A new soldier was on sentry duty at the main gate. Security levels were high. His orders were very clear. No car was to enter unless it had a special sticker on the windshield. A big Army car came up with a general seated in the back. The sentry said, "Halt, who goes there?"
The driver, a corporal, said, "General Wheeler."
"I'm sorry,” he replied. “I can't let you through. You've got to have a sticker on the windshield."
The general barked to the driver, "Drive on!"
"Hold it!” the sentry said to the driver. “You really can't come through. I have orders to shoot if you try driving in without a sticker."
The general repeated, "I'm telling you, son, drive on!"
The sentry walked up to the rear window and said, "General, I'm new at this. Tell me, Sir. Do I shoot you or the driver?"
As we have been discussing, sometimes we don’t know whether to shoot Satan or our own flesh. Reality is we battle both. Satan and his demonic powers are very real. They influence and tempt us often throughout the day. And our own flesh is very real. It tempts us to surrender to our lusts and desires often throughout the day. And caught in the middle of this battle is our spirit. On one side are demonic influences and on the other are our fleshly desires, all tugging at our spirit to wander from God and his calling on our lives.
Paul described this when he declared, “When I want to do what is right, I always do what is wrong. My mind and heart agree with the Law of God. But there is a different law at work deep inside of me that fights with my mind. This law of sin holds me in its power because sin is still in me. There is no happiness in me! Who can set me free from my sinful old self?”
The answer to Paul’s question is, of course, Jesus. Remember He came and unbound us. It’s when we allow our flesh to overpower our spirit that we become bound up by sin again. We will never overpower sin by a fleshly manner. It’s only through our spirit that we can overcome sin.
Let’s read 2 Corinthians 10:3 “We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do.”
What a revelation from God’s word. We are human. The Greek word for “human” meant to walk around and inhabit the area around you.
We are not spiritual beings. We are fleshly beings. When we hear of someone doing something in the flesh we usually assume it was a sinful act. But everything we do is done in the flesh. We eat in the flesh. We have fun in the flesh. We sleep in the flesh. Just being flesh is not a sinful thing. Remember Jesus was the Word and the Word became flesh.
Furthermore we are locked into this flesh. We can’t escape it. We can’t trade it in until we die or Jesus returns. Even God recognizes that fact. The Bible says “For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.” In other words, He knows we are human beings, spiritual beings. So He doesn’t expect us to fight our spiritual battles in the flesh. So what do we use to battle against Satan and our own lusts?
The answer is found in 2 Corinthians 10:4 “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.”
The Greek word for mighty weapons is stratos. It is where we get the word strategy. Therefore, it is God’s strategy, not ours, with which we are to fight the battle. We have the weapons but we lack the strategy to use them.
Since its football season, imagine a team with the best talent the NFL has to offer but they have no game plan. They have no strategy. The receivers don’t know their routes. The quarterback doesn’t know who to throw to. The running backs don’t know the direction to cut. The offensive line has no idea of the count or who is getting the ball. The team would be in chaos.
We are commanded by the word to put on our spiritual armor to protect us. But unless we are given a God delivered strategy on how to use these weapons, we are as ineffective as a football team with no game plan.
In order to be effective the football team must spend time with the coaching staff. They must study the game plan for each week. They must be as focused on winning as their head coach is. In order to get an effective strategy from God we must spend time in prayer. We must study the word for each day. We must be focused on living a sinless life to the best of our ability.
Our weapons are not worldly weapons. They are not derived from our human side. Paul tells us that spiritual warfare has nothing to do with our flesh or its activity. Rather, it has everything to do with our spirit. Satan is not impressed with how many certificates or degrees are hanging on your wall. Satan is not frightened by your reputation of being a great Christian. There is nothing about your dwelling in the flesh that threatens him. That is why God gives us a spiritual armor and not a solid steel armor.
Going back to verse 4. We are called to knock down and destroy spiritual foes. We learned a few weeks back that strongholds were prisons. These bars are not made of steel but rather of human reasoning.
How well is human reasoning? Here are some examples.
A rocket will never be able to leave the Earth's atmosphere.
The New York Times, January 13, 1920.
The automobile has practically reached the limit of its development. During the past year no improvements of a radical nature have been introduced.
Scientific American, January 2, 1909.
There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home.
Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corporation
Well-informed people know that it is impossible to transmit the human voice over wires as may be done with dots and dashes of Morse code, and that, were it possible to do so, the thing would be of no practical value.
Unidentified Boston newspaper, 1865.
“There will never be a bigger plane built.” —
A Boeing engineer, after the first flight of the 247, a twin engine plane that holds ten people
“The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty – a fad.” —
The president of the Michigan Savings Bank advising Henry Ford’s lawyer not to invest in the Ford Motor Co., 1903
“Television won’t last. It’s a flash in the pan.” —
Mary Somerville, pioneer of radio educational broadcasts, 1948.
“[Television] won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.”
Darryl Zanuck, movie producer, 20th Century Fox, 1946.
When the Paris Exhibition [of 1878] closes, electric light will close with it and no more will be heard of it.”
Oxford professor Erasmus Wilson
“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to no one in particular?”
.Associates of David Sarnoff responding to the latter’s call for investment in the radio in 1921
Intelligent people using human reasoning only to allow time to prove them wrong.
We enclose ourselves in human reasoning. We make statements such as “God would never allow this to happen.” “God will never pull me from this pit I dug.” “God is able to perform a miracle for me but He won’t.” “That’s not what God meant in his word.” “The temptation was just too strong for me” “As much as I fail, I can’t be a Christian.” So many things we could add to the list. But we are to take the battering ram of God’s mighty weapon, the spiritual one, and knock over this human reasoning.
Once inside we are to destroy false arguments. Satan wants to debate you on the truth of God’s word. He tried it with Jesus in the wilderness and used others through out his ministry. You must know the truth of God’s word. Satan knows scripture. He attempted to use scripture to entice Jesus to test God and to worship him. Do not debate the Word of God. Stand on the truth of the word of God. When the devil wants to debate, resist the urge to do so. He will flee from you.
Another danger of battling spiritual forces in a fleshly manner is legalism. Let’s read Galatians 3:3. “How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?”
Often in our efforts to battle Satan and our flesh we begin to burden ourselves with rules and regulations. Paul warned the Colossian church to guard themselves against such things. He warned them not to allow themselves to become oppressed by those who would condemn them for what they eat or drink and not celebrating certain holy days including the Sabbath. Why would he do this? Because these things lead to guilt. And guilt will lead to bondage. Satan will use guilt to bind us up.
There is a difference between guilt and conviction. The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins. He impresses upon us a sense of guilt so that we might turn away from a sinful action. Guilt condemns us with no chance of turning away. Guilt demands restitution. Conviction opens the door for repentance. Guilt demands fleshly works to pay for our sins. Conviction offers grace to be forgiven for our sins.
Paul also asked them why they keep on following the rules of the world that says, “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!” He’s not saying that we can handle, taste, and touch whatever we please. In fact he wrote, “You say, ‘I am allowed to do anything’ —but not everything is good for you. You say, ‘I am allowed to do anything’ —but not everything is beneficial.” So those things that are not good and beneficial should not be handled, tasted, or touched.
If we are following these rules just to show our strong devotion, it’s worthless. If we are following these rules just to show off our pious self-denial, it’s worthless. If we are following these rules just to brag about our severe bodily discipline, it’s worthless. Because these things lead to a legalistic bondage that offers no help to our evil desires.
By trying to live a life of strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline, we are in fact declaring that we can fight the battle on our own. We are declaring that our flesh and its actions can defeat Satan. We are pitting lustful flesh against evil spirit. You can believe me when I say the spirit will win.
Settle your heart on this. Titus 3:5 “he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.”
We can add nothing to what was accomplished at the cross. We were not saved because of our strong devotion, pious self-denial, or severe bodily discipline. We were saved because of his mercy. His mercy, not our actions, washed away our sins. His mercy, not our actions, gave us a new birth. His mercy, not our actions, gave us new life. The writer of Hebrews declares it to be a “great salvation.”
How can Satan withstand a “great salvation?” How can Satan control those who under a “great salvation?” How can Satan abuse and confuse those who understand the power of a “great salvation?”
Human reasoning would declare that no one would willingly die for an enemy to offer such a “great salvation.” Human reasoning would demand a price or service on our part to earn a “great salvation.” Knock down those gates of human reasoning and destroy the enemy within that would debate the validity of such a “great salvation” It’s real and it’s ours. It is a cornerstone of our spiritual warfare battle.
