The Church’s Spiritual War: Our Enemy

We are looking at part 2 of our study of Ephesians 2:10-20 with this week being the opposite of our study last Lord’s day. Last week, we looked at the greatness and power of God and how in our spiritual lives he strengthens us for the spiritual war for the church. We left with great hope and confidence that the Lord does not just save us from our sins, but he gives us the ability to withstand the enemies advances but he gives us power to gain ground in the expanse of glory of God’s name and his kingdom.

Now we must take the necessary steps of looking towards our enemy, not in praise but in preparation for the battle. In order for us to be alert to his devices and to know how to resist him, we must understand his tactics.

I want to begin today with a quote by CS LEWIS that is found in the introduction of his book the Screwtape Letters. He warns the reader,

There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.

Lewis, C. S.. The Screwtape Letters (p. ix). (Function). Kindle Edition.

As we agree with Lewis, we must acknowledge the function of studying the enemy for the sake of the success of resistance. We must not ignore our enemy and we must not be amazed by him. Instead we must understand his wicked ways. How does a man catch a snake but to know where the snake lives, how and when he hunts his food, and what are his weaknesses?

Paul and the whole of Scripture acknowledges the reality of our spiritual enemy and we must believe he wants to destroy the church. He tried destroying the Son of man but our Lord trimuphed over him. Now the church is in his crosshairs, so let us prepare for war.

To begin, let us consider that the devil is our relentless enemy

*I will reference many passages today to lay a foundation of the devious works of Satan. You can find these in your notes on the app. *

1. The Relentless Enemy v. 11b

As we consider our enemy is a relentless foe who will continue daily on his war games until his day of destruction. You are never to ease in your alertness nor resistance and yet you can always be at rest. Our peace from the Lord is greater than any attack which the enemy mounts against us.

Let’s look at how the Bible describes the makeup of our enemy

A. The Makeup of our Enemy

Luke 10:18 NASB95

18 And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.

He is a created being subservient to the Lord

Jesus identifies his enemy to his disciples in Luke 10. There Jesus looks back in history to when Satan was kicked out or fell from heaven. To fall from heaven means that Satan was a creature who once belonged in heaven. To exist in heaven with God means then that Satan is a spiritual being and not a physical one.

In addition, to fall from heaven presumes that he was kicked out of heaven and therefore means that God who reigns supremely over the devil has the authority to cast out of heaven whom he wishes. In Job we see the absolute sovereignty of God over the devil as Satan asks permission to test the righteous man Job. It was God who was confident in Job’s ability to withstand because it was in God’s power that he did. But it was the permission of God given so that Satan would even perform his evil because Satan is subservient to the Triune Godhead.

In Luke 10:19 it was Jesus reflecting on Satan’s fall from heaven that he also connected the power of his disciples over evil spirits as they were sent out in the world. Jesus gave the disciples authority to “tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.”

Revelation 12 mentions that Satan has “his angels” which we know are demons on this earth. Demons are real and are not just the scary features of movies. Jesus and his disciples battled them during his earthly ministry. As Paul calls Satan “the prince of the power of the air” in Eph 2 and Jesus calls him the “ruler of this world” then we can understand that our enemy leads a host of evil beings and those evil spiritual beings influence the evil in our world.

2. He has limited power and existence

As a spiritual being, he is not bound to the physical realities and laws of this land. In Job, Satan tells God that he has been roaming the earth to and fro. Jesus calls Judas Satan, which seems to indicate that Satan possessed Judas Iscariot in his betrayal of Jesus. If this is true, then Satan can possess individual unbelievers. He cannot possess believers because their bodily home is already inhabited by the Holy Spirit.

He is equipped with a limited power, not one that can supercede God’s power but he does how a spiritual power to affect the physical realm.

In Job 1, we see that God gives permission to Satan to test Job. Satan uses his limited power to take away the life of Job’s family and he inflicts illness upon Job’s body.

Job 1:12 “12 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.”

3. He goes by many names

He has many names in the Bible and much of those names describe his efforts to dismantle the work of God’s kingdom. His names include :

the enemy (Matt 13)

the devil - accuser (Eph 6)

Satan -Slanderer

Beelzebul- pagan god of the Philistines

Belial- means wickedness and evil 2 Cor 6:15

the serpent and the dragon Rev 12:9

disguised as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14)

tempter

Luke 10:18–19 “18 And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. 19 “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.”

John 8:44 “44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

Zechariah 3:1 “1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.”

B. The Methods of our Enemy

The second thing that we should notice about our enemies attack is the schemes as Paul calls them. The Greek language signifies that he has a method of attack. He is very much deliberate and strategic in the ways that he seeks to support God’s plans and purposes. As we study the wartime strategy of our enemy, we can understand his method of attack so that we can resist him.

Lies and Deception

In 2 Corinthians 11:3 “3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”

Paul warns the Corinthians that the plans of the devil are those of craftiness and trickery.

John 8:44 Jesus rebukes the Jews in John 8 and identifies their corrupt nature whereby they were not following after God but instead Satan. In his rebuke he tells us that Satan is the “father of lies” who “does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.” We know that he lied to Eve about God’s character and his word and he lied to Eve about the consequences of sin.

Satan is a deceiver in the following ways:

False philosophies Colossians 2:8 

False religions 1 Corinthians 10:20

“20 No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons.”  

False ministers 2 Corinthians 11:14-15

False disciples 1 John 2:18–19

“18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”

False Doctrine 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12

2. Physical Attack

Like I stated previously, we understand that Satan can influence the physical world. He does this by sending his minions to possess unbelievers. You can bet that those who are possessed by the devil and his demons are those of great influence and power. Let’s look at an example:

Turn with me to Revelation 16:13–14 “13 And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; 14 for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.”

What we can see here is the influence of Satan and his demons to entice the kings of the earth to go to war against the the Lord. John’s vision sees the nations gathering their armies to fight against God.

Another example in the OT is Saul visiting a witch for guidance. In 1 Samuel 28, we read the story of Saul, who had been rejected by God for his idolatry and disobedience. In v 6 Saul inquires for wisdom from the Lord but God was silent. Saul turns then to witchcraft and finds a witch to give him guidance. She practices “divination” and connects with Samuel who has already died. There is obviously great mystery as to how this occurs, but the wording here shows us that a king of Israel sought about guidance from a witch which comes from demonic influence and power.

Directing governments Daniel 10:13 

Bringing sickness Job 2:4-6, Luke 13:16 

Destroying lives

Persecuting the saints Revelation 2:10

Preventing service 1 Thessalonians 2:18 

Promoting division Romans 16:17–20

Producing cults and false religions 1 Timothy 4:1 

3. Temptation to sin

A third category is Satan’s activity to tempt the world into sin. Satan is not the causer of sin in the lives of individuals. Each person on this earth cannot stand before God and exclaim “Satan made me do it.” Instead, we must understand though that Satan is the tempter is his business, particularly for the church is to lay snare where Christians stumble back in their old bondage into sin.

A reformed drug addict may be enticed by a drug user and friend or they may just happen to be offered drugs by a random person. These are not accidents but the work of Satan’s schemes to destroy those and usurp the power of God.

The greatest example of Satan’s temptation comes in the gospels with the temptation of our Lord. There in the wilderness, Jesus is tempted in his earthly weakness of hunger and the difficult path leading to the cross. Satan shows in this situation that he will all that is necessary to divert the Lord Jesus from his mission to die upon the cross. He misuses Scripture to tempt the Lord into sin. He lies about promises he cannot fulfill as well. In every respect, the Lord overcomes these temptations from the devil to show us his power and give the church confidence that in Christ, we too can escape temptations to sin.

Note how Scripture describes the temptations of Satan….

Anger Ephesians 4:26-27 

Rejecting Faith in Christ Matthew 13:19

Lusting after Earthly Treasures 1 John 2:16 

Deceiving others Acts 5:3 “3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?”  

Marital unfaithfulness 1 Corinthians 7:5

2. The Ream of Darkness v. 12

Now let us consider Paul’s words more fully in Eph 6 about how we might consider the activity of Satan and this present evil. We should consider it a ….

A. A Spiritual Battle

Wrestling: Paul uses the term wrestling in Eph 6:12 to indicate that what we face in this Christian life is continual spiritual war. He uses the term “wrestle” with the imagery of the Roman wrestling sport whereby two opponents engaged in had to hand combat until one person subdued the other. What I appreciate about this imagery is the personal responsibility it teaches for the church in battle. We are not disengaged like spectators in the stands, merely watching the battle. We are on the wrestling mat, with our wrestling onsie on, tossing and tumbling against the evil forces. There might be momentary takedowns with evil in our lives, but we cannot allow ourselves to be subdued.

Paul says that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against the “Rulers, Authorities, world forces, and spiritual forces in the heavenly places.” It is best to see these words as all describing the spiritual realm and the spiritual evil in that realm with Satan and his demons that seek to destroy and subvert the work of Christ in this world.

Notice with me the same usage of the words “rulers and authorities” mentioned elsewhere with the spiritual realm in focus.

Ephesians 1:20–21

“20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”

Colossians 1:16

“16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.”

Colossians 2:10 “10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;”

Some speculate that this means the levels of hierarchy among the demons in the spritual realm but that is simply speculation. All Paul gives us here is the connection of those terms to the spiritual realm and Christ’s rule and authority over them. With Paul, he is showing that our spiritual battle is with these demons. This is important for the Ephesian church who came out of pagan practices of occultism and idolatry in their former religious practice. Paul is showing the Ephesian Christians that the battle continues with such an evil.

As we consider this battle, let’s us also consider these ideas….

B. Personal Battle

1 Peter 5:8

“8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

The spiritual battle is as much your battle as the person next to you. You are not exempt from it and there is not time outs or halftime breaks. You must always be engaged for YOUR ADVERSARY the devil is out there presently and continually prowling around like a lion on the hunt.

One of my favorite movies is entitled The Ghost and the Darkness and it stars Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas. It is an adaptive screenplay based on the actual account of the Tsavo-maneaters in Kenya in 1898. It accounts a pair of lions who literally hunted and killed over 100 railroad workers during the construction of the railway system through Kenya. The movie portrays the cunning and strategic ways that lions hunt their prey at night while the men were sleeping and during the day when they were alone. It is a real picture of Satan seeking to destroy the lives of Christians and unbelievers throughout history.

C. A Global Battle

Matthew 16:18

“18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”

D. A Historic Battle

Genesis 3:15

Genesis 3:15 NASB95

15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

“15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.””

3. The Resistance by the Church v. 13

A. Our Power to Resist

When we consider all these negative aspects of the Christian battle, we are not taught them to lose heart or be afraid. Too all the children and adults in the room, there is no need to fear the devil. We do not fear him because we have a Lord who defeated him at the cross.

From the promise of Gen 3, the seed of the woman will crush the great enemy, the promises of God were and will be fulfilled. At the cross, the sting of death and the power of Satan defeated. His temptation may come upon the church but he will not prevai against us if he abide in Christ.

The reality of his defeat at the cross/resurrection/exaltation

1 John 3:8

“8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.”

Through the atoning work of Jesus on the cross to pay for the penalty of sin for his people, Jesus defeated the bondage to sin and death by giving his life. Through his resurrection and ascension to the heavenly throne, Jesus proclaims his victory over evil as he awaits his second coming. Satan and his evil army was wounded and subdued at the work of redemption so that the church is empowered to overcome their advances. We are not to fear them

1 John 4:4

“4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”

If you are a follower of Jesus who has repented for sin and put your faith in Him alone for salvation, then you are given strength in Christ to overcome the evil one.

The reality of his destruction at the second coming

Romans 16:20

The reality of his limits

“20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.”

Revelation 20:10

“10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

B. Our Persistent Resistance

Ephesians 6:13

“13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

Transition to the Lord’s Supper