The Most Excellent Way!
Part Two
1 Corinthians 12:27-13:7
Last
week we talked about how Jesus has equipped us to do His work. He has given
the church; apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to train His
Body to do His work, through the leading of the Holy Spirit, Whom Jesus has
given us.
Jesus
does not leave us wondering how to accomplish the task He has given us. He has
given all of us a special mission for His Kingdom. When we work together as the
Body of Christ, His Light will shine in our community, drawing the lost to Him.
Today,
we are going to look at the other thing that Jesus has equipped His Body of
Believers to accomplish. He has equipped us to defeat Satan in our lives. In
other words, Satan no longer has power over us unless we give it to him:
We are Equipped to Defeat
Satan (Ephesians 6:10-13)
“A
final word: Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on all of
God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of
the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but
against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers
in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
“Therefore,
put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in
the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.”
The Power of Christ
(Ephesians 6:10-11)
“A
final word: Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on all of
God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of
the devil.”
We
are not going to look at all the pieces of God’s armor today. We will be
studying His armor in a few weeks.
Today,
I want to look at the glue that holds the armor of God together. Without it, we
can pray all day, memorize every verse in God’s Word, go to church every day
the doors are open, and still live a defeated life.
The
secret to living a life of victory is through Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ
alone. Without Him, we might as well go home. Without Him, there would be no
reason for us to be here today.
Prayer
is a powerful way to live a life of victory, but if our prayers are not through
the blood of Jesus, we might as well be speaking to a wall.
Reading
God’s Word and memorizing it is a very powerful tool in living a life of
victory as well. Jesus used it against Satan in the wilderness.
However,
if we are relying on our ability to always give the right answer through God’s
Word without the power of the Word Himself, we will be fighting under our own
power, and Satan will be victorious.
Going
to church is also a powerful way of equipping ourselves for the battle against
our enemy, but if we only rely on the teachings of the church, we are only a
light of our church, a light of our denomination.
Jesus
has called us to be His Light to the world. When we stand against Satan under
the power of who Jesus is and what He has done for us on the cross, we will be
victorious.
“For
I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).
Our victory is found through
the power of Jesus Christ.
When
we are living in an intimate relationship with Jesus, we have stripped the
clothes of our old self and put on the armor of God.
Through
His armor, we are given a Spirit of power, love, and self-discipline instead of
fear and timidity. We are bold in the power of the cross (2 Timothy 1:7).
Through
Jesus, we can be bold because He is the One doing the work. He is the One
defeating Satan and his legion of demons. Psalm 27:1 tells us that:
“The Lord is
my light and my salvation—so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my
fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?”
We
are no longer bound by fear, for we are standing on the power of our
Resurrected King. He is our fortress. He is our strength. He is our Light.
Let
us never forget who our enemy is. Let us also never forget that until Jesus
comes back to take us home, our enemy is still roaming the earth, seeking those
he can devour. Satan is our enemy.
The Devil is our Enemy
(Ephesians 6:12)
“For
we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers
and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world,
and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”
Satan
is our enemy, but we must never forget that he does have an army of demons
spreading evil throughout the world.
Satan
is not omnipresent. He is not God. He cannot be everywhere. That is why he has
evil rulers and authorities throughout the world, seeking to destroy our
testimony, seeking to destroy our joy.
We
have to keep watch, for Satan, and his demons are out there, ready to pounce on
us when we drop our guard. 1 Peter 5:8:
“Stay
alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a
roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”
Stay alert, always prepared, always relying on the power of Jesus Christ.
Victory Through the Power of
Jesus (Ephesians 6:13)
“Therefore,
put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in
the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.”
When we focus only on prayer,
we leave an opening in our armor.
When we focus only on God’s
Word, we leave an opening in our armor.
When we focus only on coming
to church, we leave an opening in our armor.
We must put on the whole
armor of God.
We must live a life that is
pleasing to our Savior.
We
must live a life in complete unity as the Body of Christ, seeking to share the
good news of Jesus Christ to our community and throughout the rest of the world
(2 Corinthians 2:14).
Let
us go out, living in unity, remaining in our Savior, shining His Light to all
the world, for He has set us free from the bondage of sin.
He
has freed us from condemnation of our sinful ways.
He
has given us the Spirit of freedom, not defeat, the Spirit of joy, not sorrow,
the Spirit of acceptance, not rejection. He has come to set us free (Matthew
8:17; Romans 8:1; 2 Corinthians 3:17).
In
closing, let us never forget that Satan nor his demons come to us with horns
and a pitchfork. Satan and his demons will come to us as an angel of light.
They
will come to deceive us, so we must stay strong in the Lord. We must put on
God’s complete armor.
When
we are wearing God’s armor, we will not be deceived by our enemy, for we will
know God’s truth, for Truth Himself is living in us. We will not be fooled (2
Corinthians 11:3, 14b).
Never forget that it is through
the power of Jesus that you are victorious from the clutches of our enemy.
Never forget that it is
through the power of Jesus that you have been set free.
“So
humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James
4:7).
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