(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Oh, the message is entitled this evening. Welcome to the war. Welcome to the war. And I want to appreciate tonight about the fact that when we got in the Christian life, we got involved in a war. Now, obviously, I'm not referring to a physical war, but we've involved ourselves in a spiritual war. And that war that we find is within our within our own selves. You see that here in Romans seven, where Paul is talking about the fact that there are two laws at work in his body and his flesh and in his mind. One is that, you know, trying to pull them into that which is carnal and one is that which is pulling into that which is spiritual. And that really is the picture of the Christian life. You know, we are always being pulled in two directions. And the matter it's a it's a question of whether or not we're going to yield to the flesh or yield to the Spirit. Now, if you would keep something in Romans seven, we're going to be in Romans a few times tonight. So you want to keep this book bookmark something there, but go back to First Corinthians chapter two, First Corinthians chapter two. And of course, we talked about this morning about the simplicity of the gospel, and how that, you know, even a child can be saved, that it's so simple salvation that even a small child can come to an understanding of the knowledge of the gospel. And of course, we talked about the fact that when we are born again in Christ, that, you know, we are become spiritual children, you become children spiritually. And what that means to us is that salvation when you got saved, that does not guarantee that you are going to be a spiritual person, right? You're not going to get saved and go to bed and wake up the next day and be this amazing Christian. You know, it's going to take work. And quite frankly, as the title Welcome to War would infer, it's going to be a struggle, it's going to be a fight. If you want to grow in Christ, if you want to excel in your Christian life, if you want to be pleasing to Christ, you're going to be involved in warfare spiritually. So look there in First Corinthians chapter two and verse one, where it says, And I brethren could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. So Paul here is rebuking them, of course, for saying, Look, I would like to speak to you as a spiritual adult, you know, he's speaking to adults, by the way. And he's saying, Look, I would like to address you as mature believers in Christ, but I could not address unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes. So what was it that was making them babes is the fact that they were carnal, the fact that they weren't living a spiritual life, the fact that they were still living and walking in the flesh. He said in verse two, I fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it. Neither yet now are you able for ye are yet carnal, for whereas there is envying among you in strife and divisions, are you not carnal and walk as men. So we see that just because you got saved, that just because you accepted Christ as your Savior, that that you're not just going to automatically be a spiritual person. You're going to be saved. We understand that you're going to be on your way to heaven, no matter what. But along the way, if you want to excel in the Christian life, you're going to have to decide whether or not you're going to get involved in this fight, and who it is that's going to rule and reign in your members. So we see here that carnality is something that has to be grown out of. You have to grow out of your carnality. You have to learn to put down the flesh. You have to learn to grow up spiritually. You have to grow into this. And this process is a struggle. That's what it is. You know, this growing into Christ, this growing out of your carnality, becoming a spiritual person, it's a struggle. You know, we think of, you know, an illustration would be, you know, you know, a, you know, a locust or a grasshopper coming out of a cocoon, you know, out of a larva coming out of its cocoon. It doesn't just burst out easily. It's work. You think about a young chick trying to break out of an egg, you know, has to work at it has to work at it. And that's what our spiritual life is. We start out as the small, you know, for lack of a better, you know, term spiritual larva. In our cart, in our cocoon, right? And we want to spread our spiritual wings and sort of new heights. But, you know, you got to grow into that. Yeah, and it's a struggle. It's a process. It's a conflict. It's a war, if I could say that. It's a battle of the wills. That's what it is. And that battle is between your flesh and the spirit, the flesh and the spirit, your physical flesh, your carnality, and the Spirit of God, which dwells in you are at odds with one another. They can't get along. There's never going to be a peace agreement. There's never going to be a truce. And that's the fact of life. You know, that's the fact of the Christian life. For the rest of your life, you were involved in this struggle. So I'm just going to try and encourage you tonight to not get weary and well doing to not give into that temptation to just go back into the flesh. And, you know, even if you've been one that's experienced setbacks in the Christian life, or you, you know, you know, maybe gotten a little backslidden or, or tried to, you know, do something spiritual, and it's fallen short, to not give up. Because it's a kind, you know, you might lose a battle here, you might lose a battle there, but the war is not over. And some days the flesh wins, and some days the spirit wins. But, you know, as long as we keep fighting, you know, we're gonna win. Now you're there in Romans seven, which is a tongue twister of a chapter. And look there in verse 14, where he says, For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do, I allow not, for that I would, that I do not. Paul saying here, that which he, that's what he do, he would rather not do. And that what he wants to do, he doesn't do it. He says, But what I hate that I do, if then I do that which I would not, I consent unto law, that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 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, for the good that I would not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that, I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that when I do good, evil is present with me. You see that sin nature is always there. Even when we're doing good. Evil never goes away. It's always present with him. For I delight in the law after the inward man, but I see another law. So what do you have? You have two laws. You have the law of God, which he delights after in the inward man, and then you see another law in his members, warring against the law of my mind. He says it's war, and that's the title of the sermon. Welcome to the war. You are involved in warfare, this war between the flesh, which is warring against the law of your mind, the spirit, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in members. Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death. You know, it's interesting that Paul puts an exclamation point there and says, Oh, wretched man that I am. And we would say, Paul? Really? Probably the greatest Christian that's ever lived. You can make that argument. Probably the man who's done more for Christ than probably anybody. You know, the author of the vast majority of the New Testament was used to write it. And he's saying he's a wretched man. And when I kind of think about that, it makes me think of the fact that people who are probably trying to live the Christian life the most probably understand this truth the most. The closer they get to God, they start to see how really wretched they are. The more they get involved in this fight, they realize how real the enemy is, and how evil really is present with you at all times, and how easy it is to just fall back into the flesh and be carnal. But when we get in the flesh, when we get carnal, when we're not living for God, we really don't see it that way. We kind of become blind to it. We say, Oh, we're not that bad. We're okay. We're not as bad as so-and-so. We might compare ourselves. But Paul, the man who was doing the most for God, he says, I'm a wretched man. Because the closer he got to God, the more he did for God, the more he saw himself for what he really was. He said, Who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Christ Jesus our Lord. So we know we have the victory. We know ultimately the battle's won, that sin shall not have the dominion over us. That one day we will receive that new body, that perfect man will be made whole in Christ. But until that day, friend, we are in a battle. He said, So then with the mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. So again, no one gets saved one day and just wakes up spiritual the next. It's a process. It's a war. It's a battle. And the process is bringing the flesh into subjection of the Spirit. That is the war. That is the struggle of taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and bringing it into subjection. Again, keep something in Romans, but go over to Galatians 5. The Bible says in Galatians 5, verse 16, This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. So Paul is making it very clear here that we can either walk in the Spirit or we can walk in the flesh. And there's no middle ground. We're either walking after one or the other. Some people get this idea sometimes that they can have one foot in the world and one foot in Christ and try to walk this walk. You're not going to get very far like that. You've got one foot up here and one foot down there. It's like putting on a leg brace or something, because you're laying here and you're trying to keep up. It's not going to work. You can't have one foot in the world and one foot living for the Lord and expect to make very good progress. And there's no middle ground. It's not like, well, I'm just neutral in the spiritual fight. You're going to fight somebody. No man can serve two masters, for he will love the one or hate the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. And that's just a fact. And he's saying here that if you walk in the Spirit, you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Now, of course, you're not going to be perfect. No one's ever going to reach this sinless state of perfection. We're all going to mess up. The flesh is going to get the better of us sometimes here and there. But by and large, that should not be the pattern of our life where it's just the flesh, the flesh, the flesh, the flesh every single day winning this battle, this war. And if we walk in the Spirit, we're not going to fulfill the lusts of the flesh. And he says that if you walk in the Spirit, you won't fulfill the lusts of the flesh because they're contrary one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would. You know, I believe that in every Christian there's a desire to do the right thing. They want to do what's right. They want to get up. They want to read their Bibles. They want to pray. They want to go soul wedding. They want to be faithful to church. They want to learn the things of Christ. They want to have a godly biblical marriage. They want to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. They want to do all these spiritual things. It's in their heart to do it, but until they get the flesh under control and bring it into subjection, you're not going to do those things that you would. You have to win this battle. You have to reign in the flesh and control it if you're going to do the things that you would. It's not enough to just desire it. You actually have to take steps towards bringing the flesh into subjection. Now, I will say this. It's optional. You can live the Christian life in the flesh. I'm not saying you can do it well. I mean, you can go ahead and be a Christian and go to heaven and you can live a fleshly, worldly, wicked existence even if you want. That is an option that's open to you. Because again, we understand that salvation is by grace. It's not of works. It's not about whether or not we do or don't sin. But if you want to do the things that you would, you have to bring the flesh into subjection. But you have that option. And it's available to you, but you have to understand something. That it comes with consequences. That you are going to suffer the consequences for living in the flesh. Go ahead and turn back to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Because people can get this idea and they just think, well, I'm just not going to live for God the way I should and I'll be alright. Well, you know, I just won't go completely back in the world. I won't just be completely backslidden. You're still going to suffer the consequences, friend. It's not just going to be without consequence. Look at verse 6. Romans 8 verse 6. He says, for to be carnally minded is death. That's a pretty severe consequence. Now I understand that there's a broader truth here that Paul is trying to express about the law and about the carnal man and the spiritual man. But he says to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. And isn't that what we all want? At least, you know, any of us that are halfway sane, right? We all want that life of peace. We want a spiritual mind that is life and peace. You know, we want to have peace of mind. Well, you know, great peace have they that which love thy love and which love thy law, nothing shall offend them. So, you know, if you want that, then you have to be spiritual. You can't just live in the flesh. And if we're carnal, if we walk after the flesh, there's going to be consequences. And he says here to be carnally minded is death because, verse 7, the carnal mind is enmity against God. It's not just that God disapproves of the carnal mind. The God just disapproves of not being spiritual. He's saying, look, the carnal mind is enmity with God. That means it's his enemy. They're foes. God is battling it. You know, it's something that is going to war with one another. And we're caught right in there. We're in this battle. He says, the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can be, so that they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit, would that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live out of the flesh. Verse 13, for if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. So, it's just like when Joshua gave them the law before he passed out the scene, or Moses, rather, before he passed out the scene. I set before you today a blessing and a curse when he gave them the law. And that's the same truth for us today. We're given the law of God, we're given the word of God, we have the Spirit of God in us, and that's either going to work for us or against us. It's either going to be living after the flesh, we're going to die, or if we live through the Spirit, we're going to mortify the deeds of the body. And again, I understand the broader truth that he's teaching here is that we can't earn salvation by works because we're dead in the flesh. The flesh cannot please God. We understand that. But the principle that he's teaching here is that walking in the flesh, saved or unsaved, leads to negative outcomes. I mean, who's going to argue that? Who's going to get up and say, well, no, you can go and live a backslidden, worldly, ungodly life, and God's just going to turn a blind eye and be fine with it. And you're not going to have any negative consequences. There's going to be negative consequences when we get into sin, whatever it is. And we could sit here and we could go down the list of sins that people get involved in and talk about all the negative consequences, but truth be told, every one of those sins should probably just be preached on individually. And we'll get to that. But we all understand this, that when people get involved in sin, it comes with consequences. So don't get this idea that just because living a spiritual life or a carnal life is optional doesn't mean it's without consequences. The Bible says in Hebrews 12, For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. I mean, a scourging. That's not just a little pat on the behind. I mean, that's getting out the whip. That's laying into somebody. That's what the Bible says God does to his children, that he scourges us. No, of course, we understand that he doesn't do that physically, but that can happen in our life. God can engineer circumstances. God can make things happen in your life. He can affect your job, your health, your family. God can reach down and touch you no matter where you are. No matter what dark cave you think you've slithered down into, along with your sin, God can find you there and can start to work on you in ways you'd probably rather not. He says, He scourges every son whom he receiveth. But if ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? And he says, But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. If you can go live a completely wicked life and never suffer any consequences at all, that would scare me to death, because then I'd have to wonder, am I even saved? He says right there, God dealeth with his sons, but if ye be without chastisement, if God does not chasten you, whereof all are partakers, you know, he scourges every son whom he receiveth, then are ye bastards. What does that mean? Fatherless. And not sons. So, you know, that, you want to test your sin, that's not, I don't recommend us testing your salvation. Let me go see how much sin I can evolve in and see if God chastens me. You know you're saved, you know, if you believe, but what he's showing us here is that, look, if God didn't chasten you, then you would be unsaved. Showing us that because you're saved, you can expect a chastening. That God's not just going to let you get away with it. That there are consequences for our sin, there are consequences. Why get involved in this war? Why get involved in this battle of the Christian life? Because being passive just leads to negative outcomes. Because just trying to play spiritual Switzerland isn't going to work. You know, we're just not going to get involved. You know, just send all your money here. We're just going to sit this one out. It doesn't work that way. You know, there's a line in the sand, you're on one side or the other in this life. So what that teaches us, that if we want to be spiritual, that if we want to bring the law of our mind into subjection to Christ, if we want to live a spiritual life, you have to fight for that. You have to make that happen. It's not just going to be automatic. You have to make decisions, concrete decisions in your life, that are going to begin to lead you down a road of spirituality. Go ahead and turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. Can I trouble somebody for a glass of water? Thank you. So spirituality must be fought for. The Bible says there in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 24, Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the master is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly. So fight I. He's saying he fights, not as one that beateth the air, but I keep under my body, bringing it into subjection. He's talking about his physical body, not fulfilling every desire of the flesh, bringing it into subjection. And he says that's a fight. That's something that he has to struggle against. Lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. Paul's showing us that if we're going to run this race, if we're going to get involved in this battle, that we're going to fight, and that that fight is bringing our flesh, our body, into subjection to the law of God. That when the flesh says, do this, I want this, and we read the Bible and it says don't do that, we tell the flesh no. And you have to learn to say no to the flesh if you're going to live a spiritual Christian life. That's pleasing to God. No has to become a part of your vocabulary. And it goes for all of us. There's none of us that have reached this place in our life where we just can never be tempted with sin anymore. But we all have to learn this word, no. The flesh says I want this, no. Don't do it, don't give in. That's the fight. And that sounds easy to just say that. But we all know the real temptations that are out there, especially if you're one that's coming out of the world that has a past, acquainted with sin, it's a lot easier for those of us that have had a past. And I'm not glorifying this. And I meant to say this this morning, the fact that a child can get saved at a young age, to me that is a better testimony. I wish I had that testimony. That is a more glorious testimony than the testimony of someone who's just getting saved out of a life of sin later. To me, that's my opinion. That glorifies God more that this person got saved at a young age, it didn't have to go through all that. That God spared them that. God gave them the Spirit of God as a young child. He gave them parents that could guide them and lead them. He gave them the Bible to teach them right from wrong. That brings more glory to God. And I don't want to go off on that, but here's the thing. If you want to be spiritual, you're going to have to fight for it. And you're going to have to bring your flesh into subjection and tell it no. And the danger is that those of us that have come out of that kind of a background, where we have whatever sin, or sins plural, that we've been involved in in the past, it'd be easier for us to go back to that. It'd be easier for us to just fall back because we're comfortable with it. The person who's never done that, who's raised in a godly atmosphere, and has been taught that that's wrong, that you shouldn't do that, if they tried to go do that, it should scare them. I can't imagine how that would make them feel. It should terrify them. It probably would do so naturally. That would just probably be the natural outcome. Some godly young man or woman, raised in a godly home, knows right from wrong, has never gotten involved in this sin, starts to go towards that, feels tempted, and actually is going to go and give in to this temptation. I can't imagine the heart pounding, the palms sweating, the nervousness, the looking over their shoulders, the wide-eyed look, the fright that would go through them. But you take a guy that's saved out of that, he can go right into it. Not bad an eye. And just say, oh, I'm used to this. So we have to understand something, that spirituality has to be fought for. And that those of us that are coming out of that, we should probably fight a little harder. And not giving in to this flesh. And let me say this. Your flesh is not going to go without a fight. And it's going to fight you every single day. Some days will be better than others. Some days you'll forget maybe that there even is a battle. But it's not going to go without a fight. Go ahead and turn over to James chapter 4. James 4, I'll begin in verse 1, it says, From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence even of your lusts, that war in your members? He says, where are wars and fightings coming from? They're coming from within. They're coming from the lusts of our members. You lust and have not, and you kill and desire to have, you cannot obtain. You fight and war, and yet you have not, because you ask not. You ask and receive not, but because you ask and miss, that you may consume it upon your lust. The adulterer says, know ye not that the friendship of the world is the enmity with God? Whosoever that will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do you think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? What's he saying there when he says that the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to the envy? I don't believe he's referring to the Holy Spirit there. I believe he's referring to the fact that our human nature is what he's referring to. And he's saying there that it lusteth to envy. Your flesh, the spirit of man that is in you, is always going to envy. It's always going to want what it used to have. It's always going to want what it can't have or shouldn't have. It's going to want those things that God says, no, you can't do that. Those things that God forbids. It's going to lust after those things. It's going to desire those things. He says in verse 5, but he giveth more grace. Wherefore God saith, God resisted the proud but giveth grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. How do you get the victory? How do you win this fight? You need to submit yourselves to God. You need to draw an eye to God and he will draw an eye to you. Resist the devil and he will flee from you, it says there. If you resist the devil long enough, he moves on to the next target. Not to say he'll never come back around, not to say he'll never try again, not to say he'll come back with a different angle, a different lure. If you think of the fisherman, this is a good illustration I heard once. The fisherman is like the devil and he's got his rod with his lure on the end. He's going to try and catch you by tempting you with this lure. All he does is go around and cast over here and cast over there to see who will bite. If that lure is not working, he'll just switch lures. If he keeps casting over in one direction and nothing is biting, he's going to move on to the next fishing hole. Not to say there isn't fish in there, but the fish in there have wised up and said, I know what that is. That's not food. That will make me food. That's going to put me on a plate. That's how the devil works. He just goes around. Here's the thing. The Bible says, resist the devil and he will flee from you. But you have to resist him. That is the language of a battle. That is resist. Resistance. That's a fight. That's going against. That is a warfare. That's what we're involved in. We have to learn to resist the devil. A lot of us would probably just grow leaps and bounds spiritually by just doing that. By just resisting the devil when he tempts us to do something. When he wants us to do something we know we shouldn't be doing. The flesh is not going to go without a fight because of our old nature. The spirit that dwelleth in us. It lusteth to envy. Our old nature is wicked. And it's still there. Yes, we understand we're saved and we're created in Christ Jesus. We're a new man. But we still have this old nature. Our flesh. When you got saved, you didn't get the new body. We're still dragging these bones around and this flesh around. And it's still wicked. It still has its same desires. It still has its same temptations. And it's not going to just go away. So we need to learn to fight it. The old man is dead, but he's still present. He's still present. Go back to Romans where you were. Look at Romans chapter 6. The Bible says in Romans chapter 6, in verse 6, Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed. It doesn't say it is destroyed. That it might be destroyed. That one day it is going to be destroyed. That we will receive that new body. That henceforth we should not serve sin, for he that is dead is freed from sin. So our old man is crucified, but he's still there. He's still up on the cross. He's still writhing in pain. He's still crying out, let me down. And he still wants to be a part of your life. He doesn't want to die. And you know what? You say, well I don't know, I appreciate that analogy. I don't know what you're really getting at. Could we preach on something else? But here's the thing. You're never going to win this war if you don't recognize the fact that you're in one. If you think those, you know, imagine being in an actual war, and you hear bullets whizzing by your head. And you just go, well is that a bug? You know, boy though, did someone open a window? I feel a draft. No, that was, you know, that was a, you know, that was a bullet zinging by your head. Oh, was that a fly? Mosquitoes are getting big this year. People just blowing up everywhere. And if we could look around spiritually, that's what we're in. And you know, spiritually there's land mines. And people are getting blown up today. Because they're not, why? Because they don't recognize what they're in. You know, they're in the Christian life and they think that it's a church picnic. They think that they're just, you know, just going to la-di-da their way to heaven. No, when you signed up for the Christian life, you signed up for war. So, if you need to, first of all, how are you going to win? You need to recognize the fact that we're in a spiritual war. And that's what the first half of this sermon has been all about. It's just trying to help us to understand that we have the old man, we have this old nature, we still have the flesh to deal with, that we have to bring it into subjection, that it is at enmity with God, and then we have a fight to fight. We have a war to fight. Now, go over to, I should have had you stay there, but go to Ephesians chapter 4. So Ephesians chapter 4, he's admonishing them in verse 22, and he says, that you put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man, which is created after God, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. So he's saying, look, you have to put this off. You have to put off the former conversation. You have to put on the new man. That's a daily thing. But notice the context. How are you going to do this? What's going to help you put on the new man? What's going to help you put off the old man? What's going to help you walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus? Look at verse 11. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the faith. So what's he talking about there? He's talking about church, friend. And that's a big reason why we ought to get in church on a regular basis. It's because of the fact that you need to be in church to win this war. Who else is going to tell you that you're in a spiritual fight? Unless you're watching sound preaching on the internet, nobody else is going to do it. Cable television isn't going to tell you that you as a Christian are involved in a spiritual fight. Church is going to do that. So we need to be in church. Let me put it to you this way. Salvation is conscription. When you got saved, you got conscripted into the war. You say, I didn't know it was going to be a war. Too bad, you're in it. You're in it now. That's what conscription is. It's not a draft. It's not a volunteer army. When you got saved, whether you like it or not, you signed up for a fight. And you can either go and fight and win and be victorious or you can be a casualty of war. And that's it. Those are your options. So if salvation is conscription, is you being signed up for war whether you like it or not, you know what church is? Church is boot camp. Church is where you're going to learn how to use the weapon, how to lace up the boots, tuck in the shirt, march in order, take orders, understand the enemy, and go out and fight. That's what church is. It's boot camp. And don't expect to win a Christian, don't expect to win this spiritual fight, this battle, if you're not in church. It's not going to happen. I mean, that's one of the first things the devil tries to do. He understands that church is where you learn how to fight and where you get the training that you need. So what's one of the things he loves to do is get Christians out of church, get them offended about something, get them to think they know better or whatever. However he can do it, he'll do it. Just get him back, slid in. Well, it's only a couple. First, I've been going pretty regularly. I'm going to scale it back to once a week. I'm going to scale it back to once a month. Weeks will go by, friend. Months will go by. And then before you know it, you'll be looking back and years will have gone by. And you'll wake up and you know what? You're just like that guy in the war that didn't spend enough time in boot camp and was just cannon fodder. Just someone, you know, laying on the ground, blown up. So church is boot camp. We need to get in church. And it's going to teach us how to put on the armor. Look there in Ephesians chapter 6. God doesn't just put us in this fight with no protection, with no training. He gives us the church, he gives us the teachers, he gives us the prophets, he gives us the brothers and sisters in Christ, he rallies the troops together. He teaches them to fight and he gives them armor, spiritual armor. Look here in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Again, you can't fight this battle on your own. You need his strength to do it. Put on the whole armor of God that you need to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. The devil has wiles that need to be stood against. You know, he's crafty, he's cunning, he's subtle, he's going to fight you. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. I mean, is this not the language of a man who's going out to battle, who understands that the Christian life is a fight spiritually? And people would rather read this and say, take unto you the ping pong paddle, and the foosball table, and the cotton candy machine, and the ballroom, or the ball pit. And you can find those churches, that's how they're going to equip you. It's not going to be boot camp, it's going to be spiritual party time. It's going to be like the play place at McDonald's. When you get in a Baptist church that's preaching the Bible, that's not holding anything back, that's doing the work of God, that's the boot camp that you need. That's the one that's going to help you put on this armor. It's not going to be the fun center down there, that's going to throw you in the spiritual McDonald's play place. And you're going to fight a war because you went down the tube slide? You got the 48 Days of Grace or whatever? You got in your small group and talked about the love of God for the hundredth time? We need to learn to put on this armor. We do that in church, friend. And he says, the breastplate of righteousness, what kind of armor is that? That's what's going to protect your heart. How do you do that? Well, it's the breastplate of righteousness. Godly living, clean living, desiring godly things, involving yourself in godly things. That's going to protect your heart, this breastplate of righteousness. Having your feet shod with the gospel of peace. Having your feet shod with the gospel. That's an offensive maneuver. That's what soul winning is, it's an offensive maneuver. We're not just here to hold the line. We're here to fight back, to take back ground from the enemy. And that's offensive. You know what I love about this armor? There's nothing for the back. There's nothing to mention about your hinder parts. So that when you turn tail and run, God's still going to protect you. If you turn tail and run and say, I'm not going to fight this fight. God doesn't protect that part. Anything can happen. It's almost like God's saying, go ahead, you can have that one. I'll invest in this one over here that's facing the right direction. That wants to charge forward. He says the shield of faith. We need to believe the promises of God's word. The shield of faith. Trust. Trusting in God's word. The helmet of salvation. You know what would really help a lot of us is just remembering the hope that we have in Christ. And some days, that's all you're going to have, it feels like. When you're fighting this battle and it just seems like the world's against you. Nothing's going your way. The flesh is winning. It just feels like you're getting pulled back. What's the point? I'm going to give up. You still have the helmet of salvation, friend. You're still saved. Let that protect your mind from the devil trying to influence you. Remember the hope that we have in Christ. That no matter how hard it gets, how hot the battle is, we're fighting a victory that's already been won. It's just not over yet. We still have to fight it. The sword of the Spirit. Again, offensive weapon. The sword of the Spirit. That's talking about the Bible. And again, that's our weapon. That book that you have in your hand is your weapon. So here's the thing. Are you familiar with your weapon? That's what they teach you in boot camp, isn't it? They teach you how to handle a gun. They say, this is your gun, this is the model, this is the caliber, this is how you rack the slide, this is how you put in a clip, this is how you aim it. This is the safety, on, off. They teach you how to point that thing and shoot. And we have a weapon in our hands that God has given us, a mighty weapon. Sharper than any two-edged sword. And the question is, are we using it? Are we getting familiar with it? Are we learning how to use that weapon effectively, skillfully? So that we can go out and we can fight back. Fight our own battles personally. Understanding what part of the Bible is going to encourage you to not give in to that temptation. What part of the Bible do you need to turn to, to help you fight the battle that you're in, in your personal life? What part of the Bible do you need to turn to, to help somebody else who's struggling in an area? What part of the Bible do you need to turn to, to go and win a soul to Christ? Are we familiar with that? Do we know that? Do we know our weapon? I mean, think about it in the physical world. If you were in a real battle and said, hey, you're going to war tomorrow. You'd probably want to know, you'd probably know exactly where your gun is. And if you hadn't gotten familiar with it, you'd be up all night. How does this thing work again? You'd be on YouTube. How to fire up, you know, whatever. How to handle this thing. I missed boot camp. But, I mean, what about us spiritually? Is that the way it is with our Bible? It just sits over there? It just sits over here? Where is it? We don't even know. We should know the Word of God. That is your weapon. It's the only weapon you have. Where's the other weapon in this armor? There isn't one. This is the only weapon you have. And by the way, it's the only weapon you need. You don't need a commentary. You don't need some other man's opinion on the Word of God. You need the Word of God itself. So what I'm trying to encourage you to do tonight is to get involved in this fight. And if you're already involved in this fight, to stay in it. And understand that you are in a fight. That you are in a war. Welcome to the war is the title of the sermon tonight. Welcome to the war. And understand this, that the Christian life is not a passive one. The Christian life is not just you skipping down the primrose path to heaven. It is not a passive existence. It's a life of spiritual warfare. And you know what, quite frankly, I'm glad it is. Because otherwise it would be dull. It would just be boring if it wasn't a war. I mean at least war is exciting. For all the negative things that come with it, it gets the adrenaline going. It at least keeps our interests. It gives us something to fight for, something that matters. And that's what we're involved with. A life of spiritual warfare with real enemies that mean us harm. The enemy is real today and he wants to get us. And he wants every single person in this church out of here. He wants every single person in this church to backslide and quit on God and not fight. Why? Because he knows the potential you have. If you get in that book, if you get to know your sword, if you get your armor on and get serious about serving Christ. He knows the potential every single one of us in this room have. You know he looks out here and he sees all these kids. And he doesn't want preachers to come up out of this church. He doesn't want some young boy to get on fire for God. Some young man to get on fire for God and say, I'm going to go preach the gospel. I'm going to go start a church. He doesn't want that to happen. He's going to fight that person. He's trying to quench that in that person. He wants them out of church. He doesn't want that mom and dad who want to just live for Christ and raise their children for Christ. He doesn't want them to do that. He wants them to quit on God and take their whole family with them and go back to the world. He wants them to give up. Every single one of us. We have a real battle to fight. We have a real enemy tonight. And he's not to be taken lightly. And we can't just flirt with sin. We can't just play with sin and think that it's not going to harm us. And failing to recognize this, failing to understand that you're in a battle, that you have enemy. If you fail to not understand this and recognize it, that will be your undoing. That will be your undoing. So we need to understand this. We need to understand that we're in a battle. We need to get serious about this fight. We need to be proactive in getting to know the word of God and reaching out into our community. And going into enemy territory and taking back some of these souls for Christ. Let's go ahead and pray.