This is the Scripture-Driven Church broadcast brought to you by Teaching the Word Ministries. The Church of Jesus Christ must be the Scripture-Driven Church, relying on God's inspired and inerrant Word as our sole authority and our infallible critic in every area of life and ministry. And now, here's author, Bible teacher, and Teaching the Word president, Dr. Paul Elliott, to introduce today's program. Greetings and welcome to this special edition of the Scripture-Driven Church Broadcast. We're living in a time when the Bible-based legacy of America's founding fathers is being devalued and discarded at a breathtaking pace. People are looking for answers to the crisis in lots of wrong places, and they're grasping at wrong answers. To understand the solution to any crisis, you must first understand the cause. What is America's real problem? What's the solution? You'll find the right answer in only one place, and that is in the Word of God. The Bible's answer isn't the one that most people, and even many Christians, are thinking of today. But the Bible's diagnosis of America's present crisis, indeed the world's crisis, that diagnosis is far more relevant and far more realistic than anything you'll hear or read anywhere else. The answer is summed up in seven words in Ephesians chapter six where Paul says this, we wrestle not against flesh and blood. The urgent need of the hour is for Christians not only in America but around the world to face this fact and act upon it. What you're going to hear is a recording of a sermon that I preached recently on this critical issue at First Presbyterian Church in Rising Sun, Maryland. The date was May 30, 2010, and the occasion was a Sunday morning worship service on the day before the United States Memorial Day. We believe this message is very timely not only for our listeners in the United States, but also around the world. since all believers in Christ are engaged in the same spiritual warfare. Wherever you are, whatever nation you're in, whatever the nature of the problems you and your country face, God's Word tells us that we are all dealing with the same underlying cause. So if you're able, I hope you'll open your Bible to the book of Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10 as we begin this special message. Before we look to the Lord's Word this morning. Let's look to the Lord in prayer once again. Father, we thank You that we have the privilege and the opportunity to look into Your Word this morning. We pray that as we do so, that the Author, the Holy Spirit, would be our guide and our teacher because we know that, Father, we can learn nothing that is true unless we learn it from You and unless You teach us. We pray that you would do that this morning and that you would minister to each heart according to our need as you alone know it. In Jesus name. Amen. I suspect there probably isn't anyone here this morning who would disagree with me when I say that America is in pretty terrible shape this morning. Tomorrow is Memorial Day. The day on which we remember those who have given their lives for this nation in time of war, and we've honored those who have served this morning. But we're remembering what they've done at a time when their legacy is being squandered. The principles and the liberties and the values that men have fought and died for are being devalued, discarded, forgotten at a breathtaking pace. We're living in a disturbing time. And part of the reason that it is so disturbing is that many people and even many Christians don't understand why America is in this kind of condition. Why the world is in this kind of condition. But in such a time as this, we turn to the Word of God for the answers. So turn with me in your Bibles, please, to the book of Ephesians 6. This familiar passage beginning at verse 10. Ephesians 6. I just want to read four verses there, down through verse 13. And I'm reading from the Old King James Bible this morning because there's a particular emphasis in that translation that will be important to what I have to say this morning. The Apostle Paul writes, beginning at verse 10 of Ephesians 6, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might, put on the whole armor of God. that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 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. Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Christianity is an exclusive religion, isn't it? It says that the Bible and the Bible alone is the truth of God. It is a book that tells the world how to be saved. It tells the Christian how to live. And all of it is based on propositional truth. And here, the Apostle Paul is giving us propositional truth, vital facts. One particular fact. Paul says, because certain things are true, because a certain thing is true, you need to put on the whole armor of God. You need all of it. You need to know how to use it because certain things are true. And the thing that is true is that Satan is alive and active in the world. And that he and his forces are behind all of the evil that we see. Now, there may be someone here this morning who is wondering about this. You may be saying to yourself, with the situation as it is in America today, the situation as it is in the world today, are we really going to spend our time talking about what the Bible has to say about the devil and about these principalities and powers? Well, if you have such a feeling, let me answer you this way. We could say many things, but let me say this. If you're saying that because you think that you're a realist, and because you think that what we're going to consider this morning is unrealistic, let me say to you that you are, of all people, most unrealistic. You are, of all people, not facing the national and the world situation as it is this morning. There is nothing more realistic, nothing more relevant to the terrible situation that our nation finds itself in this morning than the words that we're going to consider. What we read here in Ephesians this morning is more relevant to the condition of this nation and this world at this hour than all of the talk of the politicians and the statesmen and the talk radio people and the political movements today. Now, I know that I've just made a very strong and sweeping statement. And the only way that I can make that statement is on the authority of God's word. If you believe the Bible at all, you must believe that what we've just read tells us the ultimate cause of the world situation. And that this is more urgently relevant than anything else that we could say this morning. All of the talk of the politicians and pundits has a problem. And the problem is that it deals with symptoms. The moral problems of the nation are a symptom of something deeper, far deeper. The worldwide slaughter of the unborn, abortion, is a problem of a far greater life and death struggle. The problems of the global economy are symptoms of something far more serious. The wars that are being fought in various parts of the world this morning are a symptom of a far greater and more eternally significant conflict. The natural disasters, the environmental catastrophes that the world is experiencing at this hour, our symptoms are the outflow, the downfall of a far worse catastrophe that happened long, long ago in a realm outside of this world. And what I'm speaking of is the fall of the devil, the fall of Satan into sin, and the fall of a significant portion of the angels of God who joined Satan in his rebellion. These are the principalities and powers of which the Apostle Paul speaks. Satan's activity, his personal activity brought sin into this world. Brought death, brought the curse, brought all the things that we see. He is behind it all. The activity of Satan and his armies is behind all, all of the evil that we see in this world at this moment. Why did Jesus Christ come into this world? He came into this world to save sinners. He also came into this world, Scripture tells us, to do something else. 1 John 3, verse 8 tells us this, For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, was made visible in this world, that He might destroy the work of the devil. 1 John 3, verse 8. Why did Jesus go to the cross? Colossians 2, beginning at verse 13, we read this, and you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against you. He's taken it out of the way, having nailed it to His cross. Notice, having disarmed principalities and powers. He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it, in the cross. The cross was not a defeat. Jesus Christ was defeating Satan, ensuring his doom. The only cure for the evils that are perpetrated in this world by Satan and his host this morning is the cross of Jesus Christ. That is the gospel message. Postmodern thinkers, the thinkers of our time, not only in the secular realm, but also in the church, constantly fail to do something that's vitally important. They fail to differentiate between the symptoms of the deep, deep sickness into which our nation has fallen and the root cause of the disease. And all that the world, the unbelieving world, can do, all that the church more and more frequently is doing is trying to deal with symptoms. Many evangelicals today are caught up in trying to make this world a better place, trying to make this life a better life, rather than recognizing that this world is passing away and that Jesus Christ Himself has commanded us to focus our attention, our efforts, on the things that matter for the life to come and for the world to come. Two things. The salvation of lost sinners. Go into all the world and preach the gospel. And the nurturing of the saints, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. Now, if a doctor were to spend all of his time only treating the symptoms of a patient who had a deadly disease, one symptom after another after another as they came, but he never tried to deal with the root cause, never tried to deal with the disease itself, That doctor would be guilty of a criminal act of malpractice, wouldn't he? And that's the problem of the world at this moment. That's why the politicians and the commentators are trying to deal with all of the world's problems in the way that they do because they never understand the cause. It's something they cannot face, they do not face, and that's true because with few and precious exceptions among them, They don't have regenerated eyes to see what the real problem is, according to God's Word. And so they're constantly meeting and arguing about what needs to be done. Sometimes they're coming to an agreement, but then the agreement falls apart or the legislation or the plan of action that they put into place fails to accomplish its objective or it gets overturned in the courts or whatever the case may be. And they're disappointed. And the people are disappointed. And people have less and less hope that the problems can really be solved. But the real tragedy is that the Christian church, which has the message, which has the answer that can expose the cause and proclaim the cure, The tragedy is that the church itself, in many cases, is spending so much of its time doing and saying things that the unbelieving politicians can do and say, and not what God's Word says. And the church is doing it. Why? Because it wants to give people the impression that Christianity is relevant. And people only think that something is relevant if you talk in their terms. In other words, In terms of symptoms. And dear friends, that is tragic. The church that does such things is guilty. Of a criminal kind of spiritual malpractice. Medicating the symptoms rather than proclaiming the cure. Only the Christian church can proclaim the cure. Only the Christian church has the cure. The Christian, if you really believe what the Bible says here in Ephesians 6, the Christian has the only genuine explanation for the world situation as it is, and the only answer for it, Jesus Christ. And you know, one of the things that is most bothersome, I believe, is that most of the politicians and pundits who claim to be evangelical Christians think and talk and act as though Ephesians chapter 6, 10-13 did not exist. They think and act as though medicating the symptoms was enough. That proclaiming the real cause of the world's problems and proclaiming the one and only cure, that that's not even an option. That's not politically correct. Of course, this is a message that is utterly ridiculed by the world. We can expect that we. Should expect that the world is spiritually blind, but when the church. Ridicules that message when the church, when Christians act as though this were not even in the Bible. That's a far more serious problem in the eyes of God, it is sin. Now, first of all, Paul, in these verses, he's directing our attention to the fact that there is a conflict, obviously. We wrestle, he says. And Paul uses two different terms to describe the conflict that we're in. First, he says we wrestle. And then in verse 13 and following, he speaks of armed warfare. Well, why does he do this? Why? Why does he do it this way? He does it because it shows that there are two aspects to the conflict. There is, first of all, an individual aspect. We, as individual Christians, wrestle in this conflict. Paul is speaking here of the intimate nature of the conflict. It's true that Christians are engaged in this conflict as a mass army, as the church of Christ, as the army of the Lord. But it's also true that there are two opposing armies arrayed against each other, the Lord's people and the principalities and powers. But at the same time, this conflict is an individual matter as well. There's wrestling. This is a picture of two men grappling with each other, one trying to overpower the other. And also, Paul uses the terms of warfare, as I said. Verse 10, he says, "...put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." In the original language, that word wiles is actually methods or schemes The methods and schemes of the devil, that you may be able to stand against them. And then verse 13, put on the whole armor of God again, that you may be able to stand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Paul uses these terms to show that this is a serious and terrible and fierce conflict. And we as Christians are in it. We can't get away from it. You can either be in the conflict wearing the armor of God, being strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, or else you can be in the conflict unarmed, unprotected, unprepared, doomed to one spiritual defeat after another. The nature of the conflict is that of standing against an enemy that's attacking. That's the first thing that we have to do. We have to repulse attacks And we have to keep doing it again and again because the enemy keeps coming again and again and again. And even when we get a temporary victory, we can't let down our guard. We can't say it's over. I'll go away on a spiritual vacation because that's just the moment when we're going to be under attack. When we let down our guard. This is a relentless war. There is never any discharge from this army. There's never any resigning your commission. And this, I believe, needs to be clearly emphasized because many Christians today don't face this. They don't realize this, that we're in a warfare. Most of the evangelical church today is the feel-good church. The last thing that it wants to hear is that there is a raging spiritual conflict and that Christians are inevitably in that conflict. if we're truly believers. And that if you don't realize it, it means that you're defeated from the very beginning. No, the Apostle Paul says, we wrestle. You're in this conflict. Stand therefore. And even when there's victory, make sure you're still standing because the enemy is going to come right back at you again. And he's going to try all sorts of different means and methods and tricks to knock you off your feet, keep you on the ground, spiritually speaking. The great business of life for the Christian is to keep standing in the conflict. Now, what does Paul say about the nature of the conflict? We've seen some of that already. Well, here in particular, he brings us to the most important thing that every Christian must recognize today. If you take nothing else away from this message this morning, I hope that you'll take away this one thing. This is the fact, the vital fact that every Christian needs to realize. It's the fact today that is the key to the situation in America, the key to the situation in the entire world, and in fact, it is the underpinning of the Gospel message in the Bible from beginning to end. It's one of the underpinnings. You see, there's something unique about the Bible. We understand that this is the only book in the world that gives this teaching that we've just read. You won't find it anywhere else. That's because this is the only supernatural book, the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God. This isn't man speaking. This is God speaking. This isn't the world's wisdom. This is God's genuine wisdom. The world doesn't have this. Only the Bible has it. Only the Christian has it. The whole viewpoint of the Word of God is different from anything else in the world. And so our worldview, our perspective on what we see going on around us needs to be different from anything that the world has to say about the nature of the situation and how to deal with it. Nobody understands the world as it really is this morning except the Christian, if you in fact truly accept this teaching. If you understand that it's true and if you think and act accordingly. And I submit to you that our willingness to accept this teaching is really a very thoroughgoing test of our acceptance of the Christian faith. Because this teaching is essential to the Christian faith. Sin, the fall of man, man's need, God's remedy. That's essential to the Christian faith. And so Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gives us this vital fact, the fact that every Christian must face. And he puts it both negatively first and then positively. He starts off with the negative. Why must I do all this? Why must I be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might? Why must I put on the whole armor of God? Why is it true to say that no other power, no other armor can enable me to stand in this conflict? Well, Paul gives the answer. He says, we wrestle. But how? How? Not against flesh and blood. And actually in the Greek, Paul says, we wrestle not against blood and flesh. What's his point? What's he saying? He's saying we wrestle not against men. We wrestle not against men. We're not up against men only. Not human beings only, not what they do. Our problem is not that of man or of mankind. It is something else. And this is a basic and fundamental proposition of God's Word. And here we see how very different the biblical viewpoint is from the worldly viewpoint. The first thing you've got to realize, Paul is saying, is that the problem that's confronting you as an individual, the problem that's confronting this nation, the problem that's confronting this world, is not merely a human problem. It's much higher than that. It's much wider than that. It's much deeper than that. And therefore, it's much more difficult. It took the intervention of God Himself. The solution is not a human solution. Now the world of course doesn't believe this and that's why the world is as it is. The world says that the cause of the trouble is economic or it's political, it's social, it's moral, whatever you want to name. And if we can only deal with those things, things would change for the better. All would be well. The problem, some people say, is that we've departed from our founding documents, our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. That is true, but that is not the problem. Some say the problem is the unbridled growth of government. No, it's not the problem. The problem is lack of integrity in government. No, it's not. The problem is the threat of radical Islam. No, it's not. The problem is the deterioration of family values. No, it's not. The problem, some say, is abortion. No, it's not. As horrible as that is, all of these things and a thousand others that we could name are not the problem. They are symptoms of the problem. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. Man isn't the problem. What man is doing or not doing isn't the problem. The problem is not merely on a human level. Yes, there are human problems, deep problems, serious problems, tragic problems. But those are the symptoms of the disease. They're not the disease itself. The real cause is higher and further back. Not against flesh and blood. The whole way that the world is conducting itself this morning, and even much of the church, the whole way things are being conducted is based on the supposition that we're only wrestling against flesh and blood. That the problem is man and that the problem can therefore be solved by human, earthly ways and means. And the world and much of the church is focused on man. They never rise higher than that in their thinking. They never grasp and understand that the real problem is a spiritual problem, not a problem of flesh and blood. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. This is absolutely basic. So Paul has first put it negatively, and then he also puts it positively. He says we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Well, against what then? We wrestle against the devil. against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places, against, against, against. What is this? Well, once again, let me say it. We're looking straight into the face of what is the most essential thing in the biblical record and in Christian teaching. The thing that's at the heart of the problem that God came into this world to solve. What's the problem of America this morning? What's the problem of the world this morning? What's the ultimate cause? It is not man. It is the devil and his unseen forces and powers. That is what God's Word says is the real truth of the matter. Now, let's face it. Here is something that's not only not believed today, it's rejected, it's ridiculed, it's scorned. Many times it's treated as a joke. The devil! Principalities and powers, unseen spiritual forces. The world says that this is an insult to man's intelligence. There may be somebody sitting here thinking that right now. How can anyone in the 21st century believe this? What in the world are you doing with the world as it is? Are you really going to preach about the devil? Are you really going to propose that unseen spiritual forces are the problem. Why don't you tell us something practical? Why don't you tell us how to solve the political problems, the economic problems, the terrorism problem? Why don't you face the stark realities of life in the 21st century? Instead of talking about unseen spiritual forces, instead of talking about the devil. This is nonsense. It's impractical. That's what's being said, isn't it? The biblical viewpoint is being utterly and completely ridiculed in the world today. They don't want to hear it. But what's more troubling than that is this, as I've said, not only is it being ridiculed in the world, it's being played down in the church. It's even being ignored in the church. It's even being ridiculed in the church. The evangelical church is to a great extent occupied with symptoms, not dealing with the root problem. Let me ask, does what we've just covered come into your essential thinking? We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. Is this always in your thinking? Is this the basis of your worldview? As you look at the world as it is today, do you say immediately, here's the explanation? Do you normally think like that, Christian people? All I can say is that if we don't, We've got a very defective sort of Christianity. This is an essential and vital part of the Gospel message. And Paul says that you must think this way. You must never relax, never relent. You must understand that this is the reason why it is the job of the church to do two things and two things only, to preach the Gospel to the world, to nurture the saints and found doctrine that produces right living. If anything is going to change the world, that is going to change the world. That's the only answer. The gospel of Christ and the gospel alone is the answer for this troubled and unhappy and chaotic world. You know, there's no telling what God will do if we, his people, repent of our unscriptural ways of not always having that worldview. We live in a time when I believe that God's hand of righteous wrath is poised against this nation. And rightly so. This nation has fallen into great evil. And the main reason has to do with the evangelical church itself. It's bad enough that God's word has been pushed aside in the public square. But in our time, the word of God has been pushed aside within the evangelical church in many places. And God's people need to repent. We often find in the pages of the Word of God and in the history of the world that God was merciful to a nation because of a faithful remnant. And we should not think that it's too late for God's remnant to plead for His mercy. But we must be a faithful remnant. Why is our nation in the shape that it's in? The Bible has lost its influence. We read of a parallel situation in Nehemiah 9. I don't want you to turn there this morning, but Nehemiah 9, here's the setting. A remnant of the children of Israel has returned to the land of Canaan from captivity in Babylon after 70 years. And we read in Nehemiah 9, verse 1, that all of the people assembled together with fasting and sackcloth, with dust on their heads, signs of repentance and sorrow. And they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And what was the iniquity that they confessed? Well, we find the heart of it in verse 26 of Nehemiah 9. They said, Lord, we rebelled against You and we cast Your law, Your Word behind our backs. Here's the picture. The man's walking along the road. He has the Word of God in his hands. And as he's walking, He just throws God's Word over his shoulder, lets it fall to the ground behind him, and he keeps going. Utterly forsakes God's Word. Tosses it behind him, rejects it, treats it as useless. And as a nation, that's exactly what we've done. The influence of the Bible on this nation over the last 50 years, my own lifetime, has gone down and down and down. Why has this happened? The Bible lost its influence in the nation. Listen, the Bible lost its influence in the nation because the Bible first lost its influence in the church. That is where the problem began. It began long before Madeleine Murray decided to go to court to get prayer and Bible reading thrown out of the schools. It began long before the Supreme Court ruled that killing her unborn child is a woman's constitutional right. And it began long before governments began passing laws that make Christian apologetics a hate crime. The Bible subsequently lost its influence in the nation because the Bible first lost its influence in the church. The church has gone after all kinds of other things. In many ways, the church has tossed the Bible over its shoulder, just as ancient Israel did. And that is where the problem must be solved in the church. But the answer to the political and economic and moral and social crises of our times is not for evangelicals to organize more political pressure groups. The answer is not for evangelicals to become involved in a wider range of so-called faith-based initiatives, as many are today, treating symptoms. The answer is not for evangelicals to seek empty promises from political candidates. And the answer is not for the evangelical church to reinvent itself to please the world. The answer to the crisis of our times is submission to the Word of God. We need to repent. We need to go back. We need to go back and pick up God's Word. The church needs to pick up God's Word again in ways that we haven't for a long time. We need to go back and get it. We need to do what ancient Israel did in the book of Nehemiah and then in chapter 9. We read that during this time of repentance, the entire remnant of the nation stood and heard the Word of God read and explained to them for a number of days for six hours a day. And they spent another six hours confessing their sins and worshiping the Lord their God in a proper way. They meant business. True repentance. True worship. True turning back to the Lord and to His Word. That genuine turning to the Word of God meant that The Israelites saw that they needed to make some hard decisions. They had to give up practices and associations and relationships that were contrary to God's word. And they recognized that. And it wasn't easy. Many tears were shed. But they did it. And God blessed them for it. And God reestablished the nation in that generation because the remnant had repented. God's warning to the nation of Israel in the second book of Chronicles, chapter 7, verse 14. Those familiar words. And it is a warning. It is also God's warning to the church today. What does He say? He says, if My people who are called by My name... And He's speaking not to the nation as a whole, but to the people of God, the remnant within the nation. If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, not the wicked ways of the nation, but the wicked ways of the people of God. Then, then, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Dear friends, Guess you might have noticed I'm passionate about this message this morning. I believe that this is an undeniable truth that we need to face. As the church goes, so goes the nation. The healing of the nation will begin with the repentance of the church. The repentance of the church will come through faithful, prophetic, expository preaching of the word by faithful men. And I thank God that that's what you have here. Never forget that you have the answer. Never get sidetracked onto other things. That's what the devil wants you to do. Don't do it. Remember, you wrestle not against flesh and blood. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Father, We need an adjustment in our worldview. Perhaps some of us, Father, need a radical adjustment in our worldview this morning. I pray, Father, that you would speak to us through your word and work in our hearts and in our minds that we might think your thoughts after you. And that we might recognize those things that are of eternal importance, and we might recognize those things that will really make a difference in this world. And focus our attention and our thoughts and our efforts in our homes, in our church, in the workplace, in the political realm, everywhere, Father, in every area of life and ministry on those things that really matter. We pray in Christ's name, Amen. Here once again is Dr. Paul Elliott with some closing comments. If you would like to receive an audio CD recording of this message, or a printed copy, we'll be happy to send them to you without cost or obligation. Just get in touch with us and let us know you would like a copy of the message titled, America's Real Problem, on CD, in print form, or both. Here's how to contact us to request your copy. You can call us toll free in the United States 24 hours a day at 888-804-9655. Once again that toll free number is 888-804-9655. You can also make your request online by going to our website teachingtheword.org and clicking the contact link. That's the contact link at teachingtheword.org. or you can write to us at Box 2533 Westminster Maryland 21158 USA. Once again that's Box 2533 Westminster Maryland 21158 USA and once again our toll-free number is 888-804-9655 and our website is teachingtheword.org and be sure to request your copy of the message titled America's Real Problem on CD in print form or both, and will send it to you without cost or obligation. Thanks for listening, and may God richly bless your personal study of His inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word. This weekly program, the Scripture Driven Church, is brought to you by the faithful friends and supporters of Teaching the Word Ministries.