Ephesians 6:10-24

Let’s start with prayer: Lord thank you for another chance to fellowship in church. Let us have open minds today as we look at things you have done for us. We are gratfeul for these things and want to understand your ways better each day.

You show us in Ephesians that You desire us to have a close personal relationship with You. this is made this possible by Your death and resurrection. Teach us Your ways today. In our Saviors name. Amen

The Bible Guide Ephesians

EPHESIANS RECAP:

Ephesians 6:10–24 (NKJV)

10Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 

b. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might: Literally, Paul wrote strengthen yourselves in the Lord. He He could have taken the idea from :

1 Samuel 30:1–6 (NLT)

1Three days later, when David and his men arrived home at their town of Ziklag, they found that the Amalekites had made a raid into the Negev and Ziklag; they had crushed Ziklag and burned it to the ground. 

2They had carried off the women and children and everyone else but without killing anyone. 

3When David and his men saw the ruins and realized what had happened to their families, 

4they wept until they could weep no more. 

5David’s two wives, Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel, were among those captured. 

6David was now in great danger because all his men were very bitter about losing their sons and daughters, and they began to talk of stoning him. But David found strength in the Lord his God.

i. The detailed teaching of spiritual warfare in this passage presents two things:

1st] you must be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

2nd] you must put on the whole armor of God.

The two are essential, we can easily neglect the first.

a. be strong in the Lord If you take a weak man who can barely stand, and put the best armor on him he will still be an ineffective soldier. He will be easily beaten. So equipping for a believer must begin with the principle, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

ii. Before a soldier is given a gun or shown how to fire a missile, he goes through basic training. One great purpose for basic training is to build up the recruit’s physical strength. It is like the army says, “Soldier, we are going to give you the best weapons and armor possible. But first we have to make sure that you are strong and that you can use what we give you.”

How do we get strong in the Lord?— David had it right in the Ziklag situation. How did he get there? He remembered the many way God pulled him through in the past. Goliath even.

be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might: This shows how to get this strength. This does not happen just by saying the words. It is not just mind over matter. We can’t just walk around saying, “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” over and over and expect any change will happen.

iii. Power is the exercise of might. but we need to be wise

iv. It is not “I do everything and God does nothing.” neither is it “I do nothing and God does everything.” Both ways fall short. The key is for us is by faith rely on His might—and rely on it more and more—step out in confidence, because we do believe He will see us through.

v. In his famous sermons on this text, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones listed several ways in which Christians waste their strength. It was as if they had grown some faith, but it simply leaked away like water in a bucket that is full of holes. These are some of the things Lloyd-Jones thought sapped the strength of the Christian:

• Committing to too many things

• Too much idle talking

• Arguments, debates, wrangling

• Laziness

• Too much time in the wrong company

• Too much foolish talk and course jesting

• Love of money and career

• An unhealthy desire for respect and status

• An unequal yoking with an unbeliever

• Ungodly entertainment

• A wrong attitude toward or doubting the Word of God

vi. (Lloyd-Jones quote)“We have to walk on a knife-edge in these matters; you must not become extreme on one side or the other. But you have to be watchful. And, of course, you can always tell by examining yourself whether your strength is increasing or declining.”

11Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 

Ephesians 4. The Proper Response to the Fact of Spiritual Warfare (13)

iii. All in all, there is a lot indicated by that one word, stand.

• It means that we

12For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 

13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 

14Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

Ephesians 5. The Spiritual Armor to Have (14–15)

Stand therefore

having girded your waist with truth,

Ephesians 5. The Spiritual Armor to Have (14–15)

iii. When a man sat down and was relaxed, he took off his belt. ——Putting on the belt prepared him for action, and it put a soldier in a battle frame of mind. The same idea was communicated by Jesus in

Luke 12:35–40 (NKJV)

35“Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; 

36and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. 

37Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. 

38And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. 

39But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 

40Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

iv. The belt of truth is simply believing that God gave us our minds, hearts, and emotions. He also gave us His Living word to show us His ways.

Psalm 86:11 (NKJV)

11 Teach me Your way, O Lord;

I will walk in Your truth;

Unite my heart to fear Your name.

Many people believe that the church needs to have less Biblical truth and more worldly wisdom , but that is completely wrong! The basic doctrines of the faith are why we have church. We need to get back to “Trust and Obey”.

Obey isn’t about ‘trusting the science’ or believing we’ve become too advanced for the Bible. It’s about rightly dividing the Word. This involves

The Breastplate of Righteousness Righteousness is represented as a breastplate which provides essential protection for the most vital organs. We can’t fight against spiritual enemies in our own rightness. A soldier can’t effectively fight without his breastplate. This is not our own earned righteousness, not a feeling of righteousness, but a righteousness received by faith in Jesus. It gives us a general sense of confidence, an awareness of our standing and position.

The armor of Satan is pride. We know what that looks like, we know what that feels like.

The breastplate of His righteousness is described by this memorable scripture

Micah 6:8 (NKJV)

8 He has shown you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justly,

To love mercy,

And to walk humbly with your God?

the last points here are from Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, “Thank God for experiences, but do not rely on them. You do not put on the ‘breastplate of experiences’, you put on the breastplate of ‘righteousness.’ ”

The breastplate of righteousness is your best defense against the sense of spiritual depression and gloom that comes against us.(Lloyd-Jones)

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

Third, the ‘gospel of peace’—the message, that is, of peace with God and peace between different previously hostile groups, as in 2:11–22. The enemy will do all he can to knock you off your feet. Holding fast to this message of peace will make you ready, like good shoes or boots would do, to stay upright.They are good for marching or for standing firm. So the Christian must put on the shoes of the gospel—ready to go anywhere with the good news, and able to hold the ground when under attack.

16above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

The shield of faith is not a little shield for the gladiator, but the full-length shield issued by the Roman army. These shields are head to toe, and link with each other to drive wedges for advance, or form walls for defence. In these arrows Paul sees the darts of doubt and temptation which rain down on the believer, and can only be fended off by faith in God’s truth and greater power. Belief in Jesus as the risen Lord, and utter loyalty to this Jesus, will protect you when Satan hurls flaming arrows at you. The arrows may take the form of doubt or despair; of adverse circumstances; of sharp temptation that will burn you up if you let it catch light on you; of personal tragedy; or indeed the kind of triumph that tempts you to arrogance and pride. Believing in the mighty power of God will quench them all.

2 Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 

Paul defines the helmet of salvation as the hope of the coming of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 5:8).

8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. 11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

I will get downcast as I see the world and culture getting worse around me unless the blessed hope of the coming of Jesus Christ is constantly on my mind. I am thoroughly convinced His coming is very close. So was C. H. Spurgeon. So was Martin Luther. So was Augustine. So was Paul. So was Peter. All were great men who lived their lives anticipating and looking for the coming of Jesus Christ. Put me in their company any day! The great saints of history all lived in the anticipation that Jesus would come shortly. I will live until the day I die looking for and believing in the hope, the great hope of Jesus appearing and calling me home. That’s the helmet of my salvation.

18praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints

Even If you can’t engage in hand-to-hand combat, if you aren’t able to minister because your kids have your hands tied or your neighbor is no longer speaking to you, you can still go to the Lord in prayer. One of the best things about prayer is that I can reach missionaries all over the world! I can pray blessing upon them in the Spirit. I can join with what they’re doing. I can stand by them by using the long-range artillery of prayer. So, too, even if we are separated by physical or emotional distance, we can speak exacting words to the Lord through prayer on behalf of our family, friends, neighbors, co-workers.

19and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,

If I were Paul, I might have said, “As for me, pray that the doors of this prison might open so that I could get out of here. I’m tired of the dungeon. I’m tired of being chained to the soldier. I’m tired of being here.” But Paul didn’t say that. He simply said, “Pray that I might be bold in sharing the gospel.”

20for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

“I’m right where I should be, here in the dungeon,” said Paul. “I’m thrilled to be here. After all, I’ve got a captive audience!” That’s what it means to be strong in the Lord.

Tychicus was sent by Paul

21But that you also may know my affairs and how I am doing, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make all things known to you; 

22whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know our affairs, and that he may comfort your hearts. 

“Don’t feel sorry for me,” said Paul. “My friend Tychicus will tell you I’m doing well.”

23Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

24Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.

The way to be strong is to wear the armor. I know some who almost physically put on the armor of God every morning. “I’m going to be conscious of truth in my inner life today,” they say. “And I’m going to make sure my heart is right. I’m going to tell everyone I meet today something of the Good News of the gospel. And should I be barraged with fiery darts, I’ll run to the protection of the congregation. I’ll be consciously looking for the Lord’s return today. And I’ll carry my Bible with me in order that I might meditate upon it in order to have an exacting word for someone in need.” While all of that is wonderful for some, I have found that the majority of us are more like my brother Don… When Don was in first grade, he was in such a hurry to get out the door and off to school in the morning, he thought he shouldn’t need to get dressed. His solution—until we told him otherwise—was to go to bed wearing the clothes he would wear the next day. Maybe, like me, you find it overwhelming to go through the practice of putting on your armor a piece at a time. I suggest you do something a whole lot simpler: Just put on Jesus. • He is the Truth John 14:6 (NKJV)6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. • He is our Breastplate of Righteousness Romans 13:14 (NKJV)14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. • He guides our feet in peace Luke 1:79 (NKJV) 79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,

To guide our feet into the way of peace.” • He is our Shield of Faith Hebrews 12:1–2 (NKJV)

12 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. • He is the Captain of our Salvation Hebrews 2:10 (NKJV)

10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. • He is the Word Made Flesh John 1:14

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

It’s all wrapped up in Him.