Winning The War No One Sees
by Dan MacLeod
October 4, 2024 · New Life Terre Haute (New Life Fellowship)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Philippians 2:12, Genesis 3, Jeremiah 23:24, Exodus 2:12, Jeremiah 17:9, Psalm 119:11, Matthew 6:13, Matthew 26:41, 2 Chronicles 16:9

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/dan-macleod--winning-the-war-no-one-sees
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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I'm going to direct your attention this morning to the book of Philippians chapter two, and I'm going to read one verse of Scripture, verse number 12, and I give honor to our church and school leadership, and I might be more thankful your life academy than you are. And I was in a conversation with the treadways the other night, and we were just talking about how much of a blessing this school is to you and to the families of this church and will be to this city in the years to come. And I'm honored to be here with you today. Philippians chapter two in verse 12, the Apostle Paul says, Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. I want you to notice that he says, I love you, you've always obeyed, not as in my presence only. So Paul's saying, when

I was with you, you obeyed, but he said now much more in my absence. So what Paul is telling us is he's observed a tendency in human behavior that sometimes people act one way when you're with them and another way when you're not. But Paul says, I'm glad that you obey when I'm with you and when I'm not with you, you have a responsibility to work out your salvation with fear, with reverence, with trembling. I want to talk to you for a few minutes on this subject, winning the war that no one sees. Amen. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, I thank you for every student that's here today, the staff. I'm thankful God that we can end our week and start this day by gathering in your presence and turning our ears toward the word of the Lord. And I'm asking God that you would speak to us. I pray our minds would be attentive and our hearts would be tender and that we

would feel the drawing of your spirit to come closer into relationship with you. That's our goal today, God. We pray this in Jesus' name. Everybody said amen. Amen. You can be seated, winning the war that no one sees. In the book of Genesis, we find the story of Adam and Eve that no doubt most of us here are probably familiar with. We don't have time today to go through it in great detail, but if you were to read Genesis chapter three, I think there's some things that we can draw from the story that are implied in the text. It would seem to me that there's some kind of separation in this story between Adam and Eve. We know God gave Adam instruction and the Bible says that Eve was deceived and Adam was not. He just disobeyed. He followed suit. And so it would seem to me that it's implied in the story that perhaps Eve acted in the absence of Adam. He

may have been in the building, but not in the classroom, in the house, but not in the bedroom or the living room, in the general proximity, but close enough to be unaware. It may also be assumed, I think, that perhaps Adam acted in what he thought was the absence of God. But when the Lord draws near, he finds them hiding themselves among the trees. It's a silly thing. Jeremiah said this in 23 and 24. Can any hide himself in the secret places that I shall not see him? Sayeth the Lord. Do not I feel heaven and earth? Sayeth the Lord. Simply put, it's a foolish thing to think that you are in a place that God cannot see you and finds you. You may trick your classmates. You may even deceive your parents or a youth leader or pastor, but not God. He sees everything. He knows all. So it's a foolish thing to think that we are in a place or doing

a thing that God does not see or know. And we tell ourselves that hiding will just keep me from being seen. But the reality is, is it doesn't keep you from being seen. What it does do is keep you from getting help. And it didn't end there, but it is where it started. Adam and Eve's children, Cain and Abel. You probably know this story too. It's under the heat of the day out on the field one day when the jealousy and envy that has been burning in the heart of Cain for some time. Finally, it loses control. I don't know. You may have a different opinion. I don't think that Cain probably premeditated this moment or this murder. I think as jealousy often does, it's an uncontrolled fit. It's an uprising of emotion. And now he has done something that he probably regrets. He kills his own brother. And to hide this sin, he buries him in the ground. He hides his brother's

body, hoping no one saw him or will see this. And who shows up? God. Where, where is your brother? Cain says, am I my brother's keeper? You think it's my responsibility to take care of my brother? And by virtue of the question, the answer is already implied. God is saying, yes, it is your responsibility to care for your brother. It is your responsibility to care for your sister. It's your responsibility to care for those in your classroom and the classroom across the hall. It's your responsibility to care for the people you sit with today. And that'll sit with us on Sunday. It in a moment when Cain feels he is unseen, not observed by others. He does what he would never do had somebody been watching. He kills his brother. And a dozen in there look at Moses in Exodus two and 12. The Bible said he looked this way and that way. And when he saw that there was no man, he

slew the Egyptian and hit him in the sand. He looks around. The teacher's not in the classroom. Mom's not in the living room. My parents have gone to the store. There's nobody, no supervision on the playground. Look safe right now. And when he saw there was no man, he thought he was by himself. He was sure nobody's going to see this. He kills the Egyptian and hides his body in the sand. He looked in all the directions he thought to look, but little did he know there was some Hebrews nearby that watched it. And as a result of his sin being exposed, he leaves Egypt because someone saw him doing what he didn't want to be seen doing. What you hide will make you want to hide. I've been around church and ministry. Young people, old people a little while. Human nature hasn't changed. This is what I've learned. Those who hide themselves generally have things to hide. Those who are afraid to

be close to leadership and to submit to people, whether submitting to spiritual authority or submitting to peers in their life, those who operate in secrecy, those who hide themselves generally have things to hide. And again, it doesn't stop with Moses. By the time we get to David, and there's much good we can say about David. He had a lot of great God moments in his life. He was called out by the prophet, poured oil upon his head. He was anointed to the king of the nation. I mean, this is exciting. He had some stories to tell when he was keeping his dad sheep and the lion comes and the bear comes. I mean, he conquers these beasts with his bare hands with the staff and a sling. When servanthood placed him in the battlefield and they needed a man to conquer Goliath, it's David who comes before Saul and gets permission to fight the battle that nobody wanted to fight in that everybody

was going to see. This is what happens. You know the story. He walks out that day. Five smooth stones, a sling challenges that that giant of a man Goliath throws the stone and strikes him in the forehead. He falls to the ground. He takes Goliath sword. He cuts off his head. I mean, this is the battle that everybody in the nation knows about in his watching. David has won the fight that everybody sees and at the same time he was winning the war that people could see. He was losing the war that nobody could see. He was at war with his own nature. He lusted and he lost it while he was winning in the places everybody could see. There was something happening on the inside where he was losing. Jeremiah said in the seventeen and nine the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And I know sometimes we think I would never do that but

you don't know what you would do. This is why we live with the thing called boundaries because the heart is deceitful. Now, I know we can look at the life of David and we can see David deceived others. How does that happen? How do you go from being close to the Lord and used of God and winning victories that everybody sees to losing the one that nobody sees because your heart deceives you before he ever deceived others. His own heart deceived him. He would fight Goliath but he wouldn't fight his own flesh. He would kill Goliath but he would fall to Bathsheba. He was thriving in the places that people could see but he was suffering in the place where nobody could see. I would caution us today that it's always in the moments that we feel unseen that the enemy shows up. When that thought comes to your mind that that you think, well, I could get away with this right now.

That's the dangerous moment. When you think I can do this, my parents will never know. The staff will never know. You even tell yourself, well, you know, God won't really know. My friend, God always knows. You think you're hiding but he sees and he knows and hiding doesn't really keep you from the eyes of God. It just keeps you from the help of God. I'm talking to us today about temptation, not in one particular area because it comes in many forms and many ways but this subject of temptation begins in the opening pages of your Bible and it's still a battle that everybody in this room will fight today. Temptation to have good boundaries or to break the boundary. Temptation to to be dismissive with our attitude, to be unthankful or grumpy or rude or disrespectful. Temptation to to partake of the things that the world would offer us. Temptation, we could come up with a list of a hundred things today. We

don't have time but the question should be asked how do we deal with temptation? What do we do when temptation shows up in the moment where we feel unseen and we tell ourselves we could get away with this? Nobody will know what should we do. I'm going to give you two things. Number one is you have to have a relationship with the Word of God. In Jesus' great wilderness temptation, three times Satan tempts him and he tempts him with the Scripture. It's used out of context and just slightly changed. So, it sounds familiar. It might even feel familiar but the reason Jesus does not fall prey to temptation is because he knows what the Bible says and when he's tempted. Now nobody's, he's out in the middle of nowhere in the wilderness and he says it is written. It sounds, I mean that's as a preacher, that's that's that's the kind of statement that you love to preach but the intent is not

for me to have something to preach. The intent is for you to have something to live and this is what I know. You can't actually say it is written if you don't know what's written at the heart of every struggling person whether they're seven years old, 17 years old, or 47 years old is somebody who doesn't know and doesn't live the Word of God. You have to know what the Bible says. Even David in spite of all of his struggle and all of his mistakes, he comes to this point of understanding and he writes in Psalms 119 and 11, Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. I mean this is a man who won the battle that everybody was watching and lost the one that nobody could see and at the conclusion of it this this is what he learned. He learned the only way I can have victory over sin and I can resist

temptation is if I take God's Word and I hide it in my heart because what happens is when you encounter temptation the Spirit will bring that Word to remembrance and all of a sudden you're thinking well I read this in my devotion. I heard pastor preach this. We were talking about this in class and now that Word gives you strength and knowledge that you know what you should say no to and what you should back away from. You have to have a relationship with the Word of God. You cannot say it is written if you don't know it is written. So whatever area you are challenged in or whatever area you are battling in it is your responsibility your responsibility to search the scriptures to see what they say about the struggle and the battle in your life. You have to have a relationship with the Word of God. The second thing is prayer. When Jesus is teaching in the Lord's prayer in

Matthew chapter 6 he says in verse 13 lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. He's not so much giving them a prayer that they have to repeat it's not that you have to use these same words but he's giving you a pattern of prayer. Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name. You come with worship and reverence. You come with honor. You can ask him to forgive you to to partake of the daily bread. He's just he's giving you directives to help you cultivate to build a life of prayer and in this he says lead us not into temptation. Now we call it the Lord's prayer because Jesus is teaching but it really really is the disciples prayer. He's teaching them how they should pray and it's implied in the text that he's telling them this should be a daily thing. Give us this day our daily bread and lead us not into so what's he saying? He's

teaching them that every day you need to pray that God would lead you out of and away from temptation. Sometimes that that means you may have to distance yourself from certain people from from certain hobbies certain apps certain shows certain songs certain places because these things are avenues that the enemy will use to provoke temptation in you and we need to be people that pray God lead me away from an out of temptation and then at the end of Jesus life at the end of his ministry in fact these are in the moments when he is about to be betrayed by Judas soldiers about to take him captive he he wants to have a prayer meeting in Matthew 26 he says to the disciples watch and pray that you enter not into temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak the the the translation of the day would be like this I know you love God I know you're passionate

about God I saw you up here this morning I've seen you up here many Sundays I know that you love God your spirit is willing but what I also know is your flesh is weak and it's easy to be like David to love God win the battle that everybody sees on Sunday but lose the one that nobody sees on Sunday night the only way you can win the war that no one sees is to have a knowledge of the scripture a relationship with the word and to be a person of prayer to think something so simple is just taking a few moments every day and saying God I need you to help me today I want to be a boy or a girl I want to be a young man I want to be a young lady that's righteous and holy I want to protect my reputation I want to guard my influence so God I'm asking you that today you will deliver

me from temptation without these things and really this is the heart of what relationship is we have no relationship with God if if we don't invest time in his word in time with him in prayer and second chronicles 16 and 9 this is the new international version says the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth moving through the world to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him he's saying the eyes of the Lord are always looking they see the classroom when the teacher steps out they see what happens at home when there's no parent around they they see and he hears the conversations and it's not his intention to have to find you hiding like Adam and Eve we just read it's his intention to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him this is why God is always looking because he's looking to help but he can't help if you choose to hide as a preacher I can't

tell you how many times I walk into rooms and churches where I know that there's people in there that are struggling that the cry of their heart wants to love God and serve God but the dysfunction of their life and their world and the weakness of their flesh prevails and they fall prey to temptation time and time again and now shame comes and guilt comes and regret comes and they start hiding themselves think well nobody's going to see nobody's going to know you might trick us but you won't trick God and the thing about God is as I've already said hiding doesn't keep you from his sight it just keeps you from his help his eyes move through the earth on this day and on every day just trying to find people whose hearts are fully given to him who love him with all their hearts soul mind and strength because those are the people that he can help but that verse ends

with this statement he says you have done a foolish thing and from now on you will be at war he was telling them that you're going to have battles and trouble and struggle in your life that you could have avoided if you just would have loved God with your whole heart that's all it took you didn't have to be perfect you didn't have to be the smartest to the most athletic the best looking the wealthy all you had to do was love God with all of your heart soul mind and strength and if you would love God like that his eyes would find you and they would help you he would see you in your moment of struggle and temptation and he would rescue you so my challenge today is for you to develop a relationship with the word of God that every day it could just it could just be a moment before you walk out the door in the morning that

you would ask God today Lord I want you to deliver me from temptation keep me from conversations I shouldn't have keep me from people in places I'm not interact with I want to protect my life and my influence for the kingdom let's stand together God is looking for those that he can help and if we can win the war here where nobody sees that he can help you in any other area but if you lose the war here it doesn't matter what everybody else sees it's all about the heart see you you can have the life academy uniform on you can put your Sunday best on you may be really impressive from a basketball court or a volleyball court you you may soccer softball you you may have a very charismatic personality that that draws the attention and the affirmation of classmates to you you may have this and that but this is what God sees and if you lose the war here

it doesn't matter if you win the war that people see you have to win the war that no one sees and the only way you win this war is to love them with your whole heart and the only way you win the war over your flesh is to be in the scripture and to be a person of prayer let's bow our heads and let's pray together Lord Jesus I thank you for this day in this school it's a training ground where children and teenagers become young adults and men and women of righteousness and powerful people of the spirit but Lord we can't wait till people are 17 or 27 to to get it right and learn the lessons God we're going to do it now so I pray from the youngest to the oldest that the word of the Lord would not return void today I pray as children they would begin to learn your voice and feel the drawing of your spirit

I pray Lord whether it's in a King James Bible or a simple children's story book that the truths of scripture would draw them and speak to them and strengthen them I pray a hedge around their minds and hearts of the people in this room today I pray against the temptation that the enemy would bring into their lives I pray that these would be people of integrity people of righteousness and people of morality I pray Lord God I'm asking that you would give them understanding of the scripture let it be personal to them not just what someone teaches and preaches to them but let it be like Jeremiah said a fire shut up in their bones I pray God that you would draw them closer into personal relationship with you and I thank you for every gift and ability that allows them to be acknowledged by people but I pray above all else that you would help them win the war that nobody sees

that they would win the war of the heart and the flesh that they would totally and completely surrender to you and I pray against that old serpent that slithers into our lives just like he did the garden deceiving us and tricking us tempting us to do things and say things and act in ways that even we don't really want to do so I take authority right now in the name of Jesus Christ I pray for a revival of righteousness and I pray it would start in this school and influence this church in this city and I pray in Jesus name in Jesus name let's give the Lord a hand clap of praise today