Overcoming In Spiritual Warfare

In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus by birth, a Mede who became king over the realm of the Chaldeans in the first year of his reign. I, Daniel perceived in the books the number of years which, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, the prophet must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely 70 years. Now, this occurred in 538 B.C. daniel perceived by studying the Word that the desolations of Jerusalem were about to come to an end. How long were the desolations of Jerusalem? 70 years. So here he is seeking God, and he gets a revelation from the Lord that things are about to come to an end, because the books say so. But Daniel does something that's very important for us as a starting position tonight to recognize in studying the books and realizing that the 70 years was about to pass. This was 68 years, by the way, into the captivity in Babylon. 68 years into it. Daniel perceives that in 70 years the word of the Lord said that we're going to be set free. Daniel does something that the church today finds very difficult to do. He seeks God because he does not assume that because it was said somewhere by a prophet that it was automatically going to come to pass. And if there's one thing I need to say tonight as just a point of beginning to us brothers and sisters, it's this. The matter of spiritual warfare. The matter that we are addressing in these weeks together, and you will be addressing each week for some period of time in your home groups, is a matter that requires your active. Your active participation, not simply your passive expectation. Daniel put himself in a posture to. To agree that the Word of the Lord would come to pass, as we'll see as we look through these verses. And in so doing, God himself before God in such a way that he became an instrument whereby that Word was fulfilled. And a practice that's come over the church, especially in the last 20 years of the charismatic movement, has basically been one of, well, when God prophesies, that's it. And we can all just say, hallelujah, and it's done. Not only is that a posture that leads the church to passivity and indifference and lack of action, but it's also one that ultimately will find people frustrated and unfulfilled because God never does anything except in response to prayer. He won't even fulfill His Word when He could have fulfilled it unless there's prayer. Will the Word of the Lord be fulfilled? You bet it will. But prayer is what enables God to move it at his preferred timetable. Now we're going to talk tonight, really picking up on page two of that outline. Page two of that outline. We talked last week about last time, actually, about the first page of that outline. Tonight we're going to talk about the second. Well, the first part of the second page. Because I've recognized that I can't possibly get through it all and do justice to it. As we talk about spiritual warfare, someone said, in fact, it was, I think, a person that you'd recognize. Actually, it wasn't a person. I got that incorrectly. It is from the Roman Catholic booklet on the rite of exorcism. This is what priests follow when they do an exorcism. The beginning point of an exorcism and being effective in exorcizing demons is the understanding that evil is not something, it is someone. And my purpose tonight is not to really get into a lengthy teaching at all about the nature of the adversary. At some point, that would probably be worthwhile, I think, if I'm not mistaken. And the materials that the home group leaders have received, there is quite a development of that. And you'll be studying that in your home groups. But I want to say right off tonight we are not getting off on some track here at North Way about pursuing devils and demons everywhere but church. It is so evident to me that we must come to grips with the reality of the nature of the battle that we're in. We are woefully ignorant of how serious a conflict we are engaged in. And I need to say to you that not only will I be teaching on this tonight, but in a rather surprised move from God, which he often does, the direction of the Sunday mornings that I will be teaching, at least for the next few weeks, are going to also address in a way that I didn't anticipate something of this same subject, of the cosmic nature of spiritual warfare and of what God has called the church to be and to do. I believe that God is speaking this to us. I really do, with all my heart. Because many of us have been crying out, lord, we want to be effectual, Lord. We want to count as a church. We don't want to just go through the motions. And the Lord is bringing us to a point of addressing this. And I further believe it even more because since we brought it up, we have been under. And I'm not a spooky, freaky person when it comes to these things, but I can tell you that in the last three weeks, I personally have been under a significant measure of physical Affliction which I'm not accustomed to at all. There has been a miracle of God in the midst of a severe heart attack and a deliverance, I believe, from what the enemy would have meant for evil. With our brother Paul Dutt, there have been other afflictions that have come upon people, cancers. There's been turmoil and tension in some family relationships that came from unexpected places. I don't want to even stir up the matter and ask you how many of you have been under affliction. But I know that these are not just isolated cases, but other people have as well. People always would warn. I'm sure you've heard it, too. They would warn me that when you get serious about the devil, he gets serious about you because you're no threat to him if you're ignorant of his devices. And that's why Paul said we're not to be ignorant. But I want to assure you that this isn't going to be some sort of a long. I mean, in the sense of constant drubbing on the negatives. We're not going to do that. We have one positive to proclaim, and that's Jesus is Lord. But we need to understand church, how to bring that lordship to bear that victory of Calvary, to bear on the power of the devil. Or else we're going to find ourselves basically on a religious treadmill. And I don't want to be there. And I don't believe that most of you do either. At least this one brother doesn't. All right, okay. Someone said, well, I don't like to talk about the devil. In fact, I think if you leave the devil alone, he'll leave you alone. Really, a lot of us. Listen, I don't say that unkindly. A lot of us came up in traditions that really didn't even affirm a personal devil. And the basic thrust of the teaching was, well, just let him alone, and he won't bother you if you don't bother him. I have a nice bridge in Florida to sell you if you believe that one. Okay, that just isn't true. In fact, as long as you're out of the basic stream of God's purpose, he will let you alone because he knows in the end you're going to be unfulfilled and unfruitful and have no threat to him. But the minute you get serious about following God, everything you can imagine can become an obstacle to that fulfillment. Now let's talk about preparation, then, for spiritual warfare. Are you with me? Preparation. Now, Daniel, I believe, is an Excellent illustration in a personal way of what we as believers can do in order to prepare for spiritual conflict. Notice in Daniel 9, upon his perceiving that God's purposes were to come to pass, he did what? Verse 3 I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, O Lord, the great and terrible God, who keepest covenant in steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments. We have sinned and done wrong, and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from thy commandments and ordinances. And he goes on and and specifies the nature of the failure of the people. But the first thing I want you to see in terms of preparation is that we must acknowledge before God that we yearn to be involved, that we choose to not run from this reality, but rather to embrace it. And Daniel demonstrated that by turning his face to God. That's the first thing you need to do, turn your face to God, get before God and say, God, I know I need to mature to the point where I understand what's going on here, that this is real stuff that these people are talking about in your word. It's not just some things that a few hyper radical, sort of fringe fanatic Christians get into, but it's the stuff of which the destiny of the earth is made. And on Sunday I'm going to elaborate in some detail on the implications in our culture. On spiritual warfarelessness in the church and what it has produced in our culture in very specific ways. And so the first thing we need to do in preparation is just to acknowledge our need to be involved. The second thing that we need to do is to identify the situation as it is. Daniel goes through these verses in chapter nine and similarly in chapter ten and pours out before the Lord his repentant heart and his his expressions of confession. Lord, we fail Jesus, just look through there. To us, o Lord, verse 8 belongs confusion of face and to our kings, and to our princes and to our fathers, because we've sinned against Thee. And here he is interceding for the entire nation. And we as a church have much to intercede and confess and to repent of. As a church and as a nation, we need to see the situation as it is when we enter into spiritual warfare. We need to see that we're up against the wall in some areas and that in the balance isn't just a matter of, well, whether or not I'll be really blessed for the next 10 years of my life or not. It's a matter of is God going to. Is Jesus Christ to receive the full measure that's due his name for the sacrifice of his blood? Are we to stand sort of, as it were, off to the side and let things sort of happen and not really bring to bear the power and the authority that God's given to us to see things change? And at the same time that we identify the sin that's around us and identify the problems and identify the issues. Beloved, let's also identify that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. Let's remember second Kings, chapter six. As I pointed out last time, do you recall that story of Elisha? And he's being. You don't recall that? Oh, you got to turn there then. 2 Kings 6 if you missed it last time, you got to get this one down. Okay. Elisha is being persecuted by the Syrians and they're upset with him and he's foiling their plans to take the king of Israel, Jehoram. And it's an interesting story. Verse 15. I'll just cut it short. Elisha had a servant and one morning the man of God rose early and went out. Behold, an army with horses and chariots was round about the city. They had come to seize Elisha because the king of Syria was so fed up with him giving away his plans. Alright. And the servant said, alas, my master, what shall we do? This is Elisha's servant saying, we're in trouble. Look at this. This army of horses and and mighty warriors of the king of Syria are here to seize you. Let me ask you a question. Do you look up often and see armies that are here to discourage you and threaten your life and your joy? I know some of you are. I know that some of you feel that you're against an army of opposition in your jobs. And you feel surrounded just like Elisha's servant did, and you wonder what's going to happen. Verse 16. Elisha said, Fear not, for those who are with us are more than those who are with us. Them. Now, there are times when I don't feel that. How about you? There are times when I feel really outgunned. Really, I feel that way. I don't believe it, but I feel it. There are times that I feel that the controlling media of our nation are imposing their value system on our people. And I feel helpless. I feel surrounded by chariots and horsemen. I watched one day when I was under affliction about 10 days ago. This is a confession. I'm going to have to throw this. I might as well get it out now. I was going to do it on Sunday, but I watched divorce court. You know what they say about those who laugh, don't you? They're laughing because they do it too, right? Well, in truth, no. Come on. Once in my life I've watched divorce court. And in the proceeding that was going on, a husband was taking his wife to court in order to obtain custody of their two children. They were already divorced, but she was a practicing lesbian and he was taking her to court because he didn't believe that it was moral and right for his children to be exposed to a live in lover of his lesbian wife, who in fact he had documented was counseling with the children, assuring them that this was just a natural lifestyle that was different. And the proceeding went back and forth and it wasn't long before I got the drift of the story was basically to make this guy out as some sort of a self righteous, moralistic moron. And the wife is just sort of in touch with what's really happening. And in the end he lost the suit and the kid stayed in the family of, as it were, the two lesbian lovers. I turned it off after that. I figured one of those was enough. But that's just typical, I guess. I mean, I don't no much else, but if that's typical of what's coming over, just seeping into the fabric of our moral value. And there's a lot of people out there who aren't discerning enough probably to know that that isn't just kind of the way it's all right in being. I want to tell you something, brothers and sisters. I'm not making a crusade tonight to march against abc, but we have a battle. And those kinds of things are right at the core of the issue of what spiritual warfare is about. Because the more I perceive around me, the more I'm convinced that the enemy is encroaching, encroaching, encroaching farther and farther until what God has said is pleasing to his heart. And we've got to take up the weapons of our warfare and begin to fight. And so Elisha said, open, O Lord, I pray his eyes that he may see. And 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 round about. Elisha, you know what faith is? That's faith. Faith is the ability to see the unseen and bring it into the now, that's maturity as a Christian, you say, I want meat in my Christian life. That's what that is. It's meat. To be able to. To understand that when you see something around you, that's not the whole truth. So many of us, so many times make our decisions and set our attitudes and our emotions and our feelings based on what we see, not on what God says is true about a situation. And anyhow, that wasn't the end of the story. Assyrians came down against him. And Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, strike this people, I pray thee with blindness. And so he struck him 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 he led them to Samaria. The power of God to change the course of events. I believe church. If just the group of us here tonight, not even half of the body of believers at North Way, if we would come into unity in our conviction about the power of God to change the course of events, we would radically transform what's happening around us. We would make a difference that the rest of this community, first of all right here, and then the larger community, I believe the city ultimately would have to take note of. And I yearn for that. Not to be by the flesh, not to be by some slick, highly produced program that we're able to channel off somehow, but just by the power of God. It happens through people who understand spiritual warfare and what God does, through people who pray. All right, back to Daniel. What did Daniel do in preparation for spiritual warfare? He set other things aside. Verse 3. You don't set your face after God and just sort of keep doing everything else that you're doing. I guess I find it difficult to do this. Do you? Do you find it difficult to disengage long enough from the kids. And the garage that needs cleaned up and the yard that needs the leaves swept and all those kinds of things to get before the Lord. You know what? It never comes easy. The battle for time to be with God never comes easily. And especially I'm talking here corporately, There's always something that you can be doing to fill up that time, something important. Usually you got to set it aside in order to be with God, to seek the face of God in this thing. Part of the thing that makes it easy as far as I'm concerned, is when I know that others are also setting their face. One reason why the Tuesday and Friday Time for me has become a point of such significance in my life was because it was the first time that I knew that, that there'd be somebody else there regularly seeking the face of God. And it was enough of a motivation for me, even when I didn't feel like it. And for many of you, the same thing to do that. And maybe you have other illustrations that are the same. Doesn't it help to know that someone else is going to be there? And if you don't show up, and especially if it's a small group, the group in Route 8, how many do you have? Hello? Anyone from Route 8? All right, six. Each brother is triply significant there. How about out in Cranberry? Five or six brothers out there and so on. Ladies, when you meet in smaller groups, you know that each one means something. So setting aside other things becomes really important, especially when the groups aren't that large. What else did he do? All right. In preparation for spiritual warfare, He fasted. Obviously a subject which I think we at North Way are probably more open to than most places and yet nonetheless immediately sends shockwaves of alarm to our physical bodies. It's an interesting thing to me that fasting is employed by every religion. Did you know that in the Muslim religion, for example, during the feast of Ramadan, which is 30 days long, that a good Muslim does not eat anything from sun up to sundown for 30 days and then has a light meal? Basically it's a 30 day fast with just some enough food to sustain a devout Muslim does not drink any water during that same 12 hour period from sun up to sundown, as well as not eating anything. And a fanatical Muslim does not swallow his saliva for 30 days. Why? Because they believe that fasting employs a spiritual weapon. And I believe if we took the time here to study the Word of God at length in fasting, you'd be convinced that it's true. In fact, just turn over to chapter 10 of Daniel. This is two years later. We don't have time to really develop it. 102 of the book of Daniel. In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. That means not grieving, but under the weight of pressure to come before God. I ate. No delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all for the full three weeks. A partial fast that Daniel entered into and then he verse 4 was on the 24th day of that first month. I was standing on the bank of the great river that is the Tigris. I lifted up my eyes and looked and behold, a man clothed in linen. His loins were girded with gold of Ufiz and so on. And there's a description of an Old Testament appearance of the Lord Jesus is what that is. And so, as a result of his fasting for 21 days, Daniel encountered the Lord. We can talk a lot about that, but I just want to say to you, if you don't understand fasting, then don't wait, but get out and find out about it. Read about it. If you need a tape, we have at least a couple of tapes on the subject. We'll give you some books. Get with some sisters or brothers that have done some fasting, and they'll share with you the wisdom of it. It's a powerful instrument. I believe in a regular fast as much as possible. And I believe there's seasons of fasting when you set yourself apart unto the Lord. And there's a lot there, but I can't go into it. All right, the next thing. That we see, Daniel, in verse 20, while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin, the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord, my God, for the holy hill of my God, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at first came to me in swift flight. At the time of the evening sacrifice, he came and he said to me, o Daniel, I have now come out to give you wisdom and understanding. At the beginning of your supplications, a word went forth, and I want to say church. Don't miss that, because the Bible repeatedly teaches that your prayer ascends right to the ears of God, right to the heart of God. And God responds. And I believe this is a pattern. God responds, the heart of Father, just like your father, Heart. Men, those of you who have kids is to want to respond. You don't want to tell your kids to get lost if they have a need. What do you want to do if your little boy is stuck in a tree and he's calling for Daddy and you sense the fear in his voice that something may happen, you don't put him off. You move right away. God moves in response to the cry of his children, especially a repentant cry. But that word, that word goes forth. And church, it isn't always the next minute that you receive it. Because in that unseen realm, as we'll catch a glimpse of in the next chapter, things are happening to keep that word from reaching you. And I don't know, but I'm sure that one day God will show us the number of prayers that we have raised up that God had sent answers for and we never received because we gave up. O Daniel, I have now come out to give you wisdom and understanding. At the beginning of your supplications a word went forth and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly beloved. Therefore consider the Word and understand the vision. Church the vision that follows is the vision of the 70 weeks of Daniel, the greatest, one of the greatest prophetic visions of all the Bible. Next to the Book of Revelation, in fact lays the groundwork whereby we, in this age in which we live right now, have an understanding of the messianic fulfillment of prophecy and the second coming of Jesus and everything else. Tremendous vision that God gave him. Daniel received a prophecy far greater than the word he was even seeking concerning the deliverance from Babylon. This word came to him. And so part of spiritual preparation is the expectation receiving the Word. But notice over in chapter 10 there's another interesting principle here. This is at the conclusion of that three week fast that we described in the Christophany of the Old Testament. Here, Christophany means Christ appearance. Verse 10. And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. And he said to me, O Daniel, man, greatly beloved, give heed to the words that I speak to you and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you. And while he was speaking this word to me, I stood up trembling. And then he said to me, fear not Daniel, for from the first day there you are again, you see that you set your mind to understand and humbled yourself before your God. God, your words have been heard. Now please let that penetrate. Tomorrow morning when we gather for prayer, God's hearing our word. Tonight, when you husbands and wives join together for prayer, God's hearing your word. Right at that moment, he's hearing, he's moving. The Word says, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of persia withstood me 21 days. Now, last time we talked about these different hierarchies of spiritual conflict. Apparently there was a power called the Prince of the Kingdom of Persia. What we gather from this particular expression here is that there are named principalities and powers that have, as it were, names and personalities. And they're beings that control entire geographical areas. And we can extrapolate from that that there are the same kinds of things that are standing as princes over the United States of America, the state of Pennsylvania, and probably the community of Wexford. And these are powerful beings and I want to show you something. And I didn't make an overhead for this because I didn't know I was going to be here. Do we have one that I can use? I have one. If we don't. Let me just point this out to you. Dominion. To whom? Over all creation, to man. That's the story of Genesis. What did man do with that dominion? He gave it to Satan. The power that God had given to man, the dominion over all creation, man forfeited in his prideful rebellion. And Satan took over and ruled for centuries over man. Alright, so this is dominion. Now the only way that man could regain that dominion was for the legal bond that he had forfeited to Satan to be broken. In other words, there had to be a way. You see, God is just, folks. He's just even to the devil, do you know that? He's not unjust even with the devil. And the only way that man could justly receive back the dominion that he had forfeited was by doing what? By legally receiving it back over Satan. And so what that took was a perfect man over whom Satan could have no authority. And so that perfect man, his name was Jesus. And this is why, you see, the conviction that we have that Jesus Christ was fully man and fully God is so important. So Jesus is being fully man triumphed over Satan and his sinlessness. Now listen, this is important. I want to show you why we have authority against these spiritual powers. What did Satan do nonetheless to Jesus Christ, the perfect man? He killed him. Do you see that? And when he killed him on the cross of Calvary, what he did unknowingly was seal his own fate. Because what he did was to illegally kill a perfect man. And thereby, you see, he forever forfeited his right to afflict his dominion over that man. And consequently the Lord Jesus became the second Adam. And from him a whole new race of men who now have dominion over Satan have been raised up. And so through the perfect man, Jesus, now. A redeemed man, Once again has dominion over Satan. And it all happened at the cross. Now, the place where the church must learn to bring this to bear, where we see Daniel making an example for us, is that prayer becomes God's way of seeing redeemed man enforce the victory prayer enforces the victory of Calvary. And so what we have simply in the book of Daniel, in chapter 10, is we have resistance Satan through the power of the kingdom of the Prince of Persia. And it took the Lord Jesus. I'm sorry, the angel Gabriel. Where are we, Gabriel? I believe it is. Michael. I'm sorry, all right? All I'm seeing is overhead light right now. That's my problem. Look at. Okay, there it is, right in verse 13. Michael, one of the chief princes came to me, so I left him there with the prince of kingdom of Persia. Now, you want one to really stretch your theology a little bit? Who's talking here? Who's talking? No, not Daniel. Who's talking? Who's saying that he left Michael with the king and perspective Persia. This being that appeared to Daniel. Are you saying that Jesus himself couldn't just snuff on by the kingdom, the prince of the kingdom of Persia and bring that answer to the message? How about that? You know what it's saying to me? It's saying that prayer, prayer, Prayer is what releases God to do what he wills to do. Without God, man cannot. Without man, God will not. And church, we have got to see that this is the nature of God's purposes for his church and is to learn to persevere in prayer in order to receive the fulfillment of his word. And so he came and made him to understand what is to befall your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come anyhow. We don't want to go on anymore with that. But that's the essence of that story. Now, in today's church and north way right now, we find ourselves in a position of having to identify the places where the holy spirit is saying, I want to bring victory here. And we stand in prayer to enforce what Jesus has already won from the devil. And I'm talking about people now. I'm talking about your neighbors and your relatives and the people that you like. Blaine was sharing about. Somebody was praying for him. I'm sure Blaine was among them. But somebody cared enough about that man to be praying for him. You're here because someone was praying for you. It might have been your mother, right? But somebody cared enough to pray about you. And that's the nature of this conflict. Prayer releases the power of the victory of Calvary and enforces it in the world today. Now let me just conclude. I had a whole big long thing to do on spiritual armor. And I think we'll just not start clanking on that tonight. But I do want you to turn and see Colossians 2 you2 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. You see? Can I have that Overhead on again, please. Having canceled the bond, Satan now his rule back over man. That's the bond that he's talking about. With its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him. Hallelujah. It's the cross of Christ that makes it possible for us to confront the powers of evil, to break the dominion, the legal dominion that Satan has over man. Do you see how important that makes you as a believer in Jesus? Because if we really believe. Listen to me. If we really believe that life is just simply a little part of eternity, and we really believe that every human being is going to stand before God, and if we really believe. That the church is the center of all of human history because it is the bride of Jesus Christ, then I don't know how we have any choice but to give our efforts and energies to bringing to bear the victory of Christ Jesus on the cross through prayer and spiritual warfare to all the world. I don't know how else to do it. You say, well, how does that help me in my problems? Let me tell you that it helps because you see, many of the problems that you have are a result of not understanding the fact that this power right here can be broken. You know that many of the problems that we have are satanically inspired demonic attacks. Do you believe that many of you are suffering with spouses who are under oppression by demonstration? And all the counseling in the world won't change that. But the effectual, fervent prayer of a group of people surrounded and committed to you will. And Fred and I have talked at length about the balance between, sure, the need to counsel because God imparts wisdom and counseling and comfort, but there's a balance between that and the sheer power of God to bring about deliverance. Some of you are sick, and it's not sickness that's brought about by natural causes. It's because the enemy has sent a demon to oppress you. He's saying that all sickness is from demons. No, I'm not saying that, but I'm saying some of it is. Jesus said it was. And if we can begin to identify our problems that are coming from the enemy, we can break it legally and enforce the power of Calvary over those things. Some of you are lonely, feeling forgotten. And you know something? Demonic power can set itself to oppress you. Because when you find loneliness leading to depression, which can lead to despair, which can lead to suicide, that isn't just natural little Bit of depression we all get once in a while kind of stuff. It's demonic, it's the enemy. He wants to steal, kill and destroy. Just ask yourself, is what I'm involved in stealing, destroying or killing something in me? If it is, then there's a good chance that you, you need to seek the Lo