Sunday Morning Worship Service July 26, 2020

Well, good morning, good to see you on this Lord's Day. Nice, nice warm day outside today.

Aren't you grateful for that? If not, then wait till January, right?

So, well, we're thankful for the Lord's provision and his giving no matter what he gives.

Our Lord always gives what is best. Well, a couple of announcements just to share with you in your bulletin.

Tonight in evening service, we'll be looking at Psalm 4, which is called the Song of the

Secure Saint. And I hope you can make it back for that service this evening. And at the end of the service, for those who are members, we have a quarterly business meeting and go over the financial report from the last quarter, as well as give some update on some other projects and so forth.

So just please note that. And then also just wanted to point out in the bulletin that August 15th is a bridal shower for Allison McCann.

It occurred to me that some may not even have heard that she's engaged. It's because of this lockdown and closing, and that's information that could have just gone blown right by you, and you didn't even know about it.

Well, she is, and a wedding date is scheduled for September 32nd,

I think it is, 19th, September 19th.

So bridal shower, middle of August, August 15th, and information there in the bulletin regarding that.

Next couple of Sundays, we'll be having some guests. I think we'll probably,

Chris and I will be here for service next Sunday morning, but we have a phase one of a vacation trip this week and then phase two next week.

But some guest speakers, and I hope that you'll appreciate their ministries and enjoy the ministry of the word from Gordon Taylor next

Sunday, and then Ron Burnett the following Lord's Day. A couple of corrections in your bulletin, the first two hymn numbers just did not get changed in the process.

So in a moment, we'll be singing number 46, and then later on the song in the song supplement book.

But the Lord has called us to sing Psalm 91 verses one and three say, Oh, come, let us sing to the

Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. For the Lord is a great

God, a great King above all gods. And let's sing to that Lord, our

God and our King. Jim, please. Thank you, pastor.

Number 46 in your hymnals, number 46. We'll sing together verses one through three.

Let's all stand together, please. Singing the first three verses of crown him with many crowns.

Number 46. Crown him the

Lord of beholding rich wounds yet visible above.

To beauty glorious to thrive.

Verse three. Crown him the Lord of life. Who triumphed for those victorious to the strife.

For those he came to save. His glories now we sing.

Who died and rose again.

Remain standing for prayer, please. Our Heavenly Father, our great God and Savior, our

Lord Jesus Christ, we come to you, oh God, this Lord's day in thanks and in praise and in worship and in truth.

We look forward, oh God, and the remaining time together as we are directed by thy spirit and that you would open our ears to those things before us, even the word of God that would guide us, illuminate us, and transform us, oh

Lord, into your image. We look forward to this time together. We ask your blessing upon this time.

In Christ's name we pray, amen. Thank you, may we be seated. Our psalm reading this week,

I want to read Psalm 46 on the back of your bulletin and then the next hymn in your supplement book is based on this psalm.

Psalm 46, the favorite hymn, or it is a hymn actually, a favorite song for many of God's people, especially going through times of trial and crisis.

Psalm 46, follow along as I read. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.

There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most high.

God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. God shall help her and that right early.

The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice, the earth melted.

The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge. Come, behold the works of the

Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease under the end of the earth.

He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder. He burneth the chariot in the fire.

Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen.

I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.

The Lord add his blessing to the reading of his word and to our singing of it here. Jim. God is our strength and refuge.

Number 71 in your blue books, that is your supplements. Number 71. We'll sing again the first three verses together.

God is our strength and refuge, a helper ever near.

While resting in his shelter, no evil will we fear.

Not if the mountains crumble into the angry sea.

Nor if the surging oceans exceeds its boundary.

A quiet stream refreshes the city of our

God. His throne stands unaffected while kingdoms rise and fall.

One word from Jacob's savior will melt the raging throng.

The Lord of hosts is with us. He is our fortress strong.

And the third verse as the last. Behold God's glorious power.

He makes all warfare see. Each weapon he will shatter.

The world will be at peace. Why still cries heaven sovereign?

Be still for I am God. All kingdoms, all creation will bow beneath my rod.

As we pray together today, we want to remember to pray for our missionary of the week, Duane and Sinchi Ott, serving in Malaysia.

And I saw they're sending like video updates lately and haven't sent actual prayer letters for several months.

But the video update showed them involved in teaching in their language school,

English language school and so forth. So they are able to have some ministry even though Malaysia is still like a lot of places, a lot of restrictions and limitations and so forth.

So continue to pray for Duane Ott, trying to get a church established in Kluang, Malaysia.

Also continue to pray for Bob and Jerry Klein. Bob had his second round of chemo last

Wednesday and just pray for the Lord to continue to give him strength and effectiveness of those treatments and pray for grace for Jerry as well.

Harold Smith is scheduled for surgery a week from Friday on his shoulder.

And that's going to be a pretty extensive surgery, gonna require a lot of rehab and recovery after the fact.

So be praying for Harold for that time. Of course, anybody who is anticipating surgery these days, they tell them to stay away from people, don't go into any crowds, stay home and so forth.

So pray for them. And then continue to pray for our shut -ins who are very limited in interaction with other people.

So Jerry Saylors, Jeannie Ludwick, pray for her. Sue Cherry, Dean Kinnaman as well.

He's not in a nursing home, but he's also homebound. And Jed Hunsberger, these individuals who just are not able to get out and meet with us.

So let's look to the Lord in prayer, shall we? And so our

Father, we do thank you that you are our refuge and help, and we can trust in you.

And Lord, your word promises that though the heathen rage, their raging will be short -lived.

You are King, you are God, you are ruler even over this troubled earth.

And Father, I pray that as we even think about the role of our enemy in what's going on in our world today,

I pray that we would not be overwhelmed by the enemy's efforts and seeming successes these days, but we would keep going back to the truth of Scripture that you and you alone are

God. Give us that hope, give us that faith and that confidence, strengthen us in your word and what your word reveals to us about you and about the limitations of the enemy.

And Father, we also pray today for these folks who are in need. We pray for Bob and ask for your strengthening of his body and his ability to handle and cope with the effects of the chemotherapies you're receiving.

Continue to be with Jerry, give her strength and encouragement in these days.

We pray for Harold as he looks forward to surgery in another week and a half. I pray that you'd protect him from getting any kind of illness that would put this off again.

And I pray that that surgery would be effective and successful in this round and I pray that you'd give him a quick recovery.

Continue to pray for Kathy McAllister too and ask for the strengthening of her body, the easing of pain, the increased flexibility and recovery from that knee surgery.

Father, we pray for our shut -ins and Lord, we love these folks and miss being able to interact with them.

Pray that you would just encourage them. We think of Jeannie and Sue, Jerry, Dean, Jed, and we just pray that each of these would know a sense of your comfort and presence.

I pray that they might be able to get into your word and to hear your word in some way and thereby be encouraged and blessed by what they hear.

Our Father, we realize that in our congregation, our congregation here and assembled today and at large, that there are many whose hearts are heavy and burdened.

We pray that by your grace, you would give hope to the hopeless. Pray for those who are weary, that you would graciously give rest.

Some who are hurting, hurting deeply, I pray that you would give healing to the pain and the scars.

And the heartbroken, I pray that you would lift them up with joy. Those struggling with doubts and discouragements,

I pray that you would strengthen their faith. And Father, for any who are erring, living in sin,

I pray that you would bring conviction and grant repentance. Father, in that regard, we all confess today that we are a needy people, we are a sinful people.

Even in this past week, if we're honest with ourselves and with your

Spirit's convicting work, we would have to confess that we have not been all that we should be.

We have not been the Christ -like people in every regard that you've called us to be. We have sinned, sometimes with our thoughts, sometimes with our words, perhaps with our actions, our deeds.

I pray that you would grant forgiveness as we confess these things to you. And we are grateful,

Father, that we have, though we have an adversary that would slander us and would defeat us, we also have an advocate.

And our Savior, the Lord Jesus, with His blood, purges us and cleanses us from all sin.

We thank you for that gracious provision. Now, O Lord, meet with us the remainder of this time, we pray, speak to us through your word, we ask, in Jesus' name, amen.

We'll have one more hymn before our message today, Jim. And that is number 592, 592, soldiers of Christ to rise.

We are soldiers, we are in the Lord's army, as you know, and yet He has equipped us with that which defeats the enemy and that has already been done on the cross, the blood of Christ.

And all we have to do, and it's pleasing to God that He would use us to do it, is to tell others that they might be set free and have that victory as well.

So, fellow soldiers, let us arise, if we would stand all together, please, and sing all three verses.

First and last verse, excuse me, first and last verse of 592. ♪

Soldiers of Christ, arise and put your arms around us ♪ ♪

Strong in the strength which God supplies ♪ ♪ Through His eternal

Son ♪ ♪ Strong in the Lord of hosts and in His mighty power ♪ ♪

Who in the strength of Jesus trusts more than conquerors ♪ ♪

Leave no unguarded place, no weakness of the soul ♪ ♪

Take every virtue, every grace and part it by the whole ♪ ♪

From strength to strength go on ♪ ♪ Rest all and fight and pray ♪ ♪

For all the powers of the Lord is down with the world today ♪

Thank you, may we be seated. Scripture reading this morning,

I want to turn again to Ephesians chapter six. I want to read verses 10 through 13.

Focus of our message is really going to be just the verses of verse 11, or last couple words of verse 11 and verse 12.

But to get the full, to get the context of this section, verses 10 through 13.

Paul is winding down this letter to the church at Ephesus. First three chapters of the letter have been largely, shall we say doctrinal, focusing on doctrinal truth.

And then the last half of his letter, as Paul typically does in his letters, he shifts and then turns to practical applications of those doctrinal truths.

So coming to the end of this letter, he says in verse 10, "'Finally, my brethren, be strong in the

Lord "'and in the power of his might. "'Put on the whole armor of God. "'You may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

"'For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, "'but against principalities, against powers, "'against the rulers of the darkness of this world, "'against spiritual wickedness in high places.

"'Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, "'that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, "'and having done all, to stand.'"

Just a brief prayer. Our Father and our God, I pray that as we consider the nature, the character, the tactics of our enemy, that you would open our eyes to him and to his methods.

And I pray that you would equip us by this understanding to stand.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Well, every study that I've ever seen that has to do with the

Vietnam War, and particularly our involvement as the United States in that war, has pointed out one characteristic of that particular war, and that is the extreme difficulty that we had as American forces to identify the enemy.

I mean, we were fighting against the North Vietnamese on the side of the South Vietnamese, and there's not a very clear difference.

There is no clear difference just by looking at the Vietnamese, whether they're from the North or the South, you got that dynamic involved.

But more importantly, the North Vietnamese, the Viet Cong, were incredibly talented when it came to hiding in the jungles, and very difficult to find them, to see them, and our soldiers would be heading in a particular direction, and then all of a sudden, like out of nowhere, they were attacked from the trees and the jungles and underbrush and everywhere else.

And not only that, but they were also so unscrupulous as to use children,

Vietnamese children, to lure American soldiers and bring them into an ambush, sometimes even using the children and allowing them to be killed in the process.

And as a result of that dynamic, of an inability to know the enemy and identify the enemy, in our military, we made a lot of mistakes, some of them very, very tragic mistakes, but it brings home that simple point and that simple truth.

In any battle, you must know your enemy. So here we are at the end of Ephesians, and in this chapter, chapter six,

Paul is wrapping things up and he's telling us that we need to equip ourselves with this full armor of God, but that's only part of it.

It only does so much to be equipped with the armor of God if we don't know who the enemy is.

So Paul takes a moment here in verses 11 and 12 to identify for us our enemy and some other things about him that we just simply need to know if we're going to be able to stand and to withstand in the evil day.

It is vitally important that you know your enemy.

So to know your enemy, you first of all need to identify who he is. So at the end of verse 11,

Paul speaks of him as the devil. We have to deal with the wiles of the devil.

Now, if you've been a Christian any length of time and have been involved in your Bible in any length of time, you know that there are a variety of names or descriptors that are attached to this individual, the devil.

And the devil is indeed just one of many biblical names. You could almost think of him as having a multiple personality disorder.

He's definitely disordered, that is for sure. But these names and descriptors all give us some insight into something of his nature.

So he's called the devil, and that word means the slanderer or the false accuser.

So every time, we prayed this morning in our prayer that every one of us has to be honest enough to confess that we have sinned.

And probably, certainly even today in some way or another. And yet what the devil does is he takes that knowledge and he wants to slander you and falsely accuse you, especially after you have already dealt with that sin.

I mean, you know the scripture that if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, you know that.

And the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin, and you go to the Lord and you confess that sin, you own up to it, you forsake that sin, it's done, it's forgotten, it's thrown away.

And how often do you find the devil coming at you a little while later and say, you are such a scoundrel.

Look at what you've done. You did this again, whatever. This is the character of the devil, the slanderer.

He's also called Satan, and it's a name that simply means an opponent, an adversary.

Corollary to that is what Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5, be sober, be vigilant, your adversary, that's not the word

Satan, but it's the same idea, your adversary, the devil. The devil is the adversary, the one who is a false accuser and a slanderer is also your opponent.

He's called the wicked one, which has a lot to do with his moral character. He's called in the book of Revelation Abaddon or Apollyon, and that name means the destroyer.

Who do you think is behind the destruction going on in Portland? Who do you think's behind that?

You say, well, Antipha, yeah. Who's behind Antipha that's causing this kind of destruction?

The destroyer, he loves to destroy, Abaddon, Apollyon.

Revelation 12 calls him the dragon, the ancient serpent.

Now that, of course, is taking you all the way back. The book of Revelation chapter 12, calling the devil, the wicked one, your enemy, calling him the dragon, the ancient serpent, is taking you all the way back to Genesis chapter three.

He's called in Revelation 12, the deceiver of the whole world.

The deceiver of the whole world. He's called your enemy. He's called the evil one, corresponding to the wicked one.

Jesus calls him a murderer, a liar, the father of lies.

He's called the god of this age, the prince of this world, the ruler of the kingdom of the air.

He's called the tempter. This is your enemy. This is who he is.

And as your enemy, he has just a few basic, timeless objectives.

Objectives that he is not going to let go of. One of them we're told of in the book of Isaiah in chapter 14, verses 13 and 14, which is referencing

Lucifer, which is another name that's ascribed to him. But he wants to displace

God. His objective is to displace God from his throne.

You remember that passage, Isaiah 14, verses 13 and 14? He says for, the scripture says, thou hast said, speaking of Lucifer in your heart,

I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.

I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.

I will be like the Most High. And it was because of that attempt to usurp the throne of God that he of course was cast out of heaven altogether.

And this is why it says, yet thou shall be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit.

But even though he was cast out, he never gave up that objective.

He would still love to displace God from his throne. He also has as his objective, one of his four objectives that I want to highlight, the destruction of Christ.

He would love to destroy Christ. In chapter 12, I mentioned to it earlier, we read this, there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of 12 stars, speaking of Israel.

And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, pain to be delivered.

Speaking of the birth of Christ. And there appeared another wonder in heaven and behold a great red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns and seven crowns upon his heads.

And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

And she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up into God and to his throne.

Well, what is Satan wanting to do at the birth of Christ? Even at Herod's decree, right?

Kill all those little infants under age of two and we'll destroy that child. This was

Satan's objective to destroy Christ. So this is why, and this explains why in the plethora of religions and churches, you have churches that are religious places that minimize and say nothing, if anything, of Christ.

Not much of anything of Christ. And certainly don't say anything of His atoning vicarious work on the cross.

Why? Because Satan, our enemy, has been so effective in places of that kind to destroy the message of Christ and to take

Christ off of the throne in such places. He also has as a third objective, the damning of souls.

So we read in 2 Corinthians 4, verses three and four, if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the

God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. Why?

Lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. The wicked one knows the

God of this world who blinds eyes and minds, he knows that if those eyes are opened and if those minds can perceive, then they will receive the gospel.

And he does his work of blinding those eyes and with the goal, the objective, of damning those souls with him in that eternal lake of fire.

And then the enemy has as one of his objectives, the defeating of Christians.

I mentioned earlier, 1 Peter 5, 8, Peter warns us, he says, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, is a roaring lion, walks about, prowls about, seeking whom he may devour.

And this is exactly what he's doing in your life and mine, constantly looking for an opportunity to pounce.

All right, so that's what his names are, we've talked about his names, he has some basic objectives and he has not given up on any of those objectives through the millennia.

But we also need to realize that he is a personal spiritual foe, and he's not a physical one.

He's a personal foe in the sense that the devil is a person.

Now, a person doesn't have to have a body, you understand that, right? Personhood is defined by intellect, by volition, by will.

You see, the devil is a personal being. The devil is not like the electric current running through this building, just a force, just a power.

And when the right switch is turned on, then that power is activated. No, the devil is a personal being.

He communicates, he actively, volitionally, willfully, does things to try to meet his objectives.

But he's a spiritual foe, he's not a physical. This is why Paul says in verse 12 in our text that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood.

He's not a physical foe. Now, by the way, let's also understand this, that our enemy is not primarily the tool that the devil uses.

He uses flesh and blood, right? I mean, again,

Apollyon the Destroyer is highly involved in the city of Portland, Oregon, and he has a bunch of tools that he is using to facilitate that and to keep it going and to aggravate it all the more,

Apollyon the Destroyer. But what we need to understand in our,

I mean, we don't appreciate in the least bit what the tools are doing, but what we need to understand is that the people who are doing the destroying are tools, instruments in the hands of Apollyon.

I guess the best way, I've tried to think about and understand this so that I can better understand what's going on in some of these places, not only in Portland, but in Chicago and elsewhere.

It's kind of like, if we misunderstand this and we treat people in our thinking, we treat the tools as the enemy and not realize that the tools are instruments in the hands of the enemy, then we're making the same mistake in our spiritual understanding and thinking that those who call for the complete restriction of guns and the abolishment of guns, they make the same mistake.

They say, guns kill people. No, no, people kill people.

Guns are instruments in the hands of wicked people who commit the murder. So it's not the instrument, the gun that's the problem, it's the people, you deal with the people and the people who use guns in a way to murder and maim are people who are also instruments in the hands of the enemy.

So he's a spiritual foe and not a physical one. But then let's also understand this, he is a defeated foe.

He is a defeated foe. He's a defeated foe, but he is still a defeated foe who is fighting intensely hard.

It's kind of like, I read one commentator who illustrated it this way, it's kind of like what happened after June 6th, 1944.

Many of you know right away. Okay, yeah, D -Day, D -Day, Invasion of Normandy, yeah.

With the success of the Allied invasion of the coast of France on D -Day.

The success of D -Day marked the doom of Germany.

Germany was, after that success, a defeated foe. Now they didn't give up, did they?

It wasn't until May 25th, 1945 that Germany finally surrendered and said uncle.

All during those intervening months, there were battles that were going on, there were lives that were lost, there was some fierce, intense fighting that was happening.

But for all practical purposes, Germany was a defeated foe. Now that analogy falls down, of course, because things could have happened in the meantime that maybe might have turned things, you know.

But that's not the way it is with our defeated foe. The wicked one was defeated by Christ.

In John chapter 12, when Jesus was, in the last few days of his life before the crucifixion, in John 12, verse 31,

Jesus says this. He says, now is the judgment of the world. Speaking of the coming crucifixion, he says now is the judgment of the world.

Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. He's to be defeated.

Where? Where? Paul tells us in his letter to the

Colossians, it's one of those companion letters to Ephesians, in Colossians 3 .15,

or Colossians 3, yeah, Colossians 3 .15,

he says, nope, that's not the right passage. Colossians 2 .15, he says that Jesus blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, contrary to us, took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross, having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

At the cross, Jesus triumphed over our foe. He's a defeated foe, but there's still fighting that's going on, isn't there?

This was typified in ancient Israel. Remember, in Joshua chapter one,

Joshua chapter one, children of Israel about to go into the land of promise, and the

Lord tells them, in verses two and three, he tells Joshua, he says, Moses, my servant, is dead.

Now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give them, even to the children of Israel.

Then listen to what he says. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have

I given to you, as I said unto Moses. So, the

Lord promises to Israel here, judicially, that Canaan is defeated.

He's already given Canaan into the hand of Israel. And yet, yet, a few verses later, we read in verse 14, at the end of the verse, he says, you shall pass before your brethren, armed, all the mighty men of valor, and help them, until the

Lord have given your brethren rest, as he hath given to you. And this is Joshua speaking to the two and a half tribes that were to stay on the east side of the

Jordan. We're gonna have their inheritance there. He says, you're gonna cross over this Jordan with us, you're gonna cross over armed, and we're all gonna go into battle against this foe that is judicially defeated.

All right, this is your enemy. This is your enemy. You need to identify him, you need to know who he is.

He is a defeated foe, but he is still fighting relentlessly.

And not only do you need to identify who he is, you also need to identify his tactics.

So back in our text in Ephesians chapter six, verse 11, Paul tells us we need to stand against the wiles of the devil.

The Greek word there is actually one you would pick up. It's methodea, methods, the methods.

Now in that context, and the word itself has the connotation of schemes, and craft, and deception.

This is the tactic of our enemy.

It was his very first tactic, the very first approach that he took in Genesis chapter three.

He didn't come out to Eve in Genesis three in the form of a wicked, vile wretch, did he?

Came as a harmless serpent. I know, some of you are saying, a harmless serpent?

Are you kidding me? There is no such thing. A garter snake isn't a harmless serpent. You hate them so greatly.

I get that, but no, I mean, this obviously was of no concern to Eve, and the devil knew it.

And what did he do? How did he approach her? Did he tell her, hey listen,

I'll tell you what, if you eat this fruit, it's gonna happen. Just as God said, it's great stuff to look at, isn't it?

But you know what, it's gonna kill you. So why don't you go ahead and eat it? No, you know the story.

The devil's tactics are tactics of imitation. He imitates something else that seems to be so harmless.

He distorts and twists the truth. Another thing he does, just as he did in the garden, he distracts away from God's good gifts and the blessings that he abundantly gives to you so that you focus instead on your limitations, on what you can't have, on what is off limits.

And then, of course, he induces all kinds of questioning of God himself, of his revelation.

These are the wiles. You need to identify who your enemy is.

You need to identify his tactics. Then let's also take a moment and identify his kingdom, his realm, that is, you know, in any war, you need to know what nation is it that we're fighting against, you know?

In the Vietnam War, we weren't fighting against South Vietnam, we were fighting against North Vietnam.

All right, you need to identify the realm that is involved in this enemy's, under this enemy's control.

I would have you note, first of all, it's a spiritual realm. So the end of verse 12, he says we wrestle against spiritual wickedness in high places.

That word high places is interesting because you see it in other spots here in the book of Ephesians.

Back in chapter one, it's translated in the heavenly places, in the heavenlies.

This is a general reference to the spiritual realm.

There's a spiritual realm over which God is in complete control and where Christ is and where our inheritance lies and where we sit with Christ in the heavenlies.

The spiritual realm also is the realm in which Satan has his area of domain, if you will.

But his kingdom encompasses some things that we need to be aware of. His kingdom encompasses, first of all, the mass of unregenerate people who is in his kingdom.

Back in chapter two, verse two, Paul says, you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, then listen to what he says, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, now listen, according to the prince of the power of the air that now works in the children of disobedience.

So the kingdom of the wicked one is this spiritual realm that encompasses the mass of unregenerate people, the children of disobedience.

But his realm also encompasses certain aspects of human government.

Remember in the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, Luke tells us, it's recorded for us in Matthew four and in Luke four, and in Luke's account, chapter four, verses five and six, we read this, that the devil takes

Jesus up into a high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

And the devil said unto him, all this power, or authority will I give thee, and the glory of them, for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever

I will give it. Now there's a great deal of that that we don't understand, that we can't quite comprehend.

And one thing, by the way, as an aside, that we always must keep in mind, that the devil never gets one over on God.

Martin Luther made the point that the devil is God's devil, he never is able to do his thing without the permission granted by the sovereign one, our

God, and that's very clear in the book of Job. But here the devil is pointing out all these kingdoms of the earth, he's showing them to Jesus, and he's telling

Jesus, I'll give you these kingdoms, so there is some sense in which certain aspects of human government are encompassed in the realm of our enemy.

And then his kingdom also encompasses religion and certain religious meeting places.

Wednesday night we read the letter to the church in Revelation 2 at Smyrna, and in verse nine, listen to what

Jesus says to this church. He says, I know thy works and tribulation and poverty, but thou art rich, and I know, listen,

I know the blasphemy of them which say they are

Jews and are not, but are of the synagogue of Satan.

So there is, again, in Satan, our enemy's kingdom, his kingdom encompasses certain religion, certain elements of religion, certain religious groups and entities, and even their places of worship.

He has the synagogue of Satan, and that religion of our enemy incorporates a false gospel.

Remember Paul said in Galatians chapter one when he was so astounded that the Galatians were so easily removed to another gospel, which wasn't the true gospel, but it was another gospel.

And anybody, he says, who would bring that other gospel is to be damned. It's a damnable stuff, as it comes from the wicked one.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 11, 2 Corinthians chapter 11, the enemy in his kingdom has his ministers of religion.

Verses 11, chapter 11, verses 14 and 15, he says, in verse 13, such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves, remember the imitation tactic of the devil, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ, and no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light, therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness.

He has his ministers, he has his doctrines, his teachings. Paul writes of this in 1

Timothy four, and he talks about the doctrines of devils.

In 1 Corinthians 10, verse 20, the devil's religion includes worship.

Paul talks about offering, eating meat offered to idols as an offering unto demons.

And he says, you don't want to have any participation in that, the worship of the wicked one.

So think about this, think about this. When you see these images, especially predominantly in some of the

Asian countries, the Southeast Asian and so forth countries, where, and we saw this when all over the place, when we were in Singapore and Malaysia, these little shrines.

And in the box of the shrine, there is a Buddha. And next to that Buddha, there are these different offerings of mostly fruit and that kind of thing.

Those, that's the devil's religion. Those are offerings that are offered up to one of the devil's false gods.

And there are, of course, many, many more. And so our wicked enemy, the devil, in all his various names and his schemes and his tactics, he has a kingdom.

It's a spiritual realm, but it shows itself up in our physical realm, in all of these different capacities.

But now look at verse 12 in our text, Ephesians 6. And we need to also identify not only who our enemy is, his tactics and his kingdom, we also need to identify his standing army, his standing army.

Here's the thing, and we must keep this in mind when we think about the enemy.

The devil is not God, he is not a God. The devil is a created being, just like any of the other angels are created beings.

And therefore, all right, now get this, understand this. The devil is not omniscient, he doesn't know everything.

The devil is not omnipotent, he does not have all power. The devil is not omniscient, he does not know everything.

So he has to have an army to do his bidding.

Now he's at the head of it, to be sure. But his army does his bidding to help him try to reach his objective, his objectives.

And so we can think of what Paul writes here in verse 12 as four ranks in Satan's army.

The first is the rank of principalities. He says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities.

Literally, that word means chief ones, chief ones. These would be leaders of divisions.

So think of it as, you know, Satan has his fallen angels that have gone with him and have gone to his side.

And they're divided up, perhaps, into multiple divisions of demonic forces.

And over those divisions, there are the chief ones, the principalities. And I think if you look at scripture as a whole and some other places, maybe these chief ones are like we hear of the angel that told

Daniel in Daniel chapter 10, verse 20. He spoke of being opposed by the prince of Persia.

He wasn't talking about the human prince. He was talking about a spiritual ruler, chief one of Persia.

And he said, after the prince of Persia, there will come opposition by the prince of Grecia or Greece.

So you think about this, think about this. You look at our world and there are various, there is a variety or a slight, we could call it a scale of hostility toward any kind of righteousness,

God's righteousness, toward Christ, toward the gospel, toward God, the

God of the Bible. Each of those countries and the level of their opposition may very much have to do with the effectiveness that God has allowed the prince of that country, that nation, to have in the carrying out of his responsibilities.

And so, therefore, we have, we have historical records, for example, of the

Armenian genocide, the murder of a couple of million of Armenian Christians.

What was behind that? The prince of that Islamic country.

Or we have, in our current world, we have Islamic nations that have made it a death penalty crime to convert to Christianity.

How do they get such power? How is such thing possible? The prince of those nations uses the instruments, the tools, the human instruments, to see to it that such laws are enacted.

And that's why Paul tells us in, tells Timothy in 1

Timothy chapter two, why, this is why we need to pray for those who are in authority over us, for our rulers, for any governors, and for all who are in authority over us.

Why? So that we, believers, followers of Christ, may lead a quiet and peaceable life because God would have people to be converted.

And this is a terribly difficult, challenging thing to take place in a country where it is a criminal offense.

It's a capital offense to renounce Islam and to become a follower of Jesus.

One commentator wrote this. He says, evidently, one of the chief purposes of these principalities during the present age is to close national doors to missionary activity.

Principalities. Then there are powers. Word is, word means authorities, authorities.

These would be demonic individuals who have responsibility delegated to them, and they have the authority to act independently with that responsibility, and they can act independently within certain boundaries or certain limitations.

And Satan has to do this. He has to give this kind of authority to these underlings because he can't be everywhere.

He can't know everything that's going on. He can't make all the decisions all around the world at any given moment in time.

So he has these authorities scattered throughout the world making decisions for him. Again, this same commentator,

William Goode is his name. He said, because these things, these beings are not holy,

H -O -L -Y, holy and devoted as the angels of God, their imperfections, now watch, this gives you some insight into our world.

Their imperfections may be manifested in rivalry and or errors in judgment.

So what that does is it helps us understand all the different reactions in countries around the world to identical situations, different political and governmental philosophies, socialism, secularism, atheistic communism, religious totalitarianism, all these different forms of government and expressions of power and control in different nations all over the world.

How is it, if Satan is controlling, why are there so many differences? Well, because Satan isn't directly involved in all of these places.

He has his minions who he has given authority to exercise their responsibility in their places to do as they will.

And sometimes they end up killing each other off in the process. The next class of warriors in Satan's army are the world rulers of the darkness.

The world rulers of the darkness. He says we wrestle against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world.

I would suggest that this group in his army are those who concentrate their efforts in the realm of ethics and morals.

Ethics and morals. So you have some that are some of these rulers that may have more focus on political power and military power and things like that.

These individuals, their focus is more on the matter of ethics and morals. Again, William Goode, he wrote his commentary in 1967 and I found fascinating what he wrote in this particular juncture.

Listen to what he said. He said the USA, 1967 now, think about it, 1967.

What was going on in 1967? Okay, the Vietnam War was going on and you had all kinds of protests related to that.

You had rioting in the streets and you had college campuses being sit -ins on college campuses.

You got all that kind of stuff going on. But you also had the sexual revolution, the free love culture.

I'm trying to remember if 1967 was the summer of love in San Francisco, if it wasn't 67, 69, it was anyways back in that era.

But listen to what he said. He said the USA has been quote, the arsenal of the gospel for a full generation or more.

However, socialism coupled with moral degradation will soon obliterate this effectiveness unless the tide is reversed.

The same laxity with regard to human behavior which fosters moral delinquency provides the climate in which socialistic theories of government flourish.

Is this 2020 America or what?

He says these two handmaids, socialistic theories of government and moral laxity, these two handmaids are both the children of the devil.

They're the children of the devil. And they are put into place and they are expanded and they are propagated by the world rulers of the darkness.

And then there's one more group of soldiers in Satan's army.

They are the wicked spirits in the heavenly realm. He says we wrestle against spiritual wickedness in high places or in the heavenlies.

I think of this group as being those who instigate corruption in the realms, in the realm of ideas.

They instigate the corruption in the realm of ideas and then they propagate those corrupt ideas.

They instigate corrupt ideas and propagate those ideas. So for example, this would be the corrupt worldviews and ideas that are expressed in like the popular culture.

1967 when William Goode wrote his commentary and he talked about the moral laxity and socialistic theories of government.

In 1967, he could not possibly have known that in 2020, not only would homosexuality be mainstream, but the marriage of homosexuals and lesbians would be fully accepted in our nation.

And that there would be a welcoming of the idea of transgenderism and on and on we can go with these ideas.

All right, these are ideas. These are ideas that got floated out there and you started hearing about this.

Maybe people who are of the same sex who love each other, maybe they should be allowed to have the same rights as married people.

Maybe they should have marriages. They should, then it's they should have marriages. And then it's

Supreme Court justices in states like Vermont and Hawaii who are saying that the civil laws that do not recognize same sex marriages are unconstitutional.

And those kinds of civil laws start dropping in states all over the country.

And while that's going on at the same time, you've got cultural propagation of these ideas.

Even to the extent that on primetime television, you end up seeing, on primetime television, you end up having guys kissing each other and women kissing each other.

Not pecks on the cheeks like women tend to do in some places, but full -on intimate making out.

And it has even degenerated and become propagated in Disney productions, for crying out loud, that used to be thought of as wholesome family fare.

Where does this come from? How does this happen? How do such ideas get germinated and then propagated before they have completely infiltrated a society by the wicked spirits in the heavenly and spiritual realm?

It's not only those cultural expressions of ideas and worldviews, but I think it's also, they're also behind the corruption of biblical truth.

False teachers, pagan religions, cults, atheism, surprisingly even, and all other religious isms that either supplant or suppress the truth and blind men to it.

Satan uses this group in his army, the wicked spirits in the spiritual realm, to corrupt even biblical truth.

All right, so look, when your eyes are open to the character of your enemy, and you realize the devious nature of his work, the extent of his kingdom, his diversified global army, it would be easy, very easy, and understandable, very understandable, to respond as Elisha's servant.

You remember him? Elisha and his servant were in Dothan, and at night, the

Syrian army came to Dothan and surrounded the city of Dothan, and they wanted to destroy it, and Elisha the prophet, and Elisha's servant looks out the window in the morning, and he sees this incredible host of Syrian forces, and he cries out to Elisha, and he says, alas, what shall we do?

Now, you hear about your enemy, and you understand what he's like, and his tactics, and his global reach, and effectiveness.

It's understandable that you would cry out, alas, what shall we do? Ah, remember what

Elisha replied. Don't be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

So as you put on your armor, know your enemy, know your enemy, but remember, he's a defeated foe.

Let's pray. So our father and our God, it so oftentimes doesn't feel like it, doesn't look like it, it doesn't seem like it, and we are so prone to cry out, alas, what shall we do?

Father, your word gives us some insight today. We're to put on the whole armor of God, and we're to identify our enemy, we're to know our enemy, and one thing that we can know of him is that he is a defeated foe.

May we march forward in faith, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

So would you take your blue supplement books again, and turn to number 52. Number 52, and I wanna sing stanzas two and three of this hymn,

O Church, Arise. Number 52, let's stand together as we sing stanzas two and three.

Our call to war is to love the captive soul, but to rage against the captor, our enemy.

On the second. Our call to war, to love the captive soul, but to rage against the captor, and with the sword that makes the wounded whole, we will fight with life and valor.

When faced with trials on every side, we know the outcome is secure, and Christ will have the price for which he died, an inheritance of nations.

The third is the last. Come see the cross, where love and mercy meet, as the

Son of God is stricken. Then see his foes lie crushed beneath his feet, for the conqueror has risen, and as the stone is rolled away, and Christ emerges from the grave, this victory march continues till the day.

Every eye and heart shall see him. And now,

O God, may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus, in whose name we pray, amen.