1. The first essential truth is that you can only stand by being strong.
2. The second essential truth is that you can only stand by being submerged
3. The third essential truth is that you can only stand by seizing
EPHESIANS 6:10-13
With this being Memorial Day weekend, it seems very appropriate that our passage has a military theme this morning. As most of you know, I spent 20 years in the Air Force. Some folks in the Army or Marines might question whether serving in the Air Force actually counts as being in the military. And they might have a point. For years, the Air Force was known as corporate Air Force. I always liked to say that we were the only branch who was smart enough to send the officers off to do the dirty work. But during my career, things began to change. For most of the start of my career, the emphasis was on whatever your job was. It was all about your career field and very little about combat skills. That is, until we started messing around in the desert. I will never forget the feeling we had when we packed up to go to Saudi Arabia shortly after the first Gulf War—and they issued us chemical warfare suits, M-16s, and body armor. I was a telephone cable splicer. I was a whole lot closer to the “can you hear me now” guy than I was to GI Joe. What in the world was I going to do with a gas mask and body armor? Well, the first night that the sirens went off, it became pretty clear. You see, it was then that the enemy became real. It was no longer some videogame looking thing on CNN. It was when the enemy became real to me that I started paying a whole lot more attention to my protection. As Christians, we are under attack every day. The problem is, most of the time it’s not real to us. And because the danger isn’t real to us, we don’t pay much attention to our protection. In our passage this morning, Paul begins to conclude his letter with a graphic discussion of spiritual warfare. He wants to make it real. Because he knows it is coming. Think back over his whole letter that we’ve been covering for the past few months. Remember that Paul prayed two prayers for these people. In the first one he prayed that his readers would have spiritual wisdom and power. In his second one, he prayed they would have the God-given strength to walk worthy of their calling. And one thing about Paul. He knew the power of prayer. He knew that God would answer his prayers. So, he knew that God would give them the spiritual wisdom he asked for by filling them with the Holy Spirit. And he knew that God would give them the strength to walk worthy of their calling—as evidenced by their praise, thankfulness, and humble submission. Paul prayed for it, and he knew God was going to answer his prayers. But he also knew what that meant. It meant they would face opposition from the enemy. We have a mixed-up view of God’s blessings. We think that when we are walking closest to the Lord that we’re not ever supposed to face opposition. Nothing could be further from the truth. Why does the enemy need to fool with someone who is no threat to him? But when we are walking closest to the Lord, we are obviously going to be a threat to Satan. And he attacks his threats. The bigger the threat, the more vicious the attack. Make no mistake about it—if we are filled with the Holy Spirit and are walking worthy of our calling, we will experience opposition. And because we will face opposition, we need protection. We need protection so we can stand strong in the face of our enemy. That’s what I want for us this morning. Like Paul, I have prayed that we will obtain true spiritual wisdom and power by being filled with the Holy Spirit. Like Paul, I have prayed that we will walk worthy of our calling and show the evidence by our praise, our thankfulness and our humble submission. And like Paul, I know that God will answer those prayers. So, I know that Satan our enemy will attack. I want each of us to be able to stand strong in the face of our enemy. In order to do that, we’re going to look at three essential truths about standing in the face of our enemy. The first essential truth is that you can only stand by being strong. Look in verse 10:
EPHESIANS 6:10
You can only stand in the face of the enemy by being strong. Most preachers do a wonderful job emulating Paul here in his use of the word “finally”. When he uses “finally” here, it basically means the same thing as when the preacher takes his watch off before preaching. Absolutely nothing. I had a preacher one time whose sermons always had three points. The problem was that he might have 4 or 5 points that he started with “secondly”. In several of his letters, Paul does this. He says “finally” and then keeps going with this whole wonderful passage on the armor of God. He starts by telling his readers to be strong. What comes to mind when you think of what it means to be strong? Maybe you think of physical strength. Do you remember the old Charles Atlas ads in magazines and comic books? They had the skinny kid and his girl getting sand kicked on them by the bully. And the skinny kid was a wimp and couldn’t do anything about it. So he wimped on home and ordered something from Charles Atlas so he’d be strong. Well, he got strong and went back to the beach and beat up the bully. And his girl thought he was a hero. Is that the kind of strength Paul is talking about? Of course not—we all know he’s talking about spiritual strength. But even though we know he’s talking about spiritual strength, do we look at spiritual strength the same way as the wimp in the Atlas ad? Do we look at spiritual strength as something that “I” need so that “I” can do what “I” need to do to get back at all those bad things that happen to me? So that “I” can be blessed? So that “I” can have victory? Is it really all about me? Well, if spiritual strength is like the Atlas ad, it is. Even if spiritual strength is something that we “send off” to God to get for ourselves it is. But it isn’t. Notice what the Bible says. Does it say, “get YOUR strength FROM the Lord?” No, it says, “be strong IN the Lord.” It says that we are to be strong in HIM and in the power of HIS might. The day we start thinking the strength is ours is the day we’ll be defeated. Even if we think it’s our strength that He gave us. Spiritual strength is His. It is all His. And it will always be His. The word that’s translated “be strong” is a passive verb in the original. That means that it is something that happens to you, but is done on your behalf. You aren’t the one doing the doing. In other words, Paul commands us to be strong. But he knows that the strength cannot be our own. It has to be in the Lord. It has to be His strength that He works through our lives. No matter what kind of strength we try to muster, it will never be enough to stand in the face of our enemy. It has to be God’s strength. The power of His might that He works through us. The first essential truth about standing in the face of the enemy is that you can only stand by being strong. The second essential truth is that you can only stand by being submerged. Look at verses 11-12:
EPHESIANS 6:11-12
You can only stand in the face of the enemy by being submerged. When my son gets ready to play a baseball game, he puts on his uniform. When my daughter gets ready for dance, she puts on clothes that are appropriate for whatever type of dance she’s doing. When I was in the military, I’d put on my uniform in the mornings before work. But then what happens? When the ballgame is over, my son changes out of his uniform. When my daughter comes home from dance, she changes out of her dance clothes. When I retired from the Air Force, I took off my uniform for good. As a matter of fact, I probably couldn’t fit into it now if I wanted to. But, is the way we put on clothes the way we’re supposed to put on the whole armor of God? Well, I think I need a shield today, so I’ll grab that. You never know when you might need a helmet—I’d better get that too. That might work if we were going out to a social event. But we’re going out into battle. A battle that we have no hope of winning in and of ourselves. A battle against someone we can’t see. Someone we can’t really even fathom in our wildest imaginations. So, how can we stand against that kind of enemy? By being submerged in God’s protection. Once again the word translated “put on” is a passive verb. In other words, we’re taking advantage of the covering, but it’s not something that we’re doing to ourselves. We’re being covered. And the word doesn’t mean what we think of when we talk about putting clothes on. It really carries the idea of being dunked or plunged. And you can’t be dunked or plunged into just one or two pieces of God’s armor. Remember that as we talk about the individual pieces of armor over the next couple of weeks. You can only be submerged into the whole armor of God. You can’t pick and choose. Well, I have faith and salvation, but I really am not comfortable spreading the gospel. Or I’m not really into studying the Word. That doesn’t work. That attitude will get you soundly defeated. Satan will walk all over you. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” When Peter wrote that, do you suppose he was looking back over his own life? Looking back to the time in Luke 22:31 when Jesus told him, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.” And then, in his own strength, Peter put on his own armor. In verse 33 he said, “Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.” Of course we all know what happened. Peter denied His Lord three times. He tried to stand before the enemy wearing his own pitiful armor that he had put on in his own strength. And his adversary the devil devoured him. But later, after he saw Jesus’ forgiveness and the Holy Spirit’s power, Peter knew what Paul meant by putting on the whole armor of God. He knew what it meant to allow God to submerge him in His protection. Turn with me to Acts 4.
ACTS 4:5-14
This man who boldly put on his own armor in front of Jesus. Who said he would go to prison or die rather than deny Him. His own armor failed him miserably. It failed him at the hands of a young girl when she suggested that he knew Jesus. Not a very powerful enemy, huh? But when that same man was submerged in the whole armor of God—look at the difference. He stuck his finger in the face of people who held his life in their hands. And he told them they were guilty of killing the Son of God. And then he gave them the Gospel. He confronted their sin and gave them the solution to their sin. That’s bold! That’s standing against the wiles of the devil. Peter didn’t take out his sword like he did in the Garden of Gethsemane. Because he knew his battle wasn’t against flesh and blood. But instead, he pulled out the sword of the Spirit and the Gospel of Peace. The belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness. The helmet of salvation and the shield of faith. And he stood in the face of the enemy. You can only stand in the face of the enemy by being strong. You can only stand in the face of the enemy by being submerged. And you can only stand in the face of the enemy by seizing. Look at verse 13:
EPHESIANS 6:13
You can only stand in the face of the enemy by seizing. So, to be able to stand in the face of our enemy, we have to be strong. But it’s not our strength, it’s the Lord’s strength. If we use our strength we’ll be defeated. The only way to stand is if He applies His strength through us. We have to be strong and we have to be submerged. We have to put on the full armor of God, but, there again, we’re not really doing anything. If we clothe ourselves in our own armor, we’ll be defeated. The only way to stand is if we allow God to fully submerge us in the protection of His whole armor. So, to be strong, God does it. To be submerged, God does it. Wow, that’s alright! God does everything for me and I can just sit here. I have no part to play—right? Wrong. That’s why the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to switch from using passive verbs like he has been using. Now, he uses an active verb. God applies His strength through us. He submerges us in His whole armor. But He expects us to take it up. He expects us to grasp it—to take hold of it—to seize it. That’s what “take unto you” means. The Lord has provided everything that is necessary for you to stand. All you have to do is take it up. All you have to do is seize it. It’s His armor—he’ll submerge you in it. All you have to do is take it up. It’s His strength—He’ll supply it through you. All you have to do is seize it. For the Christian, the armor is just like salvation for the lost. You can’t do anything to save yourself. All the work required for your salvation was done by Jesus on Calvary’s cross. When He said, “it is finished” He meant it. All the work that could ever be done for salvation was complete. That’s the grace part. That’s the part that saves. But how do you get it? Ephesians 2:8 says, “for by grace are ye saved THROUGH FAITH.” You take up your salvation through faith. You seize your salvation through faith. Once you’re saved, the armor of God works the same way. The strength is God’s. The armor is God’s. He gives it, He clothes you with it. But you have to take it up. You have to seize it. How? The same way Paul’s been telling us since chapter 4. walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. If Jesus Christ has saved you, walk worthy of His salvation. Be well-disciplined in your walk with Him. Be worshipful in your walk with him. Seize it with all your might. Somebody once said that we should pray, knowing that it all depends on God. But work as if it all depended on us. That’s the way we should treat the armor of God. Know that it all depends on the Lord and the power of His might. But seize it and take it up as if it all depended on us. Are you able to stand in the face of the enemy? Do you stand firm in the face of temptation? Lust? Greed? Pride? Selfishness? Fits of anger? Bitterness? How well are you standing? I can tell you, if you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you’ll never be able to stand on your own. You are a defeated POW in the enemy’s prison camp. You only have one hope of rescue and that’s full and complete surrender. Not surrender to the enemy—he’s already got you. Come this morning and publicly profess your full and complete surrender to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Come and we will pray for you and start you on the way to being His disciple. Do you know Jesus as your Savior, but have failed to take up His armor? Today is the day to publicly commit to making a brand new start. Don’t continue being defeated. Come before us this morning and commit to seizing the armor so you can stand the way God wants you to.
