“ Our Biblical Worldview” (8) Our dealings with the devil” part 2 10/31/2021

First Baptist Church Leominster

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course were Psalms put to music that being Psalm 119 and then the previous one

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Psalm 9. The Lord of course delights in his people singing his word and you know the substance of those hymns have been sung now for thousands of years by the people of God all the way back into ancient

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Israel. Well today's New Testament reading is 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2.

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This is a fascinating passage it's actually apocalyptic in nature in other words it talking in symbolic and and veiled terms certain prophecies.

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The church at Thessalonica had been messed up in their understanding of the second coming of Christ and Paul sought to correct them.

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He told them Christ wouldn't come back until first two things took place of falling away and secondly the man of sin being revealed.

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There's a lot of historically there's been different interpretations of this passage the vast majority of evangelicals see this man of sin of course as a future end time political

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Antichrist who will be revealed in a future tribulation period and so the temple only mentioned here is viewed as a literal physical temple.

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Protestants however historically took a different manner a different way a different tactic interpreting this passage.

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They viewed this passage as prophetic of the rise of the papacy in the Roman Catholic Church that they believe held

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Christendom in darkness for a thousand years and so for them the man of sin was the papacy.

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Paul was prophesying he would arise in the church and he would use error and miracles so called to gather a people.

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That major view of this passage changed about the beginning of the 20th century and so here's 2nd

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Thessalonians chapter 2. 2nd

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Thessalonians chapter 2. Now concerning the coming of our

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Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him we ask you brothers not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the

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Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way for the day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed the son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself against every so -called

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God or object of worship so that he takes his in the temple of God proclaiming himself to be

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God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things and you and and you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way and then the lawless one will be revealed whom the

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Lord Jesus Christ will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming the coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved therefore

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God sends them a strong delusion so they may believe what is false in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness but we ought always to give thanks to God for you brothers beloved by the

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Lord because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved through sanctification by the

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Spirit and belief in the truth to this he called you through our gospel so that you may obtain the glory of our

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Lord Jesus Christ so then brothers stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us either by our spoken word or by our letter now may our

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Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word let's pray our

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Father we thank you for this time together as a church where we can gather together to exalt and to worship you

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Lord we thank you for the great salvation that we have in Christ Jesus we thank you that you have redeemed us that you have secured us and you've given your spirit as a pledge when we pray

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Lord that as we continue our worship through this sermon that we would think about the words of the text we pray that we would hear them that we would understand them we pray that the

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Spirit would guide us Lord and how we can apply these truths to our lives we pray that we would leave here changed people and that we would live our lives to your praise glory and honor thank you

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Lord in Jesus name Amen well if you have your

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Bibles and like to turn with us today we're going to address Ephesians 6 verses 10 through 20

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Lord Willie last Lord's Day we addressed the role of Satan in having led

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Adam and Eve into sin and then we also last week last

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Lord's Day rehearsed the effects of that sin of course as recorded in Genesis chapter 3 in his one sin

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Adam really had exchanged his exalted role he was a co regent in God's creation reigning on God's behalf he exchanged this exalted role and position in the kingdom of God to become a degraded and servile subject in the kingdom of Satan really it was

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Adam's sin that enabled the kingdom of Satan to be let loose upon the world however thankfully throughout the entire

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Bible we read that when people come to repent of their sin and believe on the

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Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior the Lord recovers and restores them even elevating them beyond what they had lost in Adam Christians gained back more in Jesus Christ than what they'd lost to Adam's fall into sin it's not just a recovery in which we're restored to Adam's stature but were lifted up were highly exalted in our union with Jesus Christ his son and so upon conversion

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God the Father snatches his people out of the kingdom of darkness and translates them sets them down into the kingdom of his dear son

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Christians are in the kingdom of God over which Jesus Christ is

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Lord nevertheless we continue to live of course in this fallen world as Christians which is the sphere of the devil's domain he's the prince of the power of the air he's a god of this age and so we contend with the devil continuously as we seek to live for Christ and order our lives according to the rule of Jesus Christ our

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King now the subject we addressed last week was largely the manner in which the devil administers his kingdom and perpetuates his ways in this world among the

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Lord's people in other words how the devil deals with us and so we thought it was appropriate for today that whereas we addressed last week how the devil deals with us this week we would address how we are to deal with the devil how we may best equip ourselves first to recognize him and then to withstand him and so this morning we want to begin by reading this passage in Ephesians and then we'll be moving from there elsewhere and then back again to address the more fully the details and so here's

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Paul's words to this church at Ephesus toward the end of his epistle finally my brethren be strong in the

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Lord and the power of his might put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this age against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places and therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand stand therefore having girded your waist with truth having put on the breastplate of righteousness having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace above all taking the helmet of salvation or pardon me yeah taking the shield of faith in which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one and take the helmet of salvation the sword of the

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Spirit which is the Word of God praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the

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Saints and for me Paul includes himself here pray for me that utterance may be given to me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which

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I am an ambassador in chains Paul was in prison in Rome at the time that in it

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I may speak boldly as I ought to speak so the

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Holy Spirit had moved the Apostle to write this glorious epistle to this church in which he had instructed them in the great truths of the

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Christian faith all expressed to him to them his grateful heart toward God for having so wonderfully and powerfully saved them by his grace through Jesus Christ all declared to them that God had brought them forth from their former state they didn't bring themselves out

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God brought them forth from spiritual death unto their present blessing and enjoyment a spiritual life promising them eternal life they were the realization of God's purposes in Jesus Christ God had saved them and was forming them into a glorious spiritual temple and whenever Paul mentions the temple in his epistles he's referring to the

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New Testament Church or the church really at large all the redeemed through history a spiritual temple in which

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God would dwell and manifest himself to them to the church and through them to the world

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Paul had exhorted them to live in a manner commensurate with their glorious place and position growing in grace and knowledge of their

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Savior growing in love and holiness as the people of God they were to strive for unity and holiness even as they lived out their lives through the various relationships in which they found themselves chapter five dealt with husbands and wives and children even masters and slaves within the household but here we read that the

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Apostle gave them a final word of warning he would have them to be on guard and prepared for the arch enemy of their souls the devil would be coming against them attacking them and so Paul described the spiritual struggle in which they contended not only with the devil but with the large forces which the devil commandeered principalities and powers rulers of the darkness of this age spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places and so Christians are to prepare themselves for this warfare they are to arm themselves for this spiritual battle from which they must come forth the victors as we read this passage we may fail to see the largeness of scope the

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Apostle was setting before his readers it's true that the Christians in the city of Ephesus in that region of Asia Minor in the first century had difficulties and struggles that were unique to them and their time but the

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Apostle would have them see their spiritual warfare on a and those who belong to the devil or as we set forth last week between the seed of the woman the elect and the seed of the serpent the reprobate and even though the

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Christians at Ephesus were in conflict with the pagans of that city at that time the war in which they were engaged was cosmic in scope which had been waged throughout history this is the big picture of things and the language in which the

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Apostle described these Christians in their armory actually mirrored God's own preparation and engagement with evil that had been set forth in the

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Old Testament the armor that Paul was telling them to to put on was the armor that God himself is described in metaphorical terms as putting on to do battle against his enemies in the

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Old Testament as one once wrote here the Apostle looks at the

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Christians responsibility of living in the world from a broader that is a cosmic perspective the moral issues with which he deals are not simply matters of personal preference as many within our contemporary and postmodern world contend on the contrary they are essential elements in a larger struggle between the forces of good and evil throughout this paragraph on spiritual warfare

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Paul's sustained imagery is drawn from the prophecy of Isaiah which describes the armor of Yahweh the

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Hebrew word for God and his Messiah the Isaac in other words from Isaiah references depict the

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Lord hope Lord of hosts as a warrior dressed for battle as he goes forth to vindicate his people the full armor of God which the readers are urged to put on as they engage in a deadly spiritual warfare is

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Yahweh's God's own armor which he and his Messiah have worn which is now provided for his people as they engage in battle

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Paul uses battle imagery as he calls them to stand firm in the midst of the spiritual warfare that is already in progress it's an ongoing battle that continues throughout history of course the victory was won through Christ upon his cross and so let's begin to work through this first in verses 10 through 13 we have a call for Christians to be strong and armed against their spiritual enemy again we read finally my brethren be strong in the

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Lord in the power of his might put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this age against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places and therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and the evil day is every day frankly and having done all to stand.

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Verse 10 opens with the words finally my brethren again Paul had been addressing various groups within the church those within the

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Christian household he gave instruction to husbands and wives and children he also addressed the relationship of servants to their masters within households within that Roman culture but now he stood back to address them all finally my brethren giving them final words of instruction and exhortation he calls them my brethren we're within a family a spiritual family

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Paul exhorted them be strong in the Lord into the power of his might he was urging them to be strong in the sense that he is commanding them to be strengthened by God not to strengthen themselves but make sure you're strengthened by God and we know this is the case for the verb in the

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Greek text is in the passive voice they don't strengthen themselves they were to become strong but to do so they must be strengthened by the

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Lord and this would agree with an earlier word of the Apostle when he wrote of what he'd been praying for to God on their behalf back in Ephesians 3

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Paul wrote for this reason I bow my knees before the Father he says I pray for this purpose from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named that according to the riches of his glory and then notice that the passive idea of the people of God that he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being and so here in Ephesians 6 he's basically telling them to to experience and to give their attention to what he was praying for back in chapter 3 and so we may conclude that this strengthening that we need from God is acquired by us through our praying and trusting

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God to strengthen us by his grace as we acknowledge our own weakness and inability even while we believe in his grace to empower us when you were born again he gave you the desire to serve him know him but he did not give you the power to do so that comes from Christ day by day as he gives you the

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Holy Spirit to enable you day by day Jesus said without me who'd do nothing you want to do everything for God that's been put in your heart by the

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Spirit of God in regeneration but you have to be strengthened by God himself or you're not going to be very successful in living for God and so believers do not empower themselves they're in need of God to strengthen them and so the

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Word of God is urging us as Christians to ask and receive this divine strengthening for the spiritual battle in which we have been thrust

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I think every morning when you wake up you sit on the side of your bed Lord I'm beginning this day please strengthen me in order that I can go through this day living for you in the manner you would have me live the strength we need is in the

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Lord and the power we need is his might and so God has provided not only instruction for each of us to stand but he's made available the grace to enable each of us to stand as one wrote the source of this strengthening is described more specifically as in his mighty power this dynamic phrase has already been used in relation to God's all -powerful strength when he raised

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Christ from the dead and exalted him to the place of honor the power

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God the Father raised Jesus from the dead that's the kind of power that you need to be strengthened with by God himself and so it raised him from the dead and also exalted

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Christ to the place of honor far above all rule and authority that would include the fallen angels and the devil himself the

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Apostle prayed that his readers might understand and experience the extraordinary power of God working on their behalf and now he calls upon them to appropriate this might which in the case of Jesus had already proven itself sufficient to overcome powerful diabolical opposition we need to be a humble and yet trusting and believing people not relying upon our own wits and our own ability our own strength our own resolve that won't last you

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Spurgeon once said go write your resolve down in the water you know go down to the water side the lakeside and write your resolve in the water then come back tomorrow and see how it is it's just not there our resolves are absolutely worthless we need to be strengthened by God through Jesus Christ verse 10

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Paul commanded his Christian readers to be strengthened in verse 11 he explained why this was absolutely necessary for them the

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Holy Spirit through the hand of his Apostle commanded the people of God that they were to dress in their spiritual armor for they were engaged in a great spiritual battle verse 11 put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil and then

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Paul of course goes into detail of the various armaments beginning with verses 14 and following but here he commands that they dress or prepare to wage the good warfare the

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Christian life and particularly the Christian ministry is described as the good warfare the entire

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Christian life is one of spiritual warfare Paul described Satan as a great foe who commands many evil forces as Christians were not to limit the identity of our foes to be people or problems that we face it's not through physical people and incidents we see day by day the physical things and people that we see and have to engage that are opposed to us and trouble us there are evil forces and powers behind them which are real and are the true enemies that's what

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Paul is saying Paul reasoned we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but rather against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this age against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places now some and it's rather common actually attempt to identify these forces to be human institutions such as governmental powers or apostate churches corrupt and powerful people in societies or in human relationships that are evil and they perpetrate their their wickedness upon those who are weak and helpless these people who interpret it this way assume that they're that these are the problems with which

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Christians practically contend and so the Apostle must have been referring to them but this would be to ignore or disregard the biblical world in which

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Paul lived and served and so to hold such an interpretation as one rightly wrote fails to do justice to the historical context of the

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New Testament in which belief in the spiritual realm was widespread it does not adequately account for explicit statements about these powers in Paul and other

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New Testament writers and it is seriously flawed both logically and hermeneutically in contrast to the materialists the evolutionists the so -called scientific world that sees only things only things in the physical realm what they can see and touch with their five senses we see a whole spiritual dimension or realm that they are clueless regarding and it's with that that Christians must contend as one wrote to reject the identification of the powers with human traditions and socio -political structures however is not to deny that these supernatural intelligences work through such agencies in other words yeah fallen people are controlled by these evil forces obviously after all the

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New Testament speaks of the whole world lying under the power of the evil and the evil one and destructive influences to bear on the world and humanity at every level the evil one works through the events of history including a visit hindered by him

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Paul said I wanted to come to you but Satan hindered me the circumstances surrounding Job's life the casting of believers into prison the inherent distresses of life and illness which occasionally is due to their dynamic demonic activity while Christian teachers and their instruction are the subject of attack and distortion by the principalities and powers heresy is assigned to their activity well according to Colossians to the elemental spirits of the universe made use of the legal demands of the false teachers in order to bring

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Christians into bondage social political judicial economic structures can be used by Satan and his evil authorities to serve their malevolent ends and certainly we see that every day in our own society and world and so yes we contend with forces and people that we see physically and encounter but our true battle our true battle is with the evil powers the devil and his forces that control manipulate direct and energize them to do what they're doing it's not a whole nother plane another level a whole nother dimension the principalities and powers were mentioned earlier in this epistle and Ephesians Paul had written of God the

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Father who is at work in Christ when he raised him from the dead seated him at his right hand and the heavenly place far above all principality and power all spirit beings both the holy angels and also the unholy angel

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Satan and his minions and might and dominion in every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come

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Jesus is Lord over all but principalities and powers were mentioned back there and then in Ephesians 3 few chapters before this

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Paul had written to me who am less than the least of all saints this grace was given that I should preach among the

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Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ to the intent or here's a purpose clause for the purpose that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers and the heavenly places

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God is displaying through his people to angels to the devil and his evil forces

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God is revealing to them what he's like when when the when the serpent deceived

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Adam the serpent apparently had convinced a third of the angels that he should be

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God rather than the true God they really didn't know what the true God was like and God's dealings down through the course of history has been a an education for them and Paul is basically saying here that it is

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God's intention through Jesus Christ to the intent that the manifold wisdom of God be displayed for them we are lessons to them according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus Paul wrote that we wage warfare against Satan's forces and include the rulers of the darkness of this age against spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places these are all spiritual beings who influence and manipulate people and events that transpire on earth with which

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Christians have to contend and so the arena in which we are waging warfare as Christians is not in the cultural realm or the political arena and I think sometimes

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Christians get distracted and they get narrow focused on these things we're in a struggle against far greater opposition than what politicians or cultural influencers wield we are wrestling with the spiritual influences and powers that influence and control them and so we're engaged in a great battle against the enemy of our souls and all his forces it is an intense difficult and dangerous engagement from which we will come forth victors if and when we employ the means that God has provided for his people hence the armor of God in Ephesians chapter 6 we may be assured of our victory for our

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Lord is he was exalted far above these opposing forces after he was crucified raised from the dead and thrown in heaven we are victors through Jesus Christ who has gone into heaven is at the right hand of God angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to him

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Jesus is Lord he's King it's wrong to say and believe he'll yet be

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King when he comes back a second time you'll have no more authority than that he has now it's just Christians should see it with their eye of faith then every eye will see it but he's he's he's has all authority now

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Jesus is controlling things that are playing out in history and clearly what we're witnessing

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I believe in them in the history of our world is a manifestation of the righteous judgment of God through Jesus Christ but thankfully even as he is bringing his enemies to their ultimate and final overthrow and destruction he's saving the people out of the midst of them through the gospel of Jesus Christ and so that that's what we're in the business of doing and we have been blessed recipients of this glorious purpose of God and so if Christians fail to equip themselves with the spiritual armor they'll not be successful to stand against the wiles of the devil if they fail to equip themselves rightly and engage the evil one biblically they'll not be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one yes the

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Lord made provision for his people that they can stand against his spiritual enemy but the

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Lord Jesus has not freed his disciples from their engagement from having to engage the temptations and assaults of the evil one the devil assaults us with trouble and temptation because we've turned away from him and our sin and from the devil we've turned away from the devil and his kingdom we've given our souls over to the our

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Lord Jesus to live and serve in his kingdom and therefore the devil hates us intensely for doing so and he makes it known in our day -to -day lives by troubling us and coming against us in sometimes hot and difficult spiritual battles now

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I want us to step back from our passage for a few minutes from Ephesians 6 and let's consider the manner in which the devil assaults the people of God and how we are to recognize them and defeat them and so we read of the devil's wiles or schemes he's subtle as a serpent you don't see him coming and sometimes you know it's like he puts a snare out you don't see the snare until you're caught up in it well we read of the devil's wiles or schemes which is suggested in several places in the

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New Testament I thought that we would consider the devil as the tempter and as well as the devourer the first devil is tempter and so when we reflect upon the temptation of Jesus in the day by the devil in the wilderness we see and learn how the devil attempts to foil us in our effort to live before the

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Lord the devil tempted Jesus in three specific ways and they are paradigmatic of how the devil tempts us as the devil tempted

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Jesus the devil tempts you and me so let's just briefly consider these the first temptation and it's found in all three synoptic

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Gospels Matthew Mark and Luke I'm considering Matthew's account the first temptation after 40 days of fasting in the

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Judean wilderness Jesus was tempted by the devil to sin we read in Matthew 4 3 the tempter came and said to him if you were the

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Son of God and not questioned if he is but since you're the Son of God command these stones to become loaves of bread here the devil is called the tempter the devil and his minions his forces have the ability to place temptation to sin before us he knows when we are weak and weary and susceptible vulnerable and he takes advantage of that he's able to provide the opportunity to sin it just seems to fall into place it would be an easy thing it may seem he makes everything possible even easy to sin and he makes it seem that we can sin and get away with it justify it and we need to be always on guard for the tempter we read that the

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Lord Jesus responded to the devil's temptation by quoting Scripture the Lord responded to the devil and not as the eternal

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Son of God in his essence he he responded as in his human nature he responded to the devil in the same way that you and I are to respond to the devil he quoted

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Scripture to him verse 4 but he Jesus answered his written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God notice first the manner in which our

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Lord responded Jesus quoted the Word of God that is the key here our

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Lord gives us an example of how we are to order our lives he didn't defeat the devil with a burst of divine power overwhelming and overthrowing the devil as a lot of health and wealth preachers tell you that you're supposed to do our

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Lord responded and defeated the devil in his wilderness temptation in the same manner and with the same spiritual weapons that are available to us he quoted

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Scripture the Word of God purposing to believe and order his life accordingly

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God's written word directs how we are to believe

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God and live for God in the world the devil would have Jesus live without regard to the Word of God the devil tempts us similarly the point is this we're not to see life through our own desires and wants you're hungry

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Jesus you're the Son of God turn these stones to bread we're not to see life through our own opinions or reasonings but rather we are to always ask what has

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God said in his Bible regarding this matter don't you ask that question all the time to yourself when somebody asks your opinion we should immediately default doesn't matter what my opinion is what does

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God's Word say about this that's the way we ought to be thinking always we will have little doubt about the will of God for our lives and understanding what

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God would have us to do if we simply ask the question what has God written in quoting this verse to the devil our

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Lord expressed full confidence in his father to provide for him in his time of need in his own way in his own timing he didn't doubt his father's lover care for him and nor should we doubt his love and care for us he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall not he

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God the Father not with him Christ also freely give us all things as Christians we're to have the same confidence in our

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Heavenly Father to provide for us as our Lord Jesus expressed here when he was hungry and tempted to the devil and again we're talking to Christians if you're not a

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Christian you're on your own that would be scary to me in this world you're on your own you don't have a

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Savior you don't have your Lord the devil will lead you about you have no resource to call upon him to deliver you unless you turn from your sin and repentance and believe on him as your king as your

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Lord then there's all the resources at his disposal available to you to conquer sin and to endure temptation and difficulty what is written this temptation respecting the matter of food is somewhat parallel to the first Adam's failure and his temptation in the

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Garden of Eden Adam too was tempted respecting food eat this fruit but whereas Jesus was hungry

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Adam was not he had every fruit of the garden Adam had every good fruit in the garden readily available to him yet Adam chose to serve himself by taking of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and eating it our

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Lord the second Adam and during a far more difficult trial than our first Adam who had yielded easily and readily the devil was tempting

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Jesus to serve himself to satisfy his own desires rather than to seek first to do his father's will one can say that this first temptation was in the realm of the lust of the flesh

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Jesus serve yourself second temptation in Matthew 4 5 and 6 we read then the devil took him to the holy city set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him if you're the

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Son of God throw yourself down for it is written he will command his angels concerning you and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone somehow the devil transported himself and the

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Lord Jesus to Jerusalem and to the temple mount the pinnacle of the temple described here is probably a reference to the top portico on the south side of the temple mount that was very high above the

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Kidron Valley which went quite quite deep there on the eastern side of the city the first century historian

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Josephus referred to this place as a dizzy height and so the devil challenged

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Jesus to jump perhaps the devil was challenging Jesus to demonstrate the trust that he had expressed he had in his father it's as though the devil were saying you say that you trust the father prove it by jumping off this temple mount well the devil quoted

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Scripture assuring Jesus that God would not allow him to perish and so in the first temptation the devil would have

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Jesus live apart from Scripture in the second temptation the devil would have Jesus live according to an abuse of Scripture the devil quoted

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Scripture many may pass the first test but fail when the second is presented to them and it's amazing frankly what people justify themselves doing as they perhaps quote a verse to ease their conscience and justify their decision but Scripture must not only be used

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Scripture must be used rightly the devil used Scripture he used it wrongly the devil quoted

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Psalm 91 he'll command his angels concerning you and on their hands they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone and so what

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God was promising in this verse actually was that he would guard his people his own as they walk in the way set before them it's not a blanket promise of protection regardless of how one lives

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I can live carelessly I know the Lord's gonna take care of me he's got the day

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I'm gonna die appointed so it doesn't matter whether or not I drive blindfolded down route to 100 miles an hour but some people you'd think that that's the way they think some temp the devil and temp

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God by doing foolish and dangerous things presuming upon God that he'll not allow his own to be harmed that's not faith that presumption

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God does not promise protection to the careless and indifferent or to those who recklessly place themselves in peril to live in that manner is to put

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God to the test which is sin our Lord's response

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Jesus said him again is written you shall not put the Lord your God to the test and so the

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Lord answers the devil with another verse of course with the right context

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Deuteronomy 616 and so here we see that our Lord is acting in contrast to the manner that the people of Israel had lived before God Israel had been an unfaithful son putting

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God to the test in contrast the Lord Jesus would not so live he would submit to God and obey him and not challenge

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God his father Jesus showed himself to be the faithful son of God fully submissive and compliant to do his father's will

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Jesus is the true Israel of God the true son of God over against the nation of Israel the false the rebellious son of God that's how

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Jesus is presented Israel is the false vine Jesus said I'm the true vine and so Jesus showed himself to be the faithful son of God fully submissive and compliant and so in the first test our

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Lord showed forth the scriptures are to be our rule of faith in practice and in the second test

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Jesus showed that we must interpret scripture rightly he used the proven hermeneutical principle scripture is its own interpreter or scripture must interpret scripture and in addition the first test was in the form of attempting to distrust the father for his provision and keeping but the second test was a temptation place false trust in the father tempting the father forcing the father to do

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Jesus's bidding one can say this second temptation was a respect to the pride of life that was the devil's appeal and then the third temptation we read that the devil would try once more to lead our

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Lord into sin Matthew 4 8 again the devil took him to a very high mountain showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory and he said to him all these

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I will give you if you fall down and worship me the devil could not lead

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Jesus to disregard scripture or twist scripture so he'd not go there again here he offered our

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Lord power and glory fame and fortune and I suspect that our

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Lord could not trust many of us with that kind of temptation if the devil came to us with that kind of offer and so the

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Lord sees to it that the devil does not make this available to us probably does to some and they've embraced it but there may be times that some of us may be tempted to compromise conviction for we know that if we do so it will result in our personal advancement in some way but to fail to do so we know that it will forfeit benefit

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I personally have had to make that decision a number of times through the last 45 years or plus of Christian ministry just compromise a little bit and the and the and the path toward a you know large and more influential church would be opened up can't go there though got to be true can't compromise your convictions but our

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Lord would be tempted at all points that all of his people would encounter and this too came his way we read the devil took him up into this high mountain showed him all the kingdoms of the world their glory essentially the devil offered

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Jesus all the power glory that the world had to offer he could have regal authority granted by the devil and it could be acquired apart from suffering on his cross the devil has the means to advance his own if he chooses to do so but the

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Lord Jesus again responded to the devil by once again rightly quoting and applying scripture that's how we respond to the devil the

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Word of God Jesus said to him away with you Satan for it's written you shall worship the Lord your

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God and him only you shall serve one can say that this third temptation was with respect to the lust of the eyes the devil showed

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Jesus what he could have if he but compromised well we read in 1st

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John 2 16 that these three temptations are all of the world fallen world John wrote the

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Apostle for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes the pride of life is not of the father but is of the world and the devil uses these three arenas of temptation to trip us up and lead us to think independently of our

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God and act independently or irrespective of his word he uses these three arenas have said to tempt our

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Savior and he'll similarly use these three to tempt you and me and this confirms the statement of the epistle to the

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Hebrews we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin thankfully may our

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Lord enable us to respond to the devil and these temptations in the manner that our Lord Jesus demonstrated the devil has no power over the

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Christian man or woman who orders his life according to the Word of God he's powerless but after considering the devil as our tempter let's recognize the devil as devour

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Peter warned Christians of their need for vigilance regarding the danger that the devil posed to them first Peter be sober be vigilant watchful because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour resist him steadfast in the faith

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Paul said stand against him Peter says resist him steadfast in the faith knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world nothing uncommon about this and so the devil seeks to devour

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Christians that is to defeat them and overthrow their faith in Jesus Christ and he does so by tempting them to sin as we've already seen but he also does so by directly persecuting them it was

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Satan who entered Judas to have Jesus destroyed by his betrayal and treachery some

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Christians wrongly think that coming to Christ will bring an end to all the trouble of their soul that the

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Christian life will be characterized by all pleasantness and peacefulness that does not be accosted by the enemy of their souls but becoming a

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Christian may actually compound the trials and troubles that are experienced due to the devil I've had it said to me

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I used to think life was pretty good until I became a Christian the devil doesn't assault his own he assaults his enemies there will be problems with our people problems dealing with things and bad things will happen to us there will be temptations that entice and trouble the

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Christian the same kinds of temptations that the

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Christian encountered before becoming a Christian perhaps wasn't realized there but even if they were they weren't troubling to him then but now however because he's a

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Christian with a sensitive conscious in a and a pure heart he's tormented by the temptations that the devil lays before him day after day

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John Flavel the Puritan wrote even those that are freed from from his dominion

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Satan's dominion are not free from his molestation it said indeed Romans God shall shortly bruise

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Satan under your feet but meantime he has power to bruise and buffet us by injections he now bruises

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Christ's heel bruises him in his tempted and afflicted members though he cannot kill them yet he can and doth afflict them fright them by shooting the fiery darts of temptation among them citing our passage it is true when the

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Saints are got safe into heaven they're out of gunshot there is perfect freedom from all temptation a believer may then say

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O thou enemy temptations are come to a perpetual end I am now arrived there where none of thy fiery darts can reach me but this freedom is not yet we're in a spiritual battle well

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I'm a common saying when somebody is telling me about the trouble they're having you know dealing with somebody in their family or elsewhere

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I said welcome to the Christian ministry this is the nature of the work isn't it in the ministry and as Christians it's often the case that when one becomes a

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Christian only then does he begin to experience some kinds of problems that are quite strange to his experience or his expectations and the devil may assault more directly the

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Christian the one who's escaping his realm rather than trouble the one who's firmly entrenched in his kingdom who is it that the devil is seeking whom he may devour his own people no his assault is upon those who have repudiated his rule over them who've enlisted in following King Jesus if you're a follower of Jesus the devil is your adversary and Christians may find themselves more assaulted by the one like a roaring lion than they had ever experienced before they had become

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Christians the Christian life is described in the scriptures as one characterized by conflict and difficulty the

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Lord Jesus declared I won't cite the whole passage don't think I came to bring peace on the earth no sir

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I did not come to bring peace but a sword from now on your worst enemies are going to be in your own family is what

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Jesus said Paul wrote of his own struggles we were hard -pressed on every side yet not crushed perplexed despair persecuted struck down always carried about in the body the died of the

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Lord Jesus why because in this manner the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body for we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus sake that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh so then death is working in us but life in you we have had it easy in our nation for a long time and I fear that we're spoiled we read reports that people in our other lands you know they're in India Christian girls are taken sold into slavery you know made made wives the

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Hindu very political leaders are oppressing Christians they don't support

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Christian families they don't allow Christians to go to their schools Myanmar I received updates every day and Christians are being slaughtered they came across an orphanage and they separated the teenagers 14 to 16 year old

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I don't know a couple dozen I'm stood it up and murdered them all in front of the eyes of everybody else

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Christians you know we're we are we have lived insulated lives pretty much

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God has been very gracious and merciful to us but what we have enjoyed in this land by God's grace is a rarity it's not the norm and I don't know that it's going to be the case into the future we've got an adversary and we encounter conflict and difficulty as a people of God and it's increasingly getting more and more difficult because the devil is the devourer and then lastly the devil is the deceiver of course we saw how

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Satan played this role in the Garden of Eden for Eve was first deceived by the serpent Paul had written elsewhere

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Adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived fell into transgression the devil had succeeded in leading

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Eve to first doubt the content of the Word of God and then out now reject the authority of the

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Word of God over her and the devil deceives many people to his ministers the devil's got perhaps more ministers in church pulpits than the

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Lord has that was the case in Israel if you're following our reading chart we're in Jeremiah the one

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I'm reading a number of you are and Jeremiah was a rare voice there were a couple there agreed with him but the vast majority of the prophets were false prophets and Jeremiah would give forth the

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Word of God then there's multitude of them would tell him otherwise and the devil was a deceiving the people and so they didn't respond to the

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Word of God and Paul wrote it's the same in this church age such are false apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the

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Apostles of Christ in other words they were acting or declaring themselves as Apostles you had that today by the way and no wonder why should this be surprising for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light in other words people think he's the real deal the source of truth and therefore it's no great thing if his ministers

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Satan's ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness they look like good pastors solid pastors but their end will be according to their works these ministers of Satan do not teach error altogether you know we're not talking about the cultists and whatnot they'd be easy to identify rather these ones lace their sound teaching with spiritual error poison that their hearers do not recognize readily over and over the scriptures warn us against such ones and sadly even true ministers may depart from the faith and bring ruin to themselves and others as Paul warned that gathering of elders there in Miletus the elders of Ephesus some among you will depart seeking to gather followers the

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Lord has given us many warnings in Scripture not to be deceived Jesus himself take heed that you be not deceived

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Paul wrote to the church at Corinth do not be deceived actually twice in his epistle first Corinthians Paul also warned the churches of Galatia do not be deceived

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James wrote do not be deceived my fellow brethren just because a man appears to be sincere and loving and caring doesn't legitimize his teaching the

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Word of God is our only authority and to assess matters with respect to truth and identify truth and recognize error when it is there do not be deceived and when the devil one day is consigned to everlasting hell it'll be said of him the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and they'll be tormented day and night forever and ever the devil is a deceiver he's also the devourer and the devil is the tempter and we're continuously waging warfare against this subtle and dangerous opponent of our

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Lord and of us his people now let's quickly return to our passage and we've got to run through this quickly because of the time therefore how do we deal with this well we have to he's given us the equipment but we have to incorporate it stand firm and put on God's armor stand therefore having girded your waist with truth having put on the breastplate of righteousness having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace above all taking the shield of faith with which you were able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked when they throw you know short darts that were on fire against their enemies take the helmet of salvation the sword of the

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Spirit which is the Word of God praying always with all prayers supplication in the Spirit being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the

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Saints and then Paul said pray for me too Paul gave the command in verse 14 stand therefore having girded your waist with truth and then here we read of the position the

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Christian is to maintain in his engagement with the devil stand one once wrote to stand as opposed to a cowardly flight from running from or treacherous yielding to the enemy when a captain sees his men beginning to shrink and perceive some disposition then to flee or yield then he bid stand that is stand man's fully to it make good your ground against the enemy by a valiant receiving his charge and repelling his force their reason suggested and stated to compel

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Christian to comply with this command first there's the command that we do so stand God has called us to stand and oppose evil that would confront us and when we do stand we do so for God representing him and standing for him stand the soldier carries the prince's honor into the field with him and so the

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Christian is God's a second reason to stand is that God has equipped us with every resource to enable us to stand valiantly and triumphantly stand and he's going to enable you to do so they are listed here before us a third reason for standing as it it's a sure way to secure our safety and victory in fact to turn and flee would spell our certain failure defeat as well as disgrace now the scriptures tell us that we're to flee youthful loss but we're not to flee the devil we're to resist the devil you're to take a stand against him and how to distinguish that sometimes is a little difficult you were to stand but not just stand vulnerable and open you were to stand having been girded having girded your waist with truth rather than doing this as say a scabbard around the way sheathing a weapon it's an accident article of clothing of leather clothing that corresponded to a

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Roman soldier's leather apron that he wore under his armor that protected his thighs and again this language at Paul gives in Ephesians 6 alludes to God's armor in the

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Old Testament Isaiah 11 but with righteousness God shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked righteousness shall be the belt of his loins and faithfulness the belt of his waist the truth that Paul refers to is the truth of God revealed in the gospel and this truth is referenced several places in Ephesians I listed them

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Christians are to stand with their waist girded with truth so that they will be strengthened and stable in their standing before the evil one and then we read further that these ones girded about the waist and truth are ones having put on the breastplate of righteousness and of course when we read of righteousness in Paul's epistles it's either the gift of righteousness given to every true believer in Jesus imputed righteousness

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Christ's righteousness given as a gift or it is imparted righteousness when we become more like Christ through the power of the

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Holy Spirit as we begin to order our lives more faithfully to the Word of God and probably both ideas are being conveyed here we have the imputed righteousness of Christ but also we're able to stand because we have attempted and been somewhat successful in living a life of righteousness before God and so we're equipped to withstand the devil when he comes against us and then in verse 15 having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace a soldier who stands in battle against his enemy needs solid footwear that will support him in his stance and withstand the forces that would repel him to be shod with the gospel of peace speaks about perhaps assurance of standing with his

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Savior his Lord is in a state of peace with God through Jesus Christ he knows it deep within his soul and so he steadfast he stands strong and assured in his knowledge confident that he will not be defeated regardless of the fierceness and power of a spiritual foe but most importantly the soldier of Christ must have faith in his

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Lord that he will be enabled by him to stand and so Paul wrote of the soldiers armor in verse 16 above all taking the shield of faith which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked

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I might insert this I shouldn't because of the time but I'm going to anyway and I didn't have time to put it in the notes but when we talk about faith in the

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New Testament it's either subjective or objective subjective faith is that you believe on him and that may be what's referenced here that you stand and you're believing on him but it may be a reference to object fit objective faith not that you believe but what you believe and in the

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Greek text is actually definite article the faith he may be talking about the you know the the faith once for all delivered to the

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Saints because you understand what the Word of God teaches and it's it brings you confidence and assurance and you're able to stand because you've got this this confidence in the faith that it will it will support you and defend you perhaps anyway it said that these will quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one the shield that Paul referred to is not the small round shield commonly carried by some armies like the

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Persians in the ancient world it's a reference to the Roman shield the shield referred to is not the small round one as one wrote which left most of the body unprotected but the large shield carried by the

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Roman soldiers which covered the whole person and so as one wrote as to the shield the one to which reference is made here measured four feet in length by two and a half feet in breadth was oblong in shape and covered with leather it was kind of a door for protection against any enemy missiles dipped in pitch or similar material and set on fire before being discharged and when the darts collided with the shield their points were blunted their flames extinguished and similarly the exercise of genuine

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God -given faith enables one to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one in the devil's quiver there are all kinds of fiery bolts

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Paul mentions tribulation anguish persecution famine and some of these missiles or darts rekindle doubt others lust greed vanity envy only by looking away from self to God triune placing one's trust in him for his life death and eternity relying on his word of revelation and promise is it possible to repel this shower of flaming arrows and then in verse 17 and take the helmet of salvation the sword of the

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Spirit which is the Word of God the helmet was a critical means of protection obviously for a blow to the head would be fatal or at least debilitating and it would result in one vulnerable to being slain assurance of salvation affords great spiritual protection when contending with the enemy the writer to the

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Hebrews could tell of his own emboldened confidence in standing with God through Christ for he

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God himself has said I will never leave you nor forsake you so we may boldly say the

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Lord is my helper I will not fear what can man do to me and you can just see this

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Christian soldier standing there with this helmet of salvation of course is commonly asserted that the

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Word of God here being the sword of the Spirit is the only offensive weapon listed actually there's a second prayer is also listed to be employed against the enemy rightly in a good manner the

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Word of God is the sword of the Spirit it's the primary weapon of our warfare as Jesus in the wilderness and without it or apart from the

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Word of God we have nothing by which we may fight so as to defeat the enemy but with it we cannot lose forgive me for this but I had to read this little excerpt from Pilgrim's Progress in which

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Christian the character Christian slays Apollyon on the battlefield the devil

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Apollyon broke out into a grievous rage he's fighting against Christian I am an enemy to this

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Prince King Jesus I hate his person his laws and people I come out on purpose to withstand the

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Christian Apollyon beware what you do for I'm in the king's highway the way of holiness therefore take heed to yourself and then

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Apollyon straddled quite over the whole breadth of the way and said I am void of fear in this matter prepare thyself to die for I swear by my infernal dead and that thou shalt go no farther here will

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I spill thy soul and with that he threw a flaming dart at his breast but Christian had a shield in his hand with which he caught it and so prevented the danger of that then

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Christian draw where he saw it was time to bestir him and Apollyon is fast made at him throwing darts as thick as hail by the witch notwithstanding all that Christian could do to avoid it

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Apollyon wounded him in his head his hand and foot this made Christian give back give a little back

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Apollyon therefore followed his work of Maine at once and Christian again took courage resisted as manfully as he could this sore combat lasted for above half a day even till Christian was almost quite spent for you must know that Christian by reason of his wounds must needs grow weaker and weaker and then

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Apollyon aspiring his opportunity began to gather up close to Christian wrestling with him gave him a dreadful fall and with that Christian sword flew out of his hand and then said

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Apollyon I am sure of thee now and with that he had almost pressed him to death so that Christian began to despair of life but as God would have it while Apollyon was fetching of his last blow thereby to make a full end of this good man

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Christian nimbly stretched out his hand for his sword and caught it saying rejoice not against me oh my enemy when

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I fall I shall arise Micah 7 verse 8 and with that gave him a deadly thrust which made him give back as one that had received his mortal wound

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Christian perceiving that made Adam again saying nay and all these things were more than conquerors who him that loved us

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Romans 837 and with that Apollyon spread forth his dragon wings sped him away that Christian for a season saw him no more that was

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Bunyan's way of illustrating Ephesians 6 and of course he did it in such a beautiful poetic way and again verse 18 we close with this

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Paul mentioned the importance of prayer when engaging the enemy it reads praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the

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Saints we need to be prayed for one another there must be always a spirit of dependence upon the

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Lord he's equipped us but we can't depend upon these things we have to depend upon the Lord to enable us to to employ these things rightly we're never to be self -reliant or presumptuous in our spiritual struggles but we're to be praying and trusting leaning upon him and the promises that are given to us in Jesus Christ and therefore take steps to know the methods of the enemy let us be equipped and ever ready less

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Satan should take advantage of us may the Lord not let us be ignorant of his devices

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God has given us all that is necessary for us to withstand him we need not be paranoid of him in terror of him rather we may have confidence that God will give us victory but you must be alert and watchful armed and skilled in the use of your weapons for that is how

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God has ordained that we succeed and come forth from the battle victorious amen may the

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Lord help us in these things let us pray thank you father for your word and for the encouragement instruction that it gives us thank you for the glorious promises our

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God and for the provision that you've given us in Jesus Christ to face any spiritual foe that we may encounter help us our

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God always to be praying always be trusting help us our God each of us who know

01:10:47

Jesus Christ to be strengthened our God by you through him that we might enjoy his might his authority his power as we live each day for you and forgive us our

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God wherein we have failed you and succumb to the temptations our God with which we are assaulted day by day thank you that the

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Lord Jesus Christ came forth as victor and therefore he won the victory which is ours in him give us this a confidence in this peace our