Giants and Grasshoppers - Appendix 1

Eph 6:13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Today we will begin to add some final thoughts to our study of the spiritual warfare.

The full text of this message can be found on our website.

Transcript

Sunday August 22nd 2021 Giants and Grasshoppers Appendix 1

1). Eph 6:10 ¶ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 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. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints, 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

I am sure we will have come to realize over the past weeks of study on the spiritual warfare, that this is not a contest that is somehow separate from our daily lives but rather, a contest that is engaged through our daily life, as we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness within the darkness of this age.

a). And it would be good for us to understand the nature of this warfare so that our attention is not diverted into areas it does not need to go. And to state the obvious to begin, this is a ‘spiritual’ warfare. A warfare that takes place in the realm of the spirit and is enacted against

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fallen spirit beings. And this warfare is about only one thing, who will rule the earth in the 7th Day. That is the beginning and the end of it.

b). And if we go back once more to the foundational contest over rulership in the 7th Day that took place in the Garden, we can remind ourselves of what took place there and what we should learn from it –
Ge 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

The field of engagement on which this contest takes place is God’s Word, ‘Has God indeed said?’ And that is where it must always remain –
Eph 4:14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,

The enticement the spiritual hosts of wickedness bring to us through ‘the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting’, is to turn us away from the veracity of God’s Word, for the purpose of causing us to elevate ourselves above the truth, just as Satan had done in his rebellion.

c). When the Woman and her husband ate the fruit, they were commanded not to eat, their eyes were opened and they did know good and evil, but this was not knowing good and evil as the Godhead knows it. Rather, this was the Man and the Woman determining for themselves what was good and what was evil out of a now fallen nature. This became them making judgments about what was right in their own eyes –
Ge 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. 8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

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And determining what was good and evil in their own eyes is exemplified in their actions following them eating the fruit from the tree they were not to eat from. And it was this that brought about their disqualification to rule the earth in the 7th Day.

d). We should note that it was not the presence of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that was the problem. Rather it was the Woman’s response to the tree having been deceived that was the issue.

e). And we will remember that doing what was right in their own eyes has characterized God’s adopted firstborn son, the nation of Israel throughout their history – Nu 16:1 Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men; 2 and they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown. 3 They gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?”

God had spoken concerning Moses’ appointment to lead the children of Israel, but Korah and those with him, rejected what God had said deciding for themselves what was right in their own eyes. And the consequences for their action are very clearly stated – Nu 16:31 Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them, 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods. 33 So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly.

And it’s no coincidence that Jude uses the example of Korah to describe the fate of false teachers within the church – Jude 1:11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

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False teachers, who from the beginning, have been responsible for perverting, distorting, and undermining the Word of God, ‘Has God indeed said?’ ‘Where is the promise of His coming?’ Those who have enticed others to follow the dictates of their own desire, rather than teaching them to submit to the Word of God – 2 Pe 2:1 But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.

Jg 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

And here is the essence of the spiritual warfare. The enticement to do what is right in our own eyes rather than faithfully following the Scriptures. The enticement to live according to the man of the flesh rather than the man of the spirit, with the destructive heresy that there will be no consequences for our actions. ‘You will not surely die.’

2). Some have asked over the months, whether the pandemic is part of the spiritual warfare and the answer to that question is found in the word itself, ‘pandemic’. Covid 19 and its variants have infected and killed people everywhere in the world and has not singled out Kingdom seeking Christians in particular.

a). Nor is having a puncture on Sunday morning, going through a hurricane or even the 2 large trees coming down in the front of our house to be seen as spiritual warfare. These things happen because we live in a fallen world that is under a curse and all these things are the natural consequences of a ruined creation spiraling out of control, from which none of us are exempt. A creation eagerly awaiting the revealing of the sons of God, when all this will change.

b). God has not promised us that we will not go through very difficult and trying circumstances during the course of our lives, rather

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His promises have to do with us, and the Kingdom to come in the 7th Day Jn 17:15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. 20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

To be kept from the evil one is to be kept from the wiles of the devil, that we should not be overthrown from the goal of our calling. And as we have seen so many times, God’s protection comes as a result of His Word and is promised in response to our faith – 1 Pe1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Let’s please note once again what we see in v5, the power of God is our protection through our faith, and God’s protection for us is for one purpose, that we should receive the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. This is what God is protecting those who live by faith for, success at the Judgment Seat, not to shield them from the outworking of a ruined material creation.

c). Now having said that, it may well be that because of our experiences with the ruined creation the spiritual warfare is engaged as we are enticed to look outside of the Scriptures, as we are enticed to view things with our natural eyes. It is not the circumstance itself that is of consequence with respect to our inheritance, just as with the tree in the Garden, but our response to it – Ro 8:38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created

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thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Covid cannot take our inheritance from us, nor can a hurricane, nor even physical death for that matter, but taking our eyes off the prize, to habitually give in to the man of the flesh, to be wise in our own eyes, certainly will.

d). It’s so important that we keep the correct perspective at all times and in all circumstances – Pr 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. 8 It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones.

3). With all this in mind let’s remember what the Scriptures teach us – Pr 7:1 ¶ My son, keep my words, And treasure my commands within you.
2 Keep my commands and live, And my law as the apple [Lit. pupil] of your eye. 3 Bind them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 Say to wisdom, "You are my sister," And call understanding your nearest kin,

Let’s note the beginning of v2, ‘keep my commands and live’, faithful obedience to the Scriptures is our only guarantee of life in the age to come, and with respect to remaining faithfully obedient to attain age- lasting life, we are told that the Scriptures need to be the pupil of our eye. In other words, we must choose to look at everything that takes place with us and in the world around us through the Scriptures. And this is because Scripture is the only constant truth that exists. It is the only means by which we can keep ourselves properly focused and the only means by which we can understand the world in which we live.

a). We are then to look at everything through the optic of the Scriptures so that we may see things as God sees them and then organize our lives accordingly.

b). And of course, as we think about this, we will realize that the Scriptures have as their focus Christ and His coming Kingdom, and so as we look at all things through the Scriptures, we are viewing all things

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through the unchanging certainty of that which God has said concerning His Son and the 7th Day, that which the Lord has called ‘the Word of the Kingdom’, the gospel of the glory of Christ.

c). And it is here again that we will find the spiritual warfare. To look at all things through the Scriptures, is to have on the whole armor of God. The wiles of the devil would seek to entice us from seeing through the Word and be wise in our own eyes instead. This is the work of the rulers of the darkness of this age through our old man. And it is here that the sword of the Spirit must be used to put the old man to death.

d). And with the necessity to ‘see’ correctly by looking through the Scriptures in mind, we might remember the Lord’s words to His disciples, recorded in what we have come to call the sermon on the mount – Mt 6:22 "The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 "But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

And through the juxtaposition found in these verses between light and dark, we will call to mind the admonitions we have been given in the epistles – Ro 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

Eph 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), 10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.

2 Pe 1:18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19 And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; 20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21

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for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

The pupil of our eye in the natural, is the lens through which light enters enabling us to see the natural world around us, and so, quite simply then, to carry this over into the realm of the spirit, we are to view everything through the lens of the Scriptures, through the eyes of faith, to receive the light that shines in a dark place, the prophetic word confirmed.

e). Just as we would put on a pair of glasses so that we would bring into clarity that which was previously blurred in our vision, so we must view our lives and the world that surrounds us through the Scriptures so that there will be clarity to our focus and the correct perspective on our purpose. So that we will see things, not as the world sees them, but as God sees them; so that we will see correctly and our eye will be ‘good’, that we might be filled with the light of the Word of truth, the gospel of our salvation – Isa 8:20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

And here in Isaiah we can find a parallel verse to those which we saw in Matthew Chapter 6 – and from the foundation onwards, we know that it is God’s Word that is light – Ge 1:3 ¶ Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light.

Ps 36:9 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.
Pr 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp, And the law a light; Reproofs of

instruction are the way of life,

2Co 4:6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

The correct perspective we are to have with respect to God’s Word, and the correct perspective on the light our spiritual eye is to receive, can be seen in - Isa 55:8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. 9 "For as the heavens are higher than the

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earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. 10 "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, 11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

There is nothing that is equal to or greater than the Word of God, it is, as we have seen, the most powerful weapon in the universe, it is the permanent, unchangeable standard by which all else is to be measured, and this is really not surprising as the Lord Jesus is the Word made flesh, and we will remember what is said about Him in – Eph 1:21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

The Word is ‘head’ over all things, far above all principality and power and might and dominion – there is nothing to which it/He is comparable, because God’s Word is God - Joh 1:1 ¶ In [the] beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

[‘was’, is a verb of being in the Greek language – meaning that what is shown here has no beginning, nor end; the Word always has been God and the Word always will be God. This can never change]

Because God’s Word is God it cannot be dealt with as we would deal with other things. It cannot be proven, nor can it be disproven, because nothing exists in the human realm that could be brought to bear on it to do so. This is the reason why God never attempts to prove Himself, His Son, or His Word – they just are – and they are exponentially above all else.

f). We can see a good example for this at the very beginning of scripture - Ge 1:1 ¶ In [the] beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

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God makes no attempt to prove this or explain this scientifically, He simply states that which He has done ‘in beginning’, and He then says to the one whom He created with respect to what He has done –
Ps 14:1 ¶ The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God."

To attempt to prove or validate God’s Word from science, secular history or the other collective wisdom of Man is to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We are not required to prove or validate or justify anything that God has said, we are simply required to believe, to have faith, to take God at His Word. There is nothing else to say.

g). To use the wisdom of the world to validate Scripture is to be overcome in the spiritual warfare. It is to ask that age old question, ‘Has God indeed said?’

h). Although in human terms the Word of God cannot be proven, we have found that the veracity of the Word has become progressively self-evident to us as we have spent time reading and studying it, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth, so that understanding wouldbecome our ‘nearest kin’ - Joh 16:13 "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

This then has always been an issue of faith - Ro 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

And do we remember which part of the whole armor of God we are to take ‘above all’? - Eph 6:16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

And do we remember where our victory in the spiritual warfare is to be found? - 1 Jn 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

And as the Holy Spirit does His work, so we grow in our faith, so the Scriptures become clearer and clearer and we see them to be exactly

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what they are, the Word of God, God the Word – and they possess a clarity and reality more substantial for us, than that which can be seen with the natural eye.

i). And it is because of the nature of what the Scriptures are that they can only interpret themselves, as we compare Scripture with Scripture – 1Co 2:13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

The Scriptures are the only thing we can reference to understand the Scriptures, there is nothing else. And if we look outside of Scripture to understand Scripture, we again find ourselves eating from that tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We will be overcome by the wiles of the devil.

j). I hope we are beginning to see from all this why it is so important for us here at the end of this dispensation, to have the Scriptures as the pupil of our eye if we are to have the victory in the spiritual warfare.

k). And that which we see as we do this, will either be in accord with the Word or contrary to the Word, it will either embrace the standard or fall short of it. But what we can know for sure as we view all through the Scriptures is that there is no middle ground - Mt 12:30 "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.

And it is imperative that we keep the Scriptures as the pupil of our eye now, because God views us through His Word, in every moment of our life, and will then judge us by His Word, the Word made flesh, at the Judgment Seat – Re 2:18 ¶ "And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, 'These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: 19 "I know your works......

To know this, understand this and embrace this, is to put on the whole armor of God, it is to be kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. It is this that enables us to stand against the wiles of the devil. Here once again is engagement in the

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spiritual warfare – 1 Co 3:18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”; 20 and again, “The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” 21 Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. 23 And you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

More next time – if we remain and the Lord is willing.

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