BEGINNING THE BATTLE
Ephesians 6:10-17
In studying this passage, we must expect to learn much about this kingdom of
evil, these wicked spirits in high places whom Paul says lie behind this
insoluble problem of human evil.
Notice that the apostle implies that the only
ones who can successfully battle against these dark forces are Christians. He
says; "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,.." Who are the
"we"?
It is the Christians who are not contending against flesh and blood. The world
struggles on this level, but the Christian wrestles against principalities and
powers.
This is a consistent teaching all through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. The Bible indicates that all men are victims of these invisible forces. All men everywhere, without exception, are victims; but only believers can be victors.
Jesus himself makes this point absolutely clear. There is a story in Luke 11 of our Lord's reaction to the challenge that was presented to him as he was casting out demons.
This activity of our Lord is an area of his ministry which was continually questioned and in the account certain ones said of him that his casting out demons resulted from his relationship with Beelzebub, the prince of demons, another name for Satan.
They said it was by Satan's power that he was casting out demons. Beelzebub, by the way, means "lord of the garbage." The Jews regarded hell as a cosmic garbage dump.
In a real sense they were right, for that is exactly what hell is -- a wasted life, a garbage dump. The god who reigned over this garbage heap was the devil, and because a garbage pile always attracts flies, they called Beelzebub the lord of the flies.
So certain people were accusing Jesus of casting out demons by the authority of Beelzebub, the lord of the flies. Jesus said, "If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub." (Luke 11:18).
His argument is simply this: Satan never does that. Satan never fights against himself. Satan is too clever, too cunning, to divide his forces in that way, for if he did, he knows that his kingdom would fall.
Therefore, Jesus is suggesting that any man who is under the control of Satan has no possibility of deliverance apart from an outside, intervening force.
I. THE METHODS OF HUMAN REFORM
What are the usual methods of human reform? Almost invariably they are legislation, education, and an improved environment.
Every problem we face is usually approached by using one or a combination of these three. Legislation is law, it is merely the control of the outward man. It has nothing to do with and cannot do anything to the inward man. It does not change the basic nature of man, but merely restricts him so that he does not manifest certain qualities under certain conditions.
Education is one of the worst things we can do to a deranged personality and a blinded mind. The position of Scripture is that all of us are born with deranged personalities. Some of us are more deranged that others -- they are the ones that we call "blinded minds!" To educate a blinded mind is but to make it more clever in its wickedness, and this is what results. Education does not basically change man, it makes him more clever.
Improved environment does not change him, either. I do not know how long is going to take human society to learn that when you take a man and lift him out of the slums and put him into a nicer environment you do absolutely nothing to the man himself. In a little while, given time, he will make that new environment a slum as well.
These are the usual approaches to reform. I do not mean to suggest we abolish them. They all have certain values, but they do not come to grips with the basic problem.
There is a growing sense of despair everywhere you turn today. It is the unconscious realization of man's helplessness under Satan.
Now look at Luke 11:22; "But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils."
He says when a strong man, fully armed, guards his palace, his goods are at peace, and nothing can be done about it, least of all by the goods themselves. But when one who is stronger comes, he breaks the power of that strong man, and frees his slaves.
II. CHRIST'S VICTORY
Christ's victory, made personal to an individual by faith, breaks the power of Satan. Here is the "good news" of the gospel. We sing it:
He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.
In the cross of Jesus, and in the power of his resurrection, applied by faith, we who have been born into a society which is under the control of satanic discover that the force which ruins us is broken, and its power to grip us is loosed, and we are set free.
There is no other power which can do it. There is only one "stronger one" who has come into the world and has come to grips with the power of this dark spirit and broken his power over human life.
How many there are throughout the Christian centuries, and also today, who can testify to this. Not only the alcoholics and dope addicts, not only those who have been gripped by the power of evil habits, but also those who are held by the power of evil attitudes -- temper, lust, self-righteousness, bitterness, and pride.
The strongest chains are not those around the body, but around the mind. The writers of Scripture make that clear. Look at 2 Cor. 4:4; "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
Paul suggests that the greatest antagonism against the gospel does not come from the uneducated but from the educated, those who, "Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things." (Romans 1:22, 23)
The mind becomes blinded and the result is darkened minds, which are outwardly cultured and respectable, but are blinded in these areas which touch the deep-seated problems of human life.
Look at what Paul says in Acts 9:6; "And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do."
Now look at Acts 26:16-18; "But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."
Mankind is in the grips of a power which it is helpless to do anything about. The only one who can deliver us from it is Jesus Christ. He has already done so in the cross and through the power and glory of his resurrection.
When a man or woman believes that, and commits himself upon that basis, he discovers that the whole thing becomes practical and actual in his experience. This is what we call conversion. That is the beginning of the battle.
Do you ever think of yourselves this way? You say, "My sins have been forgiven," but do you ever go on to say, "I have been delivered from the power of darkness, brought out of the power of Satan into the kingdom of God."
Do you ever think of yourself that way? Or are we like those Peter mentions? -- "But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins." (2 Peter 1:9).
III. THERE IS NO NEUTRAL GROUND
Our Lord reveals one other principle in this passage in Luke, 11:23; "He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth."
He is saying here that no neutral ground is possible, and no mere profession is sufficient. There is no third group possible. Jesus said, "He who is not with me is against me."
Jesus says There is no neutrality. "He who is not with me is against me. He who has not received the deliverance is still under the bondage and control of the dark powers of Satan."
In this audience, as he looks at it, there are only two groups. There are those who are with him, wholly with him because they are of him -- they have received him, they know him, they love him, they have partaken of his life -- and there are those who are against him. "He who is not with me is against me."
Jesus also says, "He who does not gather with me scatters." There is one thing which will reveal whether you are with him or against him, and that is the influence of your life. What is it?
Jesus Christ has come into the world to gather together the children of God. His force, his influence in the world, is a gathering influence, binding hearts together, reuniting families, making people to live together in harmony, healing wounds.
But there is also a force which scatters, which divides. What is it? It is self-centeredness. This is the most divisive force known in human life. When men come together, the thing that splits them up into smaller groups is their vested concern in their own affairs. They are self-centered.
Therefore the great question of life is: Are you with him or against him? Are you gathering with him, or, are you a divisive factor?
Our Lord here cuts right to the core of life. Man's life is absolutely laid bare and is judged finally on the basis of its relationship to him. The evidence of that relationship is the influence that we exercise.
According to the Bible, man is under the unbroken, absolute control of an evil force which, quite apart from his knowledge, is controlling his thoughts and his reactions.