As we look around this world we see the enemies of God. There are people who reject God’s word, reject us, hate us, or demean us because we trust in Jesus as our Savior. We look at what society calls good or fun or acceptable and we feel terrible at the sinful things that are waved in front of our faces all the time. We have enemies. But worse even than this is we are sometimes the enemy. Every time we give in to sin, every time we disobey God’s law, every time we hurt someone else, every time we are selfish or disrespectful we are enemies of God.

It’s clear that we have enemies. It’s clear that sometimes we are the enemy. So what should happen? No, let’s ask a better question: What did happen? God won the victory over his enemies. And he used his servant, Jesus Christ, the son of God, to do that. He sent his son to live in this world and to be our righteousness. The righteous—the perfect--life that God demands of you and me, he gave it to us in Christ who was put on this earth to live perfectly. And God used his servant to fight against our enemies by taking the punishment for sin. Christ served you by enduring your punishment.

When Christ ascended, we celebrate that victory. Christ has lived a perfect life for us! Christ has died on the cross to pay for sin! Christ rose again from the dead to prove it was all true! Christ’s victory is honored when he was ascended into heaven and put back into his rightful place at God’s right hand to rule over all things. Christ’s ascension is the announcement that he accomplished the work God sent him to do. He was the perfect servant, used by the Lord at the right time and the right place to fight for God’s people and win.

So the enemies of God, your enemies, have all been swept away. Christ came and defeated sin and Satan. And now, having been released from these enemies, God says that you can join the fight. One enemy we fight is human pride. So look at yourself and realize that God has put you right here, right now to trust in him and faithfully serve him. It means you don’t seek your own glory, but instead the glory of God. For instance: say someone says to you, “Hey, nice job on that report,” say, “Thanks. God really blessed it so it went well.” That’s what it means to see how God can use you right there to fight against one of our fiercest enemies—human pride.

But our greatest weapon to use in this fight is to share God’s word with other people. We use the law and the gospel. Use the law to show people their sin and how they need a savior. Use the gospel to point guilty sinners to their victorious savior.

And with the power of God, our enemies will be vanquished forever.