WARFARE

Series: WarfareLesson #1

The whole School Of Christ involves us in the truth that we are at war against powers, principalities, and rulers of darkness. We attempt to make known that whatever happens, whatever we do, is going to be in spite of the devil and not because of him.

Is. 58:1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

Is. 58:2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God; they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.

Is. 58:3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.

Is. 58:4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.

Is. 58:5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?

Is. 58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

Is. 58:7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

I. In The First Five Verses Of This Chapter, The Prophet Isaiah Delves Into An Area That Has Caused More Confusion And Inspired More Questions Than Perhaps Any Other Subject In The Bible.

1. Here is a people whom God confirms seek Him daily, delight to know His ways, have not forsaken His ordinances, ask of Him the ordinances of justice, and take delight in approaching unto God. They fasted, yet for all this, God did not see or hear them.

2. When you see the word “see,” it means to know. For all this, God did not know these people. Why? God’s answer is clear in verses 3, 4, and 5. Notice it again:

Is. 58:3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.

Is. 58:4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.

3. Their motive was totally out of sink with God. All of their religious activity (which was what God commanded), was an effort to force God to accept a nature He rejected in Eden.

4. In the fall, man’s spirit was so violated that it sank down in subjection to the soul. Man became an altogether different creature.

5. The order and function of his life was changed. He was no longer a “spiritual being” with a capacity to commune with God.

6. He became a “soulish being” governed entirely by the desires of the flesh. As such, God drove him from the garden (which was symbolic of His presence), and put a flaming sword at the gate which said, “Your kind can never come into My presence” (Gen. 3:24). From that day until the present, that nature has attempted to force God to accept it.

7. This spirit is so very evident in today’s religion. Much of the high-pressure money raising is an attempt to force God to support what He has no interest in.

8. Ishmael begins a religious tower of Babylon, then wants God to support it. That’s the whole pull for money of most appeals that come into your home every month. These are modern towers of Babylon being built to make a name for the Evangelist himself, trying to get God to support it.

II. This Is The Fast.

1. In His answer, God showed that if we are to be heard we must deal a deathblow to that nature which is the enemy of righteousness.

Is. 58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

Is. 58:7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

2. In no uncertain words, God shows that fasting is no bargaining table. You cannot, by fasting, induce God to endorse your religious schemes.

3. You cannot fast a number of days so as to make God owe you anything. Fasting has nothing to do with God, it has to do with you.

4. God has never asked any man to draw Him a blueprint for evangelism. His plan sits at His own right hand. Jesus made it plain, “And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me” (Jn. 12:32). Paul put it this way, “It pleased God…to reveal His Son in me” (Gal. 1:15-16a).

5. The business of the church is to be the vehicle through which Christ is expressed. If Jesus is seen then sinners will be saved. That is the key.

III. In Today’s Religious Gatherings You Have A Hard Time Seeing Jesus.

1. Instead, you have a display of religious flesh. People come to these services for the same reason they go to see the world’s superstars.

2. Instead of Christ, the church has produced religious celebrities, and the result is frightening indeed.

3. We have become the most decadent society on earth, while in the middle of the greatest religious boom that has ever come to America.

4. God has chosen the fast (according to Isaiah), to break the yoke of the carnal nature and let the spiritual man be free.

5. We are talking about warfare. When he, the spiritual man, is free of the yoke of the carnal, the power of God flows forth.

6. Jesus taught this truth in Mark 9:23-29.

Mk. 9:23 {Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

Mk. 9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

Mk. 9:25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.

Mk. 9:26 And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.

Mk. 9:27 But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.

Mk. 9:28 And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?

Mk. 9:29 And he said unto them, This kind come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.}

7. When He had delivered the lunatic boy, the disciples asked Him privately, “…Why could not we cast him out?” Jesus answered, “…This kind can come forth by nothing, but prayer and fasting.”

8. If you read the same story recorded in Matthew 17, you will see that Jesus prefaced His words about fasting with this statement, “…Because of your unbelief…” (Mat. 17:20).

9. Since unbelief is sin and, “Whosoever is born of God cannot sin…,” (1Jn. 3:9) it is evident the failure was the result of trying to cast the devil out in their own power, though they were using spiritual terminology.

IV. “For The Flesh Lusteth Against The Spirit, And The Spirit Against The Flesh: And These Are Contrary The One To The Other: So That Ye Cannot Do The Things That Ye Would” (Gal. 5:17).

1. We fail in our efforts to heal the sick and cast out the devils because of this warfare between the flesh and the Spirit. Until this warfare is resolved, we shall go on being confounded because we are not able to do what God told us to do.

2. The weapons of this war are set forth very clearly as “fasting and prayer.”

3. So Jesus in His statement, “This kind can come forth by nothing, but prayer and fasting,” actually was saying, if you are going to be successful in the spirit world, you must deal with the flesh.

4. When we fast we put down the flesh, when we pray we lift up the Spirit. This alone is the key to winning the war.

5. In Romans 7:15-24, we have a vivid picture of this Spirit-vs.-flesh warfare in the life of the Apostle Paul. In verse 15, the struggle is intense.

Rom. 7:15 For that which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

Rom. 7:16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

Rom. 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Rom. 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh), dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Rom. 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Rom. 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

Rom. 7:21 I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Rom. 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

Rom. 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Rom. 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

6. There are those who do not believe in the “old nature,” who teach that the Apostle Paul wasn’t saved at the time of this struggle.

7. But I submit to you, there is not a truly born again believer, alive or dead, who has not experienced this struggle between the fleshly and spiritual natures.

8. Overcoming this “body of death” (the old Adamic nature), is what sanctification is all about.

9. Adam Clark, in his very able commentary, has this to say about verse 24, “The Apostle Paul, in using the term ‘body of death’ alludes to one of the means the Romans used to put a man to death. For certain crimes the individual was put to death by chaining a dead corpse to his body. The victim then had to live, sleep, and eat with this dead corpse until he died from the stench and contagion.”

10. In using this, Paul is saying that what the dead corpse was to the living human, this carnal nature is to the spiritual man.

V. This Warfare Between Flesh And Spirit Is Seen Throughout The Scripture, And Is Shown To Be The Prime Cause Of The Ineffectiveness Of The Church.

1. “For to be carnally minded is death…” (Rom. 8:6) says in the strongest language, that whenever and wherever the church tolerates this nature, the result is always, every time, death.

Rom. 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

2. This is the touchstone of reality. We are either one or the other, there can be no compromise.

3. The allegory of the two sons of Abraham demonstrates that there can never be a truce between the two natures. Ishmael, born of the flesh, was Abraham’s attempt to help God fulfill His promise.

a. God had promised Abraham a son when he called him out. He promised him, that through that son, all His promises to Abraham would be fulfilled.

b. Many years went by and still no son was born. Abraham is getting very old, Sarah too, so they decided to help God out. Through Hagar, the handmaid of Sarah, Abraham produced Ishmael, the son of the flesh.

c. All went well in Abraham’s household until Isaac, the son of the Spirit, was born. Then the warfare began. There was no reconciliation, no possibility of a truce.

d. There is no need to divide the tent, for as long as the two abode in the same house, the war would continue. That war that began in Abraham’s tent spiritually between flesh and Spirit, physically is still going on in the Arab and Israeli conflict.

e. God’s verdict on the matter was, “…Cast the son of the bondwoman out…” (Gen. 21:10). That was the only answer then, and it is the only answer now.

4. “…Make no provision for the flesh…” (Rom. 13:14) is God’s ultimatum to the Christian church. Under no circumstance are we to allow that flesh to perform.

5. No matter how gifted, how well recommended, how famous, or powerful, no flesh is to glory in His sight. “Are ye so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:3).

6. Satan is a spoiler. He knows any attempt to produce a spiritual work by the flesh is an abomination to God. Hence he, Satan, uses every means possible to force that nature upon the true church of God.

7. His two main plans to accomplish this evil are:

(1) Involve the church in projects in which God has no interest.

(2) Sell the church on the idea that she can accomplish the true work of God through carnal means.

VI. Look With Me At The First Plan.

1. Satan’s success is overwhelming. Perhaps eighty-five percent of the religious projects are “ego trips” inspired by the spirit of Babylon. They said, “...Let us make us a name...” (Gen. 11:4).

2. In their desire to be first, to be known, to be applauded, men of God have launched projects all in the name of God; but to pay for them, they have been forced to prostitute themselves.

3. To inspire the donor, the most outlandish tricks, schemes, and language is employed.

a. One letter read, “God told me that if one million partners would give $240 each, He would give me a cure for cancer.” This letter says in effect that God could be bought or bribed. It acknowledges that God could be bought. Besides, God has already given a cure for cancer in the Lord Jesus. “…by His stripes ye are healed” (Is. 53:5; 1Pet. 2:24).

4. If the church will resolve this warfare of flesh and Spirit, if the church will but return to her spiritual place, it will work.

5. The most outlandish promises of miracles and prosperity have been promised to those who would give to the building of these religious empires. You would think that when the prosperity did not come or the miracles did not happen, the poor souls would realize that God had not spoken.

6. The truth of the matter is, flesh appeals to flesh and the flesh has always been a gambler. So the poor soul hopes against hope and gives again.

7. It takes the same greed to give a hundred dollars trying to get one thousand in return as it does to feed a slot machine in Las Vegas.

8. These schemes, concocted by men, inspired by Satan, are efforts to force God into a plan in which He never was interested. That is what we find in Isaiah 58.

9. It is very popular today to talk about spiritual warfare. This warfare can only be resolved when you and I will resolve this warfare between flesh and Spirit. By reckoning ourselves dead and not allowing the corpse to have any kind of expression, the devil has been given no place – the flesh is dead.

10. Satan came to Jesus and could not find anything in Him. Jesus says to me, “Neither give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:27).

VII. Satan’s Second Plan Has Been About As Successful As The First. The Only Difference Is, It Works In The Opposite Direction, By Selling Men A Carnal Plan To Accomplish A Spiritual Work.

1. When God really has called a work into being, like the building of His church, the devil sells a man a carnal plan on how to build that church.

2. Satan has forced God to curse some works He has ordained.

3. Paul speaks of the church in Galatia as having begun in the Spirit, then was bewitched by Satan and ended up trying to do God’s work by the flesh (Gal. 3).

4. God’s final message to that church was:

Gal. 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Gal. 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

VIII.Finally The Terrible Plague Of Immorality That Has Cursed The Church And Made Her The Object Of Ridicule By The World’s Media Is A Direct Result Of This Intrusion Of The Flesh.

1. The flesh, this old nature that we are talking about, is the body of Satan. He cannot express himself without a body, so when we refuse to yield our members as instruments of unrighteousness to Satan, we cut him off and the warfare is resolved.

2. Men who have been successful in their carnal religious endeavors and are looked upon by the carnal church as heroes, have deceived themselves into believing they were exempt from the moral law of God.

3. The results have been a repeat of the Corinthian disaster; sin in the church that is hardly named among the heathen.

4. The purging of the church will not be popular, nor will it be easy, but purge her we must. There can be no compromise.

5. Like the cartoon character, we have found the enemy, and “he is us.”

6. According to scripture, the church Jesus shall return for will be, “A glorious church not having spot or wrinkle...” (Eph. 5:27). Spot in scripture speaks of the flesh, “...hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” (Jude 23).

7. In listing the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:16-21), Paul concludes with these words, “...as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (v. 21).

8. There is no question the warfare is real, the warfare is deadly. However, in spite of the flesh and the devil, Jesus will have a church.

9. The question is, “Will you be a part of that church and will your efforts of preaching and ministering build that church?” Only you can answer that question. But I believe in the light of what you have heard, read, and learned, you know what you must do.

Jas. 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

I was once called to pray with an old preacher in his eighties. He had preached for over sixty years and was filled with the Holy Ghost. Now, it looked like the preacher was going to die. I have never seen such fear. I have never seen such terror in the eyes of a human who believed they were going to die. After we got through praying, I went back to the church and went into my office and locked the door. I had to have an answer. I knelt down and said to God, “Why should a person who has been filled with the Holy Ghost and has preached for over sixty years be afraid to die?” It didn’t take but one second to get the answer. “He hasn’t done what I told him to do and now he is going to have to face Me,” God said.

10. You many have thousands of people, but if that church is a thing of the flesh, it is cursed of God and you are cursed with it.