Ephesians Part 95

INTRO: In the last message we began looking at the text of Paul's last point in his letter to the Ephesians. He deals with the battle of the Christian. It is an interesting addition to the letter because it is not directly related to the rest of the letter by subject. The relation one might draw is that Paul, in the last half of the letter gave many instructions to the believer. And if the believer will seek to obey those instructions, without doubt, he will meet the demonic forces.

Think of Ephesus, where they had never known the true God and had worshipped the goddess Dianna. Every kind of sin was practiced in this city. And when Paul arrived there, some of the Ephesians got saved and you can imagine what they faced. And now Paul has written to them and taught them doctrine in chapters 1-3 and then taught them how to live as Christians. And if they will live like that in this culture, without any question, they will meet the demonic forces. And now, in this final point Paul will tell them how to overcome these forces.

In verse 10, he told them what to do. He said, "Finally, my brethren, be enabled in the Lord, even in the power of His might." Now in verse 11 he will briefly tell them how to do that. It is like this: "Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." And in verse 12 he tells them why that is necessary. It is this: "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."