THE ENEMIES WE FIGHT
A couple of weeks ago, a friend told me he had watched a TV show, where some Catholic priests had performed an exorcism. He asked me if we Protestants believed in demons and if we did, why you didn’t hear more about Protestants performing exorcisms? We talked about it some then.
The short answer to his question is, “Yes, I believe in the Devil. I believe in demons and we have to fight them and their boss.” There is, however, another reality I would like address, which that conversation led me to think about. Perhaps on another occasion I will break this sermon into sections and address each part, including the Devil and demons separately. This morning, however, I would like to think about all of the enemies believers face and how we have victory over them.
I believe the Bible that believers fight against 3 separate enemies, the flesh, the world, and the Devil and his servants the demons; but most of us never have to battle demons and the Devil, the last of our 3 enemies, directly, because we are already defeated by the other 2. In other words, the enemy isn’t going to waste his resources and send tanks against us if his infantry or artillery has already whipped us.
This morning I would like to look briefly at each of the enemies that come against us and at how to defeat them. I believe the first enemy the Bible teaches we must face is our flesh or our own sinful nature.
I. WE FIGHT AGAINST THE FLESH
- Our own sinful nature
- Romans 7:18-25
Paul admitted that he fought against the flesh himself. He fought against the sin nature he had within him, all the time.
“The Minnesota Crime Commission recognizes the power of the sinful nature and admits the truth that every person, if left to himself, will be overcome by the power of the flesh. A few years ago they released this statement. ‘Every baby starts life as a [potential] savage. He is completely selfish, and self-centered. He wants what he wants when he wants it – his bottle, his mother’s attention, his playmate’s toys, his uncles’ watch. Deny him these once, and he could go into a rage and aggressiveness, which would be murderous were he not so helpless. He is, in fact, dirty. He has no morals, no knowledge, no skills. This means that all children – not just certain children – are born delinquent. If permitted to continue in the self-centered world of his infancy, given free reign to his impulsive actions, to satisfy his wants, every child would grow up a criminal…’ (from sermon Victoriously Living Over the Flesh by Terry Laughlin, SC.com).
Billy Graham describes the flesh as, “the old patterns by which we have attempted to get all our needs supplied instead of seeking Christ first and trusting Him to meet all of our needs.”
The flesh is that thing within each of us that desires either to do what is wrong, or to achieve right things by wrong means. The flesh is temper used to get our way. The flesh is good things; like sex, or work, or eating, or saving, or accumulating, or ministry, or giving, even anger, or whatever; either taken to extremes, done in ungodly ways, or used in an attempt to find a peace, recognition, contentment or joy that can only be found in Jesus. It is an attempt to use physical things to satisfy spiritual needs.
Many of us seldom have to battle the other two enemies who come against us, because we have already allowed the flesh to defeat us.
How do you fight this enemy? How to have victory over the flesh?
YOU DEFEAT THIS ENEMY BY:
> Galatians 5:16 I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
> Galatians 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit.
You defeat the flesh by walking in the Spirit and following the Spirit. I believe that means:
1. You quit excusing sin
When the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin, you quit making excuses for what you’re doing. You don’t blame other people. You say you were speeding because everyone else was speeding. You don’t excuse over-spending and excessive debt and your covetousness by saying that everyone else has that or does that. You quit making excuses for sin.
2. You exercise the spiritual disciplines
a. Bible study –
It has been said that either your Bible will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from your Bible. David said it like this:
> Psalm 119:11 I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You.
b. Prayer –
> James 4:2 You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask.
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray, “And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”
Could it be that we have not been delivered from the sins of the flesh because we have not prayed and asked God for help?
c. Christian fellowship – A third spiritual disciple is Christian fellowship.
By Christian fellowship, I am not talking about what usually takes place in the parking lots and vestibules of many churches. I’m not talking about discussing the latest ballgame, politics, or who’s doing what after church that afternoon. I’m talking about encouraging and lifting up one another. The Bible says:
> Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, 25 not staying away from our meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
d. Fasting – Another spiritual discipline that helps in your battle with the flesh is fasting.
> 1 Corinthians 9:27 Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
Paul says that he disciplined his body. He brought his body, his flesh. His fleshly appetites and desires under control so that they would not control him. One way that we can learn to do that is by fasting. With fasting, we tell our bodies, our fleshly appetites that they do not rule over us, that they do not control us.
There are a number of different fasts you can participate in to help with this. The Bible gives a number of examples. You can fast from food and water for a set period of time. You can fast from food. David fasted from meat and sweets for a period of time. You can fast from caffeine. I do that occasionally to make sure the coffee I so enjoy does not control me.
You can fast from the TV for a period of time. Anything you might find addicting or you fear may control you are worthy targets for fasting.
The spiritual disciplines can help in your battle with the flesh.
3. Obey the Spirit
We saw in the verses a few minutes ago that we are to walk in the Spirit and that we are to follow the Spirit. Now what in the world does that mean if it doesn’t mean that we are to obey Him? How in the world do we follow the Spirit if we will not obey Him?
Walking in the Spirit means partially that we do what He tells us. When we know His will, we do it, and we do it then. We are obedient.
These are only a few of the tools the Lord gives us to help in our battle against the flesh.
How do you defeat our first enemy? You defeat the flesh by not making excuses. You defeat the flesh by exercising the spiritual disciplines. You defeat the flesh by obeying the Holy Spirit. As it has been said, “You cannot say no and Lord in the same sentence.
We fight against the flesh. There is another enemy we fight and that is the world.
II. WE FIGHT AGAINST THE WORLD
There are many passages which speak of our battle with the world.
- John 15:18-19; 17:14; 1 John 3:13
My friends, the Bible says that the world will hate you and me.
What is the Bible talking about when it says that the world hate us? In these instances “the world represents an organized force, a power or order which is opposed to the kingdom of God. … The world or evil system is under the control of the devil” [Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, unabridged, one-volume ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1991, 645]
> 1 John 5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.
And just prior to His betrayal, Jesus said to His disciples,
> John 14:30 I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over Me.
You wonder why it is difficult to live the Christian life some times, part of it is because the world and its system of values and beliefs is ruled by the Devil and he has the whole system rigged against us. We are not only fighting our own flesh, which never stops battling us, but the world also fights against us.
It is the world that makes sure almost every time you turn the TV on, there is a sex-saturated commercial on. It is the world that wants us to believe that every lifestyle is of equal value and that to say that a monogamous heterosexual is the only right sexual relationship is judgmental and narrow-minded. It is the world that says killing embryos in an attempt to save adult life and to cure disease is not really killing, and that anyone who thinks otherwise is out of touch and unfeeling towards those with incurable diseases. How much things have changed from the days when adults gave their lives to protect and save the lives of children.
It is the world that says it’s OK to kill unborn babies but that it is immoral to break a sea turtle or eagle’s egg. It is the world that says it is wrong to teach that we have a Creator and that we were made in His image, in our public schools, while they quickly forget that it was those Creator-believing people that founded the school system in the first place. It is the world that says it’s OK for you to ask God to damn something in public, but that if you ask Him to bless something then you are imposing on those around you. It is the world that teaches that religion should be kept out of politics; as though God is not interested in the leaders a nation chooses.
> James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
> James 4:4 … Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world’s friend becomes God’s enemy.
The Bible says that those who are followers of Jesus Christ are not like that. They see things differently.
> 1 Corinthians 2:12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, in order to know what has been freely given to us by God.
We are told that because we believe differently and hold different values that the world will be our enemy.
> John 16:33 I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.
We are also told that we can be victorious over the world and its temptations because the One we serve has greater than the world.
> 1 John 4:4 You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
My friends, I want you to know that you can win over the world and its influences. You can have victory over the world. You do that:
YOU DEFEAT THIS ENEMY BY:
1. Your faith
> 1 John 5:4-5 because whatever has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith. And who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
- Ephesians 6:12, 16
2. Your choices
What you put into your body and into your mind.
- Matthew 6:22-23
The more you expose yourself to the world, its values, and its thinking process, the less they bother you.
*** Frog in the Kettle.
> Psalm 101:3 I will not set anything godless before my eyes.
III. WE FIGHT AGAINST THE DEVIL
The Devil is not your friend. He is real and he is your enemy.
Two men were talking one day when a church lady came walking up the road. One turned to the other and said, “That’s sister Brown. She has nothing bad to say about anyone.”
The other one, wanting to put it to the test said, “Sister Brown, what do you think about the Devil?”
She turned and answered, “He is sure is busily at work, isn’t he?”
> 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober! Be on the alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.
My friend, the Devil, his demons and henchmen want you to fail. He doesn’t want to go weeping and wailing and nashing his teeth by himself. He doesn’t want our Lord to be pleased by our actions. He doesn’t want us healthy, happy or productive and if our flesh doesn’t pull us down, and if the world he rules doesn’t get us, he will attack.
He will attack your health. He will attack your finances. He will attack your faith in God. He will attack your contentment in what God has provided.
- Ephesians 6:11-18
The Bible shows a number of instances where he has attacked God’s people. He attacked Eve. He attacked Job. He attacked Jesus in the wilderness, and he will attack you.
YOU DEFEAT THIS ENEMY BY:
1. Submitting to God
> James 4:7 Therefore, submit to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.
You let the Lord be Lord. You do what you already know to do.
> Ephesians 4:26-27 Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, and don’t give the Devil an opportunity.
2. Resisting his temptations
- James 4:7 (above)
Some of us never resist. At the first sign of temptation we give in.
3. The Blood of the Lamb and the Word of your Testimony
> Revelation 12:11 They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not love their lives in the face of death.
4. The Word of God
Ephesians 6:17 – Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.
Jesus used the Word of God in His battle against the Devil.
Wars we have lost. Korea, Vietnam. The only wars we have failed to win are the ones we decided were too costly to win, or the ones we didn’t have the heart to fight.
My friends. Don’t be a casualty in this war. Don’t let the enemies sent against you, defeat you.
Invitation. – Prayer at the alter.
