(soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - All right, good morning church family.

Happy Lord's Day. I hope you had a good week in the Lord. As always, it's a privilege for us to gather and to worship our God together on Sunday. And I'm reminded today of just God's great love for us and that while we were yet sinners, that Christ would die for us.

And so we're gonna sing the first song, "You Made Us Your Own." And just as we sing these lyrics and as we sing this as a praise, may we be reminded of his great love for us that Christ would die for us and through faith in him that we would be adopted into the family of God and we could be considered a child of God and how amazing that is.

And so let us give thanks to him from our hearts. (soft music) ♪ We were ruined in our sin ♪ ♪ We were guilty and undone ♪ ♪ When your love reached down with sovereign hands ♪ ♪ And beckoned us to come ♪ ♪ You saw out the wonder ♪ ♪ Made the prodigal's command ♪ ♪ With a lavish feast you welcomed us ♪ ♪ For you made us your own ♪ ♪ You have loved us like you love your son ♪ ♪ We are as with Christ bought by his blood ♪ ♪ Oh, how great the love that we've been shown ♪ ♪ When your children made us your own ♪ ♪ We are strangers to the law ♪ ♪ But no strangers to your power ♪ ♪ We draw near you now with confidence ♪ ♪ For all our fears are gone ♪ ♪ And when Christ our guilty tear ♪ ♪ Will meet saints of love above ♪ ♪ And forever we will be amazed ♪ ♪ That you made us your own ♪ ♪ You have loved us like you love your son ♪ ♪ We are as with Christ bought by his blood ♪ ♪ Oh, how great the love that we've been shown ♪ ♪ When your children made us your own ♪ ♪ You have loved us like you love your son ♪ ♪ We are as with Christ bought by his blood ♪ ♪ Oh, how great the love that we've been shown ♪ ♪ When your children ♪ ♪ When your children ♪ ♪ When your children made us your own ♪ Welcome to Berean Community Church.

If this is your first time with us, we have a welcome table outside if you can join us there and you can ask any questions that you have, fill out a card for us, that'd be helpful. We have four announcements. First one is the Men's Ministry Fellowship, which is happening in two Saturdays in the cafe at 9 a.m.

It's going to be $10 a person, so please come and join us for that. We're gonna be having a panel of men kind of just giving their thoughts on things, questions that we might have for them will be answered. Secondly, we have a regional Thanksgiving dinner sign-ups continuing. That is going to be happening on November 24th at 5 p.m.

We want to invite everybody to sign up for that. They're in smaller houses, and it's an easier way to get to know people, especially as our church continues to grow. Third, we have Berean men's and women's flag football. It is just gonna be a single day, the Saturday right after Thanksgiving.

So if you want to be--if you want to sign up for that, the QR code is up here. And then lastly, for one of our spotlights to the various things we do during the holidays, we have the Brookdale Assisted Living caroling. So on Saturday, December 7th at 9.30, we're gonna be going to Brookdale in Anaheim, and we're going to be singing Christmas carols to them, sharing the gospel with them, spending time with those senior residents.

So if you have--if you look at your calendar and you happen to have time that morning, if you could come and join us to be a part of that, we can share the gospel with them. All right, well, if you have a physical offering, there's an offering basket--or a box in the back, or you can give it on our online methods.

Would you bow your heads with me, and I'll pray for offering. Oh, Father, we thank you. Lord, even as our Taiwan team is out and about and making their way back to us now, Lord, that you have given us opportunity, even in the giving of our offering, to further your kingdom.

Lord, that we know that your desire is for your name to be made known to the ends of the earth. And so, Father, I pray that our heart would be the same. In our smaller capacity sometimes, Lord, we can kind of isolate it. But, Lord, that we would have a broader perspective and that we would freely give because we know that that's what matters.

Help us to give from our hearts. Help us to give to what matters. Thank you so much, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - All right, would you please stand and let us take this opportunity to greet those around us.

(soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) (soft music) Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day and having done everything, to stand firm. Heavenly Father, I pray, God, that you would help us to see the reality of the enemy today, that it might draw us to not simply fight in the war, but Lord, to cling to Christ.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen. I've been studying, personally, angels and demons lately. And so I might have had some of that conversation with some people, but it has led me to this because as that was going on in me, as I was studying those things, I was trying to prevent myself from going too far into it.

And at the same time, I realized how much awareness it brought to me. It just immediately caused me to be much more sober on a general level. And so that's how I ended up on this passage to share, even though I know we've looked at this passage over the last couple years as well.

I think the problem is not that we don't know that spiritual warfare is real. I think the problem is that because it's invisible and we have a tendency to put our eyes on the visible and especially in a westernized setting that we're in, it's simple to attribute things to physical things where the scriptures are very clear that there is a spiritual warfare going on around us.

And I know that's the case for me because if we look at a passage, for example, like 1 Peter 5.8, it says that your adversary, the devil, he prowls around like a roaring lion. He's seeking someone to devour is what it says. And if you can imagine with me something like a cage, if you remember those Ringley brothers, the people that worked with that tiger?

I can't remember their names right now, but they have a cage here and it was right here. There's a cage literally physically up here on stage and there's a tiger in there or a lion or whatever and this is an untamed tiger. Let's put it that way. And the man comes and just opens it up, opens the door up.

Every single one of us, if we're not running out that door, we're very, very aware of that lion. We're very aware of the danger that's being presented here. There's no one that's going to be looking and thinking about what they're going to eat after or having small talk about the baseball game after.

It's not going to be like that. Everyone is watching this lion because that's the obvious response. No one has to tell you to do that. If it is the reality, that's what comes up out of us. It's pretty simple. And so that's how I know that I'm not sure if we're fully convinced that this is true.

It says that the enemy is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. And other than just interesting and fascinating thoughts that pass through our minds, we just kind of move on and continue to live our lives, fight against our sin, talk about things that are going on, and it's not very intentionally understanding and remembering and recognizing the power of the enemy that is at work.

The scriptures say that demons are real, that they are nearby, that they're around, they're at work, they're scheming, they're deceiving. The scriptures also describe these demons as intelligent and powerful. We looked at it a little bit in Luke, a little bit, maybe a few, about a month ago or so.

And so today I'd like to bring us back to this reality to remember again why it's so vital for us to remember that the enemy is near, that the enemy is real. If we forget that he's prowling, then we're going to stop resisting. If we forget that he's actually around and that he's trying to do something, then he is going to cause us to be blinded or we are going to blind ourselves or something like that, and our resistance is going to dissolve.

We're not going to have the ability to stand firm. If somebody is telling you, "Be careful, be careful," and that's all they do, they say, "Be careful, be careful," like that. I mean, it's just going to be a command that's given and perhaps if you trust in the source, then you're going to be like, "Oh, I've got to be careful about something." But the Bible just simply says he's here and he's near and he's prowling.

And so we would be careful just by knowing that. The scriptures describe a broad perspective of the enemy. He's not just a personal enemy. He's not just an enemy that goes after us as individuals. He's in every layer. He's in our families, threatening to tear apart. He's in our church.

He's in the fabric of society. He's in our government. It's not very difficult to see the fruit of that as the enemy has continued working. It isn't the healthiest thing to find Satan under every rock, but the scriptures just clearly tell us what we are struggling against. So we'll be going through three points here.

The reality of the enemy, secondly, the fight against the enemy, and thirdly, the application. So first, we're going to look at the reality of the enemy. If you could look at Ephesians 6, verse 12 with me. Verse 12. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, "but against the rulers, against the powers, "against the world forces of this darkness, "against the spiritual forces of wickedness "and the heavenly places." He clearly states up front that we are not struggling against flesh and blood.

He has to tell us that. Why? Because our eyes just draw to what is visible. So if something's going awry, we're looking to see what's going on and we're trying to attribute it to something, but he says, "Hey, it's not against flesh and blood." And then he begins to describe the demonic realm.

The first word he uses to describe the demonic realm, he doesn't just say Satan and demons, he uses this word "rulers." Rulers. It's translated just as that, as rulers or perhaps powers, because they're powerful beings with great authority. Did you know that Satan and the demons, they have authority?

Not of their own making, but one that has been bestowed to them by God. Rulers can also be translated as the beginning or first. Like there's something that would trigger in you an idea of like primacy. Now obviously we're thinking Christ is there in that place, but there's a reason why Paul uses the language he does to talk about Christ being the prime one.

Here it's in that word, rulers, he's up top. Some will even say that they're heavenly beings fallen from glory, the first created. The second word used there is powers, against the powers. A similar flair, authorities, powers. This word can actually be used to describe a tribunal. There's a great power and authority in the hands of this realm.

And then it goes on to say world forces of this darkness. The word forces is another word for rulers. World rulers over darkness. So they are powerful. They're not just rulers of a little place. These are world rulers. Government rulers. This is an angelic world that has this authority.

Spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places is the last way they're described. Wicked spirits, in other words. And they're described as how or where are they in the heavenly places. See, he chooses to describe this realm. He doesn't just say, hey, be aware, Satan is here. You're not fighting against flesh and blood, you're fighting against Satan.

He doesn't say that. He doesn't say you're fighting against demons. He doesn't say things like that. He's talking about all of these forces that are kind of coming together. That evil co-mingles and that demons have a power and authority ascribed to them by God. You can say that they have power, authority, dominion, and rulership.

We're going to look at a number of passages here. What I want these passages to do is to remind us of the reality of the enemy. I know we know in our minds that some of these passages are not going to be new to us, but we have to not treat the text as some ancient text filled with fables or fantasy.

This is reality. Job chapter 1, verse 6, it says, "Now there was a day when the sons of God," and we know those to be the angelic realm, the angels and the demons, "they came to present themselves before the Lord, "and Satan also came among them. "The Lord said to Satan, 'From where do you come?' "Then Satan answered the Lord and said," and this is frightening.

He says, "From roaming about on the earth." Now, that's frightening because who roams on the earth? We do. We roam on the earth. And Satan enters into, you know, the throne room of God, and he says, "Where did you come from?" He says, "I was just there on the earth, "roaming around, walking on the earth." Isaiah chapter 14, verse 12 says, "How you have fallen from heaven, "O star of the morning, sun of the dawn!

"You have been cut down to the earth, "you who have weakened the nations." Again, heaven to earth, cut down to the earth. The enemy is prowling like a roaring lion. Psalm 82.5 says, "They do not know, "nor do they understand. "They walk about in darkness. "All the foundations of the earth are shaken.

"I said, 'You are gods, "'and all of you are sons of the Most High. "'Nevertheless, you will die like men "'and fall like any one of the princes.'" Now, the next passage we're gonna look at is a story, is a narrative. And this was one of the more surprising passages to me because when I stumbled across it, I couldn't remember going through it the many times I've gone through the book of 1 Kings.

1 Kings is just a narrative of kings going up and down. And it says in the middle of this, talking about a man named Micaiah who's a great high priest, in chapter 22, verse 19, Micaiah said, "Therefore, hear the word of the Lord. "I saw the Lord sitting on his throne." So the setting is heaven in God's throne room.

And it says, "All the hosts of heaven," these are the angels, "standing by him on his right and on his left." This is talking about places of authority. "The Lord said, 'Who will entice Ahab "'to go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead?' "And one said this while another said that." What a funny picture, isn't it?

I don't know if funny is the right word for this. This is very, very fascinating. You have these spirits, these angels who are beginning to talk with one another. "Then a spirit came forward "and stood before the Lord "and said, 'I will entice him.' "The Lord said to him, 'How?' "And he said, 'I will go out "'and be a deceiving spirit "'in the mouth of all his prophets.' "Then he said, 'You are to entice him "'and also prevail.

"'Go and do so. "'Now, therefore, behold, "'the Lord has put a deceiving spirit "'in the mouth of all these, your prophets, "'and the Lord has proclaimed disaster against you.'" So what this narrative is showing is that there are angels and demons who are in the presence of God and that they have been given some form of authority, power, dominion, and rulers.

And this evil spirit, this demonic spirit, had something that he was given to to be able to go and enact something that would be considered evil. And this was to a king. This wasn't just to some random person. This was to influence a kingdom. So God sovereignly gives them authority to do this.

And they have great power, then, to deceive those who would place their faith in them. And we see such passages in Deuteronomy 4, verse 19. It says, "And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven "and see the sun and the moon and the stars, "all the host of heaven." Host of heaven is a very important phrase.

We're gonna pass by. "And be drawn away," and he says, "and worship them and serve them, "those which the Lord your God has allotted "to all the peoples under the whole heaven. "But the Lord has taken you "and brought you out of the iron furnace from Egypt "to be a people for his own possession as today." And so when you look at a passage like this, you have to start doing that work of thinking, like, how would this actually play out?

Is it that there was an ancient people and that they looked at the sun and the moon and the stars and then they began just to bow down and worship to them? No, when you see the way it actually plays out, you begin to see, even with the Egyptians, that there are deities ascribed to them, right?

There are deities that are connected to them. And so the images that we unearth of the Baals, the images that we unearth in ancient Egypt are of actual beings, right? It's just very fascinating stuff. And we're not gonna go too deep into that, but the idea is that these people, they looked up to the host of heaven and they were worshiping, serving.

Later on in Deuteronomy, it goes a little bit deeper. In Deuteronomy 32.17, it says, "They sacrificed to demons who were not God." He just names them. They're demons. "To gods whom they have not known, new gods who came lately, whom your fathers did not dread." And so imagine the great influence that this enemy has.

This enemy, they are rulers. They are powers. We see the lingering reality of this in the New Testament. Powerful rulers and authorities. Look at 1 Corinthians 2.6. "Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature. "A wisdom, however, not of this age," and he says, "Nor of the rulers of this age "who are passing away.

"The wisdom which none of the rulers of this age "has understood. "For if they had understood, "they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." It's talking about these rulers of this age. And my temptation was always just to look at words like this and just be like, these are kings.

These are humans who are placed in powers or perhaps they're just governments. But 1 Corinthians talks about the rulers of this age. If you look at Colossians 2.15, it says, "When he had disarmed the rulers and authorities, "he made a public display of them, "having triumphed over them through him." We know in Scripture that there's a cosmic war going on right now.

We know that that happens. We know that the angels are there to aid men. And when we look at these passages, it shows us this reality of the demonic. And so to bring us to Ephesians. We're in Ephesians 6. We're going to look at three different passages in Ephesians that lead to it.

Look at this. Ephesians 1.20, "Which he brought about in Christ "when he raised him from the dead "and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places." So there's very something specific that God is trying to portray here. That God defeated the power of death. The forces of evil, he defeated it.

And he raises Christ at the right hand where? In the heavenly places. And he says in verse 21, using specific words, "Far above all rule, all authority, "and power, and dominion." And he says, "Every name, every name, "not only in this age, but also in the one to come." "And he put all things in subjection under his feet "and gave him as head over all things to the church." And again, this is not just talking about humanity.

He is talking about everything. "When Christ is ascribed this authority, "it means that he is the king of all kings, "Lord of all lords. "That he is going to be the one, "whether on heaven, or on earth, "or under the earth." And we're like, what, who, who, and who?

We just think about these things. We think like, oh, it's just all creation, all humans, things like that. This includes the angelic realm. That Jesus came to disarm the rulers and authorities. Man, they have great power. Ephesians chapter two, verse one. "You were dead in your trespasses and sins "in which you formerly walked "according to the course of this world, "according to the prince, the power of the air, "of the spirit that is now working "in the sons of disobedience." If there are sons, then there is a father.

So it talks about Satan as the father of lies. It talks about the prince of the power of the air. That humanity and the evil angelic is going to come together, co-mingle in rebellion against God. Ephesians chapter three, verse 10. "So that the manifold wisdom of God "might now be made known through the church." To who?

"To the rulers and the authorities." Where? "In the heavenly places." See, this enemy, if we could kind of think about the reality of the enemy, if we go to the next slide. The enemy exists. There's a reality of an enemy. The enemy is strong and the enemy is incredibly cunning, deceiving.

But the reason why we need to look at all these passages is because we can't look at it like it's a past tense thing. We have to remember that this very same enemy that we see in the Old Testament, the very same enemy that we see in the New Testament, the ancient serpent of old, is today prowling amongst us.

He is here and he is... Oh, thank you. He is strong today. He is cunning today as ever. He hasn't waned in power and authority that God has described to him. I wonder if it's grown, especially as the days have grown so evil. You can, again, see quite a lot of fruit in today's society and culture.

He exists today. He is strong today. He is cunning today. And you can't just think, you know, he's like way over there. There's a reason why he says this to the church. What does this mean? In our work, in our personal lives, what does this mean for us in our church?

That if there's an actual enemy at work, what does it mean? What's he going to do? How would he take us down? How would he strategize? What does this mean for our world? The way we see what's going on in this world, do you think that the enemy is not involved?

Of course he is. It's not even just a speculation. Of course he's involved. All over the world, in governmental authorities, that's why they're called rulers and authorities. They have some God-given level of power and dominion. And so in Psalm 2, verse 1, it says, "Why are the nations in an uproar "and the peoples devising a vain thing?

"The kings of the earth take their stand "and the rulers take counsel together "against the Lord and against his anointed." That was the reality of the enemy. Which brings us to our second point, the fight against the enemy. The fight against the enemy. If I could read this passage again.

"Finally, be strong in the Lord "and in the strength of his might. "Put on the full armor of God "so that you will be able to stand firm "against the schemes of the devil. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, "but against the rulers, powers, "world forces of this darkness, "against the spiritual forces of wickedness "and the heavenly places.

"Therefore, take up the full armor of God "so that you will be able to resist in the evil day. "And having done everything to stand firm." Three imperatives given here. Be strong, put on, take up. Those are the three imperatives that are found in this passage. These are commands.

And so letter A, the command is to be strong. The command is to be strong. Even that idea of put on, take up is what? Is of the armor. Put on the armor. Take up the armor. And armor is strong. It's not weak. It's not brittle. You wanna put on like weak, brittle cardboard armor?

He's saying put it on because he wants you to be strong. He wants us to be strong. And it is a command. It is not an optional thing. By the way, put on and take up, it's called an heiress imperative. Something, basically the idea of it is that it should never be taken off.

It was put on in the past and it stays on. If you continue looking at this passage in verse 10 there, it says be strong in the Lord and in the strength. And he says of his might. It's needless repetition. Be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might.

Trying to show the strength and power. He's saying be strong. The word strong is dunamai. It's powerful. It's packed. It's forceful. Verse 11 has a very interesting word. It's the word able. We would just skip right over it if we didn't do a proper study. But it says in verse 11, put on the full armor of God so that you will be able.

That has the exact same root as be strong. Not so that you will just be able to stand firm. It's that you will be strong to stand firm. That you will have the strength to stand firm. In verse 11 he uses the word resist. To resist, it has that idea of being strong.

To go against. To exert power against something. Continuing in verse 11, he says stand firm. It's the word histemi. When used in the military sense, it means to hold a critical position while under attack. It's to hold. Be strong. That word is again used in verse 13. By the way, the word resist is also another interesting word.

The word resist is anti-histemi. So it's the same word as histemi, stand firm, except it has the word anti meaning stand firm against the one who it's standing against. These are all strong words. And there's some strength that is being called for. Has anyone ever told you be strong?

What was the setting? What was the context as to why someone would have to tell you to be strong? Because you feel the trembling at the foundation, right? Because you feel the temptation inside of a friend who is going to go after the wrong person romantically. Who is going to do the wrong thing.

Make the wrong decisions in their lives. Who is going to, you can see something shaking inside of them and so you say be strong. Don't slack and don't be weak. A year ago I watched the Rocky movies again. Rocky movies. I think maybe about half of us probably know it now.

But Rocky movies were great. Those were my childhood movies. I loved it. My favorite ones were one and four. It got me to thinking about this because in Rocky four there's this guy named Ivan Drago. He's a Russian boxer. He's roided up. That means steroids. He has steroids coursing through his body.

And then he's just the whole thing. Half the movie is a montage of them like working out, getting strong, running on these treadmills, pulling things. It's an incredible thing to watch. You just get motivated watching it while you're just sitting on a couch eating chips. So ridiculous. But you're watching them do this and they're getting stronger and stronger and stronger.

Rocky's doing the same thing. Except he's doing it the humble way. So he's going about getting bigger and stronger. And by the time they get to the ring you know that he's ready to engage in this battle. It's all leading up to this climax where Rocky gets into the ring.

He takes off that robe and you're just like wow, he is strong. And in the middle of this movie as they're boxing I remember this. This is why I'm bringing this image. Ivan Drago sits down at the corner and he goes this man is like iron. I'm like yeah, he's like iron.

Didn't you see what he was doing? He was waking up at the crack of dawn. He was eating things that were-- they weren't showing him eating but I'm sure he was eating things that were like good for his body. He wasn't sitting there like stuffing himself with carbs and sugar and you know whatever he wanted.

He wasn't like I'll do it tomorrow. He was-- this was just discipline. This was a strong man. So strong that this man basically like just towers over Rocky would be taken down. There was a strength that came not just with his body but with his mind. And so I bring up this story.

I bring up this example to just kind of bring it back to where we are. Are we strong? Like what does it mean when you come across an imperative from God? Where God commands us be strong. And it's almost like we're so blind that he needs to say things like be strong in the strength of his might, resist, stand firm, stand firm, be strong.

Put on the armor, get ready, be strong. It's-- what does that mean? If you came across this passage just like I have and I looked at it does it rebuke you just like it did to me? You go like oh yeah I'm supposed to be strong there's an enemy move on.

Is that what happens? What is the application? The enemy is prowling to take down not only the individual but the church. He is prowling all over the planet scheming, conniving. The rulers, the authorities of this age given some level of power and dominion and rule. What are we? Are we Christian couch potatoes?

Looking for the next movie to come out? I was trying not to say it because it rebukes me but like you know so much Dodgers right now. Pastor Peter he brings it up because of me I think. He brings up that example and he stares straight at me in the sermon.

You know our bodies might be physically strong. We live in an age like people are watching Physical 100 and things like that. We live in an age where everyone's trying to be strong and like they're going to the gym and we're running we have people we have a running club here in Birmingham did you know that?

They're crazy they're absolutely insane they run 50 miles and laugh afterwards you know it's crazy. Our muscles physically can be strong we can grow in strength like with our cardio and we can be so spiritually weak. We could be so disciplined about what we put into our bodies about when we wake up so that we can go and make our bodies strong and we could be spiritually weak.

The enemy would laugh. The enemy salivates at things like that. We could be mentally strong intellectually putting more and more into our heads growing in every way mentally but be spiritually weak. This is the call to be spiritually strong. Everything else has some benefit this is what we need for godliness to stand in a war to understand what it means not to fall to civilian affairs.

More on this in a moment. Letter B the command is not just to be strong but to be strong in god. What is strength biblically? When we tell someone to be strong is it just like be strong and like you know you muster up willpower? What does it mean to be strong biblically?

Well it says for when I am weak then I am strong and that drives me crazy. This passage drives me up the wall because he says when I am weak then I am strong so what are you asking me to do? So am I supposed to be weak or am I supposed to be strong?

But if you're a Christian you know exactly what this is talking about because if you're a Christian you know you have experienced this first hand that it is at our weakest points that we know the strength of God coursing through us. That those are the times when we turn to God the most.

That those are the times where we feel so weak in our flesh and yet we feel so strengthened because those are the times in my weakness of flesh that my strength comes from the Lord. In verse 11 chapter 6 verse 11 he says in the Lord. Did you know that's a passive imperative?

It's passive. It means be strengthened. It means you have the responsibility but he needs to do the work. That's what it says there. He says be strong in the Lord. In verse 11 he says in the strength of his might not my might. In the strength of his might in verse 12 he talks about this armor as not just being some armor that the Bible just talks about.

It's the armor of God. To find strength in the Lord and the strength that he can provide. In Philippians 2.12 it says so then my beloved just as you have always obeyed now as in my presence only but much more in my absence work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

Here's our responsibility. And then in verse 13 he turns it around and he says for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for his own good pleasure. It's his will at work. It is his work at work. But he says you work it out.

Why? Because this is the essence of faith. Faith is a place of surrender. That it causes us to cling to the one who can. And he's talking about this. And look at Joshua chapter 23 verse 5. It's a little bit of a longer text but I think it's good.

The Lord your God he will thrust them out before you and drive them from before you and you will possess their land just as the Lord your God promised you. And I want to remind you that in the Old Testament in the narrative before the kings the driving out of people had a lot to do yes with the Canaanites and the people and things like that but because of the gods that they worshiped he always links these two things together.

It's not just the people because there are people who are sinful. It's because there is evil reigning and he is saying drive them out. And so he says this. He says you will possess their land just as the Lord your God promised you. That's great. Verse 5 is great because all it does is gives you a promise and that goes I could kick back.

I could just receive the promise now. And then he says verse 6 be very firm. He says be very firm then to keep and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses so that you may not turn aside from it to the left from the right hand or to the left so that you will not associate with these nations these which remain among you or mention the name of their gods or make anyone swear by them or serve them or bow down to them but you are to cling to the Lord your God as you have done to this day.

We are weak people. It's not like we have to become weak. We are weak people. And so we have a tendency as weak people who are created to worship to go after things of strength because we don't have ability. We will cling to those who proclaim to have ability.

And so we'll go after the ones who are going to be able to give me what I want and need. And so we will go to idols and say if this gives me security then I will surrender to this and I will give my life to this thing. If it is to the pleasures of the world then I will give myself to these things and we weaken and we weaken and we weaken as we continue to live a life that looks just like everybody else in this world.

But that is not who we are as Christians. He says you are to cling to the Lord your God. You are weak. Be strong in your clinging. Strongly cling. In your faith you have nothing to offer so cling with everything that you have to the one who can do it for you.

Verse nine, "For the Lord has driven out "great and strong nations "from before you "and as for you "no man has stood "before you to this day. "One of your men "puts to flight a thousand. "For the Lord your God "is he who fights for you "just as he promised you.

"So take diligent heed "to yourselves "to love the Lord your God." See strength against the enemy and his schemes comes not as you just get ready to fight against the enemy but when you cling to the Lord as you see the enemy for who he is. He is strong.

Let's not get that weird thing in our heads where we say we have the name of Jesus and so we just pronounce the name of Jesus and we could bind. It's too elementary. That is too naive. The Bible describes the enemy as having great strength. Great power. And so you cannot use the name of Jesus in vain.

Say in the name of Jesus and whatever it is we have to cling to Jesus. Jesus is the one who drives. When we come to difficulties in life it's not all about just receiving counsel and executing it that these are the things that I need to do. It's about yielding.

It's about surrendering. Sometimes it's about just straight up desperation. It's about recognizing our own weaknesses and blindness and biases, sins. You cannot do this on your own. You cannot fight with your own strength. You cannot give that kind of counsel either. Like, oh, you're struggling with this? Well, this is what I did.

You go and do that. So they go, oh, I gotta do this, this and this and this. Then you are telling a young man to go and fight with his own willpower. No, the fight is to cling to God and all of these things to point to Him because He alone can give us strength.

When He tells us to be strong it means to cling. It means to surrender. We come before Him in prayer asking for strength. Don't ask Him for strength to change if you are not willing to yield and to surrender and to change. Philippians 4.13 says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

This brings us to letter C. The command is to be strong in God so that we might stand firm. There's a so that here. There's a purpose. It's not just a strong to be strong. It's not just be strong in the Lord so that you can be strong in the Lord.

It's like, great. No, there is a purpose to it. There is something we are trying to accomplish but because there is a war it's to accomplish this so that we might stand firm. If we do not stay strong in God we will not stand firm. If we are not walking with God we cannot stand firm.

If we are just trying to live a Christian religious life you cannot stand firm. In verse 11 it says, so that you will stand firm. In verse 13, so that you will be able to resist. There's a resistance of standing firm. It's a current of water flowing down and you're fighting against it.

It's a gale of wind that is going against you and you are putting every exerted effort to fight against the pressure that is coming this way. He says, so that you might stand firm. It's not just standing still. It's moving forward. There is movement. There is actual direction. There's a force direction.

If you're a math, physics person there's an arrow, a force arrow that is going against this. So is this happening in our lives? Are we heeding God's command to be strong so that we might stand firm? Or are we looking for comfort? Are we looking for security? Are we living for this age?

Have our minds and hearts and our bodies grown weak? And we've used this day and age. We've used Orange County. We've used America. We've used what we have around us to justify. It's very challenging to me. We have to keep reminding each other of this. I want to remind you that it says so that we might stand firm.

We have to stand firm. This is not just God to you. We have to say as a church that we amen this concept. And so we will not allow each other to be drifting into these things. We stand firm together against the schemes of the enemy. Letter D. The command is to be strong in God so that we might stand firm against the enemy.

That's what it says in verse 11. The schemes of the enemy. The word schemes, methodia is where we get our word method. Crafty scheming with the intent to deceive. Looking to pounce. Looking for an opportunity. Did I use a hunting image yet? Was that the last? Did I say anything about hunting?

I didn't, okay. So there was a time when I watched videos of hunters. I don't know why. They were hunting deer. And it was just kind of like fascinating to me. I would never do it because they have to just like lay down in the brush for hours and it's agonizingly boring to me.

Watching them was fun. And so they're just in the brush and they have the gun trained and looking to see. It's like a salt lake. There's like deers that would come through and things like that. And so they have the scope there and just waiting and waiting and waiting.

They don't even take their eyes off and finally a deer comes. It's a very fascinating battle. There's trees and so there are moments when that scope is on that deer but the tree is kind of in the way but I'm like but you can get its butt right there.

It's like right there. You can just kind of hit that end. But he doesn't. He just waits. Sits there and waits. There's a moment where he kind of shifts his weight and goes and then the deer goes like this and looks up. He's just kind of looking around like a deer.

And as he's doing that you would think like this is going to run away. Sometimes I'm rooting for the deer. Run. It's like Bambi. Run. And then sometimes you're rooting for the hunter. It's just a weird confusing thing. So as this is happening they play this game where it's like he looks around and then the hunter just sits there quietly.

And the deer's like okay. Maybe I just heard something. I don't know. Just goes back to his life and he goes and he starts to eat his grass or whatever it is and then again he senses something. He looks up and they do this and finally he kind of comes out into the clearing and then bam.

The hunter shoots. I took a moment to kind of paint that picture because when it says that there are schemes of the enemy there's methodea. It's crafty scheming. It's plotting. It's desiring to pounce. And it's not when you expect it. It's not when someone is on guard. It's when they are least guarded that the enemy is waiting for that in our lives.

And you know if you're a Christian you have sensed this. You have fought this before that sometimes it's when we are the most guarded or least guarded. It's when we are feeling like the danger has passed. It's after a retreat. It's after some period of time in life where you feel like you've grown that the enemy comes and pounces.

And it's not pounced like a kitty pounces cutely on a ball. This is a roaring lion who will tear you apart. How can we not stand engaged? Stand strong. We have to remember that there's a war. If you don't see this then we're just going to relax and let go.

We're going to shrug. We're not going to be equipped with the right mentality and sight and world view of an enemy that is strong. Remember that this enemy is scheming against us. There's many ways that he can scheme. He can say you fight your sin on your own. That there are methods that you can take.

Boundaries that you can put up. That you can do this work. And all the while in the name of doing what is right before God we have turned our backs on God forgetting that he himself is our strength. I'm good. Christ is our strength. James 4.7 says submit therefore to God.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. This is a present continuous. Today, today, today. Tomorrow when you wake up you say today, right? It's today. Then today. It's every single day. It's saying resist. I say this because we have heard of men fall. Pastors who fall all over the place.

And we wonder. The question that comes to my mind same as I'm sure with yours. How do we get to that place? How does a man get to that place? You know what? It's a lot less confusing. It's a lot less mysterious to me than I realize. Because when we put down our guard.

When we forget what's going on. You will find a man who is not standing firm. As soon as we become a Christian. We are called to strive to enter the rest of Christ. Because until we go to glory. We are going to be fighting in a battle. We have to keep fighting.

Does that sound exhausting? Does this passage exhaust us? But the scriptures simply paint a reality. There's no other way to look at this. Otherwise we're just going to eat our chips and watch the Dodger game. It's just going to happen. We wonder how people get to these places. No.

Some of us are in these places. There is no other option. We have to stand strong. Max Turner says in his new Bible commentary. Note too that Paul. I'm sorry it's long. I like long quotes. Note too that Paul has a particular sort of battle in mind. One to hold a strong position.

His exhortation does not prepare soldiers to make a quick moving attack. And the Roman soldiers key attack weapons. The twin javelins are missing. But to take stand. To stand your ground and to stand firm. They hold the crown of the hill as it were. And the enemy must weary itself in constant uphill attack.

The strong position Paul has in mind. Will be clear to the reader. It is our union with Christ. The head over all things. Far above all principalities and powers. And the resurrection power of God at work in us. Even the armor and weapons turn out to be a mixture of God's very own.

With those of his Messiah. And yet Paul shows no triumphalism here. Listen to that. He shows no triumphalism here. The decisive victory won by Christ lies in the past. And the very fact that believers now fight on Christ's side. Is clear testimony to that. But complete victory still lies in the future.

In the meantime it is a day of evil. That appears to dominate the scene. And by the way that's what it says previously in Ephesians chapter 5. Make good use of your time for the day is evil. This quote is telling us. That the strength that we have is found in Christ.

The victory is in Christ. That then if we are not clinging to him. Then what's going to happen to us? We will fall. As believers there is forgiveness. There is discipline. But if Christ is not our strength. Then that's going to happen. It's going to happen in a moment of indiscretion.

It's going to happen when your patience is done. After your kids have been driving you crazy sometimes. You've been patient. You've been patient. You've been patient. Trying to be godly. Trying to be godly. Trying to be godly. And then boom. All of that effort turned into a force of anger.

The more patient you were the more angry you can get. When you look at the things of this world and all that it might give to us. We have to stand firm. We have to fight at every moment. It's not a fighting that happens just at that moment of engagement.

It's a fighting that happens. It's a preparatory fighting that is going on. So that in the moment of battle we are ready. Rocky did not wake up and go look at my abs. It took him months of preparation to fight and get there. To resist. 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 5 it says, "For this reason when I could endure it no longer I also sent to find out about your faith.

For fear that the tempter might have tempted you and our labor would be in vain." That there is a very present danger. That the tempter might tempt us and the work done is in vain. And it says in Revelation 2 verse 24, "But I say to you the rest who are in Thyatira who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of," very specifically he's talking about Satan as they call them, "I place no other burden on you.

Nevertheless what you have hold fast until I come." Hold fast. Cling tooth and nail. Glue yourself. "He who overcomes and he who keeps my deeds until the end." And he continues in this word to Thyatira. We have to engage in this war. We are not in peace time. Having peace in Christ.

Having peace in God. Does not mean we are living in peace time right now. We are in war. Maybe we aren't interested in the armor because we're not engaged in battle. It's a command to take up the full armor of God. Finally then our application. We can skip the quote there to go to letter A.

So here's our first application. We must recognize our weakness. You cannot do this on your own. You need God. How much more elementary can we get? You cannot do this on your own. You need God. We can't stand against the enemy's schemes on our own. We need God. We need him telling us his truth through his spirit.

We have to understand and see this reality. We are so weak. In 1 Corinthians 10, 12 it says let the one who thinks he stands take heed lest he falls. We have to recognize our weakness. Secondly, we must be dependent then. And we think that if we recognize our weakness then we would be dependent.

But many times we don't link it. We have to then be dependent on God. We have to turn our eyes to God. Or in our weakness we will turn our eyes to things. To people. We have to depend on God. We have to cling to God every day. Not be satisfied with the fact that I was clinging to him yesterday.

It has to be today. Not be satisfied that I'm clinging to him today. Getting ready to cling to him tomorrow and the next day until he comes back. That's part of the thing that magnetizes us to the return of Christ. Communion is helpful for that. Until the day he returns we will continue to live in remembrance together.

To cling to him. And again for those of us who feel like this is exhausting. There was a time when I saw this passage that we look at as exhausting. And then I don't think so anymore. Because what I realize is if this call to fight and to depend on God is not exhausting.

When the whole application then is to cling to Christ. Because that's the very thing that I want to do. So if somebody said do this, do that. Obey this, obey that. Kind of be dependent. But if it's like love Christ. Oh, okay. It just boils it all down to this very, very basic faith.

Because I love Christ. That's not hard. If somebody comes and commands me to love my wife. Who do you think you are commanding me to love my wife? It is. It just exists. I do love my wife. Thirdly, we must be disciplined. That means that everything we do in our disciplines is to cling.

It's to be dependent. You can see how quickly we can use our disciplines to use our own strength, right? That's what we quickly run to that. And so we just check things off. And we're like, oh, maybe but because I did there's an extra dose of blessing that God will launch at us from afar.

No, reading the word is because we're clinging to God. Praying is because we're clinging to God. Meditating is because we're clinging. Memorizing is because we're clinging. We're reading books because we're clinging to Christ. The time we spend with each other playing basketball, volleyball, watching movies together, to cling to Christ.

Everything that we do is to cling to Christ. So even in these disciplines, we can't allow them to take control of us where we think that it is our strength moving us forward. Our disciplines are meant to bring us to Christ where we find our actual strength. Letter D, finally, we must remember the victory.

This isn't just a thing that we tag on at the end like, oh, yeah, Jesus won it all. This is the thing that glues everything together. Remember that the victory is promised. When he says it is finished, it means that it's finished. We're in a waiting period. Jesus is coming back.

We will return to him. He has already secured the victory. And so stand strong. Stand strong in whatever it is that you've been doing in your life lately. Ask yourself, what have I been standing strong in? And let's move that to make sure that we're saying I'm standing firm in Christ.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray, Lord, for strength that can only come from you. And I pray, God, that we wouldn't be asking you for strength apart from you. But, Lord, that in our asking for strength, we are simply asking for you. God, we need you. We are in desperate need for you.

And, Father, we need that to flow to the top of our fellowship, our church. God, it has to be all about you. Otherwise, our church is going to fall. So, Father, I pray for our private lives. I pray for our corporate fellowship. God, I pray for all the churches that reside in this world.

God, that we would stand strong, clinging to Christ, engaging in battle, putting on the armor. Father, recognizing that this all can only be done with a God who has already promised and secured victory. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let us stand together for the closing song. Christ in me is to live, to die is to gain.

Christ in me is to live, to die is to gain. Christ in me. Christ in me is to live, to die is to gain. Christ in me is to live, to die is to gain. He is my king. He is my song. He is my life. He is my joy.

He is my strength. He is my soul. He is my peace. He is my Lord. Christ in me. Christ in me is to live, to die is to gain. Christ in me is to live, to die is to gain. One last time. Christ in me is to live, to die is to gain.

Christ in me is to live, to die is to gain. He is my king. He is my song. He is my life. He is my joy. He is my strength. He is my soul. He is my peace. He is my Lord. Christ in me is to live, to die is to gain.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all to empower us to live in such an aware manner, both for now and forevermore. Amen. God sent His Son. They called Him Jesus. He came to love, heal, and forgive.

He lived and died to buy my pardon. An empty grave is there to be my Savior then. Because He lived, I can face tomorrow. Because He lived, all fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future. And life is worth the living just because He lived. He is worthy.

Holy, holy is the Word made flesh. ♪ The King who bore our pain ♪