I think we are all pretty clear on the theme by now, and that is recovering the testimony of Jesus Christ.
My burden is to share on spiritual warfare. I will be sharing two sessions with you on the topic of spiritual warfare.
Tonight, we want to share on the reason why we partake in spiritual warfare, the focal point of the enemy’s attack on the church, and the keys to victory.
If the Lord is willing, tomorrow afternoon we would like to share on how to fight the good fight.
Please turn with me in your Bibles to a few passages. First, let us look at Isaiah 14. We will read from Isaiah 14:12-15.
How hast thou fallen from heaven,
O day-star, son of the morning!
How art thou cut down to the ground,
that didst lay low the nations!And thou saidst in thy heart,
I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
And I will sit upon the mount of congregation,
in the uttermost parts of the north;I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.Yet thou shalt be brought down to Sheol,
to the uttermost parts of the pit.
Also, Psalm 22:1.
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
Far from My deliverance are the words of My groaning.
We will also read Psalm 22:11-19.
Be not far from Me, for trouble is near;
For there is none to help.Many bulls have compassed Me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have beset Me round.
They gape upon Me with their mouth,
As a ravening and a roaring lion.
I am poured out like water,
And all My bones are out of joint:
My heart is like wax;
It is melted within Me.My strength is dried up like a potsherd;
And My tongue cleaveth to My jaws;
And Thou hast brought Me into the dust of death.For dogs have compassed Me:
A company of evil-doers have inclosed Me;
They pierced My hands and My feet.
I may count all My bones;
They look and stare upon Me.
They part My garments among them,
And upon My vesture do they cast lots.But be not Thou far off, O Lord:
O Thou My succor, haste Thee to help Me.
Please turn with me to the New Testament, Luke 4:13.
And when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.
John 19:30.
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, “It is finished”: and He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit.
Also, Romans 5:18-19.
So then as through one trespass there came condemnation upon all men; even so through one act of righteousness there came justification of life unto all men.
For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One shall the many be made righteous.
Lastly, Revelation 17:14.
These shall war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they also shall overcome that are with Him, called and chosen and faithful.
Let us bow again for a short word of prayer.
Lord, our hearts are filled with thanksgiving. Lord, forever You are with us. Lord, we know that You are here tonight.
Lord, may You have mercy upon us, because Your people desire to hear Your voice, and we desire to see Your glory. Lord, may You reveal Yourself to us tonight.
Lord, may You have mercy upon those who speak and him who translates. Lord, You know how weak we are, and Lord, You know how limited we are.
Lord, may Your Spirit come upon this meeting. May our brothers and sisters hear and see within more than without. Lord, we offer You the worship from the depth of our being.
We pray in the precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
When we speak about the reason we have spiritual warfare, we have to return to the original purpose of God.
Although our brother Kong spoke of this simply this morning, I think I need to reiterate it here tonight.
We know that Colossians 2:2 tells us that the mystery of God is Christ. Christ is the most central theme in God’s heart.
Through God’s purposeful planning, He has established a will, and He has established a will that is unchanging. We know that this is what God has established as His highest purpose, and this will is established for His Son.
God has appointed Him to be Lord and Christ. Our God has not only allowed Him to reign over all; He wants His Son to be Head of the church, and the church to be the Body.
Within the church, He would be all and in all. In other words, He is the central point, or the theme. We know that this is what is hidden in the mystery of God.
But before the creation, we know that the fallen angel, Satan, understood God’s mystery.
In Ezekiel 28:3, the prophet uses the king of Tyre to represent the fallen angel. It says, “Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that is hidden from thee.” This tells us that the enemy knows about the secret of God.
We know that there is greed in Satan’s heart, and he has purposed to take the position of Christ.
In Ezekiel 28, when God created this archangel, God gave this angel much glory. The Bible tells us that Satan, or Lucifer, had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
The wisdom and beauty that God gave this archangel were indeed great. God also gave him a very high position.
God anointed him as the cherub who covers. The original translation does not carry the two words “the ark.” In other words, God gave this archangel an important position.
The creation of this angel appears to far surpass all other creatures. God gave this angel such glory, such wisdom, and such beauty.
But why did this archangel fall and become Satan? Ezekiel speaks of how he attended to trade, but what he traded in is unclear. The Bible does not tell us clearly how Lucifer traded.
What we do know is that the archangel fell and became Satan. God saw his iniquity, and He saw the violence within him. Most importantly, he opposed God.
Now the devil is full of pride. He has this greed in him to take the position of Christ.
In Isaiah 14, in five places this archangel says, “I will.” With each “I will,” it shows the pride in his heart. We know that this is blasphemy against God.
Although Satan has this greed in his heart, there is no way his abilities are a match for God. Because of the archangel’s greed, God cast him out of the mountain of God, and he has been given a severe judgment by God.
In Revelation 20:10, we see that the end of Satan will be very terrible. The devil and all the demons will be cast into the lake of fire.
Even though Satan was cast out, we see that the enemy is unwilling to give up. He began to assault God’s creation, including man, because the enemy knows one thing: God’s purpose would be fulfilled through man.
Man’s creation was for Christ. If the enemy corrupted man, he would be attacking our Lord.
From Genesis 3, we see how man was attacked by the enemy and fell.
We also know that when God initially created Adam, God gave Adam much wisdom. He was able to name all the birds of the air and the creatures that crawled. The geniuses of today are probably no match for Adam.
Not only did Adam have so much wisdom, but God gave him authority. He took care of the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and all the creatures.
I think throughout all mankind, only Adam had this kind of authority. Not only this, God gave him much ability. God put him in charge of all the Garden of Eden.
Brothers and sisters, when we think of the Garden of Eden, do not assume that it was like the garden in your backyard. The Garden of Eden was huge.
Biblical scholars have not been able to figure out exactly where the Garden of Eden was or how great the garden was. But from Genesis, we can deduce that the Garden of Eden had four great rivers flowing through it.
So we can imagine that it spanned a great amount of area. It was probably hundreds of times greater than Golden Gate Park.
At that time, remember, it was just Adam, and later Eve, to take care of such a great garden. God gave him much ability.
Although God gave man such wisdom, authority, and ability, when the enemy came to tempt man, it seemed that very simply the devil defeated man.
He became a serpent, and with a few simple lies he deceived Eve. After Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, she gave the fruit to Adam, and he ate.
And so man failed greatly. Satan completely defeated man.
Brothers and sisters, this tells us something important: in this first Adam, it does not matter how much wisdom we have, how much experience we have, or how many methods we have. We are no match for the enemy.
Sadly, when we look through church history, including Christendom today, we see man’s wisdom. We try to use man’s experience to help people, and we see man’s methods in the church.
But please remember: someone like Adam, who had so much wisdom and ability, could not stand before the enemy. So we today, who cannot compare with Adam, are unable to use our experience and wisdom to fight the enemy.
When we use our own experience and our own talents, we cannot solve our own problems or the church’s problems. From Adam’s failure, we have to learn a lesson: we cannot use man’s method; we have to use God’s way.
Adam’s failure represents the failure of mankind.
We know that when nations war in this world, one nation goes to war against another nation. There are many battles within that war, but there are key battles that determine the outcome of the war.
If you are victorious in that key battle, then that side wins. If you lose in that key battle, then you lose the war.
We can look at it in this way: the Garden of Eden was a key battleground in the battle between man and the enemy.
In that battle, man failed. Man lost, and so all of mankind lost.
This is what we read earlier in Romans 5. Because of one transgression, condemnation affected all men; and because of one act of righteousness, justification came to all men. When Adam fell or failed, all men failed.
We also see that spiritual warfare has to do with the nature of that warfare. It is not like the battles here in this world, where we use weapons and want to get rid of the enemy.
Our battle against Satan is not fought this way. Satan has put his nature in us. Not only are we captives of Satan, but we have been corrupted as he is.
Brothers and sisters, this is a terrible failure. Because Adam failed, we all became sinners.
Throughout the four thousand years of the Old Testament, it tells us one thing: man has totally failed. God cannot use fallen men to wage His warfare.
Satan has become king of this world. All of this world is under his dominion. But we thank God: our God is not One who gives up.
So He sent His Son into this world as a man. It is as if, in this war, God has waged a new battle, a second battle.
We thank our Lord. He came into this world as a man, and this speaks to us that God’s purpose never changes, because God wants to accomplish His will through man.
When God’s Son came in the flesh as a man, we see that our Lord waged warfare in the position of man.
He was hidden for thirty years in the home of Joseph the carpenter. When He turned thirty, He was baptized by John the Baptist in the River Jordan.
When He came out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove. When the Lord stood in the River Jordan, it represented one thing: He was wholeheartedly living for God’s will.
The Spirit sent Him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The devil used all sorts of temptations to tempt Him. We are all familiar with this story.
Luke 4 tells us that with all forms of temptation, Satan could not cause our Lord to stumble. So the enemy temporarily left Him until an opportune time.
“Temporarily” speaks of how the devil does not give up either. In the ensuing three and a half years, we see the devil engaging our Lord through different people.
We thank our Lord that He stood firm in every circumstance. Lastly, He came to Calvary.
We know that Calvary is the greatest battle throughout history. On Calvary, it was a great and fierce battle.
Before our Lord ascended to Calvary, He knew the cost of this great battle when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane.
The Lord took a few of His disciples into that garden to pray. He said to His disciples, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.”
The disciples could not sympathize with the Lord, and so they all fell asleep. The Lord alone bowed to the ground and prayed to the Father.
The Bible records how His sweat was like drops of blood. He prayed to the Father:
My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from Me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.
A second time He prayed:
My Father, if this cannot pass away, except I drink it, Thy will be done.
Brothers and sisters, when our Lord was in Gethsemane, He felt the pressure to a point where an angel appeared to strengthen Him.
At this point, Satan used all the powers of darkness to engage our Lord Jesus. Our Lord, single-handedly, had to face all the powers of darkness.
In Isaiah 63, it says:
I have trodden the winepress alone;
And of the peoples there was no man with Me.
When the Lord went to the cross, all the disciples scattered. The Jews were mocking Him, and the Romans assaulted Him and nailed Him to the cross.
From noon until three, our Lord suffered much. He cried out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
Dear brothers and sisters, the four Gospels do not really depict how great this spiritual war was. But amazingly, when David penned Psalm 22, in a prophetic way he described the warfare that occurred on Calvary.
We know that Satan used all his forces to engage our Lord. Psalm 22 speaks of strong bulls: “Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me on all sides.”
Bashan is the Golan Heights of today. Those who have been there know that the ground is very hard and full of rocks. Only these strong bulls were able to plow that ground.
We see that the enemy used his greatest agents to surround the Lord on all sides.
In Psalm 22, we see what our Lord faced when He was on that cross. He says, “It is as if I am poured out like water, and My bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax, and My strength is dried up like a potsherd. My tongue sticks to the roof of My mouth.”
He says, “Dogs have surrounded Me. A band of evil men has encircled Me.”
Brothers and sisters, we thank our Lord. Alone, He faced the forces of darkness, and this battle was indeed fierce.
At the end, we saw that even the sun was darkened, and all of heaven and earth became dark. The stones were turned over, and there was an earthquake.
We see that the veil in the temple was torn in two. Even the graves became open, and the saints came out.
Every time we think of how our Lord went up on that cross for us, we can never forget the price our Lord paid. In order to fulfill the Father’s will, willingly He went to the cross.
In John 19, it tells us that lastly He cried, “It is finished.” This is a cry of victory.
In that moment, He entrusted His spirit to God. On Calvary, our Lord was victorious, and we thank Him.
Long before this, the prophet Habakkuk had a prophecy. In Habakkuk 3:13, it says, “Thou didst crush the head out of the house of the wicked.”
We see that Satan was delivered this fatal wound. It says, “Thou didst lay bare the foundation even unto the neck.”
Beginning from Calvary and onward, the forces of the enemy could no longer be hidden. Our Lord has defeated the ruler of death, and that is Satan. Our Lord defeated death and the forces of darkness, and He opened the gate.
We thank our Lord. He became victorious for our sake.
In this great battle, the enemy suffered a huge setback and failure. From that point on, the power of the enemy was weakened and was not like before.
This is evidenced when we read Revelation 12. When our Lord is descending from His throne to this world, He asks the archangel Michael to clear the heavens, the air.
We see that Satan could not stand before Michael. Previously, his power was probably greater than Michael’s, but after Calvary the fatal wound was inflicted.
Even Michael could defeat Satan, and Satan was cast into this world. We thank our Lord.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is the second victory on the battleground. This is the key victory.
Romans 5 tells us, “From one to the many.” The victory on Calvary becomes the key to victory for us in our battle.
Even though the enemy is doing his work abroad, we have to have a clear understanding that our enemy is a defeated enemy.
In spiritual warfare, we do not have to fear the power of the evil one. We thank our Lord: He has overcome, and He has overcome the enemy.
We see these two key battles in the Bible. One was fought in the Garden of Eden. In that instance, the first Adam failed.
Then we see Calvary, the second key battle. The last Adam was entirely victorious. We thank our Lord.
Even though the enemy encountered such a great failure at Calvary, the enemy does not give up.
Now the enemy turns around and engages the church, because he knows that the church is the Body of Christ.
The church is a vessel that manifests the testimony of our Lord Jesus. Satan is powerless against our Lord, but he attacks this vessel that contains the testimony of our Lord.
The enemy knows that if he can corrupt the church, the testimony of Christ will not be manifested.
It was like this in the Old Testament. After the Israelites were taken into captivity, the prophet Ezekiel, on the banks of the River Chebar, saw the glory of God.
We know that glory speaks of the reality of the testimony of Christ. That glory the enemy cannot touch.
Previously, God wanted to entrust this testimony to the nation Israel. When the temple was built, God’s glory dwelt in that place.
When the spiritual condition of the Israelites was normal, the glory was there. But when the Israelites rejected God and were disobedient, we see that the temple was destroyed.
Even though the temple was destroyed, the glory was taken back. Brothers and sisters, that glory cannot be touched by the enemy.
But God’s will is still to have this glory entrusted to His people and manifested through man. When the temple was demolished, this glory was brought to a faraway place, to the banks of the River Chebar.
The prophet saw this glory. But this was a tragedy for the people of Israel.
God’s glory could no longer be manifested in His people. So the building of the temple is important, because it is the place where God’s glory could be held.
In Old Testament times, the condition of the temple and the condition of the people were correlated. When the people were obedient to God, then having a temple was meaningful.
When the temple was destroyed, it symbolized that the people were disobedient to God. When we read the Old Testament, we see many times that the people allowed God to fail. This causes us to have a broken heart.
Now, in the New Testament, God still wants to entrust His testimony to the church.
Satan understands the importance of building up the church. Today, here on earth, the focal point of the enemy’s engagement is the church.
He knows that if he can corrupt the church, then God’s testimony cannot be manifested.
When we read church history from the first century until today, we see that when the condition of the church was good and the church was built up, God’s glory could be manifested. Our Lord’s testimony could be manifested.
When the church becomes corrupt, then the testimony is lost.
Brothers and sisters, the church is precious in God’s eyes.
We know that there are many brothers and sisters who love the Lord, but we have to say this: God is not fully satisfied with an individual’s love for the Lord.
If an individual Christian loves the Lord, that is indeed a precious thing. But God’s heart is in the church.
If we do not have a normal church life, then God’s heart and His desire cannot be found, because God has entrusted His testimony to the church.
When we read the book of Acts, we see that in the first century there were many churches. Some churches had a good condition, so they could maintain the testimony of our Lord.
Some churches were not doing so well. For example, the church at Corinth.
It was not that the Christians at Corinth did not know what the testimony was. First Corinthians 1:6 tells us, “The testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you.”
They received teachings from the best of God’s servants. Paul lived among them. Apollos taught them, and Peter even came and taught them.
They could not say that they did not know what the testimony of Christ was. But very tragically, even with this understanding, they could not live it out.
There were many difficulties, and the work of the enemy was broad in that church.
Dear brothers and sisters, today we meet in different churches. Does our condition match the desire of our Lord? This is something our Lord pays attention to.
We believe one thing: if a person truly loves the Lord, that person will love God’s church. You cannot be outside of the church and love the Lord.
It is our responsibility to maintain the testimony and the unity in the Body so that the Lord’s testimony can be manifested in our localities. That is our responsibility.
May the Lord have mercy on us, that we might fully understand the meaning of the church. May we build the church on the principles that the Bible has established.
And may we keep the unity of the Body of Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, we can really feel that there are difficulties and struggles in every church. This is evidence that the enemy is continuing to assault the church.
But we can never forget: our Lord was victorious on Calvary.
Individually or corporately, we have to abide in our Lord Jesus.
We have to establish the church based on one important principle, and that is to testify to our Lord Jesus. The church is not a religious organization.
The church is not built based on what we imagine it to be. This is something that is very serious.
We have to take hold of the position that Christ has given us.
The apostle John tells us that not only do we understand that the church is built in Christ; more importantly, we learn to abide in Him.
This is a key secret to our ability to overcome.
The Lord calls us, especially in this last generation. He calls us to enter into warfare for His testimony.
Revelation tells us that in the last days there will be a final conflict, a final struggle. Satan, with all his forces, will engage us.
Before the Lord returns, the church here on earth will face much persecution. It will face much struggle.
We who live in these times can already feel the powers of darkness covering this entire world.
The Lord calls us to engage in warfare alongside the Lamb. May we be the called and chosen and faithful ones.
We do not live for ourselves. We live for our Lord.
Dear brothers and sisters, if today we still do not clearly see God’s desire, if the center of our lives is still ourselves, our family, or our careers, then this will not only bring shame to us; it will bring shame to the church.
It will not allow the testimony of our Lord to be manifested.
This is a multifaceted warfare. Those who have a spiritual sense can tell that Satan, through sin, has corrupted this entire world.
We know that we are living in dangerous times, and we see evil prevalent in our society.
The enemy is not engaging us only individually. He engages our families, and especially the young people.
We know the dangerous influence that this corrupt society has on young people.
May each generation have a life that is set apart for the Lord, so that in this society dominated by the enemy, we do not backslide and do not live a compromising spiritual life.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us rise up and engage in warfare alongside the Lamb.
In Revelation, we see that the Lord calls the overcomers in each church.
The Bible tells us that He is already Lord of lords and King of kings. We who follow the Lamb today, and who fight alongside the Lamb, will be victorious.
The overcomers in Revelation are individuals, but we see clearly that the Lord calls the overcomers from within the church.
We ought to have this understanding: it is for the church that we strive to have an overcoming life, because God’s desire is in the church.
Dear brothers and sisters, it does not matter where we are. It does not matter what kind of difficulties our fellowship faces. It does not matter how many difficulties the enemy has caused, or how fierce that engagement is.
May the Lord allow us to stand firm. By His grace, we stand on the Lord’s side.
Brothers and sisters, we may fail, but the Lord never fails. He is always the victorious Lord, and we must set our eyes on Him.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us not give up.
We know that when our Lord returns, these overcomers who overcame for the Lord will receive their reward.
Those who fought alongside our Lord will rejoice with the Lord, and they will be glorified with our Lord.
Dear brothers and sisters, we know that we are living in a time of fierce battle, and we know that the enemy is unrelenting.
Yet we see many saints still in a very delirious state. We do not sense the urgency of the time.
If we have any kind of spiritual sense within, we see the urgency of God’s plan. We see how urgent our Lord is.
Yet among the saints in different locations, there are many who love the world. I see those who are involved in many religious activities.
There are very few who truly understand the heart of the Lord. Because we are so lackadaisical, it has caused the church to fall into a very weakened state.
May the Lord, through His Spirit, do the work of recovery and revival.
May this conference be a time in which the Lord speaks to our hearts, that we may hear the call of our Lord in these end times, and that we might be alert.
May we not only pursue after the Lord individually, but together with our brothers and sisters live that good church life, that the church might be built according to the heart of the Lord.
May His glory once again be found in His people.
Dear brothers and sisters, I know that there are many of you who love the Lord. Many of us have prayed earnestly for years.
We say, “Lord, prior to the conclusion of Your work, may Your glory return to Your people.”
May every saint have this desire. We ask that the Lord would hear our prayer: that His testimony would be upheld in every church, and that in this great spiritual warfare, we might stand firm for the Lord.
Let us close in a word of prayer.
Lord, we thank You. Lord, You have not cast us away. You are still speaking to our hearts.
May we, in these end times, when darkness surrounds the world, hear Your call. May we answer that call. May we stand up and fight for You.
Lord, we commit brothers and sisters from each locality to You. May each church be strengthened by You. May each lampstand be held up.
Lord, we desire that prior to Your return, Your glory might fill this earth.
Lord, once again, we commit ourselves into Your loving hands. Lord, You have kept us in these latter days.
Lord, You want us to partake in that glorious day, and maybe You might even allow some of us to see the completion of Your work.
Lord, may we adjust our lives so that we can live individually for You, each family lives for You, and the church lives for You.
Lord, may You hear our prayer. Lord, we desire to see Your glory. Lord, may You fulfill our desire.
Lord, we offer You the deepest worship from our hearts. We pray in the precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.