STAND FIRM!

EPHESIANS 6:10-17

Adapted from a Jim Black sermonhttp://www.sermoncentral.com/

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Ephesians 6:10 NET Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11 Clothe yourselves with the

full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this

darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.

13 For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your

ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm

therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the

breastplate of righteousness, 15 by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes

from the good news of peace,

16 and in all of this, by taking up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of

the Spirit, which is the word of God.

In his concluding exhortations to the Ephesians, Paul calls Christians to be

strengthened and stand firm…so that you may be able to stand against the schemes

of the devil.

Christians are called to active service against the evil of our world by trusting in

the power of God.

Just imagine the hot sun blazing down on the barren landscape of the Middle East. The commander had told his people that

they would be moving out in three days to begin their mission to take the city by force. Two Special Forces Operatives were sent into the city to scope it out, to find out if the people within the city were really as afraid of the impending battle as the commander

had been led to believe.

They should have been. This was going to be no ordinary battle in a very unconventional war with very

unconventional weapons, unlike any ever seen!

And as the army no doubt anxiously prepared for invasion, Joshua, commander

of the Israelite army, heard from Central Command as recorded in Joshua.

Joshua 1:6 NIV "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to

inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7 Be strong and very

courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you

may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from

your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything

written in it.

Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you?

Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the

LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” Like a high ranking General to his

troops, as they were about to face war, God wanted to exhort Joshua and his men to ‘Be

Strong & Courageous’ because He would be with them through it all!

What reassuring words those must have been to men about to march into harm’s

way!Paul has the same thing in mind in today’s

text.10 Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and

in the strength of his power. 11 Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that

you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

Remember, as we’ve moved through Ephesians over the last few months, we’ve

seen Paul describe the wonder and privilege it is to be in Christ AND how he

has implored his readers to live lives worthy of that calling of Christ!

Ephesians 4:1 NET I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live

worthily of the calling with which you have been called,

He urged them to live worthily of the calling in several ways:

1. by preserving unity; 2. by being different from the world around

them;3. and by being pure, avoiding any hint of

sexual immorality!

In 4:21, he began emphasizing that part of this call involved ‘submitting to one

another’; we submit to one another as a family of God, in our marriages, in our

families, with our parents and in our work places. And now, as he begins to wrap it up, he sets forth both an effective summary and

a great challenge!

It’s a call to ACTION!

As if preparing for battle, Christians need to be prepared for what the world has in store

for us! ‘Right living’ doesn’t happen by accident! It takes diligence and training! It

takes a ready knowledge of the weapons of battle! And it takes a healthy respect for the

enemy!

Paul is saying in this text, “Folks, don’t you know, there’s a war on!” This is a Call to Battle! Why are Christians called to ‘be strengthened’ and in verse 14 to ‘stand

firm’? Because there’s a war on and Christians are to stand up and fight; not sit

idly by and watch the enemy take one victory after another!

There’s a war on, but it’s not a war over land or politics or power, it’s a war for the souls of men and women. The word for

‘struggle’ in verse 12 is a word used nowhere else in the N.T. but is used in other

writings to refer to wrestling and can be used to mean ‘fight’ or ‘battle.’

Paul doesn’t want to leave the wrong impression, living the Christian life (living worthy of our calling) CAN be a difficult

struggle! The world doesn’t necessarily help us out very much! We hear the words,

‘there must not be either sexual immorality, impurity of any kind’ but then we’re

bombarded with sexual images on our televisions and movie screens. We hear the words, ‘husbands love your wives’, but then we see people we know openly cheating on

theirs;

We hear the words, ‘Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right,’ but kids are taught to be adults long before they’re ready; and parents can be tempted to be

their kids friends before being their parent. The call to the Christian life; the call to

Christ; is a radical Counter-Cultural Call! And it’s a struggle!

This is a Call to Know the Enemy!Any good military strategist will tell you that part of winning a war is learning all you can about the enemy. The last thing you want in

battle is any surprises! 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and

blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this

darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.

Here we find out who our enemy is NOT, & you might be surprised. NOT ‘flesh &

blood’- a euphemism for mankind. Our good soldiers this very moment are in the Middle East tracking down terrorists and defeating what by all accounts are truly terrible and

evil, repressive regimes.

We’re SO proud of them and are constantly lifting them up in prayer as they face the enemy on the battlefield. But, you know

what? Ultimately, Saddam Hussein, Usama Bin Laden, the Taliban, the Republican

Guard . . .they aren’t the root of evil . . . they aren’t REALLY the enemy!

The REAL struggle, the REAL war, is against the ‘spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.’ Don’t misunderstand! When we hear ‘spiritual’ we tend to think ‘not real.’ We think in terms of ‘real’ vs.

‘spiritual’. That’s FAR from the truth! Something that is described as ‘spiritual’ in

Scripture is FAR more REAL than the physical! So, just because something is spiritual and not physical doesn’t make it

any less real!

Quite the opposite! It’s said that as many as 75% of people who ‘claim’ to be Christians, don’t believe that the devil is real? 52% of ‘conservative Bible believing’ Christians don’t believe Satan to be a real being.

Satan is real! Don’t take my word for it, take Paul’s. And he says that the devil is out

‘scheming’. Satan is real; he is crafty; he is deceitful; the ‘father of lies’; and he is evil!

We mustn’t forget that!

As Christians, we spend an awful lot of energy battling each other & unbelievers in our world . . . but we must remember that

not only are fellow Christians not the enemy, unbelievers are NOT the enemy either! They are ‘prisoners of war’ so to speak; taken captive by the wiles of the

devil.

Now, I understand they CHOSE to do so (I don’t mean to imply some kind of ‘devil made me do it’ theology) But this is to

remember that Satan is at the root of this evil that is present in our world today, and

just because we can’t see him with our physical eyes doesn’t mean he isn’t real! This is a REAL war with a REAL enemy.

And Satan is that Enemy! He is that old serpent from Garden of Eden who tempted Adam & Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit. He

is the father of lies who told Jesus ‘Jump and I’ll give you all of this Kingdom.’ He is the prince of this world who rules through

deceit and subterfuge. He is the roaring lion looking for someone to devour!

There is no doubt, the devil is an evil and destructive force against which we must be vigilant. BUT on the other hand, we must

remember that he has already been defeated!

This is also a Call to Victory!There is NO DOUBT about this war! The

Outcome is certain! We may not know how long each of us will be engaged in this war; either until the Lord comes back or we go to

be with him. We may not know how each battle will go; whether we will win every one

or whether we’ll sometimes fall and allow Satan a victory in our lives. But we DO

KNOW THIS! Satan will be and has been defeated ONCE & FOR ALL!

Notice, Paul doesn’t exhort the Ephesians to ‘be strong because of their faith’; or

‘because of their works’; or ‘because of their position as Christians,’ Rather, he reminds them of where their POWER is from that

assures them of this victory! ‘be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength

of his power!’ That’s why he prayed way back in Chapter 1 that they would KNOW

his power.

Ephesians 1:19 NET and what is the incomparable greatness of his power

toward us who believe, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength. 20 This

power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at

his right hand in the heavenly realms

THAT power that is from the Lord is what empowers the Christian to live worthily; to

be strengthened, to stand firm… so that you may be able to stand against the schemes

of the devil! The power is not within US, it is within CHRIST who has won that victory for

us!

1 Corinthians 15:54d NET “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” (Isa 25:8) 55

"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?“ (Hos 13:14) 56

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus

Christ!

Finally, it is a Call to Arms!

A Military has got to be equipped with the latest and best weapons of battle in

order to be fully prepared for battle! Think about all the different types of

weapons mentioned on the news. SCUD and PATRIOT missiles. There are Bradleys and MOABS (Massive Ordnance Air Blast) and WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction.)

There are the bunker buster bombs and the B-2 bombers. There are protective suits against chemical warfare and our men &

women in uniform rely heavily on all of this equipment.

In the old days, armies relied on horses and chariots. But the old warrior, David, got it

right when he wrote Psalms 20

Psalms 20:6 NIV Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand. 7 “Some trust in chariots

and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. 8 They are

brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.” 9 O LORD, save the

king! Answer us when we call!

Ultimately, Christians win the victory in THIS war because our trust is in the Lord!

That’s the point of his exhortation to put on the full armor of God!

13 For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your

ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand.

14 Stand firm therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness, The armor

can be understood as the armor that God provides us; or the armor that God himself

wears; or even the armor that is God himself! That’s interesting, isn’t it? Notice

the equipment again, ‘truth’, ‘ righteousness’ – characteristics of God, himself!

We are to clothe ourselves with God! To put on His characteristics! These are the

weapons of war on which we can FULLY RELY! How do you put on these

characteristics? 15 by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good news of peace, The gospel provides the footing for everything we do. However

powerful the rest of your body is, if you are wounded in your feet you are easy prey for

the enemy. (Guzik)

16 and in all of this, by taking up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the

flaming arrows of the evil one. Faith is represented as a shield, protecting us from the flaming arrows of the evil one, those persistent efforts of demonic foes to

weaken us through fear and unbelief. (Guzik)

I believe the shield of faith is faith in the good news of peace.

17 And take the helmet of salvation… 1Thess. 5:8 speaks of the helmet of

salvation in connection to the hope of salvation. The helmet of salvation protects

us against discouragement, against the desire to give up, giving us hope not only in knowing that we are saved, but that we will be saved. It is the assurance that God will

triumph. One of Satan's most effective weapons against us is discouragement.

When we are properly equipped with the helmet of salvation, it's hard to stay

discouraged. (Guzik) Isn’t the helmet of salvation founded in the good news of

peace?…and the sword of the Spirit, which is the

word of God. The armor before described is to protect; the sword to assail. It is the

Christian soldier who is to wield the sword of the Spirit. That is, the Spirit conquers

through him.

Thus Peter conquered on Pentecost, and Paul in his labors. Thus always and

everywhere. The Christian soldier filled with the Spirit must "preach the word." (PNT) The

word of God is where the good news of peace is found. Can we see how all this armor comes from knowing The word of

God?Well, how’s the war going? How’s it going

for you?

Have you put on this armor? Are you reflecting the characteristics of God in your

stand against the enemy?This is not a conventional war, by any

means! It’s not a war that we’re used to fighting. The enemy is deceitful, wily, and

crafty! And He will do anything, will stoop to any level; will try every dirty trick in the

book; violate all Geneva Conventions, in the battle for YOUR SOUL!

But YOU have a God who is more powerful than even the devil! While you may not be able to stand firm against the devil on your own, you don’t have to! You can stand firm

in the power of God! Christ has already defeated him; the victory is ours; the

outcome is certain!

Are you ‘in Christ’ this morning? Have you taken your STAND at all?

If you’ve never committed your life to Christ, turned away from your sin, and had it

washed away in the waters of baptism, Our Commander in Chief is calling you today to STAND UP and be counted! He wants YOU more than Satan does and he will also do

anything to win you (like sending his son to die on a cross so that your sins could be

forgiven.)

We’ll look at Paul’s final words next week, but today hear his concluding exhortation

loud & clear.

“Be Strong!”; “Stand FIRM!” God will be with you regardless of what you face in this

spiritual battle!

Will you STAND as we sing our invitation song?