Modern Enemies Of The Cross Of Christ 18
Phip. 3:17-18

From the 11th to 13th centuries men, in the name of Christ tried to recover the Holy Land from
the Muslims. They thought they could conquer people for Christ by forcing them to be
Christians. It’s true that Moslems and Turks were enemies of the Cross of Christ. But,
the crusaders were wrong on two counts. #1, they were apostate themselves and #2 in
their own apostasy they were wrong by forcing people into Christianity by threat of death.
1. To spread Christ’s Kingdom by violence was condemned, forbidden by both Jesus and the apostles. Matt. 26:51, Jesus rebuked Peter when he cut off the ear of the High Priests’s servant. Jesus said to him, "Put away your sword, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” The kingdom is neither spread by the sword nor defended by the sword.
a. The purpose of Christianity is not to establish a worldly kingdom to be defended with worldly
Weapons. That’s what Jesus told Pilate just before the crucifixion, in Jno. 18:36, "My
kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so
that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”
(1) 2 Cor. 10:3-4. Listen, as Paul explains both our warfare and the weapons with which we fight that war. Eph. 6:10-20. Our enemy is the spiritual hosts of darkness. That’s Satan and the people whose hearts and minds he has deceived and corrupted. Evil and the power of Satan is real and is our enemy. Our Armor is Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Faith, Salvation, The Word of God and Prayer. We fight against Satan, Demons, False Teachers, Evil People by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And the most effective weapon is our Godly lives, Unashamed, Unwavering Commitment to God and the Word Of God which is the Sword of the Spirit.
(1) The Cross of Christ had enemies in Paul’s day. How do I know? Paul said so in Phip. 3:17-18, “Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame??who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven.”
(a) Acts 15:1, Talks about Judaising teachers who wanted to add the teaching
of the Law of Moses to the New Testament teaching of the apostles. Paul
condemns them in Gal. 1:6-9. “Accursed” is the Greek Word
“Anathama” literally means “Cut off from God, without hope and
eternally damned.”
(1) Paul closes his argument in Gal. 5:4, by saying, “...you who are trying to be justified by the law of Moses are fallen from grace.” They were perverting the Gospel of Christ. They wanted to attribute justification to the ordinances of the Law and not to the blood of Jesus shed on the cross.
(2) Men become enemies of the Cross for many other reasons. Trying to be a Christian for the wrong reason or with the wrong motivation. In New Testament times there were people like that. The Holy spirit through the pen of the apostle Paul condemns these kinds of people, Phip. 1:15-16, “Some preach Christ of envy and strife...of contention, not sincerely...” People who use the church for their own agenda and own purposes. Sound familiar?

(1) Become enemies of the Cross by living unconsecrated lives. Many examples such as Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11; Diotrephes in 3 Jno. 9-10, who loved to have the preeminence in the church and
bossed people around.
(2) People who divide the church, who are soundly
condemned in Rom. 16:17, “Mark them that cause divisions and offences
contrary to the doctrine.”
(2) Today, the Cross has enemies just like that. Paganism that teaches other ways of being saved. Following other men who proclaim themselves to be prophets from God and teach other doctrines, or twisted perversions of the Gospel already given by the Holy Spirit in the Bible. The Crusaders methods were wrong. But their conclusion was right. Muslims are the enemies of the Cross. Any religion that leaves out the Cross is an enemy of the cross.
(1) That includes Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Bahaiism, Spiritism or Hedonism who are those tree huggers who worship nature and animals.
(1) Eph. 4:5-6. Only one and Jesus said, “He is it!” Jno. 14:6; Acts 4:12.
(2) That includes Modernism where people deny the first verse of the Bible and many others after it. Who, for convenience sake, pick and choose which parts of the Bible they accept or won’t accept.
(2) Enemies of the Cross are everywhere. Come in all kinds deceit and false doctrines. Cheap Counterfeits professing to be what they are not. Jesus warned about them in, Matt. 7:15-20.
(1) Jno. 1`4:15, 21, “If you love Me, keep My commandments...He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.”
(2) Do you really love Christ and honor Him by keeping His commandments? or are you an enemy of the Cross who openly or secretly denies Him, His Word by your disobedience?
(3) Acts 20:32. “I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”

Spur - 03/24/2002, am