Loaded for Bear

Ephesians 6:10-13

A lot has been said over the years about our right to keep and bear arms. Indeed, many feel that the ability to arm ourselves is necessary for our protection. We do, of course live in a very dangerous world. We live in a world where people will take your life over a parking spot. We live in a world where armies are armed and primed to do battle, or even to destroy whole nations at the touch of a button. Battles rage around, not on a national scale, but even on the city streets. At times it seems as if the white hatted calvary-men are losing the battle. Yet, these are only the battles that we can see. There is an extremely dangerous enemy loose in our world, and all the arms we can purchase, all the bombs we can build, and all the soldiers we can train will be useless against this enemy. This enemy is not new, he’s been around since the dawn of time, and the battles waged against him hold more importance than all the wars of our world.

Because our enemy is so powerful and so dangerous, we need to go out, loaded for bear. This battle is the mother of all battles, and we must make certain that we are victorious. The battle I refer to is the spiritual battle against Satan and his horde of demons. This is why last week we talked about being filled with the Holy Spirit. If we are to have any hope of defeating the demonic forces of Hell, we have to be filled with the Spirit.

The Problem

Let us define our problem in preparation for the battle to come. The problem is God’s enemy. The problem is that age old deceiver of the nations, Satan Himself. We are engaged in a struggle, a life and death struggle of epic proportions. We are in the middle of a war that is real. And it is a war that is really beyond our earthly control.

It is a spiritual battle. A battle against wickedness in all of its forms. Satan and his hordes control our world, and operate within our worldly governments. When our text speaks against the rulers, the powers, and the forces, Paul was not encouraging revolt. He was not saying to us to dethrone our current governments. He was instead referring to the organizational structure of Satan’s hierarchy of fallen angels. These fallen angels are deployed everywhere in our culture. We can think of it like a military operation designed to infiltrate every segment of society. The reason for this infiltration is of course to destroy God’s work. Satan does not want God’s work to continue unhindered, and he will do all that he can to slow down his ultimate demise.

Satan is ultimately defeated, he just isn’t smart enough to figure it out yet. Satan’s attack takes many forms. He attacks our values, and our morals. He encourages us to compromise, weakening our faith. He destroys our relationships, and plays upon our emotions. This struggle against Satan is very real, and very personal. We must be prepared to defeat Satan when he attacks. We must be loaded for bear.

The Provisions (v. 10)

We cannot fight this battle I’ve been describing in our own strength. If we attempt to, we will be defeated before we begin. You see, our enemy is much more powerful than we are. Our strength however comes from the Lord. We are to focus on Jesus, and allow His strength to become our own.

An army does not successfully march unless it has its provisions. when a battalion or company doesn’t have the provisions to continue the fight, they are generally removed from the battle as soon as possible and sent to a staging or recovery area to be replenished. As Christians, if we are not provisioned, we are effectively out of the battle. Our recovery area is our relationship with Christ. It is during our walk with Christ that we receive his strength. Without His strength, we will be unable to meet the challenges of the spiritual world. We quite literally exchange our own strength for God’s strength. This is the provision we need to continue the battle.

The Protection (v11)

Not only must we be provided for, we need to be protected. We must put on the full armor of God, if we have any hope of withstanding the schemes of the Devil. We will discuss this armor, and how we obtain it over the next three weeks. It is this armor that provides the protection that we need in order to withstand the wiles of Satan.

Contrary to popular belief, Satan is not working evil in a random fashion. He has a plan of conquest. He is fully organized, and prepared to do battle with us. We are not fighting against some poorly trained, conscript army, we are fighting against a finely tuned war machine. Satan is intelligent and he uses his intelligence against us. He gets to know us, and learns our weaknesses, and uses them to defeat us. We must put on the armor of God if we hope be prepared. We must put on the garments of truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, and the sword of the Spirit in order to be prepared and protected.

The Prize (V. 13)

We have already won the ultimate prize. The victory is Gods, and in Christ, it is ours. We are encouraged because the prize is in sight. In fact, even during the heat of the battle, we may stand firm in the victory that has already been given to us.

It is not a battle that we have won, it is the Lords. He has defeated Satan and his hordes, we simply reap the benefits of that victory. To stand in that victory, we absolutely must recognize who we are in Christ. We need to realize the power of the church. Jesus said that on the church, the gates of hell shall not overpower it.

We have no excuse to live a defeated life when we live IN CHRIST. The victory is ours, all we must do is claim it. The message this morning is one of encouragement. I want to encourage you to fight the good fight, to run the good race. The enemy is indeed dangerous, but we are loaded for bear. We have the more powerful arsenal. We also have the heavenly hosts fighting the battle with and for us.

The demons in hell groan when God’s people mobilize against him. They recognize that they cannot stand against the army of God. We must stand together, in one mind, with one goal, and claim the victory that is ours. We know who our problem is, we have our provisions, we are protected, and the prize is ours. So let us live victoriously. Lets claim the victory in Jesus.

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This message is derived in part from Rev. J. David Hoke's message entitled "Armed & Dangerous" This notification is provided in the interest of integrity.