Will Britain surrender too

Transcription

1 The Battle Ahead Eph. 6:10-17 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil s schemes. 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. Intro: During one of the darkest periods of World War II, after the collapse of France and before America got involved, Winston Churchill wrote that the question in the minds of both friends and foes was this: "Will Britain surrender too?" At the time he made a speech that contained this sentence: "What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization." World War II is over, Britain won the war; however the real battle is still raging. Many today simply refuse to acknowledge the fact that as Christians we are at war. We have an enemy, an enemy that hates us simply because we believe in and have accepted Jesus as our Savior. The enemy is constantly looking for ways to attack us and as such we need to be aware of what we are facing and make sure we are prepared to defend against the attacks. Unfortunately many preachers today do not want to address the negative aspects of the faith. By that I mean talk about things that may be difficult and painful. They want to point out the blessing and promises without ever touching on the fact that we are in a battle. They act as if there were no spiritual battles at all. They see Christianity as an escape from the danger and the pain life throws at us on a regular basis. They present Christianity as the solution to all our problems. If you are sick, Jesus will make you well. If you are discouraged, Jesus will make you happy. You are never challenged to step up and get into the fight for truth, righteousness and holiness. While it is true that the final victory is won, Christ secured it on the cross, but the fact remains that Satan wants to destroy us and keep us from winning the daily battles with the flesh and the world. Many Christians are asleep at the wheel and it is only a matter of time until the crash occurs. They are failing because they do not even realize what is happening and why their lives are such a mess. Clearly there are a lot of Christians who don t realize who their enemy is; they don t realize there is a war going on and they don t understand that everyday they are in a fight for their spiritual life. 1

2 Someone has said, Much of the church s warfare today is fought by blindfolded soldiers who cannot see the forces ranged against them; who are defeated by invisible opponents and respond by striking one another. Douglas MacArthur, one of our WWII generals, once said, In war there is no substitute for victory. Well, that statement is true for the spiritual warfare we find ourselves in as children of God. If you are a Christian please pay attention, God wants you to be victorious. Too many Christians are limping into heaven as defeated saints, when they need to be leaping into heaven as victorious soldiers. I. The Enemy s Presence 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 1. When Paul says that we do not struggle against flesh and blood he is not denying that we do sometimes struggle with other people. 2. I believe he is pointing out that the source of our conflict is in fact Satan, who uses people to do his dirty work. 3. Even though we cannot see the devil or his workers, Peter reminds us, Your enemy the devil walks about like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). The result is we need a spiritual sensitivity to pick up on the attacks and the attacker. 4. Just because our enemy is invisible does not mean that it s not real. If you have doubts about the war turn on the news, read the newspaper and the evidence is everywhere. 5. There are no opting out of the fight, everyone is in this fight (only not everyone is fighting). 6. The Scriptures depict the children of God as a great marching army. Accepting Jesus automatically enlisted in you in the army of the Lord. 7. God not only put salvation in your heart, He provided a sword for your defense, 8. At the end of Paul s life he summarized it this way, I have fought the good fight, I have keep the faith. 2 Tim 4:7 9. Paul challenged Timothy to do the same I Tim. 6:12, to fight the good fight of faith. 10. I wonder how many Christians have surrendered without ever firing a shot? 11. In 2 Tim 3:12-13 we read; Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. 13 But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 2

3 12. I would think that some who hear this message would scratch their head thinking I have no idea what he is talking about. My life is pretty good, no stress no conflict. Perhaps that is because you have never taken up your sword and have become very comfortable with the world. 13. Satan will go after those who are attempting to live Godly and are in the battle. Those who have deserted the battle field, what we call AWOL (absence without official leave), are still part of this war. 14. There are only two options; you are in the fight or your not. You cannot straddle the fence in this war. You cannot run to Switzerland and be neutral. You re either on one side or the other. 15. C.S. Lewis once said, There is no neutral ground in the universe; every square inch, every split second is claimed by God, and counterclaimed by Satan. II. The Enemy s Plan 12 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 in the heavenly places. 1. Douglas MacArthur gave the conditions for victory on the battlefield. He stressed four principles for the conflict: First there must be morale. He said that a fighting force must be UNITED by an esprit de corps, a will to win as a sense of a cause worth dying for. Second, there must strength. The soldiers must have adequate training and must be well equipped to do the job. Third, he said there must be an adequate source of supply. Lifelines must be kept open so that those at the front receive all that they need to win. However, the most important principle he said in order to prevail you must have a knowledge of the enemy. MacArthur said, the greater the knowledge of the enemy, the greater the potential of victory. 2.We know who the enemy is, it is Satan. 3. The problem here is the reaction by many to the topic of Satan. Some look at Satan the way they do Santa Claus, some mythical figure. 4. On the other end people can be obsessed with Satan. They tend to see a demon behind every door. Ill. There was a woman that went to a church picnic and the ladies were having a covered dish luncheon. When she walked in one of those super spiritual ladies walked up to her and said, What 3

4 did you bring to eat? She said, Deviled eggs. Well, immediately this woman threw here hands up and said, I bind every one of them in the name of Jesus! I like what this woman said back to her. She calmly said, You can bind them all you want to, but they re still deviled eggs. Let s give the devil his due, but let s not give him the whole farm. 5. We have a description for him, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 6. This identifies Satan as a spiritual being and that means that not everything spiritual is good. 7. So we are in a spiritual battle with a spiritual foe. 8. We cannot win our fight with just our strength or will power, we need help. Knowledge is important here. 9. Paul is identifying where Satan has influence: with rulers, authorities, powers, and spiritual forces. 10. At the bottom you have spiritual forces, demons. Over these are powers. Powers are governed by authorities, and above these are rulers. Presumably the devil is over all. 11. Paul is using terms which take the powers that are arrayed against us together. The distinction is not between the supposed levels of demonic authority but rather between the various areas of life over which they exert an evil influence. 12. We know, of course, that in some areas of the world the power of Satan is very strong and obvious. In other places, particularly places where the gospel of Jesus Christ has gone, it is comparatively weaker. 13. Power concerns those who control what people think and do. I see this as TV, radio, and newspapers, which control so much of our contemporary moral ethics. 14. The final words make it clear that Paul is not just thinking of just evil men and women, like Hitler, who somehow control others for their own twisted desires. He is identifying the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 15. The emphasis here is upon the evil in the spiritual realm. Yes there is a holy, beneficent power in the heavens, God s throne is there. It is the power of God in which the Christian is encouraged to be strengthened (v. 10). But the spiritual forces in the heavenlies against which we struggle are not holy or beneficent. They are wicked and destructive. III. The Enemy s Problem 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the 4

5 breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints 1. We have a mission, we have a plan, and we have the provisions to defeat the enemy. 2. While Satan is dangerous. The devil is deadly; old Lucifer is destructive. This wicked force is deceptive. But listen carefully, He is not invincible. 3. If you can remember back how frightened people were of Saddam Hussein at the start of the first Gulf War, and there was fear that the war would be long and difficult. But after the war was over, in just a matter of hours, General Norman Schwarzkopf had a press conference and gave this assessment of the same. He said, "Saddam is neither a strategist, nor is he schooled in the operational art, nor is he a tactician, nor is he a general, nor is he a soldier; other than that he is a great military man." 4. Well let me give you some good news. Satan is not omnipotent, Satan is not omnipresent, Satan is not omniscient, but God is all three. 5. Satan is not sovereign, but God is. But other than those qualifications he is a powerful foe. "But greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." You see, we have an advantage over Satan. It is the armor of God. 6. Well God has given us armor guaranteed to repulse the most powerful missiles, the strongest bombs, and the mightiest torpedoes that Satan can fire at us. No wonder James said in James. 4:7, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." (James 4:7 NKJV) 7. Did you know there is not a single verse in the Bible that tells us that we are to run from the devil? The Bible says we are to flee temptation. The Bible says we are to flee sin. But the Bible never says we are to flee from the devil. The Bible says we are to resist the devil and he will flee from us. Conclusion: Jeffery C. Ward in his book, The Civil War, tells a story about a scene that took place on a battlefield during the battle of Gettysburg. He said: Right in the middle of the Battle of the Wilderness, all the staff men who had been fighting in the east all this time Grant had 5

6 just come from the West kept talking "Robert E. Lee, Robert E. Lee. He'll do this, he'll do that, he'll do the other." Ulysses S. Grant heard all he wanted to hear and finally said to them, "I am tired of hearing about Robert E. Lee. You would think he was going to do a double somersault and land in our rear. I want you to quit thinking about what he is going to do to you, and I want you to start thinking about what you're going to do to him."we're in a war. We've got to get ready to fight, and I want us to begin thinking not about what the devil can do to us, but what we can do to him. We're going to find out that because of the Lord Jesus Christ and His death on the cross, because of the awesome power of the Holy Spirit, and because of the armor of God, we can win this war. 6