This tape contains the fourth of six teachings in the series entitled The Counterfeit Kingdom, presented by the Reverend John W. Howe, Rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia. The title of this teaching is Spiritual Warfare. In the beginning part of this teaching, Mr. Howe makes a reference to a lady named Karen, who is his wife. The subject tonight is spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare. And a lady came up to me after the last lecture two weeks ago, and she said, what in the world more can you say than you already said?

And I said, Karen. you'll just have to come and find out there is a key passage on the subject the classic passage on the subject everybody who ever spoke on the matter everybody who ever wrote on the matter turns to Ephesians chapter 6 verses 10 to 20. And that's what I want primarily to deal with tonight.

I'd like to take a couple of minutes just to put that into its context before we come to those verses in particular. The book of Ephesians very clearly breaks into two parts, which is fairly typical of the way that Paul writes most of his epistles. the first half kind of lays out the doctrine on a sort of a high lofty plane and then the second half gets down to nitty gritty and if you look at the book of Ephesians it could very well have ended at the end of chapter 3 look at the way chapter 3 ends verse 20 tremendous doxology of praise to God for the power at work not only out there in the universe but in us verse 20 now to him who by the power at work within us within us is able to do far more abundantly than we can ask or even imagine to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

Amen. What a wonderful ending. To Him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than we can ask or even imagine to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

But it's as if Paul then takes a deep breath and says, now let me tell you how that works out in practical details. If you have the RSV, there's a big break there. That's typical of Paul.

He says, now here's how it works out. And very quickly, the first area that works out is within relationships within the church. The whole next section, chapter 4, 1 to 16.

Is this power at work within us manifest itself in the church in the sense that every single one of us is called to his or her particular role and ministry? And we're going to make progress, he says, when each and every part is working properly. Verse 16, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, then it makes bodily growth and it builds itself in love.

So the power at work within us, first of all, is within the church, in proper relationships within the church. and then he goes on to say you must no longer live as you once did when you were Gentiles when you were alienated from God and a tremendous call to repentance and the forsaking of sin the whole major section here from verse 17 on into chapter 5 verse 14 you must be ruthless with sin that's how the power at work within us manifests itself in ruthlessness with sin. We talked about that last time, didn't we?

Really in the time before that. And then it took me a long time to see what was going on in the rest of the book. I don't know how many times I must have preached on it before I saw what it really was about.

What the rest of the book really is dealing with is priorities in the Christian life. And he talks first of all about our relationship with the Lord himself, verses 15 to 20 in chapter 5. Get your relationship with the Lord himself in order.

That's your first priority. Secondly, your relationship with your spouse if you're married. Verse 21 to the end of the chapter.

Thirdly, your relationship with your kids if you have kids. Your relationship with your parents. I trust you all have parents.

And fourthly, your relationship with your employer or employee. The first paragraph, second paragraph of chapter 6, verse 5 through 9. Those are the priorities of the Christian life.

The Lord first, spouse second, kids third, job fourth. It took me a long time to see that. The power at work within us, which will do infinitely more than we can ask or even imagine, is manifested, first of all, in right relationships within the church, secondly, in terms of ruthlessness with sin, and thirdly, in terms of getting our priorities in order.

Do you follow what I'm saying? Lord first, spouse second, children third, job fourth, And then he comes to the passage in question. The whole armor of God.

I just wanted to put that in context. Because I don't think it would be too extreme to suggest to you that while we look at this matter of the whole armor of God, I could put it this way, that the outermost armor, the outermost armor, the outermost protection in the spiritual battles that each and every one of us are called to fight is having our relationships in order, having our priorities in order, having our relationship with the Lord and with our family and with our job rightly in order. That's the outermost armor.

That's the context within which this passage comes. Verse 10. chapter 6 verse 10 finally be strong in the lord and in the strength 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 are not contending against flesh and blood but against the principalities against the powers against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore take 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 loins with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace. Besides all these, taking the shield of faith with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Pray at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints and also for me, that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. That's the key passage on the subject of spiritual warfare.

I'd like to make five main points about this. the first is that the call to battle is not optional it is not optional it is not just for a few great Christians who enjoy that sort of thing we have an enemy who wants to do us in I remind you of 1 Peter 5.8 we looked at it I think on the first evening be sober, be watchful your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour doesn't matter a whole lot who seeking whomever he can we have an adversary We have an enemy. He is seeking to eat you alive.

And I submit to you that the more closely we follow Christ, the more likely we are to come under the same kinds of trial and temptation, the more likely we are to face the same attack he faced. It's really amazing. so many Christians are like the guy who goes out for the first down in the football game and he comes back and he's bewildered he says coach there are 11 guys trying to kill me that's right that's what the game is all about you know 11 guys are out there trying to kill you we have an adversary we really do and he's seeking someone to devour second point is that there's no question there's going to be a battle the only question is will we be prepared for it there is no question there will be a battle the only question is will we be prepared for it most of us aren't at least not for the real thing not for the real battle thirdly we are commanded to get prepared for that battle.

And specifically to put on battle equipment which God has provided. The imagery here is modeled after the kind of regalia that the Roman soldier would wear in Paul's own day in the first century. It might be different today.

There would be a slightly different description. But the imagery is that of clothing the whole body with the appropriate armor to withstand the kind of attack which will inevitably come. And that's a command.

That's a command. There will be a battle. Are you going to be ready?

The only way you can be ready is by using the equipment that God has provided. Why? In order to withstand the wiles.

It's a great word. The wiles. The trickery.

The beguiling allure. The strategium. The enticement.

The seduction of the devil. The tomfoolery. The insanity of the evil one.

If you don't put on the armor, you won't withstand the wiles. why is that? because the real battle he says is not against flesh and blood but against the principalities, powers, world rulers of this present darkness I commented last time that the way we usually read that verse is we wrestle not only against flesh and blood but also against powers and principalities and that is not what he says he does not say we wrestle not only against flesh and blood he says we wrestle not against flesh and blood that's not the level of the battle we wrestle against principalities, powers, world rulers of darkness we wrestle against the hosts of wickedness and many Christians don't even believe that they don't believe that my battle is in the flesh Paul says no your battle is in the spirit you have spiritual enemies hordes of wickedness coming against you and God has provided armor that you may withstand but if you don't put it on don't be surprised at what happens you're going to be in deep trouble spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places by the way this is just an aside but by the way note that the residence of Satan, the base of operations, is not hell.

Not yet. Hell has been prepared for him. But the base of operations is the heavenlies.

He's the prince of the power of the air. He's the prince of this world. Okay?

And you and I, according to this passage, are called to be a kind of a fifth column. Infiltrators. We're to go on to his territory and capture a hunk of it in anticipation of the mighty invasion that is coming.

It is coming. And we're called to be a fifth column going on to satanic enemy territory and capturing a piece of it in anticipation for the victorious invasion that's coming. The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.

Hallelujah. But we're called to be engaged in spiritual warfare in anticipation of that fact becoming fully realized. Now I used to think, in fact until fairly recently I used to think, that the imagery used here of this spiritual armor was, it was colorful obviously, It was symbolic, obviously, but I used to think it was quite arbitrary.

Why righteousness just over the chest? We want righteousness everywhere. Why salvation just in one place?

We want salvation everywhere. Peace everywhere. We want all of it everywhere.

I thought it was just arbitrary. And I've come to the conviction that it is not at all arbitrary. The more I've meditated on this passage, the more I've come to see a profound detailing of how the battle is waged.

And how the Lord would equip us to face the inevitable assault. It's interesting. The Spirit of God inspired Paul to list the various pieces of armor in a specific order.

And he didn't go top to bottom. He didn't go bottom to top. He jumped around.

Was God's Spirit inspiring him? I think so. I think there's a key here, if you have eyes to see it, to understanding the nature of Satan's attack.

And if you understand that, then you'll be forewarned. The nature of God's equipment to stand up against it. first thing that Paul mentions is the girdle of truth the girdle of truth stand therefore having girded your loins with truth Roman soldier in Paul's day wore various pieces of equipment all over his body to protect virtually every aspect of his being the problem was that they were anything but form-fitting and they flopped when he walked if he tried to run they became a downright hindrance to him getting in the way he'd trip all over this equipment all over his body and so about 1800 years before the Playtex company ever came along the Roman army invented the girdle and the girdle was worn at the center of the body with straps going out in all directions to pull all these other pieces of equipment together.

That was the purpose of it. And you and I have lots of different pieces of equipment. We have minds, bodies, emotions, wills, in addition to all the other specific pieces of armor that are about to be mentioned.

We have all kinds of equipment. The question is, what pulls it all together? And Paul says, truth at the very center of your being.

Truth at the very center of your being. will hold it all together. Now I submit to you that if that is the first piece of our equipment, then you can bet that Satan's first line of attack will be in the area of falsehood.

Do you follow that? If that's the first piece of equipment, it's because the first line of attack is falsehood, or, in a word, deception. Let's put that up here.

What is spiritual warfare about? The first line of attack in spiritual warfare is deception. You want some evidence?

Has God said, you shall not eat, has God said? That's not true. If you are the Son of God, now, God said you are his Son, but is that really true?

The first line of attack is deception. If Satan can get us on the level of deception, he's got us. But if there's truth at the center of our being, then we stand against his first line of attack.

what's at the center of your being? God's word? God's verdict on the subject?

Let me define deception. Deception is declaring something good that God said is bad. Declaring false what God says is true.

Substituting a lie for reality. If Satan can get you to question what God has said, You're in deep trouble. What's your line of defense against that line of attack?

Truth at the center of your being. You begin to toy with the thought that there's room in your life for something that God has forbidden. There's a way to make right what He's declared wrong.

You can avoid obeying what He has commanded. You fall for that. You've had it.

what's going to hold it all together? Truth at the center of your being. Mind you, Jesus said, I am the truth.

Jesus at the center of your being. That's the first piece of equipment. Secondly, the breastplate of righteousness.

The purpose of the breastplate was to protect the heart. from arrows, from spears, from shot thrown by a sling, from darts. Our hearts will be wounded, perhaps mortally, if they're not protected by righteousness.

And Satan's attack moves swiftly from deception to temptation. Has God said? Come on.

Try it. Try it. You'll like it.

Has God said you shall not eat? That's not true. That fruit is good for food.

It's a delight to the eyes. It's desired to make one wise. Deception moves to temptation.

If you are the Son of God, come on, change that stone into bread. Temptation. He wants us to sin.

That's what he wants us to do. He wants us to sin. Hebrews 11.25 speaks of Moses choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

Isn't that a great statement? Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. See, sin does have its pleasure.

but it's only for a season and then comes its snare its bondage and the end is death sin is law breaking sin is indulging in thoughts words actions attitudes even feelings that are outside of God's will for us and the protection against that is that we flee from sin like Joseph fled from Potiphar's wife. You remember the story? She tried to entice him into an adulterous situation.

He didn't wait until he was in the midst of it to flee. He fled. He didn't make up his decision at that point.

He fled. And he chose rather to suffer the afflictions that came as a consequence than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. He got clapped into jail for the next several years.

Had no confidence that he'd ever get out. But he made his decision on the basis of righteousness. I'd like to just suggest to you that righteousness is more than a matter of keeping a list of do's and don'ts.

Though it may begin there. Righteousness is a matter of putting on the character of Christ. And we need to look out for pride and arrogance and thinking that we can do this in our own strength.

righteousness is Jesus Christ there's a warning in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 12 let him who thinks he stands what? take heed lest he falls and it's interesting that that's immediately before the verse that we quoted last time about there being no temptation that has overtaken you but such as is common to man and God is faithful and has provided a way of escape. But let him who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall.

Because if you think you can handle this thing in your own strength, you may miss the way of escape that God has given. The way to escape is putting on the character of Christ, not thinking I can handle it in my own strength. I put on Christ's strength, the breastplate of righteousness, and I stand against temptation.

and then he says thirdly having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace that's a strange one to come next he doesn't go up to the helmet he goes down to the feet and the usual interpretation is that we're to stride forth into the world declaring the gospel you know we march on our feet we go out into the world to declare the gospel of peace I don't think that's what he's saying at all we are to go out into the world declaring the gospel but that's not what it says here what it says verse 14 is stand stand firm in the midst of a demonic attack of delusion and temptation stand on the good news of peace take your stand verse 13 therefore take the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. It's not a matter of going forth. It's a matter of standing fast.

Where? In peace. In the good news of peace.

I submit to you that the third line of Satan's attack will be to come against your peace. He'll make you nervous. Anxious.

sleepless agitated emotionally overloaded as you try to justify to yourself what you know is outside of God's will for you and you begin hiding sneaking around, lying covering up, offering rationalizations you become increasingly confused and you lose your peace. First line of attack, delusion. Second line of attack, temptation.

Third line of attack is to destroy your peace. But, the peace of God will keep you if you stand on it. We end every single Eucharist The peace of God which passes all understanding.

Keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. It will keep you if you stand on it. When you lose your peace, you become literally dis-eased.

Hmm, you like that? And that's why disease must always be seen as an attack of the evil one. Dis-ease.

But here's some good news. That's also why we rob him of the victory when we refuse in the midst of infirmity to become dis-eased. Anybody say amen to that?

You follow what I'm saying? Besides all this, take the shield of faith with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. The flaming or the fiery darts.

These are the most deadly of the ancient weapons. They're just little darts. Sometimes they were thrown.

Sometimes they were blown through almost like a pea shooter, a large pea shooter. Little darts, what made them fiery was they were tipped with poison. And so you see, all that was required is the smallest chink in your armor.

Just one little crack to get through. Wherever they could get through, just a slight scratch could be mortal. and so in addition to whatever else he had covering him the Roman soldier carried a huge rectangular shield it was almost like a door and the point was that if he crouched down behind it nothing could get through so long as he crouched down and let the shield cover his whole body then it didn't matter what flaming darts were fired at him they couldn't get through the problem would be that if any part of his body was kind of exposed outside the shield see he might be in deep trouble Paul says that faith is our shield when the enemy really steps up his demonic attack it becomes a matter of life and death you weren't looking for problems you weren't seeking illegitimate relationships you were just minding your own business and all of a sudden these flaming darts come at you look out they can kill you what are you going to do about it The problem is that so much of our teaching today makes faith sound as if it were something quantitative.

If you only have enough faith. If you just had enough faith, you could receive your healing. If you just had enough faith, you could believe God for prosperity.

If you just had enough faith, you could move this mountain into the sea. Have you ever heard that? That's not what Jesus says.

he says if you had the faith of a single grain of mustard seed you could move the mountain into the sea it's not how much faith you have it's not quantitative it's whether you shrink down small enough to hide behind it faith isn't something we work up friends faith is trusting God when we give up not what we work up it's when we give up it's a matter of stopping thinking we're going to handle it ourselves and hiding behind Jesus hiding all of ourselves behind Jesus scrunch down, get everything covered no exposed parts and he says take the helmet of salvation obviously to protect the head more specifically to protect the mind you know that nearly everything we do or become takes place in our mind and the mind is really the ultimate battlefield Look at 2 Corinthians 10 for a second. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3 to 6. For though we live in the world, we are not carrying on a worldly war.

For the weapons of our warfare are not worldly. but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete.

How do we protect our minds from thinking wrongly? By examining everything from inside the perspective of salvation. Can I say that again?

How do we protect our minds from thinking wrongly? By examining everything from inside the perspective of salvation. Romans 12 verses 1 and 2 says, Do not let the world squeeze you into its mold.

That's J.B. Phillips' translation. Don't be conformed to this world, is RSV.

Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. How? By presenting your body as a living sacrifice.

If you let your body dictate to your mind, you're going to be conformed to the world. if you let your body dictate to your mind you're going to be conformed to the world if you turn it the other way around you're going to be transformed you let your mind be conformed to the things of Christ and let it dictate to your body and you stand against the attack of the evil one on your mind so here are the devil's weapons of spiritual warfare. Delusion.

Temptation. Loss of peace. Fiery darts aimed at any part of your life not hidden behind Christ.

And confusion. Confusion of mind by our failure to think Christianly. And every single one of us is called to this battle.

It is inescapable. We are called to spiritual warfare, and God has equipped us to be victorious in the midst of it, but only if we use his weapons, his armor. For each of his attacks, God has provided spiritual armor that will fully protect us.

And then Paul says one thing more. One thing more. Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

What's important about that is that the sword is both a defensive and an offensive weapon. It's not only. All the others are defensive.

All the others are to protect ourselves. But the sword is not only to protect, but it's to be on the offensive. It's a matter of being on the attack.

It shouldn't be that Christians are sitting around worrying about where Satan is going to attack next. Satan needs to be worrying about where we're going to attack next. In the very first mention of the church in the New Testament, the very first time it's ever mentioned, here's what Jesus says.

He says, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail. against it. I think the way that most people interpret that in their minds is that the church is some great fortress and all of the satanic attack against it is not going to be successful.

That's not what Jesus said. He said that hell is the fortress and we're the ones who are attacking but it is not going to stand. we're going to batter down those gates and go in and capture some of the territory.

We cast down every high thing against the knowledge of God. So that leads me to this conclusion that the place we're going to lose it every time is in our failure to know the word of God. Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

That's the most important tool, most important piece of battle equipment. Whenever you fail to know the Word of God, you've got no offense, you've got no real defense. Hosea says, My people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Every time that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, he met the temptation with the word of God. I've commented on this lots of times, but just in case you haven't heard it, people always say Jesus quoted scripture to the devil. That's not what he did.

What he did was he quoted scripture to himself in the hearing of the devil. I, as an obedient man under the authority of God, am not to live by bread alone. He quoted scripture to himself.

I'm not going to succumb to that temptation because I'm under the authority of the word of God and I'm not to live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. No, Satan, I'm not going to bow down and worship you because I, as an obedient man, am to worship God and him alone. No, I'm not going to cast myself off the pinnacle of the temple because it is written, I am not to put my God to the test.

Jesus parried every single temptation with the word of God and was utterly victorious. And it says, when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit being glorified by all.

because he knew what his armor was. He knew what the battle was. He knew how to be clothed in all of the equipment that God had for him to be victorious.

And he knew especially how to use the word of God. And Paul concludes the passage by saying, pray at all times in the spirit and Satan cannot possibly win. He's going to break off the attack and run for cover.

that's spiritual warfare we have an enemy do you believe it? we have lots of enemies under the enemy we're engaged in spiritual warfare he is going to send his attack upon us it begins with delusion with causing us to question at some level of our being. Has God said?

Is it really true? And delusion moves into temptation. Sin looks attractive.

And as we wrestle with that, we begin to lose our peace. And if there's any part of our being that isn't hidden behind the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, we're subject to the fiery darts of the evil one. If our minds are not protected by thinking from within the perspective of salvation, we're going to end up in confusion and perhaps destruction.

But God has given us the supreme tool, the supreme piece of battle equipment, his own word, not just to defend ourselves, to go out and whomp the enemy. Jesus is a driving out Satan from everywhere under the sun. And he's given us the privilege and the power and the authority of praying in the Spirit.

And when we do that, Satan's got to get up and run. So let's bow our heads together. Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for equipping us so perfectly.

For seeing a battle that we didn't even anticipate. And providing us with every piece of spiritual armor to share your victory in the midst of that battle. Lord, we would clothe ourselves with your armor.

We would be on guard, knowing that we have enemies who would seek to destroy us. And we claim your victory over them. And we ask you to cause us to be more vigilant in whatsoever outpost you have assigned us for your own namesake.

Amen.