Tonight we come to the third installment of our series on the “Enemies of God.” Two weeks ago we talked about the world and what is involved in Satan’s temptations to be worldly – the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the sinful pride of life. And last week, we talked about the flesh – the desires that come from the corruption that is remaining in us that cause us to sin and gratify the desires of the flesh. “Walk by the Spirit and you surely will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” And today, we come to the devil. So please turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 6.
While you are turning there, I want to tell you about a situation that I’ve brought up before. It’s been well documented that social media, there’s a link between social media and the rise of social media and unfettered access to social media among children and teenagers, and there’s a link to depression and anxiety. That when these things came out and caused this addiction, parents weren’t aware of what would come of it. Parents weren’t aware of the depression and the anxiety that these things would cause with unlimited access. And because they were unaware, they weren’t very vigilant. They weren’t vigilant against these companies or the use of it because they weren’t aware of the danger. Vigilance stays low when we don’t treat the devil as an active enemy.
You understand, that situation is how the Bible describes our situation, especially before Christ. Paul said in Ephesians 2, walking around in darkness, dead in our sins and trespasses, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air. That’s who we were before Christ. And not only were we following the course of this world – that’s worldliness – we were following the devil. And even after Christ, if we ignore Ephesians 6, we do the same thing. That’s why we’re given Ephesians 6 because we are called to spiritual vigilance.
And you can see it right there in the passage starting in verse 10. You see all these imperatives. “Be strong in the Lord. Stand. Take up.” Again and again, you see these imperatives in this passage. We are called to be spiritually vigilant. And so to be vigilant in the Christian life we need to be strong in God’s power. That will be our first point. We need to stand against God’s enemy. And lastly, we need to take up God’s tools. Let me pray and we’ll read. Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, we cannot stand against the schemes of the devil without Your power, without Your help. And so Lord, we ask that You would help us by Your Spirit to understand what that means by Your words in Ephesians 6. Would You help us tonight? It’s in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
So first, be strong in God’s power. We jump into verse 10 in the last chapter of the letter and so we need a little context. And the quickest summary I can give, the quickest summary I can muster, is that Paul has told the Ephesians who they were, he’s told them who they now are in Christ, and he’s told them how to live in light of that reality. He’s told them like we talked about last week – how to walk by the Spirit. And so he starts here with “Finally” in verse 10 because now he’s making the point that walking by the Spirit is going to be contested. There will be resistance in the Christian walk and here’s how to handle it. So let’s read Ephesians chapter 6, starting in verse 10:
“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 Word.
Look down at verse 10 with me. “Be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might.” This is a passive command. He doesn’t say, “Make yourself strong.” He says, literally, “Be strengthened in the Lord.” We can think of the metaphor that Jesus uses in John 15, our strength comes from the vine. Life is in the vine, not from being a really excellent branch. Our strength comes from abiding. Like a branch doesn’t strain to bear fruit, we are strengthened by the strength of God’s might. It’s not an accident that he says it that way with emphasis in verse 10. “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” You as a Christian are strong in Him, as in by virtue of being united to Him through faith in Jesus Christ and by the power and work of the Holy Spirit. God doesn’t send you strength in the mail; He is your present strength. And His power that strengthens you is the same power that created the earth and all that is in it. His power that strengthens you is the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the grave. It’s nothing less than that.
And the necessary implication that Paul draws from that is those first words in verse 11 – “Put on the whole armor of God.” And we’ll really get into the armor on the third point, but I want you to notice a couple of things before we do. He says to put on the “whole armor.” If we were to put on just some of the pieces of armor, it wouldn’t mean that we are half covered in defense. It would mean that the enemy, the devil, knows exactly where to strike. But even more important is those last two words of that imperative. “Put on the whole armor of God.” You see, God isn’t giving us standard issue armor. He’s giving us His armor. We see this in Isaiah 59 where God looked and saw there was no man, there was no intercessor, there was no one to save His people – so what did God do? He put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on His head. Those same pieces of armor worn by Christ girded with truth righteousness itself who stood against every temptation, like we talked about two weeks ago, every flaming dart, every scheme of Satan, he did it in the armor of God.
One scholar, reformed scholar, Duguid says, “The armor we put on as Christians is armor already battle worn and battle tested by Jesus Himself.” It’s the armor of God, and we wear it so that we may be able to stand. It doesn’t say, “so that we will be able to conquer,” or, “so that we may be able to win.” It says, “stand.” Colossians 2:15 says that Christ has already disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them.
If He’s already done that, then why do we need armor? Here it is. Our calling is to hold the ground that our Captain has already taken. Paul says to “stand” or “withstand” four times in this passage. It’s our refusal to yield ground to the enemy, and it’s this posture of standing in the armor of God. It applies to how we see our holiness. It applies to how we stand against Satan in our marriages, in our work, in our parenting, you name it. You see, we’re not heroes; we believe, we abide, we keep at the means of grace when our hearts are cold. We remain faithful in believing when no one sees. The battle is won in standing and holding our ground.
There’s a puritan, John Flavel, who was preaching to a group of sailors one time and he was saying something like this. He said you don’t get across the ocean in a rowboat. You don’t row yourself across the ocean because you’re going to get pummeled. He says there is effort, right? You set the sail up and you get everything ready. You put on the armor of God. But it is God who brings you through. It is His armor. It is Him who pushes the boat by the wind of His Spirit. “Ships make much way with a tradewind, and so the saints with the spirits fade.” So be strong in God’s power.
And secondly, stand against God’s enemy. We’ve talked about what it means to stand, to hold our ground in the Christian walk, but what or who are we standing against? Who is the devil and what are the schemes that Paul is talking about here? Look at the end of verse 11. “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.” Why is this armor necessary? Because there is an enemy.
And before I get into who he is, I want to discuss a modern problem. Probably four generations ago, I don’t know exactly, people may have been tempted to see the devil everywhere. Our culture is tempted to see him nowhere. Martin Lloyd-Jones, preaching through this passage at Westminster Chapel, said “The modern church’s deepest weakness was not ignorance of the armor but unbelief about the battle.” Not ignorance of the armor but unbelief about the battle. “The devil is real and he is your enemy.” And so Martin Lloyd-Jones spent many sermons preaching through just these first few verses that we read before he got to the armor. His point is probably even more true today than when he said it. You can’t resist an enemy you don’t believe in.
But who is this enemy and what does he do? Well his names tell him who he is. “Satan” is Hebrew. It means “adversary; the one who stands against.” “Devil,” which is Paul’s word here, means “slanderer; the accuser; the one who speaks against.” Both names describe him entirely in terms of opposition – “stands against” and “speaks against.” He is defined by what he is against. He is against God. He is against Christ. And therefore, he is against you as a Christian. He hates you.
But listen, that might sound scary. The devil is a creature. He is a created being and he is mighty compared to you and me, but he is nothing compared to God. Calvin said it this way. “Satan can do nothing whatever without God’s will and permission.” We see that in Job. He accuses God and asks God, he asks for permission if he can torment Job. The demons in the gospels beg for Christ’s permission to enter the herd of pigs. They have to get their pig license! The Heidelberg Catechism opens by confessing that “Christ has set me free from all the power of the devil, and that our Father in heaven so preserves us that not a hair can fall from my head without His will.” He’s a creature. What does the hymn say? “This is my Father’s world.” And so you can see why it’s so important that we take up our Father’s armor, we take up His armor, we stand against the schemes of the devil.
That word “schemes,” it’s the same Greek word that we get our word “method.” Satan is methodic in his temptation, in his strategy. The master principle you’ve heard before, I think it was Thomas Brooks who said it, he said, “Satan presents the bait and he hides the hook.” He doesn’t come to you and say, “Would you like to decay in your own bitterness?” Satan doesn’t work like that. He says, “You have every right to feel this way after what they did to you.” He doesn’t say, “Do you want to ruin your marriage today?” He says, “What if you get a little closer.” He presents the bait to you but he never lets you see the hook. One theologian said it this way. “Satan studies you. He has watched human nature for thousands of years. He has watched your whole life. He knows which door of your heart has the loose hinge.” You see, Satan is a much better anthropologist than any of us in this room.
Verse 12 – look at it with me. “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood.” You see what this means? If the devil is our enemy, your unbelieving coworker is a captive of that enemy. The social media warrior who you vehemently disagree with on the basis of your faith, your fight is not with them. Those are captives to be prayed for and rescued from the enemy. Don’t place your effort in this battle in fighting them. Our wrestling is against spiritual rulers, authorities, cosmic powers of this present darkness, spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
I’ve adapted what Calvin says a little bit about this, but I like what he says. He says we’re not given this list to dig into hell’s org chart. Like Stephen reports to Felker, Felker reports to Strain. Well this type of demon reports to this type of demon; this type of demon reports to Satan. People have tried to do that with this passage. No, Scripture doesn’t satisfy that kind of curiosity. The point is that the enemy, our enemy is organized and many, operating in the unseen realm. We enter the battle, we enter the battle in Christ, and Paul has already said in this letter that we are seated with him in the heavenly places. He is a very real enemy, personal, powerful, methodical, malicious. But he is a limited enemy – creaturely, chained, already judged, and you are never told to face him yourself. We are told to put on the whole armor of God. Our task is to stand against this enemy.
I grew up in Norman, Oklahoma and so we grew up as Sooners fans, University of Oklahoma, and my brother, a couple of years ago, maybe a year ago, accepted a job with Oklahoma State RUF. And it’s like we were both walking this way for many years, and then he turned and there was conflict! I said I can’t follow you where you are going! Or you could think of it like brothers who both signed up for different sides of the Civil War. One of them turned and there was conflict. They were walking the same direction, and not any more. You see, we were following the course of this world. We were following the prince of the power of the air who is the devil. And then Christ, Christ came into our lives and we turned. And that means there is going to be conflict.
We all know well the voice that comes from this conflict. You’ve experienced it yourself. It’s the same voice that said in the garden, “Did God actually say?” And we can mix up that voice with the voice of the Spirit. But we have a way to tell the difference. Have y’all ever thought about this? We have a way to tell the difference between the voice of the Spirit and the voice of the accuser because when you experience real conviction of sin – “I actually did this, yes” – when you experience real conviction of sin from the Spirit, you are driven to Christ. You are driven to the only hope in the midst of that sin. When you are accused by the devil and you believe it, you want to hide. We are driven away from Christ. “You did what? You call yourself a Christian?” The voice of the Spirit won’t cause you to hide from God like they did in the garden. No one who comes to Jesus in faith will be cast out. No one.
Thirdly and lastly, and this is our longest point so I hope that I can do this quickly – take hold of God’s tool. Be strong in God’s power. Be strong in God’s power. Stand against the enemy and take hold of God’s tools. Look at verse 13. It says, therefore, because we have strength in God through Christ, because we have such a great enemy, take up the whole armor of God. And you see the purpose again – standing and withstanding.
Now to the armor. Verse 14, you see first the belt of truth. In ancient armor, everything else was fastened to the belt. It’s protected. All the other armor was fastened to the belt. It’s protective in that it doesn’t leave any of your armor loose. How does truth protect like that? Because the devil, described as the “father of lies” in Scripture, can’t loosen anything else, any of your other armor, if it’s fastened in truth. Scripture doesn’t reveal all truth to us, we don’t know everything from Scripture, but it holds everything together in one system that is real and coherent. Truth is a person. Truth is Jesus Christ. When you are walking in integrity, no double life, the same person in church as you are in the dark, Satan can’t loosen your armor. Put on the belt.
Next, the breastplate of righteousnss. I love these armor metaphors, and I was studying them more closely. The breastplate guards your vital organs when Satan is aiming for your heart. And how he does that is he accuses you. That’s how he gets to your heart. He’s aiming for your heart. Righteousness is what blocks the blow. And maybe you’ll say, “But Satan accuses me of things I have actually done, sins that I actually have committed.” But remember this with me again – this is God’s armor and our righteousness is not of ourselves. It is imputed and credited to us. We answer the accusations of Satan first on Christ’s record, that’s where we go first. And then, we put on the breastplate of righteousness by killing our sin, by walking more and more in the commands of God. That’s what it means to be righteous – to keep His commandments.
I had a student one time text me that he was at Mississippi State and there were these protestors who were holding up signs on huge pieces of cardboard – “You are going to go to hell. You deserve hell.” And I texted him back and I said, “You know, you should get a sign, you should make a sign and hold it up next to him that says, ‘I deserve hell.’” Right? Because our righteousness first is in Christ. We do deserve hell. We are sinners. We have broken the law of God. The wages of sin is death. That is what we deserve. But our righteousness first is imputed from Christ and then we walk in it more and more.
Verse 15, “and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.” Roman soldiers had these cleats that helped them grip the ground in battle. It’s pretty good imager for being called to stand your ground against the evil one. What is it that gives us this grip in the Christian life? It’s the gospel of peace – peace with God by virtue of His wrath being poured out on Jesus Christ on the cross. It’s a treaty certified by the blood of Christ and sealed by His Spirit. Nothing can shake the grip of those cleats.
I was standing up here a few months ago and I was assisting in morning worship and I don’t know, no one said anything to me about this so I don’t know if any of you noticed it, but I was setting my hymnal down right here and Strain just jumps up – it was about to fall off, it was about to make a loud noise – and just catches it! And I tried not to draw more attention to it. And I was like, “That guy just pounced! He was ready!” The gospel of peace actually gives us a readiness like that to stand against the schemes of the devil. It’s our grounding. It’s our foundation. It’s a readiness to stand firm and it’s a readiness to share that peace with others. It has to do with evangelism. Are you so rooted in the gospel of peace that you are ready to stand your ground? Are you ready to share the good news?
Next, we have the shield of faith. Paul is very likely referring to these big, body-sized shields that they would soak in water before battle so when these flaming darts came, the soldier would raise the shield against the flaming arrow and it would immediately extinguish. I remember a couple of weeks ago we talked about the enemy that is the world. The means of temptation, the flaming darts, the weapons that Satan uses – lusts of the flesh, lusts of the eyes and the sinful pride of life – those are his arrows, and it is raising up faith in what God says against what those arrows say. The shield is taking up trust in God’s Word over the deception, over the temptation. It’s trusting God’s Word over what you feel in the moment. It’s taking Him at His Word.
And look at those last two in the next verse with me. “And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s Word.” The helmet protects the head from the deathblow, from the war-ender. You need it because there are attacks of Satan that can end you, that can drive you to despair, that can cause you to lose hope. God wears the helmet of salvation in Isaiah 59 in connection to His covenant promises. You know what that means? It means we can say when we put on the helmet of salvation, “I may have lost that skirmish, but I know how this is going to end. I know how it’s going to end.” “The one who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
And the last piece of armor, the sword of the Spirit. We went through this when we discussed Christ’s temptation as well, a couple of weeks ago, answering every temptation with “It is written.” The Word causes the devil to flee. We stand our ground, and when the battle, when we fight back with the Word of God, when we stand against the enemy with the very words of Scripture, it’s the Spirit’s sword. It’s His means for you to stand. To be a swordsman is to be skilled. Are you skilled in the Word of God? This is why we commit Scripture to memory. This is why we take it into our hearts. This is why we feed on it.
You see the beauty of all those army metaphors here? God’s armor, His armor is available to you by grace. Put it on that you may be able to stand. This last little section of the passage is so important, so I’m not going to skip it, but it’s not another piece of armor. It’s ——-. It’s communication with our Captain in the battle. It’s how we are to persevere wearing all these pieces of armor. He says, “praying at all times in the Spirit.” He uses all these pieces of armor, these six pieces of armor, and he says, “praying at all times in the Spirit” – the Spirit, the one who unites you to your Captain. Look at how we are told to pray in verse 18. “To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for the saints, for all the saints.” There’s another imperative. “Keep alert, making supplication for all the saints.” Keeping alert means that you are praying, and praying for the person sitting next to you in the pew because they are being shot at too. We are all being shot at by these flaming darts. The reasons we don’t pray, I think the biggest reason is because we don’t really think we need help. Maybe it’s that Satan has accused you and so you are hiding from God, you don’t feel like you can go to Him – and you can. But I think very often it’s because we don’t really think we need help, and that’s crazy.
Paul, who just penned this incredible letter in Ephesians 6, a letter with so much depth, says he needs prayer for boldness and words to say. This guy, Paul, needs words? This guy needs boldness? I wonder what you would say. What do you need prayer for in this battle? My encouragement to you is to tell your brothers and sisters in Christ. You see, Paul understands that the mightiest acts of warfare that we possess in this battle are the public proclamation of the Word of God, the mystery of the Gospel revealed in Christ, and prayer. That’s how God advances His kingdom. We are called to stand, being ready with the gospel of peace. It’s like, remember, in COVID when they had that map you could look up and there were the red dots of the spread and then you would see more dots, and some of the dots would get bigger and soon it had spread across the globe. We are called to stand and to pray. Pray for your neighbor to believe. Share the Gospel with them, and when they believe it’s like another circle of light appears on the map. And then, through their proclamation, more lights appear.
We read Revelation 7 this morning. “After this, I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count.” Those are the lights. And remember who Paul was. He was one who did wrestle with flesh and blood when he was following the course of this world, dragging Christians to prison to be stoned, until Christ appeared to him on the Damascus Road. “Why are you persecuting Me?” That’s how closely connected we are to Christ in union with Him in this battle. “Why are you persecuting Me?” as Paul was killing Christians, and Paul discovered that the captain that he had been serving actually had him captive. Actually had him as his prisoner, and he turned and there was conflict. And now he is asking for help in the conflict.
I don’t like to do extended quotes in sermons, but I am making an exception for this one. Charles Spurgeon, the great preacher, preached this. It’s a quote that I love and I know we are at the end of our time so I’ll end with this. He says:
“It is heaven, it is heaven to serve Jesus. I am a recruiting sergeant and I would” – excuse me – “and I would feign to find a few recruits at this moment. Every man must serve somebody. We have no choice as to that fact. Those who have no master are slaves to themselves. Depend upon it. You will either serve Satan or Christ, either self or the Savior. You will find sin, self, Satan and the world to be hard masters, but if you wear the livery of Christ, you will find Him so meek and lowly of heart that you will find rest unto your souls. He is the most magnanimous of Captains. There never was his like among the choicest of princes. He is always to be found in the thickest part of the battle. When the wind blows cold, He always takes the bleak side of the hill. The heaviest end of the cross lies ever on His shoulders. If He bids us carry a burden, He carries it also. If there is anything that is gracious, generous, kind and tender, lavish and super abundant in love, you always find it in Him. These forty years and more I have served Him. Blessed be His name. And I have had nothing but love from Him. I would be glad to continue yet another forty years in the same service here below if it so pleased Him. His service is life, peace, joy. O that you would enter on it at once. God help you to enlist under the banner of Jesus, even this day.”
That’s your Christ. That’s your Captain. We’re called to vigilance in the Christian life, so be strong in God’s power, in the strength of His might. Stand against God’s enemy and take up God’s tools. Armor up and pray. Let’s do that now.
Heavenly Father, again, we need Your help and we need the help of one another praying. Lord, we ask that You would lead us in this battle. Would You give us grace to take Your armor up? Would You give us grace to stand against the enemy? It’s in the name of Jesus Christ who makes it possible we pray, amen.