Each time that I study, but especially preach Eph. 6:10-18 I experience a weightiness in the text that burdens my heart. Preaching about standing against the enemy of Christ, the Church, and the Christian’s walk is exhausting. It is frightening. It is burdensome. It is tiresome. But it is necessary. There is a different burden this week in looking at the text with the election results that have just occurred. Our nation is in turmoil. Our churches are in distress. Our homes are gutted of love. Christians are walking not in light and love but in idolatry and grieving the Spirit of God. Even with what some would deem a victory for our nation, I feel defeated. I mourn the great division and hatred that is being spewed from both sides. Behind all of these outward political attacks against political opponents is a spiritual attack. Beyond the political war that will continue throughout this presidency and the next election cycle is a spiritual war for the souls of men. Sadly, more today care about winning the political war and getting their way than they do about souls dying without Jesus. There is a real enemy of the soul. There is a real enemy against your walk with Christ. There is a real enemy against your family, your church, your community. The enemy is not President Trump. It is not Kamal Harris. It is not the Republicans or Democrats. It is not China, Russia, or Iran. The enemy is the “prince and power of the air” (Eph. 2:2) who uses the world and the flesh in the battle against your walk with Christ. Your enemy is the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Many today have “given place to the Devil” (Eph. 4:27) and in doing so are ensuring their own spiritual defeat which will impact their family, church, and community.
The Chrisitan life is a war. It is a battleground from start to finish. For the believer, we fight these battles by grace through faith knowing that the ultimate war has been won in Christ. Though the ultimate war is already won, the battle today still ensues in your walk in Christ and the souls of those without Christ. Every Christian has been enlisted into the army of God. Every Christian is at war and the Church, the Body and Bride of Christ is at war. As Adrian Rogers put it, “We are at spiritual war! Therefore, the church is not a cruise ship with the pastor as the master of ceremonies. Indeed, it is not a showboat, but a battleship. We’re called to see Satan’s strongholds crumble under the power of heaven’s artillery. We do not have the luxury of neutrality. We must engage in the fight. A truce will never be called. God’s will for his saints is not that we merely survive, but that we thrive in total victory.” You’ll never have victory in your walk in Christ until you see the victory in your wealth in Christ. We are already “more than conquerors” (Rom. 8:37). We are already “seated in heavenly places” (Eph. 2:6). The issue with our walk regarding this warfare that Paul now addresses in this passage is that the key to walking your wealth in Christ is learning to stand. The word stand is used several times in Eph. 6:10-14 to emphasize that we are not to give up ground to the enemy and that we must learn to stand in Christ to walk in Christ. Taking a stand in Christ means that you will grow personally in maturity and publicly in unity. It means that you will put off the old man and put on the new. It means that you will walk worthy, in humility, in love and light. It means that your relationships from your marriage, children, and work will be influenced by your relationship with Christ. It is war to walk in your wealth in Christ.
In Ephesians, we have seen our wealth (Eph. 1-3) and walk in Christ (Eph. 4-6). Our wealth is who we are and what we have in Christ. This is our belonging to Him. This is the positional truth that leads to transformed practical living in Christ. Our walk is our behavior based upon our union or belonging to Christ. As Paul is wrapping up this letter, he ties it together to show that our wealth in Christ was won by and in Christ. He is the Great Victor over sin, death, and the Devil. His victory is the Christian’s victory. As we sing, “Victory in Jesus” we are reminded that victory in this life is only because of Him. Paul then shows the reality of the present battle in the believer’s life. It is a battle to know your wealth in Christ. It is a battle to walk in your wealth in Christ. It is a battle to be a Christian. Remember, Paul has already shown us that our walk is dependent upon us being dependent upon the filling of the Holy Spirit to walk in our wealth in Christ. Don’t think for one second that you can war a good warfare or walk a good walk in your own power. You and I must be filled by the Holy Spirit to walk in our wealth in Christ and stand in the spiritual war that we are in. There are three key things that we will see in our study of Eph. 6:10-13. We will see the divine supply (V.10-11a), Devil’s schemes (V.11b-12), and the determined stand (V.13).
Eph. 6:10-13 says,
“10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
First, let’s look at the divine supply that the believer has been given in Christ to stand and walk in Christ. Eph. 6:10-11a says, “10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11Put on the whole armour of God.” Some Christians today live as though that they were saved by grace, but now must struggle in their walk and warfare by their own grit or determination. Many Christians believe that they are a match for the enemy, but forget that it is Christ in us that enables us to live, walk, and stand by faith. 1 John 4:4 says, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” Left on your own, you wouldn’t have the supplies or strength to stand, walk, or win the spiritual battles that you face each day. There are two things that we must see in Eph. 6:10-11a.
One, we must see our resources. If you don’t know the resources that you have in Christ, then you’ll only stand in your own strength which will lead to a sure defeat. Paul spent the first three chapters of Ephesians expounding on our infinite invincible resources in the grace of Christ. Because the Godhead is infinite and invincible, so too are the believers’ resources. We are limited in spiritual battle only when we operate out of our own resources and not the resources of our wealth in Christ. The first resource that we have is twofold, it is the “power of His might.” The might of God is the availability of His strength. To illustrate, imagine a strong bodybuilder. You can see his bulging biceps and veins popping everywhere. He doesn’t have to tell you he is strong; you can see it. That’s what the might of God is like. When you look at Christ by the Spirit in the scriptures, you see His infinite unmatched might. God is the strongman who doesn’t have to bend a bar to prove His strength. It is seen simply in who He is (His attributes and character). God’s power is the realization of His strength. In other words, the “power of His might” is not just when God flexes His muscles but when He applies the “power of His might” by doing as He pleases. Paul has talked about this already in Eph. 1:19-23. God’s might and power is on full display in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. God has revealed His power and might in creation, redemption, resurrection, and His promised return will display to all who He is. The believer is never commanded to depend or draw upon their own strength, rather we are commanded to stand, walk, and live in the “power of His might.” Paul later tells his protégé Timothy, “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” (2 Tim. 2:1-4). The strength of our resources are in Christ. We are to be strong in Him because outside of Him we are weak. Any strength that the believer has against our determined foe comes from the resources of the “power of His might” made available by His infinite grace in Jesus Christ. God’s grace is not merely unmerited favor, but it is the enabling strength to live in Christ. The second resource that we have is the “armor of God.” Notice the “of.” The armor doesn’t come from us, it is all of Him. All of life is by His grace including the very armor to equip us to stand against the enemy of our soul. The believer’s armor is God’s provision, power, protection, and promise of victory to stand and walk in our wealth in Christ. We will cover the armor itself in Eph. 6:14-17 next week, but for now, I want you to understand that Christ is our armor. We’ll deal with the details next week. Isaiah prophesied of Christ to wear armor in Isa. 59:17. Throughout the Bible, especially the Psalm, God is seen as the Divine Warrior. Look at what Romans 13:11-14 as it says, “11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” Christ is not just the supplier of our armor, He is the substance of our armor. Our resources of the “power of His might” and the “whole armor of God” are limitless in Christ. We are only limited in our stand against our enemy when we walk in our own strength and strategy.
Two, we must see our responsibilities. As we have discussed already throughout Ephesians, our relationship with and in Christ directs our responsibility to Him. In other words, because of our wealth in Christ, we must walk by faith in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is our responsibility to put off ourselves so we may put on Christ in the battle at hand. In these verses, we see two different responsibilities that we must obey. First, we must “be strong in the Lord.” The idea is not only that our strength comes from the Lord, but that we must make ourselves available to His strength. We are like David to strengthen ourselves in the Lord (1 Sam. 30:6). We will either be strengthened by Him or we’ll have no strength at all. By faith, we make ourselves available for the application of our resources of grace in Christ as we submit to the scriptures and are filled with the Spirit. The strength for spiritual battle in the believer’s life is supernatural. It is not our own, yet it is His power in and through us. Paul already prayed for this to be realized in the believer’s life in Eph. 3:14-21. Second, we must “put on the whole armor.” We are responsible to put it on and keep it on by faith. No one can prepare you for battle except you. Only you can walk your walk, no one else can. The putting on is used in Eph. 4:22-24 regarding our responsibility to put off the old man and put on the new. Once we make ourselves available to “be strong in the Lord,” then we by faith can appropriate our wealth (riches and resources of grace) in Christ in our life. The strength of the Lord is available to us by grace and must be appropriated by faith. Remember, appropriate means to take as one’s own. You are only strong as you take hold by faith the strength of Christ made available to all in Christ by grace through faith. These transformational truths are seen clearly in Gal. 2:20 which says, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” The infinite invincible grace of the Lord Jesus Christ has made His strength and armor available so that by faith we may appropriate it as our own and see “the power of His might” applied in our stand against the enemy.
Grow with me as we study the believer’s wealth and walk in Christ.
Grow deeper.
Grow higher.
Grow wider.
Grow With Pastor Joe 
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