Rev. David Holwick R Lord's Prayer, #7
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
May 26, 2013
Matthew 6:13b
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I. Memorial Sunday.
A. The parades and picnics honor something that is very serious.
1) Our nation has paid a heavy price for its wars.
2) We have spent much treasure and shed a great deal of blood.
a) The justification: we have maintained our freedom.
b) Many of our enemies have been evil.
1> Consider Adolph Hitler, Osama Bin Laden.
A> Can you imagine if those guys had won?
2> We are glad we have been delivered from them.
B. The Lord's Prayer ends with a plea for help.
1) We are asking God to protect us from the bad guys.
2) It is not a small request, but a big one.
a) Do you understand what you are really up against?
b) Do you believe God can keep you safe from it?
II. Different ways of looking at "evil."
A. The KJV has "evil" while modern translations have "evil one."
1) Is Jesus referring to Satan, or evil in general?
2) The Greek construction favors the NIV's translation.
a) Jesus is referring to evil in a personal sense.
b) Just as Jesus was tempted by Satan, we will be tempted
by him too.
B. Most Americans would rather not see evil as personal.
1) The majority - 60% - view Satan as a symbol of evil.
2) One who surprisingly disagrees is Alice Cooper.
Cooper has been called the Godfather of Shock Rock.
His shows featured guillotines, fake blood, boa constrictors
and bizarre makeup.
He lived the hedonistic life of a rock'n'roll god.
Many people were stunned a few years ago when he revealed
he was a Christian.
He had grown up in a religious home but didn't get serious
about his faith until later.
He told an interviewer he was pretty much convinced all
his life that there was just one God and there was Jesus
Christ and there was the Devil.
Cooper said, "You couldn't believe in God without believing
in the Devil...
The most dangerous thing you can do is to believe in the
concept of the Devil or the concept of God, because
you're not giving them full credit.
When you believe in God, you've got to believe in the
all-powerful God.
He's not just God, He's the all-powerful God and He has
total control over everyone's life.
"The Devil, on the other hand, is a real character that's
trying his hardest to tear your life apart.
If you believe that this is just mythology, you're a prime
target because you know that's exactly what Satan wants:
To be a myth.
But he's not a myth, of this I'm totally convinced.
More than anything in the world, I'm convinced of that."
#12757
III. Evil can come from many directions.
A. We are capable of doing evil on our own.
1) You should note that deliverance from evil follows the words
on not being led into temptation.
2) We don't require an outside source to entice ourselves.
B. But so much that is evil comes from others.
1) Evil humans.
a) Perhaps you have met people who have enjoyed causing
you pain, who wanted to destroy you.
b) You wanted to get back at them, but that can cause you
to be just like them.
c) It is better to ask God to deal with them.
2) Evil culture.
a) We are surrounded by the influences of the world.
1> Television, movies, internet, schools, the
government...
2> All of these can have ungodly values that they want
you to submit to.
b) Even the church can be a force for evil.
1> One of those who has emulated Alice Cooper is
the goth rock star Marilyn Manson.
Manson made his stage name from Marilyn Monroe and
Charles Manson, the mass killer.
He bends gender and morality, and he is vehemently
anti-Christian.
He says he became this way because of a Christian
school he was sent to.
The teachers and students were mean to him and he
has used his music to get revenge ever since.
2> Would anyone see YOU as an evil influence?
A> I would hope not.
B> If they would, you had better repent.
C> Jesus says if you cause anyone to stumble
spiritually, you would be better off tying
a weight around your neck and jumping into
the sea. Matt 18:6
3) Supernatural sources.
a) Much evil cannot be pinned on humans.
b) The Bible says there are sinister forces that want to
destroy you.
c) You are too weak for them - you need God's help.
IV. God can protect us and deliver us.
A. God can break our evil addictions.
1) Alice Cooper was delivered from alcoholism.
Alice Cooper was introduced to alcohol when he began his
music career, and drank heavily for the next 15 years.
He once said, "I was a totally functional alcoholic,
probably the most functional alcoholic ever.
I never missed a show.
I never stumbled.
I never slurred a word.
I mean I was the Dean Martin of rock n' roll."
Cooper said divine intervention is what broke his drinking
habit in the mid-1980s.
He said, "I honestly think I was simply and completely
healed.
I guess you can call it a miracle.
It's the only way I can explain it.
It was absolutely eliminated from my life."
#12757
a) Some of you have been delivered from addictions too.
b) Maybe you need to be, but haven't been serious about
asking God for help.
c) You would rather "manage" it on your own.
1> It won't work until you surrender to God.
B. God can get you out of evil circumstances. 2 Cor 1:10
1) Paul had many experiences that could have resulted in death.
2) He never gave up hope because he knew God's track record.
a) God has delivered me.
1> Paul suffered many imprisonments and beatings,
from enemies and just common criminals.
2> God always got him out alive, if a little banged up.
b) He will deliver me.
1> Paul expected to be delivered from his current dire
situation in Ephesus.
2> This is what was keeping him from visiting the
Corinthian church.
c) He will continue to deliver me.
1> At the time Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, he had not
experienced the dramatic shipwreck recorded at
the end of the book of Acts.
2> God got him, and the whole crew, out alive.
3) Verse 9 gives the lesson he learned from this: We should
not rely on ourselves, but on God.
a) God can raise people from the dead.
b) Certainly he can get you out of your trouble.
c) Do you have faith that he will?
V. What about Christians who don't get delivered?
A. Sometimes it doesn't go according to our plan.
During World War II, Private Keith Lance of the 84th Division
was that rare creature, an atheist in a foxhole.
His buddy was "a good Catholic boy from upstate New York."
They were being shelled and the buddy "Hailed Mary" all night
long.
Lance got to the point where he hated the Hail Marys more than
the shelling, so jumped out of the foxhole to find another
one.
As he dived in his new hole, he heard an explosion.
He was stunned - the enemy artillery shell had hit his old
hole.
His Catholic buddy was badly wounded and buried in mud.
#4577
Christians prefer that story to go differently - the atheist's
foxhole is the one that is supposed to take a direct hit.
But it doesn't always work out that way.
B. The Apostle Paul is a case in point. Phil 1:19-21
1) Paul's final imprisonment resulted in his death.
2) This was not a surprise to him - he anticipated it.
a) In the book of Philippians, Paul writes to them from
prison.
b) Even other Christians were taking advantage of his
situation and were stealing his followers.
c) But Paul tells them he expects to be delivered by God.
1> What form would that deliverance take?
2> He says he wants Christ to be exalted in his body,
whether by life or death.
A> He then emphasizes this by saying, for me to
live is Christ and to die is gain.
B> Either way, Paul wins.
C> A few years later, he was executed in Rome.
3) If you are a Christian, even death can be a deliverance.
a) That is why the resurrection is such a comfort to Paul
and other early Christians.
b) Satan cannot defeat us because he cannot touch our soul.
VI. We have to rely on God.
A. God is stronger than any enemy we can have.
1) We have to put our confidence in his strength.
B. It is not enough to escape from evil. Matt 12:43-45
1) Jesus in Matthew 12 talks about a man who is delivered
from demon possession.
a) He is clean - all his problems are gone.
b) But the man remains a vacuum, and the demon returns
with reinforcements, so he is worse off than before.
2) The only solution is to be filled with something positive.
a) Only God can fill that vacuum and keep you safe.
C. Do you possess the divine protection from evil?
Alice Cooper has some final words about his faith:
"When people say, 'How do you believe this?' I just say
nothing else speaks to my heart.
This doesn't speak to my intellect, it doesn't speak to
my logic - it speaks right to my heart and right to my
soul, deeper than anything I've ever thought of.
And I totally believe it."
#12757
1) Believing in God is the start.
2) Are you putting your full trust in his ability to deliver
you from any evil?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 4577 “The Atheist in a Foxhole,” Stephen Ambrose, from his book
“Citizen Soldiers,” page 266. His original source is Egger
and Otts, "G Company's War," page 118.
#12757 “Alice Cooper is a Christian,” (anonymous author),
http://www.jesusjournal.com/content/view/79/85/,
March 28, 2006.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
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