Ephesians chapter 6, and I want
to read beginning in verse 10. I just want to read this verse
right now. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse
10. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Brethren, be strong
in the Lord. Be strong in the Lord. That's
our subject this morning. Be strong in the Lord. In a way, you and I are beginning
a new section in our study of this epistle, but in a way we're
not. In a way, this verse links what
we've been studying in the last few chapters, especially in chapter
four. Be strong in the Lord. We go
back to chapter four, and we don't have time to do that, but
you can remember where the Apostle Paul began to speak of our walk.
I beseech you, brethren, as prisoners of the Lord, that you walk worthy
of the Lord, walking, being imitators of God as your children. And
I hope, and some of you have commented to me about this, and
I hope all of us, I know it has helped me, to read how a Christian
is to walk, the attitude that a believer is to have in this
world. Christianity cannot be, what is it they call it? departmentalized
or whatever they say. You can't have a department over
here that is shut off from the Lord. Shut off from a Christian
life. That's the thing about Christianity. That's the thing about being
saved. It includes the whole of our life. And that's what
we've been looking at, isn't it? Wives, submit yourself to
your husband. Husbands, love your wives. It
goes right down to the children. Obey your parents and the Lord.
Parents, teach your children. Bring them up in the fear and
admonition of the Lord. It deals with the slaves, with
the servants, with employees. It deals with employers. It deals
with every aspect of our life, at home, in the congregation,
at work. And I'll tell you one of the
things that I've found as I've studied this, and some of you
have related to me, that it's impossible, it's utterly impossible
to live the Christian life, to have the Christian attitude apart
from verse 10. Be you strong in the Lord. in the Lord. That's why we keep
saying that we cannot be Christians until God makes us a Christian.
And we cannot live the Christian life but as we live it through
the strength of the Lord. Boy, this changes everything,
verse 10 does, doesn't it? I preached to you not long ago.
Don't be discouraged. Don't be discouraged. And boy,
this verse right here gives us all the reasons in the world
not to be discouraged. Be strong in the Lord and in
the power of His might. The Lord invited the children
of Israel. He said, lift your eyes on high. Who's created these
things? Who spread these things out,
this universe out, like a tent for a man to dwell in? Some of
you slept in tents. Shane Fisher's in a tent. That's
what the Lord says, I've spread this universe out like a tent
for a man to dwell in. And I've brought out all these
hosts, these stars, these planets, these innumerable bodies, and
I've given them all names. by the greatness of my might. For I am strong in power, not
one fellow." And now Paul comes here and he says, be strong in
the Lord, in the power of this might. The same Creator that
spread this universe out and upholds it by the word of His
power. This same power, this same might
works in you. by His Spirit that dwells in
you. How encouraging that is! We can live the Christian life,
and we can live it thanks being to God with a measure of joy
and assurance because of this verse right here. Be strong in
the Lord. And of course, verse 10 links
so plainly with what follows after. Look here in verse 11. We must be strong in the Lord.
not only from what we've been studying before, but look here
in verse 11. Put on the whole armor of God,
that you may be able to stand against the wilds. All this experience
and wisdom and trickery of the devil. Look at this. For we wrastle
not against flesh and blood. If we wrestled against flesh
and blood, We could better prepare, couldn't we? We could see who
we were wrestling against. We could feel him. But we don't
wrestle against flesh and blood. But look at this. We wrestle
against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of
the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places. Boy, we have opposition. We have
an opponent. And we wrestle against it. Do
you ever wrestle? I've wrestled with people just
for fun, but my son used to wrestle. We used to go to wrestling matches.
I'm telling you what, it's hand to hand. You go at it for three
minutes hard. You have to be in shape to wrestle.
That's what Paul said here. We wrestle. But who do we wrestle
against? Powers. Rulers. In high places. spiritual wickedness,
the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. He's
called the old dragon, the serpent, the devil that deceives the whole
world. And how in the world can a poor
Christian, most of us uneducated people to the boot, how in the
world can we face such opposition? and hope to stand and to overcome
it, and not to be driven to despair and throw up our hands or kill
ourselves like Judas did and King Saul and a host of others. How can we face this opposition?
Well, Paul gives us the secret right here, doesn't he? Brethren,
be strong in the Lord. and in the power of his might. That's the secret. You're going
to be a Christian. You ain't going to be a Christian
without being strong in the Lord. John was writing to the young
children and the young men and the fathers. And he says, young
men, I've written unto you because you are strong. And you've overcome
the wicked one. How are they strong in the Lord? I used to be amazed when I first
started reading the scripture, because the scripture often refers
to the Christian, to the church, as the strong. The strong. He will divide a portion with
the strong. We are the strong people. How
can we be called the strong people? In the Lord. Be strong in the
Lord. Aren't you glad he didn't say
be weak in the Lord? Wouldn't that have been dishonoring
to the Lord and discouraging to us? Aren't you glad he didn't
say be strong in yourself? Be strong in your abilities? Be strong in your human reasoning
and wisdom and understanding. No, be strong in the Lord. Let me give you about three things
right quickly. I don't know how long we'll spend
on this verse and these preceding verses, but I trust the Lord
will bless them. But let's begin this section
like this. Be strong in the Lord. What does
that mean? How can we apply that? Well,
first, let's apply it like this, and all three of these are scriptures.
Be strong in the grace that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul
was writing to Timothy, young Timothy, faced all this opposition,
and here's the instructions that he gave to him. Timothy, be strong
in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Now, I think I can speak
for most of you this morning, I know I can speak for myself,
that when I talk about grace, I'm talking about sovereign grace.
I like sovereign grace. When I come to obtain mercy and
find grace to help me in my time of need, I don't want to come
to a place where grace is found in the dust. subjection to the fickle will
of man, and subject to the violent will of our enemies. When I come
to obtain mercy and find grace to help, I want to come where
grace sets on a throne. Don't you? The grace that we
are hearing about today, there is no help in it. I have a friend
of mine, most of you know him, Brother Jim Byrd, and this fellow
came to him one time and he said, Mr. Byrd, I don't know why you
fellows are always talking about sovereign grace. He said, well,
you get that. And Jim said, well, in Romans
5 we are told that where sin abounded, grace did much more
abound. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness. And he
said Hebrews chapter 4 tells us to come boldly to the throne
of grace. So if it reigns and it's a throne,
it must be sovereign. And that's the kind of grace
that you and I are interested in this morning. We're looking
for a grace that can strengthen us. A grace that reigns over
the devils, a grace that reigns over this world, a grace that
reigns over flesh, a grace that reigns over all our circumstances. Be strong in the grace that is
in Christ Jesus. We have a perfect illustration
of that in this book that we have studied in chapter 2. Paul
was writing to these people and he told them about the deplorable
and dangerous state that they were in, there in chapter 2,
remember that? He says you were dead in trespasses and sins. The devil had a hook in your
nose and he was just leading you around at his will. Whatever
he wanted you to do, you did it. He worked in you. He sat upon the throne of your
heart. And he went as far as God permitted
him to go. And you were alienated and enemies
in your mind, oh, the deplorable and dangerous state you were
in. And then he says, But God, who is rich in mercy, for his
great love when he loved us, even when we were dead in sins,
has quickened us together with Christ. And then he adds to this,
By grace you are saved. And he raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. By grace you
are saved. What can come to a graveside
of a poor sinner that's been long dead and covered up? And everything else has been
tried and everything else has failed. And buried lays in that
old stinking casket. And he's held down there by the
power of darkness. What can come to his graveside
and raise him up and give him life eternal? Grace. Grace. And I tell you, when grace seeks
to do it, it will be done. It may be a young child like
Samuel who is tender-hearted and the Lord saves him. It may
be an old hard-hearted thief with one leg in the grave hanging
on the cross. But when grace goes to save somebody,
you know what it does? Grace saves them. That's the
kind of grace I'm talking about. Grace that reigns. Grace that's
on its throne. Oh, grace will save us. And grace
will keep us safe. Grace will massage your aching
back and rub your bruised feet and pour oil into your wounds.
And He'll fill your inner man with strength you could never
imagine. Be strong in the grace. The Apostle
Paul, I love to imagine like this. I love to see the Apostle
Paul going in his sandals down the path, going somewhere to
preach. And all of a sudden, he lets out the office scream,
and he falls over in the grass, and he grabs his foot, and he's
holding it, and oh, he's groaning and screaming, and somebody runs
up and says, Paul, what in the world is happening to you? And
he says, oh, I've got a thorn in my foot. I've got a thorn
in my foot. Boy, they pick up his foot, and
there it is, a thorn, and they can't get it out, and Paul can't
get it out. You ever get a thorn in your
hand or shoulder or foot? Not just a little splinter. I
mean a thorn. Boy, I tell you what, you're
always conscious of it, aren't you? You favor it. If it's in your heel, you walk
on your toes. If it's in your toe, you walk
on your heels. And just let somebody bump it. Paul had a thorn in the flesh.
A minister of Satan to buffet him. And he went to the Lord
and he said, Lord, please get this thorn out. And he went to
the Lord and said, Lord, please get this thorn out. And he went
to the Lord and said, Lord, I can't walk like this. This is killing
me. Please get this thorn out. It
has absolutely weakened me. I can't study. I can't preach. I can't pray. This is killing
me, Lord. This is killing me. And the Lord
finally answered him and said, no, I ain't going to get it out. And it's going to weaken you.
Some days you're going to feel like you can't make it. You're
going to be so weak that you can't go. But I tell you what
I'm going to do. I'm going to give you my grace.
That's what he said. I'm going to give you my grace.
And what you're going to find out by experience, my grace is
sufficient for you. And what did Paul say? I glory
in my infirmity. I glory in these reproaches and
distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I
strong. That's the kind of grace we're
talking about. Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And Peter said, we hope to the
end for this grace. That's to be brought unto us
at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The grace that came to us before
we sought it. The grace that came and found
us dead in trespasses and sins and gave us life. And the grace
that's kept us to this very day and refuses to let us go and
has kept us through every trial and danger. And Peter said, when
we lay these bodies down in the ground, and they decayed when
the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven. Oh, this grace, the power
of it, is going to speak. He's going to raise these bodies
up and glorify them. That's the grace that I'm talking
about, brothers and sisters. Be strong in the grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Sovereign grace. Consider this, too. Be strong
in the love of the Lord. Be strong in your love for Him.
Peter, lovest thou me? O Lord, you know. You know I love you. You know
I love you. Don't leave your first love,
brothers and sisters. Your love for Christ is so important. Don't lose your sweetheart love.
for the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't let this grace of love
in your heart grow cold. Love the Lord Jesus. Love Him. Love Him more and more. Cursed
be they who love not the Lord Jesus Christ when He comes. But be strong, Paul would tell
us here, in the love of Christ for you. Be strong in your knowledge
of His love for you. I don't want to misread my Bible
here now. I want to read it just like it's
wrote here in verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord. In the Lord. Where's this strength? In the
Lord. Where's this grace? It's in the
Lord. Where's this love? It's in the
Lord. the Lord, be strong in this love,
and to experience this strength and grace and love, where do
we have to be? In the Lord. In the Lord. Surely, shall one say, in the
Lord have I righteousness and strength. In the Lord shall all
the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory. Blessed be God
and the Father who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places." We're in Christ. Everything is in Him,
isn't it? It's in Him. This strength is
in Him. This love is in Him. Oh, to know the love of Christ. Paul tells us in 3.60. And to
know it, brothers and sisters, we must be in Him. I cannot stress this enough.
One of the most deceitful things of all the world in our day is
for people to talk about the love of God and trust in the
love of God apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not revealed in any place
but in the Lord. When Paul says, Be strong in
the love of the Lord, he means that's the place it's revealed.
And if you're outside the Lord Jesus Christ, you cannot know
this love. We can know the providential
care of God. I give a warning here, an encouragement
here to all of us, to anybody, not to trust in the providential
care of God and equate that with the love that is found in Christ
Jesus. And by that I mean this, there
are people who say the Lord has been so good to me. Hasn't the
Lord been good to everybody? If anybody is still on the top
side of this earth, the Lord has been good to him. He is good
to all and his mercies are over all his works. He gives to all
life and breath and all good things, fruitful seasons, fills
our hearts with gladness. His providential cure is over
all of us. Oh, the Lord gave me a good job.
If you have one, He did. I have a little money in the
bank, and I thank Him for that. I've got a good vehicle. Whatever
we have, He gave it to us. He gave it to us. But when we talk about the love
of God, The love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be careful. Be careful that you don't equate
God's providential care and His goodness and His providence to
His love. Because the love of God is revealed
in one place. That's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm talking about redeeming love. I want you to turn your Bible
over here, John. I want to spend just a little bit here on this,
because if we're going to be strong in the love of the Lord
Jesus Christ, then I want us to see where that love is. It's
in the Lord. Look in 1 John 4, verse 16. 1 John 4, verse 16. John makes a statement here.
Look what he says in verse 16. 1 John 4, verse 16. He tells us here that we can
know this love. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. We know it and we believe it.
We can know that God loves us. That's amazing, but we can know
that. The world counts it nothing to know that, does it? But I
tell you what, you and I can really, really know it. 1 John
chapter 4, verse 16. Now, how can we know it? John
said, we have known and believed the love of God. Well, John,
how can we know it? He gives us two ways. Look up
in verse 10, 1 John 4, verse 10. Look at this. He tells us
what kind it is. See if you agree with this. Look
in verse 10. Herein is love. Be strong in
the love. Herein is love, not that we love
God. but that he loved us." Here in
his love, what kind of love? Unmarried love? We didn't love
him. Undeserved love? We didn't love
him. Unsought-after love? Not that
we loved him. God's love for us is not based
upon anything found in us. Have you experienced that? Do
you agree with that? When you look inside yourself,
when you examine yourself, when you get more familiar with yourself,
do you not stand amazed at the love of God? And one of the things
that amazes you, you cannot find anything in yourself that would
have attracted His love, that could have emerited it. No, you
have to say with John, not that I loved If you can find a cause in yourself of God loving you, then it's
not the love of God. The whole cause is found in Him. Do you know what we say? We say to the Lord the same thing
MacPherson said to David. What is thy servant that you
should look upon such a dead dog as I am? What am I that you,
the Lord of glory, should love a dog like me? Not that we love God. Now this is so important because
I tell you what, you press a lost man on this issue, you press
him on this very thing. cut him off from any attractiveness
in himself, any merit or worth in himself, and point him to
this true love, he cannot accept it. He cannot accept it. Only a true believer knows and
believes this love. Everybody else They have to run
to someplace, a refuge in themselves, to find a cause in themselves
for God loving them. And when you press the issue
and push comes to shove, they've got to say, no, no, there's got
to be something in there. I may not be altogether, but
I'm somewhat lovable. And God sees it. And therefore
he loves me. That's not the love of God. Don't
be strong in a love like that. That's a love of self. That's
thinking highly of yourself. Here is this love that we must
be strong in, not that we loved God, but that he loved us. God, who is rich in mercy for
his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead
in sin, hath quickened us together." That's the love that we're to
be strong. But he gives us another reason. He gives us another way
to discern this love. First of all, then, there in
verse 10, is this unmerited love, unsought for, undeserved love.
Not that we loved him, but that God loved us. The cause is found
in him. But look here another way we can prove this love. In
verse 10, read on there in verse 10 of 1 John 4, not that we loved
God, but He loved us. And look at this, sent His Son
to be the atoning victim for our sins. If you and I are going
to be strong in this love that's in the Lord Jesus Christ, then
it must be this redeeming love. And where is it seen? In the
cross. In the cross. I glory in the
cross. Why? There's where I see the
love of God. In the cross. And everything
that's related to this redeeming love, you can examine yourself
every step of the way, and you can say, there's love. There's
His love for me. Look at the people that don't
come to Christ. And yet some of you have come,
haven't you? Some of you have come. Why did you come? What
do you attribute that to? No man can come to me except
my Father which sent me drawing. But why would He draw you? The
Bible tells us, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn you. He loved you. He loved you. Be strong in this love then. Why do you have life when most
people around us are dead in trespasses and sins? Even when
we were dead in sins for His great love, would we be loved
then? He's quickened us together. His
love. That's why you're alive, Bill.
He loves you. No other cause, no other reason,
but He loves you. Why has my sin gone? Why have
I been washed? Revelation 1 and 5 says He loved
us and washed us from our sin. And no one believed this about
this love, brothers and sisters. It will never fail, and it will
never diminish. That love that included you at
first will never suffer you to be excluded at last. That love that saved you from
your sin and separated you from the power of darkness and delivered
you from this world will never suffer you to be separated by
these things again. That love that begun a work in
your heart will never cease that work to quit and fail until it's
accomplished its end. Be strong in the love of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And thirdly and lastly is this.
Be strong in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be strong
in the faith that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I'm not just
making these things up. You can see all of this in the
context of this epistle. But look here in Ephesians chapter
6. Faith, the apostle Paul is speaking
of it here. Look what he says in chapter
6. Ephesians chapter 6. And look here in verse 16. He's talking about us wrestling
with these principalities and powers. He said, Above all, take
in the shield of faith. wherewith ye shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." Be strong in your
faith in the Lord. Believe Him, trust in Him with
all your heart. This is the very way you'll defeat
the powers of darkness. Let me talk just a minute about
Abraham's faith in the Lord, because the Scripture says in
Romans 4, he staggered not at the promise of God. through unbelief,
but was strong in faith. Strong in faith. You know how you can tell how
strong your faith is? Who's it in? Is it in itself? Is it in your circumstances?
Is your faith in the Lord? Let's talk about Abraham's faith
just for a second. God promised Abraham and Sarah
a son. Twenty-five years later, they
still didn't have a son. Abraham was 100 years old, and
Sarah was 90 years old, and they still didn't have a
son. And here's what it means to be strong in the faith in
the Lord. Listen to this. Abraham considered
not his own body. Now dead. As good as dead. I'm 100 years old. Neither yet
the deadness of Sarah's womb." He didn't consider himself. He
didn't look at Sarah and say, it can't happen. As a matter
of fact, he didn't consider anything else but the ability, the power,
and the faithfulness of Him who promised. That's faith. That's what it means to be strong
in the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said this about
Abraham's faith. By faith, Abraham, when he was
called to go out unto a place which he should receive for an
inheritance, he obeyed and went out, listen, not knowing where
he went. Now that's funny. The Lord said,
get out. And what did he do? He got out.
Why did he go out? He didn't know where he was going.
He didn't know how long it was going to take to get there. He
didn't know what the land would look like when he saw it. He
didn't know the dangers that he would face along the way.
He went out by faith that God would provide, God would protect, and God would guide. He was utterly
dependent upon the Lord. Be strong in your faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. To be strong in faith in Him
means you live by faith upon the strong Lord, one you believe
is able and willing to guide and protect and provide for you. You know what faces tomorrow? Do you? You have no idea what
tomorrow holds, do you? Are you concerned about it? Why not? Because you know who
holds tomorrow. Is that not right? Abraham, every
step he took, he had no idea what the next step may bring.
But it didn't matter. He believed the Lord. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief. He was strong in faith and a
strong Lord. You face potential danger on
every hand, but you believe who your protector is. You face great
loss without great anxiety because you face it in faith. that you
know him that promised, I will provide all your needs according
to your riches in glory." Why is this so important? Why was
it important for Abraham to go out by faith and live by faith? Well, it's at this very point
the devils attack us, at this very, very point that you and
I think so little about, that the devils lay in wait for us
and attack us and surprise us. at this very point of living
our daily lives in which we get so anxious and worried and fretful. You know what it is to worry
and fret and be anxious? You know what that does? That
weakens us. That weakens us. That gives the
devil an opportunity to come into our minds, to take advantage
of us. We get our minds off the Lord.
We stop living by faith in Him. And then what happens? You try
to wrestle the devil under those circumstances. Oh, he'll get
the best of you. Have you ever sat around and
you got upset and discouraged and fretful about something?
Most of it was things that you imagined. It wasn't anything
real. That's the way we are. If we
can't face a real problem, we'll imagine one. Then we sit and
fret and fret and fret, and here comes the devil. I've noticed
about myself. Have you ever had your mind just
full of blasphemies and cursing? You ever had that happen? I'll
tell you when you'll usually notice when that's happened.
It's when you get discouraged and when you get frightful. And
you've imagined all these things that's going to happen, may happen,
could happen. Have you ever linked these two
together in Matthew chapter 6? I never have until the other
day when I was reading this. Listen to this. I've never had to link
these two things together before. The Lord's preaching that sermon
on the mountain. This is what He said. No man
can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one
and love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God and mammon. And then in the same breath,
the very next verse, he said, Therefore I say unto you, take
no anxious thought for your life. What you shall eat, what you
shall drink, what you shall put on. It seemed like he was saying,
if you're trying to provide for yourself and worry yourself sick
about what you're going to eat, where you're going to live, what
you're going to wear, you've got yourself in a mess
that's impossible. You're trying to serve these
things and the living God too. You can't do it. You can't do
it. And he went right on to say this.
Take no anxious thought for yourself. Consider the fowls of the air.
They don't reap. They don't plant and reap crops
and put them in barns and store it for the wintertime. How do
they survive then? The Father in heaven feeds them.
Consider the lilies of the field, he said. They don't toil, they
don't spend. And Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these. Why take your thought for food
and for ramen? What are you going to wear? Where
are you going to live? How are you going to make it? Why are
you so anxious about these things?" He said. You know what he said next? Oh,
ye of little faith. See how these things connect
together? We don't connect them, do we? Oh, I'll go out cheering,
boy, and I'm going to fight these principalities and powers. I
can make it. Man, I wonder what I'm going
to do tomorrow. Oh, my soul, tomorrow. What's going to happen
tomorrow? Yeah, you'll put up a good fight.
He put up a good fight. Living our lives by faith in
a strong Lord. One last verse of Scripture and
I'll close. Look in 1 Peter chapter 5. I'll close with this. 1 Peter chapter 5. Look in 1 Peter 5 and look in verse 6. Wife, have
you torn 1 Peter 5 out of my Bible? I can't find it. 1 Peter chapter 5. I'm sorry, Wifey. Look in verse 6. Humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you
in due season. Look at this. Casting all your
care upon him, for he cares for you. Boy, that's going to be
faith there. You've got to live by faith to do that. Casting
all your care upon Him. What if you lose the business
next week, Bill? What if you go back home and, boy, it's shut
down? That's a cure, ain't it? You better bet that's a cure.
You look over at your wife and you see what a cure it is. She's
high maintenance. You've got to take care of her.
I tell you, we'll face cures next week. Will we not? What
are we going to do about it? Are we going to be full of anxiety
and worry? Are we going to worry ourselves
sick? about these temporal advantages, the cares of this world, what
are we going to do? We'd better cast them upon him.
Why? Look in verse 7. Look in verse 8. Be sober. Be vigilant. In doing what? Casting your care upon him, because
your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour." How then can we stand against
him? Look in verse 9, "...whom resists steadfast in the faith."
Faith in a strong Lord. Be strong in the Lord and in
the power of His love. May God bless His Word to our
hearts.