An Invisible War

Background to passage: Paul commands us to “stand” or resist Satan’s deceptions. The military language means to hold a crucial position under attack. Because his goal is to get you to fall, here are some ways, Mac 9 ways. And this is not only an instruction to individuals, you have a responsibility to be strong in the Lord as an individual for the church. We are to be strong together. We are vulnerable as a body at the points of weakness. The language here is not only military and corporate, but it is close combat

Opening illustration: “I am wired by nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call earth "home." Before you know it, I am calling luxuries "needs" and using my money just the way unbelievers do. I begin to forget the war. I don't think much about people perishing. Missions and unreached people drop out of my mind. I stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace. I sink into a secular mind-set that looks first to what man can do, not what God can do. It is a terrible sickness. And I thank God for those who have forced me again and again toward a wartime mind-set.” -Piper, Don't Waste Your Life

Main thought:

1) Be Made Strong (v. 10)

Ephesians 6:10 ESV

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

1) Be Made Strong (v. 10)

Explanation:

Joshua 1:6–9 ESV

Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Illustration:

Application:

2) Put on Your Armor (v. 11)

Ephesians 6:11 ESV

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

2) Put on Your Armor (v. 11)

Explanation:

Romans 13:12 ESV

The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.

2 Corinthians 10:4 ESV

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

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Application:

3) Know Your Enemy (v. 12)

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

3) Know Your Enemy (v. 12)

Explanation:

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Revelation 12:9–11 ESV

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

Illustration:

Application:

4) Stand Firm (v. 13)

Ephesians 6:13 ESV

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

4) Stand Firm (v. 13)

Explanation:

Argumentation:

Illustration:

Application:

Closing illustration: Ravenhill said, “This is an hour (1959) in need of burning hearts, bursting lips, and brimming eyes! If we were a tenth as spiritual as we think we are, our streets would be filled each Sunday with throngs of believers marching to Zion—with sacks on their bodies and ashes on the shaking heads, shaking at the calamity that has brought the church to be the unlovely, unnerved, unproductive thing that she is!” But “instead,” David Platt said 50 years later, “instead of weeping together on our faces before God, we calmly sit on plush chairs in beautiful buildings.” Could a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry? Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients die? Could a fireman sit idle, let men burn and give no hand? Can you sit at ease in Zion with the world around you damned?

Recap