Supernatural Warfare – part four
I
often listen to a pastor out of Cleveland, Ohio, Alistair Begg. Some time ago, he preached a message to his congregation
around the theme with which we are dealing with here, that being Spiritual
Warfare. During his message he referred to a song written by John Lennon of the
Beatles.
In
the 1960s, John Lennon, Ringo Star, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison were
enjoying the limelight of near-worldwide fame. On February 9, 1964, the group made
their American debut to a record breaking 73 million viewers on the Ed Sullivan
show. A year later, in 1965, Lennon wrote these lyrics of one of the Beatle’s
more popular songs:
Help! I need somebody, Help! Not
just anybody, Help! You know I need someone. Help!
When I was younger, so much younger than today, I never needed anybody's help
in any way. But now these days are gone and I'm not so self-assured. Now I find
I've changed my mind, I've opened up the doors
Help me if you can, I'm feeling down. And I do appreciate you being 'round
Help me get my feet back on the ground. Won't you please, please help me?
Fifteen years late, some
time around 1980 and shortly before Lennon’s assassination, Rolling Stone
Magazine interviewed Lennon. When asked about the background of that song,
Lennon told the interviewer the lyrics tell the story of what he was going
through at the time. The famous Beatle, whose name was instantly recognizable
in nearly every corner of the globe said this about the song:
“It’s just me singing
[for] ‘Help!’ and I meant it… . When
‘Help!’ came out, I was crying out for help. Most people think it’s just a fast
rock’n’roll song. I didn’t realize it at the time . . . But later, I knew I really was crying out for
help.”
For
the past three weeks we have been looking at a text in Ephesians chapter six
related to supernatural warfare. Let’s listen to it again to remind ourselves
of the context for today’s message:
Put on the full armor of God, so that you will
be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For
our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against
the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual
forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore,
take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil
day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore,
having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of
righteousness, and having shod your feet with the
preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking
up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the
flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all
prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be
on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints . . . . (Eph 6:11-18)
We have already looked at the evidence of the growing
and encroaching supernatural evil all around us. Then we examined the ‘belt of
truth’ with which we are to gird our loins, and the breastplate of
righteousness, and the shield of faith with which we can extinguish the flaming
arrows of the supernatural enemy.
Today’s message centers
on our footwear in verse 15. I like the way the translators of the Christian
Standard Bible render this section from the Greek. Verse 14: “Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist,
righteousness like armor on your chest, [and now
verse 15]: 15 and your feet sandaled with
readiness for the gospel of peace.”
The Scriptures speak of
many different types of peace – being at peace with our neighbors, enjoying
peace of heart, or peace of mind. It also talks about being at peace with God –
and it is THIS peace that I want to focus on today – being at peace with
God.
Most people probably don’t even think about being at peace
with God. Nor do they even care. They’re too busy with their lives to think
about eternity. You know people like that. I know people like that. But let me
be quick to say this about those who hardly ever think of God – and much less in
terms of being at peace with Him.
There was a time in my life when I lived for YEARS not giving
God more than a passing glance. And most of the time, not even a glance. But then
it happened, in the stillness of the night, when I was all alone and far from
home and friends and family, God was able to break through my self-imposed
isolation from Himself.
And, well, here I am today.
You and I can never know what is going on in a person’s heart
in the stillness of their night. Like was true in the case of John Lennon, when
they are all alone and far from things that comfort them and distract them, God
calls everyone to Himself. He calls everyone to Himself because He is
not wanting ANY to perish, but for ALL to come to salvation. As Augustine wrote in his classic book
titled, Confession, “God made us for Himself, and our hearts are restless
until it finds its rest in Thee.”
I do not know if John Lennon ever recognized, even to the day
he died, his God-designed cry for help was, well, God-designed. His lyrics were
rooted in God moving in his heart to look to the ONLY one who could ever truly
help him.
Which now circles us back to Paul’s point about the
supernatural battle in which we are all engaged. He tells us to sandal up our
feet with readiness to present to others the gospel of peace – that being the good
news that you and I, and all the John Lennons of the world, can have peace
with God.
The good news that anyone can be reconciled with God.
We can be adopted into His own family of sons and daughters who’ve been
purchased for Himself with the precious blood of His only begotten Son, Jesus
our Savior, Jesus our Messiah.
The soles of the Roman soldier’s sandals were studded with
what would resemble cleats. Those cleats – like those on the bottom of some
athletic shoes which help the athlete maintain a firm grip in the dirt or sand
– so the Roman soldier’s sandals had cleats which helped them ‘stand firm’ on
the dirt as he did battle with an enemy.
Stability in the battle. That’s why Paul wrote to his protégé
Timothy, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God
as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of
truth.” (2 Timothy 2: 15). When we do
battle for our souls, or the souls of others, we don’t want to be slipping and
sliding as we fight. That’s what spiritual truth does, it anchors us, it roots
us, it steadies us in the battle.
The good news of the
Cross is for all who wonder, in the stillness of their night and in the
emptiness of their own isolation, is there hope for me in God. Is He mad at me
for the things I’ve done? Has He turned away from me? Does He even know my
name?
There will be people
out there in the dining room this evening who have asked themselves those very
questions. And there will be people tonight in that dining room who, like the
woman I told you about a few weeks ago who said to me when I asked her why she
doesn’t love Jesus, she answered, “Because He doesn’t love me.”
There will be people
like that tonight in the dining room. People who think God doesn’t love them.
Child of God, listen!
Put on your God-given sandals that represent the preparation and the
presentation of the gospel of the peace we can have with God. We can have
peace with Him because He has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus.
Here is truth from Romans
5. Hold it like a tight belt around your waist. “Therefore, having been
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Please remember the Greek word
translated ‘justified’ means in its fullest sense to be declared by God as
being without guilt before Him. Paul continues in this fifth chapter of Romans,
verse 8:
God demonstrates His own love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having
now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God
through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the
death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His
life.
(Romans 5:1-10)
No wonder Paul also writes to the Christians at Corinth: “Therefore if anyone is
in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things
have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself
through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was
in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses
against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ,
be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:17-20)
Peace with God. The
Scriptures make the promise from one end of the Book to the other. We can have
peace with God, and God has given you and me the most awesome and awe-inspiring
privilege to be His hands and His feet and His mouth to proclaim to the
perishing that unfathomable truth.
“Rescue the perishing.”
Many of you know the words of Fanny Crosby’s hymn.
“Rescue the perishing,
care for the dying, snatch them in pity from sin and the grave; weep o'er the
erring one, lift up the fallen, tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.”
“Rescue
the perishing, care for the dying; Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.”
“Though
they are slighting Him, still He is waiting, waiting the penitent child to
receive; plead with them earnestly, plead with them gently. He will forgive if
they only believe.”
“Down
in the human heart, crushed by the tempter, feelings lie buried that grace can
restore; touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness, chords that are broken
will vibrate once more.”
“[Oh]
Rescue the perishing, duty demands it. Strength for thy labor the Lord will
provide; back to the narrow way patiently win them, tell the poor wanderer a
Savior has died.”
Child of God
bought with the blood of the Savior, shod your feet with the readiness, with
the preparation of the good news of peace. Like troops ready for
battle, duly equipped through prayer and knowledge of the word of God, be ready
to win the John Lennons of the world back for God.
Do you think you are
unqualified to rescue the perishing? Don’t let Satan trick you into selling
yourself so short. If you love Jesus, if you serve Jesus to the best you are
able, then God will use YOU to rescue them.
Remember, neither you
nor I stand alone in this battle. We could simply read to someone the genealogy
of Jesus form the first chapter of Matthew’s gospel, and the Holy Spirit would
use even that list of names to draw someone to the Savior. We are not alone in this
battle.
What is it Paul wrote to
the Christians at Rome? “Whoever will call on
the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on Him in whom
they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?
And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are
sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring
good news of good things!” (Romans 10:13-15)
Do we want others to have peace with God? Then shod
your feet with the readiness to share with them the good news of the
reconciliation with God that is available to all of us. Tell them the God of
all creation, whom Scripture describes as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit . . . tell
them what they need to do to have peace with God, to be reconciled with God.
It’s so simple, a child can understand it:
We must tell God of our sins. We must apologize to Him for
those sins and ask His forgiveness. We must ask Him to help us, through the
power of the Holy Spirit, to serve Jesus the Messiah for the rest of our life.
And finally, we must follow the Lord’s commandment to be baptized for the
cleansing of our sins.
Before I close, let me make quick mention of baptism. Many
in the church today do not realize baptism – the immersion in water for ritual
purity – is of Mosaic origin. It did not originate in the first century.
So, during the Jewish Feast of Pentecost, when Peter stood
with the others in the Temple area and exhorted the visiting priests and laity to
repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins
(Acts 2:38) – they all would have immediately understood Peter’s reference to
the immersion in water. The ritual is called the ‘mikvah’ – even to this day.
The mikvah was first prescribed by Moses for ritual
cleansing and purity (e.g. Leviticus 11:32-36; 15:19-30; Deuteronomy 23:10-11).
Also, throughout Jewish history, when Gentiles converted to Judaism, they went
through the mikvah (baptism) as part of the conversion process. This is true
even to this day, especially in orthodox Jewish communities.
So, when we tell others to repent and be baptized, we do
nothing more than repeat what Moses, and then Peter, prescribed for our own
ritual purity and the cleansing of our sins.
Now, back to the armor. As I have said before in this
series, Each piece of the Roman soldier’s armor was vital to his safety and the
safety of his comrades-in-arms. Each piece was also necessary to his ability to
successfully wage battle against the enemy.
In the same way, each piece of our spiritual armor is vital
to our protection – and the protection of others. And our armor is also vital
to our ability to successfully wage battle against our supernatural enemy.
Gird your loins with truth – God’s inerrant and infallible
word. Read it. Study it. Memorize it. Tell it to others. Put on the breastplate
of righteousness which God credits to us through the sacrificial atonement of
Jesus the Messiah. Take up the shield of faith with which you will extinguish
the enemy’s fiery lies and doubts and temptations and confusions. And put on
your battle-designed shoes, prepared and ready to tell all the John Lennons of
this world, “God loves you. God died for you, so that you and He might be
reconciled forever.”
Next week we will continue our examination of this
supernatural armor given us by God.
