20260318 Spiritual Warfare Ephesians 6 Wednesday Bible Study Tim Dickmann

Okay, so we're in Ephesians again chapter 6 And

we had a couple questions from last week, so

we'll deal with those First here so one question

was did Satan's power diminish at the cross Yes,

so we just end there So the answer there is yes

Satan's power was diminished or did diminish

at the cross So if you want to look let's just

read this in Colossians Colossians 2 So I've

just got a couple of verses here That address

some of these things and we're not going to go

into a great deal of detail here but just to

Just so that we can see what the scripture says

here so in Colossians 2 beginning in verse 13

We read for heat of beginning 12 here, having

been buried with Him in baptism in which you

were also raised up with Him through faith in

the working of God who raised Him from the dead.

When you were dead in your transgressions and

the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you

alive together with Him, having forgiven us all

our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate

of debt consisting of decrees against us which

was hostile to us, and He has taken it out of

the way, having nailed it to the cross. When

he had disarmed the rulers and authorities he

made a public display of them having triumphed

over them through him So that's one verse there

and he mentions a bunch of things there that

have been accomplished through Christ's death

on the cross there Nailing the debt to the cross

There the issue of condemnation that we were,

but we're not. And of course, Romans talks about

that as well. Setting aside all of those things,

having been forgiven, having been made alive.

So all of those things then relate to, to some

degree also then, to Satan. So Satan no longer

is able to accuse us of all of these things,

right? That's one big thing. There is no more

condemnation. There's no more accusation Christ

has accomplished all of those things To take

all those things out of the way Satan yeah, you

can't accuse us to any anyone to ourselves to

to the father And then in Hebrews 2 14 we'll

just again we can just read it real quick here,

but And we definitely don't have time to go into

all of this, but 2 14, he talks here about, let's

see. Therefore, since the children share in flesh

and blood, he himself likewise also partook of

the same, that through death he might render

powerless him who had the power of death, that

is, the devil, and might free those who through

fear of death were subject to slavery all their

lives. So again the fear of death that's all

gone Satan has been disarmed in that regard as

well Matthew 12 29 talks about the strong man

being bound and so that refers to Satan that

he has been bound And so he does not He does

not have the power or the authority this way

well, however, you want to think of it that he

once had I was talking to dad about this. Dad

mentioned the whole idea there of all of the

nations that he no longer reigns and has the

authority in. So if you think about Israel and

the other nations, right, Israel were God's chosen

people. God was dealing with them. They had the

sacrificial systems, all of these different things.

Well, all the other nations had nothing. They

didn't know of God. And so who Who other than

Satan ruled and reigned right? I mean and so

he had great power and authority there throughout

the whole world even during those During that

time before Christ came and then the gospel went

out to all the nations So there's that as well

that had was accomplished there at the cross.

So those are a few things That have been accomplished

through Christ's death on the cross and have

diminished the power of Satan Another question

that was asked, does Satan know our weaknesses?

And the answer to that is yes, he does know our

weaknesses. So of course we should say this also

though, right? He doesn't know our thoughts.

He's not God. He's not all knowing. He doesn't

know what we're thinking. He doesn't know what

we're going to do. But just as anyone else who...

is able to see our lives and to see what we do

everywhere he is aware of what what it is that

we do the things that we struggle with and he

is able of course to tempt and so on so he is

aware of our weaknesses um absolutely he's not

a mind reader put that down here doesn't know

our thoughts but he certainly can be and most

likely is aware of our weaknesses Okay And then

the other question that was just asked by Melissa

during during the discussion last week was just

on the spiritual Is it verse 12 here forces of

wickedness in the heavenly places and So again,

I said a few things last week. I think not much

but just the idea here that this is Otherworldly,

it's not physical, it's not what we see here,

but it is a spiritual power, spiritual forces

that we're dealing with. Okay. When you say forces

though, they're beings, right? Right, beings.

They're spiritual beings. Okay. So, Ephesians

6, let's begin here in verse 10. 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 so on we won't read

anymore so he begins here with this exhortation

to be strong in the Lord and in the strength

of his might and so last week we looked at why

Why is it necessary for us to be strong in the

Lord and in the strength of his might or the

power of his might? Because the war the battle

that we are engaged in is against a powerful

enemy Okay, so that was the whole reason one

of the whole reasons we looked last week at that

was to Get in our minds that we're not dealing

here with just some insignificant You know little

idea in our minds that there might be some some

devil out there with this pitchfork and you know

putting these thoughts in our in our minds but

it's a real spiritual powerful enemy that we

are engaged against okay that's why it's necessary

for us to be strong in the Lord and in the power

of his might it is a command Okay, I want to

stress that, that this is not just an optional

thing in the Christian life. We're going to look

later on and he says they're to put on the full

armor of God. Paul's not giving us a good suggestion

there. Put on the armor, be strong in the Lord,

you know, this might be good and helpful to you.

No, Paul's saying do these things. These are

necessary, these are essential for success in

the Christian life and in the Christian warfare.

So be strong because your adversary is very strong

And then we pointed out last week as well that

Who better to be strong in then the one who has

defeated these powers, right? Colossians I Think

of Matthew 28 there all power is given there

all authority we see that throughout Scripture

as as Christ has defeated these enemies upon

the cross and so He is the one that we are strong

in. Because He has been successful in His overcoming

all of these things. So, be strong in the Lord

and in the strength of His might. Why else do

we need to be strong in the Lord? Because we're

weak. Alright, and so that again is an important

thing for us to understand. and to grasp. We

are not these pillars of great strength and power

on our own. Think all you will of yourself, and

if you think of yourself in that way, then you're

deceiving yourself. You are weak. You are feeble

in your own strength, of your own power. So that

is, again, why we need the Lord, why we need

to be strong in Him because of our weakness.

I don't think we need to belabor that. Surely

we are all willing to admit our weakness, our

failings, we see them daily when we give into

temptation, when we succumb to whatever it is,

whatever struggle. Okay? We are weak in ourselves

Again, we can be encouraged here second Corinthians

12 9 My grace is sufficient for you for my power

is perfected in weakness When we're weak he's

strong Right and so that should be a great encouragement

to us that we we're not relying upon our own

strength We're relying upon someone else We said

this, this is a spiritual battle. And so it must

be fought in a spiritual manner. And so, if you

think about... Think about that, okay? And we're

gonna touch on a few things tonight that we'll

deal with, I think, in more detail later, faith

in particular. The Christian life is one of faith...

one of relying upon God, and one that must be

walked in a spiritual manner. So all of our desires

to do good, I wrote these things down, our desires

to do good, willpower and determination, reason,

logic, self -examination. These things are not

how we are victorious in the Christian life.

Are those things good? Should we engage in those

things? Should we reason and use logic? Absolutely,

right? Should we be determined in certain things?

Well, absolutely. We want to be determined. We

want to exercise a diligence. We want the desire

to do good. Those are all good things. But those

things in and of themselves are not going to

be what wins us the battle. Alright, I'm reminded

of Philippians there. Philippians 2 13, 2 12

and 13. Anybody know it? Work out your own salvation

with fear and trembling for it is God who works

in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

So if you think of that, this is the Christian

life. What does he tell us there? Paul tells

us that we are to be doing things, right? Work

out your own salvation. But that's not the success.

The success is because God is working in you

to will and to do of His good pleasure. And so

there's this both, right? Yes, it's good that

we have these desires to do right. It is good

that We think about what we're doing. It's good

that we live a determined, disciplined life.

Those are all good things. But it is God at work

in us. It is Christ in us, the hope of glory.

It's Christ living in us and empowering us and

enabling us. The Spirit of God within us. So

those physical things, those decisions that we

make and the way that we live, those are good.

But that's not what we're relying upon. I'm not

relying upon the fact that I am a very disciplined

person. That's a good thing. I'm not downplaying

that. Hear me there, right? We've preached and

said time and again, develop good habits. Be

disciplined in your life. Those are great, great

things. But don't rely upon those things. Don't

think that just because you're disciplined that

everything else is going to fall in line. It's

a life of faith. relying upon God, looking to

Christ and His strength and power at work in

us. Okay? So, to be strong in the Lord. Why?

A couple of things here. To avoid discouragement.

To avoid sin and failure. To avoid dishonoring

the name of Christ. To avoid discouragements

in the church. disrupting the unity of the church,

hindering the work of God among us. If we are

to be successful, and I hope you understand what

I mean when I say successful, in our Christian

life and in the church, we must rely upon God.

We must be looking to Him for our strength. Without

Him, We will fail We may do well for a while,

okay, that's that's That's the thing if you think

about that You may do well Relying upon those

things you're you're living a very disciplined

life, right? And so you you're doing all of these

things and you feel as though Things are going

well, I mean I'm consistent in the word I've

done this and that and the other and maybe I've

really been controlling my temper or you name

it, whatever it is. But when your guard's down,

when you're looking at your success or your discipline

in these things, that's when so often we fail.

Because we're not looking at Christ, we're not

looking to Christ, we're looking to ourselves.

So just because we may have success for a while

in these things, don't rely upon those things.

Rely upon the Lord. Rely upon His strength. Alright.

So... If we are to... be looking to Christ and

relying upon his strength, we must know something

of Christ. How well do we know Christ? So there's

a question for you. If you are relying upon someone,

you... You ought to know them pretty well. What

do we see when we look to Christ? What do we

see when we look at Christ? How does that help

us in our warfare? How does that help us in this

battle? Anybody? If we're looking to Christ,

we're looking at Christ, and we're relying upon

His strength, what is it that we see? What do

we see in Christ as we look in Him? That help

us in this in this battle Okay, we see a conqueror

how is that helpful Our conqueror is our example.

Our conqueror has conquered, and so we know that

he's able to conquer whatever we're dealing with,

right? He's able to help us overcome. The strength

that he has, right? Be strong in the Lord. The

strength that he has is enough to enable us to

overcome as well. Okay, anything else? blessings

that we have, our adoption, our redemption, our

forgiveness, our hope for the future. And so,

you know, it's just good to be thinking about

who we are. I think one of the things the author

of the book that I'm reading said something like,

that's something to live up to. You know, it's

something to encourage us, but also something

to live up to, that we're children of God. It's

just a wonderful thing, so. That's been helpful

for me is to be trying to be happy in that standing

that I have with Christ. Okay. So all of those

things that Christ has accomplished and who we

are then in Christ, that should be a great help

and an encouragement to us. Looking to Christ

and what He has accomplished, our redemption.

our atonement, our justification, all of those

things. A few other things that I wrote down

here. I was reminded of Proverbs 18 10. The name

of the Lord is a strong tower. Okay, the name

of the Lord is strong tower. If you think about

what does that mean the name of the Lord? Well,

Do you remember so many times when we've gone

through the Old Testament, what does a name mean?

It's who somebody is, right? So the name of the

Lord, what is the Lord's name? We could come

up with a whole list, right, of what Christ has

accomplished, of the things that he does, okay?

And that is our strong tower, the name of the

Lord, who Christ is. what He has done and what

He will do, what He has accomplished. So think

on those things. Think on the name of the Lord.

So I wrote down just some other things here that

we all know of who Christ is that should be an

encouragement in the warfare. What has Christ

done? His life here on earth right so he has

conquered he's conquered sin. He's conquered

Satan He has overcome death He has withstood

temptation we see that All over the place his

casting out of demons healing the sick raising

the dead all of these things What is what is

that? What is that picture of Christ? If you

take all of those things and these other things

that we've talked about as well that we've mentioned

tonight You get this idea of a conquering king

with great authority and power, right? Who's

able to cast out demons? Who's able to raise

the dead and heal the sick, calm the storm? That's

the one who provides us strength in this life

and in this world. The name of the Lord is our

strong tower. I don't think, I know I don't,

maybe some of you do, but the power and the might

that has been afforded to us in Christ, it's

unimaginable. Faith in Christ, what does that

accomplish in our lives? It can accomplish anything.

With faith, nothing's impossible. With faith,

we can move mountains. We can overcome sin. We

can resist temptation. I mean, just consider

the effects of salvation in a man. I mean, some

of us were converted early, and so we didn't

experience all these terrible things in life.

Some of us were converted late in life. and had

a total transformation. But surely you can read

history, and you hopefully have. And Robert Annen,

here's a guy who was just a wicked man, a drunk,

reviling all manner of people and things, just

a wicked guy, known for it. And what happened?

The Lord saved him. I mean, he was a changed

man. the effects of Christ upon a man, the workings

of faith in a man. We don't understand. In my

own life, the power that has been afforded us

in Christ, through the power of the Spirit, through

Christ in us, through our reliance upon Him,

great power has been given to us through Christ.

And that is how we should be walking in this

world, relying upon Him. A couple of the things

that I wrote down here that I think should be

an encouragement to us as we look to Christ.

I was reminded of a few other passages here.

Exodus 14, 13. This is where Israel has come

out of Egypt and they've come to the Red Sea

there and they're They're seeing Pharaoh's army

coming at them, and they're scared, fearful,

and they say, you know, were there not enough

graves in Egypt for us that we had to come out

here and die, right? And what does Moses say?

He says, fear not, stand still, and see the salvation

of the Lord. That's an amazing thing. Psalm 46

10 cease striving or be still and know that I

am God The Christian life and the warfare that

we are engaged in it's not one of us just plowing

ahead It's standing still and seeing the Lord

work. It's relying upon him. It's looking to

him for help and for strength for power for enabling

to overcome So, be encouraged in the Lord. Be

encouraged that He is able to help and to strengthen

us, to give us all that we need as we go through

this life. Alright, any questions so far? Yeah,

completely contrary to common sense and normal

thought. All right, so in this regard then, a

couple thoughts here on faith. Like I said, I

think we'll deal more with all of this later,

but in Hebrews here, because this is all faith,

right? We're dealing with a life of faith, trusting

the Lord. If we are relying upon His strength

and His power and not our own, it is faith in

Him. That's what we're talking about, trusting

Him. So faith is, Hebrews 11 .1, faith is the

assurance of things hoped for, the conviction

of things not seen. The assurance of things hoped

for, the conviction of things not seen. Faith

is believing in God, believing that We have the

power within us through Christ to accomplish

all of these things We are strong in the Lord

when we walk by faith All right a Couple of things

here believing that we do have okay That we do

have this power within us, right? What power

resides within us? I think Amanda said something

about it Sunday the same power that raised Jesus

from the dead Dwells within you and me right

if we are Christians That's the power that is

within us. Do we believe that that's faith? Truly

believing that believing that all that God has

said is true Believing that God is for us I've

been thinking about that quite a bit lately.

I believe that. If you were to ask me, I would

tell you I believe that. But does my life really

show that? And does my thinking in day -to -day

life really show that? And I would say often

it doesn't. Often I have to correct my thinking.

I sin in some way, and what is my thought then?

Well, now God's gonna be bringing the hammer

down now. That's my thought. That's the first

thing that comes into my mind. I'm waiting for

the hammer. Well, that's not the right way to

think. God is for me. God loves me. Now, am I

gonna get some correction? Well, perhaps so.

Maybe I'll have to deal with something there.

But God is still for me. God still loves me He's

not just up there just waiting for me to mess

up so he can crack the whip, right? That's the

idea that comes into my mind when I when I fall

into some sin Well, the Lord's he's bringing

the whip now No, that's a that's an attitude

of defeatism a failure and That's not how we

should be. God is for us. He desires are good

He wants us to succeed in this battle and in

this warfare. He wants us to rely upon him that

that is what he tells us So believing that God

is for us faith Believing that he will deliver

us from temptation. Well, there's another there's

another thing right Do we really believe that

God is going to deliver us when we cry out to

him? Do we believe that we can be strong when

we cry out to Him? When we see our weakness,

when we see the temptation, when we see ourselves

crumbling under this thing, and we call out to

the Lord, do we believe He's going to answer

us? We should. We should expect it when we cry

out, when we seek His strength and His power

in our lives. So a couple of, I wrote down, again,

I just think it's encouraging to think on this,

but a few passages here in this regard of Christ

in us and God for us, the power that is ours

in him. So Colossians 1 .27. To whom God willed

to make known what is the riches of the glory

of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ

in you, the hope of glory. Christ in us, the

hope of glory. Romans 8 -10. 9. However, you

are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed

the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone

does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not

belong to him. If Christ is in you, though the

body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is

alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit

of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells

in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead

will also give life to your mortal bodies through

his Spirit who dwells in you. And then Ephesians

3, 16 and 17. We'll start in 14. For this reason

I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every

family in heaven and on earth derives its name,

that He would grant you according to the riches

of His glory, to be strengthened with power through

His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may

dwell in your hearts through faith, and that

you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be

able to comprehend with all the saints what is

the breadth and length and height and depth,

and to know the love of Christ which surpasses

knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the

fullness of God." I mean, that's an amazing statement

right there. That's Paul's prayer. for us. It's

amazing to think that that's what Paul, Paul

wants us to know those. He's saying these are

realities. This is true. These things are true

of us. And he wants us to know these things.

That's his desire. That's his prayer that we

would know these things. Not just be able to

say, yeah, this is true, but to experience these

things, to know them deeply. as we walk through

this world. Alright. So, I mean, that should

be a great encouragement to us to think in that

way. To think that those things are there for

us in the scripture that Paul tells us to know

there. Praise that we would know. Alright, any

questions? Nothing All right Well I think part

of it is that we are successful in these things

I mean, we are overcoming sin, that our lives

are being changed, right? I mean, hopefully,

I know we've said this before, hopefully we're

examining our lives. Hopefully we're looking

back and saying, you know, last year I was like

this, I had these goals, I had these desires,

I had these things that I was dealing with, and

I see in my life now the Lord helping me, so

that's part of it. question all the way that

we experience that power when we go and order

our lives according to the Lord's way and because

we're trusting and it's it goes totally against

the devil and his philosophy that's everywhere

around us it's all over the world and that's

not we don't we can't accomplish you know what

needs to be accomplished of our own whether that's

disciplining our children or where we're going

to live what job we're going to have you know

there's just so many things that go on out there

and the world would say you made a really bad

decision here you should go do this but that

power that's working overcomes all those things.

It overcomes those things for us and in us. And

that's when we experience, I think, at least

in that part of our lives, God's power that he

is. He's over all these other things that you

find favor of work. or you find a better job

finds you, you're not even looking for it, and

it finds you. You know, the Lord supplies this

need in a way that you didn't anticipate. I remember

that when we used to go down to the landing,

and I think I've told this story before, but

it really is, this is the Lord's power at work

in us. I was just a young Christian, I really...

Was not thrilled about going down there trying

to talk to people I was fine to hand out tracks

But I was afraid to death that somebody was going

to ask me a question or want to debate something

I wasn't going to have the answers and I think

I told those things to my dad and I said I'll

go down there if you But you'd have to make sure

that I'm never by myself And he said okay, that's

that's reasonable. Yeah, we don't want you by

yourself And then Baker got in trouble for preaching

up on a barrel, and everybody left. And then

there I was, all by myself. And sure enough,

there was people that wanted to come and talk

to me. And it was just like, in that seat, now

I was where the Lord, He put me. I was following

Him. I wanted to do what He called me to do.

And in that moment then of need, The power that

is at work, and it was working in me to accomplish

God's purpose, gave me the words to speak and

to answer to that person. He brought back to

my memory the things that I knew, Bible verses

that I had maybe memorized before I was even

a Christian. But that's where, in that moment,

I really was a king surrounded by his army. That's

the power of God. That's how I think, or at least

one of the ways that we experience it. I don't

know that any of us have ever resisted temptation

until blood. Have we? We experience it through

as long as we resist. But in the very personal

parts of our life and in the planning, God's

power accomplishes his purpose for us and in

us and everywhere and that's I Mean that's really

that is That's the real to me. That's a real

experience of God working and loving me Wanting

to use me for his purposes and then you know

supplying whatever it is that I need I Mean that's

powerful I think at the time I got lost and didn't

know. And I committed it to the Lord. I said,

Lord, I committed to be at the meeting. And if

you don't get me found here, like in the next

few minutes, I'm not going to get there. And

I don't know what to do. I've got to work tomorrow.

People are counting on me. I've got to get this

thing accomplished. And I experienced the Lord's

power to get me to where I needed to be and to

get done with my responsibilities. That's powerful.

And it wasn't within me. I didn't have, I mean,

I was at the, I had done everything I could do.

Totally just like you said, responsible and planned

and all those things. But the Lord, that power

just had to, the Lord had to do it and He did.

So I, you know, the more we walk in His way,

the more we see the power that's in us and the

power just, you know, clearance. And again, when

all of those things are going on, you know, each

one of those things should be an encouragement

to us and should help us then as in the next

situation, the next battle, the next whatever,

you name it. Our faith should grow and increase

in our trust in our looking to the Lord. power

yeah and it's it can just be i just think it's

it's like we want to remember that we're living

in this power like it's right here with us and

it's a miracle that we're that we have a new

heart you know every day so anyway yeah i mean

right it's i guess it is and again just our daily

life, right? I mean, it's not like we're looking

for some big experience. We have those things,

you know, and those should be a great encouragement

to us. But let's just say you get through the

day, just a normal day. You know, nothing major

really happened. You get home, you know, things

are good at the house and you find yourself in

bed and nothing really... Sticks out to the day

That's a great day. That's a day of resting in

the Lord. That's a day of faithfulness That's

a day of service to the Lord right because we're

looking back and we're thinking You know, yeah,

I don't really I didn't really succumb to all

these great temptations that are out there I

was faithful and what the Lord had called me

to do today took care of my responsibilities

at work home the kids and That's a good thing

that's walking in faith trusting in the Lord

Hopefully that's what that that is. That's what

we should be doing. So we're not looking for

the big experience Those things come and hopefully

we we are successful in those times and we can

look back and again they bolster our faith But

just a daily life. That's what we're talking

about daily walking in the spirit daily being

faithful Daily doing whatever it is that God

has called us to do Again looking to him In all

those things that's being strong in the Lord