CHRIST THE ROCK CONGREGATION
SUNDAY APRIL 28TH 2024
Sermon by Pastor Marc Simeon
SPIRITUAL WARFARE THE FIGHT OF EVERY CHRISTIAN
II CORINTHIANS 10:3-5
2Co 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
INTRODUCTION
· Throughout church history the words ‘spiritual warfare’ has had various connotations.
· Depend on the church age one examines, and later what school of thought one is from, when ‘spiritual warfare’ is mentioned, it is likely to raise the suspicion of psychological disorder, hypersensitivity to the spirit world.
· One is likely to be accused of having a simplistic mindset, or looking for an escape goat for the lack of his cleverness, or being superstition, when he’s mentioning spiritual warfare.
· The same is true when one is trying to understand the devil, his influence in the affairs of the world, his agenda, his operation, and his deliberate attacks toward every believer.
· Is there such a thing as ‘spiritual warfare’, if so, how can it be recognized?
· Who is the enemy?
· What is the biblical warrant for spiritual warfare?
· What is the winning strategy in spiritual warfare?
· We will examine these questions with the light of Scriptures.
Spiritual Warfare Fact or Fiction
· Since the Renaissance movement in the Middle Age, there has been an increasing effort to eradicate the reality of the supernatural in the mainstreams of society.
· The assumption of deities or the supernatural began to be understood as myth and primitive thinking.
· In his book Powers of Darkness, Clinton E. Arnold Wrote: “In Western culture we have come to think of magic as harmless trickery in the context of entertainment.
· When we speak of magic during the period of the New Testament, however,—Magic represented a method of manipulating good and evil spirits to lend help or bring harm”.
· Christians have also recently begun to address the issue of spiritual warfare more openly due to the increasing amount of testimony coming from the foreign mission field.
· In his book exposing the Prince of Darkness, Michael Green highlights the fact that Satan has a global strategy to prevent men from responding to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
· He uses skepticism to discredit the message of the Bible—Silence, to keep the Christians silent—
· Disunity to keep Christians divided—
· Seduction by the mismatch of Christian and unbeliever, and he also highlights coercion, pride, lust, depression, fear, etc.
· Is there such thing as spiritual warfare? Ask the Apostle Paul and he will tell you about Satan’s opposition when he wanted to go visit the Christian churches of Thessalonica.
1Th 2:17 ¶ But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire.
18 Therefore we wanted to come to you–even I, Paul, time and again–but Satan hindered us.
· How was Satan able to hinder Paul’s visit?
· Paul was certainly, not hindered by discouragement, or physical threat, or sickness, or lack of monetary support.
· Paul was in prison.
· When faced against daring Christians like Paul, Satan feels cornered and often makes use of his most effective weapons which in this instance was: established human authority.
· Although God made use of Paul’s imprisonment for the highest good so that, through the Pauline Prison Epistles, the entire Christian church would benefit with the priceless literatures which later became the cornerstone of the Christian faith.
· Though Paul acknowledged the benefit of his incarceration, he still gave credit to the devil for the unfulfilled desire to be reunited with his cherished brethrens and coworkers in Thessalonica.
· Ask Paul about spiritual warfare, and he would probably recount the incident of the exorcism he administered in Ephesus by casting a spirit of divination out a servant girl which landed him in jail.
· Paul would perhaps show his infirmity, and explain what Satan had to do with it, and how he felt powerless and perplexed that the Lord would do nothing about it.
2Co 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
· One can agree with Peter Wagner who wrote in his book: Breaking Strongholds in your City, “Greater than the danger of glorifying the enemy is to be ignorant of the enemy.”
FIGHT OR FLIGHT
The Enemy Identified
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
· In his book ‘The Embattled Christian’, Bryan G. Zacharias helps in identifying the enemy when he wrote:
· “As a vagabond, excommunicated from heaven, Satan has no influence there. He must thus content himself with working mischief here, bothering the saints on their way to the place where they will be finally and forever out of his reach.”
· In his book ‘Arming for Spiritual Warfare’, George Mallone wrote” “Satan the hungry lion wants to devour us like a meal, . . .he has a vicious appetite—the devil is not interested in bartering for small portion of our life, he wants it all.”
· Paul exhorted the Ephesians not to be sidetracked by their internal conflicts, For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood.
· When Satan is not noticed, most often, his most lethal attacks are launched from within.
· The Bible warns us that Satan himself is able to take the form of an angel of light.
· In his sermon entitled ‘Satan’s Devices’, John Wesley made this comment:
· “The subtle god of this world labors to destroy the children of God—or at least to torment whom he cannot destroy.—To perplex and hinder them in running the race which is set before them.”
· The original recipients of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians were expected to be able to differentiate between principalities, powers, world-rulers of darkness, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
· After all, in Matthew 12:24, Jesus was accused of casting out demons by the powers of Beelzebub the prince of demons.
· In the Old Testament, Daniel is observed to have been in a spiritual warfare of which he had no knowledge of.
· It came in the form of an interruption of communication with heaven.
· Daniel kept receiving the busy signal for twenty one days as his spirit became more alarmed by the minute.
· Not until God sent Michael the Arch Angel to complete the mission, would Daniel understand that the air ways were literally filled with heavenly hosts who have geographical jurisdiction over different portions of the earth.
· The same is true in 2 Kings: 6, when Elisha prayed for God to open the eyes of his servant who was disturbed about a possible Syrian invasion to defeat Israel.
· When the petition was granted, Elisha’s servant was able to witness the visible presence of the heavenly hosts that were keeping watch over Israel and was reassured of victory.
CHRISTIANS FIGHT A DEFEATED FOE
· Example of the nursing cat from my house
· A nursing cat from our home was observed catching a life lizard and carried it over to her young kitties.
· As soon as the frightened lizard was released from the crushing draws of the mother cat, it wasted no time to make an escape attempt.
· The kitties knew that they were no match to what they thought was an alligator because of its size, took no chance to approach even if mom was watching.
· The bravest of them mounted some courage, but was chased by the lizard.
· Only when the lizard seemed to get away would mom intervene to bring it back to the scene.
· Finally, the kitties got the message that it was a training session, as if mom was telling them “no more prepared meal”.
· Then, they ambushed the lizard, and in a team effort brought it to submission until it became dinner.
· The Christian in likewise manner faces a defeated foe, a big and powerful foe, not the kind one wants to mess with alone.
· Like the Holy Spirit led Jesus in the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, He continues to stage every believer to some unwelcome encounters with the devil.
· No matter how much the Christian grimaces for mercy, many a time, God would remain at a watching distance, refusing to remove the obstacle.
· The end result of such exercises is to bring the Christian to total confidence on God’s power over the enemy and to the realization that God’s power is also conveyed to the believer.
· Paul, realizing this awesome advantage over Satan’s kingdom wrote:
· 2 Cor 10:3-5 “(for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds),
· 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; (ASV).
CONCLUSION
Stand, Resist and Fight
· Wherefore take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, . . .Eph 6:13-14 (ASV)
· The wise Christian knows how to discern the appropriate posture to be in at any given time of the spiritual warfare.
· To stand seems to indicate weakness or powerlessness, or idleness; nonetheless, it is the posture that God often commands his soldiers to take until further instruction is given.
· Most of the mistakes that Christians make are due to their hastiness and inability to stand.
· Sometimes, the best one can do is to hang in there. Standing is also a mark of defiance. It indicates the refusal to back up.
· Jas 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
To resist implies to stand your ground while been pushed.
It carries the idea of a wrestling match were the goal is not to let the opponent push you out of the ring.
Finally, the Christian is called to take the offensive position. He is not just suppose to in the defensive which is to stand and resist, but, he is called to be the aggressor.
He is called to conquer the enemy’s territory.
He is called to fight to the end.
1Ti 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
II CORINTHIANS 10:3-5
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
AMEN!
Pasteur Marc Simeon 