Winning the War

Good Morning!  We have come now to the end of our series titled The War.  Today, we will talk about putting together all the things that we’ve studied about over the last 14 weeks.  This topic is crucial to our own spiritual health and even the growth of the Kingdom of God.  And so, I hope that this has been an encouraging, and maybe even an eye-opening, series for you.

Before we dig in, let’s take a moment and pray:

Lord Jesus, thank You for being on our side.  Really though, thank You for bringing us onto Your side.  We would stand no chance in the War if it were not for You and what You have done for us.  Help us to remember the things we have learned over the last weeks.  Help us to apply them in our lives.  Help us to stand firm and push back against the forces of darkness which seek to undo the good You have done, are doing, and will do.  Glorify Your Name, O victorious One.  Amen.

The familiar passage which has been our guide through this series is Ephesians 6:10-20 which begins,

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  –Ephesians 6:10-13

These verses tell us quite a bit about The War. We are told who our enemy is – it’s not a particular person or group of people; in fact, it’s not a human being at all. Our adversary is the devil, who, along with the demons (or fallen angels) that follow him, is quite real and active in our world. He is a schemer, the passage says; that is, he is a master tactician in The War, using any and all means to advance his forces. And his forces are many and mysterious, described here as rulers, authorities, and powers, as well as spiritual forces of evil.

It is important for us to realize that we are in a war.  “To be a Christian is to be a warrior.”  (Charles Spurgeon)  If we don’t realize we’re in a war, we are easily confused and even discouraged when conflicts arise.  This war is not against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12).  But it is so easy to put up our defenses or even to retaliate against other people when we face conflicts.

We are told to “be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.” This is something completely different than a worldly approach that says we can do it ourselves, that we can pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps.  We are not strong in our power, but in His power.  The most important battle has been won at the cross.  As I John 3:8 explains, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.”  He did this by sacrificing Himself for us.  We have access to God’s power and His armor by believing, trusting, having faith in Jesus.

Not putting on the full armor of God is one of the most frequent mistakes Christians make when it comes to the time of testing.  It is critical to intentionally be prepared in Christ each day because we never know when trials will come.  God has given us this armor so that we can be fully prepared, not lacking in anything. (James 1:4)

And so these verses covered the first four messages of the series.  I put them together on one slide and called this group “The Big Picture.”  In it, we talked about whether this life is merely a playground or a battlefield.  What is the nature of this world and what is our purpose in it?  God blesses us with so much, but this life is not simply for grins and giggles.  There is work to be done, evil to be resisted.  We talked about the makeup of the spiritual forces and their commanders.

There are tremendous differences between Satan and Christ, and there is no comparison between them.  Satan is an accuser, a slanderer, a liar, and a tempter.  Satan can never be believed.  He’s always trying to get us into some sort of conflict with one another, with ourselves, with God, with anything.  Compare that to Jesus who is the Cornerstone (I Peter 2:6-7).  Jesus is a solid rock.  He can be trusted because He is the truth.  We can be confident of what Jesus says because He does not lie.

Jesus is incomparable.  There is no created thing that we can compare Jesus to.  Jesus is the Son of God.  Ephesians 1:18 talks of Jesus’ “incomparably great power for us who believe.”  Jesus is not only incomparably great compared to Satan, but also compared to anything or anyone else.  Jesus’ resurrection power is at work in and through us.

Satan has already been defeated at the cross.   The cross was the battle that won The War, and the Resurrection was the bold headline to announce it three days later.  We do not regard the cross as defeat and the resurrection as the victory.  Jesus work at the cross is “the gospel which [was] preached to [us], which also [we] received, in which also [we] stand, by which also [we] are saved, if [we] hold fast the word which [was] preached to [us] … For [this was] delivered to [us] as of first importance what [has been] received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” –I Corinthians 15:1-4.

The War was won at the cross, and yet God in His sovereignty has allowed us to continue in this fallen world for a time.  Why?  That would be a message unto itself, but as Jesus said in Matthew 24:14, the message of the gospel must be preached in all the world before the end will come.  And, we see from II Peter 3:8-9 that God is waiting for all who will come to repentance to come to Him, and we see from Revelation 14:15 that it isn’t time yet because God does not command the harvest until it is ripe or full.

Our responsibility then, is to stand firm, to hold the hill.  Satan tries to disengage us from the battle to reach the world for Jesus.  We cannot stand firm on our own, and so we depend on God.  There is a duality between how God does what we cannot while we still have a role to play.  We must yield to Him. The way we do this is, figuratively, we must put on the whole armor of God so that we can withstand the attacks of the enemy. But it is His armor, not ours, and it is powerful, far beyond anything we could do in our own strength. And using the Roman military analogy, which Paul definitely had in mind, we see that we do not stand in isolation, but person to person, together.  Specifically, we …

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. –Ephesians 6:14-17

We covered these verses in the heart of our series in a section I’ve subtitled, “The Armor of God.”  We opened with a message titled “Just Who Are the Good Guys?”  In it, we looked at how the saints of God, anyone who has placed their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, we are the good guys.  We must therefore have the truth and live lives of righteousness set apart for the Lord.  Among many examples of doing good and living in righteousness, there was one thing that should be common to all of us: we will not merely look out for our own personal interests but we will also be look out for the interest of others.

We then looked at what it meant to have your feet ready.  And so, in the midst of the spiritual battle, we have the exhortation to “Wage War with Peace.”  Our feet should be fit with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace because the gospel of peace is how God works our will and our heart into the readiness and preparation to do or even to suffer what he calls us to.

A part of a warrior’s duty is to be prepared and ready to meet with any trial, and endure any hardship which God may lay out for us in our Christian warfare.  The peace which the gospel brings and speaks to our hearts will make us ready to wade through any trial or trouble that meets us in our Christian journey.

Moving on to verse 16, we talked about the shield of faith.  This shield is able to protect us from and extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Hence our title to “Fight Fire with...Fire Extinguishers!”  Satan wants to attack us causing us to be distracted, to give up and quit, to run from the battle.  However, our faith and confidence in God will protect us from Satan’s lies and enable us to stand firm.

In verse 17, we have the last piece of armor and a weapon.  We should continually wear the helmet of salvation to “Protect Your Head,” and we should take up the sword of the Spirit and be able to “Defend with an Offensive Weapon.”  Fear and shame cause us to hang our heads down.  Our helmet, though, enables us to keep our heads up.  It “is a helmet that whoever wears it need never be put to shame for his holy boasting.” (Gurnall vol. 2, p. 133)  It is not an uncertain hope, but it is a hope that brings with it no shame of disappointment. The helmet of salvation protects us against discouragement, against the desire to give up, giving us hope not only in knowing that we are saved, but that we will be saved. It is the assurance that God has triumphed and will triumph.  A Christian soldier's ‘thinking process’ is protected by his salvation ‘for we walk by faith, not by sight.’

We too should know Scripture, as God’s Word is the sword of the Spirt. We need to know it well. We must read it repeatedly. Again and again and again. Doing this will give us spiritual reflexes like what Jesus displayed during His temptation by Satan. When we are well practiced in the Word, we will be able to almost effortlessly deflect any unbiblical thoughts the devil throws our way. When we are prepared, we will be able to consistently make the morally best decisions.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.  –Ephesians 6:18-20

And so, as we take to heart all the things which have come before, being prepared for the battle, we can “Carry On.”  First, we have a secret weapon.  ”The Secret Weapon” is … prayer.  I am convinced that prayers offered in the midst of difficulty or during times when we feel like we cannot afford to pray are the most effective because it is at these moments that we can best acknowledge that we are dependent on God and not ourselves.  Tim shared an Oswald Chambers quote that “Prayer does not fit (or prepare) us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.”  Another familiar quote which I’ve seen attributed to Hudson Taylor, a faithful missionary:  “When we work, we work.  When we pray, God works.”

In the message “Captivity is Not Defeat,” we talked about how as we pray for one another, we join in fighting alongside others in their struggles.  We were encouraged to continually pray for readiness in speaking with others about spiritual things.  Praying to have the right words to speak from God, not ourselves.  Praying that we should make known the gospel fearlessly.

“The Weapon of Praise” fit with our holiday of Thanksgiving.  Praise is a way of returning thanks and glorifying God for who He is and what He has done.  Praise is also a weapon. It is like a hand grenade that we can lob at Satan at any time. Psalm 8:2 explains that the praise of children and even babies establishes strength against God’s enemies. This is obviously happening on a spiritual level.  Just as there is great importance in living a life of prayer, not just taking it up at certain times, the same principle applies to praise and thanksgiving.

Last week, we talked about “Taking Ground,” and Brian encouraged us to seek to bring others over to our team exemplifying the proverb that “the one who wins souls is wise.”  Taking ground is not about winning an argument with someone, or getting someone to become religious, or even convincing them to attend a church event.  Taking ground happens when a person’s heart has been captured by God’s love and they go help someone else find the same thing.

That’s an overview of the full series.  Let’s take a quick look at the church website, in case you’ve never had the chance to look at it before.  It’s very easy to find messages you may have missed or ones that you would like to go back to examine.

I shared in an earlier message that one thing which stood out to me from series was when Carl shared how he wanted “to be able to look back after this series is over, for years and years, and be able to say that the body really took Ephesians 6 to heart, and they ever since that time, put on the full armor of God, thereby becoming strong in the Lord and His mighty power, so that although trials and tests come, Satan has no effect on them.”

Now at the conclusion of our series, this thought came to mind again.  In one way, it’s obvious that we want all the teachings here to have that impact.  In another way though, this thought about our spiritual warfare series struck me that I need to pay attention.  I need to focus on applying the things that I’ve learned.  May we all take time to reflect on these things and strive to put on the armor of God every day because the battle continues as we can see throughout Paul’s life.

When Jesus appeared to Paul on the Damascus road, this is the charge He gave to Paul, “I am sending you to them [the Jews and the Gentiles] to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” –Acts 26:17-18.  From the very beginning, Paul’s ministry would be one of a battle to rescue souls.

Paul then went on to see many lives changed from death to life by the gospel of Jesus.  He would write to the Corinthians, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” –II Corinthians 10:3-5

Paul also shared with his son in the faith: “Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well, holding on to faith and a good conscience.” –I Timothy 1:18

Paul exhorted Timothy again at the end of the same letter, “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses” –I Timothy 6:12.  Paul’s life was characterized by a sense of warfare and battle.

As Paul neared the end of his life, he would write again to Timothy, “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus” –II Timothy 2:3.  And closing that letter, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” –II Timothy 4:7.  That’s a mighty quick overview, but hopefully it gives you a sense that this manner of thinking, this view of life is not something transient or temporary.  It is something we need to keep in mind at all times, every day.

Charles Spurgeon wrote that “Difficulties meet us even in standing our ground.”  The temptation will be to yield or to give in to the challenges we encounter.  Spurgeon also warned that Satan is simply trying to derail us from the battle.  “It is said if we yield a little, perhaps the world will yield a little also, and good may come of it. If we are not too strict and narrow, perhaps sin will kindly consent to be more decent. Our association with it will prevent its being so barefaced and atrocious. If we are not narrow-minded, our broad doctrine will go down with the world, and those on the other side will not be so greedy of error as they now are. No such thing. Assuredly this is not the order which our Captain has issued. When peace is to be made, he will make it himself, or he will tell us how to behave to that end; but at present our orders are very different.”

Many of you will know the story of Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler.  Chamberlain was prime minister of the United Kingdom during Hitler’s rise to power.  Here is a summary of what happened (Source:  http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/chamberlain-and-hitler/):

The Treaty of Versailles, made in 1919 at the end of the First World War, was intended to make a lasting peace. Many people felt that the Treaty had caused terrible resentment in Germany on which Hitler had been able to play in order to achieve power. The government believed that Hitler and Germany had genuine grievances, but that if these could be met (‘appeased’) Hitler would be satisfied and become less demanding.

Chamberlain’s flight to Berchtesgaden was followed by another to Godesberg a week later and then another to Munich on 29 September. At Munich, Chamberlain got an international agreement that Hitler should have the Sudetenland in exchange for Germany making no further demands for land in Europe. Chamberlain said it was ‘Peace for our time’. Hitler said he had ‘No more territorial demands to make in Europe.’ On 1 October 1938 German troops occupied the Sudetenland: Hitler had got what he wanted without firing a shot.

Although people in Britain were relieved that war had been averted, many now wondered if appeasement was the best decision. They did not think it would stop Hitler, and simply delayed the war, rather than prevented it. Even while Chamberlain was signing the Munich Agreement, he was agreeing a huge increase in spending to increase Britain’s armament in preparation for war. He must have known from the situation outlined to him by General Ismay, that Czechoslovakia was lost, that war was bound to come.

Six months later, in March 1939, German troops took over the rest of Czechoslovakia. Poland seemed to be the next most likely victim of Nazi aggression and Chamberlain made an agreement with the Poles to defend them in Germany invaded. Hitler did not think Britain would go to war over Poland, having failed to do so over Czechoslovakia. He sent his soldiers into Poland in September 1939. The same day, Britain declared war on Germany.

Chamberlain struggled on as Prime Minister until May 1940 when he resigned and Winston Churchill, a bitter critic of appeasement, took over. Chamberlain died in November 1940; however he continued to be vilified for appeasement in general and for his actions in September 1938 in particular long after his death and the conclusion of the war.

Historians still wonder at what Chamberlain knew and believed about Hitler, but at the end of it all, he had given in and allowed Hitler to seize territory.  I think the lesson we can take from this was that war was still sure to come.  Let us not fool ourselves thinking that we can give in to a little bit of sin or yielding a little bit of ground.  This will not make the war end or cause it to impact you less.  The war will continue until our Captain finally brings it to a close.

And so, we can have confidence in our Captain.  We can have confidence in the Lord.  He is the one who makes our armor.   He is the one who fights our battle.  As it says in Isaiah 59 …

Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due. From the west, people will fear the name of the LORD, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the LORD drives along. "The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins," declares the LORD. "As for me, this is my covenant with them," says the LORD. "My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants--from this time on and forever," says the LORD.  –Isaiah 59:15-21

Scripture is filled with passages which exemplify how God fights for us, ahead of us, behind us, and alongside us.

“The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is His name” –Exodus 15:3.  “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still” –Exodus 14:14 even though “The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle” –Exodus 13:18 “and were marching out boldly” –Exodus 14:8.

“The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert.  There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.” –Deuteronomy 1:30-31

“Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?” –Judges 4:14

“As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the … trees, move quickly, because that will mean the Lord has gone out in front of you to strike the [enemy].” –II Samuel 5:24

“Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you … Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.  Go out and face [the enemy] tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.” –II Chronicles 20:17

That last passage comes from the story of King Jehoshaphat.  During the summer, we looked at how this righteous king responded to his circumstances by seeking and trusting in God in contrast to how King Saul was depending on himself while only giving lip service to spirituality.

You can read the full story in II Chronicles 20:1-37.  In short, let’s look only at a summary of what happened to a people who stood firm in God’s power and protection and not their own.

1. King Jehoshaphat is alarmed by his circumstances.

2. He resolves to inquire of the Lord.

3. He proclaims a fast for all Judah.

4. The people come from all over Judah to an assembly.

5. Jehoshaphat addresses the assembly and prays to God for guidance.

6. The people wait (the king, all the men of Judah, their wives, and their little ones).

7. The Spirit of the Lord speaks to Jahaziel a Levite rather than to the king or the high priest.

8. Jahaziel addresses the king and the people on behalf of God.  “Do not be afraid, the battle is the Lord’s, go out and face them tomorrow and the Lord will be with You.”

9. The king and people worship God

10. The next morning, they set out for the battle according to the Lord

11. God wins a tremendous victory

Yesterday, we had the privilege to attend a celebration of my parent’s fiftieth wedding anniversary.  It was an interesting group.  I think we had 48 people total.  Roughly half were relatives, and the other half were their church friends.  My Mom explained to us that the church friends were people who they saw every week, and their relatives they didn’t see as frequently.  And so, she summarized that their church friends were a family to them.  And that they appreciated everyone who had come to celebrate.

It made me think of Proverbs “Better a friend nearby than a brother far away.”  God has blessed us with blood relatives and a church family.  Those church family relationships are so important to cultivate.  God intends for us to be linked together in this way.  Part of our responsibility is to be available in relationship and to reach out to one another in love.  To “encourage one another and build each other up.” –I Thessalonians 5:11

It was interesting to me what went into the preparation.  This party was a party that my parent threw.  They chose the venue, the menu, the invitation list.  They assembled the pictures that they had on display.  My mom even baked two cakes in addition to the one which they had ordered from a local bakery.  (For the record, my mom’s cakes got eaten while the bakery cake had quite a bit left over.)  Before the party started, Mom asked Melissa and me to help cut the cakes when we would have dessert at the end.  Also, Mom was planning to read something about my dad after the meal, but she couldn’t get through it without choking up.  She showed it to me before the party, and asked if I would read it for her at the appropriate time.  I agreed of course, but it was a last-minute thought.

The party started with lunch.  My Dad welcomed everyone and explained a few things about the buffet.  Then, he turned to a friend who lives only three doors down from them.  In fact, we lived next door to his mother-in-law when I was a little kid.  They’ve been in the same church together for 33 years.  And, he invited Wayne to pray.  Wayne prayed a very earnest and heartfelt prayer that he had obviously spent time thinking about and preparing.  It struck me that of all the things that went into my parents golden anniversary party, one of the most considered and thoughtful was that prayer.

Within the prayer, Wayne gave thanks for a lot of things, and that was mostly what we were celebrating: giving thanks for a God-honoring marriage of 50 years.  One thing that Wayne prayed really stuck with me.  He said that 50 years of marriage was about a lot more than turning pages on a calendar.  How true.  Life is not lived in idleness.  Life is lived in striving and serving, loving and contending.  We are dependent on the Lord.  It is not by our strength that success is achieved or the battle is won.  We must have the Lord.  We must rest in His strength.  And yet, we must move forward.  We must take action.  We must stand firm.  We are in a spiritual war.

No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD.  –Isaiah 54:17

There is no mention of the singular “servant” after Isaiah 53.  Isaiah 53:10 says that the suffering servant will see his offspring.  We are Jesus’ “offspring.”

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.  –Isaiah 9:6-7

That time of everlasting peace is yet to come, but it is coming.  The zeal of the Lord will accomplish this.  Until then, let us be prepared, wearing the full armor of God.  Stand firm.