Welcome to the War

The True Story of Hiru Onoda and the Reality of Spiritual War

Have you heard the true story of Hiru Onoda? Some of you may not recognize that name, but when I tell the story, I think some of you will be familiar. Hiru Onoda. Hiru Onoda, in 1944, was stationed on a tiny Philippine island.

He was given orders from his Japanese commander down from the government to hold the island, 1944, until the Imperial Army returned. As you know, you may not know the date, but as you know, the war with Japan ended with their surrender on September 2, 1945.

But Hiru Onoda was not made aware of this, and in fact, any time that they tried to make him and his group aware of this, like they dropped pamphlets from the sky and said, hey listen, the war's over, he considered that these things were enemy propaganda.

Now eventually, the rest of his group, they die, and he's left alone on the island. Well, he holds out on this little Philippine island in a state of war until March 9, 1974. He did not surrender until his own commander was brought over to the island to convince him that the war was actually finished.

He had given basically three decades of his life to a war that had already ended. Turn in your Bibles, please, this morning to Ephesians chapter 6. Today we begin the last major section. Can you believe it?

Here we are, so soon? The last major section of the letter to the Ephesians. It's an important section that teaches us the reality of spiritual warfare and of our need to ready ourselves to fight. And the observation I have this morning is that too many professing Christians are the opposite of Hiru Onoda.

Onoda continued to participate in a war that was already over. Yet today, too many professing Christians do not seemingly participate in a war that continues to rage. A war that is raging today, even this morning, against their soul, against the souls of their families and the souls of the church.

And what you need to remember this morning is that this war has no neutrality. There's no Switzerland in this war. There are no neutral participants. Those who think they're not fighting this war are actually just tools in the hands of the enemy.

Now, this will come as no surprise to you, but it's going to take us a bit to work our way through this section. But today we just begin with this message entitled, Welcome to the War. And we're really going to focus on verse 10, but as a way of context, let's read verses 10 through 20.

So, would you mind standing with me as we honor the reading of God's Word? Ephesians chapter 6, beginning in verse 10, Paul writes, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, thus saith the Lord then,.

Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

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 firm. Stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.

To that end, keep alert, with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. And also for me, that words may be given to me, and opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

Father, we thank you for your word. We pray this morning with an acknowledgement that too often we don't acknowledge, that we are in a state of not peacetime, but war. We have an enemy ready to distract us, ready to consume us, and who would devour us completely, if not for your divine protection.

We pray, Lord, for seriousness, and ears to hear, and eyes to see, and give us the understanding we need from the text today. We pray that Christ is exalted, and all will be done for His glory. We pray for the lost to be saved.

We pray for the Christians to grow. We pray that Christ would have a healthy church here, for He is worthy of such a church. We pray for all those who have heard the gospel, already this morning in Sunday school, who heard it this weekend in our evangelistic efforts.

We pray, we pray that you would cause your word not to return void. We pray it all in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. I find it extremely interesting. I don't know where you're at this morning, but like for me, in some regards, this has been a distracting service.

Whatever kind of cup that my children had that was clinging around, just seemed like there were a couple of times in our service today that were kind of like stop and go. I was in the foyer earlier, just found myself snapping something.

Like, what?

And I find it extremely ironic. It's probably not the best word. I find it quite providential that on the very morning we're going to preach about spiritual warfare, that some of these things come up.

And I remind you, saints, of this sobering reality. We are at war. Now, Paul begins the text by saying, finally. Hopefully, you've sat under my preaching long enough that you know finally means nothing, right?

But Paul is drawing our attention here to the reality that there is a waiting and significant call to arms. He reminds us. I'm going to use a phrase that you may not be familiar with, but I want you to be after today's sermon.

He reminds us that we are the church militant. The church militant. That's an old way, old theologians would put it that way, to remind us that we are a church that is not at rest. We are a church at war.

John Owen wrote a catechism on the church and helps us to understand what is meant by the phrase church militant. I'll just read a couple of his questions and answers. Question one, he says, How are the elect called in respect of their obedience unto Christ and union with Him?

Answer, His church. Question three, is this whole church always in the same state? Answer, no. One part of it is militant. The other, triumphant. Question four, what is the church militant? Answer, that portion of God's elect which in their generation cleaveth unto Christ by faith and fighteth against the world, flesh, and devil.

Question five, what is the church triumphant? Answer, that portion of God's people who having fought their fight and kept the faith are now in heaven resting from their labors. You understand what he's saying?

If you are part of the church, if you have repented of your sins and believe the gospel, if you trust Christ and you're not in heaven, right? Two things to check this morning. One, I can already answer for you.

You are not in heaven, okay? I can't answer the first one. Are you in Christ? Do you trust Christ?

Well, you're not in heaven.

And if you trust Christ and you're not in heaven, that means you're part of the church militant. Martin Lloyd-Jones puts it this way, we can speak as has been done throughout the centuries of the church militant and the church triumphant.

The church on earth is fighting for her life, for doctrine, for everything. And the church triumphant is the church that is beyond the veil, rejoicing and triumphant. Or even more concise language, Douglas Kelly says, we sometimes speak of the church on earth as the church militant and the church in heaven as the church triumphant.

Or Edmund Clowney, the spirit girds the church militant for struggle even as he carries us forward to the sure hope of Christ's return. Do you hear me this morning? I'm saying if you are part of the church today, if you are a believer in Christ, you are part of the church militant.

Now, R .C. Sproul gives us a little bit longer quote that is relevant to the point of the passage before us. He says, if the church is ever to be the church triumphant, she must first be the church militant.

She must be willing to enter into a spiritual war, one that could cost us our very lives. However, if we look at church history, we can see that the gospel radiated with its greatest clarity and brightness in those eras when the proponents of the faith spent most of their time in prison.

But we enjoy the comforts of this world so much that we would rather have them than to live like those who were pilgrims and sojourners on the earth. What I'm saying to us, friends, is that there is a battle before us.

There is a war before us. There is no such thing in this world today as peacetime Christianity. We are the church militant. We are not yet at rest. And these true churches all over the world today, local churches, true churches all over the world today, must continue to fight.

Who are we fighting? Well, I remind you in verse 12. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood. We are not taking up our guns or our physical armor and seeking to conquer lands in that way. No, no. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

We are not fighting a battle today with carnal and physical means. We are fighting the world and the flesh and the devil with spiritual means, supernatural means. We are at war. So this brings us to our first point this morning.

The church militant must understand, number one, the seriousness of our reality. Number one, we must understand the seriousness of our reality. So back to verse 10. Finally, Paul says, Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

Listen to what Martin Lloyd-Jones says about this passage. There is nothing that is more urgently important for all who claim the name of Christian than to grasp and to understand the teaching of this particular section of Scripture.

That seems a bit hyperbolic, Dr. Lloyd-Jones. You're saying that in the Christian life there's nothing more important nor more serious than to understand the teaching of this section of Scripture. Well, I think in many ways he's right.

He's right.

You need to understand that the world we live in today, if the Lord were to just pull back the curtain just a little bit and to let us see the evil that's going on behind the scenes and to see the spiritual battles that are taking place behind the scenes, we may be quite alarmed.

We are at war. Friends, if tomorrow you were to wake up and it said, as strange as this sounds, what the news were to say tomorrow, a foreign country has invaded the great state of Arkansas, how would that change your priorities?

Would you care so much about your next series in your television show or YouTube or your thoughts about sports or even work or school? All of these things, would they not take a great back seat to the present danger?

What I'm saying to us this morning is to consider you may not be able to see the extent of our enemy's schemes and the multitude of his army, but I'm pleading with the church today, do not sleep here.

We are at war and the Apostle Paul calls the church here to arms when he says, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. You must know here that Paul calls us to be strong because there is something to be strong for.

I'm calling the church under the authority of the Word of God in the name of Christ, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to be strong in the Lord. There is something this morning to be strong for.

There is a battle today that's worth fighting. There is an enemy today worth defeating. There is territory today worth conquering. There is a crown today worth receiving and there is a king today worth honoring.

Don't go to sleep. Don't be caught unaware. Some of you, I'm encouraging, you need to understand the reason at times that you get frustrated in the home or in the church or maybe you snap when you shouldn't snap or you're distracted when you shouldn't be distracted or your feelings are hurt when they shouldn't be hurt.

Listen, there's a multitude of things that we could attribute these things to, but one of the realities that we can attribute these things to is the reality of spiritual warfare. We need to understand the seriousness of our reality.

Now, understanding the seriousness of our reality, there's three things that it helps us do. Number one, it points us to Christ. So verse 10 says, finally be strong in the Lord. If you understand the battle that is before us today, then Paul rightly introduces and reminds us of this warfare and as he does so, if you rightly understand the battle, then you're pointed to our captain.

We are soldiers, yes, but the focus here is not on the soldiers. The focus is on our captain. It's not on our army so much as it is the Lord's army.

Look to Christ.

Be strong in the Lord. Be reminded today of His infinite value and His worth and His unlimited power. Remember, it was by a strong arm that He brought you out of Egypt, that He rescued you from His sins.

Sorry, that's heretical. That He rescued you from your sins, right? That He bled for sinners, bearing God's wrath, rising again. Our King, in essence, has won the war already, and yet He has left us fighting in this war to sanctify us, to win more souls, to increase our acknowledged dependence on Him, to increase our love for Him.

So understanding the seriousness of our reality points us to Christ. Secondly, understanding the seriousness of our reality shows us the necessity of strength. Again, the text says, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

The word here for strength is the idea of being enabled to do something. We have a great enemy to fight, and yet, listen to me church, we have no strength in and of ourselves to meet Him in battle. Charles Hodge notes, the Christian conflict is not only real, it is difficult and dangerous.

It is one in which true believers are often grievously wounded, and multitudes of reputed believers entirely succumb. Friends, I'm telling you this morning that the war that we are in, it is not a game.

We are in a mighty conflict here. We live in a culture today that has decayed.

It is dying,.

And in some sense it has died. It is decaying morally. That is, all over television today there are things that are talked about and alluded to, and even outright shown that generations before wouldn't have tolerated.

Our culture today reeks of lust and pride and greed and idolatry. It's rampant and it's celebrated. We're declining morally. We're declining doctrinally. That is, it doesn't matter if you believe in God, one God, our nation, in God we trust, yet that's turned to whatever God you want to trust.

It doesn't matter. It could be one God, it could be many gods, it could be yourself as God. This has crept into the church. We have professing believers today who will say things like, well, we'll be in heaven with atheists and Muslims.

It doesn't really matter. All the roads lead to heaven. We're declining morally, doctrinally. Thirdly, in ecclesiology, the church is seen today as irrelevant. The culture sees us as irrelevant. And even those who profess Christ see the church as irrelevant.

Let me give you something to consider. In 1845, in 1845, that is when, let me make sure I can say this right, that is when the National Day for Voting for President, this is the funny part, it's the second, what is it like, the second Tuesday after the first Monday, or first Tuesday after the first Monday.

Regardless, it's on Tuesday. You can tell me afterwards, I got that wrong. It's on a Tuesday,.

In November.

And the reason it's on a Tuesday in November, do you know? Isn't that the strangest thing? Wouldn't it be more convenient to vote maybe on Saturday? Why of all the days of the week.

Do we vote on Tuesday?

Because there was a time in our country when our country, the majority of people in our country, prioritized Sundays for gathering with the church. And so if you were going to vote on Monday, you would, in a lot of places, right, you don't just drive your car to Perryville.

You have to go miles,.

So if you were going to vote on Monday, you'd have to travel on Sunday. They weren't going to do that.

Why?

Because they prioritized.

Gathering with the church. And so they set the day to vote in our country on Tuesday so that you could travel on Monday so you wouldn't have to miss gathering with the church on Sunday. You could drive on Monday.

You could vote on Tuesday. Americans thought both of these.

Were very, very important. Sundays were important.

Because you gather with the church. And also voting is important. So we don't want these two things to conflict, right? So we'll put church, leave it on Sundays. That's what we're supposed to do. And on Tuesday, we can vote.

Now, I'm going somewhere with this illustration. Where I'm going with this illustration is that's 1845. Now we're almost, well, we're almost 180 years later.

2023.

That's not Sunday, right? Like today, you're like, well, you could vote on Sunday, right? We'll do everything that we normally do the rest of the time. We'll do it on Sunday. And if we have time and we don't feel too tired from the weekend, well, we'll gather with the church.

All I'm trying to illustrate in this is that we live in a culture today that has very much declined in its ecclesiology. We see no relevancy or importance today to the church. So what I'm saying is we live in the midst of a culture in rampant decline, speeding at neck-break speed down the hill of moral, doctrinal, and ecclesiological decline.

Jerusalem, as it were, is surrounded on all sides by her enemies. That is, the church faces foes on every side. And what can we do? Well, in and of ourselves, nothing. Understanding the seriousness of our reality shows us the necessity of strength, the Lord's strength.

Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Thirdly, understanding the seriousness of our reality creates in us a desire to fight nobly and properly for our King. Listen, if you're a Christian in here today and you hear this idea that we are at war, what is your first response?

Well, hopefully, as a believer, your first response is, if I am at war and Christ is my captain and Christ bids me whatever He bids me to do, that's what I want to do. And I want to fight for Him. And I want to fight for the Kingdom.

And I want to fight for my brothers and sisters nobly, honorably, properly. And that's what this text speaks of. So Paul says in verse 13,. 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 firm, stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication.

To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. Listen to me. We have history in our country of men, great men, and at times, now I'm speaking of the army, but there are times, and great women as well, fighting for our country, giving their lives for our country, refusing to bring dishonor or shame on our country.

Friends, how much more does the Christian desire to fight for the kingdom of Christ, and not to bring shame or reproach or dishonor upon the church, or upon the name of Christ. And we desire then to fight nobly and properly for our worthy King.

The church must understand the seriousness of our reality. When you were growing up, you watched Tom and Jerry, remember? And Tom, the cat, sometimes you'd be looking at Jerry the mouse, and all of a sudden, or sometimes this happened to Jerry too, I can remember different episodes, but on one shoulder there'd be like a little angel, a little cartoon angel, you should do this.

And then on the other shoulder there'd be like a little cartoon devil, you should do this. Well, I'm telling you that this isn't what's happening today. That almost kind of makes the significance of what is happening in our world today seem trivial and funny and cartoonish.

But what is happening today is a serious and sobering conflict. I want to tell you today.

That it is something.

That has ruined many souls. You've watched the scandals of men and women who profess Christ who have fallen. You've watched maybe even genuinely converted pastors who have left their wives and their ministry and their family.

You've seen churches split. You've seen families divided. You've seen the name of Christ reproached.

Why?

Because this is the battle that is at stake. And what I'm saying to us this morning is we must take Paul's warnings and exhortations here with utmost sobriety. We must remember this war is a mighty spiritual conflict.

Oftentimes you can't see your enemy, but you certainly can see his wicked influence. So Paul says, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Paul shows us there is no way,.

No way,.

That we ought to think of sovereign grace.

That we ought to say,.

Salvation is all of the Lord. It's all of grace of God. It's not our works. It's all what God has done. In no way should that lead us to think that the Christian life produces one of laziness or passivity.

Paul calls the church to war. I've got to move on. Second, the church militant must understand the seriousness of our reality. Number two, the church militant must understand the steadfastness of the regenerate.

The church militant must understand the steadfastness of the regenerate. Now I want to tell you, and I speak very plainly and soberingly to you, but when he says finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might, I want to tell you something very plain and obvious, but needs to be said.

Paul is addressing Christians. He is addressing those in the Lord. Take a quick journey with me, if you will, in Ephesians. Let's start in Ephesians 1. This phrase, in the Lord, pops up time and again.

Ephesians chapter 1. We'll use it a couple of times. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 15. For this reason, because I have heard of your faith, and here it is, in the Lord Jesus, and your love for all the saints.

The regenerate, those born again, have faith in the Lord. Consider chapter 2, verse 21. He says, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. Okay, the regenerate,.

Those born again,.

Are being built into a temple of the Lord. Consider chapter 5, in verse 8. For at one time you were in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. That is, the regenerate,.

Those born again,.

Are light in the Lord. And then the exhortation here in verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord. Here's a plain and simple truth. You come to a country, rural church, like Providence Baptist, you get plain, simple truths.

And here it is. You today, ready? For the profundity of such a statement. You are either in the Lord, or you are not. And there is no other alternative. Consider that today. Children, adults, whether you are a member of this church or you're visiting today, consider that you are either in the Lord, or you are not.

You are either born again today, or you are not. And the question you ought to ask yourself this morning is, am I in the Lord? Jesus, is Christ my sure and steady anchor? Is He my friend and King and Savior?

And am I walking in Him and living in Him? Here is something you must understand this morning. There is no neutrality in this war.

You believe the lie.

That there is a neutral position that can be had in this war.

You believe that there are the Christians.

Fighting on the battlefield, and there's the forces of the evil one.

Fighting against,.

And they're going back and forth, and you can just kind of be over here kicking around a soccer ball or whatever, right?

And the war is going on,.

But you can kind of be like the Swiss and eating your cheese and playing with your knife or whatever, whatever happens with Switzerland. But the point is, you think there's neutrality,.

And there's not.

There is no neutrality. You say, well, okay, I'm not actively fighting on the Lord's side, but I'm not against Him either. You know, I'm not actively fighting for Him per se, but I'm not going to stand in your way.

If you want to go and fight the Lord's battles,.

Well, okay, but I'm not.

But don't you see? What happens so often in Christ's army is those in His army march on to battle, and what they have to do is they have to like go around those who are just standing there, right? Or those who are just playing games or whatever while the conflict is at hand.

And so what I'm saying is those not in the Lord's army fighting His battles are not on the Lord's side. Inevitably, they find themselves against Him. Whether you acknowledge that or not, there is no neutrality.

You are either in the Lord or not. You are either on the Lord's side in this conflict or you are being a tool of the devil. Even if you're like, hey, I'm not following Satan. You crazy preacher. I don't follow Satan.

Yeah, but if your passivity towards Christ and the things of Christ, your passivity towards Christ and the things of Christ, it's actually sin. It's actually opposition to Him. In the words of the great Texas Ranger, Augustus McCrae, you ride with an outlaw, you die with an outlaw.

And the reality is if you are in this conflict, or you are in this conflict whether you acknowledge it or not, if you're not fighting on the Lord's side, then you stand in opposition to Him. You cannot befriend the world and conform to the world and pretend allegiance to Christ and tell everybody that you're on the side of the Lord Jesus and feign neutrality because those who do so will ultimately face the same righteous retribution of the most wicked and vile people who are openly saying, I'm a Satan worshiper.

You stand on their side and you will face the same retribution. So to any in here this morning who need to hear this, I implore you to seek the King's mercy this day. To leave off any opposition and pretend in neutrality and to turn to Christ.

To repent of your sins and believe the Gospel. To not believe today that if you're playing with sin and headlong in sin and living in sin that somehow you also are on the side of King Jesus. No, you stand in opposition to Him because there is no neutrality and the call to you today is to hear the mercy of Christ.

To receive it by repenting of your sins.

And believing the Gospel.

Now to those who profess to be born again, the text says this is for you. This is for you if you are a Christian. Be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might. Now Paul tells us to be strong because you may hear of war and cower.

William Grinnell writes, fear immobilizes its victim. But the Apostle Paul calls you to steadfastness. The church militant is called to courage over cowardice. Isaiah 35 verse 4 says, Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not.

Behold, your God will come with vengeance with the recompense of God. He will come and save you. Are there any of anxious heart in here this morning? Are there any Christians who say,.

This is hard and I fear for my children.

And their souls and the church and its doctrinal purity and faithfulness. That these things make me anxious?

And Isaiah says,.

Say to the anxious heart,.

Be strong.

Be strong in the Lord. Fear not.

Your God will come.

The church faces many foes and perilous danger and yet, like Elisha said to his servant, we are called to consider that those with us, those on our side, God and His army of angels as it were, is much greater than those with them.

Be strong in the Lord. We've already stated this is a serious war. This is a world today that despises us. Our own sin deceives us. Satan seeks to destroy us. But the call here is not one of trepidation, but valor.

We are called to courage over cowardice. We are called to fight. Be strong in the Lord, church.

Be strong in the Lord.

And the strength of His might. There is no room in Christ's army for laziness. The lazy cannot be bothered to read their Bible. They can't be bothered to wrestle with God in prayer. These things are too wearisome.

It's too hard for them to be strong. But a well-maintained army will not tolerate its soldiers forsaking their duties because those duties are too hard. Rather, you either maintain discipline or you find your way to a dishonorable discharge.

Well, how much more important is Christ's army? How much worthier is Christ our Captain? There is no room in Christ's army for laziness. There is no room in Christ's army for foolishness. Listen to this.

You may think that the soldier who goes traipsing along and skipping through a minefield, you may think he's brave. He's not brave. He's foolish. Well, so is the Christian who forsakes the means of grace.

That is, the professing Christian who fails to prioritize gathering with God's people, who fails to neglect the Scriptures, who ignores the edification of the saints. The professing Christian who lives this way and acts as though everything is rosy and as though we are living in peacetime is not brave.

He or she is foolish. And they will before long step on one of those mines. There's no room in Christ's army for laziness or foolishness. There's no room in Christ's army for treachery. Now, we mentioned this earlier, but it bears repeating.

There is no room in Christ's army for treachery. In 18...

I don't remember.

45. That's not right. 1845 was earlier. In the Mexican-American War, in the Battle of the Alamo, the Mexican army was sieging the Alamo, Fort McDufford. And when they finally came to attack the fort, the Mexican army in the back actually shot some of their leaders in the front.

Because it wasn't a well-trained army. There was just a lot of them. And they were so afraid and didn't really understand what was going on, they actually just were firing at the fort and they actually ended up killing their own leaders.

Now consider that this morning. Too many Christians have been seriously wounded,.