Stand and Fight

As you open your Bibles to Ephesians 6 I feel I need to explain the video a little bit. Monday night the message was on the parable of the lost. The Bible doesn’t say how far or how long, or even how hard it was for those seeking to find what they were looking for but that they sought until they found it. The point was really two fold. First that Christ sought us as lost souls until He found us to bring us back into fellowship with Him through our salvation. But secondly, as believers there are some things worth searching for. That is to know God more, to know His will for our lives and to follow Him in everything. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, how far we’ll have to go, or how hard the road is. A true disciple of Christ will Seek those things until we find it.

The other thing is: a few of the students mentioned the Bible is a good book. Our speaker said every message that the Bible is a good book and you won’t find anything like anywhere in the world. The Bible will change your life if you let it.

Finely, before I get into the message and I promise it will be short. I often don’t give my testimony in the camp video. About how God spoke to me at camp. I told some of the students I would do so tonight. I learned that when God speaks to my heart and asks me to change something or do something for Him. I should set goal to fulfill what He asks of me. So what are your goals of doing what the Lord asks of you. If you don’t set the action steps you won’t get it done. I wrote this in my camp book Thursday morning. “If you aim at nothing you will hit it every time, so what are your goals.”

Ephesians 6:10–17 KJV 1900

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Most of you by now know that I am not from a Christian home. If fact, I learned really early in life to fight. I lived in one of the worst neighborhoods and went to some of the roughest schools in town. I am the middle of 3 boys. My older brother was much bigger and strong than I was. By a lot! in fact, some asked me if he stole all my food as a kid. Then my younger brother was always faster than I was. Being the middle boy I was forced to fight from both directions. Now, I would say I wasn’t the roughest kid to come from my family. But I made my share of trouble. I remember my last “fight” if you can call it that. With someone outside of my family. I fought my brothers many times after this point. But my last physical fight was in 8th grade. I was on the bus. One thing to know about me before I go farther is that by this point in my life I was like a Chihuahua. I was about 5’2 and maybe, maybe 100 lbs soaking wet, like a chihuahua, small that is. And like a chihuahua I has a big mouth. That got me in trouble, a lot. In this case, I don’t remember what I said I just know it was my mouth that was running off when the biggest kid on the bus stood up. This boy in 8th grade was big. I knew at that moment what it must have been like for David to stand before Goliath. Where I was 5’2 and about 100 lbs, he was 6’ and maybe 250. He was big! When he pulled back his fits to punch me. I remember thinking, “this is going to hurt.” I say it was a “fight” because I had no chance against this guys. He was a monster compared to me. When he hit me the floor came up to meet me really fast. It was amazing. While laying there I had two thoughts that went through my mind really fast. one was yep, I was right, that hurt. The second was get up. so I did, I stood. Now I didn’t fly at him like a crazy wild man. I didn’t jump off the seats to try and reach his face. Although I wanted too. I just stood there and stared at him. And he hit me again, and I met the floor again. But I got back up. And again I just stood. I don’t remember how many times He hit me. Maybe from brain damage. But I do remember not attacking him and I just stood. over and over as I kept meeting the floor, I just stood. Finely, he sat in his seat and I just stood their staring at him. Until the bus driver told me to sit.

Tonight, I’d like to preach on this simple thought. We are in a fight, but God has given us everything we need, but we have to stand. The battle for our souls, for the lost world, and for the next generation rages around us. God us given us the tools to fight this battle, but we have to chose to fight. We have to chose to put on the armor, we have to chose to stand.

We are in a fight

Ephesians 6:12 KJV 1900

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Sooner or later every believer discovers that the Christian life is a battleground and we face an enemy who is much stronger than we are - apart from the Lord. That Paul uses the military to illustrate the believer’s conflict with Satan is reasonable. He himself was chained to a Roman soldier at the time of this writing.

Ephesians 6:20 KJV 1900

For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

The military was a favorite illustration with Paul. He refers to the military in 2 Timothy 2:3, 4:7, 1 Timothy 6:12, 2 Corinthians 10:4.

As Christians, we are in a fight. We have three enemies: The world, the flesh, and the Devil. The world refers to the system around us that is opposed to God. We don’t have to look very far anymore to realize that the world system is against God. Today, to be a white male Christian you are public enemy number one. Look at how many pastor were put in Jail for having church during Covid. We are in a fight.

1 John 2:15–17 KJV 1900

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

The flesh is the old nature we got that from our father and he from his all the way back to Adam. That is the nature of sin and opposes God.

Romans 5:12 KJV 1900

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

We are also, in a fight against the devil. The Bible has a lot to say about Satan. For time we won’t go into a lot about him other than to say he is our accuser, our adversary, he is a liar, and murderer, and 2 Peter compared him to a loin walking about seeking whom he may devour. Paul says in our text here that we are wrestling against the rulers of the darkness of this world. The point I mean to make is that we are in a fight. But that is not meant to scare you into running for the hills. Because God has given us everything we need to fight this battle.

We have everything we need

Verses 13-17 Gives us the tools that God gives us to fight in this battle. He didn’t leave us defenseless to defeat these enemies.

I believe most in here can quote this passage so I won’t go into great detail the armor but I just want to remind us all what God has given us.

Belt of Truth

The "belt" as a piece of the armor of God stands for truth and honesty. Believers must live honestly before others and before God. That's called integrity. A believer who obeys God outwardly but hides sin in his heart won't be effective in battle because he is living a lie. Satan, the father of lies, loves to see believers enter battle without their belt of truth.

John 8:44 KJV 1900

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

The world today has attacked truth like never before has it not? I don’t care who you are you cannot tell me that a man does not know he is a man. or a woman a woman. They that think otherwise are simply lying to themselves and everyone around them.

Breastplate of righteousness

The breastplate as a piece of the armor of God reminds us that God declared us righteous in Christ the moment we trusted in Christ. With Christ's righteousness, we can live obediently to God and reject Satan's lies about who we are as a believer.

Satan loves to cause us to doubt we can obey God. When we sin, he is quick to tell us what a failure we are. "Why do you even keep trying to obey God?" he mocks. "You'll always be a miserable failure. Stop the struggle!"

Whenever we decide we are going to follow God and take the step of faith, then fall short we are quickly reminded of that failure.

But we are already complete in Christ. He has made us righteous! we are a new creation in Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV 1900

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Sandals of peace

As a piece of the armor of God, the "shoes" of peace help us stand our ground spiritually. We know we have peace with God through Jesus' death on the cross for us. And we have a gospel to share that brings peace to those held captive by the enemy (Rom. 10:13-15).

Shield of faith

As believers we are to carry a shield of faith, meaning we should have firm confidence in God's promises and power. By applying faith in God to our everyday experiences, we can extinguish Satan's "fiery darts."

Satan's fiery darts might be in the form of hateful thoughts about other people, doubts about God, or deep desires for sin. Putting our faith in God keeps us from believing Satan's lies and letting them discourage us.

Helmet of salvation

The last defensive item Paul mentioned is the helmet of salvation. Since he was addressing Christians, he didn't use the word "salvation" in the sense of the saving of one's soul. By "salvation," he meant present deliverance from the power of Satan and sin. Just as a helmet protects a soldier's head, so the helmet of salvation protects the mind from the destructive philosophies and attitudes Satan wants us to adopt.

Pick up your sword

Our fight against Satan and the hosts of evil includes offensive strategy as well as defensive strategy. We must invade his territory. Paul described our offensive weapon as "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (6:17). We must become so acquainted with Scripture that the Spirit can use it to guide and direct our thoughts and actions in battle.

Churches that downplay doctrine for the sake of unity essentially ask their fellow soldiers to take off their helmets in the heat of battle. A band of soldiers will not be effective if the basis of their unity is refusal to wear the helmet of salvation.

The Christian's sword is the sword of the Spirit because it is the Holy Spirit Who inspired the Bible and uses God's Word to accomplish God's purposes in our lives. When we attempt to invade Satan's territory, we must be well armed with Scripture.

You may be thinking tonight. Why did you feel it important to remind us about this battle we are in? Here is the point, we have to stand. We have a world of people dying without Christ. We have a generation of young people being raised to think that God is against them and to be a Christian is a bad thing.

We Must Stand

Verse 11, 13, and 14 all gives us the instructs us to stand. All three of these words in the Greek are the same words. It means to stand up. Just as I did on the bus against the 8th grade giant. It means - to be standing; be upright. to be in effect or extant; be or remain in force. to occupy a place or location. We must stand! Let me ask you to you believe there is a heaven? say amen. Do you believe there is a real place called hell? say amen. Do you believe that there are sinners in the world? say amen. Do you believe that Jesus Christ died so the sinner bound for hell can be saved from it and have a home in heave? say amen.

Then Stand and fight this battle! Because the fight is worth it! If you truly believe that those things are real and yet ever tell another person about what Christ has done that makes us either a liar or evil.

The world, our flesh and Satan will knock us around. Sometimes we will meet the ground from a hard blow but we must we must keep standing.

1 Corinthians 16:13 KJV 1900

Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.

Stand in faith knowing that God has given you everything you need to stand firm.

Close

Maybe tonight you can’t stand you can’t be strong in the Lord because you have never even truly entered the battle. Paul says in verse 10 finally my brethren.

Ephesians 6:10 KJV 1900

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

You can’t put on this armor you can’t even begin to fight or have the power of the Lord if you don’t know the Lord. You are not His if you have never called on Him to save you to begin with.

In a moment we will give you a chance to respond to God and if you have never believed on Jesus and called on Him to save you from that real place called hell. I beg you don’t wait come and call on Him.

Romans 10:13 KJV 1900

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Maybe tonight. This battle has gotten weary. Maybe you have been knocked down and you have just be laying there on the ground spiritually speaking. The best way to stand is by finding your knees first. He will help you with the rest. Why don’t you come and ask Him.

Maybe tonight, you know of a young person or family member or friend who is lost. Come and ask, beg God to help you or send someone to tell them about Jesus. Luke 11 teaches about the word importunity. It simply means persistence but in that parable Jesus is teaching us to pray with persistence for our lost friends. Maybe God even now has laid someone on your heart. Why and ask God to help you.

Pray

Close with the thought of setting the goal to do what God is asking of you.