This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Ignite the Light Ministries radio and podcast. It is our mission to help listeners develop a deeper relationship with Jesus by sharing what the Bible says and what it means. We aim to encourage and equip you to serve others, share the gospel, and reflect Christ in every aspect of your life. I'm Pastor Wyatt Cudd.
Thank you for tuning in.
Okay, so today's topic is going to be on spiritual warfare. The unseen battles.
So, I want to read for you an excerpt from a missionary. in the jungles of New Guinea. He's writing to his friends back home, and he says, Man, it is great to be in the thick of the fight. to draw the old devil's heaviest guns to have him aim at you. With depression and discouragement, slander and disease, He doesn't waste any time on a lukewarm bunch.
He hits good and hard when a fellow is hitting him. You can always measure the weight of your blow. By the last one you get back. When you're on your back with fever And your last ounce of strength. When some of your new converts begin to backslide, when you learn that your most promising inquiries are only fooling.
When your mail gets held up, And some don't even bother to answer your letters. Is that a time to put on mourning? No, sir. That is the time to put out all the stops and shout Hallelujah. The old fellow's getting it in the neck and is hitting back.
Heaven is leaning in over the battlements and watching. Will he stick with it? And as they see who is with us, as they see the unlimited reserves, the boundless resources, as they see the impossibility of failure, how disgusted and sad they must be when we run away. Glory to God. We are not going to run away.
We are going. to stand. I love this. You have this missionary doing exactly what God has called him to do, and everything he says is right. The devil doesn't waste his time on lukewarmness.
In fact, Jesus promises Persecution.
So, if we are living a life and not experiencing persecution to some extent, brothers and sisters, we've got to ask. Are we posing a threat? to the darkness. If not, why would they ra waste resources? See, this Christian life is not about prosperity.
It's not about living a long and healthy life. It is not an insurance policy from suffering. We're not promised an easy life. And we're not promised. happiness.
We are promised joy and deep meaning. Because when the battle comes, joy and purpose in Christ, that's what's going to hold the line. Not fleeting happiness. This Christian life, brothers and sisters, is not a playground. It's a battlefield.
But God has named our enemies for us in Scripture. God has given us truth to arm ourselves with, and God has sent us with purpose. and calling. In this life I guarantee We will face pain. we will face suffering.
We will face persecution from the world and from the darkness. But if you pursue God, He will have you doing things that your past self would not believe possible. You will have strength and perseverance in Christ, and you will send the devil running. Not because of us or anything in us, but because of the power of the God. We serve.
In Christ. We are not merely survivors, we are overcomers.
Now, one of the major places you will see spiritual warfare happening overtly. Is on the front lines. When we are witnessing, when we're doing evangelism. You get to see both sides. Often, when Tasha and I have gone overseas on the mission field, we've seen things that it's hard to believe.
We've seen possession. We've seen oppression. I've seen a dorm plagued by demonic dreams all in the same night, only for one of our brothers in that dorm to come to Christ. We felt demons pressing on us. Causing you to feel nauseous and fatigued when you're in a Hindu temple, because the devil will make false religion very real.
And I swear, every time we go overseas like clockwork, something dark and violent will assault me in my dreams. Brothers and sisters, the spirit world is real. Satan and his legion of demons hate us. And if we press into their territory, We are going to go to war. And I have to say, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom.
of heaven. It's no mistake in Ephesians 6 we have the picture of the armor of God spiritually suiting up. The armor of God is meant for war. This life is not a playground, it's a battlefield.
So put on the armor of God, pick up the sword of the Spirit, and prepare for the next wave. Spirit world is real. It's very interesting in America. I think we can become sleepy. I think we can be lulled to sleep by the American dream.
thoughts of retirement, one day being able to sit down and never get back up, comfort, whatever it might be, we can be lulled to sleep so we don't see spiritual warfare as clearly. I want to briefly say about the topic of retirement. It's not a concept we see in the Bible. You remember Abraham? You guys know how old Abraham was when God called him to an unknown land?
How old was he? Say bye now. He was seventy-five. He was 75 when God he was healthy, wealthy, retired when God called him to stand up and go on the adventure of his life.
Now we can retire from an occupation, but we never retire from the call. of God. That's what I Uh it it's I I think it's important. Here And Natasha and I are very big advocates of this. Every able person who has the chance, we encourage you to go on a mission trip if God provides the means.
Go see how spiritually active Satan is when he doesn't have to keep up the American lie that the spirit world isn't real. When he doesn't have to do that, he is active. Go see how spiritually active Satan is when you're surrounded by people worshiping a Hindu goddess of death and destruction. Go see how active Satan is when you've got people making deals with him, practicing witchcraft, putting curses on their neighbors. I know if you're interested in something like this, Paula Martin is with Mount Comforts working on a mission trip to Guatemala later this year.
Uh to go see Chris and Paula. I'd encourage you if you have the chance. God leads you. Pray about it. Go and see how active the spirit w spirit world can be.
And this lie that the spirit world isn't real, it will quickly fall apart. And what we discover is Satan is working two different strategies. Here, when people are worshiping him, he walks freely in his kingdom like a predator. When people reject the spirit world, such as here in America or in Europe, the strategy is to put us to sleep. To get us hooked on drugs, porn, money, comfort.
You can even hear it in the music our youth listens to. He lulls us to sleep. and completely burns through our days until we've done absolutely nothing. Believers, don't let this be you because you were built for so much more. You were built for war.
You were built for adventure. You were built. to overcome.
So how can we engage the battlefield well.
Well, we need to know what our threat looks like, and there's three of them that we see in Scripture. We have the fallen world that is around us. We have our own flesh within us. And we have Satan against us. Those are the three: the fallen world, our own flesh, and our adversary, the devil.
So let's talk about the first one here, the world. We're going to look at 1 John chapter 2 verses 15 through 17. It says, do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, The lust of the eyes, the pride of life, comes not from the Father, but from the world.
The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God will live forever. Do not love the world or anything in the world.
Now, the Greek word here for love is agapete. You know, I had to talk about the Greek, didn't you? Like, it's actually a rule that us pastors have. If you don't mention the Greek, it's not a sermon. If I don't mention the Greek, I actually start breaking out in a rash, so I have to.
So, sorry. But the word agape, do not love the world, the root is agape. And we know that that means a godly. Love.
So John isn't talking about love the same way as we love Tommy's ice cream. Uh John is talking about love of the world on par with worship and spiritual devotion that we ga give to God. Do not love agape, love the world. For that love is for God and God alone. Shit.
And then John mentions three variations. We see lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. These are the values of the world. The lust of the flesh, what is that? That is, I want to feel something.
The lust of the eyes. I want to take something. Gimme, gimme, gimme. I want to take something. The pride of life is I want to be something.
I want to feel something, I want to take something, I want to be something. Every kind of sin we can come into. Falls into one of these three categories. I want to feel, I want to take, I want to be. Which one are you struggling with this morning?
You know what's interesting is in Matthew 4, Jesus is tempted in the wilderness by Satan and Satan tempts him with each of these. The first temptation, he tempts Jesus to turn stone into bread. That's lust of the flesh. I want to feel something. The second is he tempts Jesus to throw himself off the temple so the angels will catch him.
That's the pride of life. I want to be something. Demonstrate who you are, Jesus. The third temptation, Satan shows him all the kingdoms of the world. And he says, I will give this all to you if you worship me.
That's the lust of the eyes. I want to take something. And Satan can really offer this to Jesus at this point. In John 12, 31, Satan is referred to as the prince of this world. 2 Corinthians 4, Satan is called the God of this world.
Satan is truly offering Jesus the keys to the world. He's offering him to take the easy way out. Look, man, if you're here to gain the world, I'll give it to you if only you worship me. You don't have to go to the cross. You don't have to pay the price for sin.
Worship me and I will give it to you. How does Jesus combat this? Each time. Scripture. Ephesians 6: Our only weapon in our arsenal is the sword of the Spirit.
Every single one of these temptations, Jesus puts to death. with scripture.
So, if we want to be overcoming the world, the values of the world, what does that mean for us? We got to know the Bible. Have we read the entire Bible? If not, Why not? God has given us so much truth to work with.
And if we want to be winning spiritual battles, we need to know our weapon. Cover to cover.
So let's pick up our sword. Let's get familiar with it.
Alright, so the world is our first threat. We are not to be in love with the world. Or of the ways of the world, but this doesn't mean that we isolate ourselves from the world. We don't hunker down and not engage with the world. The church does not exist to shelter us.
The church exists to go out into the world, to engage with the world, to leave the 99 and go find that lost land. That's what God put us here for.
Now John 17, 15 through 16, it says, My prayer is not that you take them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
So we are to be in the world, but not of the world. in the world, but not of the world. Let me give you an illustration for that. My grandpa has a John boat. Do y'all know what that is?
A little tiny John boat? Yeah, my grandpa has a John boat. And when I was in high school, he used to take me out on the lake and we'd go fishing together every summer. Haven't done that in a while. Uh now when we're out on the boat and it's floating on the water Is there a problem?
No, the boat is doing what it was designed to do. We're out there on the water, we're fishing, we might catch something, we might not. I'm not a good fisherman. A lot of times I wouldn't catch anything. But the boat is where it's designed to be on the water.
Now there is a problem if we try to drive that boat up the ramp and go through the McDonald's drive-through. There'll be a big problem. The boat's not doing what it's designed to do. It's designed to be in the water.
Okay, but let's say our boat has a hull.
Now the lake starts seeping into the boat. But we got a problem now. We are not going to be out there fishing for very long. It's about to be a terrible fishing trip, ain't it? See the boat is in the lake.
But it's not of the lake. When the lake starts seeping in, then we start getting problems. But the only way for us to be catching fish is we got to be. in the lake. We gotta be out there.
Likewise, if we are going to be fishers of men, We gotta be in the world. We gotta be engaging with the world. But we are not to be of the world. Otherwise we're either going to be swallowed up or we're going to be packing up. Either way, we're not catching anything.
Be in the world, not of the world. What do we need to do to make this happen? Are you engaging the world for the lost? Or is the world seeping into your boat? What needs to change in order for us to be catching fish?
So this is the first thread, is the world. We're to be in the world, but not of the world. That's the first threat that we see in the Bible. The second threat in spiritual warfare is our own flesh, the enemy that's within my shirt. And what does the Bible say about the flesh?
Romans 8.13, For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Galatians 5, 16, it says, So I say, walk by the Spirit, that you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They're in conflict with each other.
So what is the flesh?
Well, it's our old nature. It's our old self that is naturally bent away from God, and our old nature remains hostile. To God. Not every sin, this is an important point here, not every sin is the result of the devil making us do something. First of all, Satan can't make you do anything.
He can make something sound real nice, but he can't make us do anything. We have the old flesh in us, and it can be very tempting. Frankly, I'd argue Satan doesn't need a role in that in order for us to fall to the flesh.
So we got two natures in us. We have the old self. And then we have this new spirit, a new heart that God has put in us. And these two natures, man, they don't like each other. Within every person is this constant struggle between what we ought to do and what we want, and sometimes those are not the same thing.
In Galatians 5, we see the works of the flesh. It's a big old list. And then the fruits of the flesh, Romans 8.13, is death. of the fruits of the Spirit The fruits of the Spirit is our love, our joy, our peace, our forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. Gentleness, self-control, this is the path to eternal life.
Alright, so we got these two natures. How do we have victory? in the spirit and not fall to the flesh.
Well imagine you got two dogs and they are going at it. They're in an all-out fight. You got these two dogs just in a constant battle against each other. The spirit and the flesh warring back and forth fighting each other every day. Which one's gonna win?
Which one's gonna win? The one that you feed.
So Feed the spirit. Feed the spirit and starve the flesh. Your spirit will be strong in your desire to sin. or become weak.
So how do we speed the spirit? Galatians 5.16, it says, Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the deeds of the flesh. You guys know how walking works, right? Uh when we're at a block We're moving forward. Towards something, right?
We're walking with the intention of going somewhere. Likewise, when we walk by the Spirit, we are moving forward with God towards something. What is that something? What's the final aim? What are we aiming at?
It's Jesus. We're aiming to become like Jesus. We're moving forward to this final destination of I'm going to become like Jesus. Walking with God, it's a great picture of our sanctification, our journey with God. In sanctification, it's this process of us becoming holy like Jesus and solely like Jesus.
Sanctification is something we become But it's also the things we let go of. in pursuit of God. We see in Galatians in this first voice, uh first verse, I become joyful. And I let go of anger. I become peaceful and I let go of lust.
I gain self-control. and I let go of my idols. We become holy like Jesus. And solely like Jesus. It's what we become and what we let go of.
So there's the world, there's the flesh. which one's going to win, which dog is going to win that fight. The one that you feed.
So there's the world. There's the flesh.
Now the third one, our adversary, Satan.
So what does the Bible say about Satan? Yeah. He's a created being. He desires our worship the same way as God receives it. He is very adamant to destroy and crush our faith in Jesus.
He likely has red horns and a pitchfork. Just kidding. Just kidding, it's actually more likely Satan will appear to you as everything you ever wanted, wrapped in sweetness but filled with poison. We know because of the cross, Um that Satan is a defeated foe. The battle's over.
The battle was won at the cross. Satan is defeated. And he is no match for the power of God within us, that God works through us. Because of who God is, Satan is no match. We see in 1 John 44 that we are commanded also to resist him.
We take a look here at John 8, 44. Jesus, he's talking to the Pharisees. He says, you belong to your father, the devil. You want to carry out the father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding the truth.
There is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Father of lies. The Bible tells us Satan is a liar, a deceiver, and a murderer. He and his demons are a very real spiritual threat.
He can be subtle like a serpent. Knowing just how to tempt and deceive, He can be like a prowling lion knowing just how to strike us. He can be like a big scary dragon knowing just how to scare and overwhelm us.
Well, let's look at an example at how Satan works. Uh in the garden. Genesis 3.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals that the Lord had made. He said to the woman, Did God really say that you must not eat from the tree, from the garden? The woman said to the serpent, we may eat from the fruits from any of the trees of the garden, but God did say, you must not eat from the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden. You must not touch it or you will die. But what does Satan said?
You won't certainly die, the serpent says to the woman. For God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be open, and you will be like God, knowing good from evil.
So what does Satan do here? And we see the same pattern. Again and again, what Satan does here, he questions the authority of God. Did God really say? Second thing he does is he promises a false immortality.
The third thing, he encourages, engages our sensuality. And then he offers, we see, a self-divinity. You will be like God. Did God really say you must not eat from the tree of the garden? He said you would die?
You certainly won't die. In fact, God is hiding something from you. That forbidden fruit is actually very, very sweet. God knows if you'll eat it, you'll become just like him. You'll become your own God.
That's how he operates. He distorts He deceives and he destroys. Hey there. I hope this sermon has enriched your day. If you like this message, I want to personally invite you to join us for Sunday worship.
We have two locations in Virginia, Trinity Methodist Church in Concord and Mount Comfort Methodist Church in Appomattox. Come join us Sunday morning at 9.45 and we will help you get connected. As always, I'm Pastor Wyatt Cudd. Thank you for tuning in.
