Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes.Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
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… 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. They can be encouraged, I guess, but you read the Bible and it's like, I know I'm in a spiritual battle. I'm gonna put this on. I just think God's kids know his voice. And you might say, well, that's mighty simplistic. Probably, yeah. I think so, and I love it. I think Jesus called this sheep for a reason. He says, my sheep, they follow me. You have a problem with that? …
… reason we're all susceptible to this sin and that is because we have an active opponent we have an enemy who has set his sights to destroy every one of us in Ephesians 6 verses 11 and 12 Paul writes, put on the full armor of God that you may 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. Listen to what James said in James 1 14, but each one of us is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Now this is key folks to understanding how Satan is going to bring destruction into your life. How are we tempted? When we are first of all carried away. That Greek word alkomai means to be drawn with an inward power. That refers to our corrupt nature that we have. What is it that causes sin? It's first of all our own corrupt nature. …
… And we need discretion. The Bible says in Ephesians 6, verse 11, we're very familiar with this. It's the great warfare outfit of the believer, the armor of the Christian, we say. It says, put on the whole armor of God. Well, why would we do that? Well, because that you may be able, notice, you will be able to what? To stand against the wiles of the devil. I need discretion and discernment to stand against the wiles of the devil. Satan is out to trick. Are you guys awake? Satan is out to trick. And I think I shared this with you recently, but I'll say this again because it's so true in my life. When Satan attacked me as a young believer, it was really something bombastic and ginormous. I just didn't know that at the time. As I've now coming up on 50 years of being a Christian, the bombastic attacks of the enemy are not so big. They're not big. So now I know they're not easily recognizable anymore. …
… 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. …
… I'm gonna bounce around a little bit, but he says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And I wanna stop there for a moment. That word wiles, the Greek word is the word methodia, and it is where we get our word methods. You see it there on the screen. It means trickery, scheming, cunning arts. Can you picture the devil? If you've read screw tape letters, you know this is how C.S. Lewis put it. But can you picture him just scheming? How can we trip them up? How can we deceive them? How can we leave them astray? Cunning arts, deceit, craft, and trickery. So back to Ephesians chapter 6. He says that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Stand therefore having girded your waist with truth, verse 17. and take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Listen, if you don't have a sword in your hand and truth girding your waist, you're gonna be tripping over yourself and have no defense. …
… then Ephesians chapter 4 verse 1 says walk worthy of the calling wherewith you've been called to walk in and there goes the chapter on walk then he writes the last chapter on stand that's Ephesians 6 11 that says put on the whole armor of God so that you may stand against the wiles or the devices and schemes of the devil but what's ironic about the book is he doesn't start with you walking he doesn't start with you standing because you won't have the strength to walk you won't have the equilibrium to stand if you first don't embrace sitting he said the first call of every christian is to learn how to rest in what christ has already done for you he said you don't even have to sit down he said when you come to christ you've already been seated in heavenly places with christ because of what christ has already done for us some of y'all were confused a few minutes ago why y'all shouting about the blood because that's what he did for us living he loved me dying he saved me buried he carried my sins far away rising he justified me freed me forever one day he's coming back what a glorious day now tell me in all of those verses what did you do to save yourself absolutely nothing we're not saved because of our works we're saved because of the grace of God expressed through Jesus Christ and we've got to learn how to sit and what he's already …
… but how does he do that? He does it by helping you put on the whole armor of God, right? Ephesians 6, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Like there's a battle to be fought, and you've got to put on the armor. lift up the shield of faith and take the sword of the spirit and put on the helmet of salvation and the shoes of readiness for the feet and the belt of truth you go to war every day you don't just say I'm saved eternally secure you're not without the use of means Satan's dealings with Job and Peter are still going on. behold Peter Jesus said Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat squish you squish you through this so that you come out here and faith stays up here that's what we're going to do tonight going to squish you through the sieve. Satan has demanded to have you. …
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. Stand firm then with a belt of truth around your waist, with a breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, which can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. …
… You do what Paul said in Ephesians 6, 13, when he said, therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to do what? You may be able to stand your ground. And after you've done everything else, what do you do? You stand, you put on the full armor of God. You put on the helmet of salvation. You put on the breastplate of righteousness. You put on the shield of faith. You put on the belt of truth. You take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, the living, active, powerful word of God that never ever returns void. You put on the shoes of the gospel and peace and you stand your ground. This is battle language. This isn't like, I'm just standing in line. I know this is like a soldier braced for battle. Your feet are planted. Your shield is raised. You refuse to move. You don't back down. These are the last days. …
… 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. This is what's going on around you. there is a spiritual war going on around you right now and if you're uncomfortable with demons and darkness you you you need to wake up because you are in a spiritual war. …
… 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 …
When I am wrestling with something that I can tear apart with my hands, that's one thing, but sometimes the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 6 verses 11 and 12, you've got to put on the whole armor of God. For the King James says in verse 12, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood. This is not a lion you're wrestling with. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. This is not a bear this time. I'm wrestling with my thoughts. I'm wrestling with some secrets. I'm wrestling with some shame. I'm wrestling with some strong temptation. I'm wrestling with some not me. I'm wrestling with some why me. I'm wrestling with some what about me. Well, I am not wrestling anymore with flesh and blood, but I am wrestling against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. See, I understand something about wrestling, not because I watched Hulk Hogan, but because I have a son who is a wrestler. Not WWF, but the kind of wrestling where they put you on a mat for six minutes, and you've got to outscore or pin the other person. Now, in wrestling, I have a little experience because I was a state champion in the eighth grade in a freestyle tournament where there were no other entries in my weight class category, but Graham is pretty good, and I took him to see the national championship where all the greatest college wrestlers were …
… 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. And we talked last week about how we don't think like this. …
… 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. …
… also written by Paul. So this is Ephesians six. We're going to start in verse 11. It says, 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, but against the rulers, against the 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 stand your ground. After you have done everything to stand, stand firm. Stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Paul is painting this picture of a soldier getting ready for battle because it's one thing to recognize that there is an enemy. It's another thing to realize that you have to get ready to fight back against the enemy. I think that one of the ways that the enemy attacks us is by diverting our attention. You think your enemy is your boss or your spouse or maybe your mother-in-law, not me. Some of us wake up in the morning. We're ready for a fight with the wrong enemy. …
… 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. …
… 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. Amen. So we're on part seven today and we're going to talk about the sword of the spirit. …
… 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. That's where we are today. Somebody say, the helmet of salvation. Look at your neighbor and say, we need to put the helmet of salvation on. …
… 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, stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth. And so in part two today, I want to talk …
… 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 not hurting nobody but yourself. Amen, Pastor. It's okay. I see right now I have to encourage …
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. …
… 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. We've talked about the belt of truth. Last time we discussed and dialogued about the lies that the devil wants you to believe and embrace. …
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. Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." This is really Paul's wrap-up on this amazing letter to the Ephesians. After giving us so much information in the opening three chapters about salvation and so much already in chapters 4, 5, and 6 about sanctification, he comes to his final emphasis as he notes in verse 10 saying, finally, to draw our attention to the fact that there is a war and we are in that war by virtue of being a part of the kingdom of light. …
… 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. The devil has always fought the purposes of God, and he expressed his hatred of God even in the massacre of those children under the edict of wicked men. …