Oh, excuse me. You make one of them pies. Forget it, Brenda. Pam Austin, you make that pie. Take your Bible with you this morning. You could have told me that afterward, but I wouldn't have said that on this tape. Now somebody's going to wonder, what in the world is he talking about? Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6. And I want us to read three verses of Scripture, beginning in verse 10. And you children who have grown up somewhat since two years ago when Sue was in charge of our Vacation Bible School, the first year that we had Vacation Bible School as a church, you younger kids, maybe you all remember the theme of the entire Vacation Bible School was the armor of God. And that's what we're going to talk about over the next four weeks. We're going to talk about the armor of God. And we're going to talk about it a lot differently from what we were taught. I mean, I was taught a lot of things. I taught a lot of wrong things. I spent the majority of my life unlearning what I had been taught. But look at this. In verses 10 through verse 12, I've entitled this message because I say this is just basically an introduction to this actual armor of God that we're going to talk about. But I've entitled it, and it's pretty simple, because they're just going to follow it. It's going to be 1, 2, 3, 4. This is true Christian warfare, part 1, is what this one is. Notice verse 10. Finally, my brethren. And I tell you what, when you think about the greatness of the book of Ephesians, and what he had... If you just had chapter 1, think of the plethora of gospel truth that was set forth in Ephesians chapter 1. All three persons of the Godhead bodily are seen in their character relationship and their covenant relationship to sinful man. God the Father who blessed us with all spiritual blessings. Christ the Son who worked out all spiritual blessings. And God the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, who takes the things of Christ and reveals them in each successive generation to each and every one of God's children. And after all of that, all those deep truths that He talks about, death and trespasses and sin and resurrection in Christ Jesus our Lord, All these great things, the church and all the offices and all the characters that are to run the church and those who are to participate in the work of the ministry, and he sums it all up, finally, my brethren, in light of everything that you heard already, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on. We're going to see this. That's your responsibility. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. Some people think we do. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities. against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. When I read that this week, I thought back to my former days of darkness in false religion. And I think back to a man who I greatly respected and admired. And all the time that he and I as one of those, his students, wasted on this spiritual warfare that they had wrongly conceived in their mind that we were basically fighting against a bunch of spirits, a bunch of evil entities. Insofar that it caused me to get rid of things. that were keepsakes from my grandpa and my grandmothers from years gone by, because they convinced me there was a devil in every one of them. I'll never forget, there was a little, from my childhood, there was a little box. Those of you that are older, you'll know this. It was a little square wood box. It had a little thing on top of it. You put your finger on it. And I remember my papa would tell me, pull on it. You'd pull on it and there was a little snake inside of it with a little pin. And when you pulled on it, that little snake would come out and it bites you on the end of your finger. And I played with that thing as a kid. I remember I'd sit there and try to pull it out without it hitting my finger. Just loved it to death. And my grandmother, they gave it to me after my grandfather died. And those religious fools convinced me that because there was a serpent in there that was of the devil and an evil spirit lived in that little bitty box. And folks, I'm going to tell you what, these guys were Calvinists. These weren't a bunch of devil wear. These guys claimed they believed the doctrines of grace. Convinced me, and it was a lot of it like that. I'd burn up all my rock and roll albums. It would be worth a lot of money today. Took them all out, put them in a big pot and burned them all up. That ain't got a thing to do with this. And it shows me they're wrong idea about who we're fighting against. See, this is the thing. You know, most people who claim, and I use this word, most people who claim to be Christians, they'll agree that believers are engaged in a warfare. All of them out there. I mean, every religion, just about without exception, Catholic, Methodist, Pentecost, Catholic, all of them will admit that we're in a warfare, but most don't know, nor do they understand the nature of the warfare. They don't understand what's involved in the warfare. And folks, they don't know how this warfare is to be fought. They're the ones running around out there telling people, burn up the little boxes and burn up your rock and roll albums. And don't go to the picture show. Don't dance. Don't do all them bad things. See, most would agree that the greatest enemy of the church, those enemies we should fight, They'll agree that our enemies are the world. No, because they tell them, don't drink, don't smoke, don't lie, don't do this, the enemy is the world and the flesh and the devil. They'll all admit that. But see, sadly, most are ignorant of the natures and the weapons of our enemies. Most relegate these great enemies that we're going to talk about over the next three or four weeks to be no more than the natural struggles men and women go through against immorality, against obscenity, and moral perversion. That's what they think it is. Most who call themselves Christian consider this warfare between the flesh and the spirit to be no more than a person's inner struggles. I can remember this. Their inner struggles over whether or not to commit adultery or whether or not to commit fornication or whether or not to drink alcohol or whether or not to smoke a cigarette. or whether or not certain things are evil and wrong as they're considered to be so by religions. And different religions set up different things as evil. I remember when I was growing up, most of my friends were grateful that they were Methodists because the Methodists let them dance. And the Baptists wouldn't let it. We're going to change the denomination so we can go dance. I got no problem with dancing, I just can't do it. I'm just grateful there's no videos of me out there doing it. There probably are. And see, still others, they take it to a higher plane. See, they carry it to this plane of their struggles about complacency of religious duties, or duties of love, struggles against dedication to church. You know, they say, well, that's the struggles we're in, whether to go to church or don't go to church. And most of them have endured that struggle this morning. Some of them lost because they stayed at home at some of these big churches. I just had too big a party last night so I can't go. And they feel guilty. Now they do. But they still don't know the reality of true Christian warfare. See, now think about it. You know, it's true that all people, believers or unbelievers, we have a struggle of conscience in all these areas that I've just told you about, don't we? These struggles are not just unique to true believers, to true justified saints. Unbelievers struggle with issues of selfishness and immorality, don't they? Without ever being engaged in what the Scriptures refer to or call spiritual warfare. And see, it's also true that all people, believers and unbelievers, I told them in the Sunday Bible class this morning, we should strive to battle and do what's right and good, shouldn't you? They do it. I'm grateful that we live in a society, and you are too, to where there are certain laws on the books that protect us from ourselves and from one another, aren't you? Now things are changing, and who's to say they might not change more over the years? But right now we have a society with laws that enforce it. Kill me and I can't kill you. But think about it like this. Even Christians need to be taught and encouraged to fight selfishness in themselves. See, these things are going to be personal here, but we're going to talk about some things that are deep to you and me. We have to be taught to fight and resist selfishness and fight the sinful urges and appetites that draw us into doing things that are opposed to God's revealed will by way of commandment. You say, I don't have those evil, sinful propensities. Well, I tell you what, that just lets me know right up front which kingdom you're in and which warfare you're trying to fight. The Bible deals with it. Look at these verses. Hold your place here in Ephesians. Look at 2 Timothy chapter 2. See, the Bible deals with these matters because even believers, we've got sinful urges. I know people don't like to talk about things like that, but it's just a sad reality. An old preacher that I heard one time, he made this statement, and I know I've made it from the pulpit before, but I'll make it again. There is no sin imaginable to man that cannot be committed by even the greatest child of God, if any of us can be called great. You hear that? Be careful what you say you wouldn't do. Now, we have such a tendency to think of ourselves, got a lot higher attitude and opinion of who and what we are by nature than what we actually are. Look at Peter. Look here for 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 22. He tells this young preacher, Timothy, a preacher of the gospel. You hear me? Now get this picture of a preacher of the gospel. What does he tell him to do? Flee youthful lust. Now I know we like to get in our minds this picture of a preacher where he has escaped sin. Don't we? And most preachers out there in most of these churches that I know of, they want you to have that opinion of them. And I'll be that gum, you come up with a lower opinion of them, you're going to catch their wrath. But the long and the short of it is this. Timothy, you're a young man. And what do you have as a young man? Youthful lusts. And so he encourages this young preacher of the gospel, and the word flee means what? It means exactly what it says. Run like the... Here's fleeing. Remember when Joseph was in the house with Potiphar's wife and she approached him to have an affair with him? What did he do? It says he fled. And he fled so quickly that she grabbed him by the garment and it didn't matter that he went out of the house naked. He just knew there was problems in this home. I got to get away. Flee them. Run with all your heart and all your mind and all your soul away from it. Look over at Galatians chapter 5. Look at verse 16. He says to believers. This I say then, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill." Isn't this unusual language for a believer? You walk in the Spirit, you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. We already read Ephesians chapter 5. Don't lie to each other. If you're a thief, quit thieving. Right? If you won't forgive, start forgiving. Isn't it amazing that believers have to be encouraged to forgive one another? I know religious people, they don't like that kind of language. That's what this book talks about. In this body, in this life, we will always be what we are. Sinners. See, when God saves us, I don't know. I almost said when God saves us, I wish He would take our old sinful nature out of us. He knows better than we. If it would have been for our good, you know what? He would have took it out of us. Wouldn't He? To say otherwise would be to deny who and what he is. So for some reason, there's something good in him leaving this evil in us. That doesn't make him the author of evil either. But he didn't take away my selfishness and didn't take yours away either. And he doesn't take away those sinful appetites which other people seem to believe that he has. I tell you, we have many examples in the Bible that prove it. And I tell you, those of us that are true Christians, those who know Christ as the Lord our Righteous, we know by our own personal experience. You know right now as I talk to you, you know exactly what I'm talking about concerning your old sinful appetites. I can't see in your heart and your mind, I don't know what's going on, but I know what's going on in here. But listen to me, in spite of the fact that we do have these old sinful appetites, and we do, and we will, When are we going to get done with it, preacher? When you die. It's never going to be done until this thing hits the dirt. Because as long as it's alive, it's not going to be new and improved. You can tidy it up a little bit. Prop it up a little bit. But it still is what it is. And all you got to do is just let the wrong thing approach it. And let the Lord take His hand off of you for but a moment. You think Peter would ever thought in his wildest dreams he would do what he did? Do you think King David ever imagined in his wildest dreams that he would murder a man? to cover up an adulterous affair, which is contrary to God's revealed will by way of commandment, which tells him explicitly in the very law that everybody holds in such high esteem that tells you thou shalt not commit adultery. But not only does he commit adultery, he commits murder. You talk about adding injury to insult. We break another commandment to cover our breaking of the previous commandment. Thou shalt not kill. But see, in spite of that, God does give us godly motives to fight sin and to work hard to obey His revealed will by way of commandment. And it's hard. And see, this motive, what's the motive that gives us the will and the way and the incentive to serve God in every area of our lives? One thing, the gospel. God's gospel. Why is that my motive? Because listen, what is God's gospel? That's another thing that I've got against this religious generation. They don't know what the gospel is. What is God's gospel? According to them, gospel is everything, ain't it? The Gospels are going to church. That's the gospel way. That's not the gospel. They have gospel singing, don't they? They have gospel get-togethers. They have gospel adult classes and gospel. We just think that if they attach that word gospel to something, that makes it right and makes it holy. And God just sits up there and says, ooh, that's so good. Uh-uh. What is it? See, that's my argument. What is the gospel? Do you know what the gospel is? Huh? Is it some mysterious, mystical thing that's floating out there that I can't embrace and I can't understand, nor do I want to understand? Let's keep it a secret. Is that the gospel? No. What's the gospel? Here it is. Paul says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of God. Why are you not ashamed? For therein, in the gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed." What's the gospel? It's a revelation of the only righteousness, that righteousness that we talked about a little while ago in 1 John chapter 2. He was our propitiation for our sins, Jesus Christ the righteous, 1 John 2. The gospel, here it is, as simple as I can put it, God's gospel is His promise to save guilty, defiled, hell-deserving sinners and to freely give them all the benefits and blessings of eternal life and to entitle them to all of salvation based solely and completely on one thing and one thing alone, Kenny. What is it? The righteousness of God, freely imputed and rested and relied in by God-given faith. Now, is that the gospel you believe? If that's not the gospel you believe, it's another. I'm telling you. See, God's gospel teaches us how God provided what His holy law and justice demanded in the person and work of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, by His substitutionary obedience in His death, and how He has excluded the character and conduct of every single solitary sinner, every one of His elect, from the hope and cause of their salvation. It never comes up. We sing it, not what my hands have done or shall hereafter do. See, the Gospel teaches us how Christ's righteousness alone, it qualified me. It entitled me to all of salvation, including the work of His Holy Spirit in me before I ever took that first step in any effort to struggle against any sin in any area of my life. Boy, that's good news. Those are vital and essential truths for us to understand what this true Christian warfare is. For example, you know, the gospel teaches us that if we're united to the Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness is imputed to us, we're covered in His blood, and His blood and His righteousness is a propitiation, it's perfect satisfaction to God's law and justice, that in that state, God's law, get this right now, God's law cannot condemn me for my sins because Christ fully paid the entire debt of my sin by His one-time act of obedience as my substitute and my surety. Hear, my Lord, it is finished. Oh, but preacher, it is finished. I don't know why anybody would want to trust in anything that they could ever do, even if they say it's the Holy Spirit that does it in them. Because I tell you what, if we touch it, folks, it's got us in it. Folks, my faith needs the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, apart from the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, I have no faith. It's absolutely impossible. Again, Christ's righteousness is the only thing that entitles any sinner to salvation before they make any effort to obey God's will. And see, God's Gospel teaches us that nothing proceeding from our persons, proceeding from our character and our conduct, not even our best efforts. can contribute to any part of the hope or cause of our salvation, including favor with God. And see, they didn't tell me this, didn't tell you that. Fellowship with God. Well, you've got to do this to have fellowship with God. Now, our fellowship rests in where? In Christ. Our right and title to that whole inheritance of grace. Where does it come from? Is it me or Him? And see, Satan's desire is for us to think otherwise, isn't it? He wants you thinking that somehow, some way, salvation depends on you at some point. And I'm going to tell you, he will let you sit in a gospel church as long as somehow, some way, he can keep you convinced that your being here this morning makes a difference between life and death. He's got you right where he wants you. If you're sitting here this morning thinking, well, I'm grateful I'm at church, because if I wasn't at church, I'd probably be lost. He's got you in the grip. And he does. And see, it's at this point where we see that one, you know what the main issue is in this true Christian warfare? You know what it is? It's the war we have to engage against legal fear of punishment. and mercenary promise of reward. That's where the battle starts at, right there. See, we have to strive diligently to fight against legal notions concerning these issues. Paul put it like this, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. And see, the way we do that is how? How do we stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has set us free? Here's how we do it. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Do you see that? And by putting on, how do we accomplish that stand fast in liberty? Put on the whole armor of God that you can stand against what? The wiles of the trickery of the devil. He'll trick you. See, this is the thing. He cannot have the child of God. He cannot bring you back into condemnation. But I'll tell you what he can do. He can bedazzle that old strong ally that's in you and trick you to where he takes away all your confidence and all your assurance. And when he does that, you're still a child of God. But you know what? You are miserable. I can't tell you how many saints of God are so miserable. You know why they're miserable? They're in league with Satan and listening to his will and his way and following his wiles, and they've lost their hope. Well, they actually haven't lost their hope. To them, they've lost their hope because he's clouded it. This isn't something mystical. This isn't like Don and them telling me, you've got to take these things and burn them up. It's a conscious act of our minds, of our understanding, of our reason, acting upon God's testimony which we've heard with our ears. We've been given an understanding by His Spirit wherein we believe and rest. See, to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might, it needs to be firmly established on the gospel truths of salvation conditioned solely on the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you, when you get there, you're in the warfare. See, this establishes the motive for engaging in the Christian warfare. It's a motive of grace and gratitude knowing that God has already blessed me with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus before I do anything. And see, we can see from this that unbelievers, even those who work hard to fight against selfishness and immorality, there's some good folks out there. I've got some good moral friends that would give you the shirt off their back, never miss a Sunday service, ever. Probably give a tithe of everything that they've ever taken into their pocket. They do all the things that religion has told them. Fight selfishness and immorality in every area of their lives. And they do win some of the battles. Don't they? But they don't have this motive in any degree. Most of them are doing those things for what reason? So their warfare, in any sense of the word, Christian warfare, their warfare is legal and it's mercenary. Because you know what they're doing? They're walking. That's what Paul talks about in Romans chapter 8, verse 1 and 2, where he made that statement, there's therefore no condemnation of them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And like I've told you before, everybody used to tell me, those that are walking after the flesh, what are they? They're the ones not going to church, not giving their money, not being moral, not being sincere, not being dedicated. And the ones that are walking after the Spirit are the ones that are sitting in church and giving their money. Context, context, context. Who's Romans written to? Not written to a bunch of unbelievers. Who's it written to? Believing sons and daughters of God. What's walking after the flesh? Seeking to establish righteousness. What's walking after the Spirit? Believing God's promise. See, they make great strides. in their warfare, just like Saul of Tarsus did. Remember what Saul of Tarsus said of himself in Philippians chapter 3? He said, touching the righteousness, verse 6, which is of the law, required by the law, what did he say of himself? I was blameless. And he was. But every accomplishment Paul said, where he can make that kind of statement, touching the righteousness which is of the law, They are worth nothing as far as salvation is concerned. Why? My heart desires a prayer to God for Israel. Romans chapter 10 verse 1 through 4. My brethren, according to the flesh, is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness. What do they do? They go about to establish their own. See, I tell you, any man or woman that's ignorant of or who has rejected the only righteousness that can qualify them and save them and entitle them to salvation, they're going about to establish their own righteousness. But on the other hand, the true Christian, the one who's truly engaged in this spiritual warfare, you know what? He or she's dead to sin. Do you realize that this morning? You're dead to sin. You're not dying to sin. He doesn't say that there's no way in the world you can go in any way in the Greek concordance or any kind of Greek theologian and come up with some kind of concept that it means dying to sin. It means dead. Just like Lazarus was dead in that tomb. He didn't swoon. He was dead. Listen, this is where we're at this morning. If you're a believer in Christ Jesus, you're dead to its guilt. You're dead to its penalty. And folks, you're dead to its defilement. And you're even dead to its dominion. Isn't that what he says? For sin shall not have dominion over you. Why? You are not under law. You're under grace. But I tell you what you hadn't conquered yet. You hadn't been delivered from its power and presence and influence. And he had been delivered from his, if you had been delivered from its power and its influence, you wouldn't be struggling against selfishness. You wouldn't be struggling with unlawful, you wouldn't lust, you wouldn't be greedy. Right? If you've conquered it, those things wouldn't be going on in your life. It troubles me when I hear preachers talk about, well, I'm something now that I wasn't before. Yeah, you are. You two-four more as a child of hell than what you were when you started off when you start talking like that. Even though after regeneration and conversion God doesn't take away our selfishness, our desires for unlawful things, He does give us a way in the gospel to conduct ourselves properly in this Christian warfare. Think about it. If any would argue that true believers don't have selfishness and don't have unlawful desires, would anybody argue with the fact that there's room in their heart to entertain those things? Think about what Paul wrote in Romans chapter 13. Go there and read it, Seth. I don't have time. Read Romans 13, verse 13 and 14. Think about what Paul said to those Corinthian believers. He told the Corinthian believers, Fornication. Believers. Why? Because it was so common among all the Gentiles and the believers were going right along with it. In so much so, that just amazes me that one in their midst had committed a sin that was not even named among the pagans. People like, I couldn't believe they would do that. A believer did it. And in Galatians chapter 5, verse 13 through 16, if you go back there and you read that, he tells us, for you and me, believers, quit biting and devouring one another. Because if you bite and devour one another, you know what you'll do? You'll destroy each other. And that biting and devouring one another, you know why we bite and devour? Why would any believers ever argue? Self-love. Selfishness. That's what causes, because when we fight, bite, and devour, who are we promoting? Ourselves. So what do we have to do? We have to fight self-love. We have to fight and strive to love one another. It's hard to serve one another, isn't it? Humility is the hardest thing that any of us have to deal with. I hear people say, oh, he's such a humble guy. Boy, if he or she is humble, that's something. Humility is hard. And see, all these areas in our own personal lives where we have to battle and fight to be conformed to the image of Christ, that's our responsibility. And one of the main ones, you know what it is? Write this down. Write down James chapter 1 verse 26 through James chapter 2 verse 4. You know where the greatest battles, fights are? This little thing right here. He said, oh, it's a little member, but what does it do? Oh, we can do a world of hurt with this thing, can't we? And we're to fight hard, folks, in all these areas to bring our thoughts and our attitudes and our motives and our deeds and our actions in line with Christ. That's your responsibility. And see, from this we can see that only true believers are the ones who's engaged in this true spiritual warfare. The one that he's talking about here in Ephesians 6, all who are in unbelief, all who don't believe this gospel, all who have not registered in Christ as the Lord, they're right. They hadn't entered into the warfare. Because they're not a soldier in the army of Christ. In order to be in the Bible, what have you got to be? You've got to be in the army. And the only way you get in the army is what? He puts you in the army. This is not one of those requests to serve. He makes you willing in a day of His power. And so what they need to do instead of trying to fight, if you're here this morning and you're trying to fight morality or immorality, or trying to fight morality, if you're trying to fight immorality and you're trying to clean up your act and get new and improved and become something that you wasn't before, I'm telling you, forget all that. Rest in Christ. Look to His right. Look unto Jesus, the author and completer of our faith. Because listen to me, we'll quit with this. It's not until then, when we've rested in Christ as the Lord our righteous, it's not before, but then that you begin the spiritual warfare. Now I fought a lot of fights when I was lost in former religion, but it wasn't a true spiritual warfare. And I actually won some of those battles. Felt pretty good about myself. Thought I was new and improved. In this warfare, God keeps us humble. For all I can, I think one of the greatest things that he uses is humility. Keeps us in our proper place. Now we'll come back next week and we'll talk more about this Christian warfare. Let's stand together and we'll be dismissed. I pray the Lord will bless that to your hearts, to your minds and understanding. Donald, would you dismiss us please?