InPerspective

Harry Reeder: You say pastor, I'm sure I want to sign up as a soldier of the cross. What if you're Christian, you ain't got a choice. In fact, that's how you became a Christian. You got drafted. Do you know that? You say Harry, I volunteered. Nope, you volunteered when you got drafted. The Lord drafts you, and the Bible says in Psalm 110, oh Lord, thy people will volunteer freely in the day of your power. It is God's power that allows us to volunteer freely. It is God who drafts us.

Guest (Male): Putting life in biblical perspective with Dr. Harry L. Reeder. This is in perspective, a radio and internet ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. The Apostle Paul urged Timothy, share in the suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. As a Christian, you are not in a volunteer army. You were drafted into the Lord's service by his sovereign grace. What can we do to avoid being entangled in the affairs of this world that we might be loyal soldier in the army of God?

Stay with us now as Dr. Reeder continues our series, spiritual warfare, the embattled Christian. Today we turn to Ephesians chapter 6 for part one of the message entitled the strength for the battle.

Harry Reeder: We come to some key verses, and we're going to take them up together, taking on this very first verse in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10. I'm going to read 10 through 20 though. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand firm, stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication.

To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in the opening of my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. Want to remind you that our study has been under this basic thematic statement that spiritual warfare is not as we have been taught or as we have absorbed over the last 25 to 30 years, some exotic segment of the Christian life.

On the contrary, it is not a subset of the Christian life. It is the Christian life that it is the universal and daily reality in the life of every true Christian. Therefore, this is relevant for us. Spiritual warfare is not for certain moments in life. It's not for certain people gifted in life. It is for all of God's people in all of life. We are constantly at war with the adversary, the enemy of our soul. Spiritual warfare can best be understood by this statement that spiritual warfare is actually it is like a disbanded army, a defeated army, a disbanded army of a defeated tyrant who is still influential, but he leads a powerful but doomed terrorist war.

Satan has been defeated once, thrown out of heaven, defeated twice at the cross, will be defeated finally at the second coming as he is cast into these three phases of the judgment. But in this intermediate time, he is a defeated foe, and his fallen allies, the demons of this world have gathered around him, but they're like a disbanded army, disbanded, but look at the destructive terrorist warfare that goes on as we are soldiers of the cross. You say pastor, I'm sure I want to sign up as a soldier of the cross. What if you're Christian, you ain't got a choice.

In fact, that's how you became a Christian. You got drafted. Do you know that? You say Harry, I volunteered. Nope, you volunteered when you got drafted. The year was 1968. I received my information from East Carolina University that my opportunity to be there was no longer in force, and I left. When I got home, I happened to check my draft card, and it was Now, those of you that weren't alive back then, you don't know what this meant, but it was number 32. That meant I was on my way. So I decided I was about to get drafted, so I went down and volunteered.

I decided to go volunteer for the Marine Corps, and knowing I was going to get drafted, that's not a perfect picture, but that's a little bit what this is like. The Lord drafts you, and the Bible says in Psalm 110, oh Lord, thy people will volunteer freely in the day of your power. It is God power that allows us to volunteer freely. It is God who drafts us. Let me show you that from the Bible. Keep your finger in Ephesians 6, but go with me if you would to second Timothy chapter 2. Second Timothy chapter 2, a series of examples of what it means to be a Christian, a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer are given.

Look at the example of the soldier in verse 4. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. That's the picture of us. He gives a picture of an athlete, a picture of a farmer, and a picture of a soldier. We free ourselves from the affairs of this world. They don't hold on to us, so that we now live to please the one who enlisted us. Forget the picture of Uncle Sam on the poster. There is the glorious picture of Jesus. I want you. The bloodhound of heaven, the Holy Spirit, tracked us down, and the message from heaven eventually got hold of our heart, and the Lord enlisted us into his army.

That means being in his army, you are now called on a mission. We call it a great commission to go and make disciples of all the nations. Any Christian who takes serious this commission to walk into this hostile world with the gospel of Jesus Christ for the cause of Christ will certainly be under attack. Any church who takes serious mission statements like Briarwood is committed to equipping Christians to worship God. Satan hates that. To worship God and to reach Birmingham, to reach the world for Christ, Satan hates that. And in proportion to our commitment to fulfill that mission, we will have an adversary.

And as soldiers of Christ and in this regiment of his army at Briarwood, we need to know how to be in the battle. No soldier can move forward without orders from headquarters. Christ is the captain of the Lord of hosts. He is our general. He is our commander in chief, and he is given orders for us. Now, if you've got a military background, you know those are called general orders. So what I want to do now over the next couple of weeks is give you from the word of God, from headquarters, our general orders. General order number one.

General order number one. Be strong in the strength of his might. Be strong in the strength of his might. That's order number one. Now, in order to do that order, you and I need to be convinced of what I believe are five things. Go back with me to Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10. Look closely, if you would, at this order from heaven to us through one of the lieutenants, the Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit. This is what he says in verse 10. Finally, command, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

What does it mean to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might? Well, five things need to be embraced by us if we're going to be strong in the strength of the Lord. The first thing that we must be convinced of is this. The battle is sure, and it cannot be fought without the power of God. The battle is sure. It cannot be fought with our own power. It must be fought with the power of God. Without the power of God, you and I cannot fight the battle that is before us.

God's power is absolutely essential. My brothers and sisters, why do you need the power of God? Because of the power of evil. That's why you need it. You have an evil one who is opposed to you. You have an evil one with his allies that are opposed to you. You live, the Bible says, in an evil day. You do not live in a friendly environment. You live in a hostile environment. You live in an evil day. There is an evil one. There is the fact that evil is powerful. Evil is not only powerful, there is an evil one who is powerful.

There is an evil one who is powerful, and there is an evil one with his allies that multiply his presence and his strength. And there is an evil day in which we exist today. We live in an evil day. And we cannot exist in this day without the power of God. Now, what's interesting this the fact that general orders number one precede other general orders. For instance, we're about to get to general order number two, which is what? Put on the whole armor of God. Now, what's interesting is we're not told to put on the whole armor of God until we're first told to be strong in the Lord.

We need to be strong in the Lord not only because of the evil day and the evil one. I believe the strength of the Lord is necessary to wear the armor of God. It is the strength of the Lord. You can't wear the armor of God in the strength of the flesh. The strength of the Lord is necessary not only because of the evil one and the evil day and evil and all of its power, but also because you can't wear the whole armor of God without the strength of the Lord. So here we are.

We're surely in a battle. If you know Jesus Christ, the battle is before you. There is a battle that rages outside of you and a battle that rages inside of you. And this battle that rages is one that can't be fought without the power of God. The power of God because of the evil day and the power of God because God's strength is necessary to wear his armor into the battle. Number two. The second thing that we must be convinced of is that the strength of our adversary and his allies are supernatural and superior to ours.

Supernatural and superior to ours. I am not ready to ascribe to Satan the ability to do the miraculous because of what I understand signs, wonders, and miracles to be. But I also tried to make clear to you that Satan does do supernatural works of power. Harry, why are you drawing this distinction? Well, I'm drawing this distinction. You'll just have to pardon this one of these things, you know, when you get into the Bible and you got some things, you want to protect the integrity of certain things. So it'd be easy for me just to say, well, Satan works supernatural.

He does miracles too. But then my only problem with that is I 've got writers of the Scriptures who appeal to what? That they speak for God. They say, did we not do signs, wonders, and miracles in your midst? And that became proof of what? That they belonged to the Lord and spoke for the Lord. Now, if Satan can do signs, wonders, and miracles, then how can those be credentials of the apostles? If anyone can do them and Satan can do them. Now, I believe that Satan is a copycat. He's a counterfeiter. He counterfeits signs, wonders, and miracles.

But while they are not fitting the definition of God's miraculous signs to create wonder and worship to him, they are supernatural. They are beyond our explanation. You have multiple examples in the Bible, don't you? You have the power of evil manifested in the shamans, the witch doctors, the courtiers of Pharaoh. When Moses came and he threw his staff down and it became a snake, the Bible says that the courtiers of Pharaoh took their staffs, threw them down, and it didn't say it looked like a snake or it was a sleight of hand. It says they became snakes.

So clearly there is power and supernatural, but notice the elevation of the miracle of God as the snake of the staff of Moses devoured the three of Pharaoh's representatives. But I want to make very clear having said that, having said that while Satan's works do not fit the category of signs, wonders, and miracles that come from God to the glory of God, they are beyond natural explanation and are beyond our explanation and are beyond the natural. Therefore, they fit a category of supernatural power beyond us. Let me again take you to a passage of Scripture that warns you of such a day when they will be present.

Take your Bibles and turn with me to second Thessalonians chapter 2. Second Thessalonians chapter 2. In second Thessalonians, the warning of the Antichrist is coming, and the counterfeit of signs, wonders, and miracles. But note how it said what the Antichrist will do. Look at verse 7. The mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains chapter 2 verse 7. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

Do y'all get the picture there? All of this power of the Antichrist that's so much greater than us, what does it take for Jesus to get rid of him? Just the breath of his mouth slays him. Now, but look at him in comparison to us. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refuse to love the truth and so to be saved. And so what will the Antichrist do? He will try to get us away from the word by false signs, wonders, and miracles, but they will be done beyond our explanation with all power.

And so if you are one of those that keeps searching around for the latest religious display that seems to be inexplicable instead of searching for those who will preach and teach and share and disciple you in the word of God, then you can become prey to this. But what keeps the elect from being suckered by these false signs, wonders, and miracles even though they're done with power? The love of the truth keeps them. The love of the truth, the word of God is what keeps them. But what is it that Satan does? Satan has all power.

You will not seek the power of the Lord until you're convinced that your power will not carry the day, and until you're convinced that Satan's power and his allies is greater than your power. The strength of the adversary and his allies are supernatural and is superior to yours. Thirdly, the third thing we must become convinced of that my natural strength is not only inadequate for the battle, but counterproductive and must be abandoned as a resource. Wow. You do not know how hard it was for me to write that out, but I believe it's the truth.

Well Harry, doesn't God give us native gifts and abilities that we can use for him? Yes, he does. But if at any point in time you and I count our strengths as anything other than weaknesses, then we are set up for the fall. We will falter. There may be a preacher who has the ability of the gift of gab. Can that be used in preaching? It certainly can, but as soon as that becomes what he relies on, he ceases being a preacher. There may be a preacher who has the ability to think well, but as soon as his thinking becomes what he relies on, he ceases to be a preacher.

Harry, are you sure? Sure, that's why Paul said what? When I was with you, I was with you in weakness and in trembling. He said, I did not come to you with superiority of speech or of wisdom. He said, I didn't come as an orator. I didn't come as a philosopher. I came as a preacher. Was Paul brilliant? There's no doubt about it. But he said, I didn't come as a philosopher. I came as a preacher. He didn't rely on his abilities of philosophical speculation. Was Paul able to speak? I'm convinced of it. But he said, I did not come to you with superiority of speech.

He said, I'm not an orator. We cannot Now, I've picked on preachers because I am one, but it's also applicable in your life. All of you have native gifts of the Lord. Those quote unquote strengths, if they are to be useful, must never be relied upon. Used, yes, but never relied upon. What does the Bible say? God's strength is seen in our what? Our weaknesses. I got You would not believe how many weaknesses, but here's what I believe one of the keys to the Christian life is, not only to let God's strength be seen in our weaknesses, but be ready to count our strengths as weaknesses.

Then the Lord will use them. We don't rely on our strengths. We rely on the strength of the Lord. Our strengths then we see as weaknesses, and we hand them over to the Lord. So Lord, if you want fluent speech or a stammering tongue, the tongue of mine is here to serve you. So there is the call that we must become convinced that our strength, our strength is not what wins the battle. It is God's strength that wins the battle. My natural strength is not only inadequate, but counterproductive when it's relied upon and must be abandoned as my resource.

The Lord is my resource. Number four. God's strength is not only available. God's strength is not only available, but is also freely accessible. God's strength is not only available, but is also freely accessible. Take your Bibles and turn with me to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. Look with me in this marvelous verse 12. And therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

God's strength and power is accessible and available because God himself is accessible and available. He lives within us. We live in him. There is a relationship that we have with him that is sure and forever. And when surrendered to him, he is always accessible and available. Draw near to God. He will draw near to you. We call upon the Lord knowing that he is ever ready to hear us. That brings me to number five. Number five. The strength of God's might is found in Christ.

Guest (Male): As faithful soldiers and disciples of Jesus Christ, we must commit to follow our commander in chief and please him with lives of faithful obedience. You are listening to in perspective featuring the teaching of Dr. Harry L. Reeder. Will I have my pets in heaven? Will I recognize all my friends? What will I be doing? Dr. Reeder answers these questions and many more in his series, what happens when I die? And it's our free gift to you when you call 1-800-488-1888 or when you visit inperspective.org. What happens when I die is our complimentary gift to you, our way of saying thanks for listening.

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Our purpose to proclaim biblical doctrine to foster a reformed awakening in today's church. Connect to blogs, podcasts, and more through inperspective.org. Dr. Reeder shows how we as good soldiers of the Lord are to follow this order from our divine commander in chief. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. That's next time as we turn back to the Scriptures to put life in biblical perspective.