March 26, 2023
Morning Service

John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

 

1Pe 5:8-9 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.  (9)  Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

 

Jas 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

            These three scriptures are painting a picture describing our enemy and also how God has designed for us to overcome him.  Jesus Himself tells us that Satan has not come to make things better, but to “steal, kill, and destroy.”  His goal is not to just confuse you, but to destroy you and those close to you.  Jesus, on the other hand has come to give us “life and that we may have it more abundantly.”  He has a better plan that does give us what we are searching for; an abundant life with purpose, peace, hope, and joy.  Peter shows us the veracity of our enemy as he compares him to a “roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”  A lion always looks for the weak and attacks when they are most vulnerable.  Peter then tells us to “resist him being steadfast in the faith.”  James summarizes the solution to being an overcomer by simply commanding us to “submit to God and resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

            The world we live in is a spiritual battleground.  Our enemy has been defeated and knows his time is short, so he is pulling out all the tricks and deception he has in his bag to attempt to destroy us.  Look around us and see the things that are now called normal.  Killing babies in the womb is a “woman’s right” not murder.  Allowing a child to decide to change gender and have life altering surgeries somehow makes sense.  Society is telling us that parents have no rights to know what the schools are teaching their children; that is up to those of higher authority to judge that.  I even believe the political unrest our country is experiencing is a spiritual battle.  I could go on all morning, but you all have experienced things like this and thought what perspective are these people looking at this from?  They have been deceived and now look from our enemy’s perspective making the evil darkness look like something that is good when its real purpose is meant to “steal, kill and destroy”.   Isaiah prophesied of this:

 

Isa 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

            With the aid of the Holy Spirit we all are able to see this very clearly now and discern what is really happening.  Never before in our lifetime have things been at this level of pure evil.  I pray that you recognize this and realize you are part of this spiritual battle. These scriptures above command us to “submit to God and resist the devil.”  How do we do that; how do we fight a spiritual battle?  By following the plan God has laid out for us in this Ephesian letter.  It is a battle plan for us to engage and resist our enemy whose purpose is to destroy us.

 

Eph. 6:10-12 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.  (11)  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  (12)  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

            Paul first reminds us that where our strength to fight comes from; “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”  Don’t engage our enemy alone thinking you can handle it; you will regret it (don’t fight naked)!  Just as a soldier must train and prepare for combat, we too must learn to use all that God equips us with to fight our spiritual battle.  He then defines our enemy very well and we MUST understand whom it is we are fighting.  We don’t fight against flesh and blood, but against “principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness, and against spiritual hosts of wickedness.”  We don’t need a gun or new security system to protect ourselves from this enemy; he will not attack us in that manner.  The battle is spiritual and one that is not so easily recognized.  You and your family are being attacked in a different manner such as through social media, Hollywood, and even school curriculum.  It is not a full frontal assault but a subtle attack that we will not even recognize if we are not watching for it.  Just as we prepare to prevent a thief to break into our house, we must be preparing for the thief that we are allowing into our house every day.  Our enemy’s job is to deceive us into conforming our faith and begin to allow small things into our lives that will soon grow larger if we do not deal with them. Notice again Paul says “therefore,” because the battle is spiritual here is what I need you to do to resist the evil one.  He now describes the equipment God has given us to be victorious in this spiritual battle.

 

 Eph. 6:13-17 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.  (14)  Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, (15) and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; (16) above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.  (17)  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

            Notice first Paul stresses us to “take up the whole armor of God” not just part of it.  Every piece is vital for us as our enemy will quickly recognize our weak point and attack us there specifically.  First we are to put on the belt of truth.  Truth holds everything else in its place.  Jesus declared to us in John 14 that “I am the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Me.”  To walk in truth is to be following Jesus imitating Him because He is truth.  We should be seeking truth, speaking truth, and living out the truth as we go into battle.

 Next we are to put on the breastplate of righteousness.  We are all clothed with the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21) and that means we are doing our best to line up our life with the commands He calls us to follow.  We are to be people of integrity “putting on” the attributes of God and “taking off” the sinful actions of this world.  As we walk in righteousness and light there are no skeletons in the closet that our enemy can use against us.  Confess your sin bringing it into the light, receive forgiveness, and make the changes necessary in your life to avoid that sin and to walk in righteousness.

Put on the shoes of the gospel of peace.  This shows a willingness to venture into enemy territory and fulfil the “Great Commission” of sharing the gospel with those who have not heard.  Isaiah proclaimed “How beautiful are the feet of him who brings the good news, who proclaims peace.” (Is. 52:7) Part of our armor is to be sharing the gospel message with others

“Above all,” Paul instructs us to take up the shield of faith.  Faith is vital in our spiritual battle because we must believe fully in the One we are following and that He will never leave us or forsake us.  It is with faith that we can “quench the fiery darts of the wicked one.”  We are often confronted with circumstances and temptations that our enemy uses to deceive us to doubt God at His Word.  Faith is our confidence that God is faithful and His way is the right way and faith keeps us committed to Him even when times are tough and we lack understanding.  Growing our faith is vital especially now as the battle intensifies.

The helmet of salvation protects our mind and thoughts assuring us that no matter how fierce that battle rages, we win in the end.  Jesus has already won the war on sin and death by dying upon the cross and arising from the grave guaranteeing our salvation is paid for.  The helmet of salvation reminds us constantly that we are safe in the hands of our Savior and no one can separate us from His love for us (Rom. 8).

Finally, we are given a weapon to go on the offensive with; “the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.”  When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness at His most vulnerable point, He used the Word of God to counter attack Satan’s temptations.  He used the Word to disprove the deceptive lies of our enemy.  He stood confident and strong spiritually though His body was physically weak.  This sword is only successful is we study, learn, understand and apply what it says.  We must “study to show ourselves approved rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim 2:15) Paul now gives us one more weapon that is key to our success.

 

Eph. 6:18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—

            We must be in constant communication with our Leader and the source of our strength through prayer.  Prayer is not considered part of the armor of God, but it is the air we breathe as we fight our spiritual battles.  We will not survive without it.  He says here we are to pray with “all prayers and supplications.”  All prayers incudes every aspect of our lives and supplication simply means to ask.  We must ask the Lord for the things we need in our lives and present to Him the struggles we are experiencing and asking for help.  Don’t take prayer lightly, pray even when you don’t feel like it and let it be a conversation that lasts the entire day.

            Summing this all up is very difficult as there is so much more to each of these pieces of armor we are to put on.  The key thing I want you to understand today is that we are in a battle; one between good and evil and we are called to resist.  We must be aware and prepared for the attacks of our enemy by submitting ourselves to God and walking in His ways.