Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-18
Listen Link: http://www.firstcovenantcadillac.org/#!this-weeks-sermon/c20mw
There’s a war on! And it’s not overseas. I am not talking about the war on terrorism. I am talking about the war in which your heart is the battle ground. It is a war between spiritual forces of good and evil. The victory is ours in Christ. The battle belongs to the Lord. But we are called to play our part. That is why Paul instructs believers like you and me to “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.”
The life of discipleship gives us no time to relax and live our lives ignoring the spiritual battle. We are ordered to fight. It’s not a pleasant metaphor these days. But Paul had no qualms about telling Christians to be good soldiers, prepared for battle. Even when we do take a Sabbath and rest in the Lord, it is only so that we made ready for the next battle. But this kind of battle won’t wear us out if we are strong in the lord. In fact, we will rejoice!
This is not a grim business. Paul told us to “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” This is about awareness of what the devil’s schemes are. One of the most neglected subjects in many pulpits today is that of the personality, activity, and power of the devil. One of the national news magazines said recently, “Literal belief in the devil is widely viewed by theologians as a holdover from the Dark Ages.” Probably most of us would rather speak about the Lord Jesus than about His enemy (and our enemy) the devil, but the Bible says that the devil is a very real and a very dangerous character. Therefore, we must speak about him.
Besides this passage in Ephesians, we are also told in 2 Corinthians 2:11 that true Christians are not ignorant of the devil’s devices. And Timothy was to teach in such a way that his listeners might “come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.” (2 Timothy 2:26). We could do a good study just on that, but for now I will give a simple list. Some of the devil’s schemes by which he gets us off the true path of discipleship. Some of them would be; Satan wants to convince you that he doesn’t exist. He lies to deceive us and blind us to the truth. He looks for easy ways to tempt us and puts evil thoughts in our minds. Then he makes them look good and right. In this way he distracts us from our true purposes and God’s will for us. He promotes unforgiveness and discord among the believers, seeking to ruin our fellowship and he incites others to persecute us.
We could mess up and make mistakes even without the devils prompting. But he really is there and makes it even harder for us to follow our Lord and Savior. One who takes Christ as his Savior and starts to live and work for Him will soon discover that there is an enemy seeking to destroy his faith and testimony. All of us find that living the Christian life involves an ongoing warfare. But God has provided spiritual armor to protect us, and he has placed in our hands a sword—the Word of God—to help us conquer and overcome evil.
The armor includes a belt of truth (it always pays to be truthful), a breastplate of righteousness (the ability to do the right thing), and a shield of faith (the willingness to trust and believe that what God says is true). In addition, He gives the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.
In the Christian life we battle against powerful evil forces headed by Satan. To withstand his attacks, we must depend on God’s strength and use every piece of armor which is provided. All believers are special objects of Satan’s attacks because they are no longer on Satan’s side. We need supernatural power to defeat Satan, and God has provided that power by the Holy Spirit who lives within us, and by the provision of armor which surrounds us. May God help every believer to be alert to these truths.[i]
There is more in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 on how the Holy Spirit helps us. “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
Our main tool in waging this spiritual warfare is the Word of God that tells us the truths we need to know so that we do not get trapped in the devil’s schemes. Even Jesus himself, when he was tempted in the wilderness, set the example for us when he resisted the devil by correctly quoting appropriate Scriptures that tore down the devil’s argument and exposed his clever lies.
We are not in this world just to survive. We are here to be warriors for Jesus Christ and to carry his gospel to this confused generation. But our main tool, the Word of God is called the Sword of the Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit’s power to give us proper understanding of God’s word so that we use it correctly.
That is why we have the teaching in Romans 8:9-13, “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”
The way you put to death the misdeeds of the body is to use the Word of God with your spiritual understanding to truthfully identify what those misdeeds are and then rely on God for the strength to put them to death. But maybe that all sounds like flowery language to you. Maybe it raises other questions like HOW do you make sure that is how you are living? When the rubber meets the road, where you actually live your life, in your day to day decisions about how to spend your time and your money, do you live with a conscious dependence upon the Holy Spirit?
The Word of God also tells us how to do this. It’s very simple really. But our sinful nature resists it because it means letting go of pride and self-will. We have to give our hearts to God and then give our lives to follow him. But again, how do we get the courage to do this? Proverbs 23:26 says, “My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways.”
There’s the command, “give me your heart.” And the how we do that is in the second half of the verse, “Let your eyes delight in the ways of the Lord.” As you delight in God, you will grow in courage and faith. How does this happen? Take time to meet Jesus. He kept the Law. He delighted to give his will to the Father. And now, having atoned for our sins, he lives in us and for us.
Jesus wants to meet with you. His office is always open. You can knock and go in anytime. Out of your relationship with him you can be strong in dealing by grace with others. You can have a backbone both to resist personal temptation and to step out and share this saving gospel with others. You can do right when it’s hard. You can do love when it is above and beyond the normal human expectations. [ii]
The only way is to meet with Jesus. Tell him where you are messing up. Let him clean it up. He will. Remember, it is a spiritual battle. Your actions in the physical world are largely governed by the strength of your inner spirit. It’s sort of like being a successful athlete in the ball field is largely governed by your training and discipline off the field. The greatest ball players do things that are not in the ball game, but that have a great impact in the game. They lift weights. They run track. They review videos of past games. They do all these things that are not actually playing the game, so that when they are playing the game, they find they have resourced themselves to play better.
In the same way, prayer may seem like you’re not actually doing life. But it is the single most important thing you do when you are not at work or play that has the greatest impact on how well you work or play. You lift weights, off your shoulders and lay them at the foot of the cross. You read the Bible and let its words soak into your heart. You review your past days to give thanks for the good and repent of the sins. You do all these things that are not the same as the work or play and you find yourself resourced to work or play better.
We know this really works. It is a practical reality. To help us see that I have asked Tony Dennis to give his personal testimony of the kind of difference the Jesus makes. How life can be transformed when we surrender it to Christ and rely on the Holy Spirit.
(We heard a great testimony, available on the audio version. Use the listen link.)
Listen Link: http://www.firstcovenantcadillac.org/#!this-weeks-sermon/c20mw
There’s a war on! And it’s not overseas. I am not talking about the war on terrorism. I am talking about the war in which your heart is the battle ground. It is a war between spiritual forces of good and evil. The victory is ours in Christ. The battle belongs to the Lord. But we are called to play our part. That is why Paul instructs believers like you and me to “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.”
The life of discipleship gives us no time to relax and live our lives ignoring the spiritual battle. We are ordered to fight. It’s not a pleasant metaphor these days. But Paul had no qualms about telling Christians to be good soldiers, prepared for battle. Even when we do take a Sabbath and rest in the Lord, it is only so that we made ready for the next battle. But this kind of battle won’t wear us out if we are strong in the lord. In fact, we will rejoice!
This is not a grim business. Paul told us to “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” This is about awareness of what the devil’s schemes are. One of the most neglected subjects in many pulpits today is that of the personality, activity, and power of the devil. One of the national news magazines said recently, “Literal belief in the devil is widely viewed by theologians as a holdover from the Dark Ages.” Probably most of us would rather speak about the Lord Jesus than about His enemy (and our enemy) the devil, but the Bible says that the devil is a very real and a very dangerous character. Therefore, we must speak about him.
Besides this passage in Ephesians, we are also told in 2 Corinthians 2:11 that true Christians are not ignorant of the devil’s devices. And Timothy was to teach in such a way that his listeners might “come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.” (2 Timothy 2:26). We could do a good study just on that, but for now I will give a simple list. Some of the devil’s schemes by which he gets us off the true path of discipleship. Some of them would be; Satan wants to convince you that he doesn’t exist. He lies to deceive us and blind us to the truth. He looks for easy ways to tempt us and puts evil thoughts in our minds. Then he makes them look good and right. In this way he distracts us from our true purposes and God’s will for us. He promotes unforgiveness and discord among the believers, seeking to ruin our fellowship and he incites others to persecute us.
We could mess up and make mistakes even without the devils prompting. But he really is there and makes it even harder for us to follow our Lord and Savior. One who takes Christ as his Savior and starts to live and work for Him will soon discover that there is an enemy seeking to destroy his faith and testimony. All of us find that living the Christian life involves an ongoing warfare. But God has provided spiritual armor to protect us, and he has placed in our hands a sword—the Word of God—to help us conquer and overcome evil.
The armor includes a belt of truth (it always pays to be truthful), a breastplate of righteousness (the ability to do the right thing), and a shield of faith (the willingness to trust and believe that what God says is true). In addition, He gives the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.
In the Christian life we battle against powerful evil forces headed by Satan. To withstand his attacks, we must depend on God’s strength and use every piece of armor which is provided. All believers are special objects of Satan’s attacks because they are no longer on Satan’s side. We need supernatural power to defeat Satan, and God has provided that power by the Holy Spirit who lives within us, and by the provision of armor which surrounds us. May God help every believer to be alert to these truths.[i]
There is more in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 on how the Holy Spirit helps us. “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
Our main tool in waging this spiritual warfare is the Word of God that tells us the truths we need to know so that we do not get trapped in the devil’s schemes. Even Jesus himself, when he was tempted in the wilderness, set the example for us when he resisted the devil by correctly quoting appropriate Scriptures that tore down the devil’s argument and exposed his clever lies.
We are not in this world just to survive. We are here to be warriors for Jesus Christ and to carry his gospel to this confused generation. But our main tool, the Word of God is called the Sword of the Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit’s power to give us proper understanding of God’s word so that we use it correctly.
That is why we have the teaching in Romans 8:9-13, “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”
The way you put to death the misdeeds of the body is to use the Word of God with your spiritual understanding to truthfully identify what those misdeeds are and then rely on God for the strength to put them to death. But maybe that all sounds like flowery language to you. Maybe it raises other questions like HOW do you make sure that is how you are living? When the rubber meets the road, where you actually live your life, in your day to day decisions about how to spend your time and your money, do you live with a conscious dependence upon the Holy Spirit?
The Word of God also tells us how to do this. It’s very simple really. But our sinful nature resists it because it means letting go of pride and self-will. We have to give our hearts to God and then give our lives to follow him. But again, how do we get the courage to do this? Proverbs 23:26 says, “My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways.”
There’s the command, “give me your heart.” And the how we do that is in the second half of the verse, “Let your eyes delight in the ways of the Lord.” As you delight in God, you will grow in courage and faith. How does this happen? Take time to meet Jesus. He kept the Law. He delighted to give his will to the Father. And now, having atoned for our sins, he lives in us and for us.
Jesus wants to meet with you. His office is always open. You can knock and go in anytime. Out of your relationship with him you can be strong in dealing by grace with others. You can have a backbone both to resist personal temptation and to step out and share this saving gospel with others. You can do right when it’s hard. You can do love when it is above and beyond the normal human expectations. [ii]
The only way is to meet with Jesus. Tell him where you are messing up. Let him clean it up. He will. Remember, it is a spiritual battle. Your actions in the physical world are largely governed by the strength of your inner spirit. It’s sort of like being a successful athlete in the ball field is largely governed by your training and discipline off the field. The greatest ball players do things that are not in the ball game, but that have a great impact in the game. They lift weights. They run track. They review videos of past games. They do all these things that are not actually playing the game, so that when they are playing the game, they find they have resourced themselves to play better.
In the same way, prayer may seem like you’re not actually doing life. But it is the single most important thing you do when you are not at work or play that has the greatest impact on how well you work or play. You lift weights, off your shoulders and lay them at the foot of the cross. You read the Bible and let its words soak into your heart. You review your past days to give thanks for the good and repent of the sins. You do all these things that are not the same as the work or play and you find yourself resourced to work or play better.
We know this really works. It is a practical reality. To help us see that I have asked Tony Dennis to give his personal testimony of the kind of difference the Jesus makes. How life can be transformed when we surrender it to Christ and rely on the Holy Spirit.
(We heard a great testimony, available on the audio version. Use the listen link.)
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