Ephesians: In The Lord's Army (2)
Notes
Transcript
The Battle
The Battle
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. 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.
In military strategy, it is fatal to underestimate the strength of the enemy. To shrug off an enemy as a pushover when he is armed, organized, experienced, and dangerous, is to invite defeat.
Before any commander sends his troops into battle, he has gathered as much intel into who it is he will be fighting.
We are in a Battle, somedays its worse than others, but regardless we are in one.
If we are going to succeed and win this battle, we must have a clear understanding of who or what it is we are fighting.
There are way to many believers that disregard the reality and power of the enemy.
So the first thing we need to look at is
The Adversaries in the Battle
The Adversaries in the Battle
None of this is the least bit novel to a person well acquainted with the scriptures.
Turn to the earliest pages of the Old Testament, to the prophets, the four Gospels, the Epistles, or the book of Revelation— and we are reminded of Satans existence and we are warned of his activities.
This is what Paul is doing in Ephesians.
He is describing the Christian’s warfare in this world
he is showing that it is not merely a struggle against flesh and blood.
It is a struggle against the devil and those spiritual powers that stand behind the enemies we see.
Paul writes, Eph.6:11-12
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 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.
This is Not an Ordinary Adversary
This is Not an Ordinary Adversary
“we wrestle not against flesh and blood.”
Our enemies are not people. We must see beyond people.
Satan may use people to persecute us, lie to us, cheat us, hurt us, or even kill us.
But our real enemy lurks in the shadows of the unseen world, moving people as pawns on the chessboard of time.
As long as we see people as enemies and wrestle against them, we will spend our strength in vain.
Certainly we see wicked people, hear the evil things they say, and feel the hurts they inflict on us.
People are involved, but they are not the real problem.
This is not an ordinary battle. We are in a greater battle than the one we can see.
This is an Occult Adversary
This is an Occult Adversary
Exploring Ephesians & Philippians: An Expository Commentary
We Battle Against Satan’s Crowned Dignities
We Battle Against Satan’s Crowned Dignities
(6:12b)
“Against principalities.”
Paul listed four distinct Satanic orders against whom we wrestle in our spiritual warfare: principalities, powers, the rulers of this world’s darkness, and wicked spirits in high places.
Hosts of spirit beings reside in the unseen world.
We cannot see them unless they choose to be seen.
In the beginning they were all good and glorious.
They came from God’s hand, took their place around God’s throne, and sang His praises.
There were ranks upon ranks of angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim.
At the head of them all—the highest of all created intelligences, the supreme creature in the ranks of the angel throng—was Lucifer, son of the morning, the anointed cherub.
When Lucifer fell, the heavenly hosts divided. Many sons of light fell with Lucifer and were also cast out of Heaven.
Satan is now their lord.
He is given many impressive titles in the Bible, for although he is a fallen angle, he is still powerful.
Satan is called the
god of this world,
the prince of this world,
and the prince of the power of the air.
It was he who deceived Eve and used her to bring about Adam’s downfall.
Satan was thus able to seize the kingdom of this world to ruin it and to rule it in defiance of the living God.
We know through the description of certain angles in scripture that a hierarchy exists.
(Ex. Micheal and Gaberial )
There are also ranks in Satan’s spirit realm.
At the head of his countless minions are the principalities—princes who share with Satan the power that he wields over other fallen angels, over evil spirits, and over this world.
The word Paul used to describe these beings is archē, which literally means “beginning” and can be translated “chief ruler” or “magistrate.”
So principalities are high-ranking, governing authorities who are under Satan’s control.
We learn from Daniel 10 that Satan places spirit princes over various kingdoms of men on earth.
We read of “the prince of Grecia”
and also of “the prince of Persia.”
The prince of Persia alone was powerful enough to hinder the herald angel and keep him from fulfilling his commission for three weeks.
Such crowned dignities of Satan wield enormous power, but they are defeated foes for the Christian.
We wrestle against them in prayer and Christian service.
They strongly resent any challenge to their terrible hold on the kingdoms of men.
(b) We Battle against Satan’s Conquering Deputies
(b) We Battle against Satan’s Conquering Deputies
(6:12c)“Against powers.”
The Greek word translated “powers” is exousia.
It is the usual word for delegated authority, for the liberty and right to exert power.
Satan is powerful, diabolically clever, and tireless, but he is not God.
When we talk about the devil being great and powerful we must be careful not to overstate the case.
Because he is a spiritual rather than a material being, many people are inclined to think of Satan as more or less the equal of God.
It is true that he is a counterpart to the greatest of the unfallen angels: Michael or Gabriel.
But he is not a spiritual counterpart to God.
God is God.
Every other being has been created by God and is therefore limited for the simple reason that he or she has been created.
God is omnipotent; that is, he is all-powerful.
God is omnipotent; that is, he is all-powerful.
The devil is not.
God can do anything he wishes to do.
The devil, like the rest of us, can do only what God permits him to do.
This is God’s universe, not the devil’s. Not even hell is the devil’s. God has created hell as the place where he will one day confine Satan and his followers.
God is omnipresent; that is, God is everywhere at once.
God is omnipresent; that is, God is everywhere at once.
David said, (Ps. 139:7–10
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, And thy right hand shall hold me.
This cannot be said of Satan.
Satan can only be in one place at one time.
Consequently, he must either tempt one person in one place at one time, or he must extend his influence through one of the other spiritual beings that fell with him.
The result is that, although the devil’s influence is widespread, it is probably the case that neither you nor anyone you know has ever been tempted by the devil directly.
In fact, in all the Bible we know of only six individuals who were tempted by Satan himself: Eve (but not Adam), Job, Jesus Christ, Judas, Peter, and Ananias (but not his wife Sapphira).
No doubt there have been many others, but these are the only ones the Bible tells us of specifically.
God is omniscient; that is, he knows everything.
God is omniscient; that is, he knows everything.
This is not true of Satan.
Satan does not know everything.
True, he knows a great deal, and he is undoubtedly a shrewd guesser.
But the ways of God must constantly surprise him, and he certainly has no more certainty about what is going to happen in the future than we have.
He is a created being and has none of the attributes of deity.
He is full of knowledge and cunning, but he is not omniscient.
He does not know everything and he makes mistakes.
One mistake was to attack Adam and Eve.
His biggest mistake was to organize and motivate the crucifixion of Christ.
Christ’s resurrection is a crowning example of Satan’s power being broken.
So how does satan control a ruler in Europe and government in the US at the same time?
He seeks to compensate for his lack of omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence by efficiently organizing the countless clever beings who share power with him in the spirit world.
They wield authority delegated to them by Satan.
They gather information,
influence events,
implement Satan’s schemes,
inflict woe and bondage on the human race,
and blind men to the gospel
Why can we not halt the drug trade that is destroying countless lives and damning souls?
Why has it been so hard to pass stiff laws against drunk driving?
Why has sodomy become acceptable?
Why is pornography such big business?
Why can we not stamp out child abuse and the legalized slaughter of the unborn in abortion clinics?
Why did the horrors of the Nazi prison camps, and the Spanish Inquisition take place?
Why can we not stop war or ban the deployment of apocalyptic weapons?
The Bible makes the answer clear: the human race is being manipulated by vast numbers of evil spirits who have great power.
They encourage lust, greed, hate, fear, selfishness, and pride.
These things that are already in us, Satans demons encourage
People talk about making contact with extraterrestrial beings and speculate as to whether or not intelligent life exists elsewhere.
But the human race has already been invaded from outer space and is held in bondage by awesome powers.
People in general do not know that; they refuse to believe it when told; and they do not realize they have no hope apart from the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
(c) We Battle Against Satan’s Capable Deceivers
(c) We Battle Against Satan’s Capable Deceivers
(6:12d)“Against the rulers of the darkness of this world.”
The Greek word kosmokratōr only occurs here in Scripture and means “world rulers.”
The beings that the Holy Spirit is exposing in this phrase are “the world rulers of this darkness.”
Satan’s master plan for holding the world in subjection can be summed up in a single word: deception.
He keeps people in a state of spiritual, philosophical, religious, political, social, and personal blindness.
He has invented every false religion and is behind every false philosophy, every false ideology, and every false theory.
He keeps people in a state of darkness, and he has a legion of evil spirits whose supreme task is to fasten false ideologies like iron shackles on the souls of men.
Just think about it,
All the outrageous beliefs that otherwise intelligent people hold in the name of religion.
Think of the millions of people who are enslaved in various forms of idolatry.
Think of the countless cults that caricature the gospel.
Think of the deceptive philosophies such as communism, evolution, and humanism, which control multitudes of people.
Where do all these false ideologies come from?
Why are they so attractive?
How can they recruit people and hold them in fanatical devotion?
How can they multiply their adherents?
Think of the fanaticism of Islam, the tireless zeal of the Mormons, the world goals the communists pursued, and the spread of soul-destroying, family-destroying, and society-destroying humanism.
Behind all these ideologies is more than the persuasive power of clever leaders.
Behind them all are Satan’s capable deceivers—the rulers of this world’s darkness.
Their supreme task is to blind people to the gospel.
Satan is the unsuspected god of this world. He is not afraid of us, but he is desperately afraid of the Holy Spirit.
That is why we can only wage our warfare “in the power of his might” (Ephesians 6:10).
(d) We Battle Against Satan’s Countless Demons
(d) We Battle Against Satan’s Countless Demons
(6:12e)“Against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
We fight against spiritual hosts of wickedness, against wicked spirits in the heavenlies.
The unseen world is swarming with demons.
One poor man in Jesus’ day was in bondage to a legion of them (some six thousand men comprised a Roman legion) and was beyond all human help (Mark 5:1–17).
When Jesus came to earth there was an extraordinary outburst of demonic activity. There will be another outburst when the antichrist reigns. (That outburst of demon activity seems to have already begun.)
Satan has countless hordes of demons at his disposal.
The word Paul used to describe these demonic hordes is ponēria, translated “wickedness” in the King James version of Ephesians 6:12.
The decadence and depravity of our age are demon-inspired.
Demons seem to be obsessed with holding people enslaved to their senses—to sexual and sensual sins.
Perversion, pornography, and permissiveness are encouraged, promoted, and aided by evil spirits whose goal it is to befoul and destroy the human race.
We are engaged in a battle with the occult.
The moment we try to pray or attempt to do anything for God, these unseen but potent and organized hordes of Satan oppose us.
Even with us knowing that Satan is limited to what he can do, he is still a powerful enemy.
It is not hard to demonstrate this.
Reflect on the condition of Adam and Eve before the Fall.
They were far more intelligent and much wiser than we can ever hope to be.
They were more aware of spiritual issues than we are.
They were closer to God.
Indeed, there was nothing to separate them from God at all for they had not yet sinned.
Yet they fell.
And what is even more striking, the devil seems to have had very little trouble bringing their defection about.
We are much more foolish than our first parents.
We are spiritually insensitive.
We are often far from God.
And, as to the other side, the devil is undoubtedly a much better informed and wiser devil now than he was then.
So although Satan is not a spiritual counterpart to God—he is not omnipotent, omnipresent, or omniscient—he is nevertheless a very formidable foe, and a Christian is foolish if he thinks Satan can be resisted by human strength alone.
That is why Paul repeats himself somewhat here in verse 13.
Paul is going to layout for us now what our Attitude should be when it comes to Battle.
The Attitude for Battle
The Attitude for Battle
Like we saw last week, it is God’s armor and God’s strength, but we are commanded to take it up and put it on.
If a soldier is going into battle, there is a certain attitude he must have if he wants any chance of returning from the battle.
We Must Have an Attitude of Readiness
We Must Have an Attitude of Readiness
Paul using the words “Take unto you” gives the idea that we are to be ready at all times.
If thou faint in the day of adversity, Thy strength is small.
In Proverbs 1:20–33, wisdom mocks the guy who waited until calamity hit to seek her.
Here Paul is urging the reader to be ready, dont wait until you need it. If you wait until Satan attacks, it will be to late.
It is not a matter of if satan will attack
Its when satan will attack.
Satan does not play fair, he does not fight like the brits in the revolution, he fights like the Vieit cong.
Its gorillia warfare and we need to be ready at all times.
We Must Have an Attitude of Resistance
We Must Have an Attitude of Resistance
When we have an attitude of readiness, Paul says then we will have an attitude of resistance.
“that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day.”
You do not need to learn any formulas or complicated steps to victory over the devil (as some books promote).
The Bible is quite simple
(James 4:7
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Or (1 Pet. 5:8–9a
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
As Jesus showed us when He was tempted by Satan, one of the most effective ways to resist is to know and recite Scripture.
And so one way to prepare yourself for battle in the evil day is to saturate your mind with God’s Word, reading it over and over and memorizing key verses to equip you for victory.
We Must Have an Attitude of Resolve
We Must Have an Attitude of Resolve
“and having done all to stand”
By using these words Paul is telling us that we not only need an attitude of readiness and resistance, we need an attitude of resolve.
Dont give up, dont give in. Fight to your last breath. Have grit and courage.
You have come to far just to lay down now.
Thank about Mom’s and Dad’s, your kids are counting on you to finish strong
Kids, teens, if you are going to succeed in this Christian life, you need to have an attitude of resolve.
Satan will use your peers to decieve you have some resolve now that you will say No again tomorrow
Husband, Satan will use that co-worker to destroy your marriage, have resolve to say no again tomorrow
Wives, Satan will use your husbands laziness to make you angry and start a conflict in the home. Have resolve to love him again in spite of himself.
Satan is a formidable foe, he is very active in the world today. We must determine today that we will have an attitude of readiness, resistance and resolve.
Conclusion
Conclusion
When the apostle Paul got to the end of his life, in spite of all of his achievements, he summed it up by saying, (2 Tim. 4:7
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
He fought, he prevailed, and he stood firm to the end.
Fighting in hand-to-hand combat against these hideous forces of darkness may not be your idea of a good time! But it is an inescapable part of the Christian life. Because this powerful, wicked enemy seeks to destroy us, we must fight by taking up God’s full armor so that we can resist and stand firm in the evil day.
Sinner friend, havent you let Satan deter you from coming forward long enough?
Come now and give satan a blow to the head by accepting Christ as your savior
Believer, wont you come now and thank God for keeping you in the fight, but also ask God to strenghthen you as you leave out of here