We are Stronger Together

Well, good morning, everyone.

Damien has just prayed about the wars that are currently raging in our world.

! And most of us are probably unaware that we're currently experiencing in our world at the moment

! the highest number of active armed conflicts that we've seen since World War II that's currently

operating in the world. Now, there's all different kinds of wars. There's eight major wars.

Many are raging in our world. A major war is categorised by annual deaths of more than 10,000

people. There's 11 minor wars and there's over 130 armed conflicts currently going. There's

approximately 2 billion people, that's about 25 per cent, a quarter of the world's population,

live in areas where they're personally impacted by these wars and these armed conflicts. 2 billion

people. 120 million people are currently displaced because of those conflicts with 100 million people

in need of humanitarian assistance because of the crisis that they're having day by day. That's the

world right now. That's where we live. Most of us go about our daily business here in Sydney not even

thinking about those wars. You know, they come up on Facebook feeds and stuff like that and we look at

the news when we get a chance. But we go about our daily business not thinking about them so much

and really only impacted by it when we drive the car into the service station at the moment. That seems to be

the main thing for us. And when we get to the last verses of Ephesians, as we wind up this vision series,

we actually read here of a cosmic war that every soul is involved in and it has devastating

consequences for all of humanity. And on the most part, it's another war that we're unaware of. In fact,

I dare say that the vast majority of us, except for maybe my community group from Friday night,

would be unaware, even coming to church this morning, that there's a cosmic battle raging in my soul

in order to be here and all around us to be here. So that's what we're up to today. Ephesians 6,

get the passage open. And we've got four points that we're journeying through in this text.

Verse 10. First of all, we need to know the wall. Verse 10 opens with the word finally.

And it's not like, you know, at the end of the sermon where the preacher says find and you go,

fantastic. It's actually a word that means for the remaining time, for the remaining time. And so

what Paul's saying here is he's referring to the time for the Ephesians from now for you Ephesians

until the time where we have seen in Ephesians chapter one, where Christ gathers, God gathers all of his

redeemed people to himself into his presence forever. He says, until that day comes, from now

until that day comes, here's the expectation of what's going on for you, the church.

This is what he says. Verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, put on the full

armour 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 dark world and against

the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. So these verses are the dramatic and glorious

climax to the book of Ephesians. And Ephesians has unfolded for us. Let me just give you a

quick summary. It's unfolded for us. God's glorious plan for all time and space to gather people from

every tribe, language and nation under the Lordship of Jesus into a newer society that are his forever

in his presence for our joy and his glory. And what God does is the way he achieves that plan

is in time and space is through God the Son entering human history in the person of Jesus Christ,

the dying of cross for humanity's rebellion against God and Jesus rising triumphantly over death. That

is, Jesus killed off death. He met God's justice for our sin and he defeated the forces of evil.

And Paul explained in chapter 1 verse 21 that Jesus triumphed over the devil at the cross.

And after his resurrection from the dead, Jesus was enthroned in heaven to rule over all powers

on earth, in heaven and under the earth. And God continues that plan to rescue people

from Satan's destructive influence as he grants them saving faith in the gospel, the good news of

Jesus Christ and brings them, gathers them into his new society. And he's been working at that for 2,000

years and continues to work at it now. And what God now does is he displays his glory. He displays his

wisdom and his goodness and his goodness and the magnificence of his plan to rescue humanity in Jesus by lifting up his church.

His church is his trophy for all the spiritual realms to see. He holds it up as his glorious trophy.

And as he does that in the spiritual realm and Satan walks past, it's a reminder. When he sees God's trophy lifted,

that is the reminder that he's defeated. The church is his reminder that he and his whole army are defeated.

And he hates it. He hates it. He hates the fact that Christ is the victor and he is the defeated one.

And so he continues to battle to destroy the trophy.

When Paul says our battle isn't against flesh and blood here, what he's saying is that behind

and beyond all the evil of flesh and blood, all the evil of war and all the evil of greed and envy and gossip

is a war that is going on in the spiritual realm that is the ultimate source of all evil that we experience in our world.

That's what he's saying there.

We can never understand the depths of the problem of evil in human history.

Right now, there is a cosmic war going on to destroy what God is doing in creating a new people for himself in Jesus.

For instance, and you see it at several points here.

You see it in the New Testament.

But in Ephesians 4, verse 26 and 27, I preached at least a couple of weeks ago,

Ephesians 4:26

it says specifically,

do not be angry with each other.

Why?

So that the devil doesn't get a foothold.

And he's talking about relationships within the church.

In other words, anger is, if you like, a crack that allows Satan to work his way in there

and expand the crack and make it worse in order to destroy what God is building.

And in fact, every instruction that I talked about,

you know, that we see here in chapters 4 and 5,

instructions to take off the old self and to put on the new self,

to get rid of the old behaviours of the old, you know,

which follows Satan and his ways,

and put on the new behaviours in Christ,

in every single area of life of church,

of marriage, of relationships, of parenting,

of work in the wider world,

is all done in the context of spiritual warfare.

That is, it's not about willpower.

Change is not about willpower.

It is about warfare.

The word struggle,

at the beginning of verse 12,

indicates hand-on-hand battle,

which means it's not a struggle that's out there being done by a few.

It's a very personal struggle, hand-on-hand.

It's literally the image that we have here

is the locked-in mortal combat with your enemy

where you are swaying,

you're on the ground,

you're rolling in the mud,

you are,

it's a battle for the death,

and it's sweat on sweat,

it's breath on breath,

it is blood on blood.

It's not bombs dropped from 40,000 feet.

That is, this is the moment-by-moment battle

that every Christian is involved in

until Jesus winds up history

and finally crushes Satan under his foot.

You see, we're going to know

that's what's happening for us right now.

We're going to know the war.

Secondly, what we also need to know

is the enemy.

We need to know the enemy and his tactics.

Now, verse 11 mentions the devil.

Verse 12 calls the enemy,

the rulers, the authorities,

the powers of this dark world

and the spiritual force of evil.

So, the Bible is pretty clear

that the devil and his fallen angels

are personal, supernatural beings,

not equal with God in any measure,

created beings,

but what is at the centre of Satan's evil

is a desire to be God more than anything else.

And so, what we see in the scriptures

is that Satan, he has no conscience,

he has no compassion,

he has no remorse,

he has no morals,

he feeds on pain and anguish and filth.

In fact, there's nothing in Satan

which is redeemable at all.

There is no virtue at all.

He is just a dark void.

And he hates God.

He hates God's church

and he hates God's people.

And his one passion,

one aim,

knowing that he himself is defeated,

is to defeat the trophy

that God holds up,

that displays his magnificence

and his glory to the world.

And so, what God,

sorry, what God doesn't,

but Paul also doesn't want us

to make the mistake here

of underestimating the devil's power.

It's why he doesn't just say

the devil and his angels

or his demons.

He actually says,

the rulers,

the authorities,

the powers of this dark world,

the spiritual forces of evil,

our enemy is formidable.

And yet, on the other hand,

he doesn't want us

to overestimate them either

because in verse 10,

finally,

in these days of cosmic war,

he says,

be strong in the Lord

and in his mighty power.

In other words,

in the battle,

don't be cowardly,

don't be weak,

don't be afraid,

expect victory.

So that's who he is.

We also need to know

some of his battle tactics.

Verse 11 mentions

the devil's schemes.

Literally,

the devil's methods

in warfare.

His battle devices,

his tactics,

if you like.

And he's got many of them,

but really,

they're characterised,

if you like,

into two main strategies.

In his preface

to his book,

The Screwtape Letters,

C.S. Lewis wrote

that there are two equal

and opposite errors

that the devil wants

all people to fall into.

And they're linked

to what I've just mentioned.

One strategy

is to disbelieve

the existence

of the devil

and his crew,

and the other

is to have

an excessive

and unhealthy

interest in them.

One is to overestimate,

one is to underestimate.

Lewis wrote,

they themselves,

referring to

Satan

and his buddies,

they themselves

are equally

pleased

by both errors

and hail

a materialist

or a magician

with the same delight.

You see,

the underestimator,

the materialist,

sees everything

in this world,

every evil

in this world,

as having

a natural

or a material

explanation.

It's

because

you're not educated

enough.

It's because

you're dropped

on your head

as a baby.

It's because

of your environment,

your disposition.

Everything

has a material

reason

and therefore

can be solved.

The

under-spiritual

approach

never

or very

rarely

takes the

cosmic war

into account.

Every problem

can therefore

be fixed

via

education,

medicine,

social awareness,

counselling,

good leadership,

that sort of stuff.

The

over-estimator

sees

absolutely

everything

as spiritual

and blames

everything

on the devil

and doesn't

see the

complexity

of a

fallen world

and God's

gracious

provision

of

education,

medicine,

leadership

and so on

and so forth.

So you've got

the

under-estimator

and the

over-estimator

and Satan's

happy with

both.

There are way

too many

Christians

who don't

consider

the spiritual

warfare

and way

too many

Christians

who attribute

everything to

Satan

and take

no

personal

account

at all.

I've

actually

know

of

someone

who

when

they

burnt

their

dinner

on

the

stove

cast

Satan

out

of

the

stove.

An

over-estimator.

No

responsibility

for taking

their eye

off the

pot.

It's all

Satan's

fault.

And so

before we

blame the

devil for

our gossip

and our

slander

and our

greed,

we need

to see

them as

personal

moral

failings

where we

are losing

the skirmishes

in the

wall

because we're

not taking

God's

word

seriously.

Both

the

under-estimator

and the

over-estimator

minimise

and reduce

evil.

That's what

they do.

That's their

problem.

Either

way,

Satan's

happy.

Now,

Satan's

schemes,

there's

his kind

of main

strategies,

if you

like,

but he's

got a

couple of

tactics

which are

also

two areas

which

are equal

and

opposite

lies

and

they

are

lies

that

infect

the

heart

of

the

Christian.

The

name

devil

is

the

Greek

word

diabolos

which is

where we

get our

English word

diabolical

and we

go,

oh yeah,

I know

diabolical,

I know

that word.

maybe we

don't

because the

verb form

of diabolos

means to

slander,

to lie,

to be a

malicious

gossip.

Fundamentally,

!

Satan

is a

liar

which is

why it's

essential

that we

be people

of truth.

It's the

opposite of

lies.

And I

think

unfortunately,

thanks to

Hollywood for

this one,

when we

think of

spiritual

warfare,

we think

of horror

movies and

possession,

out-of-body

experiences,

heads spinning

around,

black eyes,

green puke,

that kind

of stuff.

We think

of spiritual

warfare as

possession.

And yet,

that's

rarely what

we see in

the Bible.

And in

fact, it's

not even

his first

tactic.

When he

first shows

up in the

Bible,

in the

Garden of

Eden,

he doesn't

possess Eve,

he doesn't

possess Adam,

he lies to

them.

He takes

God's word

and distorts

it, and he

puts a lie

in the

heart.

His name

means that

he's a liar,

he's a

slanderer,

he's a

malicious

gossip.

And so

what the

devil does,

he doesn't

make a

good person

bad,

he makes

a flawed

person

worse.

pokes.

He pokes

the crack

that's

open,

he pokes

at it,

pokes at

what is

already

there lying

in my

heart,

and he

utilizes it

to destroy.

And there

are two

basic lies

that he

uses,

equal and

opposite

lies,

temptation

and accusation,

temptation

and accusation.

The

temptation

lie

gets a

person

to have

a too

high

view of

themselves

for their

morality,

the accusation

lie

gets a

person

to have

too

low

a view

of

themselves

and

with

it

Christ's

forgiveness.

With

the lie

of temptation,

what Satan

does with

that lie

is

he

hides

God's

holiness

and how

much he

hates

sin

and he

emphasizes

God's

forgiveness,

his love

and his

mercy.

With the

lie of

accusation,

what he

does to

your heart

is he

hides God's

love and

his forgiveness

and his

mercy

while

emphasizing

God's

holiness,

his

righteousness,

his

judgment

and

condemnation

is sin.

See how

it works?

Temptation

accusation.

In his

book,

Precious

Remedies

Against

Satan

Devices,

Thomas

Brooks,

1600s,

British,

English

pastor.

It's a

fantastic

book and

he lists

if you

want to

you can

just

download

this

thing

for a

couple

of

bucks

of

put on

your

Kindle

and

even if

you don't

read the

whole thing

just read

the list

the table

of contents

and what

he does

there is

he lists

dozens

and dozens

of lies

devices

of Satan

lies

of Satan

into

those two

categories

of temptation

and accusation.

I'll

mention

just a

few.

Here's

a couple

just on

the

temptation

side

of

things.

Tactic

of

Satan

he

presents

the

bait

but

he

hides

the

hook.

In

other

words

the

lie

he

sells

to

your

heart

is

the

short

term

pleasures

of

sin

and

he

hides

the

long

term

miserable

consequences

that

flow

from

it.

Another

he

paints

sin

with

virtues

colours.

I'm

not greedy

I'm

actually

frugal.

It's

not

adultery

it's

exploring.

nothing.

It's

not a

lie

it's

just

kind

of

like

a

half

truth.

Another

one

to

present

God

to the

soul

as

one

made

up

all

of

money

as

if

the

only

characteristic

of

God

is

that

he

is

just

love.

That's

it.

And

that's

his

job.

Doesn't

matter

if I

sin.

You

know

God's

in the

business

of

forgiveness

that's

what he

said

he

would

do.

And

the

worst

case

scenario

I

want

to

live

life

my

way

and

then

I'm

going

to

ask

for

forgiveness

on

my

deathbed.

Get

the

best

of

both

worlds.

It's

a

life

here's

a

few

on

the

accusation

side.

By

causing

them

that

is

the

Christian

to

keep

dwelling

on

and

thinking

about

sin

to

focus

on

their

sins

more

than

their

saviour.

Much

more

aware

what

the

devil

does

is

he

ensures

that

the

Christian

takes

ten

looks

at

their

sin

to

every

look

that

they

might

take

it

their

saviour.

And

when

they

do

they

see

him

as

righteous.

Another

one

by

making

Christians

think

that

the

troubles

they

are

going

through

must

be

punishments

from

God.

Again

hiding

God's

sovereignty

and his

mercy

and him

walking

with you

and highlighting

the fact

that he's

on your

side

should

you

not

have

a

good

life.

You're

suffering

this

because

you've

done

something

wrong

and God

is

punishing

you.

Another

one.

By

persuading

Christians

that their

situation

is not

good,

their

hearts

are not

sincere,

their

virtues

are not

genuine

because

they

are

so

followed,

vexed

and

tormented

with

temptations.

In

other

words,

this

Christian

life is

so hard

and if

I really

was a

Christian

I would

not

clearly

have

those

thoughts,

I would

not have

these

desires,

I would

not

constantly

failing.

I'm

an

imposter.

Another

do any

of those

sound

familiar

to you

at all?

And

depending

on your

disposition

you'll

hear one

lie more

than the

other.

Depending

on your

disposition

because

Satan

knows

the

absolute

perfect

perfect

lie

for

each

one of

us

and if

we ever

get

clued

up

he'll

shift

his

tactics

to

tackle

another

one

instead.

Come

at us

from

another

one

instead.

And so

what it

means is

we need

to know

the

enemy

and we

need

to know

which

scheme

he

particularly

what is

his

tactic

that he

specifically

uses

on

me

and

be

crafty

enough

to

keep

changing

them

as soon

as

you

become

aware

of

them.

And so

we need

to know

how to

fight.

There's

his

weapons

and

strategies

that's

the

war

we're

involved

in.

Verse

13

onwards

is how

the

Christian

fights

this

spiritual

battle

and I'm

not going

to unpack

this in

detail

because you

could.

One

commentary

I've got

on these

passages

these

nine

verses

even

less

than

nine

verses

here

all up

when you

take

verses

10

to

20

is

1200

pages

long.

So

we don't

have time

for that.

So let me

be brief.

Therefore

put on

verse 13

put on

the full

armour 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

stand

firm

then.

Paul

is

so

conscious

of the

need

for the

Christian

to

stand

in

the

battle.

He

wants

us

to be

able

to

stand

not

falter

not

fall.

So

notice

the

order

verse

13

put

on

the

armour

so

that

you

can

stand

when

the

day

of

evil

comes

or

the

time

of

special

pressure.

In other

words

put on

the armour

first

so that

you are

ready

for

the war.

If you

and I don't

want to

sound too

light when I

say this

but

if you

were living

in a

war

zone

right

now

you

don't

wait

for the

bombs

to start

dropping

before you

build your

bunker.

Do you?

And the

reason

that I

personally

never ever

built

a

bomb

bunker

is because

I don't

live in a

war zone.

never

needed it.

The point

is

if you

do not

think

if you're

a Christian

and you

are not

aware

consciously

that there

is a

spiritual

battle

going on

that life

is going

okay

then your

default

position

is to

spiritually

coast.

You're

not fighting

a battle.

And

then all

of a

sudden

when the

timer

pressure

hits

and the

flaming

arrows

of Satan

start to

descend

what

where

did I

put that

shield?

What did

I do

with that

thing?

Ah it's

over there

in the

fire pit.

It is the

fire pit.

that's

what

happens

and you're

not able

to stand.

And so

when we

spiritually

coast and

we're not

aware of

the spiritual

battle

where our

prayer life

is almost

non-existent,

we don't

read or

try to

grow in

our

understanding

of God's

word,

worship is

not a

high priority

of the

church,

our

involvement

at church

is light

and we

are certainly

not working

on the

deep change

in our

lives that

chapters 4

and 5

tell us

to work

at.

We're not

taking off

the old

and putting

on the

new.

We're

coasting.

And when

the bombs

start dropping

it's too

late

because the

armoring of

the soul

takes time.

every

single

day

is a

testing

ground.

Most of

us are

not even

aware

from the

moment we

got up

to the

gathering

right now

we've

already

been

involved

in tens

if not

hundreds

of skirmishes

in our

heart.

And so

what happens

when you're

in a

skirmish

that you're

not aware

of?

You lose.

You lose.

That's what

happens.

Now we

often attribute

the big

battles in

life to

spiritual

warfare but

fail to see

the little

skirmishes

that are

happening

every day.

For

instance

have you

ever

thought

go

down the

list in

Ephesians

4 and

5 and

pick one

that's suitable

for you

but have

you ever

thought that

impatience is

spiritual

battle?

Ever

thought about

that?

When you got

impatient with

someone?

It's a

spiritual battle

raging.

in that

moment for

us is

we've all

got those

people in

our lives

and the

default

instinct of

the heart

is

idiots

which is

not just

the default

instinct of

my heart

but also

the default

thing that

comes out

of my

mouth

because

what is

in the

heart

comes out

of their

mouth

when I'm

in traffic.

Idiots.

Look at

that idiot.

I became

aware of

it personally

when one

of my

children

sitting in

their car

seat as

a 4 year

old

noticed

someone

before I

did

in traffic

and went

idiot.

There you

go your

children teach

you what

goes on

in your

hearts.

But the

instinct of

the heart

is this

person is

getting in

my way

they're

making my

life

difficult

and what

Satan is

doing there

in that

moment

is his

poking

poking

look at

that idiot.

You're

absolutely

right Steve

you would

not do

that.

There's

no way

you'd

do

that.

There's

no way

you'd

get in

someone's

way.

No way

you'd

make that

mistake.

Your time

is so much

more important.

What if

in that

moment

we saw

it as a

spiritual

battle

and

instead

change

the voice

of my

heart.

God

as I'm

reminded

as my

impatience

comes and

I'm

reminded

of this

person

in front

of me

God

my

impatience

towards

that person

makes me

wonder

how you

see me

my

faults

my

flaws

my

failings

my

sin

God

where would

I be

if you

treated me

like I'm

currently

treating

that person

right there

do you do

that instinctively

see it as

spiritual

warfare

in the

shopping

line

in traffic

at work

do you

do that

instinctively

instinctively

in the

heart

not seeing

any

heads

nodding

let me

just say

I don't

do it

either

and so

I lose

I lose

another

skirmish

every

single

day

we're

afforded

opportunities

to hear

the

instinctive

thoughts

of our

hearts

to hear

the lies

that Satan

is putting

in there

and to

put on

the armor

of God

and to

push those

lies out

and change

but if

we're not

aware

that there

is a

battle

raging

we lose

but friends

this

is

routine

spiritual

warfare

and he

gives us

our weapons

and our

strategies

there are

seven

items

in the

armor

and I'm

going to

be super

brief

I'm not

going to

try to

condense

1200 pages

if you like

but I'll be

super

brief

the belt

of truth

in verse

14

is the

very first

item

and it's

in fact

the

foundational

principle

it is

in fact

the

foundational

principle

because the

actual word

there is

not so much

a belt

like this

that I've

got on the

outside of

me

holding my

pants up

the belt

of truth

was a

leather

undergarment

that went

under all

of the

armor

that covered

right down

to the

lowest end

it's the

undergarment

a big

thick leather

chunk of

stuff

that

covered

all of

you

from

and it's

the

foundational

to stand

firm

in the

battle

you must

be a

person

filled

with the

truth

of the

revelation

of God

in the

scriptures

with the

gospel of

the Lord

Jesus

Christ

at its

center

the truth

of who

Jesus

is

and what

he's

achieved

for us

Jesus

is the

way

the

truth

and the

life

it is

the

belt

of

truth

it is

the

foundation

of the

Christian

life

and

everything

else

in here

the

breastplate

of righteousness

the shoes

of peace

the

shield

of faith

the helmet

of salvation

if you

go back

into

chapters

one

and two

you'll

see

all of

these

things

as

benefits

that

flow

from

the

gospel

they're

all

privileges

of the

Christian

and

Paul

is

saying

your

very

foundation

of your

life

is the

truth

of the

gospel

the

truth

of God's

self

revelation

in his

word

and what

you need

to do

in take

up the

armor

is you

need

to take

up

all the

privileges

that are

yours

in

Christ

and

remind

yourself

of

them

drill

them

into

your

heart

and

push

out

the

lies

of

Satan

every

moment

and

how do

we do

that

the last

two

items

the

sword

of the

spirit

which is

the word

of God

and

praying

the

spirit

these

are

two

means

provisions

from

God

where