Theological term
Spiritual Warfare
13 sermons · All terms
The Whole Armor of God, Part 2
The sword of the Spirit and the necessity of prayer form the offensive weapons of the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6:17–24. This exposition argues that the church is constituted as the pillar and ground of the truth and must wield the Word of God against spiritual enemies rather than substituting entertainment, therapeutic programming, or institutional management for gospel proclamation. Prayer is examined through its manner — constant, Spirit-dependent, watchful, and persevering — and its objects: intercession for all the saints and for gospel boldness in the ministry of the Word. The close of the epistle is read as a benediction grounding grace and peace in the Trinitarian life of God.
The Whole Armor of God, Part 1
Ephesians 6:10–17 calls the believer to armed, active resistance against a spiritual enemy whose power and cunning exceed any merely human opposition. The sermon works through three movements in the passage: the necessity of the armor (vv. 10–11a), the reason for it in the reality of demonic spiritual warfare (vv. 11b–12), and the meaning of each defensive piece — truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, and salvation — drawn from both Old Testament background and Paul's wider corpus. Against the tendency toward either passive Christianity or an obsessive preoccupation with demonic activity, the text calls every believer to stand, hold ground, and advance, doing so entirely in dependence on the power of the risen and ascended Christ who reigns over all principalities and powers.
The Sovereignty of Yahweh of Israel
Psalm 29 is a polemic against the Canaanite storm god Baal, written by David to demonstrate that Yahweh alone is Creator and sovereign King over all powers—heavenly and earthly. The seven-fold repetition of 'the voice of the Lord' traces a storm from the Mediterranean through Lebanon, the supposed abode of Baal, into the wilderness of Kadesh, showing at each point that Baal is no rival but a fleeing creature before the Creator. The same sovereignty that sent Baal running and that enthroned God over Noah's flood is the ground of the church's peace amid the spiritual and geopolitical chaos of the present age. Those outside Christ are warned that a greater storm—the wrath of God—is coming, and the only shelter is repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalm 24
Psalm 24 asks who may ascend into the hill of the Lord and stand in his holy place — a question that exposes the impossibility of any sinner approaching a holy God on the basis of personal merit. The psalm is expounded in three movements: the sovereign lordship of Yahweh the Creator over all the earth, the covenant conditions of holy hands and a pure heart that no creature can meet in himself, and the triumphal ascension of the King of Glory who alone meets those conditions and leads his redeemed captives into the presence of God. The righteousness required to enter God's presence is not achieved but received by faith, given freely by the God of salvation through the obedient life, atoning death, and victorious resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Whole Armor of God
Ephesians 6:10–20 calls the people of God to don the whole armor of God — not as an invitation to physical combat, but as a summons to faithful spiritual warfare against the devil and his hosts. The sermon works through three movements: the commands to be strong in the Lord and to put on the armor, the reasons rooted in the nature of the spiritual enemy, and a pastoral survey of each piece of armor from the belt of truth to the sword of the Spirit and prayer. The controlling emphasis falls on standing — not heroics, but covenantal steadfastness in union with Christ, who is already exalted far above all principalities and powers.
The Whole Armor of God
Ephesians 6:10–18 calls believers to put on the whole armor of God — not for ceremonial display but for genuine hand-to-hand combat against principalities, powers, and the spiritual hosts of wickedness. The armor is not native to the believer but is provided entirely through union with Christ: truth, imputed righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, and salvation constitute the defensive elements, while the Word of God is the offensive sword. The sermon argues that the Christian life is a lifelong fight requiring daily, persevering diligence — not passive rest — and closes by urging both believers and unbelievers to recognize that lasting victory over sin is possible only through the blood of atonement and the grace of the triune God.
The Incarnation, Ascension, and Triumph of Christ
Revelation 12 sets before the church a cosmic drama: the incarnate Son of God, born into a world where the dragon stood ready to devour him, ascends to the throne of God Most High and casts Satan out of heaven. The decisive act securing this victory — and silencing the accuser of the brethren — is the blood of the Lamb shed at Calvary. The same triumph that expels the devil from heaven intensifies his rage against the church on earth, so that the suffering of believers is not a sign of Satan's victory but of the saints' participation in Christ's cross. The sermon calls the church to persevere in the wilderness of this age, armed with the knowledge that the foe has been defeated and the messianic King reigns at the right hand of God.
Through Wilderness and War
Joshua 14 presents Caleb's request for Hebron not merely as an episode of tribal land distribution but as a portrait of faith persevering through forty-five years of wilderness and war. Caleb wholly followed the Lord because he lived by the Word of God's promises rooted in the redemptive act of the Exodus, drawing on the covenant means of grace — Word, circumcision, and Passover — as the spiritual engine of his endurance. The sermon argues that the Lord's Supper functions for New Covenant believers precisely as those old covenant means functioned for Caleb: it roots the mind in the great redemptive act of Christ crucified, feeds faith with the promises of God's faithfulness, and supplies staying power for the wilderness and war of the Christian life. Those who have not believed the gospel are exhorted not to take the Supper but to flee to the Savior and believe.
Wage the Good Warfare
Paul's charge to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:18–20 — to wage the good warfare — is the ground for a sustained argument that gospel ministry requires both the positive exposition of truth and the courageous refutation of error. The sermon works through the basis of that charge (prophetic appointment), its necessary instruments (faith and a good conscience), and the catastrophic consequences of rejecting those instruments, illustrated by the named cases of Hymenaeus and Alexander. Church discipline, including excommunication into the realm of Satan, is presented not merely as punitive but as remedial — aimed at the repentance and restoration of the erring sinner. Every Christian, not only ordained ministers, is called to maintain fidelity to Christ and his gospel as soldiers and sailors in a genuine spiritual combat.
The Whole Armor of God
Ephesians 6:10–20 calls believers to put on the whole armor of God not as a passive ideal but as an urgent, daily discipline in genuine spiritual warfare against principalities, powers, and the wiles of the devil. The sermon works through three structural observations: the two commands of verses 10–11 (be strong in the Lord; put on the armor), the reason given in verses 11–12 (the nature and reality of the enemy), and the armor described in verses 13–20 (five defensive elements and one offensive element). Each piece of armor — truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the Word, and prayer — is shown to direct the believer away from self-reliance and toward Christ as the captain of salvation. The central application is that theological grounding, not spiritual showmanship, constitutes genuine spiritual warfare, and that apart from Christ no believer will stand in the evil day.
The Whole Armor of God
Ephesians 6:10–20 closes Paul's letter with a summons to active, armored vigilance in the Christian life. Working through the command to stand, the reason rooted in the reality of spiritual warfare against unseen principalities and powers, and the specific pieces of armor Paul describes, this exposition insists that the believer's strength is entirely derivative — drawn from Christ who is already enthroned far above all powers (Ephesians 1:20–23). Each element of the armor — truth, imputed righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the sword of the Spirit — directs the Christian away from self-sufficiency and back to Christ, whose finished work at Calvary is the only ground on which any saint can stand or withstand in the evil day.
The Magi Worship the Son of David
Matthew 2:1–12 presents the Magi's visit not as a nativity-scene tableau but as a carefully crafted theological narrative: the Davidic King has arrived, and the nations bow before him while those closest to the promise remain indifferent. The passage sets in motion a tension that runs through the entire Gospel of Matthew — Israel's religious leadership possesses the Scripture but rejects its subject, while Gentile outsiders travel vast distances to worship with exceedingly great joy. The sermon calls hearers to examine which camp they occupy: Herod's, marked by self-protective hostility to Christ's reign, or the Magi's, marked by joyful, prostrate worship of the Son of David.
The Woman, the Dragon, and the Child
Revelation 12 offers a heaven's-eye view of the cosmic conflict behind the incarnation, revealing the dragon's identity, strategy, and ultimate defeat. The chapter presents three interlocking movements: the woman (true Israel, the Old Covenant church) bearing the male child, the war in heaven resulting in Satan's ejection, and the dragon's consequent fury directed at the church. Christ's birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension constitute the decisive blow against the devil — a crushing of the head prophesied in Genesis 3:15 and accomplished at Calvary. Because Satan cannot destroy the ascended King, he turns his rage on the church, making faithful gospel witness and persecution inseparable companions in this present age.