EPHESIANS 6 SPIRITUAL WARFARE SERIES PART 3 THE WRESTLING2006 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ephesians 6 Spiritual Warfare Series Part 3 The Wrestling

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2006.

Spiritual Warfare

This week we'll be covering the wrestling that's involved in spiritual warfare, taking a closer look at our part in spiritual warfare and really how it affects us in a more practical and regular way that we would understand.

Next week we'll be looking at the wardrobe, talking about the armor of God. And then the week after that we'll be looking at the weapons that God has given to us in spiritual warfare. Very powerful weapons that he has given to us. And these things we'll be looking at over the next couple weeks so that we can be equipped to stand. And so here we are in Ephesians chapter 6. Would you please read along with me in verses 10 through 13 of Ephesians chapter 6. It says this.

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 do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all, to stand. What are we called to do in spiritual war? We're called to stand. That's what we looked at last week in our part of spiritual war. We are called to stand.

There's a situation that happened several years ago for me, and some of you will remember this story. Please don't laugh before everybody else gets a chance to. Um...

Every year down in Mexico, there is a 50-mile ride that goes from Rosarito to Ensenada. And you get to go down, and there's all kinds of people that participate in this race. It's a bike ride that you can be involved in. Now, we haven't gone for many years, and it started to kind of get flushed, so we stopped going. But there was actually only one time that I went, and

The one time I went, it was quite interesting. Now, you have to understand that it's a big race, and if you've ever been mountain biking or street biking or kind of know about bicycling at all, then you've probably heard about the race, and it's a big thing that happens in Mexico. Well, we're getting ready, and we have to go out the night before so that we can be rested up and be up early in the morning to start the race, and

We're heading out and as I leave my house, I grab a 12-ounce can of Dr. Pepper. Now, for those of you who remember back in those days, I lived off Dr. Pepper. I would have two liters of Dr. Pepper back in the sound booth with me at all times and I would just constantly be... It was my life support system. But I...

grabbed a can, 12 ounce can, and went to go grab a bite to eat on the way over to Pastor Tom's house where we were going to jump in a van and head down there. So I go to Carl's Jr. and I get the meal. And of course, I always supersize it or whatever they called it back then. And so I got the big, you know, the 44 ounce drink from Carl's Jr. and had a couple of refills of that. And

Then I go to Pastor Tom's house and we're getting ready. We pack up the van and then we have another van that we're all driving in and a van for all the bikes and gear and stuff. And we go there and they go, well, hey, we're ready to go, but let's swing by AM, PM and get something to drink as we head down to Mexico. And you can kind of see where this is leading, I'm sure. And so we go to AM, PM and again, get the big 44 ounce AM, PM cup of Dr. Pepper. And so by this time, I've had over a gallon of

of Dr. Pepper in me, okay? This is a lot of Dr. Pepper we're talking about. A gallon is 128 fluid ounces, and I've had just a little over 130, 140 around in there. I haven't gone to the restroom yet, and that poses a problem because we head down to Mexico. Now, it takes about two hours to get down to San Diego, and...

Not usually a big deal to go down into Mexico and cross the border, but on the day before the great 50-mile race, it's a big deal.

And you know how the exits are. There's a couple exits and there's all the signs, right? This is the last U.S. exit. This is the last U.S. exit. Well, we passed that, but we were just like looking at the exit and stopped, completely stopped in traffic to get across the border into Mexico. And so there we are, and it's really starting to bug me now. I don't know.

Had to use the restroom. I mean, the pressure was building a while back and as we were driving down, but I figured, you know, we could get there and I'd be all right. But now we're stopped in traffic and I can see the exit, the last U.S. exit. There's no chance of stopping off there. We're in the carpool lane and we're not going to get over. There's just no way. The whole freeway, all five lanes, dead stop.

45 minutes later, I can just see the exit right across from me, and it's beginning to build and build. Of course, the border is another mile, mile and a half up, and we're there in China. There's no hope in sight. So I continue to wait, and then Tom Hallman was sitting next to me, and he noticed I'm beginning to fidget a little bit and not be too comfortable, and he's asking me, are you okay? And I was like, I don't know.

I really got to go pee. I mean, it's really bad. And so the guys start teasing me, of course. They're just joking and, you know, all kinds of things. Well, we're in the passenger van and Quint and his buddy with all the bikes are in the van behind us and they don't know what's going on, but we continue down and, man, it's just, you know, 45 minutes and then another 45 minutes and then another 45 minutes and we're still a mile away from the border. It's just dead, stifling,

Stop. We're not moving. You're stopped. I'm not exaggerating. You're stopped. You move a couple inches and you're stopped again. It's just like that to get in the day before a race. Well, after about an hour and a half of this, I was getting pretty... Well, I was in a lot of pain. Let me just put it that way.

And I began to close my eyes, and I was just praying the whole time. Just, man, Lord, just do something. I mean, I know you could just make it all go away in a good way, you know, not in a bad way. Just make it all go away. And then there, closing my eyes, and now Tom Holman begins to realize, this is serious. He's not just joking. And so he starts telling the guys, hey, guys,

I think he's closing his eyes. I mean, he looks like he's really in pain. What are we going to do? And so, of course, we had stopped by AM, PM. And so Tom Hulman goes, well, you have your 44 ounce cup. You know, maybe you could maybe you could use that to help relieve some of the pain.

And I said, no way, no way, not in your life. I would never do that if you paid me a million dollars. Except for an hour later, still waiting to cross the border, the cup's looking very appetizing. So they come up with a plan. Here's what you do. Go back in Quintivan. There's nothing in the back, it's just bikes. So it won't matter, it's not a big deal. So just take your cup, go back.

Handle your business. And then you can be all right. And then hopefully you'll be okay after that. So, no, I still, no, no, no. A few more minutes went by. A few more minutes went by. A few more. I got to do something. So finally I go. I get out of the van. We're stopped. So it doesn't matter. You know, you kind of leave at the car as you pass by. I'm holding my cup. And I...

What? I opened Quint's door, the door to Quint's van, and they have no idea what's going on. So they just think I'm popping in to say hi. Hey, guys, how you doing? And Quint goes, oh, we're doing good. How you doing? I really got to pee real bad. He's all, oh, man, that's a bummer. Yeah, it's a bummer. So needless to say, I felt much better after that. The moral of the story...

Don't drink so much Dr. Pepper? No. In talking about spiritual warfare, there's much that relates to the story I just shared. Because what are we called to do? We're called to stand. We're called to not give in.

To hold fast even when the pressure's on. Even when it's painful. Because the Bible teaches, God's word says, that we can endure. That he gives us everything that we need to go through it. We looked at the example of Job last week. Spiritual warfare to the nth degree, he had it rough.

But God gave him everything that he needed to go through it, to succeed, to be successful and victorious in that battle. And whether we feel like it or not, or are very excited about it or not,

We need to wait and to stand and to endure the trial and not come up with our own escape plan where we can sneak off into Quinn's van and relieve ourselves or where we can take off in this way or that way. We need to endure and wait because God always provides the way through the trial, the way out. Paul tells us here in Ephesians chapter 6, in verse 12, he says, "...we do not wrestle against flesh and blood."

Now, that's interesting because he doesn't say that we do not wrestle, period. He just clarifies that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. In other words, my battle, your battle, is not with our neighbors and our co-workers and our bosses and our wives and our children. Those aren't the people that we're battling. Those aren't who we're to be wrestling with. Our wrestling in this spiritual battle is against spiritual forces, as we talked about last week.

Now, the point that we're looking at this evening is the fact that we do wrestle, that we are involved in wrestling when it comes to spiritual warfare. Now, wrestling is recognized as one of the world's oldest competitive sports.

They've found some Egyptian paintings on walls dated about 5,000 years ago that picture different moves and techniques that are even used to this day in wrestling. And so it's very old. It's been around for a long time. As Paul is writing to the Ephesians, they know what wrestling is. In fact, in ancient Greece, wrestling was very prominent within their legends, within their literature.

The wrestling competition was the highlight of the Olympic Games there in Olympia in Greece that were held every four years, very similar to ours. The Olympic Games there, the wrestling match, would be like this. The objective of a wrestling match was

Not talking WWF or whatever the new initials are around today. All the crazy men in tights with chairs and whatever else they have. The wrestling back then was very sophisticated. Your objective was to throw your opponent on the ground so that they would land on a hip, a shoulder, or their back. And so it was...

them on onto the ground. And the the well, in order to win, what you would have to do is you'd have to do that three times.

to throw them on their back, their hip, their shoulder, something to that effect. And so to get them down on the ground three times and you win. Now, there was only a couple of rules. You were not allowed to bite. You could not grab the genitals or do anything like that. You couldn't you could break your opponent's fingers and, you know, things like that. But it was all, you know, pretty much above the belt, throwing your opponent wrestling to to try to knock them to the ground.

Now, wrestling in essence is a struggle for control. And Paul used it to describe spiritual warfare for that reason, because in spiritual war, the enemy, the principalities and powers and all that we looked at last week, our enemy is looking to control our life, to make us lose control that we would be controlled by the world or controlled by our own flesh.

Wrestling is a struggle that involves every part of us. And this wrestling that we're involved in involves our minds, our body, our emotions, every part. And so in this wrestling, we must not give in. Do not give in. We do wrestle, but don't give in.

Like in wrestling, don't submit, don't surrender, don't cry uncle, but keep fighting and stand is what we're called to do in this battle, in this wrestling match.

There's five areas that we will look at tonight that are areas where we are attacked in this wrestling match by the enemy. The first area is temptation. The second area is spiritual attack. The third area, emotional attack. The fourth area, mental attack. And then the fifth area, physical attack. In wrestling, you have many different holds and moves that you master and

And when you're in a match, when you're involved in a competition, you try one hold, you try one move, and maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. But if it doesn't work, you just try another, and then you try another, and then maybe you try one that you've already tried, and just doing different combinations to try to fake your opponent out and get him to the ground. The enemy does the same thing with us. He gives us an onslaught of temptation. But then...

If we don't give in to that, throws in a physical problem. And then as that ensues, then he throws in an emotional battle. And then back to temptation again. And throws these different things at us in order to bring us down, to knock us off of our feet so that we do not stand anymore, to throw us to the ground. The enemy is looking for an opportunity to get you off balance. He'll try one hold. And as you resist, you know how it is.

Then you can, you know, if I'm pushing against you and you're pushing against me, and then all you have to do is just stop pushing and pull a little bit. And there I go. I'm on the ground. The enemy does that with us as well. Do you remember Peter? Matthew chapter 16. Jesus is asking the guys, who do men say that I am? And Peter comes up with this great answer that you're the Christ, the son of God.

And Jesus tells him in that in Matthew chapter 16, verse 17, he says, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. So great victory for Peter there. He said something right. And it's probably one of the few times before he was empowered with the Holy Spirit. But he says something and Jesus commends him and says, hey, God revealed this to you. You're in touch with the master.

But then Jesus goes on to talk about how he's going to suffer and he's going to be put to death. And Peter pulls him aside, it says in verse 22, and he began to rebuke him, saying, far be it from you, Lord, this shall not happen to you. And it says that Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. You are an offense to me for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. So here's Peter.

involved in spiritual battle. Jesus says, hey, get behind me, Satan. What's going on? Well, Peter says something right. And as you know, what happens when we get something right? Our head begins to kind of get a little bit more swelled and swelled. We get puffed up. We get proud. And probably Peter was experiencing that.

And so as Jesus is saying this, another thought comes into his head. And he probably figures, this one's from the master too. This one's from God. Let me just blurt it out. Lord, I need to talk to you. God just told me that that's not what you're supposed to do. You're not supposed to go and die. And Jesus rebukes him. He rebukes him and he says it's a thought from the end. Peter here, he's been victorious. And then in his victory, the enemy takes advantage.

And he puts a thought in Peter's mind and is able to knock him off balance and cast him to the ground. He's able to manipulate him. He was probably puffed up and the last thing he said worked out really well, but this time came from a different source. Maybe you've had something similar happen to you, where you have those thoughts in your mind, those situations, and you begin to think, you know, I'm not even a real Christian anymore.

This is the enemy feeding your mind. You're not even a real Christian. You're right. You're not a real Christian. Look at what you do and look at how you live. Look what you just did. How can you say that you're a Christian? But then five minutes later, he could pull you the other direction. You're the best Christian that ever lived. I can't believe God doesn't bless you more. Look how faithful you are this way and that way. And he doesn't bless you. He's pulling you from one side to the other.

pushing you around the ring, trying to get you down, trying to knock you off your feet. One week, I don't even know if I'm saved. The next week, hey, let's go on a mission trip or street witnessing or something. I want to teach a Bible study. He's pushing us around, telling us how miserable we are and then telling us how great and wonderful we are and God doesn't bless us enough and God's not fair and blah, blah, blah, blah. We need to learn to stand and not to get pulled back and forth by all the moves and techniques of the enemy.

We need to learn not to be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine and things that come around. We need to learn to stand, to be steadfast. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, 58, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Paul says, be steadfast, stand there. Don't be pushed around. Be immovable. And just keep on working and serving the Lord. That's what we are called to do. And so let's look at these five areas and how we can defend ourselves and how we can counterattack in these areas. The first area, again, is temptation. And would you please turn with me to Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4, it's the third book of the New Testament.

Luke chapter 4, verses 1 through 13, we find coming into this story, Jesus is about to begin his public ministry. He has just been baptized by John the Baptist, and now he is led by the spirits into the wilderness to be tempted. Luke chapter 4, verses 1 through 13,

Starting in verse 1, it says,

But Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Then the devil, taking him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to him, All this authority I will give to you.

Verse 8. Verse 8.

Then he brought him to Jerusalem, set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down from here. For it is written, he shall give you or give his angels charge over you to keep you. And in their hands, they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. And Jesus answered and said to him, it has been said, you shall not tempt the Lord your God.

Now, when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. First off, starting in verse one, we know that Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness. Here is Jesus experiencing this great temptation, but he was not outside of God's will.

He was in God's will. The Spirit led him there. And that's important to note because temptation is not a sign that we are out of God's will. Temptation, in fact, is often the reverse. It's more probably a sign that we are in God's will and the enemy wants to get us out of God's will. He wants to throw us from our standing position from where we are.

Now, as we look at these things that Jesus encountered, we will learn that we overcome temptation by obeying God's word, by obeying the word of God. Now, Satan tempts Jesus three times that are recorded here, and it's three times that correspond to 1 John 2.16, where John tells us the things that are in the world, the temptations and the tactics that the enemy uses.

We also see those same three things in the garden. We won't get all into that. But 1 John 2.16 talks about the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And we see these three here. We see them in the garden, as I said, and Satan uses them over and over. And so we can look at these and understand why.

The temptation for Christ, the things that the enemy brought against him, and how we can overcome by being obedient to the word of God. The first thing is the lust of the flesh. Satan first tempted him in verses 1-4 about turning stones to bread.

Now, it says that Jesus did not eat for those 40 days that he was in the wilderness. And it says, and afterwards he was hungry, which is probably a great understatement. His flesh, his body was starving. He had not eaten in 40 days. That's not a misprint. It's not 40 minutes in reality. No, it's 40, 24 hour days. Satan uses our times of weakness to tempt us. Here's

Jesus, his body is weakened from this long fast. His body is hungry and starving. And Satan challenges him, Hey, if you're the son of God, turn those stones to bread. Provide food for yourself. In essence, he would be saying, if he did that, that God wasn't able to provide for him, that he had to provide for himself. And in the midst of that situation, what is he to do? Again, he is to stand. Don't give in.

You are able to endure. And brothers and sisters, when the lust of the flesh builds and is there before us, we must do the same. We must stand and not give in. We're able to endure. The cravings that we have for those things that are sinful, the appetites of your body, don't give in. Stand. And it might be food like Jesus experienced, or it might be sex.

And you might be exploring pornography to provide your way out because God hasn't given you what you need. No, that's not true. God has given you everything that you need to endure and to live life His way.

And to overcome, you need to be obedient. And to be obedient means you don't involve yourself, you don't practice sin. It might be drugs or alcohol that your body is craving, that you have this appetite for. And God says, I'll give you everything you need. Don't do it. Stay away from it. Walk uprightly. Trust in me to provide. Obey God's word. You can rely upon Christ.

And you can succeed in that temptation. The next temptation we see is the lust of the eyes. Where Satan says in verses 5 through 8, Hey, worship me. He says in verse 7, If you will worship before me, all this will be yours. All the kingdoms of the world, I'll give it to you. Now, we need to understand that Jesus loved the world more than we can imagine.

He came specifically to die for the world. He was willing to do so. And so willing to die for the world, you can understand that he loved the world greatly. And so here it is, all before him. And Satan tries to exploit his weakness again, or him in his weakness, saying the end will justify the means. And there's Jesus. He looks out. He sees the world. He loves the world. He wants to be with all who are in the world.

Now again, he was about to start his earthly ministry, which would be about three and a half years long. And it was a lot of work, a lot of times of sleeplessness and hunger and a lot of pain as he would be headed for the cross. And so Satan says, skip all that. I'll give it to you all right now. You can just take it right now. You don't have to go through all that. Why go through all that? He shows him and there's the lust of the eyes. For us...

The lust of the eyes are sinful cravings and desires that you have from what you see. Maybe you know it as covetousness or greed, materialism, and those types of things. Jesus' desire for the world was not bad, but to cheat and try to cut corners and do it any way but God's way would be wrong. The end does not justify the means. And so when the lust of the flesh in your life

When the enemy uses that tactic and stirs up that within you, you need to stand. Don't give in to the lust of the eyes. You are able to endure. God gives you everything that you need to overcome it. You need to be obedient to the word of God. Do things the right way. Don't cheat or use ungodly methods or means to get ahead or accomplish what you want, even if it's a good thing. Maybe a house or something.

Better job or boats or cars or whatever your fancy is. Do it right. Do it with integrity. Do it in obedience to God's word. You can. You can do it. Rely upon Christ. He's given you everything that you need. The third area is the pride of life. Where Satan in verses 9 through 12 takes Jesus up to the pinnacle of the temple. The highest point on the temple in front of everybody in essence. All those who are gathered in Jerusalem.

And he says, jump off. You're the son of God. The scriptures promise that your foot will not be dashed against a stone. So just jump off. The Lord will send his angels to carry you. This was an attack on Jesus's pride because he was the Messiah. He is the Messiah. Yet the people would not refuse. They refused to recognize him as the Messiah.

Do you remember later in his ministry as he's coming towards the cross, he comes into Jerusalem and he weeps over Jerusalem. And he says, oh, how I've longed to gather you together, gather you to myself. Again, his love for those in Israel. But he says, but you would not be gathered. You wouldn't recognize me as the Messiah.

You wouldn't confess that I was the one who was anointed, the sent one by God to be your Savior. Jesus wanted them to recognize Him and be gathered to Him. And here the enemy says, this will do it. I've got the trick.

You can do it this way. You don't have to go through all the cross and be rejected. Listen, you can do it this way. Just jump off. The scripture says angels will come and everybody will see this man jump off and then angels come and keep his foot from being dashed against the stone at the bottom. You're not going to die. You're going to be protected by his angels and then everyone will know you're the Messiah. You can be recognized now. You can...

Be known as the Messiah now. You can gather them all to yourself now. You don't have to go through all of this. Everyone will know the pride of life. When the pride of life is thrown within our hearts, we need to stand and not give in. You are able to endure. Don't entertain those thoughts of pride. Again, do things the right way.

Don't cheat or use ungodly means to get ahead or accomplish what you want. Even if it's a good thing, promotion, recognition, status, whatever it is that you're looking for, do it right. Do it God's way in obedience to God's word. You can do it. Obey the word and rely upon Jesus Christ. The key in all of these things is obedience. It's not enough just to memorize a verse and quote it about some particular problem that you're having. You must obey it.

And you can. And know that you can because God commands us to. And so he gives us everything that we need. We overcome temptation by obeying God's word. Now at the end there, Luke 4.13, it says, Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

And there we see again the tactics of the enemy. He waits for another opportunity. Where's another good opportunity? Another moment of weakness? Another moment maybe even of success or victory? And let me hit him with this again. Maybe I can knock him off his feet while he's off guard, off balance, and I can knock him down. We need to be on guard that we can stand. We need to be strong in the Lord that we may stand in the power of His might. Now, of course,

The things I just shared about temptation and the things I'll continue to share, many of them overlap and many of them are just generals and we're not getting into a whole lot of specifics because that would cause a much longer study. But you get the idea and you get the understanding. The enemy works in these ways, the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. And in all those, the way that we endure, the way that we carry it out,

is we be obedient to God's word. We obey the word of God and we're able to endure. The second area that we experience in this wrestling is spiritual attack. Spiritual attack. Now, by spiritual attack, I'm referring to the enemy's attack on spiritual things with deception and seduction. And would you please turn with me to Galatians chapter 3.

I'm having you turn quite a bit tonight, so keep your thumbs ready. Galatians chapter 3, we'll be looking at verses 1 through 3. Galatians chapter 3 verse 1, it says this, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?

This only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Here, Paul tells the Galatians, guys, what's up? You've been deceived. How could you be so foolish? You've been bewitched.

deceived, seduced. Why do you think that you can be made perfect by following the commandments, by following the law? The Galatians were turning from a walk in the spirit to a walk of legalism, of rules and regulations and using those to approach God. And we dealt with that much as we went through Galatians. But this is how Satan works.

They had been bewitched. Why? Well, because Satan tells them this. You know, you really can have a more wonderful experience with God this way. If you do this or that, follow these things or follow those things, you can be closer to God than anybody else.

You can have a relationship with God that people don't even know about. You can have this special knowledge, this great insight. You can become very powerful. And on and on and on, he says, if you do these things, you truly can be spiritual if you follow the law. It's the lie that he gave to the Galatians and they were believing it. They were being bewitched and deceived and seduced. And how is it that

Paul counters this thought. Well, we overcome temptation by obeying God's word, but we overcome spiritual attack by knowing God's word. Because a few verses later,

In Galatians 3.8, it says in the scripture, Paul used their Bible to prove that what they were doing and thinking is wrong and that they had been deceived.

We need to know the Word of God because the enemy is out to deceive, to lead us astray from the truth, to take us off of the path of righteousness, of righteousness that comes by faith in the Son of God, not righteousness that comes by our works or what we do or anything else. Righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ. There's great deception in the world. There's great deception in the church.

The mentality that I can continue to live in sin. You know, Christ died, there's grace. I can keep on practicing this and I'll be fine. Well, you better read the scriptures again. You better know the word of God because that's not what the word says. Another thought, God will accept me because I'm a good person. You don't know the scriptures if that's your thought. Another thought, I go to church every Sunday. I'm a Christian. That's not what the Bible teaches. You need to know the word of God. There's great deception and many who believe those lies.

There's lies outside of the church, the true church, and the false religions, and Buddha, and Mohammed, and Joseph Smith, and all of those that are spreading lies and deceit, saying that there's this way to get to heaven, or that way to get to heaven, or some that say, well, just take any way and they all get there eventually.

That's not true. There's only one way, Jesus said, you need to know the word of God to protect yourself from being deceived. To overcome deception, spiritual attack, you need to know the word of God. Otherwise, you're subject to be easily deceived, easily led astray, because you don't know what the Bible teaches.

Paul expressed this in 2 Corinthians chapter 11. You don't have to turn there. I'll read it to you. But verse 3 says, But I fear, here's Paul's fear, lest somehow as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached,

Or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it. Paul says, I'm afraid for you, Corinthians, because someone could come preaching another Jesus, a Jesus maybe that was revealed to them by the angel Moroni, and you would believe it and you'd receive it. You would put up with it and say, wow, that's interesting. We need to follow this guy. There's this new revelation here.

Paul says, that's not according to the word. I'm fearful that you would be deceived just like Eve was. He goes on in verses 13 and following. He says, for such, those who would teach those things, they are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves or pretending to be apostles of Christ.

And he says, and no wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness. Paul says, I'm afraid for you because Satan is out to deceive. He's out to lead people astray, away from the things of God, the truth of God. I'm afraid for you because you might put up with it. You might allow those things and

These guys are just false apostles. They're pretending to have the truth and they don't. And that's not a great surprise because that is how Satan works, Paul says. The spiritual attack that takes place in your life and in my life. Deception that tries to creep in.

the thoughts and mentalities of the world that tries to creep in. You need to stand. Don't give in. You're able to endure it. Overcome spiritual attack by knowing God's word. Let the Bible be your solid foundation and do not be swayed. The third area of attack in our wrestling match is emotional attack. You know, I think this is one of the enemy's favorites because it seems to be so successful, especially today in our society.

We have been convinced by the world that if we do not feel like doing something, that we cannot do it. If I don't feel like it, I can't do it. That's all there is to it. The example is, we see it all the time in divorce. A couple will say, or one will say, well, we just don't love each other anymore.

Now, what we are saying when we say that is, I don't feel love for this person. Therefore, I cannot love this person because I don't feel like it. That's not what the Bible teaches. Just because you do not feel love does not mean that you cannot love. Love is a choice. It's a command.

We're called and commanded to love, especially our spouse. And we can do it whether we feel like it or not. And so we need to stop believing the lies that we have to feel like doing something in order to be able to do it. And some of you may disagree, which just proves the point. We've been convinced by the world that if we do not feel like doing something, we cannot do it. And so he attacks our emotions, our feelings, our

To make us not feel like doing things so that we feel like we cannot do them. Some common areas of attack. There's many emotions that he can play on and come against. But three quick ones. Fear, depression, and condemnation. Fear, depression, and condemnation. Now we overcome emotional attack by believing God's word.

Believe in God's word. Remember what he has done, what he has said, and believe him. Believe the promises that he has made. Believe the commandments that he has given. The first one, fear. Often he attacks fear.

And I've shared with you guys before about fear in my life. That's an area where I'm weak. I get fearful quite easily, spooked out. In fact, my wife was just watching Edward Scissorhands the other night. You guys seen that movie? And she gets so, you know, kind of not frustrated, but she just laughs at me.

Because that guy creeps me out. It's so hard to sleep after watching that movie. I don't even have to watch the whole thing, but just to see him a couple of scenes, all these things go off in my mind. Fear. The enemy plays with us all the time in the area of fear. Now, do you remember Peter when he got out of the boat and walked on water? It's in Matthew 14. You can check it out at a later time. But there at the end of Matthew chapter 14,

Jesus is walking on the water and Peter says, hey, if that's you, call me to come out. And Jesus says, come on out, Peter. And so Peter gets out of the boat and he begins to walk on the water. But then it says that he became fearful. Why? Well, it tells us in verse 31, why did he become fearful? Jesus asked him, why did you doubt? When Peter doubted, when he stopped believing God's word, when Jesus said, come out to me,

When he stopped believing that and he started to doubt, then he began to fear. Fear was the result of his doubts. And so in order to overcome this tactic, this attack on fear in our lives, we need to believe God at his word, believe his promises. And we could go on and on in that, but I'm moving on. Depression, another emotion, another feeling that comes across us and renders us useless.

David was a man who experienced great emotions up and down, and we see it all throughout the Psalms. He often found himself depressed, sad, overwhelmed, and we read again all about it. In Psalm 143,

He says this, For the enemy has persecuted my soul. He has crushed my life to the ground. He has made me dwell in darkness like those who have long been dead. Therefore, my spirit is overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is distressed. I remember the days of old. I meditate on all your works. I muse on the work of your hands. I spread out my hands to you. My soul longs for you like a thirsty land. Selah.

David, when he was down in the depths, in the pits, depressed, sad, overwhelmed, he would remind himself of God and his belief in this great God and the promises that this God had made. And he would pull himself out of depression by putting his focus on God. To overcome emotional attacks in your life, you need to believe the Word of God.

Believe it with everything in you. Know it. That it's true. That he loves you. That he died for you. That he's laid good works before you and has great purposes for you in his kingdom. Finally, another effective attack of the enemy is condemnation. Condemnation. Now, in talking about condemnation, we're talking about

When we feel condemned. Again, it's a feeling. It's an emotion that we feel. The word condemnation literally means to sentence judicially. Now, we can feel condemned, but know that if you're here and you're breathing, you have not been condemned yet. Because you're here and you're breathing. You haven't been sentenced yet. That comes for those who do not believe in Jesus Christ.

At the great white throne judgment, at the end of days, before they're cast into the lake of fire. That's why we need to believe in Jesus Christ, that we have eternal life with him. But the final sentence is then. It's not now. And the enemy will often try to bring into our hearts condemnation to tell us you've already been sentenced. God's not pleased with you. He's through with you. He's given up on you. No matter what you've done, you're not condemned.

You're not damned to hell yet. You still have the chance, the opportunity in Jesus Christ. And if you're in Jesus Christ already, Romans chapter 8 verse 1, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. How do you overcome the feeling of condemnation, this attack upon you by the enemy?

Very easily. You believe God's word. Believe when he says there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. That's all there is to it. There's no condemnation. So don't be condemned. Don't feel condemned. You choose what you believe. Don't believe your emotions.

They'll change quickly. Satan wants to make us feel like we've been condemned. Because then we give up. What's the use? You know, I've already blown it. I might as well live however I want. There's no point in trying anymore. Don't believe it. Stand. Endure. Believe God's word. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

These areas, fear, depression, and condemnation, they're all emotional attacks and they can be, and very often are, paralyzing. They keep you from walking with God, serving God, drawing close to God, sharing about God with others. And these emotional attacks, you need to stand. Don't give in. Don't believe what your emotions, what your feelings tell you. Just because you feel a certain way does not make it true. Believe the Word of God. That is the truth.

And you tell your emotions how they should feel. Overcome emotional attack by believing God's word. The fourth area, mental attack. Our minds are another favorite area of attack for the enemy. Because he knows that if he can get us thinking about sinful activity, we'll soon be acting upon it. That's all he has to do. Get us thinking and imagining and playing around with our mind and bouncing it back and forth. And then soon enough we'll find ourselves involved in it.

Some common attacks in our minds. Do you ever doubt the existence of God? Did I really give my heart to the Lord? All the mind tricks that the enemy plays with us. Maybe sometimes at the most inconvenient times come thoughts into your head that you don't know where they come from. Maybe in the middle of worship and there's this some thought of hatred or lust or just something just wicked. Where on earth did that come from as I'm worshiping the Lord?

attacks of the enemy upon our minds. Do you ever experience distractions when you're trying to read the Bible? You know, something I'm trying to read and then all of a sudden my mind's thinking about a hundred things. And I remember all the things that I was supposed to do. Maybe he attacks your mind in the area of logic or intellectualism and you have to try to figure everything out. And you can't believe it unless you can figure it out. Maybe he attacks you with the mindset and the thinking of society and peer pressure.

And if all these people think that, I don't know, maybe I should think that way. Maybe I should act in that way. All these tactics of the enemy upon our mind. We overcome mental attack by thinking on God's word, meditating on God's word. Colossians 3.2 says, Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. Don't dwell on the things here.

And all those mind tricks and things that can happen. Set your mind. It's something you do. It's not something, well, my mind just happens to wander and just goes and I don't have any control. No. You set your mind. It's very difficult to try to not think about something, isn't it? You've probably heard that before, right? Don't think blue. Blue screen just immediately like... You can't not think about something. You have to think about something else.

So Paul says, set your mind on things above. Focus on heaven. Look there. Set your mind there. Think about that. And then you won't be thinking about all these other things. Again, do you remember Peter? He had a thought. He acted upon it. And the Lord rebuked him as if he was Satan. It was an attack of the enemy. A thought that was put there that was not of him was from the enemy. Far be it from you, Lord. You're not going to go be crucified again.

What did Jesus say? He turned to him, get behind me Satan, you are an offense to me, but notice, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men. Where's your mind, Peter? You're thinking about down here. You've got to set your mind above. The key to overcoming these attacks on our mind is to be mindful of the things of God. Philippians 4.8 is another example

Famous portion that talks about what we should meditate on. The things that are true and noble and just and pure and lovely and good report. The things that are virtuous and praiseworthy. Meditate on those things, not on the things of this world. So when those mental attacks come, stand. Don't give in. You are able to endure. Put your mind on God's word. Put your mind on the things of God. The final area of attack. Fifthly, physical attack.

Now, by physical attack, I'm referring to the things in this life that cause problems and issues within our spiritual walk. Can Satan or can demons cause your car to break down? Can they cause problems within the sound system? Here at church, they often do. Can they cause personality conflicts and issues to arise between you and others?

Physical problems, real problems around you, can they be caused by the enemy? Well, we saw the example of Job last week and the answer is yes. In chapter 1, remember, the enemy orchestrated a couple of raids by the Sabians and the Chaldeans. The enemy caused fire to come down from heaven and caused a great wind to come and knock down a house. In chapter 2, we saw the enemy that caused painful boils from head to toe.

Physical attacks are very real. The enemy uses them very often to get us out of walking in the spirit and into walking in the flesh. We overcome physical attack by applying God's word. This means that when your neighbor is attacking you, you take the command to love your neighbor as yourself, as a command to you, and then you obey it and you love your neighbor.

You apply it to yourself. The word is speaking to me in this area. Oh, this person always makes me so angry. James 1, 19. So then my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. That's a command to me. When I say this person, this situation makes me so mad. I need to apply God's word to my life. It's a command to me.

My car just got a flat tire. Didn't really, but say that happened to you. Happens quite often. James 1, again, verse 2, counted all joy when you fall into various trials, and so on and so forth. We need to apply the word of God. No matter what we're going through, the enemy can cause all sorts of problems, but here's what we need to remember. He can only do so with God's permission. So then if problems happen in our lives, and they often do,

We know that God is allowing it, that God is still in control, and we can trust Him because He loves us. And so we must trust Him and believe that God will carry us through this. And so we must stand. Don't give in the temptation to let your temper fly off the handle, your anger build up, to be involved in that physical sexual situation.

To be involved in all of the things that you can get sucked into. The gossip. The maliciousness. Lying and cheating and stealing and so on and so forth. All these things can be set up in physical ways by the people around us, by the situations that we're in. Stand. Don't give in. You are able to endure. The five areas that we looked at this evening are temptation, spiritual attack, emotional attack,

Mental attack and physical attack. Remember I shared about wrestling. What you do is you try one thing and then if that move doesn't work, you try a different move and then you try a different move and then maybe you go back and try the first move again or one of those that you've already used and just trying different things, finding the right combination to get your opponent knocked down. The enemy does the same thing. In your life, we need to be on guard. We need to stand.

Because there will be problems and situations at work. And you might go through that with flying colors. But then here comes a problem or a situation within your family. You and your spouse start butting heads or something. The kids start acting up. And then the enemy will bring something else. Some temptation to sin.

And then you'll have to sit on the freeway and he'll be messing with you there and trying to get you in the flesh to get your eyes off of God and on this world. And then he'll be causing you to look at your neighbor and stirring up covetousness and the lust of the eyes. And then he'll go back to your work and cause a problem there. And just causing all these different things, all these different combinations, trying to do whatever he can.

To get you off balance. To knock you off your feet so that you cannot stand. These are the wiles of the devil. From Ephesians 6.11, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Wiles, it literally means cunning, arts, deceit, craft, and trickery.

It's from the word, the original word in the Greek here that we get the word method. And it gives us the idea of a methodical attack to find a weakness. Let me hit him here. Let me hit him here. Let me hit him here. Let me hit him in every point imaginable. I'm going to find a weakness so that I can knock him down. That's why Peter says in 1 Peter 5, be sober, be vigilant. Because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. Right?

Resist him, Peter says, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. Everybody goes through it. We're all in this together and on our own at the same time.

The enemy is coming against us, attacking us in so many ways. You need to understand that Satan hates you. He's out to get you. He has schemes and plans to take you down. He's methodically attacking you in different areas to find the weakness, to find the way that he can get your eyes off of God on this world, on your flesh. Again, it's a struggle for control.

Are you going to submit to God and allow Him to control you? Or are you going to be controlled and dominated by your flesh? Or by what the world says? Or by what the enemy tells you? Who's going to have control in your life? It needs to be God. But the enemy will do everything he can

So that you take back control and say, God, you don't have control anymore. I'm going to go involve myself in this sin. God, you don't have control anymore because I'm angry and I'm just going to let this person have it. God, you don't have control anymore because whatever reason. It's a battle, a struggle for control. And we need to continually stand before God and give Him control of our lives.

In battle, it's always best to have the higher ground. You want to be higher than your opponent. It gives you the edge, the advantage. Now that's concerning because in Psalm chapter 8 verse 5, it tells us that God made man a little lower than the angels. We don't have the high ground in spiritual battle. In this wrestling match, we're lower than the angels. We're lower than our attackers. And that is why...

We need to stand in the strength of the Lord. Because our enemy has the advantage over us. He's more powerful, more cunning, more even than we can grasp. So we must be strong in the Lord. Submitted to Him and giving Him control. And the power of His might. It's not an option. It's mandatory. If you're not strong in the Lord, you're gonna fall. You're gonna give in. You're gonna be controlled again.

By the enemy. By the world. By your flesh. By anything other than God. Unless you're strong in the Lord. We must be strong in the Lord. That's why we must put on the whole armor of God. And that's what we'll be looking at next week. The wardrobe that we have in this battle. But in the meantime, in these areas of attack, here's what we must do. Again, number one, obey God's word. Number two, know God's word. Number three, believe God's word.

Number four, think on God's word. And number five, apply God's word. One last thought as we close. What do I do when the enemy's attacks are successful? He gets me and it's just right at the opportune time, knocks me on my back. I give in. I succumb to the temptation where I allow the anger to gain control. What do I do? Very simply, 1 John 1.9.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Just confess it. Repent. Stand back up in the strength of the Lord and keep fighting. Get back in the battle. Get back in relationship with God. Satan will use it again as condemnation and bring all these things upon us. Look, you're a terrible Christian. You don't deserve to walk with God. You can't go into His presence anymore. He doesn't love you. Those are all lies.

God looks at you in your fallen state and He says, I know, I died for that. Come on, take my hand. Come and have a relationship with me, fellowship with me. Stand in my strength and you'll be victorious. Get back in. Start serving God again. The spiritual battle, it's real, it's fierce. We need to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You, God, that

You give us the strength to stand. It's not up to us, Lord, because if it was, we'd be lost. But, Lord, you empower us by your Spirit. And so, God, in these different areas that the enemy attacks us, God, even the many more that we didn't discuss this evening, we ask, Lord, that you would help us to be strong in you. Lord, that we would be solid upon your Word.

building our life upon it, living according to it, applying it to ourselves, believing it and knowing it. Lord, that we would have a passion for your word, that we might be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Lord, that we would desire to spend time with you in prayer. God, that you might strengthen us and draw us close and teach us to be more like you. God, that our character would be built and that our spirit would be strengthened, that we would not be

so susceptible to the attacks of the enemy. God, we ask that you would draw us close to you and fill us with your Spirit. We need you this week, God, and so we stand in you. Forgive us and cleanse us, Lord, from the times we've fallen, the things that we've done. Go before us, Lord, and lead us into victory, we pray. In Jesus' name, Amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.