Worship and Spiritual Warfare - Part 1 by Don Hart.

Since the fall, man has been "defined by his enemies" which means, you know a man by who he is enemies with. God has given us a specific design for how He is to be worshipped. The devil has declared war on God's worship. The priorities of the church are to worship God and make disciples. We are called to spiritual warfare.

We must treasure the freedom and opportunity to worship God and we must get it right. We must have a commitment to serving God. He takes it very seriously. Preaching, prayer, singing, the reading of the word, worship through giving, the Lord's supper, baptism. It is all important. It is life or death.

We have an enemy that, in our own strength, we cannot hope to defeat. The devil persuaded Adam, who did not have a sin cursed mind, to join his rebellion against God. This is how persuasive our enemy is. God could have left us there.

But He did not.

The National Center for Family Integrated Churches welcomes Don Hart with the following message entitled, Worship and Spiritual Warfare, Part 1. Good morning. It is a delight to be with you this morning. It is a delight to consider together the worship of God. This top priority, as we heard last night, preached by Dr.

Joe Moorcraft, his quote from John Calvin, how important is this thing we come together to consider, the worship of God. Seems to me that since the fall of man, or since the fall, rather, man has been defined by his enemies. I think that's more than just a catchy saying or a truism. I think there's really biblical truth to the saying that you can know a man by his enemies. What does this have to do with the worship of God?

I hope you'll see in just a moment. Because immediately after the fall, this enmity which defines us as Christians found expression in worship. This entity has been expressed in the battle for true worship ever since. Among the devil's top priorities, perhaps his top priority, is to fight against what we heard described last night as God's top priority. He is so concerned, so focused, has given us such instruction with regard to how He will be worshipped.

And the devil, in declaring war on God, has declared war on God-honoring worship. The two talks that I'll give today will seek to weave together these two concepts. The spiritual battles we fight, the importance and the priority of worship, and how these things work in concert together. You probably already know what I'm talking about when I talk about this enmity related to worship being expressed soon after the fall came and able. Not only is there a connection with regard to worship to this enmity which Satan has expressed against God and which he has expressed since creation.

But salvation is incredibly strongly connected to this enmity as well, to this warfare as well. And if you recall last night, Dr. Jim Moorcraft quoted John Calvin, and if you remember the second priority, it related to salvation. When we're talking about the important purposes and the priorities of the church, worship God, present the gospel, understand salvation, come to the Lord through the blood of Jesus Christ. And frankly, it defines all of Christian life, enmity, worship, salvation, all connected.

And really in the history of this nation in a time when many of you like me may be very concerned about the direction of this nation. There is an incredibly strong connection to how God was worshipped and how we got started. Many of you have probably heard that at the beginning time of the war for American independence, that in England, the effort for independence in America was belittled as a Presbyterian-Parsons rebellion. Have you heard that? Why was that?

Because America began with a foundation of proper worship. Because the church was doing what it should have been doing and therefore it was speaking to the issues of the day, even the issues of that day. Therefore we have enjoyed and are now squandering an incredibly godly inheritance which began foundationally upon proper worship of God. That's what was understood in the time. And that's why this was mocked in England as not something to be taken so seriously.

Because, oh, this is beginning in the church. This is stirred up among the pastors. This is theology. This is connected to the worship of God. This is a church issue.

This is a Presbyterian Parson's Rebellion. But they found out, didn't they, that there's real power in a nation when the church gets it right. Oh, that America would change today, and that the change would begin by something that the world would belittle as a Presbyterian or a Baptist or a whatever you want to describe it as, Parsons, pastors, church. They could call it a rebellion. We'll call it warfare, spiritual warfare, to which we are called, defined by the enmity which has been declared on God by Satan but which God declared on our behalf for our salvation.

Let me explain just a little bit more of what I mean by that because part of the premise of this first talk is that we must treasure the freedom and the opportunity to worship God and we must get it right. We must get it right. If we care about our churches, if we care about our families, if we care about this nation, we must get it right. We need to have a level of commitment to worshiping God in the manner that pleases Him that exceeds what has typified the church for many decades. It is indeed a priority for God.

You know how seriously he takes it? The sons of Aaron found out when they brought profane fire and presumed to worship him with it. God is incredibly serious about it, and the devil is incredibly serious about opposing it. And so these elements of worship which will be discussed in this conference, preaching, prayer, singing, the reading of the Word, worship through through giving, the Lord's Supper, baptism, all of these elements, we must fight for our lives to get these right. They're that important.

It's that critical. It's life or death. It's our future. It's our children. It's our nation.

It's the battle which defines who we are because I have great news for you. You have an enemy who in your own strength you can't possibly oppose or hope to defeat. He is so crafty and so powerful that he induced your first father to fall. In this context, he got him to join his rebellion against God when Adam didn't have a sin nature. Understand that?

When Adam didn't have a sin-cursed mind, The devil persuaded him to join rebellion against God. That's how persuasive he is. Eve may have been deceived. Indeed, she was. Adam was not.

Without a sin-cursed mind, he self-consciously decided, I will change myself from God's friend into God's enemy. And God could have just left us there. God could have just left all the seed of Adam as his enemy. We would have deserved it, wouldn't we? It would have been fair.

Oh, we don't want what's fair. We don't want what we deserve, do we, brothers and sisters? You know how God presented salvation, the great hope of salvation? He defined it by enmity. He defined it by saying your existence, Christian people, is going to be defined by who your enemies are.

You're going to be known for who your enemies are. We see it unfolded in Genesis chapter 3. Let me just read to you quickly from verses 14 and 15. So the Lord God said to the serpent, as he's responding and explaining both judgment and at the same time incredible blessing, the hope and the opportunity of salvation. Here's what the Lord God said after man fell in the way that he did, chose to be the friend of Satan and the enemy of God and to self-consciously oppose God.

Our gracious God says this, so the Lord God said to the serpent, because you've done this you are more cursed than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." And God defined that we had hope, even as He expressed judgment and He told us how salvation would work, and he defined it by giving us the most ferocious, fearsome, horrible enemy that ever existed, and you are incredibly blessed that he opposes you every second you draw breath. If you are not the friend of Satan, you are blessed.

And I don't care how bad the spiritual warfare may rage in this little blink of an eyelash of a life that we live, you are incredibly blessed to be in the war. Don't lament the difficulty of the battle. Rejoice in it, be grateful for it, because it means that you're a friend of the right one. And therefore that means you are an enemy of the right one. You are Satan's enemy, and he hates you.

And he has declared war on Christendom, and much of the way that this warfare has been expressed has been in a war against worship, and that's precisely what we saw unfold between Cain and Abel. Do you remember why the first brother slew his brother? It was over how they would worship God. You think Satan didn't zero in on that? You think he doesn't understand what a priority this is for God?

Oh, he's crafty. He's wily. He's wicked. He's horrible. He's powerful.

Oh, this enemy. He not only persuaded Adam, he persuaded a third of the host of heaven to join him in this rebellion against God. We don't have time to have a sermon on angelology, but he persuaded a third of the host of heaven, and he has untold numbers of demonic former angels at his service and who have joined Him in this rebellion and this warfare against God. It's not just Him. The heavenly places are full of those who would wage war against God, and I hate you.

They absolutely hate you. And they have been granted power by a sovereign God in this world. They've been granted power that's described as a power of darkness. And again, we don't have time to do an entire sermon or sermon series on that, but you understand what the scriptures say about that. You once were under that power if you now know the Lord.

You once were under that control. You once were in that darkness, but you are no more if you've come to the Lord Jesus Christ. But he uses that power of darkness against the people of God, amen? You see it, you see it in our country, you see this world over which Satan has been given dominion only by the sovereign power of God. He never does anything unless God lets Him, because God owns Him.

God owns Him. He can't go against Job, He can't tempt Christ, He can't come against you, He can't harm the church unless God permits it. And why would God permit it? For His glory and for your ultimate good. And Satan is befuddled by that even as he thinks he understands so much.

God uses him for his own glory. Hallelujah. And you were in battle. You were in battle for the truth of the worship of God, and you need to fight for it. Fight for it like your life depends on it, because it does, because it absolutely does.

I've come to appreciate a motto that part of our military uses to express its attitude in going to battle. The Navy Seals say this, not dead, can't quit. Not dead, can't quit. When Revelation says that the labors of this life end for Christians? When this battle ends, the grave.

Not before. Not before. Not dead, can't quit. That's how zealous we have to be about this battle for true worship. That's how important it is.

I can't overemphasize it. I can't be hyperbolic about how important worship is. Even if I were to try, I can't even adequately state the importance that needs to be assigned to worshiping God properly and all that is connected to it, how important it is for you to fight for it, to fight for your life for it. So the talks that I hope to give to you today, this morning and this afternoon. I hope we'll weave this understanding of how important this battle is into the elements of worship that we're here to talk about and consider to marinate in together, to to marinate in together, to soak up, to I hope come to love more than we ever have.

And to help us to understand that we have got to fight for our lives for these things. I've been preaching through Ephesians 6 in our local church in recent weeks and as those of you who have preached or sat under preaching and really worshipped in that context know that when you really examine something in the Word of God and seek to apply it in your life, you often get lessons in it just right away. Don't leave because I'm about to talk about spiritual warfare and worship. You may get some lessons in it soon. They may come.

Rejoice in those. Rejoice that you're part of the battle and that you're on the right side and that you have the right enemy and that your hope of salvation is tied up in that. That these great priorities, the worship of God and the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ are defined by the battles which we fight. You're familiar with the passage that talks probably the most about that, Ephesians chapter 6. Turn your Bibles there.

You have your scriptures with you. If you're like me, you may think, wow, I've known these scriptures from the time I was little. There's nothing new that I could see with regard to this. These are so incredibly familiar. I had a little bit of that thought when I began teaching through it.

As always happens, as I considered the breadth and the depth of God's Word, I was profoundly humbled at how little I really understood about these scriptures, and I'm still learning, drinking in just as fast as I can, how I ought to fight this battle for the Lord, for my family, my church, for our country, for my own walk, my own sanctification. And we've talked about this enemy and who he is. Let's talk now about the one who has absolutely defeated him and in whose power we operate. Before we begin to unpack what we find here in Ephesians chapter six, it's always good to set some context. Again, probably a book that you're incredibly familiar with.

I won't spend a tremendous amount of time in review, but let's just set our context briefly here. Of course, chapter six is at the end of the book, and so we're finding here a conclusion. We're finding here the end of the matter that's discussed in Ephesians. The first three chapters of the book identify who we are in Christ. They're doctrinal.

They talk about what it means to be a Christian. They talk about what I just talked to you about, about who we are in Christ. Chapter 1, for example, talks about the fact that we've been blessed with all spiritual blessing. Every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ, those are the things with which we have been blessed. Verse four, Paul says, quote, we have been chosen before the foundation of the world to be made holy and blameless before him.

In love he predestined us so that we have been adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for the purpose that we might be to the praise of his glory." So the first thing you need to know to fight well in this battle for worship or for whatever else with regard to the kingdom of God you hope to advance is who you are in Christ. We've been made holy and blameless before Him. We have redemption, verse 7, chapter 1 says, through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace. And He's lavished that grace on us. And so we have a horrible enemy, but we have a much better friend.

We have an advocate, we have a Savior who has been kind to reveal all wisdom to us. This first part of Ephesians says the mystery of his will, which was formerly hidden and is now revealed, we can know God's will for us. That's who we are in Christ. We're able to understand what we need to understand to be faithful. We're promised that we've been sealed and that we have eternal redemption by the power of the Holy Spirit.

These benefits are important for us to understand as we consider the duty we have to fight well. They also inspire us to worship well, don't they? Don't you worship differently whenever you are full of knowledge and understanding of who you are in Christ? Isn't that when it's the spiritual event that it should be? Isn't that when no one has to exhort you not to be distracted, not to wish you were somewhere else, not to wish the sermon was shorter, but to say, ah, give us another hour.

You got to know who you are in Christ, brothers and sisters. If you want to fight well, if you want to worship well, you've got to know who you are in Christ. You deserve to be God's enemy. He changed it. He turned you.

He lavished His grace upon you, and He brought you to Himself, and He therefore gave you a fearsome enemy against whom you should fight full of the knowledge of who you are in Christ. Full of the knowledge of who you are in Christ. That's what instructs the morale of the army of the Lord Jesus Christ. They've got to know who they are in Christ. And so Paul explains that here in Ephesians before he tells us about this fearsome battle which we are called to.

And so the first part of the book is doctrinal. It says, here's who you are in Christ. It explains to us that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is seated at the right hand of God in heavenly places. Hallelujah. You know what?

This battle we're about to be called to, the result is already in. Christ is one. He reigns at the right hand of God. Oh praise the Lord that Christ is at his right hand and indeed he crushed the head of that serpent like we read about in Genesis. This victory is one take hope, be encouraged, be of good cheer.

Christ has been raised from the dead. Victory is His, it is secure. We need to remember who we are in Christ. He's the head of all. He's the head of the church that is to worship in spirit and in truth.

That is to remember the true elements of worship. He is our groom. He is our head. He is our victor. He is our hope.

He is our redemption. Remember who you are in Christ. You were dead. You were part of this kingdom of darkness over which Satan has power and dominion. You were dead, and chapter 2 tells us you now have been made alive.

You are not dead anymore and the only way that you could be made alive is to be put in friendship with God and enmity with Satan. That's just how it works. This life is defined by the battle which we fight. You were dead in trespasses and sin, but you have been made alive and you're blessed. You're blessed, that's what Ephesians tells us.

Created in Christ for good works, You're blessed. No longer excluded from the purposes and plans of God. Now you're included. Don't your spirit soar? You're included.

You're not excluded. You're not outside. There may be those here, there may be those in worship, as Dr. Moorcraft talked about last night, who during worship feel like, we're on the outside. Aren't you glad you're not?

Oh, if you don't know the Lord, if you feel like you're on the outside, even here this morning, today is the day of salvation. God has you here for a reason. Christ is victorious. Be a friend of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that will only happen if God changes your heart. But take hope.

You're here and you're hearing this, and that could be strong evidence that He's at work doing exactly that. Bow and come to the one holy God. Humble yourself. Get on your face. That's who Christians are in Christ.

And Paul with his great humility describes that he's the least of all saints. That's instructive force, isn't it? Yet He's the vehicle by which God reveals the glorious truths. That's what Ephesians explains to us about who we are in Christ. And then, beginning in chapter 4, it begins to tell us what we're to do about it, how we're to live.

And it begins broadly, more generally, practically. Here comes the application. You've had the understanding of who you are, now here's what you do. Since all these things are true of you, if you're a Christian, You're told that you're to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called. We understand that, brothers and sisters?

We are to walk worthy. It matters how we walk. You will see when we begin to talk about spiritual armor and warfare, this breastplate of righteousness that has to do with righteous living, which covers the most vital area of the body, which is flawed if we are walking in sin. We are to walk worthy, walk worthy of that to which we've been called walk worthy of who we are in Christ. That's even explained.

It means we walk in humility, gentleness, patience, forbearing with one another, preserving the unity of the spirit. That's what it means to walk worthy of our calling. We walk under authority in the church, held together in unity and in worship. We're a body and we have a function. These things are explained and so we're to walk differently than we used to walk.

If you believe you've come to Christ and you don't look any different now than you did before, I'm concerned for your soul. You're to be walking worthy of your calling. You should look different, you should be a different creature. You should have fruit. It must be there.

It must be there. Don't believe Satan's lie and don't believe your own lie. When we come to the Lord, we are changed. We are changed. We walk differently than we used to walk.

No more walking like the Gentiles walked in the futility of their minds. No longer being callous, sensual, practicing impurity, greedy. All these things are explained in Ephesians as we are told how we're to walk because of who we are. And then we are cautioned not to give the devil an opportunity. Here comes the war, here comes the battle.

Because if we walk in the ways which we're exhorted not to walk in, That's precisely what we do. If we let the sun go down on our anger, we give the devil an opportunity. You understand that? Sin in our lives gives opportunity to the enemy. We're to walk worthy.

We're to walk righteous before the Lord. This is a part of the sanctification, a part of that ongoing salvation process. We are justified when we're saved, we are sanctified during this life, there will be a time when we are glorified. We look forward to that with great anticipation. This is the working out of our salvation and right now we are called to walk worthy to be a sanctified people, to be more Christ-like today than we were yesterday.

That's to be the progress of the Christian life, and when we depart from that, we give the devil an opportunity. You want to lose this battle? You want to let the enemy into your camp? Hide sin. Think righteousness isn't important.

Love the world. Feed the wrong desires. You just let the devil ride in, let him walk all over you. You give him that opportunity whenever you don't walk worthy of your calling. As do I.

You know, grieve is the Holy Spirit when we do that. That's what Ephesians explains to us. So I have just a simple encouragement for you as Christians as you consider the battle. Don't sin, please. Please don't sin.

It's bad for you. Isn't this a complicated message? It will hurt your church. It will hurt your family. It will hurt your life.

It'll harm everything because it gives this wicked monster an open door, an opportunity to get at you, and I don't want him to get at you. I want you to win the little battles in the spiritual war which occurred during your life, and I want you to win the big ones, and I want you to win the ultimate one. I want to be with you in eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ, but I want to live now like that's where we're going. And that means we worship in spirit and in truth. We worship like we're supposed to.

We worship as God's called us. It means we walk worthy. We don't give the devil an opportunity. We're to be tenderhearted, forgiving each other is what we're instructed in chapter five. We're told we're to be imitators of God.

Imitators of God. We once were darkness, now we're light. Walk is children of light. Simple. Walk in the light.

And then the instructions get more specific, don't they? We're given these broad, general instructions about how we're to walk, and then it gets more specific. It tells us, don't be drunk. That's dissipation. It Gets more specific, doesn't it?

Tells us how we're to interact with specific, particular people. How we're to live, how we're to behave, how we interact with our wives, men, our husbands, with our parents, children. How slaves and masters interact with each other, how we have practical unity in this Christian life, because why? Of who we are in Christ and what we are called to. Now, here's what it looks like.

Here's how you live. Here's some specifics. Do it like this. Isn't that a glory? Isn't God's Word beautiful?

Isn't this amazing? So walk like this and it builds. In chapter 5 we get more specific instruction until finally we get to this last exhortation that we find in Ephesians 6. Look there with me beginning in verse 10 And we get the full medicine here. We're going to war.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness 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. Stand therefore, having girded your waste with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak.

That's our calling. That puts me in mind of a battle. Isn't that profound? Spiritual warfare, call to war, it makes me think of a battle. That's pretty profound.

It may have made you think about the same battle though. And the battle involves huge elements of worship. Who knows what I'm talking about? He's already turning to 2 Chronicles. Who remembers God going before His people with Jehoshaphat and fighting the battle on their behalf.

Who remembers the worship that was a part of that battle? You think there's not a connection between the battles we fight and the worship in which we engage? Listen to this. 2 Chronicles 20, and I'm gonna skip down to verse 15, and he said, Listen, all of you Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem and you King Jehoshaphat, thus says the Lord to you, do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude for the battle is not yours but God's. They were outnumbered, whipped, maybe felt defeated before they went in.

But here's the instruction they got. This is not your battle. This is God's. The battle is not yours but God's. That's exactly what Ephesians chapter 6 tells us.

Be strong in the power of His might. The battle is not yours, but it's God's. But listen for the elements of worship that we find here as we read on. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the wilderness of Jeruel.

You will not need to fight in this battle." Now, this is specific instruction with regard to a particular battle. Ephesians 6, we are told to fight, we are told to stand, we're instructed in the context of duty. This was exceptional, but what it demonstrates is in whose might we fight and who really fights the battle. And what happens when we do our duty and are obedient to the Word of God? God fights the battle for us.

It's not the fact that we do our duty so well and you are so special or I am so special that causes us to ever enjoy spiritual victory. But we are to be faithful, and as weak and as pitiful as we are as instruments to fight this battle, It pleases God to fight it through us, and sometimes He fights it in a way in which we can't fight at all. You have any battles right now in which your hands are tied, where you can't do a thing? Get on your face and pray that God will go before you and fight the battle for you, because whether your hands are tied or not, you must fight in the power of His might. And here is a demonstration of the power of His might in battle.

You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord who is with you. Oh Judah and Jerusalem, do not fear or be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you. And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground." Does that sound worshipful to you?

Were you there last night? Prostrate before God bowed his head with his face to the ground. And all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord doing what? Worshipping the Lord. Worshipping the Lord.

Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites Stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high Bowed before the Lord Worshipping him doing what praising him with voices loud and high Do you see all the elements of worship in which God is about to show Himself mighty in this battle. So they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. As they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established. Believe His prophets, and you shall prosper. Believe, have faith.

Have faith and believe. This was a people who knew their own weakness. Nothing like going up against terrible odds where you don't really think you can win to be reminded of your weakness, is there? There's nothing like doing that in the power of your own strength to just utterly be devastated and defeated. One illustration that comes to my mind when I think about that, Think how bold Peter was when he stood by Christ, even when he was wrong and he didn't understand so much of what he would understand.

When he stood by Christ in the garden, he took his little sword and he was ready to take on the entire garrison that would come and take his Lord away. And he struck. And he was confused. And he was being Peter. But you know what?

He was standing by the Savior. And he was confident, not in his own strength, but in who he was in Christ, even though he's confused. And he was ready to take on all comers by himself against impossible odds. Why? Because of who he was with.

Because the Lord God was with him. You remember him a few hours later? Denying that same Savior. Oh, how we change when we operate in our own strength. And so he swears and curses and says, I don't know the man, even when a young woman applies the question to him.

He's ready to take on the Roman soldiers hours before because he's confident in Christ, he's with Christ, he knows who he's with. And in His own strength, He's denying him and swearing he never knew him. Not in the face of a garrison, in the face of a little girl. We are pitiful in our own strength, brothers and sisters. I am pitiful, pitiful, pitiful in my own strength.

God forbid that I would ever preach or teach or walk or fight any battle in my strength. Oh, may it be the strength of the Lord. Stand in His might. Stand in his power. That's the manner in which we're called to battle.

And that's what happened here. So they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. As they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, you inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established. Believe his prophets and you shall prosper." And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord more worship and who should praise the beauty of His Holiness." Does that sound familiar?

Praise the beauty of His Holiness. Inquire at His temple. Worship. As they went out before the army and were saying, praise the Lord for his mercy endures forever. Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were defeated.

For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude and there were their dead bodies fallen on the earth. No one had escaped. When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies and precious jewelry which they stripped off for themselves more than they could carry away and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much." You want to enjoy that kind of victory?

Only in the power of His might will we experience victory like that. Only in the power of His might. What a beautiful picture of how God goes before and fights the battle, and how that ought to inspire his people to worship how we ought to be before the Lord. That's what we're exhorted to do here in Ephesians chapter six, to be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might. Strong in the Lord.

Remember who you are in Christ. Remember what you've been told about how you live because of that. Here's the final instruction. Go and fight well. Be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might.

It's not an easy walk, but it is just exactly that. It is constant. We need to be strong and walk in the power of His might because we have a number of things working against us. We need to understand this battle if we're to engage in it properly and to apply these instructions here. We have a number of things working against us.

We've really already talked about several of them. We won't go back through them very much. The devil, quite an opponent, but he uses the world more often than he operates directly, it seems to me. Think about the ministry of Christ. He came up against Christ directly, briefly, utterly defeated, but how often did he use the world, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Jews, all those in what?

That kingdom of darkness over which he had power. Oh, he assaulted him that way. Isn't that way part of how he operates against you? It's a battle with regard to the world. Sometimes it's the devil himself.

Often it's the world over which he has dominion. You know what happens more often for me, though? It's the flesh. It's me. I'm my own worst enemy much of the time.

The world, the flesh, the devil. That's how this battle operates. That's how the enemy operates. We still have this disgusting sin nature. Even while we're being sanctified, we have this disgusting sin nature.

The Apostle Paul talked about it. Aren't you glad he was so transparent? Oh, I am. I do what I don't want to do and I don't do what I want to do. You know how he described this flesh?

The language there is that of a corpse that is hung around the neck that one can't get away from. How's that picture? That's this disgusting flesh. And so often the devil doesn't have to give me a thought, expend any resources, bring the world against me. My flesh is enough.

This rotting corpse of flesh, this sin nature, this thing that Adam didn't have, don't underestimate the enemy. He got Adam without that. Got him to agree to be his ally. I still can't believe that. I mean I can, I do believe it, don't get me wrong, but it's just it's incredible, isn't it?

That he would join Satan and say, I want to be on this side, with the kind of... But He did. And so we have that weakness of nature, that sin nature that flows out of that, and it's a huge part of the battle. I don't know how often I say the devil made me do it. Very frequently I say my stinking rotten corpse of a flesh and a sin nature made me do it.

We need to walk with humility. That's sanctification. That's a part of all that has been unfolded for us in Ephesians as we are then called to this incredible battle. We could spend so much time going through these verses and we don't have it, but I would like for us to get through in the next talk and in the remainder of this talk, as much of these applications with regard to spiritual warfare in this battle, remembering one of the most important applications we can have for it is to fight for the truth in our churches, to fight to worship well, to fight to worship as we should. Oh, how that battle has been lost.

You look at so many churches and you wonder, how could you have possibly gotten here? How is it that you just ordained a sodomite? What have you done with God's Word? What didn't happen overnight? We departed by degrees and we got further away, and departing from the worship of God is what has taken this country from being built on a godly inheritance where the policies we would establish and fight for started in the church to the point that the church is mocked and now targeted and described as hateful and characterized as a hate group in our own military in the briefings that they're getting.

We didn't get here overnight. We got here by departing from worshipping the one true God in spirit and in truth. That's how the church got in this mess. And so those who haven't compromised are characterized as intolerant instruments of hate who, in a country that seems to worship tolerance can't be tolerated. But so often the salt has lost its flavor because the church has left our true love, And we leave that when we don't worship as we should.

The faithful church is called to be a church engaged in the battle. I mean engaged in the battle. If you care, if you care about this country, if you care about your family, if you care about your church, fight this battle for truth in worship and in your church like your life depends on it. Fight it with a sincerity and a vigor and a commitment that maybe you've never considered or applied before. Fight it like everything depends on it.

That's part of what we're exhorted to whenever we're told to stand therefore in verse 14, having girded your waste with truth. We're exhorted, as we've read above, to walk in the power of the Lord, and we're told to gird our waste with truth. One of the things that we have to understand about this battle is that it is really also an endurance test. Spurgeon reminded his church of this in his preaching, And to summarize, and I have a quote here that I think I may just read it to you. But he said, remember, this is a battle every day.

This is a battle day after day after day. This isn't a battle where you blaze brightly and maybe die suddenly like a martyr for most of us. This is a battle where perhaps you die an inch at a time and you need to be faithful tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that and the month after that and the year after that. How many have you seen who burned bright and then fizzled and faded? Because they didn't come into the battle with the right mindset, they didn't come into the battle to endure, here's what Spurgeon says, think not that this is an engagement to be quickly terminated, he's commenting on these verses, He's preaching on the very verses we're considering.

Unlike the Laconic dispatch of the ancient Roman, Vini, Vidi, Visi, I came, saw, and conquered. That's what that means. This is a continuous fight. What is thou fight thy way to heaven, not today nor tomorrow. Wilt thou win it with a deadly skirmish or a brilliant dash like a knight at a tournament?

Thou canst not come back a conqueror. You understand? If our commitment is for one battle, we won't win. In sober truth, every man and every woman who enlists for Christ will have to wrestle till their bones shall sleep in the tomb. There shall be no pause nor cessation for thee from this day until the laurel is upon thy brow.

If thou art defeated one day thou must overcome the next." Get back up. If you're laying in the dust, and you lost the last battle, get back up. Don't quit. Not dead, can't quit. Don't quit.

That's the spirit with which you have to come to this battle. Because so much depends on it. You must come to it with this level of commitment. And that's exactly what this being girded about our waste with truth really speaks to. We're gonna get to that, I hope, before our time runs out this morning.

Then we'll get to the rest in our next talk. Let me read on from a better preacher, a much better preacher. Like the old knights who slept in their armor. You must be prepared for reprisals, always watchful, always expecting temptation and ready to resist it. Never saying it is enough, for He who saith it is finished until he breathes his last has not yet truly begun.

Don't quit, can't quit. There's no quit in this. We must have our swords drawn even to the very last. I have sometimes thought that could we enter heaven by one sharp, quick, terrible encounter such as the martyrs faced at the stake, we might endure it heroically. But day after day of protracted martyrdom and year after year of the wear and tear of pilgrimage and soldier life is the more bitter trial of patience.

I do but tell you in order that you may be convinced that it is not in our power to fight this warfare at our own charge, that if we have to endure in our own strength and with our own resources, it is most certain that disaster will befall us and defeat will humble us. To fight and fight on is our vocation, but if thus you fight, you may hope to conquer, for others have done so before you. So says Spurgeon, his prince of preachers. This battle is also a test of endurance. And if you hope to endure, you must have a level of commitment that perhaps you haven't considered before.

That's precisely what you're called to in Ephesians 6.14. Stand therefore, having girded your waste with truth." In trying to understand what's being presented here, it's been helpful for me to consider a couple of aspects of these pieces of spiritual armor. Number one, what would the particular piece of armor have meant to those who have understood it, who were familiar with Roman soldiers like Paul was, who would have understood how this equipment was used? What did it mean in that context? That's certainly a part of what's being communicated to us, isn't it?

So what does the belt mean? What is it to a soldier? What does it say? But then there's also this component in which it is described spiritually and according to the truth of God. So you have a belt described, but it's described as truth.

A belt of truth. What does that mean to us? Belt of truth. For the Roman soldier, the belt meant that he was ready for action, that he was ready to go to battle, that he was ready. He might not wear it all the time, but when he was going to battle, he gathered his tunic, he got it up out of the way where he wouldn't be tripping over it and where it wouldn't be catching in the brush and where it wouldn't be in his way, and he girded himself up with his belt.

And that was part of what indicated he was prepared for battle. This belt might have been leather, maybe have had metal woven into it, maybe it descended below the waist to help protect other parts of the body, but it was an indication that he was ready. Maybe he hung his weapons on it. He's ready for battle. It may have even reflected the battles that he'd been in in his life.

Maybe it showed what kind of soldier he was. He's ready for battle. This is preparation for battle. This is being ready to go into the battle. I wish I had time to unpack these more, but if we're gonna get through very many of them, we have to just go quickly.

But I just exhort you, go and see what the Lord has about how you are to fight these battles. I've listened to a number of sermons on them, an excellent series by John MacArthur. I've read Spurgeon, as I've just read to you, Calvin. If I say anything that's helpful, just go on and attribute it to one of those guys. I have been taught by so many as I've tried to study how we are to fight, go study this, drink it in, eat it.

The Lord has given us such beautiful resources, this girding your waist with truth. That's the understanding of these men who I've just described and others about what this meant to a Roman soldier in that day, and there's so much more that we could say, but time is passing. That's all I'll say. It goes so fast whenever we're doing things like this because this is just the best thing we could do. And so there's the belt.

It's an indication of preparation of readiness. That's a belt of truth. There's a belt of truth. Certainly that is indicative of the content of the truth. We have got to be committed to the truth.

If we're to be ready for battle, we best be committed to the truth. Believe. Believe. Then we're going to talk about the shield of faith and other things here, but there's more here than just the content of the truth. But first and foremost, certainly, we must be committed to the truth.

We can't buy a lie. What is the devil? Father of lies, deceiver, accuser, liar. How did he get Adam to fall? Lies.

How did he deceive Eve? Lies. He's a liar. He's a stinking liar. Belt of truth.

Belt of truth. The content of the truth is incredibly important for us. But this word that is translated truth here in my new King James is a word that indicates more than just content. The word here also speaks to our attitude about the truth. And that's what I'd like to leave you with this morning as I think our time is beginning to draw to a close, because it speaks to this endurance that we're to have in the battle, to how we are to approach the battle, to not dead, can't quit.

Not only must we be committed to the content of the truth, to the truth, we must be committed to the truth itself in a manner that is indicative of incredible sincerity and commitment. This is not just content. This is what is our attitude about the truth. How committed to the truth are we? Because that's the measure of how committed to the battle we are.

How committed to the truth of God are we? Is it a not dead, can't quit kind of an endeavor for us? Or do we too often quit at the first sign of adversity? Do we too often shrink from the battle at the first defeat? Do we too often turn away the first time that a blow gets hit?

What is our commitment to the truth? If we're to be ready for battle, we need to be committed not just to the content of the truth. Oh, we need to be committed to that. We need to hold on to all the truth of God, again, as though our life depends on it. But what is our attitude about the truth?

How seriously committed to the battle are we? That's where this begins when it talks about this armor. What is the level of commitment? We must indeed believe the truth, but we must have a commitment to the truth. I'll just suggest to you that you're ready to die for it.

How about that? Let's just cut to the end chase. We need to be committed to this battle, to that point. So often, battles are lost before they begin because the Army doesn't really have a heart for battle. For battle.

They're beat before they start. You ever seen that? You ever experienced that? Friends, our attitude, our commitment, our dedication to this battle is a matter of ultra-critical importance. It's not enough just to have a head knowledge of the truth.

Uh-uh, no. We've got to be passionate about it, perhaps beyond the passion that other Christians around us experience. We've got to have an attitude about truthfulness, a sincerity about the battle. It all speaks to our preparation. If we are not ready to hold to the truth like our life depends on it, this battle won't go well.

We need to count the cost. We need to understand what it means to be committed to the battle. What's the attitude that speaks in a tremendous way to our preparation? Do we have a heart for battle? We're instructed to count the cost as we enter such things.

How much do you love the truth? How much do you love the truth of God? How much? I exhort you, I plead with you, I ask you to pray for me that I will love the truth like everything depends on it. Because brothers and sisters, it does.

Thank you. For more messages, articles, and videos on the subject of conforming the church and the family to the word of God and for more information about the National Center for Family integrated churches where you