1. Please pray with
me. May the words of my mouth and the
meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our
Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word today comes from
Ephesians 6:10-20. Here St. Paul tells
us that we are to, “Be Strong” in the
Lord and the strength of his might.
Notice that Paul says that our strength isn’t in ourselves, there we’ll
only find weakness. Our strength isn’t
in the world either, there you’ll only find the devil and destruction. Our only strength is in the Lord and his
mighty power, he alone will give you the victory, dear brothers and sisters in
Christ.
2. “The
devil made me do it!” That
was a frequent line on a well-known TV program many years ago. It was supposed
to be funny, spoken to make the audience laugh—and they did laugh, because many
people today consider the idea of a real devil tempting humans to say or do bad
things to be an old religious superstition. It’s naive to take the devil
seriously. But Bible-believing people do not find the devil at all funny. We
know that the devil is real, and very dangerous. God warns us to be alert: “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a
roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the
faith” (1 Pet 5:8–9). Today’s text also speaks of the devil. May the Holy
Spirit guide and bless us as we consider how God provides heavenly armor for
our battle with the devil so that we may remain strong in Him.
3. St. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 6 that
we’re in the midst of a real spiritual battle.
In Ephesians 6:10-13 it says, “10Finally,
be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11Put on the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the
devil. 12For 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. 13Therefore
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.”
The battle is for our souls. It’s a matter of eternal life or death. St. Paul says that the devil is powerful and
not to be trifled with (v 12). People who don’t believe that Satan is real lay
themselves wide open to attack.
4. We can withstand the devil’s attacks only
with the full armor of God. Beware of
trying to go against him all alone. Martin
Luther reminds us in his hymn, “A Mighty
Fortress,” “With might of ours can
naught be done.” God says to be
strong in him and his might.
5.
St. Paul
tells us here in Ephesians 6 that we can’t protect ourselves piecemeal. Our
text tells us to “put on the whole armor
of God.” God says we’re to put it
on. Action on our part is necessary if we’re to fight the forces of evil
successfully.
6. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 that it’s not
merely crafty humans with whom we contend. We’re confronted by spiritual forces
of evil in the heavenly realm. That’s why we need to be alert to what this text
teaches, aware of our need for the whole armor, and appreciative that God
offers it to us. This war cost the life of God’s own Son. Jesus died on the
cross to defeat the devil and to be able to clothe us with the armor of his own
righteousness through our baptism into Him. While Jesus has already won the war
for us, battles will still rage until he returns again. In gratitude for his
sacrifice, we gladly fight on his side.
7.
If we’re
going to be strong in the Lord we’re going to need the whole armor of God for
our war against Satan. To Paul’s way of thinking, there’s no such thing as
putting on half the armor of God. We need all the protection God gives! Picture the armor in your minds. A Roman soldier preparing for battle first
puts the belt over his short tunic. “Stand
therefore, having girded your waist with truth” (v 14a NKJV). Every soldier
in every age needs to feel convinced that the cause for which he’s fighting is
true. Our cause is true. We stand against Satan and against the world because
God has opened our eyes to see him as he truly is. Because Satan has blinded
the world, it may ridicule us, abuse us, and call our cause foolish. But
someday our cause will be vindicated.
8.
“Having put on the breastplate of
righteousness” (v 14b NKJV). We know our righteousness will never stand
against Satan, because our righteousness, our works, the best we can do, is as
filthy rags. But God has firmly fastened onto us the righteousness of Christ. Jesus
did that on the cross, laying down his armor to die and rising from the grave
to give us absolute protection against all Satan’s accusations—the assurance
that we’re forgiven, that we wear Christ’s own holiness.
9.
As a
result, we stand, “having shod [our] feet
with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (v 15 NKJV). In the midst of
war comes that beautiful word, peace. Now that our sins are forgiven by
Jesus’ death, we’re at peace with God. We are in holy alliance with God. That means we need never fear. “Above all, [take] the shield of faith with
which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And
take the helmet of salvation” (vv 16–17a NKJV).
10. Satan will do everything he can to frighten
us. He’ll tempt us, threaten us, and someday even bring physical death. At
every turn, he’ll ask us, “Can God really get you out of this one?” In faith,
we say, “Yes! He always has and always will.” “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31).
11. We have the helmet of salvation! Salvation has
been won for us! In the ultimate battle of the cross and grave, Jesus defeated
the devil and broke Satan’s power. Satan fired all his arrows and spent all his
weapons; he has nothing left. Christ has given us the victory by his death and
resurrection. And that means someday he will certainly give us the crown to
replace the helmet.
12. So there we are, outfitted for war—except
that all our armor is worthless without a sword, “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (v 17b NKJV). But, is it possible to have the armor lying
around the house without putting it on? Here’s a rhyme about a child who found
a dusty Bible. “Mother, I’ve found a dusty old thing, High on the shelf. Just look.
Why, that’s God’s Bible, Tommy dear. Be
careful, that’s God’s book. God’s book?
Then, Mother, before we lose it. We’d
better send it back to God, for you know we never use it!” How often do we
go into battle with everything but our weapon? When fighting at close quarters,
God’s holy Word is the best piece of all for warding off Satan’s attack. And
it’s the only weapon we can use to attack.
Magnificent armor! Every piece of it!
13. But you know what makes it so powerful? All
this is the very armor of Christ. See,
Paul’s illustration of armor isn’t original to him. Way back in Isaiah 59, God
looked down and saw that man didn’t have a chance. So, in Isaiah 59, God
himself put on the same armor and entered the fray. Paul is telling us that this armor of ours is
battle-tested. It’s been worn to victory. And the One who wore it before still
fights for us. When we put on the armor
of God, we’re really wearing as our armor Christ himself. And if we are in Jesus, we are strong!
14. May we go forward together as God’s soldiers,
in his mighty power, taking full advantage of his armor, and prayerfully
supporting each other. Grateful to Jesus, who promises that we will share in
his victory, we daily fight on his side. By his grace we will stand firm until
God takes us out of this world, out of Satan’s reach, to be with him in glory
forever. Amen.
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