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The View for Victory

August 4, 2019

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-12

I. You are at war with Satan and his demons.

A. Is there a devil according to Paul (Eph. 6:11-12)? Absolutely. And not only is there a devil. Since God has adopted you into His family through Christ, you have become Satan’s enemy. You are not at war with anyone who is merely flesh and blood. Instead, you are at war with supernatural evil. John writes about the darkness in this age and this world in 1 John 5:19: We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” The Bible is clear that there is a devil, and there is evil in the world.

B. One of the schemes of the devil (vs. 11) is to do everything he can to prevent people from hearing the Good News about Jesus. And Satan wrestles (vs. 12) with us in the church as he fights against us. The kind of combat that we are fighting against Satan and evil is hand to hand combat. Satan is not firing missiles at us from hundreds of miles away. Satan and his demons are as close to us as a wrestler. That’s how close the demons are to us when they tempt us. They are near to you in the battle.

C. One of Satan’s names is Deceiver. Let me tell you the two greatest lies that Satan will tell you every day. These are the lies that Satan told to Adam and Eve. And these are the lies that Satan is still telling today. Number 1: God is not good. And number 2: God is not for you. But we need to remember Romans 8:31-32: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

II. You are in a war that has already been won by God in Christ.

A. Obviously, the idea of fighting against Satan and demons is frightening. But Paul does not seem afraid. Why not? Because Satan has already been defeated by God through His Son Jesus. Satan is a loser. And Jesus is victorious. And so, we see that the command of Ephesians 6:10 is “Be strong in the Lord.” This command is literally, “Be made strong. Be strengthened.” Our strength for the battle comes from an external source. We are made strong in Jesus. And how strong is Jesus? See Ephesians 1:19-21.

B. Jesus has far more power than Satan and His demons. On earth, among flesh and blood, Satan has no equal, but in the heavenly realms he is far exceeded by the Triune God. These evil beings are under Jesus – certainly not equal to Jesus. Paul was confident in Jesus and His might! When we in the church have faith in Jesus and in His might, we can defeat the devil. Jesus has already defeated Satan at the cross, but He will not destroy Satan until he returns to earth in judgment. Until that day of Christ’s return, our battle against Satan will be fierce. But our victory is not in doubt. Jesus has won! And we in His church are going to win also. But we need to put on the whole armor of God (vs. 11). God is not only the source of the armor that we wear in battle. God Himself wears this armor in battle. God then shares with us some of His own powerful armor for the battle we will fight. We will win our battles then not by confidence in our strength or our good deeds but by complete dependence on the armor that God has provided for us.

Application:
Stand against Satan for your mighty Savior is with you and in you.

Sources:
The letter to the Ephesians
Commentaries on Ephesians by Bryan Chapell, Peter O’Brien, Richard Coekin and R. Kent Hughes.