EPHESIANS 6:10-13 - The Strength of the LORD

Introduction

Over the past several weeks, we have been studying through the Apostle Paul’s instructions for a Christian household. We have been calling this series in Ephesians “God’s Blueprint for Living”—God’s instructions for what it means to live in the household He is building with Jesus Christ as the Head:

Ephesians 1:9–10 LSB

making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him for an administration of the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth in Him.

The message of Ephesians is that God has created a new household of faith that is made up of peoples who were once hostile to one another, but who have now been made into one man through the New Birth that Christ made possible through His death, burial and resurrection. Chapters 1-3 teaches us how Christ has made us into a new household, and Chapters 4-6 teach us how to live in that household—how we are to conduct ourselves, how we are to treat one another, how we are to put off the old futile mind of the sinful man and put on the renewed mind of righteousness and holiness.

Starting in the last half of Chapter 5 Paul turns his attention to showing us how a Christian household is meant to reflect Christ’s household of faith. He gives instructions to wives, then to husbands, then to children and then (as we saw last week) in a revolutionary manner he addressed the slaves of a Christian household, setting off a transformation of Roman society that eventually brought slavery to an end throughout the empire.

Don’t miss the significance of that truth—when Christians in Ephesus began ordering their households the way God commanded them in this book, it transformed their society. And not just with the slave trade, but relationships between husbands and wives, relationships between parents and children—all of it. The Christian household, when operating s God intends as a reflection of Christ’s reign over all things, is a force to transform the world.

And (as we observed a few weeks ago), this is why the household is under attack today. The Enemy of our souls knows that if he can compromise the family, he can cause an entire society to disintegrate. Look around us, and you’ll see the devastation caused by satanic attacks on marriage, on fatherhood, on motherhood, on children.

And now you can understand, can’t you, why Paul concludes his teaching on the Christian household by writing in verses 10-11

Ephesians 6:10–11 LSB

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the might of His strength. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

Christian, understand here from these verses that if you commit yourself to establishing a godly household, you will draw the particular hatred of the Evil One. To the extent that you commit yourself to being a godly father, a godly son, a godly mother, a godly daughter—when you seek to order your life as a faithful member of God’s household of faith, you will come under attack.

But take heart, beloved—because God’s Word open before you promises that

You can STAND FIRM against SATAN when your STRENGTH is in your SAVIOR

Ephesians 6:10 LSB

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

See here first of all, beloved, that in this battle you find yourself in,

I. CHRIST is your STRENGTH (Ephesians 6:10)

There are three different Greek words for “strength” and “power” that Paul uses here as he drives the point home that Christ is your strength to stand firm against Satan. Be strong in the Lord and in the might of His strength. To be “strong in the Lord” carries the idea of being specially enabled for a task ahead. To be given strength to meet the challenge, strength to do what needs to be done (in this case, the power to stand firm). And that strength in the Lord comes through the might of His strength. The phrase carries the idea of power as an authoritative, ruling power that is manifested in strength.

Paul uses that same phrase earlier in Ephesians to describe

Ephesians 1:19–20 LSB

...the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of the might of His strength, which He worked in Christ, by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

This is the strength that you have in Christ, beloved—

You stand EMPOWERED by His RESURRECTION (cp. Eph. 1:19-20; 2:6)

When Christ was raised from the dead and seated with all authority and ruling power over all things, you were seated there with Him:

Ephesians 2:6 LSB

and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

You stand firm against the schemes and attacks of the Evil One because you have been born again through His resurrection! He has raised you to life from your spiritual death, and He has given you the New Birth by which you possess His own righteousness. You stand empowered by His resurrection, and

You stand ESTABLISHED in His LOVE (cp. Eph. 3:16-19)

We saw in our study of Ephesians 3 the promise of the strength that we have been given in Christ—we have been given

Ephesians 3:16–19 LSB

…according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being firmly rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

There is your strength to stand firm against the schemes of Satan—rooted and grounded in the love of Christ for you! That as you grow to grasp the height and depth and breadth and length of God’s love for you in Christ you will be strong to stand firm—there is nothing that can take you out of His love for you; there is never a time when His love for you will fail— “no power of Hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck you from His Hand”! That is a love that will make you stand firm.

And make no mistake, beloved, you need this strength from your Savior. Because Paul makes it clear in verse 11 of our text that

II. The DEVIL is SCHEMING (Ephesians 6:11)

Ephesians 6:11 LSB

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

Now when we consider the nature of the enemy arrayed against us, we are naturally drawn to thoughts of his power and strength. As we sing in A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

His craft and power are great, and armed with cruel hate on earth is not his equal”. The Scriptures tell us as much:

1 Peter 5:8 LSB

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

And we consider how even the mighty angels of God were careful in their disputes with him:

Jude 9 LSB

But Michael the archangel, when he, disputing with the devil, was arguing about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

To be sure, Satan is a powerful enemy—but see here that we are called not to stand firm against the strength of the Devil! The truth is,

His POWER is broken

To be sure, “His craft and power are great”, but we also sing that “The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him, his rage we can endure for lo—HIS DOOM IS SURE!”

Christ has conquered Satan on the Cross—He has seen him “fall from heaven like lightning” (Luke 10:18), and Paul testifies in Acts 26:18 that through the Gospel our eyes have been opened and we have turned “from the power of Satan to God”. We are promised that when we resist him by standing in the strength of Christ, he flees from us (James 4:7). He is a formidable enemy, and as we shall see we must not take his attacks lightly, but the first thing we need to understand is that Satan’s power over you, Christian, has been broken forever! When you are standing in the strength of your Savior, you can stand firm against him.

But again—that is not to say that we can lightly dismiss this enemy—His power may be broken, but

He is a master of MANIPULATION (cp. Eph. 4:14)

It is not Satan’s strength that we must be armored against, but his schemes. You’ll remember that Paul writes about standing against schemes earlier in Ephesians 4, that believers must grow into the fulness of Christlikeness

Ephesians 4:14 LSB

so that we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming,

The word “deceitful” here has the idea of misdirection, or deceptive cleverness—think of a three-card monte hustler on the Atlantic City boardwalk, for instance. You are sure you know where the Queen of Hearts landed, but you never choose right (unless the con man lets you choose right!)

This is Satan’s game—he will manipulate and cheat and lie and accuse and gaslight you in every way he possibly can. He will tell you that the temptation you are experiencing is really not a big deal— “Come on, nobody cares whether you do this or not, it doesn’t matter...”; and then as soon as you succumb to that temptation he rips you to shreds with guilt: “Wow—what a lousy excuse for a Christian you are—how do you even sleep at night?!” He is the Accuser who will hammer you over and over with false guilt over sins you have already repented of, he will blind you to your own sin while causing you to focus like a laser beam on the faults you see in others; he is the Slanderer who will tell you that God’s promises don’t apply to you; that Christ can save sinners but you’re a different story and He won’t save you; that calls to repentance and faith are just “shaming” you because you are a victim and have no sins to repent of…

The list goes on and on—but the only way that you can stand firm in the face of these schemes is when you stand in the strength of what Christ has done for you and what He has said about you!

You need to be clothed with the strength of Christ in order to stand firm against the schemes of the Devil because

III. Your STRUGGLE is SPIRITUAL (Ephesians 6:12-13)

Ephesians 6:12–13 LSB

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

Our struggle (or our wrestling, as the King James puts it) is not against flesh and blood. Paul goes on to demonstrate that the fight before us is with “rulers, authorities, dark forces of the world, spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” There are various commentaries and authors and preachers who will delve deeply into those terms to try to describe the different levels of demonic activity, how they are organized, what each particular type of demon or fallen angel they represent, and so forth. And while there may be some benefit for us to dig into those, I think we can simply take these descriptions the way Paul’s original readers probably did—each of these words were used of Roman government offices! This is not to say that the Roman government (or any government, for that matter) is automatically demonic—but it does convey how daunting this spiritual battle is for the likes of us!

It’s like the old saying, “You can’t fight City Hall”. Your adversary has an unlimited bench of magistrates, lawyers, sherriffs, judges, clerks, administrators, legislators, governors, senators and presidents it can throw at you. Paul is making it clear here that you are hopelessly outnumbered in this fight. And not only so, but you are hopelessly outnumbered by immortal spiritual beings of great power and wickedness!

And so the first thing this must make you realize is that wherever your strength for this battle comes from,

It is not in the POWER of flesh and blood (cp. Acts 19:12-17)

Paul makes it very clear that you do not possess the strength for this battle in your own flesh! The church at Ephesus may have been familiar with the encounter that an unbelieving Jewish exorcist had with demonic forces during Paul’s ministry there. In Acts 19 we read of the extraordinary miracles that God was working through Paul, including casting out demons. When the seven sons of Sceva, the chief priest of the synagogue there in Ephesus, tried to cast out demons “in the name of Jesus that Paul preaches”,

Acts 19:15–16 LSB

And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them, subdued all of them, and utterly prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

Paul reminds the church again here in his letter that they cannot depend upon their own strength in this battle. It is not enough to use Jesus’ Name like some kind of magic word, you must be called by Jesus’ Name as His own possession!

The spiritual war that is upon you, Christian, is not fought through the power of your own flesh and blood. And

It is not AGAINST flesh and blood

As you seek to stand firm against Satan and his wickedness in this world, you must never forget that ultimately your battle is not against other people. Yes—evil people exist. Yes, there are those who have given such free rein to their sinful nature and hatred of God that they truly do become evil. And though the time may come when you must face a fellow creature whose evil has so consumed them that there is no peace between you and they must be resisted even to the furthest extremity, you must always remember that your fight is not ultimately against your fellow flesh and blood. It is against the Evil that is arrayed against you both.

It has been well-said that Satan hates his tools, and when he has no more use for them he destroys them. And apart from the life of Christ alive in you through the New Birth, that would be your doom as well. So while it is true that there are evil men who are seeking to destroy you because you belong to the household of Christ, they are ultimately the object of your pity, and not your hate.

Because it does not matter how far gone into evil or perversion or violence or wickedness or rebellion someone has gone—while they draw breath, there is still hope of rescue from their evil. Not because they are ultimately innocent and are mere victims of Satan’s evil schemes—it is not as though God will look upon them and say, “Well, your evil and wickedness isn’t really your fault; the Devil made you do it!”

No, the truth is that every one of us is born with the capacity for shocking, monstrous evil. The schemes of Satan and his forces are not focused on making men evil; all they have to do is encourage the evil that already exists within them. Unless Christ is your strength and you are clothed in His righteousness, you are defenseless against the Evil One’s schemes to destroy you.

Do not try to take on this fight alone. Like the hapless sons of the priest in Ephesus, you cannot just use the Name of Jesus as a substitute for belonging to Jesus. Those men thought that they could just use the language of a believer and claim the strength of Christ for themselves even though they had no personal connection to Him.

How many people there are that do that today! You ask them about their spiritual life, and they respond with how much their grandmother used to pray and read her Bible every day! It’s wonderful to have a godly heritage like that, but your grandmother’s faithful love for Christ will not save you from the destruction of the Evil One. You may have Christian grandparents, but God has no grandchildren. Their refuge in the Name of Christ has no room for you.

The strength of the Name of Jesus Christ to enable you to stand against the schemes of the Devil begins with seeing your sin, turning away from it and crying out to Christ for his forgiveness. Listen again to the Apostle Paul’s words in Acts 26—he is defending his faith in Christ and his ministry before the Roman and Jewish authorities, and he tells them that he has been called

Acts 26:18 LSB

to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’

Friend, this is where your freedom from the power of Satan begins—when you stop pretending that you are a good person (because you know that you aren’t). When your eyes are opened to the darkness that you are living in, and you turn to the light of God’s promise of forgiveness for your sin through Christ. When you come to God to repent of your sin, you are released from the power of Satan and placed into the power of God! And under the authority of God, He grants you forgiveness for your sins, He grants you to belong to His household where you have an inheritance of holiness before Him!

There is no other refuge from the evil of this world but in Christ. There is no other strength to stand firm in the wicked, tumultuous darkness of this present hour but in Christ. There is no other armor to shield you from Satan but Christ. Do not try to fight this fight alone; do not think to use the Name of a King Who you do not obey. Come to Him today and be empowered by His resurrection, be established in His love. Come—and welcome!—to Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION

Hebrews 13:20–21 LSB

Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus, equip you in every good thing to do His will, by doing in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

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