Spiritual Warfare

John 17:13–19 KJV 1900

And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

The world does not mean the earth but the people on earth that are not living for God. I think most Christians understand we as born again believers are separate from unbelievers. Verse 14 clearly states the non-believers hate the believers (they hate us cause the aint us). But it is important to remember even though the world might be against us we are not to hate them back but love them Matt 5:44. See our battle is not against unbelievers.

Who is our battle against? Well lets turn to scripture and see.

Ephesians 6:12 KJV 1900

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

This verse clearly shows that our battle is against wicked spiritual rulers which is Satan and his demons.

So, the spiritual realm and spiritual beings are a real place and real beings it is not a metaphor. When the Bible talks about spiritual beings it was not a parable but reality. Just because we cannot always see it does not mean it is not true. Many of you might have never of been to and seen Texas before, but I have been there all my kids were born there so you just take other people’s word and believe it though you never seen it.

So, let us take some reliable sources Word that the spiritual realm is a real thing. Turn to 2 Kings 6: 17.

So here Elisha prays and their eyes were open to see the spiritual realm and see the army of the Lord here.

Look at Dan 10:4-13.

Here is another example of the spiritual realm being right in front of people but they could not see it, but it still exist.

So, yes they were old testament so turn to Acts 8:7 once. Here after Christ has ascended Philip is casting out unclean spirits.

So, now that we know from the Bible that the spiritual realm is real, let us see why?

Turn to Gen 3:15. This verse contains 3 truths 1st Satan is the enemy of the human race. 2nd the is a spiritual conflict between Satan and his follows and God and His followers. and 3rd that though Christ would be bruise on the cross He will crush satan and his kingdom.

But look turn to Col 2:13-16. The war has already been won praise God. See it might be hard for humans to fully get this aspect because God is outside of our time. Though we may fight battles the war has been won and victory belongs to Jesus. (civil war, war 11 story). see satan is fighting a war that he already lost praise God.

So, next thing is if the war has been won why do we still need to fight battles? Well because we at this time still live in the world and it is all for 1st His glory 1 Sam 17:46-47. 2 Ch 20:15. The battle is The Lord’s and all for His glory.

Though He uses it for us as well. 2 Cor 12:6-10. Paul clearly explains this right here, fighting spiritual battles keeps us humble.

Turn to Matt 18:12-14 so, 1st thing about this passage is all 100 sheep in this parable already belongs to the Lord, Calvin and i were just talking about this passage and he explained something he learned about sheep that go astray and what happens if the shepherd finds the sheep. (explain) I also started studying more and sheep and shepherds and found out why that one sheep goes astray. See this is not just a random occurence that could happen that Jesus used as a model but it is a real one. See sheep might be dumb but they are also very loyal. What happens if a sheep feels any pain or sickness etc they are so loyal to the shepherd and the flock that they think they are not worthy to be around the flock because they will put the flock and the shepherd at risk of attacks, so they think they and the flock will be better off if they leave and go it alone, but it is not the case. The sheep being away from the shepherd will get worse and very stressed out being away from the shepherd. Look let’s face most Christians that go astray do not fail because they are weak they fail because they think they are strong. They tend to start think they got this, they think they can handle this, turn to 1 Cor 10:13 this is one of the most misused and misunderstood verse in the church today. This verse is in the midst of Paul warning of idolatry. Look we will not turn to them but in Exodus 32 and Num 21:4-9 the Israelites would get to big for their britches and started to sin more and more and God both times was going to punish them but there was a mediator like Moses that talked to God for them and God showed grace and mercy. This verse does not say God will not protect us from a stressful job, unpayable bills, or a bad relationship, many Christians go through it. God will put more on us at times in order to break us and remake us look at Heb 12:4-13 for a moment. (after reading) but praise God the gospel is the good news that we have a Savior that took the suffering and punishment for us that we can be delivered.

Eph 6:10-18 I will finish with this now that we know spiritual warfare is real and will happen how do we prepare for it. We must put on the armour of God, which we do by praying, and studying, and last just like the 99 sheep we stay together so that we are truly stronger as a flock because we have each other but most importantly because we are protected by our Shepherd.