If you didn't pick up a sermon outline, they're on the back table. We're in Ephesians chapter six. We're actually on the home stretch now in our study of Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus, but we're certainly not quite done yet. We have one more very important section yet to go. on the subject of spiritual warfare. If you were here last week you know that we got rolling on that new section in Ephesians chapter 6 beginning in verse 10. Would you turn there please if you haven't already? Ephesians chapter 6 and I'm going to read for you again today a text that we began working on last week in Ephesians chapter 6 beginning in verse 10 and going down through verse 20. Now there are a few verses after that that we will look at. closing thoughts that Paul has, but this is the last major section in Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus. Pick up with me please in verse 10. I'm going to read the text and then we're going to back up and actually zero in on the text of verse 10 today. Here's what it says. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day in having done everything to stand firm. Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit, And with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints and pray on my behalf, Paul says, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness, the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in proclaiming it, I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this reading of your word, and we pray now that you, by your spirit, would fill us and guide us and teach us, Father, these important things that we need to know as we begin to work down through the precious truth of this passage. So very important for all of our lives as believers, as we live for your honor and glory. Father, we thank you so much for it, and we commit our time to you now, praying these things with anticipation in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, if you were here last week, you know that we got rolling on this text, but we spent all of our time really on the runway as I like to put it. Uh, we spent all of our time last week on introductory things with regard to this text. Uh, and I had a goal in mind in that the goal was that we might come to a real good understanding of how this text fits within the flow and context of everything else that Paul has taught us in this letter. We've been hearing this letter for a long, long time, learning all of the precious truth and doctrine that Paul has had for us to learn here. And so I thought it would be good if we set this text in its context before we just jump right down into the the details of it. And so that's what we did. Launching off that word, finally, at the beginning of verse 10, I took you on a little stroll, if you recall, back through all the chapters in this book. And we just kind of worked through there, hitting some of the highlights along the way as we worked our way back up to that word, finally, again, in chapter six and verse 10. I won't go through all of that again, but I'll recap it for you real quickly. In the earlier chapters of this book of Ephesians, we learned all about what it really means to be a Christian. So important. We learned the doctrine of salvation, what it means to be a Christian. We learned how it was that an individual comes to be a Christian. We learned about our rich heritage would be another way to say it as believers in Jesus Christ. We learned who we are and what we have as those ones who were chosen by the father before the foundation of the world, redeemed by the son in time and then sealed by the Holy spirit of promise who was given Paul tells us as a pledge of our inheritance there in chapter one. That's just a real quick recap. We did the longer version last week. Um, and then ever since the beginning of chapter four, We've been learning how to live in the light of who we are as believers in Jesus Christ or to put that in Paul's terms. Um, ever since the beginning of chapter four, we've been learning how to walk the worthy Christian walk. That's what it says in Ephesians chapter four and verse one, we've been learning how to tap into all of our, spiritual resources so that we can live this Christian life to its full potential for the glory of God. So that we can live this Christian life with eternity in view, walking in those good works, Ephesians 2.10, that God prepared beforehand for us to walk in. That's the content and the flow of this book of Ephesians in a nutshell. It's all about who you are and how you're to live. as a believer in Jesus Christ. And then I reminded you of something else last week. On top of all of that, there's another major theme that's been woven into the fabric of this book that we have seen and talked about time and time again, intertwined throughout all the chapters of Ephesians. We've also learned about the doctrine of the church. Paul has taught us in this book that coming to Jesus Christ is also coming to his church and that there cannot really be one without the other. There's only one thing. that Jesus Christ said he would build here in this earth. And what is that thing? That one thing is his church. I will build my church. Jesus said to Peter in Matthew chapter 16 and verse 18. And then he also said, as you know, in that same verses, of that same verse rather that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. Would you please understand something again this morning? I know I've said this to you before, but please understand again that everything in God's plan right now is all about the church. Everything that God does in this era happens in and through the church. And it's right here in this book of Ephesians that we have learned about the church from the apostle Paul, the very one to whom the mystery of the church was given, made known by direct revelation, from God, it says in Ephesians chapter three. That's the beauty of what we've seen, that's the beauty of what we've learned about here in this book of Ephesians, and it would be wonderful now, folks, if we, wouldn't it be if we could just go out there and live it out, right? It would be wonderful if we could just say, okay, let's scoop all of that up, let's wrap our arms around all that wonderful teaching, that doctrine and teaching about how to live and who we are and how to walk the worthy Christian walk and just go out there live it out for the glory of God. If we could just go out there and live our Christian lives to the full spiritual potential of everything that we've learned about in this book without any problems, without any difficulties and without any obstacles. But we can't just do that. Can we? And you know that we can't just do that. And, and, um, Paul fact has already dealt with a couple of the reasons why we can't just do that at the previous chapters of this letter. We have some enemies folks that get into way. And let me mention a couple of them that Paul has already mentioned. Paul has already said quite a bit in this letter about the world, hasn't he? Which is one of the Christian's enemies, one of the obstacles to a faithful, obedient, victorious Christian life. What do we know about this world from Paul? The present world that we live in is a fallen world that under the permissive will of God is being ruled right now by Satan. He is the ruler of this present world. Satan presides over this thing that John, calls the, the apostle John calls the cosmos, uh, the system of this world. When we think of the cosmos, we're not as the world, we're not talking about the world in the sense of, uh, trees and rivers and dirt rocks and so forth. What we're talking about is the world system. That would be a good way to put it. The world system, it's the world's ways and the characteristics of the world. It's the world's philosophies that we're talking about, all of which are anti God to the core. And that's why Paul said what he said in Romans 12 to, and do not be conformed to this world. Listen, folks, that's what the world wants to do to you. That's what the world will try to do to you. It wants to conform you to its ways and its philosophies and it's all of its stuff. If you're a believer, the world is your enemy, an enemy that will be constantly trying to influence you away from the truth and the principles that are here for us in the word of God. One mark, one great enemy to your Christian living potential for the glory of God as being the world. The world is enemy number one, but then there's a second enemy to your Christian living potential. Excuse me. And this is yet another one that Paul has already said quite a bit about in the earlier chapters of this book. Christian enemy number two is the flesh, right? We have the world and now we have the flesh. Not only is the present world we live in a fallen, world. We also know something else. The present bodies we live in are also still in that fallen state. As believers, we are brand new spiritual creations, right? On the inside, as a believer, you're all brand new and squeaky clean, but that new squeaky clean spiritually alive you is still living for right now. in an old and yet unredeemed human body of flesh. And, um, that flesh, as I think all of, you know, from firsthand experience, it's quite a serious problem, isn't it? A real problem. And when it comes to living for the glory of God, I battle against that flesh of mine every day. And I know that you battle against yours every day. That flesh is yet unredeemed. It will be redeemed someday. We're waiting and we're groaning. Even the world is groaning. We're waiting for the redemption of our bodies. Paul says in Romans chapter eight, they're going to catch up to the inner man someday, but not for now. While we're still here, treading through this world, we struggle with the flesh and you know what you need to know about your flesh. You already do know this about your flesh. I'm sure. your flesh, your unredeemed flesh is still very, very much attracted to all the world's stuff, isn't it? Very attracted. Don't ever kid yourself. Your flesh is very attracted to everything that this world has to offer. And so as we line up the enemies to your Christian living potential, and by the way, when I say Christian living potential, now I'm sort of packaging up all of that stuff that we've learned in Ephesians, right? Every day that Paul says we can be the potential that is there for us. Um, um, all of that now, comes up against these enemies, number one, the world, number two, the flesh and all of that. I just said that to bring us back up to where we are to our text again in chapter six and a third enemy. And what I want you to see here is that what we're talking about now, is an enemy that Paul really hasn't said anything about yet in this letter. The third enemy against your Christian living potential for the glory of God is the devil himself who has at his disposal legions of demons who are all fallen angels just as he is a fallen angel. Learning how to deal with enemy number three is the critically important subject of this last major section in Ephesians chapter six. And that, folks, is how this section fits within the context and the flow of this book. This is an enemy to all of that that Paul has not yet dealt with, and here now he is going to deal with it. This text, as I tried to emphasize for you last week, is far more than just a closing thought. It's not just an afterthought, not just a closing thought. It's critically important. Everything that comes before what we're about to study now literally depends on what we're about to study now. in this last section of Ephesians. Put it to you another way. You can, you can know and understand everything that precedes these verses concerning your position in Christ and your potential in Christ, even to the point of having all of those things committed to memory. But the truth to understand now as we come to chapter six and verse 10 is that you will never be able to pull any of it off. until you know that you're in a relentless battle against all of those things that will never end this side of glory and until you know very specifically how to deal with this very formidable enemy of your soul. That's what this text is all about. That's what we're going to get in Ephesians six, 10 to 20 and with the introductory things out of the way, let's start getting it now by going to the text of verse 10. the end of our time last week, I gave you the outline that we're going to follow as we study. Uh, it's not complicated at all. It's very simple. There are three main sections in this text, if you recall. And the first one is in verses 10 to 13 where we have the believers call to battle, the believers call to battle. That's our first order of business here. And as we begin to think about these first four verses now, all right, introductory things are over. Now we want to hone in. As we begin to think about these first four verses now, the first thing that I want to emphasize for you is the fact that this really is a call to battle. This is a wake up call basically in these first four verses to remind us of the fact that as Christians, we have been drafted into a war. Um, as Christians, we are soldiers in a vicious war, even though, you would not know that by observing the vast majority of professing Christians today. And let me say, as we begin now this morning to hone in on verse 10 and this call to battle, let me say that there are two extremes on this subject of spiritual warfare, both of which are wrong. There are, perhaps you've seen them, perhaps you're aware of them. There are a few very overzealous, and misinformed professing Christians out there today who will see a demon behind every bush. Perhaps you know the ones I'm talking about, but by far we go to the other extreme, but by far the vast majority of professing Christians today aren't even aware of this war. The average Christian today is for the most part completely oblivious to this war that we're in. They're probably, at least casually aware of it. You know, something will register if you mention it to them in the back of their mind. Uh, they're aware of it in some sort of a disconnected way. They've probably heard a sermon or two about it somewhere along the way and their Christian experience. But, um, here's reality insofar as, uh, their daily lives are concerned. They rarely, if ever think about the enemy and what he may be up to at any given moment to hinder their understanding of the word of God to hinder their obedience to the word of God and to hinder their effectiveness or the effectiveness rather of their ministries for the glory of God. They don't think about that at all. Um, evangelical Christianity people has gotten so shallow and so superficial today and this oblivion to the war that we're in is just one of the, one of the manifestations, one of the many manifestations of that. And, and certainly, Now please understand when I say that I'm not suggesting that we start running around like those weird people on TV and see demons in every corner of the room. Those people who invoke the name of Jesus and then start shouting orders at demons. They even named demons sometimes if you've ever watched any of that stuff, there is a, there's the demon of lust, right? There's the demon of pride and the demon of, really whatever problem you happen to have the they name a demon after that problem and that's very convenient of course by the way if you ever think about it uh... when you do that you never have to own up to your own sin you see it wasn't really me it was the demon of adultery right that's the problem it wasn't me it wasn't me it was a demon of adultery and as i said last week and as i'll probably say time and time again throughout the course of the study uh... all of that stuff is nonsense absolutely none of it is biblical but coming back now on the other side, on the flip side of all of that foolishness, with demons behind every bush, we have to realize that this war that we're talking about is a real war that cannot be ignored. And I know what happens because it happens to me. I know what happens to you. It happens to me. I know that when When we see some of that hideous foolishness kind of stuff on TV, you just want to just back away from that as far as you can go. You just want to say, you know, here's how I'm going to respond to that. I'm not going to have anything to do with it at all, right? And that's a typical response. I understand that response, but we can't let those people do that to us because on the other side of all of their foolishness, What we're talking about here is a war that is very real. Certainly we don't see it and understand it like they do, but that doesn't mean that the war isn't real, see? So somehow we need to strike the balance. Don't run too far away from them so that you don't recognize the battle at all. You need to see and understand this war that we're in. as being a real war. And then you need to engage in that war as a believer in Jesus Christ. Not, let me say this. I mean, if they're not in the way that they do it on TV, not, not in any of those kinds of ways, but in a biblical way. And let me say to you that I'm so excited this morning to be able to tell you that that's what this text is all about. That's what this text is all about. See, we don't get our understanding of this from TBN, do we? Are you thankful for that? Are you thankful for that? We get our understanding of this subject from the sacred scriptures. That's what this text is all about. Starting with a call to battle these first four verses of our text. Uh, here's another good way to think of it. Paul is blowing his bugle. Um, this is Paul saying, Christian, would you wake up? We're in a war. Would you wake up from your sleep? Would you snap yourself out of that days you're in and realize that you are a soldier on the front lines in a vicious war that wake up call. as I said a minute ago, is our first order of business on this subject of spiritual warfare. If you see and understand these first four verses to be a bucket of cold water in the face, then I think you've gotten them right. That's what these four verses are all about. A bucket of cold water in the face. The way a civilian lives is very different from the way a soldier lives, right? On the front lines of a battlefield. And what Paul wants you to understand here, in these first four verses of our text is that as a Christian, you are the soldier and not the civilian. That's the wake up call. And so we have this call to battle. Can I read it for you again? Uh, I know I read the whole text a minute ago, but let me read just the first four verses again. Um, and as I read, would you try to get a sense for that bugle blowing? That's what this is about. Finally, be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might. Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Notice, please, in all of this, just a side note here. Nowhere in this text are we told to, you know, put the devil in a headlock and punch him out, right? That's not what, what are we told to do? Be strong, resist, stand firm. These are instructions. Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood. but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness and the heavenly places. So much that we have to talk about yet here and there. Therefore take up the full armor of God and here it is so that you will be able to resist in the evil day and having done everything to stand firm. I think I mentioned this to you last week. somewhere toward the end of our time. But let me quickly remind you again of how this text breaks down into five sub points that we're going to use to guide our thoughts here. And then as I said, we'll, we'll get to work on verse 10 today. Here's the breakdown. In verse 10 we have the preparation. Verse 10 Paul tells us how to prepare for the battle. Once you're awakened to the reality that you're a soldier, the question now is what do I need to do to prepare? What do you need to do to get yourself ready? That's what I want to talk with you about today. At the beginning of verse 11, then Paul will tell us what God's provision for the battle is. He has made a provision for us. Remember every time God calls us to do something, what does he do? He provides us with everything we need to do that thing. And here we have his provision. What is his provision? The full armor of God, the whole set folks, you need the whole set. And then beginning in verse 14, what's he going to do? He's going to go on in detail to explain it for us. So we'll take them, When we get there, we'll take them piece by piece and talk about those things. At the end of verse 11, we get introduced to the enemy for the first time in this text. Who is the enemy? The devil and his schemes, Paul says. We'll talk about that at great length. In verse 12, Paul is going to define the battle for us with a very detailed statement. That's where we get that hierarchy and all of those things that we're going to talk about there. And then verse 13, he will define the victory for us. And again, it's a victory that is all about resisting and standing firm. And so those are the things we're going to talk about right here. And these first four verses that called about, it'll take us a little while to get through that, but that's okay. We're in no hurry. We want to understand what Paul has for us to understand. Let's go back to verse 10 now and work on the question, answering the question, how do we prepare? for this battle. That's the question for today. How do we prepare? What do we need to do to get ready? Right? This is the wake up call. You're a soldier, right? You know, a couple of smacks on the face. You're a soldier. Wake up. What do we need to do now to get ready? I'm awake now, Paul. I've taken that bucket of cold water in the face. I understand now that I'm a soldier. I realize that I'm in a vicious war that will never end this side of glory and that if I want my life to count for eternity, I'm going to have to wage that war every day of my earthly life. I'm listening, Paul. You've got my attention. Tell me now what it is I need to do to get ready. Notice that Paul's instructions. are not real complicated at all. They're very straightforward and very simple in order to get ready for this war and these battles. Here's what you need to do. Brothers and sisters in Christ, according to the word of God in Ephesians chapter six and verse 10, here it is. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. That's a little inspired phrase that I want to talk with you about today. Be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might. That's how you prepare. Those are the instructions for us in this spiritual bootcamp. I guess if you want to call it that today, um, instructions that I want to break down. You can see by your outline, I want to break these instructions down into two basic questions for the sake of our study today. Question number one, what does it mean to be strong in the Lord? What is the essence of this command? And then question number two, how do we do it? How do we do it? As we think about what it means now to be strong in the Lord, would you notice something right away? Um, and maybe you will remember this from a previous occurrence of this same thing. Notice right away that Paul just sort of piles up a whole bunch of words for strength in verse 10. Did you notice that he doesn't use just one word for strength? He uses three. He goes from strong to strength to might all right here in this short little verse, verse 10, which would have to understand what, which we would have to understand, um, to be for the sake of emphasis. There would be no other reason why he would do that. Um, tapping into this strength. Let's understand right away that tapping into this strength as spiritual soldiers is obviously something that is very, very important. Um, let me remind you of the last time Paul did this last time he did something like this was, uh, he was praying for our comprehension way back at the end of chapter one verses 19 and 20 he prayed there. Let me read it for you. Don't turn there, but listen, he prayed there that we would know what is a surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe And then he started piling up these same words again. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might, which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. There Paul used actually four words for strength here. He uses three of those same words again to emphasize the greatness and the magnitude of the power that is working in us and through us as believers in Jesus Christ applying that power now to this war that we're in. If you're going to be a soldier in any war, you need to be strong. And if you're a soldier in this war, what I want you to understand now as we go back to chapter one is that there's a very real sense in which you already are strong, very real sense in which you already are strong. You already have this strength that you need to be strong in here in Ephesians chapter six and verse 10. That having been said, there is a bit of a paradox here that we'll talk about in a minute. But for right now, just understand what Paul has already said about you and what he already prayed for you in chapter one. As you prepare for the battle, Paul says, I want you to remember the surpassing greatness of that. What kind of power? Resurrection power that is already in you and available to you and working toward you as a believer in Jesus Christ. This is the strength now. the very same strength that you need to harness as you prepare and make yourself ready to be the spiritual soldier that you are. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. As I began to think about that command in Ephesians chapter six and verse 10, I couldn't help but think of the Lord's charge to Joshua, uh, back in the old Testament as he was being commissioned to re you remember how that went? Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt and they came up to the Jordan, uh, for the second time, ready to cross over. And, um, Moses wasn't allowed to go in. And so he passed the baton to Joshua and, uh, the Lord of course, then commissioned Joshua before he took charge and led the people across and And I want to read this for you. In fact, I would like you to turn there if you wouldn't and follow along as I read this, turn to Joshua chapter one for a minute, if you would please, and follow as I read the first nine verses there in that chapter. And as I read, I want you to notice the emphasis of Joshua's preparation and how it was the very same as our preparation. The Lord said over and over again in these verses to Joshua, Joshua, here's what you need to do as you take these people across the Jordan. You're gonna face lots of battles along the way, but here's what you need to do, Joshua. Over and over again, he said, you need to be strong. That's how he needed to prepare himself for the battle, the battles that would be ahead of him. And it's interesting to note that just like it is for us, the provisions were all there for Joshua, the instructions were all there for Joshua, and even the victory was already secured for Joshua, but also, just like it is for us, even though all of that was true, Joshua still had to be prepared and Joshua still had to fight the good fight. If you're there at the first chapter of Joshua, pick up with me, please, in verse one. Now it came about after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of none, Moses' servant, saying, Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel, every place in which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. From the wilderness in this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites and as far as the great sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life, just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you, I will not fail you or forsake you. Great words of hope for Joshua, aren't they right there? You have a, the promise victory for Joshua in a verse six. Now the Lord tells Joshua what he needs to do. And you know what? It's the same thing that we were just told that we need to do. What is it? Verse six, be strong and courageous for you shall give this people possession of the land, which I swore to their fathers to give them. In verse seven, he repeats that again. And as I read these next few verses now, I want you to mark them and note something. I don't know, somebody that was a pastor somewhere along the way in my early days as a Christian wrote that reference in the flyleaf or the cover, inside cover of a Bible that I had at the time. Would you mark these next few verses that I read beginning in verse seven as the formula for successful Christian living? Do you want to be spiritually prosperous? Do you want to be spiritually successful? Here's the formula for that. Listen to what it says, beginning in verse seven, only be strong and very courageous. Be careful to do according to all the law, which Moses, my servant commanded you do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you and here it is now for the third time, be strong and courageous. Do not tremble or be dismayed. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Think about that as we embark upon this war that we're in, engaging the enemy. The goal of your preparation for spiritual warfare, brothers and sisters, is to be strong. The word of God says that when you are strong, you are ready. And I want to go on to answer the more practical question this morning, the how question this morning. I want you to consider with me what's involved in obeying this command to be strong in the Lord. But first, Let me say just one more thing about what it means to be strong in the Lord. I mentioned a little paradox a little while ago. And so let's talk about that. There's a, there's a little issue here with this command to be strong, that we need to clear up. And hopefully I'll be able to do that so that you understand what I'm saying. I tell you often, and I'll tell you again today that I'm not, by any means an expert in Greek grammar, but that I do have some really good tools for which I'm thankful. And with those tools, I'm able to see that this verb, be strong in Ephesians 6.10 is passive, which kind of made a little flag raised for me as I began to look at it and think about it. It could be a little confusing at this point. A passive verb, what does a passive verb mean? It means that, What we're talking about here is not something that you do, right? It's something that is done to you. And so the question is, how does that work here in the context of what appears to us to be a clear command that yes, you are to do this? Well, no, that's a passive verb, which means no, it's done to you. Do we do this thing? So here's the question. Do we do this thing or does he do this thing? Can I say to you that the answer to that question is yes. The answer to that question is yes. Uh, as I said a couple of minutes ago, when I quoted Ephesians one 19 and 20, uh, where Paul prayed that we would know the surpassing greatness of his power, that's power that quite apart from you is working toward you and in you and through you. Right. Um, and what's the idea there? The idea there is that you really can't make yourself strong, right? Can you do that? You can't make yourself strong. Only God can make you strong. And we all know that, don't we? We all know that we have no real strength of our own to be strong with. Uh, and so we're thankful every day. I'm thankful every day for the surpassing greatness of his power that mightily works within me and through me and all of that. Um, and back to our text again, the verb here is clearly, uh, the verb be strong is clearly a passive verb. Um, so what does that mean? Just what I said. It means that it's not something you do is something that's done to you. But listen now, before you, before you just, uh, kick back, sit back and put your feet up, and uh, so that God can do his thing. Um, let me tell you about a couple other things that are included in the morphology of that verb. Be strong. It's also in the present tense, which means that you are to be strong continually as you live your Christian life. You can't be, you can't not be strong even for a minute is the idea there, or the enemy will win a battle or maybe perhaps even a series of battles. And then, you know, what's really interesting, uh, the real interesting thing to note about this passive verb, is that it's also an imperative. And so, yes, it is a command, which means that it is a command. It's passive on the one sense, and it's a command on the other sense. In one sense, it's something that you can't do for yourself, and yet another sense, you are clearly responsible for doing it. There's a passive sense about this verb that we need to note and mark and understand. We have no strength to be strong with. And so it's all his and it's all his doing. But at the same time, folks, please understand that it's also a command that there's something about this. There, this is something that we are being called upon to do. This is a preparation that we are responsible for making. And so what do we have here? We have, we've seen it before. I've seen this many times before. What do we have here? We have one of those scriptural paradoxes, if you will. We run across from time to time, both of these seemingly opposite things, are really not opposite things. And in the scriptures we always find them working together in perfect, perfect harmony in the Christian life. Please mark this. God's power never eliminates your responsibility. And one of the important things we're going to need to grasp now as we move beyond verse 10 on into the rest of this spiritual warfare passage is how to strike the perfect balance there between those things. You know, let me give you one example. Now that I have you totally confused, let me give you one example that I think pulls this thought all together well and then we're going to go on. Paul understood this paradox and he expressed it well by what he said in Colossians 1 29. Listen to this. Here's, here's the way you pull this together. For this purpose, Paul said, also I labor striving according to his power. That makes sense. I labor striving according to, his power, which mightily works within me. Can I submit to you that that's the right balance here in this thing? Uh, with a passive verb and an imperative all at the same time, you do the hard work. Don't you dare sit back, uh, and, and, and think you can just lean back and put your feet up. That's not the point here at all. You do the hard work. Uh, was Paul sort of a lazy guy that as you read about him in the new Testament, not at all. He worked very, very hard. I labor, I strive more than all of them. Paul said, right? You do the hard work, you do the labor, you put forth the labor, you strive just like Paul did. But then all the while, how do you do it? You rely on his power, right? You do the work relying on his power and somehow in the, in the plan, the sovereign plan of God that all comes together and works for his glory and to accomplish his purposes. And hopefully that makes sense. But that's what we have here. And let's get a little bit more specific now. Can we go on to the how question? Understanding the paradox that I just threw out there, let's go on to the how question. How do we make this preparation for the battle that we're in? How do we go about obeying this command to be strong? How do we fulfill? I've already said we have a responsibility here, clearly. So how do we fulfill that responsibility that is ours? I'm going to give you three answers to that question this morning that I think will be practical and helpful. How do we be strong in the Lord? How do we obey this command that is clearly a command? Number one, it must be said, we have to start here. In order to be strong in the Lord, you must be what? Before we can go any further, you must be in the Lord, right? You must be in the Lord to be in the Lord. What does it mean to be in the Lord? To be in the Lord of this book of Ephesians means to be a true Christian. Now I always, you'll notice that I often say when I refer to a Christian, I often say it that way. You need to be a true Christian. Why do I say it that way? Because of what's going on in our world today, right? Just saying Christian doesn't necessarily communicate what I'm trying to communicate. There are Christians, but I'm talking about true Christians, okay? There's a difference. There's a world of difference in our world today and in the evangelical church today. It must be said that in order to begin here, in order to be strong in the Lord, you need to be in the Lord. And in the Lord, in this book of Ephesians, means to be a true Christian according to the Bible's definition not just anybody's definite, according to the Bible's definition of what it means to be a true Christian. And then the flow of that in Christ theme that runs all through this book to be strong in the Lord. Now in chapter six is something that is not possible. Mark this. It is not possible until you are first truly in the Lord. This command in Ephesians six, 10, like every other command in this book is a command that is being addressed to true Christians. And that's because why that's because Paul knows that they are the only ones who have the capacity to obey it. He's wasting his breath, uh, to command an unbeliever to be strong in the Lord. I wouldn't make any sense. And, and with that thought in mind, can I just stop here and maybe veer off the path just a little bit, but I want to mention something to you right here that I have observed, um, in the laboratory of life over the years of my life. Maybe you have observed this as well. I've always found it kind of interesting. Haven't you to note how, Unbelievers will sometimes tell other unbelievers in the face of some difficult thing, perhaps in the face of some serious illness, let's say, or perhaps the tragic loss of a loved one or one of those kinds of things. But when those things happen, sometimes you will observe one unbeliever telling another unbeliever, I come up and I put her arm around him and I say, you know what? You need to, what? You need to be strong. You need to be strong. I've seen that happen over and over again throughout the course of my life and I've often thought, you know, they tell them to be strong as if they can really do that, right? I've often thought, how silly is that? How totally lacking for substance is that? How ridiculous is that? How unhelpful is that for one unbeliever to tell another unbeliever, both of whom are hopeless, helpless, and completely outside the realm of true strength, to be strong. Um, empty words, aren't they? They say it, they say it, but it always rings empty every single time because there is nothing there to make it work. Listen, folks, all of you know, most of you know that Jane and I faced one of those insurmountable and very, very difficult things a few years ago. And, uh, I'm so glad I am so glad that when my brothers and sisters came along and wrapped their arms around us, When my brothers and sisters, all of you came along with your arms around us and counseled us to be strong, I am so glad, I'm so thankful this morning that those words were not just empty words. There was substance behind those words because there was true strength available to us to be had. A true strength that was rooted and grounded in our great salvation and our great God. True strength that was rooted and grounded in the eternal truth of the word of God. Let me tell you something now that I know about that strength from firsthand experience. I know that that strength is real and I know that that strength does exactly what the word of God says it will do. You know what it'll do? It will sustain you and it will enable you to stand when you would otherwise fall. That's what it will do. I know that from firsthand experience. We're not the only ones in this world who have ever experienced the tragic loss of a loved one. It's happened to lots and lots of other people that we even know about since it's happened to us. And you know what happens every time I hear about it? Every time I hear about something like that, I have to tell you that my heart literally bleeds as I wonder about the people involved. Do they know the Lord and his strength? And if not, how in the world are they ever going to make it? How in the world are they ever going to make it through this thing? How are they going to make it? If you're here this morning, and you're not yet right with God. If you're here this morning and you're not yet in the Lord, I have to tell you, I have to be blunt with you. It's my responsibility to tell you that there is nothing else in this text. Certainly we want you to keep coming, but I have to tell you that there's nothing else in this text. We're going all the way through the end of this text. There's nothing else here for you. If you're not yet in the Lord, this text has absolutely nothing to do with you. and it won't have anything to do with you until you get that most important foundational thing right. You're not even in this war. And so let me stop right here long enough to urge you. Let me stop right here long enough to plead with you from the very bottom of my heart to fall on your face before the God of heaven today. Do it today and beg him to save you. Stop hiding behind, you know, people hide behind all kinds of things. Stop hiding behind whatever it is you may be hiding behind and get this right because eternity is at stake. It's urgent. It's urgent. We don't know when we're going to be ushered into eternity. It's urgent and eternity is at stake. What are the key words for you? Repentance and faith are the key words for you. You need to turn from your sins and then you need You need to make 180 degree turn and then you need to embrace by faith everything the Bible says about the person and the finished work of Jesus Christ on your behalf. All the things that we talk about here week after week after week after week. That's what you need to do. The best way I can say it in summary this morning would be to say it the way Jesus said it in Matthew 16, you need to let go of your life. People want to hang out of their own life. Jesus said, you need to let go of your life. You need to lose your life. Jesus said, You need to let go of your life and exchange it for Christ's life and you need to do that today. That's what will make you a soldier for Jesus Christ. That's what will give you the capacity to do what we're talking about today, to be strong in the Lord. And let me give you a second thing now that's involved in obeying this command to be strong in the Lord. You must be in the Lord, number one. Secondly, if you're going to be strong in the Lord, and this is so important, you need to know your own weakness. You need to know you need to be in the Lord. But secondly, now, now we're talking to believers, right? You need to know your own weakness. Um, such an important part of this preparation. You will never be strong in the Lord until you know that you're not strong. Um, how about if I boil this down to that? little sentence or that little phrase that has come out of our study of Ephesians 4. Early in Ephesians 4, we were talking about humility. In fact, I kind of did like a little series on humility when that word came up, beginning of chapter 4. And it was great stuff. I mean, that is a key thing in the Christian life, right? What is the phrase that came out of that? Charlie tells me all the time, I am nothing and God is everything. I am nothing and God is everything. You know what? That was a conclusion we drew at the beginning of Ephesians chapter four and you know what I hope it is for you? I hope it is still a declaration that you make every morning when you get out of bed. First thing, look in the mirror. I am nothing and God is everything. That's going to set your day in the right direction. I am nothing and God is everything. That right biblical perspective I believe is the key to everything in the Christian life. And let me go back. Let me just go back to that salvation call just for a minute while we're talking about this. You can't, You can't become a Christian, folks. You cannot become a Christian until you... This is a hang-up for so many people. You can't become a Christian, a real Christian, until you understand your complete spiritual bankruptcy. complete spiritual bankruptcy until you remember what I said this morning at the communion table, Paul said, I counted all dung as loss. He wiped it off the table. And I mean, he had stuff on the table, believe me and stuff on the table. He said, this isn't it. I'm going to, I'm going to perish in hell forever with this stuff. God's going to throw it out. It's worthless. And so he wiped it off the table until you understand your complete spiritual bankruptcy. You will never come to true. salvation till you understand that you are totally helpless and hopeless to do anything whatsoever. Anything to save yourself. You see, it's only when you're desperate. It's only when you have nowhere else to turn that you will cry out like the tax collector in Luke chapter 18 verse 13. You remember what he said? Beat his breast. Remember what he said? That guy over there was bragging. The Pharisee was over there bragging about all the wonderful things in his life. the tax collector wouldn't even look up. He beat his breast and he said, God be merciful to me, the center, which one of which took to which one came true salvation that day, folks, you know, the answer to that question, right? That's what it takes until you get there. True salvation will never come. And let me just say to you, to kind of go back to that salvation call, maybe that's what you're hiding behind today. Maybe you're hiding behind a false salvation. Maybe somewhere along the line you said something, did something, raised your hand, said a prayer, I don't know, whatever you did. Maybe, maybe you're hiding behind a salvation that isn't real. Maybe you're hiding behind that. You think you're saved for whatever reason. You did whatever you did or you said whatever you said, but you know what? Nothing ever changed in your life. Nothing is ever different. Maybe you're hiding behind that and you're just hanging on to that. You won't let go of that. That's your hope, but it's a false hope. Would you understand it for what it is today? Let it go. Let it go. Let it go today. True salvation only comes to that one who is desperate. True salvation only comes to that one who knows that there is no other way. No other way. There is no other way. You see, that's why Jesus had to come. That's why Jesus had to die. There was no other way. No other way. Spurgeon once said, that we must see that we are convicted and condemned with a rope around our neck," he said, before we will weep for joy when Christ pardons us. And so there's the unbeliever who needs to come to Christ. It all starts with this realization that we are nothing. Does it end there? No. You come to Christ. He gives you this righteousness that you don't deserve. This justifies you, declares you right before a holy God, and now you go on to live this life. On what theme? Same theme. Very same theme. In order to be strong in the Lord now as a believer, as you prepare for this battle, you need to know your own weakness. Can I remind you of a couple of things? Jesus said in John 15, five, I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit for apart from me, you can do nothing. Apart from me, you can do nothing. That's kind of humbling, isn't it? But it's true. Um, as you prepare for this battle this morning, brothers and sisters, um, can I encourage you to let those words of Jesus sort of sink in? Maybe take them home and think about them this week. Apart from me, you can do, you see, pride is such an ugly, ugly, horrible thing. in this whole Christianity business, isn't it? It kills, it destroys everything good that God wants to do in your life. Apart from me, Jesus said, you can do nothing. The strength for obeying and serving and now the strength for fighting is only available to those who realize their own weakness and are tightly clinging to and abiding in the buying as their only source of strength. You need to be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might. It goes on to say in verse 10 with the idea that you need to be strong in the Lord with the implication being that you will then rely on that strength as you fight the battles and wage the war without me, you can do nothing. Jesus said, but I hasten to remind you of the flip side of that, right? There is a flip side to that. That just sort of, we're down here. That takes us right down to the floor, right? And that's okay. That's where we belong. But there's a flip side to it. And Paul declared the flip side to that statement in Philippians four 13. How about this? Um, I can do, all things through him who strengthens me." Isn't that great? Jesus said, without me, apart from me, you can do nothing. What's the opposite of that? All things. Paul said, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. And then I want to show you one more thing while we're talking about this weakness. This weakness, you need to know your weakness. If you're going to be strong in the Lord, you need to, I mean, really come to grips with your weakness. Not just mental ascent here, but I mean, really, really embrace and understand your weakness. Paul taught us a valuable, valuable lesson on this subject in 2 Corinthians 12. He made an important connection here that I want you to see this morning that I think will serve us well as we try to understand how to be strong in the Lord. Paul, as you know, it's a familiar text, Paul, as you know, had that thorn in the flesh, whatever it was, He had asked the Lord three times to remove it from him, but his request was denied. And listen now, don't turn there. Listen to what he said. You know this. Well, listen, what he said is second Corinthians 12, seven to 10, because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, God entrusted Paul with some big stuff. And, uh, what would be the natural tendency, uh, of a man start swelling, right? Puffed up. because of the surpassing greatness of revelations for this reason to keep me from exalting myself. You see, God knew he loved Paul and he knew Paul. He knew Paul's tendency and he didn't want to, he didn't want Paul to be ruined. He didn't want his ministry to be ruined. And so to keep Paul from getting puffed up from exalting himself, Paul says there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, by the way, that makes this real relevant to our subject. I wish I had time to talk about that more, but I don't. A messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this, I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And he has said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. And watch this principle now that I'm going to read concerning the power of God and how that power works in the believer's life, how that power gets activated. Shall we say in the believer's life, And he has said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. And here's the principle now for power is perfected in weakness. That great for power is perfected in weakness. And so Paul says, okay, Lord, most gladly. Therefore I would rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Take that statement home with you today, folks, and meditate on it this week for power is perfected to weakness. Therefore Paul says, I am well content with weaknesses. It's okay, Lord, I'll take the weaknesses. And if that's what it means, I'll take them with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ's sake, for when here it is again, this is so incredibly good for when I am weak, then I am strong. It's like ding, ding, ding, ding. The light came on for Paul. You understanding a spiritual truth here that we all need to understand when I'm weak, then I'm strong. There's a truth there, isn't there? There's a principle there that you need to Mark and always remember. If I understand this correctly, there's a direct link. Paul saying there's a direct link between your acknowledged weakness and Christ's ability to manifest his power in and through you. Would you agree with me? That's I think what he's saying here. Um, the implication of what he's saying here would bring us to the conclusion that one can't happen without the other. One can't happen without the other. When I'm weak, Paul said that I'm strong. If we change the wording in that, we would have to say, when I'm strong, I'm really not, right? Wouldn't that make sense? When I'm weak, then I am strong. Until you're weak, you can never be truly strong. That's a statement that I know sounds utterly foolish to the world, but it's one that is marvelously true for the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have one more thing I want to share with you yet today, so let's move on to it. There's a third thing involved in obeying this command to be strong in the Lord. You need to be in the Lord. Number one, you need to be, you need to know your own weakness. Number two, and thirdly, now how about if we say this, you need to know the Lord's strength, right? You need to know the Lord's strength, which is pretty awesome, right? You need to know your own weakness, but now you need to know the Lord's strength that you're going to be strong in. You need to know something about this, the magnitude of the strength that only comes through your weakness. And so let's ask the question now, what do we know about that? What do we know about the Lord's strength? Well, we could be here for a while. Couldn't we on that subject? Um, the strength of the Lord that you're to be strong in is an unlimited strength. It's an unfathomable kind of strength. Our God folks, how about I put it to you this way? I put it to you in doctrinal terms. How's that? Our God is the God who has revealed himself all through the pages of scripture, new Testament and old, um, as being the omnipotent God. What does that mean? It means that he is all powerful. All the power there is to have comes from him. He is the source of all power. And the omnipotence of God, of course, is a subject that could very easily become a sermon series, right? Without question, without question. All I can possibly do this morning is remind you of that fact and give you a few examples for openers. We know that he spoke the world into existence out of nothing to me, let there be light. And there was light and on and on. And we could go years later. What did he do? He delivered, I mean, they're just endless illustrations of his power. He delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt through a serious series of miraculous plagues. He parted the Red Sea for them to cross over and then folded it back in on the Egyptian armies that were chasing behind them. All kinds of displays of his power that we could talk about as he led his people through the wilderness. He led them by a pillar of cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night. He, he provided every, every morning when they got up, there was manna, for them to eat on the ground, on the surface of the ground, give them water to drink out of a rock. I mean, on and on and on. We could talk about, how about we, how about we talk about a couple other guys in the old Testament? We talk about the power they manifested in the life of Daniel, life of Jonah. I mean, on and on and on, we could go multitude of other things, but let me just land because we don't have a lot of time and because you already know about God's great and mighty power. We talk about it all the time. Let me land on the most incredible display of his power, the most incredible one. And that's the one we've already, learned about right here in this book of Ephesians. It's the one that I read the verses for you earlier. Uh, this is the ultimate display of God's power to surpassing greatness of God's power. That is toward us who believe folks is the same mighty power that did what raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Could there be a greater display of power than that? That is the power of God is resurrection power. The power that stands behind this command to be strong in the Lord is resurrection power. And we're going to wrap this up now or begin to wrap this up. And as we do, let me focus this mighty power of God more specifically on the war that is the subject of this text. As you wage this war that is the theme of this text, there's one more thing you need to keep in mind. Would you please always keep in mind God's power, this resurrection power is available to you as you wage this war from day to day and week to week and month to month and year to year. But would you please keep in mind also, as you wage this war, that this enemy that you're fighting, the enemy in this war is an enemy who has ultimately and already been defeated by the mighty power of God. You see, here's the great thing about waging this war and fighting in this war, soldiers in this war, because we have the word of God, We already know how it's going to come out, don't we? We have, we already know the end of the story. You see, there are many things that are yet going to happen to consummate it. But, but you can know right now that this war that we're talking about has already been won. And when was it won? It was won when Jesus Christ died on the cross. Colossians 2.15 says that God has already disarmed the rulers and authorities, having made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through him that is through Christ. Please understand. This morning as we begin to wrap this up, that the victory has already been won and that in God's perfect timing and plan, he will one day throw Satan into the lake of fire where he will be tormented forever and ever. Revelation chapter 20 in verse 10, as you wage this war, please understand that God has the power to annihilate Satan at any given moment, but that for his own sovereign purposes and in his permissive will, that's an important word, in his permissive will, He is allowing Satan to be the ruler of this present world system right now while he is carrying out and completing his plan of redemption. That's the era we are living in right now, right now, which again makes us soldiers of the cross. And so you should prepare for the battles yet to come in this war. You need to be in the Lord. Number one, you need to know your own weakness. Number two, and you need to know the Lord's strength. Number, three is the apostle John told us so well in first John four, four, you are from God, little children and have overcome them because I always remember this because greater is he was in you and he was in the world. You are, please understand, we'll talk about it more later. You are no match for the devil. Would you please get that? You are no match for any one of his demons. but the one who lives within you, John says, is. As you would think about what it means this week to be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might, I scrambled my mind to think of the perfect illustration of everything that we've talked about today, and I ended up landing on this one. Can I leave you this morning with a very familiar Old Testament example of everything that we've talked about today? Would you turn please to 1 Samuel chapter 17. 1 Samuel chapter 17 and pick up with me in verse one. And I need to tell you right now that I'm going to have to read quite a bit of text in order to accomplish the point here. But if you would be so kind as to give me just a couple more minutes, I think this is the perfect illustration of everything that we've talked about today. And as I begin reading, you will immediately recognize the account. and the, um, the players in this account. First Samuel chapter 17. If you're there now, pick up with me in verse one. I'm not going to read the whole chapter. I'll read a little bit and then we'll skip some, but, uh, follow along please as I read. And I think you will understand. It's just to put everything else out of your mind and focus on this account. Now as our closing thought for today, um, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Listen, now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle and they were gathered at Succah. which belongs to Judah. And they camped between Succah and Azekah in Esseph Damon. Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and camped in the valley of Elah and drew up in battle array to encounter the Philistines. The Philistines stood on the mountain on one side while Israel stood on the mountain on the other side with the valley between them. Verse four, then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines named Goliath from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. How tall was this Goliath character? Well, it says six cubits in a span. There are other manuscripts that say four cubits in a span, but I try to do a little calculation. A cubit is the distance from your elbow to the tip of your finger, and a span is the distance from your tip of your thumb. the tip of your baby finger with your hand spread out. So of course there's variables involved and there's some textual differences, uh, involved in this. But, um, at the end of the day, what we understand is that Goliath was somewhere between six and a half and maybe up to nine and a half feet tall. Even if he was six and a half feet tall, that was a very, very big man. Um, for the size of the average size of men in that day, pretty big guy, pretty big guy. Um, He had, verse five, he had a bronze helmet on his head and he was clothed with scale armor, which weighed 5,000 shekels of bronze. He also had bronze greaves on his legs and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam and the head of his spear weighed 600 shekels of iron. His shield carrier, also walked before him. Not the kind of guy you want to meet in a dark alley. Okay. Just to put it mildly. Um, he stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel and said to them, why do you come out to draw up in battle array? Am I not the Philistine and you servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will become your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall become our servants and serve us. Again, the Philistines said, I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. The Bible says, now David was just a very young boy at this time. And I'm going to skip some verses now, but in the verses I'm going to skip, what happens is, is that David's father, It's kind of using him as an errand boy. David wants to be in this thing, but he's not old enough and big enough. And so he's an errand boy. His father uses him as an errand boy to take food and supplies to his older brothers who were on the battlefield. And also of course, to bring news of the battle back to him. In one of those trips to the battlefield, David saw Goliath coming out and heard him defying the armies of the living God and it angered him. David got angry. David spoke out about the disgrace of it all. To make a long story short here, they sent for Saul and I want you to pick up with me now again in verse 32. David said to Saul, Saul arrived on a scene. David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail on account of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine. King Saul, I'll take the job, right? Saul didn't really take him seriously. Then Saul said to David, You're not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him for you are about a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth. Mark something here. Saul made a very sound observation here. Did he not? Um, and what was that observation? David was no match for Goliath, right? Saul made that observation. Uh, by the way, you are no match for the enemy that we are up against either. Nor am I. Verse 34, but David said to Saul, your servant was tending his father's sheep. David makes his case here. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him and rescued it from his mouth. And when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them since he has taunted the armies of the living God. And David said, the Lord who delivered me from the paw, of the lion and from the paw of the bear, he will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Saul conceded, said, okay, go and the Lord be with you. Then Saul clothed David with his garments and put a bronze helmet on his head and he clothed him with armor. David girded his sword over his armor and tried to walk for he had not tested them. So David said to Saul, I cannot go with these for I have not tested them. And David took them off. Of course, they put the armor of a full size, full grown man on this boy. And here you see him trying to move. He couldn't even move. He couldn't even walk. And so David said, I can't do it with this stuff. And he took took that stuff off. Verse 40, he took his stick in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook and put them in the shepherd's bag, which he had even in his pouch. And his sling was in his hand and he approached the Philistine. Then the Philistine came on and approached David with the shield bearer in front of him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him for he was but a youth and ruddy with a handsome appearance. The Philistine said to David, am I a dog? that you come to me with sticks. Are you kidding me? Right? Um, and the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine also said to David, come to me and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field. And David said to the Philistine, you come to me with a sword, a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have taunted. Um, This day, the Lord will deliver you up into my hands and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands. Lots of lessons for us here, isn't there? A spiritual warfare. Then it happened when the Philistine rose and came and drew near to meet David, that David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone sank into his forehead so that he fell on his face to the ground. Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone. And he struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in David's hand. David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. I don't know how it's been for you, but we all know about that account. But for me, it had been a long, long, long time since I read that account. I suspect that maybe it has been for some of you. Um, wonderful account that I think very aptly applies to everything that we've talked about today. That's what it means to be strong in the Lord and then the strength of his might. David, of course, strong in the Lord and the strength of his might went on. He went on to grow up to become a mighty warrior and to become the King of Israel. Would you think on those things? And we'll pick up our study next time in verse 11 and talk about God's provision for the battle. the full armor of God. We'll talk a little bit about that next time. Just in a general way, we'll save our full explanation of that for later in verse 14, but we'll at least talk about it in an initial sense. And then we'll also have time next week to begin learning a little bit about the enemy, the devil and his schemes. Let's pray together. Thank you, Father, for the privilege, the great privilege that is ours to serve you as soldiers of the cross in this vicious war. Thank you for all the provisions that you've made for us, the instructions that are here in the word of God. Father, take the things that we talked about today and use them in our lives to prepare us for this vicious war that we're in. Help us all, Father, to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. I pray, God, that you would save any lost ones who are here, and I pray that you would sanctify the saved with the precious truth of your word. Bless our time of fellowship now out at the park, and we'll give you all the thanks and the praise and the honor and the glory for this privilege of gathering here with your people on this Lord's Day morning. We love you, and we thank you, and we worship you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.