This Is War!

tonight the title of our message is this is war and our text is Ephesians chapter 6 to turn there with me if you would've eaten six I think we would all agree in noting that the church is under attack in every way imaginable right now literally and figuratively we're still reeling from those horrific attacks against the AME Church in Charleston where our brothers and sisters gathered for a midweek Bible study and prayer meeting or shot dead but we also saw an amazing display of the Christian faith when they went into the courtroom and faced that wicked young man and told him they forgave him I was just amazed and then I just read today that they're having that midweek Bible study and prayer meeting tonight but instead of nine people there's a hundred people in that room so they say this is God's place and we're not giving it up I like that but then of course every day it seems like we read about another horrific attack from some terrorist group against innocent followers of Jesus Christ we hear stories that are hard to even wrap our minds around of Christians being tortured and mutilated and crucified and much more it just goes on and on but then just the church as a whole is under attack in America the values we hold dear are under attack the Supreme Court is poised to decide what the definition of marriage is why should the supreme court to find what God has already defined God has already told us marriage is between a man and a woman I'm praying they make the right decision but we need to be praying about that a lot and then of course all of us know that in our culture Christians today are left at their mouths they're derided they're harass sometimes they're even attacked how many of you have faced some kind of harassment mockery as a follower of Jesus Christ okay how many of you have never been hassled or persecuted in any way razor again okay I'm glad no one raised their hand why because the Bible says all the live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution see if you're living a godly life you will be persecuted in some way shape or form it doesn't always have to be physical but let me turn that around if you're not being persecuted in some way shape or form are you living godly so it kind of goes with the turf if you will the church is under attack there's only one way to look at this this is war it's a serious thing to declare war remember back in the 40s global conflict was beginning to take form amazingly it was only I believe 20 years after World War 1 ended that world war 2 was ramping up and of course Germany was conquering territory and there were conflicts in Asia as well but we pretty much stayed out of it we were helping our good friend and ally England but we were not officially engaged in that conflict that was until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 2403 Americans were murdered and the u.s. declared war on the Empire of Japan as well as Nazi Germany by the way this was after they declared war on us Japanese Admiral Yamamoto made this statement quote I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve end quote listen war has been declared on you by Satan so are you gonna fight back or are you gonna climb into some little foxhole and hope he doesn't hurt you I'll tell you what he wants to destroy you so it's time to man up it's time to man up it's time to be strong in the Lord and do more than defend ourselves do more than hold our ground it's time to take new ground and move forward instead of backwards it's called spiritual warfare and the day that you put your faith in Jesus Christ the battle began one said quote conversion has made our hearts a battlefield and quote a believer may be known by his inward warfare as well as his inward peace and the bottom line is this anyone who chooses to be on the side of the Lord Jesus Christ will face severe opposition from Satan and his followers and those who refuse to fight will surely fall in the heat of battle I mean going back to the world war two illustration what would the world have look like if America didn't respond if we allowed the Japanese to attack our fleet there in Pearl Harbor and we did nothing what would the world of look like if we allowed Germany to continue their march across Europe and their slaughter of Jewish people oh it would be a much different world in a much worse world so we had to step in and in the same way what will our life look like look like if we don't do anything well it will look like defeat so it's time for us to arm ourselves and get ready for the battle you know the idea of conflict and battle is used often in the Bible to describe the Christian life Paul exhorted Timothy to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ second Timothy 3 Paul also said I fought the good fight I finished of course I kept the faith reminding us that the Christian life is not a playground it's a battleground but here's the good news though we're in this battle I want you to know this we ultimately win in the end we do I've read the last page of the Bible we went in the end and we may lose a battle here and there a skirmish occasionally but we're gonna win the ultimate war we have God's word on that jesus said the gates of hell would not prevail against the church no what does that even mean well in ancient times a common military tactic used by armies was to break down the gate of the enemy's fortress with a battering ram they would have their walls they would have archers on the walls as you know and and sometimes it would pour boiling oil over the sides of the walls on those who are trying to get in and the point of entry was the gate they had to batter down the gate so when Jesus says the gates of Hell will not prevail against you what he is saying is as we march forward as followers of Jesus we're gonna break down that door and we're gonna get in there and we're going to win we will not be overcome ultimately so it is a fight and Paul also says in verse Timothy 6:12 fight the good fight of faith lay hold into eternal life to which you were also called and have confessed the good fashioned a good confession in the presence of many witnesses now you might be facing a lot of temptation right now I think it brings freaks some people out you know I remember when I was a brand new Christian I've shared this story before but I only have four stories so they're circulated a lot okay but I became a Christian and and and the believers told me now great be careful you're gonna be tempted by the devil and I was like what tempted by the devil no one said anything about a devil when I became a Christian gathers a devil and and he'll tempt you will I said well how will I know when I'm being tempted they said you'll know okay whatever so I was over at Harbor high school and I went back to my next fairy class and I was sitting in this class it was a very attractive girl in that class I'd noticed her before she never had noticed I even existed and after this class is over this girl walks over to me and she looks at me and says hi what's your name and I looked at her and I couldn't remember my name for a moment I think it starts with the G I'm not sure you know I had my little pin on a little button at that little picture of Jesus on it I I put it on I was sort of standing up from my feet just starting and she said you know you're really cute I was like what what are you talking to me hey you're really cute and she says you know my parents are away for the weekend I have a cabin in the mountains would you like to come and spend the weekend with me I looked at her and I thought this this never happens to me and then it occurred to me this is what the Christians warned me about this is temptation reminding you that temptation comes in attractive packages I said no to that girl and I walked away saying you idiot what are you doing oh I was so glad I said no the Bible says blessed is the man that indoors temptation for when he has tried he'll receive a crown of life from the Lord it's hard to resist in a moment but afterwards you say thank you Lord that I turned that temptation down you are going to face opposition as a follower of Jesus Christ and you might be tempted right now and you're thinking men what am I doing wrong to be tempted let me turn that around and see something that might surprise you if you're being tempted a lot it may not be because you're doing something wrong and maybe because you're doing something right you know there's an expression you don't kick a dead horse you know what that means means you don't kick a dead horse I'm literally no reason to but the idea of it is if someone's already down you don't need to kick him they're down so this the devil looks at some people he says why should I mess with them I've already got them where I want them about this Christian over here they're really bugging me this person that's praying all the time this person that's sharing their faith all the time this person that is making a difference in their little world I've got to stop that person you see so I'm gonna start tempting them heavy-duty tempting them it I'll talk more about this later and it's another message in this series but it's not a sin to be tempted it's only a sin when you give in to the temptation but maybe it's because you're doing something right and the story of the book of Job you remember all the calamity that came upon God's servant it did not come upon him because he was doing something wrong it came upon him because he was doing something right because God was bragging on him and heaven saying to Satan and the other angels have you considered my servant job a perfect and upright man one that fears God and shuns evil the devil went after job and God allowed it to a certain degree and I'll talk about that a little bit more in a few moments but my point is it's because he was walking with God he came under attack and the same is true of us so we don't have to constantly be a victim so often we're subject to our moods and our fluctuating emotions and we're easily defeated on the spiritual battlefield it doesn't have to be this way listen I'm going to share some biblical principles that can literally transform your Christian life to be forewarned is to be forearmed let me say that again to be forewarned is to be forearmed so pay attention today I'm going to share with you because the devil doesn't want you to hear this sermon Satan does not want you to hear the truth that we're going to discover together now let's sort of get a little background before we dig into some of those things but this is our Ephesians series that divided into three sections you may remember it's wealth it's walked and it's warfare wealth walk and warfare are wealth speaking really of our spiritual wealth was dealt with in chapters 1 2 3 of Ephesians there we were told about the great spiritual riches God has given to each of us and we read there in Ephesians 1:5 2:8 he predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of His grace but which he made us accepted in the beloved in him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace so the picture that Paul uses his you were redeemed and it said give a a slave in a market slavery was common in biblical times you could go down and purchase a slave and so the idea is there you were on the slave block you were being auctioned off and along comes Jesus Christ and not only does he purchase you but then he marches you down to the courthouse and he adopts you as his son or as his daughter it's a mind-blowing thought he takes you and brings you into his family and as that scripture says you've been made accepted in the beloved he so often we're doing all these things to try to earn God's favor if I do this more God will love me if I try harder God will approve of me newsflash God loves you no matter what you do now understand that's kind of a loaded statement because that doesn't mean you can do anything and just say God loves me I mean it's technically true but if you know anything about this love of God you should want to respond appropriately but he does love you he loves you unconditionally he loves you wholeheartedly you've been made accepted in the beloved so as the Christian positionally I stand in Jesus Christ with his righteousness now my righteousness this is the wealth God has given me I need to know this stuff because I can go through life trying to trying harder trying to be a better Christian trying to get God's approval hey let's just start here you have God's approval God loves you he's put his righteousness into your spiritual bank account that's your wealth so once you understand that it's gonna impact your life and here's an amazing statement that Christ said in John 17 I shared this earlier he said to the Father in his prayer I given them the glory you gave me so they may be one now listen to this Jesus the sameness of the father and so they may understand that you love them as much as you love me what Jesus just said to the father that because of what he's done for us that God the Father now loves me God the Father now loves you as much as he loved Jesus Christ that's what our Lord said okay that's a great thing to know that's what God has done for you that's your wealth Satan doesn't want you to know this he hates this he doesn't want you to know that you're standing with God is based on what Christ has done for you he wants you to think it's based on what you've done for Christ okay that's the wealth part now we come to section number two and that's the walk part that's in Ephesians chapter 4 Paul says walk worthy of the calling with which you were called and lowliness and gentleness were long-suffering bearing if one of them if they're bearing with one another and love so so here's my well now it's time to make a withdrawal it's better than make it withdrawal than to go through withdrawals don't you think so you go down to your spiritual ATM account and you make it withdrawal you pulled from what God has given you you live off of that and now it makes you want to walk straight see if I'm not walking straight maybe I don't know about the wealth God has given me but if I'm taking that wealth and the love of God and using that as a justification for sin I am missing the point big time because the Bible says are we going to continue in sin that God's grace may overflow or literally go down the drain you know we're all very aware right now living in California that we're in a draught and I could comment on that but I'm not gonna get into it I'm just gonna say we're in a draught we've been told we should cut our water usage down so I'm a little more aware now like when I'm brushing my teeth of leaving the faucet gone or and I'm a little more aware of taking those eight hours showers I used to take I never did but you know you think about things like that you don't want precious water to go down the drain or to be wasted so in the way the same way here's God he's giving us all of these blessings all of this spiritual wealth don't waste it let it impact you in the way that you walked now we come to this section warfare as I've said this series is called live love fight we've talked about living we've talked about loving now let's talk about fighting and fighting to win let's read together a piece six starting to verse ten and we'll read down to verse 13 finally my brother's be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might put on the whole armour of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil you might underline that phrase wiles of the devil for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this age against spiritual hosts of wickedness and the heavenly places therefore take up the whole armour of God that you may be able to stand in the evil day having done all to stand I'll stop there look in verse 11 again put on the full armor of God or the whole armour of God this phrase put on carries the idea of putting it on once and for all it's a permanent kind of thing it's not like you put your armor on and you take your armor off you put it on and you keep it on and the idea is communicating is you always have your guard up because the spiritual battle never ends would it be nice if it did occasionally if we could just have a break on Sundays the devil took Sundays off we'd still get ourselves into trouble by the way what if he created Satan to go whole month off the devil is now taking the entire month of August off oh I'd be offended I'm sorry it's not true but he doesn't take a month off he doesn't take a week off he doesn't take a day off he doesn't take an hour off he's always looking for an opportunity so you have to always be armed in the sense of being aware that attacks can come at any time listen the spiritual battle ends when we get to heaven not before sorry to tell you that so we have to keep our guard up why because the Bible says let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall because at the very moment you lower your guard that's when you're gonna get hit the devil knows that and he's looking for those opportunities now we're gonna stand against the wiles of the devil some people might be thinking oh please the devil really do you actually believe there's a devil oh yes I do in fact when you get down to it the devil is the obvious and even logical explanation of the evil that's running rampant and our culture and world today you know people want to say that it they want to attribute the horrible things that are happening in our world to a lot of different roots but they miss the most significant thing of all there is a devil there is evil and sometimes people just do wicked and depraved things because Satan has gotten control of them I mean the psychologists will get on there and they're low pine and others will talk about what the cause may be and their upbringing or their childhood or whatever it was it's evil and evil is alive in the world and we look at the horrible things that we read about today and we understand there is a devil I mean even when man is cultured he's capable of so much evil I mean Nazi Germany Germany was a amazing nation I mean incredible intelligence and culture and music and Technology and architecture and intellectualism yet that nation by and large followed the lead of a Knopf Hitler and killed six million people and they would have killed more if they were allowed to so you can have a nation with culture and listen to beautiful music and admire gorgeous art and then be killing people you see that just shows how evil can penetrate any culture it can penetrate any life some people laugh off Satan but he should be taken seriously it seems like we fall into two extremes when it comes to the devil and ciass Lewis summed it up perfectly he said and I quote there are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devil's he's talking about Satan and his demons one is to disbelieve in their existence and the other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them they themselves are equally pleased by both errors and heal a materialist or a magician were the same delight in quote that was from his book the Screwtape Letters and that's so true to disbelieve in their existence or to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them we must never underestimate the devil he's a sly and skilful foe he's had years to perfect his craft now a question that's often asked at a time like this is why would a God of love create someone like the devil well if you want to get real technical God did not create the devil as we know him see when God created the world we're told in Genesis 1:31 he saw everything that he had made was good behold it was good so that means that in the angelic world there were no evil angels or demons yet but by the time we get to Genesis 3 were introduced to Satan who comes slithering up to Eve and he tempts her there at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil therefore sometime between the events of Genesis one at Genesis 3 there must have been this rebellion in the angelic world we know that some other passages that one-third of the angels of God rebelled against him and follow the leading of this powerful amazing angel known as Lucifer so the bad news is 1/3 of the Angels went rogue the good news is 2/3 of the angels are still on our side and there's a lot of angels so that's a good thing to know and there were there involved in our lives that scripture says they're ministering spirits sent to minister to those who are heirs of salvation but this rebellion was led by Satan himself but he didn't start at Satan Satan was once a high ranking angel known as Lucifer the Bible tells us he was amazingly beautiful he was full of wisdom he seemed to be in a position of great power and influence in fact Ezekiel gives a graphic description of the pre fallen Lucifer when he says in Ezekiel chapter 28 of Lucifer before he fell you were the model of perfection full of wisdom and perfect in beauty you were in Eden the garden of God you were an knowing it as a guardian cherub so I retained you you are on the holy mount of God you walked among the fiery stones you are blameless on all your ways from the day you were created until wickedness was found in you and through your widespread trade you filled the earth with violence and you sinned so I drove you in disgrace from the Mount of God I expelled you O Guardian cherub from among the fiery stones your heart became proud on account of your beauty and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor so I threw you to the earth and I made a spectacle of you before kings so it appears that Satan was once one of the guardians of the galaxy I suppose he's described as a guardian Sharon now there's different kinds of angels there's the cherubim there are the Seraphim and then there's an archangel like Michael and others like Gabriel but the cherubim are pictured in Scripture as powerful and majestic angelic creatures who surround God's throne and in Genesis 3:24 we read that God drove the man out and he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the Tree of Life so Satan was once one of the cherubim he was close to the throne of God but then he fell why well he was on the ultimate ego trip if you will he's referred to as a model of perfection what was his sin as he killed 28 says until wickedness was found in you his heart was lifted up because of his incredible beauty Lucifer allowed his perfection to be the cause of his corruption you see so when we say the first sin that was committed happened in the Garden of Eden that's technically not true the first sin that was committed actually took place in heaven by Lucifer when he fell and was so enthralled with himself and he rebelled against the Lord but more details now are given to us in Isaiah chapter 14 is this boring to you okay good nah cuz I find this really important Isaiah 14 God says of Lucifer how your fallen from heaven o Lucifer son of the morning you're cut down to the ground you who weaken the nations listen you said I will ascend to heaven I'll exalt my throne above the stars of God I will sit on the Mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north I will ascend above the heights I will be like the Most High God says you'll be brought down to hell to the lowest part of the pit you see Lucifer was not satisfied with worshipping God he himself wanted to be worshiped so Satan wants a beautiful powerful angel of God rebelled against the Lord Lucifer became Satan when he fell to the earth and his goal has been to attack that which God loves ever since coming back to the book of Job that I referenced a few moments ago I remember a lot of calamities came in jobs life they were allowed by God and they were actually prompted by the devil we read about servants being murdered goods were stolen winds were blowing lightning was striking and houses were falling you know interestingly an insurance agents would usually call those things acts of God right lightening an earthquake curb or things like that well these are actually acts of Satan there was a hedge of protection around joke but the devil was allowed a certain entree into his life yet the devil acknowledged that God had put a hedge or a wall of protection around Joe so what this shows us is though he's in a fallen State Satan still has access into God's presence because the Bible describes him as the accuser of the Brethren who accuses them before God day and night so Satan comes to God and challenges the fact that job is really a man of God but it also reminds us that devil can do nothing in the life of the Christian unless God gives him permission let me say that again it's really important the devil can do nothing in the life of the Christian unless God gives him permission okay we say why does God give him permission that's a good question there's many reasons God allows trial and temptation in our life to make us more like Christ to show us our weakness and our need to depend upon him but God will never give us more than we can handle he always grades temptation to the fiber of our lives he won't give you more than you can handle more than you can take he knows what you're capable of facing you don't but he does and Satan has to ask permission remember the time when there was a guy who was possessed by demons they identified themselves as Legion which means there was a lot of them and Jesus was gonna cast him out and they said don't cast us out before our time and they asked permission if they could be sent into a herd of pigs and Jesus said ok and he cast the demons into the pigs and the pigs freaked out they don't went over to the side of a cliff and they committed mass suicide get it Suey you know call a pig you know you call a pig saying that I've never tried it no seriously was the first case of deviled ham in human history but here's my point he had asked permission first there was an occasion when Satan set his sights on Simon Peter the devil actually personally wanted Peter and so Jesus is hanging around with his guys and turns over to Peter and imagine if you're Peter and you heard Jesus say this hey uh Peter Satan has been asking constantly that you would be taken out of the care and protection of God but that freak out if Jesus said that to you hey Greg by the way Satan's been asking for you by name and he wants you oh thanks for sharing and then Jesus says this but I afraid for you that your faith will not fail I love that don't sweat it buddy I've got you covered but this shows what a threat Peter was to Satan but you see Satan cannot just go in there and take up Peter jesus said though you have to go through me first so the next time Satan comes knocking at the door I think the best thing to do is say Lord would you mind getting that I don't want to face him in my strength I'm weak I'm vulnerable let Christ face him but here are some things that we need to know about the devil he has clear limitations number one the devil is not God's equal he's not God's equal sometimes I think we sort of see it as sort of the yin and the yang and and you know the positive and the negative or or you know the sort of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker and they both have the force but it's the dark side of them and that's not any of that forget the force forget yin and yang it's God who's all-powerful with no equal in the universe having said that there's Lucifer who is considerably has considerable power but nothing near the power of God for instance God is omnipotent that means God knows it means he's all-powerful omnipotent God is omniscient which means he knows everything God is omnipresent which means he can be present everywhere at the same time Satan does not have any of these divine attributes the devil is not omnipotent he is a super being he has great power more than any man and most angels yet he's nowhere near to being the equal of God the devil is not omniscient he has a powerful intellect and from experience knows many things he knows more than any human but only God is all-knowing and Satan is not omnipresent he's an individual personality it can only be in one place at one time so when we see the devil is hassling me man Satan's really tempting me that's probably not even technically true and let me explain it's doubtful most of us would register on his you know screen his radar screen or he would come after us personally that doesn't mean we don't get tempted or hassled what that means is he takes one of his demon powers one of his minions and he sends them to tempt you so they're doing his bidding and they have considerable power but it's doubtful that the big guy himself came after you but in effect it was the same thing he can only be in one place at one time so we need to put on the armor of God why first and that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil I asked you to underline that the word wiles comes from the English word method it carries the idea of craftiness cunning and deception the term is used of a wild animal who cunningly stalked and then unexpectedly pounced on its prey you know so it's sort of like an animal that's acting like it doesn't care but it's kind of getting closer and getting closer then it pounces on its prey and that's what the devil does he sizes this up he has as while he has his strategies that he uses against us and so when Paul says we wrestle not against flesh and blood the word wrestle is actually a phrase that describes mortal hand-to-hand combat this is not like a gentleman's boxing match this is fight to the death and that's what we're engaged in with Satan he wants to stop us from coming to Christ but then if we somehow believe in Jesus he wants to immobilize us but anytime you share the gospel with someone the devil's gonna be there to try to oppose it to try to stop it in fact in the parable of the sower Jesus talked about the seed that was sown on the roadside and the birds came in ate it you know how that is you go to a restaurant that has outdoor dining and the birds have figured out that this is a place for free lunch they just hang around and the moment you drop a fry they poop they swoop it right up sometimes they'll even come and take your fry right off your plate you know they're like that and so that's the picture of Jesus kids he says these are they that hear the word of God but Satan comes in immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their heart so he's gonna try to stop you from believing in Jesus but if you do believe now he's gonna try to immobilize you to get you to compromise so you will not be a threat to him now I mentioned he has a well-developed network of demons doing his dirty work he took 1/3 of them with him we know there are millions and millions of angels more than Satan has but still he has a considerable amount there are many references in Scripture that referred to the devil and his demons matthew 12:24 Jesus refers to Satan as Beelzebub and the Prince of the demons by the way the word Beelzebub means Lord of the Flies that's what he's the Lord of he's the Lord of the Flies and then Jesus refers to Matthew 25:41 to the devil and his angels in a revelation 12:7 the dragon and his angels so these angels are demons demons are fallen angels and the purpose of demons seems to be to fall they seek to hinder the purposes of God and to extend the kingdom and power of Satan again the objective and purpose of demons seems to be twofold they want to hinder the purposes of God and they want to extend the power of Satan in fact Paul writes at 1st Thessalonians 2:18 that he wanted to go a certain place but he said but Satan stopped us sometimes that happens the devil gets in the way a Paul even mentioned his own personal struggles with demon powers that were allowed by God now listen Paul died and went to heaven and saw amazing things he says the things I saw I can't even put into words and he didn't even write a book about it like so many people do today now we can not really believe very easily because we don't know if they're making this stuff up or not Paul actually went there he actually saw glory he gave us a brief description but then he said after this revelation there was sent to him a messenger of Satan to humble him to Buffett him three times Paul says I pleaded with the Lord to take it away but he said my grace is sufficient for you and my power is made perfect in weakness Paul says I'm going to be rejoicing about my weaknesses the Christ's power may rest on me listen when God blesses a person in a powerful and significant way when God elevates a person to have great influence you can be sure of this one thing they are under spiritual attack and we need to pray for our spiritual leaders it's very easy to judge them it's very easy to attack them or sometimes do envy them but you don't know the price they personally pay you don't know what they have to face but the enemy attacks them in many ways it's sometimes God will allow these things to keep that person humble to keep that person dependent upon God and that's what happened to Paul as well but know this and this is kind of a downer day here all this stuff it gets better okay I'm just telling you what he can do and that now I want to tell you what he can't do he can hassle you he can tempt you but he cannot control you no Christian should ever say the devil made me do it devil can't make you do anything you don't want to do so if you fell into something don't say the devil maybe do it say the devil tempted me and I went for it see you at a part in that but let me say this though the Christian is surrounded by a wall of protection given by God the non-believer has no wall of protection at all the non-believer is essentially a sitting duck and then when that non-believer gets into a cult ism or mysticism or sometimes even through drugs it can open the door you know the Greek word pharmakeia we get our English word pharmacy from it I it was basically speaking of the use of hallucinogenic in biblical times as they would use them in an act of worship to their pagan deity so the Bible warns against using these drugs and getting into this lifestyle so a person maybe starts exploring these dark things and you can sort of open the door to the devil you don't want to do that the only power that can stop Satan is Jesus Christ nothing else a crucifix will not stop the devil holy water will not stop Satan a silver bullet will not kill you you can try it on the werewolf I hear a The Lone Ranger has a few extra no one even knows what I'm talking about that's how sad The Lone Ranger used to have silver bullets and the tradition is you kill a werewolf with the silver bullet just a little trivia but um you can put garlic around your neck that's supposed to keep vampires away I don't think it'll keep demons away I'm sure we'll keep your friends away especially if you eat it periodically yeah the only power Satan respects is the power of Jesus Christ now listen to this Satan there's two close allies he works with the world in the flesh here are our primary enemies the Christian faces every single day the world the flesh and the devil the world the flesh and the devil the world is the culture we live in not so much the earth in and of itself but the culture the beliefs the mentality of people today first John 5:19 says we know that we're of God and the whole world is under the sway of the wicked one now the flesh is the sinful nature not so much your physical body per se but it's your sinful inclinations your appetites etc and so these are the foes that we have to deal with each and every day in fact first John 2:16 sums it up it says all that's in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes the pride of life is not of the Father but it's of the world you can take almost every temptation you face let me restate it you could take every temptation you've ever faced and he would find it fit into one of those three categories the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life here's an illustration go back to the Garden of Eden Satan says to Eve go ahead in eat of their forbidden fruit Ethan he says for in the day you eat of it you will be like a God knowing good and evil Eve you'll be like a goddess go for it and the Bible says when the woman saw the tree was good for food and pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make him wise she took of the fruit and ate and she came in also to her husband and he ate so the fruit looked good it tasted good and it seemed good at the time saying with temptation it comes that way Satan doesn't tempt you with junk so the lust of the eyes Eve's saw the tree was good for food the desire the lust of the flesh good for food something to eat and finally the pride of life desirable to make one wise we fall in one of these things when we get into temptation so what are we supposed to do in light of all of this okay here's just a few closing points number one recognize you're in a spiritual battle and it has to be fought with spiritual weapons let me say it again you're in a spiritual battle and it has to be fought with spiritual weapons you fight fire with fire there are some key ways to overcome the devil and his demons because God has not left us in the dark here we'll find out more about this as we get to our spiritual armor section in our next message so recognize her into spiritual battle and he was fight with spiritual weapons number two realized that Satan is a super being and he's far more than you can ever handle you cannot face him in your own strength so you want to stay as far from him as possible and as close to God as you can you know the Bible says don't give place to the devil you want to keep your distance there's a story in the the next chapter xix about a group of guys who are described as exorcists by the way I don't really believe there are Exorcist today there are no exorcists in the Bible the only Exorcist of these guys that I'll tell you about in a moment now I'm not saying that God can't cast out demons because he does and he will but a person who calls themself an exorcist I seriously doubt this these guys were called Exorcist or identified as the seven sons of sceva if so they saw the power of God demonstrated through the Apostles so they thought it was some kind of a magic formula that they could use and they went and tried to cast a demon out of a guy in the name of Jesus who Paul preached and the demon inside of the guy said to them Jesus I know and Paul I know but who are you and the guy with the evil spirit leaped on them overpowered them attacked them with such violence the Bible says they fled from the house naked and battered that's what happens when you try to deal with demons in your own strength you're gonna get beat up you don't have any way to overcome them but if we come in the power of God it's a whole different story point number three therefore stand in God's strength not your own standing God's strength not your own verse 10 finally my brother's be strong in the Lord and other power of his might this could be literally translated strengthen yourselves in the Lord so you don't want to mess with Satan on your own it's like the police when they're called to a situation they realize it's a little more intense than they thought what do they do call for backup wait for backup to arrive and we need to do the same years ago I was living in New Jersey as a little boy and I had a little cowboy hat and little cap pistols and I was walking down the street enjoy myself shooting my pistols and some hooligans came up to me you know hey what are you doing these kind of guys like that you know guys with names like Vinny and so they started pushing me around and and and they grabbed my pistols and pushed me to the ground walk laughing so I went home and found my brother his name is Doug he's five years older but a lot bigger so I went back looking for those guys with my brother and I found him and you know what I was a lot braver than I was when I was alone because I had my brother as my backup so I walked into them and said give me my pistols but can I pushed him they didn't lay a finger on me because my brother was behind me and they knew that if they touch me they'd have to face him see that's how it works in spiritual battle and my strength I'm weak but if I stand on the Lord and on the power of his might it's a whole different thing that's how I can prevail in spiritual battle that's why the devil wants to separate you from God through sin the chief aim of Satan is good to get between the soul and God to separate man's heart from God and inspire confidence instead in himself or he would say Lord I don't worry I've got this one no you don't you don't have this one you don't have anything you need God god help me God help me each and every day but here's the good news God will never give you more than you can handle 1st Corinthians 10:13 says there is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God who is faithful will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able but will with the temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it no Greg you're wrong you say I fell into sexual sin the other day with my girlfriend it was more than I can handle you're wrong wait a second did you hear what that verse said there's no temptation taking you it's common to man we all face it God will not give you more than you can handle this and with the temptation make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it quick question where were you when you got tempted to have sex with your girlfriend in a hotel room uh-huh in a hotel right and where were you sitting like on the pit okay you're sitting on the bed in a hotel room with your girlfriend and you got tempted and you couldn't resist another question was there a or to the hotel room yes he'll provide a way of escape that you may be able to bear it were you able to physically get up and walk through the door yes so there was a way out wasn't there there's always a way out of every temptation there's a way out if you look for it but if you're not looking for it and you fall don't say it's God's fault you did that to yourself but God will never give you more than you can handle so stand in the Lord and in the power of his my I love this verse James 4:7 submit to God resist the devil listen to this he'll flee from you it doesn't even say resist the devil and you'll walk away he'll run from you actually a literal translation would be he'll run away from you if you do what resist him so what a temptation comes knocking on the door of your imagination we'll talk about this more in our next message you don't entertain it you don't invite it in for tea and crumpets you don't even engage it now I know those temptations come and maybe you think of no no just reject it and even say Lord I'm sorry I even thought that I repent of that that was this influence you just closed the door but if you let it in and you ponder it and you contemplate it that so the problems begin listen to this flee temptation and don't leave a forwarding address run from it keep your distance from it that's why the Bible says don't give the devil a foothold you can't do this on your own but you can do it to the strength of Christ that's the only way to do it here's the good news jesus said my father is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand oh listen the devil would like to come and rip you out of the hand of Jesus Christ he can't do it no way he can do it because you're under divine protection Paul says in Romans 8 I am persuaded me neither death nor life nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God and Jesus Christ our Lord nothing can separate you from him can we're almost done one last thing the devil doesn't want you to know he was soundly defeated at the cross he was soundly defeated at the cross first John 3:18 says for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil remember Jesus hung there on the cross and he cried out that word tetelestai it's a word that was used in their culture when a project was finished he'd make a nice meal serving it to your family it's a tutela sign you'd build a table it was done to tell us die Jesus dies on the cross he absorbs the wrath of God he pays for the sin of the world and he says to tellus die or as it's translated it is finished and those words were bur berated through the corridors of Hell as well as the hallways of heaven Jesus had met the righteous demands of God and he had defeated Satan right there Colossians 2:14 says Christ on the cross wiped out the handwriting of Ordinances that was against us that's basically the ten commandments that we all broke Jesus wiped it out and he nailed it to the cross and he disarmed principalities and powers and made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them in it okay so with this in mind listen to this from this point on I'm not finding to obtain victory rather I'm resting in the victory he has obtained I'm not fighting for victory I'm fighting from victory it's a big difference because it's finished it's accomplished it's done it's paid for there's an end of it and I'm accepted in the beloved and I'm loved by God and I have his righteousness in my life here's one last thing I want to say this is the Lord's battle the battle belongs to the Lord it's not your battle it's not Craig versus the world it's not you versus Satan in his minions this is a battle between God and Satan between light and darkness and through Jesus Christ you will be protected and you will be kept safe so you just need to make sure you do your part which is stay as close to him as you possibly can don't be self-confident and know that you will never give you more than you can handle now let me say a final thing to you that are listening you that are here with us that don't know Jesus Christ yet listen as I said earlier you are a sitting duck you're vulnerable the Bible says the god of this world has blinded the eyes of those that do not believe remember that quote by CS Lewis he said there's two errors that we go to one is to not believe in the devil that's how some people are they said well there is no devil well actually there is and when you think about it it begins to bring some sense to the crazy things happening in our world today but the devil will try to blind you so you will not see this the devil will try to keep you from understanding this but for some of you you might be getting it the Bible says when we become a Christian our eyes are open and we pass from darkness to light what that means is there just comes a moment where all of a sudden you get it maybe you've heard it you've heard it you've heard it you've heard it you don't care about it it doesn't move you it doesn't touch you and then one day you hear it and you get it and everything lines up for you and you say I get it I get it this is it there's a God in heaven who loves me he sent his son to die for me and if I'll turn from my sin and believe in Jesus I can be forgiven and go to heaven I get it but do you realize getting it isn't enough you have to act on it it's possible to have your eyes open but not turn from darkness to light see God will open your eyes that's his part turning from dark just to light that's your part you have to do that now God won't force you to do it so you can say I see Jesus is what I need I can see Jesus as the answer okay now act on it you say well what do you mean act on it I mean realize you need Jesus and call out to him the Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved just like if you were out in the ocean and you got caught in a Riptide you call for help you call for the lifeguard to save you you have to call out to the Lord to save you and in a moment we're gonna bow our heads and we're gonna pray and I'm gonna give you an opportunity to ask Christ to forgive you of your sin maybe you've come in here and you've tried to change your life maybe you have a problem with some kind of an addiction maybe it's a drug addiction maybe it's an alcohol addiction maybe it's a porn addiction I don't know what it is it's something it's got a stranglehold in your life and you've tried to change and you can't change in fact you just get worse Christ can change you maybe you've come in here filled with doubt and with fear you know about your future listen Christ can change it and give you purpose and hope and meaning but you have to reach out and say Lord I want you in my life he will not force his way into your life yes he died on that cross but he rose again from the dead and he's here with us right now standing at the door of your life and he has knocking and he is saying if you'll hear his voice and open the door he'll come in even ever if you've never asked Jesus to come in you can do it right now as we close in prayer let's all bow our heads and everyone praying father I pray for any here that may not know you yet Lord I know that the enemy would like to blind them to this truth but we're praying you will open their eyes spiritually and help them to see their need for you we pray that your Holy Spirit will convict and convince them of their sin and their need for Jesus Jesus touch them speak to them we pray now what a heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying how many of you would say tonight Craig I want Jesus Christ I want my sin forgiven I want my life to change I want to know that when I die I will go to heaven I don't want to be under the control of the devil I want to follow Jesus for me if that's your desire if you want Jesus to come into your life if you want him to forgive you of your sin would you raise your hand up right now and let me pray for you if you want Christ to come into your life tonight raise your hand up I'll pray for you God bless you God bless you god bless you anybody else god bless you as well raise your hand up however I can see it god bless you God will not force his way into your life this is your choice you can continue to live in sin you can continue to live under the power of the devil and face the consequences or you could be forgiven and free tonight it's really up to you you want Jesus in your life raise your hand up I'll pray for you wherever you are god bless you there in the back Kampai she or anybody else you want his piece you want this hope let me pray for you god bless you there might be some of you that are struggling with sin you're under the power of some kind of a sin you're a believer in Jesus but you know you're living a compromised life but you are sick and tired of being sick and tired and you want to make a recommitment of Christ tonight if that's you would you raise your hand up let me pray for you tonight god bless you don't be embarrassed god bless you anybody else raise your hand now come bless father I think you for each one of these and I pray you give them the strength to stand up and follow you and receive all that you have for them we commit them to you now in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 7,917

Rating: 4.9609756 out of 5

Keywords: harvest, christian, fellowship, church, god, live, love, fight, marriage, jesus christ, greg laurie

Id: 8HlEO6ZNCXQ

Length: 58min 33sec (3513 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 16 2016