Sermon Tone Analysis

*Standing Against the Enemy, Part Two*

/Ephesians 6:10-17/

 

Imagine a stunning Spring day.

The sun is warm after a frigid winter, and there’s just enough breeze to be stimulating.

You are out strolling leisurely through a beautiful meadow.

Everywhere you look the world is coming back to life.

The grass is greening, the trees are budding, and you are surrounded by gorgeous wild flowers.

The clouds are fluffy, the birds are singing, the bees are buzzing.

You stop and take a deep breath, grateful to God that you are alive.

And that, my friends, is a wonderful picture of the Christian life, right?

NO!

The Christian life is not a walk through a daisy-filled meadow, is it?

So if it’s not that, then what is it, exactly?

Well, if we are to believe what God says about it, the Christian life is a never-ceasing fierce war.

It is a conflict which is fought on a spiritual plane, and therefore, we need spiritual weapons and protection.

For that reason, we need to /“be made strong in the Lord, and in His mighty power,” /as we read in Ephesians 6:10.

Our strength may be impressive against human foes, our ingenuity at times may be enough against the trials of this life, our genius may be able to solve some of our difficulties, but when we are fighting a spiritual war, we need spiritual resources.

We need spiritual weapons; we need spiritual strength.

As we said last week, there are two primary mistakes when it comes to spiritual warfare.

One is that we over emphasize it, so that we blame every sin, every health issue, every relationship problem or conflict, every problem as a demon that needs to be cast out.

The other error is that we completely ignore the fact that there is a spiritual realm, and that we are engaged in a spiritual war.

I fear that we fall into this category most of the time.

We ignore the fact that the Bible plainly tells us that our battle is against spiritual powers.

But these are not playful, fantasy-like little creatures that pull impish little pranks and then run off laughing.

These are hellish beings, angels who rebelled against God Himself and whose sole purpose is to contaminate the entire human race with wickedness.

They never have our best interests at heart.

They are determined to destroy what God has created.

Their passion is to prevent you from becoming what God intends for you to be, to prevent you from breaking through to a deeper level, a more abundant life, a richer experience with the Lord Jesus Christ.

So we’ve said that first of all, we need the strength Christ provides, and secondly, that we are in a fierce war.

That leads us to our third truth about standing against our enemy.

* *

*3.

We need to know our enemy, vv.

11-12, v. 16*

One elderly lady was known for always having a positive word to say about others.

So one day a friend challenged her, "You are too nice.

I bet you could find something positive to say about the devil."

The lady thought for a moment and said, "Well, he is always on the job."

Yes, the devil */is/* always on the job.

And one of his most effective strategies, as we’ve already pointed out, is deception.

One good example of deception comes to us from nature.

The Portia spider is a master predator whose chief weapon is deception.

The spider looks like a piece of dried leaf or foliage which has been caught in another spider’s web.

When it attacks other species of spiders, it uses a variety of methods to lure the host spider into striking range.

Sometimes it crawls onto the web and taps or strums the silken threads in a manner that mimics the vibrations of a mosquito caught in the web.

The host spider marches up for dinner and instead becomes a meal itself!

The Portia spider can actually tailor its deception for its prey.

It imitates something its intended victim finds attractive.

With a type of spider that keeps its home inside a rolled-up leaf, the Portia dances on the outside of the leaf, imitating a mating ritual.

It even uses trial and error to discover the kind of signal that the victim spider would respond to.

And it’s all based on deception.

Like the Portia spider, Satan's weapon of choice is deception, and he tailors it for every one of us.

He or one of his demons have watched us closely enough or listened to us closely enough that they know the things that we might fall for.

He imitates something we might find attractive, such as power, or wealth, or love, or acceptance, or meaning, or advancement.

The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 2:11 that Satan can outwit us if we are ignorant of the way he works.

There have been periods in my life when I allowed Satan to deceive me, and the result always brought pain and grief to my heart.

I fear that there are too many Christians in our age who have been deceived.

Paul said there that he was not going to put himself in a position where Satan would have an opportunity to gain the upper hand with him.

He said, “I am not unaware of his schemes.”

Paul was saying, “I’m onto Satan and the way he works.

He’s not coming into my life.

I’m not going to open a door and allow him to have access.”

There are some things about our enemy that this passage teaches us.

First,

 

*a.

Our enemy is stronger than we are, v. 10*

That’s why God’s Word tells us to /“be made strong in the Lord and in His mighty power,”/ v. 10.

That’s why God’s Word tells us to /“put on the full armor of God,”/ vv.

11, 13.

When you face an enemy which you know is stronger than you are, you make sure that you are fully prepared, fully equipped, fully alert at all times.

Have you ever seen a television show or a movie where the bad guy is trying to kill the good guy?

After a fierce battle, the good guy finally conquers the bad guy.

The bad guy is lying there, covered with blood, eyes closed, and apparently dead.

The good guy hugs the beautiful girl that’s always with him, and relaxes.

You think the movie is about over.

But what happens?

All of a sudden, there is the bad guy again, coming after them!

That’s the way it is with sin.

You may think you’ve got it conquered, but it will always be there, and we must always be alert.

As long as we are breathing, it is not going away, because our enemy is stronger than we are.

But while we remind ourselves that our enemy is stronger than we are, we also need to remind ourselves that Satan is not omnipotent.

He is not all-powerful as God is.

While he is stronger than we are, he still has to bow before the power of Almighty God.

The Scriptures tell us /“Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”/

We need to know that our position in Christ is one of victory.

We can win.

We have been united with the risen and living Christ.

We have been given a new life, a new heart, a new nature.

It is no longer our nature to sin.

Our inner nature delights in God's laws.

God tells us that sin no longer has dominion over us.

No matter how stubborn or deeply entrenched our sinful habits, the reign of sin has ended.

Sin's power is broken.

Sin's final destruction is guaranteed.

In the meantime, though, we must know that our enemy is stronger, and we must always be on alert.

*b.

Our enemy is smarter than we are, v. 11 *

Verse eleven tells us that we are to put on the full armor of God so that we can take our stand against the devil’s “schemes.”

Other versions use words such as “wiles,” “tactics,” “strategies” or even “evil tricks.”

One paraphrase of the Bible sums it up by saying, “everything the Devil throws your way.”

They all basically mean the same thing.

In fact, the word Paul used here gives us our English word “method.”

And you don’t have to be a Christian for very long before you realize that Satan has a lot of methods!