Seven Truths about the Spiritual World

0:09 So Ephesians 6, 10 through 20, we just read it, so we're just gonna, or just heard it, we're gonna jump right in. I wanna show you, I think it's seven, seven high-level truths in this last part of Ephesians 6, and we're gonna fly through most of them. The first one, we'll camp out a little bit longer. So, all right, here we go. Ephesians 6, 10 through 20, first truth. We live in a spiritual world. We live in a spiritual world. So when you look at this passage and you read, as Paul's bringing this letter to a close, you read about rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness, spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. What is this talking about? There's cosmic powers, spiritual forces. Because I don't think we think like this.

1:02 I don't think we see the world like this. Let me show you a story from the Old Testament. So this is from 2 Kings 6, verse 8, about Elisha and his servant. And I think it's so helpful for shedding light on Ephesians 6. So Elisha in this story is described, he's a prophet, he's described as the man of God. So verse 8 says, So basically, the king of Syria would make plans in his war against Israel, and then God would reveal those plans to Elisha, and Elisha would tell the king of Israel.

1:59 It's kind of unfair, right? Like, naturally, this did not make the king of Syria very happy.

3:02 So the servant is panicked, so he wakes up Elisha and says, what are we gonna do? We're surrounded right now. And Elisha said, do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Huh. He says, there's more of us than there is of them. Now, you put yourself in the servant's shoes, you're like, there's two of us. And there's a whole army with horses and chariots. Like, if you're Elisha's servant, you're thinking, the old guy's lost his mind. Like, he may be a prophet, but he's no mathematician. Like, there's two of us and a whole lot of them. Then listen to what happens. Verse 17. Then Elisha prayed and said, Oh, Lord, please open his eyes that he may see. So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

4:01 So Elisha prays, God, help him to see what he can't see. that there's a spiritual army of horses and chariots of fire all around them. And in that moment, the servant gets a glimpse of spiritual power that totally changes his perspective. And he realizes, wait, the army of Syria is outnumbered. Not physically, but spiritually. and in that moment, the invisible became visible and everything changed. Listen to what happened. When the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, please strike this people with blindness. So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elijah. Prayer matters.

4:51 You pray, it's not just talking into the ceiling. You pray, God acts in response. God did what Elijah asked him to do And Elisha said to them, this is not the way, this is not the city, follow me and I will bring you to the man whom you seek. And he led them to Samaria. What happens in the rest of the story is Elisha leads the Syrian army straight to the king of Israel where the Syrian army is immediately captured. So here's the point. And here's why I share this as we look at Ephesians chapter 6. because God is telling us here in his word right now that we need new sight. We need to see things in this room and in this world that we can't see. Like there is a spiritual, invisible world around us that is just as real as the physical, visible world, yet it is far more powerful.

5:54 The Bible teaches there are vast numbers of angels, both good and bad, spirits that exist all around us. Like right now, there are glorious beings that would take our breath away if we could see them. And there are evil beings that would horrify us if we could see them. And let's be honest, to most of our minds, that sounds crazy. like in most of our minds we explain everything by what we can physically observe in science in technology so to say that you believe in the existence of angels or demons is like saying you believe in dragons and elves in our worldview you can't see it touch it taste it smell it hear it it doesn't exist like seriously how can you believe God controls thunder and lightning when meteorologists can use satellite pictures and computers to predict storms a week before they even happen. How can you say a personal tempter engages our wills in a battle of good and evil when we know it's actually just configurations of our DNA, our family history that lead us down certain paths? Like our worldview has deadened us to the reality of the spiritual such that we see spiritual explanations of anything as religious fancy.

7:16 C.S. Lewis was quoted last night, his classic book, The Screwtape Letters. So we usually think about spiritual explanations. of events as crazy, or at least uncommon, or maybe weird. So yeah, maybe there's some spiritual stuff happening, like in seances, or Ouija boards, or tarot cards, and maybe in some remote places around the world, but not our everyday lives in the United States, which is kind of the point. Because it's interesting, there are many places I've been in the world where I would not have to point this out because they know there's a spiritual world around them. The sad thing is many people from the West, even in the name of missions, have gone to places like that and tried to convince them otherwise. We've gone into third world context and taught people it's not spirits who make the crops grow, it's science. So we got fertilizer and fungicides and pesticides and hybrid seed. We showed them spirituality has nothing to do with agriculture, it's science.

8:42 and to be clear it's not that science isn't involved it obviously is but what we should have said is this is a God created and God sustained world and God has enabled us to learn how to put the right things together in accordance with how he has created them and when we do that God gives good crops science is our natural observation of the way a supernatural God it governs the world. And all of this scientific order is maintained by his sovereign supernatural power. The fruit we see in science is the work of Almighty God. But that's not the way we think. We don't see the spiritual realities that permeate and infiltrate the physical world around us. But the Bible teaches this from beginning to end. It's what Ephesians 6 is saying. Think about it. Genesis three, there was spiritual temptation that led to physically eat a piece of fruit. In Jesus's life, Matthew chapter four, he was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

9:47 So now all that leads to second truth that we see here. Number one, we live in a spiritual world. Two, we're involved. That means we're involved in a spiritual war. We are wrestling. Not against flesh and blood, but against these rulers, authority, cosmic powers, and spiritual forces. The word is literally to fight in a contest against these rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, spiritual forces of evil. Like whether we realize it or not, there is a spiritual battle that's happening all around us and affecting all of us. Wherever you are, in your home, on the field, in the clubhouse, with your spouse, on your own, this war is happening within and around you. When you scroll through your phone, there is a spiritual fight happening for your heart and mind.

10:44 Your thoughts, your desires, your words, your actions, your interactions, your relationships are all immersed in this spiritual war. That's the third truth. The scope of this spiritual war is universal. And I mean this in two ways. One, this spiritual war encompasses every part of your life. Think about all that Ephesians has covered to this point, from unity in the church to holiness in your life to marriage and parenting. At the end of Ephesians 5, beginning of chapter 6, relationships with parents, authorities, even evil authorities. This spiritual war encompasses everything, and not just in your life. This spiritual war is universal in the sense that it encompasses every single person's life in the world. There is a battle that is raging every day, not just for your soul, but for the souls of every single person on the planet and every nation, tribe, and language on the earth.

11:47 there's a battle raging for my kids right now and your kids. And we would be foolish parents to not have our eyes open to the battle that's raging for them. and there's a battle that's raging for every teammate that might come to your mind right now there's a battle raging for their soul there's a battle raging for every person that might come to your mind right now for every single person and every single people group in the world paul closes this whole passage with a reference to all the saints working together for the spread of the gospel in all the world, which leads to the next truth. So the stakes in this spiritual war are eternal. They're eternal. What's at stake in this battle?

12:42 Salvation of souls for all of eternity. That's only possible through Jesus, as we have seen. Like casualties in this war don't merely lose an arm or an eye or even an earthly life. Casualties in this war lose everything, even their own soul, and enter into a future of everlasting judgment.

13:12 That's what's at stake. I don't want to over-dramatize this, but I don't think that's actually possible. Like, we say things like, that was a hell of a game, we had a hell of a time, we have no idea what we are saying. This is not a game. this is real, eternal wrath, holy wrath, due to sin.

13:44 And there is, you look at 2 Corinthians 4, 4-6, there is a capital G God of this world, over this world, who is shining light in the hearts. And there is a lowercase little g God who's trying to blind minds all throughout this world. In this room, every single person we know, every single person on the planet. There is a spiritual battle raging. And verse five, right in the middle, 2 Corinthians 4, 5, and we are preaching Christ. We're on the front lines of spiritual battle. Day in and day out. You don't choose to be in it. You're in it. It's inevitable. And the stakes are eternal. We talked about this yesterday. Those red zones. Talking about three billion people who are on a road that leads to eternal judgment, who sinned have never even heard the good news of God's grace in Jesus. And there are, there's reasons why they're red. They're hard to reach. They're difficult to reach.

14:40 They're dangerous to reach. Like all the easy ones are taken. And there's an adversary who has kept many of those places in dark for centuries and will do everything he can to keep them in the dark, including getting the church to just be focused on basically a brand of Christianity that's content to ignore them. That is a strategy of the adversary. And you work to try to get the gospel. You know this. You work to be intentional with getting the gospel on your team, in your city, and you work to be intentional with getting the gospel to the world, you will be met with the force of hell. because the stakes in this spiritual war are eternal, which leads to the next truth. Our adversary in this spiritual war is strong. So when you see spiritual forces of evil, and you know that at the root of them is what the Bible calls the devil, diabolos in the Greek, from which we get diabolical.

15:37 His name literally means the slanderer. Elsewhere, he's called the accuser. Jeremy mentioned that last night. The liar, the destroyer. And please hear this. God in his word does not describe the devil as a wimp who is trying to harm you. God tells us the devil is a lion looking to devour you. You don't play with lions.

16:06 You, in a sense, respect lions. and the power they represent. So let's believe God on this one. Let's realize that if our adversary was a man, if he possessed nothing but human ingenuity, strength, or craft, then we would be okay fighting by human means. But he is not a human, and in our flesh we are no match for him. We cannot fight spiritual battle with natural weapons. like a prayer-less Christian or a prayer-light Christian is a very foolish Christian.

16:49 You're living in your own power? You think you can fight this battle in your own strength? You can't do it. Like prayerlessness equals pride. If you're not walking with God in prayer, then you're basically saying, I can do this on my own. And you cannot.

17:14 And God is so kind and gracious to tell us you can't, but you don't have to. Don't fight spiritual battles with natural weapons. Fight spiritual battles with spiritual weapons, which leads to truth number six. Our enemy in this spiritual war is strong, but our ally in this spiritual world, war is stronger. His name is Jesus. He is God in the flesh. The sovereign Lord who we saw has all authority over all things, including what's all things under his feet, including Satan, demons, sin, death itself. It's all under his feet. Which is why the Spirit of God tells us in this passage to do what? Be strong. What are the next three words? in the Lord. In Jesus, not in yourself.

18:12 Be strong in the strength of his might. His might, not your might, his might. Then he says, put on the whole armor of who? Of God. I think if Paul had Tupperware, he'd be like, this is it. his might in you, you in him, in God. This is, like, live with this reality. And this is where we have to be careful in our understanding of the spiritual armor here. And there's so much we could talk about it at this point, and we could walk through specifics, but get the big picture. Sometimes we think we need to put this on every morning because, well, oh, wait a minute. If it's spiritual armor, why would you take it off at night? like keep it on all the time. And we have to be careful not to over interpret it.

19:05 Like, okay, belt of truth. Okay, what does a belt do? A belt helps hold up our pants. So truth helps. So you start to go down these roads. It's like, well, wait a second. Paul doesn't even mention pants. Surely we need pants. So we're not going to battle without pants. So the whole picture, it's not, this is not like a wardrobe outline. Like the whole picture of the armor of God here revolves around being clothed with the character of God, with the person of Jesus, i.e. the new self, new creation in Christ, Christ in you, in God. This is the reality you're to live in with his truth, his righteousness, his gospel of peace, his goodness of peace that transcends all understanding, Faith in him.

19:59 Like faith, trust in him. This is the Christian life. Galatians 2.20. I have been crucified with Christ. I no longer even live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Like this is my life. I'm dead. It's Christ in me. He is my whole life. He's my everything. His blood has saved me. His spirit fills me. His word is the sword in my hand that I meditate on day and night. Oh, just side note, if you do not have an intentional plan for meditating on God's word day and night, you need that plan. You cannot fight spiritual war without spiritual weapons. You need God's word. I need, I cannot live without God's word speaking into my heart and my mind every morning. I can't.

20:54 I can't live. I will be so prone to think the way this world thinks, to think all kinds of things that the adversary wants me to think. We need this word filling our minds and our hearts and not just reading it. That's not the word we see all over scripture. It's blessed is the man, woman, who meditates on his word day and night. Don't just read it, kind of check off a box. Like meditate, what does this mean? Like how? And interacting with the spirit in that. I gotta tell you a quick story. I probably don't have time, but I'll make it quick. So I do a daily podcast called Pray the Word. And it's just like five minutes, read a verse, and just meditate on it and pray according to it. And it's just really just the overflow of my quiet time that I hope will be encouragement to others. But a couple days ago, because I knew I was gonna be here, I recorded an advance episode on Psalm 144, verse 15, which says, blessed are the people whose God is the Lord's.

21:48 And I'm just like praying through that verse, okay, meditating on it. And the Lord brings to my mind, so blessed are the people whose God is the Lord. The Lord, as I'm just meditating on this verse, the Lord brings to my mind a man who, like from my home church years ago, who just was such an encouragement to me, prayed for me. He's an older brother in the Lord. And whenever you would ask him how he's doing, he'd be like, blessed, blessed. He'd just always say blessed. He lived like blessed. And he would always say that. The Lord brought that to my mind. and so as I'm recording this podcast, I was just like, I can't help but think about Mr. Lussie is his name and how he was just so blessed and always lived like that, encouraged others with that and it's a reality. For all who are in Christ, it's not that everything's going awesome. This is not like Rosie, pretend like everything's perfect. No, but you're blessed. Like you're a child of God. Nothing in this world can come at you that will overtake you.

22:42 Nothing. You're blessed. So to live in that. So anyway, I record that. It comes out yesterday morning. I had no idea that Mr. Lussie was nearing, I knew his health had been declining some, but he was nearing the end of his life. That podcast comes out, and two hours later, Mr. Lussie goes to be with the Lord.

23:04 As people are listening to this podcast about Mr. Lussie and the blessing it is, and I had said, I was like, what all did I say on that podcast? I went back and listened, and I'm talking about how Mr. Lussie knows that no matter whether he's alive or he's dead. He's going to be blessed because he's going to be in the presence of God. Like, that was the podcast. I had no idea. He was even this. I just share that because when you open the Bible, like, you're not just going through a rote motion. You're communing with God. His Spirit, like, speaking to you, leading your thoughts, and you listening to him and pouring out your heart to him. Like, this is amazing. So our ally in this spiritual world is stronger. Live in this spiritual reality. Do not be content with a rote, mechanical, religious faith. No, it's not what you're made for. You're made for real relationship with God, where he's speaking to you, and you're speaking to him, and you're walking with him according to his word and his spirit.

24:04 And so our ally, and he's in you, he's with you. So what do we do by his power, by his strength in us? Well, look at the passage. One, you might write this down. One, we stand firm. Where is it? Here we go. We stand firm. Did you see in 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 firm, stand therefore. Do you get the point? The whole passage is about standing, which is a good reminder to us. Today, right now, there is an adversary who wants you to fall. And the battle every day is to stand in Christ and the new self and to live in it at every moment. To stand, withstand all the attacks he brings your way. Which he's bringing all kinds of attacks all the time.

25:00 Every one of our way. To stand firm in the middle of those by the power of Jesus, spirit in us. So stand firm and then press forward. Press forward as we spread the gospel. So we are not on the defense in this spiritual war. We're on the offense. We are boldly proclaiming the mystery of the gospel. Even when it means they put us in chains. Even when it's costly, we declare it boldly. This is why Acts chapter one, verse eight, you have Holy Spirit power in you to be a what? To be a witness, to tell others. In this spiritual battle, there's life. There's eternal life in Jesus. So press forward. The gates of hell will not stop the church proclaiming the gospel of Jesus. Like, believe that.

25:55 And you look, that's true. And I loved, it's been said at different points up here. Like, there is not one person on any team you play on that is beyond the power of Jesus to save. Believe that. You can't control other people, what they think about the gospel. you can control your own confidence in the gospel to save people. So if you got that confidence, then you boldly share it. Yes, wisely, carefully, just like we've been talking about up here, but boldly. Like it's not going to, the gospel won't be shared without boldness. So pray for that. Acts chapter 4, when they're facing spiritual warfare, consider their threats, enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. So pray for that on your team, in your city, wherever you are, with family members. You know, like I think about just talking with Christian and Jessica last night. Like to hear Jessica saying, I've been praying for years for my husband to trust in Jesus. And he stands up in the side of the room over there.

26:51 That's not a great sermon. That's a faithful wife praying day in and day out, fighting with spiritual weapons. Do that kind of fighting on behalf of others all the time. Pressing forward. Like you don't sit on the sidelines. You can guard your reputation and you can make your life a lot easier by sitting on the sidelines. But you will miss out on the thrill of being on the front lines and seeing God do what only he can do. Don't miss out. You are not made for the sidelines. You're made to be in the real game. Like real game that matters for real eternity. So stand firm and press forward. Knowing, and so just picture it even broader. Like, we know how the story's gonna end. Every nation, tribe, people, and language is gonna gather around the throne of our God singing praises to Jesus for his salvation. You know what that means?

27:44 You can go to work to get the gospel in any red part of the world, and you know somebody's gonna be reached with it. Like, there's not a people group in the world that is beyond the power of our God to save. And if we know that, then why would we not, like, give our resources to that? Guaranteed success. So, put all this together, that leads to the last truth. the outcome of this spiritual war is irreversible. Irreversible. I love the last word of Ephesians. I'll put it up here on the screen. Look at how the whole letter ends. Grace, Mark just brought that word so helpful last night. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. Is that not a great word? To end the letter with, like Paul just like, huh, how can I end it?

28:39 Incorruptible. Like what we've been called to is incorruptible, immortal, imperishable, pure, forever and ever. I have good news for you today in this spiritual battle. The war has already been won.

29:01 Satan has been conquered. Sin has been defeated. Death has been overcome. For all who are in Christ, you're not living for victory. You're living from victory. How awesome would that be to go into a game knowing we've already won? That doesn't mean we just sit back and do nothing. No, it means we go out on the field and we work hard with the confidence we're going to win. Even when on days or moments in that game where it looks like the other team's gonna win, you know it's not gonna happen. Guaranteed. Like nobody, I mean, maybe you're like an awesome team playing a really lame team. But even still, you could still lose. The reality is this is guaranteed for us, brothers and sisters in Christ.

29:56 Like we know how the story ends. Like Revelation, there's a lot We don't understand that book, but when it comes down to it, just plain and simple, our God wins. And all who are in him will reign with him forever. So don't ignore this spiritual battle. Fight this spiritual battle. Stand with the strength of Jesus himself in you, no matter what this world and the adversary throws at you. Stand firm and press forward. Wherever God leads you, trust. He is sovereignly guiding your steps for the spread of his grace in a spiritual battle for the souls of people wherever you will be. You are never on a team by accident. You are never in a city by accident. It is not owners and GMs that are controlling this picture.

30:51 God has the whole thing rigged. And he knows who needs the gospel. He knows his spirit in you. He's leading you to those places. And there's a much bigger picture here than what this world sees. Live looking at the spiritual world, not just the physical world, with confidence that one day they're going to be perfectly united, new heaven, new earth, free from sin, free from sorrow. This is where it's all going. So keep your eyes fixed on that day and live for what's going to matter on that day and 10 trillion years beyond that day.