Lead Us Not Into Temptation

The following is a lightly edited transcript provided by a transcription service. Please check the video before quoting.

David Platt at CROSS CON20

In just a moment, I want to lead us to pray for Matt and Kim and to pray for what’s about to happen in this final time that we’re together at this conference. I want to start by reminding you of the text we read last night, Acts Chapter 13 about a worship gathering in Antioch when the Holy Spirit of God said, set apart for me, Barnaba, and Saul for the work to which I’ve called them, the spirit of God supernaturally spoke and called Barnabas and Saul to go where the gospel had not yet gone and the church sent them out goers and senders.

So at the end of our time in God’s word, a few minutes from now, I’m going to invite people in this room, in every home, every church, every place where we are gathered. I’m going to invite people to stand in that home and this room and that church building wherever we are to stand.

We Live in a Spiritual World

If you would say, I believe God is leading me to communicate to my church a desire to go as a missionary specifically to cross barriers for the spread of the gospel among the unreached people who don’t have access to the gospel right now.

And at that time, if you would say you believe God is calling you to stay, make disciples where you live in your culture and live to send others, to go where the gospel is not yet gone and to support brothers and sisters taking the gospel to the nations, then I’m going to invite you to stay seated at that moment.

I want to be clear though, that this is not a call to divide this conference into two tiers. The super Christians who are goers and the sub-Christians who are starters, the varsity and the jv, God calls us all to make disciples of the nations in different ways and what will be most important, a few moments from now is not whether you are sitting or standing. What will be most important in that moment is whether you are obeying the spirit of God.

God Calls You

And for some of you, obedience will mean standing for others. Obedience will mean sitting. And for those who believe God may be calling you to go, I want to be clear about what I’m not calling you to. I’m not calling you tonight to make a decision to move tomorrow to the Middle East. I’m also not calling you to make this decision alone.

That’s why I want to emphasize that in your standing you would be saying you believe the Lord is leading you as best as you can tell to go to your church. If you don’t have a church to join a church, to go to that church and say, as best as I can discern, I believe God is leading me to go to a place, to a people where the gospel hasn’t gone. Please help me discern this and help send me if God is indeed leading me to do this.

Let God Speak to You & Obey

So that’s the moment toward which the next few minutes are headed and I, we need the spirit of God to lead us there. So I want to pray, but even before I pray, and we did this a moment ago with Scott and Cindy, but I want to ask every follower of Jesus within the sound of my voice, so every student, every leader, every campus minister, church staff, member, pastor, leaders of this conference, even in this room, every single one of us to put our lives on the table before God right now in a fresh way and say, whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it wherever you want me to go, I will go.

No strings attached. And some of you already know God is leading you to go, you’re ready to stand right now. Others of you aren’t sure. Some of you believe God is leading you to stay seated, but I want to ask you as we pray in your heart, to ask God to speak to you by His spirit, through his word in the next few minutes and to help you obey.

Pray to God

So let’s bow our heads as we pray together to God, our Father in heaven, we praise you for Matt and Kim. We pray that you would bless them and their family in every way for the spread of the gospel and your glory where they live in North Africa, and we pray that in the next few minutes, you would call out multitudes more Matts and Kim’s you would raise up multitudes of others who will make sacrifices to send and support them.

God, we pray that you will keep the adversary from distracting us from hearing your voice in the next few minutes. He would remove distractions. You would keep the adversary from doubting you when we hear your voice or from deceiving us into thinking that your voice can’t be trusted.

Be Present in God’s Name

God, we pray that you would help each of us to hear you clearly and to obey you completely no matter what you say, no matter what that means because we trust you, God, we ask you boldly to do in the next few minutes what you did in Acts 13 in a way that the nations might feel the effects and the future of what your spirit does.

In the next few minutes in this gathering and all the places where we are, we ask these things, BY your grace for your glory. In Jesus’ name, amen. All right, here we go. Matthew chapter six, verse 13, the last part of the Lord’s Prayer.

Jesus says, pray like this. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. And then you look in many, maybe most Bibles, you’ll see a footnote after evil in verse 13 that takes you to the bottom of the Bible and it says, some manuscripts add for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

We Are Involved in A Spiritual War

So a quick note there, most of the earliest manuscripts, the New Testament did not have this edition, but it was customary in the early church to include a doxology like this at the end of a common prayer. Some of the earliest teachings of the church about the Lord’s Prayer included this doxology.

So it likely wasn’t in what Jesus originally taught here in Matthew chapter six, but it is a biblical prayer. One Chronicles chapter 19, verse 11 says, yours oh Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty and the kingdom forever and ever a similar way. Revelation five 13 says to him, who sits on the throne into the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever, which is why I’m going to bring us back to this doxology at the end.

But for now, let’s think about these words that Jesus taught us to pray. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Why would Jesus close this prayer with these words and why are they so significant for this moment in this conference? Let me show you why. Because there is an adversary who does not want the name of God, our Father, to be hallowed among the nations.

There is an Advesriy in God’s Kingdom

There is an adversary who does not want God’s kingdom to come or God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. There is an adversary who does not want you to feast on God’s goodness or experience God’s forgiveness and he doesn’t want anyone else to either.

There’s an adversary who wants every person in every tribe, language, and nation to burn in hell forever and he wants to keep you from taking the gospel to them, which means there is an adversary who will do anything he can to divert you, to distract you, to discourage you.

Ultimately, he’ll do anything he can to destroy you, which is why Jesus says pray like this. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Do we realize why this last petition in the Lord’s prayer is so critical? I don’t think most of us do.

The Spiritual Battle

I don’t think most of us realize the spiritual battle that we are in. I think most of us have a naturalistic Western mindset that is so focused on physical things that we can see that we are practically blind to spiritual realities we cannot see.

So I want to show you six biblical truths that are underneath what Jesus is saying here. I want to encourage you to write them down for if you realize what I’m about to say, it will totally change your life, your perspective on everything. Here’s the first one, one, we live in a spiritual world. We live in a spiritual world.

So let me illustrate this reality here in Matthew chapter six that Jesus is addressing with the Old Testament in Second Kings, chapter six, a story about Elisha who was a prophet of God. Lemme read it to you starting in verse eight, two Kings chapter six, verse eight.

The Man of God

And in this story, Elisha is described as the man of God. Verse eight, Second Kings six says, once when the king of Syria was warring against Israel, he took counsel with his servants saying, at such and such a place shall be my camp. But the man of God, Elisha, sent word to the king of Israel, beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are going down there.

And the king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God told him. Thus he used to warn him so that he saved himself there more than once or twice. So basically the king of Syria would make plans in his war with Israel, then God would reveal those plans to Elisha and Elisha would tell the king of Israel. It’s kind of unfair, right? Naturally, this did not make the king of Syria very happy.

Verse 11 says the mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled because of this thing. And he called his servants and said to them, will you not show me who of us is for the king of Israel? Like who’s the traitor here? And one of his servants said, none my Lord. Oh, king.

But Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom. The king’s advisors say it’s not us. Elisha is the one giving away our plans. He knows everything you’re doing.

So the king says, go and see where he is that I may send and seize him. It was told to him, behold he is in Dothan. So we sent their horses and chariots and a great army and they came by night and surrounded the city. Now listen to what happens. Two kings six 15 when the man of God rose early.

So the servant of Elisha rose early in the morning, went out, behold an army with horses and chariots was all around the city and the servant said, alas, my master, what shall we do? So Elisha’s servant is panicked, so he wakes up.

Elisha says, master, what are we going to do? Elisha says, do not be afraid for those who are with us more than those who are with them. Elisha says, there’s more of us than them. I want you to think about that. There are two guys in the house, Elisha and his servant. There’s a great army with horses and chariots out there.

If you’re Elisha’s servant, you’re thinking the old guy has lost his mind. He may be a prophet, but he’s no mathematician. There are two of us and a ton of them. But then listen to what happens. Verse 17 says, Elisha prayed and said, oh Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.

So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. In other words, Elisha prays that God would open his servant’s eyes to see the spiritual army full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding them.

And in that moment, this servant gets a glimpse of spiritual reality and it totally changes his perspective. He realizes that the army of Syria is indeed outnumbered, not physically, but spiritually. And in that moment, the invisible became visible and everything changed. Listen to what happened, verse 18 says, when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, please strike these people blindly.

So he struck them blindly in accordance with the prayer of Elisha and Elisha said to them, this is not the way and this is not the city. Follow me and I’ll bring you to the man whom you seek. And he led them to Samaria. What happens in the rest of the story is Elisha leads the Syrian army straight to the king of Israel where all of them are immediately captured.

An Invisible Spiritual World

Why do I share that story then as we’re thinking about the Lord’s prayer? Because Jesus is telling us here at the end of this prayer, you need to realize there is so much going on around you that you don’t see. There is a spiritual invisible world around you that is just as real as the physical visible world, yet it is far more powerful.

The Bible teaches there are vast numbers of angels, both good and bad spirits that exist all around us right now they are glorious beings that would take our breath away if we saw them right now, they’re evil beings that would horrify us if we could see them.

And to most of our minds that sounds crazy and most of our minds, we explain everything based on what we can physically observe in science and technology. To say that you believe in the existence of angels and demons, it’s like saying you believe in dragons and elves in our worldview.

God Controls Everything

If you can’t see it, touch it, taste it, smell it, hear it. It doesn’t exist. Seriously, do you really believe God controls thunder and lightning? When meteorologists can use satellite pictures and computers to predict storms a week before they even happen, how can you say a personal tempter engages our wills and a battle of good and evil when we know it’s the configurations of our DNA or our family history that lead us down certain paths our worldview has so deadened people to the reality of the spiritual such that we see spiritual explanations of anything as religious nonsense.

In CS Lewis Classic screwtape letters, the older demon says to the younger demon wormwood, I do not think you’ll have much difficulty in keeping the patient in the dark. The fact that devils are predominantly comic figures and the modern imagination will help you if any faint suspicion of your existence begins to arise in his mind, suggest to him a picture of something in red tights and persuade him that since he cannot believe in that he therefore cannot believe in you.

So we usually think about spiritual explanations of events as crazy or at least uncommon, maybe kind of weird. So yeah, maybe there’s some spiritual stuff happening in seances or Ouija boards or tarot cards and maybe in some remote places around the world, but not in our everyday lives, which is kind of the point because there are many places in the world where I would not have to point this out because they know there’s a spiritual world around them.

The sad thing is many missionaries from the west have gone to places like that and tried to convince them otherwise. Leslie GaN said that Christian missionaries have been one of the most secularizing forces in the world.

We’ve gone into a third-world context and taught people it’s not spirits who make the crops grow. It’s science. So we got fertilizer and fungicides and pesticides and hybrid seeds and we showed them spirituality has nothing to do with agriculture.

God Sustains the World

It’s all science. Now to be clear, it’s not that science isn’t involved, it obviously is, but what we should have said is this is a God created and God sustaining world and God has enabled us to learn how to put the right things together and in accordance with how he has created them.

And when we do this, God gives us good crops. Science is our natural observation of the way a supernatural God governs the world, and all of this scientific order is maintained by his sovereign power.

The fruit we see in science is the work of almighty God, but this is not how we think. We don’t see the spiritual realities and it permeates and infiltrates the physical world around us. While the Bible teaches us from beginning to end that there is a spiritual world around us.

It’s what Jesus is pointing to here. Even though from the very beginning, of Genesis three, there was a spiritual temptation to physically eat a piece of fruit in Jesus’ own life.

We Live in a Spiritual World

Matthew chapter four, he was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil in very physical ways, which leads to the next truth. So one, we live in a spiritual world. Number two, that means we are involved in a spiritual war.

All the time, you and I, are involved in a spiritual war. Jesus knew this in his life. Do not be mistaken. Jesus was not just tempted three times in Matthew chapter four, then he was done with temptation. Jesus was tempted every single day of his life, all throughout the day, all the way to his death on the cross.

Just like you and I are being tempted all throughout our lives, all throughout the day, which is why Jesus teaches us to pray like this. And to be clear, we know God does not tempt us to evil. We know that from all of the Bible explicitly in James chapter one, but Jesus is telling us here we will be tempted as he was and we must pray that God will help us to overcome it.

Our Enemy is Formidable

Jesus was saying to us, you’re in a battle in the words of Ephesians chapter six, verse 12, you’re in a war against rulers, authorities against the cosmic powers over this present darkness and the spiritual forces of evil and the heavenly places.

Now think about this reality. In light of this conference and this night, even this moment in particular later in the book of Matthew, Matthew chapter 24, verse 14, Jesus says, this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations and then the end will come.

Now there’s some discussion and debate about exactly what that verse means, but there’s no debate about what’s going to happen in the end. Revelation chapters five and seven make clear that men and women from every nation, tribe, language, and people will gather around the throne of God and give him glory for his salvation through Jesus.

In other words, in the end, people from all nations will have heard and believed the gospel and mark it down. Satan does not want that end to come.

The Devil

Do you know why? Because that end is not good news for him. It’s good news for the nations but not for the devil. Revelation chapter 20 verse 10. In the end, the devil will be thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur and will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Do you realize what this means?

This means that the devil and all his demons are doing everything they can even right now to keep the gospel from going to all the peoples of the earth. It’s not an accident that 3 billion people are in the dark, and have never heard the good news of God’s grace, and to bring that reality to this moment right now, realize there is a spiritual war raging, waging right now to keep you from getting the gospel to the nations with your life and say that again.

There is a spiritual war waging right now and every day of your life to keep you from getting the gospel to the nations to keep you from going to the nations. Satan wants no one to stand tonight and say, I believe God is leading me to go. Satan wants to overwhelm you with fear.

Who Is Satan?

That which is unfamiliar and foreign. Satan wants to fill you with insecurity and do you really think you can make a difference among the nations? You are so weak, you have failed at so many things so many times. What can you do? You’re not cut out for this. Satan wants to deceive you into thinking that the nations are okay without the gospel.

Satan wants to deceive you into thinking that an easy life in the comforts of America is better than a hard life of challenges overseas. Satan wants to distract you with this girl or that guy whose heart does not beat for the glory of God among the nations. Satan wants to convince you that marriage to them is better than a mission to the unreached.

Satan doesn’t want anyone to stand tonight and for those who do stand its game on a whole nother level, you stand tonight, you say, I believe God is leading me. Go to my church, talk about me taking the gospel, moving my life to go to the unreached. You can expect to be bombarded with spiritual attacks on all sides, even through well-meaning Christians, maybe even your parents who will tell you there’s a better way to spend your life.

How Will You Provide for Yourself?

And there’s so much need here. Why are you going there? How will you provide for yourself? How will you ensure your safety? What will be your backup plan? Isn’t finding a husband or wife more important and you will be bombarded by your own flesh, by your own desires for the pleasures and possessions of this world, by the passions of this world?

The devil is sidelining an entire generation from the great commission right now through pornography and sexual immorality. He delights in enslaving you to a screen or luring you into sexual activity with someone who’s not your spouse. All of this is the perfect setup for him because he’ll not only keep you from spreading eternal life to people on a road to eternal suffering.

At the same time, he will destroy your mind your heart, and, your intimacy with God. With pornography, he’ll fuel an entire industry that is abusing and objectifying precious people made in the image of God. And to be clear, this spiritual attack is not just for those who stand in obedience to God’s spirit tonight.

A Spiritual Attack

This spiritual attack is also for those who sit in obedience to God’s spirit tonight. For all those who believe that God is calling you to make disciples of the nations here and live and work to send missionaries and support brothers and sisters among nations there, Satan has his eyes on you as well.

He wants to lure you with the pleasures and possessions and passions and pursuits of this world to get your heart off the hollowing of God’s name among the nations, to lull you to sleep with comforts in your culture, to convince you to live it up here and attack Jesus on the side. Along the way.

Satan wants to do with you what he has done with multitudes of professing Christians in reached places. He wants you to be content with church on Sundays where you occasionally wring your hands in pious concern about the plight of the lost around the world, put relative pennies into an offering plate for missions, and then go on living a nice comfortable Christian spin on the American dream to use John Piper’s words, Satan wants you to waste your life. It’s one life that God has given you. Satan wants you to throw it away.

Our Adversary is Formidable

On the stuff of this world. You see it? We’re involved in a spiritual war and to keep going, here’s the third biblical truth. Our adversary in this spiritual war is formidable. One Peter chapter five, verse eight, your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour God.

The inspiration in his words does not compare the devil to a mouse. He compares the devil to a lion on the prowl and lions prowl for one reason they aim to kill, which is why Jesus tells us to pray this prayer. Some translations instead of saying deliver us from evil, actually say, deliver us from the evil one.

There’s debate among biblical scholars about which it is, but the meaning is essentially the same because in the mind of Jesus, he knows the devil is the prince and personification of evil, and Jesus is teaching us here that we should soberly acknowledge his presence and power and humbly plead for deliverance from it.

Queen Mary

There’s a story of two martyrs in the reign of Queen Mary. Before bloody Mary was a drink, she was a queen who killed nearly 300 men and women for believing and proclaiming the gospel. Two of them were in prison about to be burned at the stake.

One boasted proudly to the other prisoners that he would be a man at the stake, that he was so grounded in the gospel that he could never deny Jesus. The other was a poor trembling man who was very afraid of the coming fire. He knew his sensitivity to suffering.

He was concerned that when his body saw a fire begin to burn, the pain might cause him to deny the truth of the gospel. So he urged his friend and other prisoners to pray for him. He was constantly crying out to God for strength in his weakness.

Meanwhile, the other man was chiding him for being faithless until they both came to the stake, and the one who had been so bold in prison saw the fire and on the spot, recanted his faith. And lived and never confessed Jesus as Lord again.

The other man whose trembling prayer had constantly been leading me not into temptation delivered me from evil. By the grace of God, he stood firm as a rock when he went to that stake and he sang praises to God as long as he had breath while his body burned to death. The purpose of this conclusion to the Lord’s prayer is to crucify our pride to remind us that none of us can stand against our adversary alone.

But that’s the beauty of this prayer because it’s an acknowledgment that yes, truth number three, our enemy in this spiritual war is formidable. But truth number four, our ally in this spiritual war is indomitable. Our ally in this spiritual war is indomitable, incomparable, invincible, unbeatable.

So don’t think for a second as we talk about warring against sin and evil and Satan, that the Bible is depicting some sort of dualism here like Star Wars where you have two equal opposite forces, good and evil warring against one another and you hope good will prevail in the end. No, no, not at all. Mark it down. This is not dualism, this is domination.

Who is on Your Side?

Do you realize who is on your side? Who is calling you to live for his hollowing among the nations? Do you realize who is praying to Matthew chapter six? But when you realize who he is, you will not fear anything in this world. Anything you won’t fear anything you might ever face among the nations. Think of the book of Isaiah.

All throughout that book, God is telling his people not to be afraid of anything in this world. You have nothing to fear when God is with you in light of threats to God’s people from the nations. God says in Isaiah 49, fear not to say to the cities of Judah, behold your God. Look at your God. Then Isaiah 40 keeps going. Listen to this Isaiah chapter 40 verses 15 through 17.

God says, behold the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are accounted as the dust on the scales. Behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Did you hear that? The nations think of all the nations and all the rulers of the world. They’re like a drop from a bucket. I was reading that the other day and I thought, okay, let’s think about the nations then.

How do you Picture the Nations Before God?

Here’s a bucket of water. So I want to give you a picture of the nations before our God. I have to dropper, put this down in here. All right? Behold all the nations of the world, watch real close. Wait for it, wait for it. There they are The nations of the world before our God, like a drop in a bucket or so what’s the other image here?

Like dust on the scale. So I was thinking, okay, so we got to scale here, weigh things, and I’ve got here a book I pulled off my shelf. This is my PhD dissertation. No one has read this in 20 years, close to 20 years.

And even then only a couple of people read it and it’s because they had to. What that means is this book has been sitting on my shelf collecting dust for almost 20 years. So it’s full of dust. So I thought this would be a perfect illustration.

Our Ally is Admitable

I’ll put the dust on the scale and see what effect it has. So I’m just going to kind of brush this off. I know how to brush dust. There we go. Huh? Made no difference whatsoever. On that scale, I see a picture of the God who is with you for you on your side.

You keep going down in Isaiah 40. So one more picture, one more picture. Isaiah 40, verse 25. To whom then will you compare me? God says that I should be like him. Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these.

He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might. And because he is strong in power, not one is missing. He’s talking about the stars there. God says, look up in the sky. So I got a picture from the sky.

So this was the last time I was in the Himalayas in unreached villages there in those mountains. And this was a picture taken at night. In fact, one of the brothers who’s helping make a cross-conference happen took this picture.

You see all those stars just everywhere. And then he did a time-lapse. He actually stayed up just watching him on the roof one night and freezing cold weather. But I want you to see the time-lapse. Watch this. I just want you to see the movement of the sky and the stars. Watch this.

Did you see that? All those stars like shooting everywhere. And then that one at the end, I’m going to play it one more time, like don’t miss it. I’m trying to circle it here. See if I can make this work. Alright, here we go. I’m going to circle it. It’s going to be like right around here. Watch what happens. Just here’s the actual picture lit up.

God Calls the Stars by Name

I look at that picture of the stars in the sky. I read Isaiah 40 and I’m thinking, wait a minute, lift up your eyes on high and see you created these. Brings out their story hosts one by number, calling them all by name.

There’s Bob, and down here is Mary, and here’s Z, 1, 4, 3, 6 niner. I don’t know what their names are, but our God knows their names. Are you getting this? The God who calls the stars by name is the one who’s speaking to you right now.

Spiritual War

And not just speaking to you or the one who’s with you and promises to be with you and not just with you. I was thinking to him, how do I word this like our ally in the spiritual war? It’s not just our ally besides us. He’s in us.

So one more picture, I just want you to feel like these pictures, one more picture. I got some buckets up here. I was thinking about our lives and what the Bible teaches about us in relationship to God, Jesus.

So I’m going to make this bucket represent you. I just want you to give, this is for all who have trusted in Jesus, for her followers of Jesus. This is going to be you right here. So just write you kind of draw you right there. I don’t know if that’s showing up, but that’s you right there. So now we got you to read Colossians chapter one.

And now I should give this disclaimer, don’t try to make a theology out of bins out of this. Just go with the illustration for a minute. Okay? So I’m not trying to make statements about Christology. Just go with me. This is you. This is your life. Colossians chapter one, verse 27 says that for those who are followers of Jesus, who is in you.

Christ is Here

Christ, Christ is, Christ is in you. So I’m going to put Christ here. I’m going to put him inside of you like the God who calls the stars by name in the flesh, Jesus. He lives in you. His spirit dwells in you. Then you get to two Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17.

And what does that passage teach? That passage teaches that you are in Christ. So we’re going to write Christ on here and then I’m going to put you in Christ. So now we’re starting to get a little clearer picture of who you are.

But that’s not the end of the story because Colossians chapter three, verse three says, your life is hidden with Christ in the marker’s not working great. But that’s all right. Just picture it. This picture of your life is hidden with Christ in God that says God really lightly. So I’m going to take this picture of Christ in you, you in Christ. I’m going to put Christ in God. And in the process show you a picture of your life.

As you go to the nations, as you send to the nations, and the adversary comes at you from all different angles. And once you realize when he comes at you first he’s got to deal with God the Father, which he doesn’t have a very good track record with.

And then if he were to get through there, he’s facing Christ who has defeated him, disarmed him, and made a public spectacle of him. Colossians chapter two days then if he were to somehow get to you, he’s still got to deal with the Holy Spirit of God dwelling inside of you.

And in this picture, what I hope you see is that once you realize who is with you, who is on your side, who dwells in you, then you are totally free to go, free to send wherever. However, no matter what it costs you with total confidence because of the ally who is with you, feel this, realize this knowing.

So these final two truths, one, I think this is number five, the stakes in this spiritual war are eternal. The stakes in this spiritual world war are eternal. Do we realize what’s at stake with what we’re talking about at this conference, what we’re talking about right now, according to two Peter chapter three, verse nine, the capital G God over this world wants, desires, every person in every people group to be saved?

The Stakes are Eternal

According to John chapter 10, verse 10, the lowercase g God of this world wants and desires, every person and every people group to burn in hell. God, help us to realize that casualties in this war don’t just lose an arm or an eye or an earthly life, even casualties in this war lose everything, even their own souls, and enter into a hell of everlasting torment.

Oh, we’ve talked about this. Revelation 14, 19, and 20, all describe hell as a place of torment that endures forever and ever. Do you ever read that and think, why does the Bible add and ever to that picture Revelation 2020 verse 10, they’ll be tormented day and night, forever and ever. What’s the point of the and ever? It adds nothing to the meaning. Maybe it’s God’s saying, don’t miss the point.

Jonathan Edwards described this and even said to help your conception, imagine yourself being cast into a fiery oven, all of a glowing heat. You’re in the midst of a blowing brick kiln or of a great furnace where your pain would be as much greater than that occasion by accidentally touching a coal of fire as the heat is greater.

Imagine also that your body was to lie there for a quarter of an hour full of fire as full within and without as a bright coal of fire, all the while full of quick sense. What horror would you feel at the entrance of such a furnace?

And how long would that quarter of an hour seem to you if it were to be measured by a glass? How long would the glass seem to be running? And after you’d endured it for one minute, how overbearing would it be to you to think that you had yet to endure the other 14?

But what would be the effect on your soul if you knew you must lie there, enduring that torment to the full for 24 hours? How much greater would be the effect if you knew you must endure it for a whole year? And how vastly greater still if you knew you must endure it for a thousand years?

And then how would your heart sink if you thought, if you knew that you must bear it forever and ever, that there would be no end, that after millions of millions of ages, your torment would be no nearer to an end than when it began and that you would never ever be delivered, but your torment in hell will be immeasurably greater than this illustration represents.

How then will the heart of a poor creature sink under it? How utterly inexpressible and inconceivable must the sinking of the soul be in such a case?

And this conference is talking about 3 billion people who are headed there, right? And nobody’s even told them how they could go to heaven, how they can know and enjoy God forever and ever.

The War is Irreversable

We live in a spiritual world. We’re involved in a spiritual war. Our enemy is formidable. Our ally, our God, is indomitable. The stakes in this war are eternal. And truth number six, the outcome of this war is irreversible, and inevitable.

As we look to God in this war, and we pray for his strength to overcome temptation, his deliverance from the power of evil, the evil one, our God will answer us in every way we need. Do you know how I know that? Because our God promised at the very start of this war in Genesis chapter three, verse 15, to send his son through the seed of woman and his son, Jesus came and did what none of us could do.

He lived the life we could not live a life of perfect obedience to the Father with no sin whatsoever in him. He never once gave in to temptation. And then though we had no sin for which to die, he chose to die on a cross for the sins of all who would trust in him.

He died the death we deserve to die. And then the good news keeps getting better because he didn’t stay dead for long. Three days later, Jesus rose from the grave in victory over sin, death, and Satan himself and rose from the grave he ascended into heaven, where he now sits at the father’s right hand.

And do you know what he’s doing right now? He’s leading his people in battle, not in a battle against flesh and blood, but in a battle against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms who are holding sway over the hearts of men and women among all the nations.

And as the commander of his church, he has laid down a clear charge, go and make disciples of all the nations, not some of them, not the easy ones to reach all of them. The hard and difficult and dangerous ones to reach, make disciples of all of them. And he’s promised I will be with you every step of the way until the day when every nation, tribe, language, and people has been reached with God’s word that has the power to save.

We Are Making History

This is what’s happening in history in the spiritual war, and this is the outcome toward which it is inevitably irreversibly headed. Brooks mentioned last night that Bible deck dedication among the Ybi Ybi people. I just want to show you the end of that documentary film.

Brooks was talking about it last night. I want you to see it. Remember, this is a people group that had never heard the gospel before, and didn’t even have an alphabet when Brooks and Nina and two other couples arrived there. So watch this with me.

After nine years, the moment has come, the missionaries have phased out of the tribe, leaving a church body with trained pastors for a new generation. The last step is providing them with a Bible in their native tongue.

This occasion is honored by a dedication that brings hundreds of native believers, neighboring missionaries, and even supporters from back home. It’s a celebration of heavenly proportions.

I used to wonder, what am I doing here? Will this matter? Will it even last? Now I just stand and wonder how did God take us, a few regular people to this remote village in the middle of the jungle to plant the seed of his word and watch it grow, watch it, transform, and see the dead brought to life and hear a new people proclaim God’s glory in their own language.

Nothing Can Stop God’s Kingdom

Do you see it? This is where all of eternity is headed. Turn every tribe and every nation hearing and believing and receiving and rejoicing over the word of God’s grace towards sinners, which means nothing can stop the coming of God’s kingdom and nothing can stop the hollowing of God’s name among all the nations.

The outcome of this war is irreversible. And one day it will be clear to all that to our God belongs the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. So let’s give our lives toward that end. Until that day comes Now, we come to a moment of decision. What is the spirit of God leading you to do?

How is the spirit of God leading you for the spread of the gospel and the glory of God among the nations? And if you would say tonight, I believe I need to communicate to my church my desire to go as a missionary specifically to cross barriers for the spread of the gospel among the unreached people who don’t have access to the gospel.

God is Everywhere

If you would say that in just a moment, I’m going to invite you to stand, which may be kind of awkward in a small group or at home, even just one or two people around you, maybe even alone. So let’s just acknowledge this is awkward for just about anybody in this setting. Be awkward in this room, but it’s a physical way to respond to what God is doing in your life.

So I’m going to invite you in a moment to stand and we’re going to pray specifically for you. And if you sense God saying to you as far as you know can discern, I’m calling you to stay, to make disciples where you live, and to work to send other brothers and sisters across cultures and support brothers and sisters who live in unreached places. I’m going to invite you to stay seated and to be confident in that.

Again, this is not a call for a two-tiered class of Christians in this conference. This is a call for obedience to Christ. In this conference, we prayed that God would raise laborers for his harvest field during this time.

It will go to those waiting to hear the gospel supported and sent by brothers and sisters who are spending their lives toward the same end. So if you believe God may be setting you apart to go as a missionary across barriers for the spread of the gospel, and you are going to pursue that possibility with a local church, I want to invite you to stand wherever you are right now.