I have used sermoncentral along with several other resources in this sermon.
WE ARE AT WAR
January 20, 2008
Jay Davis Robison EPHESIANS 6:10-13
Are We at War? For all of my life US at war against poverty & drugs
Of course we are in Afghanistan and Iraq hear daily updates
War is A FACT OF LIFE much of our nation’s history at war
Many of you here have been in those wars you know firsthand
Another battle is being waged around us today in the spiritual realm.
Unfortunately, those engaged in spiritual warfare often do not know
who their enemies are, & have no plan for victory.
Spiritual battle talked about in Ephesians 6 real then and today
When someone you love is in the battle its personal HOMER
War merely political\philosophical debate unless your kid in battle
Do not be naïve about the battle we have in the world
Our world as Christians is not neutral ground but a battlefield
If recognize in battle how intently listen to bible life depended on it.
All have experienced being pulled in two different directions
We have dealt with discouragement, & depression, & defeat
We have battle scars. We’d better find out how to fight.
1. There is AN INVISIBLE WORLD JUST AS REAL AS THE VISIBLE WORLD
Tend to accept as real only things can see, hear, touch, smell, or taste.
Bible at my desk is real, clothes on my back are real, & pizza is real
know they’re real, cause I experience them with my senses.
When we talk about that which is invisible, things cannot be seen,
heard, touched, smelled, or tasted, we think those things are not
real, or somehow at a lesser level of reality than the visible world.
NATURALISM denies anything transcendental strictly scientific
says human reason can figure out everything if put it in test tube,
examine it under microscope explain by natural process, that’s all.
Naturalistic view comes up short because limited to physical realm.
Remember the Homer cartoon, we have all been there
Naturalism doesn’t answer ultimate questions: who you are,
where you came from, why are you here.
While we exist in this present visible world, exist simultaneously
in the unseen world that Paul describes here.
Our world has a FASCINATION WITH THE SUPERNATURAL
Horror films are a multi-billion dollar industry
Millions dabble in the occult,
Local bookstores have huge sections on Spiritualism, hunger
Vs 12 NKJV speaks to this reality, 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 lets us see transcendental dimension of our struggle in the world
Not merely flesh and blood, or good will vs ill will
Real power behind the pain persecution on earth
Wrestle hand-to-hand combat, personal struggle, & serious situation
Terrifying power of their influence & the comprehensiveness
Wrestle shows the intimate nature of the conflict
Christian Science says no such thing as conflict, disease or pain
Evolution says we marching on toward progress,
what we need is education & culture
Bible says we are in a battle no matter how much want to deny it
boxer was being pummeled in ring by opponent. Blow after blow
landed by his adversary left him with a bloody nose, swollen eyes,
and an enormous amount of pain.
Battered boxer’s trainer trying to encourage man between rounds,
kept telling him, “You’re doing great, Fred.
That bum is barely touching you.” To which the boxer responded,
“Then you better keep your eye on that referee,
because somebody is killing me!
Spiritual warfare is conflict being waged in invisible, spiritual realm
It’s hard enough to fight an enemy you can see.
It’s much harder to fight someone you can’t see.
2. We have AN ENEMY
Who is our enemy? May say it is Osama Bin Laden, rapist, murderer
It may be some leader like Adolf Hitler. Enemy is none of these
Nor is it your Ex, or your boss or irritating neighbor.
We make a big mistake if we think people are the real problem.
People can be bad, no doubt. But as bad as people can be, they are
merely conduits for greater battle. Satan successful in getting us to fight people rather than fighting evil causing people act as they do.
Satan is Satan and HE IS OUR REAL ENEMY IN LIFE.
Make no mistake about it! People not our enemy. Satan is!
Personal evil force at work in world and our lives
He is called LUCIFER, SATAN, DEVIL, EVIL ONE, TEMPTER,
PRINCE OF THIS WORLD, ACCUSER, thief, roaring lion,
Must maintain balance and sound judgment 2 Mistaken ideas SATAN DOES EVERYTHING (head in the clouds) and
If you don’t like my suit devil made you,
Give him more power than he has demons everywhere in control
Focus on Satan if my team in sport vs another team, I talk most
about other team than like I am expecting to lose
SATAN DOES NOTHING (head in the sand)
Some Christians deny existence of personal devil & real enemy.
Devil’s cleverest trick to make people believe he does not exist.
BOTH of these positions are extremes and will not do.
Billy Sunday know devil real because I’ve done business w\him,
What does Satan seek to do?
He seeks to PREVENT SALVATION
II Cor. 4:3-4 "If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who
are perishing. The god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds
of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of Christ..."
Satan does not want you to share your faith or invite others
Does not want anyone to understand truth & reality of God’s love.
He seeks to DISCREDIT AND DISABLE CHRISTIAN WITNESS
Anything to destroy vitality of faith make you look like hypocrite.
Knows if you are miserable, you will do and be nothing for God.
If you are embarrassed about God & church, you will do nothing
for God. As you move closer to God Satan everything to stop you
Wants to destroy churches
Church at Ephesus was undergoing only minimum persecution
They were experiencing some conflict from within.
Some influential, yet ignorant men (1 Tim 1:6-7) were teaching
false doctrine, morals and philosophies,.
Paul knew was a very real danger told Timothy to guard others.
Business of the Christian church is to get down
to the root cause of trouble in world today
Not to fight with our toys
He seeks to FRUSTRATE THE WILL OF GOD if your life & world
Wants to deflect us from doing God’s will to doing our will.
God’s wants us to reflect Jesus’ character to “Love Like Christ.”
Do whatever it takes to distract, divide, & defeat God & his kids.
wants to make us step back from living out our faith
Convinces us it is too risky or will not work
Get our eyes are off the real battle for souls in the world
Not just human agents but spiritual agents. Require heavenly help.
We are human, but we don’t wage war with human plans & methods.
We use God’s mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons, to knock down the Devil’s strongholds. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4
Our weapons are not of this world, they are prayer faith and Bible,
Satan is a present reality in our lives whether we like it or not.
He wants nothing more than to destroy our faith, take away our
credibility, & lead us to stumble into sin.
We have to be prepared for his attacks, and we need to show him
some level of respect as far as his abilities are concerned.
Job 1:6-7 "One day the angels came to present themselves before
the Lord AND SATAN ALSO CAME WITH THEM.
Satan must give an account of himself to God
3. The Battle has ETERNAL CONSEQUENCES
Look at Message Paraphrase Vs 12 This is no afternoon athletic contest that we will walk away from & forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against
the Devil & all his fallen angels
Jeff Seamon says the battle effects 4 areas of life
It effects OUR PERSONAL LIFE may have warfare wounds
in personal life. Does not mean people are really bad
Means all struggle with things like anger, lust, selfishness, pride,
These struggles gnaw at us depress us, make us want to give up
Satan seeks to cripple us emotionally lead us to destructive deeds.
WARNING: WE CAN BE USED OF SATAN
Peter who said Jesus you are the Christ, later called Satan by Jesus
even the high, mighty, privileged can fall. Prepare for conflict
be on your guard for enemy (particularly his subtle attacks).
It effects OUR FAMILIES
Satan seeks to destroy families, since God instituted family in Eden
Satan will try to tear us apart, to take away all that is dear
To make us believe easier elsewhere
When struggling in our families lose steam for serving God
It effects THE CULTURE AND THE WORLD
Have you noticed how much anger and discord in world
Political fights, people against everything, fighting
Spiritual warfare affects life of US, the culture in which we live. Satan “the prince of the power of the air” w\good reason (Eph. 2:2)
Not a very happy sermon, but it is sincere and real
Why what we do in our personal lives & life as church so important
There is no place we can go to escape the effect of spiritual warfare.
We need to learn how to fight.
Why as Paul talks about our War, beginning and end says
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Vs 10 TNIV
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil
comes, you may be able to stand your ground,
and after you have done everything, to stand. Vs 13 TNIV
Be strong, powerful, in battle between good and evil
Be strong in the Lord, go on strengthening yourselves,
Or go on being strengthened
Mistaken if we think being pulled by 2 equal forces, God & devil
Dualism fight between 2 forces, Greater is he that is in me
Than he that is in me than he that is in the world
Rom. 12:21 Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil w\good.
Satan will one day have to give accounting of himself to God
Paul writing about armor of God from prison guarded by soldiers
If I were the Devil – Paul Harvey I would gain control of the most
powerful nation in world; I would delude their minds into thinking
that they had come from human effort instead of God’s blessings;
I would promote an attitude of loving things and using people,
instead of the other way around; I would dupe entire states into
relying on gambling for their state revenue; I would convince
people that character is not an issue when it comes to leadership;
I would make it legal to take the life of unborn babies; I would
make it socially acceptable to take one’s own life, and invent
machines to make it convenient; I would cheapen human life as
much as possible so that the life of animals are valued more than
human beings; I would take God out of the schools, where even
the mention of His name was grounds for a lawsuit; I would come
up w\drugs that sedate the mind & target the young, I would get
sports heroes to advertise them; I would get control of the media,
so that every night I could pollute the mind of every family
member for my agenda; I would attack the family, the backbone
of any nation. I would make divorce acceptable & easy, even
fashionable. If the family crumbles, so does the nation.
I would compel people to express their most depraved fantasies on
canvas & the movie screens, & call it art; I would convince the
people that right & wrong are determined by a few who call
themselves authorities & refer to their agenda as politically
correct; I would persuade people that church is irrelevant & out of
date, the Bible is for the naïve;
I would dull the minds of Christians, and make them believe prayer
is not important, that faithfulness and obedience are optional;
I guess I would leave things pretty much the way they are.”
Satan’s job is to get us to ignore the spiritual realm or give it low value. If he can divert us from the spiritual realm, he can divert us from finding spiritual solutions.
Our spiritual enemy is already defeated at the cross of Christ, yet he continues to hurl out lies, insults, and condemnation at the saints. We fight a very real battle against a very real enemy, but we need to know without a doubt that our victory over him is assured. We do not fight for victory, we fight from victory.
But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won your fight with these false prophets, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. 1 John 4:4
For every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory. And the ones who win this battle against the world are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 5:4-5
WE ARE AT WAR
January 20, 2008 Jay Davis Robison EPHESIANS 6:10-13
War is
When someone you love is in the battle its personal
1. There is
denies anything transcendental
Our world has a
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
Vs 12 NKJV
2. We have
He is called
2 Mistaken ideas
He seeks to
3. The Battle has
This is no afternoon athletic contest that we will walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil & all his fallen angels Vs 12 Message
It effects
It effects
It effects
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Vs 10 TNIV
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Vs 13 TNIV
