Will you first turn to Ephesians 6? We begin with verses 10 through 13.
Finally, brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might.
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies.
Wherefore take up the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.
Turn also to 2 Corinthians 10:3-5.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh;
for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds;
casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God,
and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
And finally, Joshua 5:13-15.
And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with His sword drawn in His hand: and Joshua went unto Him, and said unto Him, Art Thou for us, or for our adversaries?
And He said, Nay; but as Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto Him, What saith my Lord unto His servant?
And the Captain of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee, first of all, for allowing us to partake of Thy table. Lord, we consider it such a high privilege that Thou shouldst invite us to Thy table.
We thank Thee for Thy body broken for us. We thank Thee for Thy blood shed for us. We thank Thee for the love that is behind it all.
Lord, our hearts do bow and worship as we continue in Thy presence. We really feel that we are standing on holy ground.
Lord, we want to bow down and say, “Lord, what dost Thou want to say to us?” Open our understanding, that we may know Thee in a way that we have never known before.
And, knowing Thee, Lord, may we know Thy victory. We commit this time into Thy hands. Our confidence is in Thee. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Yesterday morning, we shared together on the nature of spiritual warfare. Now, since this is spiritual warfare, it must be spiritual.
In other words, it is not a war against flesh and blood. It cannot be fought with arms of flesh. It is a spiritual warfare, and it is to be fought in the heavenlies.
Even though we find that the war seems to be on earth, yet in reality it has to be fought in the heavenlies. What you see on earth is just the appearance. The root of that war is in the heavenlies.
It is a war of the ages. I think there is no war on earth that can be compared with this war. It has been fought through the ages, and it is still going on.
Also, you find that it is a war that cannot be fought individually. It has to be fought corporately. You know, in Ephesians 6, the warrior actually refers to the church. The church is the warrior in this spiritual warfare.
Now, even though sometimes we do see individuals involved, and perhaps the attack from the enemy comes upon individuals, yet, brothers and sisters, you will find that this is always related to the Body of Christ.
It is not just directed upon one individual or a few individuals. Even though the attack may be on one of you, yet it is in relation to the Body of Christ.
Now, as we look into church history, probably we would remember how the enemy appeared to Martin Luther, trying to accuse him.
We are told that the enemy came to Martin Luther, and in his hand was a scroll. It was written both inside and outside—all the sins, the shortcomings, and the faults of Martin Luther. True, in force, it was full.
And we are told that the enemy said to Martin Luther, “How dare you do the work of Reformation? Who are you? Such a great sinner! You are not qualified to do such a work.”
And yet Martin Luther took up a pen. He wrote over that scroll, “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” And Satan disappeared.
We are also told that one day Satan appeared to Martin Luther, and Martin Luther threw the inkstand at him. The mark is still there on that wall. So you would think that this was an attack upon Martin Luther. But no, brothers and sisters, it was in relation to the Reformation.
And if you have ever read that book, The Spiritual Man, our dear brother Watchman Nee wrote that book in his early days.
He had not been saved more than ten years—less than ten years at that time. And yet the Lord had taught him much. At that time, he was stricken with tuberculosis. He was dying, and because he thought he would die, he felt the burden of writing that book for the church.
Sometimes, when he wrote that book, he had to support himself with boards. He could not sit. And the enemy laughed at him and said, “Look, who are you? Such a weak person.”
Our brother said he was literally living in the teeth of the enemy. But thank God, this was not an attack upon an individual alone. He was attacked because of the church, that there would be something left to the church.
So, brothers and sisters, spiritual warfare is not an individual thing. It is a corporate thing, and it must be fought corporately.
“If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything”—it is corporate, not just one.
So, we mentioned somewhat of the nature of spiritual warfare. This morning, we would like to continue with this matter of engagement in spiritual warfare.
We have said again and again that the moment you are saved, you are in the war.
Before you were saved, there was no spiritual warfare to talk about, because you belonged to the enemy, to the kingdom of darkness.
But thank God, our Lord Jesus redeemed us. He delivered us out of the power of darkness, and He translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
So, the moment we are translated into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, immediately you find that the warfare begins. The enemy begins to attack because we no longer belong to him.
The enemy hated God. He hated God’s Son, and he hated those who are in the Son of God.
Now, how are we going to be engaged in this spiritual warfare? I think probably the best way is to illustrate it with history.
You know that the book of Joshua is a book of warfare. The spiritual principles that you find in Ephesians are all demonstrated by the historical facts in the book of Joshua.
So, we would like to use the book of Joshua to illustrate how we are going to be engaged in this spiritual warfare.
Now, in Joshua, it was a physical warfare. The children of Israel crossed the Jordan River, and after they crossed the Jordan River, they were in the promised land—the land that God had promised to give them as their inheritance.
It was a good land. It was a land flowing with milk and honey. But, strangely, you find that the land was occupied. It was occupied by the seven tribes of Canaan, most wicked.
And in order to possess their possession, they had to destroy the enemy. So immediately, after they entered into Canaan, there was warfare. That was the book of Joshua.
So, brothers and sisters, in Ephesians, after we know how to sit in Christ Jesus and to walk according to the Spirit, then we enter into the reality of spiritual warfare.
Joshua was the commander in chief of the army of the children of Israel. So one day, you find that he went to survey Jericho.
He was trying to find out some weak spots in that city. He was trying to plan his strategy as to how to attack that city. But while he was viewing that city—it was a walled city, and the doors were closed—he saw a man standing before him with His sword drawn.
Being a soldier himself, Joshua went to that man and challenged Him. He said, “Art Thou for us, or art Thou against us?” You know, there is no neutrality. You are either on this side or on that side.
But to his surprise, the Man said, “Nay; but as Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come.”
Immediately Joshua fell upon his face and worshipped. He realized that he was not the commander in chief. There is a greater One, and that is the Son of God.
So, brothers and sisters, in spiritual warfare, the first thing is to recognize your Commander in Chief.
Yesterday, our brother encouraged us to read that book by T. Austin-Sparks, Our Warfare. Our brother used the experience of a marshal during the Second World War in the Southeast Asian theatre and tried to apply it spiritually.
In that book, you find that the first thing in spiritual warfare is to have a high command. He said the reason why, in the beginning of the Southeast Asian war, there were defeats after defeats was because there was no high command—no one in charge over everything.
You cannot just fight, each on his own. But after the Allies had a high command, then the whole situation began to turn from defeat to victory.
Now, in this spiritual warfare, brothers and sisters, it is important to realize that no one is able to fight this battle, because our enemy is so much more intelligent than we are.
You know, we are made a little lower than the angels. Even in creation, God created the angels as a superior order. They are given more intelligence and more power.
Now, we think that we human beings are at the head of creation. Yes, in the present creation, we are the masterpiece of God. Yet, so far as the whole creation is concerned, the angels are of a higher order.
Especially when you think that you are fighting against principalities, authorities, world-rulers of darkness, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies—brothers and sisters, no human being, no matter how capable, strong, or clever you are, is any match.
Even Joshua, in spite of being the commander in chief, had to figure out how to overthrow that high wall of Jericho. He could not do it. God knew he could not do it. He had to recognize God as his Commander in Chief.
You know, this was the problem with the children of Israel. When they arrived at the southern border of Canaan, at Kadesh-barnea, Moses sent spies to spy out the land.
They came back and said that the land was very, very good. The land was just as God had told them. It was a land flowing with milk and honey.
But they said, “We see walled cities. The cities had walls, and they were so high, reaching to heaven. They were inhabited by people much stronger than we are.”
“There we have seen the sons of Anak, those giants. They look upon us as grasshoppers, and we feel ourselves as grasshoppers. This is a land that devours its inhabitants. We cannot go there.”
Among the twelve spies, only two—Caleb and Joshua—said, “No. The land is good, very, very good. If God is with us, if it pleases God, we are well able to take the land, and these giants shall be our food.”
Brothers and sisters, the secret of spiritual warfare is to see the Lord. If we dare to do it on our own, before we fight, we are defeated.
But if we recognize our Commander in Chief, that makes all the difference.
Now, who is this High Command, our Commander in Chief? Who is He? He is the One who has already won the victory.
While He was on earth, while He was tempted by the enemy, the enemy used all kinds of temptations upon our Lord Jesus. But he could not tempt Him into sin. He overcame. He was tempted in all things, yet without sin.
On Calvary’s cross, as our brother has already said, “It is finished.” Not only was the work of redemption finished; the enemy was finished.
There He cast out the prince of this world. There He crushed the serpent’s head. There He claimed the victory over sin, over death, over the world, and over Satan. He is all-victorious.
And this One is our Commander in Chief.
Now, what do you mean by recognizing Him as your Commander in Chief? Look at Joshua. That is what you should do.
Immediately Joshua fell upon his face and worshipped, and said, “Lord, what hast Thou to say to Thy servant?”
Immediately, you find that he prostrated himself before the Lord. He gave his command to the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, is that what we have done? Before we enter into spiritual warfare, we need to have a vision of our Lord Jesus—a vision of our Lord as the Victor, as the Conqueror.
And if we have that vision, what will be our attitude? We will surrender our command. A full surrender: prostrate on the ground and worship.
Worship is giving God His rightful place. Worship is placing ourselves in our proper place. That is worship: putting God where God is, and putting ourselves where we should be.
And the Captain of the Lord’s host said to Joshua, “You are standing on holy ground. Remove your shoes.”
You know, in the old days, slaves did not wear shoes. They were barefoot. So here, what it means is this: “You are standing on holy ground. Take off your shoes.”
You are in the position of a bondslave. You have given up your rights. You have no rights of your own. You are standing on holy ground.
Holy unto the Lord means separated, devoted to the Lord. So, brothers and sisters, before we can fight in this spiritual warfare, we need to know the Lord—not just knowing in a mental way, but knowing in an experiential way.
You know, there is a Chinese book that has been used even in military schools in the Western world. It is a book of strategy written by a person called Sun Tzu.
In that book of strategy, there is one saying: “Know yourself, and know your enemy; in a hundred battles, you will win a hundred victories.”
You need to know yourself. If you do not know yourself—how much strength you have and how much power you have—how can you go into a battle? You need to know your resources, and you need to know your enemy. How strong is your enemy?
Then, in every battle, you will be victorious. Now, I would like to change it, because this is a spiritual thing. To know yourself is not enough.
Now, we need to know ourselves truly, but that is only the negative side. If you know yourself, you will surrender. There is no meaning to the warfare apart from that.
In spiritual warfare, know the Lord. Because you know yourself, it leads you to the knowledge of your Lord.
Oftentimes, you will find that because we do not know ourselves, we despise our Lord. We neglect Him. We think that we can do it ourselves.
But not until we realize that we are not fighting against flesh and blood, but against principalities and authorities—the prince of Persia, the prince of Greece, the prince of China, the prince of America—will we understand.
You know, the enemy has his principalities and authorities all over this world. He is a world-ruler of this darkness. He has put a darkness over the whole world, and there are spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies.
In recent days, I think this will help us to understand. Oftentimes you find it mentioned that this is a different war. If it is war against a certain country, you know where your enemy is, and you know how to go into battle.
But now, you know your enemy, but you do not know where he is. It is a different battle. And I think it is a very good example.
Now, brothers and sisters, spiritual warfare is a very different battle. You cannot fight in the ordinary way. You cannot do that, because it is in the unseen world.
So first of all, we need to know our Commander in Chief. We need to know our Lord. And, of course, in knowing our Lord, He gives us the intelligence to know our enemy. That is a prerequisite for this spiritual warfare.
That is the reason why you find, in Ephesians 6:10, “Be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might.” We need to be strong in the Lord, because if we are not strong in the Lord, we cannot fight.
Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.
Strong in the Lord. Put on the whole armour of God.
Now, what is that whole armour of God that we are to put on ourselves? Our dear brother will speak in detail to us concerning that whole armour of God, so I will not do that. I cannot do that, because my brother will do it much, much better than I can.
But I would like to use this to illustrate one point. You know, when a soldier in the old days was going to the battlefield, he had to be armed and put on armour to protect him.
As we go into spiritual warfare, we cannot just go in without being protected, without being covered. What is our covering? What protects us from the enemy?
To me, I feel that this whole armour of God, which we are to put on, is Christ. Christ is our armour.
I think the whole picture, to me, is abiding in Christ. If you abide in Christ, if you are clothed with Him, then you will be able to stand, to withstand, and to stand.
We need to know our Lord as the truth. Why? Because our enemy is a liar.
In John 8:44, our Lord Jesus said that Satan is a murderer and a liar. He does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks falsehood, he speaks out of his own nature.
Brothers and sisters, our enemy is a liar. He is such a liar. Even in the Garden of Eden, he told a lie, and that lie seemed to be so effective and so appealing.
Falsehood is counterfeit. That is what our enemy is. He is such a tricky person. He may make a lie seem to be so true.
How can we avoid being deceived by our enemy? Only our Lord, as the truth, can disclose what a lie is.
So, brothers and sisters, we need to be girded with truth, with our Lord Jesus as the truth. It is not only something that is true, but that truth is a Person. We experience Him.
You may know so-called truth, but it can be merely mental. It can be dead. As a matter of fact, you find people saying, “Truth divides; love unites.”
But if it is really truth as the Person of our Lord Jesus, it unites; it does not divide. Some people say, “I am standing for the truth. Therefore, I have to fight against my brother and sister.” Now, what truth is that?
It is not truth. It may sound true, but it is not true because it is not Christ Himself. If you really know the truth as Christ, it girds us up. It binds us together instead of dividing us.
And it is the truth that sets us free. When the Son of God sets you free, then you are free indeed. So, brothers and sisters, we need to know the Lord as the truth.
He is the Yea and Amen. All the promises of God are Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus. How much we need to know Him as the truth.
If we know Him as the truth, you will find that Satan’s lies cannot delude us and cannot ensnare us.
What is this breastplate of righteousness? You know, Satan, our enemy, is the accuser. We need to know our enemy: he is an accuser.
He always accuses. Whether there is some truth in it or whether it is false, he will do it as if it is true.
And you know, brothers and sisters, how often our consciences are so bothered. We always have a guilty conscience within us. He accuses us of things that may be true that we have done, and adds to them many things that are imaginary; yet we think they are true.
In Zechariah 3, you find Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and the adversary standing by his right hand to resist him.
The high priest was supposed to serve God, and yet the enemy was standing there, saying, “How dare you serve? Look, you are dressed with filthy garments. How can you serve? You are not qualified.”
The enemy is an accuser. But they, the brethren, overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and because they loved not their lives even unto death. That is Revelation 12.
How do we overcome the enemy? Christ is our righteousness. We know Him as our righteousness. We are clothed with Christ Jesus.
He has forgiven all our sins. His blood has washed all our sins away. Our conscience is purified from an evil conscience.
More than that, 1 John 2 says that if we sin, we have an Advocate before the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He not only forgives our sins, but also deals with the sin of the world.
So, dear brothers and sisters, because our enemy is an accuser, when you are engaged in spiritual warfare, you will find that the enemy will stand there accusing you all the time.
And if you listen to him, you are finished. But thank God, if you know the Lord, you know that our Lord is the righteous One. He is our righteousness. You are clothed with Him.
Know the Lord; know your enemy.
And then, to be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. You know who your enemy is? Our enemy is the master of spreading discord, taking peace away from this world.
He is like a beast, a roaring lion, seeking to devour.
Brothers and sisters, if you have read The Pilgrim’s Progress, you will find that Pilgrim one day came to a place and saw the lion there, and he dared not approach. But then he noticed that the lion was chained.
You find that the enemy is trying to spread discord, dissensions, and divisions. In division, he rules. And how successful he has been.
But if we know our Lord—God is the God of peace. Grace and peace be unto you.
After our Lord was resurrected from the dead, He appeared to the disciples and said, “Peace be unto you. My peace I give unto you.”
Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus is our peace. He made peace, that we may be at peace with God, at peace with ourselves, and at peace with our brothers and sisters.
You know, if the enemy can disturb your peace, you are finished. How can you fight if there is no peace in you? But our Lord Jesus is our peace. So you need to know the Lord, and you need to know your enemy.
And then, of course, you need the shield of faith against all the fiery darts of the enemy. You know, the enemy is a doubter. He throws thousands and thousands of doubts.
And we need to resist him with the shield of faith. Look away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith.
You know, the enemy is a rebel. He rebelled against God from the very beginning, and in his heart there is a rebellious spirit.
He is trying to throw all kinds of imaginations and high thoughts into our minds and make us doubt.
And we need this helmet of salvation. Christ is our salvation, and so on and so forth.
So, brothers and sisters, what I would like to illustrate is simply this: we need to know the Lord, even His various characteristics, and we also need to know the enemy—what kind of enemy he is.
Then we will not be deceived by him. We know the wiles of the enemy, the artifices of the enemy, and only by doing that are we able to overcome.
Now, secondly, you find that the first battle in Canaan is the battle over Jericho, because Jericho represents all the other walled cities in Canaan.
It was a walled city: strong, impenetrable, indestructible, fully guarded. Now, how are you going to overthrow the strongholds?
You find in the book of Joshua that our Commander in Chief’s strategy was this: it was to be overcome by the ark. The ark of the Lord was to surround the city. The priests were to blow the trumpets.
They would march around it once a day in silence. Now, what kind of war is that?
I think the people of Jericho, at first, were trembling. But when they looked at these people marching around in silence with the trumpets blowing, they said, “What is this? Whom do they think they are treating us as? How can they fight in this way?”
Gradually, I think, their courage began to rise up. Strange! And on the seventh day, seven times in silence. Then, suddenly, there was the blast of the trumpet, the shout of the people, and the wall fell down.
Brothers and sisters, that is 2 Corinthians 10:3-5.
You know, the stronghold of the enemy is our mind.
Even in the Garden of Eden, you find that the enemy just injected a question. Then that question was lodged in the mind of Eve. She thought about it. It sounded right. It sounded worthwhile.
And the stronghold was built: a reasoning, an imagination, a high thought against the knowledge of God.
Brothers and sisters, through the years the enemy has built strongholds and strongholds in our minds.
That is the reason why you find that the radiance of the gospel of Jesus Christ cannot penetrate, because it is all so dark and worldly. The god of this world has blinded the eyes of the people.
When you are witnessing, when you are preaching the gospel, you face these strongholds.
Even after we are saved, brothers and sisters, we may have a new life, but we may still carry an old mind.
Our mind needs to be renewed. And by renewing, in one sense, it means that all the strongholds of the enemy which he has built up through the years in our minds must be overturned.
You know how we, as God’s people, are so obsessed, so deceived, so occupied with old thoughts, old thinking, and old traditions. The traditions of the fathers are so strong. We think that we are serving God.
All these strongholds have to be overthrown, and every thought must be brought into the obedience of Christ.
How do you do it? The weapons of our warfare are not fleshly.
Sometimes you try to reason, even reason with a believer, and you hit the wall. How are you going to overthrow these walls?
But we are mighty before God to the overthrowing of all the imaginations and high thoughts that stand against the knowledge of God, and to bring every thought into the obedience of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, what is that power? It is the power of prayer.
When you are faced with these strong walls in the mind, you can do nothing. The only thing is to pray.
The Lord has to lead the fight. We have to declare the name of the Lord. We have to shout the shout of faith. It is only in this manner that you find the strongholds will be overthrown.
We need a renewed mind, renewed day by day. Oh, brothers and sisters, the mind is the battlefield in spiritual warfare.
It is through the mind that you get to the will. The will is the citadel. So this is spiritual warfare.
And then, of course, in spiritual warfare, you should never give ground to the enemy. I think this is a very important principle in spiritual warfare.
When the children of Israel overcame Jericho, God commanded that all the accursed things should be destroyed, and that the gold, silver, brass, and iron should be devoted to God.
In other words, the children of Israel were to destroy everything that needed to be destroyed and separate unto God everything that needed to be consecrated to God.
But unfortunately, one man of the whole army—one man, Achan—saw a beautiful mantle of Shinar, a Babylonish garment, and he coveted it.
He saw two hundred shekels of silver and a gold bar of fifty shekels. So he took them, buried them, and hid them in his tent.
That which was devoted to destruction, he did not destroy. That which was devoted to God, he did not give to God. He took it all to himself.
Nobody knew. He knew, God knew, and the enemy knew.
And because of this, the children of Israel were defeated when they tried to attack Ai, a smaller city. Why? Because ground had been given to the enemy.
Brothers and sisters, in spiritual warfare this is very, very important. The enemy is trying to find some ground that gives him the right to attack.
And God is righteous. He has to allow the enemy to do it.
That garment of Shinar represents the world. If we sin, if we love the world, if we do not give God the glory that is rightfully His, you know what will happen.
You may overcome Jericho, but you will be overcome by Ai. And one man will affect the whole army. Why? Because it is a corporate warfare.
So, brothers and sisters, in this spiritual warfare, this is another principle that we need to watch.
And then, of course, there is another thing we need to be careful about: never despise your enemy.
They spied out Ai and came back and said, “It is a small city. Do not bother the whole army. Send three thousand men, and finish it.”
They had become so proud of their victory over Jericho that they forgot it was the Lord who fought for them, not themselves.
But they thought that they had fought the battle and won it. So they said, “This little city—send three thousand men and finish it.” They despised the enemy, and they were defeated.
Brothers and sisters, always remember: in spiritual warfare, every battle you win is not because of you—not because of your piety, your godliness, or your spiritual strength. You have none.
It is because of the Lord. The battle is the Lord’s. He fought it. He won it. All glory be to Him.
You are nothing. If you think that you have become something, you are finished. Never despise the enemy.
And then, as you go on, you find this: be always watchful, lest you be deceived. Remember the Gibeonites and how they deceived Joshua, the elders, and the children of Israel. The enemy is a master of deceit.
They did not inquire before the Lord. They took the case into their own hands, and they were deceived.
So, brothers and sisters, remember: the enemy is a deceiver. Never trust yourself. Bring everything to the Lord, inquire of the Lord, and you will be protected.
And then finally, you find that this is a war that is fought to the very last.
No enemy will ask for truce. If you read the book of Joshua, except the Gibeonites, all the other kings and kingdoms fought against the children of Israel unto the very last. It is a battle to the end.
Therefore, the enemy tries to wear us out. Now, our brother Dana promised that he would show us what that means, so I am not going to talk about it.
The enemy tries to wear us out because it is prolonged, continuous, unceasing—no rest, no breathing time. You have to fight to the very end.
But thank God, the One who leads us has already won. We are in the train of His triumph.
So be courageous and strong in the Lord. He has overcome.
Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee because Thou art the Victor. We are just following Thee, Lord, and the victory is assured.
Thou who art in us art greater than he that is in the world. We need not fear, but be strong and courageous in the Lord.
Help us, Lord. In Thy precious name. Amen.