War in the Heavens (Part 1)

Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.

1. 0:00:00

   well everyone i hope you have your bibles this morning i want you to take your bibles and turn to matthew chapter 26 first of all um you know uh the lord knows ahead of time about in the last i don't know starting about three weeks ago i knew the lord was going to have me get on a series again on spiritual warfare um because i i think that i think even though i've taught on some of those things uh to this group as a church um i just think there's some more things we need to delve into and some things we need to understand and i may go to some things today that maybe uh might seem a little strange for spiritual warfare but they're principles that you need to understand um you know and before we get to matthew 26 and we start getting into this you know i don't understand why you know there are many churches many denominations many bible schools even seminaries they don't teach on spiritual warfare they don't teach on you know teach the believer how they are to deal with demon spirits and oppression and witchcraft and attacks and things that that come against us and you know they'll talk about well you just pray just read the word you know just go to church or worship very general things but not specific things and then as you know i've taught some of you and many of you've read good books on spiritual warfare as well about you know the weapons of our warfare like binding and loosing and casting down our imaginations and thoughts that are against the knowledge of god and and putting on the armor and and all those things that we may cover some of that but um there there's aspects of this that uh we need to get a hold of and i because because i don't want to ever give the impression that if you are a godly believer and and you're doing everything you ought to do that you get the idea that you know i'm not going to go through anything or i shouldn't go in through anything or if i go through something that you know if i go through a time of heaviness or a time of depression or oppression or if i go through you know a time of sickness or a time of trial that because you go to a church like ours that believes in casting out demons and resisting the devil and dealing with that part or we believing that jesus still heals sometimes people can get under condemnation that if they go through something well i just don't have enough faith or i don't have enough knowledge or you know or i don't and truly i'll say this i don't want to ever give the impression that that pastor dean doesn't go through some things warfare is intense how many of you know jesus the bible teaches that jesus lived a sinless perfect life amen all right he was god in the flesh he was fully god fully man

2. 0:03:01

   paul said it was a mystery was hard to grasp behold of that god became man and yet he was tempted the bible says in all points like we are yet without sin right that's what the book of hebrews chapter 4 says he was tempted in all points but now let me say this this is what's the mystery what's so so interesting he was god in the flesh and yet he was man and if the temptations were real then it means there had to be the possibility for him to sin right so he had to resist those temptations and he had to walk holy and he did it for us because he knew none of us would do it perfectly so jesus had to walk that path as a man resist all temptation live holy and become that pure sacrifice on the cross for us or we would have no hope and thank god he did amen but what is beautiful about jesus being god and man at the same time is that he went through things that we would go through he went through seasons of temptation he went through seasons of spiritual warfare he went through seasons of of breakthrough and peace and miracles but he also went through seasons of attack um even to the point of it bringing about his death and that's something that we don't you know we don't like to talk about the bad side but there were times that jesus in his flesh felt the heavy heavy oppression of the enemy and it was hard for him to deal with and and that's what i think i i get a little frustrated with some charismatics and pentecostals out here in this world who you know they they want to parade around that the devil is defeated and like like he's gone away like jesus has locked him up forever and and if you're a believer you live victorious you never have a problem with the devil and he has no power but you know the bible never said that the devil after the cross that the devil has no power do you know that in fact jesus said i give you power over the power of the enemy so the enemy has power and if the enemy afflicted jesus or attacked jesus in certain ways tempted him oppressed him attacked him i want to say this to you i don't care how perfect and holy and godly and disciplined a believer you are if you walk with god for any amount of time if you're doing anything for god if you're doing anything in prayer anything serious for god you will go through seasons of intense attacks dad and i is my dad here this morning dad and i were talking about you know 2011 was a very rough year for them it was a rough year for us for some of you it's been a very rough year paul talked about you know the really the last seven years for paul and his family has been very very rough

3. 0:06:03

   2011 has been has been really been a tough year for a lot of us a lot of people are having financial problems job problems um health problems uh mental and and depression issues and fear issues and there's a whole lot of things going on that you know the bible told us too in the last days men's hearts would be failing them for fear that there would be an issue with fear and oppression okay so this morning i just want to go as we as we started and this is going to be a series on spiritual warfare and i think it's going to be unlike maybe anything you've heard um because we're going to go into david and and to abraham and to a lot of things a lot of people don't think that they lived spiritual warfare in the old testament but they did but we're going to look at that but i want you to see some of the things jesus went through what he said and realized you're going to go through seasons of this and we'll talk about it but matthew 26 this ought to be familiar to everyone here um oh let's see where we're going to start reading here we're going to go down to verse 36 where jesus entered the garden of gethsemane um i'm going to start in the garden of gethsemane but i'm going to back up before in a minute go back to john before they right before they got to the garden of gethsemane and show you what jesus said well let's read this verse 36 it says then cometh jesus with them unto the place called gethsemane and he saith unto his disciples sit you here while i go and pray yonder and he took with him peter and the two sons of zebedee that would be james and john and began to be sorrowful and very heavy now you ought to underline that you mean jesus became sorrowful and very heavy there it is right there you see it just underline that and remember that for a second all right and he says he took the sons uh peter and the two sons of zebedee zebedee and then began to be sorrowful and very heavy now this was in the spirit this was in his spirit and his emotions this was a spiritual heaviness an emotional it caused an emotional sorrow to come on him and listen to what he said here in verse 38. verse 38 he said this unto them my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death tarry ye hear and watch with me or pray with me and he said he went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed saying oh my father if it be possible let this cup pass for me nevertheless not as i will but as thou wilt and he cometh unto the disciples and findeth them asleep and he saith unto peter what could you not watch with me one hour watch and pray that you enter not into temptation the spirit indeed is willing

4. 0:09:04

   and the flesh is weak now many people you know they just attribute this sometimes to the the the weight of the world that was beginning to come on jesus as he was beginning to take on him the sins of mankind but i want to back up for a second because i don't i don't really now believe that to be so because the bible said he became sin for us on the tree he had to be hung on the tree to become the curse and to become sin for us and there was a moment he became sin and it says that the father actually turned his face away and jesus said the words why have you forsaken me right so there was a moment there that jesus literally the holy spotless lamb of god became sin for us he didn't sin but he became it he took it all upon himself for you and me for every person okay but this was something different here what he was beginning to experience here was the warfare of the devil to stop him from doing what god wanted him to do this is why he prayed the prayer father not my will but yours be done and he struggled with this prayer and because he knew what was coming he knew what he had to do was going to be the most difficult thing that he would ever do and this is so i don't believe this is where sin began to come on him and the reason why let's go back go back to um go to john chapter 14. this is right before this is right before he went to the garden of gethsemane this was at the last supper and this was his last words really before the garden of gethsemane and all that happened because you know what happened right after the garden of gethsemane who showed up judah showed up with the soldiers and jesus was arrested and he was taken and and from then on it was it was pretty much done him teaching and talking to his disciples until after his resurrection so we're going to see that it's warfare that that came about let's go to john 14 and we'll start reading um well we'll go to verse 23 just to give it some context verse 23 jesus answered and said unto him or judah well let's back up to 22 that'll give you some better kind says judah saith unto him not iscariot lord how is it that you will manifest yourself unto us and not into the world and jesus answered and said unto him if a man loved me he will keep my words and my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him well that's good right there isn't it that's just we could just preach on that in church every day across america and maybe folks understand something

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