Sunday February 18th Service_transcript.txt

[0.00 --> 2.72]  Well, good morning, everyone.
[4.46 --> 8.38]  As was already mentioned, we're going to be continuing into a new season of Lent.
[9.16 --> 14.58]  And this year for Lent, we're preaching through a series that's going to be called The Good
[14.58 --> 19.82]  Fight, which comes not from the Rocky movies, which were my mind goes first, but it comes
[19.82 --> 25.72]  from 1 Timothy 6, where Paul, a leader in the church, is basically training and discipling
[25.72 --> 27.14]  a younger leader named Timothy.
[27.14 --> 31.04]  And he says to Timothy, after naming all these temptations, all these things that will
[31.04 --> 35.66]  lure him away from the life of Jesus, he says to Timothy, Timothy, fight the good fight
[35.66 --> 36.62]  of faith.
[38.00 --> 39.00]  Stay the course.
[39.98 --> 40.98]  Resist temptation.
[41.74 --> 42.50]  Fight the good fight.
[43.96 --> 45.24]  There's a well-known quote.
[45.46 --> 46.98]  You've probably heard it before here at Hope.
[47.50 --> 49.74]  And it's by A.W. Tozer, and I'll paraphrase it.
[49.74 --> 56.24]  He says, oftentimes we think of the world as a playground, but in fact, it is a battleground.
[57.14 --> 60.20]  And our hope is that in this series, we take that reality seriously.
[61.08 --> 64.78]  And I want to point our attention, actually, to the banners for a moment, and a big thank
[64.78 --> 66.16]  you to our Hope Art Collective.
[66.52 --> 69.54]  If you're new to our church, you should know that these banners are made by people within
[69.54 --> 73.08]  our church, different artists, who take our sermon series and put them on art.
[73.62 --> 77.12]  And beside me on the left, you'll see that there's a banner that sort of depicts this
[77.12 --> 79.40]  good life, this playground, a pleasant walk.
[79.40 --> 85.18]  And that very same walk, what's unseen is the temptation and the lure and the trappings.
[85.80 --> 87.64]  And I do invite you to take a closer look.
[87.70 --> 92.08]  There's a lot of details and nuance that you may not see from the back that you will enjoy
[92.08 --> 94.22]  and appreciate, I hope, as we go through this series.
[96.22 --> 98.28]  Just a spoiler alert on this series.
[98.36 --> 100.38]  We're going to be traveling through some heavy passages.
[101.06 --> 105.14]  Like, this is unapologetically not a light and fluffy series.
[105.80 --> 107.92]  For the next two weeks, we're talking about Satan.
[108.64 --> 109.84]  Spoiler alert on that, too.
[109.98 --> 115.08]  And I hope it is a gift to us to wrestle together with some of the heavy stuff of the world we
[115.08 --> 116.42]  live in and the battles we face.
[117.54 --> 120.42]  We're going to read together words from Ephesians chapter 2.
[121.10 --> 125.16]  And if you've got, if you're part of our mailing list, we're inviting everyone in our church,
[125.68 --> 130.48]  young and old, new to the church, old in the church, to memorize Ephesians chapter 2.
[130.56 --> 132.08]  We want you to contemplate this passage.
[132.22 --> 134.10]  We want it to get into your bones, into your prayers.
[134.10 --> 137.64]  And the best way to really know a passage is to memorize it.
[138.22 --> 139.84]  And it's not as hard as you might think.
[140.06 --> 143.08]  So memorize it in your translation of choice, in your language of choice.
[143.16 --> 146.56]  And by the time we get to Easter, I hope we've got this one in our hearts and in our minds.
[147.06 --> 150.36]  I'm going to read the whole passage and preach just on the first three verses.
[151.32 --> 152.44]  This is Ephesians 2.
[152.44 --> 169.32]  As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air and the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
[169.32 --> 177.18]  All of us lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of the sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.
[177.90 --> 181.58]  Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
[181.58 --> 190.92]  But because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.
[191.42 --> 193.24]  It's by grace you have been saved.
[194.02 --> 201.24]  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus in order that in the coming ages,
[201.24 --> 208.32]  he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
[209.56 --> 212.44]  For it is by grace you have been saved through faith.
[212.82 --> 218.32]  And this is not from yourselves, it's a gift from God, not by works so that no one can boast.
[219.10 --> 226.38]  For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
[226.38 --> 230.82]  For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in Christ Jesus to do good works.
[230.82 --> 238.36]  If you're familiar with the world of psychology or psychiatry, you might be aware of the name Scott Peck.
[239.58 --> 248.14]  Scott Peck is a well-known psychiatrist who wrote quite extensively about human flourishing, like how do humans go about flourishing?
[248.94 --> 252.32]  And again, wrote extensively about all the dimensions that come with that.
[253.02 --> 255.24]  What's interesting about Scott Peck is his own story.
[255.24 --> 258.42]  He was born in the States at a very young age.
[258.50 --> 259.98]  He was diagnosed with severe depression.
[260.88 --> 265.26]  And at the age of 15, I mean, think about this, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for treatment.
[266.06 --> 270.62]  He went through treatment, had quite extensive recovery, and went off to school.
[271.16 --> 274.94]  He went off to Harvard, in fact, and studied, got a medical, he was a medical doctor,
[275.26 --> 277.56]  and then, interestingly enough, became a psychiatrist.
[277.98 --> 280.36]  It's interesting how your own story often shapes your vocation.
[280.44 --> 282.14]  That was certainly the case for Scott Peck.
[282.14 --> 286.08]  I'm intrigued by his journey of faith as well.
[286.82 --> 290.86]  Early on in his career, he was dabbling with Buddhism and reading a lot in that area.
[290.94 --> 293.94]  Then he actually shifted over to Islam, was interested by that.
[294.16 --> 303.88]  And eventually, he found his way to Jesus and committed himself to following Christ and being bold enough to write about Christianity and faith as it relates to psychiatry.
[303.88 --> 313.26]  And in case you don't know this, in Canada and North America, it's not particularly popular to talk about how your faith and spirituality impacts psychiatry.
[313.38 --> 317.60]  Psychiatry likes to focus on the brain, likes to focus on relationships, on your personal history.
[317.94 --> 319.98]  But please don't talk about faith and spirituality.
[319.98 --> 321.68]  That makes things all muddy and confusing.
[322.56 --> 331.96]  Scott Peck couldn't help but write about faith, spirituality, and how it shapes humans and leads either to our destruction or our flourishing.
[331.96 --> 342.22]  And he had the boldness to say, there is a powerful force within us, sin, that causes us to do destructive things to ourselves and to others.
[342.70 --> 350.60]  And perhaps even more bold, in Canada and North America, he said there is a powerful force outside of us, both evil and demonic power,
[351.10 --> 355.64]  that influences us to do things that are destructive to ourselves and others as well.
[355.64 --> 359.36]  And some in the psychiatric community is like, who is this guy?
[359.92 --> 368.36]  But why he was writing about this and so interested in it was so that he could help the patients and people who came to his office seeking help.
[368.96 --> 373.40]  He realized early in his career that medication by itself, though a gift, is not always enough.
[373.60 --> 377.06]  Just talking about your personal story, important it is, is not just enough.
[377.16 --> 383.60]  There's deeper, profoundly spiritual realities that shape us and affect us and can harm us if we don't name them.
[383.60 --> 389.64]  Scott Peck was talking about what is actually blatantly clear in Ephesians 2.
[390.84 --> 393.78]  Ephesians 2, as we're going to see this morning, is naming reality.
[394.12 --> 399.12]  And it's a reality, if you grew up in Canada, you might not be familiar with, you might not be comfortable talking about,
[399.20 --> 401.12]  and it's going to sort of confront us a little bit.
[401.90 --> 408.22]  And there are three particular powers that we're going to talk about this morning that are all very present in Ephesians 2.
[408.22 --> 411.80]  One is the power of the flesh, human sinful nature.
[412.46 --> 418.50]  The second is the power of our world, and by that he means culture organized around something other than Jesus.
[419.08 --> 422.88]  And thirdly, the one we really don't like to talk about, the power of Satan.
[423.68 --> 425.78]  So we're going to get into it today.
[426.58 --> 431.16]  Let me read for us again the light and fluffy words of Ephesians 2, 1 and 3.
[431.16 --> 441.72]  As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world, hear it,
[441.98 --> 446.88]  the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
[447.46 --> 452.76]  All of us lived among them at one time, following its thoughts, sorry, different page,
[453.24 --> 454.82]  following its desires and thoughts.
[454.82 --> 461.50]  It's a heavy passage, isn't it?
[463.24 --> 468.60]  So let's look at the first power that Paul names, the power of the flesh, the sinful nature,
[469.06 --> 472.04]  the sins and transgressions of our hearts.
[472.58 --> 476.20]  Now, we talked about this in Galatians when we preached through it, so I'm not going to belabor the point,
[476.56 --> 477.62]  but I'll just make it simply.
[478.56 --> 483.80]  There is something off about the way we live, and honest people know this.
[483.80 --> 488.06]  There is something off about the way we relate to each other, the way we speak to each other,
[488.16 --> 490.46]  the desires we have for our lives.
[490.82 --> 492.14]  There's something not right.
[492.88 --> 494.94]  And the Scriptures calls this the sinful nature.
[496.00 --> 500.52]  And if you have a toddler, you don't need to be taught this, because your toddler will teach it.
[501.02 --> 504.02]  Brittany and I raised four kids, and we can tell you that toddlers are most,
[504.28 --> 509.08]  they're the most beautiful little people in the world, and they will break your heart with cruelty and selfishness.
[509.12 --> 509.76]  Tell me I'm wrong.
[509.76 --> 516.54]  And if you want a good laugh this week, a sobering laugh, there is a mother who wrote a 10 list.
[516.68 --> 518.74]  It's called The Property Laws of Toddlers.
[518.96 --> 519.88]  Go home, Google it.
[520.00 --> 520.82]  It will not disappoint.
[521.48 --> 524.42]  But it basically opens up the cruelty and the selfishness of toddlers,
[524.66 --> 528.44]  and if we're honest, we'll realize that same cruelty and selfishness exists in all of us,
[528.52 --> 531.80]  but it just becomes more nuanced, more concealed as we get older.
[531.80 --> 537.98]  If you're a student, you know that you want to write a paper that is thorough,
[538.32 --> 541.92]  and you've done your work, and you will give a good account of the topic you're studying.
[542.14 --> 547.44]  But there you are the night before, really pulling lots of material from chat GTP,
[547.82 --> 549.90]  willing to plagiarize your way through this paper.
[550.60 --> 551.08]  Too soon?
[551.50 --> 551.84]  Too soon?
[551.92 --> 552.86]  Okay, I'll leave that one alone.
[552.86 --> 558.06]  If you're a friend, you know that you want to be honest and transparent with people that you know
[558.06 --> 562.44]  and love and want to be close to, and yet when things go sideways, you so quickly lie,
[563.16 --> 567.18]  twist the truth to save face and impress those you're trying to be close to.
[568.30 --> 573.42]  If you're a spouse, you want to be faithful to your marriage vows and love the person God brought into your life,
[573.46 --> 578.86]  but so quickly we yell, attack, and our internet history would suggest that we're not faithful
[578.86 --> 582.52]  in our hearts and minds to the person God gave us in marriage.
[583.86 --> 586.04]  With your money, you want to be generous, right?
[586.08 --> 591.58]  You want to give to the causes that matter, and yet somehow we continue to waste money frivolously
[591.58 --> 594.08]  on things that do not matter.
[595.00 --> 599.48]  There's something off about us, and Paul says that is the power of the flesh.
[599.76 --> 602.56]  That is the temptation that comes with sin and transgression,
[603.30 --> 605.72]  and we name that reality in our church this morning.
[606.94 --> 609.92]  But that's just the beginning of the bad news of Ephesians 2.
[609.92 --> 612.84]  In fact, I'm going to spend more time on the next two things Paul says.
[613.34 --> 614.56]  Listen to the passage again.
[614.64 --> 614.88]  He says,
[615.08 --> 619.06]  As for you, you were dead in your sins and transgressions in which you used to live when
[619.06 --> 623.22]  you followed the ways of the world.
[624.74 --> 627.02]  There's the second power, the power of the world.
[627.10 --> 628.36]  And I just want us to be clear again.
[628.42 --> 630.56]  That's not saying that the whole creation is evil.
[630.98 --> 634.72]  It's talking about the way culture is organized around something other than Jesus
[634.72 --> 637.60]  and some of the corruption that comes in that way.
[637.60 --> 643.02]  In fact, in some ways, the best way to translate world and understand it is just a normal way
[643.02 --> 644.48]  of society without Jesus.
[645.12 --> 649.12]  What you would consider an ordinary day in the life of school and work and community when
[649.12 --> 650.36]  Jesus is not at the center.
[651.12 --> 655.84]  And in Ephesus, the city that Paul's writing to, there's all sorts of normal things that
[655.84 --> 657.72]  were not normal for Jesus' followers.
[658.40 --> 660.58]  It was normal for men to treat women as property.
[661.40 --> 664.90]  It was normal for parents, if their child had a disability, to leave them out to die
[664.90 --> 667.70]  because they weren't quite good enough to keep alive in their homes.
[668.10 --> 671.30]  It was normal just to leave those who are in extreme poverty on their own.
[671.36 --> 673.10]  These things were all normal in Ephesus.
[674.36 --> 676.22]  But that's not God's design for his world.
[676.96 --> 677.98]  And the same is true of Canada.
[678.06 --> 678.58]  You grow up in Canada.
[678.66 --> 680.28]  There's all sorts of exploitation and corruption.
[680.44 --> 681.94]  I mean, there's so many good things about our city.
[682.28 --> 686.82]  But this normal that we live in, I'll tell you, is not God's design for the world.
[686.82 --> 689.20]  And there's things we need to wrestle with in our society.
[689.32 --> 693.14]  And I find when immigrants come into our city, believers from other countries, they've got
[693.14 --> 699.08]  a few thoughts for us about what might be normal to Canadians that is not normal in God's
[699.08 --> 699.50]  design.
[700.74 --> 704.78]  And it seems to me that conversion, when you follow Jesus and you start to want to follow
[704.78 --> 709.74]  his word, and you start to realize, oh man, the way I thought I should be spending my money
[709.74 --> 714.26]  and living out my sexual life and being a friend and using the time I have at work, the way
[714.26 --> 717.94]  I thought I was supposed to live is not God's design.
[718.40 --> 720.72]  And you start to step into the following of Jesus.
[720.84 --> 723.06]  You start to want to follow his ways.
[723.42 --> 728.80]  And that's when you realize, I bet you know what I'm going to say, how powerful the cultures
[728.80 --> 731.02]  around us are, right?
[731.22 --> 734.98]  You want to step up and follow Jesus at work, but you realize there's this really powerful
[734.98 --> 735.38]  current.
[735.50 --> 737.54]  This culture is like, ah, don't talk about Jesus.
[737.90 --> 738.92]  Don't be doing these things.
[738.98 --> 739.54]  Don't live this way.
[739.60 --> 740.82]  Just go with the flow.
[740.82 --> 745.30]  And whether you're in the classroom or the cubicle or the couch at home about to watch
[745.30 --> 749.36]  TV, the power of the culture around us is great.
[750.32 --> 753.46]  And the earlier you realize that, the better as a follower of Jesus.
[755.12 --> 756.76]  But that's only two of the powers.
[756.84 --> 757.98]  Now we get to the third power.
[758.08 --> 761.58]  This is the one that North Americans do not like to talk about.
[761.68 --> 762.52]  It makes us awkward.
[762.74 --> 764.60]  It's like taking the train to crazy town.
[765.62 --> 765.96]  Satan.
[766.86 --> 767.18]  Right?
[768.26 --> 769.46]  Let's talk about this.
[769.46 --> 773.32]  Ephesians 2, it says, as for you, you were dead in your sins and transgressions in which
[773.32 --> 774.06]  you used to live.
[774.26 --> 776.76]  When you followed the ways of the world, what does he say next?
[777.46 --> 780.94]  And the ruler of the kingdom of the air.
[782.48 --> 784.34]  That is Satan.
[785.42 --> 790.04]  What Paul is trying to say is that there is a spiritual being who is opposed to God, who
[790.04 --> 794.32]  has influence and control in this world, the power to influence our lives, our cultures.
[794.32 --> 801.02]  He rules over demonic forces that also operate and influence us, and it's destructive in this
[801.02 --> 801.40]  world.
[802.44 --> 804.72]  In Matthew, Satan is called the prince of demons.
[805.66 --> 809.04]  In Corinthians, he's called the god, lower G, of this world.
[809.76 --> 813.54]  Jesus himself in John 12 says that he is the ruler of this world.
[813.70 --> 816.90]  In John 8, he calls Satan the father of lies.
[816.90 --> 820.00]  And in 2 John, he is the great deceiver.
[820.00 --> 828.96]  And maybe it's just worth saying, just because it's strange to our modern ears does not make
[828.96 --> 829.70]  this untrue.
[830.74 --> 833.70]  In fact, I felt like I got rebuked by a few people between the services.
[833.84 --> 837.44]  After the 9 a.m. service, I had a woman from Uganda, I had someone from the Philippines,
[837.78 --> 841.94]  someone from Malaysia, and on speaking on behalf of a friend, all say to me, why do Christians
[841.94 --> 843.94]  in North America not talk about Satan?
[844.50 --> 846.26]  I was like, well, it's awkward.
[846.26 --> 848.10]  We don't know what to do with things we can't see.
[848.22 --> 850.12]  We live in a modern society.
[850.90 --> 854.18]  And they were delighted that we're going to be talking about Satan for the next two weeks.
[854.58 --> 859.24]  But I will say to those of us who grew up in Canada, and maybe if you're struggling with
[859.24 --> 862.50]  your faith, you want to make sense of what Christianity is all about, can you just bear
[862.50 --> 863.08]  with us?
[864.34 --> 868.22]  We enter into the wrestling with us, because there's some really important stuff here that
[868.22 --> 871.84]  we don't want to overlook, and it's in the scriptures, and we need to grapple with
[871.84 --> 872.04]  it.
[872.62 --> 875.88]  And maybe I'll just say a bit of my own experience.
[876.26 --> 877.84]  I'm grappling with some of this stuff.
[878.22 --> 883.16]  A number of years ago, when I was still a youth pastor, we went every once a month to
[883.16 --> 884.24]  Night Shift Street Ministries.
[884.36 --> 885.76]  Do you know where Night Shift is?
[886.08 --> 888.04]  Down by King George, an amazing ministry.
[888.70 --> 892.58]  We'd go there once a month, and we always overlapped with a group of Trinity Western students.
[892.78 --> 894.76]  Shout out to our TWU students who were here this morning.
[895.66 --> 900.10]  And there was one particular student named Brittany, who was there every week, loved the law.
[900.10 --> 904.04]  I mean, she was such a generous, thoughtful, kind, compassionate woman.
[904.04 --> 908.54]  And she would journal her encounters and her conversations and send those out to those
[908.54 --> 909.22]  of us who were serving.
[909.28 --> 913.30]  And I want to read for you one of her journal entries that just really got me thinking and
[913.30 --> 914.94]  wrestling, and I wanted you to hear what she wrote.
[915.60 --> 916.62]  This is what she says.
[916.62 --> 920.30]  After walking down the street, I approached a lady.
[921.06 --> 925.26]  She mentioned that she had done coke 10 minutes before I had got there, and we were witnessing
[925.26 --> 926.26]  the effects of it.
[927.10 --> 930.20]  She was throwing cookies we gave her in the air and trying to kick them.
[930.92 --> 932.56]  I could barely understand her.
[933.38 --> 937.52]  She explained that she had been in recovery for 12 months, but had just relapsed a couple
[937.52 --> 940.74]  weeks ago and spent $1,200 on drugs in two hours.
[940.74 --> 946.04]  She tried to convince herself that she was fine, but then her face shifted to a helpless
[946.04 --> 946.62]  cry.
[947.66 --> 949.58]  She wrapped her arms around me and wept.
[950.68 --> 953.86]  Through the tears, she said, it's bad.
[954.54 --> 958.00]  I feel like I'm in chains and the devil likes it.
[958.72 --> 959.96]  It's like his playground.
[960.58 --> 962.58]  It's the devil's playground out here.
[963.42 --> 964.52]  My friends are dying.
[965.34 --> 966.60]  I'm going to die.
[966.86 --> 970.48]  I feel like I'm being pulled so hard in two directions.
[971.40 --> 972.12]  It's scary.
[972.80 --> 977.20]  The devil has me, and I don't know how to get out.
[979.44 --> 982.26]  What would you say to her in that conversation?
[984.22 --> 988.66]  And maybe in your mind, you're doing what many Canadians would be tempted to do, writing
[988.66 --> 993.20]  these words off as sort of the scattered thoughts of a person who's high on drugs, and that would
[993.20 --> 994.70]  be an easy thing to do.
[994.70 --> 1004.06]  But maybe, as Brittany suggests, these are the piercing words of someone who knows and
[1004.06 --> 1008.46]  experiences the profound temptation of the evil one.
[1008.46 --> 1013.96]  That there is a devil who is opposed to the way of God and his interest in the world, whether
[1013.96 --> 1019.18]  you acknowledge it or not, is to push us as far away from the light of Jesus Christ as
[1019.18 --> 1019.60]  possible.
[1020.04 --> 1024.82]  To pull us into darkness and despair as deeply as possible.
[1024.82 --> 1027.06]  And to destroy our lives.
[1028.50 --> 1033.76]  And again, just because it's strange to talk about this does not make it untrue.
[1035.02 --> 1039.40]  Maybe it's worth quoting Kaiser Sose from the movie The Usual Suspects.
[1039.78 --> 1041.02]  Some of you know what I'm going to say.
[1042.16 --> 1047.22]  He says, the greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he didn't exist.
[1047.22 --> 1052.12]  And if you want to read more about this, there is a book by C.S. Lewis, a fairly famous book
[1052.12 --> 1053.12]  called The Screwtape Letters.
[1053.44 --> 1059.18]  And I commend it to you because he very creatively and punchy ways opens up how might Satan operate
[1059.18 --> 1060.76]  in a culture that doesn't believe he exists.
[1061.04 --> 1065.28]  How might Satan work in our lives through demonic activity and the rest to accomplish
[1065.28 --> 1069.48]  his purposes of obscuring the person of Jesus and pulling us away from the flourishing of
[1069.48 --> 1070.44]  life that is in Jesus.
[1070.78 --> 1072.00]  I commend it to you.
[1072.00 --> 1078.76]  Now to summarize, I want to put a really deep, slick slide on the PowerPoint.
[1079.58 --> 1080.34]  There it is.
[1080.62 --> 1083.02]  Whenever I make slides, they look really beautiful like arts and crafts.
[1083.90 --> 1085.78]  But this is Ephesians 2 in a diagram, right?
[1085.88 --> 1087.40]  There is the power of the flesh.
[1087.56 --> 1088.58]  There is the power of Satan.
[1088.68 --> 1089.80]  And there is the power of the world.
[1089.86 --> 1093.66]  And what you need to know about this diagram, why it's there, is that they come together.
[1093.78 --> 1095.74]  They converge in destructive ways.
[1095.96 --> 1099.24]  In fact, there's a lot of writing on how they interrelate.
[1099.24 --> 1101.72]  Some suggest that Satan influences people.
[1101.98 --> 1103.42]  When people come together, there's a culture.
[1103.60 --> 1109.02]  And then there's this cyclone, this compounding of problematic deception that happens in cultures
[1109.02 --> 1110.68]  as Satan is at work in our lives.
[1111.30 --> 1114.96]  However we relate these things, we need to know that they are related.
[1115.64 --> 1117.58]  The flesh by itself is hard to fight.
[1117.92 --> 1119.68]  The world by itself is hard to fight.
[1119.88 --> 1121.40]  Satan by himself is hard to fight.
[1121.54 --> 1126.64]  And they conspire against us as an unholy trinity to destroy our lives.
[1126.64 --> 1133.34]  And maybe it's worth just adding, like even in the last two years, in secular Canada,
[1133.74 --> 1137.90]  I've had conversations with people about politics and sexuality and all the other stuff you're
[1137.90 --> 1139.40]  not supposed to talk about in public discourse.
[1139.68 --> 1142.90]  And I've heard people say to me things like this.
[1142.94 --> 1143.36]  You ready for it?
[1143.36 --> 1144.24]  Maybe you've even said this.
[1144.34 --> 1147.24]  Things like, I don't even know what to believe anymore.
[1148.08 --> 1149.96]  I'm not even sure what's true anymore.
[1150.02 --> 1155.04]  As I take in this podcast or that social media feed or this news on TV, I'm hearing so many
[1155.04 --> 1157.02]  different voices about so many different topics.
[1157.18 --> 1159.20]  I'm not even sure what to believe anymore.
[1159.36 --> 1164.16]  And isn't it interesting that Satan is described as the father of lies?
[1165.04 --> 1166.16]  We'll come back to this in two weeks.
[1166.24 --> 1168.22]  That his currency is deception.
[1170.42 --> 1171.84]  These powers are real.
[1172.66 --> 1174.22]  They are to be reckoned with.
[1175.00 --> 1179.88]  And the more we take them seriously, the better the battle gets for those who follow Jesus.
[1179.88 --> 1185.06]  Now, I want to share with you what hit me very deeply as I wrote this sermon.
[1186.72 --> 1191.08]  When you read Ephesians and you start to study the book and the culture of Ephesus, what you
[1191.08 --> 1196.12]  realize is the church at this time in Ephesus, they believed in the spiritual world.
[1196.20 --> 1197.92]  They believed that there is the powerful flesh.
[1198.02 --> 1202.40]  They believed that there is forces beyond what the eyes could see that influenced humans.
[1202.90 --> 1204.82]  In fact, it wasn't just Christians who believed that.
[1205.30 --> 1206.04]  It was the city.
[1206.04 --> 1209.46]  You know, people wore bracelets and they wore necklaces and little charms.
[1209.82 --> 1213.66]  There's all sorts of stories in Ephesus of how they tried to ward off evil spirits.
[1214.06 --> 1219.14]  And maybe you'll read that and think, man, what a like a early naive culture.
[1219.84 --> 1221.24]  But let me just flip the script.
[1222.28 --> 1228.08]  What if they, along with the global church, as I already mentioned, say to the Canadians and
[1228.08 --> 1231.10]  North Americans, maybe you're naive.
[1231.10 --> 1238.00]  Maybe you're the ones who have this naivety to think that only what we can see is actually
[1238.00 --> 1243.80]  real and that there aren't very powerful forces within and around us that influence us in profoundly
[1243.80 --> 1244.74]  destructive ways.
[1245.22 --> 1248.92]  And to blind ourselves to it is to fall into Satan's trap.
[1250.00 --> 1252.20]  Maybe we're the ones who are naive.
[1252.20 --> 1257.38]  And just a little aside, I didn't intend to say this, but I'm going to.
[1258.32 --> 1262.50]  If you're new to the faith, and I praise the Lord that every week we have people who are
[1262.50 --> 1264.98]  just sorting out what they believe, what Christianity is all about.
[1265.04 --> 1266.90]  And this is like, this is crazy stuff.
[1267.02 --> 1270.60]  Like Dave Gruen is on the stage talking about demonic power and Satan.
[1271.54 --> 1274.88]  Bear with us, but also reflect on this.
[1274.88 --> 1282.08]  Every single human being has to account for the brutal oppression and brokenness of this
[1282.08 --> 1282.38]  world.
[1283.32 --> 1287.04]  Every single person has to explain, how did we get here?
[1287.70 --> 1293.80]  How is there war and division and hatred and genocide and so much worse all over the
[1293.80 --> 1294.90]  world at different generations?
[1295.04 --> 1296.68]  Like, how did we get here?
[1297.62 --> 1302.22]  And the older I get, and I listen to Canadian discourse, you know, I admit it in the 9 a.m.
[1302.22 --> 1305.40]  service that I listen to talk radio, which is like admitting that you're an old man.
[1306.34 --> 1309.64]  But I'm noticing as I listen to talk radio, don't you judge me, you'll get there if you're
[1309.64 --> 1309.92]  younger.
[1311.04 --> 1315.70]  So often when something terrible happens, whether it's a shooting or violence or stuff on the
[1315.70 --> 1319.90]  streets in Vancouver, what you hear right away is some public figure, some politician
[1319.90 --> 1321.10]  saying, you know what we're going to do?
[1321.50 --> 1323.48]  We're going to set up an education program.
[1324.00 --> 1326.78]  And we're going to educate people into a better life.
[1326.78 --> 1332.10]  And as much as I'm for education and I want people to learn, I don't think that gets at
[1332.10 --> 1333.98]  the depth of the problem of our world.
[1334.68 --> 1340.40]  I don't think Hitler needed one more class on how to love your enemies to start what he
[1340.40 --> 1340.70]  started.
[1341.56 --> 1346.18]  I don't think the scientists needed one more class on how to build a bomb for the world
[1346.18 --> 1348.00]  to experience shalom, right?
[1348.70 --> 1350.86]  There's something deeper and more profound.
[1350.86 --> 1357.56]  And Paul has the guts to say, do you know that these powers are real, that you must face
[1357.56 --> 1361.04]  them if you want to battle in this world and follow the way of Christ?
[1361.92 --> 1365.46]  And so for that reason, I think Ephesians 2 confronts us.
[1366.68 --> 1374.22]  And my prayer for myself and for our church is that we have the ears to hear and not stand
[1374.22 --> 1377.66]  there with a sort of a resistance to what might be said.
[1377.66 --> 1382.92]  It's either there are powers and principalities that are powerful and destructive or there aren't.
[1382.92 --> 1388.28]  It's either Ephesians 2 is giving us an accurate depiction of reality or it isn't.
[1388.78 --> 1390.04]  And we have to choose.
[1390.52 --> 1395.40]  And I think Ephesians 2 confronts us, maybe makes us uncomfortable, and that's okay.
[1396.28 --> 1398.20]  There's things that we need to wrestle with.
[1401.02 --> 1404.72]  But I want to suggest that Ephesians 2 confronts us at an even deeper level.
[1404.72 --> 1410.36]  Because once you acknowledge that these powers are real, what Paul says about their influence
[1410.36 --> 1412.42]  in our life is very heavy.
[1412.64 --> 1417.36]  And I'm just going to read the most uncomfortable part of this passage again, because we're not
[1417.36 --> 1418.00]  going to skip over it.
[1418.00 --> 1420.44]  I'm tempted to skip over it, but we're not going to do that.
[1420.52 --> 1424.70]  Tim Keller, before I read it, Tim Keller has famously said, the gospel is often bad news
[1424.70 --> 1426.10]  before it's good news.
[1426.62 --> 1427.48]  Now I'll read the passage.
[1429.82 --> 1432.36]  All of us lived among them at one time.
[1432.36 --> 1433.82]  That's Jews and Gentiles alike.
[1433.90 --> 1436.16]  Even the Jews who thought they were okay are not okay.
[1437.16 --> 1444.14]  Gratifying the cravings of our flesh, following its desires and thoughts, like the rest, we
[1444.14 --> 1446.80]  were by nature deserving of wrath.
[1449.98 --> 1450.64]  Told you.
[1451.50 --> 1452.44]  It's a heavy passage.
[1453.52 --> 1458.76]  And what Paul is saying, it's not just that you are attacked by an outside force, although
[1458.76 --> 1459.18]  that's true.
[1459.22 --> 1462.26]  It's not just that there's a culture that's pulling you a certain direction, that you are
[1462.26 --> 1467.22]  complicit in the pull, that you are choosing the way of disobedience.
[1467.30 --> 1468.44]  You're choosing this destruction.
[1468.78 --> 1470.44]  You're willfully inviting it into your life.
[1470.52 --> 1475.82]  And as a result, unworthy of grace and deserving of judgment.
[1478.04 --> 1479.72]  And this is not just Dave's thoughts.
[1479.86 --> 1480.76]  This is the scriptures.
[1481.78 --> 1484.92]  Like I said, the gospel is often bad news before it's good news.
[1485.08 --> 1486.84]  But can I preach some good news now, church?
[1487.76 --> 1488.62]  You're ready for it.
[1488.66 --> 1489.28]  Yeah, me too.
[1489.98 --> 1493.14]  What's hard is I'm not going to preach on the second half of Ephesians until Easter,
[1493.24 --> 1494.80]  but I can't wait to preach on Easter.
[1494.94 --> 1495.58]  Okay, that's coming.
[1495.74 --> 1496.84]  So bear with me on that.
[1497.44 --> 1498.40]  But here's the good news.
[1498.68 --> 1504.46]  It's because we are weak and vulnerable and susceptible to temptation that Jesus comes.
[1505.34 --> 1508.00]  And Jesus did not come just to educate us, although he does.
[1508.16 --> 1509.54]  He came to save us.
[1509.54 --> 1516.32]  He came to rescue us from ourselves and all the powers that enslave us and destroy our lives and relationships.
[1516.70 --> 1517.56]  Praise the Lord.
[1518.80 --> 1519.98]  And Jesus, think about this.
[1520.22 --> 1523.76]  He was born to battle for us.
[1525.22 --> 1526.28]  And let this sink in.
[1526.64 --> 1528.88]  He volunteered for the task.
[1529.76 --> 1530.74]  Before he was sent.
[1530.80 --> 1532.52]  Remember, Jesus existed before his birth.
[1532.62 --> 1533.82]  Sometimes we don't realize this.
[1533.82 --> 1538.94]  In perfect unity with the Father and the Spirit, Jesus says, this is how it's going to be.
[1539.66 --> 1544.78]  The Father, Son, and Spirit in perfect unity and concert said, Jesus will be the one who takes on flesh.
[1545.16 --> 1546.58]  Jesus is the one who's going to battle.
[1546.72 --> 1548.34]  And he will defeat the power of Satan.
[1548.64 --> 1550.92]  He will defeat the power of evil in the world.
[1551.04 --> 1554.80]  And he will defeat the power of sin for us.
[1555.56 --> 1556.36]  Praise the Lord.
[1556.36 --> 1560.18]  I'm going to read one of my absolute favorite quotes.
[1560.78 --> 1564.60]  It comes from a fellow named Abraham Kuyper, a Dutch guy.
[1565.82 --> 1567.46]  And this is the English translation.
[1567.62 --> 1568.38]  It's originally in Dutch.
[1568.56 --> 1570.02]  And this is how it translates to English.
[1571.48 --> 1584.00]  There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, mine.
[1585.28 --> 1586.32]  Do you hear what he's saying?
[1586.36 --> 1596.62]  He's saying, Christ, who is Lord of all, has been sent into the world to the cross to defeat all the powers that seek to take what is good from Jesus.
[1597.36 --> 1605.52]  And so Christ, when he comes to defeat the cross, he will not let Satan have one inch of his good creation, one inch of his world.
[1605.58 --> 1608.96]  He will not let the flesh take us away from the goodness that is in him.
[1608.96 --> 1615.28]  And he will not let the world corrupt the beautiful world and the beautiful image bearers he has created.
[1615.28 --> 1623.34]  And through the cross, Jesus, on behalf of the triune Father, Son, and Spirit, says, this world is ours.
[1623.98 --> 1627.60]  And we are reclaiming it by the cross.
[1627.60 --> 1636.24]  And what that means for us, as we go into these next few weeks over Lent, because we're going to talk about battling still.
[1636.78 --> 1639.08]  The work of Jesus is finished.
[1639.76 --> 1643.14]  But you know, as well as I do, that the sinful temptations are real.
[1643.68 --> 1645.62]  You know that the work of Satan is still real.
[1645.68 --> 1647.26]  And the power of our culture is still real.
[1647.44 --> 1648.48]  But here's the good news.
[1648.48 --> 1651.96]  The enemies that we face are defeated enemies.
[1653.46 --> 1654.18]  Do you believe that?
[1655.20 --> 1658.40]  That the work of Jesus is finished.
[1659.72 --> 1665.44]  And there will come a day when Jesus returns in glory and power, and there will be none of this and only this.
[1665.86 --> 1673.92]  The world will be made right again, and you will savor and taste and enjoy all of its privileges and all the beauty forever in a resurrected body.
[1674.00 --> 1674.64]  That's our hope.
[1674.64 --> 1683.88]  But secondly, in the interim, while you and I battle against temptation, we battle against the ways of this world, we do so in the very strength of Jesus.
[1684.94 --> 1686.56]  We don't do it in our own strength.
[1686.68 --> 1687.34]  Thank the Lord.
[1687.54 --> 1689.00]  We are weak, susceptible.
[1689.42 --> 1690.46]  But what do we have?
[1691.60 --> 1694.70]  The power of Jesus by His Spirit.
[1695.68 --> 1698.16]  And that means we can resist temptation.
[1699.30 --> 1702.74]  That means we can say no to the ways of this world.
[1702.74 --> 1707.18]  And that means that as Satan tempts us, we have the power to resist.
[1708.26 --> 1709.74]  Praise the Lord, church.
[1710.66 --> 1712.22]  And I finish where we began.
[1712.78 --> 1720.86]  With the words of Paul in 1 Timothy 6, church of Jesus Christ, fight the good fight of faith.
[1721.50 --> 1724.44]  The enemies we battle are defeated enemies.
[1725.54 --> 1726.66]  Let me lead us in prayer.
[1726.66 --> 1726.72]  Amen.
[1726.72 --> 1726.76]  Amen.
[1732.74 --> 1736.94]  Father, would you give us the ears to hear this passage?
[1738.22 --> 1740.04]  The humility to listen.
[1741.68 --> 1747.06]  Forgive us for being so ignorant of the realities we face.
[1748.64 --> 1750.24]  Willful in our disobedience.
[1751.26 --> 1753.92]  Forgive us for going along with the way of this world.
[1754.48 --> 1756.50]  For denying that Satan has power.
[1756.50 --> 1761.50]  Give us ears to hear these hard words from Ephesians 2.
[1762.48 --> 1764.06]  We thank you that we have a Savior.
[1764.78 --> 1766.38]  We thank you that the work is finished.
[1766.48 --> 1770.32]  And we thank you that the advocate, your Spirit, dwells among us.
[1772.18 --> 1777.02]  Father, would you give us all the power we need to face the battles we face.
[1777.02 --> 1779.70]  The temptations of our flesh.
[1780.68 --> 1783.78]  The normal state of the world we live in.
[1784.74 --> 1787.28]  And the tempting work of Satan and demonic power.
[1788.52 --> 1790.98]  We ask that you give us everything we stand in this week.
[1791.98 --> 1794.62]  In our work, with our friends, in our school.
[1795.50 --> 1797.46]  That we would be faithful to you.
[1797.92 --> 1800.06]  And find our strength in you.
[1801.10 --> 1803.64]  We pray this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ.
[1804.24 --> 1804.64]  Amen.
[1804.64 --> 1804.78]  Amen.
[1804.78 --> 1804.96]  Amen.
[1806.84 --> 1807.32]  Amen.
[1807.32 --> 1810.68]  Earlier this week, Carrie suggested a song of response called Your Great Name.
[1810.84 --> 1814.92]  And I honestly could not find a better song to sing after we heard Ephesians 2.
[1815.00 --> 1816.98]  So let's sing together Your Great Name.