Introduction to Spiritual Warfare

Why don't you let me go ahead and tell you what's on there. After 8 o', clock you'll start nodding off if you read too long. We tonight are not going to really do justice to any degree to this subject of spiritual warfare. I recognize that for some of you, this is an area of intense interest. For others of you, you're not really sure what you think about this whole thing. How many of you would say prior to North Way you had very little instruction on spiritual warfare? Alright, so that means you've had very little instruction in spiritual warfare. We have not given ourselves over in a systematic way to this. And one of the limitations of our format, as you all know, is the fact that just meeting once a week, as we do normally, we're limited in what we can do in terms of instruction. And so we have to choose carefully what the Holy Spirit is telling us to do and talk about. Let me share with you why I came to this point tonight, through this summer, and particularly in the month of August, and even while I was away on our vacation time and came back in the last few weeks in September, I've been deeply and profoundly. Dealt with by the Lord in this matter of understanding that advancement in the kingdom of God comes through warfare. The last two teachings on Sunday Morning, I've last three now, in fact, I've talked about the nature of progress, and that is one that only comes through conflict. Now, what I know can happen tonight is that I could spend the balance of the 45, 50 minutes or so that we have in teaching time convincing some of you that this really matters. And if you're here tonight, as a person who doesn't really hold a strong conviction about this whole matter of spiritual warfare, I understand that. What are some of the things that keep us from even believing that there are such things as spiritual beings and principalities and powers, even though the Bible talks about them, what are some of the things that really block it out or blank it out from our minds so that we don't even deal with it? Fear is one. What's another one, Gene? Yeah, they're good at disguising themselves so we don't even think another thought about it. What else? All right, our mind can get in the way and. Come on, what are you talking about? All right, he's a subtle enemy. The Bible talks about that. That he's what other people what their opinions and so on. Getting in the way, you bet, boy. Our tradition, our old religious upbringing. There's a lot of stuff that's come down that's gotten off balance, right? And you get into misunderstanding and every place you go, you're calling out and covering and everything else. There is so much that can be waded through just on all these misunderstandings tonight that we could spend the whole time. But I know this, the enemy would like nothing more than for us to kind of cruise through our Christian walk thinking that all we really need to do is read our Bible, praise the Lord and come to worship, and we'll be good Christians and make it to heaven. And I'm serious. That's a posture that much of the church has taken. It's a place where a lot of people have finally, when it's all said and done, that's where they've ended up. Well, we'll just kind of make it. We'll get through one day when the Lord draws back the curtain, folks, and we see what's been happening up there that we could have been part of. It's going to astound us. It's going to humble us. It's going to cause weeping to our soul. I know that. Let me say this. Even in the places at North Way where I feel prayer is being raised up and is effectual. Even in those places, we're just skimming the surface of what spiritual warfare is about. I've encountered in the men's meeting on Tuesdays and Fridays that this whole thing of kind of like, well, we need to bind the spirits in the heavenly place. And so we have a couple of prayers about that, and then we move on and pray about something else. And somehow there's a difference between that and what I think the Bible talks about when it says to contend in the spirit. There's not the anguishing in the spirit or the specific directive prayer that I sense happened, and some of which we'll look at tonight in the Scriptures Church. And what the Lord spoke to me in this last month or month and a half is this, that we will not go on either in depth or in breadth, either in our vertical relationship with the Lord, in our spiritual discernment, or in the extension of the kingdom which we're directing ourselves into this fall without moving ahead in this realm of spiritual warfare. The Lord is desirous that this come out of the realm of a thing that a few ladies dabble in. And I say this kindly, not unkindly, into a realm where the Church of Jesus Christ, men and women side by side, learn what God has purposed for us from the foundations of the earth. And we're going to take some Concrete, visible steps in doing that. As I'll share at the conclusion of the teaching tonight, your eldership and your pastors, we bear responsibility in this to some degree. You can always argue about, well, we weren't really ready for this or that. But I believe a lot of it has to do with just growing up, just growing up. And now the Lord said, well, we've grown up enough in some of these areas. Now we've got to deal with this one and take it seriously. Now, let me lead you through the outline. I'm going to use the outline to some degree more strictly than usual tonight. The first thing I want to mention here are the affirmations that you need to be clear about in your heart before we go on and talk about this matter of spiritual warfare. The first thing that you have to know, or else you will forever be doubting and fearful, is this. Number one, the Lord Jesus defeated, past tense, Satan, and completed, past tense, a perfect work on Calvary's Cross. Anyone want to say Amen? Anyone want to say Hallelujah? I'm sorry, it's worth turning in your Bibles to Colossians, chapter two, just to underscore. Would you do that? Foundational scripture for what we're going to talk about briefly tonight. Colossians 2, Remember? Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Those of you don't have tabs, I know you need that. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. Follow along. Verse 13, chapter 2. And you who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive, together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands, this he set aside, nailing it to the cross. What a profound church. When you consider the nails being driven in the hands of Jesus, remember what else is being nailed at that time. That's the legal demands of the law against you. He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in Him. That is his cross. Now, the Bible says, making a public example of them, triumphing over them in him. How many people that day stood before the cross and said, what a triumph? Not one that I know about. And it's taken history and the word of God and the Holy Spirit to reveal to we believers in Jesus that that cross is a symbol of triumph, not defeat. Just like it is in each of our lives as we yield to it. That work is a completed work. And so that means that the enemy has no real power I'm not treating you as children when I say this, but would you just say that your confession is good? The enemy has no real power. Say it again. The enemy has no real power. Now turn to someone and say, the enemy has no real power over you. Go ahead. The enemy has no real power over you. Amen. Now, if he has no real power, what are all these problems you have? Are those real problems? They sure are real problems, but he has no real power. Now, I am not someone who takes the enemy lightly. And don't misinterpret what I'm saying. And you'll see as we go through here. I take it very seriously. But we have to understand church, that Jesus has triumphed over the enemy. CS Lewis said he is like a prisoner on a ball and chain, that he is captured and defeated, but he can roam about as far as that ball and chain will let him. And then he stopped and he has no real power. He has no power over us. I mean, that's the song said it. He has no authority here in this place. He has no authority over you. And yet believers everywhere, I rub shoulders with him. The misunderstanding of that leads people into suffering. I mean, accepting suffering that they don't need to accept. Now why is that? Well, number two, every believer has significant responsibility and privilege in this matter of spiritual warfare. Let me just suggest this. Calvary's cross and the work of Jesus was much like the bomb that was dropped at Hiroshima, or Hiroshima, however you prefer to say it, what happened when that atomic bomb was dropped was that a tremendous force was unleashed to bring to conclusion the Second World War. And remember that bomb went off. And for somewhere in the neighborhood of whatever it was, was it six miles or something like that, in a radius of six or seven miles around the contact point, total destruction. And for 50 miles, something like that, there was ripples of destruction. But it took time from when the bomb was released to when the shock waves and the heat waves and all the rest reached out there. So after the point of contact, there was a period of time that lapsed as the waves rolled on out and then did their effect, had their effect. Calvary's cross is like that church. Jesus died nearly 2,000 years ago, but we are still in the process of seeing the shock waves ripple down through the centuries. And furthermore, we are part. We are participants in the extension of the work that Jesus did. We are, as it were, part of the shock wave and extending the power of that shockwave, which is the defeat of Satan. And you see, ultimately we're not talking just about problems in the world. We're talking about eternal life and death. And that's why it's so significant that we see the seriousness of this call. Every believer has this responsibility. Now, Luke chapter 11 is significant. And I want you to turn there. We'll be in and out of there off and on for some time tonight. Here we go. Luke 11. We're not going to read it necessarily, but I want you to turn there. So you see graphically what I'm trying to describe to you. How many of you enjoy and have always loved the Lord's Prayer. How many of you learned it when you were a child? All right, there it is. Lord, teach us to pray in Luke 11, 2 and so on. Then there's this lovely promise that the Lord is our Father and will give us all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places, and all that if you then are evil. Verse 13 Know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit? And we say, hallelujah. I'll give you a testimony. I personally was brought to a point of receiving the power of the Holy Spirit by that verse right there, because I was assured that God wouldn't let me be deceived. But you know what? After that, folks, we get into sort of bump territory, right? Bump territory in the scriptures. That's when you bump into it and just kind of bounce off and go on somewhere else. 14 and following Jesus starts talking about satanic power. Look what he says. He encounters a man who is dumb, cannot speak, and he's accused of casting out these demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, and so on. Jesus says, if I cast out verse 19 by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out, therefore they shall be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when one stronger than he assails him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. It's very significant that Jesus says here inclusively, he who is not with me is against me. In this matter of binding the strong man, the parallel passage is Matthew, chapter 12. You need to see in this church the summons of the Lord. To bind spiritual power, to bind the strongman, so that we can plunder his kingdom the kingdom of darkness that has had its rule on the face of the earth ever since the Fall. And you are part of that. All right, Number three. Many temporal issues of life will only be settled through spiritual conflict. Isn't it interesting in Luke 11:14, what was wrong with that man again? Couldn't talk. Wouldn't that be terribly impractical. For something like that to be demonic? When you think of a demonic oppression in a person, don't you think of something usually that has to do with fits and uncontrollableness, don't you really? Isn't that the image that comes to your mind here? It's just saying he couldn't talk. This was a silent demon. And I think it's very significant that there are practical things in life that are simply a bondage to us because they're under the power of the enemy. Me. Are you saying, Jay, that every sickness is from Satan? It's caused by a demon? No, I don't believe that. Some of it's just in our flesh. It's all subject to the power of God. But here we see clearly that this was a satanically inspired illness. One of the things that I marvel at is our propensity as believers to go everywhere we can to try to get something sorted out, talk to every person we can to try to get counsel, when really all God wanted us to do was to deal in the spiritual realm and get something settled. You know what I'm saying? It's oftentimes the last place we go because we are so unschooled in it, we are so unfamiliar with it, we are so leery of it and afraid of it. Spiritual powers. I mean, it just sounds like something that television would make fun of, right? Sent a camera crew in here tonight and taped this. Boy, you'd want one of those things over your eyes when the thing came on at 11 o'. Clock. My neighbors won't see me in there, that crazy place. Practical issues. What practical issue might you be facing tonight that could be a result of a spiritual conflict, a spiritual bondage under which you have been oppressed? Number four. Although the Lord Jesus has given us the assurance of spiritual victory based on. Number one, this only comes through seasons of conflict in partnership with him. This is another way of saying what I've said in the last few Sundays. That though the Lord has promised to give, we must receive, we must take the provision of God. All right. What else can you say about that? I had a time this afternoon with a brother, that he's receiving some teaching I don't even know if he's here tonight, but he wouldn't mind me sharing this. He's receiving some teaching from some other places to the effect maybe you've had teaching like this that God is sovereign and whatever God wants to do with you, he will do. And you don't need to start crying out to God and seeking God. If God is sovereign and God is in control, then if he wants you to have this spiritual gift or this provision or this person come to know the Lord, then he'll do it. It's called Hyper Calvinism is what it's called. It's called the belief in the sovereignty of God to the point where man is nothing but in essence, a puppet, and there's double predestination and all the rest. Some are made to go to hell and some are made to go to heaven and you don't have anything to do about it. And believe it or not, a lot of that stuff gets picked up in some of our mainline denominational churches. And some of you are still deceived. And I say that in love, into some sort of passivity. If God wants you to have a blessing, he'll just give it to you. I don't know how many people I've prayed for to receive the Holy Spirit as their fullness. Who said that to me? Well, I always thought if God wanted me to have that gift, he'd give me that gift. See, the enemy loves that. Good. Well, you just stay out there. I grieve over that, don't you? I mean, once you come into it, you realize you mean God. All along, all I had to do was just take what you were giving me. Well, that's the place of faith now. All right, does anyone have any questions? Let's stop for a moment. Have any questions about any of those four affirmations? Foundational. If you don't have those down, then you're going to tend to waver as we go through a couple of these other points tonight. Anyone? All clear. Hallelujah. Quit now. Maybe I can't get any better than that. No questions. That usually means that no one understands too, doesn't it? Yes. Well, because I feel that what we are doing as we engage in spiritual warfare is preparing ourselves to serve with Jesus in the end as he brings us to glory. The privilege of it is that the more we grow in this matter of spiritual conflict, we're being prepared to rule with him in the eternal places. And so it's a privilege that will one day have its reward, the other Thing is that our character is shaped in it. I mean, we become what God wants us to be through this conflict. And people who. This is a strange paradox, but the people who go through the most conflict are often the people that are most like Jesus. You ever notice that? It really is. It's just. It's a paradox. But that's how God fashions things. Okay, all right. On four. Well, or is it days, weeks, months, hours? About 3 and a half hours usually is in normal season of conflict that I am. What do you. What's been your experience, folks? Someone else share? Can a conflict. Can a season go on? One of the things I found in my walk is that if I don't learn it the first time, it'll come up again and again. That's true. So the season. You may have some determination as to how long the season is. I believe, and I think most of you would attest that God is the master of time. God will never extend a season of conflict longer than it needs to be. I don't think we're talking necessarily in most issues here, like years. In fact, I think one of the problems that we get into is that people will allow things to drag on for years. Yeah, sure. If you don't strike the winning blow by faith, you can drag on for a long time and live in a depressed state. Any army that you know of that's just constantly fighting, what happens to them? I mean, eventually they just wear out. And that's what the Bible says happens, by the way, in the end, they wear out the saints. That's in the end battle. Okay, any other questions? May I go back to number two question that you had? I believe that the real purpose of this, that it is a privilege. As Jesus said to the apostles as they came back from their trip, he said, don't be happy about casting out the demons, but be happy that you are written. Amen. And that's a real amen. That's the basis of it all. Luke 10:20. I think that is okay. In fact, we're going to refer to that later down here. Now, let's talk about a few of the key ingredients of this battle that we're involved in. The first thing that I feel you need to grab a hold of is that Jesus Christ lived in the conscious awareness that he was encountering spiritual powers every place he went. It never ceases to amaze me that though Jesus spent his life doing three things, the church basically spends its life doing one. What were the three things that Jesus principally came to do? What's one of them. Preach. All right, preach. Let's put Preach and Teach together. Okay, what's the second one? Heal and Deliver. Write it down. Preach, heal and deliver. Or Preach and teach, if you want to speak. How about that? Heal and Deliver. What does the church love to do? You bet. We love to talk and eat. He didn't come to do that, but we like to do that, too. And we've been stirred up along the way, haven't we? To become a church that also moves in healing and in deliverance. How many of you would rather be healed than delivered? Come on. I would. Doesn't it sound just a little. It sounds scary. I mean, delivered, right? 20th century, I live in Fox Chapel. Delivered. Come on, let's get serious about this. Jesus came to do those three things. And all through the Gospels, all through the Gospels, every encounter is one of those things happening. He's preaching the word, he's healing or delivering. That's what he came to do. Because those things demonstrated what? That the kingdom of God had come upon him. That's how people around us know that the kingdom of God is here in this place. As we declare the Word, we heal and deliver. And his presence is made known in those things. And that, ultimately is how God gets things done, is through his presence. I put down our cross reference. We won't turn there. Jesus told the disciples to do the same thing in Matthew, chapter 10. Gave them authority, the Bible says. And then, of course, we see it over and over again. Let her be there. In the Book of Acts, as the young church came along, we see illustrations of how the church moved, encountering spiritual forces, identifying them, and moving ahead. Now, one thing I want to say to you very clearly. We are remiss as a church in identifying the spiritual opposition that we are facing. It's a difficult thing when you don't see an enemy. It's difficult to know it, isn't it? But you know, the Lord. As we tonight are opening up this area, the Lord is going to be giving us specific words, identifying spiritual forces that are in opposition to us. Us. I want you to know that, that we are going to identify, and I'll describe a little bit later, the hierarchy. We're going to identify as a church those things which we need to address to pull down strongholds, principalities and powers that are resistant to the word of the Lord going out in this place. And I need that. Don't you need that? It's hard to say, well, I just take authority over everything. And that doesn't work. That's right. In fact, you'll find yourself pretty much thrown topsy turvy because the enemy is just much too deceptive and much too sly to allow that thing to happen. Letter C. Church history confirms this reality. Sing in your mind for a moment. A mighty fortress is our God A bulwark never failing he our helper Amid the flood of mortal ills prevail. Okay, what's the third verse of that? If this world. Come on, Jan, this is what you're supposed to know. Just kidding. See that? God bless you, Paul. And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear. For God hath willed his truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim we tremble not for him his rage we can endure. For lo, his doom is sure One little word shall fell him. A mighty fortress is our God. Thank you. Who was that? Martin Luther. Turn to someone that's a Lutheran and tell them Martin Luther said that. Isn't that amazing? 300 years ago, the Lutherans were right on. You're thinking it, I'm not. I'm not saying it. Many Lutherans are still right on. Praise God. But church history confirms that those who are sensitive to the spirit of the Lord knew the reality of spiritual warfare. Now, we didn't hear that, did we? When we were weaving our way through all the institutional stuff? How many of you sang that and didn't even realize what you were singing? Personal experience is perhaps the most dramatic confirmation. Not my personal experience. Yours. How many of you here tonight, as we shared in our circle, shared some personal experience where you knew you were facing a real enemy? Anybody who'd like to share one very briefly? Okay. Why don't you tell everyone your name too? I'm sure everyone doesn't know who you are. Okay, Mona, you want to stand and tell everyone? Last year about this time we faced the enemy because my husband was told he had a two month labor and that there was absolutely no Covid. Doctors pronounced him and the first thing that I did was panic. And I said, oh God. I said, I'm nothing without him. And the Lord spoke to my heart and he said, you're nothing without me. And God showed us in that circumstance that there is no doctor, there is no man look to no man. There is no one that can bring us through the battle except the Lord Jesus Christ, in His word. And in his word he spoke to us in John 4:10, I think it was. He said, this sickness will not end in death, but it will be used for the glory of God. And we stood on that Word and we believed and we trusted. And we did have to pass through the waters and through the fire, but we weren't burned. Dr. Sarza with Cresby Hospital was able to operate on my husband through much prayer and anointing. And by faith, you know, it was by faith that Abraham and Sarah received their baby. It was by faith that, you know, all the people in the Word were able to go forth. And by faith, we prayed and fasted and anointed my husband. And that tumor was moved to the right hand corner of the his liver. And Dr. Starz will remove 65% of the liver. My husband is alive and well. So when you do battle, you know, God says, put on the full armor. God's true to his words, not telling you. Great. Thanks, Ma. Praise the Lord. All right, how about one other one? You encountered the darkness of the enemy and you knew that it was. Was real. Anybody else? Let's remind each other. Go ahead. There's a lot of you all smiling out there. I got one, but I'm not going to tell. It's not negative confession. I think it encourages us to know that the Lord moves. All right, I'll give you a chance at the end. Okay. It was a total surprise. I was attacked by what I had in the night. I got away from him. I was saying, I was thinking, Jesus, the Lord gave me how to be stronger over him. Get the knife off him. Get away from him. Run from. Praise God. What is the place of our battle? Turn to Ephesians 6. I'm just leading you to the key scriptures. I wrote the other ones down. You can check these on your own, and I encourage you to do that perhaps in your home group next week. Home group leaders, you may want to use this outline and work through this and get some more feedback. All right? Ephesians 6. Very familiar. So familiar that we probably aren't even sure what it's saying. All right. If you have your RSV tonight, and many of you do, The few of you who don't have the rsv, just listen. Let's all read it. Okay? If you have RSV out loud and together. Ready? Verse 10. 6. 10. There. Finally, brethren. Okay, again. 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 wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness. In the heavenly places. That is a heavy verse, isn't it? How many of you have seen world. Rulers. Of the present darkness and spiritual hosts of wickedness? Some of you have seen it. Really? Pardon? Okay. The Lord. All right. The Lord will from time to time, draw back the physical realm and show you the spirit. And that's what our sister saying here. Someone else has had a couple other people had that kind of experience. Most of us have not ever seen a manifestation of evil in the unseen realm, in the invisible realm. Every once in a while you can, in fact, it happens. Turn to 2 Kings. This could take a little longer. You're there. Second Kings, chapter six. Okay. And this is the story of Elisha. And the tremendous miracle that he. He knew about in advance with his servant and encountering the king of Syria. Let's pick it up. Verse 15. Well, look, here we go. Verse 11. This is worth reading just to show you that it's real. And the mind of the king of Syria was greatly troubled because of this thing. And he called his servants and said to them, will you not show me who of us is for the king of Israel? And one of his servants said, none, my lord, O king, but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber. And he said, go and see where he is that I may send and seize him. It was told him, behold, he is in Dothan. So he sent their horses and chariots and a great army, and they came by night and surrounded the city. There you are. When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was round about the city. The servant said, alas, master, this is bad news. What shall we do? He said, fear not, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Imagine that servant. You know, he's looking at Elisha. I knew this guy was on the brink most of the time anyhow. He's really gone over it. Then Elisha prayed and said, o Lord, I pray thee open his eyes that he may see. Now you think Elisha had already gotten a glimpse? He already knew, didn't he? So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire around the body of Elisha. I could just see that servant, you know. Come on, they're fired up. And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, strike this people. I pray thee with blindness. So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha. And Elisha said to them, this is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek. And so on, he intervened. And not only were those powers greater, but they were effectual and delivering him. But church, this unseen realm is difficult for 20th century American Christians, right? We don't learn a lot about this on NBC. You know, I could see Tom Brokaw one night coming on saying, american Embassy was bombed again. Spiritual powers were seen hovering over it. I could just see it in the minds of rational Americans. You know, this just seems like another. This is just fairy tale stuff, right? You know what I'm saying? And you, if you're honest, you battle yourself sometimes with, is this really for real? Lord, there is an unseen world. Now here in chapter six of Ephesians. I'm sorry, back to Ephesians. I want to make it clear that the realm of where we do the contesting is important. We have another blank there, Paula. The realm of where we do our battling is important. I didn't make an overhead. Let me borrow this for a second. Okay? The realm of the third heaven is what? That's where God dwells. If there is a place per se, that's the place where God dwells. That's the place from which Lucifer was cast out. And from what we gather in Scripture, he rules in the first and the second heavens, which is described as the air in Scripture under the unseen realm. And there's a heavenly dimension. There's the heavens and then there's the air, the thing that's real, but we can't see it. And this is where Lucifer has his power. Now, as I'm coming to understand this, let me further extrapolate. In the second heaven, there are hierarchy. There is a hierarchy of power. There are. One translation calls them master spirits, Some call them angels of darkness, some call them princes of the power of the air. All right, There's a clear hierarchy of rulership over entire realms and entire geographical areas. Many, many Christians who've grown up in this realm of intercession believe that there are. For example, in the 10th chapter of Daniel, which we'll probably study another time, Daniel, who is praying, interceding on behalf of the nation of Israel, encounters a power called the Prince of Persia, who resisted the coming of the answer of God to his prayer and literally had held up the word of the Lord for 21 days. A defined geographical area being overruled by a specific named prophet power. Now, from that and a number of other scriptural references, many believers, and I'm one of them, believe that there are specific principalities, specific, as it were, rulers, governmental rulers over specific areas, geographical areas around the world. There are probably there is a principality over the United States of America. There's a great power, and it then is delegated down. And this can sound so far out. I know it just come on, come on. And yet church, this is what we read in the Bible. How many of you were part of North Way when John Wimber was here in February? How many of you were not? John represents a large ministry out in Southern California and has a particular anointing in the realm of healing, ministry. And one of the things that really