I invite you to take your Bible, turn to 1 Timothy. Going through 1 Timothy together on Sunday mornings and we're up to verses 18 to 20 this morning. You'll follow along in your Bible while I read from mine. This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected concerning the faith, have suffered shipwreck, of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme." You join me in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Holy Word, and I pray that you will speak to us from your Word this morning. Lord, I'm just an instrument, but I pray that it's not Steve Felker that people hear, but that it's the Word of God that they hear today. And we pray that we'll be responsive to your Word, and we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. As I can share this series of messages, We come now to a passage of scripture about spiritual warfare. Now most of us do not like warfare. In fact, I grew up in the 60s and early 70s, and you remember what kind of war was going on at that particular time? It was the Vietnam War. I wonder, do we have anyone that served in the Vietnam War? Yes, right here. Oh, several. We have several here that served in the Vietnam War. These men, when their country called upon them, answered the call and served. Did you know there were some that were draft dodgers? They were unwilling to serve in that war. I understand why war is not something we want to engage in. People get hurt. People get killed. And even in the spiritual battles of life, sometimes people get hurt. But you know, we are surrounded by the enemies of the gospel, by the enemies of God, by Satan and his demons. And we are called upon to engage in the battle and to be victorious for God, for the gospel, for our church, and for our own sakes. Now, notice what can happen if we're not careful. In the last of verse 19, we read of two professing Christians who suffered shipwreck. I doubt if any one of us have actually suffered shipwreck before, but Paul certainly did. In fact, he wrote in 2 Corinthians about the fact that he had suffered shipwreck three times up to that point in his life. And so the image was very vivid to the apostle Paul. He had been there. He knew what it was to suffer the loss of a ship. to suffer loss of cargo and to suffer loss of life. Many more of us perhaps have experienced a car wreck. I had my one car wreck when I was 18 years old. I walked away with a broken nose and a totaled car. And do you know why I suffered car wrecks? It was because I took my eyes off the road. And the road went this way, and my car kept going that way, and I slammed into a big Georgia pine tree. It's not pleasant to suffer a wreck like that in your life. And I think of some well-known cases of others who have suffered spiritual shipwrecks. Remember Jim Baker? Very popular TV preacher and TV spiritual host. And it was uncovered that he was guilty of committing adultery and he lost his marriage, he lost his TV ministry, and he ended up in prison. Ted Haggard was a pastor and president of the National Association of Evangelicals, and he suffered shipwreck after he was discovered to have engaged in a homosexual relationship. More recently, evangelical apologist, author, and speaker Ravi Zacharias engaged in a pattern of sexual misconduct as discovered and affirmed by a report that was commissioned by his board of directors. Two of these three, I believe, maintained an evangelical faith, but they veered off course morally. Now Satan has been on the attack, and he loves to cause shipwreck in people's lives and people's ministries. So it's very important that we heed the call to engage in the spiritual battles of life and make sure we stay faithful to the Lord and serve the Lord to the end. Too much is at stake if we don't. And so let's look into this text of Scripture about spiritual warfare. And I want to share first of all this morning the charge to engage in spiritual warfare. The language that Paul uses is military in tone. He uses this as an analogy of what takes place spiritually. He says in verse 15, this charge I commit you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare. This word charge that Paul uses is a word that's used in the military setting of giving an order. And you know when the commander gives an order, you do it. You do exactly what you're commanded to do. And what was the charge that Paul gave Timothy? It was to wage the good warfare. That actually means to wage the noble campaign of war. He wasn't talking about a single battle. He was talking about a military campaign. You remember Desert Storm was a military campaign. And so he calls upon Timothy to wage the good warfare, the noble war. We are engaged in a noble war, not an unjust war. And in verse 3, he had already given the instruction about this spiritual warfare. Paul says that you charge some that they teach no other doctrine. Timothy was to engage in a spiritual battle against false teachers and against false doctrine. And I believe that Timothy needed encouragement to stand up and fight for the Lord. I believe he was of a more timid nature. And so he needed encouragement to engage in this battle. So Paul reaffirmed the charge in chapter 6 and verse 12, where he says, fight the good fight of faith. And then in his second letter to Timothy, chapter 2, verse 3, you therefore must endure hardships as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And so God calls upon us, especially pastors and leaders of the church teachers within the church to engage in this spiritual battle for God, for sound doctrine, to win souls for Christ, and so forth. And so today we are also called upon by God to engage in the spiritual battle of life. In Ephesians 6 and verse 11 and 12, Paul says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Folks, there's a spiritual battle going on and we must be willing to engage in that battle and fight for the souls of men, to stand firm for the gospel. These days, we have to fight against postmodern thinking. We have to stand against religious pluralism, against the unbelief of universal and absolute truth, against liberalism and so forth. There are still cults that are very active seeking to draw away Christian people into those cults. There's a spiritual battle going on. And the question is, have you accepted the charge to fight the good fight? To engage in this spiritual battle? Or will you be AWOL when it comes to this spiritual battle? We got too many people who are professing Christians that won't even come to church. Reminds me of a story of the Civil War. The troops were marching through town on to battle. And this elderly woman grabbed her broomstick and started marching right along with the troops. And someone pulled her aside and said, Granny, don't you know you can't do anything but that broomstick? And she said, Well, that may be, but I want the enemy to know whose side I'm on. And you know, you at least need to come to church and let the world know whose side you're on. But there's a whole lot more we can do besides that. And so we've seen the charge to engage in spiritual warfare. But I want you to see, secondly, this morning, the preparations for spiritual warfare. How do we engage in this spiritual battle? Well, imagine for a moment that you have agreed to sign up to be in the Lord's army, and you're going to fight for the Lord. Well, we've got to put you in spiritual boot camp. We've got to prepare you for the battle. And there are several things I want you to know and do. And the first is this, you need to know your enemy. Now, it may appear that men like Ammonaeus and Alexander mentioned in verse 20 were the enemy. But we must make it clear that other people are not the enemy, especially if they're just wayward Christians. This reminds me of 2 Corinthians 3, verse 15, where Paul encouraged discipline upon wayward members, but he went on to say, yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. But even non-Christians are not really the enemy. The real enemy is Satan. The real enemy are the demons working with Satan. In 1 Peter 5-8, Peter warned Christians that Satan is like a roaring lion walking about, seeking whom he may devour. And then Paul wrote in Ephesians 6-12, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the wickedness of this world. It may seem that other people are the enemy, but Satan is the enemy. And he does use people, but they're not the enemy. Satan is the enemy. We also should be aware that the opposing force that we face is very large. Satan has a whole host of demons working with him. In Revelation chapter 12 and verse 4, we read that when Satan rebelled against God, he drew with him one third of the angels. And in Revelation 5 11, it says that John saw the angels as an innumerable host. And so there must be millions and millions of Demons working with Satan. We face a great enemy, but God is greater. And never forget that. And so we engage in a spiritual warfare and we need to keep in mind who the enemy really is and avoid seeking to hurt people that only stand for God and stand against false doctrine and stand against the sins that will destroy people. Remember who your enemy is and be careful how you engage in this battle. You know, we're in that political season. And have you noticed that politicians tend to attack their opponent rather than attacking their positions? attacking their beliefs, attacking their practices. Don't attack people, but stand for God and stand for righteousness and stand for the gospel and stand for the Word of God. But we need to not only know our enemy, but we also need to know his methods of attack. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 2.11, let Satan take advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices. And so let me share with you some of the methods that the devil will use in this spiritual battle. And one of his primary methods is deception. Jesus said in John 8, 44 that the devil is a liar and the father of lies. One of his primary methods is to deceive people with false doctrine and false religion. Listen, he's got his preachers. and they look good and they sound good, and many people are easily deceived by their false doctrine, and we must not be among them. In verse 19, we read about those who suffered shipwreck concerning the faith. They were deceived by false doctrine and veered off course and suffered spiritual shipwreck. Yes, the devil has his preachers, his teachers. In 2 Corinthians 11 verses 13 and 14, notice how deceptive the devil can be. He says, for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of lie. Listen, you can't judge a book by its cover and you can't judge a preacher or teacher just by appearances. And so you've got to be on guard. You've got to be very discerning to make sure that you don't fall victim to the devil's deception. The devil also uses temptation. And you know, temptation is deception. The old devil promises much but doesn't deliver what he promises. In fact, oftentimes he promises pleasure and you end up with sorrow and even death. And so watch out for temptation that can bring you down as a Christian. And let me tell you this, the devil knows your weaknesses. And he will use temptation, perhaps for a sexual pleasure, material prosperity. You may use temptations about other things such as pride. In fact, chapter 3, verse 6, Paul warns about having a new Christian as a pastor lest he fall into the snare of the devil, which was pride. Yes, the devil knows your weaknesses. He knows where to attack you. And so we're involved in a spiritual battle. We need to understand the methods of the devil. But we also need to know our defense against Satan's attacks. In 2 Corinthians 10.4, Paul says, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. God has given us spiritual weapons. And we need to make sure we utilize both the spiritual weapons of the Lord and the spiritual armament of the Lord. We're not to use human intellect, skill, or ingenuity in this spiritual battle or rely on those. We are not to use worldly weapons such as political maneuvers. We are not to rely upon worldly methods to advance Gospel of Christ Instead there are a few basic weapons that we have and must use Ephesians chapter 6 verses 14 to 18 talks about some of the defensive weapons and the offensive weapons that we can use to engage in this spiritual battle But I'm going to focus on the three mentioned in the text and the context First of all, you need to know and hold on to the gospel and the Word of God. How do you fight deception? It's by knowing the truth. How do you spot a counterfeit? It's by knowing the real thing. And so you need to learn the Word of God. I believe this is reflected in verse 19. Paul says, we are to wage the good warfare by having faith and a good conscience. There I think he's talking about our personal faith in the Lord. But we also have to have faith in His Word. And so as we hold fast to His Word, then we will be armed against the deception of the devil. And again, he talks about 2 in verse 20, who suffered shipwreck concerning the faith, the faith that was once and for all handed down in the Word of God. You've got to know the Word of God. You've got to learn it. You've got to memorize it so that we're ready to do battle against the lies of Satan. Did you know in Revelation chapter 12 and verse 11, talks about the devil as the accuser of the brethren. And one of the attacks of the devil is to accuse you of sin. And so we've got to do something else that's brought out in this text, verse 19, and that's maintain a clear conscience. There's a connection between faith and morals. True faith leads to obedience. False doctrine tends to lead to sin and excusing sin. And if we don't live in such a way that we maintain a clear conscience, we can damage our Christian testimony and hurt the cause of Christ. That's why he says we need to hold on to a clear conscience. But you know, we all are going to make mistakes. The best of us are going to yield the temptation from time to time. And the old devil is going to come around and accuse you and try to bring you down and cause you to just give up on the Christian life. But listen, when you confess your sins, God will forgive you of your sins and remember those sins no more. And don't let the devil remind you of what God has already forgot. You say it's covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. And so your conscience is important. God gave it to you to help you know right from wrong and to sound an alarm when you're doing what is wrong. God wants you to live in such a way that you maintain a clear conscience both by godly living and confession of sin. But finally in this Next chapter that we'll look at next week, he mentions prayer, and prayer is one of the most important tools we have in spiritual warfare. In verse 1 of chapter 2, Paul says, Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men. Likewise, Ephesians chapter 6, he talks about spiritual warfare. And he culminates with verse 18, which says, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful. We must be watchful because the enemy is always on the attack. And one way we fight this spiritual battle is with intercessory prayer. Are you engaged? in the spiritual battle for the Lord by engaging and praying for one another. Listen, we need to pray for one another. Pray for your pastor, pray for your deacons, pray for the leaders of this church that we will stand strong for the Lord. Pray for one another. The devil is always on the attack, folks. And we need to pray for the lost. We need to rescue them from Satan's domain and prayer is so very important. That's why with the crusade coming up, you're asked to pray for five people that you know of that need to be saved. We'll talk more about that next week. And so are you spending time in prayer? That's how we move forward. That's how we win this battle, on our knees in prayer. But finally this morning, we also see that at times, spiritual warfare requires church discipline. Now Paul gets specific as to what may be involved in this spiritual warfare. And you know, two main attacks of the devil are on doctrine and how we live our lives. And so there are times when people get off doctrinally and morally. And when that happens and repentance doesn't take place, we need to confront it. We need to deal with it. And so there were certain individuals that Paul had dealt with previously. And he reminded Timothy of his own example in dealing with this. Dealing with this problem. engaging in the battle, so to speak, against false doctrine, which Paul did, and he led by example. And so notice who should face church discipline. Now, in the current situation, he warns about some who were teaching other doctrine, but he doesn't name names, but looking To the past, he does name names of two who had been dealt with, Ammonaeus and Alexander, wannabe leaders in the church. And in verse 19, it indicates that they had rejected the faith, they had rejected a good conscience, and pursued what was wrong. In fact, verse 20 even indicates they were guilty of blasphemy. Now normally blasphemy is in reference to God or Jesus, but I discovered that this particular verb form is primarily used of slandering people. And so probably what they were guilty of was slandering the good name of the apostle Paul. Slandering one of God's apostles. And so they had to be dealt with. And since these men had turned from the Christian faith and slandered some of the leaders of the Christian faith, Paul probably followed what Jesus said in Matthew 18, verses 15 to 17. And he personally went and confronted these men and told them their error. and called upon them to repent. And guess what? They didn't. They wouldn't. And so he involved two or three others in the church after explaining the situation who went to these men, yet they wouldn't repent. And so they brought these men before the church. And they still wouldn't repent. And so then they had to act in obedience to the Lord, as he said there in Matthew, chapter 18. Now folks, no one wants to do church discipline. No one wants to remove a pastor from office. No one wants to remove a leader from the church or a member from the church. We want everyone to feel welcome. But when a person becomes a bad influence, leading people down the wrong path doctrinally, or morally, and if they're confronted and they refuse to repent, we are left with no other alternative. If you have cancer, you know what one of the most common treatments for cancer is? Surgery. Cut it out. Because if it's not cut out, you run the risk of that cancer spreading to your vital organs and taking your life. And most everyone in this room will say to the surgeon, well, go ahead and cut it out. I know it's going to be painful, it's going to be difficult, but it must be done. And sometimes that's true spiritually as well. And so, What is the result? What happens when these two men were officially told, listen, you can't teach here anymore. You can't worship here anymore until you repent. And they leave. What's going to happen? Well, verse 20, Paul says that he delivered them to Satan. Now, he didn't put them in handcuffs and take them down to Satan's jailhouse. What did he mean? When he delivered them to Satan, basically what he's saying is, when they were put out of the church into Satan's realm, Satan would deal with them there. You see, the world, according to 1 John 5, 19, is under the control of the evil one. Ephesians 2, 2 says that before you were saved, You once walked according to the course of this world, according to the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience. Listen, the world out there is under the sway of the devil. And when someone is removed from the sweet fellowship of the church, they are removed from the protection that God has over his people and are put out into the realm of the world and they're going to suffer as a result. Remember what happened when God gave the devil permission to attack Job? Man, he lost about everything, including his health. The old devil wreaked havoc in his life. And so Paul is saying, listen, I'm turning them over to the devil And they're going to suffer, and hopefully, when they suffer, they're going to come back to God. In fact, that's the goal of church discipline. It's not punitive, it's restorative. It's to save them. Just like the discipline of a child. It may hurt the child, they may not like it, but the goal is to save them from their sin. to save them from wrecking their lives. And so the goal, first of all, is to correct sin. Notice verse 20. Again, Paul turned them over to the devil that they may learn not to blaspheme. I don't know what your translation says there, but the word learn is not the word for sitting in a classroom. It's the word that refers to the instruction and discipline of a child. And in that day, you didn't just teach them by giving them teaching, you also gave them admonition and warning and discipline. That's all wrapped up in the Word there. And so it's to discipline and correct, to turn away from sin and false doctrine, but also to restore. Galatians chapter 6 verse 1 says, Brethren, if a man is overtaken in a trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also are tempted. That word translated restore means to restore back to its healthy state. It's used amending nets that are broken. It's used amending bones that are broken. The goal of discipline is always to restore to a healthy state. And you know what? When someone is disciplined, it may mean that they have gone down the path of sin or false doctrine because they're not even saved. In fact, that's what Jesus implies in Matthew 18. They're to be regarded as a tax collector, an unbeliever. You need to let them know that based on your life and unrepentance, you're not even saved. The hardest people to reach for Christ are people who think they're saved when they're not saved. And so in a state of discipline, they may realize, you know what? I'm not even saved. And so 1 Corinthians 5.5 becomes true. Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Jesus Christ. Sometimes you just may save a soul from eternal death if we're willing to take that step. And so Paul challenges us to engage in the spiritual battle that's going on. And you know what? As I look at America today, we're kind of losing that battle. And we're not going to lose the war. We know who's going to win in the end. Read the book of Revelation. But in the meantime, it kind of looks like we're not doing so well here in the United States of America. And we need to stand up for God. We need to stand up for the gospel. We need to stand up for the Word of God. We need to stand up for Christian morality and be willing to fight for the Lord. Are you willing? this morning to say, I'm not going to be AWOL. I'm not going to be on the sidelines. I want to be involved in the ministry of this church. I want to help advance the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to see God work in my community and in my nation and turn things back for God. Are you going to engage in this spiritual battle or not? And so as we give the invitation this morning, if there's someone here that's not saved, the first step is to be saved today. Are you born again, like they sang? That's the big question. We want you to be saved. We want you to be born again. Perhaps you need to unite with this church family. You say, I want to help this church in this community, proclaim the gospel and reach people for Christ. or perhaps you need to recommit your life to this spiritual battle, we invite you to do that.