The Unseen War

Introduction

Last year, our country spent $801 billion dollars on national defense, making us by far the most heavily defended country in the world. We spent money on radar technology, stealth bombers, aircraft carriers, night vision goggles, missiles, firearms, protective gear, submarines, intelligence, tanks! We spend massive amounts of money training military personnel. Our military track every conceivable avenue of attack to make sure that its citizens - you and I - are safe.

At the state and local levels, we have law enforcement and security guards. We have cameras, fences, lighting, doors and locks. Individually, many train in self-defense, own firearms, and even look both ways before we cross the street.

All of this is done - from large scale operations to individual safety practices - to ensure that we are safe. We are ready to stand our ground when people seek to harm us. Trillions of dollars are spent collectively to ensure we are safe from potential enemies.

We do these things so that we can have the peace and tranquility necessary to live normal lives - to have freedoms like the freedom of religion we hold dear and be able to go to things like church services.

And yet could it be that we fight so hard, ready ourselves so much for the flesh and blood attacks of potential enemies that we have forgotten that the Christian life itself - even in the midst of our peaceful and tranquil lives - it is itself a war against a much more fearsome enemy?

Could it be that we’ve lulled ourselves to sleep, grown complacent in our peace, and allowed ourselves to be fooled into thinking that when we sit back in our pews and chairs that there is not a greater war that we are engaged in? Could it be that we have not correctly viewed our Christian life? Do we think that to be come a Christian is merely to enter into peace with God without it also meaning entering into war with Satan?

Let me give us our main point this morning:

Main Point: Christian, be prepared for battle by putting on the whole armor of God that He provides

In so many churches today, the Christian life is thought of not as a war, but as a life of leisure. From the prosperity gospel to the self-help, self-empowering motivational talks of mega churches, the Christian life has become viewed as a life of complacency, not as a life in the trenches.

Families from suburban neighborhoods pile into their minivans to go to church as a matter of routine - never thinking through the fact that true Christianity is life lived in the trenches of a life-and-death warfare.

Instead, the Bible tells us that when you became a Christian, you entered into a war at much larger scale than you previously could conceive. It is a war with the very forces of darkness. Let me read for us Ephesians 6:10-20:

Ephesians 6:10–20 ESV

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 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. 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 firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Christian, the Bible is calling you this morning to snap out of your peacetime mindset. We are not at peace! That happens when Jesus returns. Right now we are in the middle of a war that has been raging since the snake in the garden tempted Adam and Eve and will last until Jesus throws it into the fiery pit.

The question then becomes who is our enemy? And how do we fight? Let me give you the three points from the text that answers this question.

Point 1: Our enemy is Satan and his forces

Point 2: Our equipment is the armor of God, empowered by our Triune God

Point 3: Our advancement is accomplished through prayer and the proclamation of the gospel

The goal of my sermon is simple. It is to wake us up to the larger spiritual reality all around us, to stir us out of complacency and into action. The Christian life is a life full of assurance. We know God will defeat the forces of Satan! Yet it is also a life of active assurance. Just as the forces of Israel attacked the Philistines after David had killed the giant, so too Christians are called to fight the forces of Satan even as Jesus has dealt the deathblow on him.

Let me give us our main point this morning.

Point 1: Our enemy is Satan and his forces

Look with me at verse 11. “Put on the whole armor of God” why? “that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestling 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.”

The very reason we are called to put on the armor of God is because we have an enemy that seeks to attack us.

We must know our enemy if we are going into battle. Imagine going into battle and you can’t identify who the enemy is. You can mix up bystanders, civilians, civilian combatants, and the actual enemy forces. How can we possibly fight a war when we can’t tell who it is we are fighting against?

The point that Satan is our enemy seems rudimentary - it seems so basic. Of course we know that Satan is our enemy. Do we really need to be reminded of that?

But church - how often do we really reflect on this reality? How often do we instead make other people our enemy instead of realizing that it is Satan who we are called to fight?

Our enemy is not other people. It is not our ideological opponents. Our enemy is not those trying to attack our way of life. Our enemy is not those trying to take away our freedom to practice religion. Our enemy is not those who attack the gospel. Our enemy is not even nations that we may go to war with. YES, those are all people we may have to combat in some sense. They may be deceived by the enemy and used by the enemy to bring about his purposes. But they are not whom we battle ultimately. The battle we are engaged in is far grander and far more dangerous.

Sometimes when I’ve immersed myself too much into a particular debate - whatever it is, whether its theological, political, cultural - especially as it has been demonstrated that online platforms use algorithms that purposefully makes us upset for more engagement - it becomes easy for me to see the side I disagree with as the cause of all the major problems of the world.

But as a Christian we know that isn’t true. I’m not saying wrong theology, bad politics, and cultural decay aren’t real problems we have to deal with. But the enemy is vary greater, far more insidious than that. It is Satan and our own sin that is the problem.

The more we consume content about how bad the other side is on any given topic - the more we begin to hate the other side. We villianize them. We see them as the chief cause of the evil we experience rather than seeing reality for what it truly is - Satan and his forces mounting an attack against us and with it, enticing humanity to sin.

See friends - there is no such thing as a physical Christian war. Christians do not go to war for the Christian cause against people. We are not called to take up the sword to fight theological opponents. That does not mean that there is no such thing as just war. I am not saying there’s never physical violence that is necessary when someone comes at you with a knife or when a force invades your country. This passage is not saying that there is no such thing as necessary use of force to protect life and promote liberty.

Again, what it’s saying is that there is no such thing as a physical Christian war. Christians are not called to fight for the Christian cause as if we can promote the kingdom of God with military power.

Martial might may be required on an earthly level as an ordinary means of grace to promote peace and tranquility. Paul says, for example, in Romans 13 that government is there as God’s sword of vengeance. But that is not a Christian fight, it is rather a fight for everyone to have a peaceful life - to curb evil and injustice so that societies can flourish.

Brothers and sisters, the real warfare Christians are to engage is spiritual. And it wants us to attack with words and sword and guns other people rather than do what Jesus calls us to do. We are to pray for our enemies as Jesus prayed for us while we were still His enemy. He prayed for those who nailed Him to the cross! We are to pray for the salvation of the enemies that seek to do all sorts of destructive damage to our lives and the gospel. We are called to pray against their works of evil, YES! But we are also called to pray for for God’s goodness upon them. We are to pray that they would hear and receive the gospel. We are not to avenge ourselves or avenge their damage done in God’s name. We are called, brothers and sisters, to love our enemies and hope for their salvation.

Brothers and sisters, remember that you were once children of wrath. We were once “them” so to speak. We were once the enemies of God and the enemies of the gospel. Apart from the glorious mercy of the gospel changing our hearts and renewing our minds we would just be a blinded as the most evil of sinners! Christian, our struggle is not against flesh and blood. It is not against fellow image bearers who are wreaking havock. It is, in fact, Satan and his forces, tempting you towards sin and the destruction of your soul.

We are called not to use military weapons against perceived enemies - whoever they are - we are called to use the spiritual armor of GOD! See, we are called to use not the sword that slashes and kills, but the the sword of the Word of God, the Bible itself, to pierce men’s hearts towards repentance.

Brothers and sisters, it is Satan and his forces that are our enemy. It is he who seeks to devour us. It is he who seeks to tempt us. It is he who seeks to snatch us from our inheritance.

Satan is coming after us. But he comes at us in all sorts of ways, doesn’t he? He comes at us sometimes in very subtle ways

D. A. Carson Sermon Library An Equipped Man (Ephesians 6:10–20)

Satan sometimes works by very subtle schemes. He doesn’t, by and large, come to a group of men like this and say, “Here’s a great, big ugly chunk of evil. Embrace it!” He’s not stupid, after all. He’s far more likely to say something like, “Well, I know you pledged yourself to your wife, but she really hasn’t been very supportive, has she? She’s wrapped up in her own little world and in her career. She ignores you most of the time. She’s not a good listener. She really is irritable.”

You say to yourself, “Quite frankly, with the pressures upon me, it’s pretty difficult to survive and cope in this world.” The Devil says, “Yes, that’s right. Your associate at work who is so charming and supportive and kind, she can give you the kind of self-esteem and sense of well being that you really need. She really does care for you. Love is a good thing, isn’t it? The Bible says love is a good thing. It actually says love is from God. Who’d want to be against that?”

D. A. Carson Sermon Library An Equipped Man (Ephesians 6:10–20)

He doesn’t come along and say, “Here is one great big monstrous lie that will destroy the gospel.” He comes along and says, “Well, we all believe the gospel, but in addition to the gospel, we’ve learned from practical experience that a certain kind of therapy is an enormous help for getting Christians to be properly mature and stable.”

Thus, from a square plumb line, you get a deviation of three or four degrees, which down the road makes a pretty big spread, until pretty soon you no longer hold to the gospel anymore. You may confess it back there in the subliminal edges of your brain somewhere, but what is important to you is no longer the gospel. What you believe really changes people is not the gospel; it’s your clever counseling techniques. So it goes

Point 2: Our protection and weapon is the armor of God, given by Him that we may wield it effectively in our fight

We must know our equipment if we are going into battle.

Point 3: Our empowerment is the Spirit through prayer, for the sake of the continued advancement of the gospel

We must know our purpose, if we are to go into battle.

Ephesians–Philemon Comment

Prayer should not be viewed as a seventh piece of armor, since no armor/weaponry metaphor is attached to prayer; instead, prayer plays a foundational role for the effective deployment of each piece of armor/weaponry. Prayer epitomizes what it means to be strong in the Lord

Gospel Transition

He comes after us! Not because he’s not beaten, but because he has been beaten in principle. Therefore, he’s venting his spleen. He’s outraged and using whatever energy he has left to pour out all of his venom on us, the children of the woman. We’re not called into this cosmic struggle as if the issue is in doubt … as if, as it were, unless we roll up our sleeves and do our bit, poor old God might not make it.The idea, rather, is that this side of the cross the decisive victory has been won, and it is our privilege in following our Master to participate in the mop-up struggle. It is a vicious one. Sometimes, it is outright confrontation, persecution. Sometimes it’s subtle

We’re not to think that this whole battle depends on us. Not at all! There is a profound sense in which Christ has already been victorious. Go back to chapter 1, verses 19 and following. “That power that God gives us is like the working of his mighty strength which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.”Here is a picture of Christ so exalted above every conceivable authority in this world, in the heavenly realms, right now, in the age to come. Christ has already triumphed by his death and resurrection. He has been exalted to the right hand of God. All of God’s sovereignty, 1 Corinthians 15 tells us, is mediated through him. There is no one, there is nothing, there is no satanic power that is not finally under his authority.In that sense, although we’re swept up in this battle, it’s not as if this whole battle turns on us or our armor. There is a sense in which the critical engagement has already been fought and won. Christ has won it, and now we are swept up into a kind of mop-up operation. Thus we read again in chapter 3, verse 10:“God’s intent in the whole disclosure of the gospel was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose.” There’s a sense in which, by the gospel proclamation, by the weapons we’re about to disclose, we’re “in your face” to all the demonic powers, disclosing to them that God’s truth will out. God’s truth will win. Christ’s triumph has already secured our victory.

Conclusion