Part 2: Detecting The Enemy

The Armor of God  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Introduction

The enemies we face are powerful. The battles we fight are real. The costs of defeat are far higher than we realize. The glories of victory are far more wonderful than we can imagine.
This passage tells us everything we need to know concerning this battle we are in.
Spiritual combat requires being conscious of the enemy and being controlled by the Lord.
These verses reveal some truths about detecting the enemy and that’s the subject of tonight’s message...

The Revelation of the Enemy

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,

There are a couple of words in this verse that demand special attention. One of the word “wrestle” the other is the word “for.”
The word “wrestle” is a word used to describe “hand-to-hand combat.” It speaks of the ancient struggles that took place in the Roman arenas. When the combatants met on that field of battle, they were not wrestling to win a prize like modern athletes. They were fighting for their lives, because those ancient contests were a fight to the death. Thus, it really was “no holds barred” wrestling. The combatants used deception and trickery to defeat their opponents. They cheated, and did what they had to do to win.
Warren Wiersbe wrote, “The fact that Paul uses the word ‘wrestle’ indicates that we are involved in a hand-to-hand battle and are not mere spectators at a game.” We are all called to wrestle against the enemy.
The word “for” reminds us why we must wear the armor of God, if we are to be successful in the battles of life. The very nature of the enemies we face along the way require that we face them in God’s power and not in our own strength.
We are in a literal fight for our lives. Our enemy will stop at nothing to destroy us. He will use any trick, any deception, any tactic at all to bring about our defeat. We need God’s power. We need God’s help. We need Him if we hope to stand against the relentless attacks the enemy. Notice what this verse teaches us about our enemy and his identity.
First of all, this verse tells us who our enemy is NOT! It tells us that our battle isn’t against flesh and blood…so, guess what?
→ Our struggle is not against our parents,
→ our in-laws,
→ our spouse,
→ our children,
→ our neighbors,
→ our co-workers.
When we fight one another, Satan simply takes what he wants, because we are not in a position to stand against him.
When we fight one another, we give up the high ground of love and grace in action.
When we fight one another, we shed the amor of God and walk in the flesh.
When we fight one another, we tell everyone who sees it that the Gospel is a lie.
When we fight one another, we always lose and Satan always wins.
So, let’s stop fighting one another, we are not enemies!
The second thing we see right here is WHO our enemy IS!
Let’s look at what the text says, we find right here:

The Ranks of the Enemy

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.

In verse eleven the Bible tells us to put on the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Our enemy is the devil, but that is not all.
We are given four distinct Satanic orders against whom we wrestle in our spiritual warfare: principalities, powers, the rulers of this world’s darkness, and wicked spirits in high places.
Hosts of spirit beings reside in the unseen world. We cannot see them unless they choose to be seen. In the beginning they were all good and glorious. They came from God’s hand, took their place around God’s throne, and sang His praises. There were ranks upon ranks of angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim. At the head of them all—the highest of all created intelligences, the supreme creature in the ranks of the angel throng—was Lucifer, son of the morning, the anointed cherub.
When Lucifer fell, the heavenly hosts divided. Many sons of light fell with Lucifer and were also cast out of Heaven. Satan is now their lord. He is given many impressive titles in the Bible, for although he is a fallen fiend, he is still powerful. Satan is called the god of this world, the prince of this world, and the prince of the power of the air. It was he who deceived Eve and used her to bring about Adam’s downfall. Satan was thus able to seize the kingdom of this world to ruin it and to rule it in defiance of the living God.
Let’s look at these ranks that the text gives us:

Principalities

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,

Principalities are the highest ranking official in the devil’s army. The definition of the word is “chief ruler or magistrate.”
The principalities have power to rule and lead other demons into battle. They lay out the battle strategy and report to their commander in chief, Satan.
They are our opponent, they are against us, and they seek to do Satan’s bidding. These demons help organize the battle plans and help implement these plans against the church.
The principalities are not ignorant! In once sense they are ignorant, because they are fallen angels who used to worship at the throne of God. They rebelled with Lucifer and were cast out of heaven.
Now they work diligently, tirelessly, and persistently to ruin God’s church, defeat God’s children, and take God’s creation to hell.
The principalities are hard and work and diligent in the battle. Next, we see:

Powers

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,

There is a whole host of wicked, evil, demon spirits against us. This ought to wake us up to the reality of spiritual combat. We wrestle against principalities and powers.
Powers: The Greek word is used for delegated authority or for the freedom and right to exert power.
These evil spirits are referred to as ‘powers’ by Paul.
Satan and his servants are not to be played with or toyed with. They are armed and dangerous and they seek to kill, steal, and destroy.
○ These powers infiltrate homes, lives, churches, businesses, friendships, countries, and governments.

Rulers of the Darkness of this World

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world

Albert Barnes said, “Darkness is an emblem of ignorance, misery, and sin; and no description could be more accurate than that of representing these malignant spirits as ruling over a dark world.”
We live in a dark world that is oppressed by the devil, ruled by the devil, and much of it is subjected to the devil.
The Greek word here translated rulers means ‘world rulers.’ Satan uses these demons known as world rulers to cause havoc in this world. There is no peace in the world because of these world rulers. Satan uses these world rulers to keep people in their sins and to keep them bound up and shackled up so that they can die in their sins and go to hell.
John Phillips wrote, “Satan keeps people in a state of spiritual, philosophical, religious, political, social, and personal blindness. He has invented every false religion and is behind every false philosophy, every false ideology, and every false theory.”
*These world rulers have implemented philosophies in this world that has resulted in the loss of countless lives, the spread of incurable diseases, and the oppression of God’s church.*

Spiritual Wickedness in High Places

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.

We fight against the spiritual wickedness in high places.
These demons are perverse and I’ll tell you why in just a second.
Spiritual: refers to supernatural. These demons are supernatural. They are evil, wicked demons.
The word translated wicked here is poneria, (pon-ay-ree’-ah); from Greek root word (poneros); depravity.
This is where we get our English word for pornography. These are wicked and perverse demons.
They bring to this world rebellion, sexual sins, sexual perversion, and they promote every deviation from the truth that we see today.
These demons are wicked and evil and perverse!
The ranks of the enemy are busy battling against the church of Jesus Christ.
We’ve noticed the revelation of the enemy, the ranks of the enemy, and then we see:

The Resisting of the Enemy

Ephesians 6:13 AV
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
If we are going to resist the devil then we must be obedient to God. We are called to fight the enemy and we are called to resist the enemy. If we are going to ever make a difference in this world for Jesus we must be armed for battle and we must be active in the battle. Resisting the enemy requires that we be properly dressed.

Conclusion

When we have on the armor of God we have power to stand.
Why is it that so many Christians are falling away from the church, falling into sin, falling out of fellowship, falling into the clutches of Satan?
When we are not properly dressed we will not have provided deliverance.
When we put on the whole armor of God deliverance is provided for us.
Paul says that we may be able to stand.
Dr. David Smith said, “There are many light bulb believers. They are on-off, hot-cold, high-low, up- down, in- out, and they get fired up and then they fizzle out!” This happens because we do not have on the armor of God. We are not dressed for battle.
The Bible tells us that we are in a war against the devil, the Bible even gives us the details concerning our enemies - Principalities, Powers, Rulers of the darkness of this world, and Spiritual Wickedness in high places.
We have power to stand against the enemy and withstand the attacks of the enemy. -
Romans 8:37–39 AV
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We aren’t ignorant of it…We just need to do what the Bible says.
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