Dating back to the Garden of Eden, mankind has experienced the power of the supernatural warfare which exists on this earth. The devil, disguised as a serpent, entertained and then deceived Eve who then under the influence of darkness continued the deception with Adam and together they worked to deceived God by attempting to hide their sin.
In our lifetime we have seen, and most recently so, the rise of interest in the supernatural. Disney brought us Fantasia, Harry Potter has been a success in both book and movie form making its author one of the riches people in the world. On television there is this season, Medium, Ghost Whisperer, and other such offerings which deal in the realm of the supernatural. Other films, such as the Fog, the Exorcism of Emily Gale, and others have peaked interest. Why? Because the Bible speaks of an increase in darkness in the last days, where light and dark become more distinguishable. The dark side, as we have learned the phrase from Star Wars fame, works to make itself more acceptable, more visible, so that it is common place, and the media has become a prime tool for that acceptability.
Richard Pryor, I believe, made the phrase, “The devil made me do it,” a household expression. We laughed when it was said as he parodied the expression as an excuse to justify wrong behavior.
We continue our look at the book of Ephesians in chapter 6 today beginning an examination of the Believer’s armor so we can avoid saying, “the devil made me do it.”
Ephesians 6:10-12 in the New Living Translation, 10A final word: Be strong with the Lord’s mighty power. 11Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. 12For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.
Paul is wrapping up his letter in Ephesians with a final thought. By the way, in conclusion, I want you to know, Paul says, be strong in the Lord, and in His mighty power. Why? Because you are going to need that strength to get through this life because there are forces at work against you, forces that want to harm you, forces that want to bring you down, so put on the armor of God so you can fight the good fight of faith.
Next week we are going to look at the armor, this week, I have three things I want you to see about the influence darkness has on the world. First of all, we need to understand…
I. The World’s Leader.
Paul instructs us to put on the whole armor of God so we can withstand the assault of the devil. This world is but a vehicle which brings believers in God to heaven, a proving ground in the great battle between God and the devil. How many of you have discovered there is a battle being waged, that this world is not some playground but there are forces at work which pull you in every direction, most importantly, there are forces at work which are at this moment trying to pull you away from God? Do you know what I am talking about?
The devil, Satan, the serpent of old, is real. He is not a cartoon character wearing a red suit, carrying a pitchfork with horns on his head. If that is what he looked like, we wouldn’t give him the time of day.
Isaiah 14:12-15 says this of him, “12"How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world. 13For you said to yourself, `I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north. 14I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.’ 15But instead, you will be brought down to the place of the dead, down to its lowest depths.”
Once the worship leader in heaven, Satan, the devil, attempted to overthrow God. We would think that an absurd thing to do, to overthrow the Creator of the Universe. Yet, how often have we ourselves attempted such a coup. When we decide to do something outside the will of God, when we violate the perimeters He has established, we decide we can do it better than God. That’s when we say, “the devil made me do it.”
The devil, through his agents, do influence decisions, but listen, we give to much credit to them when in actuality, as free moral agents, we make decisions which we know are wrong, all because we want what we want, and we want it now.
There are people not in church today, not because the devil talked them into staying in bed, they made the choice to not turn on the alarm clock, to not get out of bed, to not get dressed and be in church to fellowship with other believers as God instructed us to do in His Word, the Bible.
I gained weight, not because the devil made me eat more food than I should have, or caused me not to exercise like I need to. No, I made the choice and as a result bear the consequences. Lets get real, we need to also take on some personal responsibility. Yes, the devil does have sway, but he is but one created being who can only be in one place at the same time, he is not God, never ascended to be like God, in fact, he was cast out of heaven, down to this earth.
Let me digress for a minute and point out as people, we have 3 enemies, the world, the flesh and the devil. The world, according to John 2:15-17, caters to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The flesh is the sin nature we inherited from Adam. This is the nature which is opposed to God and can do nothing spiritual to please God, and the devil is the defeated enemy of God who has been cast down to this earth for a season so he can witness the goodness and justness of God which was demonstrated when He sent His Son, Jesus, to come and walked on this earth to show us the way to life, who then paid the full penalty for our wrongdoing so we can walk righteously and enter into the promise of heaven when this world passes from us if we will but accept his forgiveness and embrace him as Lord, King and our Savor.
Enabling us in our victory, God has provided us with resources, the armor of God, to win the victory so we do not fight from a defeated stance but from a victorious one.
We have an enemy, his name is Satan, the devil, the evil one, we wants us to be like him, defeated, with no future hope. He thinks if he can rally enough together he can still win, so he strikes out at you, to get you made at God, to blame God for the shortcomings in your life and the pain you see in the world. Have you noticed how when things are going wrong, people blame God. We talked about this last week in our community groups, how things are labeled an act of God. Insurance companies do it in their policies, so if a natural disaster strikes, a result of cause an effect of a world put in motion, they don’t have to pay. You submit your claim to God.
The devil wants you to blame God. To get caught in the blame game.
We could do an entire series on the devil but time does not permit, so lets look at the second area this verse speaks of…
II. The World’s Workers.
For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.
The devil is a solitary figure, he cannot be everywhere, so he has an army. When he fell from heaven, a third of the angels also fell from grace and comprise his corp. Paul refers to this as principalities, powers, rulers, wicked spirits in the heavenly realm.
Daniel speaks of this battle in Daniel 10, 13But for twenty-one days the spirit prince[a] of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels,[b] came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia.[c] 14Now I am here to explain what will happen to your people in the future, for this vision concerns a time yet to come."
15While he was speaking to me, I looked down at the ground, unable to say a word. 16Then the one who looked like a man[d] touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the one standing in front of me, "I am terrified by the vision I have seen, my lord, and I am very weak. 17How can someone like me, your servant, talk to you, my lord? My strength is gone, and I can hardly breathe."
18Then the one who looked like a man touched me again, and I felt my strength returning. 19"Don’t be afraid," he said, "for you are deeply loved by God. Be at peace; take heart and be strong!"
As he spoke these words, I suddenly felt stronger and said to him, "Now you may speak, my lord, for you have strengthened me."
20He replied, "Do you know why I have come? Soon I must return to fight against the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia, and then against the spirit prince of the kingdom of Greece.
We gain the understanding from this there is this battle being fought around us in the heavenlies which makes walking in victory a vitally important thing to us, and to God.
We need to gain an eternal perspective, understanding the battle we fight is not against human beings but against spiritual powers. Consider the conflict in the Middle East. Yes, there are humans involved, and human casualties resulting from the chaos, but the battle is truly a spiritual one. There is a religious struggle, Judeo-Christian against Islam and again, we don’t have time today to get into the whole background so I would encourage you to do some reading, such as the book in the foyer, winning the war against Islam, to gain a greater understanding of this conflict which dates back to Abraham, the father of both nations.
We waste much of our time fighting against people when we should be fighting against the devil who seeks to control people and make them oppose the work of God.
During Paul’s ministry in Ephesus, a riot took place that could have destroyed the church . You can read this is Acts 19:21–41. It wasn’t caused only by Demetrius and his associates, for behind them were Satan and his associates. Certainly Paul and the church prayed, and the opposition was silenced. The advice of the King of Syria to his soldiers can be applied to our spiritual battle: “Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king” (1 Kings 22:31).
Let me close by bring out a third point…
III. The World’s Abilities
The admonitions Paul gave indicate that Satan is a strong enemy (Eph. 6:10–12), and that we need the power of God to be able to stand against him. Never underestimate the power of the devil. He is not compared to a lion and a dragon just for fun! The Book of Job tells what his power can do to a man’s body, home, wealth, and friends. Jesus calls Satan a thief who comes “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” we read in John 10:10. Not only is Satan strong, but he is also wise and subtle, and we fight against “the wiles of the devil.” Wiles means “cunning, crafty arts, strategems.” The Christian cannot afford to be “ignorant of his devices” it teaches in 2 Corinthians 2:11. Some men are cunning and crafty and “lie in wait to receive” Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:14, but behind them is the arch-deceiver, Satan. He masquerades as an angel of light it says in 2 Corinthians 11:14 and seeks to blind men’s minds to the truth of God’s Word. The fact that Paul uses the word “wrestle” indicates that we are involved in a hand-to-hand battle and are not mere spectators at a game. Satan wants to use our external enemy, the world, and our internal enemy, the flesh, to defeat us. His weapons and battle plans are formidable.
Come back next week and discover how you can be victorious against the world, the flesh and the devil as we learn how to us what we have been given by God to win the victory.
