills up a tanks, so we are always running on full.

This the difference between a flowering pot plant with a root.  It always keep living and producing;  but cut flowers in a vase will wilt after a while because there is no ongoing source of sustenance.

2.  He would so express his mercy and love to them, so that it would rebound back to him in the highest advance of his own glory possible.

a.  The way that God strengthens us causes us to know and acknowledge that the strength of our life is God and not ourselves.  Therefore we are not going to take the credit that rightly belongs to God for the good things that happen in our lives and work for Him.

There is no room for self exalting thoughts here.

We are part of the city whose maker and builder is God..