Let's take our Bibles and turn
to Ephesians chapter 6. We've been studying in chapter
5 and chapter 6 this thing of submission. Submission to Christ. And in submitting, he tells us
what this submission is. It's a submitting of ourselves
to the whole purpose of God, especially to the Son of God
supremely. and then to all those other areas
where God has established His favor and His authority. And
now we're getting down to the end of the chapter and He begins
to summarize everything that is taught so far in the book. I just want to look today at
one verse of Scripture in verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord. and in the power of His might. Now, everything that the believer
is commanded of God to do is impossible for any man to do
of himself. Let that sink in for a minute.
Everything that God commands the believer to do is impossible
for him to do of himself. And yet, with the command, God
always gives the ability to obey the command. Always. I remember years ago, Brother
Mahan brought a message, and the title of it was, He Couldn't,
But He Did. That was the title of his message.
He told that man with that withered hand, he said, stretch forth
thine hand. He couldn't, but he did. He commanded that sea to divide
in half back there in Exodus. Well, Moses couldn't split that
sea. No man could split that sea. But he did. And on and on
and on. You can go with the believers.
The believers commanded to repent, but he can't. If repentance is
something that all men could do, all men would repent. Or
at least some of them. None of them repented. None of
them repent. Repentance is the gift of God.
So is faith. Man's commanded to believe, but
man can't believe. But with the command comes the
ability to do it. And so that when God commands
His children to believe, He gives them the ability to believe. This is what Paul describes over
in Philippians, if you want to turn over there toward the book
of Revelation, just turn over a page or two to Philippians
chapter 2. Look here what he says concerning
these things. He said, wherefore, down in verse
12, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence
only, but now much more in my absence, Work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you,
both to will and to do of His good pleasure." In chapter 1 of Philippians,
in verse 6, Paul said this was his confidence, his confidence
in the ministry, his confidence in the things that he preached
and the things that he did in obedience to God. that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it, that he will
perform it until that day. You see that? Everything the
believers commanded to do, he cannot do of himself. He can't
do it. You can't work it up. You can't
clench your teeth and do it. You can't do it of your own energy. And if you can, it's God that
worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
Be strong. That's what he's talking about
here. Be strong in the Lord. When did Paul say he was at his
strongest? When he was at his weakest. Why? Because he was strong in the
Lord. In the Lord. Well, what's that mean, be strong
in the Lord? Well, the believer's strength
is his faith. It's his faith. In 1 John chapter
5 and verse 4, he said, Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the
world. He overcomes... When I'm talking
about the world or the Scriptures talking about the world, he's
talking about all the reasoning of the world, all the the logic
of the world. Everything that the world says
is so. They stand and they testify against
God, the world. This is the world. And he said,
the believer overcomes. That which is born of God overcomes
the world. Now, for those of you whose eyes
have been opened, you understand what I'm saying. This world,
by overwhelming majority, say this is so. And you look in the
big, long established religions and all the big churches and
all the big assemblies, they all agree. And all the governments
of the world, they all agree. They'll welcome into the White
House. They'll welcome up these men.
I've never heard a single grace preacher ever invited to the
White House. Never. Never. Why? Because they're not in agreement
with them. They don't invite them down to City Hall. Don't
invite them anywhere. Why? Because the world is opposed
to these things by the overwhelming majority. So how does the believer
overcome that faith? That which is born of God overcometh
the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even
our faith. Be strong, he said, in the Lord. What unites us to Christ is faith. Faith. It's through faith that
all the other graces are given to us. To be strong in the Lord
means to be strong in faith. It means to be mature in understanding. It means to be clear in his person
and work, confident in him. Listen to this, O Abraham, these
things are so simple to the man with an who's been awakened to
the man with the spiritual eye. They're so easy to perceive.
God gives them to us in pictures. He gives them to us in just plain
declarations. And we see them, we believe them,
and we rejoice in them. But here's old Abraham. He's
the father of the faithful. You want an example of faith?
Abraham. Every time our Lord wanted to
talk about faith, every time Paul wanted to talk about faith,
he talked about Abraham. And old Abraham, it says, against
hope, against hope. Everything in him said, this
can't be. This can't be. I can't have a
child. I'm a hundred years old. My wife
is way up there. I can't have no child. Abraham,
against hope, believed in hope. And in so doing, become the prime
example or father of all them that believe. Romans 4 verse
20. He staggered not at the promise of God. Boy, I tell you what, we stammer,
don't we? Yes, we do. We stagger. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong. How was he strong? In faith. Giving glory to God and being
fully persuaded that what God had promised. God was able also
to perform. Now brethren, God never gives
a command to a sinner that He will not give him the power to
obey the command. There is not one person in the
kingdom of God that God Himself commanded to believe that He
did not by His presence and power enable him to believe. He enabled us. Isn't that the
same song they all sung? God enabled us by His grace. And Peter tells us that we're
kept right down to the last day. This is the last work. We're
kept by the power of God through faith. That's how the power of
God, that's how the might of Christ, that's how these things
come to the believer. To be strong in the Lord is to
be strong in faith. It's not to clench your fist
and attempt to resist your enemies by your own determination. It's
to stand in Christ, believing Him to be sufficient, sufficient
to overcome all obstacles. Faith rests in the Lord. It rests. It's not worried. It's not patient. It rests in
the Lord. Everything it wears and everything
it has and everything it hopes for is in Christ. We wear His
righteousness, don't we? Huh? Let me tell you when you're
going to wear His righteousness. When you're convinced that it's
sufficient to present you faultless before the presence of the Lord.
That's when you'll put it on. Until then, you're going to wander
around like the Jews did in their ignorance trying to work one
out of your own. We see His righteousness to be
wrought out for us and sufficient to please God and sufficient
to exalt and honor the law as high as it can possibly be honored.
And then we rest in His sin-atoning death. Think about that. If Christ did not satisfy the
justice of God concerning our sins, then what have we got left
to offer? Huh? What are you going to add
to it? Isn't that what this world says? His offering, his sacrifice was
a down payment. That was the first step. Now
you have to take the rest. What are you going to add? If
the blood of Christ was not sufficient 100% to atone and put away your
sin, what have you got to offer? Huh? What are you going to add
to? We rest in his sin-atoning death. And then there's another side
to that coin, too. There's another side to it. If
God crucified his dear son, saw the travail of his soul and was
satisfied, how's he going to react to those who try to add
something to it? The supreme sacrifice of his
dear son. The Holy Spirit tells us that
if righteousness come by the law, then Christ died in vain.
That's what it said. It said if we so much as add
the simple act of circumcision to it, Christ will profit us
nothing. Now that's how set and satisfied
God is on these things. We rest in His sin-atoning sacrifice,
and faith rests in the resurrected Christ. I'll tell you what the
believer sees in the resurrected Christ. He sees himself justified. Justified. Because that was his
sin bearer. And if his sins still remain,
Christ must still be in the grave. Isn't that what Paul said about
resurrection over in 1 Corinthians chapter 15? If Christ be not
raised, we're yet in our sins. That's what he said. The believer
sees himself justified. It's because Christ is raised
that we have hope. Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter
1. The believer's hope differs from
all the other hopes and expectations of religion in that the believer's
hope is all together in a person. That's what makes it different,
Nathan. That's what makes us different right here than all
these other religions that surround us. This one point, right? The believer's hope is in a person. His hope, his heart, and his
desires are in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now watch
this. I Peter 1, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again. Now watch this. unto a lively,
that word is living, hope. My hope's alive, John. It's not
a thing. It's not in a series of articles
that I can post up here on the wall or put out in the yard.
It's not in a creed. It's not in a catechism. You
know, we want sometimes to sit and we go back and forth and
back and forth and back and forth on what we It's in a person. My hope is alive. It's not in
dead articles. It's not in doctrine. It's not
in word only. It's in a person. Do I believe
in those truths? Absolutely. But I see them in
Him. That's where I see them. My hope
is alive. He's begotten us again unto a
living, breathing, risen hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. It rests in His righteousness,
rests in His sin-atoning sacrifice, rests in His resurrection from
the dead, and faith rests in His glorified, victorious, reigning,
seated King. That's my hope. He's alive and
He's seated at the right hand of God, and He's sitting down.
He ain't patient. He ain't worried. He doesn't
have His armies all lined up. He's sat down. My king, victorious,
victorious. And because he sits at the right
hand of God reigning over all things, all things concerning
our salvation are absolutely sure, absolutely sure. There's nothing concerning our
victory over this world left to chance. He said, he spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall
they not also with him freely give us all things? Is he going to withhold faith?
He didn't withhold his son. He's not going to withhold faith.
What will he withhold? He going to withhold taking care
of you, putting a meal on the table? What's he going to withhold?
Nothing. He spared not his own son. And
faith rests in his triumph at return. This same Jesus, that
same Jesus that ate and drank with publicans and sinners, that
same Jesus that healed all our diseases and raised our dead,
that same Jesus that opened the scriptures to us and caused our
hearts to burn, That same Jesus that called us and taught us
and gave Himself for us. That same Jesus those angels
said that you see going away on the cloud. That one that ate
with you. Held out his hand and said, stick
your finger in the hole. Put your hand here in this hole
in my thigh. That same Jesus, as you see Him
going away, is going to return in like manner, riding on the
cloud. A living hope. living hope. Behold, that's the first thing
he declared to John. John out on that island on the
board today, in the spirit, worshiping God. And God gave him that revelation
of Jesus Christ. And this is the first thing he
told him. He said, behold, he cometh with clouds. And every eye shall see him.
And they also that pierced him And all kindreds of the earth
shall wail because of Him. Over in the book of Hebrews,
chapter 9, it says, unto them, unto those whose sins He bore,
unto them that look for Him, expect Him, look to Him, hope
in Him, rest in Him, unto them, unto them that look for Him,
He's going to return. And you're going to see Him the
second time without sin unto salvation. Be strong in that. You see what
Paul's telling us? Be strong in that. Believe in
that. Rest in that. Find hope in that. Rooted. Build up in Him. Established in the faith as you've
been taught. Brethren, you cannot be established
in the faith apart from Christ because He's the object of faith.
He's the object of faith. Colossians 2, verse 8. Paul said, beware lest any man
spoil you through philosophy. What is that? Anybody here know
what philosophy means? I had to look it up. Well, here's
what the dictionary says it means. The love and pursuit of wisdom
by intellectual means. Philosophy. Philosophy. It means the inquiry. into the
nature of things based on logical reasoning by things seen and
proven to men. A system of values by which one
lives. Philosophy. It's that which appeals to your
senses and to your worldly reasoning. What else spoils faith? What
else spoils faith? Faith. Be strong in the Lord. Strong in that faith. But Paul
said there are some things that spoil that faith. One of them
is philosophy. Here's the other one. Vain deceit. Deceit, according to the dictionary,
is the misrepresentation of truth. That's what it is. And vain deceit
is to misrepresent the truth with an evil purpose or for an
ungodly reason. Where do these things come from?
Where do these veins, you see, where does this philosophy, where
does all this stuff come from? He tells us here in Colossians
Chapter 2, they're rudiments of the world. Rudiments, that means rudimentary
principles. That's what that word means.
Fundamental principles of the world. Natural reasoning, natural
logic, natural philosophy. Faith reasons in the revelation
of Christ. That's how faith reasons. It
doesn't reason the way men reason. It reasons in the revelation
of Christ. Colossians 2 verse 9, he tells
us, don't be foiled by these things. Don't go after those
things. As you have received Christ Jesus, so walk ye in Him.
Rooted, built up in Him, so on. He gets down here to verse 9,
for in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye
are complete in Him which is the head of all principality
and power. You're complete in Him. You're
finished. You're done. You're as close as you can get
to God in Christ. You're seated at His right hand,
accepted in the below, justified, glorified in His person. Now, he said, be strong in that.
All spiritual understanding is derived through Christ who is
of God made unto us wisdom. That first thing he said, of
God is He made unto us wisdom. Wisdom. You go back there in
Proverbs and start reading Old Solomon personified wisdom. Calls it a he or a she. It goes
on and on and on. Wisdom is Christ. That's that
wisdom that he's talking about. He made on us wisdom. Be strong in faith, being rooted,
grounded in Christ. He's the embodiment of all truth.
Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Now, I want you to listen to
me. Assurance has to do with my confidence in Christ, not
my confidence in my confidence. I want you to think about that
for a minute. One of the old preachers from
years ago used to live down here in New Orleans. He'd come around
and he'd get all the elders of the church up on the front row
and he'd get right down there in their face and he'd say, now
you sure you're sure? In about 20 minutes he had them
all doubting whether or not they were saved. Why? Because they
were looking, they wanted to have confidence in the confidence.
And he took that away from them. The reason we don't have assurance
is because we're looking in the wrong place. Assurance is in
Christ. It's in Christ. Look to Him. Can He fail? Then
you can't fail. Is there an enemy that can overcome
Him? No. Then there's not an enemy
that can overcome you. That's right, because you're
in Him. That's your hope up there. It's not confidence in your confidence.
It's confidence in Christ. We look in the wrong place. Do
I pray enough? No. I don't know anything about
your prayer life, but you don't pray enough. I can tell you that.
Huh? I don't know enough. I don't
know anything about what you know, but I know this. You don't
know enough. You see what I'm saying? There's no assurance
in us. Assurance is in Him. It's in Him. Be strong. How am
I going to be strong? In the Lord. In the Lord. In the power of His might. Picture young David in the valley,
that great valley out there between Israel and the Philistine. Little
David. He couldn't put on Saul's armor. They had to take it back off
of him. It weighted him down. He couldn't even wear Saul's
on. And then that great giant Goliath standing in all of his
strength and glory looking down on him. Nine foot nine inches tall. Goliath. I did the math. 9 foot
9 inches tall. I thought David was about 6 foot,
maybe 5'10", about my height. This giant's 9 foot 9 inches
tall. That's a foot taller than the
ceiling. And he's standing looking down on this little boy. And
he's standing here and he's got a spear in his hand as big as
a weaver's beam. A weaver's beam is about as long
as that cube. It's got an eight and a half
pound spearhead on one end of it. That's the size of a sledgehammer,
the spearhead on one end. And he's standing here with this
thing. His coat of mail that he had on, his armor, weighed
156 pounds. Just the coat of mail. And he
had those brass leggings and all the rest of his armor on.
And he's standing here nine foot, Nine inches tall. He's looking
down on little David and intimidating him and yelling at him and telling
him what he's going to do. And David said in 1 Samuel 17,
45, he said, you come to me with a sword and a spear and a shield.
He said, but I come to you in the name of the Lord. Huh? Be strong in the Lord. This day
will the Lord deliver thee into My hand, and I'll take your head
and feed your carcass to the beast of the earth, so that all
who are in the assembly of the Lord may know that the Lord saveth
not with swords and spears, for the battle is the Lord's, and
He'll give you into My hand." Be strong in the Lord. You see
what he's saying? Strong in Him. What chance did
little ruddy David have against that big guy? None. No. But in the power of the Lord,
it took one smooth stone, John, to drop him dead. That's all
it took. All it took. And then back in our text in
Ephesians 6, verse 11, 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
and powers against the rulers of darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places. What you can see with
your eye is not your enemy. It's not your enemy. Don't fight.
Don't fight. That's not your enemy. They're
no different than you are, but for the nature of sin that's
in them and those principalities and powers that dwell in them.
What you can see with your eye is not your enemy. Your enemies
are spiritual. spiritual wickedness in high
places. And in the minds and hearts of
these fallen angels, angels that Jude said kept not their first
estate, who left the glory of their heavenly habitation, who
are reserved in everlasting chains of darkness under the judgment
of that great day, these angels, these spiritual wickedness in
high places, There's nothing, listen to me,
there's nothing left for Satan and his angels but everlasting
fire and torment. And they know it. They know it. And to all who live in the gospel
age, a warning is made in the book of Revelations. I want you
to listen to it. Revelation 12, 12. Woe, he said,
to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea. For the devil is
come down unto you having great wrath. Why? Because he knoweth
that he hath but a short time. That's all he's got. And he's
going to do all he can do. He's got nothing to lose. Nothing
to lose. And we're no match for the powers
that be of ourselves. In one of the Lord's parables,
he talks about a man who had a devil. for whatever reason. I know what the reason was. It
was the purpose of God. That devil left him for a time.
As soon as that devil left, quit deceiving him, he got looking
around and he saw a filthy house. He said, I'm going to clean this
place up. This place is a mess. He started sweeping and painting
and remodeling. Got that place all shined up,
that devil come back. He said, look at this. He went
back, got seven of his buddies, and moved back in. And the final
end of that man was worse than the first. We're no match for
these. I'm telling you, there's principalities and powers that
work in men. You're not aware of it. You're
not aware of it. They work in you. You just think
it's you. You just think it's you. You
think you can overcome that thought. I need to just suppress that,
you know. And you ain't going to suppress it. You suppress
it while you're awake, it'll come to you while you're dreaming.
You ain't gonna suppress it. You can't get away from it. The
only way that you can resist these powers and these principalities
is to be strong in the Lord and put on that spiritual armor. And next week we're gonna get
into the armor and I'll tell you what it is and why it's given
and what it does.