Matthew-047

 

How do we live victoriously?

Today is Easter Day, the resurrection day. How wonderful Easter is! What has the resurrection done for us? The Lord Jesus rose from the dead and now we can live a new life. We can become free men, free from the power of sin, Satan and the world. Only when we are set free can we talk about being more than conquerors. The Lord Jesus said whoever commits sin is the slave of sin; he is not free. So he died and rose again to set us free by God’s power. Are you free? Do you know what the new life is about?

Let us grasp clearly that our camp theme has to do with being conquerors. I hope we can go out of this camp and put into practice what we learn so I am going to be very practical in this message. We are going to ask the question: How do we live victoriously? We either live victoriously, or what’s the alternative to not being victorious? For many of you, victory or defeat are simply labels; they don’t mean very much.

 

I witnessed wars as a child

Although I am quite a young man, as you can see, I am just old enough to remember even WWII! Of course, I have to remind you that I was a very young boy. But precisely because I was a very young boy, a screaming sound was very strange. Every few moments a screaming sound would go all over the city. In the end, I discovered that it had to do with the firing of artillery shells. An artillery shell makes a very strange, screaming noise, which was going through my ears all day long as a small boy. That was how I grew up. The Japan­ese had put their heavy gun boat in the Huang Po River in Shanghai, and they were firing at the city, salvo after salvo. (A salvo means all the naval guns firing at the same time.) It was very terrifying if you were living there at that time. And what do you hear after the artillery shells? There was another strange sound to my childhood ears – the sound of heavy machine guns. Then what do you hear after the heavy machine guns? You hear rifle fire, that means the attacking army was coming closer and closer. So when I talk about war, I talk as an eye-witness.

During the WWII, I saw the Japanese army in action. I remember I was a little boy, and my amah was holding my hand to walk to school over the Huang Po River Bridge in Shanghai, and there I saw a Japanese soldier! What a strange sight! I had never seen a soldier in full battle gear. The Japanese helmet was quite funny -- like a cooking pot upside-down! The soldier looked very fierce; he had bullets and many different things strapped all over him, and stood in attention with a bayonet on his rifle. It was such a long bayonet that it seemed to me to be long enough to go through three people at the same time! Nowadays, they only use short bayonets, but in those days, they used very long ones. I grew up with all these impressions in my mind.

I discovered some more strange and interesting things after the war that I did not know about during the war. One of the things was that a friend, who was a chemistry professor, and a regular visitor in our home during the war, was in fact a special Chinese agent stationed in Shanghai to observe all Japanese movements, and to pass on information to Chinese headquarters. If he had been caught, all of us would have been finished. My mother told me afterwards that on one occasion, some member of my family was out with him on a tram in Shanghai. Suddenly, the Japanese soldiers stopped the tram, dragged everyone out and searched each one. Our professor of chemistry was also on that tram together with this relative. Being an agent for China, the chemistry professor was carrying a gun, firmly strapped to his ankle. Can you imagine how our relative and the chemistry professor felt? You can imagine what kinds of thoughts were going through their minds. The amazing thing was that the Japanese soldier searched all the way down along the legs and stopped just a fraction above his gun. Maybe his back was a bit sore, so that he could not bend further down! Had he gone just a little further down, he would have felt the gun that was strapped to our friend’s ankle, and that would have been the end of him, of me and my mother. My father was not in Shanghai because he was fighting against the Japanese in the resistance. That means all through the war, I did not know how to explain where my father was whenever I was questioned by the Japanese.

One day, a group of Japanese officers came into our home and my mother nearly fainted from fright because she thought that the identity of my father—that he was fighting the Japanese on the Nationalists’ side—had been discovered. I was not home at the time. I was at school. There is no exaggeration of what Japanese officers are like in the movies. They seemed to have a special delight in slapping women. I’m not quite sure where this kind of psychology comes from. The good thing was that they did not slap my mother. They sat in the living room, and when my mother came in, she asked them, “What are you here for? What is the problem?” But nobody answered. That was another Japanese mentality that we had not figured out. My mother had to ask many times, “Can you tell me why you are here?” So, Mother decided that if they were not going to talk, she was not going to talk either. She sat down and they were all sort of doing the staring game.

One of them stood up and pointed at the radio, and my mother said, “What about the radio?” Finally, he said, “Short wave not allowed. That is a criminal offense.” Again, from the movie you see they threw people in prison for all kinds of reasons. Maybe the jail was too full, so they decided to leave my mother out this time. He told my mother to pull down the antenna because the wire went all the way to the roof. My mother said, “I don’t know how to pull it down. It’s too high for me. You pull it down.” So he looked at her very angrily, and finally decided that he might as well pull it down. He went up and pulled the antenna down, and after that, they all marched out looking very fierce as usual. I was brought up in this kind of environment.

Another time, two Japanese soldiers stood me between them and offered me sweets. Suddenly, the Japanese became such nice people! They asked, “Where is your father? What is your father’s name?” I dared not even mention his name because they knew his name. They said, “Look at the sweets. Where did your father go? Did he go on a long journey?” They all smiled. All through this, I had to tell them I did not know anything. I didn’t know where he went, and I didn’t even know his name. I could see my amah at the window. She was a very faithful person and loved me so much. She was so tense, waving her hands, so I realized there must be something wrong with the sweet. Anyway, they did not discover anything from me.

Looking back, although all this was quite funny, each one of these incidents I mentioned to you could have meant the death of my mother and myself, and I would not be preaching to you today. I have had many close encounters with death.

 

I witnessed armies in battle – victorious and defeated

Then, after the Japanese were defeated, I saw the difference between a victorious army and a defeated army. Have you seen what a victorious army looks like? It’s wonderful! The Chinese army finally came in, and the allied armies came into Shanghai. Their faces were glowing with joy! They were conquerors! They marched with their heads held high, and it was a joy to behold! Have you seen what a defeated army looks like? I think very few of you have seen it. What did the Japanese defeated army look like? Pitiful! Those proud, arrogant soldiers were now walking with their heads down. This time, it was the Chinese soldiers who had their bayonets fixed to their guns, and they were marching the prisoners out. It was a strange sight. When we talk about war and about victory, you can see that I look at the subject perhaps differently from the way you look at it. I have seen armies in battle, not just on marching fields.

What did I see in 1949 when I was just a bit older? I saw another war. Once more, I witnessed what a victorious army looks like and what a defeated army looks like. I stood on my roof all night, watch­ing the fighting going on in the battle of Shanghai. Again, there was the screaming of artillery shells coming in, and then the heavy machine guns, and finally, the sub-machine guns and rifles. Seeing an army marching in a parade, looking very good is one thing, but it is a very different thing to see an army in fighting order. This time, I saw a very sad picture: the defeat of the Nationalist army. They fought hard but there was no way they could win. I did not sleep that whole night before Shanghai fell. I saw the Nationalist soldiers moving out as their front line had been defeated. Their uniforms were in a mess; their rifles were hanging upside down, but not for long, because walking a few blocks further on, they threw away their rifles. Fleeing a few more blocks, they even threw away their uniforms, walking in their underwear, for fear of being caught by the Communists. Have you seen a defeated army, not to mention those who lay dead on the street?

By morning, the Communist army was coming in. Those who had not died were very tired and covered with mud, as they had been fighting all night. They were so tired that they could hardly stand on their feet, but they were victorious, and they were moving forward! Then a few hours later, the fresh troops came in all clean. You could see that their faces were fresh. They were taking over the next stage of the fighting. What a difference it is between a victorious and a defeated army!

 

The Church is God’s army for salvation, and every Christian is called into it

Today, our subject is, the church is an army, and if you are a Christian, you are in that army. If you are not in that army, you are not a Christian. This is the first point I want to drive into your minds.

Too many Christians today, have been used to a teaching, that being a Christian is just a matter of believing, so that you can get to heaven. If you are given this kind of teaching, you have not been reading the Bible. Some of you are going to be baptized today, and I want you to understand that becoming a Christian and getting baptized is not so that you can reserve a seat in the heavenly cinema, so that you can have a nice show when you get to heaven. Even better, you might be in the orchestra in that heavenly show, playing your guitar, or harp, or whatever musical instrument it is. That was the kind of notion I was given when I became a Christian, that I could get a ticket which reserved a seat for me up there. Through this camp, you should understand a very important thing: Every Christian is called into God’s army, and this is an army of liberation, an army for salvation. You are saved in order to save others, not just to get yourself saved. That is a fierce battle that we are going to fight.

There are some Christians who don’t even know what the battle is. If I ask you today, tell me what you understand about the battle, I think if I am not mistaken, most of you will tell me, “It is the inner spiritual battle that we have to fight.” Is that your answer? I think I will not be mistaken that most of you will tell me: “Spiritual life is a great battle I fight and struggle in myself every day.” This is not the battle that we are talking about in the Bible. Maybe that is the story of your life, but this is not the story in the Bible. The battle we are talking about in the camp, the battle we are talking about from Scripture, is not internal struggles; it is the battle fighting for the salvation of others. But you are going to say to me, “Is it not true that we have troubles within ourselves?” It is true, but that should be before you join the army. These internal struggles should be settled by the time you get to your baptism.

Please tell me what kind of soldier is that “Christian” going to be if he or she fights on the battle field with gun in hand saying, “I don’t know whether or not I should shoot. I’m not sure whether I’m on the right side. Should I go over to the other side and face my gun?” Or, “I’m feeling miserable. I really don’t feel like fighting at all. Perhaps, I’ll just lay down in the trench until I can sort out my problems.” I have met so many Christians who spend all their Christian life trying to figure out whether or not they are going to fight. They are feeling all the time: “I’m so depressed. How can I fight?”

What kind of an army is it when the enemies’ shells are coming, and a whole queue of soldiers is waiting to see their commanding officer? One soldier goes to the officer and says, “I feel very bad today.” Another soldier is looking more miserable than the next one down the queue. The officer looks down and half his army is standing there waiting for counseling! Can you imagine an army like this fighting a battle? What is even more amazing is that by the time the officer finished counseling this soldier, this one goes to the end of the queue for the second round of counseling! So what happens when the officer is worn out at the end of the day? This one has come back for the second round of counseling! The commanding officer cannot get on with directing the war. He has to sort out his soldiers first. All this may sound funny but I’m not exaggerating. That is the situation that we have in most churches today.

 

Are you a soldier in God’s army?

After I preached in a camp in Canada, do you know that about half the camp went to see the counselor? All the camp counselors had a queue outside the door! Do you know the question they were asking? “How do I know whether or not I am a Christian? I’m not sure.” It is like a soldier coming to an officer and saying, “I don’t know whether I am a soldier. Can you tell me whether I am a soldier?” How are we going to fight a spiritual war, when these people don’t even know whether they are soldiers or not?! Are you quite sure you are a soldier? If I ask you to raise your hand at this moment and say, “Yes, I am a soldier of Christ,” I wonder how many of you will raise your hand without hesitation and say, “Yes, I am a soldier of Christ”?

Of course, after three days in the camp, maybe all of you will raise your hands, and the church will say, “Good, you are all soldiers, now we are going to march out to battle.” Then, you will say, “Wait a minute. I’m not talking about battle. I am talking about being a soldier.” I find it so funny that the British army used to put out an advertisement: “Join the army! You can travel to Germany, and you can go to the Bahamas!” There are so many benefits in joining the army! And it will give you good training for a future career. The funny thing was that nowhere is it mentioned that they have to go to war. When I looked at this advertisement, I was wondering what kind of soldiers they were looking for with free travel and free benefits. It seems to me that they should have advertised a tourist organization, not an army.

But I have the feeling that is what has happened to the church: We are tourists! Why are we tourists? Because the church advertises in the same way as the British army did. We tell people: “Come and become a Christian! There are so many benefits! One of the best benefits is that you can sit in the heavenly show and watch the orchestra! There is nothing on earth comparable with this kind of show. Have you ever been to a performance or a theatre where the performers are angels? So book your ticket early, or else you will sit too far back and you can’t see. And as far as I know, you can’t bring your binoculars to heaven. There are some benefits on earth too. Maybe you will have a nice pastor, and if you have too many problems, you can queue outside the commander’s door for counseling.” Is this the kind of church that the Bible is talking about?

The Lord Jesus looks at his Father’s church today, and I think he weeps. The summer camp theme of our churches in Canada is: “Will Jesus find faith when he comes again?” This is a rhetorical question, which means the answer is no. He is not going to find the kind of faith he is looking for. He cannot find faithfulness in God’s church today, because everyone is looking out for their own interests. They want to ask, “What are the benefits I get?” They are not even interested in freedom from sin. Who wants to talk about freedom from sin? They are thinking, “The question I want to ask is, what kind of real benefits can I get when I become a Christian, such as, will it help me pass my exams better than a non-Christian? Will my business prosper more because of God’s blessing? Will my small business become a big business when I become a Christian? Will I be able to get a better wife?” Now we are talking about the real thing! Now we are not messing around with irrelevant things. Having a good wife is what life is about, right? Look at those nice people in the church. Where can you find such lovely, kind and patient girls? Only in the church! Now you have the real motivation to become a Christian! Good husbands! Good wives! Christian life is so practical! Who talks about the army? You are not supposed to talk about getting married in the army. If this is the way we think, how can we be soldiers of Christ?

When you are a Christian, you pray, “God, I must get through this entrance exam. Please help me pass!” Somehow, God is so interested that you can get a diploma! So you have to convince him and say, “God, I’ll become a much better soldier when I get the diploma.” What kind of Christianity are we talking about? I have made myself unpopular in the churches today, as you very well know, because I am sick of the preaching of the gospel which turns the army of God into a band of tourists, a bunch of self-seeking people! No wonder the non-Christians look at the Christians and say, “What is the difference between you and me? You are just as selfish as me. The only difference is that you want to claim God on your side.”

 

Baptism is an initiation into the army of God that is prepared to die

I want to say to those of you who are going to get baptized today: Please understand that your baptism is an initiation into the army of God, and no one joins the army unless he is prepared to die. Every soldier who is going to be in active duty understands that he may die. The fiercer the battle, the greater the chance he will die. Don’t rush into baptism!

As you know, it is hard to get baptized in this church, because we want you to fully understand what you are getting yourself into. I will say the same thing as I said last year in the camp: If you are not prepared to suffer and die, don’t even think about baptism. Other­wise, you are going to be standing at my door asking for counseling with the rest of the queue. You will be saying to me, “I didn’t know I have to suffer when I become a Christian!” I am sure you wouldn’t be surprised if I tell you a soldier has to suffer. Why are you sur­prised when I say you have to suffer in being a Christian? Always remember what the apostle Paul said to the Christians in Philippians 1:29, “for it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.” And he instructed the church elders of Ephesus to remind the church that only “through much tribulation (suffering) will we be able to enter the kingdom.” (Ac. 14:22)

Why does the church refuse to preach that today? Why doesn’t the church say that we are soldiers? Why aren’t we reminded of Ephesians 6? Why are we asked to put on the whole armor of God—helmet, breastplate, belt, sword, shield, shoes—if we are not going to war? Are we just going to march around on the parade ground?

 

Are you a victorious soldier or are you a defeated one?

Keep it clear in your mind that at this camp, we have talked about the battle, the army and the king, victory and conquerors, and we have seen all the Scriptural teaching on that.

1. There is no victory without a battle

Bear in mind that if you have not been in a battle, you cannot win a victory. Before there can be victory, it is logically easy to understand that there has to be a battle. How many of you know what victory is? Do you experience victory? Most Christians don’t know what victory is because they haven’t even got into the war. And I stress again, it has nothing to do with internal struggles. Internal struggles must be settled by the time you get to baptism.

One of the things we have in our churches is that the co-workers have to spend so much effort counseling people who come to us from other churches, because those dear brothers and sisters from other churches are forever struggling with internal problems. They were never told that the question of commitment should have been set­tled at baptism. So what is the result? I see these dear brothers and sisters living in defeat all the time. They are the picture of a defeated army. They are so miserable. How is your experience? We want a church that lives victoriously! When non-Christians look at them, they will say, “Oh! That is really what a Christian is about!” Do you think that you are going to be able to win anyone for Christ when you are living a defeated Christian life? Doesn’t it raise the question in your mind: What does it mean to be a Christian? Does it mean to be living in a defeated way all the time?

2. There is no victory without an army

The second thing is there is no victory without an army. You cannot win a battle against an army all on your own. I like Rambo. We need a lot of Rambos in the army because one Rambo is not going to win any wars for us. Maybe that is another way many Christians think: “We have outstanding Christians in the church. They will win the battle for us! As for us, we will always be content with defeat.”

3. There is no victory without God, the King

The third thing is that there is no victory without the King. It is he who leads us in battle. It is he who plans the strategy in battle. Anyone who knows the least bit about military science will know that a good commander is absolutely vital for victory. You can have an army of five million men, and a bad general will sacrifice all five million men. For those of us who are interested in military history as I am, will know that a capable general can defeat an army many times its size with a much smaller army. That is the case with the church. Under the leadership of God, the Supreme Commander, the size of the army is not important anymore.

We always remember the great battle by Gideon against the enemy of Israel. Israel had 23,000 men but God said that was too many, so Gideon cut it down to 10,000 men, and God still said too many. The enemy was already many times its size but God was cutting down the size of his own army. God said he only needed 300 dedicated men, and all those multitudes of the enemy will be totally defeated.

The Bible is a book about victory. It is very interesting if you look at the statistics of the use of the word “victory.” If you are a member of God’s army, you must also learn to think in this way: “I don’t know what defeat is.” The apostle Paul did not understand what defeat meant. That was why he said in 2 Corinthians 2:14,

He did not say “sometimes,” he said “always.” Is it your experience, that you always walk in triumph? Are you a victorious soldier of a victorious king? When I saw the Nationalist soldiers in defeat retreating from Shanghai, what kind of thought came to my mind? It means of course, that the commanding officers have failed.

What does the world think when they see you? When they see these defeated Christians who are supposed to constitute the church, don’t they come to the conclusion that God has been defeated? Would you follow a defeated king? Do you think the population of Shanghai stood up and followed the defeated Nationalist soldiers? These soldiers could not protect their own lives, were they going to protect the people? If you cannot be saved, how can God’s power work through you to save others?

Our specific theme is God’s army, and how this army is to be victorious. But what I have been doing up to now, is to paint the contrast between a victorious army and a defeated army in your mind. It’s very important for you to get this picture clearly in order to understand our theme about the army.

The next step is to ask the question: Is the church a victorious army or a defeated army as you know it? The next question is to ask, Are you a soldier in the army? And the next question is: Are you a victorious soldier or are you a defeated one? If you are a defeated one, you are a disgrace to the Commander-in-chief.

 

Four principles about God’s army

We will touch on four basic principles to understand these principles about the army of God as taught in the Bible.

1. God’s church is a people’s army

The first principle in the Old Testament, and also in the New, is that God’s army is a people’s army. What does that mean? That means God’s army is not a mercenary army. If you read the Old Testament, you will discover that every member of the people of Israel was a member of the army. You will never read that there was a section of Israel that was the armed forces. Every able-bodied Israelite had to fight in the war. The idea of a people’s army is not new. It goes all the way back to the time when Israel came out of Egypt. Do you remember what was Moses’ command to the Israelites, who chose to be on God’s side to kill brother, companion and neighbor who had worshipped the golden calf? He said, “Put your sword on your side each of you.” (Exo. 32:27) This means every man left Egypt with a sword hanging at his side. That is why Exodus 13:18 said that the people of Israel went out of Egypt “equipped for battle” [ESV, RSV], “fully armed” [NJB], “in orderly ranks” [NKJ]. Israel’s army was a people’s army. Everyone was involved. The women, too, did every­thing to support the people’s army. They had to make the belts for carrying the swords, and they tried to prepare such armor as was available, to protect the men.

This idea of a people’s army is still used today. It is interesting that Israel today, still follows the pattern of the Bible. It is also still true in Switzerland, where every man between the ages of 20 and 50 are members of the army of Switzerland. Singapore has also been copying Switzerland and Israel. Military experts agree that the Swiss army is one of the most effective and most efficient in the world. Every male citizen of Switzerland gets a minimum of eleven months to one year of military training. And what is also interesting is they take their weapons home. So in a Swiss home you will discover an M16 or whatever other guns. All their weapons, helmets, uniforms are in their homes. The whole Swiss army, navy and air force (630,000 men) will be ready for war in less than forty-eight hours’ notice. All air force pilots will be at their stations. All artillery units will be in position. All armored units will be battle-ready with their gasoline tanks full. They are following the Old Testament pattern. In WWII, the whole might of the Nazi army did not dare to attack such a small country as Switzerland. They were not afraid to attack Britain or France, but they would not touch Switzerland, because they would have lost so many men in that battle that they didn’t want to think about it.

The church is a people’s army. The Lord Jesus said, “If you don’t have a sword, sell your coat and buy one” (Lk. 22:36). Every Christian is called into the army, the church, to be ready to fight the battle against the powers of darkness with the power of God, and with the filling of the Spirit to use the sword of the Spirit, that is, the Word of God, in order to set people free from bondage to sin and self. A Christian is saved to save others. That is why I say again, if you are a Christian, you are a soldier. If you are not a soldier of Christ, please do not to call yourself a Christian, at least, don’t disgrace God, the Commander-in-chief. Let the church be a glorious army, a victorious army, an army that will be able to win the battle that God has given us to fight.

 

2. Individual excellence is also important

The second principle is that although all God’s people constitute his army in the Bible, it doesn’t mean that the individual just becomes a number in the crowd. It doesn’t mean that individual excellence is no longer important.

We see in the Old Testament, examples of outstanding soldiers of God, but we only have time to go into one of these examples. You would have read of someone called Phinehas in the Old Testament. God was so pleased with this faithful servant of his, who stopped the plague in Israel single-handed, because he destroyed the root of sin in Israel. But by that time, 24,000 people had already died.

In our camp Bible study units, we talked about how the Levites in Exodus chapter 32, responded to the call to kill the idolatrous people in Israel. These were the outstanding people in the army of God. That means there is a place for people of outstanding spiritual excellence in the church. Indeed, God is looking for such outstanding people, because they set an example to the whole army of God.

 

3. God is the Supreme Commander

The third principle, which makes this army of God utterly unique, is that God himself is the Supreme Commander! This is the only army in the world where the army is on earth, and the Commander-in-chief is in heaven. Not even the Swiss army can boast of this possibility. Even Israel sometimes forgot that their Commander-in-chief is in heaven.

That is why a very remarkable thing happened in Joshua 5:13-15. Israel’s objective to enter the Promised Land has apparently been reached. By this time, Moses had died, and Joshua was the earthly commander of the Israelites. He was so busy getting the army ready to conquer the rest of Canaan, and what did he see when he lifted his eyes? He saw a man standing in front of him with a sword in his hand, not in his sheath. It was quite threatening! Then, Joshua asked him who he might be: “Are you on our side, or are you on the enemy’s side?” Of course, looking at the formidable person, he very much hoped that this man was on Israel’s side. Then, the man with a sword in his hand replied, “I have come as the commander-in-chief of Yahweh God’s army.” Joshua understood immediately. He was telling Joshua, “You are not the commander-in-chief of Yahweh God’s army. I am.” Immediately, Joshua fell on his face before him and said, “My Lord, what do you want me to do?” And the Commander-in-chief said, “Take your shoes off because you are on holy ground.” This was exactly the same thing that was said to Moses. Every officer in God’s army must understand who the Commander-in-chief is. I say to the Fourth Team as well as to the Third Team, and to all co-workers, remember, our Commander-in-chief is Yahweh God. And as long as we stand in obedience before him, we will win.

 

4. The army of God only wins through faith

The fourth and last principle is connected to the previous point. The army of God has to trust in God and him alone, for victory. In other words, the army of God only wins through faith. It is through faith that we can be more than conquerors. The apostle John said in 1 John 5:3-4,

That is why you will find that the Old Testament records something very unusual over and over again: the army of God won battles without even having to fight! For example, when Israel came out of Egypt, every man had his sword on his side. When they came to the Red Sea, they looked behind and saw big clouds of dust rolling up, as one of the super powers was coming after them. Super power is not a new idea. As in today, there were two main super powers in those days: one was Assyria, and the other was Egypt. You can imagine the fright of the Israelites when they saw the super power coming up behind them. They were so frightened because they realized they did not stand a chance against this army. But they forgot, as so many Christians do, who their Commander-in-chief is.

And we see in Exodus 14:13-16 the words of the Commander-in-chief to his army. In front was the Red Sea they could not cross. Behind them, the super power of Egypt was coming up in their chariots at full-speed. No force could stop the Egyptian army. What did the Commander-in-chief say to his army through Moses? “You will never see again the Egyptians whom you see today. I will fight for you, and you only have to be silent.” And he said to Moses, “Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it.” And the amazing thing happened: the waters parted! The Israelites went on dry ground through the sea. The super-power army was going to come in right behind them, and the waters closed. They never saw the Egyptian army again, just as Yahweh God had said. What a privilege to serve under him!

However, don’t think that the Bible tells us the army of God never had to fight. Israel had to fight many times, and they lost a number of battles when they disobeyed God.

 

a) Fight and pray

First of all, understand that although God is Commander-in-chief, we also have to fight. When we are obedient, sometimes, he gives us the victory, but sometimes, he gives us the victory only after intense battle.

The same thing happens in the New Testament. Sometimes, the Lord Jesus heals a blind man just with a touch or with a word; he doesn’t have to do anything except to have faith. But at other times, the Lord Jesus makes another person do something quite difficult. For exam­ple, he could have healed a blind man immediately, but he didn’t. Instead, he put clay on his eyes and said, “Now go to the Pool of Siloam and wash.” That was a long walk for a blind man, and he still had to wash his face. By this, the Lord Jesus manifests God’s charac­ter to us, that sometimes, God decides that there is something that he wants you to do; other times, he decides that he will do it, and you just need to trust him.

Since God is the Commander-in-chief, prayer becomes important in this principle of God’s army. It was one of the unusual armies in the world that fought the battle through prayer. In Exodus 17:11-12, we read the well-known story that when Moses lifted up his arms in prayer, the army of Israel was winning the battle. But as his arms got tired and began to come down, the army was beginning to lose. It is connected to this principle of faith. Only through faith and prayer will the army of God win.

In the Old Testament people prayed with their hands lifted up. If you don’t understand this, you cannot understand 1 Timothy 2:8, where the apostle Paul said, “men should pray, lifting holy hands.” So whenever Moses’ lifted arms in prayer got tired and had to come down, the battle went against Israel.

 

b) Persevere

The second thing is perseverance.

 

c) Hold on even in adversity

The third thing is to hold on even when the battle seems to go against us.

I want to close now with one remarkable incident in the Bible to learn what is the secret of victory. There is a remarkable account in the Bible that I have thought about again and again, and if you can learn the secret of victory, you will be more than a conqueror. If you cannot, I fear you will not know how to conquer, because you cannot win the battle against sin. When the Lord Jesus gave a message to each of the seven churches in the Revelation, he said, “To him who overcomes, I will do this or that, or give this or that.” But before he can give you that, you have to conquer. In each case, it has to do with overcoming sin. What is the secret of overcoming sin?

 

The secret of overcoming sin: The persistent Syrophoenician woman

I want us to think about the Syrophoenician woman in Matthew 15:21-28. Have you ever understood the message of this vital passage? It is truly amazing! All through the years of my Christian life, I have often thought about this humble woman who knew the secret of victory, and it is what every member of God’s army has to learn.

Everything was against her as far as her request was concerned. This woman had a daughter who was possessed by a demon. Obviously, the daughter was quite a young girl, and she was desperate that somehow, her daughter could be saved. First, notice that she is not thinking about her own well-being, rather, she wants the salvation of her child. But everything was against her because she had none of the right qualifications.

First, we are told in Matthew 15:22 that she was a Canaanite. Do you know the significance of this? We just spoke about Israel conquering the land. What was the land? The land was the land of Canaan. The enemy of Israel was Canaan, and she was a Canaanite, she was a member of the old enemy of Israel. You might say it is a bit of a paral­lel; she might be considered to be a Palestinian today, in relation to the Jews.

The second thing that counted against her was that the Lord Jesus mentions in Matthew 15:24 that his ministry at that time, was limited only to the house of Israel, that is, only to the Jews. So she was outside the parameters of what he could do for her.

The third thing is that the Lord Jesus has withdrawn from public service at this time. As Mark 7:24 tells us, he did not want anyone to know where he was. It was a time to be quiet. To put in another way, it was not his office hours. She was outside office hours, so she should come again when the office is open.

In other words, she did not qualify for the necessary help. How would you feel if you were in her position?

Qualifications or no qualifications, she was not going to let go. The passage tells us that she persisted. She was not going to go away. The disciples said, “Don’t bother our teacher. He is not going to talk to you. Just go away.” But what does she do? She starts shouting at the top of her voice: “Lord, please help me! Please help me!” She received the first rejection in Matthew15:23:

Then, the Lord Jesus said in verse 24:

He was saying, “I was not sent to help the Gentiles at this time.” If the Lord Jesus said that to you, what would you do? Would you think, “Too bad! He’s not going to help me. I am finished! I’ll sit down in the corner and cry”? Oh, not her! Two rejections were not going to stop her. In fact, verse 25 shows her extraordinary, unrelenting tenacity!

She was shouting at the top of her voice and what did she get? She got a third rejection. The Lord Jesus said in verse 26,

You might say, “Please, if you don’t want to help me, you don’t have to be so rude, all right? I’ve got enough problems. My daughter is not well, and now you are implying that I am a dog! What kind of man are you? You are supposed to be full of compassion. Not only do you have no compassion, but you also call me a dog! I am through with this!” But not her! Verse 27 records the acme of her extraordinary faith that cleaves to her Savior!

 

Three possible reactions of the self

There are at least three possible reactions to this. One reaction is what some of you, and perhaps, even I myself would have: a critical attitude. “Jesus is so famous! He is such a great teacher teaching about loving your enemies. I am a Canaanite, but he cannot love me! He failed to put love into practice. Not only does he have no compassion, but he is also so rude to call me a dog! What kind of teacher is this? Forget it! I’ll leave!”

Would you have reacted like that? I see many Christians reacting like this. They pray for this and that, and then they say, “God doesn’t answer. He has no compassion! He talks about loving everyone, and sending Christ Jesus to die for our sins, but he doesn’t love me! Even if I have not been a very good Christian, even if I am his enemy, he really treats me like a dog, and he shouldn’t! Isn’t that a critical attitude? How many so-called “Christians”, defeated Christians, have this kind of attitude? The danger of defeat is that you become critical against God. You want to blame it all on him.

The second kind of reaction I also see among Christians is miserable self-pity. They don’t get resentful but they are so filled with pity, so you see their very long, miserable faces. This Canaanite woman could have thought like this, “God doesn’t care for me, but he cares for the others. He sends his Christ to heal the sons of other people, to heal the blind, even to raise others’ dead daughter and son, but he doesn’t care for my daughter and me.”

Or we can have an even stronger reaction than either of these two: anger. We become very angry. I have seen angry Christians – fierce-looking people like the Japanese soldiers. “God treats me with contempt! How can he do something to some important person like me? Doesn’t he know who I am? I am a great man in this world! Do you know how much money I have? Those low-down people there all kowtow to me! God doesn’t know his place! I am angry that God is unfair to me! He can treat other people like dogs but not me!” Do you know what is the root behind this? Pride.

If you look at all three reactions which we can have, all of them show that the root of the problem is the self, the selfishness and pride. Until you understand this, you don’t understand why the Lord Jesus as God’s representative, dealt with the woman in this way. God looks into your heart and sees exactly what is in it. He sees whether you are a selfish, self-pitying person. A self-pitying person is very self-centered. He looks at you and sees that you are a very critical person. Outwardly, you look very humble, but inside, you are a very proud person. And for your good, one of these days, he is just going to call you “dog” until you know: “Yes, God, truly, I am a dog.”

 

Am I willing to be only a dog before God, so he’ll make me a conqueror?

The Psalmist had to learn that lesson to acknowledge before God that he is not a man, but just a worm, just a dog in Psalm 22:6. He said,

And this is what the woman said, “Lord, you are right. I am a dog. But please remember, have mercy on this dog, because even the dog gets the crumbs that fall on the floor from the table. Please give me a few crumbs of God’s mercy.” All her pride was broken. And what did the Lord Jesus do? He said, “Oh woman, great is your faith! You will have what you desire. My God and Father will give you what you want.” But first, she had to learn to be a dog.

Do you know what the army does? Before any soldier becomes a good fighting man, he has to be turned into a dog. He is made to crawl on the ground. He is made to march for long hours in dirt, filth and heat. He is taught to obey orders absolutely. He is literally treated as a dog so that he can become the finest soldier in the world. That is the cost. This is the secret of victory. If you are in God’s army, learn to say with this woman, “Yes, Lord, I am a dog. And as a dog, please give me a few crumbs from your table.” Instead of getting a few crumbs, she got more than a feast! In the kingdom of God, this woman will stand high up there. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and he will exalt you at the proper time (1 Pet. 5:6). That is what this woman learned. There is the secret of victory!

In the past years, I have known many soldiers, and even a few generals. It’s very funny, I nearly became the son-in-law of a general. In my student days in London, a Chinese general with the family name of Tang came to the church, and I didn’t quite know why he got so interested in me. He would phone me, and I could not figure out why he wanted to talk to me. But one day, I got the idea, because he began to tell me that he had a very lovely daughter. Every time we got together, somewhere along the line he would mention his daughter. His daughter was in the United States and I was in England. He was in charge of the armored as well as artillery units of the Nationalist army in China, and became a defeated general. Nonetheless, he was a very capable and intelligent man, a mathematician by training. In fact, he studied at the same college in London where I studied much later after his time. However, he had not learned the lesson of this Syrophoenician woman. He was a very arrogant man, not to me, but to everyone else, for some reason. His pride was very difficult to handle. Then I began to realize he could not make a good soldier. Ability, intelligence and training are not enough.

One day, a British general, Major General Sir Wilson Haffenden, came to visit us at our church. When I introduced General Wilson Haffenden to General Tang, the arrogance of General Tang was so astonishing that I couldn’t believe my eyes! He was one rank higher than the British general. The English general was a major general, but he was a lieutenant general, so he treated this British general as though he were a dog! He just scolded him, and talked to him in a very rude way, when the English general only said, “Hello,” and had not done anything to him.

So afterwards, I said to General Tang, “Why did you talk to him like this?”

He said, “I am a lieutenant general!”

I thought, “I know why you ended up as a defeated general.”

The finest generals are men who are lowly in heart. Learn the secret of victory. If it is true in the world, it is much more necessary in the church.

If you can remember nothing else in the camp, I put this last question to you, to all co-workers in our churches, as well as to myself as a challenge: Am I willing to recognize that I am only a dog, so that when I stand before the King of kings, he will lift me up to be more than conqueror?