The Devil No.1 The Battle is the Lords

In this lecture, I'm going to talk a little bit about what I mean when I say that we should Now let's read from and see what happened from verse 5 of 2 Chronicles chapter 20 verse 5 Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the head of the temple of the Lord at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard and said, O Lord God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand and no one can withstand you. O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your name saying, if calamity comes upon us, whether the sort of judgment or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your name and will cry out to you in our distress and you will hear us and save us.

But now here are men from Ammon, Moab, and Mansea whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt. So they turned away from them and did not destroy them. See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance.

O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you. All the men of Judah with their wives and children and little ones stood there before the Lord.

Then the spirit of the Lord came upon Jehaziel, son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeal, the son of Mataniah, a Levite, descendant of Asaph. And as he stood in the assembly and he said, listen King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem, this is what the Lord says to you. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army, for the battle is not yours but God's.

Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the pass of Ziz and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the desert of Jeruel. You will not have to fight this battle.

Take up your positions, stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you. Oh Judah and Jerusalem, do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged.

Go out to face them tomorrow and the Lord will be with you. Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord. Then some Levites from the Kohathites and Koharites stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

Early in the morning, early in the morning, they left for the desert of Dekuah. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, listen to me Judah and people of Jerusalem, have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld. Have faith in his prophets and you will be successful.

After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness. As they went out at the head of the army saying, give thanks to the Lord for his love endures forever. As they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Zir, who were invading Judah and they were defeated.

The men of Ammon and Moab rose up against the men from Mount Zir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Zir, they helped to destroy one another. When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked towards the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground.

No one had escaped. So Jehoshaphat and his men went to carry off their plunder and they found among them a great amount of equipment and clothing and also articles of value, more than they could take away. There was so much plunder that it took three days to collect it.

On the fourth day they assembled in the valley of Baraka, where they praised the Lord. This is why it is called the valley of Baraka to this day. Then led by Jehoshaphat, all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned joyfully to Jerusalem, for the Lord had given them cause to rejoice over their enemies.

They entered Jerusalem and went to the temple of the Lord with harps and lutes and trumpets. The fear of God came upon all the kingdom of the countries when they heard how the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 16.

Ephesians 6, I'm sorry, verse 10. Finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything, to stand.

A red alert is something that is given in army headquarters, naval centers, and within the RAF. When it looks as though there is an impending invasion, and there's just a few moments, if that, to scramble one's forces and to get off into the anticipated conflict. Now it seems to me that when you read the Apostle here in the final verses of Ephesians 6, he is in effect switching on a red alarm.

You see, you need to read the Bible carefully, my friend. It's very easy perhaps to have taken in what Paul has to say in the first five chapters, and to have come to some conclusion that the way of life here depicted, and if you made this conclusion, then you did not read carefully even in those first five chapters, that the way of life is relatively easy. But that is not the case.

The Christian is involved in a warfare. He is not in the banqueting house, not yet. Ultimately he will be.

He will be. One day there will be that grand eternal celebration with our Lord Jesus Christ, unending. But at the moment, the context in which we live out our lives is one of confrontation.

We are involved in a struggle, and the struggle is a real one. The struggle is always with us. The day of evil, to which the Apostle makes reference in the ninth, in the thirteenth verse, is an impending day.

It is the day of today, and of tomorrow, because throughout the Apostle Paul, as he writes this epistle, as he thinks in terms of the present world, in the day in which he lives, throughout it he recognizes that there are the forces of darkness, the forces of evil. Now this isn't some sort of qualification on what the Lord Jesus Christ had to say. This is an extension upon his teaching.

Very often, and once more, I make the comment, we read the Gospels too quickly. Very often our Lord Jesus will warn what it means to be his follower. He will say, as he puts down the Beatitudes, for example, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.

When on one occasion he sends out his disciples, he says, I send you out as sheep amongst wolves. And even before his own arrest in the garden of Gethsemane, he reminds those who are with him to watch and to pray. Why? Because of the hour of temptation, the day, the hour of evil is looming.

It's just there on the horizon, and they need to be fully equipped to be able to withstand the forces of evil as they're let loose in the garden of Gethsemane. Now, I wonder if you appreciate this. I wonder what your attitude is to the way you approach your Christian life.

There is nothing, I feel, that is more important than this, than that we should understand the context in which we live. Now, we really have, as Bible students, no reason to make any faulty conclusion in this area. Why not? Well, when you read the Old Testament Scriptures, you are brought face to face with the people of God of yesteryear.

Here they were in Egypt. They're released from Egypt. They're brought back into the land of promise, into Palestine, God's own land.

And Palestine is surrounded by its enemies, and also by a fair chunk of sea. And time and time again, the enemies of Israel endeavor to invade Palestine. The Hebrews recognize this, even when they returned to the promised land.

Here is Joshua, and he's standing on the perimeter of the promised land, and he wants those who are with him and with the Lord to move to his side as they go up and take occupation. And throughout the whole history of Israel, I say, as they return to the promised land, it is one of conflict. They move in, and there are those who want to move them out again.

And so you get such great historical chapters, one of which was read last Sunday morning, and another this morning, where the people of God are depicted in conflict with hostile forces. So David goes down the valley of Elath, and he sees the Goliath, the overgrown Philistine giant. And he comes to him in the name of the Lord.

He is Jehoshaphat. And he concludes, he's quite honest as he recognizes his own utter inability to cope with the situation, the impending disaster. It looms on the horizon, and he recognizes that he is inadequate, his army is inadequate.

And he says, we do not know what to do, but our trust is in you. Now, carry that through, my friend, into the New Testament. For the Old Testament, historical incidents are illustrations of how we, in Christian days, after the birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension of our Lord, are to continue our lives.

How do you see yourself in this world? In a very hostile environment. That's what I tried to explain last week. The world, the flesh, and the devil.

That which is without, that which is within, that which is with all, is against you. Here are these enormous forces, and there you are, insignificant little you. How are you going to cope? Well, I put it to you.

You must come to what the Apostle Paul here has to say. Finally, my brothers, when the red alert is seen, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Because if you try on your own, you'll find that the arm of flesh will fail you.

You cannot cope. How many of you have buckled under temptation's power? How many of us have found ourselves in an utter mess as we've declared UDI and tried to cope with our circumstances on our own? Well, it's against us that the Apostle is arguing. And he gathers up what he has to say as he puts in this final piece of teaching, perhaps the most important aspect of Christian doctrine, on Christian application of life, that he makes in this epistle.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. What does he want us to be? Well, he wants us to be soldiers. I remember once putting a question to my not very bright boys in London when I was a teacher.

Who was the founder, or rather what did General William Booth found? And the answer I got was the Starvation Army. Well, it was a near miss, wasn't it? Not the Starvation Army, the Salvation Army. Where did Booth get his idea of Christians in terms of soldiers? Well, he did from the writings of the Apostle.

And thus the language here is not that of the banqueting hall, it's rather the language of the barracks. Put on the full armor of God. When Paul later on writes to Timothy in the second letter, he says in the second chapter, in the third verse, endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

The red alert has been put on and there's great difficulty in front of Christian people. Well, how are you to cope? This is the question I want to put and I want to endeavor to answer this morning. How are you to cope? There's a red alert.

The forces of evil, they're there. Do you see them? Christian, do you see them on the holy ground? Those who would try to trip you, who would endeavor to cause you to compromise your faith? Do you appreciate that in this world there are evil forces, spiritual wickednesses, and they have as their objective eclipsing the glory of God in your life? Do you appreciate this? I trust that you do. If you don't, then you are betraying the fact that you're utterly ignorant of what the New Testament teaches in terms of the context in which the Christian lives out his life.

Well, then, whose is this battle? It seems to me that that's a fundamental question that needs to be asked and answered. Whose is this battle? Paul has it in mind very much. He speaks about struggling against the powers of this dark world, against these evil forces, but whose basically is the battle? And very often we're wrong in our understanding of the answer.

We say ourselves, it's not your battle, my friend. It's not the battle of the individual Christian. It is the battle of the Lord's.

Turn to Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 10, will you? Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 10, and there we read of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what, or rather, how is he described? Well, in the NIV, let me bring it, and then I'll remind you, refresh you of the authorized version's wording at one point. Speaking of the Lord Jesus, in bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Now, the authorized version translates this in regard to the author of their salvation, the captain of their salvation. To whom is the reference being made? Well, none other than the Lord Jesus, and he is signaled out in terms of the commanding officer, someone who is directly responsible for the war in which his followers are engaged. You say you didn't follow.

All right, here's another example. We're back in medieval times. There's the king, and there are the conscripts for the army.

Here are the private soldiers, hundreds of them, thousands of them. Are they fighting for themselves? No, indeed they're not. Partly they are, but largely speaking, they are fighting for king and country.

What are Christians fighting for? They are fighting for none other than Jesus Christ and his gospel. Now, I say that when you're confronted with temptation, if you appreciate this, that this is one small facet of a mighty conflict in which you are involved, but basically, it is a conflict between God and the devil, between light and darkness, between heaven and hell. The conflict is the Lord's.

Do you appreciate that? Well, if the conflict is the Lord's, then we need to put up the question, from whence does the inspiration come? From whence does the inspiration come? Here's Paul, and he says, stand and fight the devil. All right, we understand you, Paul, but how can we be stimulated so to do? Well, that takes you back to the Lord Jesus and assessing his life. What did he come on earth to do? Well, he came to fight.

To fight what? Well, to fight those forces to which I make reference, hell, the devil, and all the evil that there is on planet earth. That's what Jesus did. And how did we leave our Lord, if I may use that expression last week? Well, we saw him on the cross of Calvary.

What was he doing there? Was he defeated or was he victorious? Well, the latter is obviously the answer. The apostle Paul says to the Colossians, here our Lord Jesus at the cross despoiled principalities and powers, and when he was raised from the dead, he underlined the victory of the cross. You see, here is the inspiration.

It's none other than the Savior. He fought the forces of hell head on, always engaged in this awful conflict, the devil coming to him in the wilderness. You remember the illusion? Coming to him time and time again in his public ministry, and the Lord Jesus stared him in the eye.

He used the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. He slew the devil, and ultimately on the cross he triumphed, and then he came back. And this is our inspiration.

Remember on one occasion in your history lessons, the story of William the Conqueror? One great battle. Rumor pervaded amongst the thousands of soldiers that William was dead, and realizing how dispirited his people would be as a result, he clambered onto the back of his horse, and he went amongst his troops, and he said, I'm alive, I'm alive. And the fact that William had not been killed gave heart to the men.

It gave inspiration. And I say that it's as you look at the captain of our salvation, the pioneer of our faith, what Hebrews later on in chapter 10, I think it is, calls the finisher, the perfecter of our faith. Then you're able to continue in this battle.

Why? Well, you've got this tremendous stimulus. The one whose battle it really is, is God himself. And the agent of God on our earth has been our Lord Jesus Christ.

And so our Savior comes, and he fights, and he gives us inspiration. Well then, the battle is his, and he is the stimulus. But for what are we fighting? Here are millions of Christian people, of which we're a tiny example this morning.

We ask the question, what are we fighting for? And the answer is clumsily and inaccurately given, we're fighting for our salvation, not a bit. Our salvation has been won. The Lord Jesus won it on the cross of Calvary.

Then what are we fighting for? I argue we are fighting for the glory of God. We are fighting for the glory of God to be renewed and retained in our lives. What happened when sin first came into the world? Adam and Eve, they slipped in the temptation that Satan put before them.

And as a result, some devastating consequences were to follow. But the Bible tells us right at the beginning of human history, that one day the seed of the woman, a descendant of the woman, would come into this world, and he would smite the head of the serpent. The Lord Jesus Christ would come, and he would do battle against the one who had brought sin into the world, and he would remedy the effects of that sin, and he would restore the glory of God in the image of man.

Now that's what we're fighting for. You see, as a Christian, I've been to the cross. I've known what it is for my sins to be forgiven.

In a word, I've been born again. Now that doesn't make me immune to the activity of Satan. In one sense, it makes me worse off than I was before, because he's now so concerned about me losing the salvation that God has given to me.

And so he uses every diabolical means that he possibly can to slay me, to take away that image of God that has been restored. So I say it's for that that we're fighting—the glory of God to be retained in our lives. But once more, it seems such a such a forbidding, such an impossible thing for us to be able to cope.

How many times have you failed? How many times have I failed? There I was preaching what I thought was with a degree of success on one Sunday, and by the time the Sunday's through, I've blown some fuse. I've lost my patience. I've lost my dignity.

And there I am again—bruised, battered, crushed, unable to cope. Do you ever feel like that? The circumstances may be different. You can illustrate from your own life and from your own weaknesses, and it's at that point, my friend, that you need to come back to these verses from the 10th and onwards of Ephesians 6. Finally, be strong, but be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, and realize that there is with you in the armory sufficient enabling for you to get up again and to stand and to start to fight once more to retain the glory of God in your life.

You see, God is at work within us. I refer to that unholy triplet of the world and the flesh and the devil, that which is without the world, that which is within my Adamic nature, the old man, not totally redeemed, fighting against me. And when these two things combine, it seems as though the devil with all is bound to be successful.

But my friend, let me remind you, we are asked to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and over against the corresponding negatives, our glorious positives. What do I mean? Well, the Lord, the protection of the Lord, that which is unseen, the provision of the Lord, that which is inherent, the protection of the Lord. Do you think that you're on your own? Sometimes we feel that as Christians, don't we? We lose the concept of the army, of our brothers and sisters alongside us, but even perhaps more dangerously, we lose sight on what God is doing and the provisions of God.

Do you remember the story of Elisha and how on one occasion Samaria is threatened and the well-being of the prophet and his servant seems to be in jeopardy? And Elisha, that great man of God, says to the Lord, speaking of his servant, open his eyes and let him see. And suddenly around the hillside, on the summit of the mountains, he sees the Lord of hosts, all the emissaries, all the servants of God. Now let's turn to Psalm 34 because there you get that enveloped in one great glorious promise of scripture.

Psalm 34 and verse 7. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them. Do you think that you're on your own? You're having great difficulty as a young man coping with immorality, with a temptation that comes in this area. You have problems as a middle-aged woman in coping with the weight of anxiety complex which causes you at some times to believe that God has restricted his sovereignty and that his power does not cover your particular situation.

Well, here's a verse for you. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them. It doesn't matter what the computation of the difficulty may be.

The promise remains intact. The Lord is involved. He is aware of the concerns that we have.

We get a similar sort of thing in Psalm 91. If you'll turn the pages over and let's work through this theme in scripture just for a moment or two. I can think of nothing that will be more beneficial to our spirits than to appreciate the activity of God which often is unseen as we make our way down into the battle and as we appreciate afresh that God is involved on the scene.

Then it will help us incredibly. Psalm 91, he who dwells in the shelter of the most high will rest in the shadow of the almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.

You see the psalmist there is so utterly convinced now. He's not on his own. The Lord is with him.

Here is the apostle Paul and he's writing to the Romans. Let's find it in the eighth chapter. The apostle knows a great deal about difficulty and pressure.

Most of the letters that are in the New Testament have been written with the apostle domiciled, with the apostle staying in some malaria infested dungeon. I don't say the Roman epistle is an illustration of this but there are many. He's undertaken great cost as a result of being an ambassador for the Lord Jesus Christ and there must have been many a time when as a result of the circumstances that befell him, Paul was inclined to give in but that was just human thought and he's able to speak to his own depressed spirit as he preaches to himself, a very good thing to do.

Romans chapter 8 verse 37, know in all these things, verse 37, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Why? What's the reason for your optimism Paul? Well I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Oh now I begin to see these hostile forces, these evil situations into which I find myself sometimes catapulted are not outside of the presence of God.

He is able to cope. He is able to minister to me and enable me to cope with the circumstances which confront me. Indeed he is, as the apostle makes even more plain if you'll go to him in the epistle to the Philippians and the first chapter and here Paul is in prison.

He's waiting for the outcome of the capriciousness of Nero as to whether he the apostle will be murdered or whether he'll have an extension to his life. Now how would you cope with that situation? With what would you be preoccupied? Well your own well-being, not so the apostle. He's concerned about these people that he's led to the Lord in Philippi and so he writes to them and he writes to them not from a weak point of view, not from the point of view of one who feels that they are bound to be defeated.

Rather he refers verse 5 to the partnership in the gospel from the first day until now that he enjoyed with his beloved Christians at Philippi and he goes on being confident of this, confident, confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. You see the point? Whose is the battle? Who is round and about his children? The apostle makes it very clear the Lord God is. You ever thought about the ministry of angels? Do you think of angels as some sort of angelic beings that strung, that strung their instruments on the clouds? The bible gives no warrant for that picture.

It speaks about these invisible agencies that God has even here in this world who conflict, who confront with the hostile forces of evil. The Lord Jesus says that every child has his angel who remembers the child before God. Do you appreciate this? You're not on your own.

There you are, a poor little lady crippled with her arthritis. She's been to an evangelical church for a many a long year but she can't cope now. She can't go out and so easily she can get depressed and despondent.

She's on her own. No my friend, she's not on her own. Why? Well they're in that battle, that battle that she's fighting as bravely and as difficult a battle as anyone here has to cope with.

There are the forces of God working for her advantage. Do you appreciate this? Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Do you know the dimensions of the mighty power of God? Are you aware of the protection of the Lord? He works sometimes secretly.

He works in an unseen fashion. But he's there for your benefit, protecting and providing. What about finally the provision of the Lord? Not just something that's outside but something that's within.

Now the apostle has made this very clear, has he not? For those who've got eyes to see in Ephesians already, he's spoken about the the nature of the salvation of these Ephesian Christians. What has happened to them? Well look at verse one of chapter two. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world.

How does a dead man come alive? Well it's a ridiculous question. He can't. Neither incidentally can you ever stand up a dead person.

You can't stand up a corpse. It has no ability to stand on its own. When you're dead, you're dead.

Well what are Christian people? What are you? How do you see yourself? You say in your fumbling fashion, well I believe that Jesus died on the cross for me and that makes me a Christian. And indeed it does. But it's much more than this.

What makes me a Christian? The very power of God has entered into my life, has it not? It's that power that brings me from death into life. Apart from the power of God, I can't be a Christian. Apart from his Holy Spirit dwelling within me, I can't be a Christian.

Now what is it that concerns Paul as he prays for the Ephesians in his opening chapter? Here are these folk who have come to the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul is not personally with them and it looks as though he might never be in their company again. So he commits them to the Lord.

Oh yes, this we understand. But I'm asking you, what does he pray for? Well look at verse 17 of chapter 1. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and, and his incomparably great power.

What is Paul praying for? That they might know the power of God. What's that power like? Well Paul illustrates it. It's the same power as brought Jesus back from the dead.

Do you believe that? Now I know we're a little late but that doesn't matter. This is too important for me to just conveniently to finish at this moment. Do you believe that that same power as brought Jesus back from the dead resides within your heart? Because that's what Paul is saying.

The incomparably great power of God, the dimensions of which are so huge you can't take a ruler and line them up. Now Paul is praying that they might know that power. And just in case God might forget, I almost blaspheme, Paul repeats the prayer, not for the benefits of God but for the benefits of his readership.

Come to him in the third chapter. Verse 13. He's concerned.

These Christians, they put a great emphasis upon Paul. Always wrong to put a great emphasis upon a Christian leader. He might fall.

He might be taken away. His reputation might be blown apart. And Paul is concerned.

He doesn't like the personality cult and I detest it also. And so he says to the Ephesian Christians, I ask you therefore not to be discouraged because of my sufferings. Don't be concerned that I'm a prisoner.

Rather be concerned about this. Well what? Well be concerned for the fulfillment of my prayer. What is your prayer Paul? Well verse 16.

He starts again. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.

Now is Paul believing that God can do this? Well yes he is. Look at the 20th verse. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us.

To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. You said he never mentioned anything about the power of the Lord before he got to Ephesians 6. Not at all. The whole chapters are saturated with this.

It's the power of the Lord within you. You see it's it's not your battle. That was our starting point.

Whose battle is it? It's not your battle. It's the battle of the Lord God's and he sent the Lord Jesus into the world as the commanding officer and you are part of his great army. Your salvation has been bought by him.

It will never be taken away. None can pluck you out of his hand. Couldn't conceivably be the case.

And here you are and you're going down your earth your valley or you're like Jehoshaphat and you see all these great hordes in front of you and you wonder can I really cope? Well back to the original thought. It's not your battle and he the commanding officer coped admirably. And though you seem to be on your own you're not really on your own because there are forces without.

The angel of the Lord camping ground bringing protection to those who feel that they're on their own. But it's not just a question of God out there. It's God also in here.

Thank God that to conflict with the Adamic nature there's the power of the Holy Spirit residing within me and that's what I need to know more and more. Why? Well so that I can cope with this terrific struggle which is leveled not against flesh and blood but against the other rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. On your own you can't but with God you can.

The battle is the Lord's and next Sunday morning and pray for me as I do this I want to speak to you about the enemy against whom we're pitting the strength of God. Amen. Amen.

Let's turn to 379. Onward Christian soldiers marching us to war Looking on to Jesus who is gone before. Amen.