We have several in our church family that have served our country in the military. For all of you that have served, you know how important it is to be trained for battle.
During the closing months of World War II, Nazi Germany became so desperate that they initiated the Volksturm, the people's army. This wasn't part of the regular army, but an attempt to boost their numbers by convincing males from ages 16 to 60 to step up and fight. There was no real time to train these men. With continual fighting and a lack of weapons, these untrained soldiers were often only able to familiarize themselves with their equipment while actually engaging their enemy.
Anyone who has ever served in the military can attest to how important it is to be trained and to be properly equipped. Knowing how to effectively engage the enemy is critical to victory.
The Christian life is a battle. Would you agree? In Ephesians 6:10-18, the Apostle Paul pointed out the equipment that God provides to His followers. Like an experienced general, Paul pointed to the spiritual armor that God has provided us. Our enemy, the devil, is vicious. But in Christ, our victory is sure. And then along comes the devil's temptations. To battle temptation, we have to be strong, we must suit up, and we must stand firm. Prayer.
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We have the tendency to want the easy life, a life full of comfort. Because of that, we need to be reminded that the Christian life is a spiritual battle. We must always be on our guard. But the good news is that we do not fight in our own strength. That's why, before he said anything else about the spiritual battle, Paul reminded the Ephesians to be strengthened by the Lord. Let's get into our Bible passage in Ephesians 6.
Ephesians 6:10-13 – “Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.
******** 13 For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.”
As a Christian, we are in a battle every day. When we think about spiritual warfare, we don't think about the kinds of things that happen in novels or in horror movies. Our battle is the daily war that we call the Christian life. Each day we are involved and engaged in a number of fights against a real and vicious enemy who wants to destroy us through deception and temptation. Because of that, we need to prepare for battle, not in our strength, but in the strength of the Lord, the One who has already won the victory. He's already on the throne, ruling over these evil cosmic powers. We engage in this battle daily by putting on His armor.
Our battle against the devil is a spiritual battle, but God equips us with what we need. God strengthens us as we make use of the resources He has already provided us that Paul calls the full armor of God. We don't put on a suit of armor like the knights of old did, we don't equip ourselves with guns and knives to fight the battle. This is a spiritual battle. We suit up in the armor that the King of Kings put on to save His people and judge His enemies.
I think the Apostle Paul was referring to something that the prophet Isaiah said about this spiritual armor.
Isaiah 59:16-17 – “He saw that there was no man—he was amazed that there was no one interceding; so his own arm brought salvation, and his own righteousness supported him. 17 He put on righteousness as body armor, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and he wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.”
Paul says that we need this armor because, without it, we cannot stand against the schemes of the devil. Again, we need to know that this is not a physical battle, but a spiritual one. Our enemy is the devil first and foremost. When Paul referred to the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of this darkness, this evil, these spiritual forces in the heaven, he was referring to the demonic realm. But we don't need to be afraid because God has exalted Jesus far above these evil powers and has made Him ruler over all things. So, Paul begins to describe the armor that we will need daily to fight these evil forces.
Ephesians 6:14 – “Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest,”
We need to know this list, each Christian has these pieces of equipment at his or her disposal. As a Christian, these are yours to use. This verse describes two pieces of our armor. First, each believer has access to the belt of truth. We can stand firm against the schemes of the devil by girding ourselves with the truth of the gospel. Satan is a liar; he is the father of lies. He attacks us through deception. Everything we do is held in place when we trust in God's Word. That's the truth Paul is referring to.
We're also given the breastplate of righteousness. Our battle is not just about knowing the truth; we must also live it out. We do this by trying our best to live lives of righteousness. We are a new creation. In Jesus Christ, we are a new creation. Satan will do his best to accuse us, but he has no grounds for his accusations because we have been forgiven and we rest in the righteousness of Christ. What does that mean, to rest in the righteousness of Christ?
We are not righteousness. We are all sinners that fall short of God’s glory. Christ never sinned. God made Christ sin to pay for all of our sins when He died on the cross. So, even though we are not righteous, we are COUNTED as righteous as God looks upon us through the blood of His Son Jesus. We can rest in knowing that through Christ’s righteousness, we are COUNTED as righteous and are saved.
Ephesians 6:15-16 – “and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. 16 In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”
One of the most important pieces of armor in this battle is our faith in Jesus Christ. Paul says that Christians are armed with readiness for the gospel of peace and a shield of faith. When we think about feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace, I think about what the profit Isaiah said:
Isaiah 52:7 – “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the herald, who proclaims peace, who brings news of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Isaiah was prophesying the coming of Jesus. That is what Jesus did—He came and proclaimed the good news of peace. We stand firm against the devil by sharing the gospel in the strength of the Lord.
Then comes the shield of faith. Faith is vital to our daily struggle against temptation. The Christian life should be a life of faith from beginning to end. We're saved by grace through faith; it's through faith we have access to the father; and Christ dwells in our hearts through faith. It is that faith that protects us. When we trust and believe Jesus, the devil's arrows will have no effect. The enemy can fire his arrows of lies, doubts, accusations, and temptations at us, but our faith in God keeps us from falling prey to any of those attacks.
Ephesians 6:17 – “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God.”
To round out the full armor of God, Paul teaches us that as Christians, we’re furnished the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit. This is how we can stand firm against the schemes of the devil, by remembering our salvation. Remember that day when Christ came into your heart. Remember now that the Holy Spirit indwells you.
Satan temps us by getting us to doubt our salvation or to be saddened over our sin. I can't count the number of times I have spoken privately with Christians who have a little doubt about their salvation. But we have been united in Christ and with Christ and have received all the spiritual blessings in Him. We fight temptation by remembering the salvation that God has accomplished for us in Christ. Because we're forgiven through His blood, there's nothing Satan can hold against us. We are free of guilt and shame. That feels good just saying that.
But take note that God has not just given us defensive armor; we also have an offensive weapon: the sword of the spirit - which is the Word of God. This weapon is both offensive and defensive. We can find rest in the promises in God's Word to defend us, and we can apply Scripture to specific situations to resist the enemy's attacks and send Him running.
That's how we combat and fight temptation that Satan throws at us. We do it by not only standing firm on the word of God but also by remembering and speaking the word to ourselves and to one another. Just remember back the way that Jesus battled Satan in the wilderness. He used the sword of the spirit. Every time Satan tried to tempt Jesus, He defended Himself with the word of God. There is no reason that we cannot do the same. Now listen closely to how Paul closes this.
Ephesians 6:18 – “Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.”
It is interesting that in this passage about spiritual battles, we're not called to defeat the enemy. Did you notice that? We are not called to defeat the enemy because Jesus has already done that. We're called to stand firm, not losing any ground to him. We can stand firm when we put on the armor that God provides. God's armor equips us to stand firm in our spiritual battles—those tempting times.
The spiritual battle also calls for prayer. Prayer is not a part of the armor, but it undergirds the armor. Someone once equated prayer with a walkie-talkie. He said, in the heat of the battle, we use that walkie-talkie to talk to our commander and seek his help and guidance. That is precisely what we are to do in our times of temptation and trouble. We are to talk to our commander Almighty God in prayer.
Notice how Paul says that we are supposed to pray:
- at all times. Our prayer life reveals our dependence on God. How often do you pray? We need to remain in constant contact with Him, looking to Him in the heat of the battle. Pray constantly.
-In the spirit. We can fight but we fight in the strength of the Lord. And we rely on His Holy Spirit as we pray. Even when we feel inadequate in our prayers, we rely on the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us. Paul reminded us in:
Romans 8:26 – “In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.”
- with every prayer and request. Dependency upon God means we bring every need and every request to Him.
- Alert and with perseverance. We're not to fall asleep while on duty! We need to be vigilant.
So for the past few weeks we have been talking about how temptation affects us. We have talked about the source of temptation which is our own evil desire. We've talked about being tempted to rely upon ourselves instead of God. We talked about the temptation to sometimes test God. We have also talked about the temptation to put other things before God. Last week we talked about how to recover from our fall into temptation. All these messages are on our Facebook page for SEBC.
Today we find out that we can always have the strength to stand against temptation by putting on the full armor of God. But the most important thing to undergird all of this is prayer.
So when that temptation comes, and it will, know that you are equipped to fight it through Jesus Christ. Our salvation is a source of deep encouragement in difficult times. Because we're forgiven through Christ's blood, there is nothing that Satan can hold against us. God's word supplies us with His promises to stand on.
My prayer is that everyone within the sound of my voice today knows Christ in a personal way. If you are one that does not know Christ as your personal Savior, I urge you to go to Him in prayer now and simply ask Him to come into your heart and into your life. It's your choice. What will you do?
