But I went through biblical counseling, and so we're going to see how that worked. We're going to be in the book of Ephesians tonight. And the letter was written, as you well know, by the Apostle Paul. So if you can, while I'm talking, turn to Ephesians chapter 6. We're going to be in chapter 6, verses 10 through 14. This letter was written by the Apostle Paul to the church in Ephesus. The purpose of the letter is to help believers to better grasp their wealth in Christ, to better grasp their walk in Christ, and to grasp their warfare in Christ. Now because of our union with Christ, we have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. We are a new creation, we are a new people, we have a new walk, we have a new family, and a new master. But the Apostle Paul also informs us that we have an old adversary. And he will stop at nothing to make Christians ineffective and to enslave as many as he can in sin for eternal destruction. So with all that said, let's stand and let's read our text for this evening. All right, so our text is, 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. 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 in the evil day. Having done all to stand, having done all to stand firm, therefore, stand therefore. Beloved, this is the word of God. Amen. In our text, we are going, oh, you may be seated, sorry. In our text, we're going to focus on standing firm. So in verses 11, 13, and 14, we see this being repeated by the Apostle Paul, and he tells his listeners to stand. And in the Greek, it means to stand up against, to resist, to stand firm, or to remain stable. or to hold one's ground. And there's four points this evening that we're gonna go through. The first point is the saints must be alert to Satan's rage, the saints must stand firm on the gospel, the saints must stand firm on sound doctrine, and the saints must stand firm in service to God. All right, so first point is the saints must be alert to Satan's rage. We are to stand firm, right, but against what? And Paul tells us what that threat or opposition is. He says in our text to stand firm against the schemes of the devil, 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. Now in the 1800s, there was an African American preacher by the name of Lemuel Haynes, and he had just did a sermon series and published those sermons, the sermon series they did on Satan. And after it was published, two young men came to him to antagonize him, and this is their conversation. So here's the two young men starting off. Father Haynes, have you heard the good news? And Pastor Haynes says, no, what is it? The two young men, it is great news indeed. And if it's true, then your business of preaching is done, it's over. And Pastor Haynes said, well, what is it? What is this news? The two young men said, why, the devil is dead. So Pastor Haynes looked at them very solemnly, and he responded, Oh, poor fatherless children, what will become of you? And that's a funny story, and it was one of my favorite ones, but what's interesting is the church takes the view of the two young men, that Satan is a myth, that he's dead, and that he is not real, but Satan is as real as you and I, and he is as real as heaven and hell and he's as real as God is real. Satan was in the Garden of Eden and deceived Adam and Eve. Satan was the evil spirit that tormented Saul. Satan stood against Israel and deceived David into numbering Israel in the census. Satan occupied a nation and was the Prince of Persia that held up Daniel's prayer. The answer to Daniel's prayer, Satan tempted Jesus Christ in the wilderness. Satan filled Ananias and Sapphira's heart to lie to the Holy Spirit. And it was Satan who grew up from the serpent to be the dragon in Revelation 20. In the word of God, he's called Belial. He's called the murderer. He's called the God of this world. He's also called the accuser. And again, the dragon in Revelation 20. So what is he doing now? Because certainly he was quite active as we see in the Old Testament and New Testament. Well, after his defeat at the cross and the resurrection of Christ, he is bound. He is bound in the sense that he has no absolute hold on the nations. The gospel is going from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to all the uttermost parts of the earth. However, this does not mean that he is not active. He is very much active, and he is doing the same thing that he's been doing since the beginning. In the book of Job, in chapter one, verse six to seven, Job says, the word of God says, now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, from where have you come? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, from roaming about on the earth and walking around in it. First Peter tells us, be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. So two things we can learn from these verses. First of all, since his fall, his demons is now, him and his demons are roaming the earth place to place and seeking people to devour. And second, we also can see that he's not all-powerful, he's not all-knowing, nor is he everywhere present. But how do the forces of darkness reveal themselves? What is the present darkness? and the authorities and the schemes of the devil. What are these cosmic powers and spiritual forces? Well, Satan doesn't spend his time levitating tables. He spends most of his time by distorting the truth of God. And that's what makes him such a formidable foe. He is the father of false religion. He's the father of lies. I mean, in Genesis 3, the first question in history was from him, and he said, did God actually say, According to our Lord Jesus Christ, Satan hasn't changed his tactics since the beginning. In John 8, 44, Jesus is talking to the Pharisees and he says, you are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. And as we have read, he is roaming about seeking to devour his prey. So let's track some of his steps through history. First footprint of Satan, of our adversary, Satan attacks the gospel of Jesus Christ. After Jesus Christ and his apostles went home to be with God, he's attack the gospel by giving false doctrine to the people. And one of the most formidable false doctrines was that of Gnosticism. Gnosticism said that matter was evil and spirit was good, so it claimed that Jesus Christ was not human, or either that the Christ came upon him at his baptism and left him during his crucifixion. It distorted the person of Christ, and it distorted the gospel of Christ, and made people reject the Old Testament. One of the most famous Gnostics was a man named Martian. He rejected the Old Testament. And Irenaeus reported a meeting between Martian and Polycarp. Martian asked Polycarp, do you know me? And Polycarp said, I know the firstborn of Satan. In 611 AD, a man claimed to have received revelation from an angel, from Gabriel, commissioning him to recite new revelation to God's people, the Arabs. And that man was Muhammad, who was the founder of the Muslim religion. In the year 1820, Joseph Smith claimed that he had a heavenly vision that singled him out as the Lord's anointed. Then in 1823 he claimed that an angel appeared to him at his bedside and received revelation that became the Book of Mormon. Then there was a woman by the name of Ellen White who received 200 plus visions. and they came in seizure-like form in public places and crowds. She is the founder of the Seventh Day Adventists. And this is what Ellen White said. She said, a supernatural being came to me in the form of a young man and guided me through these visions. He was my accompanying angel. Then another man by the name of Charles Russell wrote this book called Scriptural Studies. And this is what he said, he says, if anyone lays the scripture studies aside and goes to the Bible alone, though he has understood his Bible for 10 years, our experience shows that within two years he goes into darkness. On the other hand, if someone would merely read the scripture studies with their references and had not read a page of the Bible as such, he would be in the light at the end of two years. Now Charles Russell is the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Now what was the result of these angelic visions? Well, Joseph Smith, the Mormons, and I quote, God himself was once as we are now. He is an exalted man. As man is, God once was. As God is, man may become. There is not a man or woman who violates the covenants made with their God that will not be required to pay their debt. Now listen to this. The blood of Christ will never wipe that out. Christians speak often of the blood of Christ and its cleansing power. Much that is believed and taught on this subject, however, is such utter nonsense and so palpably false that to believe it is to lose one's salvation. Seventh day at Venice, Ellen White. It is impossible that the sins of men be blotted out until after the judgment. The scapegoat bearing the sins of Israel was sent away to a land not inhabited, so Satan, bearing the guilt of all the sins that he caused God's people to commit, will be for a thousand years confined to the earth, which will be desolate and not inhabited. So Ellen White says it's Satan and not Christ. who the sins of men will be put upon. Jehovah witnesses, neither the angels nor Jesus had existed before their creation. The firstborn from the dead was raised from the grave, not a human creature, but a spirit. Second footprint, Satan attacks holy living and service to God. In the 1950s, a man named Carl Young, and that's Young, J-U-N-G, came on the scene, and it was stated that he was one of the first Christian counselors, and get this, a modern Gnostic. One day, Jung had a vision and was led by a figure, a spirit, an angel-like being with horns on its head and wings like a bird. And the name of the spirit guide was Abraxas. And what did this spirit tell Jung? The spirit said, the great work begins. You must go to a higher level of consciousness and no longer be a Christian. Young asks, what is my calling? The spirit guide replies, the new religion and its proclamation and the new ordering of human affairs. And this event was recorded in Young's book. And Young's book is called The Red Book. I wouldn't suggest for anyone to read it. It's quite evil and demonic. At any rate, Young's mission was to do two things. The mission was to attack Christianity and its values and the movement of society from secular humanism to the deification of humanity. Jung stated this, he says, the divine reigns within us, within man, therefore our fantasies are morally justified. And how was he to do this? Well, Young said, 2,000 years of Christianity can only be replaced by an irresistible mass movement. The shackles of family and society must be broken. The libido is God. So Carl Young partnered with men like Hugh Hefner and other powerful men to push his mission using sexuality as the spearhead of his movement. Now, the question is, did it work? Listen to feminist and proclaimed witch Naomi Goldenberg. She says, in the slow execution of Christ and Yahweh, we women are going to put, we women are going to bring an end to God. Another scholar wrote, sexuality is the battering ram against the fundamental tenets of Western culture in order to destroy and replace it with a new type of society altogether. The American Humanist Association said this, the battle for humankind's future must be waged and won in the classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith, a religion of humanity that recognizes and respects the spark of divinity in every human being. The classroom must and will become the area of conflict between the old and the new, the old rotting corpse of Christianity and the new faith of humanism. In a movie called The Devil's Advocate, around 1997, Al Pacino played the role of Satan, and he said the following. He said, vanity is definitely my favorite sin. It's so basic. Self-love, the all natural opiate. God, God likes to watch. He's a prankster. He gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift, and then what does he do? I swear for his own amusement, his own private cosmic gag reel, he sets the rules in opposition. It's the goof of all time. Look, but don't touch. Touch, but don't taste. Taste, but don't swallow. He's an absentee landlord. Worship that? Never. I'm here on the ground with my nose in it since the whole thing began. I've nurtured every sensation man has been inspired to have. I cared about what he wanted and I never judged him. Why? Because I never rejected him. Despite all his imperfections, I'm a fan of man. I'm a humanist. Maybe the last humanist. So what do we do? Paul tells us in our text to stand firm, to stand therefore. What are we to stand on? Where do we plant our feet on this battleground? Well, first we are to stand firm on the gospel. What is the gospel? When we think about the gospel, we think about justification by faith alone and being saved by grace alone, but that's not the gospel. The gospel isn't the social justice movement. The gospel isn't homeschooling. The gospel isn't coming to church and accepting Jesus in your heart. The gospel is the Christ event. is the ascension of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the death of Christ, the life of Christ. The gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ. He is the seed of the woman, Genesis 3, verse 15. He is God who took upon himself a human nature and a human body. He is Jesus Christ who is truly God, truly man, yet without sin. He was the perfect sacrifice for sin. He was crucified, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and he will return to judge the world. That's the gospel. And the gospel refutes the lie that Satan told Adam and Eve in the garden, that God is holding out on you. when in fact he's not. Paul said in Romans 8.32, he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? So we must stand firm on what the gospel is and what it is not. The minute we stop standing on the gospel, we've lost the battle. The gospel is redemption accomplished. In Galatians chapter one, verses six through eight, Paul says, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to another gospel. Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. And listen to what Paul says. He says, but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you, A gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. Beloved, we have to get the gospel right. We have to stand firm on the gospel. Jonathan Edwards said, the devil has the most bitter and implacable enmity against the person of Christ, especially in his character of the savior of men. He mortally hates the story and doctrine of his redemption. He never would go about to be getting men more honorable thoughts of him and lay greater weight on his instructions and commands. Next, the saints are to stand firm on sound doctrine. The gospel pulls us from Egypt. Sound doctrine pulls Egypt out of us. John 17, 17, our Lord says, sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth. Our Lord's prayer was that we are to be sanctified through his word. And Jesus Christ was serious about us obeying the word of God. If we are to be his covenant people, we are to be submitted to his covenant word. John 8, 31, Jesus said, so Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. So where is Jesus getting this thought from? Because this isn't a new, it's not a new commandment. Jesus could have had Deuteronomy on his mind when he was speaking to them. In Deuteronomy 11, 18 to 19, it reads, you shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be frontless between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. And the apostles understood this, how serious this charge was to God's people. Paul wrote to Timothy, he says, until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture. to exhortation, to teaching. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. And he says, keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing, you will save yourself and your hearers. Without sound doctrine, leaders included, We all are vulnerable to Satan's influence and his attacks. Paul wrote Timothy, he said this in 1 Timothy 4.1, but the Spirit explicitly says that in latter times, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. Beloved, we are saved by sound doctrine, we are delivered by sound doctrine, we are cleansed by sound doctrine, we are kept and protected by sound doctrine, and we are to stand firm on sound doctrine. John MacArthur writes this, he says, sound biblical doctrine is a necessary aspect of true wisdom and authentic faith. The attitude that scorns doctrine while elevating feelings or blind trust cannot legitimately be called faith at all. Even if it masquerades as Christianity, it is actually an irrational form of unbelief. Standing firm on sound doctrine is redemption applied. To stand firm against Satan and his host, we must be alert to Satan's rage. We must stand firm on the gospel, redemption accomplished, and we must stand firm on sound doctrine, redemption applied. The gospel is the foundation of everything because it centers around our King, Jesus Christ. and sound doctrine is built on that foundation to be a steady fortress not moved by waves of deceit. Finally, we must stand firm in our service to God, and this is redemption in action. The gospel changes our position from enemies of God to sons and daughters. And praise be to our God, that is the truth, and the scripture is clear about that. But while our position to God is sons and daughters, our practice is to be that of slaves. In Ephesians 2, 8, 9, This is a famous verse that many of us may know. It reads, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. And we are saved by faith alone. I'm not contesting that. The scripture is clear. God's grace and the faith that he gives is sufficient for our salvation, but it is not just for acquittal of all charges in his court, but the power to serve in his kingdom. The next verse, Paul says this, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. First Corinthians 15, 10 says, but Paul says, but by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Grace, beloved, is not just the hand of God to rescue us, but also to move us in loving service towards him. Grace is the power to grow in holiness. Grace is never a license to sin and never a license to condone sin. He saved us from our master, Satan, for him to become our master and Lord. Romans 6.20 says this, for when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness, but what fruit were you getting at that time from the things which you now are ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. So we are slaves of righteousness and we are to yield our members as servants of righteousness. Satan wants us to rise in worldliness, but God wants us to bow in holiness. And what is worldliness? Kevin DeYoung said worldliness is whatever makes sin looks normal and righteousness looks strange. If the center or core of your life and theology is pop culture, you might want to check what master you're serving. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, but I discipline my body and keep it under control lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. Paul says that he disciplines his body, he beats his body in subjection. And how does he do it? He's not calling us to go to a monastery. He wants us to yield our members to our Lord. He says, therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, listen, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. And that's in First Corinthians 15, 58. So since Christ is going to return and crush death under his feet, we should live in expectation that he's to return at any moment. Do we live like that? The gospel saves the soul, sound doctrine sanctifies the mind, and service to our Lord submits our body to holy, heavenly use. And in that, while, and we are to await his return for the final consummation of all things, First John chapter 3 verse 8 and verse 10 John says whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. By this, it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. So beloved, here's a review. In order to stand firm, we must be alert to Satan's rage, we must stand firm on the gospel, we must stand firm on sound doctrine, and we must stand firm in our service to our Lord and God. So you might say, well, what if I don't want to engage in this battle, right? What if I just want to preach the gospel and if necessary, use words? Beloved, that's not the position we can take. Martin Luther certainly knew about Satan and his attacks, and he said this. He says, if I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God, except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ. However boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved. To be steady on all battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point. May God help us not to flee or flinch, but in view of all that we are and have in Christ and in his gospel to be loyal soldiers, faithfully confessing Christ and standing firm. Let's stand for prayer. Father, thank you for tonight. Thank you for who you are. Thank you for your grace and your mercy. Thank you for your protection. Thank you for the gospel. And thank you for the privilege to serve you. Thank you just for these dear people. Thank you for Christ Reform Presbyterian Church. And Father, we just pray that you'll continue to keep us. and lead and guide us through this wilderness, Father, and lead us home safely. Help us to stand firm on the gospel, help us to stand firm in sound doctrine, and help us to stand firm in our service towards you. Father, keep us in remembrance of the gospel and of your son, Jesus Christ, and help us to grow in our love and knowledge of him day by day, amen.