Sword of God and the Body of Christ 1985

I'd like to begin by reading from Genesis chapter 3, verse 22 and following. Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. And now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever, therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.

He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed a cherubim and a flaming sword, which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. Adam and Eve don't even know what a sword is. It's going to be generations and generations before any human hand is going to hold a sword.

Yet, at the dawn of history, we already see a sword guarding the way to the tree of life, guarding the holy. Jumping back to Joshua chapter 5, verse 13. When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked.

And behold, a man stood before him with a drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or for our adversaries? And he said, No, but as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face on the earth and worshipped and said to him, What does my Lord bid his servant? And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Put off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy.

And Joshua did so. Why does this angel have a sword? What does it mean? It means that judgment and cleansing are about to come from the hand of God to an unclean, corrupt nation. And that deliverance and powerful conquest are going to again visit from God coming to the aid of a nation that's been oppressed.

It also means that Joshua needs to fall on his face and worship because he's standing on holy ground. But what need does the Almighty God have of a sword? He has the lightning. He has the thunder, earthquake, wind, fire, storm.

Why a sword? What is this sword? Jumping on into the New Testament, Matthew chapter 10, verse 34, Jesus is speaking. Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword.

For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's foes will be those of his own household. These words from a man who never once held a sword in his hand. And yet in three and a half years, this man devastated a nation with an invisible sword of judgment from which that nation has yet to recover after 20 centuries.

With that invisible sword, he cut all the religious pretense and declared that this nation would not recover until it is clean. With this sword, he delivered the oppressed of the land and brought them into the promised land of the kingdom of God. He conquered evil and he set up the kingdom of God by means of this sword.

And finally, as we move now to the last book of the Bible, Revelation chapter 19, verse 11, we read, Then I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse. He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems.

He has a name inscribed which no one knows but himself. He is clad in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, followed him on white horses.

From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations, and he will rule them with the rod of iron. What is this sharp sword issuing from his mouth? It is not a sword of steel. It is not a sword of fire.

It is a sword of spirit. It is a living, burning, cutting, dividing, discerning, revealing word. It is a word coming from his mouth by which he judges, cleanses, delivers, and conquers.

And where is this sword now? This sword has been given to the body of Christ. It is no longer entrusted to solitary prophets. It is no longer given to individualists.

It is given to the body. With this sword, we will conquer the earth for the kingdom of God. Reading in that passage which was already read this morning by Jerry, Ephesians 6.14, Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace, above all taking the shield of faith with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

With this sword, we bring judgment, cleansing, deliverance, and conquest to every life we touch, to every situation we enter. By means of this sword, the spirit of God invades the human realm and things change. As a congregation, we have entered into a season in which the spirit of God is going to teach us how to use this sword with a power we have never had.

This sword, issuing from the mouth of the glorified Christ in Revelation, will be issuing from the mouth of the glorified Christ in our midst with a power which will sometimes frighten us. We will see the word of God going forth from us and confirmed with signs of God's presence that will absolutely stagger our minds. But, before we can use this sword, we first have to come under the power of this sword.

Before Joshua could conquer Jericho, he had to fall on his face, take off his shoes, and bow and worship the God whose sword was already aimed at him. Don't try to take this sword by the handle until you have allowed the blade to pierce your heart. If you try to pick up this sword before you have yourself submitted to this sword, it will fly right out of your hand and it will do brutal things to you because this sword is alive.

It has a mind and a will and a power on its own as we read in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

So we have to begin by allowing this sword to cut into us and to divide and to lay open and to expose and to separate soul from spirit. We have to allow the word of the risen, living, ruling, crucified but risen, Jesus. To speak to us with such clarity and such directness and make such demands on us, we have to allow this that we either fall down and worship his glory or we run away in dread.

One more passage from Revelation 1, 12. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, picture of the church, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man clothed in a long robe with a golden girdle around his breast. His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow.

His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace. And his voice like the sound of many waters.

In his right hand he held seven stars. From his mouth issued a sharp two-edged sword. And that sharp two-edged sword issuing from his mouth is first directed to us.

It comes to us today as a word addressed to us, a four-fold word to us. A word of judgment, a word of cleansing, a word of deliverance, and a word of power for conquest. First of all, the word, the two-edged sword coming forth from the mouth of the risen Jesus comes to us now as a word of judgment.

It pierces in and it lays us open and it separates evil from good. And the main thrust of this word of judgment to us today is you can't serve Babylon and Jerusalem at the same time. You can't serve God and man at the same time.

You can't serve light and darkness at the same time. You can't run your own show and fit into the purposes of the kingdom of God at the same time. You have to make up your mind.

This is what he says to us. And in love he says this. If you're going to be of any use to me, he says to us, let go of Babylon.

Bring the things of Babylon to the foot of the cross and dump them there. True, we have to live in Babylon just like Daniel had to live in Babylon. But Daniel lived in Babylon with a single eye, with a pure heart.

He was not corrupted. Nor can we be. So he says to us, let go of Babylon.

Make up your mind to commit yourself to Jerusalem. And this sword trims the branches so that they can bear fruit on the vine. They cut and cut and they cut away the clutter and all the distractions and all the things we've allowed to suck life from us so that we can now bear fruit.

Which brings us to the second thing this sword does. The sword issuing from the mouth of the Son of God comes to us as a word of cleansing. If we say we have no sin, then we deceive ourselves.

And the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There are sins.

Sins. Don't call them anything but what they are. Sins.

Which are holding us back. Attitudes. Forms of self-indulgence.

Habits. Idols that we're still serving that have no place in our life anymore. Now if we see these things for what they are and admit them to be what they are and bring them to Him and confess them and repent of them and turn from them, then His blood cleanses us.

And we can walk out of here clean with a clear conscience and with a heart that's full of peace. There is power in that sword coming forth if we allow it to touch these things. But if you say, wait a minute, don't let it come any closer.

This I'm going to keep for myself. No, I don't even want to think about this now. You know, don't touch this.

This is mine. Then there's nothing you can do. Let the sword touch that thing today.

Let the sword touch that sin so that you may walk out of here clean. The sword issuing from His mouth comes to us as a word of deliverance. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, deliverance to those who are oppressed.

And notice all that deliverance which comes to the depressed, the discouraged, those who are in bondage, those who are blind, those who are oppressed in any way, comes through a spoken word. And that spoken word first is directed toward us. He says to us, be loosed from your infirmity.

Receive your sight. Walk out of that prison of fear. You don't belong there anymore.

Let go of that attitude, that lust, that bitterness, that self-pity. Come on, get out of there. Be free.

And every one of those chains will break if we allow the sword to touch it. There are chains that are binding us. Some of us have walked in here with three or four chains wrapped around our hearts or our heads that will snap and go if we allow the sword to come and touch it.

Finally, the word, the two-edged sword coming forth from his mouth comes to us as a word of power for conquest. Reading from Luke 10. Yeah, we do have one more here.

Luke 10, 19. Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

We are being anointed by the Lord with a word which has the power to conquer. And so he says to us, don't just sit there and lick your wounds and wonder where Satan's going to hit you next. Get up and stand against him.

Pull down the strongholds of evil that have established themselves in your own mind. Conquer the evil that lodges at the door of your own heart. And walk out of here today as a man or a woman who has said no to Babylon and yes to the cross of Jesus.

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man stood before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or for our adversaries? And he said, No, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, What does my Lord bid his servant? And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Put off your shoes from your feet.

The place where you stand is holy. And he did so. Jesus is giving us the sword by which we are to conquer Jericho.

A word given to this assembly which is alive, burning, cutting, able to break through every barrier. A word by which we will be in judgment, cleansing, deliverance and conquest to this neighborhood, to this city and to every place where he may send us. But there is only one way we can receive the sword.

Only one way. We have to put ourselves under its power. Are we willing to take off our shoes and fall on our faces and submit to the sword, to the word he speaks to us today? A word of judgment, cleansing, deliverance and a command that we go out into that world and conquer with his word.

Let's just wait upon him now and let the spirit speak to our hearts in silence.