I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Ephesians
6:10-18
Ephesians
6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full
armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 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. 14 Stand firm then, with
the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of
righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that
comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield
of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word
of God.
18
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s
people.
-- this morning, we are finishing up our series
on “Walking with Jesus” which has been based on Paul’s letter to the church in
Ephesus -- Paul spent more time with the church in Ephesus than he did in any
other church that he planted or visited, so he was heavily invested in their
spiritual success -- he wanted to see them become mature in their faith -- to
grow in Christ -- and to become as much like Jesus as they could in this life
-- for that reason, the Book of Ephesians
is like a mini-course in the basics of Christianity -- it shows us how we are
to walk with Jesus in our daily lives so that we might become mature, too -- it’s
a good practice to read through Ephesians on a regular basis -- at least once a
year -- so that you can refresh yourself on the Lord’s instructions to us
through Paul on how to live and walk with Jesus in our daily lives
-- so, in this series, we have talked
about walking with Jesus in unity -- in holiness -- in love -- in light -- and in
wisdom -- this morning, we’re going to finish up the series by looking at
walking with Jesus in spiritual warfare
-- we’ve got a lot of ground to cover this
morning, so let’s get right to it
II. What is Spiritual Warfare?
-- spiritual warfare is a concept that
doesn’t really get taught in churches a lot -- and for that reason, a lot of
people don’t really understand what we mean by the term -- it all goes back to Paul’s
instructions to us in this passage
-- if you would, look back with me at
verse 10
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong
in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that
you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not
against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against
the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly realms.
-- Paul concludes his letter to the
Ephesians on how to walk with Jesus by telling them that they will need to
depend on God and His mighty power if they are to be strong in the Lord and
live successful spiritual lives
-- all that Paul counseled us to do so far
in this epistle -- to walk in unity and holiness and love -- to walk in light
and in wisdom -- none of that is possible apart from the power of God in our
lives -- we cannot live the life that Christ is calling us to live on our own
-- we have to depend on God and His power
-- this power comes to us through Him and
is made manifest in our lives by the Holy Spirit who strengthens us and enables
us to live for Jesus supernaturally -- and by the term, supernaturally, I mean
not relying on natural means to live the Christian life -- not relying on our
own strength or willpower or emotions to do what is right in the eyes of the
Lord -- but instead relying on the spiritual strength and power that comes to
us supernaturally from God Himself
-- after telling us that, Paul then reminds
us in verse 12 of an important spiritual truth that often gets overlooked -- he
says that our struggle -- meaning our struggle to live the Christian life --
our struggle to walk in holiness in a fallen world -- our struggle to live with
those who are opposed to Christianity -- our struggle is not against flesh and
blood, but against spiritual entities who come from the heavenly realms
-- what Paul is saying here is that we
have a spiritual enemy who is actively fighting against us in our daily lives
-- in other words, we have a spiritual enemy who is trying to do everything he
can to keep us from growing in Christ and to keep others from coming to Christ
for salvation -- and while we can’t see him with our fleshly eyes, this enemy
is real and the battle rages all around us
-- when Paul speaks in verse 12 about the
rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world, and the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realm, he is referring to these spiritual enemies
-- to Satan and his hierarchy of followers
-- I know that a lot of people in our day
and age don't believe in Satan -- many think the devil was a myth that was
invented by the church to keep people in line -- or they think that this was
just the way that the ancient people used to describe those who had a mental illness
or epilepsy or some other type of debilitating disease
-- but the Bible says that Satan is real --
Jesus Himself said that Satan was real -- in Luke 10:18, Jesus said that He saw
Satan fall like lightning from heaven -- and we know the biblical accounts of
Satan and his activities throughout the Old and the New Testaments, including
the tempting of Jesus in the wilderness after His baptism and the various
accounts of demonic possession
-- Satan was originally created as the
angel Lucifer -- and the Bible indicates that he was one of the highest ranking
angels and led the worship to God in heaven -- but because of his pride and
desire to become God himself, he chose to rebel against God and was cast out of
heaven with his followers -- in Revelation 12:4, it says that one-third of the
angels fell with Satan -- these are the rulers and authorities and powers that
Paul is talking about here in verse 12 -- these are the spiritual entities that
we more commonly call demons
-- when we talk about spiritual warfare,
we are referring to any spiritual harassment or oppression that comes from
Satan and his demons against humans, but especially against the people of God
-- spiritual warfare does include demon
possession, which is often described in the New Testament, and which does occur
in our day and age -- although not as common as it did in New Testament times,
apparently -- but it is real and it does happen
-- and
before you start to get worried, let me give you an assurance here -- demons
cannot possess a Christian who is indwelt with the Holy Spirit
-- if you've been in church at all during
your life, at some point you've heard someone say, "there's a God-shaped
hole in our hearts that can only be filled by God"
-- that's partially true -- all humans have
a place in our bodies that was created to be filled by God's Holy Spirit -- but
in the absence of the Spirit, that place can be filled by something else, and
that's how demons get into a person
-- if that God-shaped hole is empty -- if
a person has not received Jesus as Lord and Savior and received the Holy Spirit
-- then something else can fill that spot
-- but if that place is filled with the
Holy Spirit, then nothing else can come in -- so, Christians are protected from
demon possession because that God-shaped hole is permanently filled with the
very presence of God -- no other spirit can come in, although Christians can
still be harassed or affected by demons in other ways
-- let me expand on demon possession
before we leave this thought -- demon possession is real -- it is not common --
but it does happen -- on occasion, demons can enter into the body of
nonbelievers and exert control over a person's thoughts and behaviors
-- in my experience and based on my
conversations with others, when we see someone here in this country that is
possessed by a demon, they don’t look like the girl in the movie, “The
Exorcist” -- they’re not floating over their bed and turning their head all the
way around and screaming obscenities and vomiting on priests -- the possession manifests
in different ways
-- the demons influence the possessed
person’s thoughts and emotions and behaviors and gets them to do things that
harm their lives -- sometimes physically -- always spiritually
-- but you wouldn’t know that they were
possessed just by looking at them -- in all likelihood, at some point in your
life, you have seen people that have been possessed by a demon, and you didn’t
know it -- for all intents and purposes, they looked and acted normal -- but
that demonic presence was still there inside them, impacting their lives and
the lives of those around them
-- so, I want you to be clear on this --
demonic possession does occur, but only in unbelievers who do not have the Holy
Spirit within them -- believers are protected from demonic possession by the
Spirit and by God’s mighty power
-- and it’s not that common -- don’t leave
here and start thinking everybody you come into contact with is possessed --
that’s not what I’m saying -- demon possession does happen -- it is real -- but
it is not that common
-- rather than worrying about others and
thinking that everyone around you has a demon, I would encourage you to think
about yourself first -- make sure that you are a true believer in Christ -- that
you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior -- that you have put your faith
and trust in Him and asked Him to come into your life and to forgive you of
your sin and that you have the Holy Spirit within you -- then you don’t have to
worry about demon possession at all
-- the bottom-line is that unless you’re
one of the people that God has called to minister specifically to those with demon
possession, don’t concern yourself with it -- don’t worry about demon
possession -- just make sure you are in a right relationship with God and that
you have the Holy Spirit within you and focus on growing in grace and becoming who
He has called you to be
-- okay, now that I have scared half
of you and got the rest thinking I’m as crazy as a loon, let’s move on
-- so, the Bible makes it clear that we
are sometimes beset by spiritual foes -- the rulers and authorities and powers
that Paul is talking about here -- so, when that happens, what does that look
like?
-- in most instances, spiritual attacks
are going to be subtle -- you won’t even realize you’re being attacked -- the
demon’s intent is to deceive you or distract you or to discourage you from your
walk with Christ -- sometimes they try to tempt you into sin -- they can’t
cause you to sin, but as Paul says here, they scheme against us -- they can
whisper tempting thoughts into our minds or arrange circumstances that tempt us
to give into sin
-- let me give you an example of a very
common scheme in the devil’s playbook -- how many of you have ever gotten
sleepy when you try to read the Bible? -- how many of you have ever gotten up
-- wide awake -- ready for the day -- and you pull out your Bible to have a
moment with God -- and all of a sudden you get sleepy -- or you get hungry --
or you start to think about things you need to do right that moment? -- has
that ever happened to you? -- I’m sure it has -- you’ve experienced a spiritual
attack
-- I have felt this unnatural fatigue more
than once -- at Bible study or in worship -- it is something that I have become
aware of and when it happens, I know I’m under a spiritual attack -- and I’m
not the only one who experiences this
-- Corrie ten Boom, the Dutch evangelist
who wrote the book, "The Hiding Place," based on her life experiences
hiding Jews during World War II and suffering in the Nazi concentration camps,
said that she noticed the very same thing in America
-- she traveled all around the world
speaking and telling people about Jesus, and she said that when she came to
America, the moment she set foot on American soil, her body was filled with
fatigue -- a heaviness wrapped around her and she felt sleepy -- but this would
lift as she prayed and asked God for strength and protection -- she said that
this fatigue was a spiritual attack against her
-- this is an example of the subtle types
of attacks the enemy makes trying to keep us from spending time with God or
sharing His word with others -- this is an example of spiritual warfare in your
life
-- spiritual harassment is another type of
spiritual attack that we see from Satan and his demons -- spiritual harassment
is more direct -- it’s when circumstances or things or people start disrupting
you when you are trying to serve the Lord or spend time with Him
-- we read about spiritual harassment in
the Book of Acts, Acts 16:16-24 -- when Paul and Silas were ministering in
Philippi, a slave girl who was possessed with an evil spirit started following them
around -- everywhere they went, she would yell, “these men are servants of the
Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved” -- which sounds good,
but her constant presence and yelling distracted everyone and kept them from
listening to Paul
-- have you ever seen a street preacher
yelling and preaching before? -- what did you do? -- in all likelihood, you
avoided them because it was uncomfortable, even as a believer
-- that’s what was going on with this
slave girl -- her yelling behind Paul and Silas was distracting -- it got the
attention of the authorities and people avoided Paul and Silas -- finally, Paul
cast the demon from her and ended up in jail because of it -- Satan obviously
thought by doing that he would keep Paul and Silas from preaching in the city
-- this is an example of how Satan tries
to harass us to keep us from doing what God has called us to do
-- I’ve seen this in my own life -- I was
meeting one-on-one with a disciple at Chick-Fil-A several years ago
-- we were sitting in a booth by ourselves
-- there wasn’t another soul in the whole restaurant -- but as soon as we
opened the Bible and began to read, every single seat around us filled up, even
though the rest of the place was mostly vacant
-- the people around us started to talk
and laugh loudly to the point that we couldn't hear each other when we spoke --
and then, believe it or not, at one point when I tried to read a Bible passage
out loud, the table next to us began to sing -- eight guys started singing, out
loud, in the middle of Chick-fil-a
-- if you haven’t noticed yet, I sometimes
struggle to hear when it’s noisy or when there’s a lot of background noise
around me -- so, finally, I called it quits -- I told my disciple that we were
going to have to leave and we’d just meet again later -- just as soon as we
closed our Bibles and got up to leave, those guys stopped singing and everybody
got quiet -- Satan had accomplished his goal of preventing us from meeting that
day by harassing us and distracting us from what we were trying to do
-- these types of spiritual attacks are so
very common -- I see them all the time -- that’s why I started telling people
to get prepared when they try to open their Bibles and spend time with the Lord
-- as soon as you do that, the distractions are going to start -- phone's going
to ring or you’re going to get a text -- someone will knock at the door or
something will break or something else is going to happen -- these are all spiritual
attacks -- Satan and his demons trying to keep us from doing God's work
-- attacks like these -- deceit --
distraction -- harassment -- spiritual fatigue -- these are the most common --
but not all spiritual attacks are this innocuous -- spiritual attacks range
from minor distractions like the one I experienced at Chick-Fil-A, all the way
to major attacks against Christians and their families, including physical and
mental anguish and even sickness and disease
-- so, spiritual attacks on Christians are
real and common -- these do happen on a regular basis -- and if you have been a
Christian for any length of time, you should be aware of these because I
guarantee you have experienced them
-- the next step is for us to identify
when these spiritual attacks are most likely to occur and how we can counter
them with God’s mighty power and in His strength
-- unfortunately, I have run out of time
for this morning -- so, it looks like I am going to need to continue this
message next week to sum up this topic of walking with Jesus in spiritual
warfare
III. Closing
-- as we close, I do want you to take a
moment to think about what we have talked about today -- spiritual warfare and
spiritual attacks from our enemies are all too real -- they can affect our walk
with Jesus -- they can hinder our mission and our ministry -- they can divide
us and influence us and cause us to stray from the path of Christ
-- but when it comes to spiritual warfare,
we need to be careful not to fall into two extremes:
-- the first is not believing that Satan
and demons exist -- there’s a lot of people in our world today that dismiss spirituality
and religion -- that don’t believe in God or Jesus -- and there’s just as many
that don’t believe that Satan and his demons are real -- even Christians,
especially those in more progressive and liberal denominations, tend to dismiss
the accounts in the Bible about Satan or demonic activity or any supernatural
event
-- as we’ve said, Satan and his demons do
exist and the Bible identifies them as our spiritual enemies who actively
influence our lives to try to keep us from becoming mature in our faith -- I
hope today’s message has helped dispel this extreme and that you don’t leave
here today thinking that there is no such thing as Satan or a demon
-- which brings us to the second extreme
consideration in spiritual warfare, which is making a mountain out of the
demonic -- thinking there’s a demon under every bush and that the devil is
behind every tree -- some people go through life thinking that every bad thing
that happens is because the devil did it
-- some of us are old enough to remember
the comedian Flip Wilson’s tag line -- “The devil made me do it” -- and this
type of thinking can be a trap for us to avert personal responsibility in our
lives and to try to blame everything that goes wrong on the devil
-- so, while the Bible makes it clear that
we have a spiritual enemy who tries to impact our lives, not everything that
happens to us is because of demonic activity -- some things happen because we
are fallen humans living in a fallen world and some of the things that happen
to us are the consequence of our own actions or the actions of those around us --
some things happen because this is the natural course of events
-- if I don’t pay attention and trip going
down the stairs today, it’s not because a demon pushed me -- it’s my own fault
-- and I need to take responsibility for that
-- bad things happen -- and sometimes, bad
things happen to good people -- it’s a fact of life -- but that doesn’t mean
the devil made it happen -- keep this in mind:
spiritual attacks are primarily attacks on your faith and on your walk
with Jesus -- so, things outside of this -- like falling down the stairs -- are
probably because you weren’t paying attention or something was wrong with the
stairs -- it is almost certain that falling down the stairs is not a demonic
attack -- just to be sure, I’m going to take the ramp when I leave here
today...
-- so, be careful of falling into either
of the two extremes -- thinking that demons don’t exist or that there is not
another supernatural and spiritual reality around us -- and thinking that
everything is the result of demons
-- the truth is somewhere in the middle --
and we need to be discerning in our evaluation of what is going on and not
blame someone else, including Satan and his demons, for things that are our own
fault
-- the thing I want you to leave here
knowing this morning is that spiritual attacks and spiritual warfare is a
reality -- it’s something that we need to be aware of -- but we can’t let it encompass
our lives or our thinking
-- always remember that we have an
advocate in the Holy Spirit who dwells within us -- who works in our lives to
empower us to counter the devil’s schemes and his attacks when they come
-- and our response should be to step out
in faith in God and in His mighty power and strength to help us where our flesh
fails
-- so, next week, we’ll try to finish up
our thoughts on spiritual warfare -- and I hope to see you here
-- as a reminder, if you missed any of the
messages from this series, you can find the videos and a link to the sermon
transcripts on our Facebook Page for Naylor Community Christian Church
-- with that, let’s close in prayer -- let’s
pray
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