"Armed for Battle: Know the Battlefield" Ephesians 6:12-13 Sunday Morning Worship Service

Let me read for us Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 through 13, or 10 through 14, um, 10 through 13.

Ephesians 6:10–13

And for the sermon this morning, we'll just be looking at verses 12 and 13, but I want to read the whole sentence here.

Paul says in Ephesians 6 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, and against the authorities, and 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.

All the Apostle Paul knew, really, in his Christian life was war.

You can look at Acts chapter 9 and see that from the moment of Paul's conversion, he was thrust into persecution.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

You're familiar, of course, I'm sure most of you are, with the narrative of Paul's conversion.

He was on his way from Jerusalem to Damascus to persecute Christians.

He was going to put them to death.

This is something he had already done back in Jerusalem.

We are introduced to Paul at the end of Acts chapter 8 when Stephen is stoned.

Acts 8 · chapter mention

Sorry, Acts chapter 7 when Stephen is stoned.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

As he's being put to death at the end of Acts chapter 7, the garments of those who are doing the execution are laid at the feet of the Apostle Paul.

Acts 7 · chapter mention

This is demonstrating that he had authority over what was happening.

He was the ruler, he was the one in authority over what was taking place.

From there, the disciples, of course, scattered at Stephen's martyrdom.

Some of them fled to Damascus, and Paul took it upon himself to pursue them to Damascus.

He, of course, had papers that were from the leaders of the synagogues in Jerusalem authorizing him to persecute Jews in Damascus.

Remember, there's all kinds of territorial claims here.

He's leaving the province.

Jerusalem is of one Roman ruler and going into Damascus, which falls under the, you know, in the nation modern day of Syria, under a different Roman ruler, and yet the Romans had largely let the Jews police their own religion.

And so Paul has letters from the synagogue in Jerusalem authorizing him to persecute Jews, some of whom may even be Roman citizens, in Damascus.

And on his way there, the Lord blinds him, strikes him, knocks him down onto the ground, paralyzes him, cripples him.

His companions essentially leave him.

He's led, in a sense, by the hand to Damascus, where he's holed up, and the Lord sends a messenger to him.

In fact, the Lord, in sending a messenger, we can look at Acts 9, verse 16 to him, declares to the messenger why he's going to save the Apostle Paul.

Acts 9:16

So I don't think any of you have this in the Lord's mind when you're saved by God, but it is interesting to see God's own words about what his motive was, what God's own motive was in saving the Apostle Paul.

Verse 16, I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.

That's Paul's introduction to the gospel from God's perspective.

Could you imagine that?

Could you imagine being saved?

And the purpose of your salvation is to suffer, not just to suffer, but to be an example, kind of the par excellence example of suffering for the Christian world.

I don't know.

I'm sure there have been other missionaries that have suffered, like the Apostle Paul.

I have read more missionary biographies than I can count, but honestly, I can't think of somebody who has suffered more in persecution than the Apostle Paul has.

I'm sure there have been.

I'm not making an absolute claim.

But it is very difficult.

When you start tracking through Paul's life, it's very difficult to imagine somebody who has suffered for the sake of the gospel at the hands of persecutors.

I'm not talking about Job, you know, who has his family taken from him.

I'm not talking about the normal trials in this world.

I'm talking about spending your Christian life marked out by persecution from the moment of conversion to the moment of martyrdom.

And this was God's design.

You see it in Acts 9, verse 16.

Acts 9:16

He will suffer for the sake of my name.

Well, after he's converted, look at verse 20 of Acts chapter 9.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues.

You know, he has letters.

How fortuitous.

He has letters giving him access to the synagogues in Jerusalem.

Letters from Jerusalem, letters from Jerusalem giving him access to the synagogues in Damascus for the purpose of going in there to root out this Christian heresy that Jesus is the Son of God.

So Paul obviously leverages that access, walks right in the synagogues, presents his papers, and starts preaching.

Notice the content of his sermon, Acts chapter 9, verse 20.

Acts 9:20

He starts preaching that Jesus is the Son of God.

The very thing he was sent there to stamp out, day one.

Could you imagine?

Here's the visiting rabbi from Jerusalem, the esteemed Pharisee, Paul, well not quite yet, Paul.

Saul.

Saul, what is the scripture reading for today?

Oh, brothers and sisters, I have something for you.

Jesus is the Son of God.

I mean, people would think he has gone crazy.

They're stunned.

If you look at verse 21, all who heard him were amazed.

And you know, there's no real good English equivalent to the Greek word amazed.

It's an understated word.

I mean, they were flabbergasted, bamboozled, their brains fell out of their heads.

That would be an idiomatic way to render it.

You know, steam is coming out of there.

They're astonished.

And they say, Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name?

And they're trying to figure this out.

This is the guy who back in Jerusalem caused so much chaos.

The words of what had already happened in Jerusalem had made it to Damascus, and the people are astonished.

Hasn't he come here for this purpose?

To bring them bound before the chief priests?

I mean, the people are genuinely confused about what's happened.

Meanwhile, verse 22, he's increasing all the more in strength.

He confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

So I don't know how long they gave him in the synagogue before the synagogue leader steps up and says, I have some questions.

But Paul responds to that.

He responds to the dialogue that becomes, that starts taking place in Damascus by proving to them from the scriptures that Jesus is indeed the Son of God.

Verse 23 is the answer to that question.

The Jews plotted to kill him.

Their plot became known to Saul.

Verse 24, they were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him.

This is the conversion of Saul.

I just want to remind you, verse 20, immediately is when this started.

Immediately after.

So the moment before his conversion, God says, Yeah, I'm going to show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake.

The moment after his conversion, he is surrounded by those who want to put him to death, and I don't think it ever really changes.

He's lowered from Damascus through an opening in the wall, verse 25 says, by lowering him in a basket.

They hide him in a basket.

The guy is a brand new believer, okay?

And he's not going to do this again.

This is really his only escape like this.

From now on, when he gets thrown out of cities, he's going to be left for dead.

He goes to Jerusalem.

That's what verse 26 says.

Look at verse 26 in the middle of it.

They were all afraid of him.

So he goes from being persecuted by the Jewish synagogue leaders in Damascus to Jerusalem, where he seeks refuge with the disciples.

The disciples don't want to be seen with him because remember, like it was like last Wednesday he just killed Stephen, you know?

And now he's here walking around preaching Jesus.

They didn't believe it.

Barnabas, and when you study Barnabas in the New Testament, of course it's Barnabas that does this.

Precious Barnabas.

I mean, he's known as the encourager.

He takes Saul in.

He's the one who looks at him and is like, oh, this lost puppy dog.

He brings him in.

He brought him to the apostles.

He declared to them how he had seen the Lord and spoke to him, how in Damascus he preached boldly in the name of Jesus.

So then he gets access in Jerusalem.

He starts going in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.

He's now arguing with the Hellenists.

These are Greek philosophers that are Jewish in origin.

They were seeking to kill him.

So he's being persecuted by the synagogue leaders.

He's being persecuted by the Herodian party, which has overlaps with the Hellenists.

So now he's forced out of Jerusalem.

They send him off to Caesarea, that's the port city along the Mediterranean coast there in Israel.

And they send him back to Tarsus.

Why Tarsus?

Well, that's where he's from.

So he's not welcome in Damascus.

He's not welcome in Jerusalem.

So they're just sending him home.

It's like return descender.

We don't know what to do with this guy.

Putting him on a boat.

Go home.

So he goes home and he's left there in relative ease for just a moment.

And then they come and fetch him.

Of course, they come and fetch him in Acts chapter 11.

Acts 11 · chapter mention

Barnabas comes and gets him, calls him out of retirement, his brief respite, and then it's all over from there.

You know the story.

After Acts chapter 11, it is one persecution after another.

Acts 11 · chapter mention

You can flip back to Ephesians chapter 6, but as you're going to Ephesians chapter 6, I'm just going to read you 2 Corinthians 11, 25.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

As Paul is on his way back to ministry, he's beaten with rods, 2 Corinthians 11.25 says.

Three times.

I just want you to imagine what one time being beaten with rods would be like.

You know, 39 lashes.

They wouldn't lash him 40 times because that was considered excessive punishment.

So they went for 39 times, beaten with rods.

He was stoned once.

Stoning is not a punishment we're familiar with, but you put the person out in front of you, sometimes at the bottom of a hill, and you push rocks down on him, you throw rocks at him.

Normally the person would be hit with a rock and knocked unconscious.

He would cower up in a ball, and you would keep throwing rocks at him until he's dead, often culminating in pushing down a boulder on top of him.

That's how you stone someone to death.

That's why how Stephen died.

They do that to Paul.

This was in Lystra.

And after that, they threw his dead body outside of the city, thinking, assuming he was dead.

And left him there.

No more escapes and baskets for him.

On top of that, he says three times I was shipwrecked.

So he's nearly beaten to death three times.

Stoned to death once.

Shipwrecked three times.

You know, if you have a turbulent landing on an airplane flight, it becomes a story you tell for like the rest of your life.

You go on a short-term mission trip and you have, you know, you land on some short runway in the bush, and it becomes like a defining feature of your life, and you will tell the story to anyone who will listen forever and ever and ever.

Paul was shipwrecked, not once, not twice, but thrice.

Swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, making his way to shore.

What?

That's just not a happenstance thing to happen to him.

He's shipwrecked because that's how you made it around the Mediterranean Empire.

If you want to expand the gospel to get around the Roman Empire, you're going to be on the boats.

And they crash.

Paul was often with a sense of urgency, wanting to get somewhere before the door closed on him, wanting to get here or there, while there was a gospel opportunity there, all the while concerned about what's happening in the churches that he had planted.

It's heartbreaking because the Corinthians, of course, wondering what's happening in Philippi.

I mean, he's being torn in so many directions.

Oh, and along the way, he keeps getting arrested.

You remember in Ephesus, he's preaching in the Colosseum in Ephesus, and there's a riot.

And Paul tries to push himself to the front of the riot.

And he tells, it's a really comical scene.

He tells the disciples, I'll get up there and I'll explain what's happening.

It's a riot.

And they're rioting about him.

He's like, oh, but if only they understood, it's just that Jesus is the Son of God.

I mean, that's the only problem here.

I mean, come on, Paul.

That's his life.

Imagine what he looked like.

I mean, if you get beaten and whipped, you're going to be scarred for life.

If you get beaten or whipped once, if Paul was whipped 39 times, times three.

I mean, the guy would have been disfigured.

Think of what his face looked like.

They stoned him almost to death.

That's going to leave a mark.

How many times was he put in chains?

You think those leave scars?

Absolutely.

Stock marks on his legs.

Scars, I'm sure, on his face, all over his body.

You know, in Acts 28, the third time he's shipwrecked, he swims the shore.

He's around a fire, and a snake bites him.

Do you remember this?

And he shakes it off.

What a manly thing to do.

Do you remember what the next verse says?

The people around the fire assumed that he was a murderer.

You think, why would you think that?

Look at the guy.

Sometimes our stereotype Apollo is like, you know, a short, portly, balding, glasses, fountain pens, kind of guy.

I mean, that's what I think of.

That's my image of him.

But then you just think about all he went through, and then you see that when people see him with his shirt off, they're like, this dude is a murderer.

That was Paul.

His life was war.

At the end of his life, he says 2 Timothy 4 7, I have fought the good fight.

Yeah, no kidding.

He fought the war his whole life.

And the most interesting thing about that to me is that when Paul talks about his life as war, none of the things I just described is what he had in mind.

For him, the war of the Christian life was not about getting bit by vipers, not about beaten by Romans, not about betrayed by the Jews and handed over for trials, not about the Roman legal proceedings that he was very well acquainted with.

For him, the Christian life was war in the church.

It was war as he was pursuing godliness, and it was war as he was trying to help others pursue godliness as well.

For Paul, the real war was what was happening in the hearts of believers in the churches he planted.

I think of 2 Timothy 2, 1 through 3.

Paul says, You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses and trust of faithful men who will be able to teach others, share in sufferings as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

This is Paul's admonition to Timothy.

Timothy, you want to fight the same fight I'm fighting?

Timothy wasn't called to be shipwrecked that many times.

Timothy wasn't saved for the purpose of showing the world how much a missionary would suffer.

Timothy, pastor of the church in Ephesus.

But if Timothy wants to suffer like Paul does, if Timothy wants to be a soldier in the battle, then he will be strengthened in grace.

That's what Paul tells Timothy to do.

You want to fight the battle like Paul, then get strong in grace.

And the stronger you are in grace, the more active you are at pursuing godliness, then you will share in the sufferings as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

There's a sense, of course, when you look at 2 Timothy 2, that the war's already over, right?

I mean, Jesus came, he conquered the rulers of this world, he disgraced the authorities of this world.

That's the language from Colossians 2.

By resurrecting from the grave, he robbed them of their power.

The rulers and authorities of this world were hostile towards Christ, and Jesus showed how impotent those people are.

By rising from the dead, the world threw their worst punishment at him.

And by his resurrection, he showed that it was meaningless what they could do.

You can't legitimately or in any sense a real way punish the Christian.

So the war is won.

Jesus is resurrected.

Even though the war is won, though, the battle rages on.

The battle in a believer's life rages on.

Jesus is from resurrected from the grave, the war's over, but the battle still goes on.

And that's what Paul is talking about in Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

He's concerned about the battle.

In verse 10, he's telling you to be strong, the same language he tells Timothy, be strong, build yourself up in grace.

In Ephesians 6 10, it's the strength of his might.

We looked at that verse last week.

Put on the whole armor of God that you can stand against the schemes of the devil.

We looked at that last week.

But now we got three different little words in here that mark this war, that mark this fight, this pursuit of sanctification.

I'll give you those three words.

I'll rattle them off real quick right away.

Wrestling, war, and stand.

Wrestle, war, and stand.

Those are kind of the three imperatives.

Wrestle, war, and stand.

You see the first one in verse 12.

We do not wrestle against flesh and blood.

The word wrestle here is an unusual, it's the only time it's used in the New Testament.

A very, very common Greek word.

Because it was very, very common in the Greek world.

Wrestling was the height of their sporting endeavor.

That was the sport, wrestling.

Someone argue for the marathon running being the sport, but I'm on the side of wrestling.

Wrestling was where the top athletes competed.

Cities would put their top wrestler forward and wrestle against athletes from other cities.

I mean, this was it was the Olympic event.

This was the event.

Wrestling was face-to-face, hand-to-hand combat.

First of all, they wrestled naked.

I mean, it's this is a very personal endeavor here.

This is showing you the per the reason Paul is using this analogy, he's showing you how intimate and close this fighting is.

That's what he has in mind here.

As I mentioned, it's the only use of this word in the New Testament, but it is not an unusual Greek word at all.

Paul is displaying here that the war, the fight, the battle is a close, personal, intimate battle.

There are cosmic things at play, but those cosmic things are played out in hand-to-hand combat in your life.

You're not getting strong, so the spiritual life can be fought like drone warfare.

You're getting strong in grace because you're going to be involved in hand-to-hand combat.

This is letting you know that this is a battle is close to you.

This battle is close to you.

And the battle that Paul's describing here, it's it's at hand.

It's in your life.

Somebody explained to me this week this analogy.

It's in the context of sports, but it's I think it's true in the Christian life as well.

That, you know, for an athlete, there's things that you're in control of.

All right, you're in control of what you do with the ball.

That's your responsibility.

You are in a hundred percent control of that.

So you can practice, you can train, you can execute.

When the ball comes to your foot, you are the only one who is in control of what happens to it while it's there.

You have influence over the things around you.

You can make a run and set up a play in a certain way, you can influence those kind of things.

You have no control over another set of things.

You have no control over what the referee does.

You have no control over what your coach does.

You have no control over what the other team does.

They're entirely outside of your control.

So it makes sense to focus on what you're in control of with a little bit of what you have influence on, and basically ignore the rest.

I think that is a helpful idiom for the Christian life.

That you look at the world around you, there are some things that you are in control of.

You are in control of how you respond to temptation.

You're in control of your own pursuit of godliness.

You're in control of the spiritual disciplines in your life.

When your alarm goes off in the morning, you're in control of do you get out of bed and read the Bible or not?

That's up to you.

Nobody else is in control of that, only you.

You can have influence over those around you.

You can have influence over your spouse or over your kids, over your friends.

You can influence them.

Towards godliness, and you should do that.

And you have no control of what's happening in the world.

None whatsoever.

Wrestling is an analogy that fits that.

You're in control of the hand-to-hand combat right there in your life.

That's where the real battle is.

I worry that so much of our affections and so much of our mental capacity is spent on things that you have no control and no influence over.

You get so wrapped up about what's happening in politics, about what's happening in Ottawa or what's happening somewhere else in the world.

You get so wrapped up over a congressional race in a state that you don't even live in.

And you don't get to vote in it.

Rumors notwithstanding.

You get so wrapped up about that kind of thing.

Why?

You have no control over it.

You have no influence over it.

You use your influence to tell your 2,000 Facebook friends how incompetent our government is.

That's a great use of your influence right there.

What are you actually in control of?

Your own spiritual growth.

Strengthen yourself in grace, Paul says.

And don't get so wrapped up over things that you have no control and no influence over whatsoever.

I think that would be a helpful growth in godliness.

I'm telling you, this just so the slides here say know your battlefield.

Know where the fight actually is.

Know where the spiritual fight actually is.

The spiritual fight that you're involved in is one that you can get hands-on in.

That's where the battle is.

The battle is not in the world, the battle is the world, and it's the world coming to your heart.

So, first of all, Paul describes this as wrestling.

You're not wrestling against flesh and blood, you're not wrestling against actual people here, but against the rulers and against the authorities and against the cosmic powers of this present darkness against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

This is a really a fantastic line right here and fantastic list.

You're not getting hands-on, is what I think he means by flesh and blood, in a literal sense.

So even though you use the word wrestling, you're not going to actually wrestle the devil.

Even though he uses the word wrestling, you're not actually going to find the ungodly ruler that's persecuting Christians and punch him.

Even though he uses the word wrestling, you're not really putting hands against flesh.

But instead, you understand, and he's got this little, I think, a flowchart here, starting with rulers and authorities.

That's the human expression of this.

The phrase rulers and authorities is generally in the Bible, is talking about actual humans, I think.

Some people say it's a category of angels, but the phrase is used all over the Bible, and it typically is talking about humans that are in positions of political authority.

These are the, you know, in Luke chapter 20, they're going to trap Jesus in his words to hand him over to the rulers and authorities.

Luke 20 · chapter mention

And that's what they do.

Remember?

They ask him, Can you pay taxes to Caesar?

He says basically yes.

They tell the authorities, the Sanhedrin, Jesus said no.

And put him on trial.

And of course, Jesus, through his resurrection, disgraces the rulers and authorities.

He puts them to open shame, Colossians 2, verse 10 says.

Colossians 2:10

It's a phrase in Luke 12, 11 that's used to describe the synagogue leaders.

The rulers and authorities were listening to Jesus' preaching because they were offended by it in Luke 12.

Titus chapter 3, verse 1, remind believers to be submissive to the rulers and authorities.

Titus 3:1

It's the same word.

Here, Paul's telling you that the battle against these cosmic forces is played out, first of all, with rulers and authorities.

Then you go back behind them, and what do you see behind them?

You see cosmic powers over this present darkness.

Here he's, you know, he introduced this back in verse 11 with the schemes of the devil.

The devil has introduced all kinds of sin in the world, and there are cosmic powers over this world system that are working their evil, nefarious designs.

They're working their spiritual forces, Paul says in verse 12.

They're in the heavenly places.

He's talking about the devil, and he's talking about demons, and he's talking about the love of sin.

He's talking about lying spirits, he's talking about the demonic attacks that propagate false religion.

The devil masquerades as an angel of light.

He talks about all the wickedness in this world that is played out in actual people.

But behind those people is the world systems that are run by the devil, who is the prince of the power of this air.

We looked at that last week.

So understand that that's what the world systems are.

Even though it's people that are doing these policies, behind it is the forces of darkness, the devil himself.

A great example of this is Job chapter 1.

Job 1 · chapter mention

Not talking about political leaders or those in governing authority in Job chapter 1, but the principle is made there.

Job 1 · chapter mention

In Job, remember it was a band of Sabaeans comes and raids Job's farm, steals from him, murders, steals what he possesses.

Do you remember why they attacked?

Because they were inspired by the devil.

But if you were to ask one of them, you know, tap one of the marauding bandits on the shoulder and say, Why are you doing this?

And pretend he paused and didn't chop your head off, he's not going to say, the devil made me do it.

He's acting entirely on his own free will here.

He's acting based upon his own desires.

He is a marauding bandit because he wants to be a marauding bandit.

He's not doing it because the demon inhabited him.

He's doing it because that's what he wants to do.

But you pull back the curtain of time, so to speak, and you see what's really happening.

There are forces of darkness and sin and demons and the devil that are operating behind it.

And so Paul's bringing this to bear and the Christian life.

The world systems from which you have been saved, but in which you live, are being directed by those who are influenced by cosmic powers of this world.

The real power behind them is not human, of course, but the ranks of angels.

That's the realm of power and sin.

This is the place of where God does not dwell.

In fact, this is what Paul was commissioned to do when he was blinded by the light on the road to Damascus.

Acts chapter 9 does not give us this conversation, but Paul repeats it in Acts chapter 26.

Acts 9 · chapter mention Acts 26 · chapter mention

He says, The Lord spoke to him and told him, I'm calling you to preach to the Gentiles to save them from the kingdom of darkness and open their eyes to the light.

See the irony here?

That Paul's been blinded by light, and God says, I'm blinding you so that you see how blind you are.

You're blinded by light because you can't see the light.

I'm calling you to go to the Gentiles and preach to them about the power of the true light to save them from the kingdom of darkness.

That's Acts 26, 18.

That's the power of Satan.

In fact, Acts 26 goes on to say, so they will turn from the power of Satan to the power of God.

That's where the battle is.

Paul understood this from the moment of his conversion.

He understood that the whole world is a cosmic battle between light and darkness.

The righteousness of Christ and the evil designs and schemes of men.

He uses a word here that's uh, I think, dismissive of these evil powers.

He describes them as wicked here against the spiritual forces of evil.

It's an unusual word for evil.

The word for evil there is the word for deformity.

And it's the word for somebody who's deformed.

It's rendered in the SV evil here, but it's this idea that these people are marked by wickedness.

They're deformed.

And that's with whom you're fighting.

So the first thing here, you're wrestling.

You're wrestling with the at-hand, the manifestation of the world systems that come into your heart.

Second is it's a war.

It's a wrestling, and then it's it's a war.

You see this in back.

You can we'll look more at the war the next few weeks to come, but I do want to draw your attention to 2 Corinthians 10.

I put it on the screen for you to see.

This is another place where Paul describes this war.

Though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.

Very similar to Ephesians 6.

But then he says, the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but of divine power to destroy strongholds.

We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against knowledge of God.

We take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete.

Do you see all the war language in this?

This is how Paul is describing the Christian life.

It is a war.

You are, it's it's wrestling, it's at hand, but the metaphor of wrestling is set aside because you're about to put on armor, and as you put on armor, you don't wrestle with armor, you don't wrestle with weapons.

As you strap up here, you're getting ready for this kind of battle.

You're putting on weapons of warfare, he says in 2 Corinthians 10, 4, to destroy strongholds, to destroy arguments, to take every thought captive, to punish every disobedience.

So remember, you're in an area, you're fighting the things that are at hand.

You're not concerned about what's happening in faraway places, you're not concerned about things that you don't have control over or influence over, but you are preparing your mind, you are getting prepared mentally in grace and in the word of the Lord, so that when those ideas come at you, when that attack comes at you, you're ready for them.

You understand how to see the world.

So earlier, when I said things that you don't have control or influence over, don't fight your battle there.

I mean that.

But don't be ignorant of those things either, because when they come for you, you're ready for them.

That's the language of 2 Corinthians 10.

You want to take the thoughts captive.

Your mind starts going somewhere, your mind starts going somewhere ungodly, you arrest that thought, you bring it back, you capture it, and you put it in prison.

You put it in thought jail.

You take it captive.

Those arguments come your way and you can destroy them, Paul says, because you're strong in grace.

That's what you're being strengthened by, remember?

You're strong in grace.

So those arguments from the devil and from the world come at you and you can destroy them.

You obliterate them.

You're ready to punish every disobedience.

And he's talking about spiritual disciplines in your own life here.

He's not talking about punishing other people's disobedience.

See someone sin and you hit them.

Because, hey, 2 Corinthians 10 says, I'm supposed to punish your disobedience.

I saw you run that stop sign.

No, you're you're controlling yourself when your obedience is complete, he's saying here.

This is a you're working out your salvation with fear and trembling.

No, it's God who works in you and through you to will and act according to his good purpose.

This is wartime mentality.

As I mentioned, the war is won, but the battle rages on.

Back in Ephesians 6, Paul's describing it in those kind of terms.

He's taken you from being ready for battle here, wrestling against these rulers that are out there in the world, but with this concept of war.

Verse 13, take up the whole armor of God.

So we're leaving the wrestling metaphor aside.

The wrestling metaphor is just to show you the proximity of this fight to yourself.

We're leaving that aside because now you're putting on the armor that God gave you for war.

You're going to invade the battlefield.

You're going to go to war and invade the battlefield, knowing that as you're taking the gospel to the world, you are advancing.

That's how we advance.

That's how we gain ground in this war.

As we take the gospel to the world.

That's advancing in the dark world.

As you evangelize, you're advancing the gospel in this war.

As missionaries go around the world, the gospel is advancing.

That's how the gospel advances.

But thirdly, we saw wrestle, we saw war.

Thirdly, stand.

Stand.

This ends back where verse 11 ended.

Verse 11, the culmination and prepared for battle was so you could stand against the schemes of the devil.

Verse 13, it goes to the same place.

You're putting on the whole armor of God so you can withstand the evil day.

Evil day here, I think, refers to the whole life we live in this fallen world until glory.

And having done all, having done everything you can do, this is the end of the story.

You're gonna stand firm.

Seems kind of anticlimatic, doesn't it?

Like get ready.

The devil's after you.

Go strengthen yourself in grace.

Go get strong.

Know the devil's working through the world.

You're gonna fight, you're gonna wrestle them, you're gonna wrestle demons, you're going to war against evil.

Okay, you ready?

You got your weapons?

You good to go, locked and loaded?

Stand.

Well, come on.

But you understand this basic war principle here.

You don't want to give up ground that you've gained.

You don't want to forfeit ground that you've gained.

This is what Paul's doing.

Paul's trying to advance the gospel in the world.

He's trying to get to Spain.

He's trying to get the gospel from Rome to Spain.

That's his goal here.

But he keeps having to get circled back to go fix the Corinthians.

He keeps having to come back and telling Titus, you know, you actually have to put elders in Crete.

I'm glad the church is going there.

You need to find some elders.

Don't make me come back there again.

I mean, every time he's advancing, he's got to circle back and strengthen people.

This is why he's got so many shipwrecks.

If the churches didn't have problems, Paul wouldn't have had to keep going back to him.

That's the real war.

You don't want to give up ground.

This is gonna make some of you history buffs laugh, but my family recently went to uh the Gettysburg National Park.

We were gonna go on a tour of the Gettysburg Battlefield.

This is what we were expecting when we got off the freeway and followed the signs.

We're expecting like get out of our car and go to a visitor center, and there's the battlefield.

Um but no, that's not how the battlefield is.

It's it took us like four hours uh to drive to all the different battles.

And so we got this like chronological guide, and so you know, an app on our phone, and so we're driving along the battles in chronology.

We're zigzagging all the way back and forth, like, can't they just fight in order, please?

Think of the emissions from my car.

But no, that's the whole point of this is zigzagging back and forth because the Confederacy gained ground and then they lost it.

The Union ceded ground and then they came back around and they gained it back.

It was back and forth, and and they uh my favorite part was this one highway that goes to this field, and you can see where the different battle lines were.

You get up on this little stand they've built, and you can see where the battle lines were by day.

And they do not move chronologically.

They go from here to there to there, back over to there.

This is the spiritual life.

We're taking the gospel to the world, we're doing it through the hands-on battle against sin in our own life.

And as the gospel advances through evangelism and through missionaries, as you're sharing the gospel with your neighbors and your coworkers, the gospel is advancing in this world, the kingdom of God is advancing, but you have to be careful, you don't give up the ground gained in your own conversion.

Lord will strengthen you with the inner reserves of grace so that you can stand against the devil, because even though the war is over, the devil still attacks.

Even though the war is over, the devil still attacks.

So, what does this mean practically?

I mean a few sins.

A few sins to help you understand what this Paul is describing here, I think, in a very practical way.

Take, I'm gonna use generic sins here, take the sin of materialism.

Alright, so you are tempted in your heart to store up for yourselves treasure on earth and not in heaven.

You're worried about the future, and so you want to build a bigger barn for yourself.

You buy into the lie that your success in this world is determined by your wealth or the kind of car you drive or how the square footage of your house or whatever and your kids' happiness is determined by those things.

So you buy into that lie.

That's where the battle is.

That's the hands-on wrestling right there.

The temptation comes for you to believe those lies and you to fall into materialism that's very intimate, that's personal, that's wrestling against that sin.

But you recognize that behind that sin is the whole cultural movement towards materialism.

The whole materialistic society that is fueled by wealth and the politics behind that, and the mass production and cheap Chinese labor and all of the 10,000 things that are outside of your control, outside of your influence, but that dominate the culture.

So that when you're tempted to drop in your thousand bucks for your iPhone upgrade, you're not aware necessarily of the massive cosmic battle that's behind the push towards materialism.

You're not aware of that at the moment, but that's behind there, and I'm saying it is certainly demonic, but that's not even the main point.

The main point is at hand, you're in a battle close to your heart and affections over materialism, over the love of money.

So stand firm.

Or different sin.

I mean, you can name any sin.

Any sin.

I I read something this this week that a hundred thousand people died of opiate overdose this year.

So you're tempted in that sin.

I mean, who knows how many millions of people are addicted?

Millions, for sure.

So you're tempted in that sin.

You're tempted for that.

That's the battle right there, is your temptation.

Behind that is the cultural forces that fuel the mass production of that and the societal forces and the influence of the drug industry or whatever, the pharmaceuticals to you know keep our government from regulating that to the extreme or actually punishing people that are dealing it.

And it just runs rampant.

That's the demonic forces behind the temptation that's at hand.

You're not responsible for lobbying the government for stricter rules about these things.

You can't do that.

That's out of your control and it's out of your influence.

You're responsible for withstanding temptation in the moment, even though behind that temptation is a massive demonic play.

Sins of abortion, racism, pornography, exact same scenarios where you're tempted in the moment for those kind of things.

You're tempted to look at things, you're tempted to believe things, or you're tempted to act in a murderous way.

All those temptations, that's the moment.

That's your heart against that sin.

But behind it, of course, is all the demonic influence over society and culture that cultivates that and fosters those things and feeds them to you is the right way to live.

That's where the battle is.

That's where your fight is.

And you're supposed to stand against the schemes of the devil.

And in case some of those sins were too other-ish for you.

You're tempted to slander somebody online.

That's the battle right there.

It's in your heart right there.

Behind that, of course, is the cultural influence that fosters that and feeds that and plays off of outrage and algorithms that feed you things that'll make you angry and cause you to sin.

You're not responsible for those things.

You can't fix Facebook.

It's not what you're called to do.

You're called to stand against slander at the moment and not give in to temptation, even though it's demon.

I'm saying it's demonic behind it.

Every sin is like that.

You're fighting it in your heart, you're wrestling in your heart.

There's a big war going on.

And how is the war won?

The war is won for the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, advancing the light into the darkness.

That's how it's won.

You will receive power, Jesus says, when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

And then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the earth.

You'll be strengthened for battle when the Spirit dwells in you, and you lead the spirit-filled life.

And this takes us back to where we began.

Paul is bringing this cosmic battle home right into the spirit-filled life.

You are called to be a godly husband, a godly wife, a godly child, a godly parent, a godly worker, and a godly boss.

That's what we're talking about right here.

That's your calling to live out godliness in those areas.

So boring.

But behind those are the demonic forces of darkness fully at war in your heart.

The Holy Spirit dwells in you.

Stand against the devil.

Stand.

You're equipped, you're strengthened by God.

Jesus rose from the grave, disarming the powers of darkness.

They have no actual authority over you.

They have been defeated by the resurrection.

And so stand, knowing that our Lord has defeated the grave.

Lord, we're grateful that you've shown us what a resurrected life looks like, and you showed us that even through the way you stood against the rulers and the authorities and the way you navigated your society for decades of your sinless life.

That really is our model.

In Christian living, we don't expect an easy life.

We have the Apostle Paul as our mentor in that.

We do see a life of war.

We know it's a war that you have called us to.

It's a war that you have already been victorious in.

You're not a general who's commanding us to go where you yourself have not already marched.

So we pray for boldness as we lead the Christian life.

We pray for your grace to fuel us as we serve you.

Cause us to stand against sin in the battle that's at hand, knowing this not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of darkness, whom you have already defeated.

We give you thanks for this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

And now for a parting word for Pastor Jesse Johnson.

Thanks for joining us.

If you're in the Washington, D.C.

area, I would love to see you at Emmanuel Bible Church.

For more information on our church or our current service times, go to IBC.church.

For more information about the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C.

location, go to TMS.edu.

I hope this resource has been a blessing to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily, serve others around you, and share the gospel with boldness.