1. "I imagine Christmas is a dangerous time for the devil. To have in so many parts of the world the story of God's gift of Jesus Christ so publicly recounted and remembered and sung about and memorialized must be nerve-wracking for him. Maybe that's why he does so much to distract us."

2. "We need spiritual strength to face spiritual opposition with spiritual weapons."

3. "Friend, Satan thrives on being underestimated and laughed at. Here's a simple rule of thumb for you: Any time you're about to undertake any questionable behavior that would expose you to temptation to sin, assume that everything will go as badly as it possibly could."

4. "If you've analyzed your Christian life as being fundamentally one of identifying and overcoming merely human obstacles, you have not gotten the full picture yet of what's going on in the Christian life."

5. "Friends, even that phrase Paul uses, deceitful desires—does that sound like an oxymoron to you? Is it the very nature of desires to tell us the truth? Are they the oracles of reality? If we think our desires tell us the truth about ourselves, the deepest, most profound truth, then we've completely set aside the Bible's witness to the human condition."

6. "Following Him through each period of your life in every set of circumstances is what maturity means for you. It's not that you read three more chapters of the Bible than you did this time last month, or witnessed four more people, or gave a thousand more dollars."

7. "If you think that someone doesn't need your prayers, that just shows how little you know that person."

8. "When you stop praying about your evangelism, you will stop doing evangelism. We only speak as we ought with God's own help."

9. "Whatever change you may find yourself in today, that doesn't mean that Satan's found a way to undo you. He simply wants you to think that he has. Trust God for His providence, even when it's frowning, and know that it hides a smiling face."

10. "Do you notice the last word in the book—incorruptible? However important are our actions in the spiritual fight we're engaged in, underneath it all is His strength."

Observation Questions

1. According to Ephesians 6:10, where does Paul say believers should find their strength, and what specific phrase does he use to describe this strength?

2. In Ephesians 6:12, how does Paul describe the nature of the Christian's opponents? List the four terms he uses to characterize these spiritual forces.

3. What specific pieces of armor does Paul mention in Ephesians 6:14-17, and what spiritual reality does each piece represent?

4. According to Ephesians 6:18, what four "alls" does Paul use to describe the comprehensive nature of prayer that believers should practice?

5. In Ephesians 6:19-20, what specific requests does Paul make for himself, and how does he describe his current situation using a striking phrase?

6. What does Paul pray for the Ephesian believers in his closing benediction (Ephesians 6:23-24), and what final word does he use to describe the love that should characterize those who love Christ?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does Paul emphasize that our struggle is "not against flesh and blood" (v. 12)? How might viewing our problems as merely human obstacles cause us to miss what is really happening in the Christian life?

2. Paul repeats the command to "put on the whole armor of God" in both verse 11 and verse 13. Why is it significant that he calls for the "whole" armor rather than just select pieces, and what does this suggest about how the various spiritual provisions work together?

3. How does the phrase "ambassador in chains" (v. 20) capture the tension Christians experience between their high calling and their present circumstances? What does Paul's example teach about faithfulness amid suffering?

4. Paul describes the current age as "the evil day" (v. 13) and speaks of "cosmic powers over this present darkness" (v. 12). How does this view of the present age shape our understanding of what it means to "stand firm" as Christians?

5. The sermon emphasized that the final word of Ephesians is "incorruptible" or "undying." How does this word connect to the larger message of Ephesians about God's eternal purposes, and why is this an appropriate conclusion to a passage about spiritual warfare?

Application Questions

1. The sermon noted that we often analyze our Christian struggles as "merely human problems" without recognizing the spiritual dimension. Think of a specific challenge you are currently facing—how might recognizing the spiritual nature of this struggle change how you approach it this week?

2. Paul asked the Ephesians to pray specifically for his boldness in proclaiming the gospel. Who is someone in your life engaged in gospel ministry that you could commit to praying for this week, and what specific requests might you bring before God on their behalf?

3. The sermon mentioned that "deceitful desires" contradict our culture's view that our desires reveal the deepest truth about ourselves. In what area of your life are you most tempted to trust your desires rather than God's Word, and what practical step can you take to bring that area under the authority of Scripture?

4. Paul sent Tychicus to inform the Ephesians so they could pray more effectively. How well do you know the specific needs and circumstances of others in your church community? What is one way you could become better informed so that your prayers for fellow believers become more specific and meaningful?

5. The sermon described maturity as "following the Lord through each unique set of circumstances" rather than simply doing more religious activities. What difficult circumstance are you currently navigating, and how can you practice "standing firm" in faith rather than seeking escape or relying solely on your own resources?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Romans 8:31-39 — This passage answers the "who" questions about opposition and assures believers that nothing can separate them from God's love in Christ, reinforcing the sermon's theme of ultimate victory despite present spiritual warfare.

2. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 — Paul describes the nature of spiritual warfare and the weapons believers use, providing a parallel passage that emphasizes the supernatural nature of our battle and our divinely powerful weapons.

3. 1 Peter 5:6-11 — Peter's exhortation to resist the devil who prowls like a roaring lion complements Paul's teaching on spiritual opposition and the need for alertness and firm faith.

4. Matthew 4:1-11 — This account of Jesus' temptation demonstrates Christ using the "sword of the Spirit" (the Word of God) against Satan's attacks, modeling the armor Paul commends to believers.

5. Colossians 1:9-14 — Paul's prayer for the Colossians echoes themes from Ephesians about being strengthened with God's power, rescued from darkness, and transferred into the kingdom of Christ.

Sermon Main Topics

I. The Gospel as God's Gracious Gift to Those in Darkness

II. We Need Spiritual Strength (Ephesians 6:10)

III. We Face Spiritual Opposition (Ephesians 6:11-13)

IV. We Must Use Spiritual Weapons (Ephesians 6:14-24)

V. Standing Firm in God's Eternal Purpose Despite Present Circumstances

Detailed Sermon Outline

Gifts presume a need or desire that that need or desire is known by others, and that it can and will be met by them.

Thus, Santa has lists of boys and girls, and boys and girls have lists of toys or presents desired, and Santa's mail is ably handled by deputized parents around the globe. From Dickens' Christmas Carol to It's a Wonderful Life, the best Christmas stories are stories of needs known and met. Sometimes extraordinarily. In that sense, the gospel, the original Christmas story, is itself amazing. And that's just what the New Testament letter of Ephesians that we've been studying this year is all about, God's gracious gift of His Son sent to people in darkness who needed light and life.

We're just completing our year in Ephesians and what we found again and again is that we see certain things with our own eyes and we think that because what we see is real that that is all there is. And so we get distracted from what God is really doing.

I imagine Christmas is a dangerous time for the devil.

To have in so many parts of the world the story of God's gift of Jesus Christ so publicly recounted and remembered and sung about and memorialized must be nerve-wracking for him. Maybe that's why he does so much to distract us. Maybe if we look at the artistry of the various renditions of the manger scene in this wooden creche set or that porcelain one, we'll forget the real event. Maybe we can get them so focused on getting a tree and decorating it that there'll be barely any time to consider what the celebrations are all about. Even gift giving can cause the eyes to drop to anxious thoughts of who remembered me?

What did they get me? What do I need to get them? All so much mental attention acting to completely clutter up our thoughts.

And leave little of any space for considering the great gift that it's all supposed to be about, what God has given to us in Christ.

But such natural distractions is our normal state, isn't it? We look at our own lives, we look at our problems and we come up with our own solutions. We think we need our own personal strength of body and mind, our resources.

We think our problems are people who are opposing us or maybe some physical limitation in ourselves and consequently we think that the answers we need are found in doctors or psychiatrists or lawyers or financial planners or politicians. The truth, says Paul, is that God is about still greater matters. It's not that our bodies and people and politicians don't matter. In fact, they matter more than we even naturally understand, but they matter as part of a larger, more important story.

So if we're going to get the benefits of this letter of Ephesians for our lives, we need to realize that the strength we need, the opposition we face, and the weapons we must use are more than we have in ourselves. They are actually super natural. Let's see this as we look at our passage. Found in the Bible's provided on page 979, Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 to 24. If you don't have a Bible you can read, feel free and take that Bible home with you as a gift from our church to you for this Christmas season.

Keep it, read it. Page 979, Ephesians 6, verses 10 to 24. Let me read it to you now.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, But against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication, to that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints and also for me that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.

For which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will tell you everything. I've sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts. Peace be to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ.

With love incorruptible. Friends, our thesis sentence is this: We need spiritual strength to face spiritual opposition with spiritual weapons.

We need spiritual strength to face spiritual opposition with spiritual weapons. I pray that as we study this portion of God's Word this morning, it will strengthen you and protect you and arm you for the fight this very day.

After reviewing God's grace in the first half of this letter, Paul turned in chapter 4 verse 1 to exhort these Christians, Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Throughout the second half of this year, as we came back into our building, we've been considering, How can I walk in this manner worthy? Chapter 4, verse 1, or In love, chapter 5, verse 2, carefully, chapter 5, verse 15. And today, in this final section, Paul presses this question home with an additional factor, a factor that's been present somewhat throughout the letter. But Paul makes it crystal clear here at the end, How can I walk in a manner worthy of my calling when I face opposition?

In our last few studies, Paul has kind of introduced this topic as he considered the trials of those Christians under authority that may not have been so good. Wives and children and bond servants. And to think about each one of these situations more thoroughly, you can go listen to those sermons. On the Katvab website and hear us as we considered each one of those particular situations in this last month. But now Paul, as it were, pulls back the curtain to show what's really going on spiritually in each one of these cases of spiritual opposition and any other situations like that they might face.

And what Paul says very clearly here in verse 10 is that we need spiritual strength. And this is My first point, we need spiritual strength. You see that final phrase there in verse 10? In the strength of His might. Finally, be strong in the Lord, in the strength of His might.

The first phrase shows Paul summing up that finally it's kind of like my we should conclude. And Paul's conclusion is that we will need strength for the kind of walking we're being called to do here. Walking in love as children of light. Needing to walk carefully. So if Christian wives are to deal with non-Christian husbands, if Christian children are to deal with non-Christian parents, Christian bond servants with a non-Christian master, if we in the daily walks that God calls us to be in encounter opposition, we will need to be strong.

And note the strength that Paul says that we need. He doesn't tell them to increase their own strength, work out more. No, He tells them to be strong in God's power. His is the might we need. If we are to live the way we should, carefully and filled with the Spirit, we will need God's power.

It's His might.

Perhaps you're struggling with some great sin in your own life. Or in your own family.

The holidays have a way of bringing them into sharp relief and focus.

Friend, the answer won't come through mere grit and determination.

Finding and marshaling your own resources. God's Word is a treasury of instruction. Set your mind on it. Study it and come to understand it. Meditate on its truth.

Let its certainties become yours. Let its confidence become your confidence. Remember what Paul said in Colossians 1, For this I toil, struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works within me. That's what we long and pray for here. Be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might.

Second point. Be strong in the Lord to face spiritual opposition. That's what we see in verses 11 to 13.

We see in verse 11 we face the schemes of the devil. We're not facing mere flesh and blood, he says in verse 12, but rather rulers and authorities, cosmic powers, spiritual forces of evil. In fact, these forces are so dominant in our age that Paul here in verse 13 calls the very day itself in which we live evil. Back in chapter 2, Paul had reminded these Christians that they themselves were once dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world. Paul could refer to the whole world as following a course of spiritual death.

As he kept describing it in chapter 2, verse 2, he said, Following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. So when Paul here refers to the day as evil, he's really repeating a theme that he's treated throughout the letter. But let's look at these verses 11 to 13 a little more closely. Verse 11 begins with a basic command of 11 to 13 right there at the beginning, Put on the whole armor of God.

Put on God's armor, get dressed for battle, be prepared. Don't skip the supplies that he has given for you. This combat that you're being called into is going to require resources above what you have. To pick up an earlier image Paul was using in chapter 2, this new house that God is building among us requires us to understand what his will is. We can't be foolish.

We need to know what's right, even if it's the most basic and simple wisdom like we find here, like children obeying their parents. The full panoply of God's provision for us is to be on display in the living warfare of the spiritual battalions of the local church. Why put on the whole armor of God? Look at verse 11, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. This is the purpose.

Of our donning all this spiritual gear that he mentions on down in verses 14 to 17, so that we can face the devil himself and all his wily schemes and not be gotten the better of by him. We neglect this armor to our own peril. We have an adversary and he plots and plans against us. He is wily and dangerous. Keep that in mind.

1 Peter 5:8, you, adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.

Friend, Satan thrives on being underestimated and laughed at. Here's a simple rule of thumb for you. Any time you're about to undertake any questionable behavior that would expose you to temptation to sin, Assume that everything will go as badly as it possibly could.

That will help you take a more sober assessment of that action that holds out elusive peace or joy to you.

See if that acts like cold water to keep your soul from sinking into a sinful delirium. Our worthy walking is, in one sense, our being able to understand and to stand against this devious foe. Walking like God wants us to walk involves standing.

And in this fallen world, there's no way for us to get out of the fact that some of our standing is going to be standing against. Look at verse 12. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, Paul is really restating here.

What he's just said, he's emphasizing that this conflict, this fight, this battle that we're involved in is not merely against a human foe, against flesh and blood, he says. Friends, if you've analyzed your Christian life as being fundamentally one of identifying and overcoming merely human obstacles, you have not gotten the full picture yet of what's going on in the Christian life. If you think that your struggle with drunkenness or your difficulties with doubt or honoring your parents, or your shyness to share the gospel. Friend, if you've thought that all of these things were merely human problems, you have not appreciated the full scale of conflict that you're involved in. Look at how Paul describes it here in verse 12: But against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

We tend to think of our obstacles and difficulties as impersonal challenges, structures, or circumstances. But Paul always seems to see a reality beyond that reality that we see with our eyes. Do you remember the series of questions Paul asked in Romans 8 about the opposition Christians face? He asked a series of questions. Who can be against us?

Who shall bring any charge? Who is to condemn? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Friends, we might have been tempted to mention inanimate objects or other circumstances to ask what in all of these cases? What can be against us?

What shall bring any charge? What is to condemn? What shall separate us from the love of Christ? But not Paul. Who, he says, he's aware we have a sentient, knowing foe.

Very much like what Paul writes up here in verse 12. In the rest of verse 12 Paul lists these four ways to describe the same beings, our real opponents. They're not four categories of our various opponents, but rather are four descriptions of the same beings. Every word reinforces their status and ability, rulers, authorities, powers, forces.

These are not distinguished from each other. They're not different categories. Their power is presented as real and significant, cosmic. Their nature is spiritual. Their nature is supernatural in the heavenly places.

They are forces, he says here, for evil. Their effect is darkness in the sense of walking outside of the light of God's Word and way, this darkness. Is what characterizes this present age. And darkness had characterized them too. Remember what Paul said up in chapter 5, verse 8, For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.

What a series of foes.

What a terrifying list. Of those who are our adversaries. So is this an unwinnable war with so many opponents, so terrible even to list? To use image from Tolkien, is this a kind of hobbit versus orc situation?

It would be if it were merely left to us. But that's why Paul is at pains to make clear here at the end of this letter that if they're going to walk as children of light in this dark age, they have to do as Paul exhorts here in verse 13, therefore take up the whole armor of God. Paul repeats really what he said in verse 11, only now it follows his description of our fierce adversaries. He's shown them why we should put on, take up the whole armor of God. We should fully prepare ourselves and why?

He summarizes it here in the middle of verse 13, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. In these dark days, evil, our verse calls them today, our standing will involve us in withstanding. Realism about our day goes along with realism about our duty. If everything is okay, then there's really nothing we need to withstand, is there? But on the other hand, if the day is in fact characterized by evil, then if we would walk as God's own children, we must do some withstanding as part of our walking.

So what about your own life? Look back over the last few weeks. How have you been feeling, maybe even these last few days? What situations have you been viewing merely from a human carnal perspective, but now looking back, you begin to see maybe much more was involved than I had appreciated. Maybe what looked at the time as sort of merely human decisions had some serious spiritual implications.

Standing against the evil one may sound like something out of a Marvel movie, but it's much more practical and everyday than that. It's like what Paul has been talking about throughout this book. It's being forgetful of the hope that we have in Christ. It's being tempted and even callous about alienating fellow Christians from you over unimportant matters. It's leaving your Bible unread.

It's leaving what you've read unconsidered. It's facing the temptation to worship other gods, to leave on your old self, which Paul said in chapter 4 verse 22, belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires. Friends, even that phrase Paul uses, deceitful desires, does that sound like an oxymoron to you? Is it the very nature of desires to tell us the truth? Are they the oracles of reality?

That's the way it's treated today in our culture. But friends, the Bible is a very severe critic of our current culture in this aspect. If we think our desires tell us the truth about ourselves, the deepest, most profound truth, then we've completely set aside the Bible's witness to the human condition, to what happened in Adam and Eve. What it means to say that we are fallen, that we are sinful, that we have been separated from God by our own sins. Friends, facing and unmasking these temptations is what it means to withstand in a day when desires are viewed as the ultimate standard of what we should regard as good and right.

This book is full of basic instruction about life, the basic instructions that are our game plans in withstanding all that is evil. And in it all, Paul makes so clear here at the end that this will inevitably involve standing against that which is wrong. Pray for us as a church to be clear that we as Christians act not in a time of neutrality, but that we teach clearly that we have a spiritual enemy and that we work to equip each other in the battle to withstand him.

If you're not a Christian, this is one of the most basic things you must come to understand if you would understand what the Bible teaches. As one writer has put it, the Christian optimism is based on the fact that we do not fit into the world. I tried to be happy by telling myself that man is an animal like any other that sought its meat from God. But now I was really happy for I'd learned that man is a monstrosity. I had been right in feeling all things odd, for I myself was at once worse and better than all things.

The pleasure I had before was prosaic, for it dwelt on the naturalness of everything. The Christian pleasure was poetic, for it dwelt on the unnaturalness of everything in the light of the supernatural. The modern philosopher had told me again and again that I was in the right place, and I had still felt depressed, even in acquiescence. But I had heard that I was in the wrong place and my soul sang for joy like a bird in spring.

Friend, if you can't find joy in the fact that everything, including you, is off, then that means that this conflict against the devil is not your primary conflict right now. Rather, you are at war with God. You are in open rebellion against Him. And so at this point, you need to realize that He is being patient with you, even offering you terms of forgiveness if you'll come to faith in Him and what He's done for you in Christ. And full surrender to Him.

God has shown His great love to us by sending His only Son to be an offering for all of us who would ever turn and trust in Him. That's the great gift that we Christians celebrate, God giving at Christmas. That's the gift that I pray you will come to understand this Christmas. If you want to know more about what it would mean for you to have forgiveness in this new life in Christ. Talk to me or any of the other pastors at the doors on the way out.

Paul summarizes our duty here in this last phrase of verse 13, and having done all, to stand firm.

Brothers and sisters, as long as we're in this world, this life, even when every task has been completed and all has been done, then we must continue to to stand firm. And sometimes in places, brothers and sisters, just standing firm and staying put is faithfulness and even progress the way forward. When I was younger, I used to think of maturing in Christ as more a matter of doing more of this kind of obedience than I did last year, more of that kind of obedience than last year. But as I've aged, I think I've come to see that it's not quite as quantifiable as that. It's more and more clear to me that every day that God in His sovereignty gives to us is a unique set of circumstances that He intends us to follow Him through.

Following Him through each period of your life in every set of circumstances. Is what maturity means for you. It's not that you read three more chapters of the Bible than you did this time last month, or witnessed four more people, or gave a thousand more dollars. All of those things can be signs of maturity, but basically if you can continue to follow the Lord through a family illness, through a setback at work, through challenges you've come to understand about yourself, or I could go on and on and on. If you can continue to follow the Lord through these challenging circumstances, then you begin to see what it means to mature in Christ.

This daily battle is for our good, and it is for God's glory. It's not to determine the winner. There's no doubt about who the winner is. Paul said back in chapter 1 verse 21, that Christ is far above all rule and authority and power and dominion.

Well, this is something of the spiritual opposition that we face. It's to act out that victory that brings us to the last verses of Ephesians. We need spiritual strength to face spiritual opposition with spiritual weapons. This is point three. Beginning in verse 14, Paul describes in a little more of what God's armor is that he's mentioned in verses 11 and 13.

If you just look down through those verses we read a few minutes ago, let's just review quickly, and then I'll walk through it more slowly. He lays out here all these spiritual weapons. These are how we will withstand such spiritual opposition. Verse 14, with the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness. Verse 15, the shoes of the readiness of the gospel of peace.

Verse 16, the shield of faith. Verse 17, the helmet of salvation and spirit sword, Scripture. And then I think verses 18 to 24, the rest of it, is another one of those weapons, though he drops the military metaphor. It's prayer. Verse 18, it's comprehensive prayer, at all times, with all power, with all perseverance for all the saints.

And then from 19 on to the end, verse 24, it's really specific prayer.

For Paul in his preaching, for his boldness, informed by Tychicus, for the love and peace of the brothers, for love undying.

So assuming they've heard and heeded Paul's call to put on the whole armor of God from up in verses 11 and 13, then Paul urges them here in verse 14, Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, commanding them to stand their ground. Paul spends several verses working through different aspects of following Christ, using the image of equipping a soldier for battle. And as with the opponents of various names in verse 12, so here the variety of equipment is meant to enhance the picture of conflict and preparation for it. Not that this particular weapon is used against that particular situation. That's not the point of this list.

There's never a good time to go to battle without your shield or even without your belt. And to have righteousness means to be saved. So there's no such thing as... Paul is not suggesting that there are truth-belted Christians without the breastplate of righteousness or well-shod Christians ready with the gospel who lack the shield of faith. No, each part of this equipment is something that every Christian desires, and has.

So truth is a fundamental part of our preparation for contending with the devil. Lose the truth and we'll certainly get tripped up by the evil one. Without it, we fall apart. Or we can go on, verse 14, Having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Righteousness is a true integrity where things are being done as God says they should be done, as they were made to be done.

Righteousness is ours by justification. And is becoming ours as well progressively in our sanctification. Paul had said in chapter 5, verse 9, that the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. That's what should continue to characterize us as Christians. The gift of Christ's righteousness is our eternal protection and our daily righteousness protects us each day from sin.

Then we see in verse 15, and as shoes for your feet. Now we may not think of shoes as part of military equipment, but try marching barefoot, especially over rough terrain. It's been said that armies march on their belly and their boots. We think of the beautiful feet of the messenger with good news in Isaiah 52:7. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace.

In fact, if we keep reading here in verse 15, we read, Having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. So the Gospel of Peace prepares us and equips us to walk on the way. It's what shoes us to walk in His ways. I mean, friend, surely you've experienced places, a stony path, a blazing hot asphalt in the summer, where you have had to have shoes on to be able to stand. Connie and I were in the Outer Banks this summer, and at one point we were just walking on the beach and For some reason, my feet just got entirely burned by just walking on a piece of sand and beach that looked like every other piece of sand and beach.

And I just had blisters on the bottom of my feet for two weeks. It would have been good to have had shoes on or sandals at that point. Friends, that's just in a casual stroll on the beach. I mean, imagine when you're in conflict, when you're being threatened. That's the image Paul uses here.

Small examples of how apt Paul's choice of illustrations here shoes to provide the disciples, the followers of Jesus, with a tool that's really basic to following Christ. Verse 16 we read, In all circumstances take up the shield of faith. The very specific word here is used of a Roman shield that is four foot by two and a half feet, another basic part of surviving and pressing forward amidst a hail of opposing blows and strikes and arrows, as Paul goes on to write here, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. These shields were literally soaked in water and treated specially to be able to extinguish fiery arrows. And the image here reflects the fact that we have a spiritual opponent and that this opposition is real and it is dangerous, and you will have no protection against his attacks.

If you do not have true faith in God, His Son, His Word, to trust Him is basic to being protected from the attacks of Satan. Faith in God's promises can protect us from all of Satan's attacks. Get to know His promises better in His Word, especially in those areas where you feel open to Satan's attack.

And verse 17, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. Paul fills out this description of the soldier with those most basic components of a helmet and a sword, the helmet representing salvation, the sword of the Spirit as he writes, which is the Word of God. If you stop and think about it, you recognize all of these images. This is the armor and one that you could say that we heard about from Steph's reading earlier in Matthew 4. This is the same kind of armor that Christ was using with Satan when He confronted him.

And so Paul commends it now to us. The Spirit wields God's Word. That's how we're saved and built up. That's how we're preserved and we make progress. These Ephesians became believers when Paul and others brought them God's Word.

Here in this church, in our public teaching and our private discipling, we try to help each other improve. In handling God's Word. In one sense, this church is just a great training camp to prepare us all to do spiritual battle, to equip us better, and to give us practice. In verse 18, Paul drops the military image, but he continues to describe how we can stand firm in Christ, praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. Friends, every time is a good time to pray.

Everything is a good thing to pray about. Praying in the Spirit means not praying with an unusual amount of confidence or enthusiasm, but rather praying in line with what the Spirit has revealed of God's will in God's Word. Romans 12:2, Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. That by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Back to verse 18, To that end, keep alert with all perseverance.

In order to pray, you have to keep going, you have to keep being alert. That kind of persevering awareness is what Paul is calling for here. And he goes on at the end of verse 18 filling it out as making supplication for all the saints. We observed back in our very first study in 1:1 that saints is another name for Christians. It means set-apart ones or holy ones.

And all Christians, all saints, make good people to pray for. If you think that someone doesn't need your prayers, that just shows how little you know that person.

Verse 19, and also for me. That words may be given to me. Paul particularly wanted prayers for himself. He wanted to be prayed for. He wanted to be prayed for specifically to be supplied with words to speak.

He was aware of his own reliance on God and his dependence on Him. He says here, in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, he particularly wanted boldness to proclaim the mystery of the gospel. Friends, even when we understand it, extraordinary as it may seem, isn't it true that we often cower before telling others this amazing good news that we have? And then Paul pens this striking self-portrait in just a phrase at the beginning of verse 20: For which I am an ambassador in chains. Paul himself knew of his own need for their prayers.

He was, as he puts it here, an ambassador in chains. And these are two images in tension with each other. One of honor, the other of dishonor. One of freedom, the other of bondage. One of power, the other of weakness.

One of ruling, the other being trapped. An ambassador in chains. And this, of course, captures something of the tensions that all of us experience. In this world as followers of the crucified and risen King. Nevertheless, Paul is determined to fulfill his ambassadorial duties.

Look at what Paul specifically wanted prayers for, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. I'm struck by the fact that here is Paul himself, an apostle, not understanding himself as above or beyond the need for God's help in being bold. Friend, when you stop praying about your evangelism, you will stop doing evangelism. We only speak as we ought with God's own help. Ask His help for yourself and for others as we share the good news.

Verse 21, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Paul wanted these believers to know what he was up to so they could pray better for him. He says, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts. Friends, that's exactly why we do our prayer meetings on Sunday nights as we do. That's why we're looking forward to hearing from Rob and Katie tonight about their work.

That's why we try to gather to share news about things we can pray for. Paul even goes to the point of sending this personal friend to fill them in so that they'll be prepared to pray. He realizes it's that important that they be informed. Their minds needed to be informed and their hearts needed to be encouraged. Brothers and sisters, come on Sunday evening.

Pray with us. Listen. Hear. Get your own heart warmed. To the work of God here and in other places.

And maybe as you're hearing these things even now, you're beginning to think of ways that others could pray for you. So maybe over lunch today, just a few minutes, maybe you share with others, your family or other friends you're seeing, how you could be prayed for. If even the apostle needs prayer, Surely you too could need the prayers of others.

Paul says in verse 23, Peace be to the brothers and love with faith. This is Paul's prayer. He's praying for the Ephesian Christians as he leaves them. From God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father had this plan and purpose.

We see back in chapter 1 and it's centered in the Lord Jesus Christ. So he says, Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ. With love incorruptible. Throughout this letter, grace has been prominent, and this is eventuated in a love from eternity past, which undying will be a love in eternity future.

Well, friends, this is something of how we are to stand firm. Some people may misunderstand this military imagery that Paul uses here and take it to infer that we are in spiritual conflict for only short pitched bouts. These are exceptional times that are normal times spiritually is a time of no conflict, just lolling about, napping or daydreaming. But friends, that's where Paul's metaphor here that he's used falls down. The battle that we're being called into as Christians is unending as long as we are in the flesh of this body until Christ is bodily returned.

Our call now is like Paul's. We really are ambassadors in a sense, not apostles like Paul, but we are those who proclaim and offer reconciliation to God and each other through the gospel. Ours is a high calling, though also as with Paul, this doesn't mean no suffering. There may be a post for us in a jail or prison or in the unemployment line. Or the loneliness of widowhood.

Whatever change you may find yourself in today, that doesn't mean that Satan's found a way to undo you. He simply wants you to think that he has. Trust God for His providence, even when it's frowning, and know that it hides a smiling face. Pray for those of us in leadership positions here in the church. God has allowed us to undergo various pressures these last months, that while they may feel like shackles that limit us, we trust they are God's appointment for His own purposes.

We pray God give us strength in every trying hour. So that's it, brothers and sisters at Capital Baptist Church, at the end of a unique year in our life together. Can there be any doubt that we, as Paul wrote here, need spiritual strength to face spiritual opposition with spiritual weapons, we should conclude. I've called this series God's New House. God's new house has been built of remarkable materials, people separated by all kinds of earthly divisions.

It's been built in a remarkable way by the plan of the Father, the gift of the Son. The regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. It's been built for a glorious reason, the praise of God's grace in all of this. It is this new house that we see displaying God's grace, and in it He displays something of His wisdom to all of creation. This is how God intends to be glorified in the church and in Christ as He dwells together with us forever.

The last time I preached on this portion of Ephesians was over 20 years ago. It was right here in this pulpit, and it was in fact three weeks before 9/11.

Of course, we couldn't have known that at the time when I was walking through this language about spiritual warfare and the weapons of God. But you know, as horrendous of the events of those days were, None of them, then or now, affects the hope we have in what God is doing in preparing us as His new eternal dwelling place, His new house. It doesn't affect it at all. Do you notice the last word in the book, incorruptible? Or as others have rendered it, uncorrupted?

Dying, even in this most vigorous passage about putting on the whole armor of God, that word incorruptible, undying lines up with the theme that we've seen all this year in the book of Ephesians. However important are our actions in the spiritual fight we're engaged in, underneath it all is His strength. Remember that from back in chapter 1, how this is all according to God's pleasure and plan.

The new life the Spirit gives in chapter 2 in line with the redemption of the Son has provided and the election the Father has made. That's why Paul can pray even in the last phrase of the letter for their love to be undying. We fight this battle by the appointment of God to do so for good for us and for glory for Him.

When we began going through this book last January, we were meeting in Riverdale. Baptist church out in Prince George's County. That congregation very kindly loaned us their building during the cold months of the winter. In the first sermon in this series, I quoted some words from Martin Lloyd Jones, preaching from this letter in the 1950s. He was preaching to a nation that then, like our own nation now, had some profound fears.

The doctor gives us the right note to conclude our 2021 study now. Do you know that these things are so marvelous that you will never hear anything greater either in this world or the world to come? Do you realize that you have a part in these things? I do not know whether another world war is coming or not, but whether it be war or no war, as Christians We are in the plan of God. No bomb can be invented, no bacteria can be cultivated and used, no chemicals or gases can be brought into use that can ever make the slightest difference to these things.

Look at the ultimate, look at God's grand and glorious purpose. Think of and live for the ultimate restoration of that glorious harmony which is coming when we with our whole being shall praise the Lamb that was slain. He has redeemed us. Let us sing blessing and honor and glory and power be unto the Lamb forever and ever. Let wars come.

Let pestilences come. Let hell be let loose. Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That is the Christian message for today. Thank God for it and rejoice in it.

Amen. Let's pray.

Lord God, we give youe praise for the way youy show youw wisdom in the church, for the way youy reconcile us to Yourself through Christ and to each other. And so youo make us your dwelling place to show your manifold wisdom. We thank you for your grace that gives us love undying. We thank you for how the love from eternity past strikes us in our world now and creates in us a love that will stretch into eternity future. We pray, Lord, that you would build up your church.

Use us in this congregation to your glory. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.