Connected In Spiritual Warfare
Notes
Transcript
Intro: We come to the final message in the series, “My Life In The Church”. And in every message I have preached, we see Paul has prepared the church for the inevitable, “Spiritual Warfare”.
Onward Christian Soldiers, Sabine Baring-Gould, 1865
[1] Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus going on before! Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe; Forward into battle, see his banner go!
[3] Like a mighty army moves the church of God; Brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod; We are not divided; all one body we, One in hope and doctrine, one in charity.
Refrain: Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus going on before!
That song is based upon 1 Tim. 6:12 & 2 Tim. 2:3 where Paul says to “fight the good fight of faith” and “endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
But Paul knows Jesus would never think about sending His church into battle without being properly equipped. That is why Paul reminds us tonight as we are “Connected In Spiritual Warfare” to make sure we all wear and use the spiritual armour provided by God!
Text; Eph. 6:10-18
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—
Most Christians have forgotten [even if they ever knew], that the Christian life is not a playground, but a battlefield. As a result, very few Christians are armed, equipped and ready to wage spiritual battle.
Maybe you don’t understand why your prayers are not getting answered.
You don’t understand why your children are lost.
You don’t understand why the world is in such chaos.
You don’t understand why you don’t have power in soul winning.
You don’t understand why you don’t understand the Bible.
You don’t understand these things, because rather than winning the spiritual battle, you don’t even know that there’s a spiritual war going on!
1. Strong In The Lord; 10
1. Strong In The Lord; 10
Because we are in a spiritual battle, our strength must be in the spiritual sphere.
Every Commander In Chief has an intelligence corps that gets information about the enemy. This gives His soldiers the upper hand in battle. Jesus gives us the spiritual intelligence we need to fight the good fight of faith. [Eph. 1:17-23]
Our authority is in Christ Jesus and not ourselves!
2. Stand Against The Enemy; 11-13
2. Stand Against The Enemy; 11-13
Our enemy is the Devil and he has a full arsenal of spiritual weapons to use against us. Paul says that we need to stand firm in our faith against him.
Wiles- cunning, tricky, full of schemes.
To Eve he was a gentile serpent helping her become more like God
To David he became the beautiful Bathsheba that caused him to commit adultery, murder.
To Israel/church today he is the false teacher that tickles the ear through prosperity preaching
Principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual hosts of wickedness- these are spiritual forces with unbelievable power and the number is many. DEMONS!
The forces of evil are the rulers of darkness who blind the minds of men lest they believe the glorious gospel of eternal salvation.
4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
How do these evil forces work? They lure you into SIN!
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
Wrestle- to stand against and pin our opponent
The word ‘wrestle’ [pale], Paul uses a Greek athletic term. Thayer defines as follows: ‘a contest between two in which each endeavors to throw the other, and which is decided when the victor is able to press and hold down his prostate antagonist, namely, hold him down with his hand upon his neck.’ When we consider that the loser in a Greek wrestling contest had his eyes gouged out with resulting blindness for the rest of his days, we can form some conception of the Ephesian Greek’s reaction to Paul’s illustration. The Christian’s wrestling against the powers of darkness is no less desperate and fateful” (Ephesians and Colossians, Vol. 1, p. 141).
Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (1996). Galatians–Colossians (p. 223). Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
Good news, Jesus has already defeated the devil and his darkness @ Calvary
15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
We need to wrestle with that in mind
10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
3. Suit Up for Battle; 14-17
3. Suit Up for Battle; 14-17
Just like every soldier puts on his battle fatigues, so the christian needs to put on his spiritual armor.
Belt of Truth- The Word of God.
John 17:17 (NKJV)
17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
Breastplate of Righteousness- pleasing to God
Imputed righteousness- you’ve got to be saved. You’ve got to be under the blood of Jesus Christ. You’ve got to be born again. You have to be made righteous.
Personal righteousness- the practical, personal fruit of His imputed righteousness. Are you walking with the Lord day by day? Are you living clean? Are you living pure?
Gospel of Peace- always be ready to share the Gospel. A soldier would’t go into battle without his shoes, we shouldn’t go into battle without the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The battle is not for flesh and blood but for the souls of men. What we are fishing for, Satan is poisoning the water.
7 How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Shield of Faith- absolute trust in the Lord
Paul says faith is the most important part of the spiritual armor and there’s a reason why. Satan will do all he can to get you to doubt the Word of God so that you will lose your trust in God to compromise/destroy your faith!
38 Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Without faith there is no reason for the other pieces of God’s armor, because you won’t be in a spiritual battle to start with!
Helmet of Salvation- Paul’s not talking about getting saved, that’s in the breastplate of righteousness. He’s saying to use your salvation to protect yourself. When the devil comes to you to attack you with condemnation, you refer him back to your glorious salvation.
Jesus defeated the temptations of the devil by referring to the Word of God, “it is written”. We need to use what we know in our head/heart concerning salvation in Christ to defeat the enemy as well.
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.
Sword of the Spirit- Word of God, the same as the Belt of Truth.
The sword was a 14” dagger that was intended for hand to hand combat. It had a pointed tip and was double edged. The Bible is the same weapon!
12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord.
4. Seize the Day; 18
4. Seize the Day; 18
All the armor of God is so the christian can Seize the Day in battle. That means he can be victorious in Christ.
The key to spiritual victory is in “prayer”.
Every piece of armor is necessary for the battle, but if you enter battle without a battle plan, you will be defeated regardless what type of armor you have on.
The only thing that Satan fears on this earth is a Christian who knows how to pray! That’s why Paul says “Praying in the Spirit… for the saints”.
If you go out witnessing or visiting without praying, you’re already defeated.
If I come into this pulpit without prayer, its just a good speech.
11 Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul,
12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.
13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.”
14 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.
15 And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”
16 Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
If we approach any ministry of God without prayer, we are just sounding brass and clanging cymbals. And those are a joke to the enemy!
Close;
No Christian should ever enter “Spiritual Warfare” with the mindset of defeat and doubt. We should enter it with the confident assurance of our Commander in Chief, Jesus Christ.
A story from the Korean war illustrates this attitude. As enemy forces advanced, Baker Company was cut off from the rest of their unit. For several hours no word was heard, even though headquarters repeatedly tried to communicate with the missing troops. Finally, a faint signal was received. Straining to hear, the corpsman asked, “Baker Company, do you read me?”
“This is Baker Company,” came the reply.
“What is your situation?” asked the corpsman.
“The enemy is to the east of us, the enemy is to the north of us, the enemy is to the west of us, the enemy is to the south of us.” Then after a brief pause, the sergeant from Baker Company said with determination, “The enemy is not going to get away from us now!”
Although surrounded and outnumbered, he was thinking of victory, not defeat. My friends, we are not fighting for victory, We are fighting from victory! That makes all the difference in the world!
Carr, A. (2015). The Fight of Our Lives (Ephesians 6:10–18). In The Sermon Notebook: New Testament (p. 2914). Alan Carr.
Onward Christian Soldiers
[2] At the sign of triumph, Satan’s host doth flee; On then Christian soldiers, on to victory!
Hell’s foundations quiver, at the shout of praise; Brothers lift your voices, loud your anthems raise!