You can be seated. You'll open your Bibles to the book of Psalms. We're in chapter 91, Psalm 91 today.!
How can I say that with some certainty? Because in 1 Timothy, Paul says that anyone who does not provide for their relatives, especially their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. This means that for Paul, if everybody, all dads, ought to embrace their responsibility to provide for and protect their kiddos. What separates the Christian father from the rest of the fathers in the world is that we, in addition to seeing the importance of caring for their physical needs and their physical safety, also believe that we are called to provide for them spiritually and to protect them spiritually.
So today we're talking about spiritual warfare on Father's Day, in part because it is an essential part of a father, of a Christian father's duty, to provide spiritual protection for his children, and also because Psalm 91 is a psalm really dedicated to this concept of spiritual warfare.
Let me read verses 1 through 8 to you. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust, for he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
Let me give you a little history of this psalm. In ancient Christianity, it was fairly common to see division over basic practices. For instance, how should we worship Jesus on a Wednesday or a Tuesday or so forth? These were controversies or disagreements that emerged really early on in the history of Christianity. But one of the common points of agreement from right away, all the way until the Middle Ages at least, all Christians of every sect believe that Psalm 91 should be prayed every single day. It's one of the rare places where you find historic consensus that this is a psalm we should pray every single day. It is associated with conflict in general.
Back in World War II and before this actually, soldiers were given cards before battles with Psalm 91 inscribed on those cards. This is known as the Soldier's Psalm. Way back even before Christ, this was the psalm associated with spiritual warfare. We found the Dead Sea Scrolls, you may remember. I don't think any of us were alive when we found them, but we certainly have been alive as they've been translated. And we found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which is a massive collection of very old writings, we find all of these exorcist prayers that are really just Psalm 91 reconfigured in various ways. We find archaeological evidence all over the kind of Middle East of necklaces that people would wear for spiritual protection, and Psalm 91 would be inscribed on them.
6 · The pastor establishes the spiritual-warfare reading of Psalm 91 through the Septuagint's explicit demonological language and through the New Testament's use of the psalm — notably Satan quoting it during Jesus' temptation
When we look to the Greek translation of this psalm in the Septuagint, it is openly about spiritual warfare. Let me see if I can find. Yeah, here it is. In the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint, listen to Psalm 91, 5 through 6. They shall not be afraid of terror by night, nor of the arrow flying by day, nor of the evil thing that walks in darkness, nor of the calamity of the evil spirit at noonday. Everything in this passage, when kind of passed through various cultural and linguistic filters, is basically saying that all this stuff that they're concerned about have demons attached to them. There are demons at work in all of these things. Psalm 91 is a passage written about the reality of spiritual warfare. And some of those connotations carry over in the New Testament. We're told in Psalm 91 that we will tread on the lion and the cobra and the serpent. Well, those are, you know, we understand what's going on there. The New Testament gives us clarity on that. So this has been a psalm for spiritual warfare for a very long time. One of the funniest instances where this psalm is cited is Satan appears to Jesus in his great temptation in the wilderness, and he quotes Psalm 91 to Jesus. And it's almost like Satan's like, well, I'm here. This is spiritual warfare. So here, let's talk about the passage we both know is used for this. And this is when he tells Jesus, you know, to cast yourself down off the mountain, for the Lord will bear you up. He will command his angels concerning you. So yeah, this is a psalm about spiritual warfare.
7 · The pastor articulates the psalm's central theological claim: God's protection is comprehensive — covering all threats, all locations, and all times
Now, let me tell you why this psalm is so important to us. It basically teaches us one thing, and that is God's protection over us as his followers is comprehensive. God's protection over us is comprehensive. Essentially, this psalm is saying that God is able to protect us from everything, everywhere, and at all times. That's the basic gist of this psalm. God's protection is comprehensive.
8 · The pastor expounds on the comprehensive-protection claim by walking through the psalm's catalog of threats (snare, pestilence, lion, arrow, terror, destruction) and its temporal markers (night, day, darkness, noonday)
He provides a list of potential threats. The snare of the fowler, deadly pestilence, lions, tigers, and bears. The arrow, the terror at noonday. He's essentially doing a poetic kind of thing of like, it's all the stuff. God can take care of you in all of the various means in which you would be attacked. But he's also not just taking care of all the stuff. He's also taking care of you everywhere you go. The Bible says that, or this passage talks about him being a shelter or a refuge. But it also shows them moving around. The psalmist is moving around throughout his day. So, the Old Testament didn't have the concept of a force field. But this is what's being conveyed here. God is able to protect you from anything and everywhere and also at all times. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. God is able to protect you from everything, everywhere, at all times. That's the basic message of this psalm. And it's really good.
9 · The pastor transitions from the comprehensive-protection claim to a new concern: human inadequacy in spiritual warfare
Are you thinking I was going to knock that over? I doubt it. She's probably right. She's probably right. And it's really good that that promise is offered because, men, one of the things I really need you to understand is, you do not stand a chance against this great enemy.
10 · The pastor establishes human inadequacy in spiritual warfare by contrasting physical defense (where some men have a chance) with spiritual defense (where no human has power)
You just don't stand a chance against this great enemy. If a mere man came into your house, some of you would stand a better chance than others at defending yourself. I actually feel bad. Like, certain of you, I feel bad for someone that would maybe try to rob your home. Because you have needed to justify all the money you spent on guns for a long time. And I could just see, like, a lot of lead being swapped so that you could turn to your wife and say, See, I told you I needed this stuff. If a mere mortal invades your home, you stand a chance. But the Bible's really clear. And we sang it in one of our hymns this morning. You have insufficient power to fight off spiritual warfare. There's a story in the Gospels, in three of the Gospels, of a young boy possessed by a demon. Let's just pause there and say, Well, from this story, we see that Satan does have access to our kids. Yay? And the disciples are unable to cast out this demon. And Jesus says, That's because you are not sufficiently attached to spiritual power. He says, These kind only come out through prayer and fasting.
11 · The pastor illustrates human powerlessness in spiritual warfare with the story of the sons of Sceva
There's another great passage, another comedic passage in Acts 19, where these Jewish exorcists, the sons of Sceva, attempt to cast out some demons. And the demon says, I know Jesus, I know Paul, but who are you? And then it says that they all ran out of the house naked and beaten up.
12 · The pastor reiterates the doctrine of human inadequacy in spiritual warfare, now buttressed by Reformation authority (Calvin, Luther)
So the idea that is really important to understand is, it's really good that Psalm 91 promises you God's protection. Because men, you and I, no matter how tough, no matter how smart, no matter how tactically aware we are, this is an enemy we actually cannot fight against. John Calvin, the Reformers were very clear on this. John Calvin says, Luther is a treasure trove of material on the devil, some of it weirder than others. But in his hymn, A Mighty Fortress, which we sang this morning, one of the key themes in that hymn is, We don't have what it takes. He says, For still our ancient foe does seek to work as woe. His craft and power are great. And armed with cruel hate, on earth is not his equal. Did we in our own strength confide? Our striving would be losing. We're not the right man on our side. The man of God's own choosing. So God has promised spiritual protection. That's great because he is simply, the devil is simply too much for any of us to handle.
13 · The pastor introduces a second dimension of human inadequacy: not only do we lack power to resist Satan, we lack the discernment to even recognize his work
Not only is his power too much for us to handle, he's smart enough to go moving throughout, behind the scenes of our lives in a way that we would not even know that we are under spiritual attack. Did you know that? He doesn't show up and say, Hi, it's me, Satan. I'm going to mess with your kids for a while now. No, he is described in the Bible as very craftful and very scheming, which is another point I want you to see. We need God's help to even recognize Satan at work.
14 · The pastor urges the congregation to recognize that life's difficulties and patterns of sin are often rooted in spiritual attack, not merely circumstances or human failure
I believe that we really need to lean into this concept because I think very often whole chapters of our lives take place and we don't actually know that what's happening really is yeah, we're sinning and yeah, life's hard and so on and so forth. But what's really fundamentally happening is we are under spiritual attack. So let's talk about how to recognize spiritual attack and how much we need God to help us even with that. 1 Peter 5.8 says that we should be sober-minded. We've got to pay attention. We've got to be alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.
15 · The pastor catalogs four obstacles to recognizing spiritual attack: Satan's disguise, Western materialism, human inability to discern spiritual realities without the Spirit, and spiritual immaturity
Now understand that you have a bunch of cards stacked against you, men, in even recognizing the devil's work. The first is, as I mentioned, he disguises himself as an angel of light. That's 2 Corinthians 11.14. Secondly, we have some cultural baggage in the West to deal with and that is the concept of materialism. Philosophical materialism. Not like wanting stuff but this greater philosophical idea. Materialism as a philosophy is just that only physical matter and its properties exist and that all phenomenon are explained just by people doing stuff. So we have become so de-spiritualized that we often go through a whole season of suffering without thinking, are there spiritual forces at work in this particular situation? We also have a third problem and that is just in and of ourselves, we don't have what it takes to discern spiritual things. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 2.14, the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God for they are folly to him. He is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. And so, you know, guys, like if you're walking in the flesh and you're just not walking in the Spirit at all, you're not especially close to God, you're not likely to see the reality of spiritual warfare that's happening around you. And then finally, we have the old-fashioned problem of immaturity. In Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews says that we actually have to train our discernment through constant practice so that we can tell the difference between good and evil, so that we can discern between good and evil.
16 · The pastor transitions from diagnosis (we can't see Satan's work) to prescription (how to develop spiritual discernment)
So, understand, men, it's your job to protect. You desperately need God's help. And one area you need God's help in is just to even have the eyes to see what's happening behind kind of the physical world. There's two solutions to this, I think. One is, if you read the Psalms every day, you'll basically never go a single day without being reminded that there are enemies afoot and that you're in a battle. That's one of the reasons why I love guys reading the Psalms every day. But secondly, I did develop a bit of a cheat sheet. I just wrote down some of the ways that I've seen Satan attack, both in Scripture and in people's lives, and these are ways that I think are often overlooked.
17 · The pastor identifies the first pattern of spiritual attack: disordered hierarchies
So let me describe a handful of those without going into a lot of detail. The first one is disordered hierarchies. One of the fundamental things about Satan is that he left his proper position to essentially usurp the Lord God. He is an anti-hierarchical being in that respect. And one of the things you can see in your home, men, is if Satan's at work, some of the basic structures that should run your home start to get inverted. That could be the inversion of headship that a husband's supposed to have in his home. That could be the inversion of a child's respect. Suddenly there's a lack of respect, almost an Absalom-type usurping happening. But when you see the basic hierarchies of the home disrupted, even if they're slightly disrupted, you need to understand at the very least, what you're doing is you're creating a context for Satan to sow discord.
18 · The pastor identifies the second pattern: divisions with disproportionate heat
The second one is divisions. In Romans 16, Paul says, hey guys, remember the cause of your divisions. And then he says, there's two things happening. One, there are people who are teaching things they ought not teach. But then at the very end of it, he reminds us that where this is all coming from is Satan. He says, and you will crush Satan under your feet one day. So one of the ways that you could see spiritual warfare is, for instance, in your home. Are there sudden divisions that have more heat to them than is recognizable or understandable?
19 · The pastor identifies the third pattern: sudden onset of despair, doom, and disillusionment
Another thing to look out for is just this cluster of emotions that I think would probably be summarized in despair, but disillusionment, despair, a sense of doom. These sudden feelings of impending doom, these sudden feelings of great disillusionment and despair, disappointment, these are often things that the devil is doing in us.
20 · The pastor establishes the fourth pattern — deceit and false ideas planted in the mind — and defends the biblical teaching that Satan can put thoughts in people's heads
One of the things that I wanted to make sure I covered is the deceit topic. And I want to get into this a little bit more detail. The devil, of course, the Bible says was a liar from the beginning. One place to look for for evidence of spiritual warfare is that just untruths take root in one of our people's minds, in our minds, in our wife's mind, in our kids' mind. These untruths start to happen. Now, you've heard so many, so much bad teaching about spiritual warfare. We all have. And one of them has to do with this notion that the devil can't, like, get inside your head or whatever, something like that. We've heard all these kinds of things. I'll just tell you that's just patently untrue. The devil can put things in your head. The Bible actually teaches this. In Acts 5, 3, when Ananias and Sapphira have lied to the apostles, Peter says to Ananias, why has Satan put it in your heart, put it in your heart, to lie to the Holy Spirit and to us? When Judas is described in the Gospels, in John in particular, he puts it into the heart of Judas. The devil puts it into the heart of Judas to betray him. When Peter discourages Jesus from going to the cross, that idea Jesus identifies as coming from the devil. Peter thinks it's his idea, but it's actually coming from the devil.
21 · The pastor expounds on 2 Corinthians 10:3-7, defining 'strongholds' as false ideas planted by Satan that become entrenched in the mind
So let's make sure we understand how big a deal this is. Yeah, he absolutely can mess with you. He absolutely can put false ideas in your head. He absolutely can put mistruths in your heart. I want to lean in just a little bit further to this. If you'll open your Bibles, or I've got the verse up here, 2 Corinthians 10, 3 through 7. Paul writes, For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. What's a stronghold? He says right next, next thing he tells us what a stronghold is. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God. What's a stronghold? It's Satan putting an idea in your head and cultivating it until it kind of has a permanence to it, a way in which it's just basically impossible to get free from. And Paul says, the only way we can destroy those kinds of ideas, now if you'll see this in yourself, you'll see this in your kids, you'll see this in your friends, some idea has just been planted, it's wrong idea, and yet it is dictating their life, it is running their life, it is ruining their joy, and it's just there. It's just a rock that's been planted in their minds. Paul says that's a stronghold, that's what a stronghold is. And he said, we can destroy those. We can destroy those. How? We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete. In other words, when he sees this, he knows that Satan's at work, that he must do a particular thing in response to that, that particular thing is meeting the lie with truth, meeting the lie with scripture, with an insistence over and over again, a firmness, say, no, you're wrong, this is the truth, and so on.
22 · The pastor identifies nightmares in children as a fifth pattern of spiritual attack
Another place you might see this is dreams. See spiritual attack, especially with your kids, with dreams. When kids are little, their imaginations and their minds are so untrained and they're so open that your kids will sometimes go through seasons where they're having nightmares and so forth. I found a great, solid, reformed article on the devil attacking at night kind of stuff, and I'll post that on Basecamp for you to check out. I don't want to take too much time talking about it.
23 · The pastor identifies the sixth pattern: spiritual isolation through prayerlessness and Bible neglect
And finally, if you go a consistent period of time without reading your Bible, without prayer, I guarantee you he's at work getting you isolated, removing power from your life so that he can do a work not only on you but also onto your kids.
24 · The pastor summarizes the previous section (recognizing Satan's work) and pivots to the next major section (resisting Satan's work)
Okay, so we need power to see Satan's work. That comes from God and there's some examples of where it manifests in homes. We also need power to resist Satan's work.
25 · The pastor articulates the central posture in spiritual warfare: resistance, not aggression
What you'll see in Psalm 91 is the main job in spiritual warfare. This is going to sound super feminine, passive. The main job in spiritual warfare is actually just to resist. We're not charging hell with a water pistol. We're not looking for Satan. Satan's looking for us. And what we're supposed to do in the Bible is simply stand firm, resist, hold out.
26 · The pastor demonstrates the defensive posture of Psalm 91 by cataloging its protective imagery (shelter, shadow, refuge, fortress, wings)
You'll see that all throughout Psalm 91. Almost all the language there is defensive in nature. Look at verse 1. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions and under his wings you will find refuge. See, it's all this kind of just shielding language. Our job when we're under attack is just to resist. It's just to seek refuge in the Lord and stand firm.
27 · The pastor confirms the defensive posture by showing its presence across multiple New Testament texts (James 4:7, 1 Peter 5:8-9, Ephesians 6:10-11)
James, this is a theme in the New Testament as well. Almost all of our interactions with spiritual warfare just have this emphasis of just don't give in. That's all he's calling us to do. Just hold firm. James 4, 7 resist the devil. 1 Peter 5, 8 resist him firm in your faith. Ephesians 6, 10 be strong in the Lord put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
28 · The pastor applies the defensive posture to the specific attack patterns he identified earlier (hierarchies, false ideas, night terrors, despair)
So we don't need to go hunting for the devil. He'll find us in his time and what we're supposed to do is just not give in. One of the advantages of seeing what he's doing if he's trying to invert the hierarchy of your home if he's trying to fill ideas into your kids' heads that aren't true if he's causing night terrors in night one of the things to just understand is whatever he's trying to accomplish is really all I'm trying to stand against. It's just I'm not going to let the vision take place in my home. I'm not going to let the despair well up. I'm not going to, some of you will be in a fight with your wife or your husband and suddenly a level of doom over the reality of your marriage will just sink in. Guys, that's not from you. That's just, that's just Satan doing a thing. So our job is really just to stand, just to resist, just to take shelter in the Lord.
29 · The pastor returns to the comprehensive-protection theme and introduces the sermon's critical turn: the promise is conditional
Now, I suppose the most encouraging message of Psalm 91 is this comprehensive protection. He will take care of you against anything in any time in any place. That's the comprehensive promise but it's a conditional promise. It's a conditional promise. Yeah, it covers everything but you have to do something.
30 · The pastor exposits Psalm 91:14-16, identifying the conditions for God's protection: holding fast in love, knowing God's name, calling on God
Look at verse 14. Psalm 91 verse 14. Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him. Where is your deliverance from the devil coming? Where is it coming from? It's conditioned. Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him. I will protect him because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him. With long life, I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. Only he who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will receive the deliverance that God is promising. Yes, it's a comprehensive promise but it is conditional.
31 · The pastor illustrates male resistance to seeking shelter with the tornado-porch-standing phenomenon, using it to underscore the necessity of fleeing to God in spiritual warfare
The truth is that you and I have to do something. You know, June is a very important moment of time for the Midwestern male because this is tornado season. It's, you know, at least a little bit and I think maybe ladies don't understand that when the news comes out and it says, it says outwardly, you know, tornado coming, flee to your basement, but there is actually a subliminal message that hits men in the Midwest and we only hear it and it says stand on the porch. And so, so it's actually two messages happening at the same time. Flee to the basement but then there's a secret message to all of us tornado soldiers and we have to go out and stand on the porch and make sure that everything's okay. You know, we do the opposite of seeking shelter typically. We like to look at the danger. We like to poke the danger. We like to see how close we can get to the danger. And the Psalms is just saying, not with this danger, not with this one. Like, when he is getting close to you, when the devil is having his way with you, men, you must simply flee and shelter in the refuge of Jesus Christ. You absolutely must do that. You do not stand a chance apart from this. He is, power is simply too great for you to simply stand by.
32 · The pastor identifies prayer as the primary expression of seeking refuge in God
Now, what does that look like? What does seeking shelter in the Lord look like? Mostly, this Psalm explains that it has to do with prayer. Look back at verse 14. Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him. I will protect him because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him. With long life, I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. Lock in on that phrase. When he calls to me, I will answer.
33 · The pastor confirms the prayer-centrality claim by turning to Ephesians 6, the classic spiritual warfare passage
This is not the only place in Scripture where the main sort of response to spiritual warfare is a call to prayer. In Ephesians 6, which might be the classic passage on spiritual warfare in the whole Bible, Paul gives us all of this armor to put on, which is really just us putting on Christ. But what are we supposed to do once we're all armored up?
34 · The pastor reads Ephesians 6:16-18, showing that after putting on the armor, the command is to pray at all times with all perseverance
Listen to Ephesians 6, 16. In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the spirit with prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. So, this is going to hit you hard because I've never met a single Christian who feels like they pray as much as they ought to, and I sure has never met a father who feels like he's prayed as much as he needs to.
35 · The pastor delivers the sermon's central application: prayer is the central responsibility of spiritual fatherhood
But man, let me just be clear about this. Prayer is the central responsibility of spiritual fatherhood. It's the central responsibility of spiritual fatherhood because it is through prayer that spiritual provision and spiritual protection take place. If you want to provide for your children spiritually, and you want to protect your children spiritually, you must become men of prayer. This is where your safety comes from, and this is where your children's safety comes from. You know, Job, I've been thinking a lot about the book of Job. It's very interesting how the book of Job begins, men. It begins by saying that here's the most righteous guy ever. Job was blameless and a righteous man. And then it says, and he had a lot of sheep. Well, is it a cause or effect there? What's going on? What's the one evidence to back up Job's righteousness at the beginning of the book of Job? Do you know what it is? He prays for his kids. That's actually the only evidence given at the beginning of Job to back up the claim that he was righteous. When they would go out, the kids would go out to each other's houses, Job would always faithfully provide sacrifices for his kids. Why? Because it could be that they sinned and didn't know it, and I just want to make sure that they are covered in prayer. By the way, these are adult kids, men, the number one mark of Job's righteousness early on is just the fact that even when his kids are out of his home, even when they're on their own, he is still daily praying for them. So I'm telling you, men, that the fundamental expression of spiritual Christian fatherhood is prayer, praying for your kids. And that prayer is the thing that God will use to protect them and provide for them.
36 · The pastor multiplies the Job example by adding Jesus, the apostles, and Paul as witnesses to the centrality of prayer in spiritual fatherhood
Not only is Job seen praying for his kids, Jesus is regularly praying for his disciples. The apostles, who are the fathers of the church, are devoted to what? Word and prayer. What do we see Paul doing? We know Paul is very fatherly as he interacts with these churches. He's saying to them all the time, I have not stopped praying for you. If you want to be a man that offers spiritual provision and spiritual protection, protection for your children, then you need to pray.
37 · The pastor addresses pastoral insecurity about prayer by grounding prayer's efficacy in Christ's righteousness, not the believer's eloquence
And you need to pray specifically in Jesus' name. Look back at verse 14. Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him. I will protect him because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him. With long life, I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. Listen, guys, some of you are so insecure about your prayer life and so insecure about how eloquent you are in your prayer life. I will tell you, absolutely, God made you the way you are. If you are just a verbal Luddite, if you don't have many words, it is okay. God loves to hear that kind of guy pray. just go to the Lord. Because you are not going to the Lord based on your capabilities, based on your righteousness. You are going to the Lord because of who Jesus is and what he has done for you. You are standing on gospel ground. Regarding Psalm 91, one commentator, Jim Hamilton, writes it this way, no one more epitomizes Psalm 91 than Jesus. No one lived more in God's presence, more inhabited in the shelter of the Most High, the shadow of the Almighty. No one took refuge in God like Jesus, was delivered like Jesus, and trampled the dragon like Jesus. No one loved God or knew God's name like Jesus. No one called on God like Jesus, experienced God's presence in distress like Jesus, or was delivered from death like Jesus. No one will be more glorified by God than Jesus, who has received the name above every name, and no one will be more satisfied than Jesus. Jesus is the fulfillment of everything stated in Psalm 91.
38 · The pastor steps outside the expositional flow to address the congregation directly with pastoral reassurance
So when you go to pray, guys, you're not going to be very good at it, it's okay, you might not have the words to say, you might honestly just say, God, protect my kid, something's not right, and that might be the prayer. Friends, if you will enter into that prayer with confidence in who Christ is and what Christ has done for you, that is a powerful prayer that God will hear.
39 · The pastor articulates the gospel foundation of prayer: all prayer rooted in the good news — Christ taking our sin and giving us his righteousness — is powerful prayer
prayer. Get your eyes off of your own praying capabilities. Get your eyes on Jesus. He has made all of your really lousy prayers meaningful and powerful and important. Look to Christ when you pray. Here's what I've seen in my own prayer life. Whenever I pray, whatever I pray for, however the prayer goes, some prayers are better than others. The fundamental heart behind all prayer that matters is that Jesus has taken my sin and given me all of his perfections in a completely unmerited move of radical grace and mercy. And all prayer that is rooted in the good news is good prayer. It is not necessary, guys, to have high eloquence. Just cover your kids in prayer. Just pray for them. Pray for them in Jesus' name. That's, I think, what it says in Psalm 14, or in verse 14, I will protect him because he knows my name. We know his name. The name above every name, Jesus Christ. And it's in his name that I pray protection, provision for my kids, even in their adulthood.
40 · The pastor closes with Revelation 12:7-11, identifying the three elements of conquering Satan: the blood of the Lamb, the word of testimony (the gospel), and sacrificial love
We have to remember that when we see these passages in the New Testament, even Revelation, about Satan's downfall, it is always this kind of interesting partnership where the people of God have something to do with it. But what they have to do with it is really just appropriating the power of Jesus. Let me close with this passage for communion. Revelation 12, 7 through 11. Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back but was defeated. And there was no longer any place in heaven for them. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who was called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now that salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers have been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him. Guys, how are we going to conquer him? They have conquered him by the blood of the lamb. That's all I've got when I go to pray. The blood of the lamb. Christ's righteousness for me, my sin on Christ, punished on Christ. They've conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. What's my testimony? I have one hope in life and death. That I am not my own, but it was bought with a price. That Jesus Christ gave himself for me. That's my testimony. I conquer the devil by the blood of the lamb, by the word of my testimony, and I don't love my life, even to the point of death. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to protect mine, the people that God gave me. And I do that through this very humble rushing into the Lord and seeking him and claiming all that he's offered me in the heavenly places.
41 · The pastor closes with a communion invitation, tying the Lord's Supper to the sermon's themes of Christ's excellencies, gospel confidence, and intercessory prayer
So if you're a Christian here today, I want you to come to this table and partake of this bread and wine as a reminder of Jesus' excellencies that makes it possible for you to pray in the midst of spiritual attack. It makes you possible to go to the Lord and seek protection not only for yourself but for your kiddos as well. Let me pray. Lord, we do only come to you, we dare only come to you because of who Jesus is. Would you please make us men of prayer? Not men of eloquent prayer, none of that. God, I think you kind of enjoy simple prayer. But prayer that is full of confidence in who Christ is and what he's done for us. God, give us the strength to be aware and wise and see the attacks. And Lord, give us the strength to call out to your name, seeking refuge in you, not only for ourselves but also for our family. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Come and grab some elements and return to your seat and we'll partake together. God bless you. Thank you.