Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 to 24.
If you're wondering why we're in Ephesians 6 when we should be in Matthew 22, it's because
! Todd Bourne, one of our pastoral interns, was supposed to preach today from Matthew 22.
He was scheduled to preach.
But all of our pastoral team, we were at the Regional Assembly of Elders, which happens
twice a year in Pennsylvania with our denomination.
And I think he caught some kind of stomach bug because he was hurling on the way back
yesterday, and he was not able to make it to church today.
So I am pinch hitting.
I had to pull back from an old, old sermon maybe seven, eight years ago that probably
most of you have never heard.
I looked through it, and I was like, okay, this needs a lot of work.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to put in as much work as I would like, but the Lord's
going to help us in my weakness.
He's going to speak to us.
So Ephesians 6, verses 10 to 24.
Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.
Amen.
Heavenly Father,
it's so easy, we confess, Lord, to be conditioned by our surroundings, by this simple world,
to think like the world,
to live and believe as if this world that we see with our eyes is all there is.
But we ask, God, that from your Word in Ephesians 6 this morning, that you would expose to us
spiritual realities, that you would open up the eyes of our hearts
so that we might live with the urgency, with faith, with hope and love that your Word calls forth from us.
For the Lord who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have done that from us who have
his word, Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 to 24. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength
of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of
the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of
evil in the heavenly places. 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 firm. Stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of
truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet,
having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, take up the shield
of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet
of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit
with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for
all the saints. And also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim
the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly
as I ought to speak. This is God's holy and authoritative word. Please be seated.
In wartime, everything changes. During World War II, many everyday industries and institutions and
civilians were all redirected toward wartime needs. Automobile companies like Ford and General Motors
stopped making cars and started making tanks and bombers instead. Typewriters and cash register companies
started producing rifles and ammunition. The clothing industry, instead of putting out fashion items,
started focusing on making military uniforms and parachutes and tents. Food companies started
focusing on making combat rations, powdered eggs, canned goods for the troops. Civilians participated in a
number of austerity measures. They collected tin cans and pots and pans so that they can be used to make
ammunition. They collected bike tires. Rubber was hard to come by. Gasoline was rationed out,
and people conserved their fuels in their homes, lest the tanks and the fighter jets and the naval ships
run out of fuel. Volunteers held blood drives all over the city. Schools and universities became research
hubs for military technology and theoretical physicists who were working previously on abstract quantum problems
like J. Robert Oppenheimer started working on the Manhattan Project, which produced a nuclear bomb.
The British luxury ocean liner, the RMS Queen Mary, which used to ferry 1,000 people at a time on cruise trips
in spacious, luxurious suites, was converted into a troop carrier with cramped bunk beds up to 10-story high
and ferried Allied soldiers, sometimes over 16,000 soldiers at a time.
The United States became what historians often call a total war economy, total war society,
where nearly every aspect of the civilian life was transformed and harnessed toward war efforts.
In wartime, luxury gives way to austerity. A profit mentality gives way to sacrifice mentality.
And complacency gives way to readiness and alertness.
Do you know that we are in the middle of a spiritual war?
At the end of his life, Paul says in 2 Timothy 4, 7,
I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.
Why does he talk like that?
Because keeping the faith in this life is a fight.
It's a battle.
If you think he can scurr through life while avoiding conflict with the enemy,
you're gravely mistaken.
We are surrounded by enemies without and assailed by enemies within.
Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 9, 26,
I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air,
but I discipline my body and keep it under control,
lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
The Christian life is a boxing bout.
We're ducking and weaving.
We're stepping in and throwing jabs.
We're punching and being pummeled.
And if we're not paying attention, we will get knocked out cold.
17th century English theologian John Owen wrote in his famous book,
The Mortification of Sin,
There is not a day but sin foils or is foiled,
prevails or is prevailed upon.
Let no man think to kill sin with few easy or gentle strokes.
I think I have this next quote up there to project for you.
You must always be at it while you live, killing sin.
Do not take a day off from this work.
Always be killing sin or it will be killing you.
Does that sound extreme to you?
He's just echoing Romans 8, 13.
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die.
But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body,
you will live.
Another 17th century English pastor, William Gurnall, similarly writes,
The Christian must always be at war.
If he has peace with sin, he is at war with God.
Does that sound extreme?
He's just echoing James 4, 4.
Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?
Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Brothers and sisters, we are at war.
Do we walk in the flesh?
It says in 2 Corinthians 10, 3.
We are not waging war according to the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh,
but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
And that's what this passage is about.
Those weapons of spiritual warfare.
And I want to remind you that this language of spiritual warfare,
this is not a metaphor.
It's not a metaphor.
Therefore, there is a literal spiritual war going on.
It's not a physical war, yes, that much is true.
But it's nonetheless a real spiritual war with invisible, evil, hostile forces.
There are real casualties in this war.
Real damage and death in this war.
Some of us might not make it.
The scope and consequence of this war far exceed any world wars history has ever known.
It's a matter of eternal life and eternal death.
And even just getting this what's at stake this morning would radically change our lives.
So if that's the case, how much more should we be vigilant in this spiritual war?
And this is my main point this morning.
We must put on the whole armor of God so that we can stand against the schemes of the devil.
I'm going to address that in three main points.
First, know your enemy.
Two, put on God's armor.
Three, pray for your comrades.
In order to be victorious, we must know our enemy.
As the famed 6th century BC Chinese general Sun Tzu wrote in his book, The Art of War,
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.
Paul begins in verses 10 to 11.
Finally, Paul is now tying the bow at the top and wrapping all of the epistle to the Ephesians together with this passage.
And this is his urgent, final closing exhortation.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
Likewise, for that same reason, the armor that we put on is not our own armor.
It is described as the whole armor of God.
So this is the main exhortation of this passage, verse 11 and verse 13.
Take up the whole armor of God.
Put on the whole armor of God.
And what's the purpose, the goal of that putting on?
Verse 11 and verse 13 tell us that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
Verse 11.
Verse 13, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm.
That verb occurs again and again in this passage.
Stand, stand, withstand.
Stand, if we don't resist and stand firm, we will be swept off our feet by his overwhelming force.
And the devil doesn't merely rely on brute force.
It says in verse 11 that the devil has schemes against us.
Paul used that same word in Ephesians 4.14 and warned believers to no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine,
by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Schemes of the enemy.
Cunning, craftiness.
The devil's designs on us are not haphazard.
It is methodical.
It's strategic.
The devil is not some abstract force of evil.
He is a personal, intelligent being that is scheming against us.
He ambushes us.
Catches us off guard.
He waits for us to feel safe, secure, and complacent.
And then he pounces from behind.
Isn't this why 1 Corinthians 10.12 warns us,
Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
Our enemy seeks to divide and conquer.
He sows division within the body of Christ.
He stirs up unforgiveness and resentment in our midst
because he knows that we are stronger when we stand together and lock arms and stand against him.
So he divides us, isolates us, to pick us off one by one.
This is one of Satan's trademark attacks.
2 Corinthians 2.10-11 says,
Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive.
Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything,
has been for your sake in the presence of Christ,
so that we would not be outwitted by Satan,
for we are not ignorant of his designs.
What are the designs of Satan that we must not be ignorant of
so that we are not outwitted by him?
He makes us not forgive one another.
Have you ever thought of forgiveness in that light?
Consider Ephesians 4.26-27.
It's related.
Be angry and do not sin.
And do not let the sun go down on your anger.
And give no opportunity to the devil.
If we let the sun go down on our anger,
if we harbor bitterness and resentment,
if we refuse to forgive and release the offender from our hatred and vengeance,
we give opportunity to the devil, he says.
And that word opportunity in Greek is literally a word that means place.
We give him a place.
John Calvin comments on this same verse, Ephesians 4.27,
I have no doubt that Paul was warning us to beware,
lest Satan should take possession of our minds like an enemy-occupied fortress
and do whatever he pleases.
Sinful anger gives the devil a foothold,
a beachhead in our spiritual warfare,
where he could set up his base camp and from there to launch his vicious attacks.
Unforgiveness,
unforgiveness,
harboring anger and resentment,
destroys relationships,
divides communities,
devastates homes and marriages,
deadens our souls to joy and gratitude and mercy.
So are you aware of the schemes of the devil?
John 10.10 tells us,
the devil's aim is to steal,
kill and destroy.
And to that end,
he employs various schemes
and all of his schemes can be categorized into two overarching categories.
One is deception,
the other is accusation.
That's what his name,
devil or Satan,
means.
He's the accuser.
He's a slanderer.
Revelation 12.9-10 describes both of these satanic functions.
And the great dragon was thrown down,
that ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan,
the deceiver of the whole world.
He was thrown down to the earth,
and his angels were thrown down with him.
And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying,
now the salvation,
the power and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Christ have come,
for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down,
who accuses them day and night before our God.
Satan deceives us and accuses us.
That's what he did, right,
in the Garden of Eden,
in Genesis chapter 3,
when God tells him not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
he slanders God's character,
saying he's being stingy toward you.
If you eat this,
it's only going to do good for you.
It's going to open up your eyes.
You're going to see.
Like God does,
eat it.
He lies.
2 Corinthians 11 tells us that he makes people preach a different gospel,
imparts a different spirit,
as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning.
2 Thessalonians 2, 9-10 teaches us that Satan's activity will be characterized
by all power and false signs and wonders
and all wicked deception,
because he is a deceiver.
For he is a liar and the father of lies.
He's also an accuser.
He's our adversary in court.
He's our prosecutor,
the relentless prosecuting attorney.
In the book of Job,
Satan accuses Job before God,
contending that the only reason Job fears God and worships him
is because God has pampered him with all these blessings.
Deprive him of these things,
and he will curse you to your face.
So Satan takes away Job's wealth.
He takes away his children.
He takes away his health.
All of it in order to produce counter evidence
that he can use to accuse Job before God.
It's like what we read in Zechariah 3, 1-2,
in the assurance of pardon earlier.
He accuses Joshua, the high priest,
of his filthy garments.
I found in pastoral ministry
that many Christians don't know how to distinguish
the accusations and the slander
and the condemnation of the enemy
from the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 2, 4 tells us,
do you presume on the riches of his kindness
and forbearance and patience,
not knowing that God's kindness
is meant to lead you to repentance?
Satan's condemnation
always comes with this crushing sense
of burden and condemnation.
The Lord's conviction,
the conviction of the Holy Spirit
always comes with an invitation,
with the gentleness and the patience of the Lord,
the kindness that leads us to repentance.
Psalm 130, 3-5 says,
if you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness
that you may be feared.
God does not make us cower in fear of him
by his exacting righteousness and justice.
He makes us fear him by his forgiveness,
by his grace and mercy.
So if you're wallowing in your guilt
and your shame
and you're feeling condemned
and you're not believing the promise
of Romans 8, 1
that there is therefore now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus
and you're feeling that weight of condemnation
crushing you, putting you down,
that is not of the Lord.
Know to distinguish the condemnation
of the enemy from the conviction
of the Holy Spirit.
We must be knowledgeable
about the devil's schemes.
For it says in verse 12,
we do not wrestle against flesh and blood
but against the rulers,
against the authorities,
against the cosmic powers
over this present darkness,
against the spiritual forces of evil
in the heavenly places.
Notice the language that Paul uses
to describe this fight.
He uses the word wrestle,
which is very intentional.
That's the language of hand-to-hand combat.
Don't think that this spiritual battle
is happening far away.
It's right at our doorsteps.
It's right in our face.
It's right in our hearts.
If you watch old war movies,
of which I enjoy those too much,
there's a phase in the battle
where you're done shooting arrows from afar
or you're done shooting muskets from afar
and now there's a command
from the general to charge
and then everybody is clashing with each other
in free-for-all, hand-to-hand melee.
That's the kind of spiritual battle we are in.
Wrestling.
We're not playing video games.
We're not controlling drone strikes
from a safe bunker hidden under some camouflaged place.
We're in hand-to-hand combat war zone.
And whom are we wrestling against?
Paul says we're not wrestling against flesh and blood.
That represents humans, mortals.
Instead, we are wrestling against the rulers,
against the authorities,
against the cosmic powers over this present darkness,
against the spiritual forces of evil
in the heavenly places.
He's referring to spiritual forces of evil
in the invisible realm of spirits.
The devil and his minions,
they are warring against us.
This is so insightful and instructive for us as Christians.
Our world is full of antagonism
and conflict between humans.
And of course, because we are physical beings,
we do sometimes have physical, natural enemies.
But the ultimate enemy that we face
is not fellow humans, flesh and blood,
but it is those in the realm of spirits,
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Our ultimate enemy is not Iran or China.
It's not liberals or conservatives.
It's not Jews.
It's not Gentiles.
It's not men.
It's not women.
Our ultimate enemies are the rulers,
the authorities,
the cosmic powers over this present darkness,
the spiritual forces of evil.
This spirit,
this evil spirit,
the prince of the power of the air,
he is the spirit that is now at work
in all the sons of disobedience,
it says in Ephesians 2.2.
This is such a subtle deception
that we succumb to.
How many marriages have fallen apart
because husband and wife
think of the other person as their enemy,
not recognizing that they're fighting side by side
against another enemy?
How many church splits have happened
because church members don't recognize
that they're fighting side by side
against a common enemy
instead think that they're fighting against each other?
We wrestle against the rulers,
the authorities,
the cosmic powers over the...
I mean, think about it,
because if our country is very divided,
people with all kinds of different opinions,
they fight and bicker over all kinds of things,
but imagine if we just got bombed by somebody.
They're trying to wipe the United States of America out.
You think we're going to be bickering about those things?
No, we forget those things for the time being
because if we don't fight this enemy,
we don't survive.
We forget that as Christians sometimes.
We have a real enemy.
It's not us.
But who would be so foolhardy
to fight against the devil,
the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places?
So we need to put on God's armor.
This is the main point,
and sometimes people,
I've seen people go into really detailed analysis
of the full armor of a Roman soldier,
going into the details of,
you know,
that this is what this means,
the belt of truth,
this is what that means.
I'm not going to do that
because I don't think the spiritual armor in view here
is that of a typical Roman soldier.
The armor that's in view here
is rather God's armor,
it says.
And there is extensive Old Testament background
for learning about the armor of God.
So I'm going to give you first
a kind of bird's eye overview
of these different pieces of the armor,
and then we're going to go
and see how the robber meets the road,
what it actually looks like.
In verse 14,
it says,
to have fastened on the belt of truth.
That comes from Isaiah 11,
where the coming Messiah
is described in this way.
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
The word translated faithfulness there
from the Hebrew
is the same word
that's translated as truth in Greek.
It's the belt of truth
that God himself wears,
that God's Son,
Jesus Christ,
the Messiah,
wears.
Paul also says,
stand therefore having put on
the breastplate of righteousness,
and in verse 17,
tells us to take the helmet of salvation.
Those two expressions
come from Isaiah 59, 17,
which depicts God, Yahweh,
as the divine warrior
who will deliver his people,
and it says that he put on,
God,
a righteousness as a breastplate
and a helmet of salvation on his head.
So it's, again,
God's armor.
In verse 15,
Paul writes,
as shoes for your feet,
having put on the readiness
given by the gospel of peace.
Gospel,
the word that means good news,
likely in allusion to Isaiah 52,
verse 7,
which speaks of the messianic messenger
of God's peace this way,
how beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him
who brings good news,
gospel,
who publishes peace,
who brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion,
your God reigns.
Again,
God's shoes,
gospel of peace.
Likewise,
when Paul exhorts us
to take up the shield of faith
in verse 16,
it recalls numerous occasions
in the Old Testament
where God himself
is described
as the shield of his people.
Fear not,
I am your shield,
God says to Abraham,
Genesis 15,
2.
2 Samuel 22,
31,
this God,
his way is perfect.
The word of the Lord
proves true.
He is a shield
for all those
who take refuge in him.
And finally,
he mentions the sword
of the Spirit,
which is the word of God.
Paul's referring to Isaiah 11,
4,
the same passage
where the belt of truth
comes from.
He says that Messiah
shall strike the earth
with the rod of his mouth,
or more literally,
the word of his mouth.
It's,
and with the breath
of his lips
he shall kill the wicked.
The word of his mouth,
the breath,
the Spirit
from his mouth
shall strike the earth.
That's the sword
of the Spirit
that God himself wields.
So the whole armor
points back
to God's armor.
We are to put on
God's armor
that God offers to us
his own armor
that he wears
as the divine warrior,
the invincible God.
That's the armor
we're invited to put on.
And to put on
the whole armor of God
is akin to what
Paul said earlier
in Ephesians 4,
22 to 24,
put off your old self
which belongs
to your former manner
of life
and is corrupt
through deceitful desires
and to be renewed
in the spirit of your minds
and to put on
the new self
created after the likeness
of God
in true righteousness
and holiness.
So then to put on
the whole armor of God
is to be united
with Christ
in his life,
death,
and resurrection
and ascension.
How he's reigning
and to reign with him
in our faith
and to cultivate
the virtues
in keeping
with our new identity
in Christ.
So Galatians 3, 27
says,
for as many of you
as were baptized
into Christ,
you have put
on Christ.
To put on
the armor of God
then is to put
on Christ.
That's the bird's eye view.
Now let's see
what it looks like
when the rubber
meets the road.
Verse 14,
Paul says,
stand therefore
having fastened
on the belt of truth.
What is the belt of truth?
In earlier
in Ephesians 1,
13 to 14,
he talks about
the gospel.
When you heard
the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation
is the truth of God
in his word
but more specifically
it's the truth
of the gospel.
And it's the function
of the belt
or the girdle
is to bind
all of your clothing
together.
If the belt
is loose,
the whole thing
falls apart,
comes undone.
So it is imperative
that we fasten
this belt of truth
around us.
What is it
that holds
your life,
your purposes,
your priorities,
and your preferences,
and your opinions
all together?
What is it?
Is it the belt
of God's truth?
Or is it the lies
of the enemy,
the falsehoods
of this world?
Satan will often
lie and say,
yeah,
God says that.
Yeah,
you've heard
your pastor say that.
But it's really,
that sin
is not a big deal.
That sin,
that disobedience,
it's not a big deal.
Everybody does it.
It's okay.
What that does
is it loosens
the belt of truth.
And soon
you find your armor
coming loose,
coming in undone,
and there's all kinds
of vulnerabilities
exposed by it.
you've got to
fasten on
the belt of truth.
Having done that,
we must put on
the breastplate
of righteousness.
Satan is the accuser,
remember that.
He's ever accusing us
of our sins
and shortcomings
to drive us
to despair.
Oh,
how many times
in my life
that the breastplate
of the righteousness
of Christ
has saved me
from mortal danger?
You can't rely
on your own
righteousness.
2 Corinthians 5,
21 says,
For our sake,
God made Christ
to be sin
who knew no sin
so that in Him
we might become
the righteousness
of God.
We must put on
the Lord Jesus Christ,
as it says
in Romans 13, 14,
for He is
our righteousness.
Are you relying
on your own
righteousness?
Your own
obedience.
Remember that song
that we sang,
Come ye weary sinners.
Weary sinners.
Don't be deluded
into thinking
that you can make
yourself fit enough
to have righteousness
enough to withstand
all the schemes
of the enemy.
You cannot withstand it.
You put your own
armor on
and your own
righteousness on,
it's porous.
All kinds of chinks
and rust it through
and He will thrust
His spear right through.
straight to your heart.
You must put on
the righteousness
of Christ,
the breastplate
of righteousness.
Thomas Wilcox
wrote this.
I just realized
I'm quoting a lot
of 17th century
English pastors today.
It was not intentional.
Yeah.
He says,
In all doubting,
fears,
storms of conscience,
look at Christ
continually.
Do not argue
with Satan.
He desires
nothing better.
Bid him go to Christ
and He will answer him.
It is His office
to be our advocate,
His office
to answer law
as our surety,
His office
to answer justice
as our mediator,
and He is sworn
to that office,
put Christ upon it.
Isn't that why
He died on the cross?
So that our sins
can be imputed
to Him on the cross
and His righteousness
can be imputed
to us
so that we could
have a clear conscience,
so that we could
be forgiven,
so that we could have
an armor,
a breastplate
without any chinks
in it.
The perfect
righteousness
of Christ.
in the heavenly court,
it's the same
as it is
in the earthly court.
It's better for us
to shut our mouths
and let the lawyers
do the talking.
Let your
undefeated lawyer
defense Christ
do the talking.
You rely on
your own righteousness
and the devil
will poke holes
in your argument.
And His accusations
will expose you
as a hypocrite
and a fraud.
But behind
the breastplate
of righteousness
of Christ,
we are safe.
In verse 15,
Paul writes,
as shoes for your feet,
having put on
the readiness
given by the gospel
of peace.
I mentioned earlier
this is probably
an allusion
to Isaiah 52, 7.
The peace
that we have
with God
because of Christ,
the peace
that we have
with one another
Gentiles and Jews
reconciled
in Christ.
That peace
is what
enables us
to go
as messengers
and ambassadors
of the gospel
with the gospel
of peace
as shoes
for our feet.
Having put on
the readiness
given by the gospel
of peace,
we must also
put on,
it says in verse 16,
in all circumstances
take up the shield
of faith
with which
we can extinguish
all the flaming darts
of the evil one.
flaming arrows
were greatly feared
in ancient warfare
not only because
the arrow is sharp
and can pierce
but also because
once it pierces
and gets lodged
it spreads the fire
and the destruction
is far greater
than what a single
arrow could do.
And in response,
well-constructed shields
in those days
were covered
with calf skin
on the front
so that the flaming arrows
would be doused
by the moisture
in the leather.
in a similar way
the shield of faith
extinguished
all the flaming darts
of the evil one.
When we raise up
the shield of faith
we are taking hold,
grasping hold
of the promises
that God has given us
in his word
and interposing
those promises
between the enemy's
accusations
and slanders
and lies
and us
and our own hearts
and minds.
when Satan
accuses you
of all your failings
when he lies to you
and says that you are
good for nothing
that God doesn't love you
that he doesn't care
for you
if so,
why are all these
hard things happening
to you?
When he lies
you raise up
the shield of faith
and interpose
the promises
of God
his care for you
and his love
for you
and his protection
over you
and his sovereignty
over you
and put it right
between Satan
and his mouth
and between your heart.
Don't let those
fiery darts
pierce and burn you.
When you're paralyzed
by anxiety
and fear
hold up
the shield of faith
and the promises
of God
that he is your
heavenly father
who provides for you
and cares for you
and that if you can
cast all of your
anxieties on him
put that between
Satan
and his accusations
and your heart.
Similarly,
verse 17
tells us that we
must also take
the helmet
of salvation.
Salvation is a gift
we freely receive
from God
as it says
in Ephesians 2.8.
It's not up to us
but up to God
and since we
never merited
salvation
with our own
righteousness
we can never
demerit it.
we need
this assurance
of salvation
in order to
oppose the
powers of darkness.
Put on that
security that
comes with that
helmet of salvation
upon your head
to guard your
heart and your
mind in Christ
Jesus.
And finally
in verse 17
Paul mentions
the last piece
of the armor
the sword of the
spirit
which is the
word of God.
The word of God
and the spirit
of God
are inextricably
connected
because the word
of God
proceeds from
the mouth
of God
and the spirit
is the breath
that carries
forth the word
of God.
2 Timothy 3
16 says
that word
of God
is breathed
out by God.
The special
sword
reminds me
of Anduril
the lord
of the rings
the special
sword
which only
the king
of Gondor
can wield
and the
evil lord
Sauron
fears
because he
has been
defeated by
it in the
past
and it's
the only
sword
that can
defeat
him
again.
Similarly
there is
only one
sword
that can
stand
against
the real
spiritual
forces
of evil
in the heavenly
places
and that's
the sword
of the spirit
is the word
of God.
This is the sword
Hebrews 4
12 tells us
is living
and active
sharper than
any double-edged
sword
piercing to the
division of soul
and of spirit
of joints
and of marrow
and discerning
the thoughts
and intentions
of the heart.
Think about it.
How do you fight
spiritual forces
of evil?
You need
a spiritual
weapon.
A gun's
not going
to do it.
You need
something that
can cut
through the
division of
soul and
of spirit
and that
is the
word of
God.
The sword
of the
spirit.
William
Gurnall
in his
book on
spiritual
warfare
really
maybe one
of the
best books
ever written
on the
topic of
spiritual
warfare
called
The
Christian
Incomplete
Armor
says this
a pilot
without his
chart
a scholar
without his
book
and a soldier
without his
sword
are alike
ridiculous
but above
all these
it is absurd
for one to
think of being
a Christian
without knowledge
of the word
of God
and some
skill
to use
this weapon.
Do you
know God's
word?
Do you
read God's
word?
Do you
meditate on
God's
word?
Do you
memorize
God's
word?
This is
the only
weapon in
the arsenal.
How do
you expect
to fight
without it?
How do you
expect to
defend yourself
without it?
How can
we be
Christians
who go
without
reading
God's
word?
In a
spiritual
war.
Psalm
119
11
says
I have
stored
up your
word
in my
heart
that I
might
not
sin
against
you.
The
sword
of the
spirit
is what
protects
us from
the
temptations
and keeps
us from
sin.
It is
the sword
of the
spirit
that
pierces
through
and
exposes
the
errors
and the
lies
of
the
enemy
and of
this
world.
We
must
put on
the
sword
of
the
spirit
so that
we
can
stand
against
the
schemes
of
the
devil.
And then
we come
to Paul's
conclusion
in verses
18 to
20 that
we now have
to pray
for our
comrades.
Paul says
in verse
18,
prayer
is
prayer is not merely the seventh armor or weapon in the Christian's armory,
but it's rather that which enables us to put on the whole armor of God.
Look at verse 18. He tells us when to pray, how to pray, what to pray, and for whom to pray,
when to pray at all times, at every opportunity to pray without ceasing. You can think of it like
being on the phone with somebody. You might put them on hold for a bit. You might be distracted
for a bit. You might do other things, but there's someone on the other line always.
Be on the line with God always. Pray without ceasing. Pray whenever you have the opportunity.
Set aside time to pray. Make it a regular habit to pray, and don't let anything else intrude with it.
Prioritize it. Second, how to pray. Paul says pray in the Spirit, because our prayers must be guided by
the Spirit of God who alone comprehends the thoughts of God, who knows the mind of God.
Third, what to pray. Pray with all prayer and supplication, all types of prayers.
Prayers of adoration, confession, thanksgiving.
Prayers of supplication, all kinds of prayers. And why to pray. Paul says to that end, keep alert with
all perseverance.
Because apart from prayer, we cannot put on the full armor of God.
In his book, Desiring God, John Piper writes this, he said,
Prayer is a wartime walkie-talkie. It is not domestic intercom to ring up the butler to bring
another comfort to the den where we are already more secure than we should be.
Sometimes prayer malfunctions in our lives because we don't see its true purpose, that we are in a
spiritual war and that this is our direct line to the command center, to the general who alone sees
the full picture and who alone can send aid. Instead, we see it as another way to ring up the butler
for what we want, for more comforts.
So persevere in it. He says, keep alert with all perseverance.
If you've tried praying for five minutes, it didn't work, try again.
If you tried praying for one day or one week and it didn't work and you couldn't, didn't last, do it again.
Persevere.
Fifth, for whom to pray? For all the saints.
Do you pray for the church?
For your brothers and sisters in the church?
We need each other.
To put on the whole armor of God.
And then Paul finally asks them to even to pray for him.
In verses 19 to 20, also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to
proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly
as I ought to speak.
Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles.
He wrote most of the New Testament.
He's seen the Lord Jesus Christ personally in a vision.
He's acted by this point.
He has been proclaiming the gospel for 30 years.
He had been caught up to the third heavens and seen things that most men have never seen.
Perhaps he's the most fruitful and productive missionary that Christianity has ever seen.
And yet he asks the Ephesian believers to pray for him.
Because it doesn't come naturally for him to be bold in sharing the gospel.
He says, pray for me that I might open my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.
That I might declare it boldly as I ought to speak.
So if you feel not bold in sharing the gospel, you're in good company.
But we need prayer.
We need to pray for each other.
Don't fear being judged by people who think that you are too bold to share the gospel with them.
Fear rather being judged by Christ for our cowardice and not sharing it.
And not sharing it.
Do you see the spiritual realities?
Do you see that there's no hope of salvation apart from Christ?
That the whole armor belongs to God?
Then let's put on Christ together this morning as a church.
And not lose sight of this important truth as we battle together for the gospel.
Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father.
Lord.
Jolt us out of our spiritual complacency, Lord.
Make us aware of the grave threats we face all around us.
Make us vigilant.
Equipped.
With the full armor of God.
Lord, I pray for those who feel weak.
Downtrodden.
Heavy laden.
Who feel beaten down in the battlefield and don't feel like they can get up again.
Lord.
Encourage them.
Fill them with your spirit.
Help them to stand and persevere again in prayer.
To rise with the armor of God.
Rise up, O Lord.
Scatter your enemies.
When you can do it.
Help us to rely on you.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.