Your War with Lust: 4 We Are at War, But Are We Warriors?

Chapter 4

We Are at War, But Are We Warriors?

The greatest war ever waged is happening right now

Ephesians 6:12

Week 2

► For a God Time use the “P.O.W.E.R. Plan” in Appendix A.

► After reading this chapter, answer the following questions:

1) In what ways is your battles different and more difficult and dangerous than the battles fought by David and his Mighty Men?

2) How do we define real success in this chapter? What do you think?

3) Why has God allowed such a great temptation for you in this world?

4) What was especially meaningful to you in this chapter? Why?

War as a way of life

War was a way of life for David. And he started young. When he killed Goliath, King Saul called him “a youth” (1 Sam 17:33 NASB). Sometime later, as a young man, “Saul made him a commander over the men of war” (1 Sam 18:5) and he “led Israel on their military campaigns” (2 Sam 5:2). He was still a young man when a popular song was sung that said, “Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands!” (1 Sam 18:7). And this was God’s will for David. To be a warrior, killing the enemies of God.

We cannot even imagine the danger, difficulty, intensity, and frequency of David’s physical battles against wicked men. Most of us have not even held a real sword, let alone spent years fighting and killing other men with one. It’s no wonder that David praised God for training him to fight and kill men. In a Psalm dedicated to thanking God for delivering him in a particularly intense battle, he said of God, “He trains my hands for battle; he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow” (18:34).

That was important because a significant portion of David’s life was spent physically fighting other warriors to cut, stab, shoot, and kill them or else be killed himself. Here is one example:

Once again the Philistines were at war with Israel. And when David and his men were in the thick of battle, David became weak and exhausted. Ishbi-benob was a descendant of the giants; his bronze spearhead weighed more than seven pounds, and he was armed with a new sword. He had cornered David and was about to kill him. But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue and killed the Philistine. (2 Sam 21:15-17)

War was a way of life for most of God’s sons in Israel. And they were courageous, strong, and valiant men. Those called “mighty men” (2 Sam 23:8) in that culture were warriors. And all of this fighting and warfare against the enemies of God was an honored and vital way for a man to serve, please, and glorify the Lord. And the same is still true for you today.

How can this be? If you have not been in the military during war time you may think you do not know war. Not like David and his Mighty Men knew battle. But you do know war. According to God’s plan it is no longer a physical battle of flesh and blood against wicked men. The war you serve, please, and glorify God in now, is a spiritual battle of naked flesh and lust against wicked women. The Bible warns us:

“We are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against . . . wicked spirits in the spiritual realms” (Ephesians 6:12).

The greatest demonic war ever waged against the sons of God is happening right now.

Do you know you are in a war?

God’s sons have always been at war in this world. But there was a time they knew it, embraced it, trained for it, and succeeded in it. Not today. Many of God’s sons are not warriors. They are wimps. “We are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against . . . wicked spirits in the spiritual realms” (Eph 6:12). The greatest demonic war ever waged against the sons of God is happening right now. And many are so unprepared for it. They don’t even know they are in a war.

Are you tempted to think your war is less dangerous and difficult than the battles the Mighty Men of Israel fought? God does not think so. First of all, your battles are more dangerous. Do you doubt this? Think about it. The worst thing that could happen to a Mighty Man of Israel is that a wicked man would kill him and he would die serving the Lord. But from God’s view, the stakes are higher in your spiritual battle against wicked women. They can cause you to sin against the Lord. And you can be certain that God thinks sinning against Him is worse than dying for Him.

Not only is your war more dangerous, it is more difficult. At least it was for David. He fought and killed his “ten thousands.” He fought and killed a “champion from Gath” who “was over nine feet tall” and “wore a bronze helmet, and his bronze coat of mail [that] weighed 125 pounds” and “carried a bronze javelin . . . tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed 15 pounds” (1 Sam 17:4-7).

David easily conquered a giant warrior covered in armor named Goliath with just a sling and stone. But David was conquered by a naked woman named Bathsheba with just a glance of her bathing from the distance of a roof top. When it came to fighting for God, Goliath was no match for David. But David was no match for Bathsheba.

And don’t forget what the power of sinful lust for Bathsheba caused “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Sam 13:14) to do: Force a married woman to have sex with him, betray his loyal wives, and have Bathsheba’s husband, one of his best and most loyal warriors, murdered to cover his sin. THAT is the power of lust!

In David’s experience, even an innocent naked woman was more dangerous than a wicked armed warrior. So how much more dangerous are the multitude of willing, wicked naked women you can see at any time, night or day, who are actually very eager to show you more than just a bath from a rooftop? What David saw by accident while walking on his roof one evening, you can easily see while watching TV in your living room with your family every night. What you can see on your TV with your family every night, was enough to make David commit adultery, kill a good man, and experience the favor of God being diminished for the rest of his life.

Again, we cannot even imagine the danger, difficulty, intensity, and frequency of David’s physical battles against dying from the sword of armed wicked men. But David and his Mighty Men could not even imagine the danger, difficulty, intensity, and frequency of your war against sinning with just the sight of willing wicked naked women. For centuries the Devil sought to destroy God’s people through using wicked armed men to kill His sons. Now the Devil seeks to destroy God’s people through using wicked naked women to tempt His sons.

We are in a greater war than David and his Mighty Men, but in many ways we are weaker men. We have not grown up in a life of war, nor been trained as warriors. God’s OT people often experienced enemies in battle who wanted to kill them. Most of us do not think we even have any enemies. We do not even know we are in a war.

In the Israelite culture of war, many fathers had successfully fought wicked men on the battlefield. And they certainly spent a great deal of time and effort training their sons to be warriors against wicked men because they knew they lived in a time of war. But many of our fathers have been completely defeated by naked wicked women and have no guidance for their sons, nor did they spend any time training them to win this war. Worse than that, some fathers in our culture simply wink and nod at their sons when they sin with naked wicked women through pornography, and even applaud it as a step towards manhood.

Indeed, we are weaker men, in a greater, more difficult and dangerous war, than our ancient Israelite brothers ever fought in their wars. And let us add this. Everything we have said in the previous chapters about the difficulty of this war is especially hard for young single men. They can have the same sex drive as a married man. But have no righteous way to satisfy that drive. The truth and steps in this study are especially important for them. And if you can be involved in helping a young single man in this war, do so.

“We are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against . . . wicked spirits in the spiritual realms” (Eph 6:12). The greatest demonic war ever waged against the sons of God is happening right now.

Real failure

What are some of the most important goals you have for your life? How would you define a successful life? What do you think is the hardest thing to do in this life to please God?

Many men would answer these questions by saying things like providing well for our families, loving our wives, training our children, and serving the Lord in ministry. But none of these are the most difficult thing your Father is asking of His son. Not committing the sin of lust in the world you live in is the most difficult task your Father has given you. And if you are not successful in this task, and your failure is exposed, all the things you do for your family and church will be tarnished if not destroyed.

Samson was a man specially set apart by God to deliver His people from their enemies. He was “a Nazarite from birth” (Judg 13:5), meaning he was dedicated to God. As their only child, His parents dedicated their lives to doing everything possible to train him to love God. “The Lord blessed him as he grew up” (13:24). God gave him supernatural strength. “He ripped [a] lion’s jaws apart with his bare hands” (14:6), and killed 1000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey (cf. 15:15). In the city of Gaza, he “took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron” (16:3).

You might say, “Wow! What a mighty, glorious, powerful man of God! Actually, he turned out to be a pathetic, embarrassing, desperate, and sad excuse for a man. Why? His weakness for wicked women.

One day when Samson was in Timnah, one of the Philistine women caught his eye. When he returned home, he told his father and mother, “A young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye. I want to marry her. Get her for me.”

His father and mother objected. “Isn’t there even one woman in our tribe or among all the Israelites you could marry?” they asked. “Why must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife?” But Samson told his father, “Get her for me! She looks good to me.” (Judg 14:1-3)

For all the blessings in Samson’s life, he was a weak willed man and had no character. Eventually he did not even marry this woman. He abandoned her because of a dispute he had with her during their wedding festivities. “So his wife was given in marriage to the man who had been Samson’s best man at the wedding” (14:20).

But his trouble with women was just beginning. “One day Samson went to the Philistine town of Gaza and spent the night with a prostitute. . . Some time later Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah” (16:1, 4). And we know how that turned out. Delilah tried to trick Samson three times to give his enemies power over him. But he kept coming back to her.

And we think, what an idiot! But you do something just as foolish when you keep returning to the demon-possessed destroyers of your wife and life on the Internet. Do you have a multitude of Delilah’s in your life?

Why would you and Samson return to such women? Because the power of lust makes men stupid. And what did Samson’s lust and stupidity cost him? Eventually, because of Delilah’s trickery, “The Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in the prison” (16:21).

For all of Samson’s extraordinary promise, godly parents, gifts from God, and amazing exploits, he ended up a miserable failure all because he could not control his lust. And he is only one of a very, very, long line of God’s sons who have suffered the same defeat. Demon-possessed destroyers of your wife and life, like Delilah, are the Devil’s greatest weapon on Earth. And defeating them is the greatest accomplishment any man can accomplish on this Earth.

Real success

Lusting after wicked naked women is the most tempting sin for God’s sons in this modern world. Therefore, every time you overcome this temptation, you can be sure of a great eternal reward for your virtue. At the Greatest Awards Ceremony when we all stand before Christ to receive our rewards, there will be praise, glory, and honor for many things. But one of the things that Christ will praise and reward the most, is when one of God’s sons did what David, Solomon, Samson, and a multitude of other men, did not do: Denying yourself the pleasure of willing, wicked naked women.

It’s because this intense temptation is offered to you everywhere, at any time, that it is perhaps the greatest demonstration of your love for God. If pornography is the greatest temptation of the Devil in the history of the world, then it is the greatest test of God for His sons to love Him in the history of the world. And it is a tremendous, unique, MANLY, God-glorifying thing whenever you pass that test. David’s mighty men fought valiantly and successfully for their king. Let us do the same for our king.

Which brings us to a final question. Why has God allowed all of this? Why did He make men the way they are and allow the world and the world wide web to be what they are? Why allow such a difficult test of holiness for God’s sons? The answer to this question is the same for why God does everything: Glory. God wants to be glorified. And He is willing to take the risk of you failing, in order to give you the opportunity to glorify Him.

We have written elsewhere in the Christian Essentials:

Why doesn’t everyone glorify your Dad as they were created to do? Because your Dad has an enemy called the Devil. And he has been working since his rebellion against your Dad to steal the glory, worship, and praise of God for himself. This Cosmic War for glory between God and the Devil is the underlining theme of all of Scripture, and the background of all human history. Why is there good and evil? Because there is a war for glory between God and the Devil. And the worship, devotion, and obedience of humans is the primary source of the glory that either God or the Devil receives. “In a multitude of people is the glory of a king, but without people a prince is ruined” (Prov 14:28).

The Devil is in no way your Dad’s equal. But the battle for glory between them is very real. Because their desires for glory and worship and devotion are very real. And the pain and trouble that occur in the lives of humans like Job who are in the middle of this War is very real as well.

The Cosmic War for Glory is why Satan dared God about Job. And it is why God accepted the dare. There is an ancient and ongoing war between them for glory. And the worship and obedience of humans is at the center of that war. Job’s choices had the potential to glorify the Devil or his Dad. If he would have cursed God because of his painful circumstances, His lack of faith and unconditional love for God would have glorified the Devil and given Satan something to boast about. But because Job chose to love God even when God allowed everything to be taken from him, Job’s love for God revealed the greatness of God to the Devil, Angels, and demons who witnessed it.

On the other hand, humans glorify Satan, and give him honor when they obey and worship him. This is why the Apostle Paul warned even Christians: “the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons” (1 Cor 10:20 NIV). When people depend on, pursue, and love the things of this World to meet their needs, it is as if they have entered the temple of Satan and are offering sacrifices of worship to the Devil and glorifying him. . .

Job worshipped God above all else and glorified God as much as any human ever has. And he embarrassed the Devil. “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor 10:31) because your ultimate purpose in life is to reveal the greatness of God and embarrass the Devil. . .

Unfortunately, when most Christians think about glorifying God, they only think of the public kind of glory that comes from other humans seeing your greatness for which you give God the credit. But there is another kind of glory that is even more important and constantly available. It is privately glorifying God. This is the kind of glory your Dad gets because of what only He, the Devil, and Angels and demons see you do.

Private glory is the kind Job gave to God in his suffering. Before the Devil’s dare, Job publicly glorified God as “the greatest man among all the people of the East” (1:3). Everyone knew his great wealth and power came from the God he worshipped. But then he lost everything. Did Job then cease to glorify God? Not at all!

Of course to the humans around him, including his friends, Job was an embarrassment. In fact, publicly, the destruction of Job’s life made his God look very bad. But God did not care about that because there is a glory that is more important to Him than what humans see. It’s the devotion and faith that only He, the Devil, and Angels and demons see in our lives. It is when we privately glorify God by loving Him even in the midst of great suffering.

This is why the Paul wrote: “We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings” (1 Cor 4:9 NIV). The Apostle understood that like Job, his whole life was on display before heavenly beings. The word translated “spectacle” comes from the Greek word theatron. NT scholar Albert Barnes explained:

The theater, or amphitheater of the ancients was composed of an arena in which the combatants fought, and which was surrounded by circular seats rising above one another to a great height, and capable of containing many thousands of spectators.

Paul represents himself as on this arena or stage, contending with foes. Around him and above him are an immense host of human beings and angels, looking on at the conflict, and awaiting the outcome. He is not alone or unobserved. He is made public; and the universe gazes on the struggle. . . The expression means that he was public in his trials, and that this was exhibited to the universe.

On that stage where Paul lived his life, he privately glorified God and embarrassed the Devil by the devotion and sacrifices he made for Christ and people. . .

It is because of the value that God places on your private devotion to Him, that Jesus said, “Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matt 6:4 NIV). You can glorify God publicly by living like Him in front of people. But it is more important and available to glorify Him in private because of what He, the Devil, and Angels and demons see you do for God. ^[1]

“We are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against . . . wicked spirits in the spiritual realms” (Eph 6:12). The greatest demonic war ever waged against the sons of God is happening right now. And great glory for you and God can come from winning this battle.

► Return to the beginning and answer the questions there.

► Recite Proverbs 7:12 from memory.

► Memorize Ephesians 6:12 in the translation above or another.

1. Excerpt from FAITH, chapter 3.23. ↑