1/30/18 – Eph 6:11, The Angelic Conflict, Pt. 11, The Enemy, Pt. 8, Lesson
#18-012
Grace Fellowship Church
Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Stand in Warfare –
Eph 6:10-20.
Outline of Eph
6 :10-24
1. The Empowerment, vs. 10.
2. The Enemy, vs. 11-12.
3. The Equipment, vs. 13-17.
4. The Energy, vs. 18-20.
5. The Encouragement, vs. 21-24.
2. The Enemy, vs. 11-12.
Eph 6:11, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you
will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”
The cosmos represents the supreme effort of the supreme
creature in an intended segregation from the will and purpose of God. Rom 14:23, “Whatever is not from faith is sin,” is not recognized or
believed by the cosmos. The humanitarian enterprises, the culture, the laws,
and religious forms of the cosmos constitute no evidence that God is recognized
in His true position or honored.
This is a Christ-rejecting cosmos, where social ideals are
borrowed from God’s teachings, His purity and grace are held forth as a pattern
of life, but recognition of God and salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ
is rejected. The independent, self-centered, self-satisfied, autonomous cosmos does
not ask for redemption since it recognizes no need for it.
Luke 10:21, “At
that very time He (Jesus) rejoiced
greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, ‘I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and
intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was
well-pleasing in Your sight’.”
But remember, the cosmic
system’s power is impotent to achieve the ultimate goal of a kingdom on earth
and has many limitations. The primary one being sin and evil inside every
member of the Human race.
Satan and the Cosmos are
limited in their knowledge and understanding of things. However, God is without
limit in knowledge of all things, and He provides for us His wisdom from the
basis of His unlimited knowledge so that we might be His ambassadors on earth, Job 37:16; 1 Cor 2:14-15; 2 Cor 4:6-7; Rom
3:11; 2 Cor 4:3-4; 1 John 4:5.
Job 37:16, “Do you know about the layers of the
thick clouds, the wonders of The one
perfect in knowledge.”
1 Cor 2:14-15, “But a natural man (one in the cosmos operating by his sin
nature) does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually
appraised. 15But he who is spiritual (a heavenly citizen) appraises all things, yet he himself is
appraised by no one.”
2 Cor 4:3-4, “And even if our gospel is veiled,
it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4in whose case the god of
this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see
the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
1 John 4:5-6, “They are from the world; therefore
they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are
from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not
listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”
1 John 5:4, “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is
the victory that has overcome the cosmos—our faith.”
This again tells us that
the believer must not be fearful of the Cosmos, because we have greater power
inside of us than can be imagined, 1
John 4:4.
Satan does the things we have previously mentioned because
his purpose is to deceive the world, keep the unbeliever blind of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, and tempt the believer to commit evil and live in apostasy. As we
noted previously, he deceives and tempts, especially the believer, in the three
ways; appetite, beauty, and ambitious pride, 1 John 2:16, that can result in lust, sin, and death in the
believer’s life who does not have the strength of Christ in His soul via
putting on the full armor of God, James
1:14-15.
James 1:14-15, “But
each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15Then
when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished,
it brings forth death.”
God sometimes allows Satan’s temptations to strengthen us in
resisting them. Tests have three beneficial purposes in the life of the
believer:
1. To prove us, 1 Peter
1:6-7.
2. To teach us, 1
Peter 4:12-13; Heb 5:8.
3. To increase our love for God, James 1:12; Rev 2:10.
James 1:12, “Blessed
is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will
receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those
who love Him.”
Rev 2:10, “Do
not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some
of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten
days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.”
In the areas of temptation, Satan tries to get the believer
to commit sin or evil in several ways, including:
1. Conformity to the pressures and structures of society, 1 Thes 3:5.
1 Thes 3:5, “For
this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out
about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted you, and our
labor should be in vain.”
Paul had been forced to leave Thessalonica after probably
only one month’s ministry in that city, Acts
17:5-10. Further, Satan had used some governmental ban to keep him from
returning, 1 Thes 2:18. So he sent
Timothy, who was not under that ban, back to Thessalonica to see if they had
succumbed to Satan’s temptations. What temptations? It was too early in the
first century for Paul to be referring to official persecution from the Roman
Empire. These temptations must have been more of an unofficial, societal,
personal nature. Perhaps Satan tempted them to continue to conform to the
lifestyles they experienced before they were saved, including the worship of
pagan gods and goddess. Also many of the converts were Gentiles, and Satan may
have tempted them with the pride of intellect.
He tries to bring pressure on the believer so that he may
not be able to bear it. For example:
a. The man
disciplined in 1 Cor 5. Apparently
the discipline had had its desired effect, and he had confessed his sin of
incest. Now the church should have received him back into fellowship.
Seemingly, some wanted to do this and some did not. So Paul urged them to do
so, not only to heal any division that might develop but also lest the brother
involved be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. He needed to know the forgiveness
of his brothers and sisters, 2 Cor
2:5-11. Not to restore him would give Satan an advantage.
b. The women who are
widowed at a young age, 1 Tim 5:11-15.
Paul urged them to marry again and bear children and lead useful lives. Some,
idle and gossiping, were following Satan.
1 Tim 5:13-15, “And at the same time they also learn to
be idle, as they go around from house to house; and not merely idle, but
also gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper to mention.
14Therefore, I want
younger widows to get married, bear children, keep house, and give
the enemy no occasion for reproach; 15for some have already turned
aside to follow Satan.”
In general, we may say that Satan the adversary wants
passionately to squelch the believer’s testimony. To accomplish this he prowls
the earth like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour, 1 Peter 5:8. The word “devour” is the same word used to describe
the way the Red Sea swallowed up the Egyptians when they were pursuing the
Hebrews, Heb 11:29. It paints a
vivid picture of Satan’s ultimate goal; to completely drown the believer’s
testimony and usefulness.
2. To cover up selfishness. The story of Ananias and
Sapphira serves as the classic illustration. This couple wanted to retain some
of the money they received from the sale of their property, while at the same
time receiving praise for their contribution. Peter discerned that it was Satan
who had filled their hearts to lie, Acts
5:1-11. They had the right to own and sell property. They had no necessary
obligation to give all the proceeds to the church. But they were obliged not to
pretend to have generosity and at the same time cater to their selfishness by
keeping part of the money received.
3. To perform some form of immorality, 1 Cor 7:5; Rom 7:14-25; 1 John 3:10. God provided marriage for
proper expression of physical needs and relationships, and He expects husbands
and wives to assume their respective and mutual responsibilities. When this is
not done, Satan has opportunity to tempt believers to illicit or perverted
sexual sins.
1 Cor 7:5, “Stop
depriving one another, except by agreement for a time that you may devote
yourselves to prayer, and come together again lest Satan tempt you because of
your lack of self-control.”
1 John 3:10, “By
this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who
does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love
his brother.”
4. Perform some form of human good, “dead works”, Mat 4:1, 3, 5; Isa 64:6; 1 Cor 3:15; Mat
6:1; Heb 6:1; 9:14. Human good is a reference to anything produced by man
apart from God’s grace provision.
Satan may prefer to do some things over others. But he will
do whatever he has to in order to promote his plans and programs successfully.
Remember too that he is powerful, 2 Thes
2:9, he is experienced, and he has a host of demons to help him. Yet, the
believer can successfully fight him only in the strength and power of God who
dwells within him, 2 Peter 1:2-11.
2 Peter 1:2-4, “Grace
and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;3
seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life
and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory
and excellence. 4For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent
promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.”
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