We are continuing our series in Ephesians, Brought to Life; Brought Together, beginning the final section, 6:10-20, addressing spiritual warfare. In 6:10-20 Paul’s instructs us to be strengthened in the Lord to stand against the deceitful schemes of the devil. We are going to spend several weeks working through these verses because what it teaches us about spiritual warfare is so critical for each one of us. The deception we face as Christians is serious. Being ignorant of the Devil’s schemes makes you susceptible to his deception (2 Cor 2:11), leading you away from your faith in Christ and faithfulness to Christ (2 Cor 11:3).
Big Idea: Life is war so know your enemy.
What I want to do today is to explain the passage and then give you biblical overview of Satan/Devil from Genesis to Revelation so we have a feel for who he is and what he does.
Passage Review
This passage has three sections. First, need to recognize we are in a battle (10-13). Now finally, find your spiritual strength in the Lord (10). You and I do not have the strength within us to fight this war and unless you are intentional about finding strength in Christ you will not fare well. The spiritual battle is against the devil’s army at work in the human heart. They are in the heavenlies, describing a spiritual realm in contrast to the material realm. You cannot see them but they hate God and his glory so he come at you to undermine your faith in Christ and your faithfulness to Christ. You must know him so you know what you are up against. If you are not prepared to fight; be prepared to fall prey to his schemes. Second, we need to be equipped with God’s armor (13-17). He describes Christians as soldiers who need their armor to fight. Solider would not think about engaging the enemy without his armor on. We stand against and resist the devil and his army as we wear or use the whole armament he describes. Third, we need to be devoted to prayer (18-20). We stand against the Devils schemes through prayer. Prayer is our means of communication, calling on God for help. Prayer is like a walkie talkie that a soldier uses to call back to headquarters for reinforcements. So let’s look at a biblical overview of Satan/Devil. So, to sum up the passage, life is war so be prepared to fight.
Biblical Overview
The Old Testament has limited references to Satan and his work opposing God and God’s people. Genesis one tells us that God created everything and it was good, free from sin and evil. But Satan whose name means accuser or adversary, rebelled against God and was kicked out of heaven (2 Pet 2:4; Jude 6). When Satan deceived Adam and Eve, God banished them from the Garden for treason yet promises a Deliverer who will defeat Satan. Then we find Satan accusing Job and inciting him to reject God by bringing great suffering and evil upon him but Job prevailed against Satan and remained faithful to God. We see Satan behind Israel’s idolatry, which is described as the worship of false gods/demons (Deut 32:16-17). From this very brief overview in the Old Testament, Satan is God’s adversary who seeks to thwart God’s purposes and entice God’s people to sin and reject God.
In the New Testament you see a dramatic increase in references to Satan. Jesus is the Messianic King declaring the good news that he has come to overthrow Satan’s kingdom as the ruler of this world (Jn 14:30) and free the oppressed. When Jesus shows up, the demonic spirit world went berserk but were no match for Jesus. Jesus frees those oppressed spiritually, physically, and psychologically (Acts 10:38) with a simple command. Demons recognize and fear him knowing that he has come to defeat and judge them (Mat 8:29). Satan tempts Jesus to sin but Jesus refuses to bow to him and remains faithful to God (Mat 4:1-11). Jesus accuses the Jewish leaders of doing the works of their Father, Satan. They are children of the devil and just like him, a liar and murderer (Jn 8:40-44). When Peter tries to convince Jesus that he will not go to the cross, Jesus rebukes him, saying, get behind me Satan, you are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man (Mat 16:23).
After His ascension, Jesus gives his authority to the church to continue his ministry of proclaiming the good news, healing the sick, and freeing the oppressed. Paul describes preaching the gospel as God opening the eyes of the blind so they turn from darkness to light, metaphor for turning from power of Satan to the power of God, for forgiveness of sin (Acts 26:18). False teachers in the church are described as Satan disguising himself as an angel of light to deceive and lead people to stray from devotion to Christ (2 cor 11:14-16). Satan hindered Paul from visiting the Thessalonian church (1 The 2:18).
Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, keeping people from turning to God in salvation and keeping Christians from obeying God (1 Jn 3:8-9). Satan has already been judged (Jn 16:11) and his sentence is eternal judgement (Mat 25:41; Rev 20:10).
To sum up, Satan/Devil is a fallen angelic creature who hates God, his glory, and his people. He will do anything he can to thwart God, his purposes, and his people. He opposes Christians by tempting us to sin, not trust God, and stray from devotion to Christ. Though Christ has defeated him, he still has the ability to deceive us. The nature of deception is that we do not know we are deceived. If we knew we were being deceived, we would no longer be deceived! Satan is real, is an evil enemy who seeks to turn you away from faith in Christ and faithfulness to Christ. We need to be strengthened by Christ with his armor to fight against his schemes. Be vigilant in finding your strength in Christ, know your enemy, be aware of your own vulnerability to deception, and be prepared to fight against Satan’s schemes against you.
Response:
• Do you live as though life is war?
• Are you prepared for war?
• How is God speaking to you?
