Spiritual Warfare
Pastor Tan Thai · Apr 23, 2017
This sermon introduces a series on spiritual warfare in the life of the believer, based on Ephesians 6:10-12. The pastor emphasizes that true believers will experience this battle daily, as Satan targets the human soul through diverse and subtle schemes.
This sermon introduces a series on spiritual warfare in the believer's life, grounded in Ephesians 6:10-12. The pastor explains that throughout history most peoples have believed in two worlds: the visible physical world and the invisible spiritual world. However, under the influence of evolutionary theory and modern science, humanity has increasingly doubted the existence of the unseen spiritual realm.
Scripture clearly affirms the reality of the spiritual world through multiple passages, including the prophet Elisha seeing the angelic army surrounding him (2 Kings 6:16-17), Jesus declaring that His kingdom does not belong to this world (John 18:36), and His acknowledgment of Satan's existence (Luke 10:18). The pastor emphasizes that all of humanity belongs to one of only two kingdoms: God's Kingdom of Heaven or Satan's domain.
Upon truly receiving Jesus Christ, believers not only gain peace of soul but also enter a new and fierce spiritual battle. The pastor quotes a pastor writing nearly 100 years ago to warn that if someone claims to be a Christian yet has never experienced this spiritual conflict — no inner struggle against selfishness, no wrestling with sin, no effort to take up the cross daily — that person should seriously ask whether they truly know God.
The pastor unpacks the Greek word "pale" (wrestling) that Paul uses in Ephesians 6:12, stressing the close-range and dangerous nature of this battle — not distant news but a daily reality in every believer's soul. Satan's primary target is not flesh and blood but the human soul, and he employs subtle, attractive, and gradual methods to draw believers away from God.
The sermon closes with a quotation from C.S. Lewis's satirical work (The Screwtape Letters), in which a senior demon instructs that the surest road to hell is the gradual one — a gentle slope, soft underfoot, with no sharp bends, no milestones, no signposts. The pastor calls the congregation to recognize spiritual warfare as a daily reality, to equip themselves with the armor God provides, and to fight courageously as His soldiers to the very end.