The Church of Eleven22 - This is War: Stand Firm - Wk 1

Episode Date: July 14, 2024

We are in a literal war. The good news is though, it was already been won. We fight from victory, not for victory. - The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To find out more about how God is moving at Eleven22, go to CoE22.com

If you got your Bibles, and I hope you do grab them. We're going to be in Ephesians chapter 6. And what I believe is a very, very, very timely sermon because we are at war. We are at war. Hopefully you can agree that something has gone terribly wrong. And if you're like, no, it's pretty good, then you're too dumb to talk to, which makes it difficult to me.

Because I can't disciple a demon, I can't cast out dumb, okay? Now, hopefully you can tell by things like the amount of effort that goes into putting a video like that together or the newspaper that you're going to get, that we did not put this together last night in response to the attempted assassination on former President Trump. This was planned out a year ago, and I believe it's by God's sovereign hand. And I wrote this message on Monday and delivered it already on Thursday. and we need to be in prayer for our country. Thank God, President Trump one killed,

and we need to be in prayer for our current sitting president because we are at war. Today's sermon isn't even really a sermon. Normally I have three pages of notes, sometimes four, today I have 11. So the 1122 crowd, when they get here, they may have to sit in your lap. I don't know.

We'll see. You have to listen faster than you normally do. But something, has gone horribly wrong. And what I'm trying to do today for the next nine weeks between now and saturated, we are going to talk about spiritual warfare. That's what we're talking about. Now, don't get too excited. If you get overly excited about it, it says something about you. But what I need you to understand is this is an actual war. When the Bible talks about spiritual warfare, it's not a metaphor. It's an actual battle and we have an actual enemy. So today,

in our time together, I'm just going to, I'm going to set us up to understand that it's a real war and we have a real enemy. Currently right now, there are 13 major wars going on around the world. The United States, the majority of our time as a country, we have been involved in military conflicts. We've had 108 military conflicts as a country. They include major wars like the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the American War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War, World War, Two, the Gulf War, Vietnam War, on and on and on. And you and I are currently involved in an actual war. The Bible means this literally, not figuratively. When the Bible says that our battle is not against flesh and blood,

it's not using it like figurative language. Like being a Christian is like being in a war. No, no, no. We don't have like a war. We have a war. And we have an actual enemy. And I think if we know who he is and we know his schemes will be better prepared to live in victory today over that enemy. We've been in this verse for two years, John 1010, the thief, that's our enemy, comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. It's the only thing he wants to do in your life is steal everything that God has for you. is to not only kill you, but kill everybody that you love and the people that are most important to you.

And he wants to destroy everything that God has for you. That's the only thing he wants. And Jesus says, but I came that you may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John Piper says it this way in his book, don't waste your life. He says, life is war. That's not all it is, but it is always that. I don't even know what that means.

That's the most John Piper thing I've ever seen in my life, man. Sometimes I'll be sitting on the beach with my air buds in and listen to Piper. Gretchen, I'm just grinning. She's like, what do you listen to, Dr. Piper? What's he talking about? I have no idea, but I love Jesus so much right now. The glory of God. He's so far over my head, but I love it.

Here's what he says. Life is war. That's not all it is, but it is always that. Our weakness and prayer is owing largely to our neglect of this truth. Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church, as it advances against the powers of darkness and unbelief, it is not surprising that prayer malfunctions when we try to make it a domestic intercom

to call upstairs for more comforts in the den. God has given us prayer as a wartime walkie-talkie so that we can call headquarters for everything we need as the kingdom of Christ advances in the world. Prayer gives us the significance of frontline forces and gives God the glory of limitless provider, the one who gives the power. gets the glory. Does that sound like your prayer life? Or did you just bless the food and thank God

for the day? You see, we are at war. My goal in this service and over the next nine weeks, for the next nine weeks, we're going to talk practically about the pieces of the armor of God and how we practically prepare for our enemies so that we can fight or stand firm against it. But my goal today is that you would wake up and realize the reality that we are at war and the enemy is trying to take us out. And the Bible has given us very clear instruction, very clear instruction on how to stand against the enemy. The Bible makes it very clear that there's an unseen world that affects our seen world. And if you're like, well, I don't know if I believe that. Yeah, you do, you dummy.

you use hand sanitizer, don't you? I know you do. Regardless of what you believe about demons and the demonic, you save some dirty people's hands at church, which you're surrounded by plenty of them, and what does Mama do? She brings out something to that, put this on your hands, baby.

Why? Because you believe there's a world you can't see that can make you sick. Well, it's even more real than hand sanitizer. There's a war and there's an enemy. Ephesians chapter 6, beginning in verse 10. This is going to be our anchor text for the next nine weeks, starts out this way.

Finally. Finally. And you know Paul's a preacher, because even though he says, finally, he still goes on for a whole other chapter. But finally, here's what Paul has done. Paul has laid out the gospel in the Book of Ephesians. I taught on it a bunch of years ago. You can go back and catch up on it if you want to.

The first three chapters of the Book of Ephesians, Paul just lays out the gospel. The gospel from above and the gospel on the ground. that we are saved by grace through faith, and this fate that we have is not even our own. It is a gift from God. And then chapters 4 or 5 and half of 6 is how the gospel impacts and impacts our life.

And so what our life looks like in this world, in our family, at work, and everywhere we go. And then after he lays out the gospel, now he says this, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Not your might. not your strength. You see, I know some of you are pumped right now.

You're charismatic types. You're a pump. You're like, finally, spiritual warfare. All right, settle down there, hot shot. Because sometimes what can happen is people get real excited, too excited about the fight. And when you do that, you can get excited about your own strength. But you don't have the strength. I don't have the strength.

Our strength is found in the Lord. Remember Joshua chapter one. Three times in Joshua chapter one, God tells Joshua, Be strong and courageous, be strong and courageous, be strong and courageous. Why? Because Joshua was weak and afraid, we can afraid, we can afraid. Why? Because Joshua was one of the spies.

He went over to the land of Canaan, and he saw these brothers over there, they're like giants, and we're like grasshoppers. And I'm sure he's a little nervous. And God does not say, be strong and courageous, Joshua, because you're good enough, you're smart enough, and doggone it, people like you. Nope. He's not like you're a skittal and you're a snowflake. And just be you, Joshua. Nope. You're going to get you killed, Joshua. He says, be strong and courageous for I am with you. So our strength is in the Lord. Now hear this, man, especially. I mean, I think we are more aware of this today than we were two days ago.

Politics is not the ultimate answer. It is a way to fight. We're going to talk about it in a few weeks. It's going to make everybody nervous. It is a part of the fight, but it is not our primary battle. Politics is not the ultimate answer. And listen, man, I know my crowd. If I wanted to get us all hyped up right now, it would make me feel better. Man, I could put my Sean Hannity hat on here and say some things, and you guys will get all worked up. And here's how I know. The loudest ovation we've ever had in this place is that one time I told the Yankees,

hey, listen, don't change here to there or we'll cast you out like a demon. and you clap so loud, everybody almost moved back to New York, okay? So don't clap right now, don't do it. If you're a Yankee, welcome. We're moving for all people, even you. Okay? Just know where you are. So be very, very careful.

You see, if you're more concerned about who will spend the next four years in the White House than who will spend eternity in heaven, then your primary allegiance may not be to the kingdom of God, but the kingdom of his world. Now, it matters. Those things matter, for sure. A great way to prepare for this sermon is you ought to read. the book, The Screw Tape Letters by C.S. Lewis.

If you hadn't read it in a while, you should pick it back up. And if you want to skip to Chapter 23, Chapter 23 is about how the devil uses politics to confuse believers. And basically what he says in there is he says, if you can get your, so the screw tape letters is conversations between two demons. There's a senior demon training a junior demon on how to cripple this Christian that is his project. And he begins to tell him, if you can just get your project to see his faith as a means to a political end, then he'll begin to see Jesus, not as his Lord, but as his lobbyist. And Jesus will

not be your lobbyist. That's not the game that he plays. That Jesus is our Lord and our Savior. So how are we to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might? Well, in just a second, he's going to tell us the way we do that is we put on the full armor of God. We put on the full armor of God. And a couple of things that I want you to know in order for you to understand this spiritual warfare, you can never lose sight of these two things. Number one, you got to know that the battle has already been won. It's already been one. I know it doesn't feel like it in this moment, but the battle has already been won. For you, for you Bible nerds, if you go back to the Old Testament, me, you remember, when was David anointed king of Israel? He was anointed king of Israel on the

battlefield against Goliath. He was a little kid. He was not appointed king of Israel for a couple of decades. And the point between his anointing and his appointing, the only thing that would describe that period was conflict and war. The same thing is true of you and me. The moment you surrendered your life to the lordship of Jesus Christ, you were anointed, co-air with Christ, and seated with him at the right hand of God. But you won't actually experience that in its full until either he returns to take us home or you breathe your last.

And what will describe your life between that moment of justification and that moment of glorification is nothing but conflict and war. But the good news is, I've read to the end of the book, we're actually going to read the end of the book today, and we win. I've told you this before, man.

I'm a Bulldogs fan, and I record all the games, and I erase the losses. So yesterday I watched the 2022 National Championship, where we beat Alabama. Sometimes we'll watch it at home. I don't like to watch stories with plots and stuff. The devil's in charge of them anyway, and I can't stay awake, and my family won't wait on me to watch the next one, so they cheat and they won't keep watching it.

It makes me mad. So all I do is watch hunting shows and old football games. And my daughter, Reagan, I love her, but she can't keep up when football season is, even though she was a cheerleader, don't worry about that. She'll come walking in, and I'm watching the game. And we throw an interception. And she's like, oh, no, Daddy.

And I go, do not let your heart be troubled. Why? Because I already know how it ends. I already know the end. And when you read the book of Revelation, you shouldn't be afraid. You should be encouraged because in the end, we win. So you got to know that before we get into this war. And secondly, this is so big.

We talked about it quite a bit in the Galatian series. If you fight the devil in the dark, you're going to get your butt kicked. If you fight the devil in the dark, you're going to get your butt kicked. If you want to learn to be free, you've got to learn to be honest. Because listen to me, darkness is his domain. We're going to talk about it in a second. But a lot happens between Genesis 1-1 and Genesis 1-2. Genesis 1-1, it says, in the beginning, God created the heavens in the earth.

Period. Space. Verse 2. And the earth was formless and darkness over. it over it. Where darkness come from? Because the Bible says that Jesus is light and in him there is no darkness at all. Well, what happened is we'll talk about it in a little while is that when the enemy was thrown out of heaven, darkness entered this experience that we know as life. And so if you try to fight the devil in the dark, that is his domain and you're getting his tail kicked. And what the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ invites us to do is to take those things that we're ashamed of,

that we're embarrassed of, that sin that constantly wars at us. And instead of trying to fight him in the dark, you drag that addiction, you drag that sin, you drag that shame, you drag that condemnation out into the light, and watch Jesus be victorious over the thing that he's already defeated. That's what I'm talking about. So if you want to be free, you better be honest. And I am believing that in this series there's some demonic strongholds that are going to be broken down forever.

There's going to be some addictions that are going to be broken down forever. that are going to be broken. There's going to be some shame that's going to be put to death. There's going to be forgiveness that's going to be offered. There's going to be some people in your childhood trauma and abuse is not going to define you anymore. There's going to be some loneliness that's going to be taken care of. There's going to be some people that have been tormented in their mental health

and suicidal ideation. And God is going to free you. There's going to be generational sin that's going to be broken forever, Because we are at war and Jesus is our victor. Now let me give you a warning. There's two ways we could go, there's at least two ways we could go wrong here. Is if we try to operate in either of the two extremes,

we're in trouble. One is there's some people that don't even believe in the demonic. And if, listen, man, if you don't even believe that there is a devil, you're dumb and done. I'm just telling you. You ever been sucker, you probably have not, okay? You know what a sucker, punch is. A sucker punch is when people start punching and you don't realize punching is starting.

You're the sucker. So if you don't know you have an enemy and he's trying to steal, kill, and destroy, you're going to get sucker punched. As you know, I love to hunt. September night, deer season opens in Georgia. I love it. I love to hunt. It's great. You should hunt. As long as you should do it legal and ethical, it's awesome, okay? I do find it always, I kind of find it a little bit funny, that they call it a sport. because the other team doesn't know the game started. That's why I always win. I might not always get one, but they never get me.

Why? Because they didn't hear that the kickoff had already started. Well, if you don't realize you have an enemy that's trying to steal, kill, and destroy everything in your life, then you're going to be like that deer, man. You're helpless. The other extreme is if you think there's a devil behind every bush. Like you couldn't get your hair right this. morning and you think it's demon possessed. No, man, it's humidity. Relax. Or sometimes people will come

to me, pastors, the devil's attacking my finances. Okay, tell me what's going on. I'm buying stuff with money I don't have. Well, I got good news and bad news. The devil's attacking you, and you're because you're dumb. Quit being dumb. So, so we don't want to, we don't want to think there's no devil and we don't want to just be looking for him everywhere. We just want to want to want to be aware that there's a so that we're ready. So verse 11, he says, put on the whole armor of God. Listen, you prepare for war before the fight. It's like if you play football, you put the pads on,

you don't wait to the kickoff when they're running at you. I'm like, that's probably getting dressed. No, you prepare for war before the fight, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. That word stand is a military term. It doesn't mean just stand there. It means take a stand, stand up.

stand your ground. It's fighting words. You must fight or take a stand against the schemes of the devil. That word schemes is methodia. You see, the enemy is a liar. He's really good at it. He's been lying since the beginning of time.

And his primary scheme to take us out is not, you can't think old school World War I or two. You can't, this isn't the force. This isn't like good guys, versus bad guys and everybody lines up and just faces off. That's not how the enemy works, man. It's a dirty war campaign. It's a misinformation campaign.

Why? Because he's already defeated and he can't stand to toe to toe with God or the church. So if the devil manifests himself in your bedroom today and with like the pitchfork and the horns and the whole, I'm the devil. Then kick his tail, man. So this is my house under the blood of Jesus. Get out. You don't belong here.

Because you can stand firm against the devil in his evil schemes. But the devil knows. that he can't do a full frontal attack against his enemy God because he'll lose. It would be like, imagine this. Imagine if Canada attacked us. Like they all mounted up with their horses and their funny coats. That's adorable. We just kill them in like one second.

So the devil can't take that kind of attack against God. So what he does is a misinformation campaign of the mind. He gets in between your ears. He begins to lie because that is who he is. You see, when God creates, the enemy corrupts. That's what he does. God creates and the enemy corrupts. And the lies of the enemy, he always wants you to question at least three things,

the word of God, the worth of God, and the work of God. He wants you to question the word of God. Did God really say, in the moment you begin to look at God's word, really it's the parts you don't like and be like, God, how are you going to tell me how to date? You don't even have a dating app. What do you know about dating a lot? He wants you to question the worth of God. Does he really love you?

If he loved you, he'd take better care of you. Is he worthy of your worship if he's not going to give you what you want? And he wants you to question the work of God. Did it really count for you? Maybe God made a mistake when he made you, and I know when he died on the crowd, I'll get counted for all those good church people, but did it really count for you?

When you begin to have any of those thoughts, it is because the enemy is attacking you between the years. Not only does he attack us personally, but the enemy uses systems of this world to try to corrupt what God has created. 1 John 2.15. I talk about it all the time. It says this, do not love the world or the things of this world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, now the ESV uses the word desire, the King James uses the word lust. I like that one better. All that is in the world is this. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. from the Father, but is from the world. You see, the Bible tells us that we're not supposed to love the world or the things of this

world. And then if you've been around Bible study, you're like, but wait, John 316 says, for God so love the world, so which one is it? In John 316, what God is saying is God loves the people of this world and not the systems and values. And what we are supposed to do as believers in Jesus is reject the systems and values of this world and love the people of this world that Jesus died for. and what many, many, many, many people that claim to be Christians do is invert those two,

and we adopt the systems and values of this world. We do money, sect, and power just like this world, and then stiff-armed people that God died on the cross for, and we reject those people because they don't align with us. It's the opposite of what God has called us to do. Verse 12, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. That word wrestle is not a great translation. I mean, it is what the word means, technically, but this isn't like wrestle in a wrestling match.

This isn't like a sport, like two, take down. No, no, no, no. This is the kind of wrestling like people in a war are trying to kill one another. Think about that saving private rind in that scene upstairs where the German shoves the knife through the American's chest. It's more like that kind of wrestling match.

We'll even adopt this kind of job. terminally, you be in the disciple group, I'm just really wrestling with something. By wrestling, you mean the thing that snuck into your house in the middle of the night and has a stranglehold around your neck and doesn't want to let go until you stop breathing? That kind of wrestle? Okay, that's what we are talking about here. He says, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. We have an enemy.

It's not other people. We have an enemy. It's not other people. Our enemy is not a politician or a political party. And you're like, well, it seems like it is. I'm not saying people and systems aren't used by them, but they are not our enemy. It's not your boss. Our enemy is not Putin.

It's not the media. It's not people at big tech or big pharma. Your enemy is not your ex. And you're like, Pastor, you hadn't met my ex. She stares at puppies and the laser beams come out and catch them on fire and they die and go to hell. Okay? I'm not saying you didn't choose poorly. That's not what I'm saying.

I'm just telling you, people can be an instrument of Satan. however, our battle is not against people. It's not against flesh and blood. And by the way, our heroes aren't flesh and blood either. Our hero is Jesus alone, and he alone has the answer. Now, many systems and people can be used by the enemy, but our enemy is not flesh and blood. He says, for we do not fight or wrestle against flesh and blood,

but against rulers, against authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Sounds like rank and file an order of military to me, which it is. Now it's typically about this point

where people will say, hold on one second, pastor. You mean to tell me in 2024 in the day of AI and the internet, you believe in demons? Uh-huh. I sure do. And if you don't, oh, help you.

I believe in them because Jesus believed in them. So either you've got to think he was crazy or a liar. I think he's Lord. And have you lived in this world? How do you explain the things that are going on? Have you ever met somebody with an addiction? And they don't want to do this anymore,

but there's this thing like it's not them that keeps dragging them down a road, and they know if they keep going down that road it's going to kill them. And no matter how many promises they make, and no matter how many meetings they go to, it is dragging them to their demise. What do you call them?

that. Yeah, the Bible will call that demonic. War, what do you call the evil in this world? How do you explain human trafficking? The mutilation and genocide of a generation. And you realize, man, read the Bible. This stuff isn't new. It's same demons different days. We have been at war against demonic forces since Genesis 3 until today. So because of that, verse 13, therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand, that's fighting words, in the able day, and having done all to stand firm. There it is again. It's four times in this one passage. That word stand means fight. That we as a church are called to fight. Now, there's typically been three responses from the church. Two and a half of them are wrong. Some churches just go

well we're going to flee like the world the world so nasty and so dirty and so gross we're just going come way over here and create our own little world like i grew up kind of in the extreme baptist world man we were good at that like we didn't shop where they shop like you couldn't go to abracombie and fitch they had scantily clad girls in their catalog centers so our search said a breadcrumb and fish got them we had our own music when i got saying we got somebody literally hand me a pamphlet and it said, if you like Run DMC, which I did, then you'll love Carmen.

What? If you don't know who Carmen is, bless you, okay? Bless you. Have you heard my Adidas versus the champion? I'm telling you, it ain't the same, man. He was an old Italian man doing spoken word over bebops from his keyboard. It's not good.

The extreme of this is the group I like to make fun to the most, the Amish. David are like, hey man, no, we're out, we're going to create our own world. And listen, do you know why I like to make fun of the Amish? They never complain about it. I've received zero emails from the Amish. Now, I get them from you like, hey, Zebs, I know a guy. Okay, cool, man.

They got good butter and furniture and denim. I'm pro-denum, no problem. But the problem is Jesus said, we're, Jesus actually prayed. God, don't remove them from the world. You can't fight the battle if you ain't on the front lines. You know, there's some people that think it'd be real sexy to be a, to be a monk or live that monastic life and just separate yourself from the world. The problem with that is the great commission.

How are you going to take the good news of the gospel to the edges of the earth if you ain't on this earth? So don't flee. That is not our answer. We don't run away from culture. The other extreme is some churches just follow the world. This is the progressive liberal church, which actually isn't a church. It's not a sad thing that churches close their doors.

Read the book of Revelation. Jesus says, you move away from my Bible. You move away from me. I'm going to take the lamp stand out. Praise God. We'll take your building, by the way, if any of you, liberal churches, we need room. Because what happens is there's what is in our world

and there's what's ought to be in the Bible. Instead of changing what is to what ought to be, they just take a highlighter and some scissors and clip out the things they don't like and match the Bible to this world. You can do that. You're just not a Christian. And then there's the fighters.

We're supposed to fight, but we don't fight like the world fights. Remember Peter in the Garden of Gassimini? He was going to fight like the world. fights, pulls out a sword, chops a dude's ear off. Jesus is like, that's not the game we play. We fight differently. We are called to fight, but we fight differently.

Second Corinthians 10, 4 says it this way, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. Do you know the most influential time in the history, the 2000-year history of the church, the biggest impact that the church ever had on this society was not from a position of power, but a countercultural revolution

that valued Christ and people more than the values of this world. A couple of generations after the life, death, resurrection of Jesus, a couple generations after the apostles have died, they are, there are Christians in the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire was the biggest empire in the history of humanity. Covered more ground.

It ruled more people for longer than any other society. and they were trying to stop the spread of Christianity, and they couldn't stop it. In 1.30 AD, there's this letter from a guy named Methedites to Dignetus. And neither of them are Christians, but the guy in charge is saying, what is going on in Rome with these Christians? And so Methadis goes and he studies them, and he writes this letter from antiquity. These are not Christians. Here's what he says.

For the Christians are distinguished from other men, neither by country nor language nor the customs which they observe. In other words, there was a radical diversity among Christians. It wasn't just like one race or one people group. It was people from every tribe, every tongue, every nation, and they were primarily identified by Jesus's blood, not the culture that they grew up in. They were radically diverse. For they neither inhabit the cities of their own or employ a person.

peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men, nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves to be advocates of any merely human doctrines. But inhabiting Greek, as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing food and the rest of their ordinary conduct. In other words, there was no, like, Christian uniform. They just lived in the culture that they lived in, and yet they displayed to us their wonderful and confessively striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners.

As citizens, they share in all things with others. They were radically generous. They were radically diverse. They were radically generous. And yet, endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country and every land of their birth as a land of strangers, they did not believe they were going to spend forever here, but their citizenship was of another kingdom. They marry, as do all others, they beget children, but they do not destroy their offspring. They were radically pro-life. In the first couple of centuries, in Rome, if you didn't want that baby, after mama had it, you would just lay it out on the rocks and expose it to death. It was their version of abortion. And Christians would come along and scoop up these

aborted babies and raised them as their own. They were radically pro-life. They have a common table and not a common bed. They had a sexual ethic that was completely different than their culture. Listen, man, in 1.30 AD in Rome, a woman couldn't even be a citizen. She was known as a property of her husband. Imagine the Christian having a conversation about being married with a Roman citizen. He's like, what do you mean you only sleep with her?

He's like, not only do I only sleep with her, but I love her like Christ loved the church. and the Roman would be like, no, no, man, she's property to be owned. He's like, no, dude, that's my bride to be loved and cherished and served. You don't get it. They had a radical sexual ethic. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They knew that Jesus was their king.

They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpassed the laws by their lives. They love all men and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned. They are put to death and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich. They are in lack of all things and yet abound in all. Two times it mentions what they do with their money. They didn't think my money was mine.

They leverage their money for the kingdom of God. They are dishonored, and yet in every dishonor, they are glorified. They are evil spoken of and yet are justified. They are reviled and blessed. They are insulted and repay the insult with honor. They do good yet are punished as evil doers. when punished they rejoice as if quickened into life they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners and are persecuted by the Greeks yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their

hatred and a few generations after this letter Rome was toppled by Christianity not by sword not by might not by any kind of human power but by Christians living out the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a countercultural revolution. Church, we are called to fight, but the ways that God has called us to fight are just different. So we're going to spend nine weeks on how to do that.

But I need you to know that we're not just, again, our battle is not against flesh and blood. We have an enemy. And our enemy is an actual, personal entity. And it's better to know your enemy in order to be prepared to fight him. our enemy has been at this from the very beginning, the very beginning of time and space.

If you go back to Genesis chapter 3, this is the first time in human history that our enemy shows up. It says this, now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

And the reality is that that's not actually what God said. If you go back earlier when God tells Adam first of all he gives him a couple things to do, subdue and cultivate, be fruitful, and multiply. And even the command about the tree in the middle of the garden, if you look at it in the New International Version, it says this, you are free to eat from every tree in the garden except don't eat from that tree. God doesn't start with the don't. He starts with you are free. But the enemy comes in and lies and tricks you and wants you to think that we serve a God that's trying to keep something from you. And the woman said to the servant,

We may eat from the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden. Neither shall you touch it lest you die. This is classic legalism. God didn't say anything about touching it. If you're a legalist, here's your problem. You don't trust that God's word is enough. You think he needs your input to fulfill it. That's the problem. But the servant said to the woman, you will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you will be like God knowing good and evil. See, everything God creates, the enemy tries to corrupt. And he is still trying to corrupt us at every single level. He is trying to corrupt you personally. Like he wants to kill you. He's trying to corrupt your

relationship with God by giving you to distrust God's word. He's trying to corrupt your family, the building block of any society. He's trying to corrupt the church. He's trying to corrupt our culture. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil. He's trying to corrupt our country. This is what he does. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that's lust of the flesh, she says, I deserve to feel a certain way. And that it was a delight to the eyes, that's lust of the eyes. She didn't even know she wanted it until she saw it. And the tree was to be desired to make one wise. That's the pride of life. I want to be like God. She took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was. What's it say, fellas? Yeah, you're just as

quiet as Adam, that's the problem. We're going to spend all next year prepping men to be godly men because when men lead and love well, everybody flourishes. This is the problem. Husbands jot this down. If a serpent who is the devil tries to talk to your wife, stomp on its head, don't just stand in there like an idiot. Did the eyes of both of them were open and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and they made themselves loincloth. It's a terrible trade. They go from naked and unashamed. And again, the older I get, the more miraculous that idea is to me. They go from naked and unashamed to full of shame and hiding.

It's not a good trait. Now listen, the reason that the devil wants to destroy us is because God has placed this love on us and he hates God. And not only does he hate God, he hates us because we have been created in his image and the throne that the enemy wants to sit on has been reserved for the children of God, and that makes him hate us even more. But I got some really, really good news about this war from the beginning. That God comes in, and because of his justice, he casts out Adam and Eve because sin separates,

but in his mercy, he makes coverings for Adam and Eve that are better than their fig leaf covering. And not only that, he begins to share with them the perfect plan. He says to Eve, I'm going to put enmity between your offspring and this enemy, this serpent, this Satan, this devil. And one day one is going to show up from me through your line and this enemy is going to bruise his heel and he's going to get his head crushed. From the beginning, Jesus was going to show up not only to save us from sin, but also to crush the enemy and make all things new. But what we find out in the scriptures is that this did not begin at the beginning of human history. this began before human history even began. This is our enemy.

I want you to know who the enemy is. The reason he's defeatable in your own personal life is because he's predictable and he's been doing the same thing for a long time. In Luke chapter 10, after Jesus sent out the 72 to share the gospel and cast out demons and do miracles, they all came back and they're doing a little report. In Luke 1017, the Bible says the 72 return with joy saying,

Lord, even the demons are subject to us in our name. see we are fighting from victory and jesus said to them i saw satan fall like lightning from heaven behold i have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you now before you get too excited about the exorcism nevertheless do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you but rejoice that your names are written in heaven in other words jesus has keep this into purpose perspective. You don't get pumped about the spiritual warfare, you get pumped about eternity. Then everything we do is to leave that one more into the presence of Jesus. You see, there's a very,

there's a big difference between Satan and the devil. Satan was cast down like lightning, and Jesus comes on a rescue mission to make all things new. The Old Testament describes these events in at least two places. One is Ezekiel 28. You should write these down so that you can study them later. I'm going to go real fast. But this is what Jesus was talking about in Luke 1017. Ezekiel 28, beginning of verse 11 says this, moreover the word of the Lord came to me. Son of man raised a lamentation over the king of Tyre and say to him, thus says the Lord God. Now listen, the king of Tyre was an actual man, but this is commentary on the enemy who was pulling the strings of this guy that thought he was in charge.

It says, you were the signet of perfection. Here's why we know that the Bible's not talking about this king and tire because this guy was not perfect. But the enemy who was created as an angel, this is the description of how he was created and what happened to him. It says, you were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect and beauty.

You were in Eden, the Garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering. Sardius topass, diamond, barrel. Onyx, jasper, sapphire, emerald, carbuncle, sounds beautiful. And crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. The way the King James says that is, the workmanship of your timbrels and pipes. In other words, the enemy, the one that will become the enemy, was created as a cherub or an angel. And according to, I think it's Job 38, the angel's job was to worship.

And this guardian cherub was created. It sounds like that he was actually made up of gemstones. And his appendages were pipe organs and tambourines. And his job was to lead worship for the heavenly hosts. And the reason that he's made of these gemstones is because God is light. He has no source of light. The enemy has no source of light, but he can refract and reflect the light. And so he would stand before the angelic host and lead in worship.

God was the source of light. And he was supposed to point people to their creator, their king, and their God. And then one day he got tired of being looked through and he wanted to be looked to. And pride took over. And that's what happened. On the day you were created, they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub.

I placed you. You were on the holy mountain of God. In the midst of the stones, the fire, you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. He got tired of being looked through and wanted to be looked to. in the abundance of your trade, you were filled with violence in your midst and you sinned. So I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God.

This is what Jesus saw, the enemy being cast down like lightning. And I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire, your heart was proud because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I exposed you before the kings to feast their eyes on you. by the multitude of your iniquities in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries

so I brought fire out from your midst it consumed you I turned you to ashes on earth in the sight of all who saw you all who know you among the peoples are appalled at you you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever

and this is when darkness enters our world Isaiah 14 describes the heart of Lucifer and it's for the first time in the Bible we get his name Isaiah 14 says it this way how are you falling from heaven oh day star that's the Hebrews day star the Vulgate is the Latin translation of the Hebrew and the Latin translation of this word is the name Lucifer says how have you fallen from heaven Lucifer son of dawn how are you cut down to the ground you who laid the nation's low you said in your heart he's going to make five

statements from his heart that are all about him. This is the enemy. I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. I will sit on the Mount of the Assembly in the far reaches of the north. I will ascend above the heavens of the clouds. One more. I will make myself like the most high.

But you are brought down to shield to the far reaches of the pit. And from that day until now, this being that the Bible gives all kind of names to, Lucifer, the devil, Satan, the accuser of the brethren, serpent, dragon. He's only been trying to kill, steal, and destroy you. Why? Because God loves you and he hates what God loves and he is jealous of you because if you were in Christ, you were seated at the right hand of God the Father and he wants your seat and it has not been given to him.

But Jesus came. He didn't fall, but Jesus came. He didn't come with pride, but he humbled himself, made himself nothing and obedient, even all the way to the cross, that he could rescue and redeem you and I and drag us out of the kingdom of darkness and transfer us to the kingdom of light. So while we are at war, it may seem like it's getting worse and worse and worse and worse. And personally, your war may be feeling like you were underwater and it is out of control, but I am here to tell you, we win.

that the battle has already been won. A part of the reason God gave the church, the book of Revelation, is not to make you nervous at night, scared that you could get left behind. It's not the point. The point is so that we would know how the story ends, and we win. And what we find several times in the book of Revelation

is touch points between eternity and chronology, between what's happening in the heavenlies and what's happening here on earth. I know you remember every sermon I've ever given so I could just reference it and you're like, oh yeah, I remember that. But if you will remember our Christmas series, one of the things we talked about is from Revelation chapter 12, and we talked about Christmas from a heavenly or eternal perspective. In Revelation chapter 12, verses 1 through 6 talks about that. There's a woman with stars and she's having a baby and a red dragon's trying to eat it. Meanwhile, here on earth, there's

Mary and Joseph and Jesus and Herod's trying to kill all the babies and they're running to Egypt. that's what's happening. Just after that, the book says this. Now, war arose in heaven. Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. See, there is a war, an actual war. But he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who was called the devil and Satan, and the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, the salvation and power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come down. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down. He accuses him day and night before our God.

And they, the church, believers, have conquered him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they love not their lives even unto death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath. because he knows that his time is short. And then for the next eight chapters, it describes this war. And then when you get to the end

of time and history as we know it, when you get to the end of the Bible, spoiler alert, we win. We win. So even if you're getting beat down, you ain't going to be crushed. I would ask you to close your eyes and hear this, but you'll fall asleep.

So keep him wide open. Revelation 27 says this. And when the thousand, years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog to gather them for battle. Their numbers like the sand of the sea, and they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them. And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast

and the false prophets were, and they will be tormented day and night forever. Here's the whole point of our spiritual warfare. We are at war. Fact. Jesus has won. Fact. Therefore, we fight from victory, not for victory.

So, church, this whole series, I dare you. To come with me, to get suited up, to get prepared, to go to war for the glory of God and the redemption of his people. And sadly, for a long time, man,

the church, particularly the American church, has been asleep. at the wheel. We've just been asleep at the wheel. It may be individually you feel like you are being tormented. Well, your church is coming alongside of you so that you can experience deliverance, so that you can experience freedom, so that you can experience everything that God has for you and what he has for you is the abundant life that Christ purchased for you at the cross. But we will not lazily and sleepily find ourselves in that place. We have to fight against the enemy. And here's what's at stake. When it's all said none, here's what we have to look forward to,

Revelation 21. And then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them. And then. And I heard a loud voice from the throne. And and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said,

Behold, I am making all things new. Also, he said, write this down for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, it is done. Literally, it is finished. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, to the thirsty, I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage. I will be his God and he will be my son. Church, we win.

We win. But the problem is, the problem is the church has been asleep. The church has never operated well from a place of power. And honestly, because of the fateful people and the Christian injection that happening, at the beginning of our country has protected us for a long time. Those days are over, man. We are at war, but listen, we were made for this day. Here's what I need us to know is the church we were made for this.

I know it's dark outside, but the darker the night, the lighter the bright of the gospel shines in this world. There's no more casual Christianity. There's no place for it. And if you live the way of Jesus, you're going to get beat up a little. Get ready for the fight. In fact, if you hadn't got a bloody nose lately because of the way that you're living, it could be because you're not living a countercultural life.

You're just kind of going with the flow and you want to pay attention by whose rules you're playing. This church, my hope and my prayer in this series is that we would wake up, that we would not be loyal to sleep by the comforts of this world, that would be more concerned about where our friends and loved ones would spend eternity

than where we're going to spend our next vacation. That we would not be loyal to sleep by just scrolling about nothing from people that we don't even know. That we would be rescued from spending more money on stuff that we don't need and that we would pour our resources into the advancement of the kingdom of God, that we would be rescued from treating other people like the enemy and that we would get focused on knowing that our battle is not against flesh and blood. Dr. Piper says this,

also in the same book, don't waste your life. He says, I am wired by nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call Earth home, and before you know it, I am calling luxuries needs, and I'm using money just a the way unbelievers do. I begin to forget the war. I don't think much about people perishing, missions, and unreached people groups drop out of my mind, and I stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace, and I sink into a secular mindset that looks first to what man can do, not what God can do. It is a terrible sickness. And I thank God for those who have forced me again and again toward a wartime mindset. My hope is to force you to realize that we are at war.

My hope and my prayer for you is this, that finally we would be strong of the Lord and the strength of His might, that we would put on the whole armor of God, that we would be able to fight against the schemes of the devil. Because our fight is not against flesh and blood, but it's against the rulers and authorities and against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, is against spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places, and may you and I take up the whole armor of God that we would be able to fight or withstand the evil day, and having done all to stand firm, we would know that our victory is in Jesus and we fight from victory, not for victory.

And you said, well, how do we fight? Well, again, next eight weeks we're going to teach you, but it starts right now. The way we end every service is with kingdom warfare. As you know, we don't pass plates around trying to get you to give anything to God. What's you going to give God? It's all his anyway. But it's this time in the service, we invite you to bring your first and best. And then we dedicate this to God and say, would you use it to fight back the kingdom of darkness. It's why we plant campuses. It's why we launch churches. It's why we send missionaries. It's why we do all the ministries that we do. And a part of the war is looking at the enemy and saying, I'm not trusting this, I'm using this, I'm bringing it to the

Lord, and I'm going to be more excited about what he can do with it than what I can do with it. That's why we bring our first event. And we sing. I've told you this before, but worship is war. Every time you worship God in spirit and truth, you were looking at that Lucifer, that devil, that prideful one that wanted to sit on the throne, and bless scooter, you ain't on the throne. You ain't worthy of my worship, but he is.

Worship is war. You need some breakthroughs in your life. You've got addiction problems and mental health problems. Try worshiping. I'm just telling you, it's got to be a part of the equation for your health. and we pray. Because without prayer, this is all an exercise and futility.

It's just me yelling at you for an hour, and you're getting all pumped up and forgetting in a second. Because of the cross of Jesus Christ, we get to walk into the commander of the king's army, stand before the king of kings and the Lord of Lords, and make our request known to him. And if it's important to you, it's important to him. And so we pray.

So if you were ready to stand for, Would you please stand to your feet? And we're going to sing and we're going to bring and we're going to pray like we are at war because we are. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father God, we love you more than anything. And Lord, I pray for every man, every woman, every student in here. However, the enemy and his schemes are coming against them, Lord, I pray they would put on the full armor of God.

God, I pray that we can go to war because you came on our behalf and rescued us and you have put to death once and for all our enemy and though it feels like and it seems like he has control over our lives, he does it. He's a dog on a chain, and he only gets to be around until you send him to the hell that you created for him. And God, it is for freedom that we have been set free. So, Lord, I pray that no one would fight the devil in the dark. They would drag that stuff. They would drag those temptations.

They would drag that sin. They would drag it here to the altar, to the feet of the cross of Jesus Christ, and watch you be victorious in our very lives. God, I thank you that you sing over us, you delight over us, and you fight for us. We pray this in the good, strong name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

So church, we're going to sing, we're going to bring, we're going to pray, we're going to fight. Let's respond.