Armed and Ready?
Ephesians 6:10-13
Chenoa Baptist Church
Pastor Jefferson M. Willams
04-06-2024
Stand
When I lived in Mississippi, I volunteered with the youth ministry and one Saturday morning, we took a group to play paintball.
I was told to wear my camo, but when I got on the bus I just had jeans and a sweatshirt on.
One of the students asked me why I didn’t have on camo. I answered that I didn’t own any camo.
When we arrived at the field, several of the students changed into their armor. They looked like this.
And I was in jeans and a sweatshirt.
I’m unsure if you have ever been paintballing but it hurts to be shot. It leaves welts like this.
I shot a lot of students that day but the ones with the armor on just kept coming. At one point, I was hiding behind a car's hood propped up against a tree. They found and even though you are only supposed to get shot once and then you are out, they shot me dozens of times up close and personal. They said it was my fault for not having on my armor.
Unfortunately, a lot of Christians walk around with welts from being hit with grenades by the devil because they are basically in their underwear!
Pastor Watchman Nee writes:
“Every Christian must learn to stand. Each one of us must be prepared for the conflict. We must know how to sit with Christ in the heavenly places and we must know how to walk worthy of Him down here, but we must also know how to stand before the foe.”
We will spend our time today studying the last verses of the book of Ephesians. Please turn to Chapter 6.
Prayer
Ephesus
Paul is writing these words to the church in Ephesus. Although Ephesus wasn’t the capital of Asia Minor it was, by far, the most important city in the region. It was located on the Aegean Sea and its harbor made it a center for exporting. Four great roads came together at Ephesus, making it the most important trade city in that area.
It was a beautiful city. It was a free city, no Roman troops were stationed there.
It was a metropolitan city that sat at the crossroads of culture and diversity. But what Ephesus was most known for was the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was four times bigger than the Parthenon, with huge marble columns, and was the center of religious and business life in Ephesus.
The Temple was an incredibly beautiful place but inside was a chaotic scene. There were temple prostitutes who served as “worship leaders” for the goddess Artemis/Diana. There was also a museum that housed some of the most prized artifacts of the ancient world. There was a market and a bank and the temple became a place for criminals to seek refuge. It was a dark and sinful place.
But something else was happening in Ephesus. It started with Aquilla and Priscilla, who began to share the Gospel with the Ephesian people. They took Apollos under their wing and he began to preach powerfully that Jesus was the Messiah. The Apostle Paul arrived and spent two years in Ephesus teaching in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
He trained missionaries and pastors and built the church into a thriving spiritual community. He left Timothy in charge, and, ultimately, the Apostle John became their pastor.
Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians from prison while he was in Rome.
Ephesians can be divided into two parts - doctrinal (chapters 1-3) and practical (4-6). In the doctrinal section, we learn about our position in Christ (1:1-3:21).
The practical section can be divided into two parts - our life in the world (4:1-6:9) and our attitude to the enemy (6:10-24).
In light of all that God has done for you.
In light of the glorious standing, you have as a child of God.
In light of His great plan of the ages that God has made you part of.
In light of the plan for Christian maturity and growth, He gives to you.
In light of the conduct God calls every believer to live.
In light of the filling of the Spirit and our walk in the Spirit.
In light of all this, there is a battle to fight in the Christian life.
The Christian life is not a playground but a battlefield. We don’t have the option of being conscientious objectors. The choice is to either be armed and ready or unarmed and dead meat.
And those are the verses we turn to now.
Prayer
The Christian and the Adversary
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” (Ephesians 6:10)
?Paul wants to give these Ephesian believers some last instructions before he closes the letter.
A. The Christian’s Power Source
He begins by commanding them to “be strong.” It’s in the present tense meaning, “be strengthened.” It means to put power into something like when we put gas in a car. This is something done to the Christian continually by God.
But notice we are to be strong “in the Lord and His mighty power.” How strong you are is irrelevant. Our strength comes from our union with Christ. It is the ability to overcome resistance or whatever stands in your way.
In Ephesians 1, Paul wants us to know the “incomparably great power for us who believe.” This is the same mighty power that “raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realm.” (Eph 1:20)
This power “made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions…and raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms.” (Eph 2:5-6)
Paul knew this power and he knew it was not his own. He had a thorn in the flesh. We aren’t sure what it was. It couldn’t have been problems with his eyesight. But he asked God three times to take it away. God said no but told Paul:
?“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:9)
Paul’s response shows his understanding of Christ’s resurrection power:
"Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor 12:10)
Bryan Chapell reminds us that
“…we are in Christ: covered by His blood, robed in His righteousness, members of His household, sons and daughters, in union with Him, beloved. We may dread the exposure of our weakness in our battle against sin, but Paul reminds us that the strength of our relationship with our God is provided by Christ. Because we are in Him, seated with Him, we have access to a power greater than we.”
Isaac Watts wrote these words in a hymn dated 1707:
“Hell and your sins resist your course;
But hell and sin are vanquished foes:
Your Jesus nailed them to a cross,
And sang the triumph when He rose.”
But we live in the already/not yet. Yes, Christ has triumphed over the powers of darkness but we have not experienced the full fruits of Christ’s victory. That’s why we need to learn to stand.
Near the end of his first letter to the Corinthian church, Paul makes the same charge:
“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.” (I Cor 16:13)
When you feel weak, when you feel like giving in to your sin, when you feel like your willpower is growing dim, we must remind ourselves to “be strong in the Lord and the power of His might.”
B. The Christian’s Adversary
“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” (Ephesians 2:11)
This is a command - put on the armor now, don’t delay! This refers to the full preparation of a foot soldier for offense and defense.
Paul says this armor will help you “stand against” the devil’s schemes. The Greek words mean, “hold your ground,” “hold your position,” and “don’t give the enemy an inch.”
We will return to the armor in just a minute, but let’s look at this idea of standing.
The fact that we are told to stand implies that the ground that is disputed by the enemy is God’s and therefore ours.
Pastor Watchman Nee writes:
“We do not fight for victory, we fight from victory. We do not fight to win but because in Christ, we have already won. Overcomers are those who rest in the victory already given to them by their God.”
If you try to talk to people about satan today, most of the time they will simply laugh. They picture him in a red cape with horns and a pitchfork.
Or, like my mother, they simply don’t believe in him at all.
70% of Americans say that they believe in the devil. In a recent Barna survey of people who claim to be born-again Christians, 32% of the respondents said that the devil was a symbol of evil and not a real person.
But seven Old Testament writers mention him. Every New Testament writer mentions him and Jesus dealt with him at the beginning and ending of his life and ministry.
C.S. Lewis in the preface to The Screwtape Letters writes:
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
Corrie Ten Boom wrote:
“It is foolish to underestimate the power of Satan, but it is fatal to overestimate it.”
He is called by many names - satan, the serpent, the accuser, the deceiver, the evil one. He was an angel who lusted for God’s throne and was cast out of heaven along with one-third of the angels who now do his bidding.
He is a created being, so he doesn’t have the “onmi’s” of God. He is not all-knowing, all-present, or all-powerful.
He is clever, insidious, merciless, has no love for God or you, and wants to kill, steal, and destroy your life, your dreams, and your future. He wants to discourage you, tempt you to doubt God, and damage your testimony.
The word “schemes” is where we get our word “methodical.” He is a determined enemy and he is always looking for a way to hurt us. He’s had thousands of years to watch humans and learn our weaknesses.
My friend Marty would teach this to the high school students using playing cards. Satan is not all-knowing but he’s been at this a long time. He simply throws the cards against us and sees if they stick. The card of lust may fall harmlessly to the ground for one but stick like glue for another.
He doesn’t fight fair and will use anything and everything to bring us down.
Paul writes that Satan often “masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Cor 11:14) and Peter warns his readers to be alert because “
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (I Peter 5:8)
There is a war going on between the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of darkness.
But the one thing you must remember is that satan is defeated but still dangerous. ER doctors report that many times snake bite victims come in having thought they had killed the snake. Some had even cut the snake’s head off but were still bitten.
Jesus defeated satan on the cross and we stand with that victory.
One of my favorite stories in the Bible is an attempted exorcism that went wrong.
Seven sons of a Jewish chief priest named Sceva thought they could drive our demons by saying, “In the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.”
We pick up the story in Acts 19:
“One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.” (Acts 19:15-16)
We dare not think we can deal with the devil on our own but by acknowledging the only power we have is through Christ.
C. The Christian’s True Struggle
“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. (Ephesians 6:12).
Paul wants us to understand that we are in a war and most of the battle is in the unseen, spiritual realm.
The word struggle means “wrestle,” literally “hand-to-hand combat.”
A friend of mine was a wrestling coach and an all-state wrestler in high school. He bet that he could pin me in less than 20 seconds. The students all gathered around and someone kept time.
Within 10 seconds, he had me in a hold called the superman and I couldn’t move at all.
He makes the case that we aren’t wrestling humans.
It can seem like we are in a war against evil people - human traffickers, the makers of pornography, genocidal warlords, and abortionists.
But Paul says they are not the true enemy. The true enemy is the one behind their evil actions.
Paul calls them “rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world, and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms..”
From this verse, we learn that there are different ranks and categories of demonic beings. They are opposed to all that is good, and holy, and hate the light. And they are powerful.
J.B. Phillips translates the last phrase in this verse,
“…spiritual agents from the very headquarters of hell.”
Ray Pritchard says it this way,
“We are all foot soldiers in a vast invisible war that stretches across the cosmos. There is no release from the battle. If we go AWOL, we simply find a bigger battle on the other side.”
You can not be neutral in this conflict. That’s why Paul tells the believers to make sure we have on the armor of God.
D. The Christian’s Supply in the Day of Evil
“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, to stand.” (Eph 6:13)
Notice that it’s not our armor but God’s that we put on. He doesn’t put it on us. We have to decide to put on the armor.
There will be times when evil will be encountered in our Christian lives. Notice that he writes when the day of evil comes, not if. That will be the time to stand.
The Roman soldier’s shoes had spikes on the bottom for digging in.
David Guzik writes that:
“God gives the Christian a glorious standing to maintain by faith and spiritual warfare:
· We stand in grace (Romans 5:2).
· We stand in the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1).
· We stand in courage and strength (1 Corinthians 16:13).
· We stand in faith (2 Corinthians 1:24).
· We stand in Christian liberty (Galatians 5:1).
· We stand in Christian unity (Philippians 1:27).
· We stand in the Lord (Philippians 4:1).
Strong temptation will sweep in and threaten to overwhelm us. But in that evil day, we will not fight alone and we do not fight in our strength. But we fight in the strength that Christ gives us.
“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” (I Cor 10:13)
?Martin Luther, who threw an ink well at the devil while translating the New Testament into German, wrote the words we sang earlier:
“And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us;
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.”
E. The Christian’s Armor
In verses 14-17, it seems like Paul took a long look at the soldiers guarding him and thought that their armor would make a great word picture for his readers.
He may have been thinking of Psalm 18:39:
“You have clothed me with strength for the battle; You subdue my adversaries beneath me.” (Psalm 18:39)
But Paul does an interesting thing. All the imperatives in these verses are plural. Yes, we need to individually put on the armor of God. But even more, we need to collectively, as the body of Christ, need to don the armor for the battle is real.
He lists six parts of a Christian’s armor and each of them is vital to standing our ground in the battle.
Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones took 65 sermons to preach these 7 verses.
The Puritan pastor William Gurnall took a whopping 261 chapters and 1,500+ pages to cover these verses.
Don’t worry, we will only take the next six weeks to examine them one by one and learn to put them on.
* The Belt of Truth
* The Breastplate of Righteousness
* The Shoes of Peace
* The Shield of Faith
* The helmet of salvation.
* The Sword of the Spirit
This is the only offensive weapon you need.
Communion
It is not our armor but God’s armor we put on. And ultimately, all of these pieces describe Jesus! He is our armor. He is our victory.
Warren Wiersbe writes:
“In one sense the 'whole armor of God' is a picture of Jesus Christ. Christ is the Truth (John 14:6), and He is our righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21) and our peace (Eph. 2:14). His faithfulness makes possible our faith (Gal. 2:20); He is our salvation (Luke 2:30); and He is the Word of God (John 1:1, 14).
This means that when we trusted Christ, we received the armor. Paul told the Romans what to do with the armor (Rom. 13:11-14): wake up (v. 11), cast off sin, and 'put on the armor of light' (v. 12). We do this by putting 'on the Lord Jesus Christ' (v. 14). By faith, put on the armor and trust God for the victory."
