EPHESIANS 6 STAND AGAINST THE WILES OF THE DEVIL2017 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ephesians 6 Stand Against The Wiles Of The Devil

You are listening to Fervent Word, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2017.

Well, this morning, as we look at Ephesians chapter 6, we are talking about the subject of spiritual war. And this whole concept, this whole subject of spiritual war, it's a really big subject, actually. And so I'm not going to be attempting to cover all the different aspects. And even here in Ephesians chapter 6,

there are many things that we could consider, and there's a lot of meat here for us to understand and grasp hold of. But this morning, as we're looking at this passage, there's one verse in particular that is going to really be the focus and emphasis as we talk about this subject of spiritual war.

And it is verse 11 here in Ephesians chapter 6. Once again, verse 11 says, "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." And it's the wiles of the devil that the Lord would have us consider this morning.

I want to encourage you this morning to stand against the wiles of the devil. And that word "wiles" is not necessarily one that we use a lot. But as we talk about it, you'll understand the word "wiles," it's really about the strategies and tactics and techniques that the enemy uses against us.

Now, as we begin to talk about spiritual warfare, again, I'm not attempting here to be exhaustive and covering all the different aspects and answering every question and giving every solution for the different attacks that take place.

But what I really want to do this morning is to stir up within you the awareness of the battle that we are facing, that we would be looking to the Lord for how to combat these things that are being brought against us.

Now, as we talk about spiritual warfare, there's two extremes that we need to watch out for and stay away from. There is the extreme where we go to everything is about the devil, and the toilet's not flushingright, it's the devil. This happens, it's the devil. This happens, it's all about the devil, and we're chasing after the devil and attacking.

We're going to take the devil out. And that's a bad extreme, and we need to stay away from that. But then there's this other extreme, and this is where I believe that God wants to pull us back from if you've been in this extreme. And that is, there's really not much thought or concern at all regarding the devil and his activities.

And there can be there's wrong in both sides. And we need to come back to this awareness and the biblical balance of understanding. We are in the midst of a very real battle, a very real war. Paul tells us in verse 12 that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,

but against principalities and powers and rulers of darkness of this age and the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. We are in the midst of a war. We are in the midst of a battle. But the battle is not with the people around us. The battle is not with that boss that harasses us.

The battle is not with the spouse that antagonizes us. The battle is not with the people in our lives. And so often we get distracted with those people in our lives. We get distracted in the flesh and blood element of the battles that we face.

We get distracted and begin to fight those battles and neglect to understand that the real source of the conflict is behind the scenes. It's a spiritual war. And there really is an enemy. There really is the devil who is out to destroy us.

The apostle Peter, in writing his letter, says in First Peter chapter 5, verse 8, "Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil,

walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour." We need to understand there is a very clear call in the scripture that you and I have to be vigilant because we are in the midst of the battle,

because we have an enemy whose sole desire is to destroy our lives and who is looking for every advantage that he can get and any vulnerability that he can exploit. We have to be vigilant.

We have to be sober and recognize there is an enemy of your soul whose objective in life is to destroy your life and to keep you from what God has for you. This is the reality that we face. Now, not so much,

again, that we focus our life and that everything is about Satan and his tactics and what he's doing. No, we understand God compared to Satan, there is no comparison. That in God's perspective, Satan is just a pawn. He can just flick him away at any time. He loses in the end.

We know that. And yet at the same time, God has allowed Satan to have some authority and power in this life. And he gives us what we need to combat that, but he doesn't remove us from the battle. Instead, he calls us to engage in the battle in his strength.

And so there really is a battle. There really is an enemy. There really is a threat to you. And you really can experience the destruction that Satan wants to bring into your life if you allow him to bring that destruction and if you will not engage in the battle in the strength of the Lord.

Warren Wiersbe gives us a great encouragement in regards to this.

He says, "The danger on the battlefield is that we do not take the enemy seriously and therefore fail to put on all of the armor." He says, "Never underestimate the strategy and strength of the devil." There can be a real danger

for us because we are on the battlefield. This morning, even here, sitting in the sanctuary, we call it sanctuary, and we like to imagine that that means that there's no battles because we have sanctuary here. But that's not the reality. There are battles.

There are spiritual battles being foughtright now here in this place.

And in your home and at your workplace, with you all the time are these spiritual battles. We're in the midst of a war. And it's a great danger to not take the enemy seriously.

It's a great danger to not recognize that he is out there seeking to destroy your soul. And so Warren Wiersbe says, "Never underestimate the strategy and strength of the devil." And that word "strategy" is what we want to focus on this morning, the strategies of Satan.

Paul says it to the Corinthians, "We are not ignorant of his devices. We're not ignorant of his methods and his strategies." And yet, although Paul wrote that, I would say that many times we can be ignorant of the tactics and the work of the enemy in our lives. And we need to catch those things.

We need to recognize the work of the enemy in our lives so that we can engage in this battle, so that we're not taken off guard. A great warrior can be taken down easily if he's not prepared for the battle. And you and I, we're not great warriors. We're weak warriors. We're strong in the power of the Lord.

But we have to be engaged in the battle. We need to be engaged in what God has provided in order to have victory in this life that God has called us to. And Satan, well, he has some wiles, some strategy. This word "wiles," again, it's not a word we use a lot.

So a couple of definitions here. Here's one by a Greek scholar named Thayer. He describes wiles as cunning arts, deceit, craft, and trickery. Satan is a master at trickery. He's a master at these cunning arts.

He's a master con man. And so for us to not take the enemy seriously, well, that means that we've fallen prey to one of his greatest strategies, and that is to convince us to not be bothered by him or considered by him at all. He's an expert in cunning craftiness.

But another definition by the Greek scholar Spyros Zodiotis, he puts it this way. He says, "The following or pursuing of orderly and technical procedure in the handling of the subject." Now, you can see there the Greek word "methodeia," and in that we get the word "method,"right?

And so we're talking about the methods of Satan. But method also, it's methodical. That is, it's thought out. It's systematic. The attacks of the enemy, you need to understand, are not just random. But the enemy examines our lives. He examines us. He examines and tests, and he tries every part,

every element to find any weakness or vulnerability that he can exploit. His objective is to keep you away from what God has for you, to set you down on the bench, to pull you out of God's plans for your lives. And he is willing to use any means necessary.

He's not going to restrain himself and say, "Well, I could use this tactic, but that would be a little bit unfair." Satan actually has no issue with being unfair. In fact, if there's an advantage that he can find to be unfair, he will use it. The commentator William McDonald describes it this way.

He says, "The devil has various stratagems: discouragement, frustration, confusion, moral failure, and doctrinal error. He knows our weakest point and aims for it. If he cannot disable us by one method, he will try for another." You need to understand that the enemy is serious,

and he's methodical, and he will approach your life with an attack that is appropriate for, well, your weakest areas and your weakest points. And he's going to find them. He's going to poke and prod and seek and test every aspect of your life to find out what are the weak points,

where are the areas that he can exploit you and take advantage of you and rip you off from what God has for you. Another commentator, E.K. Simpson, says it this way. He says, "The tactics of intimidation and insinuation alternate in Satan's plan of campaign. He plays both the bully and the beguiler.

Force and fraud form his chief offensive against the camp of the saints." Here, this commentator focuses on two things: the forcefulness, the intimidation that Satan can bring, but then also on the other side, the fraud that he brings,

where he is seeking to trick us into moving away from the things that God has given to us. The tactics of the enemy are very dangerous, and we need to be aware of these tactics, the wiles of the devil.

Here, I've put together a list of some of the tactics that the devil uses. And again, this is not meant to be exhaustive and complete and cover every aspect of spiritual battle.

But this is meant to help you start to think about and recognize in your life when there are the attacks of the enemy that you're experiencing so that it would prompt you to recognize the battle that you're in and that you would stand against the wiles of the devil and not allow yourself to be taken advantage of.

And so some of the tactics that the devil uses, he uses lies, he uses intimidation, he uses discouragement and frustration, he uses confusion, temptation, false doctrine, circumstances, accusations, condemnations.

And again, we could consider many other aspects that these are some of the tactics that he uses in our lives. We read in John chapter 13 that it was Satan who put into the heart of Judas Iscariot the thought to betray Jesus. He puts things in our minds.

He puts things in our hearts, seeking for them to stick, seeking for us to take hold of those things and carry them out.

Jesus told Peter in Luke chapter 22, he says, "Simon, Simon, indeed, Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat." And the emotional things that Peter was about to experience in his betrayal of Jesus and denying that he knew the Lord,

Satan was sifting Peter as wheat.

Job, in Job chapter one and two, we see that the attack against Job was a strategy of Satan, where Satan said, "Look, if we take away everything that he has and take away his family, take away all his blessings that God has given to him,

he will curse God to his face." And all that was taken away. But Job didn't curse God. And so Satan comes up with an additional aspect to the strategy. Allright, if we touch his body and if he's in pain and if he's miserable, then he will curse God to his face.

It's the wiles of the devil that he will use any means necessary. Sometimes his approach is head-on, straightforward. He's bringing forth a lie. He's bringing forth an attack. And many times he comes in the form of an ambush.

And I would suggest many times he does both. He brings the head-on attack just as a distraction so that he can ambush us much better. It's kind of like you've probably been hearing about in the news this week, the hack that took place of Equifax.

And there were hackers who found a weakness. They tested, tested, tested. Oh, here's a weakness. Now, with Equifax, they didn't have to search really hard. There was very bad security set up for the system, but they found a way to exploit it. And that's all they need is just one little way in,

and then they use that to be able to breach the security, to get past and to get the data that they want to get. The enemy has a similar tactic.

Paul talks about giving the devil a foothold in our lives, and he gets a foothold, and that's all he needs is a foothold to then be able to exploit that and begin to take advantage of us to a greater degree.

And so the enemy comes against us with these very serious strategies and tactics without any manners,

let's say. He will use a combination of these things and try endless combinations. I would think of it a little bit like a football play. Now, only so much as I know that looks like a football play. That's about the extent of my knowledge. You guys understand that. You guys know me. But I recognize that's not a baseball strategy.

That's a football strategyright there. So some of you can look at that and understand, okay, here's what's going to happen. And it's this kind of play. It's shotgun or left hook or whatever. And so there's this kind of strategy,right? Now, as a coach, you're putting the play together. This strategy,

it's multi-layered, it's multifaceted. It's not, okay, we're going to run the ball,right? And so, well, I'm just going to take the ball and run up the field. That's not what happens,right? I'm going to hand it off to you. I'm going to fake a handoff to you. I'm going to hand it off to him. These guys are going to run there and make them try to think that we're passing.

And there's all these different levels in order to get the play to be the most effective it can be.

Look, if a coach can organize this kind of play on a football field for just moving a piece of leather a little bit farther down the grass, understand that Satan can come up with much more elaborate schemes and plans and plots against your life. And he doesn't just try one thing.

He doesn't just, I'm going to tell them a lie. But he brings this combination. I'm going to trick them here. I'm going to trip them here. I'm going to set up a guard over here. I'm going to surprise them here. And then I'm going to bring the real attack. And he is at work in his strategy to find the weakness,

the exploit that he can use to get us out of the game, get us out of what God has for us. In my mind, I think sometimes as Christians, we can be a little bit like, well, it's how I picture the British in the Revolutionary War.

Now, just to say at the beginning here, my understanding of the British in the Revolutionary War is a caricature. It's based on elementary history. And so I don't think it was actually exactly historically accurate. But I have this picture, and I'm sure you've heard it as well.

The British lining up for battle in their bright red uniforms, and then the militia hiding in the trees and behind rocks and from shelter firing. And there's these bright red targets for them to fire at,right? And there's this line of people lined up and ready to be shot.

And so here they are in the battle. And then at three o'clock, they have to take their afternoon break. And okay, let's stop and have tea and relax for a little bit, and then we'll get back to the battle. And sometimes I think we can be a lot like that, even though that picture is probably not exactly accurate of the British in the Revolutionary War.

That picture is pretty accurate many times for us as believers, that we're just lined up, open, vulnerable, and ready to be taken advantage of. And we think, hey, it's three o'clock. I could take a break, and Satan's going to back off, and it's time. I just need to rest for a little bit and just kind of escape this battle for a little bit.

But that's not how the enemy works. At the end of a long day where you've worked 16 hours, that doesn't inspire the enemy to say, oh, they've had a really rough day. I should back off a little bit.

Instead, the other way, that inspires the enemy. Now's a good time. They're tired. Now's a good time to stir up some issues with the spouse. Now's a good time to bring in some temptations that they would normally be strong against, but their defenses are weakened.

Now's a good time to exploit that. And we would be there thinking things like, I can't believe Satan would try to tempt meright now when I'm mourning the death of my mom. But Satan sees that situation and says, that's the perfect opportunity. I could take you outright now because your guard is down and you're not prepared for the battle that you're in.

I'm so surprised that I would have to face these things at the same time. I'm losing my job, and there's these issues in the family and all of these things, and they build up, and they're all happening at the same time. And it's not just difficulties that the enemy will use,

but I would ask you to consider also the victories in your life, the successes. Sometimes that's just as much part of the strategies of the enemy as the defeats.

Because if he can, through a victory, get you the raise and the promotion that you were hoping for and

get you to move out of the will of God, he succeeded. He doesn't care if you get more money. Where's your heart out with God? That's what he cares about. He doesn't care if you get the house you've always dreamed about or if you don't get the house, if it burns down or it gets built up.

Those are just things that he will use to manipulate us, to get us outside of where God wants us to be. And so we need to understand that we are in the midst of a real battle, and there are real strategies being against us, and they're not simple, easy, shot down. Okay, I've heard the teaching,right?

It's either the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or pride of the life. Those are the three ways that the enemy attacks us. And okay, once we got those three down, we're good to go.

Now, there is some truth to that, but that's pretty simplistic as well. We need to understand the complexity of the wiles of the devil.

He is out to get you and to use any combination of what he can use to take you away from what God has for you. We need to be on guard, to be vigilant, to be sober because the devil roams about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

Now, we all know and love the scripture. Paul tells us in Second Corinthians that God will not give us more than we can bear. That is, more temptation, more trial. He will not give us more difficulty than we can handle. And sometimes we can rest in that, and that's a good promise to rest in.

But understand that that promise doesn't mean that you don't have to handle the difficulty or the temptation. God doesn't remove us from all battle. He doesn't allow us to face a battle that we can't handle.

But he doesn't remove us in such a way that we don't have to battle at all. Instead, he equips us and enables us to be able to handle the temptation and the trial.

That's why Paul tells us here again in verse 11, it says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, because God's given you the armor of God so that you can stand. He wants you in the battle. He wants you to face the battle.

He wants you engaged in the battle. But the battle is bigger than you can handle. And so he's given you what you need in order to face that battle and be victorious on your own. It is more than you can handle, but not with what God has provided for you.

But he doesn't provide for you in such a way that you don't have to stand. You have to stand. The idea here of stand in this passage, it's a military idea of stand. That's holding the line. The enemy's coming at you. He wants to take ground. He wants to take territory. And you have to stand and say, no, I'm not giving in.

I'm not giving up. You have to fight in this battle. Paul says in verse 13 here, therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand, you and I have a responsibility to take up the armor of God so that we can stand.

And if we don't take up the armor of God, we will not stand. We will fall to the devil's schemes.

And so we need to take these resources that God has used or given to us and put them to use. And we need to fight. We need to engage in this battle. Again, that's why it's so important for us to recognize we are in a battle. And Satan really does want to destroy your soul. Jesus told us in John,

chapter ten, verse ten, that the thief comes to steal, to kill, and destroy. He says, but I've come that you may have life and life everlasting. And so we have life in Christ, but we have this thief, this enemy who wants to steal. He wants to take away from you everything that God has for you.

He wants to kill your hopes, your dreams, God's promises in your life, the people that you love and you yourself. He wants to destroy. He wants to take away everything, every blessing, every good thing. He wants to ruin it in your life.

So stand against the wiles of the devil. Well, as we go forward now into the rest of the passage, we're going to be looking at the armor of God that God has provided for us, that we might stand. Now, again, as we look at these things, I'm not seeking to be complete and exhaustive in answering every question and dealing with every aspect.

There's so much more here. But as we look at these elements, I want us to consider the strategies that the enemy uses and why we need these elements of armor in our lives. And so the first piece of the armor we find is the belt of truth. And so here, point number one is stand in the truth.

As we stand against the wiles of the devil, we need to stand in the truth. Verse 14 says, stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness.

The enemy is looking at our lives, and he's looking for a vulnerable place, something that he can exploit. And one of the things that he attacks is the truth. Jesus told us in John, chapter eight, that Satan is the father of lies.

Jesus said there that when Satan speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources because he's the father of lies. It's his first language. Think about it that way. He's able to speak lies fluently,

extremely well, craftily. Again, there in John, chapter eight, verse 44, Jesus says, it's because he does not stand in the truth. He does not stand in the truth. Meanwhile, Paul is saying, you need to stand in the truth, but Satan does not. And so he's not in the truth.

He's not standing in the truth. He doesn't care about the truth, except the only thing he cares about the truth is, well, that you don't believe it. He knows the truth, but he'll do anything he can to lie to you, to get you to believe a lie,

to convince you of his lies

that you would not stand in the truth like he does. And so what are these tactics that the enemy uses?

Well, of course, one of the upfront, easy to identify ones is lies. Satan will attack the truth with lies, with things that are not true, with things that are partially true, with things that are mostly true.

He will attack the truth with his lies. But it's not just the straight out lie that, well, there is no God. That's a lie. And if Satan tries to tell you that lie, probably you're going to catch that. You're going to recognize that's a lie, and your defenses will be up.

And so he combines those lies with, well, confusion.

Satan loves to sow confusion, chaos in your mind, in your heart, in your family, in the church, across the board. He loves to sow confusion, and confusion puts us in a place of being unsettled.

And it's much easier for us to receive the lies of the enemy when we're in a state of confusion. And so he brings both at the same time. And then there's false doctrine. Again, I'm not trying to cover every aspect. There's so much more that could be said,

but I'm seeking to stir up within you the recognition of if there is any of these attacks going on in your life that you would recognize it and that you would stand against the wiles of the devil. The enemy brings false doctrine. He doesn't just try to get people to abandon church and get rid of God.

What he tries to do is to twist and pervert the things that people believe. And sometimes it's very subtle. Sometimes it's blatant. Sometimes it is something very obvious. As far as we're concerned, that is not biblical. But all throughout the New Testament, you see,

there were these false doctrine attacks upon the church where people would be believing things that are not of God. It's the work of the enemy. It's a tactic of the enemy and using the scriptures themselves to twist and pervert the truths that God has revealed in his word.

And so he will bring forth these false doctrines. And that's why we need to stand in the truth. We need to grasp hold of God's truth. He will use circumstances in our lives.

Again, I would ask you to think about Job. Satan had his way, had his hand in the situations that unfolded.

And his friends, Job's friends, believed the lie. There must be some sin in your life, Job.

Satan fed them that lie. They took it hook, line, and sinker. For 40 chapters, they harped on Job. You must repent of that hidden sin. But there was no hidden sin. Job was a righteous man. But they looked at the circumstances, and the enemy used that to lie to them about what was really going on.

And sometimes the circumstances in our own lives put us in a place where we're willing to receive the lie. And sometimes it is like Job, the adversity, the difficulty. But again, sometimes it's the victory. See, this is what God wants for you because you had a win here in the workplace. You had a win here in this situation.

And so that must be what God wants. But that's not necessarily the case.

False doctrine, lies, circumstances, accusations. The enemy will bring all of these and more to try to keep us from standing in the truth. It's kind of like that movie Inception. I don't know if you saw that movie, but the whole idea was they had to get someone to think that they thought of something on their own.

And so they did a dream within a dream within a dream, maybe even a fourth layer. I forget now. But it was like, and then in the end result is then they think it's their idea. That's what the enemy does, man. He'll wrap you up, twist you up. It's a dream within a dream within a dream. And now he's got you thinking that it's your idea and you believe the lie because you think you did it.

And all the while the enemy is walking away in his craft and is saying, mission accomplished. I got them sidetracked. They're not standing in the truth. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil and stand therefore in the truth. Paul tells us in Philippians,

chapter four, finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. How do we put on the belt of truth? How do we stand in the truth?

Paul says, fill your mind with the things that are true. Fill your heart and fill your life. It's not magic words that you say. Okay, Lord, I'm putting on the belt of truth. Clink. If you make the sound effect, then it works. If you don't make the sound effect here, you're not protected. No, that's not how it works.

It's not about some magic words, some magic formula. It's about you making a choice to fill your mind and fill your heart and fill your life with things that are true and meditate on those things.

And you change the subject when your mind goes somewhere else, something that's not true and you want to focus on and you want to relive and those things continue to play over. No, no, you change the subject and set your mind on things above. Put on the belt of truth. Think on the things that are true.

Fill your life and your mind with the things of God. Well, moving on to the second piece of the armor, it's the breastplate of righteousness. It's found in verse 14. And here we have point number two, and that is stand in righteousness. Again, verse 14 says, stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness.

Now, as we talk about the breastplate of righteousness, we are not talking about your righteousness. We're not talking about your goodness, your good works, how good you are, how well you are, or how bad you fail. As we talk about righteousness, we're talking about the righteousness of God.

And it's the righteousness of God that is applied to you by faith in Jesus Christ. That is, that you and I, as believers in Jesus, the scripture is very clear. When we believe in Jesus, we are righteous, even though we still sin, even though we still fall short,

even though we still mess up, sometimes deliberately and sometimes not. God looks at us and he credits the righteousness of Jesus to our account. And so we're talking about that righteousness, not a righteousness that comes by our works, not a righteousness that's taken away by our failures,

but a righteousness that comes by faith in Jesus Christ. And the enemy will come and attack that righteousness. Now, the thing is, he can't take away that righteousness. That's the way that God has declared it to be. He can't take that away.

But what he can do is seek to convince you that you don't have this righteous position in Christ. And so he'll bring temptation and he'll seek to cause you to jump into sin, to fall into sin,

however you want to describe it,

so that he can convince you. See, you're notright with God. See, you don't have access to God. You don't have aright relationship with God. He'll use temptation to attack this area of righteousness. Righteousness is the future condition that we have, you know,

the flawless eternity, the sinless eternity that we look forward to. Butright now, it's our position that you have access to the Heavenly Father, to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, in the holiest of holies. You have access to God andright standing with God because of your belief in Jesus Christ. And Paul says,

there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. But you know what the enemy brings against us? Condemnation. That feeling, that sense of God is going to judge us. God is going to take us out. God is so angry with us. He's so fed up with us. That's condemnation. And there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

But we feel condemnation. Why? Because the enemy is attacking righteousness in our lives. He's attacking ourright standing with God, and he can't take that away. That is your position in Christ, even when you have fallen short and even when you have sinned and blown it. He can't take that away.

You have aright standing because you've believed in Jesus Christ and received his offer of life extended through the cross. He can't take that away. But what he can do is convince you that God is out to get you, and God doesn't want anything to do with you. And God is so fed up with you,

and he can't wait to judge you. And those are all the lies that the enemy brings against us. And so he sets before us the temptation. When we fall into temptation, then he brings the condemnation again. It's this elaborate scheme, device, while, strategy that he brings against us.

It's complex and multiple layers to this strategy that he brings against us to convince us to not continue in our relationship with God, to stay distant from God as he attacks this area of righteousness. He uses intimidation, discouragement, perhaps circumstances.

Oh, man, that's a big one. Circumstances that look at all that's happening in your life. See, you must have messed up with God. He must be really angry with you because look at what he's allowing in your life.

God does not deal with us according to our sin in that way. There are consequences to sin. I don't want to get too distracted here, but there are consequences to sin. But God is not out to judge you because Jesus received the judgment that you deserved upon the cross. Don't let the enemy convince you,

but he will attack us in this area of righteousness. Pastor Dave Guzik says, the breastplate of righteousness is your best defense against the sense of spiritual depression and gloom that comes against your gut. Now, describing that breastplate of righteousness, it protects your gut.

And I think we all understand and know that feeling within our gut of failure and discouragement and that feeling of condemnation. And you need to put on the righteousness of God. And again, that's not by quoting some magic words, reading this verse, saying this verse out loud.

Putting on the breastplate of righteousness is all about you accepting your righteous standing by faith in Jesus Christ. Believe it. Hold fast to that. Enter into your relationship with God. Enjoy your relationship with God. Take advantage of your relationship with God.

Don't let the enemy exploit you and rip you off from what God has for you. You stand in righteousness. No, I'm going to continue to walk with God because I have a righteous standing by faith in Jesus Christ. I'm going to continue to call out to God. I'm going to continue to trust God. I'm going to continue to look to God to bless me.

I'm going to continue to look to God to work in my life.

Stand in righteousness. It's the righteousness of God. It's not your righteousness. And whether you've been good or bad, you can stand in the righteousness of God. Well, we also need to stand in peace. That's the third piece of the armor found in verse 15, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

Peace, the gospel of peace, the good news. You can have peace with God. That's related to yourright standing with God. And as you look at these different elements, there is much overlap between the righteousness of God, the peace of God.

There's much overlap between salvation and the gospel that we're talking about here. And that's by design, I would say, because armor that overlaps is armor that protects you and armor that has gaps. Well, that's what leaves you vulnerable. No, the peace of God is related to the righteousness of God in your life.

You have peace with God. God is not out to get you, but you also have peace from God. God has peace for you. And that's something I would ask you to consider. Do you have peace in your life, in your heart? Do you have peace?

Peace describes that position of rest and tranquility.

You know, even in the midst of battle, you can have peace because God has a peace for you. Paul describes it as a peace that passes understanding. Even when it doesn't make sense for you to have peace, you can still have peace because that's the kind of peace that God has for you.

Jesus said in John, chapter 14, verse 27, he says, peace, I leave with you my peace I give to you, not as the world gives. Do I give you? Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Jesus tells us, he says, I'm giving you peace, and I'm not giving like the world gives.

This is a real peace. It really is yours. But then notice what he says. Let not your heart be troubled. So although he gives us peace, we have the choice whether or not we receive and accept that peace and experience that peace.

If I were to walk up to Harvey today, say, Harvey, congratulations,

I'm giving you a brand new iPhone X or iPhone ten, however you want to pronounce it.

And Harvey says, okay, thanks. He leaves it on the chair. He walks out the door. Great gift. Really expensive. He didn't get a benefit from it. That's his choice. Now, if I give Harvey the iPhone ten and Josh Sung-Yao says, Harvey, that's Jerry's phone.

I can't believe you would even consider taking that from him. You better not take that. Leave itright there and get out of here. And if Harvey believes Josh and leaves, leaving the phone behind, guess what? He doesn't get to experience that gift. And Josh probably did that just so he could have it himself.

That's what the enemy does. God has given us peace. Jesus says, I give you peace. Let not your heart be troubled. And here's the enemy saying, you better be troubled. You better be stressed out. You better be anxious. You better be worried. Look, there's all these things that you need to be concerned about. Look, there's all these things that you should be freaked out about.

Look at this and look at that and look at that. And he uses his intimidation. He uses the circumstances. He uses the condemnation over the ways that you've failed and falled. He brings all these things and he says, you better be troubled. Meanwhile, the peace of God isright there for you,

but you have to receive it. You have to put on the full armor of God. You have to accept it and believe God at his word and accept his peace and trust his peace and let him give you peace within, even in the midst of your failures and all these circumstances and all these difficulties.

The Lord has peace for you. Stand against the wiles of the devil. He has all kinds of strategies to keep you worried and stressed out and anxious, but you don't have to live that. And if you're living that, Satan's strategies are working because God has peace for you.

Moving on to verse 16, we find point number four, and that is stand in faith. Stand in faith. Verse 16, above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. I always have to be very careful when I read this verse,

because Pastor Gregory shared one time how he got really nervous one of his first times teaching. Pastor Chuck Smith walked in the back and sat down while he was teaching, and he was teaching here from Ephesians, chapter six.

And in verse 16, he got his words mixed up a little bit, and he said, with which you'll be able to quench all the diary farts of the wicked one. And it's okay for me to tell the joke, but I am always terrified of actually repeating that mistake. No, the fiery darts of the wicked one.

We need to take up the shield of faith. As we talk about faith, don't think about it as believing in God.

Faith, of course, does mean that you believe in God. But I like to define faith this way. Faith is obedience to God at his word.

Faith is obedience to God at his word. To stand in faith, it's about obedience to God. And Satan will do whatever he can and use whatever schemes and tactics he can to convince you to disobey God, to not do what God has called you to do,

or to do things that God has not called you to do. Listen, Satan does not care if you believe in God or not. It doesn't bother him at all if you believe in God. If you say, I love God, he's not threatened by that. You know what he really cares about? Whether or not you actually do what God has called you to do.

James in James, chapter two, declares, you believe that there is one God. Good. You do well. He says, even the demons believe that and tremble. To believe in God is good. That is true. God exists. There is a God. So believing in God, that's good. But what really matters, and here,

as James says this in James, chapter two, he's talking about the importance of faith that works. That is not just, I believe in God, but I believe in God so much that I live my life according to what God says. Not just, I believe that God exists, but I will live the way that God has called me to live.

That is the shield of faith. That is what will protect you from those fiery darts of the wicked one, that you will take God's word and put it into practice in your life. And Satan will do whatever he can. He'll bring temptation.

He'll set up circumstances and then intimidation, saying, you have to look. There's no other choice but for you to disobey, to not do what God has said. And he will do his best to scream in your face, to shout at you, to convince you, you have to obey God. There's no other choice. You have to cave in to the temptation.

There was no other way for you to get around this without doing something that was against God. He'll discourage you, try to get you to give up, not even try to obey God. He'll introduce false doctrine so that you are led astray and not understanding what it is that God desires from you.

Again, these are all schemes and tactics, and there's many more that we could consider. Satan is out to convince you to not obey God at his word. Stand in faith. Number five, we have stand in salvation. And I know we're running short on time, so I'm moving faster.

Verse 17 says, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Stand in salvation. The enemy will do everything he can, use all kinds of techniques, all kinds of methods and wiles to lie to you, to intimidate you,

to confuse you, to bring accusation and false doctrine, to get you to think that you're not saved. And there are lots of people who are convinced by the enemy that they are not saved and petrified and terrified. They've committed the unpartable sin, freaked out. They could never be saved.

They can never haveright standing with God. On the other hand, the enemy uses another technique with others that you have to work really hard to be saved, and it's by your efforts, and you better work for it and earn it. And you really can't be sure if you're saved or not unless you work really hard.

And that is not what God has declared. Stand in salvation that is by grace through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast.

That is how we achieve salvation, by the grace of God, by trusting God at his word and accepting what he has done for us. But the enemy will work hard to try to move us from that position. Number six, stand in God's word. Verse 17 says,

take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. The word of God is the only offensive weapon in all of this. Well, aside from the next one, there's two offensive weapons. But so far we've been talking about defense, armor that protects. But here is the sword of the Spirit, and this is for protection and defense,

but it's also for offense. And if you want to defeat the work of the enemy, you want to defeat the plans of the enemy and his attempts in your life, you need to stand in God's word, and he will do everything he can to convince you. That's not the word of God. You don't need to trust that. You don't need to believe that.

Sometimes that straightforward attack is enough, and people give up on the word of God. Other times, you know, he has to use other techniques. Let me ask you this. Are you spending time with God and his word on a regular basis? Let me tell you,

if you're too busy to spend time with God and his word, Satan's strategies are working.

It doesn't always have to be a direct attack. You might say, I believe the Bible. I trust that God speaks through his word and everything.

You might have a great doctrinal understanding of the Bible, but if you're not spending time with God in the Bible, Satan's strategies are at work because he knows when your delight is in the law of the Lord and you meditate on it day and night, that you'll be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season,

and your leaf will not wither, and whatever you do shall prosper. That's God's promise for those who meditate, for those who are spending time with him in his word. The battle tactics of old was to camp around a city, to lay siege, and you would starve the people out.

And you know what? There's a lot of starving Christians, not because they've been convinced that the Bible is not the word of God, but because they've allowed the enemy's strategies in their life to work in such a way that they have kept themselves from the word of God.

Stand in God's word. Fill your life, fill your mind, fill your heart with the word of God. Let him feed you. Finally, point number seven, and that is stand in prayer. Verse 18 says, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,

being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. Prayer is the other powerful defense and offense that we have. And the enemy, knowing that, will seek to do whatever he can to keep us from praying. You think it's a coincidence that when you sit down to pray,

your long lost relative decides to call you out of the blue? You think it's coincidence that all of a sudden, you know, the smoke detector goes off when you have time set for prayer, or this happens, or the kids all of a sudden start acting up, or this? You think that's just coincidence?

No, that's the strategies of Satan to keep you from engaging with God in prayer. He might use those kinds of circumstances. He might use condemnation and say, you know what? You're such a failure. God doesn't want to hear from you. He's tired of hearing from you.

He could use accusation, discouragement, confusion, anything to keep you from spending time with God in prayer. Instead, what do you need to do? Stand in prayer. Like Paul said to the Thessalonians, pray without ceasing. And so again,

here is a glimpse at the armor that we have in protection against the enemy's strategies, the wiles of the devil. It's not exhaustive. There's so much more that we could consider, but I pray it's enough for you to be stood up to be thinking about what are the enemy's strategies in my life? How is he seeking to take advantage of me?

And am I letting him keep me from what God has in store for me?

And I would say to you, it's it's too often that we, as Christians, are letting Satan rip us off and we're missing out. And God has blessings and encouragements and strength and great things for us, for in us,

for through us,

that we miss out on because we're not standing against the wiles of the devil. Let's pray. Lord, I pray for each one of us here that we would be aware that you would give us discernment to our own hearts and lives.

Where are there are these attacks going on that that keep us from experiencing what you have for us, the peace that you have for us, the blessings that you have for us? And Lord, it's not that you will take away the battle, but Lord, that you will give us what we need to face that battle and be victorious. And so,

God, I pray that you would help us to put on the full armor of God, that we would stand in your strength, Lord, that we would fill our lives and our minds and our hearts with the things of you, that we would live our lives to please you, and Lord, that we would not allow any of the tactics of the enemy to move us from that position.

But Lord, that we would be steadfast and immovable and always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that it's not in vain. And so, Lord, help us to be spiritually discerning, to recognize these tactics and techniques. Lord, that we would be strong in you. Help us to stand.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.