Kingdom of God part 3

You are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Mattawan, Michigan. I just would like to, before even getting started, just say to you, thank you.

This is our third week here at Recast and our last week in this series, and then in a couple weeks you get

Don back. But it's been really, honestly, it's been a pleasure to be here. We felt very, very welcomed.

We've just enjoyed your company. And so I'd just really like to thank you for welcoming our family.

In addition to that, I will make you aware that my family, my wife and I, do campus ministry at Western Michigan University, and we specifically focus on reaching out to international students.

And I left at the welcome table out here a flyer that we drew up just explaining what we do at Western Michigan University.

So if you are interested in taking one of those, please do that. At an appropriate time, either during the welcome time or after the service.

So we would love it if you would take one of those. This morning, we're going to talk about spiritual warfare.

And that's a topic that seems to be interesting to many people that I've talked to. It seems like we're excited about this week.

But I'd like to share with you a verse here, and if you're in a position to look at the screen, in 1

John 5, verse 19, it says, We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.

I want you to think about that statement. The whole world is under the control of the evil one.

I mean, that is an amazing statement, isn't it? Let me ask you a question.

Do you believe that? Most people don't believe that. If you were to say that you thought that the world was under the control of the evil one, in most university classrooms, you would be laughed out of the classroom.

If you were a politician, your political campaign would probably be dead. But yet the Bible teaches that the whole world is under the control of the devil.

That is an amazing statement. But we here in America, we kind of have a naturalistic, materialistic worldview.

What that means is we believe that things are explainable in this world by things that we can see.

So in other words, in our mindset, the world is generally run by economic forces, by people, some of whom are well -intentioned, and some of whom are self -seeking, some of whom are simply misunderstood.

But the Bible teaches us that there's more going on. There is a spiritual dimension here, and there is dark, demonic powers that govern the affairs of this world.

Now what does it mean when it says the whole world is under the control of the evil one?

Well, the world doesn't necessarily mean the mountains, the rivers, the oceans.

It doesn't mean the physical world. When the Bible talks about the world, it means the cosmos in Greek, and that means the comprehensive system of values, of philosophies, of religions, of the cultural structures, the behaviors and beliefs that people in this world hold.

And Satan sits enthroned atop those, and he instructs and directs and perverts those systems of belief.

Satan's goal in this world is to conscript people into his service, to blind people to the truth, and to hinder, stall, and pervert the kingdom of God wherever it is to be found.

Satan does not want you here this morning. He does not want this church to exist this morning. He does not want his word preached this morning.

He wants to destroy people's lives. But standing opposite, there's good news, because standing opposite the demonically controlled kingdoms of this world, there is the kingdom of God.

You know, I shared a graphic two weeks ago of two circles, and how the Bible explains that there is the age that is and the age that is coming, and how the kingdom of God is breaking into this world, and the kingdom of God is staking out claims.

It's bringing life. It's bringing freedom from those who are enslaved by sin.

It's bringing good news to the poor and helpless, and sight for those who are blinded by false teachings. The kingdom of God is bringing release for those who are oppressed by the devil, and Jesus, our

King, is announcing the kindness and favor and invitation of God to all those that would listen.

In 1 John 3, verse 8, it said, The reason the

Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. Praise God that Jesus has come.

He has broken into this world, and he is here to destroy the works of the devil. But I'll tell you what, as the kingdom of God breaks in, stakes out claims, and advances into this world,

Satan does not give ground willingly. And hence, we are here this morning in the midst of a spiritual conflict.

So this morning, as I invite the worship team to come up, I'd just like to tell you, we're going to investigate three questions this morning.

We're going to look at a couple of different passages. We're going to specifically focus on one, but we're going to jump around a little bit. There will be three questions that we're going to examine.

First of all, we're going to look at, how does Satan manage this world?

Second, what does Jesus say about this conflict? And then the final question is, how should we live in view of this conflict?

So that's where we're going this morning. If you would allow me to pray for us, and then we will enter into a time of worship.

Lord Jesus, I thank you that you are here and that you have entered into this world in order to destroy the works of the devil.

Father in heaven, I ask that your kingdom work would be done this morning. Would you be pleased with our worship?

But if there are those who are struggling in one way or another, I just ask that you would give life, that you would give release to those who are in captivity.

Father in heaven, come. Holy Spirit, come. Anoint our worship. Bless this time, and I ask that your kingdom would come this morning.

In Jesus' name, amen. Well, as we enter into this topic, it occurred to me that as you were worshiping this morning, the question might have come up in your mind, based on the verse we looked at earlier, when we say, the whole world is in control of the evil one, it might have come up in your mind, well,

I thought the whole world was in God's control. So how is it a contradiction to say that God is in control of the world, but that the whole world lies in the control of the devil?

Is there a contradiction in the Bible? That's a good question.

In Luke, chapter 4, verses 5 and 6, I'm going to read this verse to you. Satan led Jesus up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

And the devil said to Jesus, I will give you all this domain and its glory, for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever

I wish. Friends, God has allowed Satan dominion over this world.

But make no mistake, God is still in control. He is sovereign. This passed a week ago.

Some friends of ours were having car trouble, and we were blessed with a second car, an old car, and we gave our keys to our friends and allowed him to use the car.

In fact, he still has it. He's been driving it for this past week. I don't know where the car is right now, but it's kind of like that.

The car is still mine, but my friend has authority to take it wherever he wishes right now.

And in the same way, this world, God is sovereign over this world, but in ways that we don't understand, in the mysterious expression of his will, he has allowed

Satan to exercise dominion and authority over this world for the time being. But when

Jesus came into this world, he started the process of taking back what belongs to God the

Father. But you know what?

As I said before, Satan does not surrender his authority willingly.

Hence, there is a clash of kingdoms between the kingdoms of Satan in this world and the kingdom of God that is breaking in.

And this clash of kingdoms, the arena in which this battle is fought is this earthly realm, and we, the children of God, reside exactly at the intersection point between this clash of kingdoms.

So what we're going to do right now is ask the question, if the whole world lies in the power of the evil one, how does the devil manage this world?

I think this is an important question because Paul says, we don't want to be ignorant of the devil's schemes.

So, how does Satan manage this world? We're going to look at about eight or nine verses right now, passages.

We're going to do this quickly, and if you would like to jot down the references, you're welcome to. Anybody that would like, after the service, you are welcome to give me your email address, and I will send you the

PowerPoint, so I don't want you to get flustered trying to find the verses really quickly. Okay, so, let's take a look and answer the question, how does

Satan control this world? First of all, in the book of Esther, in the

Old Testament, the whole book of Esther really is our reference point, but Esther chapter 3, verse 6 specifically, we find that, you know the story, the

Persian king, Xerxes, had an advisor, a man named

Haman, and Haman was an evil man, he bore a grudge against the Jewish people. Now, why?

Because he had a personal thing against Mordecai. Mordecai was in the royal court there, and so Haman was upset with Mordecai, a

Jew, and it says, having learned who Mordecai's people were, the Jews, Haman scorned the idea of killing only

Mordecai. Instead, Haman looked for a way to destroy all of Mordecai's people, the

Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes. So the first way that Satan manages this world is he puts his people in positions of authority.

Where do people like Haman come from? This guy was given a position of authority because the devil elevated him to it, he was an enemy of God.

Now, ultimately we know that that plan was turned back and thwarted, but where do people like that come from?

Satan manages the world by putting people susceptible to his influence in positions of authority.

Take a look with me at Mark chapter 4, verse 15. The second way that Satan manages this world,

Jesus is telling the story here, the parable of the sower. This is a parable designed to explain how different people respond differently to the gospel.

Verse 15, some people are like seed sown along the path where the word is sown.

As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

Have you ever had an evangelistic conversation with someone where you share the gospel?

And then you see that person a week or two later and you have, you follow up with that conversation and it's like the conversation never happened.

It's like it was stolen out of their mind. Some people, when they hear the gospel, they simply don't understand it or they refuse to accept it.

It just goes in one ear and out the other. Satan steals the word from people's hearts and minds.

Acts chapter 13, verses 4 through 12, we're not going to read all of that. I'm just going to share with you the story here.

Paul and Barnabas set off on their first missionary journey. They had just been commissioned by their church in Antioch and sent out.

And first stop was Cyprus. So Paul and Barnabas venture to the island of Cyprus and there they met a local governor, a proconsul whose name,

Sergius Paulus, and it says he was an intelligent man. And he sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God.

Great. What happened next? It says, Elymas, the sorcerer, for that is what his name means, opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.

Again, here's an example of the gospel going forth. We find a person who is receptive to the gospel and all of a sudden pops up this guy who tried to turn the proconsul from the faith.

Now we know that his plan failed. God is more powerful than him. But where do people like this come from?

You know, I've had examples of this. I've seen this. We saw a man on the mission field come to Christ and you know what happens after that?

The family gets upset and then they call in the local religious leader to meet with this guy and turn him away from the faith.

Let's take a look at 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 18. So Satan will do whatever he can to snatch away the gospel or to hinder the preaching of it.

In 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 18, Paul writes,

For we wanted to come to you, certainly I, Paul, did, again and again, but Satan blocked our way.

The devil will do anything he can to thwart and hinder, delay, distract missionary efforts.

You know, I think he is honestly content if we don't speak the gospel.

As long as we stay silent and we stay in our little church building, I think Satan is, okay, he'll call it a draw.

He's more than less happy. But he will do whatever he can to thwart the preaching of the gospel.

I mean, I just got an email this past week from a large missions organization and it was interesting because, you know, normally these organizations send out, you know, great and dramatic stories of thousands of people coming to Christ.

This one said, will you just pray with us? Because the biggest struggle we're facing right now is our missionaries can't get visas.

Where does this kind of stuff come from? People, family members get sick. People can't get visas. Sometimes a missionary goes overseas and then a couple months later there's support team tanks.

I mean, these things happen. Satan will do whatever he can to keep people off the field and keep the gospel from being preached.

2 Timothy 2, verses 25 and 26. 2

Timothy 2, verses 25 and 26. Those who oppose him, he must gently instruct.

He's talking about the Lord's servant, what kind of leader there should be. Those who oppose him, he must gently instruct in the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil who has taken them captive to do his will.

Satan holds people captive to do his will. Now how does he do that?

How does Satan hold somebody captive? Well, the next two verses are going to give us an idea.

In 2 Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 4. One way Satan holds people captive, it says, The God of this age, remember the two ages, the two circles that we talked about?

The God of this age, the devil, 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.

One way the devil oppresses people and holds them in bondage is by blinding their minds.

How does he blind their minds? Through false teaching, through false religions, through false philosophies, through just plain distraction.

There's all different kinds of things that he can use to blind people's mind to the gospel. There's a remarkable verse.

Let's take a look at Luke, chapter 13, verse 16. Jesus is, you know, touring around, preaching the gospel.

He's performing great miracles of healing, and at one of his stops, he meets a woman who had been stooped over.

She had some kind of physical disability where she was stooped over. And then Jesus healed her, and then he says this.

Now, I would have looked for a medical explanation for this sickness. Jesus says this.

Should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for 18 long years, be set free on the

Sabbath day from what bound her? At least in this case, this physical problem was attributable to a demonic influence.

Now, we have to be careful with this, because not all physical illnesses are directly attributable to demonic influence, but in this case it was.

Jesus attributed it to that. Satan holds people in bondage in various ways.

Two more verses. Luke, chapter 22, verse 31. And I really feel like, even by sharing these nine or ten verses, it's just the tip of the iceberg.

I mean, there's much more that we can say. But in Luke, chapter 22, verse 31. This is on the night that Jesus was betrayed.

He's speaking to Simon Peter. And we know Simon Peter was full of confidence, full of kind of youthful bravado.

I'm not going to deny you, all these other guys will. I will stand faithful to you. And Jesus says to him,

Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you, the disciples, as wheat.

And we know what happened. Peter, in his prayerlessness, and the disciples all fled from Jesus that night.

And Peter denied the Lord three times. Satan will do what he can to harass, to intimidate, to destroy the faith of believers.

Lastly, Revelation, chapter 2, verse 10. Let's take a look at Revelation 2, 2 -10.

The angel, to the angel of the church in Smyrna. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer.

I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you. And you will suffer persecution for ten days.

Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life, says our Lord Jesus. The devil throws people in prison.

In fact, it's implied here, be faithful to the point of death. Some of these believers might even have had to suffer martyrdom.

The devil takes people's lives. The devil throws people in prison.

He harasses and tries to destroy the church. One man that we worked with over in the

Middle East, where we were serving, a friend of ours had started a church. The church was vandalized repeatedly, set on fire, and ultimately forced to close down.

Where does this kind of reaction come from? The devil will do whatever he can to throw up roadblocks, to hinder, distract, pervert the church, to stall the kingdom of God.

That's not the last word, though. Because into this dark world comes our

Lord Jesus. And I would like to look now, I would like to invite you to turn with me to Matthew chapter 12, and we're going to look at a passage, verses 22 through 30.

And we're going to ask our second question today. What does Jesus say about this conflict?

How does the ministry of Jesus address this conflict?

So Matthew chapter 12, verses 22 through 30. This is an amazing passage about spiritual warfare.

We're going to go through it slowly, so I will read the first couple verses, stop, and make some comments, and then we will continue on.

So starting in verse 22, Matthew 12, verse 22. So what's going on here?

The Pharisees were enraged with Jesus. Now, what had happened? Some people had brought to Jesus a man who was blind, and he was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him.

Now, why is this remarkable? Because we read in the Bible, and we also see in historical sources, such as the historian

Josephus, that there were Jewish exorcists. Okay, exorcism was not unique to Jesus, and it wasn't uncommon in Jesus' day.

But exorcists in Jesus' day tended to perform strange rituals, drawn -out rituals, in order to exorcise a demon.

Jesus was unique, not in that he exorcised demons, he was unique in how he did it.

Because Jesus came, and with a word, cast out demons. No elaborate ritual.

In fact, in Mark chapter 1, verse 27, it says, All the people were amazed, and they asked each other, What is this, a new teaching, and with authority?

He, Jesus, even gives orders to impure spirits, and they obey him.

With only a word, Jesus delivered people from demonic bondage. The demons feared him.

Now, it's a bit of conjecture, but I think it's not unreasonable to suggest that the

Pharisees themselves brought this blind, mute man to Jesus. I suspect that's what happened.

I suspect that the Pharisees themselves brought this blind, mute man to Jesus. It's kind of a trap. I think he was a hard case, their own exorcists couldn't handle it, and so they brought this man to Jesus, hoping that Jesus would fail.

Their plan backfired, and Jesus healed the man. The crowd started wondering aloud,

Could this be the son of David? Now remember, from the first week I was here, the son of David is a term that refers to the

Jewish Messiah, that great king that would come and lead the Jewish people into the age to come, the age of peace and prosperity and life.

And so the people began wondering out loud, Could Jesus be the Messiah? And the Pharisees were enraged by that.

I find it interesting in this passage, don't you, that the Pharisees, in their opposition to Jesus, never tried to deny his power.

Not one of them said, You know, this is all a big show. Jesus didn't really cast out a demon, it was just kind of trickery.

Oh, demon possession is now explained away by, you know, psychology or whatever.

The Pharisees didn't come up with any attempt to explain away Jesus's power.

What they did is resort to logical absurdity. And they said, This man casts out demons by the power of Satan.

Well, Jesus answers this logical absurdity with three arguments. Let's take a look at these three arguments.

First of all, in verse 25 and 26, the first of the three arguments Jesus uses in response. Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them,

Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.

If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?

So Jesus is simply saying, Now note the worldview here. There are the kingdoms of this world, and the kingdom of God is breaking in.

And he's saying, Jesus is saying, If Satan is divided against himself, if his kingdom is in a state of civil war, how can it stand?

I think Satan is smart enough to know that if his kingdom is in civil war, it cannot repel the assault of the kingdom of God.

It can't repel it anyway, but Satan is not going to tolerate civil war in his kingdom. And Jesus is saying, It's absurd for you to suggest that Satan would be working against himself.

Verse 27, the second of the two arguments. Now this one may be a little bit less intuitive, less easy to understand.

Verse 27, And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out?

So then they will be your judges. What's being said here?

Well, the second thing that Jesus is saying is, Listen. You have exorcists. They drive out demons.

And you attribute their work to the power of God. In a sense, you give your own exorcists the benefit of the doubt.

But I come along and do the same thing, except better, and you don't give me the benefit of the doubt.

This reveals your hard -hearted prejudice against me. Your hypocrisy because you approve of what they do, your own people, and you disapprove of what

I do, even though we're doing the same things. There's no other explanation for that but prejudice.

For this reason, on the day of judgment, in the courtroom of heaven, these

Jewish exorcists are going to testify against you. They are going to be the evidence that God uses to point out your hypocrisy and hard -heartedness.

Because they're going to say on that day, God, the Pharisees believed in us when we cast out demons, and then

Jesus came along and did it better and with more authority than us, but they didn't believe Jesus. And that will be the evidence that will be used against them.

So Jesus is just pointing out the inconsistency in their own practices. You know, and it's really quite convicting testimony, because it shows, again, the malice that the

Pharisees had towards Jesus. Finally, the third reason that Jesus uses to respond to this argument, verse 28,

The other option, the option that the

Pharisees needed to consider, was that the kingdom of God was breaking into this world, driving back the powers of darkness, inch by inch.

If Jesus was doing his work by the power of God, then the kingdom of God was breaking in.

I mean, notice the worldview again communicated. The world is held in bondage to Satan. The world constitutes his kingdom.

It is the realm over which he exercises authority. But when the new order, the lordship of Jesus, is being established over hearts and communities, and even over nations, the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Now, I find it interesting here. This same story is repeated in the book of Luke.

Now, in Luke, the wording is a little bit different. In Matthew, it says,

Now, in Luke, chapter 11, verse 20, it says,

And I want to think about that for a second. Now, which one is true? Which one did

Jesus say? Well, maybe he said them both. But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, by the very spirit of God, then the kingdom has come upon you.

Now, think about that, the finger of God. Where have we heard that phrase before, the finger of God? I think we've heard the finger of God, remember, in the book of Exodus?

Chapter 8, verse 19. Moses was leading the Jewish people out of bondage in Egypt, and there was this power struggle between Moses and the sorcerers that were the magicians in Pharaoh's court, and Pharaoh was stubborn and hard -hearted and refused to let the

Jewish people go, and so there was a series of devastating plagues upon the nation of Egypt, and each one of those plagues was a rebuke to the

Egyptian gods, actually an embarrassment to the Egyptian gods. Now, you remember, as Moses performed the first few miracles by the power of God, the

Egyptian magicians were able to reduplicate some of the miracles.

Now, the Egyptian magicians were not able to stop the plagues, which is what they should have done, but they were able to reduplicate some of them.

Now, what's interesting about that is after the plague of Nats, which is like the second or third plague, the magicians gave up, and they said, we can't compete with this anymore, we cannot do this anymore, this is the finger of God.

That phrase is used, this is the finger of God. And you know what it says after that? It says,

Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to let the people go. And after each plague, it's almost repeated,

Pharaoh hardened his heart, Pharaoh hardened his heart. Sometimes it says, God hardened his heart. But Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to let the

Jewish people go out of Egypt, even though the finger of God was upon them.

Now, why is this important? Well, because immediately after this, Jesus is going to talk about blasphemy against the

Holy Spirit. He's going to talk about the heart, and how out of the overflow of your heart, your mouth speaks.

I think Jesus, in a sense, is saying, just as in the time of Moses there was a clash between the power of God and the power of Satan, which would keep people in bondage in Egypt, when the power of God would set them free, so is there in Jesus' age.

There's a clash between the power of the devil, which would keep people in bondage, and the power of God, which would set them free.

After each plague, Pharaoh hardened his heart. Pharisees, Jesus is saying,

Pharisees, don't be like Pharaoh. He saw the power of God, hardened his heart, and was destroyed.

You're seeing the power of God right now. Do not harden your heart and likewise be destroyed.

Guard yourselves against a Pharaoh -esque hardness of heart that would destroy you.

If I'm performing miracles by the Spirit of God, by the very finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Do not harden your heart like Pharaoh. And here we have an important principle.

I don't want us to miss this. I believe it's implicit in this text, and it becomes explicit in the remainder of the text.

In this just worldwide global clash of kingdoms between God's kingdom and the kingdoms of the devil, nowhere is the battle more fierce and more urgent than in the human heart.

The human heart is the field upon which this contest in large part will be decided. You know, in the following verses,

Jesus talks about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will not be forgiven in this age or in the age to come.

Now, there's not time for us to explore what the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is in depth, but I would like to make a few comments about it.

In essence, I believe this sin, the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, is essentially exactly what

Pharaoh did and it's exactly what the Pharisees were in danger of doing. It's denying the obvious and powerful work of the

Holy Spirit as he brings the kingdom of God. That kind of blasphemy, denying this work and attributing it to the devil, that kind of blasphemy doesn't just pop out of your mouth.

That comes from a hard, callous, fish -shaking, rebellious heart, a heart that says,

I will not believe even if I see. Later in this passage, in verse 34 and 35, it says,

Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The evil man brings evil things out of the evil that is stored up within him.

Friends, this is really important. Satan wants you to harden your heart.

He will work to create disillusionment in your heart with God. He will work to turn you from the faith and to try and get you to harden your heart against God.

But God would have you open your heart and guard your heart. Proverbs, chapter 4, verse 23, one of our favorite verses in the family, it says,

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Above all else, guard your heart, it is the wellspring of life.

God advises us to guard our hearts. Satan would harden our hearts unto our destruction.

Let's move on to verse 30 in the text. And we see a second principle.

So the first principle is, the heart is the field upon which the contest is, in many cases, decided.

Now, spiritual warfare is more than just what's going on in here, but this is a big place where spiritual warfare happens, in our hearts.

The second principle that I would like us to notice is that, look at verse 30.

He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. Friends, in this cosmic battle between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of Jesus breaking into this world, neutrality is not an option.

Everyone must make a choice. You are on one side or the other. You cannot remain neutral forever.

Every person must make a choice. You must state which side you are on. There is no fence given to men upon which he may sit.

You confess Jesus as Lord and are saved, or you harden your heart and you are lost. I know

I'm going out of order a bit here. But verse 29, let's back up one verse. I want to point this out.

Jesus says this. Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man?

Then he can rob his house. Now what does this mean?

The strong man is the devil. The house, the devil's house, is this world.

The devil guards his house. But Jesus enters into the house of the evil one, binds him, and plunders his house.

How does he plunder his house? What is the plunder that Jesus steals from the devil? All of us.

We were under the authority and dominion of the evil one. And God, when we believed in the

Lord Jesus Christ, God transferred us from the kingdom of darkness. In Colossians chapter 1 it says, You were transferred from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of his son.

Jesus, our Lord, has come into this world. He bound the evil one, and he plundered his house.

And we are the plunder. Jesus has taken us from the evil one's house. Praise God, we are now in his house.

Now that passage though, although the meaning is clear, it does raise some questions of application to me.

For example, has Satan already been bound? Maybe during Jesus' temptation in the wilderness or at the cross or when he was resurrected from the dead.

So has Satan already been bound or has he not been bound yet? Good question.

The answer is yes. He has both been bound and will be bound. In Colossians chapter 2 verse 15, it says

Jesus disarmed the powers and authorities. He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Jesus decisively defeated the power of the evil one at the cross.

But, it also says in Revelation chapter 20 that Satan will be bound in the future.

So, Satan has been decisively defeated, but not yet finally defeated.

Jesus won the victory at the cross. That victory will be finally and completely applied when

Jesus returns. We live in this time between the times when the kingdom of God has burst into our world, but it's not completed yet.

Satan has been bound, but not in full yet. And as the kingdom of God breaks in,

Satan does not give ground willingly. He must be driven back inch by inch.

And he will do everything within his dark power to pervert, to stall, to hinder, and to destroy the kingdom of God and the church that the kingdom creates.

So question, how should we respond? Well, from this passage,

I have a question. Should we try and bind the strong man today? Is this our job?

You know, there are some Christians who are serving on the mission field, and they advocate, you know, going into a new region with the gospel and praying for the spirits that govern that city or that area to be bound.

Should we do that or not? I have done that. I have prayed against demonic influences over a certain area.

Is that biblical? Well, you know, I did a little research on this, and people have different opinions. Some people say, no.

And their argument is, we don't see the disciples doing that, and we are not commanded specifically to do that in the

New Testament. Okay, and so that point is taken. Now, others say, yes, we should practice this kind of prayer warfare because, and it is true, they would argue that in the

Bible, demonic influence sometimes does have a geographic kind of center point or domain.

In Daniel chapter 10, we read this. In Revelation 2, verse 3, it says, Pergamum, where Satan has his throne.

You know, I don't know the answer to that question, but it seems to me, my opinion, is that any time we pray, it's a good thing.

Anytime we pray against the powers of darkness and we pray for people to be released from oppression, that's a good thing.

Now, am I telling you there's some demon that controls Kalamazoo and that we need to pray against him? No, I'm not saying that.

I don't know. What I'm saying is that we do need to pray. We need to be vigilant in prayer and understand that this is a spiritual war.

I don't know. Does that make sense? I don't know that I've communicated that point as well as I wanted to, but let's move on. As we move into our last point,

I really wish we had, this requires a whole other message. You know, how should we live in response to this spiritual war that we find ourselves in?

But, we'll take a look here. Ephesians, chapter 6. I would ask you would turn there with me.

We've only got a few minutes left, so we're going to treat this not with the depth that it deserves, but I would like to read this passage.

It's not going to put us over time if I read starting with chapter 6, verse 10 and through verse 19.

Let me read this for us because Paul essentially here is giving us a playbook for how to live in a conflict zone, how to live in a war zone.

He says, verse 10, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

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.

Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.

And after you have done everything to stand, stand firm then. With the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace, in addition to this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and pray in the

Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Pray also for me that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given to me so that I may fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

Verse 10, the first thing that we need to do, and again we're just going to treat this lightly, or, you know, quickly rather.

First thing we need to do is depend on God. You know, when we talk about binding the evil one, the simple truth is none of us can bind the devil.

He's too strong for any of us. Jesus can bind him, but not us. And we need to depend on the power and authority of Jesus Christ in humble, earnest dependence, prayerful dependence upon him every single day, depending on the

Lord. This is the first thing. In verses 14 and verse 16, it talks about the second thing we need to do.

You know, it talks about the belt of truth. It talks about the shield of faith, which faith is always in something, faith in the truth.

It's talking about truth, the importance of believing and walking in the truth.

Now you might be thinking, well, what truth? Well, there are different truths for different situations.

The devil has all kinds of schemes and methods that he uses against people to destroy them, and different truths are needful for different circumstances.

If Satan is condemning you and giving you an overly active, guilty conscience, you might need to be reminded of what

Romans 8 says, that nothing can separate you from the love of Jesus Christ. And specifically, he lists all the things that can't separate us, and one of those things is demons.

Nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. This is one truth we need to meditate on. Another truth we need to meditate on is that God is sovereign.

Have you ever felt like you're in a position of temptation and it's just too much for you? But 1

Corinthians 10, 13 says that God is sovereign even over our temptations.

He gives the devil a long leash, but Satan doesn't have free reign completely.

God only allows us to be tempted as much as we are able. We need to have, maybe most importantly, assurance of our salvation.

In 1 John 5, 19, it says this. We need to be assured of our salvation, that our future is sure.

Perhaps the most important thing we can do in verse 18, take a look at this.

Now I want you to notice the repetitiveness here almost. Pray in the

Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests for all the saints all the time.

Notice a pattern there. Pray in all occasions for all the saints all the time with all kinds of prayers.

Prayer is important. This is how we fight the battle. Finally, it says we need to prepare ourselves with the sandals or the footing which is the gospel of peace.

Pray that whenever I open my mouth words may be given me that I may make known the mystery of the gospel. Friends, the kingdom of God is not on the defensive.

Sometimes I think in America with all that's happened lately we feel kind of like things are bearing down on us and we kind of want to go monastic, you know, and protect ourselves, but the kingdom of God is always on the offensive.

We are on the offensive. You know, when I was in high school I remember a lot of Saturdays I would hang out with my buddies about five or six guys and we'd play the game

Risk. Has anybody played the game Risk? That's what we did. We didn't have girlfriends so this is what we did. And, you know how you win that game?

You win that game by attacking. And so, that's what we need to do, friends.

We need to take the gospel to the nations. We need to take the gospel to our neighbors with prayerfulness, with servant love, with initiative evangelism.

That's how we fight a spiritual battle. I find it interesting that even

Paul, probably the most, the boldest, most confident man aside from Jesus that I know, pleaded for a prayer for boldness.

So if you feel a lack of boldness, Paul felt it too. I work in evangelistic ministry.

I feel it every day. I covet your prayers for our ministry. We all need that. Let's be strong in the

Lord's mighty power and know that, yes, there is a spiritual battle but Jesus, our victor, is for us.

Would you pray with me, please? Lord Jesus, I thank you that you have conquered the devil.

You came into this world for the express purpose of destroying the works of the evil one.

I ask that you would give us courage, courage to live lives of significance, not just to coast through entertaining ourselves to death but just give us to live lives of significance, to recognize the situation that we are in and to live appropriately.

Lord Jesus, wake us up. Lord Jesus, give us your power. Make us bold,

God. Every single one of us, some more than others, but every single one of us, perhaps me more than anyone else, just feels that we need your strength.

We feel a lack of boldness, a lack of courage every day. Father, make us bold. Make us confident in your power.