Spiritual dangers: Stand

Galatians in chapter 5. I'd like to look at the second type of response to spiritual danger. Yesterday we looked at to flee. I'd like to look at stand today.

There are in general three types of response to danger. Either it is to run away and to flee or to freeze or to fight. And when it comes to our spiritual life and the spiritual dangers that we face, we looked yesterday at the four times that Paul said to flee.

To flee idolatry, to flee youthful lust, to flee covetousness, to flee fornication, to run. And when it comes now to the time to stand, we'll have to understand this, that when spiritual danger is there, it's not easy to stand. There are times when we're going to need to stand that we're going to want to run.

And we can't. We're going to want to try to ignore the situation or to avoid the situation. If we do that, it's certain damage.

It's going to take discernment to know when to stand. It's going to take dependence on God to stand. And it's going to take determination to stand.

And when you follow this theme through the writings of Paul, you'll find generally it comes in the context, of course, in assemblies. And oftentimes you'll face an individual that will have to do this, but I found it interesting to consider this as an assembly. And we're going to look at one of them as going to be stand fast in one spirit, in unity, in unity.

You see, the devil would love to divide and to conquer. He would seek to scatter the sheep. And if he can scatter us and if he can divide us, then there's going to be great spiritual damage done, not only to individuals, but to collective companies.

And so if we're going to stand, we're going to need to stand together. Together. It is going to take unity in your assembly for your assembly to survive the spiritual dangers that are going to come, that are coming, that are here.

The darkness of this age gets darker and darker, and the hatred of the devil for the things of God and that which brings glory to God you're going to need to stand together. How are we going to stand together? There's going to have to be the unity. Maybe we should just start with that one in Philippians 1. Philippians 1. Verse number 27.

Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel, and in nothing terrified by your adversary, which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation and that of God. Standing fast. I'm looking at this here now as something that comes into the assembly.

Often times it's going to be as we've been reminded, the false teachers, the wolves in sheep's clothing. And if we're going to stand in the unity of one spirit, we're going to need to be together. I'm picturing in my mind someone who notices the danger to stand.

And another one who is then coming and standing beside them. And then another is coming to stand beside them. And in nature, you'll take sometimes the buffalo or the bison or whatever, and there's danger.

And the one will stand. And they'll form a wall. And the young will be protected inside of that wall of those bodies, of those animals.

And they stand there. And the answer to whatever it is that is trying to get in is simple. It is not today.

No, it's no, never. In other words, when you look at that as illustration in nature, if something is going to get at that group of those young ones, those that are mature are there. And those that are mature, they care and they're there.

And it's basically this. Over my dead body. Stand.

Stand. Is your conviction and appreciation of God's assembly that when something comes in that is a little bit off, you stand. You stand.

This is of vast importance that we stand together. For if one man stands and the rest retreat, you've got Uriah. You've got Uriah.

You know Uriah. David sent him to the battle. And he stood.

And everyone else retreated. And that mighty man of valor was lost. There are times in this context that if we run, we're done.

We are. We cannot run. We cannot turn our back and run.

You see, when you think of the panic that goes on in the world, here's a clue. When there's a stampede on the broad road, stand still. You're not on the broad road.

You're on the narrow road. When this world is trying to get everyone in such a panic, in such a lather, that they just want to run, and you know the feeling, you start to get itchy and something starts to work inside you, and you see people starting to go, and pretty soon, they bolt after something that isn't right. That is not the time to run.

It's the time to stand. Stand and search it out from the Word of God. Whatever the topic might be.

And I need to leave this point to leave time for another brother. But we need to stand in unity. Join together to stand.

We'll go to Galatians now. Galatians 5. Galatians 5. Verse 1, Paul says to the Galatians, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. And so what he's saying here in the context of the whole book is to not be brought back under the bondage of the law in particular.

And he's encouraging this assembly to stand fast in the liberty. Liberty. Liberty is something that is tremendous for the believer.

To enjoy the freedom in Christ. And the devil hates it. And the devil hates it when we can freely worship and we can freely function and we can freely enjoy the liberty that we have in the blood of Christ.

Now this isn't, brother, civil liberties. Christians in dictatorships with no liberties. Christians that are slaves with no liberties.

Enjoy the liberty in Christ. Don't mix your civil liberties up with the liberties in Christ. Because if your liberties that are civil are taken away, you can still and you must enjoy the liberty in Christ.

It is a spiritual thing. This isn't a civil liberty. And so what he is saying here is to stand fast in that liberty.

Romans, Paul says it is a glorious liberty. We're no longer under the bondage of sin. We're not under the authority and the dominion of Satan.

We've been set free in that liberty. But you remember that those come in that spy out our liberty and they want to bring us again into bondage and to take that away from us. Why? Because Satan hates that liberty.

We really don't understand it. I can't put it all into words anyway. I don't understand.

The magnitude of freedom in Christ. Freedom to worship. Freedom to serve.

Freedom to love Him. Freedom to obey Him. Whereas sin that once had dominion over us, all we could do was sin.

But we've been set free. And so he's encouraging these dear believers to stand fast in that liberty. That liberty.

We'll leave that one and go on to the next one. 2 Thessalonians 2. Verse number 15. Well, verse number 13, we'll get a little context.

It would be best to take time for that. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you by our Gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's a big statement.

To the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the tradition which ye have been taught, whether by word or epistle. Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts.

Stand fast in the traditions. Now these are not, you'll understand, the traditions of the fathers, or the tradition of the elders, or the tradition of the law, or the traditions of men. This is the teaching of the New Testament.

The Word is also translated to ordinances in the New Testament. This is the apostles' doctrine. This is what Paul is teaching in every church and in every place.

And he says hold them fast. Stand fast in the teachings of the New Testament. Also, the Old Testament.

I'm not trying to divide the Bible, but I'm trying to draw the attention here to the New Testament function. The New Testament believer and all of the things that we have and the way that we function, Paul is telling them there in Thessalonians, you hold fast to those things. Change.

You see, whenever the winds of change are blowing, and they're blowing most of the time, we have to say wait. Wait. I've never heard that before.

I've never taught like that before. What is that saying? How are we going to know the truth? We're going to stand fast when we get to the Scriptures and we search out what we have heard. When we look for ourself as an assembly, Bible readings are tremendous.

Wednesday night Bible readings are good. Necessary for every assembly. How are we going to know? And so then when that is brought in, now from time to time, good meaning people bring bad things in.

And that will happen. But as it is searched out and as it is compared with the Scriptures, we'll have to say this, no, that's not right. I want to say this, if that has been you and you have learned something or thought you have learned something and you're trying to talk to the brethren about it and they stand fast and say no, don't automatically get offended.

I've met people, talked with people that have tried to do something like this and the first thing they do is they stiffen up with pride and they're going to teach us no matter what and the next thing you know, they're out of the assembly. They're silenced and they're out of the assembly. I could give you a story of a couple different ones.

I'm not going to. But this is real. If you think you see something and it is new, don't go teaching it right away.

Talk to your brethren about it. Say, I notice this. Am I thinking of this right? Is this what this means? Is this correct to look at it this way? Because we have to stand fast in the Scriptures and the traditions that have been passed on from the apostles' doctrine.

It says in Colossians 2, Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy or vain deceit. And we understand what that means. The philosophy and the vain deceit that is seeking to corrupt the Word of God and to corrupt the assemblies and the wisdom of men and the science of men.

We got into that a little bit yesterday. After the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. And so, just to simply leave it there, we're standing fast when it comes to the unity of the assembly.

There have been times in likely every one of our lives, if there hasn't, there will be. It will come the test of the unity. And you're going to wonder if I should leave the assembly or if I should stay.

And you're going to wonder if this is the place for me or if I need to go to someplace else. You make sure you look at what the Word of God has to say. And you'll stand fast in the unity.

Is the division going to come through you? Let me put it that way. The chain, as you've often heard, is only as strong as its weakest link. Is the schism going to start with me? Is the division going to start with you? Paul says no.

Stand fast in the unity. Division isn't going to come through me. It needs to be the attitude.

Unity! Stand fast. Liberty! Stand fast. Are you the one trying to bring someone into bondage? Trying to teach something, bring something in that is going to rob a believer of their liberty? No! No.

Stand fast in the liberty. In other words, it's not going to come through you, is it? Not going to come through you. Unity.

Liberty. And here we have the traditions. And we'll just end with one more.

1 Corinthians 16. And I'll be down. Just giving you the skeleton this afternoon.

1 Corinthians 16, verse 13. Paul says, Watch ye. Watch ye.

In other words, keep awake. Keep awake, Paul says. Stand fast in the faith.

And quit you like men. Be strong. Be strong.

He's saying, wake up, brethren. Be awake. Be alert.

Stand fast in the faith. What is it? Stand fast in the truth of God. Stand fast in the reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Stand fast in the assurance of salvation. Stand fast. In whatever aspect of the faith you want to look at it here, stand fast.

Don't move. Be determined. Be determined to stand fast in the faith.

Quit you like men. Act like men. Not wimps.

Not wimps. My dad said one time when it came to our business, he said, boys, I don't want anything to do with the money or any part of the business, but he said when it comes time for heads to roll, call me in because you're wimps. That's what he said.

Spineless jellyfish. No, no, no. Not in the things of God.

Not in the faith. Quit you like men. Can you imagine if a false teacher came through the door and came to the platform and started preaching blasphemous things about the Savior? 275 people rise in unison and come and remove him from the building.

That's the idea. Not today. Not ever in this place.

But rather, stand fast. Brethren, stand fast. Quit you like men.

Be strong for His glory.