Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us today. Now today I'm preaching the second
part of a two-part message entitled, True Christian Warfare. I began it last week. And I urge
you to get a copy. If you didn't hear last week's
message, get a copy of that. Each message, anytime I preach
a two or three or four part message on this program, I try to make
each program stand alone so that you won't be confused. But there's
a lot of information and we're talking about the spiritual warfare
that every true Christian must be engaged in while living in
this world. It's not a fleshly warfare. It's
not a carnal, as Paul said. It's not a physical warfare.
It's never to be fought with our fist or with knives or with
guns or even with tanks. our weapons as such, but it's
to be fought on the battlefield of the mind, the heart, the affections,
the will, with the gospel, the sword of the Lord, the word of
God. And that's what it is. In 2 Corinthians chapter 10,
that's the text I'm using. Look at verse three, if you'd
like to follow along, where the apostle writes, for though we
walk in the flesh, that is, the flesh there meaning the physical
world, the physical body, And I mentioned this last week, how
sometimes the word flesh, it's a very, very interesting word
for you to do a word study on if you have a concordance. But
the flesh has to be defined. The word flesh has to be defined
according to its context. Sometimes it refers to sinful,
fallen human nature. And the works of the flesh, the
sinful desires, goals, motives, The sinful thoughts of a sinner. And sometimes it just refers
to physical body. You see, there's nothing sinful
in the physical body in and of itself. You see, but those who
are in this world were born dead in trespasses and sins and have
no spiritual life. That's our fallen Adam. We fell
in Adam. When Adam fell, we fell. Romans
chapter 5 and verse 12 teaches us that. And other passages.
In Adam all die, all whom he represented. And we fell into
sin and death. And so what we have by nature
as we're born dead in trespasses and sin is we're nothing but
sinful flesh. Now that doesn't mean that this
physical hand is sinful. Now I can use this physical hand
for sinful purposes. But the hand itself is not sinful. The sin is what comes out of
the heart. That's what Christ taught. Remember
he told his disciples, it's not what goes in your mouth, what
you drink, what you eat, that defiles you. Even what you see
that defiles you. Now there are things we should
avoid, but those are the, that's not sin. You're not drinking
a cup of sin or eating a loaf of sin. That's not what it is.
I know sin is metaphorically, there are symbols like leaven
is sin, you know, things like that. Man drinks iniquity like
water. Those are metaphors. But sin
is what comes out of the heart. You see, our environment, basically
our environment is not our problem. We're the problem. I'm the problem. And so this flesh here doesn't
refer to sinful flesh, it refers to the physical. Christ had a
physical body and it says in Romans 1, I believe in verse
3 or 4, He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.
But His flesh was not sinful at all. He had no sin and knew
no sin. So Paul says in verse 3 of 2
Corinthians 10, For though we walk in the flesh, we do not
war, fight after the flesh, in the manner of the flesh. For
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty." In other
words, they're not physical. It's not an atom bomb, it's not
a tank, but it's powerful. It's the Word of God. He says,
"...through God, to the pulling down of strongholds." And what
are these strongholds? He says it in verse 5, "...casting
down imaginations, thoughts, reasonings, and every high thing
that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing
into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."
That's the Christian warfare described. Our weapon is the
gospel, the gospel of peace, not the gospel that speaks peace
to everybody now or makes you feel good about yourself, but
the gospel of God's grace in Christ that shows a sinner like
me Sinners like you, how God can be just to justify the ungodly. How is that possible? How God
can take a sinner and in holiness and justice and righteousness
and truth, be merciful to that person, gracious and loving,
and still be God. And the answer is the obedience
of Christ. What is the obedience of Christ?
That's His obedience unto death as the surety and substitute
of His people, whereby their sins were imputed, charged, accounted
to Him, and He went to the cross and paid their debt in full.
The debt that they owed to God's justice was His debt. And He paid it in full, and thereby
He brought forth a righteousness and everlasting righteousness
of infinite value which is imputed to His people." You see, I stand
before God not in my own works, not even in my own faith. I stand
before God in Christ based on His righteousness alone charged
to me. My right and my title to heaven
is the imputed righteousness of Christ. That's called the
righteousness of God. And so when we preach the gospel,
that's our weapon, and we aim it at the hearts, and we pray
that God will do it. Well, that God will bring sinners
to salvation. Well, in this matter of true
Christian warfare, now I mentioned several verses about how Christians
are to be peaceful people. Christianity is a true religion
of peace. No one has any mandate or right
or warrant or commandment from Christ to go out and harm anyone
physically or to try to force anyone physically to believe. And I mentioned last week how
people would talk about the Spanish Inquisition, how they physically
tortured people and even killed people to get them to confess.
My friend, that was not Christian at all. That was against Christianity. Those people were trying to play
God. God said vengeance belongs unto
me, Him. Now true Christians are to stand
in opposition to all sin. But we have no warrant from Scripture
to go out and take personal vengeance or to try to deliver justice
ourselves individually. That's a person trying to play
God. The Crusades. That wasn't a Christian
effort. That was done in the name of
Christianity, but it was false Christianity. And I mentioned
the talk show host who was making the point, said, well, Hitler
was a Christian. Hitler wasn't a Christian. He claimed to be,
but he wasn't. Anybody who claims to be Christian
and who goes out and tries to harm anybody in the name of Christianity
is a lie. That's a false belief. Christ is the Prince of Peace.
He tells us to follow peace, yet there are scriptures that
speak of a warfare. And I want you to see something.
I want you to turn to the book of Matthew chapter 10. In Matthew chapter 10, And I
want you to look at verse 34. This is Christ teaching his disciples. And he's sending them out to
preach the gospel, to preach the kingdom of God. And in Matthew
10 and verse 34, listen to what he says. He says, thank not that
I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. Now, first of all, How does that
fit with Luke chapter two, for example, where it says, where
the angel told the shepherds, glory to God in the highest and
peace on earth, goodwill towards men. Well, the peace that he's
talking about that accompanies the coming of Christ into the
world and his doing his work of redemption in His obedience
unto death, bringing peace by the blood of His cross, is not
peace between nations. And it's not peace among individuals,
it's peace with God. Peace with God. You see, by nature,
we're at war with God. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. And the only way that can, Paul
wrote about in Colossians 1, enemies in our minds by wicked
works. And the only way that there's
going to be peace between God and his people is for the ground
of peace to be established. And that ground of peace is the
blood of Christ, his righteousness imputed. But here he says, think
not that I'm come to send peace. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. Now look what he's talking about now. Verse 35 of Matthew
10. For I'm come to set a man at
variance in opposition against his father. and the daughter
against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And
a man's foes, a man's enemies, shall be they of his own household.
But, look at verse 37, he that loveth father or mother more
than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his
cross and followeth after me is not worthy of me. He that
findeth his life shall lose it. And he that loseth his life for
my sake shall find it. Now, what is he talking about
there? Is he talking about that he sent you to go cause turmoil
in your home, fight your father, draw fist and knives and all
of, no. Not at all. He's talking about
the spiritual variance that will exist between His people in believing
and preaching the gospel of peace and those who are in the world,
even though they may be your physical relatives, who believe
a false gospel or don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. They
are in opposition to each other. Here's a son, for example, who
hears the gospel of God's grace. And God, the Holy Spirit, invincibly
calls him into the kingdom, gives him life, and calls him into
the kingdom. And he goes home and he tells
his father, Father, I've been saved, I know the Lord now, and
here's what I believe. And the father says, oh, no,
no. That's not the way. And there's a variance, there's
an opposition. That's what Christ is talking about. Now that opposition
from the world will show itself in different ways to different
degrees. Some will want to just ignore you. I don't want to hear
any more about it. Some will grow angry. Look at
what happened when Stephen, as recorded in Acts chapter seven,
stood up and preached to his fellow Jews. At one time, Stephen
and his fellow Jews were in fellowship with one another, but now Stephen
preached a message that shed light on their false religion,
and they picked up stones to stone him. Now Stephen was not
to stand up before that group and throw stones at them, but
they did him because of the gospel. And don't misunderstand me. I'm
not saying that Christians cannot defend themselves when attacked,
but here's the point. Our warfare in this ministry
of the gospel, the Christian's warfare in the ministry of the
gospel is not a physical warfare. It's a spiritual one. And you
have to see it that way. Christ said, there's going to
be opposition. even in your earthly family,
between true Christians and those who do not believe. The Apostle
Paul wrote to young Timothy in 1 Timothy 6, verse 12. Listen to this. He says, fight
the good fight of faith. There's a fight, but it's a fight
of faith. He says, lay hold on eternal
life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a
good profession before many witnesses. In the book of Ephesians, look
there with me, Ephesians chapter six. And in Ephesians chapter
six, the apostle is talking about his, the warfare, the Christian
armor. And he says in verse 10, listen
to this, Ephesians six and verse 10. He says, finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Now I
mentioned this last week and we need to understand this. If
a true Christian is going to really and successfully engage
in the Christian warfare, he has to understand where the source
of power is. And it's not in himself, it's
in God, the power of his mind. And Paul writes in verse 11,
put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand
against the wiles, the connivings of the devil, For we wrestle
not against flesh and blood. We're not in a physical warfare,
you see, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places. Wherefore, take unto you the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand the
evil day, and having done all to stand. And so he lists the
weapons here. Verse 14 of Ephesians six. Stand
therefore having your loins girt about with truth. Truth is our
weapon. And having on the breastplate
of righteousness. You know, the soldier's breastplate. Well, let me say this, the loins
girt about with truth. That girdle that the soldier
put on held everything together and firm and intact. That's what
truth does for the true Christian. We have the truth as it is in
Christ of how God saves sinners. and then having on the breastplate
of righteousness. The breastplate, whenever the
enemy hit the breast, tried to go after the heart with the sword,
engage in the death blow, or the arrows come, or the spear
come, that breastplate would turn that away. It's like the
accusations of the devil. They won't stick because the
breastplate of righteousness, and understand now, The breastplate
of righteousness is not the breastplate of your or my good works. The
devil can knock a hole in that easily. The breastplate of righteousness
is the righteousness of God in Christ imputed to us. Paul wrote,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died. When the devil throws his darts,
his arrows, his spears, his sword of accusation against the people
of God, it's the breastplate of Christ's righteousness that
turns him away. And so he says in verse 15, your
feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. That's
our testimony. the testimony of a true Christian.
Verse 16, above all, taking the shield of faith, faithfulness,
that is, now what is faithfulness? Hebrews 12, two, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, that's faithfulness.
And then he says, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the
fiery darts, the spears and arrows of the wicked and take the helmet
of salvation, We who are true Christians know what salvation
is. It's of the Lord. It's not of me. I'm not saved
because I cooperated with God or because I willed myself into
heaven. I'm saved because God saved me.
And somebody says, well, does he save you against your will?
No, he changes your will. It's called conviction. That's
what Holy Spirit conviction is. He changes your will to show
you your sinfulness. I'm a sinner. And I deserve nothing
but condemnation and eternal death. Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, who would stand? Not me. Thank God. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. My only hope is to stand before
God in Christ. That's my salvation. And that's
the helmet that I wear. That's where my thoughts ought
to be all the time. wherewith you shall, and he says,
take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit,
there's the power of it, which is the word of God, praying always
with all prayer, verse 18, and supplication in the spirit and
watching there into with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints. There's the nature of this warfare.
You see, the Christian is in a warfare. There's no doubt about
that, and it's a daily warfare. It never lets up. There's no
respite from this. But it's not a physical warfare.
It's a spiritual one. Using the weapon, the sword of
the Lord, the word of God, the gospel, aimed at the thoughts,
the intents, the imaginations, the heart, the affections, the
will. And so what do we do in engaging,
when we go to battle, What do we do? We preach the gospel,
we witness the gospel, and we pray for the salvation of sinners
and the preservation of God's people. And yes, we walk according
to the truth. What are the three great enemies
of a Christian? Well, I've mentioned them. There's
the world, there's the flesh, and there's the devil. Think
about, what is he talking about when he talks about the world?
You know, the word world, in the New Testament especially,
but all through the Bible, has so many different meanings that
it can only be determined by its context. Most people will
go to the word world and they'll just say, well, that means every
individual without exception. No, it doesn't. In 1 John 5,
19, for example, the apostle John wrote, we are of God. Now who's he talking about? He's
talking about Christians. Believers, sinners saved by grace,
those who stand before God, washed in the blood of Christ and clothed
in his righteousness. We are of God. Those who have
been born again. They were fallen. Listen, they're
sinners. Fell in Adam. Born dead in trespasses and sins.
But God chose them before the foundation of the world. Their
names were written in the Lamb's book of life. the Lamb slain,
and their names were written there from the foundation of
the world. But they fell in Adam. I fell in Adam. They were born
dead in trespasses and sins. I was born dead in trespasses
and sins. Sinners saved by grace. But God chose them. Christ redeemed
them. He died for His sheep, His church,
His people, my friend. He shed His blood for the people
that God gave him. He said, all that the father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. So we are of God, John wrote
in 1 John 5, 19. But he said, and the whole world
lieth in wickedness. Now that literally would be lieth
in the wicked one, the devil. So the world there doesn't mean
everybody without exception. It means those who are connected
with Satan in a spiritual dead way, in unbelief and in opposition
to the true Christian. The world often refers to the
fallen, sinful, unregenerate, unbelieving world. And what did
Christ say to his disciples in their warfare against the world? Remember he told them, he said,
marvel not if the world hates you. They hated me before they
hated you. He even went on to tell them,
he said, they'll throw you out of their churches. They'll throw
you out of their synagogue. When John 16 and verse 33, here's
what he says. He says, these things I have
spoken unto you that in me, you might have peace. Now the true
Christian has peace in Christ. That's peace by the blood of
his cross. That's reconciliation to God
based on his righteousness imputed. But we're not at peace with the
world. He says, in the world, verse 33 of John 16, in the world
you shall have tribulation, trouble, but be of good cheer. I have
overcome the world. And that's why he says in Romans
chapter 12 and verse two, be not conformed to this world.
Don't conform to the world. And listen to me, certainly we
would say, well, we're not to be conformed to the world in
its morality or immorality and perversions. Don't be conformed
to that. Don't unite to that. Don't promote
that. Don't put your stamp of approval
on the world's immorality. Listen, don't be conformed to
the world's religion either. the world's ethic. Because that
is deadly. That is deadly. So we're against
the world. There's a fight against the world.
But also the true Christian is at war against the flesh. Now
let me put this in perspective for you. Look over Romans chapter
7. When we say the Christian is
at war with the flesh, you know what we're actually saying? The
true Christian is at war with himself. It's an inner warfare. If I'm a true Christian, which
I believe I am, I'm at war against myself, my flesh. And that is
sin that still dwells in me. That's the corruption and the
contamination, evil thoughts, evil motives, evil goals, lust,
all of those things, covetousness. And it's a daily warfare. Paul
in Galatians chapter five called it a warfare of the flesh against
the spirit. You war against the flesh. And I'm in a daily warfare. Every
true Christian is. Paul wrote about it in Romans
chapter 7. He says in verse 22, listen to this, Romans 7, 22,
I delight in the law of God after the inward man. The inward man
is Paul's spirituality, spiritual life within him. His new heart,
the new life, the new spirit. That's what that is. And that
new life, that new heart given him by God in the new birth,
gives him a desire to honor God in Christ, to glorify God, to
follow Christ, to love Christ, to believe in Him. But he says
in verse 23, I see another law in my members, the members being
the physical body. And he says, warring against
the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law
of sin, which is in my members. He says, oh, wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And here's
the victory, verse 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Christians
are at war with the devil. We've already read in Ephesians
six, how that battle is won by pleading Christ. I hope this
message has been helpful to you and please join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today, and may the Lord be with you.