The Fight for Souls
Ephesians 6:10
10 - FINALLY, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might
11- Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 – 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.
13 – Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 – Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 – And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 – Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 – And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
The Apostle Paul here is describing the equipment used in the Roman army during the time of his writing. He starts off by telling us that our fight is not of this world, but rather a spiritual fight.
This passage is an interesting look into the hierarchy of demonic powers. We see principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places. It has been speculated that these are different levels of demonic powers, and that each one is successively in charge of a greater area of the earth. Whether or not this is so is not necessarily important. The important thing is that our fight is not against flesh and blood.
There is a very real spiritual warfare going on. And so we come to our first point:
I. The fight that we are fighting
We are in a fight. This fight is a very real fight. We are in a fight for the souls of mankind. God has put out a call for Christian soldiers – sorry Marines, Sailors, and Airmen! – to come forth and fulfill the great commission found at the end of Matthew.
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 – Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: an, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
a. The order to fight
God has issued a command. The command is to go, teach, and baptize. I am not the kind of person that says that you have to win souls in order to be a good Christian. Many missionaries labored for years before seeing their first convert.
However, are we obeying the command? Are we going out and telling? When was the last time that you personally shared the gospel with someone?
It should not be expected that every person be the best soul-winner, but it is to be expected that everyone do their best to win souls. We tell them, the Holy Spirit convicts them, Jesus saves them, and God changes them. Even the Apostle Paul once said that he planted seeds while another harvested them. The Apostle Paul once said that he hadn’t even baptized that many people. But he understood that it was his duty to tell, and let God do the rest.
You shouldn’t look to the numbers that you’ve seen. You should only look to the faithfulness that you’ve shown. My friend, if you are doing your best to grasp lost souls from Satan’s grasp, you are obeying the command to fight, whether or not you see numbers come in. Don’t let the race for numbers get in the way of your ministry. Obey the order: the order to fight.
b. The odds of the fight
Many times, as Christians, it seems we are outnumbered. With sin running rampant all over the world, it is easy to think that we can’t win the fight. It is easy to get our eyes focused on the overwhelming majority, and lose hope.
As Christians, we see those living in sin prospering. We see those in power are corrupt. We see the greedy making money. We see the whoremongers seemingly unpunished. It is easy to focus on the enemy, and lose track of the command we have received.
But my Bible says “Greater is He that is in me, that he that is in the world”! Make no mistake, friend. Satan is a powerful enemy. Standing by yourself, he will crush you. Standing by yourself, you have absolutely zero hope.
But, my God: Jehovah, the Prince of Peace, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Creator, the Savior. The one who died on the cross and sealed my sins away forever! The one who stepped on the serpents head! The one who conquered Death, Hell, and the Grave!
Oh, Satan thought he’d won a great victory that day that Jesus died. But I’m here to tell you today that even though he hung on the cross in shame and agony, that three days later he arose again! He went down into Hell, and grabbed the keys of Death from Satan’s grasp!
He arose with those keys, and then later on ascended to Heaven to stand before the Father with the blood of the perfect Lamb. The Father accepted that gift!
I am here to tell you that though Satan be a powerful enemy, “Greater is He!” “Greater is He!” “Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world!”
Get your eyes off of the overwhelming odds. Get your eyes on the Savior! Like Peter walking on the water, we’ve taken our eyes of Jesus, turned them to the adverse situations at hand, and we’ve begun to sink into the despair of those that have no hope!
“Greater is He!” “Greater is He!” “Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world.”
We’re talking about the fight that we are fighting. We see the order to fight, the odds of the fight, and now we’re going to take a look at:
c. The outcome of the fight
While the odds may seem stacked against us, we have a hope that the rest of the world does not. To quote a popular Christian song from the 80s and 90s, “I’ve read the back of the book. And we win.”
Friend, I am here to tell you today, that no matter how bad things seem down here on Earth, we have the Blessed Hope, the Book, and the Blood! “I believe in the Blessed Hope, the Book and the Blood and there is no other way! Jesus is the Son of God, and He’s coming back some day!”
Though the fight may be fierce, and the battle rages long, we know that in the end, we win! Christ will ride triumphant, and once again step on Satan, that old serpent’s head.
…
Many times down here we seem to lose battles. When we try and stand up to evil in our own power, we will fall. The Apostle Paul once said that the good that he would do he doesn’t. And the evil that he wouldn’t do, that’s what he does.
Friend, let me tell you that if the Apostle Paul could fall into sin sometimes, so can we. Sometimes as Christians we get ourselves into situations where it seems like there is no hope. It seems that Satan has won.
…
But he hasn’t!
The Bible tells us of the glorious returning of Christ our Savior! He’s coming to take us out of here and we’ll live forever in victory with Him! We’ll reign with Him a thousand years, and then He’s going to win the ultimate victory at Armageddon! “I’ve read the back of the book!” It’s all written down for us to see! No need to worry about the victory, it’s going to come.
We looked at the fight that we are fighting, now let’s look at:
II. The foes that we face
Paul has told us that it’s not a physical battle that we are fighting. He makes it very clear that we are engaged in a spiritual war.
John outlines three enemies that we face on a daily basis in I John 2:16. Let’s take a look at them.
“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”
a. Lust of the flesh
Friend, what is it that you are working for right now? Is it for God’s glory? Or is it for the lusts of the flesh? The things that we want? Material things that we think will make us happy?
There is nothing wrong with nice things. There’s nothing wrong with having a nice car, a nice house, a nice job, or a big paycheck. But is that our focus?
Jesus never said to “Go into the world and buy as many nice things as you can.” No, we are told to “Lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven.”
Friend, I ask, what are you working for? For the advancement of God’s kingdom, or the advancement of your own kingdom?
b. Lust of the eyes
The lust of the eyes. How do you want others to see you? What image are you trying to portray? Is that what is keeping us from fulfilling the great commission? “I am afraid of making people mad at me” or “I don’t want to look like a fool!”
Let me tell you this, friend: Jesus wasn’t afraid of making people mad or looking like a fool. Jesus said it like it was, and let the chips fall where they may.
We don’t have a command to go out and build ourselves a good public image; although we will through our good testimony. We don’t have a command to go out and make friends; although we will if we show the compassion that Christ had.
We have a command to go. We have a command to get the gospel out to the far corners of the Earth. We have a command to witness to those dying in their sins! Fulfill this command.
c. Pride of life
This is a big one here. The original sin was pride, when Satan decided that he was good enough to be like God. When he decided that he’d ascend to take the throne from God, and rule Heaven.
Satan thought that God wasn’t doing a good job at running things. He thought that he could do better. He thought that he’d show God what a real deity was like.
And we know where that lead to.
Friends, how many of us go around with our head so puffed up that we have to wear button up shirts because our heads won’t fit into a t-shirt? How many times do we look at our accomplishments and become proud of the work that we’ve accomplished.
Friend, if it wasn’t for the grace of God, we’d all be dying and on our way to Hell right now. But for the price he paid, we would have no hope. We’d be lost, hopeless, helpless, stuck in our sins forever, unable to redeem ourselves!
We are no better than the drunk living on the street, wallowing in his own filth! The only difference between us right here in this room and those on their way to Hell is the fact that we have accepted, free of charge, the gift that God has supplied for us.
The Pharisees were proud of the gifts they were giving God. But he was more interested in the widow’s mites. The Pharisee was proud of his station, and prayed and told God that he was glad he was not like the publican, but the publican beat on his chest and said “Woe unto me!” And his prayer was heard.
We can’t come to God without humility. We have to be humble enough to acknowledge the fact that we deserve Hell. We have to be humble enough to admit that we are sinners. We have to be humble enough to admit that we have no hope outside of Christ. And we have to be humble enough to accept that sacrifice.
Friend, beware the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
We’ve seen the fight that we are in and the foes that we face. Now let’s look at;
III. The equipment we are fielding.
Paul was known for using things prominent in the day to describe Heavenly matters. He spoke of athletics many times. This time he used something that they all would have been familiar with, the equipment of a soldier. First, we see:
a. The defensive equipment.
Paul starts off by listing defensive equipment that a soldier wore at the time;
14 – Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 – And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 – Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 – And take the helmet of salvation
All these things have defensive properties. They all protect vital areas of the body. Back then they had to worry about arrows, swords, and lances. Today we have a slightly different threat, with bullets, mortars, and IEDs out there.
While deployed, we would never roll out of the wire without checking to see that all our defensive equipment is ready to go and accounted for. We have checks and rechecks to make sure that all the joes had all their gear.
It doesn’t do anyone any good if a soldier steps outside the wire and is killed before he can engage the enemy because he didn’t have his gear on.
My friends, make sure that you have all your defensive gear on. Make sure that you are properly protected from the attacks of Satan. Guard your heart, guard your mind.
b. The offensive equipment
17 – And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
Paul now talks about the offensive equipment. You can have all the defensive equipment you want, and still not have a victory. If you are completely protected, sitting in your little bunker, the enemy still has free reign.
For too long, this is the stance that Christians have taken in America. We are on the defensive. We are safe, secure in our churches, oblivious to the fact that outside our doors sin is running rampant.
It’s now cool for teenagers to party, get drunk, do drugs, and have sex. It’s ok for someone to disregard the laws of the land as long as they don’t get caught. I’ve heard people bragging about the things they were able to steal from stores.
It’s acceptable to be of any sexual persuasion now. It’s ok for parents to encourage their children to cross dress and even get sex changes at a pre-pubescent age.
What is wrong with America?! I’ll tell you what’s wrong.
We as Christians have stood a defensive line for too long. We’ve allowed the free reign of sin to run rampant through our schools, our government, and in our homes via the television.
We’ve taken the stance, “It’s ok for you to do what you want, as long as you leave me alone.” It sounds good. But the world doesn’t take that same view! People in the military are always trying to get me to do and say things that are against what I believe, but if I ever invite them to church; Oh No! Now I am pushing my religion in their faces.
It’s ok for a homosexual to rally and have sodomite rights parades, but if a Christian were to ever march on Washington trying to ban sodomite marriages, the media would have a feeding frenzy on the “radical Christians and how they hate people.”
Friends, it’s time that we stand up and do something. It’s time we pick up our offensive weapons and go. This brings me to my last point:
IV. The charge we are to take
Friends, there is not much we can do physically to change our world. We can’t all go to demonstrations and political rallies. We can’t go out and speak in public against sin.
But there are three things that we can do.
a. We can pray.
The greatest weapon in our armory is prayer. I am not talking about the three prayers we pray before meals. I am not talking about the prayer you pray before you go to bed at night. I am not talking about the public prayer that you are asked to pray in church, where you happen to mention things going on.
I am talking about real prayer. The kind of prayer where you get a hold of God. The kind of prayer where you enter the throne room, grab a hold of the base of the throne and throw yourself before God in humility, pleading for Him to work miracles and change things. The kind of prayer that when you pray, you feel the presence of God enter into the room. The kind off prayer that Satan is afraid of, because he knows that he has no power before that kind of prayer.
That’s the kind of prayer that I am talking about.
b. We can be good testimonies
Friends, when the world looks at you, what do they see? Do they see someone who is just like them, or do they see someone changed, someone who lives for God, someone that makes them convicted in their hearts and makes them realize that they are missing something?
And lastly:
c. We can tell
We’ve already hit on our command to fight. But the best way to turn a nation around is to win them to God. If we win people and disciple them, then God can use them to win more and disciple more. We become, as they say in the military, a “force multiplier”.
You’ve all heard this before, but just think; if we start with 100 people, and in one year, each of us wins just one person, then we now have 200 people. If next year, those 200 win one each, then we have 400. And so on. In 5 years, 100 people turns into 3,200 people. In ten years, that’s 102,400. In 20 years, that’s 104,857,600. Think of the impact we could have on America, if the millions of saved people all won just one person per year. With the numbers we have to start with, we could have all of America won in just a decade or so.
“It all starts with just one voice that takes a stand; that makes a choice to live for God and not hesitate to tell the world about Amazing Grace. One day that seed somehow breaks through. Where there was one, there now stands two. And soon another takes his hand, a ray of hope that spreads across the land. --- Across the mountains, across the sea, soon others join in harmony. They found the cross still standing strong. And soon a mighty chorus sings along. --- Go reach the world, touch one more soul. Bring one more lamb back to the fold. Each soul another flag unfurled; each voice another chance to reach the world.”
Many churches have used the slogan, “Each one reach one”. Friends, this is so true. Reach one person. Pray to God that He’ll give you at least one person. Not just saved and forgotten, but saved and discipled, to go out and win more.
It comes down to this: What are you doing in the fight for souls?
- Woody
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