Introduction
Paul has been addressing wives and husbands and children and parents and slaves and masters or workers and bosses in the previous verses of his letter to the Ephesians. And now, in today’s passage, he addresses all of us, every believer.
And this passage is really about perseverance. It’s about persevering in the Christian faith. It’s about persevering as a believer. And the reason I say it’s about perseverance is because Paul tells us again and again to stand or to stand firm. Take a look at verse 11, where he says: ‘Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.’ Then take a look at verse 13: ‘Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground….’ And then he adds at the end of verse 13: ‘and after you have done everything, to stand.’ And now look at verse 14: ‘Stand firm then….’ This passage is about perseverance. It’s about persevering in the faith and standing firm against opposition. And the opposition comes from the devil and his demons and their wicked schemes.
And this is not the first time that Paul has mentioned the devil and demons in this letter. If you turn back to chapter 1 and verse 20, you’ll see that Paul wrote that God the Father seated the Lord Jesus in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come. In other words, God the Father has placed the Lord Jesus over the devil and his demons and every spiritual power. And then in chapter 2 and verse 2, Paul described the way we once were before we believed in Christ, when we followed the ways of the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. The ruler of the kingdom of the air is the devil. He’s at work in those who don’t believe to keep them from believing. And then in chapter 3 and verse 10, Paul wrote that, through the church, God’s manifold wisdom is made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. The church is God’s show room through which he displays his wisdom to the devil and his demons and every spiritual power in the invisible world around us, which we cannot see, because it’s invisible, but which we know is there, because God tells us about it in his word.
And so, already in this brief letter, Paul has referred to the devil and his demons and to this invisible world around us. And now, at the end of the letter, he gives his readers instructions about standing firm against the devil and his demons and their wicked schemes. And this emphasis on the spirit world around us can be explained if we remember what Ephesus was like when Paul first went there and preached the good news of Jesus Christ. We read about it in Acts 19. You might like to read it for yourself this afternoon, but it’s clear from what we read in Acts 19 that Ephesus was a dark place where superstition abounded and where the people were interested in the occult. Luke tells us that a number who believed the good news used to practise sorcery. But now that they believed, they turned away from that kind of thing.
So, if Ephesus was that sort of place, if it was a dark place of superstition and sorcery where people were interested in the occult, then it’s no surprise that Paul wanted to remind his readers that Christ our Saviour is above every evil power and he rules over them. He has already defeated them and triumphed over them. And not only that, but Christ our Saviour is able to strengthen his people so that his people will be able to stand firm against the devil’s evil influence and, with Christ’s help, to persevere in the faith and to keep believing.
So, let’s turn to this passage which can be divided into three parts. In verses 10 to 13 he tells us to stand firm. In verses 14 to 17 he tells us to stand firm by putting on the armour of God. And in verses 18 to 20 he tells us to pray.
Verses 10 to 13
In verses 10 to 13 Pauls tells us to stand firm. He says we’re to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. And he says we’re to put on the full armour of God so that we can take our stand against the devil’s schemes.
So, we need strength and power in order to stand up to the devil’s schemes. The word translated ‘schemes’ can also mean ‘strategies’. The devil is an intelligent being who has plans or strategies for attacking Christians. And since Paul refers to the devil’s ‘schemes’ in the plural, then that means he has more than one approach. He doesn’t always use the same method, but he has many ways to trip us up and to get us to stumble.
For instance, think of the parable of the sower and the seed. The seed sown among thorns stands for those who hear and believe the word of God for a time. However, then the word is choked by what? By the worries of life and by the deceitfulness of wealth and by the desire for other things. The devil can lead us astray by worries and by wealth and by the desire for other things. That is, he leads us away from obedience to the Lord by tempting us with other things. That’s one of his strategies. He also works through false teachers, doesn’t he? The New Testament is full of warnings about false teachers and the damage they do when they lead people away from the truth. And then think as well of the book of Job and how the devil attacked Job by causing him to suffer. Because of the devil, Job lost all his property and his family and his health. And the devil attacked him in this way because he wanted Job to give up his faith. So, the devil is able to lead us astray by worries and wealth and by the desires for other things; and he’s able to lead us astray through false teachers; and he’s able to make us suffer. These are three of the strategies or schemes he uses to destroy our faith and to make us fall away from Christ.
So, how can we possibly resist him? How can we stand up to him? Only with the help of the Lord. And that’s why Paul tells us in verse 10 to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. By ourselves, we are weaklings. We have no strength of our own. We’re not strong. We’re not powerful. We’re an easy target. We’re like the fallen leaves on the street which are picked up by the wind and are blown here, there and everywhere. That’s what we’re like on our own, because we have no strength. But the good news is that Christ our Saviour is strong. He is mighty. He is powerful. He sits enthroned in heaven where he rules over all things on behalf of his people. And we’re able to rely on him for the strength we need to keep believing.
I’ve used the illustration before of a small child who wants to be helpful and to carry the grocery bags into the house from the car. But since the child is small, she’s not strong enough to do it on her own. And so, her mother helps her. They both carry the bags into the house, even though it’s the mother who is doing all the lifting. And Christ our Saviour is the one who comes alongside us and he does all the lifting. He lifts us up and strengthens our faith. He reinforces us the way we might reinforce a fence that is about to fall down.
And so, we’re to rely on him and his strength. And he helps and strengthens us by giving us armour to wear. We ourselves are weak, but the armour is strong. Paul refers in verse 11 to the full armour of God and later in the passage he’ll list each part. And the point is that, with his armour, we’ll be fully equipped or fully protected.
And, of course, the armour he gives us is his armour. It comes from him. All the different parts of the armour — truth and righteousness and the gospel and faith and salvation and the word of God — they all come from him. He gives us these things to make us strong so that we’re able to persevere and to stand firm in the faith.
And we need the Lord’s strength and we need his armour, because our struggle is not against flesh and blood. That is to say, our struggle is not against other humans. If that were the case, then we could perhaps stand up to them with our own human strength. But our struggle is against the rulers and the authorities and the powers of this dark world and its against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Since this is a spiritual struggle, then we need spiritual strength, which comes from the Lord Jesus Christ and from his Spirit who lives in us and who strengthens our faith and our commitment to Christ by giving us his armour to wear.
Therefore, says Paul in verse 13, since our struggle is against these spiritual powers, put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. When Paul refers to ‘the day of evil’, he perhaps means the day when the devil decides to attack us. It’s the day when our commitment to the Lord is tested and when we face the pressure to abandon the faith and to turn away from the Lord. When that evil day comes, we need to have put on the full armour of God so that we’re fully protected. And with his armour in place, we’ll be able to stand our ground. That’s what Paul says in verse 13. And then he adds: after you’ve done everything, you may be able to stand.
Notice that it’s all about standing. He tells us to stand firm and to stand your ground. In other words, it’s all about defence. Paul is not telling us to take the offence and to attack the citadels of satan. He’s telling us to stand our ground. Don’t give in and don’t give up, but instead persevere in the faith. He’s saying to us that we need to fight for our existence. We need to struggle to stay alive. The devil will do what he can to destroy our faith. And so, we need to fight continually to stay alive in the faith. The Christian life is not a walk in the park, but it’s a fight for survival.
And the good news is that we’re not on our own, because we can depend on the Lord and on his strength to help us to stand firm in the faith and to keep believing.
Verses 14 to 18
And how does he strengthen us? How do we stand firm? We do it by putting on the full armour of God. And in verses 14 to 18 Paul lists each of the pieces of armour which the Lord supplies. Again, this is his armour. It comes from him. And he gives it to us to enable us to stand our ground against the schemes and strategies of the devil.
First in the list is the belt of truth. Or ‘belt up’, as one of the commentators puts it. Some of you will remember the television campaign years ago telling us to belt up. That is, put on your seat belt when you’re driving so that you’ll be safe in an accident. And believers need to belt up to keep us safe when the devil attacks us. And the belt we’re to put on is truth. He’s presumably thinking about the truth of God’s word or the truth of the gospel or the truth of Christian doctrine. Since satan leads us astray by false doctrine, then we need the truth of God’s word to stand firm.
And then he mentions the breastplate of righteousness. Sinners are declared righteous or right with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life of obedience on our behalf when he was on the earth. And when we believe in him, God regards his perfect righteousness or his perfect goodness as ours. Though we may have done everything wrong, God treats us as if we’ve done everything right because of Christ. And so, Christ gives us his righteousness as a breastplate to cover over our sins and shortcomings. And if the devil attacks us by accusing us of something we have done, if he tries to undermine our faith by showing us our faults, then we are protected from his accusations by the breastplate of Christ’s righteousness which covers over all our sins and shortcomings.
And then Paul refers to our feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. When a footballer comes off the field at the end of a match, he will take off his boots. When a farmer comes in from the fields, he’ll take off his boots. When a soldier goes off duty, he takes off his boots. When someone’s work is over, they can take off their boots or shoes and relax. But when they’re working, when they’re on duty, they must keep their boots or shoes on. And now that we have come to believe the gospel of peace, then that means we are always on duty. The battle to persevere in the faith will never be over in this life. And so, we must always be ready to stand firm when the devil attacks.
Paul then refers to the shield of faith, with which we can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. The shields which Roman soliders carried were made of wood. But they were covered in leather which was soaked in water. And so, when a flaming arrow struck the shield, the water would extinguish the flame. That’s the image Paul has in mind. But by referring to the flaming arrows of the evil one, he’s referring to all the different ways the devil can attack us. But the shield of faith is able to extinguish all of them. Not just some of them, but all of them. And so, Christ gives us the shield of faith to protect us. He strengthens our faith so that the devil’s darts can’t get through to hurt us. He enlarges our faith so that we’re fully covered and protected. He reinforces our faith so that it will not give way.
But let’s remember what the Lord said to his disciples when they were in that boat during the storm. Do you remember? They were afraid. They thought they were going to drown. And the Lord asked them, ‘Where is your faith?’ So, they had faith. They possessed it. But where was it? And why weren’t they using it? The Lord has given us the shield of faith to defend ourselves against the devil. But we need to take it out and use it. When the devil frightens you, you need to take out the shield of faith and use it by remembering and believing all of God’s promises.
And then there’s the helmet of salvation. Our salvation is the gift of God which he gives to his believing people. And the devil will never be able to take it from those who have already received it. Once we have the helmet of salvation, it can never to removed from us. It is firmly strapped in place and the Lord himself will keep it on us, because he has promised not to lose even one of his people. And so, in our struggle with the devil and his demons, we must remember that we have already been saved because of Christ’s work on the cross for us. And there’s nothing the devil can do to change that.
And then there’s the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. The word of God is the sword of the Spirit, because it was written under his inspiration. And Paul means that we’re to take up and read the Bible, because it contains all of God’s promises to encourage us and to strengthen our faith and commitment. And it makes clear to us God’s will for us and what he wants us to do. And it shows us that all things are under God’s control and that the devil who is attacking us has already been defeated by Christ our King. And it tells us what the final outcome is for those who persevere and who keep believing and how God has promised us eternal peace and rest in the new and better world to come where the devil cannot hurt us. And so, with the sword of the Spirit, the word of God, in our hand, we will keep believing.
And so, there you have the full armour of God which Christ gives to his people so that we’ll be fully protected against the schemes and strategies of the devil. There’s the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness and the readiness to fight that comes from the gospel and the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And again, we have to put these things on. So, we need to know the truth of God’s word so that we won’t be led astray by false teaching. We need to remember and believe that our sins and shortcomings are covered by Christ’s perfect righteousness so that we won’t be knocked down by satan’s accusations. We need to be ready for the fight. We need to pick up and use the shield of faith, believing all of God’s promises. We need to remember that Christ has saved us and he has promised to keep us always. We need to pick up and use the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, the Bible. We need to read it and know it and believe it and apply it to our lives.
Verses 18 to 20
And finally, there’s prayer. Since we’re all weaklings, since we have no strength of our own, since we have no power, then we have to rely on the Lord for the help we need to stand firm and to keep believing. And the way to receive his help is by praying to him.
Pray in the Spirit, Paul says. He simply means it’s the Spirit who helps us to pray. And look: we’re to pray on all occasions with all kinds of prayer and requests and we’re to pray for all the saints. So, we not to pray on some occasions, but on all occasions or at every opportunity. When there’s an opportunity for prayer, take it. Don’t say ‘later’ or ‘tomorrow’ or ‘now is not the right time’. When a soldier has an opportunity to sleep, he takes it, because who knows when the next opportunity will come? When a soldier has an opportunity to eat, he takes it, because who knows when the next opportunity will come? And when you have the opportunity to pray, take it. Pray on all occasions.
And pray with all kinds of prayers and requests. So, you can pray for all kinds of things. There’s nothing you can’t pray about. Whatever is on your mind. whatever you need, whatever is bothering you, whatever is worrying you, bring it to the Lord.
But then, we’re not to pray selfishly, because as well as praying on all occasions and with all kinds of prayer and request, we’re also to pray for all the saints. In other words, we’re to pray for one another, asking the Lord to help each one of us to stand firm in the faith and to keep believing.
And keep on praying. Don’t give up. Don’t stop. Keep going. Keep praying. Pray for yourself and pray for your family and pray for all the saints here in Immanuel and pray for believers in other places. On Wednesdays at the midweek, we pray for the saints who are persecuted in other countries; and we pray for the saints who are serving the Lord in other places. It is God’s will for us to pray for all the saints and that’s what we endeavour to do at the midweek.
And in verse 19 Paul asks his readers to pray for him. But it’s not so much a prayer for Paul, because it’s really a prayer for the preaching of God’s word. And that’s what we endeavour to do at the midweek as well. We pray for the preaching of God’s word here in Immanuel on Sundays and in other places around the world. We pray that God’s preachers will be given the words to say by the Lord and that the Lord will make his preachers fearless so that they will make known the mystery of the gospel.
Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter, but even in prison there were opportunities for him to declare the word of the Lord. But knowing his own weakness and fears, he knew he needed the Lord’s help. So, he asked his readers to pray for him. And preachers around the world are weak and fearful like Paul. And so, they need their fellow believers to pray for them so that the good news of the gospel will be proclaimed far and near. And with the blessing of Christ and the work of the Spirit sinners will be convinced and converted to faith in Christ and added to his church.
And so, we need to pray. We need to pray on all occasions or at every opportunity. Don’t miss the opportunity of praying tonight before the service of worship and on Wednesdays at the midweek. Don’t miss the opportunity of praying on your own each day.
And pray with all kinds of prayers and requests. Bring all kinds of requests to the Lord. Cast all your cares on him.
And pray for all the saints, asking God to help them to stand firm and to keep believing. And pray too for the preaching of God’s word. This is God’s will for you.
Conclusion
And Paul’s letter ends with a word about Tychicus and a benediction: peace to the brothers and sisters in the Lord; and love along with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus; and grace to all who love the Lord with an undying love.
Here’s what we all need: we need peace with God and with one another. And we get that peace from God who is uniting all things in heaven and on earth under Christ through the gospel. And we need a faith that manifests itself in love, a faith that is active. And we get that kind of faith from God who produces it in us by his Spirit. And we need God’s gracious help every day. And because God is gracious, he’s willing to give it us through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blesses us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ our Saviour.
Sermons and Stuff 