A Call to Battle

Call to Battle

Just before Easter, we wrapped up our journey through the book of chapters long and it took us 13 weeks.

We are the recipients of unbelievably bountiful blessings from God! But the very blessings from God’s hand can go rancid and become poison to us, dumbing down our minds, fogging up our vision, and leaving us stumbling in a deadly stupor.

This is a truth we need to grasp as we begin a new school year this week. There is an idea, common in North American Christian circles today – that God has done the work of salvation for us – there is nothing left to do to be saved – only believe. That’s true.

But the error comes when that thought goes on – because God has done it all, because He has saved us – the rest of life ought to be a pleasure cruise!

EXAMPLES

The Puritans, my heroes in the Christian faith, had more wisdom and more joy than is common in our day. They had two images for describing the Christian life in this world: 1) A Pilgrimage 2) A Warfare. Two different images – but really – they fit together like a hand in a glove. We are pilgrims on the way to Glory – on the way . . . but from beginning to end of the pathway, there are enemies who lie in wait, looking to trip us up and put an end to our journey. The only way to finish the pilgrimage is to do battle with our enemies.

This morning we begin a new series from on Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God. The series will take us into November likely, and I have chosen to begin the new school year studying this subject, because

Just before Easter, we wrapped up our journey through the book of chapters long and it took us 13 weeks.

Now we are switching gears, as well as Testaments. We are moving into Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus. But there aren’t 42 chapters here - there’s only 6. And - we’re not even going through the whole letter. We are going to make our way through Chapter 6, verses 10-20. And we are going to spend probably 12 weeks in this passage. 11 verses - 12 weeks. What?

Sometimes we fly above and look at the forest. Sometimes we get down on the ground and walk among the trees. Both types of study are important. So I think it’s good that we change things up from a ‘big picture’ study to a ‘detail’ study.

And if you think that 12 sermons is a lot for such a small passage - let me tell you - that’s nothing. One of the Puritans, William Gurnall wrote probably THE classic book on this passage, titled, “The Christian in Complete Armour” - John Newton, the author of the hymn, ‘Amazing Grace’ said that if he could only read one book beside the Bible, it would be this one. Charles Spurgeon said that it’s peerless and priceless. I would highly recommend it to you - but it is 1200 pages!. Don’t worry though. If that’s too much for you to read, the Banner of Truth published a shorter, ‘abridged’ version of the book, and managed to squeeze the massive book down into a more manageable ONE THOUSAND pages.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones - expounded this passage with 2 whole volumes of his 8 volume set os sermons on Ephesians - - 52 sermons in these 11 verses.

At the beginning of his study on this passage, Lloyd-Jones said that this is the most important text in the Bible ...... “There is nothing that is more urgently important for all who claim the name of Christian, than to grasp and understand the teaching of this particular section of Scripture. ..... no theme that is more urgently important to all Christians at the present time than this ....”. Now, like any good preacher, he said that about pretty much every passage he preached, WHEN he was preaching it.

But I do think he’s right about this one. Let me just spend a few minutes explaining WHY THIS PASSAGE? WHY NOW?

This section of Ephesians follows naturally after the lessons learned from Job. What did JOB teach us?: Life is NOT easy for the Christian. You may be living for the Lord - oh, you’re far from perfect … you fail, you stumble, you fall … oh how you fall. But you want to honor the Lord with your life. So you follow Him, you trust Him, you your world falls apart.

So how do you hold onto the Lord when your world falls apart? Well, it has to start before the storm hits. And it has to start with a right perspective that leads to the right preparations.

JC Ryle, Holiness: “There are 2 marks of the Christian life: Inner peace and inner conflict”. There’s a peace that passes all understanding - comes from the gospel. But there’s also a conflict: “The good that I would, I don’t do .... the evil that I hate ...”

But there is also a conflict on the outside. There is a spiritual warfare - -

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Verse 12: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

There is nothing more important to your joy in Christ – than recognizing that you are in a battle and knowing how to fight. This morning I want to introduce our subject. I want to point you to the Fact of the Battle, the Nature of the Battle and the Goal of the Battle.

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1 The Fact of the Battle

As you probably noticed, our text comes at the end of the book. Paul is wrapping up his letter to the Ephesians. This is a magnificent letter, he has painted the canvas with as much of the beauty of the glory of Jesus Christ as human words can convey. tells us that God has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. That in Christ, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. Chapter 2 reminds us that we were born in trouble with God - we are by nature children of wrath, under the judgement of God and headed for hell. BUT GOD - , “BUT GOD, being rich in mercy, because of the great loved with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED - (6) and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (7) so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

And, just in case you thought you had to bring something to the table to get that kind of love - v. 8, “… by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is NOT your own doing, it is the gift of GOd, (9) not a result of works, so that NO ONE MAY BOAST.”

We are the recipients of unfathomably great blessings from God!

He makes that point clear: v. 10, “Be strong in the Lord.” V. 11, “Put on the whole armor of God.” You don’t put armor on when you go to the beach. You don’t put armor on when you step onto a cruise ship. You put armor on to protect yourself when you are under attack.

We are the recipients of unbelievably bountiful blessings from God!

..... But the very blessings from God’s hand can go rancid and become poison to us, dumbing down our minds, fogging up our vision, and leaving us stumbling in a deadly stupor.

Now, as he finishes, he says, “I want you to be strong in the Lord.” “I want you to understand that to live the Christian life is to live constantly on the battlefield.” Every minute of every day that you live on this earth – you are at war.

He makes that point clear: v. 10, “Be strong in the Lord.” V. 11, “Put on the whole armor of God.” You don’t put armor on when you go to the beach. You don’t put armor on when you step onto a cruise ship. You put armor on to protect yourself when you are under attack.

There is an idea, common in North American Christian circles today – that God has done the work of salvation for us – there is nothing left to do to be saved – only believe. That’s true.

There is an idea, common in North American Christian circles today – that God has done the work of salvation for us – there is nothing left to do to be saved – only believe. That’s true.

But the error comes when that thought goes on – because God has done it all, because He has saved us – the rest of life ought to be a pleasure cruise!

The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive Spiritual Warfare—Part 1

J.C. Ryle, bishop of Liverpool (maybe not when he wrote this, but he was eventually the bishop of Liverpool), wrote these words: “Let me talk to you about true Christianity. There’s a vast quantity of religion current in the world that is not true, genuine Christianity. It passes muster, it satisfies sleepy consciences; but it is not good money. It is not the real thing which was called Christianity 1800 years ago.”

He continues, “There are thousands of men and women who go to chapels and churches every Sunday and call themselves Christians. Their names are in the baptismal register. They are reckoned Christians while they live. They are married with a Christian marriage service. They mean to be buried as Christians when they die. But you never see any ‘fight’ about their religion! Of spiritual strife, and exertion, and conflict, and self-denial, and watching, and warring they know literally nothing at all.”

Then he says just a little farther down over here, “Let us consider these propositions.… The saddest symptom about many so-called Christians is the utter absence of anything like conflict or fight. They eat, they drink, they dress, they work, they amuse themselves, they get money, they spend money, they go through a scanty round of formal religious services once or even twice a week, but the great spiritual warfare … its watchings and strugglings, its agonies and anxieties, its battles and contests … of all this they appear to know nothing at all.”

Then he finally sits down and says, “Do you find in your heart of hearts a spiritual struggle? Are you conscious of two principles within you, contending for the mastery? Do you feel anything of war in your inward man? Well, let us thank God for it! It is a good sign. It is strongly probable evidence of the great work of sanctification. All true saints are soldiers. A real Christian can be known as much by his inward warfare as by his inward peace.”

Somebody says, “Well, I think you’re exaggerating. You’re coming on too strong.” Not necessarily. I’ve seen three babies born. I’m not a doctor. If you’re a doctor, you may have seen hundreds of babies born, but this is what I can tell. Being born is a serious situation. The only right response to a serious situation is violence. If you’re in a house, and it’s beginning to burn, and your life is in danger, you don’t say, “Hmm, I wonder which way out.”

It’s clear you have not grasped the situation. It’s clear your mind is not alive to the serious situation. If it’s alive, there is kicking. There is running. There is fighting. There’s a violence. Anytime you’re really alive to a serious situation, there is violence. There’s a fight; there’s a conflict. When a baby is born, there should be kicking. There should be crying. There should, in many cases, be just a flailing of the arms and a screaming. Why? Because the child has to take the first breath.

It’s very traumatic, and if a child just comes on out, and lies there and says nothing and does nothing, what does that mean? Does everybody say, “Ah, phlegmatic temperament?” Is that what they say? Do they say, “Ah, well, here’s somebody who really knows how to take life as it comes?” Not a bit. You say, “Something is wrong with this child. The child is not alive or the child is not alive to the situation. There’s something wrong. We have to do something. We have to alert it. We have to wake it up.”

Matthew 11:12, says, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” That’s Jesus talking. A modern translation would go like this: “The kingdom of God advances through violence, and the violent take it by force.” Do you know what that means? It means anybody, who has any spiritual life in him or her, is alert to how urgent the situation is. For example, the only thing you know about your future is you’re going to die. The only thing you know about anybody around you is they’re going to die. That creates urgency.

“Put on the whole armour of God”, the Bible tells us. You put armor on when you are in a battle.

You put armor on when you are in a battle.

The Puritans, my heroes in the Christian faith, had more wisdom and more joy than is common in our day. They had two images for describing the Christian life in this world: 1) A Pilgrimage 2) A Warfare. Two different images – but really – they fit together like a hand in a glove. We are pilgrims on the way to Glory – on the way . . . but from beginning to end of the pathway, there are enemies who lie in wait, looking to trip us up and put an end to our journey. The only way to finish the pilgrimage is to do battle with our enemies.

You put armor on when you are in a battle.

You put armor on when you are in real danger – when you know that there is an enemy whose goal is to do you harm – to kill you even. Can you imagine a Canadian soldier in Afghanistan, going on patrol into the danger zones around that country, wearing shorts, a t-shirt and flip flops?

“Put on the whole armor of God . . . that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

“We wrestle . . .,” Paul writes. That’s a great image – of struggle, of sweat, of every muscle engaged against an enemy.

You know what it is to struggle in your life – you have enemies. Of that, I KNOW I don’t have to persuade you. When you think on the struggles, the suffering, the misery of your life, is there a person’s face that comes to your mind? That kid up the street that calls you names, that

ENEMY –

What you may not be clear on is that your enemy is NOT, ultimately, another person - - “we wrestle NOT against flesh and blood.”

“. . . . we wrestle against” and then Paul goes on to list title after title.

I don’t believe that he is listing off different ranks of spiritual enemies. No, what he is doing is piling up term after term to make us realize that our enemy – is the

WE HAVE AN ENEMY

It’s the message of history - - it’s the message of the Bible - introduced in - in the form of a serpent that enters paradise and trips up Adam and Eve and drags them down into sin and causes them to be thrown out of paradise.

.... the DRAGON in chapter 12 - the great red dragon and the 2 beasts of the next chapter: 1 a symbol of earthly, secular power hostile to the Kingdom of God .... a triumverate of evil - the dragon and the beast and the false prophet. We have an enemy.

All united in their goal to get us to forget God.

Satan hates you. He HATES God and resents His glory .... and because of his hatred for everything God loves - that’s why he hates you. Not because you’re anything special in yourself - but Because God loves you. Oh, why do I run into temptation and sin - as if somehow I’m treating myself to a delicious, forbidden pleasure - that God is withholding from me … when Satan, the one who hates me - is cheering me all along the way.

And Satan is most content when we don’t even recognize him to be there. Devil - ‘diabolos’, in Greek. ‘the Satan’, in Hebrew .... and you ignore him at your peril.

Paul wants us to understand. CS Lewis: 2 errors we can make with regards to Satan: we can make too little of him and forget that he exists - - OR - - we can make too much of him and forget that Jesus Christ has spoiled the principalities and powers and TRIUMPHED OVER HIM in the cross. and has made a SHOW of him in his redemptive work. We can forget that Christ has FINISHED the work and that we are, ultimately safe in His arms. Ultimately, Satan can NOT get us.

This is a battle that is unique: The way you fight for your business, political causes you support .... the way you fight for your - - - they won’t work here.

V. 13 - Paul talks about something called ‘the evil day’. “Take us the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in THE EVIL DAY.” There is an ‘evil day’ … and I don’t think that he is referring to a day in the future - not talking about Judgment day here - that will be a terrifying day for many - but it’s not an EVIL day - Judgement Day is when the Righteousness and Justice of God will shine out with glory and His grace will be seen that much more clearly for what it is. Judgment Day is not an ‘evil day’.

No, the evil day that Paul is referring to here - is a day that comes over and over in your life. Here and now. A day when Satan seems to be on the move - when you can almost FEEL his presence - almost smell the sulfur … A day when there seems to be an overwhelming amount of temptation - and it comes thick and fast. problems .....

family, work, relationships … problems within. Seem to be bombarded by a hostility that is over and above the usual amount

Paul says, “The evil day”. There is a day when desire and opportunity meet.

That’s the most dangerous time of all. We all face temptation, day after day, sometimes moment after moment - - - but usually, we get the temptation, but NOT the opportunity to fulfill that desire ....

In the blessed mercy of God - most of the time - he prevents us from having the resources or the ability or the time to fulfill the desires that temptation brings .... oh, but there are the days. The days when the temptation is there AND the opportunity is there, at the same time. Those are the EVIL DAYS.

Remember Job chapters 1-2 - - - “There was a day”. “There was a day”. And in that evil day, we need to remind ourselves that we have an enemy. Oh yes, we sit in the heavenly places … saved, brought into union with Jesus Christ - If you belong to Jesus Christ - you are a child of the King of Heaven.

You are set apart - you are holy. You are a saint. REMEMBER THAT.

Oh but Paul addresses this very letter to the saints who are IN EPHESUS. and you, Christian - your home is heaven .... but you still have an address in Abbotsford, or Chilliwack or somewhere on this earth. And Satan is on the prowl. HERE. We have an enemy.

Churchill - First speech to the House of Commons. May, 1940. Nev. Chamberlain had signed the Munich accord - stepped off the airplane, waving piece of paper in his hand, proudly procaliming, “Peace in Our Time”. Disaster. Chamberlain resigns, Churchill is put in his place -

first speech to the H of C. Enormous anticipation. Here is what Churchill said:

“We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous time We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy?

I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.

You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory; victory at all costs; victory in spite of all terror; victory, however long and hard the road may be. For without victory, there is no survival.”

That’s what Paul is saying to every Christian - in Ephesus, in Abbotsford, BC in 2019 - You are in a battle.

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2 THE NATURE OF THE BATTLE

OK, so we are in a spiritual battle. So, the devil is my enemy. What is spiritual warfare all about? Let’s look at the NATURE of Spiritual Warfare. Before we talk positively about what it IS, let’s clear away some of the clutter – and I want you to notice what Paul does NOT say.

This very passage is one of the foremost, fullest treatments of spiritual warfare in the whole Bible. So you would expect that whatever things God wants us to know – whatever is essential to conquering in battle, you would expect him to at least mention here. I say this because, just as there are many in the church who ignore this subject, there are other who are so caught up in the fact of the devil and his dangerous design that they construct whole specific methodologies for how to deal with spiritual enemies.

FIRST: Paul says nothing here about “territorial spirits” – that the devil has assigned specific demons to certain cities, certain neighbourhoods, certain streets and certain houses. Paul says nothing about that here. He does NOT say, ‘If you want to live in spiritual victory, what you need to do first is find out who the demon is, or what the demonic power is that has a grip on your area – then to name it, and pray against it.’ Some of you have heard this teaching - the Bible doesn’t teach it.

SECOND: Paul also does NOT introduce the notion of ‘warfare prayer’. He does talk about prayer here. But the prayer he emphasizes is not directed against the devil or His demons. Paul never says, “speak to the devil”. James says, “Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.” The prayers we are to pray are directed to GOD and is concerned with the saints.

THIRD: Paul does not introduce the idea of prayer walking: that is, the idea that a group of Christians go on a walk through one area and take that area for Christ by marching through it, holding up the banner of Christ’s victory over the devil and essentially, naming and claiming the streets and households for Christ.

Chances are, if you have had an interest in spiritual warfare, then you’ve come across books or teachers that pushing one of these approaches. It is interesting to me that Paul does not think any of them are important enough to tell the Ephesian Christians about.

WHAT IS THE NATURE OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE?

Today, we are just beginning the study, so there’s much more explanation to come. But what I want you to get this morning: Spiritual warfare is active.

You may say, “Well, isn’t that obvious? Don’t insult my intelligence?” I don’t mean to insult you, but there is a popular stream of thought among some Christians that is summed up by the saying, “Let go and let God.” When it comes to trusting God’s good plan for you, that saying is true. When it comes to growing up to Christian maturity, that is FALSE. I believe firmly in the sovereignty of God – He is in control of the world, He is in control of what happens in His creation – and when it comes to any of us being saved, it is only the sovereign, electing purpose of God that brings me to faith in Christ - - I am so desperately wicked that I would be saved in NO OTHER WAY> That’s the Bible’s teaching.

FIRST: Spiritual warfare is active. You may say, “Well, isn’t that obvious? Don’t insult my intelligence?” I don’t mean to insult you, but there is a popular stream of thought among some Christians that is summed up by the saying, “Let go and let God.” When it comes to trusting God’s good plan for you, that saying is true. When it comes to growing up to Christian maturity, that is FALSE. I believe firmly in the sovereignty of God – He is in control of the world, He is in control of what happens in His creation – and when it comes to any of us being saved, it is only the sovereign, electing purpose of God that brings me to faith in Christ - - I am so desperately wicked that I would be saved in NO OTHER WAY> That’s the Bible’s teaching.

The problem is that some people believe the same thing, but make a false jump in logic and say, “If God does all the work in me being saved – He will do all the work in me growing up to maturity.”

“If he wants me to stop that bad habit – He is going to have to change my desires.” “If He wants me to pray more, He is going to have to give me more delight in prayer.” After all, doesn’t tell us that it is “God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure”? rue, but when you quote that verse - DON’T leave out the verse IMMEDIATELY before that one: , “… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” WORK OUT YOUR SALVATION … You are in a battle - - - but don’t fight scared - because no less than GOD is working in you TO DO according to His good pleasure. “Put on the armor” God calls. “We wrestle” Paul writes.

What God’s word is telling us here is that we are not going to grow into the joy streaming sunlight of Christian maturity without a constant battle through the darkness. Every day, in a thousand different ways, the devil and his henchmen are on the hunt to seduce you off the pathway. “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” .

What God’s word is telling us here is that we are not going to grow into the joy streaming sunlight of Christian maturity without a constant battle through the darkness. Every day, in a thousand different ways, the devil and his henchmen are on the hunt to seduce you off the pathway. “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” .

You can’t ignore Satan and hope he goes away.

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain boasted of solving disputes ‘by discussion instead of by force of arms’ and spoke flattering words about Hitler and Mussolini. After the Munich agreement giving Czechoslovakia to Hitler, when he stepped off that airplane, waving the signed agreement in his hand - Chamberlain said, ‘I believe it is peace for our time. Go home and get a nice, quiet sleep.’ And, at the time - Many British people cheered wildly. But you know what happened – there was no peace and very little quiet sleep. The only way to stop Hitler was to fight. WE WRESTLE, the Bible says.

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3 THE GOAL OF THE BATTLE

Finally, the goal of the battle.

Look at v. 11 .... 13 ..... 14. Do you see the emphasis through repetition? The goal of this battle is to stand.

Some of you are thinking: “Where is the good news here? Every day is going to be a battle for me?! That doesn’t sound like good news to me! I don’t want to live a life in battle - I just want peace … I want to enjoy life - so count me out of this ‘spiritual battle’ stuff.”

Oh, but not so fast friend. The truth is - you can’t ‘check out’ of spiritual battle in this life - whether you are a Christian or not. The very people who think they can - are the ones who end up as casualties - - road kill on the highway of life.

We’ve

Elizabeth Elliot was the widow of Jim Elliot - the missionary martyr in the jungles of Ecuador. Elizabeth later remarried - and her second husband was Dr. Addison Leitch. He was a pastor. In his church were two young college women. Those two young college women decided that after they earned their bachelor's degrees, instead of going into graduate school, they were going to go into the mission field.

I know how weak I am. I know how quickly my affections run after the things of this world”. You’re right. This would not be good news at all if the call to wrestle was the end of Paul’s instruction – as if it was all up to us to struggle against the devil. But that is NOT the end of the story. And just as wrong as it is to believe you don’t need to do daily battle against sin, is the mistake of thinking you can overcome the enemy by your own strength.

They were fine Christians, but their parents were not. When the parents found out about it, they came to see the pastor, and they assumed this guy had to be a fundamentalist loony tune, or their daughters would not have been in this terrible situation of thinking they could run off and become missionaries instead of looking for some security in life. They said, “They should go to grad school. They should go get a job. They should find some security in life. They shouldn’t run off in the blue and be missionaries in who knows where.”

That’s where Dr. Addison Leitch looked at them, and he said,

“Let me get this straight. Every one of us is on a little ball of rock called Earth. This little ball of rock is spinning through space at a zillion miles an hour. Even if it doesn’t ever run into anything, some day from under every single one of us, a little trap door is going to open, and everybody here is going to fall off. Underneath there will be the everlasting arms of God or nothing at all. Maybe you can get some security by getting a master’s degree. Have I got you straight?” he said.

Putting your head in the sand and ignoring the battle doesn’t make it go away.

Maybe you’re here and that’s not you at all. You know that this life is a battle and you’re thinking right now: “I know how weak I am. I know how quickly my affections run after the things of this world. How can I ever STAND?!”. You’re right. This would not be good news at all if the call to wrestle was the end of Paul’s instruction – as if it was all up to us to struggle against the devil. But that is NOT the end of the story. And just as wrong as it is to believe you don’t need to do daily battle against sin, is the mistake of thinking you can overcome the enemy by your own strength.

Look at verse 10. Whose strength does Paul tell us to fight in? “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.”

The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive Spiritual Warfare—Part 1

22 years ago that I’ve never forgotten. Some of you know this one. He was a pastor in a church, and he had two young college women who went to his church. Those two young college women decided, instead of going into graduate school, they were going to go into the mission field.

They were fine Christians, but their parents were not. When the parents found out about it, they came to see the pastor, and they assumed this guy was a fundamentalist loony tune, or their daughters would not have been in this terrible situation of thinking they could run off and become missionaries instead of looking for some security in life. They said, “They should go to grad school. They should go get a job. They should find some security in life. They shouldn’t run off in the blue and be missionaries in who knows where.”

That’s where Dr. Addison Leitch, who is now dead (he was Elisabeth Elliot’s second husband) looked at them, and he said, “Let me get this straight. Every one of us is on a little ball of rock called Earth. This little ball of rock is spinning through space at a zillion miles an hour. Even if it doesn’t ever run into anything, some day from under every single one of us, a little trap door is going to open, and everybody here is going to fall off. Underneath there will be the everlasting arms of God or nothing at all. Maybe you can get some security by getting a master’s degree. Have I got you straight?” he said.