The War

I'm going to ask you to stand as we're going to read our passage of Scripture together.

It comes from Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 through 12. So will we read this together? Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Amen.

You may be seated. We are continuing our series in the book of Ephesians, and if you have your Bible, I ask you to turn to that passage, Ephesians, the last chapter, chapter 6, and we're looking at verses 10 through 12, the verses that we have read. We've been learning in Ephesians that the first three chapters of Ephesians are to do with the truths that we must believe.

They deal with the doctrine of the faith, the doctrine of salvation in particular. And then in chapters 4 through 6, Paul explains how these truths, given by God, how they are to be lived out in our life, how they're to be lived out in the church, how they're to be lived out in the world, how they are to be lived out in our home, how they are to be lived out at work. That is, authentic Christianity must make a difference in our lives. I realize as I say that there is a cultural Christianity, there is a religiosity, a churchianity that people may adopt, and they know some of the vocabulary of the Christian faith, and they even say they may be a follower of Jesus Christ, but if the truth be known, that truth that they profess with their lips is making little or no difference in their hearts, in their homes, and in their lives. That's not authentic Christianity.

And Paul is presenting these great essentials of the faith. And now he is telling us, as he warned the Christians at Ephesus 2,000 years ago, so now the Word of God comes to us and reminds us that as we live out these truths in our lives, it's not easy. You find it easy? You find it easy to be a Christian?

I don't. It's very, very difficult sometimes because we realize that we're in a war. There is opposition. There is our own sinful desires, which are not eradicated when we come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. There is a world with all of its temptations, with all of its allurements, with all of its messages which flood us every day of our lives. And then, our subject today, then there is a spiritual warfare that is often forgotten. We read about it.

Do you believe it? Paul tells us first in response to this warfare, verse 10, we're to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Throughout Scripture, Old Testament and New Testament, there is this constant urge to the people of God to be strong, to be courageous, not to go back, not to retreat, but to be strong against the opposition. Now this strength is not self-empowerment.

It's not drawing on your own natural resources, far from it. Paul reminds us that we are to be strong in the Lord, verse 10. We are to be strong in the strength of His might, that is the Lord supplies all of the strength we need, all of the power we need to live this life for His glory, but we must avail ourselves of it. And so, he says here in verse 11, put on the whole armor of God. He describes that in verses 13 through 17, and Lord willing we'll think of the particulars of the armor of God next week.

This is something we must do every day. Now you say, what's this all about, John? Do you realize, I firmly believe this, as Paul is teaching, that there is a spiritual, invisible war. It's not with our fellow human beings. This is not Republicans against Democrats.

This is not the U.S. against China. No, this war is not against flesh and blood, Paul says expressly in the verses we've read. It's a war against cosmic intelligences. Notice what he says in verse 12, against — we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, that against other human beings, no — but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. That is, followers of Jesus Christ are in an invisible, unseen, supernatural war against Satan and his demonic forces.

Peter, one of the apostles of the Lord, writes that we are to be sober-minded. We're to be watchful. We have an adversary who's like a lion.

He's prowling around like a lion seeking whom he may devour. And so we must learn about the enemy. When I played soccer, our coach would remind us never to underestimate the opposition. Many of you, most of you, have played some kind of competition, and it's very easy if your team wins a few games, a few rounds, to be a little cocky, to be a little self-assured, and to think, well, we're going to continue to win.

A wise coach reminds the team not to be overconfident, not to have a casual attitude, because if you do, you can easily lose. And in the Christian life, we are not to underestimate our spiritual enemy. We're not to overestimate his power.

We'll see that in a minute. But we're not to underestimate the strength and the strategies of our enemy. If you do that, you will certainly be defeated. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, I'm reminding you this morning that you're in a spiritual war against a formidable enemy every day of your life. Therefore, you require spiritual strength. You require spiritual protection, and it's available.

Be strong in the strength of the Lord. Put on the armor of God, not your own armor. You think you're as if, no, put on the armor of God, as our enemy attacks us. Do you think he's attacking us at Calvary Church?

Do you think so? I have a friend, he's now in heaven, a fellow pastor, and he would often call me, and one of his questions was, is how is the devil harassing you today, John? He attacks us. Do you think he wants these boys and girls learning the Scriptures? Do you think he wants them to grow up to be men and women who will stand for Jesus Christ? Moms and Dads, do you think the devil is happy that you have a home built on the Word of God?

Do you think the devil is happy when you open the Scriptures and teach your children and your students the Word of God? The devil attacks us. He attacks our church. He attacks families. He attacks marriages.

He attacks us as individuals. And it is obvious, as we read verse 12, that Satan and his forces are very well organized. Paul here says, you must be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Oh, he is very clever.

He's got schemes. We are to be vigilant. We're to be diligent. If we're going to be strong, if we're going to win this war, we are to be strong in the Lord. We must put on the whole armor of God, and we must never, ever forget that we have a very formidable enemy, a very clever enemy.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2, don't be outwitted by Satan, for we're not ignorant of his devices. Think of the contest, back to sport. We're playing soccer. The other team we know has got certain strategies. They've been studying our team.

They've been studying our weak points and our strengths, and so their coach, if he's smart, is going to have some schemes, some strategies to exploit our weakness. Satan has many schemes, and Paul says now don't be outwitted by him. Paul in chapter 4 has given us an example where you may give the enemy an opportunity. In chapter 4, verse 26, we dealt with this some time ago, Paul writes, be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Here you are, you're married, and you're having a real fight with your husband, with your wife, and you get angry, and then you're angry, you're sinning, you're shouting, you're using abusive language, and you don't resolve that conflict. You go to bed, you don't resolve it, and it's there the next day.

You know what you've done? You might as well have opened the door of your house and invited the devil in. Paul says don't give the devil an opportunity.

One way we give an opportunity is when we don't resolve our conflicts quickly. Satan loves that. He's a divider. He's an accuser. He's an adversary. And so, let's learn about our adversary. Our enemy, number one, is the devil. I want to say five things very quickly this morning about the devil. First of all, the devil exists.

He's a personal being. Now, in our society, I realize the devil is often portrayed as a character of fun, fantasy, and even ridicule. Most Americans would say they believe in God, but many don't believe in the devil. He's largely dismissed as a mythical figure, back to the Middle Ages, a character with a pointed tail and horns.

And so most people, many people would say, come on, John, this is 2023. Surely you don't believe that medieval nonsense about an actual devil. Yes, I do. I believe there's an actual devil. He's a personal being. I find it very ironic that some people who would ridicule the concept and the reality of a personal devil are the same people who would argue for extraterrestrial intelligences in the planets. Amazing what people believe.

They believe something absolutely way out and then ridicule the Christian for saying that we believe in the devil. Yes, the devil is real. It's not a mere force, not a mere symbol, not a mere influence.

He's a personal being. If you don't believe in the devil, let me ask you this question. How do you account for evil in the world? Think of all of the ingenuity of man over the centuries. Think of all that we've achieved in human civilization.

Think of the power of this country, the United States of America. But why all the evil? Why haven't we in the United States, for example, why do we have so much violence? Why do we have so many murders?

Every time we listen to the news, there's another murder. Why is there so much hate? Why is there so much racial tension in our society?

How do you account for it? How do you account for the fact that at least half of the, half of Americans seem to think it's all right to systematically kill unborn babies? How do we account for evil in our society if you don't believe in the devil? Why aren't we as a society becoming better and better with all of our education, with our technology, with all of our ingenuity? What's happening to our world? Why do we have such atrocities as is going on in Sudan, for example? Wars throughout the world, tremendous injustice, tremendous evil, tremendous violence, tremendous hatred of man, hating and killing his fellow man throughout the world. It's been the history of the world, hasn't it?

And it doesn't seem to be getting any better. No, there is an actual devil. Jesus believed in the devil. Jesus was tempted by the devil. We read that in Matthew 4 verse 1, Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Think of the audacity of our enemy, that he would actually go into combat against the Son of God. No, evil has a name, Satan. The personification of evil, the devil, what Paul calls here, the cosmic powers over this present darkness are personal intelligences. So first, the devil is a personal being. Secondly, the devil is a created being. All of the angels, and Satan is an angel, a fallen angel, but he's an angel.

All of the angels, including Satan, the devil, were created by God. Paul says in Colossians 1 16, for by him, that is our Savior, all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. We see this planet.

We see one another. We believe as Christians that we are created by God, that God is the Creator, but there's a whole other world that we don't see, a cosmic world. Think of all the planets.

Think of the size of the universe. Think of the heavenly places, and there are invisible intelligences created by God. The angels are spiritual, created beings. They are not eternal beings.

Don't make that mistake. It's only God who's eternal. By definition, God is from everlasting to everlasting. But at some point, before God made us human beings, He created the angels. Each angel is created by God. No angels are not born.

Sorry to disappoint you, no baby angels. Angels do not grow old. Angels do not die. Jesus didn't say that when the dead rise, they will be angels in heaven, a common mistake. He said that in heaven we will be like angels in that there's no marriage. Angels don't marry, so when you get to heaven, your marriage is over whether it's good, bad, or indifferent.

That's the reality. And that way, we are like angels, but when we die, we do not become angels. When we die, and when the Lord returns, we're going to have glorified bodies, and we will never ever be an angel. In a sense, we're higher than the angels because we're redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. You say, how many angels are there?

We don't know. Revelation 5 talks about angels numbering myriads of myriads. Myriad, the Greek term for ten thousand, ten thousands of ten thousands, thousands of thousands. A way of saying there are innumerable angels, innocent beings. The writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 1 reminds us that they are ministering spirits to help us. Do you realize if you're a Christian, there are unseen forces there, angels that help us?

They're not flesh and blood. Normally, they are invisible, but sometimes angels appear in visible form. The writer of Hebrews 13 says now, as he exhorts us to be hospitable, he said sometimes you can entertain angels unaware. Have you ever entertained an angel?

Some person you invite into your home, you don't really know much about them. They're an angel. There's a wonderful story in 2 Kings 6. The people of God are surrounded by the Syrians and they're outnumbered by the Syrians. And the hostile forces, many, many forces are against them. And Elisha's servant comes at Dothan, and he's very upset, and he's saying to the prophet, we're outnumbered, what can we do? And Elisha the prophet prays, he said, in his eyes that he may see. And God opens the servant's eyes and he looks around, and there's the angels of God, chariots of fire all around them. Isn't that wonderful to know? As you go through life, there are protecting angels, that there are angels watching over us.

How many? We don't know. As spirit beings, it's possible for many angels to be present in one place. Remember Legion, the man in the Gospels?

He was called Legion because he was possessed by many demons. Medieval theologians used to debate as to how many angels could balance on the point of a pin. That's worth discussing over lunch, isn't it? I mean, they are spirit beings. Many can be in one place, so here was the question, how many angels could be balanced on the point of a pin? You say, well that's ridiculous.

Well, you could discuss more ridiculous things than that over lunch. There's various kinds of angels. When we look at chapter, verse 12 here, Paul refers to rulers' authorities, cosmic powers, spiritual forces of evil.

It seems that there's some kind of hierarchy in their organization. Some angels are called cherubim. They are protectors and reflectors of the glory of God.

Remember when Adam is thrown out of the Garden of Eden, what does God use to protect the garden? A cherubim with the sword of fire. Then there are the seraphim, the burning ones referred to in Isaiah 6, who seem to be very close to God, and they apparently burn with holy brilliance. Cherubim, seraphim. Sometimes in the Bible, angels are called princes, living creatures, holy ones, rulers, powers. We know the names of at least three of the angels. Michael is the archangel, who is the supreme military leader of the angels. Then there's Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God.

Remember it was Gabriel who came to Mary and told her, although she was a virgin, she was going to bear a child, the Messiah. And then there is the devil. The old King James gave the translation of day of the star Lucifer to him.

He's the day of the star. He's Lucifer. The devil, like all of the angels, here's the basic point, is a created being. He's a personal being. He's a created being. Third, he is a fallen being. Satan is a created angel, beautiful angel, who is created by God who sins.

You read about him in Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, the anointed guardian cherub, one of the most beautiful of the angels. In Isaiah 14, five times we read him saying, I will, I will, I will, I will, wanting to be equal with God, apparently trying to dethrone God and because of his rebellion, he's cast down. And he continues to promote rebellion against God and the people of God. Satan, that's your main adversary, the devil. He's given various names and descriptions, the dragon, the devil, the serpent, the tempter, the deceiver, the adversary, the prince of the power of the air, the father of lies, says Jesus.

He's a murderer from the beginning. Sometimes he's like a roaring lion. He's like a wolf among the flock.

Sometimes he's like an angel of light. Think of all of the false doctrines. Paul says they're the doctrines of demons. Yes, he can appear to be very religious, very sophisticated, like an angel of light, a false prophet deceiving the flock, and he's cast down because of his pride. And when he's cast down, many of the angels fell with him. So what we may call demons, what are demons? They are evil angels who rebelled against God and were cast down. When Satan is cast down, these fallen angels are cast down with him. And of these fallen angels, there are two classes. There are some, apparently, who are presently bound in darkness.

Listen to Jude 6. Jude writes, he says, about the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling. He has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day. So some are presently in a spiritual prison, as it were.

Others are not bound. And Satan and these unbound angels, these demons, are our active, invisible enemy. These are demonic intelligences. The demons are Satan's army.

He's their commander-in-chief. They do his bidding. You say, well, I don't see them.

No, that's part of the subtlety, isn't it? In some countries in the world, it's very evident of demonic activity. It's very obvious how evil they are. And these demons do the bidding of Satan. You say, well, could they ever be saved? Could they ever be forgiven?

No, absolutely not. I remember a little boy asking my dad, dad, could the devil ever be saved? And he simply said, no.

And I asked, why not? And he said, no, he cannot be saved. Why can't the devil and his angels be saved? Is it because God isn't merciful?

One is, they're unrepentant. Secondly, Hebrews 2 tells us that when our Lord Jesus died, He did not die for the angels. His precious blood was shed so that people like you and me could be saved.

Isn't that wonderful? To know that God's plan of salvation embraces us. Jesus said that hell has been prepared for the devil and his angels. So He is a personal being. He's a created being. He's a fallen being.

Fourth, to say the obvious, but I want to emphasize that He is an evil being. Behind all of the evil in the world, there is the devil. Remember, he is 100 percent wicked. Even the most evil man in this world is not 100 percent evil.

There's still some evidence of the image of God in him, however marred and scarred that is. But the devil is 100 percent evil. He's called Satan.

What is he? He's the adversary. He is always against God. He's always against the purposes of God. He's always against the people of God. He's always against the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He's always against God's created order. We thought of that last week in terms of marriage, but in the beginning God made us male and female. And Satan says, no, no, not now. No, no, you can change.

You can wake up one day and say, I've decided to be a woman, although I'm really a man. He is always seeking to underdo what God does. When God is at work, Satan is there trying to plant his seeds of evil. He's against everything which is good. He's against everything which is pure. He's against everything which is true. Verse 12 again, a war.

Notice it. Against the cosmic powers over this present darkness. Against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Remember that. Satan and his demons are incorrigibly evil. They're utterly opposed to the truth of God. No wonder for thousands of years now, God's truth is being attacked. No wonder that the attacks against the authority, the inspiration, the accuracy of Scripture is never-ending.