Spiritual Warfare - The World, The Flesh, and The Devil

What is spiritual warfare today?  What does the world, the flesh, and the devil have to do with spiritual warfare?  How do we fight spiritual warfare?  Are there types of spiritual warfare?  Is Satan real?  The Bible tells us that Satan is very real and that he is out to steal, kill, and destroy in John 10:10.  In this podcast episode and opening message of this series you will learn what spiritual warfare is and how to find victory over Satan and his strategies to rob you of the abundant life that Jesus came to give.

What is Grace Sermons?

Grace-based biblical teaching and sermons with Pastor Jason White. Messages that focus on Life in Christ and practical application as New Covenant believers.

Several years ago before God called me into this lead pastor position, and I was involved in youth ministry, and I was serving as a youth pastor. And one of the things you do as a youth pastor is you take the youth to church camps. And church camp is always a lot of fun. There's kids who come to know Christ, and their relationship is strengthen and all the above. But there was one church camp that I went to where the guest speaker or the preacher for that particular week, his name was Ed. And even though it isn't that difficult of a name to really remember and know, he was talking to everyone on the first night, introducing himself and trying to just think of creative ways to help us remember who he was. And one of the things that he put on the screen was the FedEx logo. And he said, Hey, just to help you remember my name, just think of the FedEx logo, because my name is in the logo, right? It's right after the F before the biggie. So you see Ed right there, and you won't for a bill to forget my name. They said, Oh, by the way, how many of you know that there's an arrow in the FedEx logo? And I went and arrow in the FedEx logo, what are you talking about? And I mean, I'm, I'm staring at that thing, I'm looking at that thing. I'm like going, I don't see it, there is no arrow in that logo. You know, those little pictures that used to be in the mall a long time ago, and they had the little dots, and there wouldn't really see anything. But apparently, if you stared at it long enough, and you like, did cross eyed things, or squinted, or people gave me all kinds of tips and techniques, I never could find the picture that was the hidden in those things. And I couldn't see it in this until he showed us the next slide. And then he outlined it in add the arrow pointing I'm going oh, is right there in front of my face the whole time, right? I mean, how many hundreds of times had I seen this logo? Had I passed one of those FedEx trucks? I never knew it was there. I had no idea. But guess what? Now, every time I see one of those FedEx trucks pass by, and I see the logo, guess what the very first thing that I notice is the arrow right? Now that I've been made aware of it, I can't help. But notice it, right. You've all had similar experiences, whether it was that or through something else where you didn't really see it, you didn't really know it was there. And all of a sudden, you're made aware, and then you can't help but recognize it after that. And sometimes it's fun things like logos and this kind of thing. Sometimes they can be kind of scary situations, things that we didn't know were there that were causing danger, our life might have been in harm. There was one day where I was walking through the house. And I decided, I mean, being the great husband that I am that I would pick up the clothes that were on the floor that I had left there for maybe who knows a couple of days and actually put them in the laundry basket. And when I picked the clothes up, guys, there was a snake underneath that pile of clothes in my house. I'm not a fan. I think there's a reason that Satan came in the form of a serpent in the garden. And we don't need to have them as pets or handle them in any way. Right? And so I dropped the clothes and I kind of really, you know, backed up and took off running and that kind of thing. But I started thinking, how many how many times did I walk past those clothes, and not even realize I didn't even know that that snake was there where my life was potentially in danger, you know? Now, if you ask Natalie, she'll tell you a little bit of a different version of that story. She'll try to convince you that it wasn't that big of a deal that the snake was maybe at most 10 or 12 inches long, and it was more like a worm than it was really a snake but that's not how I remember it. Okay, it was a snake and I'm pretty sure my life was in danger. But listen now that I've been made aware that those things can actually be in my house and underneath things like that. I don't handle dirty clothes the same way that I used to right. And nor would you but this is the thing when we're we don't know stuff. We didn't have experience with it before. But then we're finally made aware of those things. We can be a little more on the lookout for those kinds of things. And that's what I'm hoping to get out of or come get across to you I through this new message series that we're entering into today. Because you see, there are things that are all around us that we may not be aware of that are trying to cause harm and destruction and rob us of the life that Jesus created us to have in and through him. As a matter of fact, the apostle Paul, in Ephesians, chapter six, in verse 12, says this, For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. And so there's this, this invisible war, this invisible battle that kind of takes place, this realm of things that we can't see, it's invisible to us, we don't sometimes even know that it's there, we weren't made aware of that kind of a thing, and that they're, they were active and involved in our lives, there are things going on in our world in our lives right in front of us that, again, we're not really made aware of, and we are oblivious to the harm and the destruction that they may be attempting to cause us or the harm that they're trying to bring it. So my hope is that we'll be able to bring these things out in the light will make you more aware of the things that are going on about what Paul's talking about in this particular verse here. So we'll know what we're up against how to recognize them, how to fight against whatever it is that's going on, and ultimately able to experience the life that Jesus said that He came to bring us. And so I want to start this series today by just helping us see what it is that we're up against in the first place, kind of the idea of knowing our enemy. And a little bit more about what Paul's talking about. And I read from Ephesians six, if you back up a few chapters in look at chapter two. In just the first three verses of chapter two, we see what we're up against, of course, this is in other parts of scripture. But this is one of those places where Paul highlights right here and just three verses, the three things that we see all over scripture that we're kind of up against, when it comes to this kind of thing. Paul starts off in verse one of chapter two. And he says, As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world, and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient, all of us lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh, and following its desires and thoughts like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. Paul highlights in three verses there, the world, the flesh, and the devil, the world, the flesh, and the devil, Paul says in verse two, you use to follow the ways of this world. He also said, and you were following the ruler of the kingdom of the air, which is a reference to Satan, and he mentioned the flesh and its desires and thoughts and those kinds of things. And so I want us to talk about and see these three things that we're up against Satan, the world, and this thing called flesh. And now I don't, I really honestly, now that I'm here, and I'm diving into it, I wish I would have allowed three weeks like one for Satan, one for the world, and one for our flesh. But I'm gonna give you a quick overview of all three today, because we really want to dive the next few weeks into more of kind of Satan's tactics and his use of those things in the world and that kind of thing and not just talk about them in this way. So here we go. Let's talk about Satan. First. Satan has many names in Scripture, he is referred to, you know, Satan, the devil is a matter of fact, he's, he's referenced 35 times and just the New Testament alone, and many of them are in different ways. This isn't an exhaustive list, but let me just share a few of the ways that he's referenced in the New Testament alone. Matthew four, three, the tempter. In other parts of Matthew, Mark and Luke, ruler of demons, he's referred to as the evil one, the father of lies a murderer, the ruler of this world, the tempter, the angel of light, an adversary, a deceiver, and accuser. And we could go on and on and on, right.
But what I think is noticeable in just highlighting some of the names throughout Scripture is you begin to kind of know a little bit more about who he is just from reading the names, their descriptions of who he is and the way that he is actively engaged in this world and in the spiritual realm of things that Paul was referring to a little bit earlier. Some of you may at this point be going, okay, come on, like it's 2022. Like, do we really still believe in the devil? I mean, like, isn't this just a made up kind of fictional character that we see the little caricatures of the horn and the little pitchfork and tail and all of those kinds of things. And in there are a number of things that we could dive into and understand where you're coming from when you think about, okay, we're in an age of technology and science, and we've progressed this far, are we kind of past the idea that these things are really true? And I would say no, as a matter of fact, and we may talk about this a little bit more in depth. You know, next week, a lot of people talk about the Flynn effect and how we're getting smarter and progressing past all of these things that were so primitive, and all of that, and, and really, it's kind of been blown up and been disproved that are really we're just getting dumber, each and every year. I mean, honestly, and but anyway, I think one of the things that we've got to see is what if and let's ask ourselves this question. I mean, the world is obviously not in a good position in place. I mean, we look around and there's harm, and there's destruction. And there's, there's evil. And I don't think any of us doubt, any number of these things. And through all the progress and all the science and all the technology and everything else, I think it's a hard argument that we would say that our world is really getting that much better than it was at one point in time. And so what if Jesus, who showed up on this planet 2000 years ago, and was teaching was able to teach about these kinds of things, and reference him in these ways, because he actually knew more about them than anyone else. As the creator of the world, he understood what was really going on, able to speak with authority about these kinds of things and say, this is really what we're dealing with. And so I think, I referenced that really quickly, and we'll move on just because we do find that that's not even just the position of some people, or a lot of people out in the world. But sometimes even in the church, those of us who have put our faith and trust in Jesus, and are Christians and believers and in their studies and statistics, they go hey, do you believe that there's a devil and a large percentage of Christians will go no, he's not really real, you know, to worry about that kind of thing. That's just some made up kind of a thing yet scripture references him Jesus talks about him nice ways. The Book of Ezekiel, the book of Isaiah kind of even highlight a little bit about his beginnings, where he comes from what he was like, let me just kind of quickly as we talk about him, reference the so you'll see a little bit more about who he was and what happened and what we're up against. Ezekiel chapter 28, verses 12 through 18 says you were referring to, to Satan we're, we're the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God, every precious stone adorn Jew your settings and mountings were made of gold on the day you were created. They were prepared. You were anointed as guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You are on the holy mount of God, you walked among the fiery stones you are blameless in your ways from the day you were created. Till wickedness was found in you through your widespread trade, you were filled with violence and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mouth of God and I expelled you Guardian cherub from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud, on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you were to the earth. I made a spectacle of you before kings, by your many sins and dishonest trade. You have desecrated your sanctuaries. And so we see that first of all, Satan was a created be, he was a spirit being he was an angel. He had unparalleled wisdom, the Scripture said on paralleled beauty. How many of you when you think about Satan, think about unparalleled wisdom, unparalleled beauty. This is the way that he was described. And even after his fall, we see him referenced as an angel of light. We need to be aware of these things. One of the things that we talked about with being unaware right and the FedEx logo and not being aware of those kinds of things and seeing them and seeing them is to understand that Little bit more clearly about who Satan he is when he's odd. It's easy to spot the real evil, the real heinous kind of things and activity in the darkness of certain aspects of, but then you think, Oh Satan sin angel of light. He's, he's beautiful and Naveen. And so we'll talk a lot about part of his tactics is he's the deceiver and he pulls the wool over our eyes kind of thing as we go. But, but what also want you to see is that being a creative being, he doesn't have and share the attributes of God and God alone. He's not omnipresent. He's not omniscient. He's not omnipotent. He will come to an end. We see that in Scripture as well. And so I hope that in seeing that as well, you go, Okay, if I walked around and cowered in fear of this whole kind of thing you go up, well, that doesn't seem like it's that big of a deal, after all. But we can't go to one extreme. Because here's the other thing. I mean, John, Jesus even says, in John 1010, that the thief as a reference to Satan, came to steal, kill, and destroy. Peter says, Be alert, and of sober mind, your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. I've seen those videos of lions, attacking will the beast and grabbing them and choking them out and taking them to the ground and devouring their prey, right. And so even though there's limitations to Satan, and he will come to an end, he is in the business of causing destruction of wanting to devour our lives and rob us of the life that Christ came to give us. And so Peter says, to be alert, to be aware that you have an enemy, an adversary, and who is at work to cause this destruction in your life. And so if you've come to know Christ, and we'll talk again about specifics of this, and later messages, the basic thing to know about who he is in his activity is, if you've come to know him, he knows that he's lost you to Jesus, he knows that you have abundant life and him his goal now is to rob you of experiencing the life that Jesus has already given you, through making you either unaware that you had it, right. Or once you do through putting situations and circumstances and other things to make you feel like you don't really have life when in fact it is that you do and if you don't know Jesus, then he is actively trying to keep you from knowing that Christ loves you, that He died for you that you could have complete forgiveness in him, that you could receive the life that you're running and chasing after every single day in him. As a matter of fact, the apostle Paul in Second Corinthians four four says, the god of this age, another reference to Satan, the god of this age, has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God in again, Satan knows that Jesus created to, he knows that Jesus loves you. He knows that Jesus died for your sins, he knows that you can have life in him. So he is going to work and all his power and strength and might to keep your eyes from uncovering the truth about his love for you the forgiveness that's available the life that's offered to you. And the good news is that Jesus, of course, is greater than Him. So with all of his attempts to blind you from that Jesus can break through the darkness, reveal the truth about who he is, and the love that He has for you. The forgiveness that is available to you the life that is available to you, that you can receive through faith, and be transformed and changed in that very moment. And so I guess I would say to you, if that's you, you're here today, you're watching online today, and you've yet to trust in Jesus haven't really seen it make that your prayer. Jesus of Satan is working to blind me from the truth of who you really are, and I haven't seen it yet. Then open my eyes to see who you really are. As you seek the truth about who he is and the truth about the things of this world.
That brings me to the second thing that Paul referenced or in that Ephesians two passage, he didn't just reference Satan or the Devil again, he he referenced the the world that we followed the ways of this world when scripture mentions world it's the word cosmos. And Cosmos just like our word world can mean kind of different things. It can mean a reference to just the the Earth, the world that God created, it can be a reference to people, John 316, For God so loved the world, right is wrong to people. Or there's a lot of times in the ways that Paul used it in Ephesians. Two, that it's referring to an orderly system that functions apart from God, an orderly system that functions apart from God, another reference to the world is found in first, John 216. John says, for everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, comes not from the Father, but from the world. There are things that come to us that are a part of this world, because sin has entered into it and not just broken the relationship that we have, with a holy in a perfect God, but the creation in the world, as well as not the same as it was, as in perfection and in the garden. And so it's, it's broken. And, as a matter of fact, this system in the world that we're a part of, is ruled by Satan, that Jesus even referred to him in those ways you can look up John 1231 1436 1011, Jesus refers to Satan, as the ruler of this world, we'll talk about the temptation of Jesus later and how Satan offered him the world well, he could offer it to him because he was the ruler of the world. Now understand, this is who he is. He's the ruler of this system, the the ways of the world that Paul says we followed, we were following them because Satan was actively engaged in creating a system and ways of the world that we would fall in line with a lot of different definitions of the world. And the way people try to define it. When it's used this way, one of the ones I like the best that I came across was by John Mark comer, in a book that he wrote called Live no lies, and he defines the world this way. He says the world the Senate, this is a system of ideas, values, morals, practices, and social norms that are integrated into the mainstream, and eventually institutionalized in a culture, corrupted by the twin sins of rebellion against God, in the redefinition of good and evil. This is the system that Satan is working in and through to put ideas in society and create values and morals and practices and social norms and things that we become so familiar with, that we think they are right, we think they are the truth. And Satan, of course, is a master of making them attractive. This is just the way it is. It's the way it works. Right? You can give you a number of examples. And hopefully we'll dive into more throughout the series. Let me just quickly highlight one, the American dream, right, the American dream the the life and pursuit of liberty and happiness, right. And if you you work hard enough, and everyone has an equal opportunity to to achieve their highest aspirations. And we write books, and we create movies and tell the stories of self made men and self made women who went from rags to riches in, in in obscurity to fame, right and vulnerability to power and we celebrate them and go look at how hard they work. Look at all that they achieved. Look how happy they are through everything it is that they have accomplished. And listen. That sounds right. To a lot of us. It sounds good. We're like, Yeah, yeah, that's what I need to do. I need to work harder. I need to make myself into something and create something through my career through the money that I have, or performance or a title that I have and and through that pursuit, I'll achieve the American dream and finally have life and liberty and happiness. And yet so many people we talked to who have achieved the so called American dream, walk around with depression, who are sad and filled with anxiety and fear and have even committed suicide and taken their own lives because listen, Satan knows it's a counterfeit system. God didn't create us to be self made men and women, he didn't create us to find life through power and money and fame and all of these other things. So Satan goes, I know the life's really not found in there. But it provides a little bit of it, it's counterfeit, it's just enough to give you a sense that this is where the life is found. But then he knows that it's not going to ultimately satisfy in them, and then he's just gonna move you to the next kind of thing. And it's a system he's got you hooked, right? This is one example. There's a number of ways through the system, Jesus, I mean, Satan is at work in politics, and sexuality and gender and redefining morality and values. And, and we'll talk about this as we go, but do not make this as simple as Oh, I know what he's talking about. He's talking about it being a right and a left issue. This is a Republican and conservative or a Democrat and a liberal issue right here. That's, that's not what we're talking about at all. Satan is involved in both aspects of this worldly system that we sometimes try to package neatly into these ways. And we'll talk a little bit more about that, and his tactics as we go. So we have Satan, we have the world and this system that sometimes, listen, he's so good at making it so familiar and seems so attractive and right, that even we, as believers who are immersed in it every single day, can't recognize the activity of Satan and the world, and Jesus and His Kingdom. Because we're right there in the middle of it, and it becomes so familiar and right in front of our face, that we even end up trying to or believing and thinking that it's right. And it's true when you can, it's just kind of the way it is. And so we need to be aware of those, we need to find out more about what those things are so that we can see it and know where he's leading, let me quickly touch on the flesh. Ephesians two, Paul and chapter three said all of us who lived among them, at one time, gratified the cravings of our flesh, and followed its desires and thoughts. Flesh is living independently of God relying on our own power, our own strength. Before we become a Christian, it's all we have. All we have is our flesh, living independently from God because of sin in our lives. And so we rely on our flesh and our own power and our own strength to find our own significance, our own fulfillment in our own life, and it's so much a part of us it's what's part of our nature. Romans seven five, Paul says, For when we were in the realm of the flesh, some translations say sin nature, they're the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, they were at work in us, they're a part of us, so that we bore fruit for death, Paul's highlighting the role of the law and difference in the New Covenant, Old Covenant. And we'll talk about that more later. But just for now, you're just noticing when he talks about the realm of the flesh, that there is a realm there's a sinful nature that's tied to, to who we are. And it's such a part of us that it keeps us from the good things of God and seeing him and all that He has for us and Satan through the worldly system, finds ways that stir up our flesh, and get us excited about the life being found in those things away from what it is that their true life really is found in. Satan is always trying to keep us and again blind us from even seeing that we have sin in our lives that we have a sinful nature, because it redefines truth and morality, right.
And then it keeps the blinders on us if we do begin to see it to keep us from seeing the good news. And there is good news. Because when Jesus died on the cross, he actually took care of all three of these things that we've talked about today. And he claims victory over all of them through His death, His substitutionary death, and through His resurrection and ascension. And as Christy mentioned, him sitting in the right hand of the throne of God. So let me show you a couple of things. that happened when you and I say yes to Jesus or when we said yes to Jesus, Romans six, six and seven. Paul says, We know their old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. Listen to this, for the one who has died, has been set free from sin. When you say yes to Jesus, you are no longer enslaved to sin. He takes care of your sin, nature, the old self has died. Paul in Ephesians, two we read all these things you were you were you were you're dealing with the flesh you're doing with the devil, you know, Satan, you get to verse four, he says, But God. And then he talks about through what Jesus accomplished has given us life and already spiritually seated us in the the heavenly realms, he's made us someone new Colossians 113 also tells us, For he, referring to Jesus has rescued us if you've put your faith and trust in Him, this is what's true of you. This is what's already happened. He's rescued us from the dominion of darkness, and brought us already into the Kingdom of the Sun he loves, through His death and resurrection, and through the faith we put in Him, He gives us a new nature, he snatches us out of the hand of Satan, and from the dominion of this world, you may live in this world still, but you are no longer of this world. He has freed you from the entanglement in the worldly system, that that Satan has created from the clutches of his hand, the enemy who had it all over you, the nature, the battle with the sin that you had, that was so entrenched in a part of you are, this is the gospel, this is the good news of Jesus Christ. You and I have victory over Satan, over this world and over our flesh. But again, as I mentioned earlier, that doesn't mean that we just kind of discount it. Right? I mean, Satan knows that I've said before he knows he's lost us to Jesus, he knows that you've been removed from the system, he knows that he doesn't have the grip on you. But But he's still actively involved in number one, trying to keep you from knowing that there are a lot of Christians who don't know that they've even died, and that there have been broken from that sin nature, or already seated in heaven and pulled out of the kingdom of darkness, or that he has his grip on them. And a lot of us who are believers, Satan still got the wool over our eyes, to keep us from knowing that dead is even true about us. And then when we do begin to see it, he's certainly going to be at work to deceive you and lie to you and convince you that the ways of the world are right to to tempt you to follow and get so immersed in the world that you look up. And you can't even recognize what's different about the world and who Jesus is in these ways. And so we again, even though we have victory over Satan have to be aware of his activity still in our lives and what it is that he's trying to do to rob us from experiencing the life that we already have. The big thing I want you to take away from that today, too, is that we can't fall into one of those two extremes either, as we're made aware of Satan in the system of the world and flesh and all of those kinds of things to us. CS Lewis, says this and in his book, The Screwtape Letters, he says there are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall, about the devil's referring to demons and all of the existence of that one is to disbelieve in their existence. That's one extreme. The other is to believe and feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both airs, inhale a materialist or a magician with the same delight. We can't just okay, well, it's no big deal. I just don't even need to worry about that kind of at all. Or think about anything that's going on, or lead us to go Okay, now that I made aware, like, that's all I'm going to think about and all I'm really looking for in our whole focus is going to be on Satan and demons and we walk around in fear as Christians even though we have victory over him. So I caution you about those things. Peter says to be alert. Right? Be alert. Be aware that the devil is prowling around But Paul and his apostles also say to fix your eyes though on Jesus, be alert. Be aware, the devil is going around. But Hebrews 12, fix your eyes on Jesus Colossians three, set your heart on things above Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. This is the call for those of us who are believers. And for those of you who are here today are watching online and yet to say yes to Jesus. And, again, Satan wants to keep you from knowing how much Jesus loves you and from knowing that he can rescue you from your sin and knowing that he can pull you out of the system and the Battle of the things going on in this world. And that he can provide the ultimate life that you are craving and that you've been chasing, and ultimately running on a treadmill over and over and over again, trying to get abundant life that you so desperately want. And he wants to keep the blinders on. But I want you to know, today, I do want you to hear and I've said it already, but I'm gonna say it again that Jesus loves you that He came to die on the cross for your sins so you could be forgiven, so you could be rescued from them. So you can be pulled out of the darkness so that you could have that life in him. And it's available to you today. If you'll just receive His grace, His his gift, by faith in the moment you do. You'll have the forgiveness. You'll be pulled out of the enslavement to the system that you're in, and you will have that life and you can learn how to walk in it each and every single day. Let's pray