Ephesians: In The Lord's Army
Notes
Transcript
Eph. 6:10-11. Enlistment
General Dwight Eisenhower once said (source unknown), “War is a terrible thing. But if you’re going to get into it, you’ve got to get into it all the way.”
There are way to many Christians that live defeated lives because they are not seriously engaged in the warfare to which we are called or try to engage the enemy with their own strength.
J. C. Ryle saw this in the 19th century. He wrote in his book (“Soldiers and Trumpeters,” Home Truths [Triangle Press], 1:90),
“The saddest symptom about many so-called Christians is the utter absence of anything like conflict and fight in their Christianity.”
He went on to say that they just go through the motions of attending religious services each week.
Then he added (ibid.),
“But of the great spiritual warfare,--its watchings and struggles, its agonies and anxieties, its battles and contests,--of all this they appear to know nothing at all.” - J.C Ryle (“Soldiers and Trumpeters,” Home Truths [Triangle Press], 1:90),
I believe Ryle was spot on!
Perhaps they have come to Christ under a false “sales pitch.”
They were told, “Jesus will solve your problems.
He will give you peace and joy.
He will give you a happy family life.
Come to Jesus and enjoy all of these blessings and more.
He promises you abundant life.”
And so they signed up for what they thought would be a wonderful life of peace and happiness.
All of those claims are true, but they’re only half of the picture.
Jesus promised to give us abundant life (John 10:10),
but He also said that He was sending us out as sheep in the midst of wolves (Matt. 10:16).
That picture might not fit your idea of an abundant life!
Jesus promised peace,
but in the same breath He said that in this world we would have tribulation (John 16:33).
He assured us of His love,
but He went on to say that the world would hate and persecute us (John 15:12–13, 18–21).
Or perhaps they have never truly repented and believed
By using The word “Finally” which means, “for the rest,”
Paul is letting us know that this section is built on what preceded it.
Paul is saying, “Based upon your glorious position in Christ (chapters 1–3) and in light of the worthy walk to which you are called (chapters 4–5, plus 6:1–9), I want to conclude by explaining to you the serious conflict in which your faith necessarily engages you.”
Paul is about to tell us is something that we all need, whither we have been in the fight 50 years or 5 days.
If you are going to survive in this world as a Christian It is vital that you realize that when you were born again into God’s Family, you were also drafted into His army.
you and I are engaged in a battle daily with an unseen spiritual enemy that seeks to destroy us.
Now, there has been a lot written and preached on this set of verses, Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote two volumes of sermons on these verses.
The Puritan, William Gurnall, wrote almost 1,200 pages of double-column, small print on them (The Christian in Complete Armor)!
I promise to be briefer than either of those great expositors!
I will not be able to cover everything nor do I have the vast knowledge these men had to be exhaustive on this text, but what I do have is exspeirance in this Christian walk and I know what it is like to try and face the enemy without the right equipment.
What I want you to understand is
as, born again believers, we are in a fight and as Paul will say, this fight is not against flesh and blood.
This is not a fight with terroist group or some other hostile nation here on earth.
This fight, this battle you and I have been selected for is one that can not be won with our own abilites and strength.
this Christian life is nothing less than warfare against the hideous enemy that
Luther called “the prince of darkness grim.”
To fight against It, it requires a much mightier Army, It requires a Commander and Chief that is all knowing and all powerful.
It requires enlistment in to the Lord’s army…
So, The first thing we need to see about being in the Lord’s army is
you must be
Signed in for Service
Signed in for Service
Finally my brethren……
The KJV is the only transation that puts my brethren in verse 10.
and it is not in italics so that tells me it was not added by the translators it is most likely in the originals.
The other translations state that it has been removed because of redundancy.
Pau says ‘my brethren’ which means my fellow brethren.
Paul want to be sure he separates the real ones from the fakers
The fighters from the runners
To many today are playing the part but when it comes time to fight, they will be found nowhere.
To be in the Lords Army you must be Signed in for Service
When I turned 17 I went to the Air Force recruiters office and I signed up for service. I said I want to be in the service but it wasnt until October of 2000 when I walked into MEAPS in Richmond VA that I Signed in for Service. I reported for Duty.
In October of 2003 in Goldsboro NC I walked into a church as a memeber of the US military, I walked out as a member of the Lord’s Army
I signed in for Service
I think there are some here this morning, that want to be in the service, but have only had a desire and signed up, they have not signed in.
I need to ask, Have you Signed in for Service?
Have you realized you are a sinner in need of a savior?
Have you realized you are a sinner in need of a savior?
Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Have you repented of your sins?
Have you repented of your sins?
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Have you confessed and believed?
Have you confessed and believed?
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Have you recieved the gift of eternal life?
Have you recieved the gift of eternal life?
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Have you signed in for service in the Lord’s Army or are you just impersonating a soldier?
Have you signed in for service in the Lord’s Army or are you just impersonating a soldier?
You can dress like a soldier
You can have metals covering your chest
You can even make up stories
But you know you have never signed up
You walk around all nervous and always having to defend your uniform and metals
A real soldier, one that has signed in and seen action, he doesn't have to tell other soldiers he is one, they know by just looking at him.
Can people look at you and tell you are a soldier in the Lord’s Army?
Are you in the Lord’s Army or are you just impersonating?
I cant tell you if you are, I just ask the questions. What you are, you already know. Stop impersonating a Christian and become a true solider in the Lord’s Army.
Next You must be
Strong in the Savior
Strong in the Savior
‘be strong in the Lord, and the power of His might’
Before you can actually join the military, you have to go through a physical.
This Physical is not to nessecarily disqualify someone, it is to qualify a person for the job.
Be fit and strong is part of the military.
Its not all there is to it, but it is a good portion.
To be a firefighter you must be able to carry a 150 lb dummy while wearing the 75 plus pounds of gear. I had to be strong enough for the job,
If you are going into combat, you must have enough strength to carry your weight plus armor and an injured soldier if necessary.
Same goes For the Lord’s Army,
all those that have signed in have to be ready for combat and in order for that,
you must be strong,
but physical strength will not get you very far in this battle.
You must be strong spiritually.
The weakest person physically can be the strongest spiritually.
Strength in the Lord’s Army comes form the Commander.
Paul says be strong in the Lord and the power of His might.
As Paul thinks of the inevitable conflict, he charges Christians to be constantly filled with power.
The word in Greek used for ‘strong’ is a particularly strong one suggesting the pouring of power into one, or enabling one.
This word occurs also in Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ which strengthened [pours power into] me.”
The source of the strength needed is brought out by “in the Lord,”
the idea being that by virtue of our union with Him the power that is inherently His may be drawn upon by us.
In Him we can do all things; apart from Him, defeat is inevitable.
The “in the Lord” phrase is Paul’s common way of referring to our relationship with God made possible through our union with Christ.
We are in him: covered by his blood, robed in his righteousness, members of his household, sons and daughters, in union with him, beloved.
We may dread the exposure of our weaknesses in our battle against sin,
but Paul reminds us that the strength of our relationship with our God is provided by Christ.
Because we are in him, we have access to a power that is greater than we.
Bryan Chappel in his commentary of Ephesians, gives an illustration that is to good not to use.
Ephesians Godly Power (6:10)
My five-year-old daughter decided to play soccer with her much older siblings and cousins at a Thanksgiving gathering. She quickly tripped and got trampled. In tears she ran off the field, determined to enter the fray no more. So I picked her up, hugged her to my chest, and played the rest of the game with her in my arms. Knowing that she was in my embrace renewed her zeal for the battle, and she could not have been a more enthusiastic team member
He goes on to say;
Ephesians Godly Power (6:10)
In a similar way we gain strength for spiritual battle from knowing that even if we have failed and fallen, we are “in the Lord.” Because knowledge of our unchanging relationship grants us the will to fight and to reenter the fray when we have fallen, we understand why Paul first urges that we “Be strong in the Lord.” In God’s embrace we will battle with renewed zeal and strength.
Thank God we are in the Lord,
What it means to be strong in the Lord is further explained by the phrase “and in the power of his might.”
Paul identifies the source of the power that we will need for spiritual battle:
God not only provides us support, like soldiers in battle get support when they need it, God also provides the actual strength that we need for the spiritual battle.
The nature of this strength that comes from God should not be mistaken for mere internal energy, as though God were promising to dispense spiritual vitamins or pep pills.
Paul’s specific wording indicates that God does not want us merely to supplement our strength with his, but so to invigorate the new life that he has regenerated in us that he is our strength.
The phrase that Paul here uses to refer to God’s might, he has used previously in this epistle.
In the first chapter, Paul writes that he wants the saints to know God’s exceeding greatness of power Eph. 1:19
the apostle then describes it as “the might of His power” (Eph. 1:19b) that God (Eph. 1:20
Ephesians 1:20 (KJV 1900)
wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
that same mighty power that Paul describes in 1:19-20,is the same mighty power that God has to quicken us in Chap.2
Knowing this makes it clear that the “mighty power” in which Paul urges us to “be strong” is resurrection power—the divine power that makes the dead live and sits us in heavenly places.
Because of Christ’s power at work in us, greater is he that is in us than the Evil One who tempts us (1 John 4:4
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.
We enter spiritual warfare with strength because of the confidence that no temptation will assault us that is greater than our ability to resist it—
because we face our trials with that same indomitable force that raised Christ from the dead
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
Isaac Watts wrote of the resurrection victory that we have over Satan’s attacks:
Hell and your sins resist your course;
But hell and sin are vanquished foes:
Your Jesus nailed them to the cross,
And sang the triumph when he rose.
The last thing we see in these two verses today is
to be in the Lord’s Army...
You must be
Suited up for Safety
Suited up for Safety
We will cover each item of our armor over the next several weeks. Right now I want to look at it briefly so we have a better understanding of why we must be suited up for safety.
No soldier goes into battle without the right gear and no born again believer should go through this life with out the right gear.
This is not the first time that Paul make mention of having the right gear.
In (2 Cor. 10:4 Paul asserts
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
Here he asserts that the Christian finds protection in this mortal conflict by the use of the whole armor of God (vss. 11, 13–17) and the practice of prayer (vss. 18–20).
The expression “whole armour of God” (vss. 11, 13) employs the imagery of the Roman man of arms fully equipped for heavy battle.
It is the armor “of God” in the sense that it is armor that God provides.
Each piece is furnished by Him.
It is called “the whole” armor to stress the completeness of it.
We must see to it that no portion of our person is left exposed and unprotected.
God provides the armor, and it is ready for our use.
But we must do our part, and faithfully accept every instrument and implement that God offers.
We are therefore urged to “put on” the whole armor of God in order that we “may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (vs. 11).
The tense of the verb “put on” denotes urgent and decisive action.
When we have already engaged the enemy, it will be too late to arm ourselves.
“To stand” means, in this context,
not only to stand ready to fight, but to hold one’s ground.
The “wiles of the devil” are his schemes, the many and subtle ways by which he assails God’s people.
We face an opponent that will use every trick in the book to prevent us from moving forward in serving God.
He cant steal your salvation but he can steal your testimony and your joy.
Paul through divine inspiration as is going to lay out for us over these next few verses that will be much needed equipment for our battle. It is up to us whether we have faith that God has given us the power to use the equipment.
Conclusion/Application
Conclusion/Application
When you were born again, God supplied you with the strength to live in this sin cursed world.
He also has put His power in you through the Holy Spirit, but God di not stop there, He has given you and I the tools we need to stand and fight against sin and the devil.
When you dont think you can stand another day in this life, just remember He’s got you in His bossem and is carrying you through this fight.
Now if you have never been born again, you are not fighting against the devil, you are fighting against God and you will lose.
Why not throw in the towel and come to an old fashion alter right now and be born again.
Why not come now and be enlisted into the Lord’s Army
Child of God, it is not time to give in or give up, if anything its time to dig in and remember, its His mighty power that gives us the strength to fight another day. We are enlisted in the Lord’s Army, lets get suited up and go to war!