This is a time in our history when there is a great deal of stress in our country because of war, and Christians, along with other people, would like to see peace. But the Word of God reminds us that there is no peace to the wicked, and the world, unfortunately, is a very wicked place. And so in the history of mankind there has been no peace. Wars have been continual from the beginning of history on. They're still going on. Unsaved man wants what he wants when he wants it. And he's opposed by others of the same mind. And the warfare continues. Christians are caught in the middle of all of this. And I'd like to remind us tonight that this is not an abnormal situation, because there has been war in the universe since its beginning. In Revelation chapter 12, we have a little insight into this. In chapter 12, dropping down to verse 7, John says, And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought, and his angels, and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out unto the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night." Now, this sets a scene that is a very vivid one. The conflicts which we see here upon earth are merely mirrors of a conflict that has been going on for ages, one of titanic proportions, war in heaven. A war on earth is bad enough, but when you consider the proportions of this, the scale of this war, then it puts all our wars here into rather shrunken form. They are still fierce as far as we are concerned. But this war is the war between good and evil, and we all recognize it's going on around us. It is not just a matter far removed in heaven. The good and the evil are opposed right here in the midst of our lives, and we are forced to take sides all the time, either to choose God's side or to choose the devil's side. And we have heard his whispering. We have heard his temptations inciting us to the wrong side. And we must recognize that this war is one that is not going to stop soon. It is going to go on until there is total victory on the part of God. Only He knows how long that is going to take. but he is organizing all things to the accomplishment of his mighty purpose. Now, sometimes we have Christians who say, well, everything ought to be organized toward making peace, and we ought to come to terms with our enemies, we ought to arrange peace at any price, because God is for peace. But that is not true. Biblically speaking, God is for what is right. God is for justice. God is for the accomplishment of his eternal purpose. And the devil is opposed to all this. And so there is going to be conflict between God and Satan to the end of time. And we don't know how long that is from our standpoint. So we had better prepare ourselves for the conflict. The conflict is a mighty one. All of us are touched by it. No one is an innocent bystander. You are on one side or the other. You have to be, because it is a war between good and evil, and you choose either for God or for the devil in every last thing that you do. That makes it a very serious choice for all of us. Since we are caught in the midst of this conflict and there's no way of avoiding it, we need to learn what scripture says about our adversaries and about our responsibilities and what is going on in the world. This scene that John records in the book of Revelation is a great insight The war began in heaven, it didn't begin on earth. When Genesis chapter 3 unfolds, the battle is already joined. There are opposing sides there, and Adam and Eve are brought into that scene where the conflict is already on, where their choices are going to be either for one side or the other. And for the rest of mankind's history, we're all in that same spot. We are plunged into an ongoing conflict. And whatever we are doing, we are choosing for one side or the other, and it goes on generation after generation. Now that's kind of discouraging from our standpoint. We like to see a battle fought and won, and everybody stop and go home and everything is settled. But this war is not going to be settled until the end of time, and no one can guess when that will be. And so, perforce, we are plunged into battle, and we are fighting against unseen foes. Or you say there are some very visible ones ahead of us. Yes, yes, that's right. There are people who are very much opposed to what we stand for. There are people who would like to destroy all churches, wipe out the gospel completely, turn this world into a charitable synagogue of Satan. And that's what scripture has told us already. We know that's true. But on the other hand, our captain, the general of the army on our side, is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is here to win the battle. and he is guiding his troops every day, moving them forward against the positions of the enemy, seeking to win marvelous victories that only he can arrange, and we are simply instruments in his hands. It's difficult to fight in a war where you are a foot soldier and you don't know the strategy. and you haven't been told the plans of the general. And the orders come down, march here and do this and plan to attack this position and so on. And you don't know why. It doesn't look like a reasonable task. But these are the orders. And in a war, the soldiers obey. They respond by following their local commanders into action. And many times they're fighting for a cause that they're worried about. It looks like it's going to fail. But they fight anyway. And we are very much in that same position. It looks like we're losing this war, at least in some fields. And sometimes, personally, it looks like we are losing. But that is because we don't know what the orders of the Commander-in-Chief are. He is not losing. He is winning. But from our standpoint, we can't always see the victory, and that makes it hard. And so tonight we're going to look at this. War is not something foreign to the believer. War is not something you can avoid. It is thrust upon you. And you are standing in a battle line, whether you like it or not, whether you know the orders of the day or not, you are there. and you are being shot at. That's why we search the scriptures. It is not merely to, quote, get a blessing. That's surely a result of searching scripture. But you are searching scripture so that you know the orders of the day, so that you understand what your task is today and how your place in the battle line is needed today. Scripture makes that very clear. Now, I want to trace this idea through several passages of scripture. Deuteronomy chapter 3, we will turn there, dropping down in the chapter to verse 21. Here Moses is repeating the law of the Lord, and he says in verse 21, And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Thine eyes have seen all that the Lord your God hath done unto these two kings. So shall the Lord do unto all the kingdoms whither thou passest. Ye shall not fear them, for the Lord your God shall fight for you." Now here are orders for Joshua, and Joshua was to lead the Israelites in the conquest of the land. He was not an experienced general, but he was commissioned to lead the Israelites. And he did not know the plan of the battle, he was receiving it as the Lord gave it to him. He was doing the best he could. But Moses is now preparing him for that kind of a task. Going into enemy territory, facing a foe that is well armed, and trusting in the power of God to accomplish the victory. Transposing all of that to where we are, we are doing the same thing. We too are in a battle that we cannot completely understand. We too are commanded by scripture to do this and do that and do the other, and sometimes it doesn't always appear logical or effective. But we have orders And we're to obey those orders and trust in the wisdom of the commander that everything is going to work out as he directs. And that takes faith. It takes faith on the part of troops in the field to obey orders sometimes that they don't understand, that don't look logical. But the general knows why those orders were given. And that same faith must reside with us. We don't always understand what the Lord is asking us to do, but he does. And if we have faith in our commanding officer, we will obey and do what he says, even though it may not look too logical or in some cases even possible. Because he understands perfectly how the war is going and what is needed and why We are fighting. Sometimes we get blurred on that point. We even get blurred as to who the enemy is. Sometimes our fellow troops look like they are part of the enemy forces, and that's unfortunate. But God always knows, and the orders are in Scripture. We must obey the orders, even if it doesn't look logical. In verse 28, he says, Charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him, for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see. Charge Joshua. Now here's a man who was responsible for the military part of the Children of Israel, but he wasn't a trained general. He wasn't someone who was a professional, but he was given the task and he stepped forward to do it. And when the time came, he led the Israelites into the land. That took real faith on his part. He was facing heavily fortified places. I've walked in those same places in the land of Israel and seen those ancient walls, powerful walls that could withstand battering rams. They were formidable to attempt to assault. And that was Joshua's task. I'm sure he had second thoughts about it, but he obeyed. and he led the Israelites in. And guess what? They won city after city, conquest after conquest. And it wasn't the size of the Israelite army. It wasn't their skill. It was God's blessing. It was a warfare that he was engaged in. Now, friends, we are still, like the Israelites, engaged in a war. that is vastly larger than we can comprehend. We see only our little sector that we're working in, fighting in. But God sees all of it and he orders each one according to his perfect will. And we must trust him that he knows what's going on and he knows why we face the foes we do and why the opportunities to go forward arise and why the path is difficult many times. It is his path, and he is guiding all the war. In Judges, chapter 3, we've come to the time when Joshua has conquered the land. The first rush has overrun everything. But it wasn't a total victory. and the war is continuing. And in Judges chapter three, Now these are the nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan, only that the generations of the children of Israel might know to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof. namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in Mount Lebanon from Baal Hermon unto the entering in of Hamath. And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses." Now, this is very interesting. Here, the Lord declares very plainly that he is leaving the nations in the land. He is not driving them all out. The Israelites were hoping to get rid of all of them, but that was not God's will. Now, why wasn't it? Because they were to prove the Israelites whether they would stand on God's side or whether they would desert to the enemy. Now, that is always among us. The test is always there for all believers. Are you going to remain faithful to God? Are you going to fight the battles of the Lord and not flinch and not give up and keep on keeping on? Or are you going to quit? Are you going to desert, join the enemy or else at least try to appear so camouflaged that no one knows you're around? Those temptations are with all Christians all the time. The situation is very much parallel to the time of the judges. God deliberately left the nations there so that there would be opposition, so that the Israelites would need God. There is the great secret, friends, in all our warfare. All that is going on so that we are continually reminded that we are not sufficient for all these things. We need God. If he is not directing us, if he is not guiding our efforts, we are in terrible trouble. That is not an accident. It is a very deliberate choice. In the times of the judges, I won't go through the accounts of all that were there, but you recall how the Israelites were in desperate circumstances, again and again, oppressed by the enemy, just one step away from total disaster. They called upon the Lord and followed his commandments, and God gave them victory. but it lasted only for a little while and then the Israelites got careless and forgot about God and lo and behold there's another enemy there. Begins to sound rather familiar after a while. We can think back in our own life to such cycles. The Lord answers prayer and we have a glorious victory and pretty soon we get relaxed and forgetful and we're not really as zealous about God as we ought to be. And all of a sudden, a new enemy shows up, and there's new problems, and we start to pray again. Things get desperate again. Well, if we would just remember all that and be on our guard all the time, perhaps the enemy wouldn't show up that way. But always, he shows up for the same reason. The Israelites needed them. Friends, that's exactly the situation for all of us. We need the opposition. we need the trouble, otherwise we would forget all about our commander-in-chief, and we would settle down and forget that we are strangers and soldiers facing a real enemy. We've got to remember that this war of the ages has gone on from the beginning. It is very much raging today. It will go on until the commander-in-chief wins. And so we must brace ourselves. The war will continue. The sniping of the enemy will continue. The attacks and assaults of the devil will continue. all of it designed to cause us to come back to the commander-in-chief and ask for marching orders, to ask for protection, to ask that he guide the war. He is ready to do just that. We must not forget that he is in command. In Psalm 18, David, a good warrior, and a great singer of Israel, speaks about this same situation. In Psalm 18, verse 32, David says, that girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hind's feet, setteth me upon my high places. He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms." Ah yes, there it is again. God teaches him to war. God is instructing him how to fight. And he finds himself wrestling with impossible situations. But he says, it's God who's teaching him how to do the impossible. You can't take a bow of steel and break it with your bare hands. Psalmist was very much aware of that. But he's using this as an image. God commands us to do the impossible, to face the enemy and make them fellow soldiers in our army. That's impossible. But our general can accomplish that. And that's what he's commanding, that we go and face the enemy and turn them into fellow soldiers. Now, you can't do that. I can't do that. Only God can do that. And so David is expressing here What is the truth for God's people in all ages? We're in a war that we can't win by ourselves. We're facing enemies that we have to make fellow soldiers, and we can't do that either. So what's the secret? God. He is the sole victor. He is the one who can teach us to change enemies into fellow soldiers. He is the one who can show us how to conquer the foe. how to besiege strongholds, how to achieve victory. We're not doing it by our strength or our wisdom or any kind of military activity. It's by the power of the Word. The Word is the sword of the Spirit, and we are fighting with a book. We're not fighting with human weapons and earthly means. We're in a supernatural battle. And the battle must be fought through this sword of the Spirit. And that's why it's so vitally important for all of us to open up the scriptures and to fill our hearts and minds with this blessed book. We need it. We need it not just for food for the soul, which we're all aware of. We need it for the war. We're facing problems. We're facing enemies every day, all the time. We're facing opportunities to use this sword of the Spirit. Many times we forget. And here was a person we could have talked to about the Lord, and we just dropped the ball. That's all. We just never brought the subject up. That's convicting. But these things happen continually, over and over, and we have to recognize we're not at peace. We're at war. It's going on continually, and we must be armed and ready and following the commands of our great Commander-in-Chief. That's where the victory comes from. It doesn't come from our wisdom, our ability, our skill at war. None of this counts for anything. He is the one who gives the victory. And this blessed book the sword of the Spirit, the most powerful weapon that you could wield. This is what we must concentrate on. Learn how to use this sword. Learn how to use the verses in it to call people's attention to the grace of God and surrender to the Lord of the universe. and how he can transform enemies into faithful soldiers in his army. He does it over and over. We are examples ourselves, and still we forget sometimes that that is what the battle is all about—fighting in the Lord's army. It is God that girdeth me with strength. Every one of us needs strength. Apart from God, we are terribly weak. And in a battle, that's a fatal situation. A weak person is gunned down very easily. But God gives us strength. And that is what we must ask for, day after day. that the grace of the Lord Jesus would strengthen us, make us what we ought to be, that we would have the wisdom to use the sword of the Spirit, that he would win the victory. That must be our constant prayer. So many times we forget that we're in a war like that. We forget that he has to win the battle. In Psalm 18, Notice verse 35. Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation, and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. That's a curious combination. The shield of salvation, your great protection in the war, is your salvation. The fact that you have surrendered to the Lord, and the Lord is now your Savior and your General, that is a tremendous protection for you. The lost have no such protection. The devil gets through to them all the time. But we will know only in eternity how much the Lord has protected us by his word, foiled the attacks of the devil through this blessed book. It's a shield for us, and we need to resort to it all the time. If we trust in our own wisdom, our own skill, we're going to go down in defeat. But if we turn to this blessed book, fill our minds with the truths that are here, That's the shield that crowds out the assaults of the devil, that frustrates his attempts to weaken us. It's this shield that is our protection, and we must resort to it continually. In verse 48, He delivereth me from mine enemies. Yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me. Thou hast delivered me from the violent man. How wonderful that God does indeed deliver his people and protect us from the assaults of the enemy. But the deliverance comes through this blessed book. It is God's holy word that provides that deliverance. Jumping over to Psalm 144. Psalm 144 is also a Psalm of David. And here David is giving praise for the Lord's victory. Blessed be the Lord, my strength, which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight, my goodness, my fortress, my high tower, my deliverer, my shield, he in whom I trust, who subdueth my people under me. There's a marvelous statement of the Lord's protecting power. David had to fight. He knew about all these weapons. He understood what war was all about. And he understood about the wars of the soul as well. And he's blessing the Lord his strength. Friends, that's your only source of strength. You have none of your own in this war. Your adversaries are supremely powerful compared to your power, but God gives you the strength. God supplies it through his word, and he teaches you how to fight this war. It doesn't come by gritting your teeth. It comes by trusting in him. It doesn't come by laying abstruse plans. It comes by opening the book and finding out what the orders are. It's a simple thing, for many people too simple, but it works. God provides for his people the strength, the wisdom, the guidance, the victory. It all comes through this book. As we read, he puts into our minds the verses we need, the strength for the day, the verse that can help others to find the Lord, even as we did. It comes through this blessed book. He teaches my hands to war. It's not with military weapons. It's with a book, the sword of the Spirit. Now, friends, we're all in this war. We all know people who need to be saved. We all, every day, face the enemy We find attacks, traps, snares waiting for us every day. And this is the book that provides the power. This is the book that gives us the strength to resist. It's absolutely important that we fill our minds with this book. We drink deep at the springs of living water that flow from these pages. We need them in the battle. It's a very serious encounter. In verse nine, I will sing a new song unto thee, O God. Upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praise unto thee. Now that's interesting that in this militaristic poem, this poem of battle and war, there is victory, and singing And that is a characteristic of all the wars of the Lord. Yes, the battle is hard. Yes, it's difficult to fight with the sword of the Spirit. But there is victory and there is celebration. And we can sing the praises of God. We can sing the victories of the Lord because he wins them. We don't win them. We are simply the soldiers in the army facing the enemy, and he is winning the victory. But singing is a marvelous way to fight. When you are sad, you're a poor soldier. When you're singing, you're a confident soldier. And that's what all of us need to be, singing the praises of God. who gives us the victory. We don't win it by our strength, he provides it, and he does it through this blessed book. And we can use the very words of the book to sing praises to God for such a victory. Now, these are things that we must put into practice for ourselves. In verse 15, Happy is that people that is in such a case. Yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord. We're happy not because of circumstances. We're happy not because of material gifts. We're happy because of the Lord. He is winning. He is accomplishing in our lives what he intends. And that's where the true joy comes. It comes from his victory in the soul within. Now, if we may move to the New Testament. In 2 Timothy, chapter 2, we have a context that translates all of these terms into our New Testament marching orders. And Paul, a warrior if there ever was one, is giving us here 2 Timothy, chapter 2, the kind of marching orders that we all need He writes to his son in the faith, Timothy, Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. He's not saying that you ought to indulge in human exercises to build your muscles. You ought to train yourself in mental gymnastics so that you can think well. That's not what he's saying. Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. It is the grace of Christ that makes the Christian strong. It's not his physical strength. It is not his mental abilities. God can use the poorest of these to accomplish his purpose. The power in this war must come from God. It comes through this blessed book. Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. He offers us grace every day, grace greater than my sin, grace sustaining grace, able to accomplish his work in my life. That's what all of us must recognize. God's grace can give us the victory. Now, friends, when we forget where it comes from, when we begin to think that maybe our skill in using Scripture is what God needs, No, he doesn't. He just needs the scriptures. Your skill doesn't count for much. It's the power of the word that does everything. Just quote the scriptures. That's all you have to do. It's the scriptures that convict. It's the scriptures that convert. And you can't accomplish either of those by argument or attempts at persuasion. God does it through his word. He does it all by himself. So be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Your grace comes from your commander. He provides the strength for everything that he calls you to do. He never asks you to stand in the battle and then turns away and deserts you. He will never do that. He is always with you. His grace is always there to provide the strength you need. You must trust him for that. So Paul goes on to say, the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. So here's a case. When you win in the battle and you win someone to the Lord, now your responsibility is train him. Get him into the word. Show him how to fight this war. He is part of the friends who are now facing a common enemy. So, in verse 3, Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Now, we all wish the Christian life were easier. We all wish that there was no longer vacation period now and then. But it doesn't work that way. We're at war, and we're in the army, and this is hard. So, he says, endure hardness as a good soldier. Now today, in any army, there's always a training period, a toughening up period, where the recruits are made to run obstacles and do exercises and march day and night and all of this. That's not fun to go through. I haven't met one yet that says he enjoyed all that. But it was most necessary. They had to be toughened up for the war. And friends, when Paul was writing this, the image was a great deal stronger than it is today. For the Roman soldiers, they had an iron discipline. Rome was famous for that. For the march, the soldiers gathered up all their equipment and everything early in the morning and started out marching. They weren't carried there. They had to get there on foot. And they marched all day long, which is not fun for anybody. When they got to the camp, they had to build it. It was the Roman custom. You build a fort every night. And so they dug in and put up the palisades and they built the towers, guard towers and so on. They put the gates in place. And after that whole thing was completed, then they could go and fall in. Believe me, they were ready. In the morning, take it all down, be ready to march again. And on they go all day long marching. You think that was fun? No, it was not. But it made the most disciplined army in the ancient world. It made an army that maintained an empire across the entire Mediterranean and did it for nearly four centuries. Iron military discipline. So when he says, endure hardness as a good soldier, boy, they had a tremendous picture in their minds. They understood what the Roman soldiers were doing. That was rough, boy. Now, we don't always have that same picture in our minds. In modern days, the armed services have become much more humane. Still, there's got to be toughening period. There's got to be training. Otherwise, the soldier is never ready to fight. And so, for all of us, be a good soldier. Think of that. All day long, marching. Then building a camp. You get to eat only after all that's done. Think of that. Endure hardness. And so the Christian life is difficult. All right. That's what war is all about. And that's what he calls us to do. Be a good soldier. Don't complain. Don't say it's hard. Just simply do your job. Face the enemy. Your commander knows what he's doing. He's with you. You will win. Paul knew what he was talking about. He was on the front line. He took it all the time. The persecution, the jails, the slander, it was everywhere. And he was there, never cringing, never complaining. He was a good soldier. So he can afford to say this. He knows what he's talking about. And we have to learn this same way of being faithful to God every day. facing the enemy every day, trusting the Lord Jesus for grace and strength and wisdom, all that we need for the battle every day, there's no let-up until the war is over. That's the Christian life. In 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 12, Paul says, If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we suffer, we shall reign with him." Now here he goes way beyond the bounds of any soldier anywhere. Suffering in the army, suffering in the war, they were familiar with that. We know about that. But after it's over and the victory is won, you're going to be a king. That was not contemplated in the ancient world. The king was one who led the troops and he was one safely behind the lines, and the soldiers weren't offered that kind of compensation. Never. But that is what he offers us. When we fight the war, when we face the enemy, your commander has a great future planned for you. This world is the training ground. This world is the first round of the victories. He's got a great deal planned beyond this. He has a program that stretches on to the ages of eternity, and he assures us that we are going to be kings and priests for him, and it will never end. That's staggering. So you are not just a foot soldier in the army. You may not have an important place in this world. You've got a great place in the next. We can afford to exercise self-denial. We can afford to be a good soldier, not complain. He's training us for a tremendous future. His program stretches on for the ages of eternity. and we are part of his army that will win. Every one of us must recognize that the battles of the present are his battles, and he is going to win. The battles of the future are his battles, and we are going to be in them, and he is going to win. The war is going to result in total victory We can't plan it, he does. We can't win it, he does. Everything depends on him. Every head bowed, every eye closed. O Lord, how we thank Thee and praise Thee that Thou art the Great General, the Great King, that Thou art marshalling Thy troops all over the world to accomplish Thy purpose and to win the victories that Thou dost ordain. We thank Thee, Lord, that You have summoned us to be Thy soldier, to stand in the battle. We thank Thee for the honor. We thank Thee for the privilege of serving Thee. And we pray that Thou wilt help us all to be good soldiers for the Lord Jesus. that Thou wilt help us to use the sword of the Spirit, that others may surrender to Thee and join ranks. We pray that Thou wilt help us to keep our goal clearly before us, that we are serving Thee, we are in this battle to the end, and Thou wilt win. Help us, Lord, to remember that and to fight for Thee every day. for Jesus' sake. Amen.