Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might.
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… and he broke the chain. So the devil is powerful. Never take the devil on in your own strength. That's why the Bible says in Ephesians 6, stand on the Lord and in the power of his might. Number two. The power of Jesus is much stronger than the power of Satan. Because it's kind of scary to think how powerful the devil can be, but it's really encouraging to know that Jesus is way more powerful. Way more powerful. Right? Jesus said, all power has been given to me in heaven and in earth. So we serve an all-powerful God. And the third thing is the best defense is a good offense. The Bible says, submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. You see, the problem with the sons of Sceva is they had no relationship with God. They just, oh, in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, and the demon's response is almost humorous. Jesus, I definitely know. Paul, I know, but who are you? …
… The original armor all is this. Ephesians chapter six, verse 10. Ephesians six, verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord. I'm gonna exaggerate these, so listen carefully. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. You get the picture? Starting to form? Number one, this is the first exhortation. Be strong in the Lord. Meaning, don't be strong in yourself. Be strong with God's power and his might, not your own. Next verse goes on in Ephesians 6, and we're going to dissect this here in a second. Verse 11, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles, the trickery of the devil. Without the armor, you're not going to make it. Now, I'm going to say something that's probably going to generate comments. It's just my personal conviction. This is just me. I personally believe that all of God's true children, a real Christian, is very serious about putting this armor on. I don't think they even have to be told. …
… Like Paul says it in Ephesians chapter 6, Finally, you all be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you all can take your stand against the devil's schemes. Because our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground and having done everything to stand firm. Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist and with the breastplate of righteousness in place and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel, the good news of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you are able to extinguish all the fiery arrows of the evil one Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and pray. …
… When you pray, you're calling on God to do what he can do. The Bible says this, finally be strong in the Lord. Be strong in the Lord, not in your own power, but in his power. Be strong in the Lord, in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your help me out. So you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. for our struggle is not against the people that make you crazy. It's not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to help me out. Hey, you may do this with me. You may be able to, all of our churches, one more time, you may be able to stand your ground after you've done everything else to stand. …
We have a place of victory continuous. Ephesians says, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might to believe his victory is already ours. And so any way of thinking that's opposite of that, greater is He that is in you. You've already overcome the world because of what He has done through you, for you, on the cross. We can believe that we are more than conquerors, always led in triumph. Yeah, we abound in death, and yet His life is living in us somehow. If you can figure that out, I don't know how it works. Cut us down, and we become more powerful than we were even in life, right? This is the upside-down kingdom. There is God confidence in that. Want to talk about swag? There is swag that comes from knowing greater is he who lives in you than he who lives in the world. And so we have this position of strength, this position of victory. And I just love also that spirit within us is there to help us with that spiritual enabling that's called discernment, where there's a smell test to certain things and where things don't feel right. …
… Paul said in Ephesians 6, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, in his mighty power, put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Amen? Can we all say this together? Every location. If you're at home or in a car or on a walk, let's all say it together. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood. I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit for helping me just go to the next verse right here Please, please God help us We're not fighting people we're not fighting people. Oh, we are fighting people, but we're fighting with prayer, with faithful lives, with character. We're not fighting people. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers. What rulers? I'm going to explain it. Against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. …
We're talking about spiritual battle. it's no surprise then to read Ephesians 6 10 finally be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might put on the whole armor of God so you may be stand again maybe able to stand against the schemes the strategy of the devil for we don't wrestle against flesh and blood but against 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 so that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on. This is the armor that we've looked at every week, the last few weeks. The belt of truth. Having put on the breastplate of righteousness 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, which would you can distinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation. And, so now we come to this piece of the armor today and the sword of the spirit, which is the what? Word of God. You see it? How do you fight spiritual war? With God's word, which is the sword of God's spirit. This is amazing imagery on a couple of different levels. One, well, the word that's used here for sword is not actually like a long sword like you might have in your mind, but more of a …
… Let's read it out loud together. 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. All right, that's where we'll stop. Let me recap what we saw last week. So here's my summary of verses 10 through 13 in three truths. One, we live in a spiritual world. This passage which makes clear that there are spiritual rulers, spiritual authorities, spiritual powers over darkness, and spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. Therefore, so everything in this passage hinges on this reality. …
God says to you and me starting in Ephesians chapter 6 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 the words may be given to me and 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. …
… Today is the final installment, finally, of this series on spiritual warfare. We've gone through Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 through 20, and we've been looking at these. weapons, this armor that Paul tells the church in Ephesus to have. We have put on, looked at each one of these weapons, each one of these, this armor. Finally, my brethren, verse 10. Verse 10, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole arm of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, verse 14, having girded your waist with truth. Somebody say truth, truth, truth. Having put on the breastplate of righteousness. …
… Allow me to take a moment to read verses 10 through 17 of Ephesians 6. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, verse 13, take up the whole arm of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand, therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, somebody say above all, taking 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 and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. …
… I'm going to talk about, we'll just read Ephesians six, beginning at verse 10. Ephesians six, verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God. Somebody say a whole armor. that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand therefore having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking 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. …
… And you're arguing and fighting with humans. And we already learned from Ephesians 6.10, we don't wrestle with flesh and blood. It's not your enemy. It's not your boss. It's not your spouse. is what's behind and influencing people. You don't fight with people. Y'all be talking about people, cussing people out, giving them a piece of your mind, when really the reality is your battle is not with human beings. And the reason the enemy is after you is because your life represents a threat to his kingdom. Amen? if you ever get to the place where God has destined for you to get you will reap havoc on the devil's kingdom and he don't want you to get there he wants to frustrate you, defeat you, disappoint you he wants to bring all kind of stuff up in your life and so the scripture says that we are fighting against and we want to be able to recognize that is the wicked one, somebody say the wicked one Paul writes to the church in Ephesus from prison and he tells us to take the shield of faith so that we can quench the fiery darts. …
… Ephesians chapter 6, beginning of verse 10, it says this. Finally, my brother, and be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, Put on the whole arm of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles or the tricks of the devil. For we do not wrestle, verse 12, against flesh and blood, but against, and here are the four entities I talked about last week. Here are the four entities that our battle is with. And you got to understand this, this is what we covered last week. against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Those are the four entities. We covered those four last week, that each one represents some element of spiritual warfare. And that's who we're battling against. That's who we're fighting against. And then it says in verse number 13, therefore take up the whole arm of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. I love that context. Again, I highlighted this last week that we are to stand, withstand, and then stand. Stand, withstand, stand. Which means basically to get your ground, set your, where you're going to be, what you're going to believe, what you're going to do. Stand and don't be altered. Don't allow anybody to distract you, pull you away. Find out what it is you believe and stand on it. Thank all five of y'all. I appreciate that very much. Verse 14 says, …
… it says finally my brethren verse 10 start at verse 10 finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might put on the whole arm of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil The word wiles means tricks. How many of y'all know that the devil is full of tricks? Let me ask this. Has the devil ever tricked in there, y'all? His tricks. Verse 12. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole arm of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Y'all see that right there. Verses 10 through 13. and what I want to do is start off by telling you first of all who our enemies are. Here's my first point. I got seven points. I really only got three points but there's several sub points but the first thing I want to talk about is our enemies because y'all some of y'all think that the people that your fight is against people so that's why you cuss people out give them a piece of your mind, try to do harm to them, try to hurt them. That's why you tear people's stuff up because you think you're hurting people. And you're not smart enough to recognize that you're …
I'm going to read verses 10 through 15. Ephesians 6, verse 10 through 16. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole arm of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole arm of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, verse 14, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, verse 15, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. I want to talk about shoes today. This is spiritual warfare number four, part four. And I want to talk about shoes. Look at your shoes. This here is an armor bearer, Robert Littlejohn. …
… Ephesians six, beginning at verse number 10. Ephesians six, verse 10 says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, verse 13, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, verse 14, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Today's part three, and I want to talk about the breastplate of righteousness. I want to talk about putting on the breastplate of righteousness. We already talked about the principalities, powers, rulers of darkness of this age, spiritual hosts of wickedness. We've talked about standing and withstanding. …
… So to wrap it up, let's go back to verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the power or the strength of His might. I want to end where we began, but I want to end by something I hope you'll think of as really the main point. The whole armor of God is actually a picture of Jesus Christ. Christ is the truth. He is righteousness. He is our righteousness. He is our peace. His faithfulness to the Father makes possible our faith. He is the one who guarantees our final salvation, and He is the living Word of God. What this means is that when you were saved, you received Christ. We use that language, don't we? You received Christ. When you received Christ, you received the truth, righteousness, peace, faith, final salvation, and divine truth. You received the armor. That's why Paul told the Romans what to do with the armor in Romans 13. In verse 11 he said, wake up. In verse 12 of Romans 13 he said, cast off sin. …
… This is where we find ourselves in our ongoing study of this amazing epistle. He wraps up the epistle, does Paul, by saying, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm. Again, it might seem like a complete change in subjects from the celebration of the birth of Christ to talking about the strategies of the devil. But you can't think about the birth of Christ without understanding that the devil did a mass execution of young male children at the very time of our Lord's birth. …
… in verse 10 when he says, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. He goes, let me close with this. Let me close this amazing book of Ephesians with this. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his mighty power. be strong I mean I don't see that as just something to exegete and go okay well the word finally means the last you know it's just it's it's not just that it's it's you got to catch the spirit of it he's like come on guys finally be strong be strong be strong in the Lord in the strength of his might so come on put on all of the armor let's go let's be strong let's be courageous. I mean, that's the most repeated command in scriptures. Don't be afraid. Fear not. Come on, be strong. We need more of this in the church. Be strong in the power of his might. Do you get how much power is there? It's easy to come and then in the flesh and go, oh man, I'm not as smart as these guys. Man, last night at dinner, they were talking about something. …