We Wrestle Not Against Flesh & Blood / Spiritual Warfare - Part 3

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. Now in Corinth with this rebellion, they had a potential crisis on their hands. And Paul was ready when he went back, he was ready to go in there and just clean house.

And you can imagine that not everyone was going to be happy with that. But in verse six, Paul is warning them because the welfare of a church is a very, very important thing. That's an understatement.

It's very important. So when a church is under attack, especially from false teachers, wolves and sheep's clothing looking to devour the flock. And you know how wolves and sheep's clothing devour the flock?

They start teaching things that aren't right. And then it just has this effect of turning people because people, that's not right. And then the sheep start to devour one another. It starts this division and an argument.

You know, sometimes people, I don't think they realize how critical false teachers, the subject of false prophets are. False prophets lead people to hell. False prophets lead people to hell. At the very least, they harm a person's spiritual walk, cause them to stumble, getting messed up on all sorts of different things.

You remember the compromising church at Pergamos. Jesus said this in Revelation chapter two, thus, you also have those who hold to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. Things which I hate, repent or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

Can you imagine having Jesus speaking to your church and saying, you better repent or else I'm going to come and I'm going to fight against you. Jesus is going to fight against a church? Yeah. That is serious.

When a group of Christians are negatively influenced by false teachers or vain philosophies or godless ideologies, that has a real effect on individual people. Going back to this idea of fighting spiritual war with truth.

Truth is our weapon. The gospel, the word of God, this is our weapon. Why do we preach through the Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse? Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, Wednesday, Thursday.

Whoever is on the radio, Tuesday, Wednesday. It's always verse by verse through the Bible. It's like, don't you people at Morse Corner Church do anything else? It's just the Bible, the Bible, the Bible, the Bible.

That's all we got. We have the Bible and the Spirit. That's all we have. That's all we need. Amen. You know, when there's something in the culture, some issue arises, what do we do? We compare it to what the scripture teaches.

And our lives should be lived in line with what the scripture teaches. Because when it's not, then we open up an opportunity for the devil to attack. We can be spiritually hamstrung. So we should be diligent because this is what we're in, a spiritual battle.

Be diligent because even when you're doing the right things, accusations can still come. I mean, you know this is true. If you believe the Bible, you can be a very nice person and you're doing everything right.

But still be accused of being all sorts of different things. You're a bigot. You're a sexist. You have all these phobias that you didn't even know you had. Thank you so much for telling me about these things.

I didn't even know. You know, you can be the most kind person around. It doesn't matter. The truth does not matter to people who are not interested in playing fair. Paul was a godly man who sacrificed his whole life.

I mean, literally, he ended up sacrificing his life for other people. And what did they say about him? He's walking according to the flesh. And his response in verse 3, for though we walk in the flesh, like I am a human being, I am in the flesh, but we do not war according to the flesh.

One commentator says this about that passage. Although a man, Paul did not fight the spiritual battle for men's souls using human ingenuity, worldly wisdom, or clever methodologies. Such impotent weapons are powerless to free souls from the forces of darkness and bring them to maturity in Christ.

There's a lot of ministries that are out there trying to figure out a better way to do ministry. And you know where this book ends up? Right out the window. Verse 4. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God.

So we're not relying on human strength. We are relying, imagine this, we're relying on God. We're relying on him and his spirit, his power. So the weapons of our warfare are mighty in God for what? The pulling down of strongholds.

Now a stronghold can either refer to, literally can refer to a fortress or a castle. A place where one seeks refuge. And they're seeking refuge because they're relying on this thing. Obviously he's not referring to literal castles or fortresses, but it's something that a person relies on.

Something that a person depends on. They find safety in this thing, whatever it is. Those living in darkness in the world, they have their strongholds. What are they? Ideologies? World views? They find security in these things.

People put their faith and trust in science, government, political parties, and movements, and causes. Where they put their time and their energy and their money and their effort. And many of these things are directly at odds with what the scripture teaches.

So here's what happens. Their fortress, their stronghold ends up becoming their tomb. And they're locked inside of it. Because it is that that has kept them away from Christ and the gospel. You know there's a million roads to hell, but only one to heaven?

John 14, verse 6, Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No man comes to the Father except through me. So whatever people are following after, whatever they are trusting in, our job as believers fighting this spiritual battle, we are called to do what?

Look at verse 5. We are to be casting down arguments. I love casting down a good argument. Casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Bringing every thought, not just a few thoughts, not just a thought or two that we know.

Every thought. Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. This is the objective. These are your marching orders. So let me just give a brief example or two. When the argument comes up that, hey, actually mankind evolved from monkeys and chimpanzees.

And there's no purpose to life. There's no meaning to any of it. We respond with Genesis 1, 27, which says, God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. And male and female, he created them.

Male and female is fluid. There are other strongholds that you don't even think that they really believe some of the things that they say sometimes. Here's what happens. They will say something. This is their stronghold.

This is what people are depending on. And even they know that it's not true. But they pretend that it is. You evolved from a monkey. Do they believe? Okay. Some people believe that. But they go along with this lie.

Even the things that they repeat, they don't even believe. They're not going to tell you that. But they know that when they say this, Christians especially, but normal people will say, wait, that's not right.

That's not true. And then it gives them an opportunity to go after you. But it doesn't matter what the truth is. It's whatever fits the agenda. Whatever helps this fortress, this stronghold, this godless ideology that is trying to break down the walls of Christianity.

It has been said that certain types of propaganda, the goal is not to inform. The goal is not even to persuade. The goal is to humiliate. They intentionally tell you things knowing that they are not true.

They know that you know it's not true. They know that you know that they know that it's not true. But they do it to make you repeat the lie. That way, when you're compromised and you're repeating the lie, now you're easy to control.

I'm almost done. Just one piece of advice. So to those who have an ear, let them hear. Especially these days, we need to be careful what we say and who we're saying it to. We need to pick our battles.

Was the apostle Paul willing to die for Christ's sake? Yes. Was he willing to give his life for some political movement against Rome? No, he wasn't. Paul had a lot of zeal, but he was not a zealot. Paul could have said some things about Caesar.

Paul was getting arrested enough as it is. He could have preached some things about Caesar, and he probably would have ended up like John the Baptist. And I'm not saying that what John the Baptist did was wrong.

But when you go down that road, you know what to expect. So Paul wasn't preaching those things against Caesar that he could have. Instead, Paul ended up in prison in Rome. And he says, you know, the people of Caesar's household greet you.

He was getting Caesar's either family members or people working in Caesar's house saved. Because he was wise. Paul was wise as a serpent, but he was harmless as a dove. You need to be wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove.

So in conclusion, here's the simple thing. Be faithful. Keep your eyes on the Lord. Keep your eyes on his truth, on where he has put you. Focus on the things that you can control. Not everything else out there that you have no say in.

Fight the spiritual battle. And you know what? Everybody can do their part. When you worship with the church and Christ is praised in the house of God, that's a victory. That's a victory. Why? Because Satan doesn't want you to do that.

Satan wants you at home. Satan doesn't want you in the house of God praising God on Sunday morning. Can you imagine if next Sunday every professing Christian on earth was in the house of God, spirit-filled, praising the Lord?

Can you imagine that? We'd have the devil on the run. You say, yeah, but realistically that's not going to happen. And you're probably right. But you can do what you can do. So do your part. Stay in the fight.

Let's close in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word and the clarity of it. Lord, no matter what it is, and we can all do something. If someone is a father, they can be a good father and not provoke their children to wrath.

They can love their wife. Wives can respect their husbands. Children can honor their father and mother. Deacons can serve. Teachers can teach. Evangelists can preach. These are all good works when done in the truth and put into action.

Lord, these are the weapons of our warfare. Help us to understand the battle around us. Give us discernment. Lord, help us to have the right words to say in each situation. May we speak by the Holy Spirit, knowing the right things to say to certain people.

And Lord, we know that everybody needs the truth. So help us to be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within us. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Coronet Church.

If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscoronetchurch .com. And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.

Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.