Our Spiritual Battle in the Heavenlies

Transcript

GR 2335
12/12/2021
Our Spiritual Battle in the Heavenlies
Ephesians 6:10-12
Gil Rugh


We're coming to Ephesians 6 and we come to the closing portion of this letter. We've mentioned that the last three chapters are characterized by, we haven't noted them all, imperative verbs that they are called. And they are just verbs in a form that give a command. As we conclude the heart of the letter Paul will have some personal words in verses 21-24, but in verses 10-17 he gives the final five imperatives or commands, if you will. It's a form of a command, something that must be done. Let me just note them, I may not note them all as we move through verses 10-17. That's where the last five imperatives, commands, are given in this section of applying primarily chapters 4-6, applying the doctrine that was laid out in chapters 1-3. The first one was in verse 10, “Be strong,” and we'll note these as we go through as far as emphasizing what they are emphasizing or stressing. But be strong is the first imperative verb. Then in verse 11 you have the second, “Put on.” So be strong in verse 10, put on in verse 11. Verse 13 is the third imperative verb, it's the verb “to take up.” Then in verse 14 you have the fourth imperative verb, command, “Stand firm.” And then you come all the way down to verse 17 and you have the last in this section and the last in the book of this letter to the Ephesian believers, “Take.” It's a different verb but the same idea as you had in verse 13, take up. But you have another imperative and a different verb in verse 17, “Take.” So those are the five commands that build this final concluding section. In verses 21-24 Paul will wrap up the letter, we'll overview that but in a summary fashion. But primarily he is dealing in verses 10-20 with the war that we are involved in, the battle that we are involve in. And it's an interesting emphasis.

Come back to Ephesians 1:3 and you'll note what it says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” And that expression, in the heavenly places, and you'll note the word ‘places’ is added, it just says in the heavenlies, plural, in Christ. The heavenly places, that realm of heaven. And we have received every spiritual blessing in that realm. But then when you come to Ephesians 6:12 we'll note, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness,” and there is our expression again, “in the heavenly places,” in the heavenlies. So we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm but we also have a major conflict going on in that same realm.

We'll note if we have time the rest of the references to in the heavenlies in the book of Ephesians to remind you of that, but you'll note the beginning of the letter, we have gotten every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies and we have an intense war going on at the same time, in the heavenlies. And that's what he focuses on in verses 10ff before the concluding remarks—what we need to be prepared for, the armor we need to wear. And Paul would be well familiar with this, he spent about three years, part of which he wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians along with Philemon during that first what we call Roman imprisonment where it was we might say an informal imprisonment. He was not free to go but he was free to have visitors and so on. But he had a Roman soldier all the time with him and he may have taken some of these pictures of the different items that we are to wear for the warfare that takes place in the heavenlies.

And as we'll note it takes place in the heavenlies but it takes place on the earth. But we ought to realize there are two forces at work in the heavenlies and on the earth, the forces of God and the forces of the devil. And they play out, if you will, as far as we are concerned, during this earthly lifetime. So he'll talk in verses 10-12 about the need to have our strength in the Lord because we are doing battle with spiritual forces. So they cannot be defeated or overwhelmed by just physical activity. It is physical activity motivated and moved by the Spirit of God so we need to have the armor that God has provided for us to do a spiritual battle. So we want to keep in mind, it is a spiritual warfare and much of the church, broadly speaking the church, loses sight of this. They just get involved in good works and think as long as they do good things then we are winning the battle. But they lose sight of the fact this is a spiritual war that we are in and we are doing battle against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies. So that takes place outside the realm in which we are living. But often and totally, really, there are only two groupings—those who are aligned with the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies and those who are joined to the spiritual forces of heaven in the heavenlies.

So it plays out on this earth as well as in the spiritual realm, but you and I are involved in the physical realm. But it is not limited to the physical, it's the spiritual forces. You see the church begin to collapse in on itself when it begins to focus on just the physical things and if we could just change this, we could just make this change, we could alter this, we could get these people appointed to the Supreme Court, these people voted into Congress, this person voted into the Presidency. And we begin to focus just on the physical and we lost sight of the fact this is a spiritual battle. And there is human involvement, but it's the spirit forces that we have to never lose sight of. Otherwise we will just be caught up in trying to change physical things. That's why Paul has little to say directly about the physical forces, about who is emperor, who is not emperor. The present emperor, as he writes this letter to the Ephesians will be responsible for Paul's death, but Paul has little to say about him comparatively. But he has much to say about the battle we have and the forces, whoever the physical opponent might be.

So verse 10 begins with “Finally.” I want to draw this letter to a close and so verses 10-20 will draw the letter to a close, then he will have some final remarks in verses 21-24 to wrap it up and they are inspired by the Spirit but they are a conclusion to the letter. Verses 10-20 really give the conclusion to this letter. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” The first of these final commands given, be strong, be strengthened. Literally it is a passive voice that means something that is done to us. Be strengthened in the Lord, have the Lord strengthen you, in the strength of His might.

Come back to Acts 20, and we'll be going back and forth to some passages just to tie this together. In Acts 20 Paul is meeting with the elders from the Ephesian church and he says he won't be meeting with them again, he doesn't anticipate seeing them again in this earthly realm. So he has some reminders to them. He spent almost three years there, ministering the Word to them, but now he is on his way at the end of this third missionary journey, and it will result in his arrest and imprisonment in Jerusalem, he is being transported to Rome as a prisoner and the three years or so of imprisonment in what we call his first Roman imprisonment. He will be released for a time and he'll be rearrested and executed. In Acts 20, we'll pick up with verse 26, “Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.” What does that involved? “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God, be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.” He is addressing the Ephesian elders, those who were appointed the overseers of the church and he says, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit.” Now he didn't say which I made you overseers, all I did was recognize the ones that the Holy Spirit appointed and then we carried out the will of God in this matter. “To shepherd the church of God which he purchased with His own blood.” Now the word of warning, “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.” And here is where it gets even more personal, “From among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not stop admonishing you, I did not cease to admonish you with tears.” So Paul's ministry often had this balance, I want to tell you all that God has done for you and all that you have in Christ but you have joined now the other side of the war.

Everybody is involved in the war, you are either on the devil's side or you are on God's side. Now some have been deluded into thinking they are on God's side and they become a problem for the church at Ephesus. But Paul has warned them and he is going to conclude the letter to the Ephesians by furthering that warning that you have to be strong, be strengthened in the Lord and the strength that He can provide, He alone. Because it is not just a human conflict, it's not just a matter of who gets into what position. This is something much bigger, much more serious than this, and when the church loses that sight… The world, it is deluded in thinking that they are just doing what they want to do. They are doing what the spirit forces of wickedness want them to do and they are glad to do it, because apart from the redemption there is no change. But once you have been made new in Christ you are in that warfare but now you are on the opposite side that you were on. Now you are on God's side. The war if anything has intensified.

Come back to Ephesians 6. “Finally be strong in the Lord.” He is the source of the strength, it is Him and by Him that we are strengthened. So you could translate this: be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of His might. It's the same power and might that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, victorious over death, victorious over the devil. The power of death could not hold Him. In Ephesians 1:19, and Paul is praying for them “that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened,” verse 18, “that you will know what the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the strength of His might.” Same basic truth we have in Ephesians 6:10, we are to be strengthened in the strength of His might, His power. “These are in accordance with the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him as His right hand in the heavenlies.” Again there is that expression, in the heavenlies that we had at the end of Ephesians 1:3, in the heavenlies, where our battle is taking place. It is in the heavenlies. The same power that was at work in raising Jesus Christ from the dead has raised you and me as believers in Jesus Christ spiritually, identified us, Romans 6, in Christ's death, in His burial, in His resurrection so we have a new life. Now we are still living out through these physical bodies, but we're living out now as new, made new within. And the battle if anything has intensified, as now we have become clearly and openly the opponents of the devil. We never can lose sight of the fact, this is a spiritual war that we are in and we need the strength of the Lord's power to do battle.

Look at Ephesians 3:16, Paul praying for the Ephesians. In verse 14, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,” that He, verse 16, “would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with power.” Here again the same ideas that we have in Ephesians 6:10, “to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” There is a spiritual war going on. Paul is writing this as a prisoner of Rome, he is not free to go about, to go visit the church at Ephesus again. He is not sure, he thinks he is going to be released from this imprisonment but nothing sure until it happens. Be strong in the Lord, in the strength of His might.

The same imprisonment, just after Ephesians, come to Philippians 4:13. Paul says simply, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Paul talking about gifts and giving and help, but I want to clear the air here. I appreciate the gift you have given me, I appreciate your support, but I want it to be clear—“I can do all things,” Philippians 4:13, through Christ, “through Him who strengthens me.” That's the key, that's the foundation. Apart from that we are just out spinning our wheels, doing the will of the spirit forces behind us, ultimately the devil. That is the only two positions there are in all the world—you are either the child of the devil or the child of God. And as a child of God you are one who has been made new through faith in Christ to now live a new life with new empowerment, the empowering of the Spirit of God who has taken up residence in our life to enable us to be strengthened as back in Ephesians 6:10 says, “in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” Now that doesn't mean you just sit back and let go and let God. No, it means now you do what God tells you to do. So there is a mutual responsibility within the framework of only God's power can do this.

But I have responsibility to submit my life now to God's power, so he tells me in Ephesians 6:11 with that second command. The first command was to be strong, be strengthened in the Lord. Now “Put on the full armor of God,” the panoply, the full armor of God. Don't just put on pieces of the armor, you put on the full armor of God, to give the picture here. “So that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.” So we haven't withdrawn from the battle. Before we were in the same war, the same battle, the same forces, but we were on the devil's side, we were doing what the devil wanted us to do. We might have been very religious, we might have been very pious and we would have said, speaking broadly, godly. Many of you come out of religious background—Lutheran, Catholic, Presbyterian, whatever.

But it wasn't until you really understood and believed the truth of the Gospel that Christ died for my sins, He was buried, He was raised, my faith is in Him, I've been made new in Him, I must now live according to the Word. Not just according to I'm generally doing what the church says and it has reasonably good doctrinal statement. No, this is being made new within. So now put on for yourselves the full armor of God. This is something I am responsible to do. It's not now I just let go and let God, He puts His armor on me, He does the battle, I just sit here and watch. Not at all. Put on for yourselves, put on yourselves the full armor of God. I am responsible before God to be prepared and do battle according to the spiritual enablement that only He can give.

The devil has all kinds of religious convictions and beliefs throughout the world. He is an amazing being. When you think that everything but the truth as revealed in the Word of God is demonic inspired, devil motivated. He has very good people, humanly speaking, but from God's perspective there is none good. Well, they are good and they have their religious convictions like we have religious convictions. But if they are not the convictions of the Word of God, they do not empower you for the battle that we are talking about. “Put on the full armor of God,” Ephesians 6:11. So that's part of being strengthened in the Lord in the strength of His might, doing what He tells me. So there is both here, it's not just either/or, it's both/and. A believer is one who does what God tells him, he puts on the full armor of God, put it on for yourselves. It's not just let go and let God so you just sit there and God puts on the armor. It's like you are a little child, put your arm through here, just put it through. No, I am responsible now to be sure I am armored for the battle. Put on for yourselves the full armor of God.

Come back to 2 Corinthians 10:3 for the sentence, “For though we walk in the flesh we do not war according to the flesh.” That is crucial, we walk according to the flesh, we live in these physical bodies right now, but we are not carrying out our warfare according to these physical bodies, according to the physical dimensions. “For the weapons of our warfare,” 2 Corinthians 10:4, “are not of the flesh but divinely powerful.” They have their strength and enablement from God “for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations, every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and we are ready to punish all disobedience.” You see we have changed, we've been made new, we've been born again, it's night and day. He is going to use the picture here as we move on in Ephesians, light and darkness. We've been taken out of the darkness, put into the light. Whatever picture you want to do, it is totally new.

It's not just making adjustments physically and now we go on. You can attend this church, I adjust and my thinking changed on some things, but has He really changed your heart? Has He made you new? Are you now doing the battle from within or are you just conforming? This is what we do as a church, this is what we believe, this is what we do. Wait a minute, what about you individually, personally? We see the contrast in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4, we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh because we are doing battle against spiritual forces in the heavenlies. You just can't carry this battle out by just conforming physically and getting on with your life. And this is one thing we do. This is where the church has a constant battle. It doesn't matter, and pretty soon we don't go.

I remember my brother-in-law telling me years ago, he's been with the Lord for over 25 years now but he was still pastoring way back when. He said I have 3,000 people on Sunday morning, I have 100 on Sunday evening. Pastoring in southern California. Wait a minute, how many of those are believers? How many of those realize the need to be everything God says, don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is. They don't meet at all now on Sunday night. And it just keeps dwindling, dwindling. We think, wait a minute, what is happening? Well, the devil, his battle is relentless, his intention is to divert us, that this is a spiritual war and so believer in the mixture with unbeliever and pretty soon we'll be like England. And I like to read the old men—Spurgeon, Alexander McLaren—from the 1800s where they had 5,000, for example Spurgeon's church, he has now less than 500, probably less than 300. Less than 5 percent of the population in England goes to church, period. What has happened? Somehow it just sort of disintegrated so now less than 5 and they estimate in the coming years very shortly there will be 2 percent of the total population goes to a church of any kind. I say wait a minute, we are in a spiritual war. Yes, I know but I don't need to get all this. Pretty soon… So we want to keep in mind we are in a spiritual battle.

Come back to Ephesians 6. He's going to talk about the elements that we have to put on when we get down to verse 14, but we have to prepare ourselves for it. “Put on the full armor of God.” The full armor, not put pieces of the armor on. Be sure you are clothed, and Paul would be well familiar with the full armor because he had a Roman soldier who had to be dressed for conflict of battle, he knew what it was to put on the full armor, the panoply. We carry this word over into English. The full armor of God so that you will be prepared to stand firm against the schemes, the methodology, the strategies of the devil. Back in Ephesians 4:13, “As a result we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves, carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.” The various methods, the devil is happy to have people joined together in church as long as they don't focus and submit themselves to the Word of God. That's fine, we can have church. Just don't focus on the Word and don't need so much of it.

I remember by dad telling me, I was a teenager, I had trusted Christ but I had to learn. And he said, here is what you have to do as long as you are living at home. You have to go to Sunday School, you have to go to morning church, you have to go to evening church, you have to go to Wednesday night and Friday night, Friday night our youth group at church met. That's where I met and knew Marilyn well enough for her to marry me and I married her too. Then my dad, he worked at U.S. Steel, we lived the last part of our life before I got married in New Jersey across the river but he still worked in Pennsylvania. Sometimes he'd work late, I'd say that's all right dad, we don't need to go to church tonight. He'd say no, I'll meet you there. Wait a minute, it's late. I think we have this clear, you go to Sunday School, Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday night and Friday night. That leaves you then the rest of the nights after you've gotten your homework done to do what you would like to do. How long do I have to do this? As long as you live here. Well, I'm 17. That's all right, you still live in this house and I'm still in charge of this house and this is what we do, we go to church. That was so ingrained in me, here I am how many years later, I still remember it. And I required it of my children. Of course, you are the pastor's son. It would be the same if he weren't the pastor's son because this is what we think is necessary and the leaders of our church have established. Pretty soon . . .

Back in Ephesians 6, “Put on the full armor of God that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.” The devil is the diabalo, he is the slanderer, he is always adjusting the Word of God. We won't go back to Matthew 4 where Christ is tempted by the devil, but the devil . . . We get the idea the devil is one of those who doesn't know the Word. He uses the Word very effectively when it comes to tempting Christ. He is not against people using the Bible, he is well aware. Christ comes up with a verse, he comes up with another verse just like that, that's no problem. We get the idea, our church believes the Bible, now we don't get into it like you do. That's okay, but just how do you get into it? Paul doesn't give the idea, there are ten different ways to view this so take this and put it on the list of things you might agree with and might not agree with. Our battle is against the schemes, the methodologies of the devil. So we must put on the full armor so that we can stand firm against the methodology, the schemes of the devil.

Let's move on a little bit. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,” here is where it begins to sift out even more clearly. Especially we don't decide when everything is going. . . Let me take the church back 30, 40 years when I used to have to say move over everybody to your left but don't push because you'll push somebody off the end. Now we have quite a few seats. I know some of our people have moved on to other Bible-believing churches, that's fine. I had one couple, the man and his son stood in the front right here and were very clear, we're leaving because I don't like the pressure of having to come on Sunday night. I said, half the people don't come on Sunday nights so you don't have to come on Sunday night if you don't . . . Well, I just feel as long as I am here I should do that so we're going to another church that doesn't . . . Now that concerns me. And then we get, Sunday School, that's getting up early and then Sunday morning, you don't have to be there every Sunday because he repeats a lot anyway. Pretty soon we're like England. So I don't know. We're looking for who might be my replacement. One of the things I told the men is we want a man who is first of all committed to the Word. I don't know whether it is just a phase of our ministry and we get a new man in the pulpit and the work would grow again. We would praise the Lord for that. But #1 will be, will he be faithful with the Word. Not we'll adjust the Word because people will come for that. Well, the devil is smart, he knows do less and don't get into the details and more people will come. But after a while people will say, I don't even know why I am coming to that church. And pretty soon we are like England. So we want to be careful, we want to know. The schemes of the devil, we have to put on the full armor of God.

Verse 12, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood.” That's it. So all the attention that draws our attention down to just the physical is a blurring, and as the devil blurs things then he can adjust things and move us further and further away from the truth. Our battle ultimately is not against flesh and blood, it's “against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies,” So we want to be careful. Back in Ephesians 1:3, He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies, but we also are doing battle against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies.

Now we reduce it to just a human dimension, we've lost our focus and then we think, I think it's better. I was reading an article, one of the evangelical seminaries saying we agree with the Catholics on a number of things so we support them and do battle where we agree with them. Wait a minute, the points of agreement are superficial and irrelevant. What we really want to know and we get this… I watch conservative news, I watch liberal news. Well, the news is not coming from a biblical perspective either way. Now we vote, that's fine, but the church is to stand apart, it is doing something that the world . . . Neither the conservatives in the world nor the liberals in the world. The devil has both on his side. I'm talking about the spiritual issue. That's why Paul has little to say about Nero who is the Roman Emperor. Peter has little to say, he says obey the emperor. What else do I have to say? Except where it clearly is in opposition to the Word, then I don't obey anymore. One thing the devil has done is bring the evangelical and the conservatives politically together so now we can't sort them out anymore. But the conservative Roman Catholic is coming at it different than the conservative evangelical believer. So we want to be careful that we don't lose sight of the fact so we get up in a warfare. “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood.” Okay, that's fine. But wait a minute, it's not against flesh and blood, it's not a human-focused battle. And once we lose sight of the fact there are spiritual forces at work here, we just settle down and that's part of the devil's work against the Lord and the Lord's work. That we just get along.

I watch conservative news and I buy into what they say. Well, there may be things they agree with but it's not where we are because I realize ultimately at ground level we don't agree. We don't agree. My vote, since we have a vote I vote with those I think will be more consistent with the biblical viewpoint. But I'm not involved in that battle because our warfare is not against flesh and blood. And we lose sight of that. I think if we just get the conservatives in control . . . I don't know, the Antichrist may be a great conservative, I don't know. It's going to be his rule and his way and for the first 3½ years of the Tribulation he'll be supportive of Israel and all of this and we'll say, I'm for him. Wait a minute, I'm not for him. Aren't you for Israel? Yes, but aren't you for . . . We want to be careful. So politically I vote since I have a vote, if you don't vote that's your . . . But I realize that's not where the battle is really fought, and I don't want to get distracted, I don't want the church to get distracted from that.

“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood.” I mean, do you have that underlined, highlighted, marked in your Bible? Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, it's “against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies,” in the heavenlies. That's the same place I got all my blessings back in Ephesians 1:3, in the heavenlies. Look down in Ephesians 1:20, “Which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies,” heavenly places we have in the New American Standard, literally in the heavenlies. Ephesians 2:6 where “by grace you have been saved, He raised us up together with Him,” with Christ, “and seated us with Him in the heavenlies.” That's all good, that's great. Ephesians 3:10, “So that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies.” So you see something has happened to change us that even though we are functioning now in the earth as human beings, it is with a perspective on what really is behind here.

Ultimately my enemy is not this person but the spiritual forces that are motivating this person. Now that doesn't mean that person is not an enemy, but he is not the real enemy. It is the force behind him. Now he is representing that force, he is advocating for that force. The Apostle Paul will give his life because the physical resources that this divine, non-human force has motivated would execute him, as would the other apostles, like Peter. But they are not the real force. I want to not lose sight. You can't disassociate. The enemy that we have are the humans that are motivated by the demonic. We are the humans motivated by the Spirit. They are two different, they are inseparably joined. Just the overlap, there is overlap, we all eat the same food, we might go to a similar restaurant, we might do a variety of things. But we don't want to lose our perspective and so we have in Ephesians 6:12, “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against…” There are different levels of authority in the spirit world as well as in the physical world, and he is talking about the spirit world here. When he talks about rulers, powers, world forces of this darkness in Ephesians 6:12, “against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies,” I cannot lose that perspective otherwise I begin to think . . . And the devil makes many people like us.

I remember I used to bump into, years ago, with a person who went to a liberal church in town. And they would talk and they would agree with so much about Indian Hills and we agree with that and we support that. And I said, something is wrong here, why are you in a church that at root does not believe this, does not obey. I mean, the devil begins . . . And that's where the church begins its decline. Well, we don't have to be against everything and everybody. That's true, we support the ruler, I support the Presidency of the United States and pray for him, he's the one God has put in. Well, if he wasn't here and we had blah, blah, blah. Wait a minute, I thought our struggle was not against flesh and blood. Yes, but if we had a better ruler we would . . . Wait a minute, we don't make those decisions, God does. Remember Romans 13 and other passages, 1 Peter writes about it as well, that God has ordained for His purposes. So yes, I am supportive. There are things that he is doing that I would not be supportive of and I'm not called to at this point. It may come to a point, and it will ultimately in the great tribulation, where the devil will remove everyone who won't worship him through the Antichrist. Now I am thankful, I support but I am not greatly affected by the fact we have a ruler who may be less than the previous one or not as much as a coming one. That's all irrelevant. “The world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies.”

We have a number of verses to look at, I'll try to keep them in some order. Come back to John 8:44, Jesus draws a line so this is not new material. It is clarified even more so as we have additional revelation, but in John, Jesus' earthly ministry, what does He say to the religious leaders of His day in John 8? Verse 44, “You are of your father the devil, you want to do the desires of your father.” Wait a minute, these are Pharisees, these are Jewish leaders. At least they are a lot better than the pagan Romans worshiping the false gods and goddesses that they've created. Jesus says, “you are of your father the devil.” Maybe so, but we are a lot better than just the average Roman. You are no better. You are more danger to the church. Paul has more to say to the Judaizers who claim to be close to him than he does to the pagans that are out there because they are more dangerous to the church. “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.”

Now when I was a young person I mentioned my dad was firm and he held that until I got married, then I was free to decide when I would go to church and when I wouldn't, but I sort of developed a pattern. But the devil lies and Jesus says to the religious leaders of His day that were closer to Him than any of the pagans were, and they claimed to believe the Old Testament were the Old Testament scriptures, He says you are of your father the devil. And Paul picks this up and he comes out of this Jewish background, and being a Pharisee. But you read the book of Galatians and you think there is so much wrong with Rome, leave the Jews alone. But the devil is smart, he starts and becomes as much like us as he can but he at root is opposed to it. He is a liar, “he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.” We don't want to lose that. We begin to get mushy. Well, at least we agree… I was reading an evangelical seminary man I mentioned earlier that supported Roman Catholics because we agree on certain things. Even though we would . . . you know as far as how you are saved, we still . . . Wait a minute, now we're putting a big thing, we're writing out why we agree and . . . It continues to disintegrate.

Let's go to 1 Timothy 4, I don't have them in order but we're going in the order you have them in your Bible. 1 Timothy 4:1, “But the Spirit explicitly says,” there is no reason for us not to understand this because the Spirit explicitly says it in His Word. “In latter times some will fall away from the faith,” apostasize. How much? How will I know when? They “will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.” One of the things they will do is forbid marriage. Well, we're back to, for example, Roman Catholicism. This idea though, whatever. We ought to be careful we are #1, biblically. We went through a phase when it was the in things to attend an evangelical church and people were crowding in and I'd say everybody move to the left, we have to get more people in. We don't. Maybe it's just a phase we're going through, maybe it is a long term ministry. Now it's better for a fresh . . . That's all possible. But one thing that cannot change is we are committed to the truth and the Word of God shapes our thinking, and we are not surprised that everyone around us may be doing something different. And we will preach the truth whether there is move to the left so we can get more people in or there is plenty of room, because we will stand or fall by that measurement.

Look over in 1 Peter 5, and we'll just go as far as we go and we'll just pick up and finish next week. 1 Peter 5:8, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.” Now some commands given here—“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering.” We look and say, I'm glad we have the freedom, we can worship and we can . . . Well, I don't know, I see a lot of empty seats and even taking the people out that are going to other. What about new believers? I mean if every church is . . . There was a time when I baptized 1,000 people the first dozen years here. Half the congregation was new believers and half had come from other churches. Now I don't know. Maybe in other churches in the city that are standing for the Word . . .

Or are we just now moving around people and getting further and further away like the church in England. So if the Lord doesn't come . . . We wonder where will the United States be? Well, we can fit the Common Market in the ten nations, we're not sure where the United States . . . Maybe it will just continue to decline, I don't know. What I do know is we have to be faithful with the Word regardless of . . . Verse 7, “Casting all your anxiety on Him,” still in 1 Peter 5, “because He cares for you. Be of sober spirit.” Verse 9, “Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished in your brethren who are in the world.” So we go through times, we don't have to suffer for our faith. Most of you here don't have to avoid… When my boss finds out at work I went to an evangelical church I'll probably get fired, I'll be persecuted. Maybe I'll get arrested when I'm driving out of the parking lot for attending. No, we don't have that. It will come to that, I hope not until after the rapture. I don't know, I don't know whether the Lord is coming today, I'm ready for Him if He comes today, but He may not come for ten years, He may not come for twenty years. I don't know. I know I have to be faithful. Can we say with Peter, this “same experience of suffering is being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.” Well, I don't think we are suffering too much. When I was in China many years ago I visited with believers who had spent 20+ years in prison for preaching the truth. What in the world? He preached the truth. That's the same thing I preach every week and people were coming in to hear. So we want to be careful, we want to be faithful.

One more passage, Revelation 12:9, “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan,” now note this, “who deceives the whole world,” who deceives the whole world. He is going to lose the access he has to heaven to this very day and that's going to be in the tribulation after the church is raptured. But you'll note, he “deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” And now there is a time, times and a half time, 3½ years. So we are in the middle of the seven years. What is going to take place before that seven-year period? The signing between the western world leader and Israel. I don't know, I don't know whether it is going to happen this year, I don't know whether it is going to happen in the next 20 years. I am to be ready, Paul said in writing to the Romans, now your salvation is nearer than when you first believed. That may be, but Paul, we were 2,000 years at least away and it still hasn't happened. But we live expecting it, we live in light of it. And if it doesn't come we'll pass on to the next generation, you need to be ready. But I wonder, where will the next generation be? Where are they? I look around and I say, I hope Lord, I pray that people that filled these seats now are in other Bible-believing churches. And some of them are. Some of them I meet and they say I just am not going anywhere right now. Well, the Bible says don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together as is the manner of some, in Hebrews 10. So we want to be careful, we want to be faithful.

Back up to 1 John as we wrap this up, 1 John 1:5, “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” Now I want to be like Him. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin,” keeps on cleansing. Light and darkness, there we are again. It's the children of God and the children of the devil. There is no, well, they are . . . There is no mixture. That doesn't mean we can tell on every person, but let's be aware. By and large when it was the ‘in thing to do’, you had to get here early to get a seat. Now it's not the ‘in thing to do’, there are a number of seats. Now maybe there are other churches, but there were other churches in those days. I wonder, are they growing with new believers or are they growing just because we are shifting people around? But I notice, for example the young man and his son who stood in the front said we are going because they don't have Sunday night and I just feel pressured to come on Sunday night. Well, then on Sunday morning. Obviously people don't feel pressured to come on Sunday morning, at least not every Sunday and of course the emergency COVID-19 has given excuse for more people to fall off. But I think that was the Lord, otherwise I have to adjust, well if we did this and if we were shorter and we had less . . . Then there would be . . . I want to be concerned that “we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son” keeps on cleansing us.

Come to 1 John 5:19, “We know that we are of God,” now note this, “and that the whole world likes in the evil one.” You have ‘the power of’ which is fine, but the whole world lies in the evil one. So we are always going to be a small number, that's just it. Now I'm not saying we are the only, there are other Bible-believing churches in town. We give the Lord thanks for that. But I'm concerned. There aren't other Bible-believing churches in town by and large that have Sunday night and it's not Sunday night is . . . Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together, so I guess the leaders of the church decide. When I was growing up we went on Sunday night, in fact our Sunday night service at the church my parents . . . When they left the church that was getting too liberal, they had become believers and the pastor met with my parents and cried and said, I know why you are leaving, I can understand it, I just can't change at this stage of my life. I have my retirement built into this church, I have . . . He could agree, I remember that. I sat there not saying a word because my parents . . . Kids didn't have quite the same say they have today, I sat and listened. But I never forgot that. But they went to a church . . . But that church had more people on Sunday night than they had on Sunday morning because people from liberal churches were coming on Sunday night and then going to their liberal church on Sunday morning. Like my parents until they decided, what am I doing, I might as well go. Now evangelical churches, used to be you could tell an evangelical church—it has Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night. Now, it's just that you have a doctrinal statement and . . . That may be all right, the Bible never says you have to have morning and evening, but I do wonder. There is just a lack of interest, lack of concern. I want to go where I feel less pressure. Is it the pressure of the Word or pressure of the Spirit? We want to be sure.

So 1 John 5:19, “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the evil one.” We don't want to fit the world. When the church begins to make adjustments to fit the world, we have become like the world and then where does it go from there? Where does the next generation go? We want to be faithful, and that's where Paul is concluding his letter to the Ephesians. We are in a battle, we are in a war, we can pretend we are not but we are. And we want to be faithful until He calls us into His presence.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the riches of Your Word. Thank You for Your grace, thank You for calling us to Yourself, thank You for every other Bible-believing church in this city, across this country and around the world. Lord, I pray that they might be faithful to Your Word, that Your people would be #1, concerned about being faithful to You, to Your truth. May we be faithful until Jesus calls us into Your presence and we look forward to that today, if not today, tomorrow. Live every day expecting His return and living, realizing it might not be today and we need to prepare for tomorrow. So may we be faithful that You might be honored. We pray in Christ's name, amen.