Pastor Paul Chappell: Understanding the Battle

well let's take our bibles now shall we and let's turn to ephesians chapter six as we begin this brand new series and as we begin this series today from ephesians chapter six uh i believe that we're going to be covering some of the most important spiritual principles that we could possibly cover as we traverse through this time called kovid 19 or the kovid pandemic and tonight what i would like to do is give a message that really introduces the topic of spiritual warfare i've entitled the lesson tonight how to discern and defeat satan you can find the outline always at lancasterbaptist.org and i hope you will and or right now as you're watching now i don't know where you are at a table coffee room table or maybe in your kitchen let me encourage you set the other stuff aside get your bible out maybe get a piece of paper and maybe a pen and by the way if you haven't done this yet let me encourage you before we start the first message in this series text a friend and tell them pastor chapel starting right now ephesians chapter 6 join with us you also could repost this message on facebook or other places we want to get this good content out especially to our church family and so join with us ephesians chapter 6 and text a friend grab your bible do whatever you need to do to get ready and i want you to enjoy this as i've enjoyed studying for this series ephesians chapter 6 verses 10 through 13 will be our text for tonight and then we're going to take the rest of these verses verse by verse in the upcoming weeks and we have some tremendous men that are helping me with this series and each one has been assigned a topic i'll be as well involved and we're excited to bring this truth to you and i pray that you will be challenged and encouraged as we study ephesians chapter 6. so let's notice beginning in verse 10 finally my brethren be strong in the lord and in the power of his might put on the whole armor of god that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places wherefore take unto you the whole armor of god that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand stand now statisticians have told us in recent days that there is a fairly large percentage of christians that not only are not able to be in church during covid but have not been found faithful either in online or any other form of bible study some 30 percent we're told i hope this is not true but i have read in various studies that as many as 20 percent of all churches may close by the end of covet 19. years ago a pastor said to me brother chapel the members of your church are either moving forward spiritually or they're moving backward spiritually there's no middle ground so we begin this series with the recognition that all of us are involved in a spiritual warfare that we have an adversary he has many tricks in his bag called here the wiles of the devil and that we will not be standing unless we intentionally fight the good fight of faith in these upcoming days and so as we come tonight to ephesians chapter 6 we come to a passage that reminds us that we do have an enemy one thing i love about the bible is that the bible lays out for me exactly what i'm facing and exactly how to have victory i'm reminded for example of first peter chapter 5 and verse 8 where the bible says be sober and vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour now what we are hearing from sociologists and those that do various types of of uh studies and polls is that by the end of kovid there will be some christians who are not standing that is to say that during this time if we're not being fed spiritually if we're not being vigilant in the battle that satan's goal which is to cause us to disappear will take place i believe i'm speaking tonight to people who want to stand and be standing when this trial is over and so we must enter the battle intentionally recognizing that there is an enemy in deed now satan was once an angelic being we know that he rebelled against god uh the bible tells us about his rebellion in isaiah chapter 14 and verse 12. we read these words how art thou fallen from heaven o lucifer son of the morning how art thou cut down to the ground which does weaken the nations for thou has said in thine heart i will ascend into heaven i will exalt my throne above the stars of god i will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north i will ascend unto the heights of the clouds i will be like the most high now that is the heart of satan we see that heart in many different movements and philosophies today for example the secular humanist says there is no god and that we can be our own god the atheist says there is no god and thus claiming that he or she is all-knowing satan was the first to bring this philosophy into the world he said i will be like unto the most high satan is a fallen angelic being he has some power he has great power but we're going to learn in these next weeks that he does not have all power that is something that belongs only to our god now satan rebelled against god became the enemy of god and he is the enemy of the church of jesus christ today he is doing all that he can to cause individual christians to fall by the wayside to close churches christian schools colleges any endeavor that presents the truth of the death burial and resurrection of jesus christ and so in these upcoming weeks we're going to learn how to battle the enemy in the power of the holy spirit of god now as you sit there tonight with your bible open i want you to first of all notice in verse number 10 the provision for the battle that we have notice in ephesians 6 and verse 10 it says finally my brethren be strong in the lord and in the power of his might notice the provision for the battle be strong in the lord now we see first of all the source of our power the source of our power that our sufficiency our strength must come from the lord himself now i am a big believer in church attendance uh and i look forward to the day when we can all gather together again and i'm glad that we're gathering via live stream tonight and there's great sustenance that comes from gathering there was great encouragement to be found sunday morning in particular but may i say that our final and ultimate sustenance does not come from one another it must come from our personal abiding relationship with the lord and we hear in verse number 10 that we are to be strong in the lord and in the power of his might the word power speaks of his greatness and his strength the word might reminds us that he alone has the ability or the force to combat satan our power in this battle then comes from god who is within us greater is he that is in you than he that is in this world and so let me encourage you during this time of covid not to put confidence in yourself but to remember to walk humbly with the lord second corinthians three and five not that are not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves but our sufficiency is of god second corinthians 3 5 but our sufficiency is of god now would you say that with me and i'm envisioning right now maybe a husband and a wife or maybe some friends that have gathered together i want you to stay with me tonight as we begin this series and it says but our sufficiency is of god would you say that now but our sufficiency is of god so god we are totally dependent upon you our sufficiency comes from you the excellency of the power is not of us but in god and therefore the necessity of living in communion with god is vital for every christian so the source of our power is god himself notice secondly though the supply of armor so god says i'm the source ultimately of your power but i'm going to supply you with some armor now we live in what some call the aerospace valley uh our friend general john teichert uh said to me he said i've never seen an antelope but i see a lot of airplanes and he is a great proponent of changing the name of this area to the aerospace valley and frankly i'm fine with that we live in an area that is heavily involved in the defense industry and i'm a great proponent of a strong america i'm a great proponent of the fact that america has for these past many decades been a stabilizing if not the stabilizing force from the standpoint of world peace so i believe in in peace through strength but i want you to understand that even as america must not put all of her trust in weaponry and we must put our trust in god so that our first trust as christians is the lord himself however he's going to give to us spiritual armor to help us with the battle so let's begin noticing that this week in verse 11. it says this uh put on the whole armor of god that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil what a great verse let's say it together put on the whole armor of god that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil now god provides armor for us and he says i want you to put this on it could actually be rendered sink into it much like a robe would come around you and you would settle into it comfortably god says i want this to be your spiritual uniform now with this uniform we're going to learn in the weeks to come you cannot have one piece without the other and be effective you cannot have the breastplate of the righteous of righteousness and not the sword of the spirit you you must have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace you must have the helmet of salvation this will be an all-inclusive uniform and god is going to provide it for us as we learn from his word god provides the armor and the reason that god provides the armor is because god knows the enemy he knows the one that will attack us now in our warfare systems we have those that would be involved in clandestine activity spies they are observing constantly the technological advances of our enemies whether china or otherwise they're aware of the new technology and then they prepare whether it be uniforms or more aptly weaponry that can counter or supersede the enemy it's vital that we know what our enemy is throwing at us isn't it in this aerospace valley so that we can dominate the enemy and god says i know who's attacking you he rebelled against me in eternity past god understands that satan tried even to keep him from going to the cross he fought jesus christ every single step of the way and he says i know the enemy and i have crafted for you armor that will help you to overcome the enemy that's why as we begin tonight i want to challenge you for the next five weeks don't miss the study of this armor we must put on the armor now he says i understand the enemy notice specifically in verse 11 he says that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil w-i-l-e-s now we don't use that word a lot today but it's a great word it means tricks it means the devices or tricks or methodology of satan satan's method is to deceive people satan's method is to use trickery or craftiness i believe we lived in we live now in a deceived nation i i see even how the devil has in recent days taken legitimate concerns that people have social concerns for example but then he has tacked on to those concerns the anarchists the haters of america those that are pro queer nation and various many other causes and just throwing it into the mix to somehow bring people together under a coalition of concepts that are not legitimate if you will satan is a trickster that way satan tries sometimes to trick us mentally sometimes to trick us physically with lust but he'll use any way he can to get us sidetracked from doing the work of god now let's turn tonight in our bibles to second corinthians chapter 11 to see how tricky the devil is please turn to second corinthians chapter 11 and i want you to find verse two right second corinthians chapter 11. and notice if you would here verses two and three second corinthians eleven we'll come back to ephesians in a moment second corinthians 11 and verse number two for i am jealousy over jealous over you with a godly jealousy for i have espoused you to one husband that i may present you a chaste virgin to christ but i fear lest by any means that you be beguiled as the serpent was beguiled eve through his subtlety so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in christ now think about that paul said i'm concerned because even as satan beguiled eve he can beguile you now all of us need to remember that verse that says take heed those that are standing take heed lest they fall let he that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall and god reminds us that eve was beguiled how does that happen well notice if you would in second corinthians 11 13 it says for such are false apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the apostles of christ and no marvel for satan himself is transformed into an angel of light therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness whose inn shall be according to their works so god says that satan is so tricky that he is even able to take someone that is a man of the cloth in other words false teachers people that purport to know about god but their message is anti-christ that's how tricky the devil is and we need to be aware of the many philosophies and so god says i'm going to give you provision for this battle because i know that satan is a trickster he even has false prophets teaching false messages and you need to know how to defend yourself in the midst of this battle so we see the provision for the battle but i want you to notice in our bible study tonight secondly the place of the battle the place of the battle now if you would please come in your bible back to ephesians 6 and verse 12. ephesians 6 12. notice what it says for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places now if you would envision for a moment a wrestling ring i want you to envision that there is a wrestling match spiritually the bible says we wrestle it is a contest in which each endeavors to throw the other to the floor satan wants to throw you down worse than that he wants to devour you and so i want you to understand the place or the realm of this wrestling match first of all i want you to see our enemy is not flesh and blood now this is where so many christians make a mistake they think that their enemy is someone that cut them off in the parking lot or their enemy is someone that doesn't understand their social plight or their enemy is a member of another political party and and if you're not careful the enemy can be so many people but god says that's not where the spiritual warfare really is he said we wrestle not against flesh and blood our battle is against an invisible spiritual enemy now can he utilize the media filled with unbelievers and sometimes god hating people i believe he can satan's the prince and power the heir can satan sometimes utilize demonically oppressed or possessed people to discourage yes but ultimately the enemy is not the person it is satan himself now again second corinthians 10 and 3 it says for though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty toward god to the pulling down of strongholds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of god and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of christ so satan is constantly attacking our mind satan is constantly doing what he can to disturb and discourage the inner man our battle then is not with people it is not even fundamentally with covid from the sense of spiritual discouragement it is not civil unrest our battle is with the spiritual realm satan trying to discourage us that's why i think christian friend be careful uh with your social media we all have observations and opinions but let's be careful that we're not simply battling others let's remember that the battle is a spiritual battle i like to say it this way make sure that your comments are made in such a way that you could sit down with someone that same night face to face and tell them about jesus christ because they are not the enemy satan is the enemy oh yes we need to take our stand and and i understand we have our opinions but remember that satan is the enemy and satan is the one that brings about false philosophies such as humanism atheism gnosticism and the like and we must remember that satan is always busy as our enemy now notice if you would here specifically in verse 12 it says for we wrestle not against flesh and blood in other words the primary battle is not with people but it says next against principalities now if you're taking notes tonight the word principalities means a host of spirit beings that are under the control of satan now i don't want to sound overly alarmist tonight but i don't want to sound overly simplistic either i want you to realize that there is a host of spiritual beings following satan that are battling the church and battling christians tonight i believe that they are stirring up the emotions hatred and anarchist feelings that we see in our nation even today you cannot tell me that someone committing murder someone desecrating the property of another someone that is involved with such vile venomous hatred is filled with the holy spirit of god no these types of activities are spurred on encouraged by many times a satanic presence oh it's easy to see that on the television but what about even the temptation that comes our way do you understand that satan is the enemy that brings temptation even to christians even those types of sins that seem more acceptable oh it's easy to say someone crashing in a building or burning a building is a sinner but also those sins that are sins of the heart those temptations come from satan as well i think about how he tries to destroy families i think about the very first family some of you as parents you've seen your children disappoint you well can i just remind you god created two children adam and eve and both of them rebelled against him you see satan was very subtle in the garden and though adam and eve were not running around and torching the garden and cursing god nevertheless they succumbed to the temptation and sometimes christians good christians will do this and this is why we have this series because in a time when we're not fellowshipping as much when we're not having corporate pair as much uh statisticians are telling us some are just falling by the wayside we must recognize that the principalities are busy during this time trying to destroy families and trying to destroy churches and our enemy the principalities must be confronted with the power of the gospel ephesians two and two says wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience you see the spirit that is working and the children of disobedience is the spirit of the principalities and powers and that spirit comes against christians as well it cannot possess us but it wants to hinder us from worshiping god so the principalities are real and present notice secondly we wrestle against principalities notice the next phrase in verse 12 and powers now i've always appreciated and been challenged by this word it is the greek word excusia and it speaks of realms of powers the power and authority that these satanic uh that these satanically inspired demons have these powers satan and his evil spirits have ranks and realms of authority and none of them are greater than god all of them tremble at the name of jesus christ but they do have realms of authority and this is why jesus said in matthew 28 all power is given unto me in other words he has power over all the realms of satan's authority thank god for that that he conquered satan at the cross nevertheless the principalities and the realms of satanic power are actively fighting against people keeping them from knowing christ keeping christians from sharing christ this is why the bible tells us to try the spirits to see whether they be of god now some christians today are so easily sucked into the vortex of various issues and again as i said earlier sometimes legitimate issues but then they begin to make alliances with people that are anti-god because they have become passionate over an issue now let me say tonight we need to remain passionate about the person and the finished work of jesus christ other issues are important but the greatest issue of life is knowing christ and staying faithful to him and i will not make an alliance with god denying people uh no matter how wonderful a cause may be we want to be careful that we're not uh drawn into something that will hurt our faith something that keeps us away from church away from the bible away from the work of the holy spirit that's why the bible says try the spirits to see whether they be of god does this person that i'm listening to believe in jesus do they believe the authority of the scripture oh i appreciate some of the things they're saying but do i want to give my time and my energy to follow someone that is literally denying the presence of jesus christ you see the principalities and powers are subtle and they're always pulling and always deceiving god's people that's why first john 4 says beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits to see whether they be of god because many false prophets are gone out into this world hereby know ye the spirit of god every spirit that confesseth that jesus christ is come in the flesh is god make your best friends and your best causes and your best efforts surround the matter of jesus christ and you'll always be safe and so be careful of the hype trains that are out there there's a lot of trains that people want you to attach to don't get sucked into the vortex of that secular world view and before you hashtag something on social media ask yourself does this go along with scripture or are you linking yourself to the abortion crowd the homosexuality transgenderism marxism make sure that you try the spirits to see whether they be of god one day there will come a man so persuasive that those who have not the spirit will literally follow him as a satanically inspired leader second thessalonians 2 and 9 says even him whose coming is after the working of satan with all power and signs and lying wonders that will be the antichrist himself he'll be very persuasive he'll have the answers to all the problems he'll promise unity but he will deny the blood atonement of jesus christ and so we must be careful of the principalities and the powers and we must be careful of aligning ourself with organizations that deny the power of god i'll give you an illustration in modern culture i believe that black lives matter i really do but i do not believe in the organization called black lives matter i have read their doctrinal statement if you will on their website calling out for the queer nation uh standing against the traditional biblical family for abortion uh standing out uh for uh the the destruction of of authority in many ways and what i'm saying is while there may be a good cause that we should stand for and we should stand for justice and righteousness and mercy as a church we want to be careful and discerning not to get drawn into following a crowd that really does not believe in the death burial and resurrection of christ that denies the power thereof so many other illustrations can be given today and i want you to recognize that there are many even those in the hollywood industry those in the rock and roll industry oh they might sing a song about love but when they talk about jesus it's just profanity be careful not to get sucked into the vortex of secular humanism be careful to realize that the principalities and powers they can sound religious they can talk about righteousness but be very very discerning my friend notice what else it says it says principalities it says powers but notice in verse 13 it says against the rulers of the darkness of this world now this refers to the ranks of the fallen angels the rulers of the darkness of this world it speaks about the fact that these angels have authority these fallen angels in the spiritual realm of darkness second corinthians chapter four gives us light to this turn if you would to second corinthians chapter 4 and verse number 4. the bible says in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of christ who is the image of god should shine unto them now it says the god of this world has blinded people's eyes so that they will not see the light of the glorious gospel so the the principalities and the powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world are busy blinding people's eyes to the gospel of jesus christ the other day terry and i were having lunch and we sat in an outside patio area where you were still allowed to have lunch at this particular restaurant maybe a few weeks ago we sat right next to two young couples maybe college age and we listened for a while to two young men uh muslim men as they literally told these two girls who were apparently from christian homes that god has no son that jesus is not the son of god that jesus did not raise up again they began to speak about their views of jesus christ they began to ridicule the virgin birth the very cornerstone doctrine of the virgin birth and i was saddened as the young ladies only thought of their church from the standpoint of where it met and what they wore to church and some of the very very surface issues of church they were unable to show from the bible how that jesus christ is the son of god how that we see in the gospels he was conceived of the holy ghost how that we also see in the gospels he rose up again those young men were very persuasive and may i say that satan's doctrines are being very proudly promulgated in this country today i'm amazed and you can check my twitter feed you can find the fox news story or whichever news story it was that i saw this on but president excuse me vice president biden said just the other day in the news said i wish that more of the muslim faith could be taught in the public schools friends if we said that about christianity there would be an outcry people are against having even the song joy to the world in the public schools but here's a presidential candidate saying we need more of the muslim faith being taught in the public schools and what i want you to recognize is that there is a an influence by the rulers of darkness there that satan is influencing people's thought process today and there is a blindedness in the minds of them which believe not turning them away from christ and turning them toward faith in everything other than the lord jesus christ we are battling against principalities we are battling against powers we are battling against the rulers of the darkness of this world notice number four spiritual wickedness in high places spiritual wickedness in high places now the bible tells us that satan has demonic forces everywhere but we must remember that they are not omnipresent they are not omniscient and they are no match for the lord jesus christ himself and we're going to see that throughout this series now this evening we have seen the provision for the battle that we must have the power of the lord and we've seen the place of the battle that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities powers rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual rulers as well notice finally tonight though not only the provision for the battle the place of the battle but let's see the plan for the battle the plan for the battle verse 13 the bible says wherefore in light of all these wicked forces wherefore take unto you the whole armor of god that you may be able to stand in this evil day god says i want you to take your equipment now the armor we're going to spend five weeks studying this armor i want you to put this armor on and every one of us must listen to the word of god we must put on the armor now it does no good if we disregard the instruction here warren wiersbe said it is important that the christian not give place to the devil that is leave any area unprotected so that satan can get a foothold so we must put on the whole armor of god ephesians 4 27 neither give place to the devil now take your equipment secondly take your stand we must take our stand as christians today the bible says in verse 13 take unto you the whole armor of god that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day that you may be having done all that ye may stand in the evil day now this word that you may be able means that you may be empowered that is to say the armor of god will empower you the presence of god will empower you and we need to do all we can to have this power if we're going to be standing post-covet if we're going to be standing in this evil day and so this stand is vital it is a defensive stand and it is an enduring stand notice what it says here that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand the bible says then we can stand we are to withstand in this evil day now we are living in an evil day your understanding and mind may vary how we see different issues but the fact is satan is having his way today not just in america in china in russia throughout the world sin is prevalent we live in an evil day and we must take on the whole armor of god and we must determine to stand and i say to you and i love our beloved church the only way that we'll gather together as as a whole body in the upcoming days is if we determine now that we will stand and having done all to stand we will take the whole armor of god and with discernment we will try the spirits and we will not follow after every cause but we will follow primarily after the cause of jesus christ who shed his blood on the cross for us he is worthy of our followership he gave his life he rose again on the third day he is worthy of our worship because he alone as the son of god conquered death and the grave and so i think about this day in which we live in which we're constantly told put on your mask and the president even recently uh put on a mask some would say finally he put on a mask i'll put on this mask and we're told put on the mask it'll keep you free from covid and i hope they're telling the truth and i'm standing in a large room with several thousand seats and the only person so i'll take it off but let me tell you something if that mask is important what we're about to study is infinitely more important what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul what will it profit you if you conquer covet 19 and yet you are far away from god what will it profit you if you come through covet 19 having watched all of the news and you're just filled with more anger and more anger and more anger and less of jesus and less of jesus and may i say that what we need is more of christ in our heart and mind we must be filled with the knowledge of jesus christ and oh this evening the provision for the battle is available his power is available oh listen the place of the battle is not against others the place of the battle is spiritual and others are affected by the spiritual powers of satan but we must not be we must stand true and the plan is to put on the whole armor of god and to stand i want to pray with you tonight that you and that i would be standing as we come through this time faithfully for our lord

Channel: Lancaster Baptist Church

Views: 5,820

Rating: 4.8367348 out of 5

Keywords: preaching, sermon, Christian, God, Jesus, Lancaster Baptist Church, Lancaster Baptist, Pastor Paul Chappell, Paul Chappell, Ephesians 6, battle

Id: -6tx7fnCpgc

Length: 38min 50sec (2330 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 22 2020