In this sermon, Brother Denny emphasizes the importance of seeing oneself as a soldier of Jesus Christ and enduring hardships. He encourages the congregation to reflect on their lives and question what truly matters in the face of adversity. The sermon also touches on the idea of making choices that edify and glorify God, rather than simply following a set of rules. Brother Denny concludes by emphasizing the need for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and a clear testimony in order to truly live a blessed and purposeful life.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Amen. Greetings to each and every one of you this morning. Praise the Lord. Just want to take a look at you for a minute. What a blessing. Hallelujah. What an opportunity. What a force. I am blessed to be up here before you this morning. Very blessed. I was just reading some transcribed sermons that were written a little bit after the Welsh Revival in 1904. And one of the revivals there was talking to the people. And they told them there, you are either going to be blessed at this conference. It was a conference in Keswick. And they said, you are either going to be blessed in this conference or you are going to leave a thousand times worse. And I thought about that. Thinking to myself, getting ready for this Bible school. And I thought about that. What it means is when you come to a place where people are consecrating themselves to God. When they are getting themselves right with God. And it is time when those things should be happening. And you decide, that is not what I am going to get. You make calluses. You form shells around yourself. And you leave worse. So really, it is a very frightful place that you are in today. Or a very opportunist place you are in today. Which one is it going to be? Are you going to get something from God? Or are you going to leave these doors a thousand times worse? People have come in and out of this place in both ways. They have. Well, amen. Well, it is a blessing. I am Dean Taylor. Also pastor there with Brother Mark at Living Hope Christian Fellowship. And I just can't tell you how honored I am to be here in front of all these expecting faces. It is exciting to be up here. It is a blessing. I look over here and I see you as this next generation. The next generation whose duty it is to proclaim the name of God and glorify God. There you are. Each and every one of you. It is exciting to be here. But you know, I realize that I am not speaking to a clean slate. I am not. It is impossible. You have all come and you have been shaped in one way or another by different things in your life. The entire church of Jesus Christ today has been shaped. And we are left what we have before us and here we are 2,000 years later. A lot of things have been put in there. A lot of influences. A lot of reactions to this and reactions to that has occurred. And you have been influenced by it. You have. You have been influenced by it. I have been influenced by it. And we have to be able to have this Word of God wash those influences, many of those bad influences, out of us. And let's see what the true light of the Word of God is. You know, just in my lifetime, I am 40 years old. And that may seem a little old to you, but it is not. You will be there in a second. I was born in the year 1966. And just in my lifetime, when I was born, the year I was born, there was a dictator in China named Mao Zedong. And he started this, what was called the Cultural Revolution. And in this Cultural Revolution, he was going to destroy everything that was traditional. Everything that was of the old school, especially the Christian church, came under huge persecution during that time. And he was to destroy all those old ways. Well, America gasped with those things, but then we started to copy it in our own way. A Cultural Revolution here, and all those old things are to be passed away. Time Magazine, the same year, offered up a title that said, Is God Dead? Same year. They weren't saying that God was alive and then had died. What they were saying in that was that the whole idea that there really was a God, that He really had some standards, that He really cared about something, that whole idea, traditional idea of who God was, is dead. Is it? They're asking. Through those years, a lot of influences come on the church. Just in my lifetime alone. What's it going to be in your lifetime? Which way is it going to go? Which way here and which way there? The 20th century? It didn't start there. A big attack came on the church about 200 years ago with the forming of this country. Many deists and many atheists and so-called philosophers like Voltaire and Nietzsche and Thomas Jefferson propagated different, certain ways of thinking called humanism that has crept into your mind, has crept into my mind. It's got into the way we think. And again, we must wash ourselves in the Word of God to be able to clear ourselves from many of these satanic influences that are in our life. It is not a mistake that the entire world is leading in that way. It is a purpose direction. You read some of their writings, it's very clear. They had a direction and they got that. That infiltrated every national creed, our colleges, our libraries and our seminaries. During these 40 years of my life, we've seen fundamentalism grow. Evangelicalism has grown. It's given birth to huge churches. The idea of a mega church. The idea of TV evangelists. The idea of Christian rock and a radical right that has political attachments to religion. And all those things have also been in my lifetime, have grown up in my lifetime. But in all that, we've seen the church grow in more and more suffering. The spiritual life of the church has suffered. Just today, just today, I read, I don't read the newspaper much, but I heard about these rumblings and I wanted to see. We see another major evangelical leader. The president of the entire evangelical association confessing to sin in his life. Being kicked out of his 14,000 member church. And defaming the name of God. I appreciate that he confessed to sins, I do. But in my lifetime, as I pondered that, it hurt as I read this one. I don't know why this one hurt so much more than the ones in the past. But my entire life, I have seen one preacher after another in a litany of the church that has gone from bad to worse over and over again. All proclaiming and preaching all these salty and spicy sermons. But the church has suffered and suffered and suffered. And that's just been in my life. How many times have you been out preaching or been out talking to someone at work and what do they throw at your face? They throw out these TV evangelists. They throw out these things. And I think of there when David was there, a young man, he sees Goliath proclaiming there across the valley and blaspheming the name of God. Young people, I'm telling you today, they're blaspheming the name of God. The name of God is blasphemed. It's blasphemed. They mock the church of Jesus Christ. So, what I would like to look at during this week, and Brother Patrick from Manitoba is also kind of finished. We'd like to look at just some practical things. I'm sorry that some of these issues are controversial. They are. I don't want that to be that way, but they are. But they are controversial for a reason because I believe that each of these topics that Brother Patrick and I are going to take in this session are going to talk about something that is completely counter to the way the world is going. It's completely counter. It's something totally different. But the thing that I want you to ask yourself deep in your heart is this. What makes me do what I do? What makes me think what I think? From what do I draw my cues? Think of that. From what do I draw my cues? Every decision you make. You go this way or that way. You decide to marry this person or that person. You take this job or that job. You go this way or that. Every single one of those are motivated by some cues in your life. Some cues. And the Word of God competes in your life with everything else that's there. In my life, it's there competing with Leave it to Beaver and the Brady Bunch and all those foolish things that I grew up on even as a child. And although they seemed innocent, you know what they were? Scenario and scenario after another of someone getting into trouble and getting out without God. And so there that is in my mind playing over and over again. And I have to wash those things out of my mind. So we're going to look at some of these things. In this session, we're going to look at non-resistance. Two kingdoms. We're going to look at godly dress. We're going to look at music. We're going to look at entertainment. And we're going to look at authority. And we're going to have an hour to do each of those things. So you can pray for us. And let me just say right now, we don't have time in this hour to completely, you know, balance the whole thing. But let me just say right now as a disclaimer. I don't want you to lay any one of these things that we talk about in this session on the altar for your righteousness. Not one single thing. Not one. If you're looking at any of these things that I'm talking about and saying, I'll do this and I'll do that, and you skip some of what these other preachers are going to talk to you about your salvation, you're wasting your time. You are. But what I want you to do, if there's a theme that wants to come out of this, it's this. Consecrated, but not constrained. Consecrated, but not constrained. All things are lawful. But not all things edify. And so can we get away from looking at these things, and right or wrong is part of a law or some kind of thing that you have to do, but look at the beautiful way that God wants you to see, or look at the way that the word of God has shown you some principles, and bring that before God as a consecration. And those are the things, that's the way I would like to lead this. So again, let me say that I'm going to be, we're going to be preaching these things, we're going to be hitting down some things, and we're going to be covering a lot of material. I don't have time to balance all that, so let me just say right now, without Jesus Christ, and without a clear testimony, you're wasting your time. But with Jesus Christ, and with a clear testimony, what a blessing. What a consecration. What an opportunity to give unto God, and to be a zealous people, a people, peculiar people. God can put His name on it. Today we're going to look at non-resistance. I'm going to call the name of the sermon, Non-Resistance, The Theology of Martyrdom. So let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Oh God, I tremble before You this morning. Lord, all these souls, young souls, with these big bright eyes and fervent hearts, Lord God, I tremble before You, Lord. You're going to have to preach for me today, Lord. God, I say, what do You want the church of Jesus Christ to hear today? What do You want it, Lord? I am weak, Father. I pray, Lord, proclaim Your name. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Non-Resistance, The Theology of Martyrdom. When I talk about non-resistance, we're not looking at a liberal pacifism. I believe that liberal pacifism is absolute nonsense, if you want my opinion. The idea that you're going to get some kind of political change in the government and make people all of a sudden start having peace and things, it's absolutely ridiculous. I mean, without Jesus Christ, without The Theology of Martyrdom, the idea of pacifism is nonsense. Somebody comes over to this country, they're going to kill you, they're going to take your stuff, and they're going to try to make you do something that you don't want to do. That's the real world we live in. Liberal pacifism is nonsense. But I believe that what I would like to show you today is the biblical approach to non-resistance, and it's very close and very tied into the understanding of two kingdoms. If that term is new to you today, what that means is that in the Christian, where there's a clear understanding, there must be a clear understanding that there are two kingdoms. And that there is the kingdom of the world and there is the kingdom of God. And as we are called to sojourn in this world, we have to have that line clear. And the clearer that line is, the clearer that line is of where those two kingdoms are, the clearer this doctrine, and a lot of these doctrines, are going to make sense to you. But when it's fuzzy, and you're somewhat in the world, and you're somewhat in Christ, and you're somewhat here, and you're somewhat there, these things get very fuzzy, particularly this doctrine, and they begin to be nonsense. So, to look at these things, we're going to have to see those two kingdoms coming out. So I'm going to preach it from that perspective. But in all of it, all the ifs that come at the end, all the questions that you ever have about non-resistance, all the things about, well, what if somebody comes into your grandmother? Or what if Hitler wouldn't have been stopped? Or what are you going to say about if those terrorists weren't stopped? All those questions are defeated by the Christian atomic bomb. And I'm going to read it to you right here. I'm going to read it to you, and then I'm going to tell you where it is. Every single question comes down to this verse. Everyone, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things, in all what things, Paul? Well, the fact that you've been counted as sheep for the slaughter, in all these things, persecution coming on you, famine coming on you, you can't dress yourself because you're so poor, or it's nakedness, peril, and sword? Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors. More than conquerors. Through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded. Are you persuaded? I love when Paul gets persuaded. And I am persuaded that neither death, kill me. It doesn't matter. I'm persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. That's it. Get a hold of that. That's the entire doctrine right there. It is a theology of martyrdom. You are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. If in some way your mind is thinking, yeah, but I've got to protect this, and I've got to hold on to this, and I've got to protect this right, and this right, and do this and that, the whole thing gets fuzzy, and those two kingdoms get crossed, and suddenly this thing makes nonsense to you because you're missing this point that you are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. That's right. That's what the Bible says. When Jesus sent out His first missionary account there, He told the apostles, He said, okay, I'm going to gather you up together, and I'm going to give you a pep talk. And you know what He said to them? He said this, and by the way, that was Romans 8.35. But now here in Matthew 10.16, He said, okay, disciples, here it is. Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Okay. Thank you, Lord. That's not encouraging. That's not encouraging. Imagine it now. You're a sheep, and you're surrounded by wolves ready to tear you apart, ready to kill you, and that's the way I'm going to send you out. Now go. That's the theology of martyrdom. And that's how the church ran. That's how people were changed and lives were changed. And the church in just a few years that Paul could say by the end of his life, as far as he knew, the Gospel had been preached to as far as he knew. That's how. You see, in 1 Corinthians 1.18, it says this, for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish, what? Foolishness. Brother, what you're saying is foolish. I was talking once and somebody asked me about my testimony and here about non-resistance, and we were at a little table at a session in Oklahoma, and this brother was from a different perspective, and he said, brother, that's foolishness. I mean, you're going to die. I mean, things are going to happen. Yes, that's right. The cross is foolishness. And it is the cross which the way that Jesus has instructed us to win, to battle. The cross is foolishness to those that are perishing. But unto us which are saved, it's what? It's the power of God. The power of God. There's a power in what I'm about to teach you today. If you get a hold of it, it's going to change your life more than just war. It's going to change your life the way you look at your whole self. Okay, let's look at some of these points then. Take it practically here. First of all, I would like to make the point that Jehovah is a warrior. Jehovah is a warrior. To understand this doctrine properly of non-resistance and the theology of martyrdom, we must understand that God has not called us to passivity. He has not called you to sit around and do nothing. He has not called you to not fight, to not get involved, to not pray, to not wrestle. He's not called you just to sit and do nothing. He's not. Jehovah is a warrior. He has called us to fight and fight to the death He's called us. That's our death. It is the method. It is the method that has changed. The method. Jesus said in Matthew 10, 34, Think not that I have come to send peace on the earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. About 15 years ago, I was preaching at a university in Texas in Arlington, and they wanted me to preach on non-resistance after I had got out of the army. And they did that, and I was there, and as I started to preach this thing, some ladies stood up and started screaming at me about it. And then the guys that I was with that was kind of a pacifist group that asked me to speak, they were sort of questioning me because I was proclaiming Jesus Christ. And then after I stood up, someone said, well, I wouldn't explain it just like that guy did. Because I'm not going to explain it in a way that's just pacifism and that is an idea that we would kind of look at this as some sort of political agenda. It's not. It's not. It's Jesus Christ, and it will cut. It will divide. The name of Jesus Christ, we're not going to say in His name or amen. We're going to say the name of Jesus Christ. And when it's Jesus Christ, it cuts. So I wanted to make that point very clear to us as we understand the difference of liberal pacifism and biblical non-resistance, that the biggest point I want you to keep in mind is that Yahweh is a warrior and His war is not over. It is the weapons that have changed. It is the weapons that have changed. But we hurt ourselves when we look at the Old Testament and try to make some kind of New Testament non-resistance out of it. It's futile. Now, I agree that you see, just like you see in all the Gospel truths, it's kind of oozing out of many things. You know, when they were saying different things and you see the way they acted and you see God working without swords and without chariots and you see those types of things. I love all those analogies, but to say that there's Old Testament people to try to say that that was non-resistance, it's futile. It's not. It's very clear. That's the way we wore in the Old Testament. It was. The idea, some people quote the quote, Thou shalt not kill. And I agree. I believe that all the Old Testament laws were expounded in the New Testament and in a New Testament sense, that could be used. But in the Old Testament sense, we all know that it was an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. And there was justice and there was a way that people were killed and stoned according to the law. So let me just say right now, if you're looking at this, you're wondering, what is he going to do with the Old Testament? Let me make said very clear to you. I believe that that was the way that the church fought in the Old Testament was in the flesh by military, that these things were part of the way that the church fought. And so make no mistake there. I'm not going to try to turn the Old Testament wars into something they're not. They were bloody battles. And the Scriptures of the New Testament say that they were given to us for an example. An example. An example. Because those wars have not gone away. Those battles are still more pressing than they ever have been. And it's up to us now to see how exactly Jesus wants us to fight those wars. And the biggest thing I want to say here now to that point is that there's been a change. Turn your Bibles to Matthew 5, verse 38. You don't know my testimony. I was raised a very patriotic person. My wife and I both were. And I was in the army. My wife was in the army. Joined the army in 1986. We became musicians. Traveled around. We were in a rock band traveling around in the army in Germany. And I was also an armorer that took care of the different machine guns and things like that that you had. And the light of the Gospel came to us primarily, first of all, we moved into a valley that could not receive television. So for the very first time in my life, my wife and I, well, she did before, but for me, I started to read. And when I started to read, I started to read the Bible and it changed my life. In many areas, it changed my life. God saved me and I went through a big journey there of getting out of the army and became a conscientious objector during the first part of the Persian Gulf War in 89-91. But I'll never forget the day when I was leaning on my little reading pillow and my wife and I would read. We didn't have any children at the time. And I leaned over to her and I said, Honey, let me read this to you. And it was Matthew 5.38. And it said this, You have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you... Stop there for a second. He's making... I understand the Old Testament operated in this way. I understand that. But now I say unto you. But now I say unto you. You have heard that it has been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you that ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give him that asketh thee and from him that would borrow of thee, turn him not away. You have heard that it has been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy, but I say unto you, love your enemies. Bless them that curse you. And do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. For He maketh His Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? And if you sleep your brothers only, what do you more than the others? Do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. I leaned over and I said, what do you think of that? And she said, well, it sounds pretty clear, doesn't it? And I said, well, it does sound clear, but we're in the army. So what are we supposed to do with that? So, we started in to look and it was a hard journey, I'll be honest with you. But God was faithful through every single bit of it. We started to seek things out and to look at things that God was showing to us. And I'll tell you this, young people, there's going to be things that God is going to show you. Light. Light. Walk in the light that God has given you. Walk in it. You know, there's a lot of different things that could have happened to me at that time and I tremble. I tremble at what could have happened. First, He did convict me of the music. I was in the rock band, we got out of the rock band. Then it was this non-resistance and He kept showing me things and showing me things. And by His mercy and by His grace, He led us all the way. My wife was also in that rock band and also in the army and led us both out of that. And I praise God, but if He shows you light, walk in it. Don't leave it. Don't put it away or you'll get those calluses I was talking about. In Luke 6, verse 35, He also says, but love your enemies and do good and lend, hoping for nothing again, that your reward may be great. And He talks about those things. You see, He's saying there very plainly, there has been a change. You cannot miss that point. Otherwise, it makes a confusion between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Do you hear me? There's a change. And only Jesus Christ had the authority to make that change. Only Him. And there was a change. I know it has been said, but now I say. Is there anything more clear than that? You know, we come up with a lot of different theologies and doctrines about non-resistance and things like that. But I tell you what, I was actually... I remember the time when we were about to go speak to a council that was up in northern Germany and I was installing grenade launchers onto M16 machine guns and I said to myself, what would Jesus do? And for some strange way, I had to think about it. You know, where you're at sometimes... I had to seriously think about that. Okay, I was making that little twisty thing on there and putting it on there. Would Jesus be installing grenade launchers on machine guns? You know, we deceive ourselves so easily. Love your enemies. Love your enemies. You can't do that and shoot them. You cannot. Some of these things we're going to be talking about during this week, some of them are a bit grey. I'll confess to you, church, this is not grey. Whether you put a bullet in someone's head or not, there's no grey. There's no grey. It's a decision. It's a decision. But the ways have changed. You see, in the Old Testament, there's an impressive example that Jesus gave His apostles. In 2 Kings 1, verse 10, Elijah was coming up and wanting to come through a certain city and the kings wanted him stopped so they sent some people down to stop him. So, Elijah said, okay, I know what I can do. And he called for heaven. He called on heaven to send fire on them and they were consumed. It was wiped out, so he got to go and the ministry wasn't hindered and he kept going. He kept going. Well, the apostles, knowing their scriptures pretty well, remember that when they were going? And in Luke 9, verse 51. Turn to that. Luke 9, verse 51. They said, let's do this again, Lord. Luke 9, verse 51 says, And it came to pass, when the time was come that He should be received up, steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. And sent messengers before His face, and they went and entered into the village of the Samaritans to make ready for Him. And they did not receive Him because His face was as though He would go to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? Just like Elijah did. How about it? Listen to the next words. But He turned and rebuked them and said, You know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's life, but to save them. And they went to another village. You see? Those times are gone. We're going to do this a different way, Apostles. A different way. We're going to do it with a cross. And you don't even completely understand that for a minute, but you're going to give your life and you're going to die and you're going to shed your blood too. He says to them. And that's how we're going to win this. One of the most impressive ones are in John chapter 18. Let's look at that. Jesus Himself is there before Pontius Pilate and some impressive words here. And Jesus Himself wants to make it very clear that He is King. Is He King of your life today? Let me ask you that. Is He King? Because you see, although this kingdom is spiritual, it must be very visible in your spirit. This is not just a theology. This is not just something in your head. This is not just something you write down and say, Oh, I believe in this and I believe in that. Jesus has got to be King of your life. That's why He came into the earth, He says here. So, let's look at this. John chapter 18, verse 35. Picking it up at verse 33. Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto Him, Art thou the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself or did others tell thee of me? How did you know I was King? Did you come and say this yourself? And Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? Listen to these words and let them go deep into your heart. Listen to these words. Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should be delivered to the Jews but now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto them, Art thou a king then? Are you a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born. And for this cause came I unto the world that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. King. Praise God. He says that his kingdom is not of this world. There's these two kingdoms spread there. You see, the kingdoms of this world have lots of different ways and lots of different laws and lots of different things that it does. But we live by a different kingdom with a different constitution, a different way. It's the two kingdoms. The world doesn't understand this. When you become a conscious objector, there's several things you have to do. There's certain little hurdles you have to go through. You have to see a psychiatrist. You have to write papers and they send it to the Pentagon. You have to have these little trials. Well, the psychiatrist was one of my most interesting meetings there. I go in there in this little tiny room and as soon as I'm about to go in there, she says to me, I don't even know if you really need to sit down. And I said, okay, ma'am, why? She said, I've got you all figured out. I said, I've got you all figured out. Me with all the other people who I guess who have done this. And I said, well, what do you mean? She said, I've got you all figured out. I've got you. So I said, okay. So I kind of easily pulled up my chair and sat down. I've got you, she said. I thought, wow, this is not supposed, I didn't think it was going to be like this. And she said, you're inconsistent. And I said, okay, ma'am, how am I inconsistent? And remember, I'm just newly converted here. So the spirit of God had to be with me. And she said, well, and I was trembling here. And she said, let me ask you, you want to get out of the army because you don't feel like you want to support the military. Is that correct? Yes, ma'am, that's correct. Okay, I've got you. I said, okay. And she said, but you'll pay your taxes, won't you? And I said, yes, ma'am. I believe in paying taxes. You're inconsistent. There you have it. You will support with your taxes, but you want to get out of the army, you're inconsistent, you're done. And I said, well, ma'am, can I explain something to you? You see, you may not understand this, but I live by the laws and the standard of a book. And this book says to pay your taxes and to love your enemies. I don't have to understand that. I just have to obey the word of God. Well, it went downhill from there, I'm here to tell you. She got, it went up and she gave a whole litany of different things that she said that she was this and that and that. You don't preach at me and all these things. And it was sad, really. It was sad that the idea there was so unknown to her, the idea that we have a different way than the way the world is. The two kingdoms. And these two kingdoms give us the idea that while we're in this kingdom of the world, we do live here. We partake of this. And God has given this whole government structures. He's protected us. He's given us roads and languages and things like this. He's let men figure that the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous. And He has prepared those things for the gospel. He has. And so as He's prepared these things, while we live in this world, we're called to be sojourners and strangers in this world. And 1 Peter, look at that. 1 Peter. We see some of this strangers and sojourners coming out. He addresses the church there in 1 Peter 1. An apostle Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. How many of you here today feel like a stranger in this land? You should. You should. If you don't, there's something wrong. And a little later in verse 17, He says, and if you call on the Father, who without respect of person judges according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. Are you sojourning here? Or do you feel like you're just part of home here? You're dreaming of your dreams and your things, your businesses, and your life, and how you're going to get ahead in this world. That's not for the Christian. It's not for the Christian. You're to be sojourners here. And Peter 2.9, he says, 1 Peter again, 2.9, a little later, he says, but ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness and to His marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God. In the early church, they used the term, and they were speaking of the Jews and the Gentiles, and they called the Christians a third race. You are the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. That's the way we're supposed to be. You see, when we start to get tied up, again, this thing gets fuzzy. Here, I might step on some toes, but bear with me here. When we start to try to make this world's politics fit into us, that area there where that thing's not clear becomes fuzzy, becomes gray. And you start to find yourself in this camp listening to political radios that are going this way and that way, and getting involved in this political agenda and that political agenda, and it draws you away from your true purpose of serving Christ and what you're here on this earth for. There's a beautiful verse, 2 Timothy 2. Look at it and mark it. 2 Timothy 2, verse 3. And it tells you how you are supposed to look at yourself as you deal here with these two kingdoms. 2 Timothy 2, verse 3, it says, Thou therefore endure hardness. Oh, we have soft Christian lives, don't we? Like Brother Ross was just saying, we get upset if our shoelace broke and we're late and our toast burnt. Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Do you see yourself as a soldier? Soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warth entangled himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. The analogy that he's drawn there is that when you're in the military, especially if you're living in another country, there's a little bit of interesting dichotomy going on there, an interesting two-place type of thing going on there. When I was living in Germany, my wife and I, we were in the army, we wore uniforms. I had this American uniform. I bought my groceries at an American little grocery store. We spoke English. We paid American taxes. At that time, we voted in American elections. And all of our mentality was for America, yet all along we were there living in Germany. I might have known who the Chancellor was at that time of journey, but it was just by chance. I was an American living in Germany. And that's the analogy that Paul is trying to show that the Christian is supposed to be in this world. You're everything. You're a uniform. You're taxes. You're... well, we do pay our taxes. You know what I mean there. You're life, you're devotion, you're everything is not to be messed up and confused with that politics of this world. If I had been there in Germany, and I was going, I'd kind of like to run for mayor of this little town. You know what the government would have said to Sergeant Dean Taylor? You know what they would have said to me? No, you're not going to be able to do that. You concentrate here on this, and that's not for us to do. I wouldn't have been allowed that. So why do we allow ourselves with all this and that? Why? Why? Make the line clear with those two kingdoms, and don't get entangled. Don't get entangled. Let it go. And be devoted soldiers. Soldiers of God that these things don't need to be messed up in that way. They don't need to be. Alright, another thing. We have the... We have the different way we do our battle, and we also have different weapons. We have different weapons. Turn, if you could, with me to Ephesians 6. I think you know where I'm going there. The last thing I want to do is to try to encourage us to be a bunch of quiet people who say nothing, do nothing, pray nothing, expect nothing, and just sit around and say, yeah, well, that's the way it is. That's not what I want. That's not my heart today. I want to make you a soldier that endures hardness. That's what I want. And do it the right way. Do it the way of God. Okay, Ephesians 6.12 says, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. I remember a sermon once I heard from Brother Denny. It's called, We Wrestle Not. And that idea there is a lot of times we do stop right there, don't we? We wrestle not. Alright? But the idea that Paul is giving it to us is that we do wrestle. We do have a fight. We do have a fight. But listen to what he says. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. One thing, can there be anything more clear than that? Okay, I'm going to be in the army now. I'm not wrestling against flesh and blood as I run with my bayonet. Okay? It's ridiculous. Can it not be more clear than that? For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. But we do wrestle, church. We do. But against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. There's your commission. There's your mustering of the troops there. Right there of what it is. You are to be called to that battle. That's what you're supposed to be doing. Now, we can spiritualize this sometimes. Say, that's right, I'm not in the army. I'm going to have my spiritual battle. But the closets are empty. And that's a shame. And that's a shame. If the closets are empty, then we're wrestling not. And that's just as bad, perhaps worse, as if we were going out to battle, and we were there in our little platoon, and I look back, and they're sleeping. They slept in that morning. It's just as serious. And then I get shot. And then these people get a court-martial the next morning because they slept in on their watch. It's serious business. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but we do wrestle. We must wrestle. And this is our fight. This is the way we fight. In 2 Corinthians 10, verses 3-7, he gives us another glimpse of that. 2 Corinthians 10, verses 3-7. For though we walk in the flesh, for although we realize we keep on living here in America, or living here wherever, although we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. Is that plain enough? Is it? I've heard people say, the Bible's just not clear on non-resistance. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but what? But mighty. Praise God. They're not carnal. It means they're not made of flesh and blood. They're not things that you can touch and see and shoot out or bomb or whatever. They're not carnal, but they're mighty. They are mighty. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. Amen. Wow. That's a commission. That's a commission for us. And we do that in our closets. We do that in prayer. We do that in preaching. We do that in what God has called the church to go ye therefore into all the worlds. But we don't get involved in the way that this world is wanting us to fight. That's not for the church. That's not for the church. Let me look at now just a few things. I'm going to have to cut through here quick. Just a few things that people usually bring out if you might have some of these questions in your mind. The biggest one that I want to make sure I cover is Romans chapter 13. If you talk to anybody about non-resistance, if you talk about it all too long, you're going to run quickly into Romans chapter 13. And it's your good reason. It's a very powerful verse. When I was getting out of the army, everybody talked a lot about Romans chapter 13. And so I want to read that to you so you understand what exactly is happening here. And in this understanding, if you can quote Romans 13 with an amen and believe in non-resistance, then you understand biblical non-resistance. Liberal pacifism cannot quote Romans 13. They cannot. And this is where that line is checked. This is where that line is checked. Romans chapter 13, it says, verse 1, Let every soul be in subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God. There is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he, speaking of the rulers, look at this now, for he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Strong words, isn't it? The minister of God. Now, who was Paul talking about there? Was he talking about a southern Baptist emperor? Was he talking about someone who went to church and said he was born again and was just a little off on this doctrine, a little off on that doctrine? Who was he talking about? He was talking about Nero, most likely. He was talking about Nero, who was persecuting the church and dragging people and killing Christians left and right. And he says Nero is a minister of God. A minister of God. Now, how does that fit in, Paul? How does that fit in? Here is the two kingdoms coming to its absolute fulfillment or the pinnacle right here in your understanding. God's purpose in this world is that He be glorified. That He be glorified. And He is not going to allow anarchy, lawlessness to exist in this world. And so what He is going to do is make sure that this world is governed. That it's moved and it's changed. He says that He holds the king's hands in His heart. That He has the boundaries to these nations all set. He decides those things. And He goes forward and He will not allow this world, even if it's Nero, to just go into chaos. Because God's name will be glorified and His purposes be fulfilled. But He calls him His minister. To give you an example of what I'm saying, turn real quick over to Jeremiah. I'm finishing up here. In Jeremiah. In Jeremiah chapter 25, he uses this similar language and it's shocking. That word minister in the Greek, as you know, would be diakonos. It would mean my servant. A deacon is where we get the word deacon from. My minister. My deacon. My diakonos. My servant. In Jeremiah chapter 25, verse 8, it says this, Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, because you have not heard My words, this is God rebuking Israel, rebuking Israel and bringing judgment on the church, on Israel. He said, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, My servant. My minister. My diakonos. In Greek this is Hebrew. And will bring them against this land and against this inhabitants thereof and against all these nations round about and will utterly destroy them and make them an astonishment and a hissing and a perpetual desolation. This is Nebuchadnezzar being called his minister, bringing upon the church, bringing upon Israel. He's saying that he's going to do that. He's calling him My servant. He does it also in another chapter over here. He also calls Cyrus My shepherd when Cyrus was bringing them back to do the temple. But here we say then, okay, if God is using America, if God is using this country and that country, then we must be right, right? We must be right. You can clearly see, brother Dean, that the gospel is now more open in Iraq. So can you not say that it was God's will that the armies came in there and opened it up? Can you not say that? What if Hitler would not have been stopped? What if this would have happened? And what if that would have happened? And I say, yes, God is with every single bit of it. His name will be glorified. But pay close attention to two verses down. In v. 12, same chapter, Jeremiah 25, v. 12, And it shall come to pass when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it a perpetual desolation. Oh, tremble. Just because you're used of God doesn't always mean you're in the favor of God. Be sure you're in the favor of God. So do you understand? He used the whole nation of Babylon here for His purpose. And God will do that so that God is glorified. So that God is glorified. There's other scriptures that talk about those things, but I'm having to cut it just a little bit short here. Let me just take you to finish it up here to the end times. Turn your Bibles to Revelation. The last point. We're going to look at eschatological non-resistance. End times non-resistance. When you look at the church, and you look at what all has happened, and the different influences that have affected the church of Jesus Christ through these ages, then it becomes difficult sometimes to see, well, who's this and who's that, and how do I know them and how do I know them over there? I was reading through Revelation one time and something struck me. Something struck me here. In Revelation 13, it's talking about getting close to the very end times when the Antichrist is let loose and all those things. And he says here, he gives a principle. In Revelation 13, verse 9, If any man hath an ear, let him hear. Now, when Jesus says that, it's usually something you need to pay attention to. This is the end times. Lord, where's the church in the end times? Where are they? Let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity. He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. That's what he said to Peter when he cut off that ear. Peter, put away your sword. He who lives by the sword must die by the sword. Tertullian later on, there was an origin later on said that in that sentence, in the early church, they said that he was disarming Christians throughout all times and in all places forever. I'm paraphrasing that. But he says here, listen to that next thing, Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. He wraps that up into that statement. He uses that terminology only in one other place. It's in Revelation 11. It says there, in Revelation 11, verse 11, And the smoke of their torment ascended up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night who worship the beast and his image and who receiveth the mark of his name. Okay, this is the time when the Antichrist is set loose. The mark of the beast is there everywhere. And he says, Here is the patience of the saints. Another version, perseverance. This is how you persevere. Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. So, I don't know. I find it interesting that in the end times, when you're saying, God, how do we know? That he says about perseverance, about the patience of the saints. How do we know that are people that keep the commandments of God, but not just in the law, but they have faith in Jesus, and that they live by a principle that he who lives by the sword must die by the sword. He who has an ear, let him hear. He goes in another place in that same Revelation, and he talks about a harlot. He says, and where is that? Revelation 17, 14. Yeah, that's Revelation 17. Speaking of that harlot, picking up at verse 4, Revelation 17, verse 4. And the woman was arrayed in purple. Well, let me pick it up at one. And there came out of the seven angels which had the seven vials and talked with me, saying to me, Come hither, and I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters. I just read to you the true church in the end times. Here's the false church. With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication. The bride and the world together committing fornication and creating this apostate church. And the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet-colored beast full of names of blasphemies, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead was a name written, listen to the name, Mystery Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abomination of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. There it is. And she's a mother of harlots, which means she has daughters. And while there may be one true apostate church, I don't know, but there's daughters. And I believe that when we let this thing happen, that the Word of God becomes mixed with this world, and the church of Jesus Christ gets mixed into this world, we end up with this abomination. Abomination. So, young people, I want to leave you with that idea today that we look at this idea of these two kingdoms and non-resistance, where we are with God. Who is it that makes these decisions and how are you influenced by these things? And what is making your cues of what you're involved with? I would like us to wash our souls with the Word of God and live with that. I'll leave you with just one more example. It's a striking example and I was going to try to fit it in. I remember when I was there and I went to Berlin twice. I went to Berlin twice and while I was there, I went once when my wife was at basic training and I had to go in full uniform and I was there and as I go through, they're looking at machine guns through Checkpoint Charlie and they've got all this stuff and tanks and all these guys are looking at you and you're going through all this stuff and that was the way it was the year before. Well, then I went in 1989 and the wall was coming down and there was these people in there that used to be these Russian guards and now the guys that used to hold AK-47s there at the top were there handing handshakes and gifts through these holes in the wall and crying out, And I'll tell you what, one of the biggest things that changed my life happened that moment and I asked myself the sobering question, what changed? What changed? The influence of what a few men in some political places made some decisions and now the guy that I would have put a bullet through his head a year before is now my brother. In these different talks, we're going to look at different things that have influenced us and made us look at as a church. Let's let this be the determination of how we live our life. May God receive the glory.