Spiritual Warfare Requires Spiritual Armor, Part 2

Spiritual warfare requires spiritual armor. Today is part two of that topic right here on the Christian Real View radio program where the mission is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. I'm David Wheaton, the host. The Christian Real View is a listener-supported radio ministry. You can connect with us by visiting our website, thechristianrealview.org, calling toll-free 1-888-646-2233 or by writing to box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. Before we get to the preview, I just want to announce an upcoming Christian Real View movie night. This is going to take place on Saturday, September 8th at 4th Baptist Church in Plymouth, Minnesota. The film we are going to be viewing that night is The Essential Church.

You may remember that we've covered that recently on the program. This is an excellent documentary film that Christians and churches and elders and pastors of those churches need to see. So on Saturday, September 8th, 6 p.m. doors will open at 4th Baptist Church.

The film will start at 6 30. We'll take an intermission at 7 30 p.m. for refreshments and a mini dessert, and then we'll watch the second half of the film and conclude the evening with a pastor-panel discussion about key takeaways from the film. You can come for a donation of any amount to the Christian Real View. All you need to do is register at thechristianrealview.org or call us toll-free 1-888-646-2233. Be sure to invite the pastor and elders of your church to come to this event. We're also going to have DVDs of the film The Essential Church available along with other resources. Now if you're out of town and can't come to the event, you can still order the DVD of The Essential Church. Just go to our website thechristianrealview.org or give us a call, or you can also write to us to order Box 401 Excelsior, Minnesota 55331.

Again, for a donation of any amount to the Christian Real View. The second brief announcement is that we have the Christian Real View golf event coming up on Monday, September 18th. We would love to have you join us for this event.

Even if you don't live in the area, we're going to have a way for you to participate in some way. We'll be announcing that in a couple weeks, but you can find out more at our website thechristianrealview.org. All right, now to part two of our topic, spiritual warfare requires spiritual armor. In a way, one could call Satan's rebellion against God the original sin, for Satan was the one who tempted the first humans, Adam and Eve, to rebel against God as Satan had already done. Ever since, Satan and the angels who joined him in his rebellion have been waging spiritual war for the souls of men and women. The Bible says Satan prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. That's from 1 Peter 5. He has one purpose, to keep the unsaved from being saved and the saved from being sanctified. Or Jesus put it this way, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. That's from John chapter 10. Satan and his demons, while powerful, are not all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful like God. But if not personally attacking the believer, Satan and his minions count on the sinful allures of the world and the sinful desires of our flesh to tempt the believer out of obedience to God. Last week, in part one of spiritual warfare requires spiritual armor, Matt Morrell, pastor of Fourth Baptist Church and School in Plymouth, Minnesota, which is our home church and president of Central Seminary, explained the first three pieces of spiritual armor, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. The Apostle Paul exhorted Christians to quote, put on this armor in his letter to the Ephesian church. This week in part two, Matt will explain the final three pieces of armor, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, along with the supply line of the spiritual armor, which is prayer. So we hope you will better understand the spiritual war taking place for your soul and the spiritual armor and weapon that God has provided for you to overcome. Now, Paul's letter to the Ephesians starts with the first several chapters emphasizing doctrine, doctrine being truths from and about God.

But as the letter continues in the latter chapters, it puts that doctrine into practice. And so as we arrive at Ephesians chapter 6, there's not just a conclusion to the letter, but there's a crescendo of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, as pastor Matt was saying. And so the first part, starting in verse 10, lays out who the battle is against, Ephesians 6 verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Verse 12, For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. So last week on the program, we opened up talking about the increase in the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places that are becoming more evident here on earth.

In fact, we played some sound bites from former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, saying that he's been reading the Bible himself, and he's not a professing born-again Christian. And he said something to the effect that the issues we debate today aren't the core issues, that there are unseen forces acting on people. He was talking about a spiritual dimension there, a good versus evil, and even he is beginning to see there are things underneath the political battles.

There's a spiritual battle going on. We also talked about the Walker Art Center here in Minneapolis, a very prominent art center holding, quote, a playful demon summoning session event this summer for families. We also talked about the fact that after-school Satan clubs are gaining popularity, and that Target Corporation, they're based here in Minneapolis, one of the biggest retailers in the country, they were using a creator who is a professed Satanist to design their merchandise for so-called Pride Month. And one thing we didn't mention last week was earlier this year at the Grammy Awards, which is for the music industry, according to the Daily Mail, Grammy viewers slammed Sam Smith and Kim Petras over their satanic performance of their award-winning single Unholy. After Smith, who is, quote, non-binary and uses gender-neutral pronouns, was seen wearing satanic headgear in the horror movie-inspired performance, viewers flocked to social media to share their frustrations about the demonic themes. One tweeted, I know we on the right probably use the word satanic too often, but this performance from Sam Smith is literally a tribute to Satan. One thing I'm noticing is that those who are fierce advocates for the transgender movement or fierce advocates for killing unborn children have this more open alignment with Satan in the demonic world now. You'll see it in the t-shirts they wear, the signs they hold, and what they post on social media. One thing we didn't get into last week is the mainstreaming of the UFO phenomenon, unidentified flying objects.

This is becoming much more widely accepted, many more news stories about it. This from Fox News, Harvard professor Avi Loeb predicted that the scientific discovery of an alien civilization, one that may potentially be billions of years old, will prompt humanity to unify. Loeb, a trained physicist who received his PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem at the age of 24, said it was, quote, arrogant of us to think that we are alone, that we don't have a neighbor out there.

Here's what he said. As of now, humanity is split. We decided to split the land on this rock that we were born on into nations, and we get our pride from conquering a piece of land or competing with other nations. That makes little sense in the big scheme of things. Now that's a back to the city and tower of Babel comment, if I've ever heard one, how he thinks the idea of nations, rather than having one global community, that's the way to unify the world.

That's exactly what they were trying to do at Babel, to make a name for themselves, to live without the accountability of God. He continues. Perhaps noticing a neighbor will be a wake up call that will bring us together to realize that there is much more to the third dimension, not just the two dimensions of the surface of the earth that we are sitting on. But in fact, there is a third dimension.

There is much more real estate out there. There might be many more neighbors that are far more accomplished than we are, and we can learn from them. And that's why I believe we should be agnostic and just use data to guide us, evidence. That's the way science is done anyway. When he talks about neighbors out there and what we can learn from this higher intelligence, there's nothing else out there the Bible indicates besides what God created, His angels or Satan and demons.

And so this is opening the door in a way for the manifestation of Satan and his demons, and that we need to learn from them. So I call this space archaeology, archaeology in space, trying to figure out who preceded us. When I say preceded, it's by billions of years, not thousands of years like on Earth. A very advanced scientific civilization is a good approximation to God, because just imagine a cave dweller visiting New York City and seeing all the gadgets in technology, in terms of the lights appearing as a miracle. For example, in the Old Testament, Moses reports seeing the burning bush and that was a miracle supposed to convince Moses to believe in God. But if I were there with the Galileo project, the infrared sensors, I could have advised Moses about the surface temperature of the bush, the amount of energy period of time emitted from it, and whether indeed it's an unusual phenomenon. But if I were there with the Galileo project, infrared sensors, I would have been able to help Moses believe otherwise that the burning bush God wasn't manifested there.

The pride of man is pretty remarkable. You can imagine that a superhuman civilization that understands how to unify quantum mechanics and gravity might actually be able to create a baby universe in the laboratory, a quality that we assign to God in religious texts. There is a fundamental difference between religion and science in that the science is guided by evidence, collected by instruments.

It's not the subjective personal matter of belief. It's data that can be shared by all humans and all scientists would agree as to the interpretation once the data is good enough. That was Avi Loeb, Harvard professor, physicist, talking about data and evidence.

Well I came to explain the origin of the universe, how nothing became something by itself and exploded by itself into an ordered everything. When he can give us the data and explain that, then we'll start believing his even greater tenets of faith than just believing Genesis 1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. That is the only reasonable explanation for this ordered highly intelligent universe in which we live. When he talks about intelligent life out there, or UFOs, there are really only two options. They're either a human, military, intelligent agencies, secret technology, or they're supernatural.

It's either God and his angels or Satan and his fallen demons. There's no other life like ours in the universe, the Bible indicates. Otherwise Christ would have needed to die for sin another time. And the Bible says that Christ only died once and will die once. Romans 6 says, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again, death no longer is master over him.

For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. So this wider acceptance of aliens and the supernatural, and the focus on it in the media and movies, not the kind of supernatural that is presented in scripture, just conditions people for the signs and wonders to come from the antichrist, or to possibly explain away the rapture of church age believers. Moving on to Ephesians chapter 6 verse 13, here is the armor and the weapon that God provides. Therefore, because we're in this spiritual battle, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In addition to all, verse 16, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. After this pause for some ministry announcements, Pastor Matt Murrell of Fourth Baptist Church in Plymouth, Minnesota, will join us to explain these three final pieces of armor that will help you stand firm against the schemes of the devil. You are listening to the Christian Real View Radio program.

I'm David Wheaton. God's truth is enduringly true throughout all the generations. It transcends culture. The Church is always going to be an embattled people. If it's swimming with the tide, it's not being the Church of Jesus Christ.

Look to the past, learn from the past, because the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. That was from the just-released documentary, The Essential Church, which chronicles how three churches followed God's command to gather during the pandemic, rather than comply with arbitrary government mandates. Normal retail is $12.99 plus shipping for this two-hour film. For a limited time, you can order the DVD for a donation of any amount to the Christian Real View. Order at thechristianrealview.org or call toll-free 1-888-646-2233 or write to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. You may recall that last year, the Christian Real View had the opportunity to expand to new markets, such as Salem stations in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C., life-changing radio network in the Northeast, and American Christian network. We expanded for one purpose – to reach new listeners with the biblical worldview and the gospel. If you listen to the program on one of these stations, we are asking for your help, as we are well behind recouping our cost of airtime through listener support. We are praying for new Christian Real View partners who will help us remain on the air in these markets.

The next few months are critical as we evaluate whether to continue or discontinue on these stations, and we are trusting God whatever His will. If you'd like to help, please call us toll-free 1-888-646-2233 and tell Rosie you'd like to become a Christian Real View partner, or go to thechristianrealview.org and click on Donate. Welcome back to the Christian Real View, I'm David Wheaton. Be sure to visit our website, thechristianrealview.org, where you can subscribe to our free weekly email and annual print letter, order resources for adults and children, and support the ministry. Today is part two of our topic, Spiritual Warfare Requires Spiritual Armor, and Pastor Matt Morrell of Fourth Baptist Church in Plymouth, Minnesota is our guest. Matt, let's get on to the next piece of spiritual armor, which is the shield of faith.

This is in Ephesians 6 verse 16. In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Some of the things you said about this are, what is the shield of faith? You said, it's the shield, which is faith.

You said, it's not a round shield like Captain America, but it's a rectangular shield that one can hide behind. The fiery darts of Satan are intended to destroy our faith in God and his word. You referenced 1 Peter 5, 8, and 9.

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, doesn't say rebuke him, but resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. And then you also said, every temptation is really a struggle between what God has said and what Satan says. That's a good point. If you can think of it that way, you have a choice. You have a choice.

You mentioned some examples. Doubt. There's a temptation to doubt. Can I really trust God in my circumstances?

You talked about discouragement. Why is my life so difficult? I'm trying to obey you, Lord, but life is so difficult. Or delay. Why is this taking so long? Something I want. Or despair.

Is it all worth it? What if I don't have enough faith? You say, none of us have enough faith. The amount of our faith isn't the issue. The object of our faith is the issue. So it must be pretty interesting to have your sermons being preached back to you, Matt. But how can a believer use the shield witch's faith to overcome what this passage talks about, the flaming arrows of the evil one? Great, David. And thank you for reviewing those things.

It's healthy for me to even hear the restatement of what you've mentioned there. It shapes my thinking biblically. I think this is an occasion when we don't want to extract the topic of the shield of faith from the larger context. Again, the epistle or the letter to the Ephesians. In Ephesians 3, 16 and 17, Paul prayed that God would grant the Ephesians, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ might dwell in your hearts through faith. And all through the letter, Paul is championing this theme of faith and celebrating that faith. So now when we stand behind that large shield that you described, we can be protected from the assault of the wicked one because of an active belief in the Gospel. Not just that once upon a time we trusted Christ. When I was a child, I mentioned, early in my youth, I prayed the Senator's Prayer and I asked Jesus to forgive my sin. And I called on the name of the Lord in faith.

That was a punctiliar event when I passed from death to life. But now my active belief in the Gospel through the course of my Christian life is that shield that I can continually raise in front of me. So when there is doubt and discouragement and delay or despair, I can be mindful of the Apostle Paul's testimony in 2 Corinthians 4, hard pressed on every side yet not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed.

He says, we do not lose hearts even though our outward man is perishing, our inward man is being renewed day by day. And he then discusses and he speaks to the faith that he has in the future glory that he cannot see. While we do not look at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen, that is faith. It's the eyes of faith that are the shield that we put before us so that even when Satan says, no, look at the fruit, Eve, it's good. We say, well, but I'll choose rather to trust God. God instructed me in this way and I will trust and obey. That is the shield of faith. Well said.

Every temptation is really a choice between are we going to trust God and obey Him or are we going to trust Satan or a lie? And that's well said, Pastor Matt Morrell with us here on the Christian Real View today talking about spiritual warfare. Let's get right to the next one.

We have a few more to go. The helmet of salvation in verse 17 of Ephesians chapter 6 and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. We'll get to that in a second, which is the word of God. You said in your message on this topic, on this piece of armor, our salvation isn't just the forgiveness of sin's penalty or the victory over sin's power. It is ultimately the deliverance from sin's presence for all of eternity.

This is the hope of the believer. And again, the helmet of salvation, you kind of pulled it and defined it a little more according to probably the original language, the helmet, which is salvation. You explained in this sermon, the three tenses of salvation and how the helmet, which is salvation, protects our minds and helps us through the trials of life because of this hope of what is to come. Explain those three tenses of salvation and the rest of the question there.

Sure. We can speak of our salvation either in the past, present, or future tense. In the past tense, we would say that we have been justified by faith. That's Romans chapter 5 verse 1. Justification is that punctiliar moment when we are declared righteous by God.

You gotta define punctiliar. A moment in time. Sometimes people will say, well, I've always been saved. Well, no, you haven't always been saved. Once you were dead in trespasses and sins, and then you were quickened, you were made alive. And so salvation isn't an evolution.

It is a birth event. When one is born again by the Spirit of God, it happens in the moment. And that moment of salvation is justification.

That's the past tense we might speak to. But then there's the present tense of salvation. We would use the term sanctification. And this is the point of spiritual growth in which we are being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1 18 says, the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. This is that present aspect of sanctification. But then the future aspect of our salvation.

That's glorification. Romans chapter 8, those whom he justified, he also glorified. And that's the blessed hope of the Christian looking forward to that day. And the helmet of our salvation, I would contend, is that future aspect.

It's the glorification. 1 Thessalonians 5 8, but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. 1 Thessalonians 5 8. And so when we think of the helmet of salvation, don't think of simply putting on that piece of armor relative to our justification. Think of putting on that helmet of salvation also in reference to our sanctification, but ultimately our glorification, that future hope.

In Hebrews 11, by faith Moses, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. He esteemed the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked to the reward. That is, his helmet of salvation was a hope-filled look to the reward, looking forward to that future day. And I think that helmet of the hope of our salvation is what's being described in Ephesians 6. This is why it's so important to have a pastor who digs into the word and exposits the word, because you may just consider the helmet of salvation just to be when I was saved or something. But to get more specific about which tense of salvation is he referring to here, the hope of salvation, the glorifying aspect of it for the future. And I think, David, I think we would all do well, it would serve us well as believers to be thinking forward to the glorious day of his appearing and to be waiting for the rapture of the church and all of the promises that even those in Hebrews 11, they died in faith not having yet seen the promises, but they were assured of them. And that hope gives us the courage to stand and resist the wicked one.

Absolutely. Pastor Matt Morrell with us today. Here on the Christian Real View, he pastors Fourth Baptist Church in Plymouth, Minnesota. He's also the president of Central Seminary, a Fourth Baptist Christian school on WCTS radio station here.

It's a very impactful group of ministries in one building here in the Twin Cities area. Let's get on to the sword of the spirit. And this is from Ephesians chapter six, verse 17, and take the helmet of salvation. We already talked about that one and the rest of the sentence and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And you said in your message up until this point in this Ephesians six passage, there has been a defensive posture. We're playing defense. Now the sword of the spirit comes out.

It's used both defensively and offensively. And this is the word of God. You talked about it being inspired by God. It's infallible. It cannot fail. It's inerrant, without error.

It's complete. It's sufficient for all matters of life and faith. It's effective, you said. It's authoritative.

It has authority over our lives, or it should have authority over our lives. One more soundbite from Tucker Carlson, talking about as he read the Bible for the first time this year, he realized that growing up in just a generally Christian culture, and I think he went to an Episcopal church, that he was reading things in the Bible, in the word of God, that were never ever discussed. And here's what he had to say. I've been reading it since February, and I'm like about halfway done. And I haven't talked to anyone about it, and I haven't been, I've just been myself reading it.

And I have all kinds, it's like the most interesting thing I think I've ever done, actually. It's unbelievable, the amount of drama in those books that has been hidden from me as a regular churchgoer in the Episcopal church. It's like, wait, why didn't you ever mention this? It's like unbelievable.

What? The person who uploaded this video with Tucker Carlson had some comments afterwards. It's called Fighting for Truth.

His name is Colin. He commented on the lack in the American church today that pastors are not preaching the full counsel of God. They're giving motivational sermonettes.

They're preaching in parts they think people will like, rather than all the parts that God intended to be heard and obeyed. Explain from this particular piece of spiritual weaponry, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, God's word, how should believers be using the word offensively? You said in your sermon, offensive uses of the word are evangelism and personal edification or growth, but also defensively. You used a good analogy of learning how to shoot a handgun.

If you're not very good at it, if you don't use it much, you don't know how to handle it. But the more you learn how to handle the word, you can more effectively wield it. Well, David, I would begin by commenting on the fact that we live in a modern dark ages where there is a famine for the hearing of the word of God. And even those that would attend houses of worship, as you mentioned, are not hearing Bible teaching and preaching, but rather inspirational motivational speeches.

And it's so remarkable that Tucker Carlson is confessing that he's partly biblically illiterate. And unfortunately, that may also be the case of many professing believers as well. We need to be able to wield the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. We call it the word of God. It's really the word of the spirit. It's the spirit of God who is the person of the triune Godhead that gave 40 different authors over the course of 1,500 years God's revelation to us. And so the word of the spirit or the word of God is that weapon that is other than the other pieces of armor, the helmet, the breastplate, the shoes and such.

But this is a weapon that can be used offensively and defensively. Offensively, I think, for evangelism. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So lifestyle evangelism isn't sufficient. At some point, you have to speak the word and unleash that sword and let the word of God and its inerrant power accomplish its purposes. God's word will not return void as God has promised. And so we use the sword of the spirit for evangelism. We use the sword of the spirit for edification in speaking in speaking truth to one another. And God's word is profitable. For doctrine, that's what's right. For reproof, that's what is not right.

For correction, that's how to get right. For instruction in righteousness, that's how to stay right. And so we edify one another with the exposition and the communication of the sword of the spirit or the word of God. And then also defensively.

It's not only offensively, but it's defensively. And again, I would cite Jesus' defense in the wilderness when Satan tempted him. As it is written, as it is written, as it is written, David said, your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. And so as we are able to rightly divide the word of truth and wield the sword of the spirit, we can have victory spiritually.

There is one more portion to this section that Paul writes. He sort of concludes this spiritual warfare, spiritual armor section in verse 18 of Ephesians chapter 6 by saying, with all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit, Holy Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. And pray on my behalf that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. Verse 20, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. And there's a number of different words that keep reappearing in those verses, Matt. The prayer, petition, perseverance, boldness, opening my mouth.

All these different things are coming up over and over again. You said in this particular sermon on prayer, it was titled Power Through Prayer, that this passage is the supply line. Prayer is the supply line.

It's not another piece of armor, you said, but it's the power behind the weapons that we've been given. And you point out the fact that there should be frequency in prayer, always and at all times. There's forms of prayer, prayer and supplication. There's a filling kind of the Holy Spirit in prayer. And you said that this does not mean there's to be a contemplative or mystical prayer life, but it means praying consistently with the will of God.

There's a fervency with all perseverance. We are at war, so we're driven to our knees to pray to God. This can be a much greater part of my walk with Christ to be in this pray at all times. So how can Christians listening today, as they're listening to you from this sermon series, how can they deepen their their prayer walk or prayer communication, however you'd like to describe it, with God? Well, David, you exegeted Ephesians 6 18 very well, praying always a frequency with prayer and supplication. Those are the forms, not just general prayers, but with passionate pleading in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit in consistent accordance with the words of the Spirit, and then that fervency with all perseverance. And I believe as a spiritual discipline, most believers are weak in their fervency of prayer. When Jesus led his disciples aside, he called them there in the Garden of Gethsemane to watch and pray, but they fell asleep. And Jesus qualified it, why do I want you to watch and pray lest you enter into temptation?

And they fell asleep. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak, Jesus warned them. And so pastorally, some of the greatest counsel I could give to a believer in spiritual warfare is, stand on your knees before the Lord in prayer. Because as this battle, this thermonuclear war against the wicked one, it is not going to be the devices of man, it's not going to be the wisdom of man, but it's going to be as the people of God on their face, on their knees before God, pleading with God for victory and drawing power, that source that you just described, so that we can stand against the wicked one. Matt Morrell, the pastor of Fourth Baptist Church in Plymouth, Minnesota is our guest.

We have more with him coming up after these ministry announcements. You are listening to the Christian Rule of Your Radio program, I'm David Wheaton. There is a war ongoing, there are two sides in this war, there are those who are with Christ and there are those who are against Christ. And sometimes it's not always easy to see the difference, but as we go through this information about the great reset, I think you'll find out very quickly what side these great resetters are on. Their own words condemn them.

Know that this has implications for everything, for education, for healthcare, for your job, for business, for government, for law, for property rights, the social contract as Klaus Schwab will explain. That was journalist Alex Newman speaking at our recent Christian worldview speaker series event on being informed and prepared for the great reset. Alex's presentation is full of sound bites from those who are seeking to transform the world into a godless dystopia. You can download the audio of the event or order a USB thumb drive by going to our website, thechristianrealview.org or calling toll-free 1-888-646-2233. David Wheaton here inviting you to the Christian Real View golf event on Monday, September 18th at Woodhill Country Club in Wysetta, Minnesota. This is a rare opportunity to experience a classic course in immaculate condition with challenging greens in a beautiful setting, all in support of the Christian Real View radio program. Golfer registration includes lunch on the lawn, practice range, player gift, and 18 holes with cart followed by a meal and awards. Bring a foursome or we can fit you into a group.

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I'm David Wheaton. Be sure to visit our website, thechristianrealview.org, where you can subscribe to our free weekly email and annual print letter. Order resources for adults and children and support the ministry. Today is part two of our topic, Spiritual Warfare Requires Spiritual Armor, and Pastor Matt Morrell of Fourth Baptist Church in Plymouth, Minnesota is our guest.

Final question for you, Matt. What is your exhortation for believers? As they've heard some of the highlights of this passage today, how can they be like Paul was describing? Someone who puts on this armor, who's an ambassador for Christ, and as Paul said, pray for me that I may speak boldly for the gospel. What's your exhortation for believers listening today? I would appeal to your listeners, David, the listeners of the Christian worldview, to pray for their pastors and to pray in the same way that Paul asked the Ephesians to pray for him. That utterance may be given, that he might open his mouth boldly and make known the mystery of the gospel.

That's the priority. You can pray for circumstances to go well. You can pray for programs and events and funding and all the rest, but at the end of the day, the spiritual battle is a battle over the clarity of gospel truth, and so pray in that way. I am so grateful, not for folks from our church that put money in the offering box, but who are praying for me as their pastor. That's the greatest service and support they can render for me before the Lord, and then also for one another.

I think the greatest service we can do for the body of Christ is to pray. I would appeal to listeners of the Christian worldview and to members of New Testament local churches that are faithful to the word of God to be men and women of prayer in their closets before the Lord that he'll give us victory in the fight. Matt, I want to thank you for coming on the program today. Even more for your faithfulness in preaching through not just this passage, but every passage that you approach at church to bring out what God has revealed for us to know and to follow and to put into practice. So we just pray all of God's blessings on you and your family, Fourth Baptist Church and School, Central Seminary, the radio station there as well, and we thank you for coming on the Christian worldview radio program today. Thank you, David.

It's a privilege and an honor to be part of your program, and I might just like to steal a line from you since you stole so many lines from me. I would encourage listeners of the Christian worldview to think biblically and live accordingly because this is what God has called us to. Again, Matt Morrell has been our guest today, the pastor of Fourth Baptist Church and School in Plymouth, Minnesota, and the president of Central Seminary. He said that Satan doesn't have to attack us directly when he also has the world in the flesh. This is a comprehensive war against the believer and against some believers too, actually. There is an external source of this battle, the world. First John 2 says, Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. So there's an external pull on us, the world. But if that wasn't enough, there's also an internal pull against us inside of us, our flesh that we carry everywhere. James 1 says in verse 14, But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. And then in verse 16, it says, Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

So don't be deceived about how comprehensive this warfare is. There is an external source, the world. There's a supernatural source, Satan, but also we carry around inside of us internally our flesh. And we carry that despite the fact that we're even saved, that we have this flesh that desires to go against God. But in spite of all this, this comprehensive war, God calls us to be overcomers, to overcome it. First John 5, verse 4 says, For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.

There's the key. You must be born of God. You must be born again to have the ability to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil. It goes on to say, This is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world? But he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Have you ever noticed that every message to the churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 concludes with, To him who overcomes.

For example, Revelation 3 21, He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. True believers overcome. They have victory over the world, the flesh and the devil. It doesn't mean they never sin. But when they do sin, they repent of that sin.

And with God's help, they get back on track, persevering in the battle. Now, non-believers and tares, those who profess to be Christians but aren't truly saved, have little concern for overcoming the world, the flesh and the devil. They don't think the world is sinful and evil. They like what it offers. They don't think their own flesh is sinful. They don't think mankind is inherently sinful. You'll hear things like, You got to go with your gut. You got to be who you are.

Love is love. So they de-sin sin. Or they don't believe in or focus on any kind of literal Satan and demonic forces that are trying to destroy people. You've probably heard of Dennis Prager. He's a very well-known political conservative. Many Christians appreciate his content on Prager University and his radio program. But even as a religious Jew and author of the quote, Rational Bible, he openly states that what takes place inside of us does not matter, but it's only what we do or how we behave.

Listen to this when he did a panel discussion. I am less interested in the interior person, morally speaking, than you are, than probably any of you are. And it's largely, I do believe, because I come from a behaviorist, law-based religion.

We care how you act. That's why we don't have a claim that if you look at another woman with lust, it's as if you've committed adultery with her. And I thank God for America's Christians. And Maimonides said if it weren't for Christians, the world wouldn't know about the Torah. So I'm a big Christian fan, but obviously Christianity and Judaism are not identical religions. And we have no equivalent that if you look upon another woman with lust, it's as if you have committed adultery with your heart. There's only one way to commit adultery in Judaism, and it's with a different organ. And I'm not being cute.

I'm being very realistic. Looking with lust is not a sin in Judaism. MS. Just think about what Dennis Prager is saying there. He's basically calling Jesus a liar. He was quoting Jesus' words from the New Testament in Matthew, chapter 5, where Jesus said, You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Dennis Prager, sadly and tragically, is saying that he has a better moral code than the Lord Jesus Christ, the creator of the universe, the creator of Dennis Prager.

And so Jordan Peterson followed up with this question. That was a fallen human reasoning answer. The God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New Testament. And this God is concerned with the heart, not just our actions.

Psalm 19, 14, Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. King David didn't just sin when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. His sin began when he walked out on his balcony and looked and saw the woman. That wasn't a sin. But then he lusted after her.

That's when the desire began. The sinful desire on the inside led to a sinful action of adultery. Frankly, if you operate on that kind of fallen human reasoning, it will lead to this, that you will not have any problem with doing a self-sexual act to animated child pornography.

Listen to this. Would you use the word evil of animated child pornography? No, I would use evil only with behavior.

That's where we might differ from forgetting the sex issue. You didn't do evil if you thought evil. If I'm doing animated pictures of pornography, I'm not doing something evil. That's correct. I think that's despicable. Really?

Yes, of course. No, I bleeped the word out, not because it is an obscenity, just because of the graphic nature of what was said about doing something to animated child pornography. It's more than despicable. It's sinful, and it's also criminal, actually.

To possess child pornography is to commit a crime, because of the criminal acts that are being done against these children where you get child pornography. Dennis Prager is surprised at this, that this man would consider it despicable to do this, because his view of God is terribly flawed. God doesn't just care about our actions, he cares about even more what's going on in our hearts. If there's just a rigid self-discipline that keeps someone from getting drunk or committing adultery, but if the praise for not doing these actions goes to the person instead of to God, that is really just adding more sin because you're proud over your rigid self-discipline, your own morality.

Morality without Christ is self-righteousness, which is the most egregious sin to God, as if you're righteous and you don't need Christ's righteousness. The Pharisees knew how to appear righteous by making and keeping lots of rules, but what did Jesus say to them? You, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Matthew 23. The purpose of overcoming the world, the flesh, and the devil isn't to make us feel better about ourselves, but it's to honor and praise God. So how do we overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil for God's glory and not our own pride? Well, God gives us the spiritual armor that we have been discussing the last two weeks.

It's believing those truths by faith. It also says in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 12, Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man. And God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. Number one, be humble and realize no one is beyond falling. We need to fear our own flesh and our own weakness.

If you don't think you can fail, you are close to failing. Number two, realize that you won't face any temptation that isn't common to other believers who have overcome it with God's help. Number three, believe God that he's faithful. He won't allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able, and he will provide a way of escape through the truth of his word and the power of the Holy Spirit. Number four, flee from idolatry. All temptation is a choice of who we're going to worship.

Are you going to worship God or are you going to worship yourself? The key here is to grow in your love and fear of God so that you instantly recognize what grieves him, and so you can immediately replace the temptation with the truth of Scripture, just like Jesus did when he responded to Satan three times. It is written, standing on the truth of Scripture to replace the lies of Satan. The closer you walk with God, through prayer, through hearing his word preached, through reading yourself, memorizing it, that transforms you and your desires. When a believer loves and fears God, he or she will have a greater desire to please God rather than their own flesh. If you are losing in this spiritual war against the world, the flesh, and the devil, examine yourself to see whether or not you are using this spiritual armor that God provides. Or maybe you haven't repented of your sin, entrusted in Christ's work on your behalf for your salvation. If you haven't, you won't have the desire to please God over yourself, and you won't have the spiritual power through the indwelling Holy Spirit to overcome in this war. Jesus said, repent and believe in the gospel. That means to turn from your sin and believe in who Jesus Christ is, the Son of God, and what he did to pay God's required death penalty for your sin on the cross.

Find out what the Bible says about what you must do to be saved by going to our website or by giving us a call. Thank you for joining us today on the Christian Real View. Just a reminder, we have the Christian Real View movie night coming up on Saturday, September 8th at Fourth Baptist Church in Plymouth, Minnesota. We will be showing the Essential Church documentary.

This is an excellent film. You are invited to come for a donation of any amount to the Christian Real View. To register, go to our website, thechristianrealview.org, or just give us a call. Let's remember that Jesus Christ and his word are the same yesterday and today and forever.

So until next time, think biblically, live accordingly, and stand firm. The mission of the Christian Real View is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. We hope today's broadcast encouraged you toward that end. To hear a replay of today's program, order a transcript, or find out What Must I Do to Be Saved?, go to thechristianrealview.org or call toll-free 1-888-646-2233. The Christian Real View is a listener-supported, non-profit radio ministry furnished by the Overcomer Foundation. To make a donation, become a Christian Real View partner, order resources, subscribe to our free newsletter, or contact us, visit thechristianrealview.org, call 1-888-646-2233, or write to Box 401 Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. That's Box 401 Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. Thanks for listening to the Christian Real View.