The Spiritual Battle
Ephesians 6:10-24
August 12, 2007

We are at war!  As Christians we are members of the Kingdom of Heaven. Our Kingdom is at war with the kingdom of darkness. This war began a long time ago when an angel named Lucifer (morning star – Isaiah 14:12) led a rebellion in Heaven. Lucifer was the most beautiful and powerful of all the angels. However, this was not enough to satisfy him. He wanted to take God’s place, so he led a revolution (Isaiah 14:13-14). One-third of the angels followed Lucifer. Despite his arrogance, Lucifer was no match for the power of God. He and his angels were defeated and thrown out of Heaven (revelation 12:7-9). Eventually the punishment for their rebellion will be eternal suffering in a lake of fire (Revelation 19:10).

Knowing what the future holds for him, Lucifer –or the devil, is filled with rage. Since he can’t hurt God, he wants to destroy those who God loves –us. Satan knows that God created people for one purpose, to have a relationship with them so the devil tries to break that relationship in any way he can. He began back in the Garden of Eden and he is still at work today. Satan wants as many people as possible to share his eternal destiny and his present misery. You see, the devil is a miserable creature. He is miserable because he is separated from God and separation from God means a lack of joy. Therefore, the devil wants to separate others from God so they lose their joy as well.

God allows the devil to do his evil work but God also gives us the strength to defeat him. Defeating the devil is not always easy but God has given us all the equipment we need to win this fight. Today’s passage tells us about the equipment that we been given and tells us how to use it. Let’s read Ephesians 6:10-24 together.

The Armor of God
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12For 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. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
19Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

Final Greetings
21Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. 22I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you.
23Peace to the brothers, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. (Ephesians 6:10-24 –NIV)

In verse 10 Paul encourages us to be strong in the Lord’s mighty power. It is only by God’s power that we can stand. We must remember that the devil and his demons are former angels. They are much more powerful than we are. We can not defeat them with our own strength. Our own strength may be sufficient when everything is going well, but when difficulties come –we will fail unless we have the power of God to hold us up.

When it comes to a fight, strength is good, but it isn’t everything. We also need the proper equipment to fight successfully. God provides all the tools we need to have victory over Satan and the forces of darkness. Paul calls these tools armor, since that was the equipment of war in his day. If Paul were writing today he might talk about tanks, missiles, and machine guns instead of armor.

Verses 11 and 13 both tell us to put on the whole armor of God. Paul’s meaning is that we must be fully equipped. When a Roman soldier was wearing all of his armor and using it properly, he was well protected and difficult to kill. However, if a Roman soldier neglected to put on some of his armor, he was more vulnerable. For example, if he didn’t wear his helmet his head was an easy target but if his helmet was on, he had a much better chance of surviving a blow to the head. The same would be true of a soldier today. The government could give a soldier the best gun but if he forgets to put bullets in it, he will not be very successful when it comes time to fight.

Too often, Christians can be strong in some areas but neglect others. When it comes time to fight the enemy, we are vulnerable or weak in an area. Of course, that is where the enemy will attack us. An example might be a Christian who reads their Bible and prays daily but has a problem with anger. You can be certain that the devil will continue to bring the situations that cause that person to become angry because he knows anger weakens a person’s relationship with God. We need to be careful not to leave some part of our life open for easy attack. In verse 13 Paul says we need to do everything to make ourselves prepared to stand against the enemy.

Verse 12 reminds us whom we are fighting against. Paul says clearly that the enemy is not other people but rather against the devil and his demons. It is easy for us to think of people and circumstances as our enemy but that is never the case. The devil may use people and circumstances to attack us but he is the real enemy. We need to put our efforts into defeating Satan, not in fighting other people or our circumstances.

Now there are two more things we need to remember about this war. First, and most important, the devil is not equal to God. Some people have the idea of good and evil as equal forces in a cosmic battle. Perhaps like the concept of yin and yang. This is a lie that the devil wants us to believe. The truth is that Satan is only a created being. Compared to us, he may be strong but compared to God –he is nothing. The Bible tells us that the devil can’t do anything without God allowing it. We saw this in our study of Job. The devil can only go as far as God's leash lets him.

The devil can not defeat God. The second thing to remember is that not only can the devil not win, but that he has already lost. Jesus has already defeated the devil and broke his power at the cross. God allows the fight to continue but the only way the devil can ever have victory over us is if we surrender to him. The devil is not strong enough to overpower us when we stand in the power of God. It is only when we give up and refuse to continue fighting or stop using God’s power that the devil defeats us.

Verses 13 to 18 talk about the spiritual equipment God gives us to fight our battles. Paul compares them to armor so we will first look at the purpose of the armor and then learn about the spiritual tools. There is a helmet and breastplate that protect the two most vital organs in the body – brain and heart. A shield is a further defense for the rest of the body. A belt keeps the breastplate in place is also where the soldier hung his sword. Strong and comfortable footwear are important for protecting the feet when walking for long distances or when walking in rough terrain. After all, a soldier who can’t walk can’t fight.

Most people think of armor as a defensive weapon. While it is true that armor’s purpose is to protect the wearer, a soldier had no need of armor unless he was going into battle. In fact the armor that Paul describes is that of a Roman infantryman who is preparing to attack. Roman soldiers would attack in a formation 12 deep and 12 wide. Each soldier would carry a large shield – almost as big as a man. The shield was made of wood and leather soaked with water so flaming arrows could not penetrate it. The soldiers on the sides of the formation would hold their shields to the outside to protect from attack from the side. Soldiers in the inside of the formation would put their shields over their head to protect from arrows coming down from the top. That way the shields formed a protective shell over and around the formation. Then they could march towards the enemy safely. If you ever saw the movie “Gladiator” it showed a good example of this in the opening scenes.

Christians should always be attacking the enemy, not waiting to be attacked. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18 that the gates of hell would not be strong enough to defeat us. Gates do not attack people, people attack gates! Jesus was intending that Christians should constantly be attacking the kingdom of darkness so He provided us with the proper equipment to do so. Too often Christians just try to hold on and not fall. We should be moving forward and expanding the Kingdom of Heaven. The way we attack the devil is to spread the gospel by living a life that brings glory to God.

Now, I need to give you two words of caution. First of all, it is not our job to go out and look for fights with the devil. Looking for fights is the commander's job. We are soldiers, our role is to follow orders.   We need to focus our attention on God and find out what He wants us to do. Once we hear from God, then obey Him. Obedience will eventually bring us into the battle. But we will be able to fight with the power of God on our side. If we look for fights on our own we may have to fight with our own strength and then we will be sure to lose.

The second word of caution is to fight as a team. As I mentioned earlier, the armor Paul is describing is designed for coordinated warfare. When 144 Roman soldiers went into battle in their formation they were very hard to defeat. A single soldier wearing that armor had much less chance of success. Combining and working effectively together made the unit a powerful force. When we work together with each other under God's direction we can be part of a powerful force as well!

Notice that the Roman soldier wore no protection on their back. This was by design. It helped motivate the soldiers to keep facing forward. If a Roman soldier dropped his shield and ran away from the enemy he was completely exposed. The same is true of us. When we are moving forward to engage the enemy we are well protected and equipped. When we are going away from the enemy by living lives that do not glorify God, we have no protection from attack. We are exposed and easily defeated. God has designed our spiritual armor so that it is only effective when we are in an obedient relationship with Him.

Now lets look at the spiritual armor we have been given. There is truth, righteousness, readiness that comes from the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the Word of God.

1.         Truth –is the basis for our life with God. We trust Him because He is truth. Satan fights with lies and sometimes these lies sound good. The devil will tell us that we are useless, unloved, or that we need something other than what God provides to bring satisfaction and joy to our life. Only the truth that comes from God can allow us to overcome these deceptions. We learn this truth from reading the Bible. So, READ YOUR BIBLE REGULARLY! Read it every day!

2.         Righteousness –Satan often attacks our hearts. He wants us to sin. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us that our righteousness comes from God. Only through God’s grace can we be worthy of being children of God and only through God’s grace can we overcome sin. This is our protection from Satan’s attack. When he reminds us of our weaknesses and failures we have a defense. We understand that we do not rely on our own righteousness but on the righteousness of Jesus. At the same time, living a holy life is important.

3.         Readiness that comes from the gospel of peace –Satan wants us to think that sharing the gospel of Christ is useless or hopeless. When we realize the mercy and love God has shown us we can have the proper motivation for wanting to share that gospel of peace with others.

4.         Faith –is what protects us when trouble and difficulties come. Nothing the devil attacks us with can hurt us if we have faith and trust that God will keep His promises. Of course that means we need to know what god's promises are. Reading the Bible increases our faith by teaching and reminding us what god has already promised. Then, when Satan attacks us we can hold God's promises our like a shield. No matter what the devil can throw at us the Bible covers it.

5.         Salvation –protects us from God’s wrath. Like a helmet, it also protects our minds from doubting God’s saving work in our life. Satan wants us to doubt our future but 1 Thessalonians 5:8 tells us that salvation is our hope for the future. When we are confident that we have salvation, nothing can shake our security in God.

6.         The Word of God –God’s Word is like a sword. We can use it to attack the enemy. Quoting scripture is one of the best ways to defeat the devil when he attacks you. Jesus always countered the devil's lies or people's heresy by quoting scripture. Hebrews 4:12 also says the Word of God can cut into us, cutting away the unhealthy parts of our life like a surgeon uses a scalpel to cut cancer out of a person.

Paul finishes his lesson on spiritual warfare by asking for prayer. He requests that the Ephesians will pray for him that he might be bold in continuing to attack the enemy. Even the strongest and most willing of us get tired of fighting at times. We need to pray for each other that God will refresh, encourage, and embolden us fight the good fight. Prayer is also how we can work together which I mentioned before is so important to effective spiritual battle.

Paul ends his letter to the Ephesians with a blessing. He proclaims peace, love, faith, and grace to all those who love Jesus. That should be our attitude as well. We need to have a heart to sincerely desire peace, love, faith, and grace to all believers. Even the ones who make you angry or treat you badly.