ognize the reality of a spiritual cold war. The Apostle Paul, you remember, is warning these Thessalonian believ ers by writing this, “But let us who are of the day be sober putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation.” You see God’s children are engaged in a continual battle against Satan and they are cautioned against him in Ephesians 4:27 “Neither give place to the devil” and we are urged by the Apostle James to submit ourselves therefore unto God, to “resist the devil and he will flee from you.” You see nothing short of the whole armour of God will ever give believers adequate protection against the enemy’s on slaughts. The battle, for example, against false teachers is waxing hot ter and hotter as days go by. It is not one perhaps of human blood letting but of a constant warning of spiritual opposition. In the face of the terrific apostasy, which Jude describes in his wonderful epistle of only 25 verses, the Christian people are exhorted-to earn estly contend or to do battle for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints. You remember that Paul called upon young Timothy in II Timothy 4, verse 7 to fight the good fight and to finish his course and to keep the faith as did the Apostle Paul. Now the great Apostle to the Gentiles knew something of the weakness of human flesh and the continual battle which needed to be waged in this di rection and so he wrote, , “I therefore so run not as uncer tainly, so fight I not as one that beateth the air 'but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” That is that I should meet a spiritual disapproval at the hand of the Lord Himself. Now cold war is going on all the time for the people of God but we need to be thankful this day, though it may
seem to be very, very difficult, that no one of His own dear children need go down in devastating defeat. “This is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith.” You see faith is a source of trouble to many, many people. I’ve had Chris tian people come to me complaining about their own spiritual faith. They feel that they do not have enough faith. They usually worry about its quantity. They look a t other people and seeing their spiritual accomplish- Our Response The Lord had a job for me but I had so much to do, I said, "You get somebody else, or wait 'til I get through." I don't know how the Lord made out, no doubt He got along, But I felt kind o'sneaky like, I knew I'd done Him wrong. One day I needed the Lord, needed Him right away But He never answered me at all and I could hear Him say (down in my accusing heart) Child of mine, I've got too much to do, you get somebody else or wait 'til I get through. Now when the Lord has a job for me, I never try to shirk, I drop what I have on hand, and do the Lord's good work. And my affairs can run along or wait 'til I get through, For nobody else can do the work that God's marked out for you! rnents wonder why they do not possess the same kind of triumphant faith. Then there are those who claim they have lost their faith. In a sense they’re much like the little boy who had been to Sunday school and the golden text of the Sunday school lesson for that day was, “Have faith in God” and the card bearing this little verse flew out of the. street car window and the boy cried out at the top of his voice, “I have lost my faith in God.” 4
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