THE FIGHT OF OUR LIVES(Copied material compiled and adapted from various sources)

It’s the FIGHT of our lives.

The WAR is on... There’s talk of World War 3 is in the

headlines lately... We are in for the fight of our lives. I believe it is ramping up.

The world is ALREADY at war, in fact – and these hostilities have been going on since the dawn of time on this earth. We are already engaged in a CONFLICT.

Ephesians 6:10-18

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

(11) Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

(12) For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,

against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

(13) Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God,

that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Now I will call up my volunteer. He is not a conscript. He volunteered.

(14) Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

(15) And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

(16) Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

(17) And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

(18) Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

We are embroiled in A COSMIC CONFLICT... A fierce BATTLE. It has been raging, through the ages, and

it still rages on today... A cataclysmic CONFLICT A SPIRITUAL STRUGGLE for the HEARTS

and SOULS of men and women.

We are ENGAGED in THIS FIGHT.

It’s a real spiritual battle – as much as sometimes we can LOSE SIGHT of it.

It is AN INVISIBLE WAR, and we fight against UNSEEN FORCES.

Yet it is still REAL... And the forces against us are real.

This battle is real and it rages on This battle rages in the lives and homes of

the people here today The battle rages ON EVERY FRONT.

It is the battle of two kingdoms, of darkness and light...

YOU are a TARGET. YOU are in A FIGHT.

Thankfully, God has PROVIDED EVERYTHING necessary for YOUR PROTECTION.

There is a coat of armour provided.

Paul says, Verse 10:

Ephesians 6:10-20 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

BE STRONG:The sense of it here is “BE STRENGTHENED” or “RECEIVE STRENGTH”, from another source. He’s not saying psych yourself up or summon your own strength. OUR TRUE STRENGTH is GOD’S POWER He is our SOURCE of STRENGTH We need to RELY on Him; to DEPEND on

HIM.

Paul says, be EMPOWERED by God, inwardly, with... STRENGTH OF SPIRIT, with FAITH, and GRACE.

We NEED STRENGTH: To overcome TEMPTATION To go through the TRIALS of life It is GOD – Who is OUR RESOURCE – the

One Who EMPOWERS us and LEADS US on TO VICTORY.

Paul goes on to explain THE WEAPONRY for THIS WARFARE...

At the time Paul wrote this letter he was in prison, guarded by Roman soldiers.

Perhaps as he wrote of the spiritual armour we are to wear he was comparing it with the armour worn by the Roman soldiers of his day...

(11) Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

The Christian life is a WARFARE... It is a battleground – not a playground. It is a call to battle, to fight, to war.It is a SPIRITUAL WARFARE...

It’s the FIGHT of our lives.

WHEN you’re in a fight – AND YOU ARE – you’ll want to MAKE SURE you’re WEARING ARMOUR...

And not just ANY ARMOUR – the RIGHT armour

David tried on SAUL’S armour – but it DID NOT FIT David

GOLIATH wore armour – but it was USELESS against DAVID’S STONE

It was DAVID who WON through – he was NOT clothed IN PHYSICAL ARMOUR, but he DID wear THE ARMOUR OF GOD that day...

THE ARMOUR that we are called to be clothed with is THE FULL ARMOUR OF GOD.

God’s unfailing armour.

But this armour is no good if you don’t wear it. You must PERSONALLY APPLY it.

You must PUT IT ON, says Paul: PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOUR, all of it Every piece.

Notice that the armour is THE ARMOUR OF GOD. Our DEPENDENCE must be TOTALLY UPON HIM.

It’s interesting that each piece of the armour is opposite to the mindset of this world and the prince of this world, satan.

The sense of it here is PUT THIS ON, NOW, straight away. There’s an URGENCY to it.

(11) Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

STAND FIRM, he says... Hold your ground Stand fast in faith and duty.

And, in case you didn’t realise it...

WE HAVE AN ENEMY – who wants to destroy us.And satan uses different WILES or METHODS.

His GAME PLAN is to ATTACK us where our own WEAKNESSES are.

(12) For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

A war is being waged... And it is called a WRESTLING It is a constant struggle It’s A WARFARE, in CLOSE COMBAT...

It’s the FIGHT of our lives.We war against SPIRITUAL FORCES. Against... Temptation in its many forms

Pride Authorities Spiritual wickedness.

It is important to RECOGNISE WHO the enemy is.

It’s not really human beings, such as people who are in false cults, or freemasons, or the people who are constantly pushing immorality on us, or the illuminati... It is not the people in our lives, some of whom may hate us or despitefully use us, or say all manner of evil against us falsely for His sake...

Our ENEMY is the ONE who is BEHIND THEM, DECEIVING THEM, the PUPPET MASTER. The one who pulls the strings...

SATAN is OUR ULTIMATE ENEMY: He is the real enemy Public enemy number one And we are on HIS HIT LIST Spiritual forces are arrayed against us.

It’s the FIGHT of our lives.It’s A SPIRITUAL BATTLE and so it’s one we must fight with SPIRITUAL WEAPONS.

(13) Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Importantly, the armour we need is the armour of God.

We must RELY on GOD’S POWER, not our own.

It’s the FIGHT of our lives. And there’s armour we need.

Paul talks through the different parts of the armour.

(14) Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth,

FIRSTLY, THE BELT OF TRUTH – it held the rest of the armour together.

A soldier in Paul’s day wore a heavy belt to protect his loins and carry his weapons

The breastplate was fastened to it The belt carried the scabbard for his sword The combat belt had leather straps hanging

down to the knees with strips of metal riveted to each strap.

These overlapping straps provided protection over the loins

The belt held his tunic together so it wouldn’t be snagged.

LIKE THE BELT, in our lives it is INTEGRITY that holds everything else together. God calls us to INTEGRITY.

As men and women of God we are called... To INTEGRITY and TRUTH in how we live To be TRUTH SEEKERS and TRUTH LIVERS.

THE WORD OF GOD is God’s TRUTH. We are called to HIDE it in our hearts.

David cried out, in Psalm 86,

Psalms 86:11 Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.

Knowing the truth GROUNDS us and PROTECTS us as we face the battles of life.

It makes us STRONG and STEDFAST.And it SANCTIFIES us – in other words it purifies us and makes us walk right:

In John 17:17 Jesus says, “Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth.” 

As a Christian we can know ABSOLUTES from God. In a world where it seems like THERE’S NO ABSOLUTES ANYMORE we can KNOW THE TRANSCENDING TRUTH of God’s SURE TRUTH. God’s truth has the power to make us free, as the Lord Jesus says, in John 8:32.

We can KNOW the TRUTH.And the TRUTH can make us free.

The truth LIVES and WALKS in our SHOES: In our own LIVES It is our INTEGRITY and CHARACTER We are called to be DOERS OF THE WORD: To put God’s truth into action within our own

lives.

Our BELIEFS, VALUES, ATTITUDES and ACTIONS must be based on God’s truth.

Our values and ideals are not meant to be shaped by what the modern media or popular culture promote... We don’t get our truth redefined by what even the government of our day says it is.

The truth we stand for is UNSHAKEABLE. IT CANNOT BE REDEFINED

IT IS WHAT IT IS The truth It ALWAYS WAS and ALWAYS WILL BE THE

TRUTH.

Against us stands our avowed enemy – and the eternal enemy of the truth – satan, who is called the “father of lies” (John 8:44).  He is the opposite of the truth His hallmark is DECEPTION.

You are called to STAND. Hold your ground.

During a fierce Civil War battle, one Union company was fighting under a hail of bullets to take a strategic hill from the Confederacy.

After making progress halfway up the hill, the weary soldiers became discouraged by the constant barrage and began to retreat back down the hill. Then they noticed that their standard bearer, who carried the company flag, refused to fall back.

A standard bearer’s job was to hold the flag over the territory occupied by his army.

“Bring the standard down to us,” shouted the young man’s cohorts. But despite the fact that cannons were exploding all around him, this courageous soldier was unwilling to yield an inch.

He called back: “No! You come up to where the standard is.”

Inspired by the bravery of their comrade, the Yankees renewed their efforts and took the hill.

Too many of God’s soldiers are fraternising with the enemy and trying to reach the world by bringing the standards of the church down to its level.

God is calling us to bravely come up to His standard.

God has set the standard. His unfailing truth. We will not be moved.

We won’t bring the standard down.

When you find the truth you will hold onto it dearly We will hold it up

We are not budging We will hold our ground.

One of King David’s mighty men was named Eleazar. He became famous when the army of Israel retreated and fled from the enemy because he stood his ground by David’s side, and the two of them fought back to back until they had defeated the Philistine force (1 Chronicles 11:12–14; 2 Samuel 23:9).

Likewise, too, as it says in verse 14 of our text, we are called TO STAND. To hold our ground To stand for the truth.

Without truth everything falls apart... satan wants to come against you with lies

and bring a lack of integrity into your life The Lord Jesus is the Truth and He will

strengthen you with His integrity.

The truth that we know... God calls us to APPLY in our lives. God calls us to CONFESS the truth. To stand for it.

The NEXT piece of the ARMOUR... is THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS:

and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

A breastplate shielded a warrior’s vital organs from blows that could kill In modern day body armour it would be

the bullet proof vest God’s armour is bullet proof It is impenetrable.

This piece is called the Breastplate of Righteousness.

So, what is RIGHTEOUSNESS?

It simply means, “RIGHT STANDING BEFORE GOD.”

THIS RIGHTEOUSNESS is not works of righteousness done by men.

This RIGHTEOUSNESS... Is the righteousness of Christ that God

credits to us It is given by God It is received by faith It guards our hearts against the

accusations and charges of satan It secures our innermost being from his

attacks.

It says, in 1 Corinthians 1:30, that the Lord Jesus is MADE for us, OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

We need HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

The breastplate especially protected the soldier’s HEART.

God calls us to GUARD OUR HEART...

Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

If you are saved, the Bible says that you are the righteousness of God in Christ.

It says we have righteousness BY FAITH.

Our righteousness comes from God.

Paul came to that dramatic moment in his own life where he saw that all of his religious credentials meant nothing, and that he needed

to receive the righteousness of God by faith – as he came to trust the Lord Jesus as his own saviour.

When we are saved GOD gives us this awesome transfer of His wealth for our poverty, His perfectness for our corruption, His righteousness for our sin. It’s like he makes a bank transfer to our account, and gives us His undeserved kindness as a free gift.

Philippians 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

You might be struggling with this concept. How you can be made righteous If we are all honest with God we would all

acknowledge that we fall short of the

glory of God, as the Bible says, and we cannot measure up to GOD’S PERFECT STANDARD

Yet there is a way to attain it.

This is how we have righteousness – it is BY FAITH in Jesus Christ.

Righteousness here speaks of the flawless perfect life of Jesus Christ.

His righteousness is credited to us as a gift, by faith.

He changes our state, our heart, and our eternal destination.

He changes who we are. From the inside out. He calls us NO LONGER SINNERS – but His own people – SAINTS. Which means holy ones. That’s His Righteousness.

The NEXT piece in the armour are THE SHOES...

(15) And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

In the Bible the foot is referred to as to a person’s direction, or “the walk”, of their life...

The shoes speak of a READINESS – a readiness to MARCH and DO BATTLE.

The Roman soldiers wore heavy-soled, hobnailed military boots: They were made with nails that gripped

the ground firmly even when it was slippery

They resembled sandals but they were designed to be efficient marching boots.

God gives us a new heart, a new start, and A NEW WALK, A NEW DIRECTION.

He walks with us. And He gives us a message to deliver.

We have a message to carry: THE GOSPEL It’s the proclamation of the good news.

And God shows us HOW TO WALK... How to truly live a life with meaning and value: To WALK IN GOOD WORKS - Eph. 2:10. To walk WORTHILY - Eph. 4:1. To walk in LOVE - Eph. 5:1. To walk AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT- 5:8. To walk CAREFULLY throughout life - Eph.

5:15.

In this fight of our life we carry a message our world desperately needs to hear – the GOSPEL.

In other words, Christs died for our sins, and He rose again. He paid the price, the penalty for our sins, and we can be saved as we trust in Him.

We are a victorious army, taking back territory from the enemy. And we’re promised victory.

Romans 16:20 And the God of peace will soon bruise Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

We are an advancing army... We will not retreat No turning back No turning back.

God gives us shoes that take us onward and upward. And we walk all over satan.

We follow Jesus. We walk in His steps... He calls, Follow me Our feet follow in His footsteps And we can truly say, I will follow Jesus.

NEXT, and ABOVE ALL,

As the next item in this armour, we have the SHIELD OF FAITH...

(16) Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

When we wear the armour of God it is God Who will make us ABLE...

ABLE TO STAND-6:11ABLE TO WITHSTAND (or stand your ground)-6:13And with His shield, we are...ABLE TO QUENCH (or extinguish) ALL THE FIERY DARTS (or flaming arrows) OF THE WICKED-6:16

THE SHIELD... Displays who we are It was decorated with an insignia, an

emblem It was a sign of authority, like a Policeman’s

badge.

The Roman shield was no small thing: It was like a DOOR that a person could

hide behind It was 2 and 1/2 feet wide, and 4 feet

tall and weighed about 10Kilos.

Opposing soldiers would dip arrows in oil, then light them and shoot them.

Shields were vital to protect the soldier from getting burned.

The Romans were protected as they hid behind their long, rectangular shields – safe from arrows and spears – they could kneel behind them during an arrow barrage.

The Roman units would join their shields together to cover for each other... Likewise, too, we are fighting shoulder to shoulder with others in God’s army. We are not alone.

True Christian faith joins us to others for mutual defence. We need believing friends who will surround us with their shields!

People who will pray for us, and encourage us to keep on going, and offer us the strength of THEIR faith at times...

Like the ancient Romans, we need to form the "turtle formation" over each other.Our shield will overcome the fiery darts.

How many of those fiery darts? SOME of them? NO, ALL of them.

Whatever they be... Those fiery darts... Lies Doubts Accusations Guilt Greed Envy Unforgiveness Lust Pride...

Don’t be surprised if you get a few fiery darts thrown your way.

You are under attack.

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Our enemy is on the prowl... So we must ARM ourselves God PROVIDES the armour – but we must

put it on ALL of it.

God Himself is our Shield Many times He is called our SHIELD We stand in His authority, His power, His

victory.

In the Psalms it often proclaims:He is my shield... My strength My salvation My rock My fortress.

You can claim it:Psalm 3:3 But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of my head.

It’s the FIGHT of our lives.We need the armour...

NEXT, THE HELMET OF SALVATION.

(17) And take the helmet of salvation,

A soldier used a helmet to protect his head If his head was wounded, he was a gonner.

In the armour of God we wear THE HELMET OF SALVATION.

In the day of battle we need to apply the words of Psalm 140:

Psalms 140:7 O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.

He is our shield.Our salvation.Do you know Him?It is so important to receive His Salvation.To know Him as your Saviour.

We have the helmet of salvation. It protects our mind, our thinking...

Satan’s TARGET is YOUR MIND. Our enemy is CONSTANTLY BOMBARDING

OUR MINDS OUR THOUGHTS Every believer needs to have THE MIND

OF CHRIST, under the control of Almighty God.

Paul talks – in 2 Corinthians 10:5 – about Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,

and bringing into captivity EVERY THOUGHT to the obedience of Christ;Our mind is Satan’s battle field. He wants to fill our mind with fear, hopelessness, and despair.

GOD wants to fill our mind with good thoughts, to give us A SOUND MIND, and to give us AN ASSURANCE OF HIS SALVATION to our minds. The helmet protects our minds from DOUBTING the truth of God's saving work for us.

It’s the FIGHT of our lives.

NEXT, for this fight we see that we need the SWORD...

and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

The sword of the Spirit. The Word of God. God’s Word teaches and guides us. We are called to study it. To put it to use.

God’s Word is very precious... God has magnified His Word above all His

name It is by His Word that the Lord sanctifies

and cleanses His church - Eph. 5:26 We want to honour and obey His precious

Word in our lives.

When the Lord Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness, His first line of defence was Scripture.

The Lord Jesus speaks in power, ‘It is written’, and satan crumbles.

Three times satan tempted Him and all three times the Lord Jesus fought off the temptation with Scripture.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword...

It’s the FIGHT of our lives. But we are NOT ALONE in this battle.

But we have communication lines that are always open to HQ. In this battle we have direct personal access to the Commander-in-Chief.

Paul tells us lastly that while we wear this armour we should always pray...

(18) Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,

and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; It’s the FIGHT of our lives.

We are called to bePRAYING - this is how we can realise God’s strength.

And not only praying, but watching.WATCHING – it means to be on the alert.

God is looking for intercessors... People who will pray...

People who will be sober. Who are... On the alert Watching Vigilant.

We don’t want to get caught napping, when we are meant to be WIDE AWAKE and on alert.

We need to be as those spoken of in Isaiah 64:7, people who will stir up ourselves and take hold of God.

Prepare for battle.

Fight the good fight of the faith.

Paul writes in the closing chapter of his own life,

2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

What of you?Of your life?

It’s the FIGHT of our lives.We are already engaged in a CONFLICT.Let us wear the armour. Put it on daily.

Ephesians 6:10-18 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

(11) Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.