Still Standing
Notes
Transcript
As we gather here today most of us will fit into one of three categories which are those who just finished a battle, those who are currently battling or those who will soon battle. And for many of us spiritual warfare is something we will need to manage many times throughout our Christian walk. It can take place in a variety of fronts such as our thoughts, our situations, our health or our relationships.
So as believers what are we supposed to do when before during or after a spiritual battle?
While the Bible has a great deal to teach us on this top today I want us to focus on a familiar passage of Scripture found in Ephesians 6:10-20.
Ephesians 6:10-20
Ephesians 6:10-20
10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.
12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.
14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness.
15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.
16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.
17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
19 And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike.
20 I am in chains now, still preaching this message as God’s ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should.
At this point in his letter, Paul is instructing all believers to stand up against the work of evil forces in the world.
Today I want to break down this passage in three parts and discuss how we can and should apply these principles to make sure we are ready to have victory over the forces of evil in our time.
Preparing for Battle
Preparing for Battle
The first step in preparing for Battle is to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.
This is because our strength does not come from ourselves but rather the Lord is the source of our strength.
And not only is the Lord the source of our strength but He fully expects us to walk in the strength He provides because we trust His character.
We can see in the Old Testament that God gave the Israelites a similar charge before they engaged in battle with the inhabitants of the promised land.
6 “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them.
This point is echoed in
23 Then the Lord commissioned Joshua son of Nun with these words: “Be strong and courageous, for you must bring the people of Israel into the land I swore to give them. I will be with you.”
Here the Lord is directly telling Joshua to be strong and despite the natural urge to be afraid instead be courageous and do what He is calling Him to do and that He will be with Joshua.
How many times in our lives have we felt the Lord leading us to do something bold and bigger than our natural abilities? While it would be easy to just give up and say maybe it wasn’t the Lord speaking and it was just a thought in my head or I would love to do what He is laying on my heart but I don’t even know how to start that is not the right behavior rather we need to be bold and courageous and trust that the Lord will keep His word and that He will never leave us or forsake us.
Starting this church is a perfect example of this. In the natural I am not wealthy or connected to a vast network or people that will invest in us. All I have is a calling on my life and the desire to love God and love people doing what He has anointed me to do. I have a word and vision from the Lord and I keep in prayer daily to plan and work diligently where we are until we get where He is leading us. But every week, every day, every moment the Lord is there with me and He helps me and He has blessed me with all of you who see the vision of an outwardly focused church and are actively loving God and loving people right here with me.
He will do the same thing for each of you as well but it does require that you walk in the strength courage and confidence knowing that if God called you to it then God will bring you through it and also that it truly is an honor to be counted worthy to be used by the Lord. Amen!
The next step in preparing for battle is to know your enemies.
In verse 11 Paul instructs us to put on the full armor of God so that we will be ready to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. The phrase able to stand is a military expression that refers to a posture of opposition toward and enemy. Said differently this means that we do not waiver but look the devil in the eye with our feet planted firm ready and willing to go to battle with him because again we are strong in the Lord by the power of His might and the devil is a defeated foe. Amen!
So what are the evil strategies of the devil you may ask? While there are many the main evil ones are designed to disrupt the Church. The enemy does that by causing divisions in the church and by false teachings. These issues were in Ephesus and they are issues in the modern church as well.
We are living in a time where the church is becoming more and more divided by those who want to remain true to God’s word and those who wish to practice syncretism or add false teachings from the world into their doctrine.
Paul uses a Greek word methodeia which suggests that the devil is cunning and uses deception to advance his evil purposes. We know this to be true from reading other Scriptures and there is no doubt that many in the modern church are being deceived by false teachings and divisive tactics because they do not know the word of God.
6 My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me. Since you priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Since you have forgotten the laws of your God, I will forget to bless your children.
Next, Paul more clearly defines the enemy in verse 12 stating that we are not battling flesh and blood but rather evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, we are fighting against mighty powers in the dark world and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
You may say Pastor Rich well I have a wicked person in my life doing wicked things so how are we not battling flesh and blood enemies. The answer is simple only people being influenced by evil spirits will reject God and hurt others.
You the world has no defense against the influence of evil spirits unless they choose a life with Christ. I am not saying that all unsaved people will blatantly hurt others but what I am saying is the very fact they reject the gift of salvation which Jesus offers proves that they are being influenced by the devil an d his demons.
In contrast as Christians, because of Christ’s victory over the evil powers we have courage and strength to resist the hostile supernatural entities.
In verse 13 Paul once again instructs us to put on every piece of God’s armor so that way when evil comes against us and we battle them rather than being defeated or stumbling on our walk we will be victorious and standing firm.
13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.
As we just read the Lord will never allow us to be put into a situation which we cannot handle rather He will always equip us to defeat evil and stand firm in our faith.
Using the Full Armor of God
Using the Full Armor of God
In verses 14-17 Paul calls us to resist the evil powers by putting on the full armor of God.
First we are reminded again to stand our ground.
Then we are to put on the belt of truth.
The truth is that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven and that no one comes to the Father except through Him.
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
The belt around a soldiers waist held the breastplate in place and provided an attachment for the sword.
Said differently we must possess the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to support the breastplate of righteousness and the sword of the Spirit.
The Breastplate of Righteousness refers to God’s righteousness.
17 He put on righteousness as his body armor and placed the helmet of salvation on his head. He clothed himself with a robe of vengeance and wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion.
Because God wears a breastplate of righteousness it belongs to Him and we can only be made righteous through our faith in Jesus Christ.
We cannot earn or buy it for ourselves but is a free gift of God to all believers.
Because Jesus paid our sin debt in full and we are made righteous in the eyes of the Lord we now have a responsibility to live righteous lives said differently by Holy Living.
Righteousness is the character of God and as Christians we too are called to live Holy Lives which will help protect us from the deceptive evil forces that plot against us.
For shoes Paul writes that we are to put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that will be fully prepared.
The Gospel or Good News gives us the opportunity to put our faith in Jesus. Once we are saved we then receive the Holy Spirit who is the only one who can give us God’s peace.
17 For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
We see people searching for peace in all sorts of things but the truth is that true peace is God’s peace and the peace of God is a gift that can only be recieved when a believer has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit inside of them.
God’s peace surpasses all understanding meaning no matter what our circumstances are we can have peace knowing that Jesus loves us and that heaven will be our eternal home. Also, that because the Holy Spirit lives in us we have been given all authority by Jesus Christ over the devil and his demons so while they may battle us we can stand firm in victory. Praise Jesus! Hallelujah!
In addition to the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness and the peace that comes from the Gospel, we are given more armor to help us defeat the enemy.
Verse 16 tells us to hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.
1 Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.
When Paul uses the metaphor for the shield of faith he is referring to a large full body shield like the Roman soldiers would use to defend themselves against fiery arrows.
This means even though we may not always physically see God’s hand of protection on us, though I see it on a regular basis in my life, by our faith in God’s character we can have confidence that He not only loves us but will shield us and protect us from evil forces. All we have to do is to trust Him and the Lord will in fact shield us from attacks so we may continue to stand firm in the face of the enemy.
Next we are to put on the helmet of Salvation.
The assurance of God’s salvation protects us as believers just as a helmet protects a soldier in battle.
8 But let us who live in the light be clearheaded, protected by the armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation.
You see the devil and his demons will always try to trick God’s people and make them doubt God’s word. This is tactic has been used from the garden of Eden and many other times in the Bible and is literally being used countless times today.
Sin is rebellion against God and the penalty so significant the Jesus had to suffer and die to pay the sin debt for the world so that we can be reconciled with the Lord.
Yet today we live in an age where many people reject the Lord’s ways and instead do what they feel like doing regardless of the consequences and encourage others to do the same.
18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them.
20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.
22 Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.
23 And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.
25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.
26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other.
27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.
28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done.
29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.
30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents.
31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy.
32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
I know this is heavy preaching but it’s necessary because we live in a world that is constantly trying to influence us and our children to reject the Lord and live in sin.
People openly mock and ridicule Christians and in many parts of the world they are killed. Today there are approximately 90,000 Christians martyred annually. This does not include all of the innocent babies killed through abortions. In fact in 2020 the year of the pandemic abortion is the leading cause of death worldwide killing more than 42.6 million babies in 2020 alone. That’s higher than aids, cancer or malaria.
It was quite disturbing as I researched this number there is a website called worldometers that gives real time updates and so far this year there have been over 13 million abortions worldwide and to sit for just a moment and see the number continually going up before my very eyes was so tragic all I could do was pray for Jesus to come back soon.
My point here is simple. We live in a world with constant evil information and actions being performed daily and we need to keep our helmet of salvation firmly on our heads because we are in fact in a spiritual war zone.
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
The helmet of salvation the realization that we have sinned against a Holy and righteous God and instead of punishment we were saved not because of anything we did but because He loves us so much that He paid our penalty personally and not just for us but for all who will have faith and believe in Him. That is a love beyond measure and a love that will protect us even in the fiercest battles.
Lastly, Paul tells us to take up the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.
Because the devil is a deceiver and will use false teachings to try and trick God’s people.
He even tried this tactic on Jesus when He was tempted in the desert.
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil.
2 For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.
3 During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”
4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple,
6 and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’ ”
7 Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”
8 Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
9 “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”
10 “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”
11 Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.
Jesus perfectly demonstrates to us how to defeat the devil with the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.
The devil will try to tempt us to do something ungodly even at times distorting Scripture to do so.
But just like Jesus rebuked the devil, bound his lies and spoke correct scripture that is the same thing we can do in our lives.
If they devil puts a thought or temptation into your mind then immediately bind it, then cast it down and replace that ungodly thought with the correct word of God.
You see knowing the word of God will increase our faith, it will give us discernment because we will know the accuracy of the Bible and it will be clear when someone is not speaking correctly about it and also we will better know the character of God so if we are facing a situation or choice in or lives it becomes crystal clear what Jesus would do and what He wants us to do.
The devil is no match for the word of God. He will be defeated every time.
Pray and Be Alert
Pray and Be Alert
In verses 18-20 the Bible says to Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion.
This means that we communicate with the Lord everywhere we go and ask His guidance on every choice we make.
The great thing is that by knowing the word of God and the character of God the best choices become obvious and your prayers are enjoyable and something to look forward to rather than something done out of obligation.
Verse 18 also says to stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
Those of us who have lived long enough will agree that in life it’s not if something to deal with is going to happen but its when something to deal with is going to happen.
This is why we prepare and plan but despite the best preparation and planning sometimes surprises happen so we always need to be alert and not become complacent. The enemy is not going to let up on us so we need to be ready. And we are also reminded to not only pray for ourselves but for all believers. I will tell you that when you start to pray for others it makes you more connected with them. When I have had to counsel people I always tell them to pray for the other person. While there are several reasons one of the main reasons is that when you pray for someone else inevitably you develop more compassion for them. Jesus wants the church to be unified and wants us to pray for one another those in our local churches and those brothers and sisters around the world.
Lastly, in verses 19 and 20 Paul asks for prayer for himself as well. This is significant for us because at times there can be a tendency to think that people of a certain level in ministry have it all together but here is Paul a great man of God being vulnerable about the fact that his assignment is difficult. He wants to do a good job and boldly declare the Gospel to Jews and Gentiles alike even though he is imprisoned for doing so. Paul states that he is God’s ambassador and wants to keep on speaking boldly for Him as He should.
All of us need prayer to do what the Lord calls us to do with boldness and in the manner in which He wants the work to be done. No one even someone like Paul is so super spiritual that he doesn’t want the prayers and support of his brothers and sisters in Christ.
Closing
In closing, as we read there is a devil and his demons on the loose seeking to disrupt the people of God. But in His grace the Lord has left us with several tools to do battle with.
We have strength and courage in the Lord and the power of His might.
We have the full armor of God so we will stand firm against all strategies of the devil.
And we have prayer not only for ourselves for but for all our brothers and sisters in Christ.
So whatever it is that you are battling today know that the devil is a defeated foe. Know that Jesus Christ has been given all authority in heaven and earth. He has given you the Holy Spirit and there isn’t a demon in hell that can defeat you.
So stand firm.
Trust Jesus.
Have courage to do all and be all that God has for you.
Prayer