Be seated. We're in the Word of God this morning, once again, in the book of Ephesians in chapter 6. Ephesians 6. As we continue considering this section on the Christian's warfare, our spiritual warfare, we read again this morning, beginning in verse 10. Verses 10-18. Ephesians chapter 6. And this is God's holy Word. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. God's holy Word. Let's pray again together. Father, this is our prayer. Come, Holy Comforter, thy sacred witness bear in this best of all hours. Come, bless your people. Give your Word success, Spirit of holiness on us to send. We ask it in Jesus' name, Amen. Well, it was the young man David in his contest with Goliath who uttered this well-known phrase, Listen to David's words to Goliath when he faced him in battle. This is from 1 Samuel 17. You come to me with a sword, with a spear and with a jambalin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you. into our hands. The battle is the Lord's, thus declared David. And what is its meaning? What's the main point? Well, the point is this. The battle is already over. Its outcome is absolutely certain because God is God and we are his people. God is the one who fights for us. God himself guarantees the outcome. So, young David, though to all appearances dwarfed by the mighty Goliath, had every reason to fight because the battle was indeed the Lord's and the outcome was indeed certain. Now, as we return this morning to this section in Ephesians concerning the warfare that we face as Christians, this battle in which we are continuously engaged, this battle in which we've seen already that we face so formidable an opponent, we might put it this way, who has gone before us, brothers and sisters, in this greatest warfare? Who guarantees the victory? Well, we know it's the Lord. The Lord. And who are those who are to take action? Well, that's us. We are to take action with our Lord's rich encouragement. Yes, the Apostle, we certainly see it in these verses, clearly calls us as Christians to action. But it's action based upon a wonderful, a perfect foundation. The Apostles already made it clear, especially in chapters 1 and 2. Think back to Ephesians 1 and 2. That's a long time ago now. But chapters 1 and 2, the battle is the Lord's. And then actually from chapter 4 onward, there's this call to action. The foundation is laid in those previous chapters. So this is our encouragement this morning. Our foundation, if you will. The battle is the Lord's. We'll consider that first. And secondly, we'll see from this passage, we are indeed very clearly called to action. And this is our privilege. It's our privilege to fight. It's our privilege to fight in a battle, the outcome of which is absolutely guaranteed. Isn't that wonderful? We all love being on the winning side, don't we? Well, here's the ultimate winning side in all of history. And if you've trusted Christ, you're on that side. And as we've seen already, having been put on that side, was quite in spite of us. He transferred us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. He quickened us to life and brought us into this battle. But the outcome of the battle is certain. It's guaranteed. We consider first in our encouragement under that theme, that title, the battle is the Lord's. I chose this well-known phrase because it captures the thrust, really, of the first three chapters of Ephesians. The outcome of our warfare as believers is certain because of what God has already accomplished in Jesus Christ. We often emphasize this without apology. God has done everything for us in Christ. Through the doing and dying of our Lord Jesus Christ, everything pertaining to our salvation has been accomplished. There is not a word in the first three chapters of Ephesians telling me that I need to do something. Isn't that refreshing? Not a word. Not a word telling me that I have some part in my salvation. There's no word from God saying to sinners, I need your help. I need some kind of contribution from you, otherwise this doesn't work. I do need your cooperation." Not a word like that from God. Quite the opposite, in fact, as in these same chapters, we're very clearly told there is nothing we could do as all of us were dead in trespasses and sins. No, God has done everything for us in Christ. He chose us in Christ from before the foundation of the world. In His marvelous saving plan, He joins us to Christ that we might be made partakers of all the benefits of His work. When Christ died under God's judgment, I died with Him. My sins were imputed to Him. When Christ was raised, I was raised with Him. His perfect righteousness imputed to me. When Christ ascended at the right hand of God, I ascended with Him to that place of all power and authority. I was seated with Him. My life is hid with Christ in God. See, it's all done. I had nothing to do with that. God didn't ask for my contribution. He didn't say, help me a little bit. Help me. You've got to help me 1% now. He didn't say that. He did everything for me. So as we've commented before, the Christian life, brothers and sisters, begins not with the word do. Aren't you thankful for this? Christian life does not begin with the word do. No, it actually begins with this word. Done! I love that. Done! Finished! God has done everything for me in Christ, and I get to come along for the ride. It's a wonderful thing. The battle is the Lord's. It's as good as done. Now, that truth, of course, is portrayed throughout the scriptures, powerfully so in the book of Revelation. Think on this for just a few minutes here. Book of Revelation, what do we see in the book of Revelation? Well, we see chapters four and five of Revelation. God himself reigns supreme in the battle. He's supreme in his power, right? Everything's fine in heaven. It's all quiet there. God reigns supreme. Everything's to be viewed from his throne. Everything's ultimately under control of his authority. All judgments perceived from his throne, all blessings and spiritual power issue from his throne. And Jesus Christ is portrayed there as the true conqueror. the one who carries forward the battle plan. He has by his doing and dying won a people for God. All authority has been granted to him. Powers of darkness cannot in the least detract from the glory of his work. They cannot thwart the authority of this one who rides on a white horse and from whose mouth a sharp sword comes, which is the word of God. Jesus Christ is the conqueror. And we, how does it refer to us in the book of Revelation? We're called, get this, we're called overcomers. Isn't that great? Overcomers by grace alone. We're called into this battle, even as we've seen in Ephesians 6. We're called into this battle and we've been constituted overcomers because of the work of grace in us. So we've been made participants of this glorious plan. We've been enlisted in this great battle. So you see, very important here, as we think in Ephesians, back to Ephesians now. We're not fighting some personal private war. No matter warfare, we're not fighting some personal private war. We're fighting in the great campaign of history. Maybe you thought about that this morning. You know what? I am fighting in the greatest campaign of history. You know, it's oftentimes veterans will talk about the war, as you've heard this before. What war did you fight in the first? Of course, you don't hear very many men anymore refer to the first war. The first war, Second World War, Korea, Vietnam. Well, what do we say? I'm fighting in the big war. It's the big war. It is the biggest battle. It is the biggest conflict of all. It is the conflict stretched across history. And it is my privilege as a believer, as a Christian, to fight in this war. So what's our great encouragement again today? Hear it again. We need to hear this. The battle is the Lord's. I really would say that's visions one, three summarized. The battle is the Lord's. He's laid this wonder foundation. He's done everything for me. And now he calls me to fight in this battle. So we get to fight in the battle. We get to fight. I like to put it that way. We get to fight in this battle. the greatest of battles, the outcome of which is absolutely certain. So we think on our privilege now. We're called to fight. And we're empowered to fight. We're called to fight. We're empowered to fight. We might put this like we're called to action. and we're empowered for that action. We're to be very active in the Christian life, aren't we? This is very clear from these verses. This is the primary emphasis this morning. It's the call to action. See it here. The Apostle calls us to action in these verses, and we have every encouragement to take action. See through all the verses. Verse 11, put on the whole armor of God. It's a call to action. We wrestle. He's spoken of the wrestling already. We've thought on that some. Take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand, and having done all, to stand. Very active picture, isn't it? Stand therefore, having girded, having put on, having shod, take the shield of faith, take the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, praying always, action, action, action, right? But it's action based upon what Christ has already done for me. You've got to get this strength. A lot of Christians are confused about this. They have it backwards. Or they tend to have it backwards. And we say by nature we tend to have it backwards. As we often say. I get to obey. I don't obey to secure something. I don't obey to secure my salvation. I get to obey because of what God has done for me in Christ. And then I'm called to action. We see it here very clearly. The Christian life and my sanctification described as a very, very active thing. Very important in terms of my understanding as a Christian and how God brings me forward. Put on, take up, Paul says. And what does he mean? Well, it's the truth. The truth is to be believed, embraced and applied. And it is an activity of faith to be sure, but it were to be very active. It's an activity of faith. Now, very important, there's errant teaching that runs contrary to this biblical emphasis of a call to action. Maybe you've heard it before as higher life teaching. Maybe you've heard it under a different title. They have certain catchphrases. Let go and let God, for instance, stop struggling. You've been struggling. You need to stop struggling. Surrender yourself. That's rather a catchphrase. Surrender yourself. Are you willing to surrender? Absolutely. You need absolute surrender. Very common kind of teaching. You must refuse to struggle yourself, leave it entirely to the Lord. Now, this is very subtle in some respects. I truly do lay aside my own wisdom and strength. I truly do look to Christ for his wisdom and strength. That's true. But I'm very much called to action. And that kind of teaching that says, just let go. Stop. You've been struggling. Or that kind of teaching that says, you know, here's your problem. You really haven't surrendered absolutely. If I said that to all you today. Here's your problem. You really haven't surrendered absolutely. How do you hear that? Well, the tender hearted believer says, true. I feel like I haven't surrendered fully. I can still see elements of resistance in my heart. Oh yeah, that's called indwelling sin. I still see resistance in me. I feel like, surely I need to surrender more. That's my problem. I've not surrendered fully. It's a very common brand of teaching. What are the problems with that kind of teaching? Well, if you in this kind of teaching first, the solution to my difficulties is generally presented as that which can be realized or appropriated in one in a one time mean one time crisis. So you haven't surrendered fully today. You need to surrender absolutely. And if you'll surrender absolutely, that solves your problem. But that's not how sanctification is presented in the scriptures. Now, it's consistently presented as a process, in fact, a lifelong process and how we wish it could be solved in just one meeting, you know, we could put out on the marquee for our service come today. We're going to preach the secrets of sanctification. You can be fully sanctified today. Implication, you won't struggle with it, you won't struggle with sin anymore. That's the implication. You won't struggle with sin anymore. Oh, not like you did before. Right. So that's one of the problems of this kind of teaching. It presents a solution to my difficulties as being solved in a one-time meeting, one-time crisis event. Also in this kind of teaching, one is led to believe that the problem, the problem with respect to my struggles, lies in the will. It's very significant. So it'll be said, ah, here's the reason for your struggle. I've referred to this already. Ah, here's the reason for your struggle. You've not really surrendered. Again, that works on a tenderhearted person. Anybody here struggle during this past week? Shall we have a show of hands? Has anyone struggled over the past week spiritually? Oh, here's your problem. You've not really surrendered. Again, we make a distinction here. We're not talking about somebody who's living impenitently in some sin. That's not the point. I'm talking now about believers who are seeking to walk with Christ. And it said to them, you've not really surrendered, you must be willing to surrender. It's often said. You must be willing to surrender absolutely. Whatever that whatever that means, you've got to be willing for you must be willing to surrender absolutely, or maybe this helps, you must be willing to be made willing to surrender. See, this this works kind of it's sort of an infinite regression here. It's actually kind of a black hole. You must be willing to be made willing to surrender absolutely. Well, this is a problem, it's a problem because it's errant, it's not true to the scriptures for the true believer, the hindrance, the obstruction with respect to my struggles is not in the will, it's in the understanding. My problem is no longer primarily a problem of the will, which is to say, we often say this. The believer, because of a work of grace in the heart, the believer as a new creature is already an essentially surrendered person. See? Paul speaks of this in Romans chapter 6, where he says, you know, you were made obedient to that calling with which you were called. Or you became obedient to that doctrine which was delivered to you. And there's an expression there concerning the real status of the believer. So the believer is essentially a surrendered person. And now the transformation or renewal of my mind and understanding is what is central. So see, it's the enemy who will say to you things like this. You know what? You've never really surrendered. Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. I thought when I trusted in Christ alone, I really, I did. Now, again, we understand this. The Lord develops us. He increases our devotion to him, doesn't he? He increases our love for him, doesn't he? He increases our hatred for sin. We grow in that. Ah, but it's a progression, isn't it? I grow in my love for God. I grow in my hatred for sin. It's a progress. It's a steady progress. So my problem is no longer primarily a problem of the will. Now, another problem with this kind of teaching, let go and let God, you've never not really surrendered, you know, centering it in a crisis experience, all that kind of thing. It seems to make all the expectations of scripture unnecessary. Because all through the scripture, we're constantly called to action. Listen to this, James, four, seven, resist the devil. I got to do something. Resist the devil. First, Peter, five, eight and nine resist him steadfast in the face, in the faith, in the face, well, in the face, in the faith, says Peter. Call to action, Romans 8, 13. We are those who are to put to death the deeds of the body, that's a call to action. You got to do something now you can only do it by faith, but it's a call to action. Put to death the deeds of the body. Philippians 2.12 Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Interestingly, this verse has both that command and has the undergirding encouragement. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it's God who works in you. That's the foundation thing. It's God who works in you. Both to work and to will of his good pleasure. The scripture calls us to action. First Corinthians 16, 13, beyond the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong, call to action. First Timothy 6, 12, fight the good fight of faith, Paul writes to Timothy. It's a very simple lesson this morning. Brothers and sisters, we're called to action. We're called to action. With respect to our sanctification, we're called to action. Oh, but how vital it is to understand the foundation upon which our action is built. It's not built upon me. Never was. It's built upon Christ, his doing and dying. So although the the higher life teaching may sound wonderful at first, you know, promising that all will be done for us in the end, it leaves everything to the person. In other words, somehow you must conjure up this absolute surrender, whatever that's supposed to be. You've got to conjure it up. You've got to find it. It's misleading, it's confusing, it's often discouraging, and it's ultimately not helpful. You know why it's ultimately not helpful? Because it's not the right model. It's not a biblical model. We say again, the believer is already a fundamentally surrendered person. Therefore, as ever, we say, brothers and sisters, it's crucial to understand the New Testament pattern of sanctification. And we've said something of this already this morning. Crucial to understand the New Testament pattern of sanctification. Where does it start? We said this already. Where does it start? How does that pattern start? What's its foundation? I am first to understand and believe that God has done everything in Christ. This is vital. And I can only get it by faith. I'm to believe it. God has done everything for me in Christ. Secondly, we could say, I must realize, I must learn my true position in Christ and believe it. I need to learn what's true of me in Christ. We referred to this already. I'm joined with Christ. I died with him. I was raised with him. I'm seated with him in heavenly places. That's what's true of me. And yeah, you know, I didn't contribute anything to it. This is a wonderful arrangement. I'm actually seated with Christ in heavenly places. I'm joined with him. I'm seated in this place of power, joined with him in life. I didn't even know that. Which proves I had nothing to do with it. My life is hid with Christ in God. I must also understand clearly the nature of indwelling sin. I will see the remnants of sin that's still in my body. I'll see those active remnants of sin, and I must very soberly take that into account. Actually, one of the measures of maturity is properly understanding Roman seven and how you deal with indwelling sin, how you identify that, how you understand, because I am a new man in Christ, but I still have sin dwelling in my members. And you gotta figure that out. You gotta be instructed to understand it, right? Otherwise, the struggle with indwelling sin can be very, very, very discouraging. It's sobering enough. But it's not our Lord's will that we should be discouraged about it. And finally this, I'm called to obey or to act. Here's the action part. I'm called to obey. I'm called to act, not in my own strength. But in that strength that God has supplied in Christ, in other words, I obey believing. Believing. I obey. I say the pastor, how do I know whether or not I'm going to I'll be doing it in my own strength. I answer that question with a question. Do you know that you can't possibly do any part of this or any part of this apart from the strength of God? Well, yes. Good. Fight with all your might then. By faith. Fight with all your might. Hold nothing back. Then, oh, yeah, I'm convinced, you know, I can't do anything in myself. I'm powerless in myself. I'm convinced of that. Well, then get going, man. The only way you can do it is by faith and faith in Christ alone. Trusting in him. Looking to him to do his work in you. Proceed by faith in the word of God and do it with a joyful abandon. That ought to be a joyful abandon. Well, we get to do this. The fight is certain. The outcome is certain, right? Christ has done everything for me. The foundation is laid. I get to live this out now. This is a pretty good situation. It's wonderful. The battle is the Lord's. The battle is the Lord's. The outcome is certain. Christ has won sure victory. And we get to fight. So it's a call to battle then. Take up arms. Put off the old. Put on the new. Put to death the deeds of sin in your body. You have every reason to take action because Jesus Christ has done everything. So we rejoice as we say this morning. We reiterate it. We affirm it again this morning, brothers and sisters. The Christian life began with this word. Done. Done. As our Lord said it from the cross, it is finished! And it was. And now he's brought us to himself. And we live for him. By grace, through faith, in his strength alone. Let's pray. Our Father, we pray you work these things in our hearts. Teach us the way of faith, which rests entirely upon what the Savior has done for us. Father, we would rest in that, His perfect work, ever looking away from ourselves and yet active in our faith because of what He's done. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.