Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the plan from all of eternity, where you and the Son and the Holy Spirit covenanted amongst yourselves to save and redeem a people that you are going to create. We thank you that Jesus came in space and time as our prophet, as our priest, as our king, as our warrior, to not only model salvation, but more importantly, to provide salvation. and that he is now ruling and reigning at your right hand, having accomplished the mission that you have given him to accomplish. And we are engrafted into that. We are called as kings and queens to rule and as priests to serve and as warriors to fight the spiritual battle, not for salvation, but from salvation as part of the new creation, as being those united to Jesus Christ, as those indwelt by your Holy Spirit, as part of your people. And we thank you for that, Father. We pray that you would complete the work that you have begun in us through your word and through your spirit. In Jesus name, amen. Well, please be seated and turn to Psalm 110. And as we read it this evening, my sermon is actually going to be more on Ephesians. And then some 110 we've been read through this the past couple weeks But just listen to all the kind of warrior fighting type imagery that we have here and this evening in particular We're looking at Jesus as our warrior. We've looked at him as our promised King We've looked at him as our promised priest and he here he is our promised warrior or our promised champion He's the one who defeats our enemies. He defeated sin. He defeated Satan. He defeated death and And as part of the new creation, we're dead to sin. We're alive to Christ. We're involved in this battle as well, as we will see in particular as we look at Ephesians this evening. But listen to the warrior or the fighting imagery here. In Psalm 110, the Psalm of David, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of their power and holy garments from the womb of the morning. The dew of your youth will be yours. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. He will drink from the brook by the way. Therefore, he will lift up his head." So far the reading of God's holy word. And again, this is, we're in book five of the Psalter, which is really thematically, as Bob Godfrey would say, Dr. Godfrey would say, the king's celebration of God's salvation. And here in particular, it's talking about a royal ascension psalm where it's looking at Jesus as one who is already seated at the right hand of the father, having conquered, having accomplished what the father had sent him to do. And it's important for us to always remember, where is Jesus? Where is Jesus in the flesh in particular? And Jesus is at the right hand of the Father in the flesh. In his divine nature, he's everywhere present. But in his human nature, he is in one place at one time at the right hand of the Father ruling and reigning for us. That couldn't be more important for us. We're united to him where he is. That's what we talked about when we looked at that you're a king already. You're seated with him at the right hand of the Father in some sense. You are united to him and there. And also, we looked at the fact that he is Our high priest and that he's a unique priest. He was of the order of Melchizedek, not Aaron or from the Levites. Hebrews goes to teach on to show us that he's a merciful high priest a faithful high priest and eternal high priest a high priest who's able to save to the uttermost That he's actually living to intercede for us right now. It's his joy. It's a delight He's interceding for us at the right hand of the father right now while I speak in the flesh for our salvation Or we would all walk away from the faith but not when that high priest is there, the eternal and faithful high priest who is able to save to the uttermost, the one who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, the one who made purification for our sins and then sat down. He sat down as a king. He sat down as a priest, having accomplished the work that he was given to do. And we noted that throughout this mini series on Psalm 110, that as the king goes, so goes his people. and wanted to show not just information about the fact that Jesus is our king and our priest and our warrior, but what that means for us, that we're kings and queens, that we are priests and that we, this evening, are warriors. As the king goes, so goes the people. We are enlisted, we are enlivened in the battle between the seat of the woman and the seat of the serpent because we've been transferred from being in Adam to being in Christ by Jesus. And so this evening, we're really going to spend most of our time looking at a passage in Ephesians. And for those of you, my wife in particular, who likes three solid points, we're going to look at our enemies, our strength, and our weapons. Our enemies, our strength, and our weapons. Jesus first is our promised champion. He's our warrior king. We're going to look at Psalm 110, and then we're going to turn to Ephesians. But just in terms of this psalm, hopefully you noted that Fighting language that warrior language. It's resplendent with images of conquering and warfare Enemies as a footstool shattering Kings shattering chiefs executing judgment corpses and just this all this visual and imagery of warfare and Then it says you'll note in verse 5. It says the Lord is at your right hand. He will shatter Kings on the day of his wrath and So that yes, Jesus is conquered, but the fullness of it isn't yet there. That there's still this ongoing skirmish. We live between the tick and the tock of Christ's first coming. Jesus has defeated sin. He has defeated Satan. And he has defeated death. But the fullness of those defeats still remains. And he's still the warrior. He's still fighting. And he's enlisting us in it as well. Currently, he rules and reigns in the midst of his enemies, the psalm says. He's prepared a table for us tonight in the midst of our enemies. But when the king comes back, we'll be completely separated from our enemies. You see, they will not be able to touch us. No sin, no death, no temptation, no illness, no Satan. Now he's ruling and reigning in the midst of them when the king comes back. They'll be completely separated, but it's the same rule. It's the same reign. It's the same king. It's the same kingdom. It just has more to it. So as the champion, as the warrior goes, so goes his people. You're warriors. You feel like warriors? You're warriors in Christ. You're in a spiritual battle. James Boyce said that Christianity is entrance into warfare, not exit from it. And what he meant by that is when you were dead in your trespasses and sins, you kind of just went lockstep along with whatever Satan said, with whatever you were in Adam. But when you're made alive, a new creature in Christ, now you're actually in a battle against the old man, against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Those who you once loved and walked in line with, now there's a war going on because they want you back. And Jesus is saying, no, they're mine. But it's a battle It's a spiritual battle with the victory one and the newness of life in Christ Jesus, but nonetheless a battle So Ephesians chapter 6 if you would Starting in verse 10 Ephesians 6 starting in verse 10 and again, the three points are Enemies Our strength and our weapons so even think about those as you hear this passage. We'll read from verse 10 to verse 20 Says finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil and For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand the devil, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace in all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and all supplication To that end, keep alert, with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak." So far, the reading of God's word. Well, here, Paul is really telling us, right, that we're in this spiritual battle. Listen to the language. It's in a cosmic battle. It's not just an insignificant thing or a minor thing. Our enemies are fierce, but our King is mightier. This is the only place in Paul's writing where believers are explicitly said to be in a battle against spiritual powers, not flesh, not blood, but cosmic evil in the heavenly places. It's good for us to know our enemy. It's good if you're in a battle to know something about them. The dangers with understanding Satan and understanding his minions are to go to the extremes, where some people say, he doesn't exist, or they don't exist, and that's just ridiculous fairy tale stuff. So to deny it. And then the other extreme is to see him around every corner and everywhere. I remember being at a youth group thing once when I was a kid, and they couldn't get the monitor to work. And they thought that it was demon-possessed, and they were trying to cast out a demon from the monitor. I thought, it might be an electrical problem. I'm not an electrician, but I don't know. So know your enemy, right? Don't be naive about it. Don't have your head in the sand. Don't be ignorant or neglectful. Don't be indifferent either. Eh, who cares? It's not that big of a deal. Don't underestimate him. Oh, he ain't nothing. Satan ain't no big deal. And don't overestimate him. There's nothing I can do. It's hopeless. The goal of the enemy is to deceive, to destroy, to devour. He's not trying to do just a little bit or set you off. He wants to deceive. He wants to destroy. He wants to devour. That's what Satan is called in Scripture. And his weapons are lies and fear and confusion and disunity. He's called the deceiver. He can appear as an angel of light. It's a really wonderful military tactic to try to fool people. Think of the Trojan horse, the art of deception. When they brought the Trojan horse, they actually thought that they were getting a gift. And it ended up being the very thing that led to their demise and to their overthrow. It's a great military tactic. Satan deceives. It's what he did to Adam and Eve in the garden. He deceived them. And also, he's... Not just kind of so-so about it. It says that he's prowling around like a lion seeking to devour. In other words, he's on the hunt. He wants to destroy. Satan has no care and the forces of evil have no care for anything good for you. They'll make it look good or sound good, but their only desire for you is destruction and death. and separation from God and separation from any kind of health or flourishing in the physical or spiritual world. But we also have to know about our enemy that Satan is not God's equal and he's not God's opposite. He's a creature and he's limited. He possesses supernatural power, but he's not everywhere present like God. He's not all-powerful like God. He's not all-knowing like God. He can only be in one place at one time. And as far as we know, he only attacked six people directly in human history. You probably have never met him and probably never will meet him. The results of what he said and his influence, sure, but not him. The people who met him are Eve, not Adam, Job, Jesus Christ, Judas, Peter, and Ananias, not Sapphira. Those are the only people in Scripture that we know ever really met. And note that this battle is ordinary. The spiritual battle that you're having happens in the regular, ordinary affairs of our daily life, not trying to do something extraordinary. Paul had just gotten done in Ephesians talking about marriages. He'd gotten done talking about families, and he'd gotten done talking about work. That's where the battle takes place. He talked about husbands and wives. He talked about parents and children. He talked about employers and employees. Adam and Eve were not attacked when they were attempting extraordinary spiritual feats for God. It was just in the context of their normal tasks, in their normal callings, in their normal vocations. I don't know if they had a vacation. And in their normal relationships. And note, Paul is not writing this to scare us. He's writing this to alert us, to awaken us and quicken us, to serve us, to speak the truth to us. We are ultimately comforted and calmed by the reality that we are not going to go into this battle alone or unarmed. If we would be, we would be sorely outmatched, but that's not our case. We're going in already connected to the One who has won the victory over sin, over Satan, and over death, and we are united to Him, and He is in us. But don't trifle with it. It's a spiritual battle. It's significant. And when we fall into sin, even on our daily basis, it's a disruption of worship. It's a disruption of love with God. It's a disruption of love with another. It destroys, it hurts us. It harms other people. It's never good. It's never healthy. And so the first thing we want to look at is our enemy. The second thing is our strength in the battle. Note that Ephesians says quite simply, our strength in the battle is the Lord himself and his might. Look at verse 10. Finally brothers be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might Where does your strength come to even be able to do this to fight this? Battle against sin against Satan against the flesh against all these things that pull us away from Christ. It's the Lord himself Be strong in the Lord be strong in Christ. I It's in him that we have our victory. It's in him that we have our freedom. It's in him that we have our forgiveness. It's in him that we have our righteousness. It's in him that we have our sanctification. I could go on. It's Christ. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Really, it would be a better translation to say, to finally be strengthened by the Lord. The word there is actually in the passive tense, and it's a divine passive. In other words, you're being strengthened, you're being empowered by the Lord. It's something that's being done to you. It's not an imperative. It sounds like an imperative here, go and be strong in the Lord. It's telling you you're being strengthened by the Lord. You're being empowered, you're being enlivened by Him. Our strength comes from an external source. And then it becomes internal to us because Christ dwells in us and the Spirit dwells in us. We have been brought into union with Jesus Christ now and forever, never to leave us, never to forsake us. And so he is our source and the supply itself. Everything that we need, we have in Christ through the Spirit. It is because Christ's victory has been won that believers are involved in the battle at all. But before the time of final victory, God's people must strap on the armor that in the Old Testament actually belongs to Yahweh and belongs to the Messiah and take our stand on what God has already done for them in the gospel. The call to be strong in the context of battle is actually reminiscent of similar calls throughout all of the Old Testament. Be strong and courageous, be strong and courageous over and over. Deuteronomy 31.6 in particular. Listen to this, beloved. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified, for the Lord your God goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. It's not sending you out on this battle alone, and it's not sending you out unarmed. He goes before us. He's the victor. He's the conqueror. He's the warrior. We kind of go in His wake. Go get Him, Jesus. We're right behind you. Don't send me out in front of you. Don't send me out alone, but go with Him. Recall that in the Old Testament that it was the Lord who always gave victory Over and over as he rehearsed. It's the Lord who gave victory at Jericho. It's the Lord who gave victory here It's the Lord who gave victory the Lord who gave victory the Lord who gave victory and now beloved that Lord. Where is he? At the right hand of the father having come in the flesh Having conquered our enemies and now ruling and reigning there as our warrior We're actually putting on Christ. Romans says it this way in Romans 13, 14, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. What is our strength? What is our hope? What is our might? Christ. Jesus Christ. You see, we are enlisted in the battle. We are divine warriors. That's part of the new creation. And so the whole church is corporately called as an army. This isn't addressed to singular saints. This isn't you go and do it by the loan. Christianity is not an individual sport. It is a team sport. Christ has already ascended and has already been exalted as the ruler over all, and he is seated in Zion. And we are seated with him, scripture says, as kings. Really what we're called to do as the church is hold the hill Hold the hill It's his victory. It's his armor. It's his strength. It's his weapon. It's his promises. We are his and he is ours He is with us. He is in us Beloved we're the resistance We don't taunt our enemy don't do that We're not called to Call him out for battle. We don't battle him in our own might. We don't battle him in our own power. We don't battle him in our own resources. We're called to resist. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. We're to give opposition, to set ourselves in opposition against the lies of Satan, the deceits of Satan, the powers of hell, the lies of the world, the flesh, and the devil. We're just to set ourselves in opposition to them. We need not fear him, but we also ought not to mock him, and we also ought not to understand him. A healthy perspective of who our enemy is, and an overwhelming perspective on who our warrior is, who our champion is, who with a word can fell him. And finally, our weapons. Can you imagine going into battle unarmed or unprotected? Wouldn't want to do it. God does not leave his people defenseless. The imagery here is from head to toe. He gives us everything that we need. And think about it as we're actually covered by the Lord. Again, we're putting on Christ. Think of the imagery, righteousness, salvation, peace, the gospel. He's our righteousness. He's our peace. He is the truth. We're putting on Christ all over our body, everywhere. From head to toe, we're being clothed. Look at these images that he gives. Each piece of armor actually can be identified in scripture with either a divine virtue or a divine gift or with God himself. First, the belt of truth. Debates happen in the literature regarding this text, regarding what truth is being mentioned. Is it Christian doctrine, meaning the truth of the gospel, or is it to be true or faithful in terms of moral virtue? My answer, yes, because in Christ, both are true. We the doctrine of the reality of the gospel, the belt of truth. Of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but not only is that gospel what Jesus Christ accomplished for us, true, but Jesus Christ also accomplished something in us that is true. We become people of the truth. That's why he tells us, tell the truth to one another, speak the truth to one another in love. Why? Because now you're partaking of the one who is the truth. Gird your belt, have it around you, around the middle section of being girded with the truth. Recall that our enemy is a liar. And we are people of the truth. Literally, the one who is the way, the truth, and the life. Not just a true fact. Truth. Jesus. The second piece of armor is the breastplate of righteousness. That breastplate is that frontal piece to protect the chest, the lungs, the heart. Beloved, Jesus is our righteousness. When you have a breastplate of righteousness, it's Christ himself. And again, it's staggering in the literature that they keep on thinking that there's an either or here. And so the battles rage. Is it Christ's imputed righteousness? Justification or is it talking about sanctification? Yes. Christ is our righteousness for both. Christ's righteousness is imputed to you. We say that you are justified. It's the language of being redeemed, but you are also being renewed. The Holy Spirit lives in you and his job. Is to make you whole. to conform you to the image of Jesus Christ. Not your own holiness, His holiness. And so we have this breastplate of righteousness that is ours because it's ours in Christ. The third piece of armor, something for our feet. Shoes. For your feet, put on the readiness of the gospel of peace. Proper footwear couldn't be more important for battle, right? Can you imagine being called into battle in Iraq and they said, here's some flip-flops. It's crucial that you have the right footwear in battle. And what is this? The gospel of peace. The word shoes doesn't even really appear in the text. It's a strange Greek phrase that it's just trying to help us make better sense of an unusual and somewhat awkward phrase, but it's more like actually having your feet shod as if you know how you shoe a horse. It's more like on your feet is the gospel of peace. You're constantly walking in the gospel of peace. You have peace with God now and forever. Why? Because of your warrior, Jesus Christ, ruling and reigning, having accomplished salvation for you, now ruling and reigning, fighting on your behalf. Your feet are shot with the gospel of peace. You're walking in it. It's a gospel-driven life. Everything that you do is in light of what Christ has done for you and what Christ is doing in you One theologian noted rightly paradoxical that it is a deep spiritual understanding of the gospel of peace That actually prepares the church for war Because the world hates the gospel The world hates Christ the world hates his people you see so it's that very gospel that grounds us the gospel of peace that grounds us in the reality that we're at war, you see. We have peace with God through Jesus Christ, but beloved, we have peace with one another through Jesus Christ. When we come and take this meal, we are participating by faith in the body and blood of Jesus Christ, and it's uniting us to him. But do not miss this, beloved. You are being united to one another. You are being united to one another. This is what Ephesians said. The wall of hostility has been broken down and we are being knit together as well. Our enemy seeks to destroy both the gospel and our peace, doesn't he? Like, well, maybe you're not good enough. Maybe you're not doing enough. Maybe you're not far enough along in the battle. Maybe you're not a good enough warrior. My peace I give to you. Jesus Christ is our peace. The fourth piece of armor is the shield of faith. The shield referred to here is not that small round one, but maybe you've seen in movies that big one. It actually covers you. It's about four and a half feet in length, about two and a half feet wide. It's made of wood and leather, and you lock them all together and you form a wall. You've probably seen that in a movie. Again, it's a team sport. The shield of faith. And what is the object of faith? Jesus Christ. So who is our shield? Christ. What is our protection against the enemy? Christ. Appropriating, believing, resting, and trusting in him. Beloved, do you remember how God revealed himself to Abram? Fear not, Abram. I am your shield. Your reward will be very great. The Lord making a covenant with Abram Jesus Christ Your shield Our shield is faith in the God of promise and the promises of God The fifth piece of armor is the helmet of salvation The Lord gives us his helmet really It is salvation itself Think about that the helmet that he gives you is salvation You're his he's actually giving you a himself. Various imagery throughout all of the Old Testament kind of gives this image. God himself is salvation. Our warrior, our conquering king, our avenger, our defender fought for us. In one sense, scripture said that when Jesus was doing what he was doing, he had your name tattooed on his arm. And I said that one time in another service and someone came up and said, I don't want you to teach our kids it's okay to have tattoos. I'm not saying whether it's wise to have tattoos or not. I'm giving you an image of a warrior. Think of a Navy SEAL going out to fight and got mom or Sarah. I should have said Michelle. I don't know who Sarah is. Or Michelle or whoever tattooed on his arm, and he's going out and he's fighting And he's going out and fighting for them, right? He's a warrior as a champion. He's fighting for them Christ has your name tattooed on him psalm says from 39 You've been tattooed and he was fighting for you and now you're fighting in him and through him and for him and The next, the sixth piece of armor is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. It's our only offensive weapon. Everything else was defensive. What's our one offensive weapon? The Word of God. It looks weak and foolish. Ah, but the Word of God created the world. Ah, the Word of God made us believers. The Word of God regenerated us. The Word of God came into flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, you see. It's the only offensive weapon. And note that the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, the spirit is the one who actually breathed the word of God. The very one who authored the very one who breathed scripture. Is who and what we fight with. And then beloved, let me ask you this. What weapon did Jesus use when he battled Satan? He's God, and what did he rely on? It is written. Hath God not said? The same weapon. This is God himself, and he relied on the truth of scripture. That's remarkable, beloved. And this is given to us. This is our offensive weapon. So beloved, let me tell you tonight, you are armed and dangerous. You are enlisted in the battle. You are called to fight against sin. You're called to fight against Satan. You are called to fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Not for your salvation, but from your salvation. And not alone. In the strength, strengthening of the Lord, united to Jesus Christ. He is your helmet of salvation. He is your feet shod with the gospel of peace. He is your breastplate of righteousness. He is the belt of truth. He is your all in all, and you are in Him. So stand, therefore, beloved. Hold the line girded with the God of promise Himself, confident that He is able to keep us from falling and will present us blameless before His presence with exceeding joy. Stand, therefore, in the strength of His might, wearing Him. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you. We pray that you would help us to be good and faithful warriors in Jesus Christ. Help us to hate sin like you do. Help us to love the things that you love and to hate the things that you hate. Help us to fight diligently against the sin that still clings to us. Help us to care enough for those around us to Encourage them to love and good deeds and also to Confront them when we need to I pray that you would give us wisdom and how we do that I pray that we would never feel that we have to fight this battle on our own or never feel that this battle is meritorious But may we be involved in it together as you have called us We still are living in the time when the seat of the woman is battling the seat of the serpent And we are those who call upon your name. I Pray that you would be strengthening us. I Through your word and through your spirit and even now through your sacrament is unite us to Jesus Christ, our warrior, our king, our prophet, our priest. And as we go out to be those things, to rule and to reign, to serve and to fight. In Jesus name. Amen.