Ripe for Harvest

344 • R IPE FOR H ARVEST

1 John 2.15-17 (ESV) – Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions – is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. C. Next, in the name of Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and through the militia Christi , God wars against the corrupt, evil nature of humankind by His indwelling Spirit. Rom. 8.5-8 (ESV) – For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

III. Finally, the Lord, as a Man of War, Consummates His Fight to Put Down All His Enemies Including the Last Enemy, Death, and Bring Shalom and Abundance to His Covenant People – The Picture and Drama of the Promised Land.

A. God fights with spiritual weapons against spiritual foes.

1 Sam. 17.45-47 (ESV) – Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.” B. Jesus Christ will consummate the battle with the devil and his minions and complete His mission to destroy the devil’s work in the universe.

Context Values/Vision

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