Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

Special thanks to Steven Furtick and Elevation Church for the use of the resource materials and the inspiration for this sermon series.

Welcome to our brand new series called New Thru 30. The premise of this series is very simple. We are coming together as a church to read through the New Testament in 30 days. It’s a big, hairy, audacious goal. But it’s already making a difference, and we’re only one week into the challenge. And it’s not just affecting people in our church. Through our presence on the web, there are people all over the country that are joining with us. How awesome is that?

The reading started this past Monday, but if you just now joining us, it’s not too late. Pick up a copy of the reading plan today or you can get it off of our website. Just jump to today’s date and start from there. You can go back to the beginning when this series is finished. For those of us who have been on this since day one, it’s intense, isn’t it? But we need seasons of intensity in our lives. For a lot of us, it’s time we stopped being dessert Christians. A lot of us are like kids who want to skip dinner and go straight to dessert. Because dessert is fun. Dessert is sweet. But dessert alone can’t sustain you. We need some vegetables. The stuff that isn’t always fun or easy, but the stuff that gives us what we need to keep going.That’s what this is all about. There are days when the reading is just amazing. And there are days when you’ve got to push through. But this is the good stuff. This is the stuff you need to keep going. To get out of your rut. To give your life purpose. To live with peace. To reject Satan’s lies. To achieve your God-given potential.Man, I’m already fired up, and this is only the introduction. I think we’d better pray and then we’ll get into the Word of God today. We’re going to be in Matthew 4. This passage was part of our reading this past week. Let’s pray and then we’ll fire it up.PRAY Matthew 4, starting in verse 1. “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ”

Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. (Matthew 4:1-11, NIV)

This is an incredible scene. The Bible tells us of an actual conversation between Jesus and Satan. Let’s go back and unpack this, because it is good, good stuff.

In verse 2, Matthew tells us, that Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. And after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, Matthew says that Jesus was hungry.

You think? Jesus was fully God, but he was also fully, 100% human. And anyone who is 100% human is going to get kind of hungry if they go for 40 days without food. Some of us have a hard time going for a few hours without food. The whole fasting thing is something that we should try, but that’s a topic for another message.

Here’s the takeaway from Jesus fasting for 40 days and nights. Sometimes God calls us to difficult things for intense spiritual development.

That’s what New Thru 30 is all about. It’s not easy. We never promised that it would be a cake walk when we launched this challenge last week. This is spiritual P90X. It’s tough stuff, but sometimes God calls us to do difficult things that will put us on the fast track for spiritual growth.

But, as we put in the time and effort to get into spiritual shape, we’ve got to remember why we’re doing it.

I’m sure all of us have seen a bodybuilding competition at one time or another. You know, those guys who are so ripped that they look like one big muscle from the top of their head all the way down to their toes. They’ve got veins popping out everywhere.

Obviously they put in tons of work to get their bodies into this kind of shape. They eat a carefully constructed diet. They go through an intense workout regimen that would kill the rest of us. They take all kinds of supplements and vitamins. They ask for gift cards to GNC for Christmas. They just go through an incredible amount of work to get their bodies into this kind of shape…so they can pose.

That’s it. That’s why they do all of this. So they can walk around a stage in a Speedo and bulge and flex and pose for a group of judges.

Here’s the deal with New Thru 30. This isn’t for show. This isn’t to make us look good to the people who might try to judge us. We’re not posers.

We’re getting into spiritual shape to make our faith work. To know God. To have spiritual strength and vitality. To drive back the enemy in our lives.

This isn’t to make us look good to other people…or even to God. This isn’t about a show. It’s about life and death. If you don’t know the Word of God, you are an easy victim for our enemy.

You are in a fight. It’s a fight for your life, for your very soul. And the Word of God is your only offensive weapon to win the fight for your life.

When you look at the story of Jesus and his encounter with Satan in Matthew 4, what do you find? Every time Satan tempted Him, Jesus responded, “It is written.”

Satan tempted Him three times, and three times Jesus responded, “It is written.” He was attacked three times, and responded with Scripture three times.

Jesus wielded the weapon of the Word to fight back for His spiritual life. You have to have an offensive strategy, and Scripture is your weapon. To the point where every time the devil opens his mouth, you open God’s Word and fight back. The Word is your weapon to win the war.

This isn’t Chicken Soup for the Soul. This isn’t just to make you feel better about yourself. This is how you take your stand against the enemy’s schemes.

It is a fight of faith. That’s exactly what faith really is. It’s a fight. It’s a bloody war.

In 1 Peter 5, the Bible tells us, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8, NIV)

We have an enemy that is very real. Satan isn’t a concept from ancient mythology. He’s not an idea. He’s not a mythical representation of evil. He is evil incarnate. He is real, and he is coming for you.

He is a prowling lion who wants to kill you. He wants to rip your life apart. He wants to rip your family apart. He wants to rip our church apart. He wants to distract, deceive, and destroy you. He wants you dead, and he doesn’t play fair. He doesn’t play by the rules. And the Bible tells us that the only offensive weapon we have to fight this battle is the Word of God.

In Ephesians 6, the Bible says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:10-12, NIV)

Like we’ve been saying all morning, the battle is very real. And a whole lot of us go into combat everyday unprepared. Some of us don’t even know the battle is happening.

None of us will ever forget the day of September 11, 2001. It was a horrific day where we saw the face of evil very, very clearly.

But, aside from the murder and destruction of this day, what made it stand out was that it was such a surprise. A bunch of terrorists had declared war on us, but until that day in 2001, most of us didn’t know it. We were involved in a war that we didn’t even know was happening until that day.

A lot of us walk through everyday of our lives not even knowing that there is a battle going on. Satan and his demonic forces have declared war on you and me. The battle is on, but a lot of us aren’t engaged. Some of us don’t even know it’s happening. But eventually, we’ll fully understand the scope of the conflict. But if we wait until we’re attacked, we’re going to pay a high price.

There’s a much better way, and that is to understand the battle. Understand the stakes. And prepare yourself for the fight. That’s what the Bible tells us to do as we keep going in Ephesians 6.

Verse 13, “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. [In other words, when the attacks finally come to the forefront, you’re ready.] Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:13-17, NIV)

Now, we need to notice something here. When Paul tells us about all the different pieces of the armor of God, every piece of armor that he lists is defensive…except one. He talks about the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation. It’s all defensive. It’s all meant to fend off an attack.

But then, at the end of the passage, Paul says that we have to arm ourselves with “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

A sword is an offensive weapon. Everything else in the armor of God is meant to defend yourself. But the sword of the Spirit…the word of God…is meant to attack. It is offensive. It is used to take the fight to the enemy.

The Word of God is how we go on offense in our lives. So many believers live with a defensive posture. As long as nothing bad happens on any given day, then that is a good day. It’s all defensive.

Instead of waking up each morning thinking, “I hope nothing bad happens today,” we should get out of bed saying, “I’m going on offense. I’m going to inflict devastating pain on my enemy today. I’m going to put him on defense.”

And we do it by the power of the Word of God. Living out the principles of the Word of God. Being shaped and molded and influenced and changed by the Word of God.

But for that happen, you’ve got to know the Word of God. The Bible is the sword of the Spirit, but that sword becomes dull if we don’t know the Word.

I actually own a couple of swords. These are samurai swords that my dad bought for me when he was in Japan years ago. I don’t think you could bring these back on an airplane today, but he did it with no problem back then.

Now, as cool as these swords are, there is one issue with them. They have never been sharpened. They are as dull as they could be. And because they aren’t sharpened, they aren’t weapons. They are simply decorations.

How many of you use the Bible as a decoration? Maybe you have it sitting on your coffee table. Maybe it is in a prominent place on your bookshelf. Or maybe you carry it to church every week to complete your Sunday morning wardrobe ensemble.

For a lot of us, our Bible is nothing more than a decorative sword. It’s not a weapon because we never sharpen it in our lives. If you want to go from decoration to weapon, you’ve got to sharpen your sword. You’ve got to be in the Word. You’ve got to know the Word.

When I was a boy in Cub Scouts, I did what every other Cub Scout did. I built a car for the pinewood derby. I kept it pretty simple, but I ended up with, what I thought, was a pretty cool car. I didn’t know that I would never be allowed to race it.

On the day of the race, I showed up with my car. The lady who was running the race was my den mother. She was a gruff, mean old lady that hated kids. At least that’s the impression that I got. I was never sure why someone who couldn’t stand little boys wanted to be involved with Cub Scouts. That’s like saying, “I absolutely hate to read, so I think I’ll be a librarian.” It didn’t make any sense to me.

But, as mean and nasty as she was, she did have one advantage over me when it came to this race. She knew the pinewood derby rulebook.

Now, I had a copy of the rulebook, but I never opened it. She had not only opened it…she knew it. And, for various reasons, she said that my car wasn’t qualified to race. And there was no use protesting, because she knew the book. I could argue with her, but I couldn’t argue with the book.

As the people of God, we’ve got to know the book.

In Psalm 119, the Bible says, “How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word. [I’m going to live by the book.]

I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. [I’m going to know the book.]

Praise be to you, LORD; teach me your decrees. With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth. [I’m going to talk about the book. I’m going to tell others about the book.]

I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. [I’m going to think about the book.]

I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. [I’m going to use the book.] (Psalm 119:9-16, NIV)

You’ve got to know the book. There is no substitute. There is no shortcut. If you don’t know the book, you are ripe for the picking. Satan will target you and take you down.

You’ve got to know the book, so that when Satan opens his mouth and starts telling you what you’re not, and what you can’t do, and who can’t be, and what you can’t have, you can show him in the book where God says you are, and God says you can, and God says you will! You’ve got to know the book!

When you have a problem in your life and it seems like no good can or ever will come from it, you’ve got to know the book so you can go to Romans 8:28 and claim the promise. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28, NIV)

You’ve got to know the book, so when you start feeling like there is no way that God can love you because of what you’ve done, you can go to Romans 8:1 and remember that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1, NIV)

Ladies, when you start feeling insecure about your physical appearance, you’ve got to know the book so you can use the promise from Psalm 139 that says, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:14, NIV)

When you feel powerless over your circumstances, you’ve got to know the book so you can go to Ephesians 3:20 and you can remember that God “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” (Ephesians 3:20, NIV) God’s power that is beyond anything you can imagine is at work in you. You’ve got to know the book.

Students, when you’re tempted to go the wrong way with the wrong people doing the wrong things, you’ve got to know the book so that you can go to 1 Corinthians 10:13: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13, NIV)

You’ve got to know the book. There are not shortcuts. There are no quick fixes. There are no substitutes. You’ve got to know the book.

And let me say something to everyone who is a mom or a dad…it’s even more important that you know the book so you can help your kids know the book.

I remember one time a few years ago, I was teaching a group of high school students here at church. I was teaching from Romans. I asked the simple question, “Is Romans in the Old or New Testament?” Most of them had no idea. And these were kids that had been raised in the church their whole lives.

Moms and Dads, do you even know which testament it’s in? If you don’t know, you’re going to figure out this week that it’s in the New Testament because it’s in our reading plan this week.

But seriously…the level of biblical illiteracy in the church today is scary. It is absolutely frightening. You’ve got to know the book. It’s as simple as that.

That’s why New Thru 30 is so important. It is a crash course in the New Testament. As you read, you’re going to plow through some passages that you won’t understand. Maybe that has already happened to you this past week. There will be parts that don’t make sense to you. And then, when you make to the book of Revelation, you’re not going to understand anything!

But then, for every passage that you don’t understand, there will be some that will absolutely change your life. This is all about reading quickly to get your feet under you to help you get a sense of God’s Word. Then when this reading campaign ends, you can go back and go more slowly and in depth. Go back to the places where you struggled. Dig in deep, because by then, you’ll have developed your Scriptural muscles. You’ll be ready for more of the heavy lifting because you’ve been working out all month. There is no substitute for being in the Word. You’ve got to know the book.

In Romans 1, God gives us a glimpse of what happens when we don’t know the book. “Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” (Romans 1:28-32, NIV)

All of these things happened because of what Paul said in the beginning of the passage. Go back to Romans 1:28. They didn’t think it was worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God. They didn’t think it was important to know the book. And the end result was that their lives blew up like an a-bomb.

Things in your life will fall apart if you don’t know and apply the Word of God. Your dating relationship, your marriage, your family, your health, your finances are all in danger if you don’t know the book.

It’s time to know the book. It’s time to release the power of God’s Word in your life.

In 2 Timothy 2, The Apostle Paul wrote, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.” (2 Timothy 2:8-9, NIV)

Paul was in prison for preaching the Word of God, but even though he was in chains, he knew that the Word was not. The Word was not bound. The Word was not imprisoned. The Word was not in chains.

It’s time to free the Word of God in your life. It starts with being in the Word so you can know the Word. It ends by allowing the Word to change you from the inside out. Yeah, you’ve got to know the book. But just because you know the book doesn’t mean you’ve arrived.

James 1:22 says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” (James 1:22, NIV)

If you remember back to the encounter between Jesus and Satan, even Satan quoted Scripture. Satan knows the Bible. He knows it better than you do. If all you had to do was know the book, he’d be in good shape.

Knowing the Word isn’t enough. I’ve met plenty of Bible-quoting jerks in my life and in my ministry. I’ve met people who are a walking Bible encyclopedia and were still some of the nastiest, most divisive people I’ve ever come across.

You’ve got to be in the book to help you know the book so you can be changed by the book. That’s the true power of the Word of God. It’s the change agent that God uses to completely upend our lives. And it’s time to set that power free. Take the chains off the Word and let it become the power of God in your life. Let the power of the Word change you during this intense month of Bible reading.

Our goal is not to produce a bunch of religious jerks who know the Bible. We are praying for God to raise up people who know the book and allow themselves to be changed by the book.

You need to know that this is what God wants to do. He wants to change you. He wants to launch a work in you that is absolutely transformative.

You’ve got to come to God as you are. He’ll meet you right where you are. But He will never leave you where you are. He wants to open up a relationship with you where you will be completely transformed by His power and His love and His grace.

And for some of us, that journey could start today. If you’ve never submitted to Jesus as the Savior and Lord of your life, we invite you to come. Come and meet Him as you are. Come and begin a journey with Him that will take you to places that you could never go on your own.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: Bible, Matthew 4, New Thru 30, spiritual warfare, Word of God