Know Your Enemy

Spiritual Warfare

Designed by David Turnerwww.Biblestudies-online.com

Know Your Enemy

Ephesians 6:12

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.

Know Your Enemy

Romans 12:1-2 1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by

the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God – which is your reasonable service. 2 Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

Know Your Enemy

“It is never the will of God for spiritual warfare to become our focus. The fastest way to to lose our balance is to rebuke the devil more than we relate to God. The primary strength we have in warfare is godliness, which is achieved only through intimacy with God.”

--Beth Moore, Living Free

Know Your Enemy

God’s goal and purpose for us:

• To become Christ-like• To sacrificially follow Jesus• To make disciples (build His

kingdom)• To bring glory to Him

Know Your Enemy

• 3 Enemies interfering with the purpose–The World–The Flesh –The Devil

The World

• The culture in which we live, hostile to God• Operates only by the senses (but empowered

by spirits beyond the senses)• The wisdom of the world is foolishness to

God (1 Cor. 1:20)• We are commanded not to love it (1 John

2:15-17)• We are not to be conformed to it (Rom.

12:1,2)

1 Corinthians 1:20 Where is the wise man? Where is the expert in the Mosaic law? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made the wisdom of the world foolish?

1 John 2:15-1715 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, 16 because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains forever.

Romans 12:1-2 (NET)1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God – which is your reasonable service. 2 Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.

The World

• Materialism and “Keeping Up with the Joneses”• Entertainment industry• Internet: chat rooms, porn sites • Sexual immorality• Ambition• Spirit of rebellion (against parents, authorities,

employers, etc.)• Philosophy: no absolute truth, right and wrong

are what you choose them to be

What God Says About The World

• Rom 12:2 "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

• The Message: "Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."

What God Says About The World

• 1 John 2:16 “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

• The Message: “Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.”

The Flesh

• Our ways of making life work independent of God

• Everything we do apart from God– Getting our own way ("I want what I want!")– Self-centeredness– Controlling nature– Kingdom building– Ignoring God

The Flesh

– Idolatry and lust: people, power, things, experiences, relationships

– Greed– A right to be comfortable, a refusal to suffer– Pride– Self-worship– People-pleasing

The Flesh

– Addictions: food, drink, drugs, gambling, shopping, sex

– Refusing to submit to God: unforgiveness, sexual immorality, sinful relationships

– Temper tantrums– Worry– Suicidal thoughts

What God Says About The Flesh

“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

“Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Gal 5:19-24

What God Says About the Flesh

The Message: “It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

What God Says About the Flesh

“This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.

“But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

What God Says About the Flesh

“Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.” (Gal. 5:19-24)

The Devil

Satan’s Fall?Ezekiel 28:17-19 (NET) 17 Your heart was proud because

of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom on account of your splendor. I threw you down to the ground; I placed you before kings, that they might see you. 18 By the multitude of your iniquities, through the sinfulness of your trade, you desecrated your sanctuaries. So I drew fire out from within you; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth before the eyes of all who saw you. 19 All who know you among the peoples are shocked at you; you have become terrified and will be no more.’”

The Devil

Demons are Satan’s angels?Revelation 12:3-7 (NET) 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: a

huge red dragon that had seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadem crowns. 4 Now the dragon’s tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. 5

So the woman gave birth to a son, a male child, who is going to rule over all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was suddenly caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and she fled into the wilderness where a place had been prepared for her by God, so she could be taken care of for 1,260 days. 7 Then war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.

The Devil

• Satan means "adversary"• Devil means "accuser or slanderer"• He is crafty (Gen 3:1)• He is the tempter (Mt 4:3)• Jesus called him "the evil one" (Jn 17:15)• He blinds the minds of the unbelieving so they

can't see the light of the gospel (2 Cor. 4:3,4)• He is ruler of this world and prince of the power of

the air (Eph 2:2)

Genesis 3:1a Now the serpent was more shrewd than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made.

Matthew 4:3 (NET)3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.”

John 17:15 (NET)15 I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe from the evil one.2 Corinthians 4:3-4 3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it

is veiled only to those who are perishing, 4 among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe so they would not see the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God.

Ephesians 2:1-2 (NET) 1 And although you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience,

The Devil

• He has legions of wicked angelic beings under him who serve him in various administrative capacities: rulers, authorities, powers, dominions, world forces of darkness.

• He disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14)• His servants (demons) disguise themselves as servants

of righteousness. (2 Cor. 11:15)• He is the accuser of the brethren. (Rev. 12:10)• He deceives the whole world. (Rev. 12:9)• He prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking to devour

people (1 Pet. 5:8)

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 (NET) 13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will correspond to their actions.

Revelation 12:10 (NET) 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, “The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the ruling authority of his Christ, have now come, because the accuser of our brothers and sisters, the one who accuses them day and night before our God, has been thrown down.

Revelation 12:9 So that huge dragon – the ancient serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world – was thrown down to the earth, and his angels along with him.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is on the prowl looking for someone to devour.

The Devil

• He can be resisted (1 Pet. 5:9)• He can't get past God's hedge of protection around

us (Job 1:10)• He is on a leash. He can't do anything without God's

permission (Job)• Jesus disarmed Satan and the demons at the Cross

and made a public spectacle of them (Col. 2:15)• All he has to work with is schemes, wiles, lies and

deceptions.• He dwells in darkness and will spend eternity in

everlasting torment in hell.

1 Peter 5:9 Resist him, strong in your faith, because you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are enduring the same kinds of suffering.

Job 1:9-10 9 Then Satan answered the Lord, “Is it for nothing that Job fears God? 10 Have you not made a hedge around him and his household and all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock have increased in the land.

Colossians 2:15 Disarming the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

The Devil

What Jesus said about Satan:

John 8:44 You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

The Devil

What Jesus said about Satan:

Luke 10:17-19 17 Then the seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!” 18 So he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Look, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and on the full force of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you.

The Devil

The Devil

The Devil

The World, the Flesh and the Devil

• Primary temptation of the world:– Fit in and be accepted

• Ways to protect yourself:– Immerse yourself in God's acceptance of you. – Know what it means to be "in Christ.” (Eph.)

• Key:– Trust and dependence on Jesus

The World, the Flesh and the Devil

• Primary temptation of the flesh:– To have our own way– To feel good

• Ways to protect yourself:– Recognize the flesh as a spoiled brat, and

resolve to crucify it through self-denial. – Check yourself throughout the day: am I in the

spirit or in the flesh?• Key:

– Trust and dependence on Jesus

The World, the Flesh and the Devil

• Primary temptation of the devil:– To take or keep our eyes off Jesus– To separate us from following Him

• Ways to protect yourself:– Keep focusing on Jesus. – Praise music. – Memorize Scripture and meditate on it. – Know the truth so you can recognize his lies.

• Key:– Trust and dependence on Jesus

Prepare yourselves for battle

It is not enough to simply identify the enemy. We must also know how to prepare for and fight the enemy. Next: entering the battle.

Make sure your on the winning team

Commit your heart and mind to Jesus Christ, his team, his purpose and his play book.