Well, good morning. Let's go to our God in prayer, shall we? Our Father in heaven, we are glad to be gathered together. Our Lord Jesus, in your name. Anticipating Holy Spirit, you coming and enabling us in our worship thus far, we pray that you would open your truth to us, that you would give help both to myself and to each one here. that we would enter into these, in many ways, sobering realities and yet wonderful realities as well as we consider the completed work of our Lord Jesus. Having, as we've just sung, he has accomplished our great salvation. He has defeated that great enemy of you, oh God, and the enemy of our souls as well. We pray that you would use our time together to equip us and to encourage us, O Lord, in the good fight. We ask this in Christ's name, amen. Well, I trust that the passage before us, Ephesians 6, is not entirely new to everyone here. We're glad to be looking forward to the Vacation Bible School coming up the last week of the month. And with that in view, we want to take a fresh look at the Ephesians 6 passage on spiritual warfare. So if you would turn and your copy of the scripture is with me, I'm not going to reread the passage, we're not going to actually look at all of it, only verses 10 through 13 together. With that in mind, on June 22nd, 1941, following attacks from the air by the German Luftwaffe, Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed the nation following the fall of France to the German Blitzkrieg. In expressing the nation's resolve to fight the Nazi regime, he announced the nation's policy in these words. We have but one aim and one single irrevocable purpose. We have resolved to destroy Hitler and every vestige of the Nazi regime. From this, nothing will turn us, nothing. We will not parley. We will never negotiate with Hitler or any of his gang. We shall fight him by land. We shall fight him by sea. We shall fight him in the air until, with God's help, we have rid the earth of his shadow and liberated its people from his yoke. Any man or state who fights against Nazism will have our aid. Any man or state who marches with Hitler will be our foe. How similar. is Churchill's determination to our Lord's words that we find in Matthew 16, where he says, I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Of course, our Lord's words, though simple, were far more resolute far more powerful in their predictive outcome than Churchill's. As we look at 1 John 3 verse 8, the reason, John tells us, the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. as disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are, whether we are aware of it or not, engaged in a great struggle, a great warfare against the kingdom of darkness. If you'll look with me to your outline first, a brief history of spiritual warfare. Although Satan's origin is somewhat obscure in the scriptures, it is clear that this once glorious spirit being, lifted up with pride, led a rebellion in the heavenly places in ancient times, turned against God and mankind who bore God's image. This ultimately led to the temptation and downfall of our first parents in Eden, as you know, who implicitly sided with him in his rebellion when they ate the forbidden fruit. From this, all the death and misery of the world finds its origin. Satan is the enemy of God. of all that is good in God's sight. Though unseen by human eyes, he works his treachery through unclean spirits and among the sons of disobedience among men. Eve fell before Satan's assault of deception, full of pride and insubordination. Recall with me as well, Job suffered greatly and repeatedly under Satan's assault. If you look at Job chapter 1, David was stirred and incited by him in numbering the people of 1 Chronicles 13. In Zechariah's vision, Satan opposed Joshua the high priest, but was rebuked by our Lord in Zechariah 3. He contended with Michael the archangel over the body of Moses, Jude 9. Our Lord Jesus himself was tempted by him in the wilderness, and yet victorious, as we read in Matthew chapter 4. In 2 Corinthians 11 verse 3, Paul warned the church of being corrupted by Satan's influence away from the simplicity of the gospel, the single focus of our faith in Christ. Now in his first epistle, Peter warns believers to be sober-minded, to be watchful, Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. So like those who've gone before us, we are on a spiritual battlefield and face a deadly foe. Paul says the days are evil and that is we cannot go through life oblivious to the cosmic forces of evil which are targeting us. We are to be watchful over our souls and those of our loved ones. To be ready in a moment's notice to engage spirits challenging us. some temptation or other. The matter before us this morning, as Ian Dugan puts it, is not whether we will be Christian civilian or a Christian soldier, but whether we will be a well-equipped Christian soldier or a poorly equipped one. So as Brother Dalton leads our study in the book of Revelation, we will see in a broad sweep of the scriptures the long history of warfare between Satan and his minions. and the people of God throughout the ages. We will also see our foe defeated in the end by Christ who is our champion. Know your mortal enemy. Satan's name means adversary in the Hebrew. The enemy of God, the tempter, the deceiver, the master of a dark kingdom. He opposes believers and angels. He accuses them before God, appears as an angel of light, and yet the very prince of darkness mingles error and truth, slanders believers, tempts them and causes them suffering and mischief, opposes God's righteousness at every turn, and blasphemes God. He is the devil, Belial, which means adversary of God, that serpent of old, the prince of this world, the angel of the abyss of Revelation 9 13, the destroyer of He is your mortal enemy and has with him a host of demonic spirits. He is the possessor of the souls of the condemned who are captive to do his will we read in the scriptures. He is like a lion going about seeking whom he may devour. Have I sobered you at all this morning? He cannot possess a true believer and yet shockingly was able to inspire Peter at one point to tempt the Lord Jesus into worldly thinking away from his mission as our Savior and our High Priest. And so in the passage before us when Paul writes in Ephesians 6, to these Ephesian believers. He's writing to those who are not unfamiliar, if you would turn with me to Acts chapter 19, to those who are not unfamiliar with sorcery and of witchcraft. Acts 19, beginning at verse 13. Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims. Verse 14, seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, Jesus I know, and Paul I know. Paul, I recognize, but who are you? And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them, and overpowered them to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. Also many of those who are now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts threw their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found they came to 50,000 pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. And while many in our day would mock at the thought of a personal devil, some postmodernists are once again dabbling in the dark arts. Satan's influence, though hidden, is with us still. Consider briefly with me the malice of Satan in accusing and torturing Job, repeatedly tempting him to deny God. He took from Job every earthly comfort, even his own health, to ply his grip away, if he could, from the Lord his God. He would do the same with you, Christian. Consider Satan's demand to sift Peter as wheat. And yet, and he delights in the cruelty. towards God's elect. Recall with me the malicious deeds wrought by wicked spiritual influences in our Lord's day. Luke records the demon that threw a child into the water and the fire, causing him seizures. Or one Mark wrote of called Legion, who tormented a man day and night, causing him to cut himself. who could not dwell with others but among the tombs. These two victims alone were completely taken over by unclean spirits, causing their victims great suffering, both physically and mentally, enslaving them. It is the design of the devil to destroy mankind, if he can, out of spite and malice for being so favored by God in creation and especially in redemption. Satan's special object of hatred is the church of Jesus Christ. For in it, Christ himself is most exalted and worshiped. It is no wonder that demons who possessed that gathering man were called legion, for there are many spirits, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 8, of the many so-called gods. as there are many spirits. And two chapters later, he informs us that behind these so-called gods in the world, there is a demon. In chapter 10, verse 20. Christian, every time you wonder from the way of righteousness you expose yourself, to one who would destroy you, both body and soul, if he could, except for the intervening grace and power of God. And this is a very brief testimony of Holy Scripture that I've given you. My hero, are you wiser than God to so quickly dismiss all of this, mocking at the very thought of a personal devil? Are we so naive to think that Satan is just a character dressed up in a red suit with horns and a pitchfork, an object of common mockery? Paul has sobering words for us if we are tempted to think that way. In 1 Timothy 4, beginning at verse 1, where he writes, now the Spirit expressly says, In the latter times, some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. John writes in his first epistle, we know that we are from God and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. And that's in present tense in the Greek. In my preparation, I was struck by the mortal peril of all those who are not faithful disciples of Christ. The world lies in the power of and abides in the wicked one and is a resting place and lord of his slaves. Compare this abides in death that we see. With 1 Corinthians, for 1 John 3.14, we know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Whoever does not abide, whoever does not love abides in death, John writes. Compare that later with chapter 5 and verse 20. We are in him that is true. While the believer has been delivered out of his power, the whole world lies helpless and motionless still in it, just as it was, including the wise, the great, respectable, and all who are not wise by vital union in Jesus Christ. So to your outline, let's go ahead and work through our passage together, shall we? First, Roman numeral one, the duty of strengthening commanded. The duty of strengthening commanded. If we look at verse 10 together, 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. And under that A, Paul's parting exhortation. Paul's parting exhortation. When Paul says finally in verse 10, he's actually referring to where he began the epistle in chapter one, verse three. where he began by serving the blessings of the Trinity to us in the heavenly places of our great salvation. In chapter one, verse 20, reminds us where God placed Christ at his right hand in the heavenly places, exalted, having conquered sin and death. If you turn over to chapter two and verse six, he informs us that believers are actually seated with Christ in the heavenly places. In chapter 3, verse 10, he makes it clear that in the church, Christ's bride, God's wisdom is on display to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Christ conquered these spiritual forces on the cross and is now exalted over them. We now live in the overlap of the ages. between the already and the not yet of history. Christ is king, he is coming, and yet a war wages on until he comes. His kingdom continues to expand, gathering all who will hear this gospel. and flee to him for refuge, and join him in his victorious campaign. Finally, Paul writes, his parting exhortation is for us to make ready for battle and to be strong in the Lord. I appreciated very much our Sunday school lesson focusing on the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. And now Paul is going to direct this army of brethren, this army of believers, to face a deadly foe from without and sometimes from within the church of Christ. Letter B, the repeated emphasis of this strengthening that we find in verse 10. The repeated emphasis of this strengthening. Each of the verbs in this passage is in the plural. And so Paul is addressing the church as a whole. This underscores for us the corporate nature of our war against Satan's forces. No soldier takes to the field alone, but is part of a great military force. Paul uses three different Greek words to emphasize strength. The measure of strengthening is not on a human scale, but is of a divine magnitude. And the command to be strong is the verbal form of the term for which we derive the word dynamite. Think of the power of dynamite to split boulders and to lift them into the air. Now, this is not like making a New Year's resolution or to break an old habit or to start a new discipline. We must have a source of strengthening for this spiritual battle that comes from beyond ourselves. You can see it's in the passive. We are to be strengthened. And so the origin of this strength must come beyond ourselves. And so we look to part C on your outline. What is the source? What is the source of this strengthening? In verse 10, Paul continues to say, we are to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Spiritual warfare requires a source from human resources, which human resources cannot provide. That which is flesh is flesh and that which is spirit is spirit. The Lord Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3. This strength is of a different sort. The power that comes from the Lord is from his vast resources. And consider with me Paul's prayer if you flip back to chapter 1 in the book of Ephesians, verse 19. Chapter 1 and 19, He's praying in what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe. according to the working of his great power, which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and power and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. he put all things under his feet and gave him his head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all." Christ's resurrection was far more glorious and powerful than when he raised Lazarus from the dead, as amazing as that was. Recall that the Lord Jesus, he brought upon himself the entire weight of sin of all the elect from every age and laid upon him. He was not only restored to life, but exalted to the highest position of honor in heaven at his father's right hand. This is a demonstration of the greatness of that power, Paul says. That is toward us who believe. that power works in us and for us in the passage before us. The triune God planned, accomplished, and yet is working out our eternal salvation through his working all things after the counsel of his will. This is unstoppable and victorious power. Now turn over with me to briefly to chapter 3 and verse 14. For this reason, chapter 3, verse 14, Paul continues to pray. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he might grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being. And listen what that power is going to do, verse 17, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength 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 with all the fullness God. This strength is nothing short of divine enablement to be strong in the Lord. It is a strength wrought in the inner man by the Holy Spirit of Christ, dwelling and filling every aspect of our souls, granting us the enablement to embrace the love of God in Christ, and to be animated by that love, both to resist the devil and to do all of God's will. And so Paul describes this power also in another place if you turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 10 with me. 2 Corinthians chapter 10. Wayne said I could preach as long as it was raining in here, so. Beginning at verse four. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh. Not of the flesh. but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments in every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and to take every thought captive to obey Christ. Consider the absolute necessity of this divine power with me. For why would it be granted to us? Why would Paul so fervently pray for it unless it was essential for our pilgrimage in this life? So as we move forward from the great indicatives of Ephesians, as we saw beginning in chapter four this morning in the Sunday school, to the great imperatives of the Christian life, of suiting up for spiritual warfare, God wants us to pray for that power that he has prayed for us as well. And so I ask you this morning, how's the battle against that besetting sin of yours coming along? How did the last temptation you faced go for you? Did you resist the devil and see him turn tail and run? Or was it something less than that? If it was the latter, perhaps, that was not an entirely bad thing. So you know your weakness without him. Go to the Lord Jesus confessing your sins, your failures, and plead for more of that power that we see here. Jesus knew temptations and mastered every one. One can only know the strength of a temptation when he is victorious over it. Is there a determination in you to make every thought captive to the obedience of Christ? It's easier to control your arm than to control your thoughts, isn't it? To control your body than to control your spirit. And yet this is where the tempter comes, in the mind, in your thoughts. Divine power is essential to wrestle every thought down to Christ's obedience. Let's look to part D. The imagery employed, the imagery employed in this strengthening in verse 11 Note the imagery Paul uses here. Across this vast empire, both in Jerusalem and in his travels in Asia and Greece, he encountered regiments of Roman soldiers, garrisoned in every city. Their formidable presence, their unstoppable power was felt as they marched. They moved together as a unit, each one equipped for the mission. You likely would hear them as well as see them as they approached. Each one bore the full armor of the empire. You can picture it in your mind here. And at the time this epistle was written, Paul himself was chained to a Roman soldier, as we look at Ephesians 4 verse 1 in Acts 28 verse 16. And so too, we are to put on the whole armor of God upon us. It is not just to acquire the armor, but to wear it. It is an imperative, a command to put on, to clothe oneself metaphorically. It is to acquire new abilities, new qualities. God not only wants you to be strengthened by his spirit and nourished and empowered, but also equipped, as the Brits say, to be kitted out for the campaign. some of you young people, when you play a video game involving equipping a character for some contest, here Paul points to an invisible armor that each Christian, each man, woman, boy, and girl must acquire to be ready for a spiritual campaign against his mortal foes together. Each of us is is to go to our Heavenly Quartermaster, to His armory for this equipment. Now, of course, the armory is the Church of Christ, isn't it, through His Word, as in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Our union with Christ is emphasized here repeatedly, 39 times in this epistle, as it is here. It is in Christ. where we find our armor. Our power, our armor is in Christ, having been joined to him by faith and the equipping and fullness of the Holy Spirit. Is this how you start each day, Christian? Do you reach for your Bible and reach up to the Lord Jesus every morning in prayer? Keep doing that. Ready yourself with your marching orders for the day. At the start of each week, fully engage yourself in each Lord's Day to make most of the means of grace appointed for you, to strengthen and to equip you. That's why we're here today, isn't it? We're gathered, as it were, in the keep together. Recognize your need and the power of God's grace through these means that he's provided to us. And then part E, the end of the reason for the strengthening. The end of this strengthening, Paul goes on, that you be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. We stand in union with Christ against the schemes, the wiles, the plotting of the devil, and they are many. To stand means to repel the enemy onslaught, to not give way, or to fall while under attack. As Spurgeon has written, He will attack you sometimes by force and sometimes by fraud. By might or by slight, he will seek to overcome you. And no unarmed man can stand against him. Never go out without your armor on, for you can never tell where you might meet the devil. He is not omnipresent, but nobody can tell where he is not, for he and his troops of devils appear to be found everywhere in this world. If we go back to 2 Corinthians 10, and read through this again, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God. These are your marching orders and mine, to take every thought captive, to obey Christ. Spiritual warfare requires spiritual weapons, as Calvin has written. The life of a Christian, it is true, is a perpetual warfare. For whoever gives himself to the service of God will have no truce from Satan at any time. The words of Churchill come back to me. We will never parley. We will never give in. There will be no truce from Satan at any time. He will have no truce with you either. but he will harass you with incessant disquietude, Calvin writes. Moms and dads, you are the standard bearers in your home. It is we by the grace that lead the charge. It is our godly example that if blessed by God will carry the day. God's change to his charge to Joshua. If you would flip over with me to Joshua chapter one, just to bring these verses before us as well. God's charge to Joshua is like that which we are given. as parents, as moms and dads. Joshua 1, beginning at verse 5. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life, just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. Verse 8, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. And then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. And so as the commander of the Lord's army, Joshua likely had much to attend to each day. Many needs called for his attention. And yet God expected Joshua to meditate day and night in his word. We have the same promise as Joshua given to us by our Lord in Matthew 28, verse 20. And in Hebrews 13, 5, he will always be with us to fulfill our great task of making disciples of the nations. and of doing his good will. He will strengthen us to stand, to resist the devil. Our foe is great, but God's strengthening and his orders of magnitude greater if we believe our Bibles. And so pray that his great power through these promises will enable you to be upheld by his omnipotent hand. And then on Roman numeral two, Roman numeral two, the rationale for this strengthening. Not the end, but the rationale for his strengthening. We read in verse 12. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. And I can thank Dalton for these notes here. Who the enemy is not, We're not battling people, flesh and blood. We are not to physically engage, abuse, torture, or kill those opposed to the Christian faith. Certainly not. Nothing can be further from our mission. We are to make disciples of Christ and to preach, as Paul says, the gospel of peace. Paul says, nor is the church a political movement, per se. Jesus says, my kingdom is not of this world, of this world's government. That is, of course, not to say that our real enemy, Satan, is not at work in the highest levels of government. But our enemy is not of any human government. Under the Old Covenant, battles were against flesh and blood. And yet these battles pictured for us as spiritual warfare. They also are evidence of an unseen spiritual campaign against the truth of God and the people of God. God put enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent in Genesis 3. This warfare is nonetheless spiritual in its origin and in its operations. The Hebrews' purpose was to preserve the knowledge of God, of true worship, And as idolatry and wickedness prevailed around them, they were to model a godly society so that the nations could come and see the glory of God in a well-ordered people with whom Yahweh dwelt. And this scheme, as you know, was only partly realized for a time. Ultimately, Christ's kingdom expands across the globe in the gospel of peace. Peter writes in 1 Peter 2.9, but you are chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who calls you out of darkness into his marvelous light. We are Christ's glorious army, which advances to the ends of the earth in the glory of his holiness, that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. In our passage, Paul is focusing on what is going on as it were behind the curtain. on the world stage. As our brother Dalton will develop, this cosmic conflict is clearly seen in the book of Daniel, in Ezekiel, and of course in the book of Revelation. And so come back this evening. But who is the enemy? Part B, who the enemy is. Paul continues, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness. against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. And so here we have what exists as a broad class of demonic beings, everyone enemies of our souls. They hold sway over this present darkness, Paul says. This present system of moral darkness. And darkness is the realm and the power of sin. From Ephesians 5.8, Paul writes, For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Verse 9. For the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. He writes in Colossians 1, verse 13, Christ has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. And so note the sphere of their operation. It is in the heavenly places, Paul says. He's noted several times that already. It is not only the sphere of our blessings in chapter 1 verse 3, but also of spiritual campaigns, of battles, of war. If we would turn back momentarily to the book of Daniel, the book of Daniel chapter 10 with me please. We get a window into something of the operations of these spiritual campaigns. Daniel had been weeks in a period of partial fasting and prayer along with his brethren. And while in prayer, he saw the angel Gabriel in a vision which had left him physically weakened. In verse 12, Daniel 10 verse 12. And then he said to me, fear not Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled himself before your God, your words have been heard. And I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me. For I was left there with the kings of Persia and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. for the vision is for days yet to come. The angel of darkness that represented the Persian world power to which Israel was subject here. The fate of the Jewish nation was at stake in this conflict. And though victorious in bringing about the return of the Jews to the homeland, it was not without an unseen angelic engagement of this evil influence. Spurgeon writes, our battle is against evil wherever it is to be found, against evil in every shape and form. Evil is as much in this world today as it was in Paul's time, and we must fight against it everywhere. We are not to shut our eyes to it or to try to patch up a compromise with it. Christians are bound to fight against all evil principalities, evil powers, the evil rulers of the darkness of this world, the wicked spirits in high places. So mark it down, this is reality. Everyone is engaged in a global cosmic war. None of us, none of us live our own little private provincial lives. What's more, you and I are on either one side or the other of this war. You are of the seed of the serpent or of the seed of the woman that is on Christ's side. It has always been that way and it will be that way until the great day of judgment. Every gospel church is a stronghold. Every Christian is a soldier of the cross. And so what is the manner of our warfare? Part C in the outline. What is the manner of our warfare? Paul writes, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. Paul writes, uses the term to wrestle. Wrestling is a contest between two in which each endeavors to throw the other, which is decided when the victor is able to hold his opponent down with his hand upon his neck. This term is only used here in the New Testament. Christian, you are to wrestle spiritual foes. As C.S. Lewis has observed rightly, that Christianity is a fighting religion. This picture here is not an archer, but an infantryman trained in hand-to-hand mortal combat. Paul describes it as a wrestling, a grappling each other to subdue the opponent and to kill him if possible. It is vigorous. It is exhausting, requiring tremendous skill, power, and stamina. Are you able to nimbly dispatch each temptation and ungodly thought with spiritual power and skill? As the writer of Hebrews describes it, of those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. When football linemen square up with one another on the gridiron, they size each other up. when that offensive tackle goes up against a defensive tackle. Even before the ball is snapped, there is a mental sizing up of each other. Each has spent years of training by the weight room and on the field. They look each other up and down, preparing themselves for vigorous, aggressive, physical contact. Our spiritual battles are also like that, except that demons are far more experienced than we are. Every temptation, every spiritual challenge, every insidious wicked thought that penetrates into your mind and soul, each must be met with resolve, truth, and God's power secured by Christ and actuated by prayer. And so as we look now to Roman numeral three in your handout, the concluding command of verse 13, the concluding command. 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." Under that Part A, the command restated, God has provided so great a salvation for each of us, and yet our continued progress in that faith, our usefulness, is dependent upon making use of the armor of God. We are to take up and learn to employ every piece of that armor. And Paul will elaborate on that in the following verses, that you may be able to stand, to withstand in the evil day, to do battle, not to march in a parade down the middle aisle of the church. As he says in verse 16, making use of the time because the days are evil. It is our sworn duty to cut off every hand, gouge out every eye which tends toward temptation and sin. We must deal ruthlessly and strategically with any of our occasions of sin. From Ephesians 4 27, and give no opportunity to the devil, Paul writes, for example, in unchecked angry words. James writes, submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Though Satan is powerful, he is not invincible. He flees from saints who wear the armor of God and who resist him. So in closing, or approaching closing, I just have some selected battles facing the church and the family today. From this book of Ephesians alone, I've chosen three. If you turn back to Ephesians 5 and verse 22, Part A, feminism versus male headship. Verse 22, wives submit to your own husbands. We could stop right there, couldn't we? As to the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body and is himself its savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to everything, in everything, to their husbands. Our culture hates, rejects male headship, recasting it as male domination or oppression. Women are viewed as the oppressed and men as oppressors. And yet Paul goes on, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. This glorious picture of Christ's love for his church is modeled in a husband's love for his wife, this Christian man's love for his wife. To nurture her, to care for her, to be in his self-identification with her. He is the co-heir of the grace of life with her. Satan rages to deface that picture. And in our day, there are women who refuse to take the last name of their husband, and they insist on having the last name of their father. Okay. The issue has never been who is stronger or smarter, who has inherently greater value. That's not the issue, and never has been. It's simply about order. order in God's universe. If you take a look at Romans 5 verse 12, therefore sin came into the world through one man and death through sin. It was Adam's role as the figurehead of all mankind. This word submission is a military term. And so in our day, it's common to conflate, when we look at Ephesians 531, to replace God's order for the family with the mystic view of mutual submission, a doctrine of demons. How would that work in the military, since this is a military term? You have lieutenants submitting to sergeants, a general submitting to majors. How would that work? Each case of submission here referenced in verse 21. Paul is going to elaborate on this in the next chapter. Of wives to husbands, of children to parents, of servants to their superiors. So we each have a place in God's government, in his universe. But we move on. Part B, LGBTQ, hold on, I'll start that over, LGBTQ+. It's right on the surface of the Ephesians 5 text that there are only two genders. There are fathers and there are mothers. I'm not going too fast, am I? From Genesis 1 verse 26, then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over birds of the heavens, and over the livestock in all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. Verse 27, so God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. Our Lord Jesus quotes this passage as he teaches on marriage in Matthew chapter 19. And so reflect upon our previous studies in Romans chapter 1 of the digression from the worship of the one true God to the worship of the creature. And from the honorable conduct of the Ten Commandments to all manner of immorality in our day. Once again, Satan is undermining the dignity of marriage, particularly because of its picture of Christ and his love for his church. The family unit, the basis of society, since the dawn of time, is now under attack. Again, doctrines of demons. And then thirdly, the example from Ephesians 6 verse 1, the training of children. the training of children. Children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, that is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger. but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. The government is not a co-parent with us in the raising of our children. They are not the government's children. They are ours. And yet, Vodibacham, as he recently pointed out, we have gone way beyond that in our culture. We have no longer just letting our government take the lead in rearing children, but the children's emotions themselves. And so a six-year-old Johnny says, I'm not Johnny, I'm Susie, to his parents. And the parents are expected to make sure that everyone in their child's universe doesn't offend Johnny, now Susie, and using the wrong pronouns when they speak of Johnny, who is now Susie. Even to the point of Johnny undergoing life-altering hormone therapy, suppression therapy, and even surgery, so that Johnny, now called Susie, has his childhood emotions affirmed. Again, doctrines of demons. Parents, are you quartering, in a spiritual sense, enemies of God in your own home, giving them free access to your children, to you? What kinds of spiritual and moral compromises are you letting in the back door? What doctrines of demons are you or they exposed to? Now, I'm not suggesting that we all become like the Amish, but are we discriminating among influences we permit into our homes? As your children mature, are you helping your family to be more discerning about the messages and the agenda of what is found in the media? And again, I'm not suggesting a checklist or anything like that, but are there ever conversations about these things in your home? Are there reasonable limits that support those conversations? When was the last time you did a critical review of your media subscriptions and controls? And so as we anticipate our vacation Bible school the last week of this month, may we choose to prepare each child with a knowledge of the scriptures, of an awareness of the spiritual warfare in which they will engage in their lives, and to live for the glory of God through Jesus Christ. And finally, a call to arms. A call to arms. And allow this rather lengthy quote from Thomas Jones, who was a missionary to India in a former century. He writes, soldiers of Christ. Be aware that you are highly advanced in God's creation, that you occupy an important station, that you have an arduous task allotted to you, and that you have neither the time nor talent to throw away. For you are enlisted under the banner of Christ, you have entered the armies of the Most High, and have taken the oath of allegiance to the King of Zion, and bound yourself by an oath to fight the good fight of faith against sin. Satan, the world, and the flesh, what formidable enemies are these? You have to encounter all the powers of hell, and their name is Legion. Fight them now, you must. For you have put on the armor and taken the field to fight all the enemies of God and man. When you survey the enemy's camp and see their strength, their number, their stratagems, their inveterate malice, and are then made to feel your own weakness and nothingness, you tremble and say, how can I go against these mighty hosts? Yet we must conquer them all or die an eternal life. Oh, soldiers of Christ, banish all your guilty fears. There is, after all, far more with you than against you. You are in the Lord's side who fights for you. He is your refuge and strength, your sun and shield. He is with you in the field. to teach your hands to war, to cover your head in the day of battle, and has promised you victory. If God is for you, who is he that overcame you and put you to death? when you are hid in the Lord's pavilion and surrounded with a wall of salvation, while in the heat of the battle be filled with a hope of victory, and feel assured that you shall finally obtain a complete and glorious salvation, engage to subdue Satan and all his enemies shortly under your feet. Trust him and take courage then. You cannot meet with discouragement, for faithful is he who promised. will also do it. With the view to strengthen your hope of victory, keep in mind that you have not an enemy, difficulty, or danger to encounter, but which has been already conquered and subdued for you by the great captain of your salvation, and the countless millions of his soldiers who have now arrived safe in glory, singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. were once here below wrestling with all the enemies and difficulties which you have now to encounter. Only war, a good warfare then, and rest assured that he who carried them safe through the war will carry you also to the triumphs of the world to come. Not one of all his true soldiers was ever left to perish on the field of battle. Put on courage, you Christian warriors. fight the good fight of faith, be faithful unto death, and then your captain will release you from the war and give you the crown of life, which you shall ever wear in honor of your glorious Lord and Savior. And so like Churchill, and like our Lord Jesus, may we, by God's grace, have that same resolve to fight As Paul promised to us in Romans 16, 20, under the Spirit's inspiration, grant that the God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you all. Let's pray. Lord, help us to have something of the same mindset as Paul does in this passage, that you would equip us, that you would help us as Mark taught us earlier from your word that we would pursue peace with one another and the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace and holiness without which no one will see the Lord. We pray that you give us grace as we move toward our vacation Bible school. What a little thing it is, and what a great thing it can be in the Spirit's hand. Use us, O Lord, in the lives of many. We think of so many children that will be in this building in a few weeks. Give us grace. Give them grace, O Lord, to fight the good fight, to the end that the gospel of peace will go to the ends of the earth, dear Lord. We give you praise in Jesus' name. Amen.