Spiritual Warfare

[00:00:00] Speaker A: It's essential we'll study the urgency of equipping ourselves daily, resisting the enemy's schemes, and walking in the victory Christ has already secured for us. So whether you're driving, sitting with your Bible, or just taking a moment to reflect, let this message strengthen and encourage you in your faith. Now let's get into today's teaching. Prepare to stand. [00:00:31] Speaker B: SA I want to take you to the book of Ephesians. As we've been there for a number of weeks, we come to chapter six. Last week we talked about children and parents and slaves and masters. All this is in the practical explanation of what the body of Christ is to be. And we come down to a very familiar passage. It's so familiar that I think a lot of times we tend to overlook some of these things because we're going to talk about the armor of God. And it says in verse 10, finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's methods or schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything, stand, stand firm. Then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist and the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take or receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And then it says, and pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert. Always keep on praying for all the saints. Now, this morning I want to cover just between verses 10 to 17, and then next week I want to look at what it means to be praying in the spirit. But when we talk about the armor of God, there's an urgency that believers need to understand. A commanding officer gives very strict orders to his troop before they go out on a dangerous mission. Their survival depends on following his command. There is always one guy, one soldier who shrugs off the orders and believing that he can handle the battle on his own, and he marches forward only to be overcome by the enemy. Likewise, God has given us very specific commands and very clear Instructions so that his armor is not optional in Ephesians 6:10. It reveals the reality that we cannot ignore because we're in a war zone. Just look at the world. You want to see a war zone? I don't recommend you do it at night, but take an hour and a half trip down to Philadelphia. Go to Kensington. It's the most dangerous place in Philadelphia right now to go through Kensington. When I was a kid, Kensington was a great place to go to. You know, had no problems driving through there. Now you see the walking dead of people on fentanyl and other types of drug addiction withering away from in the street. It's a war zone. Look at the political landscape and things that are just so opposite to Scripture. It's a war zone. But God hasn't left us defenseless because he's provided his armor so that we can stand. Now, I've said this many times to you, but I want you to understand that when you look from chapter four to the end of chapter six in the original language, it is littered with commands, imperatives. I can't think of any time that I've done Bible study where I've seen so many imperatives in the text. And what I've tried to do in these weeks that have gone past is to focus on what are the commands. And so today we need to examine how to prepare to stand. What are our commands? How should we put on the armor of God and engage in the battle with victory, Confidence of victory. Remember when the people were going in to conquer the land and he said, as long as your hands are lifted up, the battle would go for you. When let down battle was going to go against you, finally had people propping up his hands so that the battle would go for Israel. What's that tell you about what we need to do as believers? Having others hold up our hands and putting on the armor of God? First of all, I want you to see this. Verse 10 begins with this statement. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's methods or schemes. We're supposed to stand. It doesn't mean you're supposed to be upstanding. It means that you're supposed to take a stand. The phrase be strong is not something that we do. In the original language. That is what they call passive. It's what happens to us. So we are to be strong in the Lord. What's a Lord? What's the word? It means master. It talks about the prioritization we have in our lives of how we stand. Because we have a master that we serve and our strength. Why was it that David said, our strength cometh from on high, Our strength comes from the Lord. I cannot go out in my own strength. I have to go in the strength of the Lord. And when he says in this passage that for your struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against the powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms, we need a very special power because the enemy is unseen. There's actually three words that are used in these verses right here that talk about power. They're all translated as power. The first word is the power of the Lord. Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. That talks about the sovereign power of a God who created all things. There is nothing outside of God's control. Nothing. There is not absolutely one thing that happens that is outside of God's total control. Sometimes he permits things, as he did with Job, for testing, for proving. Sometimes there are things that he permits so that we are recalibrated. But nothing is outside of God's control. That's the first thing that we have to have very clear. The second word is where it says, so you're to put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. And when he says this, he's going back to that first verse there in chapter six and verse ten. And he's talking about the power which is the strength to overcome obstacles. And finally, the third word that we come across in this chapter is the word we recognize in English as dynamite or dynamo or power. It is the very supernatural power of a living God. God is never caught off guard. God is never surprised. So this is the same power that back In Ephesians chapter 1, verse 19 to 20, he says that it's the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the one that's effectually working in you and me. That's the power that makes us able to stand. Do you believe that? Do you really believe that? That is the power that lives in you, that's operative in your life. That is the power that gives us a life in Christ controlled by the Holy Spirit living in us. I can't help but keep saying that it is the Spirit that indwells. It is where God has put his name. That's why scripture says that we are saints. Not that I've got a highly polished halo. Not that I've met some list of things that I mightily did. So I can be called a saint, but rather I am saint because the word simply means set apart. I'm sanctified. And so just as much as the tabernacle was a place where God dwelt, just as much as Sinai was holy, because God came down on it. And men should not even approach or touch that mountain because that was where the holiness of God was. It is the Holy Spirit living in me. And you think about that. The very third person of the Trinity lives in you and binds you to one another, who are like you, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, which makes you part of the body of Christ. Now, we don't fight for victory. That surprise you? Because actually we fight from victory because we're empowered by God himself. And he comes up out with the upraised hand. It is the same God that led Israel out of Egypt with an upraised hand. Do you ever have a power drill? I. I love my power drills. I like my little dewalt power drill. And I make sure the batteries are charging. And it's so wonderful when you're going drilling and you sit there and go, I didn't charge the battery. That drill is of absolutely no use to me at that point because I'm disconnected from the power. I have to quick run into the shed, pull off another battery from the. Hopefully I put another battery in the charger. Otherwise I have to go and grab the other drill that has a plug to it. Then I hope that there's a plug close enough to what I want to drill. The same is true of us, because if we're without God's power, how are we going to do the battle? If you feel weak in your spiritual walk, in your spiritual life, the solution is not to try harder, but actually to draw nearer to God, to draw on the power that is in God's word, to draw on your relationship with Jesus Christ. Why did Donna and Sally walk together when they go out for a walk? You've missed a whole month of that terrible. Oh, okay, you still walk. But part of that reason that you do it together is because you draw on each other. It's easier to walk together. How much more do we need to walk together with the Lord? You see, that's where you're drawing your power. The second thing I want you to see is that you need to be prepared to stand. Not only do you need to stand, you're empowered to stand, but you need to be prepared to stand. Paul commands, put on the full armor of God So that you can stand against, and it's translated the schemes of the devil. The word actually is, in the original language is where we get our words, methods. That's against the methodios of diabolos there, See, you got two Greek words now that you can take home, chew on, have fun with. That's free and for nothing today. Bogo, you got two for one. But really, when you think about it, we're to put on the full armor of God so that we can stand. The word that's used here means to take a stand, to sit there and to be a testimony, to be unmovable. I'm going to stand, I'm going to take a stand. When it says put on, I just loved looking at that word. Because think about this. The word can be translated sink into. Sink into. The armor of God means to put on. But it's not just put it on like a piece of clothing, but it's rather that you become shrink wrapped into the armor of God. Being clothed means I am taking what God is providing and I want that appropriated in my life. So it is so integrated into me. It's like a second skin. So it's not temporary, but it's a permanent attachment and it's the full armor of God. The word comes over into English as the planopy, the panoply. No, we don't normally use that, but it means everything, the complete, the whole set. Would you ever want to go outside with one shoe off and one shoe on? We're back with dumpling. My son John, that would be foolish, but it is what God says. And when the people of Paul's day were listening to Paul's letter, the first thing that would have come to their mind is the Roman soldiers. They saw the Roman legions walking down the broad path dressed in all their battle gear. So you're putting on the panoply of armor. The minute they think about that, Paul, by the spirit of God, uses what people saw every day and would relate to. And he says, you just think about this. Here's the armor that God has for you to be a second skin. And then there's not just the protection that's there, but then it's the enemy. The problem that we have here, Paul says, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. There's not a person I can see that I'm wrestling with, and that's what the word means that you wrestle with. I'm not wrestling with flesh and blood. I might like to blame a lot of people, but that's not where the True enemy is. It's like a sniper that you don't see. It's that one that you can't determine where they are exactly. Because we rustle against an unseen world. And I want you to look at that last words that are in that verse, because it says, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil. Where in the heavenly realms did Job see his enemy? He never saw Satan going before God and accusing Job. Sure, God, if you protect him like that, you give him all that he's. He's going to be fine. But you take that away from him and you know he's going to desert you. Nothing is out of God's control. God said, okay, you can go this far now. Job was having a great, enjoyable time. He was told that all his family was dead except for his wife, that he had lost all of his herds, and that, you know, eventually after Satan came back and accused a second time, he even said, okay, you can touch Job's body. So Job was having a great, wonderful time out of all of this. Yeah, right. No matter what confronts our lives, we are never out of God's control. It is the unseen enemy that we are battling against. Donald Gray Barnhouse, a number of years ago, wrote a book called the Invisible War, in which he went into great detail about what we actually confront. And when it talks about the rulers, those are the spiritual forces that influence nations and cultures. There are authorities. Those are the demonic powers that seek control. There are cosmic powers, and that's literally a good translation for the Greek word cosmic powers of this dark age. It's the unseen organized army of Satan. And those who rebelled with him. Remember, they are not omniscient or omnipotent. Only God is omniscient and omnipotent and omnipresent. Satan has to have a lot of minions and the spiritual forces of evil, those things that corrupt the life of a believer or of the world itself. What would happen to a Roman soldier who went into battle half dressed? Oops, I forgot my helmet. Oops, I forgot my breastplate. Oops, I forgot my shoes. Wouldn't last long. Even if he was in the middle of the pack, it wouldn't last long. So why should we go in less than fully equipped? And this is every day of our lives. Satan doesn't take vacations. The unseen enemy never takes a vacation. And he's always poking, prodding. If you want a kind of funny way of looking at this, and you want to read something, go back and read C.S. lewis's book called Screwtape Letters. It's a very humorous approach to how Satan might be working, but it gives a very good snapshot of that unseen enemy. Now, I don't want you to be afraid because there is also another great unseen army that God has as his ministers. So the question is, have you really thought about what it is to put on that second skin of the armor of God? What areas of your life are exposed? Because sometimes we let those areas open. When we go to this next portion here, it talks about the very specific pieces of armor and therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. Stand again is the word that's operative. And when you look at each one, as I was digging through, I came to some suggestions because for every piece of armor, they're used to counter Satan's attacks. The first one, it says, put on the belt of Truth. Literally, it has the idea of girding up your loins. Now, when a Roman was dressed, he had a rather long gown or robe on. In order to run, he'd scoop it up and tie it up around his waist so that he was not hindered in any way. The same is true here and says that you're to put on the belt of truth. Without truth, everything falls apart and Satan's attack is the lies, the false doctrine, the deception that is in the world today and even snakes into the church. The belt of Truth counteracts deception. I remember years ago when I worked for my father and I was on the cash register when someone gave you $100 bill, you had to go and you had to grab a pen that was there and you had to scratch that pen across the hundred dollar bill and it had to turn a certain color or that $100 bill was a fake. Now you have to scratch it across, hold it up to the light, see if that little streak's in there and everything else that goes with it. But the word of God and the truth of the word of God exposes that deception. So truth is central to what you need to put on the breastplate's breast. No, can't talk straight. The breastplate of righteousness. That sounds very good. I'm going to put on the breastplate of righteousness. I'm righteous. No, my righteousness is of Christ and his righteousness in me. And the breastplate, by the way, was not just in front, but it was also behind. And they Tied it on so that it protected as much as they could the vital organs of life. Satan's attack is accusation. That's what Satan did to Job. He went before God. He says, you know, just let me have at him for a little bit. You'll see he's not really yours. Oh, you see, Satan accuses and he also accuses us. He comes to us and he whispers in your ear, you're not really that good. You don't believe that, do you? You don't study enough, you don't pray enough. The only problem is we try and take that up on our own. If I get, if I have Satan whispering in this ear, oh, you don't pray enough. Oh, I got to get up at 5:00 this morning and I've got to get done on my knees and pray. There's nothing wrong with getting up at 5 o'clock in the morning and getting down on knees and praying. But if it's because what I want to do and not because I want my time with the Lord, it's going to do me very little good. I'm falling into the accusations of Satan whispering in my ear. You come to where it says you're to shod your foot. Now, Cindy and I had a great discussion about this because when she was reading it over, I had written down spiked shoes. And Cindy said, is that really what it says in the Bible? And I said, well, that's what's what they would be familiar with. So being the good husband that I am and wanting to teach my wife, I went back and I dug very deeply and printed out a long thing that said, this is what those shoes were. And I'm sorry, it's not spikes, Tom nails. Actually, there is a great deal of, of evidence, archaeological evidence, so much so that those shoes are actually well preserved. They were hobnail boots that they used so that when they were going together as a phalanx in Greek and Roman warfare, those shields that it talks about, they're about the size of a door. They were that big. And the guys in front, they would have their shields in front of them, spear in one hand, shield in the other through the shield, and they're carrying their door with them. And the guys behind them were very kind because in the next rank they would hold their doors over their heads. So you had about six or seven ranks of these people walking along with doors over their head. And the guys on the outside, they were even better. They were the guys that kept their doors to their side. So it was like moving A tank as they went along. And by the way, if you were on slippery grass, you wanted the Hobdale boots because anybody that fell would probably get whacked on the head with a door. But that is the picture that would come to the mind of the person in Paul's day of this uniform and those shoes. It says they're the shoes of the peace. Which means that Satan's attack is when he attacks us with fear or chaos. But the way we stand with our hobnail boots is in the confidence of the peace that passes all understanding, the peace that comes from knowing the Lord, that he is active in our lives. And when I feel weak, I need to go draw nearer and closer to my God. And finally, there is the shield of faith. It counters doubt. It was large, like I said, it almost was a door size. And it says that you have that shield so that you could deflect and quench the fiery darts of the devil. Those attacks that Satan sends at every Christian, you can almost feel them, the doubts, the fears, the accusations accusing you of not being a good Christian. I am a Christian and my recourse is to go to the Lord. It's my living relationship with a living God. I loved when I looked this up because when it talks about the helmet of salvation, the word is actually receive the helmet of salvation. How did you accept Christ? I received him into my life. I put my life before him and said, I'm unworthy, Lord, I am a sinner. And you received God's grace and mercy and peace because you have been rescued. So it is the helmet of salvation. And that counters the identity crisis we have. And finally, the only offensive weapon that's mentioned is that of the sword. And I love it because it says that the sword is the word of God. It's the called the spirit sword of the spirit. So where do I find the Spirit to minister in my life in the word of God? Does a soldier wait until he's in the middle of the battle, says, hey, wait a second, I got to put my helmet on? Hold on, I got up, I got to put. Pull up my shit. Guys, just wait a second. It's, you know, I've got to get ready here. No, it's got to become that second skin in my life. And so today I'm going to ask you to think about and examine in your own life what's your prayer life like? Drawing closer to the Lord in prayer. It's a living relationship between you and a living God who indwells you. I have full, bold access. Because when Christ died on the cross, that veil was rent in two. So we have bold access to the presence of God. What's your life like in the Word of God? How effective would a sword be if you let it sit there and rust and dull, you know, stick it in the ground for a while? Oh yeah, now I need it. I'll pull it out. How effective is a rusty sword going to be? I need to be sharpening the sword and it's walking in the integrity of faith, walking worthy of the vocation or the calling with which you've been called in Christ Jesus. A soldier would never step into battle unarmed. So why are you doing it today? Make a commitment in your heart not to go and do things because you think you ought to do them, but to be drawn closer to your Lord, to know him in conversation. Prayer in the Word of God, that I might know him, that I might know what is the will of God and that I know how to walk properly, walk in alignment with a living God. Make a commitment to put on the full armor of God so that you can stand firm in him, so that you will be prepared to stand. [00:46:15] Speaker A: Thank you for tuning into this episode of Roots of Faith, a ministry of Law and Evangelical Congregational Church and Lawn, Pennsylvania. We hope today's message has uplifted you and deepened your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, whether you're new in the faith or have walked with him for years, God's Word is always fresh and powerful to transform. If you are blessed by this episode, please share it with friends. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an update. We would love for you to join us on Sunday at 10:30am at 5566 Elizabethtown Road, Route 241 in Lawn, Pennsylvania. As always, stay rooted in the Word, stand firm in faith and keep growing in Christ.