For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
24 sermons cite this verse
… Fallen angels are those that, according to scripture, have in fact fallen, as the Bible says. First of all, keep this in mind. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12 tells us, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities. I'll stop right there. Principalities is this word. That Greek word, principality, I want you to see it on the screen. It's where we get the word ark, as in archangel. It means first order of. In other words, when God was creating angels, these were the top dogs. These were the generals. First order of or beginning of created beings of the first order in chronology, having seniority. Archangels came first. They rank number one. They've got more stripes on their sleeves, so to speak. They have greater authority. They have greater realm, greater territory. they have greater powers. Again, Michael, Gabriel, Lucifer. But fallen angels, we do not know how many there are, but we know that there's a lot. In Revelation chapter 12, verses 3 to 4 and verse 9, John says, and another angel, or excuse me, another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great fiery red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems on his heads, His tail, here it is, drew a third of the stars of heaven, swept them up, swept them away, took them with him, and threw them to the earth. …
… So into the dark realm of the evil spirits and the malevolent powers, the Bible says regarding this, Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12, and you know this, please know this, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities. Mark that down. That is a rank. Against powers, that's another rank. Against the rulers of the darkness, that's another rank. Against spiritual hosts, that's another rank. Of wickedness in heavenly realms, in the atmosphere. In the atmosphere, there are activities that are invisible to our human eyes. that according to Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12, they are demonic powers of certain ranks and authorities. It's important for us to know that. But it's not only a New Testament doctrine. As I've mentioned the book, Biblical Demonology, a study of spiritual forces at work today by Merrill Lunger. I want to read you this quote. I'll give you a couple of them. The demonic realm is not a chaotic mob of spirits, but an organized kingdom operating under Satan's central authority. …
There are many things that, although you do not see them visibly, they are invisible, but they are very, very powerful. Paul reminds us that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness that are in the heavenly places. I realize that there is a whole group of people that think this whole idea of the devil and demons is not real. Gallup Poll Organization discovered that about 55 to 58 percent of American adults believe in a literal devil, which means not quite half do not believe in a literal devil. They just think it's a symbol of evil. The idea of the devil is a force of evil existing in our world. But Jesus would beg to differ. Jesus said, I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. He knew he was very real. In fact, he spoke more about the devil and about hell than anybody else in the Bible. Not to freak people out, but simply to warn people and to win people. …
… is that it is obviously invisible Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12 says but we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against rulers of the darkness of this age this is all demonic and satanic activity against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places church family see that verse Ephesians 6 verse 12 What do you think about that? I mean, process that for yourself. This is one verse telling you, hey, cheer up, Christian. You're in a fight of your life. Understanding this, you take on the devil with your own strength, you're gonna lose. It's a spiritual war. And the issue is this. The realm that you're up against is of ranking of spiritual powers that dwell in dark realms that go about seeking to destroy lives. Dead serious. I think the dark realm is violent. In John chapter 10, verse 10, Jesus said, The thief does not come except to steal, to kill, and to destroy. I have come, Jesus said, that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. …
… reason we're all susceptible to this sin and that is because we have an active opponent we have an enemy who has set his sights to destroy every one of us in Ephesians 6 verses 11 and 12 Paul writes, put on the full armor of God that you may 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. Listen to what James said in James 1 14, but each one of us is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Now this is key folks to understanding how Satan is going to bring destruction into your life. How are we tempted? When we are first of all carried away. That Greek word alkomai means to be drawn with an inward power. That refers to our corrupt nature that we have. What is it that causes sin? It's first of all our own corrupt nature. …
… Now here is our speaker, Dr. Michael Ziegler. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Our struggle is not against other people. Instead, it is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. That's from a 2,000-year-old letter written by a man named Paul. He was a leader among the earliest followers of Jesus Christ. And it's one of the many truths of the Christian faith that I am inclined to forget and I need to be reminded of regularly. it's easy for me to imagine that my struggle is against other people people right in front of me people whom i see as in my way or in competition with because we're struggling against each other for scarce resources or these people are trying to thwart my will or wreck my plans or rain on my parade and i forget that our real struggle is not against each other no matter how far apart we are on the political spectrum or how differently we see the world, other people are never the real enemy, the Bible tells me. Our struggle is against the unseen spiritual forces of evil, led by a powerful supernatural spiritual agent the Bible calls the devil, who wants to destroy me and separate me from God and separate you from God and us from each other. …
… So you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. for our struggle is not against the people that make you crazy. It's not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to help me out. Hey, you may do this with me. You may be able to, all of our churches, one more time, you may be able to stand your ground after you've done everything else to stand. Stand firm then with a belt of truth around your waist, with a breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, which can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and pray, church, and pray, and pray, church, and pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests with this in mind. …
… and it's not us, it's the forces of darkness. Ephesians 6.12 tells us this, that our struggle, our battle, is not against flesh and blood. It's not against the people who whatever, don't like, don't do, don't whatever, it's not against them, but it's against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Scripture tells us that our battle is not against each other. The person that votes differently than you is not your enemy. I'm going to say it again because I didn't get a single amen. Because some of you don't believe that. Like you literally don't believe that. You literally don't believe that. Your God is not that small. The person who votes differently than you is not your enemy. The person who posts differently than you is not your enemy. The person who worships in a different style is not your enemy. We have one enemy. He is the devil. Lucifer, the serpent, the thief, the prince of darkness, the accuser, the father of lies, the great deceiver. …
… But in spiritual warfare, we understand that the battleground of the enemy is within our minds and in our spirits. But we know that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and against powers and against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness that is seated in high places. that's why Paul continues by suggesting that we as believers ought to demolish everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God he suggests that we ought to take captive to every what thought and make it obedient unto Christ that's why I believe that Jesus prepares us in John 8 44 when he told us y'all the devil is a liar I believe that Jesus wanted the believer prepared for the battle of deception because in spiritual warfare the devil will try to mess with your mind yeah the devil will try to convince you of things that God never said to you nor about you In fact, Jesus goes a step further to say the truth isn't even in him. …
… put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Amen? Can we all say this together? Every location. If you're at home or in a car or on a walk, let's all say it together. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood. I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit for helping me just go to the next verse right here Please, please God help us We're not fighting people we're not fighting people. Oh, we are fighting people, but we're fighting with prayer, with faithful lives, with character. We're not fighting people. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers. What rulers? I'm going to explain it. Against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. This is what's going on around you. there is a spiritual war going on around you right now and if you're uncomfortable with demons and darkness you you you need to wake up because you are in a spiritual war. …
When I am wrestling with something that I can tear apart with my hands, that's one thing, but sometimes the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 6 verses 11 and 12, you've got to put on the whole armor of God. For the King James says in verse 12, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood. This is not a lion you're wrestling with. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. This is not a bear this time. I'm wrestling with my thoughts. I'm wrestling with some secrets. I'm wrestling with some shame. I'm wrestling with some strong temptation. I'm wrestling with some not me. I'm wrestling with some why me. I'm wrestling with some what about me. Well, I am not wrestling anymore with flesh and blood, but I am wrestling against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. See, I understand something about wrestling, not because I watched Hulk Hogan, but because I have a son who is a wrestler. Not WWF, but the kind of wrestling where they put you on a mat for six minutes, and you've got to outscore or pin the other person. Now, in wrestling, I have a little experience because I was a state champion in the eighth grade in a freestyle tournament where there were no other entries in my weight class category, but Graham is pretty good, and I took him to see the national championship where all the greatest college wrestlers were …
… Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil 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 firm. Stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth. All right, that's where we'll stop. Let me recap what we saw last week. So here's my summary of verses 10 through 13 in three truths. One, we live in a spiritual world. This passage which makes clear that there are spiritual rulers, spiritual authorities, spiritual powers over darkness, and spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. Therefore, so everything in this passage hinges on this reality. And we talked last week about how we don't think like this. Most of us only think in terms of what we can see or touch in the physical world, but there is an invisible spiritual world that is just as real as the physical, spiritual, visible physical world that's around us. …
… against the schemes of the devil for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the authorities against the cosmic powers over this present darkness against the spiritual forces of evil 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 firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. in all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish 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 praying 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 the words may be given to me and 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. …
… put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. After you have done everything to stand, stand firm. Stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Paul is painting this picture of a soldier getting ready for battle because it's one thing to recognize that there is an enemy. It's another thing to realize that you have to get ready to fight back against the enemy. I think that one of the ways that the enemy attacks us is by diverting our attention. You think your enemy is your boss or your spouse or maybe your mother-in-law, not me. Some of us wake up in the morning. We're ready for a fight with the wrong enemy. …
… Today is the final installment, finally, of this series on spiritual warfare. We've gone through Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 through 20, and we've been looking at these. weapons, this armor that Paul tells the church in Ephesus to have. We have put on, looked at each one of these weapons, each one of these, this armor. Finally, my brethren, verse 10. Verse 10, 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 arm of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, verse 14, having girded your waist with truth. Somebody say truth, truth, truth. Having put on the breastplate of righteousness. …
… 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, verse 13, take up the whole arm of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand, therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, somebody say above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Amen. So we're on part seven today and we're going to talk about the sword of the spirit. …
… 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. Somebody say a whole armor. that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand therefore having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one and take the helmet of salvation. That's where we are today. Somebody say, the helmet of salvation. Look at your neighbor and say, we need to put the helmet of salvation on. No, no, I'm sorry. You need to put the helmet of salvation on for your big head. …
… Put on the whole arm of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles or the tricks of the devil. For we do not wrestle, verse 12, against flesh and blood, but against, and here are the four entities I talked about last week. Here are the four entities that our battle is with. And you got to understand this, this is what we covered last week. against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Those are the four entities. We covered those four last week, that each one represents some element of spiritual warfare. And that's who we're battling against. That's who we're fighting against. And then it says in verse number 13, therefore take up the whole arm of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. I love that context. Again, I highlighted this last week that we are to stand, withstand, and then stand. Stand, withstand, stand. Which means basically to get your ground, set your, where you're going to be, what you're going to believe, what you're going to do. Stand and don't be altered. Don't allow anybody to distract you, pull you away. Find out what it is you believe and stand on it. Thank all five of y'all. I appreciate that very much. Verse 14 says, stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth. And so in part two today, I want to talk about this first spiritual armor that we're to put on, which is, I call it the belt of …
… Verse 12. 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 arm of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Y'all see that right there. Verses 10 through 13. and what I want to do is start off by telling you first of all who our enemies are. Here's my first point. I got seven points. I really only got three points but there's several sub points but the first thing I want to talk about is our enemies because y'all some of y'all think that the people that your fight is against people so that's why you cuss people out give them a piece of your mind, try to do harm to them, try to hurt them. That's why you tear people's stuff up because you think you're hurting people. And you're not smart enough to recognize that you're not hurting nobody but yourself. Amen, Pastor. It's okay. I see right now I have to encourage myself while I'm preaching on this sermon today. Amen. Paul is telling us in verse 12. Let me start verse 12. He's trying to give us some insights by telling us that our real fight is not against flesh and blood. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. Look at your neighbor and say, it ain't you. …
I'm going to read verses 10 through 15. Ephesians 6, verse 10 through 16. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole arm 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 arm of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, verse 14, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, verse 15, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. I want to talk about shoes today. This is spiritual warfare number four, part four. And I want to talk about shoes. Look at your shoes. This here is an armor bearer, Robert Littlejohn. …
… 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, verse 13, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, verse 14, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Today's part three, and I want to talk about the breastplate of righteousness. I want to talk about putting on the breastplate of righteousness. We already talked about the principalities, powers, rulers of darkness of this age, spiritual hosts of wickedness. We've talked about standing and withstanding. We've talked about the belt of truth. Last time we discussed and dialogued about the lies that the devil wants you to believe and embrace. And in fact, God wants us to hold on to truth. I gave you basically the seven truths that God wants us to believe. …
… spiritual forces of wickedness. And the truth is, according to verse 12, we struggle against them. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. People are not our enemy. They're the mission field. They are Satan's dupes. They are Satan's agents. They are the children of the devil, the Bible says. They have his desires and they do his bidding. But behind them, the real struggle is with the forces of supernatural spiritual beings who are doing everything they can to destroy the work of God and destroy the usefulness of God's people. So this is a severe, serious struggle. The word struggle in the Greek is pale, and it basically is simply, if you just took it in a literal sentence, it means to swing around back and forth. So it became a word used for wrestling, which is what happens in a wrestling match as two opponents grapple with each other. We are in a wrestling match with a very, very powerful enemy, not to be taken lightly without sad, sad results. …
… 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. Again, it might seem like a complete change in subjects from the celebration of the birth of Christ to talking about the strategies of the devil. But you can't think about the birth of Christ without understanding that the devil did a mass execution of young male children at the very time of our Lord's birth. The devil has always fought the purposes of God, and he expressed his hatred of God even in the massacre of those children under the edict of wicked men. Wherever you may be in this story of the incarnation of Christ, you're never going to be far from the devil. He was there at the beginning. …
… INTRIGATE ORGANIZATION. THERE IS A NETWORK OF WICKEDNESS. LISTEN TO THIS ABOUT SATAN. EPHESIANS CHAPTER SIX AND VERSE 12, PAUL SAID, FOR WE WRESTLE NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD. BOY, WE NEED TO LEARN THAT. WE WRESTLE NOT AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD, BUT AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES. NOW YOU SEE, SATAN IS A PRINCE. A PRINCIPALITY IS THAT ORGANIZATION THAT IS UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF A PRINCE, AGAINST PRINCIPALITIES, AGAINST POWERS, AGAINST THE RULERS OF THE DARKNESS OF THIS, ARE YOU LISTENING, THIS WORLD, AGAINST SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS IN HIGH PLACES. THERE IS A GREAT CONSPIRACY, THE BIBLE CALLS IT, THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY. HAVE YOU GOT IT? SO THE FIRST THING ABOUT THE WORLD IS THIS, THE WORLD HAS A PRINCE. NOW SECONDLY, THE WORLD HAS A PHILOSOPHY, THAT'S THE SECOND P. THE WORLD HAS A PHILOSOPHY. THERE IS AN ENTICING NETWORK OF IDEAS AND VALUES THAT ARE SKILFULLY WOVEN TOGETHER TO ENSLAVE THE GUILTY AND TO ENTRAP THE INNOCENT. LET ME JUST GIVE YOU QUICKLY THESE VERSES. FIRST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER TWO VERSE 12 SPEAKS OF THE SPIRIT OF THE WORLD. THERE'S A, A WORLDLY SPIRIT. …