8/23/20 Ephesians 6:10-20 “Jesus Wins! Satan Loses!”

21 Aug 8/23/20 Ephesians 6:10-20 “Jesus Wins! Satan Loses!”

8/23/20    Ephesians 6:10-20   “Jesus Wins! Satan Loses!”

In our modern world we get to see just about everything that happens, when it happens.  Our news coverage has truly made the world smaller.  Some of the things we get to see firsthand are starvation around the world, natural disasters, and war as it happens.  It is pretty amazing how the news media will still only cover stories that revolve around death and darkness. It also used to be that we got straight news but now it’s all skewed.   So, it seems perfectly logical to me to read about the stories of people being fed around the world.  I would like to see stories about the people that have avoided disasters like AIDS and this virus.  But because we live in a world that is controlled by Satan, this won’t happen.  We are presently destined to be fed news from the dark side.  Maybe some of you remember the TV show called Tales from the Dark Side. That is kind of the world that we are living in today and we have been so blinded that we don’t even notice it.  In today’s Scripture we find a very familiar passage of putting on the armor of God.  Let’s take a look at this and see if we do it or if we think that it is even necessary.

Ronald DeGraw tells the story that happened in France just prior to WWII.  France believed that they were safe behind what they called the Maginot line.  This was a line built in NE France in the late 1930’s.  It was a state-of-the-art facility that had concrete walls, concrete bunkers, living quarters, store houses and underground rail lines.  It also had many huge guns all along its 200-mile length.  It was considered impregnable and was to be the line that would save France from German invasion.

Of course, the Germans had other thoughts and really had little problem defeating the concrete French line.  The Germans had superior aircraft and tanks which the French had not counted on.  This wasn’t what beat the French however.  The Germans simply went through the Ardennes forest which the French considered impenetrable.  In other words, the Germans simply went around this massive 200-mile unit and came in from behind the French.  The French had underestimated the enemy and thought that they couldn’t lose.  They lost miserably.

I think that we are in a similar situation as the French found themselves.  We are in a war.  And no, it is not a war against Iraq, Iran or Afghanistan.  It is not a war on our economy, drugs, illegal immigrants or rioters.  The war we are in is a far more serious battle than all of these things put together.  It is the war against evil or Satan.  We seem to be much more preoccupied with all these little battles here on earth than we are the fight for our eternal souls.  I read a surprising statistic a while back that said that close to 60% of the people in country don’t even believe there is a Satan or hell.  This is remarkable because something like 70-80% percent of this country considers itself to be Christian.  Most of these people must belong to the denominations where you can pick and choose the parts of the Bible that you want to apply to your life.  I don’t know about you but the Bible I read tells me that I cannot do that.  It is an all or nothing deal.  We either accept or reject God’s Word.  You cannot pick and choose what you want to believe!

Along these lines I had an interesting conversation with an area person a while back.  We were studying Moses, how he led the Israelites through the Red Sea, it closed in behind them and killed all the Egyptian pursuers.  This person asked that if God loves everyone then He must have loved the Egyptian soldiers.  So why did He have Moses drown them all if He loves them?  My answer was this.  God is a God of love and many chances and that is what He had given the Pharaoh with the ten plagues.  Also, if we read in Genesis, we find that God had been working with the Egyptians for over 400 years trying to convert them.  They had refused to listen and kept going their own way as did the Pharaoh with the 10 plagues.  My answer was that we have a God of many chances and I praise the Lord for that.  But we do not have a God of infinite chances.  There comes a time for all non-believers when God may give up on you.  This is important to know.  We have many chances not infinite chances.

Let’s get back to our reading.  The first thing that Paul is telling us is what I just alluded to.  We have to know that we are in a battle, a war.  We have to know who our enemy is.  We need to know that Satan is way, way more powerful than we can ever be.  We need to know that he can lead us down paths that we have said where we will never go.  We are never to underestimate the power of this fellow.  He can always defeat us by ourselves.  However, we have an ace in the hole in Jesus Christ.  Through Jesus Christ you can always defeat Satan if you want to defeat him.

On the flip side you should never over estimate Satan either.  Satan is a fallen angel.  He is not immortal.  He cannot read out minds.  He doesn’t know what you will do next.  Far too often we feel that when we get attacked by Satan, we will be defeated.  The last time I checked, this dirty rascal can be defeated fairly easily.  We need to always remind ourselves that our power comes from our Lord Jesus Christ.  And our enemy is never another human no matter what they do to us.  Your enemy is always Satan and you need to be able to withstand his attacks.

The first thing Paul tells us to do is put on the armor of God.  Paul uses this as an illustration as all his readers will know what armor is because of the Roman occupation of the area.  Ephesus was the huge capital of the area.  It was one of those central cities that were key for the land trade routes and sea trade routes.  It was also a religious capital.  Pilgrims would flock there every year to come to the Temple of Diana which was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world.  This temple was huge and beautiful as Diana was a goddess of fertility.  And along with all of this came the vendors who were hawking their wares outside the temple.  This would bring corruption as we have seen at the Jewish Temple when they sold sacrifices, money and other things.  The people coming to this temple would be similar to the crowds in our world that go to Mecca and Rome each year.  It was no wonder that Paul had more than a little trouble here because Roman religion was firmly entrenched.

Our world is not much different from the ancient world.  We have gods all over the place that we worship.  We worship cars, we worship money, we worship TV, and we worship our government.  The list goes on and on.  I know that I feel so much better that I have a wonderful car that will save me when hurricanes, tornados, or a typhoon are bearing down on me.  I feel so secure knowing that I have enough money to buy my way into heaven.  Sometimes we think that we are so smart when we are actually being quite dull.

Paul knows the enemy is here and he stood against him, Satan.  He tells us that we must wear the belt of truth, first.  This is one of the most important items we have.  We need to stand in the truth, the truth of Jesus Christ.  This is the only truth in the world.  There is no such thing as your truth and my truth as our modern talk shows tell us.  And if you think for a minute what a belt actually does.  It holds things up.  So, the belt of truth will hold us up when we need it.

So just as a soldier would strap on a .45 pistol, we strap on the truth.  This is the truth that we get from prayer, reading the Bible and worshipping on a regular basis. There are a lot of people who take time off from church due to whatever reason and I am not going there today.  But we have to know that when these people come back for their periodic visits, they are weak, terribly weak!  They have been away from worship for weeks or months, and some have no prayer life or Bible reading life.  Therefore, the first Sundays in the fall are very important as are the Sundays around Easter and Christmas as we have to build strength back into their lives by giving them all the truth possible.  As a matter of fact, all Sundays are important.  The belt of truth is important.

I want to skip ahead here for a minute.  Notice that all armor is for defense except for the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.  The sword of the Spirit is very much related to the belt of truth.  It is important because where do you carry a sword?  You carry it on your belt.  Therefore, the belt of truth is supporting the sword of the Spirit.  We have to begin with the truth to be able to make all of the rest of it come together.

We need the breastplate of righteousness.  This is the piece of armor that protects our hearts.  Soldiers know that they have to protect their hearts because if the heart dies, the whole person dies.  This comes to Christians when we are obedient to God.  This is living God’s word and God’s way.  This is living our lives in love.  In terms of John Wesley, this is the sanctification, the living out our lives in a Christian way.  If you live in the truth and are trying to live as righteous as you can, then you are doing well.

And of course, we must have proper footwear.  Every soldier knows that foot wear is important because they have to get from one place to another and often times in a hurry.  They also need to be able stand and not slip in battle.  And as soldiers in God’s army we need proper footwear to be able to stand strong in our faith.  We need to be anchored.

Then we move on to the shield of faith.  The Greek word here for shield is the big full bodied one and not the little one that was used during close fighting.  These big shields were doused with water so that when the burning arrows came at them, the shield would not only stop them but it would also extinguish them.

And the last defense that Paul talks about is the helmet of salvation.  The head needs to be protected almost as much as the heart.  We are bombarded daily with a full menu of sin from Satan.  We see it, we read about it, and Satan then hopes that we will do it.  We need to keep our heads protected and connected to the heart.

And lastly, we have the sword of the Spirit.  We have already talked a little about this and I would like to say one more thing.  When you get attacked, you are to use all of these defense mechanisms that Paul has mentioned.  But sometimes this isn’t enough.  Sometimes the attack from Satan is strong and very persistent.  Our armor does a good job but we find ourselves weakening under the constant attack.  You need to pull out the sword of the Spirit and attack Satan back.  Please note that I didn’t say to attack any person, but we attack Satan.  All of our youth classes know how to repel Satan and I will remind everyone here again.  All you have to do is say prayerfully, “In the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, I command you, Satan, to get out of my life.”  You can command him out of your house, your Bible study group or any place where you feel his dark presence.  Remember that Satan is a fallen angel and he must still obey God.  And if you use the name of Jesus to cast him out, then he will have to leave.  Of course, you also have to believe in Jesus and have Him living in your heart.

Anyway, this is the armor of God and we are to use it prayerfully.  I know several people who will put on this armor every day during their prayer time.  People, we are being attacked every day of our lives.  This should be more than enough reason to be going to Jesus every day and asking for His protection.  So, as you go to your prayer time and are asking Jesus for whatever it is you ask, ask also for protection.  Ask for the armor of God.

Paul wraps up this section by saying that you are to pray for each other constantly.  He asked for prayers for himself as he delivered the message of God to various people.  I need your prayers every day as I try to go about and do God’s business.  I need them as I prepare for each Sunday’s service.  I need prayer to go out and meet new people because I’m not that comfortable doing this.  I need lots of prayers and so do each one of you.  Sharon and I pray for you each day and I hope that you pray for each other also.  Prayer is the key to this wonderful life we have in Jesus Christ.  So, let’s use it.

Hopefully, we have seen how necessary it is to have protection against the enemy.  The problem lies in the fact that most people don’t even believe that there is an enemy.  We seem absolutely content to try to live our lives as if there is no Satan.  This would be a lot like going to battle in Iraq or sending our troops to battle in Afghanistan with nothing more than a picnic basket and a book of poetry.  These things would be useless as the other side has guns that they are using.  We are in the battle for our lives and the lives of the ones we love.  I ask you to take seriously the spiritual warfare that is around you.  I ask you to pray that Jesus will protect us all and that he will help us to be more aggressive in fighting the enemy.  If you ever feel that you are under an attack that you cannot win, just give me a call and we will see if together we can break away from Satan’s grip.  Remember, Jesus has already won the war.  It is these small battles for our minds that are still up for grabs.

Jesus Christ came to this world so that He would die for us and thus defeat Satan once and for all.  It is a done deal.  Jesus wins, Satan loses.  All you have to do is choose the right side.  I don’t think that this is a very tough decision.  Choose Jesus and you can be protected from evil.  Choose Jesus and He will never leave you alone again.  And the great part is that He loves us so much that He wants everyone in the world to choose Him.  This is the love that you can have today and forever.  Choose Jesus.  And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.