Ephesians 6-10a

I understand there are a few questions. Go ahead, brother. It actually should be Marcus' turn to be answering questions, but as with the first Bible reading, there were no questions left unanswered.

The most questionable Bible reading was the second one. This question was sort of dealt with, but I'll just go over it again. So then, if I should not waste time on someone that has made up his or her mind not to accept the word of God as authority, I should just treat that person as... Okay, the question revolves around these words, waste my time.

If there is someone who is willing to accept the authority of the word of God, you can invest plenty of time through the word of God to try to help them. If they are not willing to accept the authority of the word of God, spend your time wisely. Put some seed of the word of God into their mind, but recognize it will take God to work before they're going to be open to further help.

So it's not a matter of wasting your time and not speaking to them, but spend your time wisely. Redeem the time, actually. Treat them as a soul for eternity, a soul that heaven would love to see saved, and plant the seed of the word of God.

How can I help a need or minister grace to someone if I know nothing about the nature of the need? And what I mean by knowing nothing about the need is if I have not experienced this same trial. Let me just answer the question maybe somewhat differently than intended and then come to what's intended here. We may know a need, but we still need to have guidance from God to minister grace.

We may not know a need at all and be guided by the Lord through his word to give help, and that would always be the desire. In both those cases, that would always be the desire. But what about this case where you have not experienced the same trial? Let every man be swift to hear and slow to speak.

In fact, if you had experienced the same trial, you would probably know that nobody has experienced the same trial. There is no equivalence, and therefore, always speak from the standpoint of trying to help from the word of God, not by your own experience. If your experience has helped you, it will help you to give the word of God to them.

But I'll just tell you, maybe it's a pet peeve, because I remember in a circumstance, someone writing a note and saying, I know exactly what you're going through. And I appreciate what she wrote. I know she meant well.

I've tried to avoid ever using that, I know exactly what you're going through, because I don't. Nobody but the Lord does. So on the one hand, I don't think we should shy away from trying to help, but never assume that you know exactly what the person is going through.

But if you've been through trial, you may have some wisdom gleaned from it, and some scripture that's helped you, and you can pass it on. But listen. Better to listen and to learn what the problem is, and try to be a help then.

We're going to turn to Ephesians chapter 6 then, please. Could I make two quick comments on the weather first? Brother Richard is like a lot of people in this world. He's only going by what he's heard, and it's not right.

That's in relation to the Grand Prairie weather. However, in relation to the Mount Sterling weather, what did he say? We started off with good weather, we'll end up with good weather, and a storm in between. That's just like the Christian life.

So let's read a little bit about the storm. Ephesians chapter 6, please. Verse 10.

As the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, or in the heavenlies, wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds.

That therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do. Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things, whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that ye might comfort your hearts.

Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with you all, with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.

Now we look to the Lord to bless then the reading of his word. We come to the final section of the Ephesian letter. Our outline gives us a number of words.

Anyway, you can follow your outline, but I'm just going to ask you to work down through these little verses, looking at five words. They're on your outline, so you don't need to worry about them. Number one, we have the exhortation.

And I'll suggest to you, looking at verse 10, that there's a two-fold exhortation here. First of all, the exhortation to be strong, and then the exhortation to put on in relation to the armor. As we look at the two-fold exhortation, might I ask you to notice two aspects of it in verse 10, and we'll consider them as we go through.

Number one, it's in the Lord, and then in the power of his might. So if we have the exhortation in the first two verses, we're going to notice something about the enemy when we come to the next verse. Verse 12.

I'll ask you to notice in relation to the enemy that there are two spheres brought before us in relation to this conflict. We'll notice that it's not flesh and blood, but rather it's spirit. Very simply, it means this.

It's not physical, it's in the spirit realm. It's not earthly in origin, it's heavenly in origin, or from the heavenlies. It's satanic.

So we want to watch the two spheres as we go through here. Then in relation to the encounter of the evil, will you notice in verse 12, four times the little word against is used in relation to the enemy. There's a four-fold aspect to the enemy that is mentioned.

I'll put in your minds now the thought, why four? Why four? We have the enemy brought before us. We'll see the evilness of the enemy as we look at these words that we go through. Then we're going to look at the engagement or the encounter with the enemy.

I'll just leave you now with this little thought that there are three pictures that will be brought before us. There's number one, the picture of wrestling. Number two, you'll notice that there is the picture brought before us of fiery darts that are being thrown from a distance.

Obviously the wrestling is a close encounter, the fiery darts is a distant encounter. Satan works both ways. But there's not only the wrestling and the fiery darts, we're going to get to the sword.

And you'll appreciate that that represents a different kind of encounter. If we have these three pictures in this little section in relation to the engagement with the enemy, I'm going to ask you to notice as we go through that there's going to be three positions of the Christian in relation to the conflict. We'll pick them up as we go through.

Then we will notice we come to the equipment or the armor, if you like. Now I hesitate to tell you how many pieces of armor there are. We can get into it in the discussion.

You can count them, I know that. But anyway, we'll get to that when we get down to that verse. I would like to tell you this.

The armor obviously comes from a picture of the Roman world where Paul was. When I think of the Roman army, I just remind you that there are two types of provision for Roman army. It'll be important in relation to this little passage.

Not only two types of provision, Roman army had a two-fold purpose. I'll leave the question hanging now as to whether this has a two-fold purpose or a one-fold purpose. But in any event, we'll look at it as we go through.

We'll consider the different aspects of the armor. When we finish with the armor in verse 17, might I ask you to notice in verse 18 that there are two other things that will be mentioned. And I'm thinking of the praying and the watching.

You might notice that's followed by two things, two groups that are prayed for, really, all saints and Paul. Then there are two things that Paul particularly asked for in relation to prayer. Here they are in verse 19.

He prayed that utterance might be given. And he prayed for boldness to speak. When we come to verse 21, we're introduced to one of Paul's co-workers.

And you might notice that there's a two-fold purpose in relation to this. The believers will find out about Paul's affairs. And of course, through him, Paul will find out about their affairs.

When we come to verse 23, two words, peace and love, from a two-fold source, Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we have the customary close of our passage. So we will look at the exhortation, first of all.

And then we'll go from there down to the enemy, the evil, the encounter, and the equipment, and so on. And you can follow your outline. I hope there's lots of questions, lots of comments.

So we'll begin with verse 10. There's a lot of things we can look at in relation to the enemy here. Before we get into the exhortation, I think our brother Sandy has left us with a question.

What is the importance of this passage at the close of the Ephesian letter? I'm asking a couple of questions now. What is the importance of this passage? And what exactly is the aim of the enemy, as we think of the wrestling, the darts, in this passage? Let's begin our discussion and go ahead, brethren, with comments and questions as we go through. Satan's attacks don't take anywhere near this long.

All right, my brethren, what's the importance? Finally, my brethren. Brother Sandy, you had something on mind? Well, I'm certainly happy to hear, my brethren. But I had thought the issue before us in Chapter 6 is, I don't want to say just every temptation we face.

It's in light of the ground we have been brought into in Chapters 1, 2, and 3. The wealth, the blessing of being in Christ and all the blessings that come from Christ as a result of union with Christ. And now there will be this attack to try to cause us to lose ground, if I can use that expression. That's why the emphasis is upon standing, not advancing, not somehow conquering, but just standing your ground, maintaining what God has given you, a blessing, and not allowing yourself to be deprived of the enjoyment of it.

That's good. David, you had something else there? Probably I'm saying the same thing in another way. But we have the body and the building and the bride here as great anchors of the truth that's before us.

Satan cannot touch the body, nor the building, nor the bride. But he can touch the expression of it. And the body, the unity of the Spirit being maintained in the assembly, and maybe the progress of the building as far as the work of God is concerned.

But then the family unit itself where the bride aspect of the body of the church is being expressed. So I wonder if Satan is not, as he did in the garden, as he did in the wilderness, attacking what God finds delight in. I wonder for a minute if I go back to where I was this morning.

If we stop to think that Isaiah 14, Lucifer, I will be as the most high. And then we come to Ephesians chapter 1. Now back there David mentioned the garden. Satan's ambition, Satan's pride was to exalt himself.

And of course he goes down. Then in the garden we see a couple put out. Come to Ephesians 1. Chosen in him before.

I suppose Satan can read as well as we can. I don't think he knows everything, but he must be able to read. Chosen in him.

And he begins to see, would he not, God has purposes here. And then the chosen ones are the redeemed ones in Christ. The chosen ones have the adoption of sons.

The chosen ones are given an inheritance with Christ. They're blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And Christ the one that came down from a position far above Satan, to go up far above Satan.

We find that believers, these chosen ones, these redeemed ones, these adopted ones, are now linked with Christ in glory. Satan who's against God, against Christ. Is he going to leave them alone? The answer is of course no.

And as you brethren are suggesting, Satan will do whatever he can to disrupt this that is of God and these people that are of God. He'll do his best. And he'll do his best in a cunning ways, devious ways, the wiles of the devil, to cause these people not to be what God wants them to be.

That's the storm between the two sunshines. You're all right with that? Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might or in the strength of his might. Does this strength come in our submission to his lordship? Is that the idea? And if so, then it's kind of ironic that there's strength in submission.

It's a very good point. I think it was pointed out on the outline. I've sort of forgotten, but it's in the passive here.

So it's not make yourself strong, but rather two aspects here. Be made strong or be strengthened in the Lord. And the point would be of course that our strength, as our brother William is suggesting, our strength is all in the Lord.

It cannot be himself. We are no match for Satan nor any of Satan's agents, but in the Lord. Now you can run through your Bible on that phrase, in the Lord.

But then, in the power of his might, or if you like, in his mighty power. Might I suggest you go back to chapter 1 and see where that mighty power comes in. What's it linked with in chapter 1? It's linked with the resurrection of Christ.

And so it's keeping before us, you see, this wonderful fact. Our strength is in the Lord. And in the Lord that raised Christ up and took him up to glory again.

That's what we're linked with. We're linked with the resurrected, risen, ascended Christ. So there may be two things involved in the use of the title Lord here.

One is that he is sovereign. Whatever the enemy is, he's sovereign. But then the other thing that's involved in it, I would take to be what William has suggested.

And that is our submission then to him as Lord will give us the empowering that we require. Now we could go through the Bible and find illustrations of this, could we not? Joshua, the battle of Jericho, and so on. You see, there's a number of them that we can go through the Bible and look at.

But that would be the point. Submission to the things of the Lord, to the Lordship of Christ. And again, let me say, our strength is in the Lord and in the mighty power of our God.

And we keep in mind in that context that our Lord Jesus, going into death, as we know from other passages, has in effect defeated Satan. He's not destroyed yet, but he's been defeated. Satan is fighting a losing battle.

But we have strength in the Lord and in the power of his might. The thought is going to keep up as we come through the passage, of course, with the armor of God and so on, that our strength is in the Lord. But it's the idea of resting, resting upon the truths of what the Lord Jesus has done.

Resting upon what we have in Christ, what we are in Christ, and what we're going yet to receive from Christ. And not relying upon our own strength at all. Had you something else in mind, Brother? That's good.

And we'll see that when we come down to the armor. This is progressive in the sense that these two things that you're looking at here in verse 10 is progressive. You can't be strengthened in the power of his might if you're not strengthened and empowered in the Lord.

So it's as we submit to Lordship, grasp his sovereignty, we will be filled then with what you've reminded us is an expression of the greatness of God's power. Now we'll move on to verse 2, but I would like to encourage brethren, there are no questions too simple to ask. There might be many too difficult, but then there's other brethren to handle those.

So don't hesitate, don't be shy on questions. Brother David, we're back to the walks, we're told to walk in love and told not to grieve the Holy Spirit. Are they the preservatives from attack? I'd like to answer the question, yes, on both counts.

I think they are the preservatives, but they are also the reason why the devil is very anxious to rob God of the pleasure that he has in individuals who walk in love and so on. I would suggest, brother, it's coming last, this word finally only used in this position here in Ephesians. It's coming last because as our brother Sandy indicated, all of these blessings have been developed for us in the first three chapters.

Now that being so, and we're given all the exhortation with regard to our walk and so on, we need to be reminded, Satan is not going to let this alone. Keep in mind that's one of Satan's tactics, I want to get to them in a few minutes. But down through the ages, Satan's tactics have been to be against anything that is of God.

We have in verse 11 then that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. We'll get to the wiles of the devil, but just for a moment, to give you something else to think about here. When we deal with the enemy here, the enemy in question is identified in this passage as the devil.

You will know that going through your Bible, there are different names associated with them. Lucifer is an Old Testament name. The devil is a New Testament name.

Satan is both Old and New Testament. Those are three titles used in relation to the evil one here. Not only are there three titles as you go through your Bible, you will remember that he's likened to three creatures.

There might be more, but three come to my mind. He's introduced as the serpent. Think about what that means in the garden.

Peter will remind us that he's like a lion. It's interesting that the one who begins in Genesis as the serpent is identified in the last book of the Bible, Revelation, as the dragon. And only in Revelation is the dragon.

So what starts as the serpent ends up being the dragon. So we have three names of him, three pictures of him, if you like. We shouldn't forget that there's three other things told us about him in our Bible.

It is the Lord Jesus who identifies him as the prince of the powers of the air. Now that expression is loaded with significance, particularly in light of this passage. The prince of the powers of the air, so identified by the Lord Jesus, is referred to by the apostle Paul as the God of this world.

Would I suggest to you that the prince of the powers is a military, political term? All kinds of implications for your Bible. Whereas the God of this world is a religious term. And that simply tells us that Satan is active both in political, governmental affairs and very active in the religious sphere of the world.

But he's not only identified as the prince of the power of the air and the God of this world. In this passage he's identified as the wicked one. So we have the character of Satan.

We have an enemy that's against us. If those are some of his titles, we can go through the Bible and look at some of his tactics. And I might just reiterate.

Initially, in time, he's against God. As our Bible begins, he's against what God has done. Man and a woman in the garden.

We move down through time and it's in Chronicles, isn't it? First Chronicles 21. Where Satan moves in the life of David to bring a problem in relation to Israel. So he's against God.

He's against anything that God does. He's against God's people. You come through your Bible and you'll find, of course, at the very beginning of our New Testament.

He moves in relation to the birth of the Lord Jesus using an instrument called King Herod. It's in Matthew 16, isn't it? Where we find the Lord says to Peter, get thee behind me, Satan. That's in relation to the cross.

It's in Acts chapter 5 where we find, spoken to a man called Ananias. Why has Satan filled thine heart to lie? And then as we slip through the New Testament epistles, we start finding some of the tactics of Satan. Now in our little passage here, we have the wiles of the devil.

What does it mean? Just wondering if you could give us some help then, Brother Williams. When it says that the devil, you've mentioned, as it says here, and then we have heard you mention the word Satan. Satan would be the adversary, devil would be the slanderer.

Is that correct? That's good. And when we think of slander, we think of mistruth. And as we come through this epistle, we've seen the truth and the emphasis on truth.

And we will see that further along again in the armor. It's interesting that as you go through the end of your Bible, both in Revelation 12 and in Revelation 20, he will be identified as Satan, the devil, the dragon, and the old serpent. Four of his titles.

What were you going to say about them? The deceiver as well. The deceiver and also the accuser of the brethren. Those are some of the characteristics, those are some of the tactics of Satan as we look at him.

But in Revelation 12 and 20, where we finally see Satan before, of course, you know where he's headed for. It's nice to notice through your Bible that, of course, while the Lord Jesus came down, everything afterwards is up, isn't it? But Satan's movements are ever downward. But his tactics are all the way through.

We'll notice some of them as we go through. Now then, the wiles of the devil, brethren. Yeah, I think that it suggests to us that he is not merely reacting to events in the world.

He has a well-planned orchestrated strategy. Devious, deceitful, but yet a well-mapped out strategy for bringing about what his intentions are. And that's what we're faced with.

I want to be very careful how I say this. You will misunderstand me and I'll never be back in Mount Sterling again. But there's a verse in the Bible that sometimes I say is not right.

Paul said, the Apostle Paul said, we are not ignorant of his devices. And I say we are. Well, since it was Paul that said it, maybe he was.

You know what I mean, don't you? Here's the Apostle. Of course, it's inspired. Of course, it's true.

But the Apostle could say, we are not ignorant of his devices. Christians, can we say that? We read of the condemnation of the devil. We read of the snares of the devil.

We read of the subtlety of Satan. We read of the craftiness of Satan. Satan transformed into an angel of light.

And our brother Sandy is saying, he has a scheme. That's the idea of the word that's here, isn't it? He has a well-planned scheme. And by the way, keep in our mind, we are no match for him.

It's good that we keep in mind that it's James that will tell us to resist the devil. Anytime we quote that, we should get the context. It's by submission, isn't it? We're to resist the devil.

Are we ever told to fight the devil? Don't forget in Jude, it's Michael the archangel that says the Lord rebuked him. We're dealing with an enemy that's tremendously powerful. Terribly crafty.

Cunning and subtle. With a well-planned strategy. But, don't forget, we are linked to the one that has defeated Satan.

We're linked to the man in the glory. And we're given all the equipment that we need in order to deal with him. I think that needs to be emphasized.

The whole armor of God, whereby ye shall perhaps be able to fend him off for a week. No, we shall be able to stand. So, this is no cause for self-confidence in this.

But, who, what army is going to send their men on the field poorly equipped? Certainly not the Lord. In view of the wise of the devil, the scale of his strategy and his methodical deceptions of men, it's not just on the global scale or in the big picture, is it? It's coming right down here to the individual believer in view of the responsibility that is ours. I would suggest that his schemes are global, but you're right, Brother William, that they come down to the individual.

Obviously, if you look down through history again, he's put his finger on anything that is of God. And what can we say about the beautiful truth of the church that we see in our New Testament to what we see in the world? Satan has got his fingers in there. But what we're really concerned with here now today is the individual believer.

And he's against the believer. Our Brother Dave has given us a good point. The believer is fully equipped.

Go ahead. I was just going to reiterate on that. It's the individual.

It's the family. It's the assembly that really are, I think, in light of the epistle here, are his points of attack. And perhaps worth repeating that at the very beginning, remember, with Adam and Eve or Eve in particular, that he started off by the questioning of the Word of God and then the contradiction of the Word of God and then an attack upon the character of God.

It's just one of the ways that Satan works. But look at what he's doing today. The questioning of the Word of God, the contradiction from Satan of the Word of God, the attack upon the character of God, that's his methods all the way down through.

But we have the equipment. The sooner, the better. I was going to suggest yesterday.

Now, do we dare say that it's on all the time? Well, we're exhorted to put it on. It's available. I said earlier, in relation to the army, two little things, two little pictures I would give you from the New Testament times.

In the great days of the Roman army, this might sound strange to you, I know that armor develops through history, but in the great days of the Roman Empire, there were legions of the Roman Empire and the soldier's army was provided by the emperor. There were other brigades called conscripts and they provided their own. Now, needless to say, the professionals, they had the Roman equipment.

You see, right from the emperor himself. And the others who provided their own, well, you can imagine what they had. What's the picture here? We do not provide our own armor.

It's provided by the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. Our responsibility is to be equipped. I heard someone suggest that... I'm sorry, go ahead.

Okay, there's a question. Okay, that's a good question. The question is, is it the new man that's putting on this armor? You're into the new man.

Brother David, go ahead. I thought the new man was a corporate picture of all that we are in Christ, in our association with Christ. So that I thought a believer is the one who puts on the armor.

I don't think it's put on us at conversion. It's our responsibility. But you're right.

The new man is in contrast to the old man. The new man, of course, is the Christian in Christ and so on. The corporate picture is what our brother is saying here.

And our exhortation in this and the corresponding epistle would be that the new man should get rid of the old man's clothing and put on the new man's garments, that type of thing. In that sense, you see, every believer, of course, is seen as the new man. Now, our responsibility here, then, is a God-given armor, armor for every Christian.

Let's make sure that we're shielded by this. So my two little pictures from the Old Testament from the old days would be Rome provided the army for its best troops. Our Lord provides the armor for us.

Is there a difference? I'm not trying to move ahead, but I just want to see the contrast that you could help us between put on the whole armor of God in verse number 11. And then when we get to verse 13, it's wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God. Is there a difference there or is he just repeating himself? I think the thought is the same, brother of ours, unless you have something different in mind.

But in verse 13, there's going to be three positions that are seen here. Can we get to them just quickly? Three positions. I said to you earlier, there's the wrestling.

Come back to that and help me as to what that means. Wrestling versus the darts, then the sword. But in verse 13, we'll go back to verse 12.

But in verse 13, take on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Please just watch three things. The idea is be equipped.

Be equipped. In other words, be completely clothed in the armor that the Lord provides. For what reason? Because this afternoon or tomorrow, the enemy is going to hit you.

So number one position, be equipped, clothed in the armor. Number two, then you're ready when the attack comes. And number three, having done all to stand.

I suggest the to stand is when the confrontation is over, you're still standing, still clothed, still standing, still sword in your hand. So three positions, prepared beforehand, having done all, and standing afterwards. Not flatten your face in the dirt, but standing, clothed in God's armor.

You're okay with that? What about these various phrases in verse 12 that are describing the enemies that we wrestle with? Is there a distinction between them, or is it all a reference back to the devil? I'll suggest just these few things, Brother William, that there's a difference between them, but please don't ask me what it is. We have principalities. We find the word elsewhere.

Principalities and powers or authorities. And then we find world rulers of this darkness, as it might be written. Okay, now whatever that is, perhaps somebody can help us.

Rulers of the darkness of this world, whatever they are. And then we have spiritual wickedness. Maybe just for a second we could think of this.

We do know from our Bible that in the angelic realm, obviously we're introduced to the cherubim, the seraphim, the living creatures, the watchers, archangel, orders of angels. That's on the good side of things. Why would there not be on the evil side? We know that Satan has demons, agents.

Now I'm still not answering because I don't know really what these are, but I suggest to you they're different orders of wicked things. I don't know the difference between them. Angelic beings then? Yes, Satan's agents.

Daniel chapter 10, the prince, Persia, the prince and so on. And Satan is a great imitator, isn't he? So you would expect him to imitate wherever he can what God has done in his own realm. So you would likely link the rulers of the darkness with Daniel 10 in terms of the political impact of Satan.

There probably is the moral impact, the spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly. So the Christian sphere is the heavenlies and this is a spiritual emphasis on these. There's authority linked with the powers themselves.

How to define all that? You're ducking out on it. Maybe we can't. Well, I'm just saying again.

If God has all these orders of angelic beings, then Satan, the imitators of brothers said, will have his own fallen demons that are in different categories. And from the Bible we know, Daniel and so on, that they're involved in political things. They're involved in military things.

They're involved in the things of this world. Undoubtedly, we all should appreciate they're behind all of the moral decline, governmental decline of our nation and so on, all the departure from the Bible. They're all there.

The point of all of this would be, let's keep in mind, we are up against, not an enemy of flesh and blood. Now just for a second on that tangent, Christians, I think all of us should learn that as soon as we can. You know, the neighbor, the workman that curses you because you're a Christian, just appreciate that really it's not coming from him.

It's coming from out there. Just by way of illustration. Acts chapter 16.

You all know the story. Acts chapter 16. I hear a man with a bleeding back, who's been very, very badly treated.

I hear this man with a bleeding back saying, do thyself no harm. You know who he's talking to? I sometimes think, had it been me, I might have said, go ahead, you rascal, you deserve it. The jailer's going to kill himself.

Do thyself no harm, says Paul. How could he do that? Is it because Paul appreciated that whatever that jailer's done to me, I appreciate he's a soul that needs to be saved. What's against me is not that man, but the spirit powers behind it.

I have no grudge against the jailer. I want to see him saved. Christians, could we apply that to the person that curses you because you're a Christian.

Ill treats you because you're a Christian. Your enemy is not the individual of earth, whether it's family members, neighbors, workmen, or whatever. But it's that other realm.

You've pointed out for us differences here, wrestling, and then fiery darts, and then the battle line, the army with the sword. Are you suggesting to us different levels of combat that this would be a hand-to-hand, a very close encounter? Do you want to help us with that? We wrestle not against flesh and blood, or blood and flesh. There are Old Testament allusions for this, as obviously you would know.

But there are times, yes, when the conflict with Satan can be very, very close. Then we think of the fiery darts. Do we all appreciate that in New Testament times, often when armies were together, from over there, listen, not a single fiery dart, but a multitude of them.

They're arrows made up with pitch that are set on fire, and the enemy shoots them. And, of course, the fire spreads. Think of the implications of this now.

But it's coming from a distance. We might just appreciate, as we look at the enemy in this passage, please remember something. That our encounter, our enemy, is not in the physical realm, but in the spirit realm.

Our enemy is not weak, but powerful. Our enemy is not one, but many. Not one, but many.

And we need to appreciate that we're not to face this empty, but equipped with the armor of God. So I see the three spheres. The face-to-face, from the distance, the arrows flying, we'll see thoughts coming to the mind, and so on.

Things that can spread, even among Christians or Assemblies. And then the picture of the man with the armor and the sword. There'll be another close encounter.

Because Satan is not going to give up. Had you something else in mind? No, that's good. So when we're dealing with individuals, perhaps, and we're made very aware of the darkness that they're in.

The deep darkness of their soul. We must recognize that that's not just flesh and blood. But that's the influence of, perhaps, the world rulers of this darkness.

Those forces of immense power that hold men in darkness. And their energy is used to keep them in the dark. God of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not.

The same evil power that we're talking about here is working. I don't want to get on a tangent here, but it's much on my mind lately. This year is the 200th anniversary of Darwin.

The 150th anniversary of the publication of his book. And this year, as never before, we're going to get Darwin thrust at us every way we turn around. What's Satan doing? Satan is seeking to undermine the things of God and attack the word of God.

Darts from a distance, if you like. And I don't know if it's any kind of a problem here, but I have encountered here and there, young people with many sobering questions and unsure. Now, we have the equipment, the word of God.

We have the armor to deal with it. But darts from a distance. Yes, brother? I'm going to ask for a little help here.

So I get my thinking balanced. Because I am not a fan of Frank Peratti. Do you know what I mean by that? Whose novels present the devil lurking behind every action.

And actually, although the power behind it is satanic, I don't go to war against the satanic powers. I do my work with people that are the front for that. I need to recognize the power behind it.

But I don't want us to carry, at least I don't think I want us to carry away from this, the idea that then we have got to somehow move into a combat in the spiritual world against angels. Or angels of light and darkness. We're dealing with persons.

But there is a power behind them. And I don't like to, I hear some Christians talking, they see the devil behind every corner. And yes, he is pervasive.

I'm not taking that away. But the danger is within me, actually. That he will find a place within me.

Rather than my going to war against, like Don Quixote against all these angelic beings. Are you with me okay on that? Can you help me to balance my thinking on that? Well, just to help, I think, and no, I do agree with it. Help in that line is this.

If we were to go back historically and look at the typical Roman soldier, and the typical armor that was given to a Roman soldier, we will find some little differences between what we have here. Now, there are two or three of them, but let me just give you one. Some of the things are common.

A Roman soldier, no question, would have had a shield. A Roman soldier, without question, would have had a breastplate. A Roman soldier would have had sandals, a special type, mind you, on his feet.

A Roman soldier had the helmet, the sword. A Roman soldier had some other things. One was a javelin.

What's that for? A spear, a lance to throw. Now, you tell me why there's no mention in the Christian's armor of the spear. It's in keeping with what you just said, brother.

The Roman soldier's armor was designed in such a way that it's obviously defensive, but certain aspects of the Roman armor was offensive. I will suggest, I realize we get some little difficulties here, but I will suggest that this is primarily defensive, even to the sword. So my earlier question, resist the devil.

Now, are we ever told to attack or engage the devil? We resist his work through others and in ourselves. In James 4, the problem is not others so much as it's the influence of others, but the problem is the individuals themselves. So he'll come at us with the fiery darts.

He'll come at us with things going on in the world which would put thoughts in our mind. That's what I'm thinking of, all that type of thing. Now, we come to the protection that the believers got.

We've got the whole armor of God. Twice in this passage, the whole armor of God, I think it's the only two times we find that phrase. There are two other mentions of armor for the Christian in our New Testament.

Does anybody want to pick them up and just outline them?