The Armor of God

The Armor of God

Ephesians 6:10-17

As each of us woke up this morning and began our routine, drinking coffee, cleaning house whatever it is you do to begin your day.

Inevitably, there were things that came up that could have easily become a priority over church. It is not that those things are sinful, or wicked, some of them are things we need to do before we go to work tomorrow.

I give you credit for being here, certainly there are some who chose to do something else, other than worship the Lord this morning.

I have no doubt we all have family and friends who question our commitment to God. They will plan events for Sunday morning, because it is convenient for them, and then become angry because we choose church over their events.

I want you to recognize that is just one subtle way the enemy tries to separate us from God. If you are a Christian, your entire life is plagued by those kinds of choices. Your world has become a battlefield. Whether you like it or not you are a soldier in the army of God, and you have a target on your back.

The problem is we are infinitely weaker than Satan and his demons. The good news is we have a God who is infinitely more powerful than are weakness. Warren Wiersbe said, We don’t fight for the victory, we fight from the victory. In other words we have the victory in hand.

I want to encourage you today. We are in a spiritual battle, but that battle belongs to the Lord. What we learn from this passage is a Christian fights for their faith in the power of God by taking a stand against the enemy.

(Read Eph. 6:10-17)

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

11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.[1](Pray)

Our passage this morning begins the final division in the book of Ephesians. The first three chapters were doctrinal, and Paul taught us who we are in Christ. How we came to be saved. How Jew and Gentile are now one in the Lord.

Then chapters 4-beginning of 6 were practical. He taught us how to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. The importance of unity as a church body, and how to conduct ourselves in the relationships of the home.

Now, Paul closes out this great letter by describing the spiritual warfare that takes place in the life of every believer.

The word “finally” at the beginning of Vs. 10 is more than just a conclusion of the letter, It directly connects us back to the previous verses. What Paul is saying is, based on everything I have taught you; I now want you to understand you are in a battle. There is a spiritual conflict taking place around you.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Paul would write about this topic. Paul’s ministry at Ephesus was a struggle. He wrote about it in 1 Cor. 16:9. He said, “a door is open for me at Ephesus but there are many adversaries.” Paul knew Ephesus was a strategic location to spread the gospel.

It was the center for occult magic in Asia Minor. The Temple of the Goddess Diana was there, it was one of the eight wonders of the world. They practiced occult prostitution in the temple as a form of worship.

Satan and his followers were opposed to Paul in Ephesus, but God responded by giving him the power to heal and cast out demons. The Gospel spread throughout the city and people were being saved.

(Acts 19:19) Many of them had practiced magic, and when they believed on Christ, they brought their magic books into the streets and burned them publicly.[2]

It is against that backdrop that Paul teaches us about spiritual warfare. He is not writing this letter to correct doctrine in the church but to encourage them about the power of God at work in their lives.

And that same thing is true in our life today. What we learn from this passage is a Christian fights for their faith in the power of God by taking a stand against the enemy.

The first thing I want you to see in this passage is the source of our strength, Vs. 10. Paul says, “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.”

The emphasis here is, we don’t fight our battles in our own power, but in the power of God. The idea of fighting your battles in your own power is like riding a bicycle to work rather than driving your car. It’s like using wind to power your home rather than DTE.

Yet that is exactly what so many Christians do: they trust in themselves rather than the power of God. The moment there is a crisis in our world, we panic, we prep for the worst, we allow worry and fear to overcome us.

All of that is rooted in Biblical unbelief. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “God has not given us the spirit of timidity (fear) but of power, and love, and discipline.”

For a Christian to live in fear is to say the cross was not good enough but I need more God. I need more assurance. I need more security than your promises. Certainly, there are things that happen in life that are overwhelming, but the joy of the Lord is our strength.

We see a great example of the Lords strength in the life of David. 1 Samuel 30 while David was on the run from Saul, he made the mistake of allying himself with the Philistine king. He was about to go to war against the armies of Israel when God intervened.

David and his men were sent home because the Philistines didn’t trust them. But when they arrived back home, they found them burned with fire. Their wives, and children, taken captive by the Amalekites. At that point, David’s men were so angry that they wanted to stone him.

Then, in the middle of verse 6, everything changed. (1 Sam. 30:6b): “But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” What a dramatic shift! David was almost down for the count. God’s promise to make him king seemed as though it was over. “But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” God directed David to go after the Amalekites and they recovered everything they lost.

That same thing is true for every Christian. You may be at your lowest point. You may be discouraged. It may seem that God’s promises are not true. But no matter what you are going through “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” [3]

I am reminded of that old Gospel anthem, “Look what the Lord has done.” In the bridge it says, “I went to the enemies camp, and I took back what he stole from me.” That was David’s attitude and that needs to be our attitude today. The enemy cannot take anything from us, the Lord can’t give us back.

But, it is important we understand to be strong in the Lord, you must first be “in the Lord.” Paul made that clear in Eph. 2:8-9. He said, “For by grace you have been saved through faith: and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not as a result of works so that no one may boast.” To be strong in the Lord means you are saved and Jesus is the Lord of your life.

To be strong in the Lord means you must first understand you are weak. You cannot save yourself and you are completely hopeless without Christ. Jesus said in John 15:5, “for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

Charles Spurgeon put it, “we must see that we are convicted and condemned, with the rope around our neck, before we will weep for joy when Christ pardons us.”[4] To be strong in the Lord means you are never separated from Him and understanding that when you are, you are at your weakest point.

Peter had to learn this the hard way. Before Jesus was arrested and crucified, Peter boasted that he would follow Christ to the death. But then he deserted Him, he denied Him three times. Why? Because he trusted in himself and not in God. I can’t help but wonder how many times you trust in yourself and not in God.

So, in Vs. 10 we learn the source of our strength is Lord. The next thing I want you to see is the source of our protection.

Look at Vs. 11. “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.” As Paul is writing this letter, he is in prison chained to a Roman soldier who is wearing armor. Paul must have thought to himself, what armor does a Christian have for battle.

Notice we rely on God’s strength, but we use God’s armor. That means there must be some initiative on our part to be prepared for the battle.

We must put the armor on. This is not one of those moments to be passive. This is one of those moments where we stand up for what we believe and refuse to back down.

The key word here is the word “stand.” We see it in Vs.11 and 13. It means to resist. It is a military term and the idea is to have courage and hold the ground you are fighting for. In other words, when others are running from the battle you are holding on to your position in Christ.

When it comes to taking a stand, there are three things important . 1. We need to understand the Word of God.

Remember the way Jesus defeated Satan in the wilderness of temptation was with the Word. Unless we have the Word in us, we cannot put the armor on us. Matt. 4:4, “It is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

2. We need to understand the schemes of the devil. The bible tells us he is more cunning than the rest of God’s creation.

Satan attacks us with temptation and sin, but his ultimate goal is to separate us from God. He does that by using people and the world around us to create doubt and challenge our faith.

3. We need to understand when to stand firm and when to be tolerant. If Satan can’t get us to become worldly, liberal minded Christians, he pushes us the other way. He makes us become intolerable bigots. People who stand on the corner with bull horns telling everyone they are going to hell.

Standing firm means holding onto our faith in a world that is opposed to God. It does not mean we lack compassion for the lost.

It’s important that we don’t become like Jonah. Jonah ran from God’s call because he didn’t want to see the people of Nineveh saved. Even after he obeyed God and went to the city and the city was delivered, Jonah wasn’t happy because he hated the people of Nineveh. Don’t let that become you. We must know when to stand and when to be tolerant.

So, what we learn from this passage is a Christian fights for their faith in the power of God by taking a stand against the enemy.

Not only does this passage teach us the source so our strength and the source of our protection, but the next thing I want you to see is the Source of our struggle.

Vs. 12. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Satan never attacks us with a full-frontal assault. He is a sucker puncher. He is a deceiver who attacks us in ways we never see coming. Paul teaches here that our battle is not with people but with spiritual forces of darkness. We spend all our energy arguing and fighting with people in our life, when the real enemy is behind the scenes and is invisible to us.

It’s obvious from scripture that demons can possess people and use them to attack us. For example, what kind of person would take a gun into a school and shoot innocent children? Only someone who is mentally deranged and possessed by the devil. There are invisible forces at work in the world, and they possess unbelievable power.

The name Satan means adversary. Devil means accuser. In John 8:44 Jesus said, he is a murderer, liar, and the father of lies. In Revelation 12 were told he deceives the whole world, accuses believers before the throne of God, and persecutes them relentlessly.

Contrary to popular television shows there are no nice witches using supernatural powers for your good. All demonic activity is wicked and should be avoided at all costs including sick and twisted movies, Ouija boards, seances, fortune telling, astrology, and crystals you might think make you feel good. A Christian should never open the door to those things in their life.

Now there are people who scoff at the idea of Satan. They don’t believe in him, they are too intelligent for that nonsense. However, no one would deny the existence of real evil in our world. We are surrounded by it.

Someone once said, “the greatest act of deception of the devil was to make us believe he didn’t exist.” You don’t have to look far to see the effects of evil in society. Just read the stories about what took place in Israel on October 7, 2023. We have a very real enemy and Paul says we need real strength from the Lord to overcome Him.

The final thing I want you to show you in this passage today is the call to stand, Vs. 13. “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

For the second time in this passage Paul tells us to “put on the full armor of God.” He is stressing the importance of being completely covered and protected from the enemy. There cannot be one crack in the armor. In other words, the slightest crack in your relationship with God allows the enemy to attack.

Mike was telling me a story this week about a local couple that raises bees for honey, the wife was tending the beehive. She had a small slit in her suit, she didn’t know about. That was all it took, one of the bees managed to get inside her suit and sting her.

Well, a bee sting releases an odor called alarm pheromone that alerts all the other bees of danger to their nest, they go bananas and they begin to attack.

With in moments this woman was stung hundreds of times and had thousands of bees inside her suit. She was running for her life.

In the same way we must put on the full armor of God. One crack in the suit and Satan and his demons become like bees. They go on the attack, and they will leave you running for your life.

We are going to talk more about the specifics of God’s armor in the coming weeks but Vs. 13 tell us the reason for the armor.

Notice the phrase “so that you can resist in the evil day.” Well, what is the evil day?

It’s any day when sin, and temptation take over your life. It’s any day when a barrage of evil comes against you. It’s any day when bad news causes you to recoil in fear. The evil day is when you take your eyes off Jesus and fix them on the world. For some of us the evil day is today, for others it’s tomorrow but one thing is for sure, we all face the evil day, and we need the armor of God.

See when you focus on Christ you know whatever your going through isn’t going to last forever. You know God has a plan for your life and tomorrow will be a brighter day. So, we don’t give up. We don’t throw in the towel, we stand, and we persevere.

There has probably been more literature written about spiritual warfare than any other topic in the bible. But this is one subject I recommend you stick to the scripture, because you don’t need any special methods when it comes to dealing with Satan and his demons. You only need the Word of God. James 4:7, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”

What we learn from this passage is a Christian fights for their faith in the power of God by taking a stand against the enemy. We do that by clothing ourselves in the the Lord Jesus Christ. By not allowing anything to come between us.

We do that by making our relationship with God the priority in our life. The mistake most Christians make is they just add Jesus to their life, and they never make Him their Lord. The problem with that approach is, not only does it give an advantage to the enemy but it prevents us from truly living for God, and experiencing the fullness of His grace.

Jesus said I come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. Are you living an abundant life in Christ? Have you made Jesus the priority of your life? Because it is only when we are in Christ that we can put on the full armor of God.

[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 update (Eph 6:10–13). (1995). The Lockman Foundation. [2]Phillips, R. D. (2016). Ephesians(p. 429). Mentor. [3]Cole, S. J. (2017). Lesson 55: Standing Strong, Standing Firm (Ephesians 6:10–11). In Ephesians(Eph 6:10–11). Galaxie Software. [4]Cole, S. J. (2017). Lesson 55: Standing Strong, Standing Firm (Ephesians 6:10–11). In Ephesians(Eph 6:10–11). Galaxie Software.