Ephesians chapter 6 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 you may be able to stand against the wiles
of the devil. 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. Wherefore, take unto you the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the
evil day and having done all to stand." The title of our message
this morning is, There's a war going on. There's a war going on. There is something thrilling and at the same time
fearful about the notion of a confrontation
between two mighty foes. I can remember as a boy in school,
this happened a few times, Mr. Bully over here, it was talked
that he was going to fight Mr. Bully over here. And everybody
meant to be there because that was going to be one more showdown
because this was two Mr. Bigs. that we're on opposing
sides. And we see that in many forms,
many times along life's journey. There's going to be a standoff
from which there will be no retreat, a fight to the finish, and only
one side can possibly survive. Well, in Revelation chapter 16,
The Apostle John coined a symbolic word that is found only once
in the scriptures, Armageddon. And anybody that's been to church
much at all has heard some talk about the Battle of Armageddon. And of course, in modern times,
it is used as a symbol for one Huge, decisive battle at the
end of this age. And men have made much of the
word. And that's what most people believe about it, that that's
what it's coming down to. Many books have been written
about it. I've read a little in some of
them, and most of them, it's just one copycat the other to
make money. And the one says what the other
said, and the other repeated what another said, and they all
put their own little personal twist to it. But the general
idea is that a great battle sometime in the future is to be fought
involving all the armies of the world, and they call it the Battle
of Armageddon. Well, the word Armageddon comes
from the word Megiddo, a literal place, a little strip of land,
a valley, a famous battlefield over in Palestine in Old Testament
history. Sometimes it's referred to as
Jezreel. And in this valley of Jezreel,
in this valley of Megiddo, Many great men and great kings died,
both of Israel and opposing nations. So it was a famous battlefield. It was a common word in the Old
Testament, Megiddo or Jezreel. It was identified with bloodshed,
with war. It would be like, for Napoleon,
Waterloo. It would be like in the American
war between the states, Gettysburg. It would be like that. And this
place Megiddo or Jezreel, it meant that in the Old Testament. Bloodshed, fighting, killing,
a big thing. So now, people today, many preachers,
carefully evaluate every war and rumor of war as a countdown
to Armageddon, as books name that. But they don't understand
the truth. The Battle of Armageddon is being
fought everywhere, every day, in the hearts and minds of all
people. It's a spiritual war. Not a physical
one. That little strip of land over
there where they say, and I've heard these preachers talk about
it, where this great battle is supposed to be involving all
the armies. Geographically, that valley,
that strip of land is not large enough for the military army
of China alone to stand shoulder to shoulder. Let alone the armies
of all the world. So it's not a physical war. It's spiritual. John called it
Armageddon. And that's what Paul is saying
here in verse 12. For we wrestle not with flesh
and blood. This is not about duking it out
with your fist. or with machine guns or atomic
bombs, no. We wrestle not with flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, the spirit world, against the
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places. or in other words, against wickedness
in the spirit world. One writer said, the real arena
for this war with eternal consequences is the battleground of ideas
and doctrines of supposed righteousness or
unrighteousness. good, evil, God, and Satan. This is the battle of Armageddon,
a spiritual battle, being fought in your spirit every day that
you live. Now, in time, so in time, it
is not future only. It is present and past. This is a war spanning from eternity
to eternity. It commenced when Lucifer was
cast out of heaven. And it will consummate when he's
cast into the lake of fire. And so it's from eternity to
eternity, spanning all time. There are no civilians, no bystanders. Every man, woman,
boy and girl who ever lived or shall live till the end comes
is either overcoming by the blood of the Lamb or being overcome
by the deception of Satan's lies. So there's no neutrality. There
is no civilians. Everybody is in this war. Paul clearly tells us here in
verse 12, the war is not physical, but spiritual. It's about things
men will defend, fight for and die for. Islam, you know, is a religion.
Many, many, many are willing to fight and die for it. And I said that because that
was so much in the news nowadays, but that's just one of the many
deceptions that people fight and die for. In the religious world, I'm talking
about even in the so-called old-fashioned Bible-believing religious world,
there are many deceptions, many people fighting and will fight
and die for the wrong things. It's all part of a war that's
more than human. It's superhuman. It's a war in
the spirit world between God and Satan, Christ and Antichrist,
between the Spirit of God and all other spirits. Some of you
have not been here since we've talked about Antichrist, the
word found five times in the New Testament. And if you've
been around church much at all in your life, especially around
dispensationalist, this part of the country, they always refer
to Antichrist as, as an individual, as Satan incarnate with a capital
A. No, no, no. All four times it
occurs in the scripture. It's with a little a, it is never
a proper name. It is never in reference to an
individual. Antichrist is a spirit. John said, any spirit that testifies
not that Jesus Christ has come into the flesh is spirit of antichrist. Again, John said, even now, this
is in his day, 2000 years ago, even now there are many antichrists. So antichrist is spirit. It is any spirit and all spirits
that are contrary to God's spirit, which happened to be all of the
spirits that there are. You say, I hope my spirit's not
contrary to God's spirit. Only because God's spirit lives
in you, is that so? The unregenerate are without
defense. They're without direction. They're without hope. They're
like a dead man floating downstream. There's nothing in there to resist
the flow. It takes life. It takes God,
it takes God living in us, the Spirit of God, to be able to
swim upstream or paddle upstream, to resist, to go against the
natural flow. So this war is between God and
Satan, Christ and Antichrist. In the Garden of Eden, Eve, you
remember, was but a pawn, that's all she was. The conflict was
Satan against God. Back in Egypt, Pharaoh's heart
toward the Israelites. It wasn't just him, it was Satan
against God. King Saul's envy and jealousy
and hatred of David was really Satan against God. King Ahab's hatred of Elijah,
God's prophet, was really Satan against God. See, that's what
this is about. It's not about humanity per se. It's a war in the spirit world.
The book of Esther, Haman's hatred of Mordecai and the Jews was
really Satan's hatred of God. Babylon and the image of Nebuchadnezzar
there in the book of Daniel, that all must bow to this image,
it was Satan against God. And in the time of Christ, the
Roman Empire, and the cruel monarchs, emperors demanded allegiance, and some
even demanded worship. It was Satan against God. That's what it's about. And in those days, the time of
Christ, the Jews, in their hatred of Christ, demanding that he
be crucified, remember they said to Pilate, We have no king but
Caesar. They were deceived. Satan was
their king. It's always been a spiritual
war. And so it is today and shall be tomorrow. Not only on the
large scale, but on a personal scale. Everybody you meet, Everything
that happens, we'll just take one day, but it's every day.
We'll just take tomorrow. Everybody you meet, everybody
you speak to, everybody that speaks to you, everything you
see, everything you hear, everything you think, everything that happens
to you, whether we'd call good or bad, is involved in this spirit
war. It is Satan, in all his efforts,
trying to turn you against God. Not to believe God, not to trust
God, not to honor God. It is only those with the Spirit
of God living in us that can possibly overcome Satan's attacks. I want us to turn to Revelation chapter 2. Revelation
chapter 2. And I'll say something now that
some of you have not heard me say. The book of Revelation is
given as a love letter of truth to the church. It is not a horoscope of the
future to all humanity. Let me just say that again. The
book of revelation is given as a love letter of truth to the
church. It is not a horoscope of the
future to all humanity. Now in its initial setting, Most
of you know this, John the writer is exiled on the Isle of Patmos.
He tells us in chapter one in verse nine that he's not there
for any crime that he's committed. He hadn't shot a bank, shot anybody
or robbed a bank or anything. But he's there for one reason,
for his preaching Christ and his testimony concerning Jesus
Christ. And he writes this initially
to seven churches and addresses it to seven local churches in
the region of Asia Minor, sending to each of them a message recorded
here in chapters two and three. First to Ephesus, then the church
at Smyrna, then the church at Pergamos, then the church at
Thyatira, then the church at Sardis, then the church at Philadelphia,
then the church at Laodicea. Seven churches. But now these
these seven, seven. Many teach nowadays that these
seven project the condition of Christ's
church in seven periods of history, from the time of Christ to the
end. In other words, they make that
first one, Ephesus, and the condition then, the time of the apostles
and shortly thereafter. And then on through the seven
in the last 2,000 years of history. And they say that Laodicea being
the seventh is what it's going to be like in the end. before
Christ comes. Well, we don't read that idea,
that ideology anywhere in the scripture, but they move with
this downward trend. No, these seven churches, seven
is a symbolic number in the revelation. These seven churches represent
all God's church in every generation worldwide. And these descriptions
of these seven are present in God's church in every generation. There are those like Ephesus,
those like Laodicea, there's some of all in God's church. That's the picture and that's
the message. Now, not only to those seven,
But by divine inspiration, it's to all of us, to all the true
Church of God in all the world and all generations. John writes,
knowing their suffering, as he himself is a partaker of it.
And he's exiled on the Isle of Patmos. He knows something about
the cruelty and the abuse against the Church. He also knows the
reality of discouragement the pressure put on these saints
to give up, to renounce Christ and to disfloat downstream with
the unbelieving world. It's not at all different from
our day and time. Satan is careful to point out
and he is careful to press on our minds individually Constantly
the seeming hopelessness of the situation you're in. He would convince you that you
have it worse than anybody else in the world. And of course, to use to use
silly worldly terms, he would convince you that you're the
most unlucky person and everybody else is the most lucky person.
See? It's his business to make your
case look like the worst case on earth. It's his business to make your
case look like the worst case on earth to you. And it's his
business to make my case look like the worst case on earth
To me. See, it's one on one. He comes at us. It's his business to tell you
what a fool you are to even claim to believe God. I mean, after
all, you failed so much. God has nothing for you. That's the devil's business.
But John writes here, instructed by the Lord, and he addresses
the discouragement and the defeat among God's people. So the message
is as relevant for our time as it was for his time and has been
relevant in every generation. See, this is the beauty of God's
word. It's always relevant. So I just want to comment on
a few things about, let me just limit it to three things this
morning in these messages to these seven churches, which I
trust will benefit us today on a personal level. Number one,
Christ is the captain of our salvation. We are not part of
an army without a leader. Oh no. We are not part of a team
without a captain. I don't think we dwell on this
enough. Christ, the sinless, sovereign, powerful Son of God,
is the captain of our salvation. Hebrews 2 and 10 says, For it
became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect. through suffering. He came and
suffered. He's our captain. Now in the
message to the church at Ephesus, chapter 2 in verse 1, we're going
to look at a little bit of this. Christ says to John, unto the
angel of the church of Ephesus write, these things saith he, Christ is fixing to identify
himself now. These things saith he that holdeth
the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst
of the seven golden candlesticks. These are symbolic terms. In
the previous verse, chapter one, verse 20, the seven stars are
the angels or messengers or ministers or pastors of the seven churches. And Christ says, I have them
in my right hand. And then he said, the candlesticks
are the churches. So Christ, the captain of our
salvation, says, I've got my preachers in my right hand. Now, not all preachers are God's
preachers. And it don't take long for a
child of God to discover if a man is building his own kingdom,
paddling his own boat, or whether he is promoting the kingdom and
the name and for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
said, I have mine in my right hand and I'm walking in the midst
of my church. Oh, not the religious world.
Oh, no, they wouldn't have room for him anyhow. They don't even
need him. They've got so much going on. They don't even need a preacher.
They don't even need a Bible. Got it going on. Got it going
on. But Christ said, I've got my
preachers in my right hand. And John, here's one of them.
He's going through the suffering. So Christ, the captain of our
salvation, He promises His presence. I'm walking in the midst of the
church. You say, well, what if nobody's swinging from a raptor's?
What of it? What if nobody's jumping benches?
What of it? To the church at Smyrna, the
captain of our salvation says this, identifying himself Chapter
2 and verse 8. These things saith the first
and the last which was dead and is alive. So he's present with
us and he has conquered death. He has died and risen again. Talking about the captain of
our salvation. He says to the church at Pergamos,
In chapter two and verse 13, he identifies himself as he which
hath a sharp. Sword. Verse 12. As a sharp sword with two edges. Emphasizing the authority of
his word. and the ability of His Word to
cut, coming and going. It's a two-edged sword, it cuts
either way. Hebrews 4.12, the Word of God
is quick, which means alive. Not just talking about the Bible,
but talking about the living Word of God. It's quick, it's
alive. And powerful, sharper than any
two-edged sword. piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and
as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. He's
present with us. He's powerful in resurrection,
and His Word is strong, powerful. In writing to the fourth church
at Thyatira, chapter 2 in verse 18, The captain of our salvation
identifies himself as the son of God who hath eyes like unto
a flame of fire. He sees all and he knows all. And his feet are like fine brass. Brass speaks of judgment. Christ
is saying, my feet have already walked through the fire of God's
judgment for the sins of my people. To the church at Sardis chapter
three and verse one, this captain of our salvation is he that hath
the seven spirits of God. Now again, the number seven is
symbolic. There's not seven Holy spirits. There is the, the Holy spirit,
father, son, Holy ghost, Holy spirit. But the symbolic seven,
meaning the totality, this is really saying what John 3, 34
says, that the spirit was given to Christ without measure. In other words, he is given Matthew
28, 18, all power in heaven and in earth. Does all things in the spirit
by the spirit. to Philadelphia, chapter 3, verse
7, the church in Philadelphia. Christ, this captain of our salvation,
is identified as he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath
the key of David, or rather he that is David's hope, he that
openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth. This is the captain of our salvation. We can afford to trust him. Dark as the picture may appear
in this world, dark as it may appear sometimes in your own
life. And then to the church at Laodicea
chapter three in verse 14, this captain of our salvation, he
is identified here as the amen, the faithful and true witness.
the beginning of the creation of God. Now the Jehovah's Witnesses
use that statement to say that Jesus was created, but not so. What is meant is
that Christ was from the beginning the reason and purpose of creation. He was not created as a being
less than God. That's what they say. Colossians
1.15 says he's the image of the invisible God. He's Immanuel,
God in flesh, God with us. He's the firstborn of every creature.
Remember when God said back in the beginning, let us make man
in our image. What image was there? God is
a spirit. He said in the book of John chapter
one, no man has seen God at any time. God is a spirit. But then
he said, the only begotten son, which is in the bosom of the
father, he hath revealed him. When God said back there in Genesis,
let us make man in our image. What image was he talking about?
The image of his son, the man Christ Jesus. It's not that Christ
was born into this world like any other little young'un and
grew up to be like Adam or some other. Oh, no, no, no. From the
beginning, Adam was created in the image of God, the God-man,
Christ Himself. He is our hope. He is our help.
He's the captain of our salvation. Now just remember that, remember
that in this spiritual war you're part of every day, we have a
captain. We have a captain and the captain
is always on board your ship that you think might be sinking
or that you're convinced for sure is sinking, but it can't
sink with the captain on board. Second thought, the counselor. to the saints. Christ is a wise
and worthy counselor. We've got so much to listen to
in this world. Radio, TV, newspaper, computer, not to mention one-on-one word
of mouth. And everybody has an opinion
But they don't call it just an opinion. They call it an authority. Now,
I know all about that. I can tell you exactly what you
ought to do. I'm like the fellow said, I don't
have to run my business. My neighbors do a good job of
it. You can always hear how you ought
to do everything, but in Christ, Not only is he the captain of
our salvation, but he's the counselor of his saints. He said to all seven of these
churches. Now, when you read chapters two
and three of revelation, he said to all seven of these, these
four words, I know thy works. I know thy works. Anybody in this world that tries
to tell you what you ought to do about such and such in your
life, even if it's your best friend, they cannot say, I know
all about you, exactly where you're at and how it is. But
our counselor can say it. I know thy works. I've been there. I've walked that way. Y'all remember
the silly little saying a few years ago, it kind of got scattered
around in this church for a while. What would Jesus do? Huh? WWJD. Well, wait a minute. What's wrong with what Jesus
did do? He said that he was tempted,
tried, tested. in all points like as we are,
yet without sin. Read the book. It's not what
would Jesus do, it's what did He do. He's our counselor. He knows
the good about us, He knows the bad about us. He knows the motive
of our heart, whether it's for His glory or whether it's just
religious hypocrisy. He knows every assault on our
spirit. He knows every heartache, every
pain. And He gives good counsel. He gives
good counsel. He charged some at Ephesus with
having left their first love. Chapter 2, verse 4. Nevertheless,
I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left Thy first
love, not lost it, but left it. Christ is our first love. We
don't lose Him. We leave Him. And He counsels them here to
remember, repent, and return. Or else I will remove the candlestick. Remember chapter 1 verse 20,
the candlesticks are the churches. I'll shut the doors. If you don't
remember where I brought you from, if you don't remember back
how your heart was and the love and the warmth and the devotion
and the love for me, when I first came into your heart, remember
Then repent. Repent of the foolish path you've
taken to decide I can do all right without God. And return to me, your Redeemer.
He counseled Smyrna, chapter 2, in verse 10, to fear none
of those things which thou shalt suffer. Just remembering this
life is temporary. live and die fully committed
to the glory of Christ. He counseled Pergamos chapter
2 verse 14 about the doctrine of Balaam setting a stumbling
block before God's people. No man lives to himself or dies
to himself. You affect other people. Consider that in living. He counseled
Thyatira chapter 2 verse 20 for allowing that woman Jezebel That is the spirit of Jezebel,
the old wicked wife of King Ahab, who in the Old Testament had
the prophet Elijah fleeing for his life. He said to Thyatira,
you allow that witch, or if you want to replace the W with a
B, in your midst. to fight against the prophet
of God, to curse, threaten. He counsels Sardis, chapter 3,
verse 2, to be watchful and strengthen the things that remain. Oh yes,
the devil has had some good days, not just in this world, but in
your life and in my life. The devil has had some good days. He's had some good days in this
war, but he can't win this war. Remember, verse 3, what you've
received and heard and repent and watch. He counseled Philadelphia,
chapter 3, verse 9, about false believers and promises. And verse 10, I will keep thee
from the hour of temptation. which shall come upon all the
world to try them that dwell on the earth. He counseled Laodicea
chapter 3, 15 and 16 concerning their lukewarmness and verse
17 concerning their self-sufficient attitude. They said, we're rich
and increased with goods. We have need of nothing. We're
fixed. And they meant that thing. We have need of nothing. We don't
need God. That's the spirit. of this world. It's the spirit of a whole lot
of religion. We've got our own thing going.
He counseled them in verse 18 concerning their wickedness and
shame. He's the counselor of the saints.
Remember the title Isaiah gave by divine inspiration 700 years
before Christ was born. His name shall be called wonderful
counselor. He's the counselor of his saints. And then a third thought and
I'm through the certainty of our security. Back to the words
of Paul in our text in Ephesians. We don't know much about these
principalities and powers. rulers of darkness and spiritual
wickedness, which means wickedness in the realm of the spirit world.
We feel the pain, the hurt, the rejection, the fear, but we don't
know much about how to avoid any of it. Satan is a deceiver. We know he's a liar. But he's
such a deceiver till it's easy to believe his lies. And all
men do believe them unless the spirit of God delivers, opens our eyes, frees us from
satanic deception. And I'm so thankful. that the
Lord has done that in my heart. You say, are you never deceived
about anything? I catch myself almost daily having been deceived
about something. Well, I didn't think it was like
that. Well, I never understood it to be like that. But you see,
just imagine what it would be without the Spirit of God, without
the knowledge of God, without the scriptures. Paul says this war is not physical.
We wrestle not with flesh and blood. Our own fighting and bleeding,
our own blood cannot turn the tide in our personal lives and our personal
warfare. But you see, the precious blood
of our captain has turned it around. And this is our security. As
long as you look at yourself, what you've done, how you feel,
how you failed, how seeming fruitless your life is, as long as you
look in that direction, the devil will beat you down and kick you
while you're down. But if you look to Christ, look
to the captain, our savior, our surety, the power
in his blood, it's certain security. What is your biggest problem?
It's sin. Well, what does revelation one
five say? unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sin
in His own blood. That's taken care of. But what
about forgiveness? Ephesians 1.7, in whom we have
redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His
grace. He can afford it. It's the devil's
business to tell you your sins are not forgiven. It's his business
to tell you God don't love you because of all the negative,
all the bad things that happen to you in life. What do you reckon
he told John on the Isle of Patmos? Oh boy, if God cared anything
about you, you wouldn't be here. Don't you guess he told him that?
I'm sure he did because he's told you that and he's told me
that a million times. But that's the very reason John
was there. Oh, it wasn't the devil doing it to him. It wasn't,
it wasn't the religious world doing to him. It wasn't Rome
doing it to him. It was God that had him there. And it's God that's got you where
you are. So Paul says, be strong in the
Lord, in the power of his might. Having done all to stand, stand
therefore. Don't even think about giving
up. Many, many were the martyrs in John's time. And what he's
saying to these saints is, whether they cut your head off or not,
make sure you live and die clinging to Christ. Certain security. Revelation
12, 11, and they overcame him. That is the devil. How? By the blood of the Lamb. And by the word of their testimony.
And they love not their lives unto the death. You're not talking
about people out here, bless God, I know how to tell the devil
where to get off. You know? He sometimes wins according to
looking at it in the fleshly realm. People do die. We're all
going to die somehow. And it's God's purpose when and
how. The key is love not your life
unto the death. All the horrible things that
befall men, sickness, disease, cancer, heart attacks, car wrecks, all leave this world. But most of all, most important
of all, while we're living in these bodies, in this world,
we're not exempt from this war. We're in it. The war of the spirits. But there is security, there
is certain security. And we read in the book of Hebrews
that we are not of them which draw back to perdition, but we
are of them which believe to the saving of the soul. To all these seven churches,
we find this line. And you can look for this when
you read it, chapters two and three. To all seven of them,
he said, he that overcome it, or to him that overcome it. All
seven of them, including Laodicea. The church survives in her own
strength. No, but in the strength of her
captain. We are more than conquerors through
him that loved us. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. In the strength of our
captain who shed his blood, who conquered death and hell, who
took the keys from the devil and rose again. So yes, there
is a war going on and you are in it. When something goes haywire
at your house? When one of your kids does something
stupid and it about worries you to death? You say, oh, that's
not got nothing to do with religion. It has everything to do with
religion. This is a spiritual war. This is a spiritual war. And anything Satan or his demons
can do to you or anybody that you love or care about, it affects
you. But we have a captain. We have
a captain. Sometimes we get so disturbed,
so the devil hits us so hard, and we just feel like there's
nothing we can do. We're passive in it. And Satan just leads us around
with his little finger, it looks like. But you see actively, actively
as God's child, there's something in your heart. There's a new
creation. There's the spirit of God. There
is a determination in your mind to oppose evil, to honor God,
to glorify God, come what may in this life. And that's the
blessed thing. And to be a follower of Christ.
is to be on the winning side. He's the captain of our salvation. He's the counselor of his saints,
and he is the certainty of our security forever. Bless his holy name. Stand with
me.