Dressed For Battle - Part 1 of 2

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.

Some think Christians should be pacifists, people who never used weapons or engage in warfare or combat. Paul, however, says, get dressed, you're in the army now. Today, a look at your battle fatigues as outlined in Ephesians chapter six. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, this is your last message from Ephesians. You'll be taking a fast paced look at the armor of God, defensive and offensive weapons were given to fight the good fight of the Christian life.

You know, Dave, I love the way in which you framed this. You talked about the fact that we are indeed in a battle. We are soldiers. We're living in a day and age when the church is so afraid of saying that we are in warfare that they, of course, want to emphasize niceness without recognizing the fact that we are in a battle.

So you're absolutely right that we need to understand what the Apostle Paul says here about spiritual warfare. I want our listeners to know that we are making this entire series available to you. The series is entitled Between Heaven and Earth. It's a series of messages on the book of Ephesians. For a gift of any amount, it can be yours. Here's what you do.

Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. The name of the series, Between Heaven and Earth, you can have it in permanent form so that you can listen to it again and again. But now, let us take that quick tour through the last part of Ephesians chapter 6. I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. The bad news is that Satan hates you and has already made meticulous plans for your downfall. I do want you to turn to Ephesians chapter 6, which is the passage where the Apostle Paul comes to the end of this wonderful letter that he wrote to the church at Ephesus and says in verse 10, 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, notice this now, the rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms.

A few words by way of introduction. First of all, notice that the Bible teaches here and in many other passages that there is a spiritual dimension to the world. There is such a thing as the spirit world that lies at the back of the world that we see and touch and feel. Many years ago, even when I was growing up, most people didn't believe in that spirit world. It was a time of materialism when everything was believed to be matter and atoms. Today, of course, with the rise of what we call the New Age movement, there is a great deal of interest in the metaphysical, in the spiritual world, if you please.

And people are getting plugged in. People like David Spangler and a host of others say that they actually communicate with spirits, with invisible entities, with masters of wisdom, as they are sometimes called. The problem with the New Age movement is that it does not recognize the fact that all of the spiritual forces of the world are not kind toward us.

In fact, they are very deceptive. They are essentially evil even though they appear as if they are on our side. But there's a great deal of the spirit world that is not at all on God's side.

It is most pointedly in opposition to God. But there is, yes, a spirit world. Paul speaks of the dark forces of evil in heavenly realms, not just in heaven but on earth.

He means the atmosphere. There's a battle that is going on. In fact, that's the second point I want to make, and that is that there is a battle.

You'll notice he says our struggle. The Bible that most of us memorize, the King James, says that we wrestle. We wrestle not against flesh and blood.

We're involved in this cosmic battle, and there are many different ways that Satan wages war against the Church of God, many different ways. And it's not a physical, political battle. It isn't a military battle as such. We use the imagery of onward Christian soldiers, but we mean that in a spiritual sense. You know, during the Middle Ages, those crusades to go to Jerusalem to liberate it from the Turks, those were mistakes.

In fact, today, many of the Arab people still reject Christ because they have in their minds the memory of those terrible battles done in the name of Jesus. No, we do have to war in the name of Jesus, but it is a spiritual conflict, as we shall see. And of course, it has political ramifications.

Political matters are involved. The Apostle Paul says that there are authorities and powers in this dark world, but our weapons are spiritual weapons. Now, of course, Satan's assault against the Christian church takes many different forms. Sometimes it has been a physical assault, a physical assault as during the days of persecution when Christians were put to death. Now, mind you, that continues today.

More people have been martyred for Jesus in this century, the experts tell us, than ever were martyred in the early days of the Christian church under the Roman Empire. So sometimes, though, it's a physical assault. Sometimes the battle is intellectual.

He wages an intellectual battle. We think of Europe in the 18th century when scholars arose to say that the Bible could not be believed, they told us. They discounted the miracles. They tried to take Jesus and strip him of his deity and strip him of his miracles and to take the Bible and tried to make it into an ordinary book, an ordinary book.

Maybe there are some who are listening today who long ago have discounted it. You say, well, it's filled with mythologies. And you do not understand that though it is written by human beings, they were inspired by God and the Bible has all of the marks of a divine book that is a gift from God.

But sometimes the battle is intellectual. Sometimes it is a moral assault that Satan has because he is a being that is filled with lust. Jesus said, speaking of the people of his day, he said, you are of your father, the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. About 40 times in the New Testament, demons are referred to in the scriptures as unclean spirits, unclean spirits. They assault people with all kinds of defilement. They exploit our natural sinful desires and make these desires overwhelmingly strong.

Sometimes the battle also is a ritualistic one. Now you have to understand that Satan's great desire is to take the place of God in people's lives. That's his agenda basically. And what he would like to do is to make promises just like the Bible has promises. He makes promises and he tries to do the same things in our lives that God does and therefore what he tries to do is to lead us into what we sometimes call occultism. That word occult means dark or hidden. And today there are simply hundreds of different ways to expose yourself to Satan and to walk into his territory and to play his games. Here on Wednesday night we had a Bible teacher this past week, Reverend McLeod, and he spoke on occultism and listed about a hundred different ways that people get into the occult. And then we gave an invitation and later on we counseled about 60 people who came forward because they had been involved in some level of occult activity. And 45 different kinds of occultism was revealed as people shared in our counseling session. Everything from Satan worship to levitation to the reading of horoscopes to palm reading. All of these ways that Satan would like to ensnare people. Many people do these things not recognizing they say well you know I do it innocently.

One person said well I went to a palm reader but she assured me that she was a Christian. Do you see the deception out there? And what we need to recognize is that that's the way Satan wages battle. He promises two things. First of all hidden knowledge. Knowledge that God has not seen fit to reveal.

You come to me and I will tell you your fortune. I will play with that Ouija board that will give you some guidance. And secondly healing he promises.

And so you have people being healed because of crystals and healing techniques that are not based on science but based on occultism and Satan will heal as many people as he can if he can keep you bound and deceived. Now his primary strategy is to make sin look good to us. He doesn't want us to fear sin because he knows that if we don't fear it we'll get involved in it and that's his game.

That's his territory. And so he takes ideas that are his and he puts these ideas in our minds and we think they are our own. You see because Satan is hideous if he if he came down the aisle today and revealed himself as this horrible awful being we'd all be terrified. So in order to make sure that we aren't afraid of him what he does is he comes in different disguises. He comes under different labels but he comes to deceive and to ensnare. So first of all I've emphasized the fact that there is a spiritual world out there.

Believe me there is. And secondly we wrestle. There is a cosmic battle. In fact it is important for you to know that everybody to whom I'm speaking today is involved in the battle.

You say oh no I'm not because possibly you have very little to do with religion. Well you know the answer is you are involved and I need to say this lovingly but without even knowing it you have taken the wrong side in the conflict because the Bible says there are two kingdoms. There is the kingdom of darkness.

There is the kingdom of light. There is the kingdom of Satan and there is also the kingdom of God and there are only two spheres. There are only two spheres and so everybody's involved and the and the battle is cosmic.

It's not just individual. It is it is a battle Paul says in the heavenlies with with rulers and authorities and the powers of darkness. The whole universe is really involved in a sense in the battle and and the whole universe is in civil war in civil war. Now the question is of course how do we stand and the Apostle Paul here four times says stand stand stand. He's talking to believers.

How do we stand against Satan's assaults? In the early part of Ephesians he talked about the fact that we are seated with Jesus Christ in the heavenlies. If you remember back that far in Ephesians 2 he says that legally we are with Jesus in heaven already. We are seated. When you get to chapter 4 he says not only are we seated but we have to now walk. We sit and then we walk. Walk worthily of who we really are as belonging to Jesus and now he tells us to stand and what I'd like to do is to suggest to you that using the imagery of standing most people who stand have two feet some may not be able to use their feet and that's fine this message is for you as well I'm using it only metaphorically. What you need to do so that you're not slipping on ice so that you're not slipping and falling so that Satan doesn't have you down and literally beating you emotionally psychologically and spiritually.

How do we stand against him? One foot has to be planted in the soil. The soil of Christian character. The soil of Christian character. Let's look at the pieces of armor and we'll see how this works out. You know some people think that the armor is just something that you can just put on and then when you don't need it you take it off. Some people think well it's only for those who are involved in quote spiritual warfare but everyone every believer needs this armor every single one and it's basically our walk with God. It's Christian character.

Let's look at the text very quickly. First of all he says put on therefore verse 14 stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. The belt of truth. Now God's word is truth the Bible is truth and Satan Jesus says is a liar and he is the father of lies.

It's been said many times the only time you can believe him is when he says I am lying. He is the author of lies and he loves deception and what we must do is be people of integrity. We have to be people of truth. You know there are many people who fall into all kinds of grievous sins and they stay there because they refuse to become honest with God. They refuse integrity and therefore they hide and they use as a cover the lies and the deceptions of the human heart and as a result of that Satan has his workshop and he holds them bound.

If there's anything that the devil hates it is truth. So truthfulness that's one way that we ward off his attacks and he no longer can can easily come through our armor because we are so honest we are so truthful we are so open to that which is true that that there's nothing there's no place if I might use the imagery there's no place for him to hide. Well let's look at a second quality and that is righteousness. It says having on the breastplate of righteousness righteousness now when we think of that word righteousness we immediately think of Jesus Christ's righteousness which is given to us through faith and without which we cannot come into God's presence and be accepted the righteousness of Christ but it is also the accepting of righteousness as one of the qualities of our lives. It is walking in righteousness it is accepting the righteousness of Christ it is receiving that righteousness and believing it and making it our own and all of us know the way in which we can overcome the accusations of the devil the best is to point to the righteousness of Christ and say that I receive that quality in my life the righteousness of God.

Let's look at the next one it's peace and it says having your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. You see having received our peace with God knowing that the barrier between us and God has been lifted having received the peace of God we now become ambassadors of peace and we tell others that there's a God who is willing to reconcile us to forgive us and to bring us into his presence and and the people who best overcome Satan are the ones who witness to the peace of God and then share the good news with others who do not know that there's a way by which they can come into God's presence and be forgiven and cleansed and received. Let's go on to another you'll notice it says taking the shield of faith it says verse 16 in addition to all of this take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Now in those days when a battle took place they would take arrows and dip them in pitch and then they would light the tips and then they'd shoot them you can see the advantage because then if the arrows landed on something that would burn a fire would begin and and so Paul uses that imagery he's thinking of the fact that the devil comes to us with all of these fiery arrows of of doubt and unbelief and blasphemy and immorality and and he barrages us you see and the question is how can we ward off the fiery darts of the evil one and the answer is to lift the shield of faith. Now it doesn't mean the faith by which we are saved it's important to have that faith as we shall see in a moment but it's talking about confidence in in the promises of God. The fact that God can be believed promises that tell us that greater is he who is in you than those who are in the world promises that assure us that Satan has already been crushed and we can accept that victory on our own promises that assure us that Jesus today is above all principalities and all powers and every name that is named. You see it's those promises that give us faith. Isn't it wonderful how the Apostle Paul helps us to understand the nature of spiritual warfare. Satan sends his darts his arrows against us and we hold the shield of faith.

Satan wants us to doubt God's word and of course he has many different ways to deceive us. Let me ask you a question are you blessed as a result of the ministry of running to win? Perhaps you've been listening to this series which by the way is entitled between heaven and earth you may have missed some of the messages or maybe you've heard some of the messages and you wish that those messages were heard by others. That's why we're making this series of messages available to you for a gift of any amount. This is a marvelous opportunity for you to help us even as we help you in your Christian life. As I mentioned for a gift of any amount you can ask for the series of messages between heaven and earth and they can be yours permanently so that you can listen to them again and again. Go to rtwoffer.com that's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337 ask for the series of messages between heaven and earth and thank you in advance for your generosity because you are a part of the running to win family together we're making a difference around the world right now go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337 it's time now for another chance for you to ask pastor lutzer a question about the bible or the christian life an anonymous listener has a question many may share dr lutzer how do i know when god is talking to me or when it's really just me well my friend that is very difficult to know and all of us i think have gone through struggles regarding the will of god so first of all don't expect god to be speaking to you i know that there are those who say that they have this word from the lord sometimes they are right sometimes they are wrong the will of god is something that god guides us into through various means very seldom does he reveal it directly to us especially in any kind of words so my suggestion is that you consult people who know you who know the situation as to whether or not you should do a or b depending on what the decision is the other thing is god gives us the aptitude he gives us the ability he has given us a good mind so that we can assess who we are and what the situation calls for and then in those situations of course we need to make decisions that are consistent with the bible but oftentimes that in itself is not a big help because we have to determine whether we should live in one area of the city or another area of the city here's what i have done when i'm about to make a decision i tell the lord in advance what i'm intending to do and of course even before i tell him he knows what i am intending to do but i say that to him very deliberately and then i say now lord if i'm wrong stop me very interesting in my life at least there have been times when god has closed doors moving in one direction and suddenly i have to change course because my intention could not be fulfilled on the other hand god often confirms it and there are green lights all along the journey in the middle of this we trust god trust in the lord with all thine heart lean not onto thine own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths believe that trust that and submit your decision to god a word of wise counsel from dr erwin lutzer thank you dr lutzer if you'd like to hear your question answered go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on ask pastor lutzer or call us at 1-888-218-9337 that's 1-888-218-9337 you can write to us at running to win 1635 north la salle boulevard chicago illinois 60614 running to win is all about helping you find god's roadmap for your race of life today pastor erwin lutzer brought part one of dressed for battle the last message in a long series called between heaven and earth taken from ephishians next time final thoughts on putting on the whole armor of god this is dave mccallister running to win is sponsored by the moody church