Focused Fighting

Take your Bibles, if you would please, and turn to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 6 is where we're at, and the title is "Focused Fighting." To be focused in the right direction is very important, but to be focused on the right one is even more important. You know, Satan would try to distract you — to get you focused on him rather than the Father — and so the sermon in a sentence today is this: focusing on the Father is fighting correctly. Focusing on the Father is fighting correctly. If you're focused on the things of this world, you're distracted, and the distracted warfighter could easily be defeated.

And so I would like to focus our attention in the right direction — on the Father — especially on this Father's Day. Happy Father's Day to all of you who are fathers, and more importantly, Happy Father's Day to the heavenly Father, who is so wonderful. I know that Father's Day is not a biblical holiday, but we can still celebrate that in spirit. I pray that your relationship with the heavenly Father is so glorious and so wonderful that you could never imagine living a day without intimately walking with your Father.

And so notice with me, if you would, in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 11, that you are to put on the full armor of God. We're talking about the armor of God in this spiritual warfare series, but the armor is of God — and so the focus is not the armor itself, as if a warfighter would be staring at his sword in the middle of a sword fight or looking at his shield while he's fighting. The focus is on the Lord. As we are warring through this world, as we are walking with the Lord, our primary focus is on God. That's how you win spiritual battles.

If you fight in the flesh like an actual war — if you're drafted into the military and you go to war — you had better keep your eye on the enemy. Do not take your eye off the enemy. The moment you take your eye off the enemy is the moment you die. But it is not the same in spiritual warfighting. In spiritual warfighting, you had better not take your eye off of Jesus. So keep your eyes on King Jesus.

And notice not only in verse 11 that the armor is of God, but also in verse 13: "Therefore, take up the full armor of God." The armor is of God. It is a metaphor. It is to help us see these pictures, to be able to comprehend the concepts — these concepts that God wants us to be able to utilize in abiding in Him and walking with Him. That is spiritual warfighting: focused on the Father, not focused on the things of this world. We're not fighting against things that you can see — they're invisible things.

And you see that in verses 10, 11, and 12. Read with me: "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the might of His strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand against the schemes of the devil." And so again, this whole idea of fighting against the devil — there are many different books out there. The Unseen Realm is one. Bondage Breaker by Neil Anderson is another. All these are just endless attempts to get you to focus upon the devil himself, as if you can fight the devil — as if you could put on a pair of gloves and get in the ring with Satan himself, as if you could sword fight Satan himself, as if you could have a verbal argument with Satan himself. Eve already proved to all of humanity that you lose when you fight in the flesh. But if you fight in the Spirit, you'll win. We need to know how to fight in the Spirit and not get drawn into the devil's domain. Okay — so we fight against his schemes, not against him himself.

And verse 12: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and against the authorities and against the world forces of this darkness and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." All of this is invisible. So these spiritual forces are what we are against. Our focus is on the Father — that's how you fight correctly.

You do need to know your enemy. He is a destroyer. Point number one, if you're taking notes, is that the devil is a destroyer. He's a disruptor. He's one who can disturb. Satan is an evil spiritual entity. Satan has an evil spiritual kingdom of darkness. It's made up of demons who are trained. It's made up of angels who are aggressive. It's made up of an army that is organized.

And so what can the devil do? You need to know the capabilities of the one who is your enemy. Well, the devil can be the source of a literal thorn. 2 Corinthians 12:7–10 talks about how Paul prayed for a thorn to be removed and that wasn't the case. So Satan can be a thorn in the flesh. He can also lead you into temptation — Matthew chapter 4, verses 1 to 11, attests to the fact that he can tempt you. He can harm you in that way. He can trick you — in Ephesians 4:14, he's a trickster. He can trick you into doing what you think is right when it's actually wrong. He is a master perverter. He can make you think, "Oh, I'm doing this right," when you're actually heading in the wrong direction. Have you ever done something wrong with the right motives? Well, think about that — it's a trap. Satan does those things.

He is also one who is able to trap you. In 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 26 and following, it says that he can trap you. He sets traps. And he's not setting a mousetrap for you — he's setting a bear trap for you. A bear trap you cannot get out of. No human being has enough physical strength to separate a bear trap when it has latched onto your leg. It just has too much force. As a matter of fact, two or three or four men perhaps could not even pry a bear trap off. But a mousetrap, now — do you think Satan's going to set a mousetrap or a bear trap? He's going to set a bear trap, and he has spied out your life and tried to find a weakness so that he can set that invisible trap to be able to destroy you. He's not just going to disturb you — he is going to disturb you to figure out where he can set a trap that's going to kill you.

He's a deceiver — 1 Peter 5:8 says so. And he's also an inflictor. He can inflict pain on you. He did so on Job in chapter 2, verses 1 to 7, inflicting a lot of pain in Job's life. And then as well, he can possess non-believers — Mark chapter 5, verse 2 attests to the fact that evil entities can possess human beings. And a lot of times we don't think about that. There's nothing new under the sun, and there was demon possession in the Old and New Testaments. And there are still days when demons can possess people. Don't forget that.

Not only can Satan and his minions possess non-believers, but Satan and his minions can oppress believers. Okay? In Luke chapter 22, verses 31 to 32, you see oppression. So you don't have to worry about being taken over from the inside by evil entities. If your heart is owned by God, if you have the seal of the Holy Spirit, if you have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within you, He is not going to give up that domain. You are sealed and safe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you have Him as your eternal protector and Father. He would never allow you to be taken over by an evil entity. But Satan certainly will do all that he possibly can to oppress you and push you down, and he has many different strategies to do that.

Satan can also sway and motivate leaders, armies, and nations — all throughout the Scriptures you see this, especially in 1 Kings chapter 22, verses 19 to 23. Satan has swayed entire armies and nations. He can also cause natural disasters — Job chapter 1, verses 18 and 19 attest to that. Satan can also perform deceptive miracles — Matthew 7:21–23.

When you have signs today from all these false prophets around the world who claim to have a supernatural connection with God that you don't have, and who need you to give money to them so that they can supernaturally bless you — allow none of this garbage. All this deception. You need to know that evil can do deceptive tricks today that you would think are supernatural. That doesn't verify that they're in touch with God. In fact, it pretty much verifies that they're in touch with evil, because God is no longer doing these types of miracles. He's no longer parting the Red Sea for Moses. He's no longer allowing modern-day apostles to heal people. This is not the case. God gave the ability for healings to the apostles who are named in the New Testament to establish His Word. We have His Word. Hebrews chapter 1, verses 1 through 3 says that we have the Word — now He speaks through His Word. Do not allow any false prophet to tell you that you need them in order to understand or hear from God. You can hear from the Lord through His Scriptures. He can guide your life personally. Don't be deceived.

These false prophets are performing all kinds of so-called miracles. You've probably seen someone's leg being "extended" online. What a cheap trick that is. And I'm so amazed at how many are fooled by these simple schemes. But Satan is capable of really deceiving — whether it was taking a staff and turning it into a snake or a snake into a staff in the Old Testament. Pharaoh and his magicians could mimic exactly what Moses did. And I'm telling you, God is not in that today. So don't be swayed by the supernatural. Satan can perform all kinds of deceptive tricks.

And as well, Satan can have Christians martyred, killed, and tortured. In John chapter 16, verses 1 through 3, Jesus warned His disciples that this is the case. Evil religion will murder you. Evil religion can legally prosecute and kill you. That's a warning to the disciples, and nothing has changed. You could read Foxe's Book of Martyrs and see all kinds of glorious testimonies to how God has spread His glorious gospel through the suffering of the saints. That's how the gospel is advanced. God actually uses Satan. All of these evil means expose the truth. God uses these things. You think Satan is loosed and he is terrorizing and doing all this destruction — know that Satan is God's devil. God uses Satan. There is nothing outside of God's control. Listen to me — this is a point of theological conviction for those who know their Bible. Is God God, or is He not? Because if God is God, then Satan is not God. He's a pretender.

He's a trickster. He wants your attention to be on him, not the Father. And if you would abide in Christ, if you would abide in the Word, if you would continue in the Word — if, focused on the Father, you will not be tricked by these schemes. You have your own Word of God. You have your own copy. You have your own relationship with the Lord. Be a good Berean. I like to say it like this: be a good Baptist Berean. Study the Word of God. See it for yourself. Don't just take someone's word for it. Write it down. Go home. Study it out. And then you will own it. Say it like this: "If you find it, you've got it. But if you just hear it, you may forget it." You need to take it home and really refine these truths for yourselves. Rewrite them in a way that you can remember them. Get a folder that says, "I need to remember these things." And when you're hearing preaching, when you're hearing Bible teaching, listening to podcasts or sermons, reading the Bible — write things down and refine them.

Listen, theological concepts get more and more refined as the centuries go by. We understand God more and more through time. Do you not know a little bit more about the Word of God than our father Abraham did? Abraham did not have the availability of all of God's Word. And you can think through that single concept all the way through the centuries. Do you not have more of the Scriptures than Moses had? Well, Moses had the entire Torah — by the time God had written through him the first five books of the Bible, he had more than Abraham did. What about the prophets? Do you have more of an understanding of God's Word than the prophets of old? Yet the prophets were so revered. John the Baptist, the most famous person in his day, the last prophet standing — and yet they did not yet have the full counsel of God's whole Word. And we do. And it's even more effective to have a copy of God's Word than to be walking as a disciple with Jesus, because Jesus said to His disciples, "When the Holy Spirit comes, it is better." And so now we have — through the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, which by the way we're studying on Wednesday nights — the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to help illuminate the truth of Scripture. John chapter 14, verse 26 says it's the Holy Spirit's role to teach you the truth. You have a personal guide, a personal Holy Spirit, a person living and dwelling inside of you, and the Word is "living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword" — Hebrews 4:12. You have the Holy Spirit of God inside you to help you do this. Why would you not pay attention to this?

It's so vital for us to focus on the right things as we're going through this world, especially when you go through a trial. It's easy to look down. As soon as you look down, you get depressed. As soon as you look down, you get depressed, you start thinking about the devil's schemes, and it's just like a toilet bowl going in the wrong, stinky direction. Hey — look up to the Father. Look up to Christ. Look up. When you do look down, look into the Word of God. Keep focused on the right things.

How many of us truly dwell upon the things of God throughout the day? Or are you grumbling inwardly and complaining about the things of the world? Are you grumbling and complaining? Philippians chapter 2, verse 14 says that you are not to complain or to grumble. That's the exact opposite direction of being a Spirit-filled Christian. To be Spirit-filled means a lot — it's the opposite of selfism. To be a Spirit-filled person, which by the way, in Ephesians chapter 5, verse 18 — look in your Bibles and see it — is a command that you would be Spirit-filled. And in Ephesians chapter 5, it talks about not only how to be Spirit-filled, but also how having the marriage that God wants you to have is dependent upon you being Spirit-filled, and being able to parent correctly is dependent upon you being Spirit-filled, and being able to teach your children is dependent upon you being Spirit-filled.

Fathers, listen up. Ephesians chapter 6, verse 4 instructs you. You are commanded by Scripture to teach your children. You cannot get out from underneath that command, and you will answer to God on judgment day as to how you did in fulfilling it. The Father above is telling fathers below to teach their children, because they're going to be fathers one day, and how you train them up is essential.

You must be Spirit-filled in order to fulfill these commands — on how to be married, how to parent, how to instruct your children, and then how to work, how to go to work, how to make money, how to be productive, how to work as unto the Lord and not unto men. And as this concept unfolds — forget about the chapter breaks between chapter 5 and chapter 6. Know that this concept rolls right into how you apply these things in spiritual warfare. There's no theological break here. And when the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10 "finally," Paul is not giving you a side note and saying, "Oh yeah, before I wrap up this letter and sign my name, let me give you one more random bullet point while it's on my mind." It is not a random thought. It's not how the Scriptures are unfolding. They are building up. And so the Spirit-filled person who has, in Ephesians chapters 1, 2, and 3, learned sound doctrine — the first half of Ephesians is about biblical belief. And then chapters 4, 5, and 6 are about biblical behavior: how you live out what you have first learned. And so now it is building. It's going somewhere. Paul is writing this letter for a reason. And now it's getting to the climax of the letter — how you live these things out — because spiritual warfare is exactly what happens in the marriage and in the parenting, between the children and at work. It's your everyday life. You must truly see reality.

I'm telling you, reality is being able to war — or I shall simply say, walk — as a Christian. For you to be disciplined in how you speak, in how you work, in how you are in Christ — that's warring. That's Christianity. What does it mean to deny the flesh? What does it mean to take up the cross? What does it mean to train yourself in righteousness? All of these things is spiritual warfighting. These things do not just happen. Nothing happens naturally. In fact, godly character is not natural — our nature is opposed to God and needs to be changed and conformed in Christ. And so to be Spirit-filled means that you are now able to do what the Bible says in regards to marriage and parenting and working and now simply walking — or spiritual warfighting.

What is it, then, to be a Spirit-filled Christian? Well, this command literally renders as "be being kept filled" — it is a continuous, ongoing action. Think with me on this concept, folks. Yesterday's filling is not sufficient for today. Right? So to be Spirit-filled is not only a mandate; it is so that you can fulfill God's will every single day. You need to be filled by the Holy Spirit to be able to do this. It is very simple and practical. It is not super difficult, but it's something that we really miss as Christians — to simply submit to God in everyday, ordinary ways. Submitting to God. How do you speak to your spouse? What do you speak about? How do you speak to your children? How do you live before your children? How do you live before your co-workers? What things do you talk about? Is Christ supreme in your life?

Well, if He is — if He is the ruler and reigner of your heart — then Christ being the ruler of your heart is going to come out, and you will say so. Because the Bible says it very clearly, in Matthew chapter 12 — I can't remember the verse right now — "from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." It's a truism. From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. If Christ is ruling and reigning in your heart, then before your co-workers, before your audience online — if you are a tweeter, a YouTuber, a social media user, then those who know you online don't know a different identity, a different name, a different personality. You haven't created for yourself a different person online.

Teenagers, listen to this. It's so important that you don't fall into this trap. It's a form of escapism, and it's a trap. If you form a different identity online, a different name, and you start playing and dabbling in that area — it's a trap. All of those who go down that road end up depressed and suicidal. It's not hard to do your own research, but I'm telling you, online relationships are not real — they're pseudo. We're designed for in-person relationships. There's another danger coming down the pipe when it comes to all this AI stuff, when it comes to a whole artificial person that you can interact with. Listen, that's a trap. A simulated person that's going to tell you what you want to hear, do what you want done, even be created to live in your house and serve you — it is not real. You are a fallen person. You're not the lord of your own life. You do not need some robot or chat box telling you what you want to hear, lest you go in a downward, depressed, and destructive way. You need to be Spirit-filled. You need to be reproved and corrected every single day of your life. You don't need someone telling you what you want to hear every single day of your life.

There's no telling where you'd be if you had someone in a position of authority over your life affirming your natural, carnal desires. There's no telling where you'd be. Your circle of friends is so very important. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 33 says, "Bad company corrupts good character." And if your online friends and circle are bad, then you can predict the direction of your life.

But the Spirit-filled person will first of all be subject to the Lord. You're going to be in the Word. It's going to tell you what's right and wrong. You do not know in your own mind what is right and wrong. You need an objective, solid, consistent, infallible source — the Word of God — to tell your warped mind what is right every day. Every single day you need God. Every single day you need Him as your heavenly Father to guide you, to lead you. "Seek first the kingdom of God."

To be Spirit-filled is the idea of having something permeate your entire being. Colossians 3:15–16 — the idea of being Spirit-filled is the idea of being totally controlled. The idea of living in the awareness of God's presence is to be Spirit-filled. If you're Spirit-filled, if you're submissive to the Lord and His Word, you're walking with Him — these things are not strange to you, but they are enticing to you. You want more and more and more of God. The idea of living in God's presence is probably one of the most wonderful things you could ever, ever do. Job explained it — just be still and know that He is God. To contemplate God and His attributes and His omnipresence and His power and His being brings you to the point where you're like a sheep that has been led beside still waters and now has peace. Like Psalm 23 describes, He'll give you rest. God quiets your spirit and gives you a calm confidence in Him — for those who will just slow down, read and study and pray and be with the Father. Time with God is important. Slow your mind. Slow your heart and soul. Slow down and just be with your Father.

The idea of denying sin and yet putting into place the positive precepts of God's Word continues to fill you more and more and more. The Spirit-filled person is loving and joyous and peaceful and patient and good and faithful and gentle and self-controlled. That's who the Spirit-filled person is. What does the Spirit-filled person do? The Spirit-filled person does these things according to Ephesians 5:19–20 — they are speaking and singing and thanking and submitting to God and His Word. The Spirit-filled attributes are what is required for you to be able to do spiritual warfighting correctly — simply focusing on the Father. It's the exact opposite of focusing on the self or focusing on evil.

Here's where you go wrong. In 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 1, take a look — turn there — and you will see a first step of falling away. To fall away from the Spirit-filled life, from walking with Christ and fighting this war correctly, is to no longer pay attention to the Father, no longer pay attention to His Word — diverting your attention away from Him to something else. What does 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 1 say? "In latter times, some will fall from the faith." Here is one of the first steps — it's your attention. You see in the text: "paying attention to deceitful spirits." Paying attention to deceitful spirits. Did you know that Halloween is the number one holiday of the year now in America? It makes more money than Christmas for those who are merchants. Halloween. Deceitful spirits.

So to fall away from the Father is to not pay attention to Him but to pay attention to something else — to pay attention to deceitful spirits. And then as well, the Scriptures say "doctrines of demons." So if there is a decline, first of all you're taking your eyes off of the Father and setting them on deceitful spirits, or on the deceiving things of this world. Don't dwell on that type of stuff. Keep walking with the Lord. Bounce out of that. Don't focus on all that. Don't walk around with a spirit of unforgiveness and being begrudged by the things or the people that have wronged you. Don't walk around in a negative state of mind, angry at these things. That's not a Spirit-filled person. Forgive that person, no matter who they are — saved or not saved — and get back to walking with Christ.

If you stay in that downward direction, the next step is going to be focused on doctrines of demons. And this is something that is so well packaged — it looks glorious, it looks right, but it's a doctrine of a demon. And there are four categories.

The first one would be asceticism — heavy suppression or even mutilation of, or beating the body, starving out the needs of the body. It's a hyper-focus on self, selfism. And so a doctrine of demons, according to the Bible, includes asceticism. And believe it or not, it's a form of legalism. There are many denominations around us that are hyper-focused on Old Testament Scriptures and leave out New Testament grace entirely — hyper-focused on diet or hyper-focused on depriving themselves of things. They want to try and earn God's supernatural graces or blessings by their own effort, by denying themselves. And it goes way too far. You cannot beat your body and please the Lord. He's not pleased by those types of things. Colossians makes that very clear. The Colossians were tempted through Gnosticism and beating themselves down. That's not it.

Nor is formalism. So you have asceticism, and you also have formalism. What is formalism? Well, it's an outward form of godliness. You can be in the right church and be doing it the wrong way. With formalism, you have a form of godliness — you can be in a good church but just saying all the right words without really meaning them in your heart. You can be hearing good preaching, you can be worshiping God but just saying the words — you're not actually worshiping. It's not from the depths of your heart. You're not really grateful to God for who He is and for saving you. You're just going through the motions. You're just saying the things. You just sing. You can hit the right notes and impress people with your voice, but it isn't real. It's formalism. You can wear the right clothes and say the right things and not get caught, but inwardly — it's like Jesus accused the Pharisees of being whitewashed tombs: pretty on the outside, but dead on the inside.

Formalism — a form of godliness. There are many who are religious. There are many who have mastered moralism, who do the right things on the outside because it's advantageous for themselves. It's a form of godliness, but there's no life in Christ. Formalism in this dead religion also comes in the form of excitement — where you bounce around, have a great time in church, and church has turned into entertainment. It's turned into striking your emotions and making you have all kinds of happy feelings and whatnot. But is that not about you? No — church is not about you. It's about worshiping the Lord, learning about Him, corporate prayer, doing the ordinances, and giving. Church is very specific as to what it is. Otherwise it's not church.

So asceticism, formalism. What about departing? Here's another doctrine of demons. If you think to yourself, "Oh, the church didn't meet my needs, so I'm departing," or "This isn't what I signed up for" — it's all about you. And if you depart from Christianity, if you leave Christ, if you leave the church, if you leave the bride, if you walk away and say, "This is not for me," you have said it correctly, because essentially it has been all about you and your expectations, what you want, what you need. Rather, walking in submission to the Father is true religion. And so departing from the faith is to say, "This is what I think it should be, or what I want it to be" — and you're actually adding and subtracting from the Word based upon yourself. And then the obvious category is false doctrine. We won't get into that today.

But the first three categories can be characterized underneath selfism. And selfism is a spiritual force that everyone is tempted to submit to — selfism, being all about the self, being all about what you want, self-centered pursuits like money, like fame, like popularity.

We have seen before our very eyes the ones who have demonstrated for us the destructive path of selfism. The search for money and fame — such as the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, in the 1950s. Think about the moral decline of our country as I describe these things to you. You have a secular celebrity in the 1950s, and if money and fame were truly fulfilling, then his life would not have ended the way it ended. And yet our entire country back in the fifties thought it was deplorable the way that he moved his hips. At most television stations — I wasn't alive then, I have heard this — they only aired him from the waist up. Oh, how far we have degraded as a society. Sin has been so normalized.

Hear me, fathers with daughters: sin has been so normalized that women can walk around nearly naked with small, skimpy coverings and do so in public. Listen, ladies — cover yourselves up. Do not be subject to a carnal culture. Keep yourself for Christ and your husband. And men, teach your daughters these things. Teach your sons these things.

Not only have we learned from Elvis Presley, but also in the fifties there was Marilyn Monroe, who died at 36 of an overdose in 1962. And these fifties celebrities presaged the rebellious sixties and the moral decline of our country continuing, and how sin was normalized. Now you look at the idea of body positivity in this new secular age, dressing provocatively — you can't stand walking into a store and seeing these young girls wearing next to nothing on display as advertising. No wonder we have such a worldwide problem with child trafficking. No wonder we have such a worldwide problem with pornography. And pornography never stops with heterosexual pornography — it always gets worse and more and more depraved until it's acted out. Young men and these days young women, old men, old women — listen to me — do not even click in that direction, because it will take you down a road that will ruin you.

This cultural change that we have seen throughout the decades is a force of Satan. It's a spiritual force that we know exists but has been normalized in our everyday life to where children can have access online in their bedrooms by themselves, watching whatever they want in the middle of the night and seeing everything that would violate their young hearts and minds. Parents, do not allow unlimited access to the internet to your children. You will ruin them, and you'll stand before God and answer for your lack of fathering and mothering.

No one has the discipline — when they are young, when they have not been trained in righteousness — to withstand the wiles of the devil. Bear traps. Bear traps, not mousetraps.

And so selfism is a wicked force that pervades our day. I so appreciate what our elder Caleb said earlier — as we were establishing eldership and a spiritual culture of continuing in God's Word here at the church. He said we need a subculture here for our children to be able to grow up in, to be able to have life more abundant and free in Christ, and to be able to celebrate and have fun and have joy within the safety net of Christianity — good Christian people — because out there it's just one violation after another, one violation after another, one compromise after another, one way to normalize sin in their life. And before you know it, Christians look no different from the world. There's no separation, there's no holiness. And to be a child of God means to be one who has been saved and separated from the world, and your life and your lips testify. No chameleon Christianity. Christians are not chameleons — we do not blend in with the world.

Selfism leads you into this. And so we're supposed to deny the self in this evil and dark spiritual day. These schemes are powerful. They appeal to the sin nature. They trick you into going in that direction. But instead, we are to be bold aliens of this world, bold evangelists. We stand strong. We are uncompromising. And that is what makes us different, and that difference draws the lost out of darkness and toward the light of Christ.

We are not — especially as missionaries, especially as Christians — supposed to lower our light and try to conform to the world so that maybe they can become friends with us, maybe they can like us. Maybe if we lower our light in Christ, maybe if we don't talk about Christ enough, maybe if we're not focused on the Father, maybe if we're not who we really are, we can just kind of blend in a little bit, become friends, and then bring them over through our friendship. Listen — friendship evangelism is another trick of the devil.

You go with the light of Christ and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" — just like Jesus did in Matthew chapter 4, verse 17. His first words by way of preaching to people — regular, good people there in Galilee, a crowd of people — the first word: "Repent." How more offensive and clear does it get than saying the word "repent"?

And so we are bright, we are clear, and we take the light of Christ to this dark world. But if you would dim your light, I guarantee you'll be subject to the wiles of the devil. If you would dim your light, you'll dress like them. If you dim your light, you'll talk like them. If you dim your light, you'll watch what they watch. If you dim your light, you'll act like them. Do not dim your light. Do not — as the Bible says — put a basket on a candle. It makes no sense. Brighten your light. Focus on Christ. Focus on the Word. Do everything that you can to ignite your life in Christ.

Henry Van Til said this: "Culture is religion externalized." The reason I bring that quote up is because we live in a day where churches have dimmed their light, compromised with the world, and made it so that they dress and look the same as the world. Most of what they call a "worship set" is not anything close to being different from what you can get at a rock concert — normalizing Christianity into something that looks like the world. And that religion now has been externalized in culture. And now you have a ton of people, especially in the southeast of America, who believe they're good and that God loves them just the way they are, because they get the same thing at a church concert as they do at a rock concert. And they're like, "I'm good. So glad that God loves me right where I am." They have not heard the true gospel. They have not heard the truth about our Father — that the wrath of God abides upon those who have not repented and believed and are not obeying. That is a truism. The Lord is holy and gracious and kind, but He still — according to His primary attribute of holiness — must punish sin. And if you've broken even one point of the law, you've broken the whole law, and so now you deserve all of the punishment, all of the wrath of God. And it is resting upon non-believers. They need to be snatched out from underneath God's wrath. They need to be witnessed to and drawn out. They don't need to be enabled.

You don't need to act in a way that says they're okay. We must be so focused on the Father that when we do spiritual warfighting, it is clear to those with whom we interact. Don't allow your religion, don't allow your church, don't allow your way of life to project a carnal Christianity. You'll be damning to hell those whom you're supposed to be witnessing to.

And so point number two is: pay attention to Christ. Pay attention to Christ. Primarily, our eyes are to be on Christ. Primarily, our eyes and our focus and our heart and our attention are to be on the Lord. If number one is that the devil is a destroyer and he wants your attention on him, then I'm saying to you, point number two — pay attention to Christ. Primarily, our fear and our respect and our honor are to be for Christ.

In Luke chapter 11, the model prayer is, "Father, hallowed be Your name." You're to honor God. And your prayers and your walk and your worship and your words are to honor and glorify Christ. The primary thing that you should be about is the glory of Christ — brightening His name, spreading the Word of God, spreading Christ. Pay attention to Christ, spread Christ, respect Christ, honor Christ.

But did you know that primarily as well, you should fear King Jesus? In Proverbs chapter 1, verse 7, it says, "The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge, and ignorant fools despise wisdom and discipline." This wisdom in Hebraic thought is skill for life — skill for war. I bring this verse up because everybody talks about "the beginning of knowledge is the fear of God" — we understand that. But look at the verse, if you would, in Proverbs chapter 1, verse 7: "The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. Ignorant fools despise wisdom." That original word for wisdom carries the idea of skillfulness — but not just skillfulness. It's skillfulness in everyday life, walking in Christ, which is to war against evil. And if you would be skillful in this spiritual warfighting, then the beginning — the starting point, the first step of this race — is to have fear and respect for God. And as you do that, you will be in line with the Lord and not in line with Satan.

So we don't need to fear Satan. We don't need to have our eyes on him. We don't need to be focused on him. We need to actually fear the Lord and respect and honor Him. And as you are fearing God, honoring God, pursuing God, walking with God, you are inadvertently fighting against the schemes of the devil. And so you do not take an actual sword, get off of your walking-with-Jesus path, and go draw against evil and fight it head-on. That's not the game. That's not your spiritual work. You need to pay attention to Christ.

This verse is also talking about discipline — so "ignorant fools despise wisdom and discipline," and this word "discipline" carries the idea of instruction and correction and training. And if we are to instruct and to correct and to train one another in righteousness, that is the very essence of what the Word is all about. In 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 16 and 17, the Word is not just for reproof and correction, but also for training in righteousness. And so if we are not going to focus on the devil, we're going to pay attention to Christ — and then point number three is: training in Christ. Training in Christ. Training in righteousness.

If you shortcut your training in the Scriptures, it could be devastating for your life. So parents, why are you dedicated to bringing your children to Theology Wednesdays on Wednesday nights? Because you are training them in righteousness. You are preserving their life. You are formulating a theological framework and an understanding of who God is in their heart and mind for the rest of their life. I guarantee you every single one of you fights terrible battles just to come to church on Sundays and Wednesdays — terrible amounts of opposition just to get where you need to be to study the Bible. Now I understand many of you can't make it on Wednesdays due to traffic or jobs and all that kind of thing. I'm not saying that. I'm saying I know Satan fights against the essential areas of equipping you to fight against him.

I know that Satan knows what's going to set you up for success. Training is one of them. Training in righteousness, practicing what is right, reviewing the Scriptures, meditating. We have a ton of action verbs in Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 through 20. A ton of things to prod you forward in this direction: be strong, put on, stand firm, struggle, wrestle, take up, resist, stand firm, stand firm, gird yourself, put on, shod, prepare, take up, extinguish, receive, praying, petitioning, being on alert, persevering — all of these action verbs to push you forward in your relationship with Christ. And as you are doing these things, this is repetitious training in the Scriptures — habitually consuming God's Word, habitually studying God's Word, habitually hearing the preaching and teaching of God's Word, habitually worshiping. This section is calling Christians to be spiritual warfighters, and war necessitates training in righteousness.

You will not win wars without training. How many soldiers were thrown into World War II with a rifle they had never been taught how to use, and were shot on the spot? You do not want that for your children. And when I say children, don't hear only biological children. In Titus chapter 1, verse 4, Paul equated Titus as his own child in the faith. He did that with Barnabas and with Timothy as well. We all are spiritual parents in the sense — the spiritual idea of adoption, adopting someone and discipling them in Christ and raising them up. This whole thing is for everybody.

And so as we are preparing for our everyday battles in this grand war, we must have a habitual life of training. Ephesians 6:4 instructs fathers to train their children, to bring them up and to instruct them, and to create what I would call "what if" scenarios. Fathers, mothers — have you created for your children these scenarios? "What are you going to say if someone says this to you? Where are you going to go if someone is tempting you? What is your reaction? What do you do when hardships hit your life and you are emotionally and mentally confused? What do you do?" To train to win is an idea that is not foreign from Scripture. We're to train. We must train.

This is even in battle — as David was preparing to fight Goliath in 1 Samuel chapter 17, verse 39: "David girded his sword over his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And then he said, 'I cannot go into battle with this — I have not tested it. I can't use it.'" And so for the armor that you have — which includes your sword — are you prepared and able to use your armor in a way that will allow you to win?

Fathers, have you equipped your sons to resist lust and temptation? Have you set them up for success? Have you given them the Scriptures, the ammunition, and the way of escape? Mothers, have you trained up your daughters in righteousness to not settle for a secular man who's unsaved? Have you trained them up and showed them that life is to be in Christ — training, repetition, talking, and working their minds?

This is so important — to create these scenarios — because our strength is of Christ, of the Lord. We are of God. In Ephesians 6:10: "Finally, be strong in the Lord." Everything is of the Lord. And so our strength is in Christ. If you want to ruin someone's life, then allow them to think that they do not need to pray and study Scripture and be a part of the Lord's means of grace. If you want success in life, well, that's exactly what the secular school system does not give — it graduates and celebrates students and their accomplishments without giving any credit or any respect or any acknowledgment to God, to prayer, or to the disciplines of grace. Nothing. But it's not their job anyway — it's yours.

And so for us to do that, it's very simple and very practical. Be filled with the Spirit. How do you do that? You walk in the Word, you live in the Word, you study the Scriptures, you're learning and He is guiding your life. And every single day you do everything in honor of Him. You say what the Scriptures say as you are spiritually fighting in this world. When someone is opposing you and your Christianity, or wanting to tempt you, what do you say? You say what the Scriptures say. It's not very hard. We just need to get used to spiritual warfighting. We need to be able to say what Edward Mote wrote in 1834:

"My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and His righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand — all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand."

"When darkness veils His lovely face" — do you not get into some dark days where that darkness covers the face of God, where you feel like your prayers are bouncing off the wall and you have no close relationship and you're struggling in your distance from God? Hear this: "When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace."

Strong doctrine, deep theology will keep you in the darkest of storms. If you know God, you're stable. But to not know the sovereignty of God, to not know that God is in control, to not believe that before the storm — that is to get sunk in the storm. "I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil." What a powerful song. What a wonderful theological hymn. We sing theological hymns here at Beulah Baptist Church for the purpose of developing convictions of sound doctrine and knowing God and worshiping Him.

I was deeply blessed by the testimony of a young lady. Her name is Jack Marino, and she was saved out of addiction, saved out of New Age, and saved out of the occult, and she sings this song online and shares her personal testimony. You can look it up if you want. And as she was giving her personal testimony, I was impressed — as a pastor — to reach everyone that we possibly can while we can, because this young lady, as a child, had no real knowledge of God, and Satan's schemes just swept her up.

She started thinking about how her dad's friends had died recently and perhaps their spirits were still lurking around. And so think with me in regards to the teaching today — her attention was now no longer on the Father. She didn't know the Lord; she hadn't been guided and taught in that direction. Now she was focusing on deceiving spirits. She became obsessed with thinking about these spirits around her, and perhaps they would accept her — she had a sense of insufficiency and was vulnerable. She thought, "Maybe these spirits will accept me the way I am." And then she started sensing their presence often, and she started following this presence for years. This path led her to cutting. This path led her to an eating disorder. This path led her to more shame and more isolation and more addictions. She started drinking in high school, started smoking weed, doing pills, doing drugs — a gradual, slow, downward direction of following these deceiving spirits. And the means of self-medicating her emotional instability didn't work, so everything got worse and worse and worse.

She started going to bigger parties — she thought that was the answer. She became fascinated with aliens, fascinated with spirit realms. Her interest increased, and she was introduced to tarot cards by a friend. At 21 years old, she ended up in a Freemason lodge, brought there by a friend. This lodge put her in a black robe and had her meditate on false religious gods from Egypt. And then she testifies of a strong, dark spiritual presence that she sensed, and they performed a ritual and started practicing. This cult affirmed her, and she knew she was getting involved with something wicked, but she could not get away from the acceptance. She testifies of living two different lives. And her spirit friends — these demons — they made her feel special. They made her feel loved. And then these demons turned on her and started terrifying her, and her drug addiction got worse.

They even used a Bible through what would be known as Jewish mysticism — Kabbalah — which takes Scripture way out of context and makes it into a cult. And then, being terrified one night, she ran to her Bible, got underneath her bed, and started reading it repeatedly, and the Scriptures became true in her mind and revealed that all this other stuff was sinking sand. And she was totally changed by the Scriptures. She genuinely felt strong enough now to quit, one by one, all of these vices. She quit smoking. She quit drinking. She quit drugs. She quit going to the lodge. And she found a church. And now this faithful church in Arizona has trained her in righteousness.

Now, for a while she thought that she could dabble in the occult and go to church. She thought she could dabble in astrology and go to church. She thought she could dabble with these friends and go to church. She even thought that she could be a part of this world order and go to church. But she found very fast that "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." You cannot dabble with darkness. And so she couldn't. She repented from all of that and got baptized. Now she's even on staff and doing well.

My heart goes out for her in this fifteen- or twenty-year-long path. You know that you can save people from that. And I pray that we are so dedicated to focusing on the Father and pointing people towards Jesus that it makes Christ look all the more glorious, and makes these lodges and these drugs and all this other demonic stuff that's faking being the light exposed for what it really is.

And so if you want to do spiritual warfighting — if you want to snatch people from the flames, as the book of Jude says to do — if you really want to evangelize, if you really want to disciple, if you really want to be a Great Commission Christian, if you really just want to be a Christian — these are some of the things that we talk about. And because this is real life, this is where people are, and this is where we want to save our children from falling. We want to do spiritual warfighting correctly. It's actually easier with the Scriptures.

And so now, let me skip to some take-home truths. I'll have to save what it looks like to detect demon possession, mysticism, and spiritualism for another day.

Number one: focus on the Word. Your focus and your affections must be on the Word of God. Have you allowed other things to displace your affections? Have you set your affections on things other than the Word of God, other than the Father? Have you had good things come in and dilute your life so that you are not studying and praying like you know you should? You are getting close then to being vulnerable to the wiles of the devil. If you are not living in the bright light of Christ, then you're on the fringes of Christianity, and that's where Satan likes to snatch. That's where Satan can reach. Be on the inside of the fold. Stay away from the cliffs and the rocks. Stay close to Christ. Be founded upon the Word of God.

All the armor that we have is centered within the Word of God. And the brief mention of spiritual forces does not mean that we hyper-focus on demons, hyper-focus on the devil, hyper-focus on the things of this world. Yes, as we go through this section, it talks about the fact that there are demons, there are spiritual forces in this world — but we do not characterize our lives around a hyper-focus on these things. We characterize our lives in Christ, based upon what the Word of God has to say.

Number two: abiding is fighting. Sometimes we forget that our simple walk with Christ is actually fighting against the schemes and the wiles of the devil. As you are spiritually warfighting with your armor on, just know that as you are abiding in Christ, you're fighting against the evil one. It is a war just to simply do your Bible study. It is a war just to simply live out what you have studied in the Word. It is a war just to be able to love your spouse as the Bible says, to parent as you're supposed to, to work as you're supposed to, to worship as you're supposed to. It's a war.

And so as we get used to fighting, we put effort into these things. We are truly warring against the flesh and warring against the world and warring against the schemes of the devil. We have to say no a whole lot more than we say yes in this world. And as you say no to all of these things, you're fighting against all of these things, because the majority of the world is unsaved and the majority of the world is caught up in all these vices. The majority of the world wants you to be like them. We have to say no more than we say yes and be able to stay on the narrow and righteous path. It's a war. It's a walk in Christ. So abiding is fighting. Remember that.

The Bible is not portraying that you have to go off to a foreign land, put on literal armor, and engage in a huge fight. And the Bible is not portraying that it's only missionaries overseas who actually war against demons. It's not just those in Washington, DC who are warring against demons. We have this everyday warfighting in our own lives. Satan hates you. And so when faced with these spiritual forces, just simply continue in the Word. Say it with me — John 8:31 says, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples."

What this means is that you're going to be harnessing your feelings. You're going to be harnessing your thoughts. You're going to be standing upon the Word and holding yourself together with the belt of truth. You're going to be guarding your heart with the breastplate of righteousness. You're going to be shielding your mind and body with strong faith and sound doctrine. You're going to be secure in Christ. You're going to read, quote, and sing the Word of God — that's swinging your sword, that's wielding your sword, by the way.

Number three, my final point: keep seeking God. Keep seeking God. Not only "seek Him first" — Matthew 6:33 — but the everyday practice of our lives needs to be that of one who is seeking the face of God. You want the approval of your Father. You want to pray and engage in this relationship with your Father. Perhaps you need to take a media break and have some intentional, silent times to seek God. Maybe you've got the TV on too much. Maybe you've got Facebook and Twitter and YouTube and all that on too much, and it's distracting from the things of the Lord. And so perhaps good things are costing you the great — perhaps good things in life, which are neither sinful nor horrible, are nonetheless costing you the great relationship, the closeness and the intimacy of walking with the Lord.

And so keep seeking God. In order to seek God, it means you are seeking God and not being distracted by a lot of other things. I feel for those who have an intense job — it's very hard to have quiet time. It takes intentionality, but it's very possible. Because Joshua was a fighter, a war leader in the Bible, and he meditated upon God's Word morning and night. Morning and night — that was his strength. And so there's no excuse, as men, for how much pressure we have to work and to perform. There's no excuse to ignore God and be aloof from Him. He's your Father. He's where your strength is. And so I pray that we focus on the Word and keep fighting and keep seeking the Lord.

Let's pray together. Father, by way of gospel invitation, I pray that if anyone here looks at what has been said today and finds it completely incomprehensible, just not anywhere close to what they think is normal or what they think should be — I pray, Lord, that they would not fail to see that they are not regenerate, that they have not been saved. Because to be able to hear what the Scriptures say about life and reality is to know that this is true — the Spirit inside testifies. And so perhaps there's one here who is not saved, whose inward spirit is not testifying and saying, "Yes, amen — and I need to do this, and I need to be better in this way, and I want to do what the Scriptures say." Lord, I pray that You would convict that lost soul by Your gentle and loving and kind Holy Spirit, and bring them to a point where they are sorrowful for their personal sin against You.

I pray, dear Jesus, that as they feel godly sorrow, it would prompt them to repent of their sin and say, "God, I'm sorry. Forgive me." Lord, I pray according to 2 Corinthians 7:10, that they would have this godly sorrow deep within their soul that prompts them to repentance and unto salvation. That they would not have a worldly sorrow — where they feel bad about getting caught for certain things and are going to go do it again anyway — but that they would have a genuine, apologetic sorrowfulness, and that they would be willing to turn from their wicked ways and embrace righteousness, embrace Your life, embrace You fully. Little by little, You clean us up, dear God, by Your power, and we are grateful for that. And it starts by You regenerating the soul.

And so I pray, dear Jesus, if anyone here is not saved, that You'd save them. Regenerate them. And then from that, dear God, that they would recognize a new heart, a new motive, a new entity, a new essence inside of them that is holy. And they would confess You as Lord and Savior and believe in their heart that You have died and been risen for them. God, I pray that You'd save many souls and continue to see that they would not only be saved but biblically baptized, and as they continue in their faith, not only would they be biblically baptized, Lord, and proclaim You through immersion — I pray, Lord, as well, that they would learn how to study the Bible and make disciples themselves. Father, equip them for the day of battle. Help them to be able to stand strong. Help us, dear Jesus, in all these ways we pray.

And as a form of conclusion in this prayer, Father, I say thank You for what You have done here at this wonderful church and cultivated such wonderful families and a wonderful church culture. On this Lord's Day we say thank You, and we worship You in spirit and in truth. We love You. We submit to You and Your Word, and we can only wait to be even closer — face to face one day, as You have promised, dear Jesus, to come again. We look forward to that. Until then, we're going to be faithful. We're going to deny ourselves and take up the cross. We're going to follow You, and we're going to be experiencing the joy that You give us from obedience, from life in Christ. We're not going to be jealous of the things of the world. We're not going to conform to the things of the world. We're going to do everything we can to learn more about You and to be faithful. Lord, this is our commitment. This is our covenant agreement with You. We take it seriously, and we do love You. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.