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I think we're on week 120. I know we started it a little over three years ago. I want to start this morning... Is it funny that we're on week 120?
Sorry.
I know. Y 'all can't let me give Pastor Jacob a hard time when he takes a few weeks on something when we've taken 120 weeks on Ephesians. I have an important question I want to ask you, though, this morning as we get started.
Is Bigfoot real?
You know, we live in a world... People make a lot of money on, like, that, right? Like, Bigfoot shows, UFOs, aliens. People give their whole lives to, like, studying this kind of weird phenomenon. And honestly, I'm just going to tell you.
Let me make this clear. You can get really weird really fast if you start Googling all that stuff. But maybe you think I'm going to, like, flirt with weirdness this morning. Maybe I am a little bit, but I want you to think about something.
Before we dismiss all of those things, just outright dismiss all of those things, I actually think there may be a bit of connection with those things in our text today in Ephesians 6. What Paul shows us in Ephesians 6...
Now, listen, you need to believe this. We live in a world today that is not merely material. We live in a universe today. All the things you can see, yes. But we also live in a universe that is not only natural.
There is a realm of the supernatural. Now, listen, I'm not saying... Let me say this clearly. I'm not saying that everything everyone sees or someone sees that's weird is automatically a supernatural occurrence of angels or demons.
In fact, honestly, I'm a bit of a skeptic when it comes to these things. When people start talking about that stuff, when people start saying that they saw this or that, most of the time I'm like, I dismiss it.
However, I want to be clear. The world that you see today is not all there is. And there are so many things that happen in the world today that cannot be explained away by simply a materialistic worldview.
So the sermon title today is Angels Among Us. It has nothing to do with the Alabama song. But it's important to consider from Ephesians 6 .12. Next week, Pastor Jacob will be preaching. And then the next week, Lord willing, I'll finish October 22, Ephesians 6 .12.
Let's take up and read this verse together. Will you stand with me in honor of reading God's Word? Paul says, 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.
Father, we want to understand this text. We pray the Spirit would give divine illumination, help us to understand what it is that we're to get out of this. Let us not dismiss the fact that there is an unseen reality in the world today of both angels and demons.
Help us to understand this. Equip your church. May Christ be exalted. May you redeem the lost. May you encourage the saints. May you bind up the broken hearted. May you give courage to the weak. May you bring down the loftiness of the proud.
May the Gospel be heralded. We pray it all in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated. Last Sunday night I gave an overview on the mission of the church when we were talking about Mexico. And in that we looked at Revelation 12 and we saw Satan's hatred of the church and his fight against her to destroy her.
And what I want to do this morning and what I've really been trying to do the last couple of weeks.
Is church.
I want to expand your minds as to the fact that the world that we live in is vastly bigger than most people think about. We have all that we see and know in the visible world. But beyond the visible world the text shows us there is a supernatural realm the heavenly places verse 12 says that is absolutely as real as the things that we can see and touch in here.
Now there is danger in superstition. And there is danger in focusing so much on the spiritual realm that you sort of just live in fear. Or you even disengage from the natural world. However, there is another danger.
And the other danger I think is this that we don't focus on the spiritual realm at all we forget that it exists altogether. And I think both of these errors are serious. One, focusing on it too much. Two, forgetting about it altogether.
Because Paul shows us this is a reality. He shows the church at Ephesus this is a reality. For we do not wrestle verse 12 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.
So the first thing I want to do this morning is to consider number one the reality of our present state. Number one.
The reality.
Of our present state.
Today.
The church is 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.
Friends, this is a text that shows us the church is at war. We're not at war in a physical war. We're not fighting against the physical powers of this world.
Though sometimes.
And we'll talk about this.
Sometimes.
Demonic forces are certainly using physical forces but our fight is against a greater enemy. We're in a day of warfare. Ecclesiastes 3 .8 says that there is a time for war and a time for peace. Well in the Christian life both of these realities are true at the same time.
So if you are in Christ this morning if you're a Christian if you've been regenerated if you have a new heart you've believed on Christ.
If you're in Christ.
You have peace with God. Those outside of Christ are always in a state of war not at war with the evil one.
But they're at enmity.
The Bible says with God. But Christ has made peace by the blood of His cross. God has poured out His wrath upon His Son so that those who put their faith in Jesus can be reconciled to God.
And have peace with God.
But this peace with God actually results in an increased warfare.
With the world.
With our flesh and yes with the devil and his demons. Today is a day of warfare. Look at the text. The text says we wrestle. Maybe some of your translations use the word struggle. The idea is we fight.
We wrestle.
We struggle not against flesh and blood but against the text says the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Today is a day of warfare. Here's another reality of our present state. Not only is our present state a time of warfare.
Secondly.
It's a universal warfare among all believers.
Look at verse 12. I love the Bible.
There's a little word here.
In verse 12 that sort of is important and brings us all in to something. Look at verse 12. He says for we. Now what is important about that? What is important about the word we is. Paul is saying it's not just you.
Church at Ephesus.
It's not just the church at Ephesus that is fighting against wrestling against the forces of evil in the heavenly places. It's not just you church at Ephesus.
It's we.
Paul includes what?
Himself in this fight.
In other words you need to understand.
That this wrestling.
Against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. It's not just the church at Ephesus that has to deal with this and 2 ,000 years later we're like boy glad that's over. Glad that fight's over.
I'm glad we don't have to deal with that today. No Paul says we meaning himself and the church at Ephesus and I would extend to all Christians. We struggle. Spiritual warfare is not just for the Ephesians.
It's for Paul and it's for every true church in the history of the world. Those who are in a state of grace are also in a state of war. Third reality. This wrestling is a continued wrestling. So get the sense of the text.
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 sense here is present active.
That is the idea is that this wrestling.
Is not a one time wrestle sometime in the past. It's a continued wrestling between the church and our enemies.
There are.
Listen to me there are no days off.
The devil doesn't sleep.
The fallen angels.
Don't sleep.
You can't wake up tomorrow and say.
You know what.
I think I'm going to declare a holiday. No spiritual wrestling today.
No friends it doesn't happen.
This is a continued battle. And since it is a spiritual battle Paul exhorts the church to take up her spiritual armor. He's not telling the church. Go out and shoot a gun and figure out how to how to shoot better so you can be ready.
For this battle.
No no no. This is a spiritual battle.
And we are to put on spiritual armor. And we are not to lose focus of the greater enemy.
If you're not careful you can seek to make the great enemies.
Flesh and blood. You can say I don't like our president and I'm in that camp. He's the enemy.
No no. There's an enemy there is an enemy.
That stands above flesh and blood.
Right? There is an enemy.
Or I should say.
Stands behind.
Flesh and blood.
If you're not careful.
You can say they don't vote like me they're my enemy. They do this they're my enemy.
They look like this.
They're my enemy.
No no no.
Don't lose focus here of what Paul is saying. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood. There's an enemy behind that. The rulers the authorities the cosmic powers over this present darkness the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Christ is ruling his universe right now. He's ruling his universe in the very face of his enemies. We don't reach a golden age in this age in this life where we don't have enemies anymore as a church.
I think one of the reasons is because God uses spiritual warfare to call the church to trust him all the more. Like I was wrestling with this text and I was thinking.
God why does.
Spiritual warfare exist? Like God could just say the word and it's over. The devil is not equal.
With God.
God could say the word and he doesn't exist anymore. The demons don't exist anymore.
So why is there.
Continued spiritual warfare in the church today? I think there's multiple reasons but one I would say it keeps the church humble and it keeps the church dependent. It keeps us humble and not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought and it keeps us dependent on a focus on our dependence on God.
To not trust ourself to not trust in physical armor to not think that physical nations can usher in the return of Christ that this is a spiritual battle and we're called to spiritual arms.
And let me offer.
This encouragement to you. These wrestlers in verse 12 are warriors of grace. You must lean on Christ you must rest in Christ you must put on Christ and this is all of grace. Listen if you say to me.
Brother Quatro.
It just seems to me I'm always wrestling. I'm always fighting sin. I'm always fighting the flesh and the devil. I can never seem to get to a state where I'm not wrestling. Well one of the things I want to do is say Amen and encourage you because it's the wrestlers.
In this life.
Who are the grace receivers.
Who are the warriors.
Of grace because.
Our existence is always one of wrestling.
The Christian life.
Is a state of continual wrestling.
If you're not wrestling. If you are not wrestling.
There is a problem. Those who have checked a box. Those who have walked an aisle. Those who have repeated a prayer.
And then they've returned.
To the idolatry.
Of this world.
They're never fighting sin. They're never fighting.
The flesh, the world there's never spiritual.
Fighting that they.
Have to deal with that's a problem because it indicates that you're unconverted. But those who are wrestling are those who have received grace because it's a constant state of fighting. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against these spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Next our observation about the reality of our present state. It is one of darkness. Did you notice.
What it says?
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the authorities listen to this against the cosmic powers.
Over this.
Present.
Darkness.
We live well I believe that we live and I'm grateful for and this is no offense to anyone here who may have derived from another country. I won't say any names but I believe we live in the greatest country on earth.
I'm so grateful that we live in America but listen to me don't miss this do not miss this. This is a dark place. It seems to grow darker by the day and the church is to be a city on a hill. Providence Baptist Church is to be a refuge of light among the darkness of Perry County.
We were at the Goat Fist yesterday passing out tracts preaching the gospel. There was darkness there.
You know there are people.
Who wear around shirts that kind of like brag about being a witch or whatever. Like you think oh people don't do that. Yes they do. There's darkness in our world today. There's the darkness of homosexuality or other forms of idolatry whatever the case may be.
This is a dark world. We refer to Satan sometimes as the prince of darkness. Much I could say that I've already covered in the last two weeks but just a reminder that the working of the enemy is evil.
The text says we wrestle against the spiritual forces. Look there.
Of what?
Of evil. Not morally neutral but the spiritual forces of evil. There is real evil in the world today. And it's perpetuated.
By men. It is influenced.
By demonic activity. Notice if you have this weekend some of you are so busy with the Goat Fist and maybe you're watching football or your kids are playing. Maybe you didn't notice that there was terrible events happening in the Middle East.
Wicked events.
Don't miss.
That there are.
Spiritual forces of evil standing behind the evil in the world today. There is evil. In fact it's only.
By God's mercy.
That this world is actually not darker than it is. There is real darkness. There is real evil. So listen to me church. The armor that the church puts on it's like imagine darkness and it is glows in the dark, right?
It's light. It's armor of light.
We shine.
When we put on the armor of God we are shining light.
Into the darkness. We are bringing hope into a world of ruin and rebellion. And let me be very explicit here.
That hope.
Is the gospel of Christ.
The darkness of the world today is nothing compared.
To the outer darkness.
Of the lake of fire.
Where souls who reject God and fallen angels.
And Satan.
They will go for all eternity. The time I want to say for playing around is at an end. We cannot entertain.
Or coddle sinners.
As they slip off into hell.
We cannot think.
I'll just give you.
A cold cup of water.
And send you on.
And everything's okay.
No.
We are to shine the light.
Of the gospel. Today is not the day for waffling. We need not weak-willed.
Spineless men but men who know the truth and men who will stand. And women. And to put on this armor. It is the church's job to take the gospel of light to this dark world because it's only the gospel it's only the righteous life the substitutionary death and the victorious resurrection of Christ that is the hope of sinners.
Jesus alone.
Is your hope. And if you're not trusting Him today you actually are part of the darkness of this age. And what you must do even before we continue is to repent of your sins and believe the gospel. So this is point one of the sermon.
The reality of our present state. Now secondly the nature of the unseen world. The nature of the unseen world. Now the goal in these sermons is to get us to think about the existence of spiritual warfare.
To help us understand that the church today is the church militant.
We are at war.
And we are to put on the armor of Christ and we must stand. And so the text says put on the I'm going to start back in verse 11 put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand. We need a standing church not a waffling church.
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.
Paul says here the focal point of our battle which we've already addressed is not flesh and blood but the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. We must realize who our true and great enemy is.
Calvin says it this way Paul lays a formidable enemy in front of us not to overwhelm us with fear but to sharpen our diligence and earnestness. If we neglect our enemy he does his best to oppress us with laziness and reduce us to fear so that we are defeated before we begin.
Do not neglect our enemy. Let me give you this analogy. Is there a difference in the way that you would hunt a deer versus the way that you would hunt a jaguar? So if you're going to go hunt a deer maybe this is different.
I've never went deer hunting and been afraid that a deer might assault me. Like man I better get way high in this tree. What if that buck climbs the tree and gets me?
I'm the hunter.
They are the prey. But if I were to hunt say a jaguar I don't know if that's even legal so this is just an analogy just an illustration. But if I were to hunt a jaguar I'm not going to be prepared to hunt a jaguar in the same way that I'm going to hunt a deer.
Why? Because I'm going to understand what I'm up against.
If I'm not careful.
I won't be the hunter.
But what?
I'll be the prey.
Right? If I'm not careful.
He will consume me instead of me.
Triumphing over him.
So I need to understand who my enemy is and that's what Paul is trying to show the church.
You don't go to sleep. Don't turn a blind eye here.
Don't neglect this reality.
There is a great enemy.
Against the church. Keep alert. Now I want to do something a little bit different in this point. I want to talk about all the spiritual forces if I can in the heavenly places. Now Paul says in verse 12 he's talking about the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places but I want to talk about for a moment some biblical thoughts about the other side as well.
So let me put it to you this way. The Bible is clear.
That there are not only demons.
Operating in the world today but angels too. So by heavenly places I take Paul to mean here the unseen spiritual realm. So there is an unseen world as it were that we are not privy to. We don't access where angels and demons operate.
We shouldn't desire to access. There's not even a world that we can fully wrap.
Our minds around.
If you tell me today oh I access that realm.
I love that realm.
I would account to you.
Stop.
This is not something that we're supposed to access or even I would say can. But it is a reality. It has been revealed to us in the scriptures. And what happens in that realm affects the happenings in this realm.
So much so that Paul calls it to our attention. That we actually are wrestling against the second half of the verse or the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. So a few points here. The first thing I want to talk about let me just talk about angels in general.
I've been tired of talking about Satan and demons. So let me just talk about angels in general. Our text doesn't mention spiritual forces of good in the heavenly places. But I don't think it's out of bounds here to just mention.
There are spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. There's also spiritual forces of good in the heavenly places. Often we call these spiritual beings a general term we use is angels. Let me give you a few general truths about angels.
First, they are created. God made angels. Angels didn't just exist. God made them. God created them. Secondly, they're spiritual. What I mean by that is they don't have a body. And they have a concept of movement that is different than the way that we move in a body.
They're able to even move between the spiritual realm and the natural realm in ways that we cannot. Thirdly, they are moral. And what I mean by that is there are good angels and there are evil angels.
Our text explicitly puts a moral term here and references evil. The spiritual forces of evil. So they're created, spiritual, moral. Fourthly, personal. Here's what I mean by that. When we talk about the spiritual forces of evil, we're not talking about like Star Wars and The Force.
We're talking about real personal beings. Beings that even have names. We talk about the devil. We talk about spiritual forces of good. We talk about like Michael, Gabriel. These are beings. Also, there seems to be an order to the angels.
So we could talk about Cherubim and Seraphim and archangels, all that. But also our text here seems to indicate the same is true for fallen angels, demons and fallen angels. Same thing. So verse 12, for we do not wrestle against the flesh and blood, but look, it almost seems to be sort of a hierarchy maybe.
The rulers against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. So angels are created, spiritual, moral, personal.
Fifthly, there are elect and non-elect angels. Oh, come on, really?
Yes.
Turn to 1 Timothy. Everyone please in your Bibles turn to 1 Timothy chapter 5. 1 Timothy chapter 5. Just a quick reference here. 1 Timothy chapter 5 and verse 21. Paul says, In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels.
Okay? What are the elect angels? Well, in the past there was a rebellion against God by the angels. By part of the angels. This is something that God allowed to happen in His own wisdom. Some of the angels He preserved to not rebel, right?
Others He allowed to rebel. And so you have elect angels and you have non-elect angels. You have good, unfallen angels and you have evil, fallen angels or demons. Let me mention one more truth here. They are intelligent.
This goes for both good angels and evil angels. So, for example, I'll turn to James. I think I've talked about this maybe in Sunday school. Sometime recently I talked about this. I think it was in Sunday school.
In James chapter 2 in verse 19. The text says, You believe that God is one, you do well. Even the demons believe and shudder. In other words, the intelligence of the most evil demon in a sense exceeds the smartest atheist who denies God.
The demons know that God exists. They know the patterns of mankind. There's lots of information that they process but they use it all for evil. And I mention this to say that the spiritual forces of evil should not be underestimated.
So, there's some truths about what angels are. I'm going to reinforce this. So, they're created, spiritual, moral, personal, elect and non-elect and intelligent. Let me reinforce this just for a moment.
A little bit of repeat here. But let me tell you some things they are not. So, because they are created,.
I'll just go through this quick.
They're not eternal. That is, they haven't always existed. They will now always exist but they have a created beginning. Secondly, important to remember, they are not, angels are not image bearers. They were not made in the image of God.
Only humanity was. Thirdly, they are not redeemable. The fallen angels have been left to ruin and misery and one day will spend eternity in the lake of fire. Fourth, they are not to be worshipped. We do not study angels to be in awe of angels.
Any angel that you think about.
Or you study,.
The awe should focus on the God who made them. So, we're in awe of God. Now, we ask this question. We think about angels, good angels, fallen angels, all that kind of stuff. We ask a question or one question I guess we may ask that I'm asking.
Okay, what do angels do? Well, when it comes to good angels, I'll speak on them first. We see a variety of things. The word angel, by the way, means what? It just means messenger. The good angels are messengers of who?
You can respond to this. The good angels are messengers of who?
God.
They are messengers of God. Now, does the number 78 mean anything to you? You knew this was coming. That's days till Christmas. You knew this was coming, right?
You know what I'm...
If I'm going to talk about angels being messengers of God, you know I'm going to take this opportunity, right? Where's one of the places that we run to when we think about angels as messengers of God?
Well, it's not the only place, but one of the places we run to is what?
The incarnation, right? Celebrate the incarnation, amen, right?
October, I love October. It's a great month to put up your Christmas tree. Just think about that. You can pray about that. But angels are messengers of God.
They announce the incarnation, right?
They announce the coming of the Messiah to Zechariah, right? Like they talk when prophesied about John, or they announce to Mary, or they announce to the shepherds, and so we sing angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o 'er the plains and the mountains in reply, echoing their joyous strains.
And I know that some people are like, well, it never says that the angels were singing at the birth of Christ. True, it doesn't say that, but if you read the Psalms, there are passages that we see the angels are singers, right?
So I do imagine that the angels were singing in joy at the birth of Christ. And by the way, I will say this. I'm not sure the common drawings of Christmas angels get it right. The shepherds were afraid.
I think that we should think of angels more like heavenly warriors than cute little bathroom soap dispensers. I'm not afraid of your soap dispenser, but I would be afraid if I were to see an angel. Yahweh Tzava 'ot is the Hebrew term Lord of Hosts.
And the idea of hosts there is the idea of armies. God is the God of armies. What armies? Angels. Angels are warriors. They're messengers of God. Hebrews 1 .14, though, calls them, Hebrews 1 .14, if you want to look it up later, ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation.
Now think about that for just a moment. In a mysterious way, angels are ministering spirits.
Sent out to serve.
For the sake of those who are to inherit salvation. In a mysterious way, angels serve the church.
Wow.
Now people talk about guardian angels. I kind of like what Calvin says about it better. He says,.
We ought to hold as a fact.
That the care of each one of us is not the task of one angel only, but all with one consent watch over our salvation. This is an encouragement to me. Like, do I have a guardian angel? I don't know. But I could say it this way.
I know for sure that you have guardian angels,.
Right,.
If you're a believer. Because they're sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation. But notice something, all that's an encouragement, and all that's true, but notice something in our text.
Paul says in verse 11, Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. So notice something that Paul does not do. Paul does not say to you, Hey, don't worry about spiritual battles.
You've got angels serving the church. The good angels have it taken care of. You just kind of need to know this is going on, but just go about your business. That's not what he says. Instead, he calls the church to fight.
He calls the church to put our armor on. But I still think it's a bit comforting to realize that God has not left the church without allies, if you will, even if they are unseen, even if we don't realize all it is that they are doing.
I still think, to me, it's an encouraging thought. Thomas Watson says it this way, The highest angels take care of the lowest saints. Now, something else to consider. In fact, turn to Hebrews 12. Turn there for a second.
When we gather with the church, here is something I bet, I'm just going to venture to guess this. 90%, Hebrews 12, 90 or more of you did not think about this reality when you walked in today. Too often, I'm just going to be honest, and I've been there before as well, too often we walk into this place, we just had an argument with our spouse, we just got upset with our kids, we're frustrated about work tomorrow, we're frustrated about the check engine light that came on in the car.
I've been there with all of those things, and we walk in here, and we sit down, and we go through the motions, and we don't realize what it is we're doing. Now, look at Hebrews 12. And look at verse 22.
Hebrews 12, verse 22. But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Listen to this church. Every time the church gathers, every time we come together as an assembly, it is like a repeated declaration of war on the spiritual forces of evil and darkness, because we gather to celebrate God and what He has done in Christ, and what is happening as we gather together is we are gathering in one mysterious, it blows my mind, I don't understand it all,.
But we're gathering in the midst of angels who are gathered to worship around the throne, and even in the saints gone on, the spirits of the righteous, those who've gone on before us, like when we gather, the angels are gathered too, and we're worshiping God,.
Not just right here in Perryville,.
But there's a cosmic aspect to this.
What a glory, what a reality. What a wonderful God.
It's beyond our comprehension. But I'm imploring the church today, you and I, we must have a bigger view of the universe than we have today. God is being glorified this morning, both by the seen world and the unseen world.
Isn't He worthy? So much more I could say about angels shutting the mouths of lions in Daniel 6, feeding Elijah in 1 Kings 19, worshiping around the throne, the seraphim in Isaiah's vision in Isaiah 6, ministering to Jesus.
The angels come and minister to Jesus. Did you know that? In Matthew 4, after His temptation in the wilderness. So much more that we could say, but I'm just trying to say that today we live in a rationalistic age.
We want to try to explain away everything by a materialistic worldview. We leave no room today for the supernatural, and I'm telling you, this is wrong. On the other side, some have dove too far into the supernatural.
They play a dangerous and wicked game, doing things like Ouija boards or witchcraft or just foolishness, delving into things they should not. But our text calls us to remember that the world that we live in is much bigger than we often think about.
Now, I need to mention this because I've only mentioned good angels. So back to the text. The text doesn't mention good angels. The text talks about the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
So in one sense, I could just say this. Everything I said about the good angels and what they're doing, the opposite is true for the fallen angels. Good angels serve the church. Fallen angels attack the church.
Good angels honor God. Fallen angels hate God. Good angels rejoice. Remember Luke 15? Have you ever thought about that? The angels in heaven rejoice when one sinner repents. Fallen angels rage. I think it's also clear as well that even though our primary foe is not flesh and blood, oftentimes, and we're going to talk about this in a couple weeks, oftentimes, demons do use flesh and blood to attack the church.
They use wicked governments and regimes. I almost mispronounced it. They use false churches like Rome. They use false teachers like Joel Osteen, Beth Moore, Joyce Meyer, whatever. But Paul's focus here is to draw our minds out of what we can merely see and to help us understand the battle that we're part of is much larger than we often acknowledge.
But listen, the point of the passage here is not to drive us to fear. It's not to drive us to paralysis. Rather, it's to drive us to Christ. It's to drive us to action. You need to be reminded what Colossians 2 .15 says.
God disarmed the rulers and authorities, same language here, and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in Christ. Listen to me, believer. The spiritual forces of evil, they can't take away your salvation.
All they can do is accuse you of the things that have already been dealt with.
On the cross.
And when you face the terrors and accusations of the enemy, what you need to do is not say, well, I'm just going to cast out the devil.
I'll stand over there. No, no. What you need to do is run again to Jesus.
And then you'll find that what Jesus has for you, again, laying at your feet, is the armor of God. And He says to you in His Word, take it up again and put it on. Do not take lightly the battle that is before us.
The reality of the unseen world is a call to put our armor on and to not take it off and to realize the great evil today conspiring against the church. Okay, I'm going to say this, and then I'm going to close.
Today, we celebrate both ordinances that Christ has given to the church. The ordinance of baptism. And tonight, the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. I want to be careful with this analogy. It can go awry here, but listen to me.
Have you ever seen someone taunt during sports? Hey, some of you young guys, and even girls maybe. I've seen y 'all taunt during sports. Shouldn't do it. But have you ever seen someone dunk a basketball and they turn to the opposing bench and they dunk it and they're like, oh, you know.
Or you've seen like a big hit in football, the linebacker comes up, smokes the quarterback, the running back, he stands up, oh, you know, taunting him. I hesitate to use the word taunt because it carries with it negative connotation and it may make it appear that I'm saying we're playing a game and we're totally not doing that.
But will you just indulge the analogy for a moment? What I'm trying to say to you, church, is that as we celebrate the ordinances today, as we participate in the ordinances today, we are in a sense, and yet a holy, righteous, and reverent sense, we are taunting the enemy.
We are engaging, if you will,.
In a victory dance,.
A declaration right in the face. Here you go,.
Spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places,.
They've surrounded us,.
Our borders may seem at times to be closing in, they bring great harm and pain and sorrow to the church.
What are you going to do, church? You're going to go get in the corner? You're going to turn out the lights? You're going to close the doors? You're going to go home? What are you going to do? Aren't you scared?
Aren't you afraid? Aren't you going to give up?
Aren't you going to raise the white flag?
No, we're going to baptize somebody.
Right in the face of the enemy because Christ is king. And we've already won the victory in Him.
So we're going to baptize.
And tonight,.
The Lord has prepared before us a table in the presence of our enemies. And we're going to gather around that table and we're going to take the Lord's supper. Don't think of it as gloating, taunting, I understand, but use it in a holy way.
We are declaring the victory and glory of the gospel and what God is doing in the church and that it will not be defeated, it cannot be snuffed out, it cannot ultimately come to ruin.
Because Christ is her bridegroom and she has the victory in Him.
This is a plug too. Come back tonight. Don't miss the supper. Gather around the table with us and let us declare the victory of Jesus together. Have you put on Christ? Are you putting on Christ? Friends, what I'm trying to do in this message is to show you that the reality of the unseen world should drive us to Jesus all the more fervently.
Today is not a day of games. Today is the day of battle. The church militant one day will be the church triumphant, but today we fight. Now I'm going to pray, but let me say this as a reminder. What we're going to do is I'm going to pray and then we'll sing.
We usually sing a part of a song in response to the preaching of the Word and then we're going to sing one more song and then after that, while y 'all are singing, my daughter and I are going to get ready and we're going to conclude our service this morning with the ordinance of baptism.
Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this text. I pray first and foremost that Christ would be exalted in this. That our focus on the spiritual forces of evil, even the spiritual forces of good, it all serves a higher end that we focus on Christ and what He has done.
I pray for the response of sinners. I pray today there are lost people in this room who have decided that they want to go the way of the evil one. I pray that You would shake them out of that even today.
They would repent of their sins. They would stop playing games. They would stop with the idolatry. They would turn from their transgressions and they would look to Jesus in faith and surrender their lives to Him.
Bless the songs that we're going to sing. Bless the baptism. We pray it all in Christ's name. Amen. Let's stand and sing.
Let's turn to... Let's turn to page 280. Jesus keep me near the cross. There's a precious fountain Free to all the heat From Calvary's mountain. In the cross, in the cross Be my glory ever Till my ransomed soul Shall find He on the river.
Verse 2. Near the cross a trembling soul Love and mercy found me. There the bright and morning star Beams around the cross. In the cross Be my glory ever Till my ransomed soul Shall find He on the river.
The cross, O Lamb of God Bring its sins before Help me walk from day to day With its shadow. The cross, in the cross Be my glory ever Till my ransomed soul Shall find He on the river. Let's turn to page 142.
There is a fountain. That is the call. As we've heard this morning, there is a fountain. Come to Christ. That's the call to everyone this morning. There is a fountain Filled with blood Drawn from Emmanuel's veins.
And sinners plunged Beneath that flood. Whose all their guilty stains. Whose all their guilty stains Whose all their guilty. And sinners plunged Beneath that flood Whose all their guilty stains. A dying thief rejoiced to see That fountain in his day.
And there may I, though vile as he Wash all my sins away Wash all my sins away Wash all my sins away. And there may I, though vile as he Wash all my sins away. A dying lamb, the precious blood Shall never lose.
And some church of God Be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. And some church of God Be safe to sin no more.
Is it coming through? I think it's coming through. Test, test. Is it coming out?
No?
What are we doing? Is it coming through?
Okay, so one... I'm not understanding the hand signals, brother.
I'm going to move to my right. Okay. There we go. Alright, come over this way.
This just means move over. We hadn't gone over the signals in a long time. Okay, so one of the things that we do at Providence Baptist Church is we think baptisms are a big deal. After all, we are a Baptist church.
And we don't believe that baptism brings about one's salvation. There's nothing magical about the water. In fact, the water's kind of dirty, to be honest. But we believe that the water signifies on the outside what has happened on the inside.
And it points us to Christ and His life, death, burial, and resurrection and what has happened in the regenerate heart. So one of the things that we want to do in our baptism is we want to have our baptismal candidates read their testimony.
And so Ella has worked hard on this. Her mom and I didn't fill in words. We just asked her questions and she'd go back and work on it. And her spelling leaves some to be desired. But I love the theology and I want you to hear and be encouraged by what God has done in her life.
So her hands are already wet, so I'll hold this for her. And I want her to read this. So you have to get kind of close to the mic.
I was reading a book about John Bunyan's daughter and how she was saved. It made me realize that I was a wretched sinner and had disobeyed Christ in sin and needed to be saved. So I asked God to save me and repented of my sins.
And out of His mercy and grace, He did. He took my sins on the cross and saved me from His wrath and rose again. And now I am a Christian and want to honor and obey Him. I want to read the Bible and pay attention in church so I can learn more about Him like He commands.
And I will wait till He comes back and takes all His children with Him.
Amen. Based on this testimony of the grace of God in your life and in your obedience to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I now baptize you as my sister in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Would you stand with me? I don't know if there's a more appropriate time than after baptism to sing such a song. We're going to sing this song and then I'm going to ask Brother Jacob Robinson to pray.
And then I encourage you to stay. And let's celebrate together as we eat together. Even if you didn't bring anything, that's okay. Stay and let's eat and fellowship together. Let's sing. Praise God from whom all glory is due.
