Know Your Enemy

Last Sunday, we started the year by looking at Ephesians 5:15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Each new day brings us 24 hours, 1440 minutes, 86,000 seconds, each moment a precious gift from God each calling for us to be good stewards, mindful that one day we must give an account for how we spent the time God loaned us, how effectively we "bought up" the opportunities He provided.

Wisdom is taking every opportunity today and fully using the time granted us. We have each been given the same amount of time but the difference is how we redeem this divine gift. Instead of killing time, redeem it. Instead of counting the days, make your days count. Time is a strange commodity-we can't save it, retrieve it, relive it, stretch it, borrow it, loan it, stop it or store it , but you can only use it or lose it.

The greatest way we can REDEEM TIME is by investing our time in three specific areas:

SPEND TIME WITH GOD

The wisest way to redeem my time is making a decision that God is going to get the first and the best of my time. And in order for that to happen…I have to say “no” to some things so that I can say “yes” to HIM.

SPEND TIME WITH FAMILY

Maybe you’ve heard about the little boy that asked his dad how much he made per hour and then because his dad was always too busy to play with him…the little boy asked if he could buy a half-hour of his Daddy’s time.

Sometimes because we are so busy…time spent on our family can suffer. Again…I think one of the silver linings of this crisis we find ourselves in…is families are spending much needed time together. It’s almost as though God is using this to give us an opportunity to hit the “reset button” on life and gather with our family.

We’ve all said, “Just a minute…” or “In a little while…” Maybe it’s time we make sure we redeem our time more deliberately on our families. The time for investing in your family is now. If you don’t invest in your marriage today…you’ll be sorry tomorrow. Once your kids are grown…you can’t go back and relive their childhood. You can’t go back in time and train them to live Godly lives. Time is limited…and one of the wisest places you can redeem it…is on your family.

SPEND TIME ON OTHERS

How are you spending the time you have making a difference in the lives of others outside your home? Who in your neighborhood, workplace, or school could you redeem time by serving this week?

Ok, now that I’ve given a recap of last week to get us all on the same page, let me begin to plow some new ground. Please turn forward in your Bibles to Ephesians 6 and consider another issue that Paul addresses as he teaches us to walk/live wisely!

As Christians, we face three enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil (Eph. 2:1–3). “The world” refers to the system around us that is opposed to God, that caters to “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:15–17). “Society apart from God” is a simple, but accurate, definition of “the world.”

“The flesh” is the old nature that we inherited from Adam, a nature that is opposed to God and can do nothing spiritual to please God.

“The Devil” is not only our enemy, but he is the enemy of God. He hates us because he hates God. In speaking of these three enemies, I don’t mean to frighten you, but only want to inform you. The phrase, “know your enemy” comes from the ancient Chinese general Sun Tzu (SOON-tzuh) and the full quote goes like this: "“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” That’s pretty good stuff, but let me show you something better!

If you know Jesus and have been made a new creature by the power of the Holy Spirit through His death and resurrection, you have been given the Bold and Victorious life of an overcomer!

You see, Christ overcame the world (John 16:33; Gal. 6:14), and the flesh (Rom. 6:1–6; Gal. 2:20), and the devil (Eph. 1:19–23) and the Spirit of God enables us, by faith, to appropriate Christ’s victory for ourselves. In other words, as believers, we do not fight for victory over our enemies but —we fight from the victory won by our Lord Jesus!

The intelligence corps plays a vital part in military warfare because it enables the officers to know and understand the enemy. Unless we know who the enemy is, where he is, and what he can do, we have a difficult time defeating him. Not only in Ephesians 6, but throughout the entire Bible, God instructs us about the enemy, so there is no reason for us to be caught off guard. So this morning let’s hear what God through the Apostle Paul has to say about our enemy, the devil!

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

In Ephesians, Paul explains the need for unity in the body of believers for there will be inevitable clashes with evil, and the church needs to be unified if they are to be ready to stand and fight.

“Be strong in the Lord” refers to strength derived from God, not strength we humans have to somehow obtain. The words “be strong” describe continual empowering of the Christian community. God’s strength and his mighty power are part of the kingdom blessings available to God’s people.

At the beginning of this letter, Paul prayed for believers to know God’s “incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms” (1:19–20 niv). The power that raised Christ from the dead empowers God’s people as they prepare for the spiritual battle they must face on this earth. They will need it, for, as the text continues, the struggle occurs in the spiritual realm and must be won with spiritual weapons. While the victory is certain, the battle still must be waged. Paul’s words are all in the plural, addressed to the church, who, like a warrior, needs to put on the complete armor of God. Of course, this combined effort calls for each member’s fullest participation.

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

Paul wrote this letter while chained to a Roman soldier. Certainly the soldier’s armor must have brought this metaphor to mind. Paul described a divine and complete “armor” that God gives believers in order to provide all we need to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. “Stand against” was a military term meaning to resist the enemy, hold the position, and offer no surrender.

The leader—the devil. The devil rules the world of darkness, the kingdom opposed to God. The enemy has many different names. Devil means “accuser,” because he accuses God’s people day and night before the throne of God (Rev. 12:7–11). Satan means “adversary,” because he is the enemy of God. He is also called the tempter (Matt. 4:3), and the murderer and the liar (John 8:44). He is compared to a lion (1 Peter 5:8), a serpent (Gen. 3:1; Rev. 12:9), and an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:13–15), as well as “the god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:4, niv).

Where did he come from, this spirit-creature that seeks to oppose God and defeat His work? The majority of Bible Scholars believe that in the original Creation, he was “Lucifer, son of the morning” (Isa. 14:12–15) and that he was cast down because of his pride and his desire to occupy God’s throne. Many mysteries are connected with the origin of Satan, but what he is doing and where he is going are certainly no mystery! Since he is a created being, and not eternal (as God is), he is limited in his knowledge and activity. Unlike God, Satan is not all-knowing, all-powerful, or everywhere-present. Then how does he accomplish so much in so many different parts of the world? The answer is in his organized helpers.

12 For 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.

Satan’s helpers. The Christians face a struggle against evil—describing hand-to-hand combat. But we are not in an earthly military campaign—our battle is not against enemies of blood and flesh. Instead, we battle the demons over whom Satan has control.

Paul called them “principalities … powers … rulers … spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). This suggests a definite army of demonic creatures that assist Satan in his attacks against believers. The Apostle John stated that one third of the angels fell with Satan when he rebelled against God (Rev. 12:4), and Daniel wrote that Satan’s angels struggle against God’s angels for control of the affairs of nations (Dan. 10:13–20). A spiritual battle is going on in this world, and in the sphere of “the heavenlies,” and you and I are a part of this battle. Knowing this makes “Living a Bold & Victorious Life” a vitally important thing to us—and to God.

The important point is that our battle is not against human beings. It is against spiritual powers. We are wasting our time fighting people when we ought to be fighting the devil who seeks to control people and make them oppose the work of God.

Satan’s abilities. Paul indicates that Satan is a strong enemy (Eph. 6:10–12), and that we need the power of God to be able to stand against him. Never underestimate the power of the devil. He is not compared to a lion and a dragon just for fun! The Book of Job tells what his power can do to a man’s body, home, wealth, and friends. Jesus calls Satan a thief who comes “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10).

Not only is Satan strong, but he is also crafty, and we fight against “the wiles of the devil.” Wiles means “cunning, crafty arts, strategems.” The Christian cannot afford to be “ignorant of his devices” (2 Cor. 2:11).

Some men are cunning and crafty and “lie in wait to deceive” (Eph. 4:14), but behind them is the arch-deceiver, Satan. He masquerades as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14) and seeks to blind men’s minds to the truth of God’s Word.

The fact that Paul uses the word “wrestle” indicates that we are involved in a hand-to-hand battle and are not mere spectators at a game. Satan wants to use our external enemy, the world, and our internal enemy, the flesh, to defeat us. His weapons and battle plans are formidable.

But take heart, look at this promise in verse 13:

13 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.

The believers’ response to the reality of this warfare should be to take up the whole armor of God. The armor is ready for us; we merely need to take it.

“Take up” is a technical military term describing preparation for battle. The believer-soldier must “take it up” in order to be ready. We would be negligent to do otherwise, for the battle is real, and we are Satan’s targets. Only with the armor will believers be able to withstand, a word describing standing against great opposition; indeed, it would be impossible to stand on our strength alone.

But we can’t do that until we have a change, using another clothing metaphor from Ephesians 4:22-24, where Paul urged believers “22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

This new man (self or person) with which believers are to clothe themselves is a new creation, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. This new self (literally, “new man”) is the new relationship we have with Christ that gives us a new orientation to life. The new self is according to the likeness of God with the characteristics of true righteousness and holiness. We have a right relationship with God that results in right behavior, creates an aversion to sin, and prompts us to devote ourselves to his service. These qualities are “true,” meaning they cannot be faked. This is totally opposite of the old way of living characterized by sin and corruption. The new self refers to the work God wants to do in our life through Jesus by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. It pictures the new direction, attitude, and mind-set away from self and toward God and his will. This happens when we admit our total inability to live a life that pleases God and we instead ask Jesus to save us from our sin.

I’m sorry for the wrong things I’ve done. Please forgive me. I believe your Son died on the cross for my sins and rose from the dead, and because of this I will enter into heaven when I die. Jesus, come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior. I willingly give you my life. Father, help me by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit to obey your will and live for you all my life. Thank you again for saving me! In Jesus name I pray. Amen.