Spiritual Warfare

What War?

I hesitated at first to introduce a sermon series on spiritual warfare. The main reason was that I didn’t want to give the devil more attention than he deserves. However, when I have worked one on one in personal discipleship, the young believers have suggested that the subject of spiritual warfare be mentioned earlier. The truth is, we need to acknowledge that he is real and that his existence impacts our lives.

As a secondary resource during this season, I am using a book by Rick Renner, Dressed to Kill. He also is concerned about the Church becoming so captivated by the subject that they can’t think of anything but spiritual warfare. Renner says this:

This is a favorite trick of the devil to make believers magnify his power to a greater degree than it deserves. If this trick works, these imbalanced, devil-minded believers begin to imagine that the devil is behind everything that occurs, thus becoming paralyzed and incapable of functioning normally in any capacity of life. In this way, the enemy eliminates them from future usefulness in the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately, this has been the outcome in the lives of too many people who have focused on the issue of spiritual warfare in years past.[1]

I hope to encourage each of us over the next several weeks that we have more than enough power and equipment at our disposal to destroy the works of the enemy. But to ignore the devil would be a terrible mistake.

In an interview in 2013 between a reporter for The New Yorker and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia about gay rights, media echo chambers, Seinfeld, and intellectual legacy; the Supreme Court Justice shared his conviction that there is a devil.

After a few more exchanges, the reporter, Jennifer Senior, asked, "Isn't it terribly frightening to believe in the Devil?" Scalia was shocked by Senior's incredulity:

You're looking at me as though I'm weird… Are you so out of touch with most of America, most of which believes in the Devil? I mean, Jesus Christ believed in the Devil! It's in the Gospels! You travel in circles that are so, so removed from mainstream America that you are appalled that anybody would believe in the Devil! Most of mankind has believed in the Devil, for all of history. Many more intelligent people than you or me have believed in the Devil.

Citing C. S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters, Scalia explained that the Devil has gotten wilier since Bible times. Instead of making pigs jump off cliffs, possessing people, and whatnot, he's "getting people not to believe in him or in God." – Christianity Today, Oct 2013.

In 2020, Steve Warren with CBN News reported that a recent Barna poll showed that 56% of Americans believed Satan was real.[2] Jesus believed in him, so should we.

Devil Destroyers

We have been called to cast out devils (Mark 16:17) and to pull down strongholds (2 Cor. 10:3-5).

Mark 16:14–20 NIV

Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen. He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

We know this passage to be the Great Commission. We confidently accept the command to “Go” and “Preach”. But have you noticed that Jesus also says that signs (or miracles) will be normative? Driving out demons is mentioned as is speaking in new tongues. The point is, the effects of the demonic are sad realities but realities nonetheless.

Paul expands our understanding…

2 Corinthians 10:2–5 NIV

I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Paul establishes that we have divine powers that are provided to demolish strongholds. Even as I was preparing this message, I had a thought in my mind that I shouldn’t preach this. It was as though the Lord was speaking to me but there was something uneasy about it. As I continued to pray, I realized that it was a thought from the enemy, not the Lord.

I believe we live in a world that is supercharged with demonic activity.

2 Timothy 3:1–5 NIV

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

Is there any other way to explain these sinful behaviors? And, they have become completely normal – even in the church. An army doesn’t destroy the enemy by being on parade but by engaging the enemy wherever the enemy is found. Spiritual warfare is not just going to church on Sunday but becoming equipped with spiritual weapons to destroy the enemy.

The Devil, Our Enemy

The Bible uses many descriptions for the devil. He is named “Satan” which means our adversary. He is referred to as “the serpent, the great dragon, the prince of the power of the air, the god of this age, the evil one, the prince of demons, the accuser, and the tempter”.

The Devil Wants to Steal, Kill, and Destroy

In John 10, Jesus describes himself as a good shepherd and a protector of the sheep. He promises life. In contrast, he mentions ‘the thief’ which referred to his opposition at that time but also reflects the devil.

John 10:10 NIV

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

I’m afraid that the attentions of Christians today are too distracted. In the line of work that I did in the military we were taught to be on guard all the time. When we attended schools we were warned not to leave any materials out in the hotel rooms. Other nations would plant assets (spies) in as housekeeping workers. Within the walls of American facilities there would be enemies pacing off distances to critical buildings. We knew that using social media and even unsecured phones was dangerous. The enemy was always looking for a way to find out critical information.

Our current political climate is frightening because of the division between the parties. Information leaks without any concern about our national security. More importantly however is the agenda of the enemy who wants only to steal, kill, and destroy each of us. Make no mistake, the devil is not satisfied with just ignoring you. He wants to kill you. He wants to destroy you. Apathy is fine with the devil. C.S. Lewis wrote a series of letters called “The Screwtape Letters”. They are fictional stories of letters between the devil and a demon named Wormwood. In the 7th letter he describes apathy.

If the patient becomes apathetic he will be on the way towards hell. According to Screwtape “the safest road to Hell is the gradual one.”… Screwtape explains that as time passes this uneasiness will lead the patient to neglect his “religious duties.” Gradually the patient will be distracted from his faith and become numb to the touch of God. Over time less interesting things will be required to fill the time that the patient would otherwise spend with God: “anything or nothing is sufficient to attract his wandering attention.”

If such a process is followed the patient will realize all too late that he never did what he should have or wanted to do. He will realize that his life was inconsequential. He was lukewarm in his relationship with God. As Revelation 3:16 says “so because you were lukewarm- neither hot nor cold- I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” God will not accept the patient because he is lukewarm. Thus, Wormwood will have been successful in separating the patient from God.[3]

This is the intention of Satan. He wants to steal, kill, and destroy. Make no mistake about it. Jesus offers life, Satan offers death.

The Devil is a Liar and a Deceiver

To the Jews who had believed in Jesus but turned away, Jesus aligned them with the devil

John 8:44 NIV

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

The idea that we can be independent is a lie.

It was Martin Luther’s insight that the human person is made to serve. He depicted the human will as a horse whose choices are limited to who will be its rider, whether God or the devil. The notion of the radically independent individual who can do as he or she may please without reference to any other authority, an image regularly celebrated in modern post-Enlightenment culture, is in fact a man of straw. This ‘free’ person is a myth who never existed and who never will. We are radically, incurably and eternally dependent beings who were made to serve. Our freedom is not the freedom to do as we want, but the freedom from being controlled by our fallen hearts to do as God wants. ‘True freedom is not the liberty to do anything we please, but the liberty to do what we ought; and it is genuine liberty because doing what we ought now pleases us.’[4]

The best protection from the lies and deception of the devil is living in the Spirit and consuming the Word of God.

Spiritual Warfare Occurs in a ‘Triad’ – World, Flesh, and the Devil

We will be covering much more in the upcoming weeks during this season, but I don’t want to miss covering this point. Spiritual warfare occurs in a ‘triad’ – the world, the flesh, and the devil.

The triad—world, flesh, and devil –as a description of the arena in which spiritual warfare takes place is firmly rooted in the biblical tradition. The apostle Paul, in Ephesians 2:1–3, identifies these three as the areas of the battle for humans:

Ephesians 2:1–3 NIV

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

Have you wondered why the world is so crazy? It is because the devil is the lower case “god of the age”. This will change one day but, in the meantime, Jesus has equipped us to live godly lives. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that man will make himself better.

We will often talk about how our flesh and spirit are in conflict and how important it is for us to allow the Spirit of God to direct our thoughts. Let God’s thoughts be our thoughts! Remember that the Great Commission includes driving the demonic away. “In order to free people from demonic oppression, we must learn how to recognize the work of the enemy and how to overcome his attacks against the mind, for the mind is the primary area he seeks to attack.”[5]

Victory is Found in Christ

Well, those are some of the things that the Bible teaches us about spiritual warfare and the nature of our enemy. The good news is that we are overcomers and conquerors!

Although spiritual warfare is real and we cannot ignore it, we must be careful to remember that the real battle with Satan was won at the Cross and the resurrection. Now this same victorious Christ who single-handedly defeated the devil lives in us in the Person of the Holy Spirit! This is why the apostle John tells us, “...Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

We must be careful to remember that the real battle with Satan was won at the Cross and the resurrection. Our view of spiritual warfare must begin with this basic understanding of Jesus’ already accomplished victory over Satan.[6]

It was interesting to me to see how often the Gospel of John mentions the devil. In John’s letter he stresses the fact that believers should not be intimated by spiritual warfare.

1 John 4:4 NIV

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

We are more than able to be conquerors!

In December 2004, a single question from a young soldier touched off a media firestorm. U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had come to deliver a pep talk to the troops at Camp Buehring in Kuwait. But the usually unflappable secretary found himself blindsided by a bold query. As news cameras rolled, Army Specialist Thomas Wilson of the 278th Regimental Combat Team asked Rumsfeld, “Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles?”

Specialist Wilson clearly felt he was being sent into battle without proper protection. As Christians, however, we shouldn’t have that fear. Our Supreme Commander generously equips us with the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. But it’s up to us to put them on and put them to use.[7]

This series will be moving into the elements of spiritual armor that God has provided. Each element of God’s spiritual armor — the loinbelt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, and the lance of prayer and supplication — are still vital, effective, and powerful weapons for the Body of Christ today.

This is what this series is about – learning about the equipment that has been provided to us by our Commander.

[1]Excerpt From: Rick Renner. “Dressed to Kill.” Apple Books. https://books.apple.com/us/book/dressed-to-kill/id595411385 [2] https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2020/april/new-barna-survey-more-americans-believe-in-satan-than-believe-in-god [3] http://schmitcslewis.blogspot.com/2009/01/dangers-of-apathetic-life.html [4]Bruce Milne, The Message of John: Here Is Your King!: With Study Guide, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 134. [5] Excerpt From: Rick Renner. “Dressed to Kill.” Apple Books. https://books.apple.com/us/book/dressed-to-kill/id595411385 [6] Excerpt From: Rick Renner. “Dressed to Kill.” Apple Books. https://books.apple.com/us/book/dressed-to-kill/id595411385 [7]Craig Brian Larson and Phyllis Ten Elshof, 1001 Illustrations That Connect (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2008), 17.