We come this week to Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10. Now, in coming to verse 10, we come to the final section of the book. If you remember, I've told you many times that Paul largely divides the book into two parts. The first half, chapters 1 to 3, is largely doctrinal, and the latter half, chapters 4 to 6, practical. He first tells us who we are and what we have in Christ. And then, if you look back to chapter 4 and verse 1, he now tells us what we ought to do in light of that. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. And then he divides up these practical exhortations into a couple, three categories. First, there's responsibilities that are more directly relevant to the church. And that takes us all the way into chapter five and verse 21. And then he turns the corner to responsibilities in the home. And he gives us that wonderful domestic section, beginning first with wives and ending in chapter 6, verse 9, with masters. And if you remember, he first says in verse 21 of chapter 5, submitting to one another in the fear of God, and then he goes on to show in those categories how submission looks. Wives are to submit to husbands. Children are to submit to parents. and slaves to masters. And then, of course, he gives the other sides to that. Husbands are to love their wives, parents are to train their children, and slaves are to, or masters are to treat their slaves properly. Now that brings us to verse 10 of chapter 6. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Now I want to say a few words very briefly about the word finally, but I want to pray first and ask for God's blessing. Our Father, as we now come to again hear from you, we pray that you give us ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches and to this church in particular, for Jesus' sake, amen. The word finally is more than simply now we're coming to the end. It is that, but it's actually connecting everything that's come before. This is what we are and have in Christ. This is what we're to do for Christ in light of that, chapters four and following. And now he says, finally, this is kind of a summary of everything that I've said. This is why we need a direct statement as to the source of our strength, because all of the duties in the church and in the home are going to be complicated because we have this great arch enemy. And so we could perhaps divide up verses 10 to 20. Verse 21 and following is really a postscript. But we could divide up verses 10 to 20 into these sections. We first have in verse 10 the source of our strength, and that will be the focus of our study today, the nature of our enemies in verses 11 to 13, and then the provision of God's armor, verse 14 to 20. the source of our strength, the nature of our enemies, and the provision of our Heavenly Father. Finally, my brethren, having spoken about who Jesus is and what he's done for us, what we're to do in light of that in terms of our responsibilities in the church and home, let us be mindful that herein lies the source of all of our strength. And furthermore, we'll have to do these duties in combat with our arch enemy, Satan, and his demonic hosts, as we were instructed in the previous hour. But worry not, for he's given us a strong armor, an armor that he calls of God, that we're to put on that we might withstand the wiles or schemes of the devil. And so we want to come then to verse 10. Brethren, there's some texts in the Bible that kind of carry with it a whole Bible. Verse 10 is like that, especially with reference to the practical parts of Scripture. This is a classic text. text that if we can get the principles that I hope to teach you today, if we can get this in our hearts and work it out in our lives and homes, oh brother, we're going to be a very happy people. Because here in verse 10, we're told how it is that wives are to submit to their husbands. How it is that husbands are to love their wives, and children obey their parents, and parents rear up their children in the discipline and admonition of the Lord, and servants and masters. This is how, brethren, that we do it all. Verse 10. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. I want to come to our text today. by way of three questions. First, what is it to be strong in the Lord? And there will be brief. How are we to be strong in the Lord? And then we're going to be a little more lengthy. And then why should we be strong in the Lord? And then there, again, will be rather brief. First of all, notice, what is it to be strong in the Lord? As Paul exhorts believers to be strong in the Lord, I want to start with this question. What does it actually look like? How might a person know whether or not they are in fact strong in the Lord and the power of the might? Brethren, Paul is telling us to do something that we can do by his grace, and we can know that we're doing it. It's something that's discernible. Perhaps we can view this as a spiritual checkup, an attempt to know the present state of our souls if whether or not we're strong or weak, whether or not we have strong grace or weak grace. Are we being made strong in the Lord or else are we spiritually weak and sick? Or perhaps more to the point, what does spiritual strength look like? Well, let me give you some negatives and then a positive or two. First, it doesn't deny strong temptations and enticements. A person can be strong in grace and yet face strong temptations and enticements. Brother, all of the saints, strong saints, think of Abraham, Jacob, Paul, Peter, they all faced strong temptations and enticements. And of course, the strongest of all is the Lord Jesus, who also faced the temptations of the devil. In fact, we could perhaps even say Job is a classic example, isn't he, of a strong Christian. Remember that the book starts off with God saying, have you considered my servant Job, who's the most righteous person on earth? We could say he was the strongest Christian in the world, and yet he faced such temptations and enticements by the enemies, Satan and his wife and others. Perhaps we can say that God brought those in order to make him stronger. Remember, that's how he ends the book of Job, by saying that he knew God, but now he's come to know God more clearly. Now he's come to see his weakness more clearly and the strength that God has provided for him in the Redeemer to come. Oh, brethren, don't misunderstand it. You can be going through great trials and tribulations and be a very strong and healthy Christian. Secondly, it doesn't merely refer to strength of gift or knowledge. A person can have great gifts, but little grace. And the worst example of this, of course, is Judas, who seemingly did all the same things everybody else did, because remember when Jesus, toward the end of his ministry, said, one of you is going to betray me, nobody said, oh, that's Judas, because he doesn't preach as much, he doesn't do miracles enough. No, he's They all ask, is it I? The inference being, brethren, is that Judas did all the other things that they did. Judas had gifts, but no grace. Brethren, stop and think about it. Two preachers can preach two sermons, and one might seem rather weak. He's a little timid, doesn't pronounce all the words accurately. And you think, wow, this guy's a pretty weak Christian. And then there's somebody else who's bold and smooth and, oh, he's just killing it. And then you find out weeks, months, maybe decades later that he's a hypocrite. And all the while he's been cheating on his wife with a young lady. Oh, brother, don't misunderstand. Strong gifts don't necessarily argue strong grace. Thirdly, it is to have ability, more positively, to subdue and mortify gross lusts and sins. Strong and healthy Christians live holy lives. Not sinless lives, but holy lives. Again, I use Job as an example. Brethren, if we're chronically and constantly stumbling back into gross patterns of sin, it doesn't mean necessarily that you're not a Christian. But it definitely does argue that you're not a very strong one. Strong Christians, healthy Christians, now keep in mind I'm using those as synonyms, strong and healthy. Strong or healthy Christians, they are able, by God's grace, to mortify the deeds of the body. And they do this in such a way that they ordinarily, it doesn't mean they can't fall into gross sin. It doesn't mean that they can't commit great sins, brethren. It just means that they don't ordinarily fall back into these patterns. They're able to put to death the deeds of the body and generally speaking, live holy lives. This is an evidence of strong grace. Lastly, it's to have resolve and courage to trust God regardless of circumstances. And this is why the Bible often connects together. Be strong and courageous. This means that we've come to test God in the positive sense, and we know him to be faithful to his word. And that's what able to endure a strong Christian, a healthy Christian, is able to endure all manner of hardships, not just the strong temptations and enticements I mentioned earlier, but just hardships like Job. Yeah, brother, it's hard to go through those. It's difficult to go through those. But nevertheless, strong Christians do so, and they do so with contentment. And yes, they're able to rise up to the heights of what James tells us. My brethren, count it all joy when you experience diverse trials. Knowing, not that the trial in itself is joyful, but that nobody ever rejoiced because they got cancer. But they rejoice in God because they know that God controls the cancer. God controls everything. that he brings trials, James says, in order to test our faith, in order to strengthen us. In other words, a strong Christian is a trusting Christian. They're ones who can and do believe in God irrespective of circumstances. Now let me quickly point out some clarifications before we hasten on to point number two. One, no Christian is ever strong in himself. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I don't even like to use the phrase strong Christians. Because as we're going to see, the strongest Christian is the weakest Christian in his own estimation. Secondly, no Christian is ever strong. Sorry, no Christian ever thinks of himself as strong. If asked, are you a strong Christian? He's not going to say, yeah, of course I am. I'm one of the strongest Christians. No, he's going to know his weakness and he knows the exhortation of Paul to the Corinthians. Take heed lest you stand, because if you stand, you potentially might fall. Lastly, no Christian is ever so strong that he cannot become stronger. Brother, nobody ever arrives. There's only one that did that and he's in heaven. And so nobody here is so strong that they can't be stronger. And if truth be told, brethren, we're probably all somewhere on the spectrum of that. And we all could use, well, that's an understatement. We all desperately need more strength. And that brings me then, secondly, to how are we to be strong in the Lord? Well, here I want to come more directly to our text, wherein Paul exhorts the Ephesian believers to be strong in the Lord. But before I come to the question, how are we to be strong in the Lord, I first want to point out the obvious, and that is Paul tells us to be strong in the Lord. In other words, it is a command. It's not a suggestion or a recommendation. If you don't have anything else to do, then be strong in the Lord. No, it's be ongoingly strengthened by the Lord. And so by way of introduction to this second question, I want to briefly explain the verse under these points. You have first, activity. The phrase be strong, again, is an imperative, which means it's a command. We are to be strong or to be strengthened. Either way, you look at it as saying the same thing. Brethren, if Scripture teaches us anything, it teaches Christians are far from passive in the process of sanctification. This has been a perspective that some Christians have fallen prey to. Perhaps you've heard the phrase, let go and let God. Well, there's a sense of which that's true. Trust God with your troubles. Don't hold on to them. Definitely don't hold on to any grudges. But brethren, the principle of letting go and let God isn't right if applied to sanctification. No, we have to work in sanctification. No, we have to work in the right way. But brethren, we have to work. Thus, I want to quickly examine a few other texts that describe the need for vigorous activity. In fact, I think we're just limited to two Pauline texts. Let's back up first to 1 Corinthians 9. Look at verse 24. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. He's using the analogy, isn't he, of the Roman games. We're like in a race and we're running to get a prize. Verse 26, therefore I run thus, not with uncertainty, thus I fight, not as one who beats the air. Now he's conflating imagery. There's running and boxing, or fighting. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. Now that could mean one of two things, disqualified from being a preacher, or possibly, I think more accurately, from getting a crown. But you see a lot of I's in here, don't you? I do this. I do that. Brethren, he's not passive. He's not letting go and letting go. I'm running. I'm fighting. I'm beating my body. That's a figurative way of saying that he's mortifying the deeds of the flesh. Or else Philippians, if you jump over Ephesians, you'll come to Philippians chapter 3. Verse 12, not that I've already attained or am already perfected, but I press on. He's saying the same things as he said back in 1 Corinthians 9, that I might lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of me. He's just using different imagery. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call. of God in Christ Jesus. Brother, there's a whole lot of I's in these two passages. I run. I fight. I buff it. I press onward. I do it. Now, if that's all we had, that would be very prideful, wouldn't it? It would be, in fact, unchristian. And we have a second point coming up here in a second. But all I'm stressing here, brethren, is that according to our text, Ephesians 6 and 10, we're very active in the pursuit of our sanctification. But then secondly, there is dependence. Again, brethren, if our text just said, be strong, that would be torture. Be strong, period. Now, there are texts that say that, actually. be strong, but the inference is always with the prepositional phrase that Paul here adds, in the Lord. Now, you know, that's a popular phrase for Paul in all of his letters, but especially in this one. We've seen it in many forms, in him, in Christ, in the Lord. It's a phrase that speaks of our personal union with Christ by faith. This union is illustrated in a number of ways. He's the foundation stone and we're the structure. That's the union. Or else in chapter 5, he's the groom and we're the bride. Or else chapter 2, He's the head and we're the body. These are just various imageries, brethren, to teach the closeness of this union. It's as if Christ was a treasure filled with grace and Christians are to find all of their strength in him. And thus Paul actually uses three similar words. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. These are all basically synonymous. And I think Paul is saying it this way in order to eradicate from us any doubt. Be strong in the Lord and the power of his might, brethren, isn't anything other than the strength he just mentioned. He's just simply saying this strength that's in him is in him abundantly. Thus, while Christians are to be strong, they are to find all of their strength, not in themselves, but in Him. If I go back to the imagery of treasure, we're poor, we don't have a penny. I saw recently that they're doing away with pennies. Let's say we're so poor we haven't even a penny. By nature, we actually have a debt. But that's to say, we haven't a penny. But Jesus has what? Oh, brethren, he has all the riches we need. That's the point. Let me show it to you from a text that we saw some weeks ago. Look back to chapter 3, verse 14. I made reference to this earlier, I think, in my Sunday school or maybe in my pastoral prayer. Ephesians 3.14, for this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. And this is what he's praying for in part, verse 16, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory. That is, the riches of grace that's in Jesus who's in glory. This is what he's praying. According to the riches of the grace of God in Jesus, in glory, to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man. Brethren, here we find all of the grace we need. The riches of his grace are found in Christ, who's in glory. And secondly, they're communicated to us because we're on earth by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Brother, stop and think again, we're in union with him, the same spirit that's in him is in us. Remember, he was given the spirit in terms of his humanity without measure, we in measure, but it's the same spirit and that spirit unites us. We're one with him, one flesh, remember how Paul put it in chapter five, we're one flesh. We've been joined together in this intimate union. And the Holy Spirit takes from Jesus this grace and he communicates it to us in the inner man that is in our hearts through means. The Spirit uses means, brother. And what are those means primarily? The word and prayer. And that's why Paul called the word the word of his grace. It's because it's through grace that we get, it's through the word that we get grace. And do you remember he also said, in Hebrews chapter four, that we're to come as believers to the throne of grace to obtain grace and mercy to help us in our time of need. So we get the grace from Jesus by the Spirit through means, all right? You know that, I tell you that all the time. But alas, brother, we need to be reminded. All the grace we need is in Jesus. And it's communicated to us through the Holy Spirit, by the Holy Spirit, through means. The Word and sacrament, the preaching especially of the Word right now, brethren, I pray that God is by His Spirit taking grace from Jesus and He's putting it in your inner man. He's strengthening you, he's helping you, he's educating you, he's rebuking you, he's correcting you, but he's strengthening you, brother, and he does this through a humble, diligent use of the means. Now, admittedly, the two concepts of activity and dependence can be difficult to harmonize. So we are to be strong in the Lord. This is how Paul puts it. Thus, I want to take a few seconds to look up maybe a handful. I have four, two in the old and two in the new. We'll see if we have a need to look up all the texts that wed together these two truths. Vigorous activity, humble dependence. All right, let's start back in the Psalter. Psalm 18. Now the whole Psalm really is relevant to the point, but let's just look up a few verses. Look at Psalm 18 and how about verse... Oh, sorry, Psalm 18. And let's look at verse 37. Psalm 18. Boy, this is taking a long time to find it. It's here somewhere, before Proverbs. Here we go. Psalm 18, verse 37. I have pursued my enemies. Now watch how he's gonna wear together these two things. Activity dependence. Now, he's here talking about, in the first place, actually, as David was a warrior king, he's talking about actually pursuing his physical enemies. But sometimes it's really difficult to know if he's talking about physical enemies as the captain of the Lord's army, or he's talking about spiritual enemies. For us, brethren, as we're gonna see again in Ephesians 6, our warfare is not with flesh and blood. It's with principalities and spiritual powers of darkness. But either way, if he's referring to physical or spiritual enemies, the principle is evident. Verse 37, I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them. Again, we're gonna see a lot of I's. Neither did I turn back again till they were all destroyed. I have wounded them so that they could not rise. They have fallen under my feet. For you have, listen, for you, God, have armed me with strength for the battle. See, there's a lot of eyes. Wait a minute, David. That sounds a little bit prideful. Then he comes in in verse 39. For you have armed me with strength for the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me. He just said that he subdued them. Pray tell, David, which is it? Did you subdue your enemies or did God subdue your enemies beneath you? Verse 40, you have also given me the necks of my enemies so that I destroyed those who hated me. And he goes on. You have a wedding there, don't you, of the two concepts. Let me show it to you from one little text in the Minor Prophet Zechariah. Notice Zechariah chapter 10, and notice verse 12. A great prophecy of gospel days, when Jesus Christ would come, and he would send his Holy Spirit, and he would gather to himself a bride taken from every nation, tribe, and tongue. And notice what will happen as a result. So I will strengthen them in the Lord and they shall walk up and down in his name, says the Lord. Oh, he's going to strengthen us. He's going to strengthen us with grace from Jesus and glory by the Spirit through means so that They shall walk up and down in his name. He works in, brethren, we work out. That's what we find, don't we, in Philippians chapter 12. Work out your own salvation, verse 11, because it's God who's at work in you, both the will and do, Philippians 2.12. In fact, that was one of my texts. I forgot. Let's go to Philippians. Let's just jump to Colossians 1. a last text to exemplify the wedding of these principles. Colossians 1, notice verse 28. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Paul, that's a tall order. That's a lot of work for you to do. And he does it. He said that. This is what I'm doing. I'm preaching, warning, teaching. that I might present all the believers and all the churches perfect in Christ. Verse 29, to this end I also labor. He's working hard. Notice, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily. Brother, he's just doing that which God enabled him to do. And of course, just back up to Philippians. Let's get this one while we're here. Chapter four, verse 13. I can do all things. If you put the period there, there's a problem. I can do all things. through him who strengthens me." And yes, he's talking about living contently, brethren, but he means everything. He can do everything in him who strengthens him. And as an example, he can live contently through every type of situation. That's the context. William Henrickson said, these two elements, divine grace and human responsibility, are again most beautifully combined in this closing section. This is from his commentary on Ephesians 6. Man must equip himself with a full suit of arms. That is, it is he who must put it on. It's also he and he alone who must use this entire armor. Nevertheless, the weapons are called the full armor of God. It's God who's forged them. It's God who gives them. Not for one single moment is man able to employ them effectively except by the power of God. Thus our text, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Now that brings me to answer my question. How is this done? Well, let me just say first that the text doesn't say how to do it, does it? simply tells us to do it. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. But like we did with chapter three, we go back and we can go forward to different texts. And as we gather from the other parts of scripture, I want to suggest to you that the scripture itself provides basically five ways. Notice number one, know your weakness. And brethren, this is obviously where it starts, isn't it? We have to be totally convinced of our own native weakness. We could even say how much strength we find in Christ will be in direct proportion to how much weakness we find in ourselves. Why would we look for strength in another if we have it already in ourselves? It's like maybe illustrated like this. You go to the refrigerator and you, if you're like in our house, our refrigerator is always full of always of food, leftovers, it's packed with food. And we can look in the freezers downstairs and the refrigerator downstairs and what are you gonna find? A lot of food, there's a whole lot of food in our house. But what if you went down into the basement and you looked into the freezers and it was bone dry, there wasn't even a piece of ice. And then you come back upstairs and you have the refrigerator, nothing, not even an old beat up carrot. And you look in the freezer, nada, there's nothing. Brethren, when you realize there's nothing in the refrigerator, then you have to what? Go to the store. Now, if you're gonna save a lot, wherein you can save a lot, you're gonna find a whole lot of food. But you're never gonna go to the store if you deceive yourself in thinking you have food at home. Brother, we're never gonna go to the warehouse of Christ's grace, and the illustration obviously is different because if you go to Save-A-Lot, you save a lot, but you get robbed at least half the time. At least the Save-A-Lot in my neighborhood. Thankfully, now they have a second armed guard that supervises. One's inside, one's outside. Makes you feel much safer. But you have to pay for the food. Well, that's why they have the two armed guards, because some people don't think you have to. Brother, you don't have to pay for anything to get the grace from Jesus. All you have to do is know your need of it. All you have to do is look in the freezer of your soul and see it's barren. Brethren, I think this is a very important point, isn't it? Because it also teaches us the beauty of the Christian faith. It never tells us to be better, do better, try better. What it says is that you're a mess and you don't even know the half of it. It everywhere exhorts us to humble ourselves before God as helpless, weak, empty beggars. Now I have a text or two for each of these, and we have to hurry. And I have one usually from the Old and New Testaments so that I can teach you that the Bible itself, Old and New Covenants, tells us the same thing. All right, here we go. Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah 40. And look at verse 29. He gives power to the weak. He gives power to the weak. That is rather because, be mindful of it, we are all weak, but he's talking about the one that knows it. Right? Just like Jesus says, I haven't come to save the righteous, but sinners. Nobody's righteous, but he means those who own themselves as sinners. Here is those who own themselves as weak. And to those who have no might, he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young man shall utterly fail. That is, human strength will fail you. Verse 31, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Brethren, how is it that we're going to walk as Christians through this wicked, hot, wretched world? We have to go all the way through the wilderness to get to the promised land. And how is it that we're going to do it? Brethren, we're not going to do it in our own strength. Of course, the classic counterpart text in the New Testament, 2 Corinthians 12. Just notice a few statements. Look at verse 9. 2 Corinthians 12, 9. Remember, Paul thrice prayed that Jesus would remove the thorn in his flesh. Some temptation. some physical ailment, we don't know what it was, and this is his answer. Verse nine, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made full or complete in weakness. And thus he says at the end of verse 10, for when I am weak, then I am strong. When I'm weak in and of myself, when I acknowledge that I haven't anything, haven't anything, not even something that's stale and moldy in the refrigerator of my soul, then I go to the warehouse of grace in Christ and I can take as much as I please. Calvin, in commenting on 2 Corinthians 12, said, we must feel our faintness in poverty, that the saying of Paul, the power of God is made perfect and our weakness might be fulfilled. We must feel our faintness in poverty, that the saying might be true. He says, for if our hearts are not deeply moved by conviction of our weakness, we cannot receive seasonable assistance from God. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, if you feel you're a very strong Christian, then let me ask you this. Why do you fail so much? What happens to your resolutions and resolves? Why do you so often find yourself in the place of repentance? Why are you sometimes attacked with feelings of utter hopelessness and almost despair? To what does this do? He said, it is all due to the plain fact of our weakness. It is because we're insufficient and fallible. Do you know how You can judge whether or not you're trusting in yourself or in the power and the might of Christ. Here, here's how you can, you can perfectly know. Every time you do right, you're trusting in Him, and every time you do wrong, you're trusting yourself. It's just that simple. Every good deed you do, Christian, is because of His grace. And every sin you do, either actual or you fail to comply with that which he expects. Sins of commission or omission. Either way, that's evidence, what? That you're trusting in yourself. So just stop and think. Today's Sunday. Yesterday was Saturday. Just go through quickly through the day and just stop and think. How many times did I do right and wrong? Well, the first one is described to God in His grace. The second to me in my weakness. Brethren, this is a very big point, isn't it? Know your weakness. Secondly, know Christ's strength. Brethren, we mustn't only know our weakness, but we have to know His strength as well. And listen to the Puritan, Thomas Manton. A Christian is to have a double eye, one upon God and the other upon himself. upon himself in order to be reminded of his own weaknesses, and upon God in order to be convinced of his all-sufficient power." Brother, to have two eyes on ourselves isn't going to lead us anywhere. To have two eyes on ourselves and our failures and our shortcomings and our weaknesses is only going to lead us to what? Despair. Yes, have an eye on yourself to know your weakness, but also have an eye upon the source of your power, because when you're weak, said Paul, then your strength. And that's why the psalmist constantly tells us to ascribe strength and glory to God. What does that mean? When the psalmist says, like for example, Psalm 29.1, ascribe strength and glory to God, it means to view God as glorious, view God as powerful. It's to ascribe to Him by praise what's true of him in perfection. Or else Psalm 48, 24, eight, who is the king of glory? Brother, that's a question we have to ask. Notice how he answered it. The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Brother, can you stop and think about it? This power that we have access to in the God man is sufficient enough for us to obey every commandment. It's sufficient for us to mortify every lust. It's sufficient enough for us to love our wives and obey our husbands, irrespective of how unloving and gracious they can be at times. Listen to how we have it in 1 John 4, 4. You are of God, little children, and you've overcome them. Now by them is meant the false prophets. And here's why. Because He in you is greater than He who's in them. Now if we go back to that text, you find out that there's the Antichrist. He actually puts it in plural. Many Antichrists. We do believe, I think, the Bible teaches, that there's probably going to be an Antichrist. But this is Antichrist. There was already Antichrist in the world. And this and he actually calls it the spirit of Antichrist. And it's the spirit of Antichrist that was in the false prophets. And why is it that these Christians, unlike others, didn't fall prey to their lies? Remember how you put it? in that same chapter. They left us because they were never really of us. But here's why you haven't fallen prey to the lies of the Antichrist. Here's why you haven't fallen prey to the deceptions of the false teachers. Because you and we have an anointing from the Holy One and we know all things. That's how he puts it. It means we have the Holy Spirit. Greater is he in you than the spirit that's in this world. Brother, stop and think about it. This is this text is speaking specifically to the notion of doctrine. I get it. But you can apply the principle like this. The spirit of this world is a strong spirit. The temptations that are levels upon us is strong indeed. But what is that in comparison to the power of the Holy Spirit that resides within us? Christian, you have not in yourself, but in Christ for the sake of his labors, all the power you need to obey every precept of the Bible. And yes, to mortify every deed of the flesh. And yes, to endure every hardship that comes your way joyfully and contently. Why? Because greater is He in you than he who's in this world, brother. And we have to be convinced of the power of Christ. When I was first converted in the homeless shelter, We had a warehouse and it was the place where people dropped off their donations. And if you've ever been in that kind of a context, you know that not always, but oftentimes it's very disorderly and people just drop off stuff and everybody goes through it and gets the best stuff and then basically just puts the rest in boxes for the rats and the mice, to be frank. Well, the director of this particular homeless shelter had a vision of cleaning up that warehouse from the rats and mice and taking all the donated items and cleaning them and selling them in a used clothing store. And actually, if you go back to this place, now they moved it out of that warehouse, and they bought this huge building that used to be like some type of big store. And it's a massive, very, I think, lucrative business now. I think they bring in some good money. All the clothes is nice and clean and orderly, and it's a very nice place to shop. So I had just become a Christian, and so they put me down there to be in charge of cleaning up that warehouse and taking all the dirty clothing that couldn't be cleansed and sold, which is half, and bailing it in big bales of clothing and putting them on these pallets and stacking them, and then we would sell them for rags. And we got paid poundage. But brethren, if you stop and think about it, those bales of clothing were almost 2,000 pounds. Obviously, it's too heavy to move. And so what they had to do is they purchased a used forklift, and they taught me how to use it. Now, stop and think. I had to be convinced, firstly, that the bales are too heavy for me to move. I can't move them literally a half an inch. But rather than stop and think of the power of the forklift, the forklift, if it was working properly, it could easily lift and move and store the pallets with ease. Brethren, that's similar to us. We can't move one piece of furniture in the soul apart from ourselves. They're all too heavy. We can't mortify one less, it's beyond us. But brethren, there's grace in Christ like that forklift that can easily, easily lift those pallets and store them in places that they're to be placed until the truck came and they were sold. Oh, brother, first of all, first of all, be convinced of your own weakness. Secondly, be convinced of his absolute infinite power. Thirdly, know Christ's heart. By this, I mean we have to be not only convinced of his ability, but willingness. Yes, He's able. The grace in Him is able. He's powerful enough to enable us to clean the warehouse. But friends, not only is He not able, but He's equally willing. Do you remember what Jesus said? If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give you the Holy Ghost? To those who ask Him, brethren, He's more than willing. Think of the intimate relationship that he has with us. As I said, he's our groom and we his bride. He's the head and we the body. Think of the many promises that he's made to us. Brethren, the word of God is scattered full with promises. It's as if he anticipated our potential fearfulness and unbelief. It's not just here and there, but it's everywhere. Let me illustrate it in two places. How about an old and New Testament? Just listen to these words in Joshua one nine. Be strong and courageous. Now, brother, go back to in your mind to Joshua one in verse nine. Moses has died and Joshua has replaced him, and now Joshua has the responsibility of leading these rebels into the promised land. Not only were they rebels, but he had to lead them into a promised land. And here's the problem. The promised land had Canaanites in it. And he tells them what? Be strong and courageous. But notice why. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. You find really a New Testament counterpart to that. in the Great Commission. Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you." Basically, it's the New Testament counterpart to the Old Testament conquering of Canaan. Go into this world and conquer it. Preach the gospel. Make disciples. And Jesus tells the disciples the same thing that God told Joshua. And lo, I am with you always. Fear not, I'm with you. Yes, you're weak. Yes, I'm strong. Thirdly, but I am more than willing to bestow upon you all the grace necessary. Fourthly, cry to God for strength. Prayer is the primary means whereby strength is conveyed to the needy soul. I've already said that. God gives us grace from Jesus by the Spirit through means, and prayer is a dominant one. Pastor Martin said, God has ordained that prayer be the means in which we exchange our weakness for His strength. Pink said, prayer is not so much an act as an attitude, an attitude of dependency, dependency upon God. He said, prayer is a confession of creature weakness, yea, of helplessness. Prayer is the acknowledgement of our need and the spreading it out before God. Brethren, here's one reason why we don't have the grace and the power and the strength that we need. We don't ask for it. And we don't ask for it humbly and believingly. Do you know why we don't pray more? Here's one reason. We think we have a whole bunch of food in the cupboards. We just don't know our poverty. Yes, prayer is for communing with God and fellowshipping with God and praising Him. It's not just to get, but one part of it is to get. It's called supplications, petitions. We're asking, yes, we're pleading for grace. Listen to a couple of samples. Psalm 86, 16. Turn to me, be gracious to me. Oh, grant thy strength to your servant. Psalm 105, 4. Seek the Lord and his strength. Seek his face continuously. Psalm 138, 3. In the day when I cried out, you answered me. In the day I cried out, you answered me. Guess what David asked? Well, he goes on. And you made me bold with strength in my soul. Brethren, he's asking for help. Calvin again says, Paul exhorts them to be courageous. He's thinking of Ephesians 6.10. but at the same time reminds them to ask for God, a supply of their own weakness, and promises that in answer to their prayers, the power of God will be made known. In light of your weakness, he says, ask for help in God, whose promise to hear you will, brethren. And then lastly, work dependent upon grace. And it's here that we come back full circle. Go back to the illustration of the warehouse and forklift. Brother, you can stare at the pallet and stare at the forklift all day, but if you don't get in the forklift and move the pallet, nothing's going to get done. That was basically like all of my co-workers. That's a heavy pallet. That's a nice forklift. Well, the goal is to get into the one and move the other. But then you have to climb into the machine and get to work, not trusting in yourself, but in the power of the machine. And so practically, this is how it works. Every morning, we place our feet on the ground. We come from our bed to our knees, and we acknowledge our absolute native poverty. Secondly, we acknowledge his almighty grace. Thirdly, we're reminded of his heart toward us. Fourthly, we plead, oh, God, help me today with all of my responsibilities. And then fifthly, we get up and we get to work, not looking to ourselves, but to his grace. Well, let me close. Thirdly, why should we be strong in the Lord? Well, there's 1,000 reasons, brethren. One is because we're told to. That's sufficient. Be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. But let me give you a couple of other reasons. Number one, there's a lot of work to do. Remember, brethren, our saviors left us here to work while we wait. There's domestic and ecclesiastical responsibilities. Wives must submit to husbands. Husbands love wives. Children obey parents. Parents raise up children, brother. Then where are they gonna get the strength to do all that? Where are we gonna get the strength to do all of the tasks that we're called to do, both in the church and outside of it? Brother, there's a lot of work to be done. There's there's sins that need mortifying. There's grace that needs to be pursued. There's lost sinners that need to hear the truth. Secondly, there's enemies to face. And that brings us to what we'll come to next week. Put on the whole armor of God that you might be able to stand firm against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Not only do we lack the strength needed to fulfill our duties, but we have powerful forces against us. And brother left to ourselves, our enemies are too numerous and too powerful for us to defeat in ourselves. There's work to be done. There's enemies to face. And lastly, there's glory to be given. The stronger we are, the more work is done. And the more work is done, the more glory is given to the one who alone is worthy. Remember, brethren, ultimately speaking, we fight for the honor and glory of our King, who alone is worthy. Usually the strength of a king lies in the power of his army. But brethren, it's the opposite in this case. The power of the army lies in the strength of its king. The might of his forces, that is the church, are derived from the power of its head. Thus, in the truest sense of the phrase, we not only fight from him, that is, by his strength, but, brethren, we fight for him, that is, for his honor, and he is worthy, and he is worthy of such fighting. Thusly, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Amen.