When Marika and I we’re in college we were a part of a team called Redding Street Ministry. It was a group of college students from Simpson University that would go out into the community and share the Gospel and pray for people. The most interesting encounter I had was when we walked into a Barnes and Noble Bookstore. I went over to the religious and spiritual section and met a disheveled man. He had greying hair and was slightly hunched over. We began to talk about what he was looking at and the conversation was brought to Jesus. Never in my life up to that point had I ever seen the change in someone so drastically. The man’s eyes went from clear to dark, as if someone took a drop of paint and placed it in his eyes. His attitude towards me changed as well and the conversation abruptly ended. It was the first time that I had recognized the demonic in someone else.
This brings us back to summer series in the book of First Samuel, where we are taking a week to explore deeper into the spiritual realm that was brought up last week, when we read about how Saul met with the medium at En-dor.
Last week we talked about how mediums, diviners, and necromancers were outlawed in Israel because they were those who sought a power outside of God. However, we talked about how seeking that power opens us up to being manipulated by spiritual beings who only allow us to see glimpses of the spiritual as they call us away from God.
This is why we need to seek the Lord, because he is out for our best interest. God seeks us to live his life, an abundant life, which will bring about true fulfillment. Whereas the spirits in rebellion against God, only seek our downfall.
We ended with the quote from C.S. Lewis, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”
We don’t want to become obsessive with the realm of evil sprits, yet we do not want to be blind to it either. What God wants us to be, is right where he decides: Trusting him, and standing firm against the enemy. Because of this we’re going to look briefly at what the Scriptures reveal about the enemy and how we are to respond.
First, let’s get to know our enemy. Teams watch film before going against an opponent so nothing surprises them on the field. That’s what we’re doing here.
There are three foes that we need to be aware of. The first is the most prolific, it’s the closest, and it’s what the other two use to undermine our lives.
Foe one is our flesh. Paul writes extensively about what the flesh is in the Book of Romans, which we’re only going to read a portion of. Starting in Chapter 7, verse 13, we read, “7:13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. 15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
“21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
“8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
“9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”
Our flesh, which are the sinful desires that call to us from within us, are the greatest battles we face. The desire to do the things that God says not to, is a struggle that we face moment by moment. Too often we give credit to Satan or a demon for what is really our own wants apart from God. Outside of Christ, the flesh runs rampant. Our desires grow into cravings, and those cravings lead to perpetual sin. This is what we see in Saul’s life. Desire for a kingdom, leads to cravings of hoarding his own power, and he experiences a spiral of sin. We are powerless against the flesh, falling prey to it time and time again.
When we accept Christ, however, the power of the flesh over us is broken. The Holy Spirit of God dwells in us and now battles the flesh. We aid in this battle through prayer, worship of God, and practicing other spiritual disciplines as we bring our lives as a living sacrifice before God (Rom. 12:1-2).
The second foe is Satan and his demons, what I like to simply call the enemy. The Scripture condenses the terminology and exemplifies it into focusing on the devil. 1 Peter 5:8 reads, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
Jesus in John 8:44, calls the religious leaders, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
James the half brother of Jesus writes in James 4:7-8, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
And John the Apostles writes in his first letter, “Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother (1 Jn. 3:7-10).”
Satan and his fallen angels are at work in the world. They are deceivers and liars, and they play off of our flesh to tempt us into following anything other than God. The enemy’s goal is not to make us Satanists, but to keep us away from God. Whether it be one of the many other religions of the world, or a rejection of the supernatural in general, or just someone who is apathetic towards God. Any position other than in the fold of God is the enemy’s goal.
But the enemy knows that their time is short, for as Revelation 20:10 states, “… and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” This is why, as we draw closer to Christ’s return, the demonic will unleash itself more and more, to take as many down as it can.
The final foe is the world. Paul is his spiritual battle call in Ephesians 6:10-12 writes, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” The enemy is in the world. Behind the corruption we see, or the wars that rage. Behind the drug and slave traffickers. Behind the local, state, and nation governments. Behind petty squabbles of neighbors and civil unrest, it is the culmination of the flesh of the individual and the enemy, which create unseen puppeteers guiding this world away from God.
Jesus said this of the world in John 15:18-21 - “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. iIf they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.”
John the Apostle adds to this thought, “Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you (1 Jn. 3:13).”
The world, as a culmination of the work of our flesh and the work of the enemy hates the God who made it and stands in rebellion against its Creator and yet, God has not yet abandon it. The words of Christ state his love, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (Jn. 3:16).” Though the world is in rebellion, God is still working to bring all those who would accept into his eternal life. That they would be in the world but not of it (Jn 17:16).
With the three foes we face understood, let’s briefly talk about the battle. Three are two stages of the battle: the oppression and the possession.
Every single human is under oppression in some way. For the non-believer it’s an unrecognized pressing of the enemy, utilizing the flesh to manipulate as they are being led further away from God. Oppression in the non-believer’s life can come out as them saying, “I don’t want to hear about Jesus,” “I have my own beliefs,” “Everyone has their own thing.” They are like those, who at the end of the Book of Judges states as, “… Everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Jdgs 21:25).”
Oppression unchecked can eventually lead to possession. Possession happens when the life of the oppressed removes itself from the light of Christ. This possessive state can happen to a person, or because of their actions as authority in another’s life, it can happen to those under their care, such as children as can be seen in the boy’s life in Mark 9:14-29. Yet, there is still hope in either case. No one is without hope as long as they still have breath to confess Jesus as Lord.
However, for the believer, possession is off the table, for as the Apostle John states, “… he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 Jn 4:4).” But oppression is still there. There are two types of stances to be in the oppression of the believer. First is the lackadaisical stance. Here we allow our flesh to be fed, while starving the Spirit. The enemy has room to tempt and manipulate. That is a dangerous place to be as it mars our witness and brings shame upon God. When the believer is lackadaisical in the battle against the enemy’s oppression, they are seen as hypocrites. They are more focused on rules, and grace seems to be a foreign concept.
The second stance is where God wants us. John the Apostles writes, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error (1 Jn 4:1-6).”
There is only one Spirit that matters and that’s the Holy Spirit. Any other spirit, that presents itself to us, whether angel or demon, has no place if they try to usurp the position of God’s Spirit. To know the difference, one way is to see if the spirit we are dealing with will confess that Jesus’ came in the flesh and is from God. If a spirit or person cannot proclaim this central truth, they are not from God.
But asking questions isn’t all that we do, we prepare daily for the battle. We do this by following Paul’s words in Ephesians 6:13-20, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.”
We employ the truth of God in the spiritual battle. What God says we must believe, or we will fall to the enemy’s lies. We wear the righteousness of God on our chest, for it is he that covered us and took away our sin. If we think it is our own goodness that brings about our salvation, we become enticed by the enemy to take our eyes off Jesus. We prepare ourselves to share the Gospel with others whenever the opportunity is given to us. If we do not, then the enemy will use that to degrade our faith, and make us think we are unusable for the kingdom. We shield our lives with faith, which trusts God in every circumstance. When we begin to doubt God’s work or his goodness, the enemy uses this wavering to bring doubt, which leads to apathy and discouragement. We cover our mind in the reality of Christ salvation given to us. We stand firm in the assurance that Jesus has saved us, for if we don’t the doubts and questions of, “Am I really saved,” become nagging thoughts that turn us to works and not to grace. Every piece of armor so far is defensive, preparing us for the enemy’s attacks. But the sword of God’s word is our offensive weapon. Just Jesus utilized God’s word against Satan, we use God’s word to deal with every attack of the enemy and counter it. Finally, we pray. Constant communication with our commanding officer is needed to deal with the enemy’s attacks. Both prayer for ourselves and for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
There is one point of caution I want to say here. Too often I will hear Christians say things like, “We rebuke the devil.” Listen to the words of Jude, “But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you (v.1:9).’” As believers, we are under Christ’s authority. If we try to undermine or step outside of that authority and take God’s position upon ourselves, we will find ourselves battle the enemy on our own. The Book of Acts records such a situation, “But the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you (Acts 19:15)?’”
When we engage in spiritual battles, whether it be with our own flesh, satan and his demons, or the world, we are to engage it fully under the authority of Jesus. Because who am I, who are we, without the Lord? So we call upon Jesus to rebuke the flesh, the devils, and the world in his mighty name and by his authority over them!
We are not called to focus on the foes of God, but to recognize that we are in a battle against spiritual forces whose time is winding down. They will continue to get bolder, so we must be ever vigilant. This is where God wants us, fortified in our faith. This is why we, in this ministry, focus on equipping the saints to do the work of God. We do this on Sunday mornings, we do this with our Apologetics class on Wednesdays. We do this by teaching the spiritual disciplines. And the more we press into God, the more we will see and be prepared for the attacks of the spiritual foes.
My challenge for you this week, is to take one aspect per day from the armor of God passage in Ephesians 6:13-20, and seek the Holy Spirit to build you up in that area. Everyday ask God to strengthen you in his truth, his righteousness, preparation of sharing the Gospel, firm in your faith, solid in your salvation, knowledgeable in his word, and steeped in prayer.
Let us be a people who are prepared for the spiritual battle that rages all around us. Amen.