Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20100221.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Ephesians: Overcoming Our Insecurities In Christ
Part II: The Believer's Practice Based On His Secure Position In Christ, Ephesians 4:1-6:24
G. Warring Effectively In The Angelic Conflict
(Ephesians 6:10-20)
  1. Introduction
    1. The believer's position in Christ gives him access to victory over Satan and his hosts, for Christ is seated in heaven "far above all principality, power, might and dominion", terms that "in rabbinic thought" in Paul's era depicted "different orders of angels," Eph. 1:21; Ryrie St. Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Eph. 1:21.
    2. Paul thus described the comprehensive way the believer gains this victory in living in Ephesians 6:10-20:
  2. Warring Effectively In The Angelic Conflict, Ephesians 6:10-20.
    1. Paul commanded believers to be strong in God's might, putting on the whole armor of God that they might be able to stand against Satan's wiles that are aimed at causing them spiritual defeat, Ephesians 6:10-11.
    2. The importance of this command cannot be understated, for from just the context of the Ephesian epistle alone, we learn such struggles occur in the ministry (Eph. 4:1-16), in personal life (Eph. 4:17-5:20), in marriage (Eph. 5:21, 22-33), in the home (Eph. 5:21; 6:1-4) and at work (Eph. 5:21; 6:5-9) -- all realms of life, so we face angelic conflict in all areas of living, Ephesians 6:12; Ibid., ftns. to Eph. 6:12 and 1:21.
    3. To war successfully in the conflict, we must know God's GOAL for us in it is to "STAND", Eph. 6:13:
      1. By "standing," the believer is "not to attack Satan, or advance against him," Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 643: trying to move into Satan's realm to defeat him in our own wisdom, strength and initiative when God has not assigned us such a task nor given us the enabling to do so is foolish and dangerous. Apart from God's might and will for us, Satan will defeat us since he is far more powerful than us!
      2. By "standing," neither is the believer to flee Satan in leaving God's assignments for him in life and service: such fleeing only wrongly yields ground to Satan, leading to our spiritual defeat, Ibid.
      3. Rather, our task is to stay faithful to God's assignments for us, to "STAND" there in God's power, which STANCE Satan tries to get us to abandon either (a) by luring us away from that stance in getting us to attack him or (b) in tempting us to flee from his efforts in leaving God's will, Eph. 6:13.
    4. Thus oriented as to God's GOAL in the angelic conflict, that of standing in God's revealed will for us, we stand by shielding ourselves from Satan's wiles with God's armor as taught in Ephesians 6:14-20:
      1. We must live in truth (Eph. 6:14a), to be always firmly adhering to written Scripture as our ultimate source for defining reality in all we face in life, and in how we react to it all, Isaiah 8:19-20!
      2. We must put on the breastplate of righteousness (Ephesians 6:14b), to rely on the Holy Spirit to live righteously, that Satan might not have any occasion to expose and critique any sin in us that would result in our shame and God's discipline and loss of blessing, Zech. 3:1-7; Rev. 12:9-10; Gal. 5:16-23.
      3. We must put on the shoes of the preparation of the Gospel of peace, to be always ready to give the Gospel to the unsaved, which Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, Eph. 6:15; Romans 1:16.
      4. Above all, we must use the shield of faith in God and His Word to quench all of Satan's fiery darts, Eph. 6:16. We must trust God's character and Word for victory over Satan's efforts to get us to doubt them, for such doubts lure us away from believing and so heeding God and His Biblical will!
      5. We must put on the helmet of God's salvation, and this may mean either to rely on Scripture's promise of our salvation security in Christ or to trust God's practical deliverance our trials in the Christian life, for both applications are often needed in angelic conflict, Eph. 6:17a! (Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Eph. 6:17)
      6. As Jesus exampled for us in Matthew 4:1-11, we must use Scripture, the "sword" of the Spirit, the only offensive weapon listed here, to discern Satan's false concepts that are aimed to mislead us, Eph. 6:17b.
      7. We must then extensively pray, watching for all these Satanic stratagems against all believers (Eph. 6:18), asking God for the power and boldness to fulfill our assigned tasks in our lives, Eph. 6:19-20.
Lesson: The angelic conflict is real and hazardous, affecting all realms of life, so we must put on God's spiritual armor by faith as Ephesians 6:10-20 directs and stand firmly in God's will in all realms of life!

Application: Any struggle we believers face in any realm of life signals we wrestle with Satanic forces there, so may we respond by heeding Ephesians 6:10-20 to stay standing in God's revealed will for us!