SPEAKER_00: I am just uh so blessed by Pastor Justin and uh several things from just my my small amount of time being with him.
SPEAKER_00: Um I I remember when Dr.
SPEAKER_00: York came here, brother, and we came and uh what a blessing that was.
SPEAKER_00: And and I remember you talking about how one of your greatest fears in ministry is letting people down.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I I can identify as that as a pastor, and that's something that stuck with me, brother.
SPEAKER_00: That's the heart of your pastor.
SPEAKER_00: He loves you, he doesn't want to let you down.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot of people in this room, that's awfully hard to do.
SPEAKER_00: So you're very blessed to have such an amazing pastor like Justin, um, all by the grace of God.
SPEAKER_00: So I am thankful to him for inviting me here this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Um, well, I would tell you a little bit more about myself, but I've got a lot to say and not a whole lot of time to do it in.
SPEAKER_00: So if you will listen fast, I will talk fast.
SPEAKER_00: How about that?
SPEAKER_00: Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: Now, at the outset here, I just want to express once again what a tremendous blessing this is to me.
SPEAKER_00: To be able to join in with the saints here in Atkins, Virginia, Cedar Bluff Baptist Church, and celebrating 143 long, beautiful years.
SPEAKER_00: That is truly remarkable.
SPEAKER_00: Truly remarkable.
SPEAKER_00: 143 precious years of fellowship, service, and worship to our righteous and holy God in whom we are blessed to serve alongside one another, hand in hand, arm in arm, striving together for the prize that has been so gloriously set before us.
SPEAKER_00: Laboring together because of the glorious gospel that binds us one with another as the unified people of God, the unified Church of the Living God.
SPEAKER_00: I want to congratulate you, first and foremost, uh, at uh for this faithful service in which is represented in these 143 long, beautiful years, your faithful service to our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, my prayer here this morning is that you would continue on in that faithful service, that you would continue and press evermore towards the prize for the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, Philippians 3.14.
SPEAKER_00: All as we faithfully gather together as the body of Christ, being a lighthouse here in this dark and this rocky coast of this lost community around us.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, homecoming is truly an amazing time.
SPEAKER_00: It's a remarkable time here in the local body of the church.
SPEAKER_00: It is a time in which we gather together to enjoy and to celebrate all of the faithful years that God has blessed us as his local church body.
SPEAKER_00: However, there is an important thing to note, truly pertaining to this blessed time of celebration that we are going to enjoy, but it is that not only is this a time in which we all come together in blessed fellowship and blessed communion, but it is a time that points us upward and it points us onward to our true heavenly fellowship.
SPEAKER_00: This is a fellowship, brothers and sisters, that we will enjoy as blood-bought, born-again believers of the Lord Jesus Christ for all of eternity.
SPEAKER_00: All because of the perfect, sinless, spotless, substitutionary, atoning work of our dear Lord upon that old rugged cross.
SPEAKER_00: You see, it's because of that blessed hope that has been set before us, the shedding of the royal, righteous, ruby blood of the Lamb of God, that we are rightly able to enjoy the fruit even here now, which is but a mere shadow of that in which we will eternally enjoy as we dine at the table of our Lord in our heavenly abode that He Himself has prepared for us.
SPEAKER_00: You see, although this is a blessed time of joy and fellowship in celebrating another beautiful year of ministry, yet it is a reminder that we are to remain faithful and unified as a local church body, strengthened by the strong arm of the Lord in doing the will of the Lord, being totally and underly wholeheartedly surrendered to him.
SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
SPEAKER_00: 144 is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00: And we as the body of Christ, we must stand firm in this evil day in which we live.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna see that here in just a minute.
SPEAKER_00: You see, no matter how long we have existed as the local body of Christ, we are continuously engaged in the trenches of this warfare in which we dwell.
SPEAKER_00: And we must remain strong, strong in our faith, ever living to be more and more conformed into the righteous image of Christ, all in spirit and in truth, his word says.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to talk to you all this morning about this topic.
SPEAKER_00: Standing firm in the fight.
SPEAKER_00: 143 years is a remarkable milestone in the life of any given church, but it is evermore the reason to be watchful, to be vigilant, and to be faithful, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: To be faithful, to guard yourselves against the sin that would seek to creep its way into the people of God and therefore into the house of God.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna look at that this morning.
SPEAKER_00: The biblical answer given to the church at Ephesus.
SPEAKER_00: Now, some say this is a bit of a circular letter, but one thing we know is it came to Ephesus by Tychius, Tychius, however you want to pronounce it.
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna look at this biblical answer here given to the church at Ephesus by the writing of the hand of the Apostle Paul on how to be victorious in this great fight in which we are engaged.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to encourage you in that this morning.
SPEAKER_00: So if you can and you're able, will you please stand in reverence for the reading of God's inerrant breathed out word?
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians chapter 6, we're gonna begin in verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna cover through verse 13 this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Beginning in verse 10, the word of the Lord says this finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
SPEAKER_00: Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
SPEAKER_00: Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.
SPEAKER_00: All to stand, brothers and sisters, you may be seated.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go to our Lord in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Most gracious, righteous, holy heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for this blessed day to be able to come and to celebrate 143 years at such a wonderful, beautiful church family.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord God, I'm thankful for every single person who came here this morning to be gathered together as the body of Christ, to worship together in one body, in one spirit, under one head, to proclaim one truth, the righteous truth of the word of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we thank you for this opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for this day.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that our worship is a sweet smelling savor unto you, Lord, that we may wholeheartedly be surrendered and submitted before you as we are engaged in this fight, as we will see.
SPEAKER_00: So, Lord God, our unity as a church is so important.
SPEAKER_00: Our faithfulness as a church body is crucial in the livelihood of our church.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord God, we thank you for this blessed family.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we praise you in your holy and righteous name, in the name that is above every other name, the name that every knee will bow before, the name that every tongue will confess, that Jesus Christ is the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray this in your will and in your righteous name, the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I cannot even begin to truly uncover the fullness of the beauty that is contained in the depths of the words in which we have just read this morning in such a short period of time.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to remind you that everything in which we have just read, written by the hand of the Apostle Paul through the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was written to a local church body just like Cedar Bluff.
SPEAKER_00: A local church body just like Cedar Bluff.
SPEAKER_00: This letter is for the church, and the great theme of this prison epistle, according to one commentator, speaks to God's eternal purpose in establishing and completing his body, the church of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And you see, that is what we seek to do this morning as we come to this text, is to see how we as a body can continue to be edified, exhorted, convicted, and comforted as we continue on in this great struggle in which we endure in this life.
SPEAKER_00: One of the ways in which we do this, bringing us really to our first point, is that we stand firm in Christ's strength.
SPEAKER_00: We stand firm in Christ's strength.
SPEAKER_00: Look what it says in verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
SPEAKER_00: You see, here we begin to see the closing statements of this beautiful epistle that are being spoken by the Apostle Paul as he explains right at the very outset of verse 10, saying, Finally, he's bringing this letter to a close.
SPEAKER_00: You see, his final aspect of this very letter is of the highest importance to the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: As Paul is going to attempt to encourage believers in this ongoing war in which they are enduring at the church at Ephesus, as well as the churches in that area.
SPEAKER_00: And you see, we see a very familiar phrase that is spoken all throughout the annals of the history of the people of God, as Paul continues this thought, saying, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: What an exhortation.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, this is not a mere suggestion, which has been spoken of by Paul.
SPEAKER_00: Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, this is a divine command.
SPEAKER_00: This is a divine command that our forefathers in the faith have passed along until this very day.
SPEAKER_00: We first see Moses invoke this same exhortation to his own successor, Joshua, Deuteronomy 31 and verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what Moses said.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Be strong and of good courage.
SPEAKER_00: You see, being courageous goes hand in hand with being strong.
SPEAKER_00: Strong in the Lord, courageous in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You see, it is the Lord who is our courage, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: And Moses encourages the people here, be strong and of good courage.
SPEAKER_00: Do not fear, nor be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, it is he who will go with you.
SPEAKER_00: He will not fail you nor forsake you.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7 says, Moses called unto Joshua, and he said unto him in the sight of all of Israel, He says, Be strong and of good courage.
SPEAKER_00: Be strong and of good courage.
SPEAKER_00: You see, to be strong is to be courageous.
SPEAKER_00: They go hand in hand, not to be afraid, not to fear what the unbelieving world around you thinks, not to be concerned with what your friend group thinks, not to be concerned with what your coworkers think.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, we are to fear the Lord, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: Because that alone is the beginning of knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: But the scripture says they are fools who despise wisdom and instruction.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we as the body of Christ do not think the way the world thinks, do we?
SPEAKER_00: We do not operate the way the world operates.
SPEAKER_00: We do not fear that in which the world fears.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we as the people of God are to be courageous and we are to be strong in the Lord, students.
SPEAKER_00: Strong in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We as the people of God are courageous and we are strong.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Joshua took this same understanding that was instilled in him by God, by the instruction of God's servant Moses, and Joshua carried that over to the people of God, even in his own day, under his own leadership as well.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what it says over in the book of Joshua, chapter 1, verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: He says this, be strong and of a good courage.
SPEAKER_00: Sound familiar?
SPEAKER_00: And then in verse 7, only be thou strong and very courageous.
SPEAKER_00: We see it again.
SPEAKER_00: We also see it in verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: Have not I commanded you?
SPEAKER_00: Be strong and of good courage.
SPEAKER_00: Do not be afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
SPEAKER_00: He reminds them of this again in chapter 10 and verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: And Joshua said unto them, Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage.
SPEAKER_00: You see, this is truly a remarkable thing to see that this same exhortation that is given in the day of Moses and Joshua in their physical fight during the conquest of the land of Canaan, it is the same exhortation given by the Apostle Paul of the church's spiritual fight in the conquest of their very souls.
SPEAKER_00: It's in a metaphorical way the land of Canaan really is a picture of the heart.
SPEAKER_00: It is a place that is deceitful and it is desperately wicked, and only God can know it.
SPEAKER_00: And it must be purged of her idols, and it must turn to the living God.
SPEAKER_00: It must be cleansed, it must be purified, brothers and sisters, it must be conquered.
SPEAKER_00: You see, in the day of Joshua, the land was conquered by the sword of steel, but today our heart is conquered by the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: It tells us that in verse 17 of our text.
SPEAKER_00: Paul gives this same exhortation in 1 Corinthians to the church at Corinth in chapter 16 and verse 13, where he says, Watch therefore, stand firm in the faith, act like men be strong.
SPEAKER_00: You see, that's how a man is to act.
SPEAKER_00: That's how a man is to go throughout his life, that's how a man is to operate at home and at work and in the church.
SPEAKER_00: He is to stand watch, he is to be vigilant, and he is to be strong in his faith.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the word of God says that faith is the substance of things hoped for, it's the evidence of things that is not seen.
SPEAKER_00: You know, faith is not some blind leap.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the world would tell us faith is.
SPEAKER_00: That's not our faith.
SPEAKER_00: Our faith is substance, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: Our faith is evidential, it's something below us that we stand firmly upon.
SPEAKER_00: And apart from it, we cannot please God.
SPEAKER_00: Well, you see, it's important to note that in this exhortation given by the apostle from our text, notice he doesn't stop by merely saying be strong.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, he continues by explaining exactly who it is that we are to be strong in.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the world teaches their own to be strong within themselves.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the world would teach you.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the world's gonna teach you, students.
SPEAKER_00: To be strong in and of yourselves.
SPEAKER_00: But you see, the world teaches us, they say that we are enough on our own.
SPEAKER_00: They tell us that we have the power within us, we just need to recognize it.
SPEAKER_00: No, the world explains that we're strong in and of ourselves, but brothers and sisters, that is not biblical wisdom.
SPEAKER_00: No, rather be strong in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the Lord is our strength, it's what makes us distinct, it's what makes us separate, it's what sets us apart from this world and the worldly system in which we dwell, the cosmos in the Greek.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the world looks upon our Lord and they laugh and they mock and they scoff, but we who are the people of God, we rest in our great dependence on him because we know that he is our strength.
SPEAKER_00: And knowing that, we cannot even go one single minute without wholeheartedly leaning upon him for all things.
SPEAKER_00: Living in his might, which is what Paul continues to explain in verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: Look again what it says be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
SPEAKER_00: You see, these two ideas they go together in a rather similar way.
SPEAKER_00: However, uh, to be strong in the Lord is to rest in the power of his might.
SPEAKER_00: And they somewhat seem to go hand in hand because to be strong in the Lord is to fight the battle, not in our own strength, not in and of ourselves, and not in the power of our own might, but in the power of the Lord's might, in his strength.
SPEAKER_00: You see, these two clauses that are placed alongside one another in verse 10, they may seem a bit redundant.
SPEAKER_00: However, they are anything but redundant.
SPEAKER_00: You see, as a matter of fact, they correlate together beautifully.
SPEAKER_00: In that first clause, we see the phrase be strong.
SPEAKER_00: We've already talked about that.
SPEAKER_00: It comes from a Greek compound phrase in dunama'o.
SPEAKER_00: And that root word literally means to be empowered, it means exceedingly strong.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, it is the strongest word in the Greek language that is used to typically translate into the word power.
SPEAKER_00: There's about four different Greek words that are translated into the word power.
SPEAKER_00: But this is being exceedingly strong, empowered.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, it's where we get our English word dynamite from, dunamite, dunoma'o, or dunamis in the verb.
SPEAKER_00: But then we see a second clause here.
SPEAKER_00: And in the Greek, it's translated into English power, but it comes from the Greek word kratos, and that means mighty dominion.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not trying to give you a Greek lesson here this morning, but I'm trying to uh show you really the root of what this is getting at, because it's something that is far beyond our comprehension.
SPEAKER_00: You see, this word kratos in the Greek, it means mighty dominion.
SPEAKER_00: This speaks to the sovereignty of our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You see, therefore, when you bring these two phrases together in this verse, it's not redundant.
SPEAKER_00: What it is suggesting for us as believers in this great fight is that we are to be empowered, exceedingly strong in the sovereign dominion of our Lord, which is absolutely and utterly crucial in our fight, which we're gonna come to see the importance of over in verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the apostle Paul, all throughout the book of Ephesians, he references the book of Isaiah, and he goes back to the Old Testament, the wonderful prophet Isaiah.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to listen to what it says in Isaiah 40, it's specifically verse 26, where it talks about this, but it really describes this in verses 21 through 31.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what it says, beginning in verse 21, Isaiah 40.
SPEAKER_00: Have you not known?
SPEAKER_00: Have you not heard?
SPEAKER_00: Has it not been told to you from the beginning?
SPEAKER_00: Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
SPEAKER_00: It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers that stretches out the heavens as a curtain and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in, that brings the princes to nothing, he makes the judges of the earth as vanity, yea, they shall not be planted, yea, they shall not be sown, yea, their stalk shall not take root in the earth, and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
SPEAKER_00: To whom then will you liken me, or shall I be an equal to any one?
SPEAKER_00: Said the Holy One.
SPEAKER_00: Lift up your eyes on high, and behold, who has created these things that brings out their host by number?
SPEAKER_00: He calls them all by their names, talking about the stars, by the greatness of his might, for he is strong in power, and not one fails.
SPEAKER_00: We'll stop there.
SPEAKER_00: Not one of them fails.
SPEAKER_00: You see, this is the strength wherein we dwell, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: This is the strength wherein we stand, and this is the strength wherein we fight.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, if you don't hear anything else that this loudmouth, long-winded preacher says this morning, hear this, I exhort you once again, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
SPEAKER_00: Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
SPEAKER_00: This is so important to the livelihood of this blessed church family here in Atkins, Virginia.
SPEAKER_00: Don't fight this battle upon your own strength.
SPEAKER_00: You're far too frail.
SPEAKER_00: I am far too frail.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Justin is far too frail.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be strong in your own power because you're far too weak.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, fight this battle in the strength of the Lord and in the power of his might, in the strength of his sovereign dominion, knowing that he is Lord over all.
SPEAKER_00: Because he alone is our rock, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: He alone is our fortress, he alone is our strong tower, he alone is our bulwark, he alone is our shield, he alone is our defense, he alone is our buckler, he alone is the horn of our salvation, he alone is our power, and he alone is our strength.
SPEAKER_00: To quote the German monk Martin Luther, who once uh sung the beautiful battle cry of the Protestant Reformation a mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing.
SPEAKER_00: That's the God in whom we serve.
SPEAKER_00: He is a strong defense, he is our mighty fortress.
SPEAKER_00: Well, in verse 10, we see the importance of our preparation for this battle in which we are engaged, how we are to live our life in the strength of the Lord and in the power of his might.
SPEAKER_00: But in verse 11, we begin to see our equipment in this fight, as well as the thing in which we are to stand firm against, which leads us into a second thing.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what it says as we Stand firm against the enemy schemes.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 11 put on the whole armor of God.
SPEAKER_00: Notice not just some armor, not just the armor of God in part, but we are to put on the fullness, that is, the completion of the armor of God, the whole armor.
SPEAKER_00: This is how we are strong in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: This is how we live our life in the power of his might.
SPEAKER_00: Because, brothers and sisters, this is not our armor.
SPEAKER_00: This is the armor that has been graciously bestowed upon us by our loving Father.
SPEAKER_00: Notice once again what does it say?
SPEAKER_00: Put on the full armor of man?
SPEAKER_00: No, the armor of God.
SPEAKER_00: This is not the armor of man.
SPEAKER_00: This is not the armor of the angels.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, this is the armor of God Himself.
SPEAKER_00: And because it is something that comes from God Himself, it is one of the most important things that we as blood-born-again believers should do.
SPEAKER_00: Put it on.
SPEAKER_00: So what is this armor exactly?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's describing in the following portion of this section of Scripture, specifically verses 14 through 17.
SPEAKER_00: However, this section is truly far too vast, and it requires its own separate really series of messages.
SPEAKER_00: So I just want to make them known today.
SPEAKER_00: But what I want us to learn from merely just reading over this at a 30,000-foot view over these specific truths, is I want us to see that not necessarily the things relating to each piece of armor, but rather the nature of each piece of armor.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what it says beginning in verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: Listen carefully.
SPEAKER_00: Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
SPEAKER_00: Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you 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.
SPEAKER_00: You see, did you pick up on the nature of our warfare here?
SPEAKER_00: Notice that in each one of these pieces of armor, Paul is describing the reality of a real-life Roman soldier in full battle attire.
SPEAKER_00: Now I was a military man, I served in the United States Army, and we used to call it full battle rattle.
SPEAKER_00: And he's describing this soldier in full battle rattle.
SPEAKER_00: But you see, each one of these pieces of our armor, they are not physical.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, they are spiritual.
SPEAKER_00: They're spiritual.
SPEAKER_00: Because you see, the nature of our warfare is spiritual.
SPEAKER_00: And we must fight this war in the spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Notice again what all these pieces of armor represent: truth, righteousness, gospel of peace, faith, salvation, spirit, and the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the beautiful thing in this to the child of God is that our Father has given us everything that we need in order to be successful in this tiresome fight in which we find ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: This just goes to show us the depths of the Father's love for us, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: He has not left us to defend for ourselves, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, he has given to us everything in which we need in order to be successful and victorious in this fight of our very lives.
SPEAKER_00: We must take this seriously.
SPEAKER_00: For our foe and all that are under his headship are far more powerful than we are, if left to ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Once again, even more the reason to be strong in the Spirit and to be in the power of his might.
SPEAKER_00: Because our adversary is crafty.
SPEAKER_00: He's always scheming and hopes to thwart the plan and the purpose of our righteous and holy God.
SPEAKER_00: Not that he will ever succeed, as the gates of hell will not prevail against the church.
SPEAKER_00: But he's always crafting, he's scheming.
SPEAKER_00: It talks about that continuing on in verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: Look what it says.
SPEAKER_00: Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles, that is, the schemes of the devil.
SPEAKER_00: You see, what this text is explaining to us is that apart from the full armor of God, apart from truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, the Holy Spirit, and the word of God, we cannot stand against this infernal foe.
SPEAKER_00: You see, these are the things that we need in order to stand against the schemes of the devil.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, that word stand appears four times in just four verses here, where Paul is explaining to the church how they are to stand strong against the forces of the devil.
SPEAKER_00: And you see, oddly enough, apart from these spiritual things that are mentioned, which represents the true salvation of any born-again, blood-bought child of living God, apart from those things, you wouldn't be fighting against the devil at all, anyways.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, you would be running in the same direction as him.
SPEAKER_00: But you see, we as the church are not running parallel to the scheming devil.
SPEAKER_00: We're running perpendicular.
SPEAKER_00: We are hitting him head on, therefore we must be prepared.
SPEAKER_00: We must be prepared.
SPEAKER_00: You see, our enemy is always scheming.
SPEAKER_00: He's crafty.
SPEAKER_00: That's what that word scheme means.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible refers to the devil as a roaring lion in 1 Peter 5 8.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what it says.
SPEAKER_00: It says, be sober.
SPEAKER_00: That is, don't be drunk.
SPEAKER_00: Be clear-headed.
SPEAKER_00: Have a clarity of your mind.
SPEAKER_00: Be sober and be vigilant.
SPEAKER_00: That is, be on guard at all times.
SPEAKER_00: Stand guard in the armor of God.
SPEAKER_00: Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 12 10 refers to the devil as the accuser of the brethren, who accuses the brethren before the throne day and night.
SPEAKER_00: You see, in both of these instances, this is to say that at all times he is seeking to bring an accusation against the brethren of God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, in this way, he roams about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, we must not only put on the armor of God at specific times, but rather we are to live our life in the complete armor of God.
SPEAKER_00: We never take it off, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: We don't take off truth.
SPEAKER_00: We don't take off righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: We don't take off the gospel of peace.
SPEAKER_00: We don't take off our faith.
SPEAKER_00: We don't lay aside salvation.
SPEAKER_00: We don't lay aside the Holy Spirit, though Scripture says we are sealed in the Spirit of promise earlier in this book.
SPEAKER_00: We don't put off the word of God, do we, brothers and sisters?
SPEAKER_00: Rather, we immerse ourselves in these good and perfect things from above.
SPEAKER_00: By the way, Romans 13, 12 refers to this armor as the armor of light.
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
SPEAKER_00: The armor of light.
SPEAKER_00: In John 8, 12, Jesus says, I am the light of this world, and he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
SPEAKER_00: If you follow him, you will not walk in darkness, but you will have the armor of God.
SPEAKER_00: You will have the light of life.
SPEAKER_00: You'll have the armor of light.
SPEAKER_00: You know, in like fashion, the devil and his principalities, his powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, he seems to attempt to counterfeit anything that our Lord does, doesn't he?
SPEAKER_00: He seeks to serve as a counterfeit.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says he often appears as an angel of light, and his ministers appear as ministers of unright or of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: You see, this speaks to just how formidable our infernal foe truly is.
SPEAKER_00: Which brings us to a third thing.
SPEAKER_00: These are more brief.
SPEAKER_00: Thirdly, we stand firm in this spiritual battle.
SPEAKER_00: We stand firm in the spiritual battle.
SPEAKER_00: Look what it says beginning in verse 12.
SPEAKER_00: For we wrestle.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm gonna pause there for just a quick second.
SPEAKER_00: Because you see, this is describing a great struggle.
SPEAKER_00: A great struggle.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, the Greek word used to translate the English word wrestle is this word palay.
SPEAKER_00: And it literally means to struggle.
SPEAKER_00: Its original use comes to us by the ancient Roman Homer.
SPEAKER_00: And this word is really describing something, according to Strong's dictionary, as a contest between two people in which one endeavors to throw the other, and which is decided when the victor is able to prostrate his opponent, often by holding down his neck.
SPEAKER_00: That's what this is describing.
SPEAKER_00: You see, this describes our struggle against these forces of darkness.
SPEAKER_00: Now, once again, I say forces of darkness because the truth of the matter is it's very unlikely that we will ever personally go one-on-one with the devil himself.
SPEAKER_00: You see, he's not omnipotent, he's not omniscient, he's not omnipresent as our God is.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, he's often referred to as God's devil.
SPEAKER_00: Because even he is under the divine sovereign control of God.
SPEAKER_00: However, we do wrestle, we do struggle against that which is under his scheming device, if you will.
SPEAKER_00: And our great enemy is not flesh and blood, but the demonic spiritual influences behind the flesh and blood.
SPEAKER_00: The demonic host under the instruction and headship of the devil.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 12, for we wrestle, here it is, not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
SPEAKER_00: Now, all these things that are mentioned here in verse 12 reveal to us a highly complex structure of demonic forces under the headship of Satan himself.
SPEAKER_00: You see, this is our fight.
SPEAKER_00: This is why it's so hard.
SPEAKER_00: This is why we struggle so greatly.
SPEAKER_00: This is why we must put on the armor of God.
SPEAKER_00: And you can see why the Apostle Paul alludes to this as a wrestling match, a struggle.
SPEAKER_00: Our fight is against principalities.
SPEAKER_00: That is a word that is pertaining to the chief rulers of the demonic world.
SPEAKER_00: Against not only principalities, but powers as well.
SPEAKER_00: That describes the strength and the authority of the demonic army.
SPEAKER_00: Against rulers of the darkness of this world, it says.
SPEAKER_00: This is something that represents the demonic influence throughout the world.
SPEAKER_00: Even in things pertaining to political leaders, politics, leaders, local, uh, state, uh, national, worldly, also even certain religious matters.
SPEAKER_00: Our fight is against principalities, it's against powers, it's against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and also against spiritual wickedness.
SPEAKER_00: This could signify the demonic influence behind the worst and grossest immoralities that you could read about here in the scripture.
SPEAKER_00: But you see, the purpose to all this, and I can't even begin to do all that justice, but the purpose to all of this written by Paul to the church was not to merely talk about the structure or hierarchy of the demonic foes, rather to help us to be informed, brothers and sisters, of our enemy, and that our enemy is strong and formidable and powerful.
SPEAKER_00: And he does this to encourage us of the importance in bearing the full armor of God at all times, not just sometimes, not just when we come to church, not just when we do this or that.
SPEAKER_00: No, at all times, at all times.
SPEAKER_00: You know, once again, I don't have the the time to go into all the different abilities and powers that our foe has and just how strong the devil truly is, but rest assured, it pales in comparison to the power and the strength and the authority of our holy, righteous God.
SPEAKER_00: All things, brothers and sisters, not some things, not part of things, all things have been given in subjection to God, including the demonic powers.
SPEAKER_00: It talks about that back in Ephesians chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's already mentioned this.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what it says in verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: And what is the exceeding greatness of God's power to us who believe?
SPEAKER_00: According to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: When he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.
SPEAKER_00: You see where our strength comes from, brothers and sisters?
SPEAKER_00: It tells us right there in verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: Our strength, our power comes from the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That is where we draw our strength.
SPEAKER_00: That is what gives us the confidence to assault the gates of hell with all confidence and power and strength.
SPEAKER_00: It's because of the resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: It's because of the resurrection that we are gathered here together this morning.
SPEAKER_00: It's because of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ that you, as the people of God here in the house of God, have been blessed and able to celebrate 143 years.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 21 says, He is far above all principality and power and might.
SPEAKER_00: That word sound familiar?
SPEAKER_00: He uses it again in verse chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: Far above all principality and power, far above all might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.
SPEAKER_00: And it says that he has put all things under his feet and gave to Christ to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that fills all in all.
SPEAKER_00: All in all, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: This is why we are to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
SPEAKER_00: This is why we put on the full armor of God that we may be able to stand in his divine strength, for all things are subject to his divine authority.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, the primary way in which the devil operates is through the means of this evil worldly system in this day in which we live, even today.
SPEAKER_00: Talks about that in verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: But this brings us to a fourth and final thing as we start to round third base, okay?
SPEAKER_00: I know you're getting hungry.
SPEAKER_00: I am too.
SPEAKER_00: But fourthly, we see that we are to stand firm in this sinister day.
SPEAKER_00: Stand firm in the sinister day.
SPEAKER_00: You see, back in chapter 5 of this very same book, Paul explained to the church at Ephesus, he said, Be careful how you walk.
SPEAKER_00: Boy, some of y'all need to hear that.
SPEAKER_00: We all need to hear that, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Ian needs to hear that.
SPEAKER_00: Be careful how you walk.
SPEAKER_00: Not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time because the days are evil, the Apostle Paul says.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we as the church, the body of Christ, must make the most of our time in fulfilling the purposes of our righteous Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Because the days in which we live are evil, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: They're evil.
SPEAKER_00: We as the church, the body of Christ, must be vigilant in this.
SPEAKER_00: These days are tough.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, we as the church need one another, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: Could you imagine your life without your brothers and sisters in Christ?
SPEAKER_00: We need each other if we are to thrive in this present evil day in which we live.
SPEAKER_00: That is the importance of gathering together as the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And yes, the grace of God is absolutely sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
SPEAKER_00: God has given us another great blessing to supplement that.
SPEAKER_00: And that our joy in Him may be full.
SPEAKER_00: And that is just one another.
SPEAKER_00: Simply put, one another.
SPEAKER_00: That's why our Lord commands us once again to gather together as the people of God, in the house of God, and not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of the heathen are, the pagan are.
SPEAKER_00: You see, don't ever let anyone tell you, brothers and sisters, that your attendance here at Cedar Bluff Baptist Church is not important.
SPEAKER_00: Don't ever think that.
SPEAKER_00: It is important.
SPEAKER_00: It's crucial in this mission.
SPEAKER_00: This mission to take the gospel to this community around you.
SPEAKER_00: It's crucial that you're edified and exhorted together as the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It's important that you worship together as the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You see, if we are going to stand strong in this evil day in which we live, we need one another.
SPEAKER_00: We need one another, fighting together in the full armor of God.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Paul alludes to this very same concept in chapter 6 and verse 13.
SPEAKER_00: Look at what he says in your text.
SPEAKER_00: Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand.
SPEAKER_00: You see, he reiterates this point.
SPEAKER_00: He's already spoken this, but he reiterates this point because of the sheer importance.
SPEAKER_00: And this is really interesting here, because before Paul has already exhorted the church to put on the whole armor of God, but now he uses different language.
SPEAKER_00: Did you catch that?
SPEAKER_00: He commands them to take the whole armor of God.
SPEAKER_00: You see, that is to say, don't just put it on for a while once again.
SPEAKER_00: Carry it with you.
SPEAKER_00: Take it with you all the days of your life.
SPEAKER_00: Never take it off, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: Live every aspect of your life in the armor of God.
SPEAKER_00: At school, at work, at the gym, at the grocery store, in the home, and in the church, etc., etc.
SPEAKER_00: You see, as blood ball-born-again believers who have been covered by the righteous atoning blood of the Lamb, this armor is who we are now.
SPEAKER_00: It's a part of us.
SPEAKER_00: It is who we are.
SPEAKER_00: We are a new creation in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We have been buried with him in baptism and raised to walk in newness of life.
SPEAKER_00: And we must wear it so that we can withstand in the evil day, the text says, having done all to stand.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Paul's used two different words here, stand and withstand.
SPEAKER_00: You see those in verse 13?
SPEAKER_00: Both of which are similar, yet they come from two completely different Greek words.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we enclose ourselves in his righteous armor of light, that we may be able to stand firmly in this evil day in which we live, in order that we might withstand against the demonic onslaught from the forces who rage vehemently against the house that our Lord has built up for us and in us.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we clothe ourselves in his armor so that we may remain strong in the days of trial and testing, so that when the tides of life beat us to and fro, we are never moved.
SPEAKER_00: We're never moved.
SPEAKER_00: Because our life has been built upon the strongest foundation of the chief cornerstone of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, that doesn't mean that it will always be easy.
SPEAKER_00: Quite to the contrary.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, this is a spiritual fight.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.
SPEAKER_00: This is a spiritual fight.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore it must be fought spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: This is not a fight that is won on our feet per se.
SPEAKER_00: Rather, this is a fight that must be won upon our knees, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 6 18 says, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
SPEAKER_00: This is our duty.
SPEAKER_00: This is our blessing to come boldly before the throne of grace together as the people of God.
SPEAKER_00: Once again, we cannot fight this war physically.
SPEAKER_00: We must fight spiritually, because our great infernal foe is spiritual.
SPEAKER_00: The scripture teaches, resist the devil and he will flee from you.
SPEAKER_00: James explains in James 4, 7.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what it says in full.
SPEAKER_00: Submit yourselves therefore to God.
SPEAKER_00: Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
SPEAKER_00: Now a lot of people love the last part of that verse, but don't give too much heed to the first part of it.
SPEAKER_00: Understand something, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: If you are going to live your life in the armor of God, you must be surrendered to God.
SPEAKER_00: Submit yourself therefore to God, and then you will have the strength and the power to resist the devil so that he will flee from you.
SPEAKER_00: You must be submitted to God.
SPEAKER_00: You must be surrendered wholeheartedly at the foot of his cross.
SPEAKER_00: Because you will never be able to fully resist the schemes of the devil in this evil day if you are not totally, wholeheartedly surrendered before the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Some of you here this morning may not be living a life that is fully surrendered to God, and God is convicting you that you need to just lay it all down before Him.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to invite you to do that this morning during the time of invitation.
SPEAKER_00: But before we do that, I I thought about something rather interesting.
SPEAKER_00: I was considering your theme for this year of grow.
SPEAKER_00: And I love that, Pastor Justin.
SPEAKER_00: I love this theme, grow.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I took that theme, grow, and I put it into a bit of an acrostic that goes along with this particular message.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to give that to you to encourage you as we close this message out to continue on in this fight, in this very fight of faith.
SPEAKER_00: First is the letter G.
SPEAKER_00: G can represent guard, guard yourself, be vigilant, be watchful, stand firm in the faith, be sober-minded, be clear thinking, be watchful, guard yourself.
SPEAKER_00: R could stand for resist.
SPEAKER_00: That is resist the devil, submit to God, fight this glorious fight, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: The day when you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you surrendered your life before Him, you entered into a fight, a spiritual fight against the old nature and which still dwells upon you in the rotten form of that flesh, empowered by the demonic forces behind it.
SPEAKER_00: Guard, resist, oh, observe.
SPEAKER_00: That is, observe yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Examine yourself to see if you are truly in the faith.
SPEAKER_00: Examine yourself to see if there be any wicked way in you.
SPEAKER_00: And then lastly, W, win.
SPEAKER_00: Win.
SPEAKER_00: Fight this good fight.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, when Jesus told the apostle Peter, and when he said, Peter, upon your great confession, when he when Peter said to the Lord, You are the Christ, you are the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: Of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, Peter, upon that very confession, I am going to build my church.
SPEAKER_00: And what else did he say?
SPEAKER_00: He said, What?
SPEAKER_00: The gates of hell will not prevail against it.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that for a second.
SPEAKER_00: What is a gate?
SPEAKER_00: A gate is not an assaulting structure, is it?
SPEAKER_00: No, a gate is a defensive structure.
SPEAKER_00: A gate is to keep people from coming in.
SPEAKER_00: They're on the defensive, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: Hell is on the defensive.
SPEAKER_00: We are on the offensive.
SPEAKER_00: We have the sword of the spirit, the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Take it and assault the gates of hell in this community, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: Guard, resist, observe, and win.
SPEAKER_00: Win because of the glorious resurrection of our righteous Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Win because of what he has done for you and for me.
SPEAKER_00: By laying aside his righteous heavenly robes, veiling his divinity, stepping out of glory, and coming to this earth, being made a little lower than the angels, being found in the fashion of a man, being born of the Virgin Mary, walking and living a perfect, spotless, blameless, sinless, perfect life of absolute perfection, and willingly going to the cross, where he suffered, bled, and he died, and he shed his righteous blood.
SPEAKER_00: No man took the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, he shed it.
SPEAKER_00: And our sin drove the nails into his scarred hands.
SPEAKER_00: And he took that for us.
SPEAKER_00: He became our substitute, the just for the unjust, the blameless for the blameful, the sinless for the sinful.
SPEAKER_00: And he gave his life.
SPEAKER_00: And he was buried.
SPEAKER_00: And he resurrected.
SPEAKER_00: He rose victoriously.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't die in defeat.
SPEAKER_00: And he ascended back up to be with the Father and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty on high.
SPEAKER_00: And he's coming back.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, by his own grace, which is a marvelous, magnificent grace, it is a grace upon grace upon grace.
SPEAKER_00: It teaches us in the Gospel of John.
SPEAKER_00: By his grace and for his glory, he has redeemed us as his people.
SPEAKER_00: By his righteous blood.
SPEAKER_00: When we turn from our sin, when we surrender our life before him, when we surrender our very life at the foot of the cross, because only at the foot of the cross we become covered by the righteous atoning blood.
SPEAKER_00: Because of his grace, by repentance, through faith, he has offered to reconcile us to a perfect, holy God.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters, the person to the left of you is not your moral standard.
SPEAKER_00: The person to the right of you is not your moral standard.
SPEAKER_00: Adolf Hitler is not your moral standard.
SPEAKER_00: Your moral standard is the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And when we see him for that, for that specific purpose, we see just how greatly we fall short of his glory, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: Give yourself to Christ today.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to close with a word of prayer and we will have our time of invitation, brother.
SPEAKER_00: We want to invite you to do that this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We'd love to talk with you.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Most gracious, righteous, holy Father, Lord, we thank you for this wonderful day.
SPEAKER_00: This wonderful day in which we can come and celebrate the work that you have done in the body here at Cedar Bluff Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: What a precious church family this is.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, my prayer for this church is the same prayer that the Apostle Paul gave to the church and to the Colossian people, as he said, For this cause, we also, since the day we heard of you, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you all might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father, which has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_00: What a mighty God we serve, what a glorious God we serve.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray that these dear beloved people are encouraged this morning to stand firm in the fight, to be strong, and to be very courageous, and to not be afraid, and to stand in the power of the might of the Lord in his full armor.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I ask this in your most precious, gracious name, and in your most wondrous, righteous will.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, brother.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Ian, for that message and that charge to stand firm.
SPEAKER_00: If you would stand with me and we'll sing a verse of great.