Since the beginning of recorded history, Satan has waged war against God, seeking to subvert the truth and ensnare mankind into sinful bondage. While some of his evil activity is clearly seen—as when he tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden (Gen. 3)—much of it is unseen, as Daniel learned from two angels while a captive in Babylon (Dan. 9-10). As Christians in today’s Babylon, we must not neglect this spiritual war, but “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5: 8).  

Praise the Lord everybody. Can you guys hear we go? Praise the Lord. What a rich word that we've already received this morning and I am mindful of the time. I know you guys are hungry but I've been given a very easy assignment to talk about spiritual captivity in Babylon.

And so I'd like to just take just a few moments and break this message up into three parts. First, a very quick recap concerning the context of being in Babylon as it relates to God's people. And so to that end, I'd have you turn to Jeremiah chapter 29 where Scott got us started yesterday. And then something I call the big reveal because there was more going on in Babylon than meets the eye. And then finally, by God's grace, to give you seven very quick ways to thrive in the midst of what Scott has termed spiritual captivity in Babylon.

So Jeremiah 29 verse 1. Jeremiah 29 verse 1. Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives and to the priests and the prophets and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. After that Jeconiah the king and the Queen and the eunuchs and the princes of Judah and Jerusalem and the carpenters and Smiths were departed from Jerusalem by the hand of Elassah the son of Shafan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah and Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon saying thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel unto all that are carried away captives whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon, build ye houses and dwell in them and plant gardens and eat the fruit of them. Take ye wives and begat sons and daughters.

Take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands that they may bear sons and daughters that ye may be increased there and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city whether I have caused you to be carried away captives and pray unto the Lord for it for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace and thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel let not your prophets and your diviners that be in the midst of you deceive you neither hearken to your dreams which ye which ye cause to be dream for they prophesied falsely unto you in my name and I've not sent them saith the Lord for thus saith the Lord that after 70 years be accomplished at Babylon I'll visit you and perform my good word towards you in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you an expected end or in most versions a future and a hope. Then you shall call upon me and you shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken unto you and you shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart and I will be found of you sayeth the Lord and I will turn away your captivity and I will gather you from all the nations and from the places where I've driven you, sayeth the Lord, and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

Father, thank you for the reading of the Word. Blessed now this time in the Holy Writ that your people would have ears to hear, that you'd protect the sinful servant who dares to preach your word, Lord, and that we'd leave this place transformed and changed by the power of your spirit in Jesus' name, amen. All right, so contextually, we look at this book of Jeremiah, and we remember way back in chapter one, his call to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down and to build and to plant. The book of Jeremiah, written by Jeremiah from Anathoth with the likely assistance of his scribe Baruch. Anathoth, a small town a few miles northeast of Jerusalem, but before he was summoned by God to prophetic service, you might recall Jeremiah was brought up as a son of a priest.

His Father's name was Hilkiah and Jeremiah's main focus was to prophesy God's impending judgment upon apostate Judah. This judgment was to come in the form of the invading Babylonians who would destroy Jerusalem and carry Judah away captive. Jeremiah was to proclaim this message of doom and gloom if you will despite the words of the other prophets who cried out peace peace when there was no peace. Judah's apostasy which consisted of Ba'al worship and astral worship among other things like child sacrifice use of magic etc. Was most pronounced under the reign of a very wicked king named Manasseh.

God promised captivity because of the things that were going on in the land. For example, in 2 Kings chapter 21 we read this in verse 12. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel behold I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that whosoever heareth of it both his ears shall tingle and I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish wiping it and turning it upside down and I will forsake the remnant of mine inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies and they shall become a prey and they spoil to all their enemies. And even after by the grace of God a good king named Josiah instituted godly reforms, God was still angry with his predecessor Manasseh. In 2 Kings 23 we read, notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal.

And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight as I have removed Israel. And I will cast off this city, Jerusalem, which I have chosen in the house of which I said, my name shall be there. And that's exactly what happened, beloved. The Lord, because of the wickedness of Judah, because of their rebellion and sin against him, carried them away captive. You can read this story, you can read what happened in Second Chronicles chapter 36.

But a couple of propositions that Scott also mentioned to us yesterday that's commensurate with what happened here in the case of Judah, we look around us and we can also declare that we also live in a type of spiritual Babylon. All around us we find similar kinds of immorality and idolatry, all of which conspires to attempt to thwart the will of God and the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ and also keep us from raising godly children about which we've heard so much just over the last several messages. Around us right now there is gross and perverse sexual immorality, the worship of the earth and worship of death. There's the institutionalized pressure to bow down to and worship Nebuchadnezzar's, if you will, golden image, which is in our day, I'd liken it to the cultural false ideas of certain, the use of certain unbiblical words and the reception and the acceptance of all the the main demons of the day. I mean literally from having to put your pronouns in your bio a couple years ago, which is kind of fading away a little bit now thankfully, to the desire to overthrow God's created order every place that we look, to the idolatry of ethnicity and race.

I always tell my church racism is really stupid because we're all related. You know we all came from Adam and we all came off the ark. You might as well say amen. And so hi cuz, how you doing? Right?

I mean so even to the, you know, what I call the head fake of Christless conservatism, which looks really good on the outside. Brother Pierce did a great job with that yesterday at Burning in Soul, which looks really good on the outside, but without Christ it all crumbles from the inside. So we can, in our own cultural Babylon if you will, hear the cultural music that's blaring through our television sets and through social media and in our politics and even in the public schools and in our colleges we can hear the coronet and the flute and the harp and the sack button the psalter and the dulcimer and all kinds of music that command us to bow down to the great golden image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And of course everyone in this room likes to think that we're all Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we will not bow but I'll often think about the fact of how many other Jews were in that town and in that place and bowed down so much so that God chose to allow us to know that three did not, but so many did. And so we can hear the culture of music playing and we hear it literally all the time.

We need the courage to speak the truth and if necessary brave the fiery furnace as Daniel did in Daniel chapter 3. We are the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and ultimately we will triumph because of our King. Amen. Nevertheless though through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom of God And so God by his own for his own sovereign purposes has seen fit that we walk through these this Babylon kind of season rife with immorality and idolatry Indeed from our text the truth that Jeremiah's words a true prophet of God were were God's words remind us to take the inspired, the infallible, the inerrant, and the sufficient scriptures most seriously. I'm going somewhere with this but hang on I'm just kind of blasting you through a quick review and then we'll go to the reveal because there was more going on in Babylon than met the eye.

God himself calls his rebellious people as Scott noted yesterday to be carried away captive in verse number four of Jeremiah 29. It was God did it. God said, okay, I'm taking you away. I'll cast you away. I'll turn you upside down.

I'll wipe you as a man wipes a dish and we should tremble at the thought. Despite the just judgment of God there was still mercy in the midst of captivity. Our Lord commands the the captives to build houses and and to dwell in them, to plant gardens and to eat the fruit thereof, to take wives, to begat sons and daughters, to not be diminished but to increase even in the midst of captivity. And I'll just pause right here and say this is one of the reasons why I believe the devil hates conferences like this. Because you all are doing exactly that by the grace of God and although we want peace we will not exchange purity for peace.

God just because God uses a pagan nation to chastise his people doesn't mean he's approves of paganism obviously. God judges Babylon too eventually and we read about that in Jeremiah chapter 50 verse 51. But even in spiritual captivity amazingly according to Jeremiah there will be false prophets and you'll know them because their words will be opposite of the words of God and and this is an amazing truth to me you would think that in the midst of captivity the prophets would get themselves together. You would think that hey we're we're no longer in our country we're in a pagan land and you would think we'd want to prophesy now truthfully and not falsely and yet according to verses 8 and 9 this is exactly what's happening and of course this happens today. There are whole denominations that are apostate even today.

There are entire churches that have rolled over with DEI, rolled over with feminism, rolled over with the homosexual agenda, rolled over with abortion, rolled over, rolled over. So even despite all the chaos around us there are still people who named the name of Christ saying things directly contrary to the Word of God. Oh Lord help us, help us. And so the hope of this conference of course is to not do that, is to build good houses. Our dwellings are important, they're the center of daily life, to dwell in them, to live a fruitful life that honors the Lord, to cultivate and enjoy the riches of the land, again to eat the fruit, to be nourished, to see other little households spring out of our households as we take wives for our sons and give our daughters away in marriage.

And so the hope of this conference is to build on the rock of God's Word, is to build as Christ as the head, build through a joyful preaching of the gospel, build in love and mercy and forgiveness, build with faith, build with joyful singing and consistent household worship, build around the local church and the means of grace, prayer and preaching and fellowship and ordinance and worship and discipline. We may be in Babylon but we're still excited about Jesus. Amen. Right? There's no reason for us to be discouraged as the good brother said in the very last message.

But the big reveal, that was just a blasting through what Scott told us yesterday, but there was more going on in Babylon than meets the eye. My assignment is spiritual captivity in Babylon. And I'd like to propose to you that in the midst of our parenting, in the midst of our faithfulness to our local churches, as husbands and wives, we cannot discount the spiritual component. There are active spiritual forces that want to destroy your children and we must take that into account. These things were present in Babylon and they're present now.

After Judah's captivity in Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, other kings followed including Belshazzar and Darius and Cyrus and Brother Johnson did a wonderful job in expositing Daniel chapter 9 under the reign of Darius when Daniel prayed one of the most humble prayers in my opinion in all of scripture. But I'll pick up where Brother Johnson left off. Heaven responded to Daniel's prayer. In Daniel chapter 9 in verse number 20, here's what we read. And while I was praying, speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God.

Yea, whilst I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning was caused to fly swiftly touched me about the time of the evening oblation and he informed me and talked with me and said oh Daniel I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment went forth and I am come to show thee for thou art greatly beloved, therefore understand the matter and consider the vision." In other words, Daniel prayed such a prayer that heaven moved and Gabriel showed up. More on Gabriel here in a moment, But my assignment is the spiritual captivity in Babylon. And so I just want you to make that mental switch. You know, obviously we have to do what we need to do as parents and as fathers and as mothers, but we need God's help.

Amen. In the very next chapter, more is revealed. Under the reign of Cyrus, here's what we read in Daniel chapter 10 verse 4. And in the fourth and twentieth day of the first month as I was by the side of the great river which is a decal. And I lifted up mine eyes and looked and behold a certain man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with fine gold of ufas.

His body was also like the barrel and his face like the appearance of lightning and his eyes as lamps of fire and his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude and I Daniel alone saw the vision for the men that were with me saw not the vision but a great quaking fell upon them so that they fled to hide themselves therefore I was left alone and I saw this great vision and there remained no strength in me for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption and I retained no strength. Yet I heard the voice of his words and when I heard the voice of his words then I was in a deep sleep on my face and my face toward the ground and behold and hand touched me which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands and he said unto me oh Daniel a man greatly beloved understand the words that I speak unto thee and stand upright for unto thee I am now sent and when he had spoken this word to me I stood trembling then he said unto me fear not Daniel for from the first day that thou did set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before thy God thy words were heard." It's amazing to think about isn't it?

How does heaven respond when you pray? And I am come for thy words. But listen to verse 13. This is fantastic. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days.

And lo Michael, that name should sound familiar, one of the chief princes came to help me and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days. For yet the vision is for many days and when he had spoken such words unto me I set my face toward the ground and became dumb." What do we do with that? What just happened there? God caused his people to be carried away captive and placed them under the physical rule of a pagan king.

Is it possible that God also carried his people away captive and placed them under the spiritual rule and influence of an ungodly principality? But the prince of the... I mean he's not talking about like the artist known as prince... But the prince... I'm reading the Bible...

This is in your Bible, right? The prince, it sounds like a movie. The prince of the kingdom of Persia which stood me one in 20 days. For 21 days this figure which has the attributes of obviously a spiritual figure and we don't believe this is Jesus I don't I'll tell you why here in a moment but there was this spiritual war apparently going on unseen in Babylon in Daniel 9 the man Gabriel is based on context the Gabriel who delivered to Mary the news of her choice as the mother of the Messiah and to the shepherds the news of the Messiah's birth in Luke chapter 1. He is said to stand in the presence of God.

His nearness to God is one of the reasons he is considered by most an archangel or prince or chief among the the angels chief prince if you will Gabriel is also mentioned in Daniel 8 we don't have time to go to that where he helps Daniel by command understand the vision Gabriel apparently was caused to fly swiftly to Daniel, but not saying he has wings but this is the language that we're using, the language the Bible uses. His mission was to give Daniel insight and understanding And so this is an angel who God sends to give Daniel insight and understanding. In Daniel 10 this certain man in verse 6 was certainly a spiritual being. He resembles the description of Christ in Revelation chapter 1 but is likely an angel since he was able to be withstood for 21 days. No one withstands King Jesus.

Furthermore, it is unlikely a human prince could have held him up for 21 days. Therefore the prince of the kingdom of Persia likely refers to some kind of spiritual being, a fallen angel, principality of some sort, with a significant influence over a nation so much so that he is identified by the name of the nation Babylon or Persia in this time. Incredible when you think about it. Michael is said to be again one of the chief princes and had to assist the angel in question because apparently the the prince of Persia knew how to box a little bit or something. So he had to come and actually help him.

Michael is known to be the Prince or angelic protector of Israel since he is called your prince in reference to Daniel also We can reference there is Daniel chapter 12 and verse number one. Is this the same Michael we read about in Revelation 12? Where we read this in verse 7 and there was war in heaven Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and the dragon fought his angels and prevailed not. Neither was there place found anymore in heaven and the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him and I heard a loud voice saying in heaven now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ for the accuser of the brethren is cast down glory to God which accused them before our God day and night and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony and they love not their lives unto death.

What are we to do with this spiritual war that's raging in the heavenlies and over nations? Was this just true in the Old Testament or could some of it be true even as we speak? What's warring over America right now? What's warring over Virginia right now? In other words, it's more than just your legislators that you should have issue with.

It's the spirit behind those legislators. Hallelujah. We need God's help to fight a spiritual war. A spiritual war raging for the souls of our children and raging in the midst of even some of the things that we believe are purely political. Maybe they're not purely political.

Maybe there are things going on behind those politicians. What's my point here? This is not just unique to Babylon this is the Christian life from the beginning of recorded biblical history until now the reality of the spiritual war beloved is evident from the temptation by the serpent in the garden called the devil and Satan to at least in my opinion this may be a little controversial but in my opinion the sons of God, the Bene A Elohim coming into the daughters of men in Genesis 6, to the act of principalities over entire regions mentioned in Daniel, to the explosion of overt spiritual warfare in the Gospels where it seems like you can't turn a page without the Lord having to cast out a devil. Jesus entering encountering many unclean spirits and demons in the Gospels there is no doubt that there's an unseen world and an unseen war in which believers are involved whether we want to be or not. And so as you consider, and as you consider what we just learned in two messages about how to pray for our children, part of that prayer must be, and Lord, please rebuke the devil and all principalities and powers who want their souls for we fight a spiritual war in the midst of Babylon and this is true again from the beginning of the Bible again from Genesis 3 a holy cosmic war was declared was Satan enters the garden and tempts Eve and she gives the fruit to Adam and he eats and man falls.

The spiritual being called Satan or the devil or the serpent was there. Remember again in my opinion again you some don't hold to this and that's okay, but the rebellion of angels in Genesis 6 prior to and a part of the cause of the flood, now a lot of people don't hold to that, that's fine, but those giants came from somewhere and they're all in your Bible. The Anakims, the Zamzumans, the M.M.'s, Og of Batian, Goliath, the Gittite, other Philistine Giants. I'm talking about dudes with six fingers and six toes. They came from somewhere all through the time, all the way into the time of David where David and his brethren finally put a stop to it.

What about the consistent presence of the angel of the Lord in the Pentateuch and in the book of Judges? Or recall the the captain of the hosts of the Lord in Joshua 5 where Joshua muscles up the courage to tentatively say, are you with us or with them? And he said, nay, I am the captain of the host of the Lord and I have now come, sword drawn and everything. That's in your Bible. Oh, what about, I love this narrative in 1 Kings chapter 22, Micahiah's vision of the throne room of the Lord and the activity of angels.

Dr. Waldron mentioned Ahab and I believe it was Jehoshaphat were having a conversation and Ahab said, hey Jehoshaphat, will you come help me fight the king of Syria? And he said, sure, but let's do one thing first. Let's ask the prophets, let's see if there's a word from the Lord to see what we'll, see what the success rate is going to be here. And Ahab says, sure, and he calls in 400 prophets and they all do what Ahab's prophets do.

They tell Ahab exactly what Ahab wants to hear and you remember the story and I mean again this is your Bible check it be a good Berea and check it it's right there in 1 Kings 22 and Jehovah's Witness goes is there anyone here who actually hears from the Lord King Ahab? Is anyone here at all? I mean, no one of these guys is going to say whatever you want, King. That's what's going to happen. And Ahab says, yeah, there's one, but I hate this guy.

Remember? I hate this guy. He never prophesies good about me. I hate him. His name is Micahiah.

He goes, well let's call for him. Oh I got the name of that king right, the other king who's a ruling in Judah. But so they call Micahiah. Micahiah comes in and he kind of kind of facetiously says, yeah, yeah, yeah, you go ahead and attack, all will be good. And they go, no, that can't be right.

Tell us the real deal. And Micahiah goes, I saw Israel scattered on the mountainside. And let me tell you exactly what happened and there's this reveal in in 1st Kings 22 where the reality of the interaction between heaven and earth between the spiritual and the earthly becomes even more apparent. The vision opens up or the narrative opens up and Micah described God on his throne and the hosts of heaven surrounding him and the Lord had purposed already his heart to take out Ahab and he said who's gonna go down and confuse Ahab and make sure he goes to Ramoth Gilead and one spirit said this and one spirit said that and a spirit came forward and go I'll go I'll go be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets remember that The activity again of heaven and earth or the angelic or the spiritual or in the spiritual warfare nature of the world in which we live. We could go on the chariots of fire surrounding the prophet Elijah in 2nd Kings chapter 6 where Elijah had been Elijah had been given spiritual intelligence to his king and it really made the king of Syria mad and said we got to take who's how do we stop this guy he knows what I'm gonna do before I do it and they they send just a cohort of people to surround the prophet and the prophet's servant is so nervous and he says, Lord open his eyes and the Lord opens his eyes and all around the prophet Elijah were chariots of fire.

The hosts of God were protecting the man of God. That's in your Bible. Or Zechariah's vision of the angel. When Zechariah won. Or our Lord's confrontation with Satan Luke 4.

Or the many battles with demons Jesus had throughout the Gospels. Or Paul casting out a spirit of divination out of a girl in Acts 16. Or Paul's warnings to the church that Satan tries to transform himself into an angel of light in 2nd Corinthians 11 and 4, seeks to take advantage of the church, 2nd Corinthians 4 and 11, and beware of the devilish schemes of the enemy and his snares in 1st Timothy chapter 3 in verse number 7. Beloved, I'll just say this, it's critical that we have a spiritual or a supernatural worldview. That's just a biblical worldview, but I'm using those words to make the point.

Just as there was more going on in Babylon where literally they were, I don't know what you want to call them, perhaps principalities, perhaps princes, but there was a war going on where a wicked demonic entity had rule and influence over an entire nation. As a part of our living in our spiritual Babylon surrounded by wickedness, surrounded by idolatry with a desire to live lives that glorify God. This has to be a part of our decision tree. This has to be a part of our spiritual deliberations. We have to realize that we're fighting a real devil.

Amen. Okay, so This is critical in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. This this is a command given in the epistles, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

And the truth is when I forget this I get really frustrated. I'm mad at the president, I'm mad at the Congress, I'm mad, I'm mad, I'm mad. Y'all aren't moving fast enough. Where are the arrests? I say to myself.

You say it too, some of you. I know you do. But some of our frustration, you know, we might be better off pouring our energy into prayer on our knees because we really can't affect what's happening up there anyway other than voting unless you work there but for most of us we don't even think to realize there's more going there may be more and I'm not trying to speak dogmatically, but there may be more going on in America and over America, okay? In North Carolina or Virginia, where I'm from, and over North Carolina and Virginia and wherever state you're part of, then meets the eye and we'll be better off pouring our energy into prayer and into making sure that we have the armor of God firmly affixed. In Ephesians, after issuing various commands for the church based on the glorious gospel of Christ including unity and holiness and sanctified speaking and walking in love and being filled with the Spirit and submitting ourselves to one another, wives to husbands, children to parents, you know, I mean on and on and on, service to masters, Paul commands the church to engage in the spiritual war.

Indeed in whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine on them." We have to realize that the devil also wants to kill our children too. He wants to blind their hearts too. Sometimes it's not, you know, don't watch that because I said so. Sometimes it's, let me explain to you the spirit behind that. How this is anti-God and anti-Christ.

How this is demonic in its nature and boys and girls please don't be afraid but if you are afraid flee to Christ right now. Repent and believe the gospel. But don't be afraid because we're using this language. This is the world that you live in. There's one that you can, a part of it that you can see and there's a part of it that you can't see.

And much of what's a foot in our nation didn't spring directly out of the hearts of men, it was inspired and cultivated by demonic forces and wickedness. This is what Paul is saying here. We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and against powers, against the rulers of darkness, against wicked forces in high places. The war is real in Babylon. It's real in this world that we live in.

In 1 Peter 5 verse 8, be sober, be vigilant because your enemy the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. May we teach our children to resist the devil. Hallelujah. Son, daughter, I want to teach you to resist the devil. There are things going on in this world that we can't see.

We're in the midst of Babylon but our idolatry and our wickedness cannot be explained surely by or purely by humanity. There's more going on here just as there was in the Garden of Eden and forward. The church must know what she's up against. Paul said, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils. This is very common language throughout the Bible.

They sacrifice to devils and not to God. I would not have that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink of the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. Ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and the table of devils. They must be a separation between the holy people of God and that which dishonors the name of God because it's demonic.

And I'm not saying that there's a devil behind every bush or to blame the devil. This isn't Flip Wilson theology where the devil made me do everything. That's not actually what we're saying. Some of y'all are too young to get that joke. But what we are saying is that part of our captivity, if you will, or part of the things that we deal with and face are spiritual in nature.

This is why a Christian must be prayerful. This is why a Christian must put on the armor of God. This is why a Christian must walk humbly before his God. Praise the Lord that the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Praise the Lord that he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over this in him.

Praise the Lord for that. We cannot fight the devil and other principalities in our spiritual Babylon with a real sword. We need a spiritual one. Not an actual helmet, but a confidence in one's salvation. Not an iron shield, but an iron faith that trusts in God regardless of what comes.

Not a soldier's boot but feet that walk in peace produced by the gospel. Not the heavy belt and breastplates needed in carnal hostilities but a belief in the truth and a life lived in righteousness based on the holiness of Christ. The goal of the armor is resistance and victory over spiritual wickedness in the evil day to stand in the midst of it all and declare that Christ is King. The goal is to be able by the grace of God and for God's glory to stand firm. I'm so glad that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but are mighty through God through the pulling down of strongholds.

We don't fight the way the world does we fight the way our Lord has instructed one commentator wrote This warfare is not a matter of contending against godless philosophers Crafty priests Christ denying cultists or infidel rulers The battle is against demonic forces against battalions of fallen angels against evil spirits who wield tremendous power. Though we cannot see them, we are constantly surrounded by wicked spiritual beings. And while it is true that they cannot indwell a true believer, They can oppress and harass him. The Christian should not be morbidly occupied with the subject of demonism, neither should he live in fear of demons. In the armor of God, he has all he needs to hold his ground against their onslaughts.

We live in a spiritual Babylon, and I wish we had more time but I want to quickly give you just seven ways to thrive in the midst of it all some of which has already been said to us. We know that Christ has defeated demonic powers they know it too but we the Lord's Church have been called to take ground to remember that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church, that the very image, that very image of Christ's church is one of attacking because gates in and of themselves are not offensive weaponry. We're on the attack even in the midst of Babylon. Seven quick things. Number one, believe and preach the gospel.

There's no winning when you're not saved, when your soul doesn't belong to God. There are only two kinds of people in the world, children of God and children of the devil. Which one are you? So believe and preach the gospel. For those of us who are saved, the gospel is still of first importance according to the Apostle Paul in 1st Corinthians 15.

It is our primary message. It is what we preach. But if you have not repented, I beg you in the name of Jesus Christ, if you have not repented and believe in the gospel of Christ, do so now. Do so now. There's a real heaven and a real hell.

Christ came to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He died for our sins. He was buried and he rose again on the third day. He is our propitiation, our atoning sacrifice. His sacrifice satisfied the holy and just wrath of the Father.

And one day all of us will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Are you ready? If you're not, repent today and believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do it now. You don't know if you have tomorrow.

And then number two, armor up. Study that passage in Ephesians chapter six. Make sure that you understand the armor of God and what it means. Not physical armor, but spiritual positions. Things that we believe by faith and that we trust in that gives us a defense and ammunition against the devil.

Number three, walk in humility. The Bible says be clothed with humility. Why? God resists the proud. He resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble.

Scripture says submit yourself therefore to God which is an act of humility. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4-7. Which leads me to number four. Resist all evil.

Even in Babylon, we know the story of Daniel and Lines, and we know the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. What's hard for us to understand is the immense pressure that they must have faced. We can kind of verbally and kind of intellectually assent to the understanding, but we weren't there. There'll be challenges in our day too that must be resisted. There'll be evils that come to you that must be resisted.

So we say to you, resist all evil in the midst of Babylon and trust God for provision. Might cost your job, might cost your friend, might cost your inclusion in the group you want to be in, but so what? Christ is King. Number five, practice the spiritual disciplines. Spiritual disciplines serve the dual purpose of increasing our intimacy with God and advancing our war against the spiritual wickedness, so make sure it's already been said.

Read your Bible every day, spend time in family worship, read and memorize scripture develop a biblical worldview walk in honesty and integrity grow in the proper attitude Towards sin which by the way is hatred For we mortify it in ourselves, right? We We ask the Lord to help us to mortify all sin in our lives and all wickedness. We repent and forgive quickly. Don't let any, you know, any relational things just kind of go on and on and on without repenting, without saying I'm sorry, without seeking forgiveness, without reconciliation. Speak kind and loving words one to another.

So practice those things. Number six, and I'm almost done, stay connected to what Christ is victoriously building the local church. Beloved, let me tell you, based on the spiritual war alone, You can't drag me out of the church of Jesus Christ because he said, on this rock, I'll build my church. I want to be a part of what God is building. Yes, I am because I'm a Christian, but most of the references to the local church in the New Testament have to do with the called out body that assembles on the Lord's day.

And just for the need for spiritual protection alone you can't drag me out of the church. I want to be there when the doors are open on the Lord's day. I need the protection of my brothers and my sisters and the Spirit of God as he moves through the church. And so stay connected to what the Lord is building, that is the local assembly. Number seven, and this is the last one, be prepared for the unusual.

I personally believe that demonic activity is real to what extent. There may be varying views although the activity we see in the Gospels and Acts may not be normative today. The possibility of confronting real devils in real life exists. Paul says to Timothy in 1st Timothy 4.1, now the Spirit expressly saith or speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and the doctrines of devils These things are going on as we speak live holy and make fasting a part of your life You've heard that already pray for discernment and be ready You're not looking for a devil behind every tree but you are realizing that there's more going on in your city, in your state, preferably not in your home, but in your state and certainly around the world, than meets the eye. Don't be like the seven sons of Sceva who had no real relationship with Christ but chose to engage a man possessed with an evil spirit because you're gonna lose.

Do we really think beloved that our nation, our communities have devolved to the current level of spiritual depravity without the influence of spiritual wickedness, the battle is on. When the Bible gives us warnings and instructions concerning spiritual things and matters that relate to spiritual warfare, take them seriously. When the Bible says entertain strangers because you may have entertained an angel unaware, I believe what the Bible says. When the Bible says flee idolatry and don't partake of the cup of devils, I believe that. So we have to free our lives from that kind of wickedness.

When Paul says because of the angels he means angels, right? Babylon the greatest fallen is fallen and become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul Spirit May the Lord help us to see more clearly that we need to stay on our faces, that we need to cry out to him, that he keeps us equipped with heavenly armor to fight the spiritual war, and may we equip our children for the same. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for opening up our eyes and our understanding concerning your word. Babylon in the time of Daniel, Persia if you will, was fought over by spiritual forces.

Consistently in the New Testament, we see you, King, dispatching, Sometimes legions, spiritual forces, dark and evil spirits. And in our day, we're commended having done it all in the evil day to stand. We pray that as we go forward, considering the souls of our children and how to build well and plan in the midst of Babylon that we would at least take into account that some of what we're dealing with some of what we're facing is spiritual in nature And we would not bring railing accusations, but we would simply say the Lord rebuketh thee in Jesus name. Amen.