Bible Study Spiritual Warfare broadcast outline part 1

[Jim Parker]

Remember the song; “Onward Christian Soldiers”

"Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war
With the cross of Jesus going on before…"

What was that song about?

War with tanks and bombers and armies shooting at each other?

No. It’s about SPIRITUAL warfare

Today, I want to continue with the subject of Spiritual Warfare bu asking SIX questions:

(1) Who are we fighting and why?
(2) Where is the war being fought?
(3) What are our enemy’s weapons?
(4) How does Satan wound us with these weapons?
(5) What are our weapons and how do we use them?
(6) How do we know that we have won this war?

FIRST: With whom are we fighting? Who is our enemy?

Eph 6:12 … 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.

> Our enemy is not any person no matter how evil, wicked, mean and nasty that person acts.

> Our enemy is the devil and his angels who want nothing else but to cause us to disqualify ourselves from the possibility of attaining eternal life.

> It’s not PEOPLE who are our enemy but the powers and principalities in “heavenly places” who want to destroy every last person because we are created in the image and likeness of God and the devil hates God.

> The devil and his angels want us dead; eternally dead.

> Our enemy comes to steal from us the gift of eternal life that God offers to all who will believe.

> The enemy comes to destroy our relationships and our lives.

> He wants to make your life miserable - and then he wants you dead.

> If you are a believer, you are in a battle fighting for your eternal life.

John 10:10 The thief (that is: the devil) does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.

> The devil comes to steal the gift of God; eternal life - and peace - and joy.

> He comes to kill you with physical death from which all mankind will be resurrected
- AND with the second death which is eternal death from which no one will be resurrected.

> He comes to destroy every aspect of your life and everything you value.


SECOND: Where is this war being fought?

Ro 7:15-23 (RSV) I do not understand my own actions.
For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good.

So then it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh.

I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.

For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members.

> The battlefield where spiritual warfare is being fought is within you.
- The desire to sin dwells in your flesh.
- The practice of sin distorts your soul so that it also promotes sin.
- Sin fights against the desire to do God’s will, which dwells in your mind and in your “inmost self”,
- that is; in your spirit.

THIRD: What are our enemy’s weapons?
> The enemy uses the evil dispositions of the human heart (AKA: the “flesh”) to wage war against us.

Mat 15:19
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander.

Mark 7:21-22
For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.

> And where do these evil things come from?

> How did that garbage get into our hearts?

> They gain entrance into our hearts because of man’s distorted nature, which God created as “very good” but,
- through Adam’s sin,
- that which God created to be “God-centered”
- that is: to know God
- was distorted to become self-centered
- and desired to know good and evil
- and to be our own god

> In the ancient Church, the Church Fathers referred to these evil dispositions of the heart as “Passions.”

> And how did we manage to acquire these “passions”, this this deadly garbage?

The root and source of all the passions is EGOISM or self-love.
> Egoism is an unreasonable, wrongful love towards oneself.

> This egoism has three main sources or “passions”:
1. Love of pleasure
2. Greed
3. Love of glory

1 John 2:15-16 Do not love the world or the things in the world.
If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh (Love of pleasure)
and the lust of the eyes (Greed)
and the pride of life, (Love of glory)
is not of the Father but is of the world.

And from these three principle passions come eight more:
(1) Gluttony - the insatiable appetite, never having enough
(2) Fornication - all sexual activity outside the bond of marriage
(3) Avarice - insatiable desire for more and more material things
(4) Anger - irrational angry response to not getting everything you want
(5) Sorrow - grief without hope, based on lack of trust in God
(6) Despair - total abandonment of hope
(7) Vainglory - inordinate pride, vanity
(8) Pride - inordinate valuing of one’s importance

The ways that these “passions” are used by the devil to destroy us:

> One way is to convince us that we are able to “fix” these by our own efforts

> Another way is to convince us that there is no hope

> A third way is to convince us that there is nothing wrong with our behavior
> A fourth way is to encourage us to delve deeper and deeper into the passions all the while telling us that if we get just a little bit more or one last thing, then we will be happy.

- MORE food - MORE drugs - MORE drink - MORE sex
- MORE entertainment - MORE toys - MORE party - MORE money
- MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE !!!

> But: It is impossible to get enough of all these things so that you are HAPPY.
>>>BECAUSE: things cannot “make” you happy.

> When you realize that things will never make you happy, you may come to the false conclusion that life is meaningless.

> And, when you believe that life is meaningless and realize that nothing makes really makes you “happy”,
you may descend into sorrow
and then into despair
and then even into suicide.

> But the problem is not that none of these things bring happiness or that life has no meaning.

> The problem is that your life has been based on a false assumption.
-You have come to believe that life is all about YOU.
- You have made your will the most important thing in the universe.
- You made yourself your own god.

> When you decide to be your own God,
- It becomes your responsibility to make you happy
- It becomes your responsibility to make your life safe and secure
- It becomes your responsibility to make sure that everyone does everything your way
> So you have to be smarter, faster, stronger, and richer than everyone else
-To make sure you have everything you need to be “happy”

Good luck with that.


FOURTH: How does Satan wound us with these weapons?

> How does he manage to get us all wrapped up in egoism?

> Satan’s one objective is to separate us from God with the result that we are condemned at the judgment because of our evil acts.

Jesus said at John 5:28-29 (NKJV)
… the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth;
those who have done good, to the resurrection of life,
and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

***** But, - and this is important so, pay attention: ******

> Satan cannot separate you from God .

> Satan cannot get you condemned for all eternity.

> In order to separate you from God and get you eternally condemned, Satan has to get your co-operation and your personal participation.

> God, in Jesus Christ, has done everything necessary for you to enter the kingdom of heaven.

> You literally have to choose help Satan get you into hell in order to end up there.

So, how does Satan get us to ruin ourselves?
> How does he get our help?
> His tactics are always the same.

(see part 2)

 

[ezrider]

FIRST: With whom are we fighting? Who is our enemy?

Isaiah 29:3
And I will camp against thee round about,
and will lay siege against thee with a mount,
and I will raise forts against thee.

Isaiah 29:13-14
Wherefore the Lord said,
Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth,
and with their lips do honour me,
but have removed their heart far from me,
and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people,
even a marvellous work and a wonder:
for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

SECOND: Where is this war being fought?

Isaiah 29:1-2
Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt!
add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.
Yet I will distress Ariel,
and there shall be heaviness and sorrow:
and it shall be unto me as Ariel.

Isaiah 29:7-8
And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
even all that fight against her
and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.
It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth;
but he awaketh, and his soul is empty:
or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh;
but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite:
so shall the multitude of all the nations be,
that fight against mount Zion.

THIRD: What are our enemy’s weapons?

Isaiah 29:4
And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground,
and thy speech shall be low out of the dust,
and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground,
and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

 

[Jim Parker]

Isaiah 29:3
And I will camp against thee round about,
and will lay siege against thee with a mount,
and I will raise forts against thee.

Isaiah 29:13-14
Wherefore the Lord said,
Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth,
and with their lips do honour me,
but have removed their heart far from me,
and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people,
even a marvellous work and a wonder:
for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.



Isaiah 29:1-2
Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt!
add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.
Yet I will distress Ariel,
and there shall be heaviness and sorrow:
and it shall be unto me as Ariel.

Isaiah 29:7-8
And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
even all that fight against her
and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.
It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth;
but he awaketh, and his soul is empty:
or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh;
but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite:
so shall the multitude of all the nations be,
that fight against mount Zion.



Isaiah 29:4
And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground,
and thy speech shall be low out of the dust,
and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground,
and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

ANd what shall I conclude it is that you want me to understand by those verses?

 

[ezrider]

ANd what shall I conclude it is that you want me to understand by those verses?

You asked where the battle takes place. It is fought spiritually in Jerusalem, the city of Ariel. It is fought against Zion.

You asked with whom are we fighting. It is the Lord we fight against. We are own worst enemy.

You asked what is the weapon of the enemy. It is the words that come forth from our mouths that are our weapons. The voice of a familiar spirit, like the serpent whispering out of the dust.

 

[Jim Parker]

You asked where the battle takes place. It is fought spiritually in Jerusalem, the city of Ariel. It is fought against Zion.

You asked with whom are we fighting. It is the Lord we fight against. We are own worst enemy.

You asked what is the weapon of the enemy. It is the words that come forth from our mouths that are our weapons. The voice of a familiar spirit, like the serpent whispering out of the dust.

Thank you for that clarification.

 

[for_his_glory]

There is spiritual warfare as flesh is enmity against the Spirit, Romans 8:7-9, but if we are walking in the Spirit we have defeated Satan in the flesh. It's only when we recognize the enemy as Satan who comes to kill, steal and destroy as he works through others, John 10:10, that we stand on the promises of God, Psalms 91, that there is nothing that Satan can do to destroy our soul as that belongs to the Lord, Matthew 10:28.

Jesus already defeated Satan for us on the cross, 1 Corinthians 15:54-57; Colossians 2:13-15. Satan can not come neigh my house as for me and my house we will serve the Lord, Joshua 24:15.

2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

 

[Jim Parker]

if we are walking in the Spirit we have defeated Satan in the flesh.

Satan will never quit fighting.
My post was to provide information about how he attacks and how we must respond in order to repel those attacks.
If the devil is not attacking you in some manner then he has defeated you and no longer needs to fight against you.
If he has not defeated you then he will continue to attack until your last breath.
He has nothing to loose.

iakov the fool

 

[for_his_glory]

Satan will never quit fighting.
My post was to provide information about how he attacks and how we must respond in order to repel those attacks.
If the devil is not attacking you in some manner then he has defeated you and no longer needs to fight against you.
If he has not defeated you then he will continue to attack until your last breath.
He has nothing to loose.

iakov the fool

Yes, I know Satan will never quit attacking us as all he wants is to steal our faith. I know his attacks as he tries everyday with me, but we know how to defeat him by walking in the Spirit as we learn to overcome the flesh, Galatians 5:16-26, as that is the only way he can attack us.