“Spiritual Warfare: How to Fight and How to Win”
(Sunday Morning July 12th, 2009)
Scripture Passage: 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
O.S. Even a Superficial Reading of the New Testament Will Reveal the Fact That All of Us Who are Christians are Engaged in a Spiritual War
-> The Believers are in a Battle; the Faithful are in a Fight
-> In Matthew 10:34, for Example, Jesus Said This; He Said,
"Do not
think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but
a sword”
-> And Then, He Went on to Describe How Some of Our Closest Relatives and Friends Might be Used by the Enemy to Try to Injure Us
-> The Very First Time That the Church is Mentioned in the Bible, and the Only Time That It is Mentioned in the Gospels, It is Mentioned by the Lord Jesus Himself, and He Used a Warfare Motif; He Said,
“…you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates
of Hades shall not overpower it” (Matt 16:18)
-> That Word “Gates” Refers to “The Nerve Center” “The Place of Strategic Planning,” or as One Man Put It “The Pentagon of Hell”
-> The Picture is That of Satan Devising Battle Strategies in the Corridors of Hell as He Attempts to Destroy the Church, But Jesus Assures Us of the Fact That the Church Will Ultimately and Decisively Prevail
-> The Apostle Paul Used Warfare Motifs to Describe the Christian Life Numerous Times
-> In the 13th Chapter of Romans, for Example, He Encouraged All of the Believers in That Fortified City, the Capital City of the Empire, to “put on the armor of light”
(Romans 13:12)
-> In Ephesians 6:14 and Following, He Tells Us to “Put on the Whole Armor of God”
-> Defensive Weapons and Offensive Weapons in Order to Ward Off the Attacks of the Enemy
St = Paul Urged His Young Protégé Timothy to “Fight the Good Fight of Faith” in 1 Timothy 6:12
-> And in His Own Swan Song, in 2 Timothy 4:7, He Said, “I have fought the good fight…”
-> He Challenged Timothy Again in 2 Timothy 2:3 by Saying
“Suffer hardship
with {me}, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus”
-> He Called Epaphroditus His “Fellow Soldier” in Philippians 2:25
-> He Called Archippus “Our Fellow Soldier” in Philemon 1:2
-> And in This Passage of Scripture Right Here, We Have the Most Extensive Use of “War Language” That is Found in the New Testament
Q.n = Now, Why is It Important for All of Us to Know That We are Engaged in a Spiritual War?
Ans = So, That We Will Remain Vigilant
-> In Fact, There is a Word That Describes a Soldier Who Fails to Remain Vigilant, and It is the Word “Casualty”
-> “Be of sober spirit,…” Peter Says, “…be on the alert (because) “your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour”
Q.n = Who is He Going to Catch and Devour?
Ans = The One Who is Not on the Alert
T.S. Now, I Don’t Know a Great Deal About Military Engagements, But I Believe That It is Obvious That Three Things Need to be in Place if We Intend to Win Any Battles and Ultimately Win a War
I. We Must Study Our Enemy
II. We Must Develop Our Arsenal
III.
We Must Implement Our Strategy
I. We Need to Study Our Enemy
-> Now, Before Any Great General Will go Into Battle Against His Enemy, He Will Study His Enemy
-> He Will Learn Everything That He Possibly Can About His Enemy
-> He Will Learn Something About the Strategies He Has Used in Previous Battles; He Will Learn Something About the Weapons That He Has Used, and He Will Determine His Strengths and His Weaknesses Etcetera
-> And Fortunately, the Bible Tells Us All That We Need to Know About Our Adversary and How He Operates
-> It Tells Us, for Example, That Satan Will Try to Get People to Doubt the Reliability of the Word of God
-> In the Garden of Eden, the Serpent Said This to Eve; He Said,
"Indeed, has God said, ' You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" (Gen 3:1)
Q.n = What Was He Doing?
Ans = He Was Trying to Get Her to Doubt the Reliability of God’s Word
-> That’s One of His Strategies
-> Another Thing He Does is This; He Operates Behind the Scenes by Influencing Anyone That He Can to do Evil, Wicked and Malevolent Things
-> That’s Why Paul Said This in Ephesians 6:12; He Said,
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places”
-> So, as Believers in Christ, We Need to Understand That We are Not at War With the Socialists, or the Atheist, or the Secularist, or the Religionist, or the President, and Certainly Not Our Fellow Believers
-> Our Enemy is the One Who is Influencing Men and Women Throughout Our World to do Evil Things, and He Does This by Attacking the Mind
-> That’s Right – the Mind
St = Listen to What Paul Said in 2 Corinthians 2:10-11; He Said,
“But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes”
-> The Word That is Translated as “Schemes” There is Very Interesting, Because It is the Greek Word “Noema,” Which Comes the Root Word“Nous” Which Means “Mind”
-> So, Paul is Actually Saying That Satan and His Demonic Cohorts Use Mind Altering Methods
-> In Other Words, Satan Attacks the Mind; He Plays Mind Games With Us
a. Satan’s Battle Strategy, in a Broad Sense, Involves the Erection of Formidable Systems of Thought That are Opposed to the Gospel
-> Philosophies, and Ideologies, and “Isms”, That Make It Difficult for the
Gospel Message to Advance and Penetrate the Minds of Unbelievers
-> In Fact,
That is What I Believe the Word “Fortresses” is Referring to in This Passage of Scripture
->
He is Essentially Describing a Prison That Locks Satan in and Locks God Out
->
That is Why Paul Said This in 2 Corinthians 4:4, Listen Carefully, He Said, “…the
god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not
see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image
of God”
-> Satan Blinds the MINDS of the Unbeliever, and He Imprison Them in Some
Ungodly System of Thought
-> But the Good News is That the Gospel Message Empowered
by the Holy Spirit of God Can Shatter This Otherwise Impregnable Fortress
->
In Fact, That Phrase “Taking Every Thought Captive” Actually Has the Word “Spear”
in It, Because It is the Image of Forcing a Prisoner to Come Out of One of These
Ungodly Systems of Thought
Ill: Now, Paul Knew What He Was Talking About, Because at One Time He Had Been Locked and Imprisoned Within an Almost Impregnable Fortress Called Legalistic Judaism
-> But While He Was on His Way to Damascus Intent on Capturing Some Christians That He Could Bring Back to Jerusalem as Prisoners, He Himself Became a Prisoner
-> In Acts 26:13, We are Told That Paul Saw a Light at Midday That Eclipsed the Light of the Sun – Brighter Than the Noonday Sun – Now, That’s Bright
-> He Was Blinded by That Light; and Consequently, He Became Helpless, and Then, He Was Led by the Hand Into Damascus
-> He Might as Well Have Had Chains Around His Wrists and Shackles Around His Feet, Because He Was in Reality Taken as a Prisoner by Christ
-> In Fact, in Philippians 3:12, He Talked About Being “…laid hold of by Christ Jesus,” and That Literally Means to be “Apprehended by” or “Taken Prisoner”
-> So, This Man Who Went Out to Take Prisoners Was Taken Prisoner
-> He Was Confronted by the Gospel; and Then, His Otherwise Impregnable
Fortress
of Legalistic Judaism Came Tumbling Down
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
App:
Listen, Satan is Hard at Work Trying to Erect These Kinds of Fortresses in the Minds
of People
-> Fortresses Like: Atheism, and Legalism, and Hedonism, and False Religion
-> And in Some Cases, He Has Created a Total Disgust and Abhorrence for the Things of God
-> This is Why Paul Said in Romans 8:7 That the Mind Set on the Flesh is Hostile to God
-> These are Formidable Fortresses, and Clever Human Techniques and Gimmicks are Not Going to Bring Them Down
-> Only the Gospel Shared or Preached in the Power of the Holy Spirit is Capable of Doing This
b. Satan’s Battle Strategy, in a Narrow Sense, Involves the Insertion of Sinful Thoughts That Lead to Sinful Actions
-> This is What I Believe Paul Was Referring to When He Mentioned “Speculations,”
Because That Word Literally Refers to “Thoughts” or “Ideas”
-> He Wants People
to be Filled With Lust, or Greed, or Pride, or Discouragement, or Selfishness, or
Anxiety, You Name It
-> And So, He Attempts to Insert These Kinds of Thoughts Into Our Mind
-> And if We do Not Put Up an Adequate Resistance, He Will Ultimately be Able to Control Our Actions
Ex. We are Told in Luke 22:3, for Example, That Satan Entered Into Judas
Q.n = And How Did Satan Enter Into Judas?
Ans = Through Greed
LET ME GIVE YOU ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF HOW SATAN MIGHT ATTACK US
Eph 4:26-27 (Read)
Q.n = What’s Going to Happen if Someone Continues to Harbor Anger in His Heart?
Ans = It is Going to Result in Slander (Matt 12:34), and It Could Even Lead to Murder
(Matt 5:21-22), in Fact, That is What Happened to Cain (Gen 4:6-8)
App: You and I Need to Understand How Satan Operates, Because We Could be Under Attack Right Now and Not Realize It
-> In Fact, I Don’t Mind Telling You That the Reason I Felt Led to Preach on This Subject This Morning is That I Could See an Attack Coming On
Q.n = What do You Mean Pastor?
Ans = Well, One of Satan’s Weapons is Discouragement
-> I Knew That We Would Probably be Down in Our Attendance Today, and I Knew That Satan Would Want to Use This to Bring Us Down
-> For You See, Satan Knows That the Best Time to Stop Us is Before We Really Get Started, and This is One Way That He Can do It (Summer Time)
-> But James Tells Us That, if We Will Resist Him, He Will Flee From Us
II. We Must Develop Our Arsenal
-> The Apostle Paul Was Being Criticized by Some Who Were in This Church to Such an Extent That He Was Going to Have to Confront Them
-> There Were Some False Teachers Who Had Infiltrated This Church, and They Were Trying to Discredit Paul in Every Way Imaginable
-> And of Course, They Were Operating in the Flesh, Using Tactics Like Slander, and Manipulation, and They Were Constantly Baiting Him
-> So, Paul Gave Them a Stern Warning Right Here
-> He Said, in Essence,
“I Need to Warn You That if and When I do Confront
You, I Will Not Confront You in the Power of the Flesh; I Will Confront You in the
Power of the Spirit”
-> I Will Confront You, Paul Said, With Weapons That are Divinely Powerful
-> He Said, in Essence, “I Refuse to Confront Your Fleshly Attitudes With Fleshly Attitudes; Instead, I Will Confront You With Spiritual Weapons Which You Obviously Know Very Little About and of Which You Cannot Possible Defeat”
-> Paul is Telling Us Here That Worldly Weapons, Whether They be Size, or Influence, or Wealth, or Power, Amount to Absolutely Nothing When Confronting Everything That Opposes the Gospel of Jesus Christ
-> And Not Only That, These Kinds of Fleshly Weapons do Nothing at All to Conquer Us Personally
-> They do Nothing to Conquer Me
-> They do Nothing to Bring Everything That is Within Me Into Subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ
Q.n = So, What are These Weapons That are Divinely Powerful?
Ans = Some of Them are Listed Back in 2 Cor 6:6-7 Which Says “ in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left”
Q.n = What are the Weapons We Can Use to Win Spiritual Victories?
Ans = There’s the List
. Purity
. Understanding
. Patience
. Kindness
. the Holy Spirit
. Sincere Love
. Truthful Speech
. and the Power of God
-> We Find Another List in Ephesians 6:14 and Following Which Includes:
. the
Belt of Truth
. the Breastplate of Righteousness
. Our Feet Shod With the Gospel of Peace
. the Shield of Faith
. the Helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit
-> And Two Others Appear in 1 Timothy 1:18-19 When Paul Said, “ This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith”
-> Among All of Our Weapons, Paul Says, in Essence, That These Two are Absolutely
Essential: Faith and a Good Conscience
-> In Other Words, Every Sin Confessed
and Forsaken so That There is Absolutely Nothing That Impedes or Thwarts Our Uninterrupted
Fellowship With God
Q.n = Now, Someone Might Say, “Is That All?”
-> Those Don’t Even Sound Like Weapons at All
Q.n = Are You Suggesting to Me That We are Going to Conquer the World With Things Like: Love, and Faith, and Hope, and the Word of God, and Patience and Purity
Ans = Well, I Can Tell You That Those Things Haven’t Failed Yet
-> The Roman
Empire Seemed Invincible, But It Was Brought Down by These Things; It no Longer Exists,
But the Church is Alive and Well
App: Let’s Bring This Right Down to Where We Live Today
Ex. Some Christians are Trying to Confront the Social Problem of Abortion With the Weapons of the Flesh
-> In Fact, Some Have Even Gone as Far as Bombing Abortion Clinics, and I Believe That the Results of That Sort of Behavior Have Been Disastrous
-> Others are Confronting This Problem by Using Spiritual Weapons; They are Teaching the Biblical Truths About When Life Begins, and They are Supporting Pregnancy Crisis Centers and Adoption Agencies
-> I Believe That These Kinds of Ministries are Genuinely Effective for the Cause of Christ
Ex. Tony Campolo Tells of Watching Martin Luther King and His Followers Kneel and Pray on the Bridge to Selma
-> The Police Came Wielding Clubs and Knocking Heads, But Campolo Says, “That moment when the demonstrators did not retaliate an the camera showed their blood faces, he knew that Martin Luther King had won. Because what looked like an immediate defeat for King ultimately sparked the conscience of the nation, and love won out over hatred. Non-violence was stronger than violence.”
______________________________________________________________________
T.S. I. We
Must Study Our Enemy
II. We Must Develop Our Arsenal
______________________________________________________________________
III. We Must Implement Our Strategy
Q.n = So, How Does Paul Say That We Can Defeat Satan’s Mind Games?
-> When Satan Invades Our Mind With…
…an Unforgiving Spirit
…or an Unhealthy Desire Such as Lust
…or Tries to Get Us to Let the Sun go Down on Our Wrath
…or Seeks to Build Resentment in Our Mind Towards Our Spouse
…or Tries
to Get Us to Become Discouraged so That We’ll Just Quit and Drop Out of the Race
Altogether
Q.n = How do We go on the Offensive?
Ans = Paul Says That We do It by “Taking Every Thought Captive”
Q.n = And How do We do That?
Ans = Let Me Give You Three Simple Principles
a. The Principle of Avoidance
i. There is an External Dimension to This
-> In Romans 13:14, Paul
Said,
“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for
the flesh in regard to its lusts”
-> If Someone’s Besetting Sin is Alcohol, It Obviously Would Not be Wise
for Them to Keep a Six Pack of Beer in Their Refrigerator, Right?
-> And
We All Have Some Measure of Control Over What Kind of Television Programming, and
Movies, and Internet Sites Come Into Our Home, Right?
ii. There is an Internal Dimension to This
-> In Job 31:1, Job
Said,
“I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then can I gaze upon
a virgin?”
-> Job Said That Because He Knew That There are Some Thoughts
That we Should Never Allow Our Mind to Dwell On (Ex. Lust, Covetousness)
b. The Principle of Replacement
-> Someone Might Say,
“Pastor, I Know There are Things I Should Not Allow My Mind to Dwell
On, But the Harder I Try Not to Think About Them, the More I Do.”
-> This
is Why It is Very Important for All of Us to Understand the Principle of Replacement
Q.n = Is There Any Way, for Example, to Get Air Out of a Glass?
Ans = Yes, Fill It With Something Else (Ex. Water)
-> Our Minds Function the Same Way, and That is Why Paul Said This in Philippians 4:8; He Said, “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things”
Ex. Our Thoughts About Our Spouse
Ex. Our Thoughts About Our Church
c. The Principle of Concentration
-> Sometimes It Takes a Tremendous
Amount of Effort to Resist the Evil Thoughts That Satan Tries to Plant in Our Minds
-> That is Why Paul Said This in 2 Corinthians 11:3; He Said,
“But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ”
-> That Word “Simplicity” is Better Translated “Single mindedness,” and the Point Here is That Satan is Constantly Trying to Find Ways to Distract Us Mentally.
-> So, the Best Defensive Strategy in This Case is an Offensive Strategy, and the Best Thing We Can Concentrate on is the Word of God
Ill: Ron Sider Wrote a Book a Few Years Ago That is Entitled
“The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience”
-> The Subtitle is
“Why are Christians Living Like the Rest of the World”
-> In His Book, He Gives Some Disturbing Statistics Showing That Spouse Abuse, Divorce, Racism, Premarital Sex, Materialism and Addictions to Pornography are Almost as Common Among the 40% of Americans Who Claim to be Born Again as the General Population
-> Then, He Went on to Say That There is One Group of Christians Who are Living Distinct Lives, and He Identifies Them as the 9% Who Have a Biblical World view
-> These Believe That God is All-Knowing and All-powerful, That Jesus Christ Lived a Sinless Life, That Satan is Real, That Salvation is a Free Gift, That Every Christian Has a Personal Responsibility to Evangelize, and the Bible is Totally Accurate in All That It Teaches
Q.n = Why do These Christians Lives Distinct Lives While Many Others do Not?
Q.n = Why do These Christians Seem to be Doing a Better Job of Avoiding the Common Sins That Plague Our Society?
Ans = Ron Sider Says That It is Because They Have a Biblical World view
-> So, This Affirms That Our Behavior is Closely Linked to Our Thought Life, and It Also Affirms What the Psalmist Said in Psalms 119:11 When He Said, “Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against you”
-> The Old Timers Used to Say It Like This; They Would Say, “Sin Will Keep You From This Book, and This Book Will Keep You From Sin”
-> Which is Why the Word of God is the Best Thing That Any of Us Can Put Into Our Mind
Invitation:
-> Well, Let Me Close This Sermon This Morning by Saying This
Q.n = Are You Listening?
-> Here It Is
-> Rejecting Jesus Christ and Eternal Salvation is a Form of Mental Insanity
-> Eternal Salvation Can be Received as a Free Gift From God if Someone Will Simply Place Their Faith and Trust in Jesus Christ
-> But Many Will Not Receive Him
Q.n = Why Not?
Ans = Because They’re Not Thinking Straight
-> Jesus Told a Story in Luke 15 That is Very Familiar to Most of Us; It is the Story of the Prodigal Son
-> This Man Wandered Away From His Father; He Squandered All of His Wealth, and He Wound Up Feeding Pigs and Desiring Pig Food
-> And in Luke 15:17, We are Told That This Happened, Because He Was Living in a Kind of Mental Insanity; It Says, “But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger!’”
Q.n = Why Would Anyone Choose to go on Rejecting the Father and the Salvation That He Has Provided for Us Through Faith in His Son?
Ans = Because They Have Been Mentally Duped by Satan
-> And if That is Where You Have Been, I Want to Encourage You to Engage Your Mind This Morning and to Rethink Your Position
-> Listen to What the Prophet Isaiah Said in Isaiah 1:18; He Said, “Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they be read like crimson, they will be like wool”