Matt Hagee - Enough Is Enough
When you choose to follow Christ, deny your will, and serve him, you don't have to follow him very long before you find yourself in a conflict. If anyone has ever told you that a Christian life is absent of struggle, they lied. The Christian life is not a life where you get out of trouble. This is what Jesus said to his disciples: he said, "In this world, you will have trouble". Put that on your t-shirt. Never seen a Christian bumper sticker referencing that verse. But that's just the first half of the story. He said, "In this world, you will have trouble. Be of good cheer: I've overcome the world".
He's already said every form of trouble you can find yourself in, professional trouble, family trouble, community trouble, political trouble, financial trouble, physical trouble, emotional trouble. If there's any kind of trouble out there, "Be of good cheer". He's got the answer for your trouble. The Christian life is not absent of struggle. It is a promise that in your season of struggle, he'll give you the strength to succeed. But what God is looking for are young men, young women, people who are willing to stand up and declare, "Enough is enough". I believe that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And he is looking for people in this generation who are willing to see the world that we're living in and decide that they're not going to give one more inch to the enemy: that they're not going to allow him to take one more of our children to hell: that they're not going to let them destroy one more marriage in divorce: that they're not going to allow one more addict to be shackled in chains of addiction.
I promise you: our God is able if we are willing to stand and declare, "Enough is enough"! It's not a matter of if there's conflict. It's a matter of when there's conflict, what will you do? Will you allow it to make you better or bitter? Does struggle bring you strength or does it build in you an excuse? Do you take a stand in a day of trouble? Are you the standard that God is raising when the enemy comes in like a flood? Or do you run from trouble?
You say, "Pastor, how can conflict make me better"? What you first have to do is accept that it's coming. Accept that it's here. How did Jesus tell his followers to handle conflict? He said, "Blessed are you when men speak evil against you and revile you for my sake: for yours is the kingdom of heaven". He was telling his children, when trouble comes to you because you belong to me, rejoice. Take an attitude that this is a good thing, because God has a plan to use you in this moment. David said it this way: "This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be made glad in it". "The day that God has made" is a day that has conflict in it. But he has made you more than a conqueror through Christ. When trouble comes, choose to rejoice, because our God reigns.
When trouble comes, choose to rejoice, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. He has crowned you a conqueror. He's coming again with the keys of death, hell and the grave. And he's promised you the crown of life! Rejoice and be exceedingly glad! Great is your reward! Jesus told his followers that conflict brings a blessing. Say that with me. Conflict brings a blessing. Matthew 5, it says, "Blessed are you". Now this is a qualified blessing. "Blessed are you when you are persecuted for righteousness' sake". That means when they see your faith and they come after you, God's going to bless you. We live in a world where it is open season on people of faith. Rejoice, because God's going to bless you. But there's a qualified blessing here. You do not get blessed because you're under attack. You get blessed for why you're under attack. When you're attacked for righteousness' sake, Jesus said, "Blessed are you when they persecute you for my name's sake," meaning that there's a difference between his righteousness and your ridiculousness.
There are times when you have trouble, not because you're doing something for God, but you're just full of you. Those times don't come with a blessing. Some people walk around so full of their spiritual pomposity, and they say, "No one likes me because I'm righteous". Partner, you don't know the difference between righteous and ridiculous. 1 Timothy says, "We suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God". If you put your trust in the living God, the world is going to turn on you. Jesus told his followers, "The world hates me. The world will hate you". In Isaiah 59:15, it says, "He who departs from wickedness makes himself prey," P-R-E-Y, as if you are the one that the wolves want to devour. Why? Because when you turn from wickedness and you turn to righteousness, you are turning the light on in a dark world, and that's offensive.
If you want to be loved by the world, act like the world. If you want to be popular in the world, talk like the world. If you want to live like the world, then you're choosing to bend and bow to the Gods of this world and not take a stand for the God of heaven. When you are persecuted for his name's sake, he promises you a blessing. Christ said that when these things are happening that we should rejoice and be exceedingly glad. That means that you should square your shoulders and announce to the world the flesh, and the devil that you are a child of the king and you cannot be defeated. He's given you the authority of his name. And child of God, that's not just any name, but it is the name above every name. At the name of Jesus, sickness and disease is conquered. At the name of Jesus, armies are sent to flight. At the name of Jesus, powers and principalities are crushed.
He's not only given you a name, but he's given you his word, and it's sharper than any two-edged sword. It will not return void. It endures forever. He's not only given you his word, but he's given you his blood, and it's precious blood: and it conquers death, hell and the grave. It defeats sickness. It decimates poverty. It conquers and crushes powers and principalities. It breaks the chains of addiction. What shall we say of these things? We shall say, if God be for us, then who can be against us? Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered! What God is looking for are people who are willing to say, "Enough is enough". Which means you have to understand, not only are you blessed in the time of conflict, but you don't choose the conflict: the conflict chooses you.
Goliath was on the earth long before David was born. And the day that Goliath walked into David's atmosphere, the giant lost. Why? Because David didn't choose Goliath: Goliath chose David. What he didn't realize is that when he was picking on the children of Israel, he was picking on the people of God. And if you get one of us, you get all of us. The Bible's very clear about this: one of the us can put a thousand to flight. Two of us can put 10.000 to flight. You don't choose the battle: the battle chooses you. How did a child defeat a giant? It wasn't his fight. It was God's fight. He just did what he could do. How did the miracles of the Bible happen over and over and over again? It wasn't their fight. It was God's fight. They just did what they could do.
How did this church become what it is? It wasn't pastor's fight. It was God's fight. He just did what he could do. How is your marriage going to survive? It's not your fight. It's God's fight. You just do what you can do. The Bible says, "Husbands, love your wives". The Bible says, "Wives, obey your husbands". There it is: you do what you can do. Let God do the rest. All it takes is somebody willing to say, "Enough is enough. We're going to kick the enemy out of the here and we're going to see God's blessings enter here". You see, Jesus made this very clear in John 10:10. He said, "The enemy comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. But I have come for you to have life more abundantly". There's your menu options. It's like walking into a great restaurant, and they've got this little symbol down here that says, "Healthy options". And then they've got this thing over here called "Banana's foster".
Well there's banana's in healthy food. Just covered with ice cream and Carmel, it gets a lot better. But John 10:10 is like a spiritual menu. It says, on this side of the menu is everything that Jesus Christ said, "Life more abundantly". Say that with me. "Life more abundantly". On this side of the menu is everything that the enemy wants to do, rob, steal, kill, destroy. Which side of that menu do you want? The life more abundantly. Which is why you have to say, "Enough is enough" every time you see the enemy try to enter your world. When he's coming after your children through the media, when he's coming after your children through the school systems, when he's coming after your children through the digital platform, when he's coming after your children through the world and the culture that they're living in, you decide enough is enough. When he comes into your finances, enough is enough. When he comes into your business, enough is enough. When he comes into your physical health, enough is enough, because the thief does not come but to rob, kill, and destroy. How many of you have unsaved loved ones? Decide today, enough is enough!
People say, "Oh, but you don't understand. They quit listening to me years ago". They may quit listening to you, but God's not. God's still listening to you. You can do something that they can't stop. The most powerful thing that you'll ever be able to say to anybody on the face of the earth is, "I'm praying for you. I'm praying for you". Prayer is an unstoppable force. It goes where you cannot go. It does what you cannot do. It walks with them into every barroom where they sit on a stool. It's sitting there with them when they take a sip. It's there as they wrap themselves in the chains of sin. Your prayer is gnawing at their spirit, breaking that heart of stone until the Holy Spirit comes in and puts them under house arrest and brings them back to the throne of grace. Child of God, you do not have to accept and live beneath the circumstance. You can be above the circumstance, because our God reigns!
Jesus said, "The Kingdom of God suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force". The violent take it by force. Now there's some things that you have to understand about this verse to put it into scriptural context. One, we are talking about a spiritual kingdom. We're not talking about a natural kingdom. This is not a conversation about natural violence. This is about spiritual violence. Jesus Christ, when he was on the earth, he talked about the kingdom of heaven. That's a spiritual kingdom. He wanted us to live under kingdom principles. Those are spiritual principles. He talked about one who would come and comfort you. That's the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, it says, "Not by might, nor by power, but by thy spirit".
Jesus was having a conversation on the day he was arrested by Pontius Pilate. And Pilate said, "Do you have a kingdom"? He said, "I have a kingdom. It's not of this world". What was he making the point? He was saying, if my kingdom was of this world, I'd be in charge of you. But I'm in a spiritual kingdom. So we're talking about a spiritual kingdom. And Jesus is saying this spiritual kingdom suffers spiritual violence and the spiritually violent will take it by force, which means we have to define violence. "Violence" is when you disturb, disrupt, or destroy a present course of action.
Now how many of you can identify places where the enemy has tried to disturb, disrupt, or destroy your present course of action? Your business was going this way, and all of a sudden it started to go down. What happened? The enemy tried to steal God's promise. He does this in all kinds of ways. He uses fear to rob you of your peace. He uses doubt to kill faith in your life. And the Bible says, "Without faith, it is impossible to please God". He uses the burdens of your past to weigh you down and steal your potential for tomorrow, when the Bible says that your past has been forgotten, and you're now white as snow. The point is that you, as a part of the body of Christ, as a soldier in the army of the living God, you are either going to disrupt, disturb, and destroy his work in your life, or he's going to steal the promise of God in you. Which one of those two do you want?
Here's what I suggest. You put your faith in God, and recognize that you serve a risen Savior, and you have faith in a God who believes in you. You didn't choose this fight: this fight chose you. God said, "I know the plans that I have for you". And his plan for you is that you in this hour would serve him as a soldier of salt and a soldier of light in this day and age. God's not surprised when things get wild in your life. God's in heaven saying, there's a chosen vessel. There's someone that I appointed for such a time as this. There's someone I've given the keys to victory. There's someone who the battle belongs to the Lord. There is a child who's not afraid to say, "Enough is enough". That one will turn heaven loose on earth. That one will turn the power of God loose in their life. That one is somebody who's going to be the head and not the tail. He calls his angels over and he says, look at that child that I've protected. Look at the one that I've spared. Look at the one I've provided for. Look at the one that I've strengthened.
Watch what happens when they take a stand in faith. Watch what happens when they endure in the day of battle. Watch what happens when they fight the good fight of faith. Watch what happens when they let God arise and let his enemies be scattered! Not only do you have the keys to victory, but the only way you fail is if you refuse to fight. The only way you fail is if you refuse to fight. And one of the reasons why the church in the United States is failing is because we've refused to get in the conflict. We've accepted the terms of the enemy instead of declared the Word of God. Ephesians 6, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities of darkness". And some of God's kids read these words, "We wrestle not," and they go, "Hallelujah". But the reality of it is, is God is looking for individuals who will take a stand. Jesus said, "He who is not for me is against me".
And you can say, "Well, I'm for Jesus: I'm just kind of quiet about it". That doesn't work in this world. If people don't know who you're for, then God knows what you're against. Because a friend of the world is an enemy of God. There's only two sides in this conflict. There's truth and a lie. And the Bible says, "All liars shall have their part in the lake of fire". There's the light or there's darkness. People say, "Well, I don't want to be offensive". I'm sorry. Light is offensive. Walk into a teenagers room at 6:00 in the morning, and turn it on: they're offended. Why? Because it disrupts everything that they were comfortable in. As the light of the world, when you walk into a world of darkness, you are going to disrupt people. Why? Because you are shining and exposing and sending light into an area that darkness needs to flee.
There's the side of salt and there's the side of corruption. Corruption is running rampant in our world, because the salt of the earth has lost its saltiness. There's the side of good and evil, Jesus Christ or antichrist. We don't get the option of sitting this one out, because if we forfeit, we fail. But if we raise the standard of truth, then the battle belongs to the Lord. Child of God, we have to choose today that we are going to take a stand and we're going to live for a God who has promised he would never fail. Because victory is not measured in the moment: victory is measured in the movement. Don't forget that. Victory is not measured in the moment: victory is measured in the movement. The Bible says, "He who endures to the end". Say that with me. "He who endures to the end". It's the Holy Spirit's way of saying, "Just stick around and see what God will do".
And one of the problems that we have in our instant-gratification world is we want everything in the moment. Go watch a sports game. How's it divided? It's divided with a clock into quarters. And at the end, the buzzard rings, and we want to know who the winner is, because we want the instant gratification of seeing who is victorious and who's been defeated. But this is not how spiritual conflict works. Our warfare is against powers and principalities, and it's not in the moments but it's in the movements. This is why Paul said, "Endure hardness". You can't gage a spiritual victory in the moment. You just have to consider that you are enduring this moment so that you can continue to see the Kingdom of God pushed through the movement. The reason why people don't move past the moment is because they hide behind their excuses. They're waiting to be perfect. They're waiting for all of the pieces to be in place. They're waiting to have the answer to every question. And none of that includes faith.
Faith is when you say, "God, I believe in you too much to let you down. I'm not going to let this moment overcome me. But I'm going to be more than a conqueror through Christ in this moment and see what you can do for me in the future". Why? 1 John 5:4, it says, "This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith". Say that with me. "Our faith". When you don't have the answer, have faith in the one who is the answer. When you don't have the resources, have faith in the one who has the cattle on a thousand hilltops. When you don't know what to do, have faith in a God who is sovereign and has not brought you this far to fail. When you don't know which way to turn, turn to him. Have faith in God and see what he can do! Because moment by moment, God is connecting you into a kingdom movement that in the end of all things, we win. God hasn't brought you this far to fail you now. He hasn't given you all of the grace that he's poured out in your life in your past to watch you surrender in defeat today.
What he wants to know is who has the heart to decide that enough is enough. I'm not going to let the enemy infringe upon my family anymore. I'm not going to let the enemy take any out of my community anymore. I'm not going to let the enemy push his lies into our children anymore. I'm not going to let him harass my home anymore. I'm not going to let him have anymore of my finances. Enough is enough! Because if you're willing to take that stand, do what you can, God will do the rest. God will do the rest.
All he wants to know is are you willing to have faith in the God who believes in you. He created you. He designed you. He knows all about you. He doesn't know your potential: he wrote your potential! And what he wants to know is will you put faith in him so he can pour out what he knows about you. He sees in you a giant killer. He sees in you a world changer. He sees in you as an individual who has the ability to turn the world upside down! All he wants to know is do you believe in me enough to let me show you what we can do together. I believe in this room there are people that if you would let God show you his greatness, the world would see what he does in your life, and they would say, "Say it ain't so. I've never seen that coming. Who would have thought: only God"?
Can we stand in his presence today? If you're here today and you say, "Pastor, I need to take a stand. I've allowed the enemy to have his place for too long. I've avoided the fight instead of realizing that I was the one chosen for the fight. And today, I want God in heaven to see me saying, 'enough is enough'. And I'm going to do what he asks me to do until I have the victory and the breakthrough that I'm looking for. If that describes you", would you raise your hand and hold it high right where you are? I want everyone in this room and those of you who are watching to repeat this prayer with me:
Lord Jesus Christ, today I thank you that in your sovereignty, in your grace, in your mercy, you have chosen and you have empowered me for such a time as this. The battle that I'm in, Lord, belongs to you. But the victory is already mine through Christ my Savior. Today I commit myself to doing what you asked me to do to see your hand move in my life: that the enemy would be defeated: and that the goodness of God would touch those who are around me: that they might know who you are, what you've done, and come to know your son Jesus. I ask these things, in Jesus' name. And I receive them, in faith believing. Amen and amen.