Armor Up: Standing Strong in God's Power (Ephesians 6)

Good morning, and welcome to the

preaching ministry of Dillingham Moravian Church. My name is Pastor Simon.

What a great blessing it is to celebrate Christ, worship Him together,

and to live on mission for our gracious God.

According to persecution.org, Iran has just seen several weeks of lethal turmoil,

the most severe since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that forever changed the country,

and for that matter the world.

That revolution almost half a century ago toppled a monarchy that led or leaned

to the West and replaced it with an Islamic Republic that wanted to eradicate the West.

Now, masses of Iranians want to eradicate the Islamic Republic,

but such a regime is not inclined to yield to popular sentiment.

Beginning on December 28, 2025, Iran erupted into nationwide strikes and protests

amid colossal inflation, frequent energy shortage, and an economy on the verge of collapse.

The atmosphere is so volatile right now that Iran's Attorney General said that

anyone partaking in protests is an enemy of God and thus eligible for capital

punishment according to Iranian law.

Amid all the chaos and internet blackouts, solid statistics are hard to ascertain.

Iranian state TV said that just over 3,000 people were killed.

But many others believe the number is far higher, and prominent media venues

have reported death tolls of more than 10,000 people.

Police are indiscriminately shooting into the crowds.

People try to fight back, but they are unarmed and almost entirely defenseless,

said Lana Silk, of the Christian organization Transform Iran.

She is certain that more than 12,000 Iranians have been killed and quite possibly 30,000 or more.

The streets are now patrolled by tanks and aggressive armed security forces, Silk said.

People are being rounded up, beaten, imprisoned, and killed.

Men, women, and children, it doesn't matter. anyone who dares to go outside is in danger.

I share this story with you to explain that what the Islamic Republic is doing

in Iran is evil and it must be stopped.

But these Islamic groups are not the true enemy.

No, the true enemy behind all the evil in the world is Satan.

And the great news is that one day Satan will be stopped for good. Let us pray.

Oh, Heavenly Lord, we are so grateful for the opportunity here to be able to

hear Your Word, to trust Your Word, and to follow Your Word.

Thank You, precious Lord.

And Lord, please help us, O Lord, to be able to understand and know Your Word

through Your Holy Spirit and be able to communicate Your Word to others.

Grow us, Lord, in You, Father. In your precious Son's name, Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

Here at Dillingham Moravian Church, we have been learning through a teaching

series on Paul's letter to the Ephesians.

The theme of this letter is the unity of God and how God has unified the church

in Christ, and then how we as the church can practically live in the unity of God.

Previously, in Ephesians 6, God taught us that children are to obey their parents

in the Lord, for this is according to God's right standards.

Children are also to show high regard for their mothers and fathers,

valuing their parents so that they will be blessed by God and generally life will go well for them.

Lastly, Christ-trusting fathers are not to provoke their children to anger,

but to focus on bringing up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

And today we'll continue in Ephesians 6, verses 10-13.

Ephesians 6:10–13

Ephesians 6, verses 10-13. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the might of His strength.

Ephesians 6:10–13

Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against

the schemes of the devil.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,

against the authorities, against the world forces of this darkness,

against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

With the increasing polarization of our country, with wars going on and rumors

of wars, what truths can we as Christ believers learn from this passage today

to help us navigate this world for Christ?

The first main truth is that as Christians, we are to be strong in the Lord

and in the might of His strength.

In the early 1900s, an elderly pastor named Charles Spurgeon traveled to a small

village where believers struggled to find unity.

He shared how the key to their struggles was not in their own efforts,

but on completely relying on God's power.

And as the villagers embraced his teaching and prayed earnestly,

they discovered a profound sense of unity among them, demonstrating that God's

strength truly enables His people to obey Him.

And this concept of surrendering to and relying on the Lord's strength to be

able to obey God, is what Paul was getting at in Ephesians 6, verse 10.

Ephesians 6:10

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the might of His strength.

I want you to see that Paul began this section in verse 10 with the word finally,

meaning that this section is not on its own by itself, but rather the continuation

of the commandments that were contained in Ephesians 5 and in Ephesians 6 beginning.

Most especially, the commands regarding obeying the Lord in communion or unity

in the congregations of Christ's church, within the covenant marriage relationship,

children and parent relationships, and then slave and master relationships.

And what Paul was getting at was that in order for believers in Christ to be

successful in staying in obedient unity with Christ and each other within the

respective relational spheres.

We must be strong in the Lord by the might of His strength.

The word that Paul used for strong meant to be enabled, to be or become rendered

more capable or more able for some task.

The word for might meant controlling power, power to determine, to direct and govern.

And thus Paul was teaching for the Ephesian believers in Christ and us as well,

that to be able to obey God's commandments and live in the loving unity of Christ

within the church in all its areas,

we must be enabled, capable to be able to obey God.

And the only way for us to be enabled is by the controlling power of God's almighty power and strength.

Paul instructed Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, verse 1, You, therefore,

2 Timothy 2:1

my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Back in Ephesians 6, Paul was directing Christ believers to surrender themselves

to be enabled by the same controlling power and strength of God that controls

all the universe and live empowered with His strength.

Last week, I went shopping with the boys, and then we came back home and started

unloading the groceries.

My six-year-old tried to pick up a box of groceries, and try as he might,

Paul could not lift it, and so he asked me to get the box.

I then came along, and I lifted the box into the house.

My point is that what once seemed impossible to Paul was possible when I got involved.

As humans, we cannot obey God on our own, nor can we defend ourselves against

Satan and his hordes, and some situations seem utterly impossible.

But what is impossible to us is totally possible with God.

I want you to also see that it is within the abiding relationship in the Lord

that we as believers in Christ can access the power of God to obey the Lord

and live in the love of God within the structures that God has placed us in.

Jesus in John 15, verse 4-5 commanded, Abide in me, and I in you.

John 15:4–5

And as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine,

so neither can you unless you abide in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit.

For apart from me, you can do nothing.

And this is essential for us to understand, that abiding without constantly

being connected to Christ our vine, we can have no power to bear fruit for God at all.

Nothing that has any kingdom impact at all.

What can we as Christians today learn from verse 10?

As Christians, we must continually surrender to Christ through the Holy Spirit

and let Him control us so that we can live with the controlling might of God.

To surrender to Christ and let Him control us, we, you and I,

must learn to abide in Christ.

One of the biggest areas that limits us as Christians from being powered by

the energy-producing power of God is the lack of prayer and praying in a self-focused manner.

Prayer is the highway that connects God and us.

Prayer in combination with God's Word is where we get to experience and know the love of God.

God's power through prayer is what revitalizes our spirit when we're weak and

tired. Prayer is the arteries that God uses to bring his strength,

wisdom, knowledge, and understanding so that we can obey Christ.

With joy amidst all circumstances and hardship.

Some of the big temptations today that blocks us from spending more quality

time in prayer to Christ are being busy and being distracted.

Part of that distraction is from what we can access on our smartphones and TV.

Trust me, I know life is busy and hectic.

I get it. Sometimes I feel like a rooster in the farmyard that is trying to

chase and rescue his flock from all over the yard, and he just succeeds in getting

them even more scattered.

Yeah, I'm realizing we actually do have a quite lot more control over our schedules

and whether we are distracted or not than we think we do.

It depends where our focus is and who we rely on.

Are we relying on ourselves and what we want to do and our own strength,

or are we relying on God and what He wants us to do by His power?

The question is, how do we as believers in Christ practically surrender ourselves

to be controlled by the power of God?

To answer this question, Paul

taught all Christ believers that we are to put on the full armor of God.

When I was a kid, my dad was a volunteer firefighter for our fire station in

the small community that we lived in.

I got to watch him hang on the back of a fire truck when going to a call.

But one of the coolest things for a young boy was watching Dad put on his firefighting gear.

I always wanted to wear it, but it was too big and heavy for me then.

A firefighter's suit or turnout gear is a multi-layered system of protective

clothing designed for extreme heat, flames, and hazards.

Featuring outer shell made of Kevlar and Nomex, moisture bearer,

thermal liner, wicking layer, plus reinforcements and reflective trim for visibility

with components like jackets, pants, helmet, hood, gloves.

And SCBA or self-contained breathing apparatus to protect against heat,

water, chemicals, and debris.

What is amazing to me is how the Lord brought Abigail and I together and her

dad before he passed away was

a firefighter And then her stepdad was a firefighter for 30 years or so.

And I share this story with you because the firefighter's turnout gear is like

armor against fire and smoke.

And Paul in Ephesians 6 taught that Christians are to put on the full armor of God.

Paul went on in Ephesians 6, verses 11-12, Put on the full armor of God so that

Ephesians 6:11–12

you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,

against the authorities, against the world forces of this darkness,

against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

The traditional view of where Paul wrote this epistle to the Ephesians is that

he was under house arrest in Rome, guarded by the Praetorian Guard,

which was the emperor's elite battalion of soldiers.

You can just imagine the imagery conjured up to Paul when he looked over at

the soldiers guarding him, and they were arrayed in full battle armor.

Now, there are two principles I see in this passage.

The first is that Paul made the point that Christians are to put on the full

armor of God so that we can stand firm against Satan and his minions.

The Romans in Paul's time were the only military who wore boots into battle

that had spikes on them so that when the enemy charged at them,

they could stand firm against the attacks of the hordes of enemy soldiers charging

them with their weapons.

However, Paul made the point that the believer must put the armor on,

meaning that the armor will not magically put itself on us, but we must be the ones who put it on.

You see, God gives us his spiritual armor and he will give us the strength and enabling to use it.

But we, you and I, as we surrender to God, are the ones responsible for putting

on and using the armor that God gives us.

We'll talk more about what the spiritual armor of God is later on.

But I want you to understand that God's armor for us is truth,

righteousness, preparing others for the gospel of peace, faith,

salvation, and the Word of God, which is the sword of the Spirit.

All of those armor pieces are attributes of God and are found only in prayer.

And the more we get to know and abide in Jesus Christ, the more we put the armor of God on.

Secondly, I want you to notice that Paul wrote that the full armor of God will

protect us against the schemes of the devil.

The word that Paul used for schemes meant craftiness, deceitful scheming, wile, stratagem.

It's important for us to understand this word stratagems, meaning strategist, a master strategist.

The name devil literally means one who engages in slander as title of the principle

transcendent evil being the adversary, the devil.

The title devil is the Greek translation of Satan, which means accuser or slanderer.

Two of the major weapons that the devil uses impeccably well are deceits or lies and accusations.

Now we must, we must not make

the mistake that satan is out there haphazardly lying

or accusing people no satan

is smarter than any human being and he

is a master strategist and he has plans within

plans to destroy god's people yet for

all of satan's scheming he is on a leash he's like a a large attack dog that

is going to attack people around it and when he does he can only go so far because

he is on that leash and that leash won't let him go any farther.

God is infinitely wiser. He is infinitely smarter, more powerful than anyone,

and that includes Satan.

In fact, Satan's defeat has already been set, and it will happen.

Thirdly, Paul is making it clear to the Ephesians and to all believers in Christ

that it's not against people that we fight.

Our real struggle is against the devil and his spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

I want you to also see that Paul used human terms for spiritual structures of

Satan's forces, rulers, authorities, world forces of this darkness.

And yet Paul also wrote that the spiritual forces in the heavenly places are

also arrayed against us.

There are many theories as to what Paul was writing about here,

but it's possible that Paul was saying that Satan has control of the earthly

rulers and authorities who are being controlled by their evil spiritual counterparts.

And some of those counterparts are in the heavenly realms.

Although we cannot be exactly sure of what the evil spiritual forces that Satan

has against God's people,

we know that it is so formidable that by ourselves, we as humans cannot stand against it.

Yet we are not alone, nor are we left defenseless.

God has given us His armor to defend us against Satan's attacks.

Without God's strength and armor, we cannot resist the devil.

Apostle Peter urged us in 1 Peter 5, 8-9, Be of sober spirit.

Be on the alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion,

seeking someone to devour.

But resist him firm in your faith.

So what is God teaching us in these two verses that we can apply today?

There are two applications that I see from Ephesians 6, verses 11-12.

Ephesians 6:11–12

First off, we, you and I as Christ believers, must know and believe that we

are in a spiritual war. And our real enemy is Satan and his demons.

And one of Satan's tactics, especially

using movies and TV with all our advanced special effects today,

is to make people think that miraculous power and supernatural might is make-believe

and is part of the genre of magic or of science fiction and fantasy.

This is not fantasy. This is not some make-believe of naive Christians.

No, the realm of the Spirit is extremely real, and we as Christians must live in that reality.

Paul was abundantly aware that every attack, every manipulation,

every slander against him and against God's church was at the instigation and

was managed by Satan, the deceiver and accuser.

However, that leads us to my next point, that is God is in complete control

over the spiritual realm and the physical realm.

Nothing happens without his direct willingness to happen or through his allowance.

God has managed and is managing people, nations, including our own country,

America, and whole empires and even the natural world to make sure that his will is done.

Son, and as part of the works of His sovereignty, our Lord Jesus Christ,

through the Holy Spirit, has given us.

Has given us the means to resist the devil's attack through the spiritual armor of God.

And when we look at our world today, and you see Satan's work amongst the powerful

and lowly in our countries, regardless of politics,

it may seem that Satan is winning, but Satan will not win, for he has already lost the war.

There is nothing that Satan has done or will do that God is not allowing him to do.

We definitely see the examples of that with Job when Satan had to ask permission to harass Job.

Satan had to do the same with Peter as well, but God refused.

Satan's attacks are all done under the watchful eyes of God Almighty.

And that includes Satan's personal attacks on us as well.

Why? Because God's plan allows for all people to be saved. But there will come

a time when enough is enough.

And if you are here or listening, and you are a believer in Christ,

and you are struggling with temptation, I want to encourage you that God knows

what you're going through.

You are not alone. God Almighty and Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit is dwelling in you.

And God has given you and I the power and ability to be victorious over the acts of Satan.

As James commanded in James 4.7, Be subject therefore to God.

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God,

and he will draw near to you.

What is it that we have learned from our whole passage today?

The first truth was that Paul was directing Christ believers to surrender themselves

to be enabled by the controlling power and strength of God and live empowered with His strength.

Secondly, Paul made the point that Christians are to put on the full armor of

God so that we can stand firm against our real enemy, the devil,

and his forces of darkness.

There seems like there's so much evil in this world, and again,

it may seem like Satan is winning, but nothing, nothing could be further from the truth.

It's only a deception of the devil that it looks like he is winning.

The truth is Satan's fate is already sealed. He, along with all his evil forces,

will be thrown into hell forever.

That truth is written for defense and attack against Satan's forces of darkness,

God has given us his virtues, his armor, his mighty weapons against which the

darkness itself cannot stand against.

Do not lose hope. Trust God.

Use the armor that he has given you, and someday God's people will see Christ

returning on the clouds of the sky with the omnipotent power of Yahweh God himself. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the joy it is to hear from you.

And we know that your word does not come back void.

It accomplishes that for which

you have purposed and it succeeds and that for which you have sent it.

O Lord, use us, teach us, grant us your spirit so that we can follow you and live by faith in you.

Thank you so much, O Lord. We praise you and we bless you. In your precious

son's name, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

I'll leave you this blessing from Ephesians 3, verse 20-21.

Ephesians 3:20–21

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we can ask or imagine,

according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the Church

and in Christ Jesus, to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.