Something for me. And then not only do you have something for me, but that you have something for me to say to your people. And so I pray, Lord, that your spirit would lead, that your spirit would guide our study this morning, that we would be instructed by you. Lord, I know that you are able to bring fruit from your word because it never returns to you void, but always accomplishes the purpose for which you have sent it. Lord, we submit ourselves to your purpose this morning, and we pray that you would begin the change in us that needs to take place in this world. Lord, glorify yourself in us. Prepare us for the battle that has been set before us. And help us to be led by your spirit as we move forward, Lord. Help us to understand your word this morning. Help us to receive it. Help us, Lord, to believe it, and help us, Father, to obey it. May you be glorified in this place today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Open your Bibles this morning to the book of Ephesians, chapter six. We'll be starting in verse 10. Paul begins this section with the word, finally. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. This is the beginning of the conclusion of this epistle. This epistle in which we have learned from the Apostle Paul about all that God has done for us, about all that God has given to us, and about all that God desires from us. We've learned about the fact that we who were once in darkness have been transferred and transformed into the kingdom of God, into the kingdom of light, into the kingdom of his dear son, that our state, our existence has been transformed for those who have believed in Christ Jesus, and that we have been converted from being enemies of God to being children of God. We are no longer what we were. Now it's true we are not yet what we shall be, because when we stand before him in that day, the Bible tells us we don't know what we will be like, but this we know when we see him, we will be like him. So we don't know what we will be, but we do know that we are not what we were. We are all together different. We are a people who are in process. And we are in the process of being built together into a temple for the Holy Spirit of God, of which Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone. We've learned all of this from Ephesians. We've learned that God accomplished this through the death of his son Jesus Christ upon the cross, thereby paying the price for our sins. We've heard it said, we owed a debt we could not pay, he paid a debt he did not owe. Amen. So we know from Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 through 10 that we are saved by grace, and that through faith. And that not of ourselves, but it's the gift of God, not by works, lest anyone should boast, but that we are his workmanship, created unto good works that God has prepared in advance for us to walk in. All this God has done for us. God has blessed us, according to what Paul has said here in Ephesians, with every spiritual blessing. He has made us not only his children, but he has made us co-heirs with Christ. And he has made us part of his body. And we are one with him. We are part of the body of which Christ Jesus is the head. And we're called to walk in a manner that is in keeping with that calling. He's told us how we are seated in heavenly places with the Lord Jesus Christ. And now, having been seated in heavenly places with the Lord Jesus Christ, he's told us that we are now to walk in a particular manner. We're to walk worthy of the calling with which we are called. We're to put off the old man and put on the new man. Amen? We're to put away wrath and malice and evil speaking and all of those things, and we are to encourage one another in the Lord with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, building one another up and edifying one another in the body of Christ. We're to walk with God in Christ Jesus. That's what we're to do. We're to conduct ourselves in a manner that is worthy of the calling with which we are called. Well, how do we do that practically? Well, those who lied or to lie no longer, but to speak the truth in love. Those who stole or to steal no longer, but to work with their hands that they might have something to give to the needs of others. We're to be new people with new characteristics because we are new creations in Christ Jesus. Amen. That is manifested in the fact that we are to submit ourselves one to another in the fear of God. In other words, we're to put Jesus first, others second, and you're to put yourself last. And in doing so, you'll have great joy in your life because your life will be in the appropriate alignment with Jesus, who is the chief cornerstone. The only way for a building to be sturdy and stable is for each piece to be in alignment with that foundation. And Christ is our foundation. He is the foundation of our lives. You've heard this illustration before, but it's worth repeating in this particular instance. We think of our lives as a pizza. And that pizza is divided into various slices. Some of these slices are larger than other slices. And if we think about what part of our pizza of life God wants, we think we're doing good if we give him the biggest slice. But you see, God doesn't just want to be the biggest slice of our pizza. He doesn't want to be just something that we sprinkle on top of our lives, that we garnish our lives with by showing up at church on a Sunday morning. That's like putting a little Parmesan cheese on that pizza. That's great, it's nice, it makes the pizza a little bit better, but it's not what the pizza is about. The pizza is not about the parmesan cheese. You see, God wants to be the crust, because the crust is that upon which every other part of the pizza is built. It is the foundation of the pizza, it permeates the pizza. There's no part of the pizza of which the crust is not a part. And you know what a pizza without the crust is? It's the same thing that a life without Christ is. It's a mess. It's a mess. You see, he wants to be the foundation of our lives, the rock upon which we're built. Understanding all of this, Paul comes to this last section of the book of Ephesians, and he says, finally, brethren, finally. Taking into consideration everything that he has said to us, everything that he has shown us, everything that he has illustrated for us and exhorted us to believe, to know and to do, to know that love of Christ, which is beyond knowing, because we can only know it when we experience it. He's coming to this point and he's saying, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. You see, if we are going to be strong, it is only in the power of his might that we can find that strength. Turn with me briefly and hold your place here, but turn with me briefly to John chapter 15. In John chapter 15, starting in verse 1, Jesus makes the point. He says, I am the true vine, and my father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit he prunes that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, in other words, continue in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. Without me, Jesus says, you can do nothing. You see, all of these spiritual blessings that God has blessed us with are to be found in Christ Jesus. That means that apart from Christ Jesus, what spiritual blessings do we have? None. Nothing. Apart from him, there are no spiritual blessings because it is in him that all the spiritual blessings are found. 1 John 5, 11 and 12 puts it this way: this is the testimony. You've heard me quote this so many times. I hope this is burned into your brains. This is the testimony. God has given us eternal life. And this life is in his son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son does not have life. It's as simple as that. Everything we need as believers to walk in victory over sin, to engage in battle with the enemy, to receive the spiritual blessings and the physical blessings of God, to receive the forgiveness of our sins and the promise of eternal life, all of these are found in Christ Jesus. And apart from him, we have access to none of these things. To none of them. The word tells us that it is in weakness that God's strength is perfected. It's when we're weak that He is strong in us. It's when we recognize our insufficiency apart from Him that the power that we have through Him becomes present in our lives. It's when we recognize that the power is not ours, but it is His that we are truly plugged into the source. Turn back with me to Ephesians chapter six. Now we are touching on the tip of an iceberg here this morning. There is a tiny piece of this topic that I'm going to be able to address today, but there is so much more below the surface that we could stay here from now until 6 o'clock this evening and still probably not address all of it. So to think that I'm going to be able to share with you everything that the Lord is putting on my heart in regards to this topic in the time that we have here this morning would be foolish of me. And so I'm not even going to attempt to do so. But I do want to read the entire passage to you that is likely going to be, Lord willing, the topic of our discussions for the next several weeks. Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 and on. Paul writes, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in 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. Stand, therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. Friends, we are engaged in a war. We are engaged in a war that we do not see. We see the impact that this war has in the world through death, destruction, deception, and depravity. We see it. But what we fail so often to recognize is that there are spiritual forces at work behind the things that we see. Now, there are those who will say, philosophers and liberal theologians, who will say, oh, Ken, come on now. There's no such thing as a personal devil. When we speak of the devil, we're simply speaking about the philosophy or the force of evil that exists in the world. You see, there are those who try through their philosophical reasoning or their liberal theologies to suggest that the devil isn't really real. Well, I have a problem with that because the Bible says he is, and I would rather believe the Bible than their liberal philosophies and theologies. There is a personal God, he exists, he is real, he has personality, and there is a personal devil. He exists, he's real, he has personality. Now they are not equal and opposite. God is unlimited, he is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent. He is all powerful, he is all-knowing, and he is ever-present. That is the description of our God. But Satan is none of those things. Satan cannot be everywhere at once. Satan does not know everything that there is to know. And Satan does not possess all power, but his power is limited, and it is limited by God. And it is limited by Jesus Christ through the cross. And it is limited by the blood of Christ by which we were purchased. Amen. So his power is limited, and truth be told, he is a defeated foe. Jesus Christ defeated Satan upon the cross. Now, one of the ways, I'm gonna make a little bit of a confession here, just a little bit of one. You know that I'm bivocational, and sometimes finding the time to study the way I want to can be a struggle. So I maximize my time and I listen to a lot of sermons. I used to listen to a lot of audiobooks and other things, but lately I just haven't had time to listen to those because I've been absorbing so much of the word through uh sermons that I've been listening to. And um if I know I'm gonna be preaching on a particular topic, I'll ask myself, well, what does David Rosales have to say about that topic? Or what does Pastor Chuck have to say about that topic? Or what does Tony Evans have to say about that topic? And so uh I listen broadly to a lot of different people to hear uh they they serve as an audio commentary for me so that I can maximize my study time and get as much out of it as possible. Well, I was listening to Tony Evans on this very topic the other day, and he began his message with an illustration that I'd like to steal. Um, and and I'm just gonna steal it. You know, he he was saying that, you know, his son used to play uh professional football and he played for the Washington Redskins, and and Tony was wanting to go to the game, and he went to most of his son's game, but this particular game he wasn't able to go to. Uh, but having the NFL network on his TV at home, he was able to watch the whole thing replayed later on. And so as he was watching it replayed on the television later that evening, he already knew the outcome of the game. He already knew that the Redskins had won this particular game. So when there was a fumble, he was able to look at it and say, oh man, that was a bad fumble. But it didn't derail him, it didn't upset him, it didn't cause him to worry. Why? Because he already knew how the game was going to end. Or later, when the Redskins quarterback threw an interception, he said, Oh, that was a bad play. But he didn't lose heart because he knew already how the game was going to end. And knowing how the game is going to end changes your perspective when you're watching it unfold. Even though you may not know everything that's going to happen along the way, you know how you can. How it ends. Now, I want to tell you something this morning. We know how this story ends. And our God is victorious. Now, that doesn't mean that there aren't some plays to run along the way. That doesn't mean that we don't have some battles to engage in because the reality is we do have plays to run. We do have battles to fight. And we need to be equipped and prepared for those battles. But when things go wrong, when things take a left turn, when things go south, we can stand with the confidence that comes from knowing that our God wins. Satan is a defeated foe. He is a rattlesnake of which the head has been cut off. But let me remind you of something. Just because the head has been cut off of the rattlesnake doesn't mean that its teeth are not poisonous anymore. A dead rattlesnake can still bite you. There was a report from a study in a particular hospital in which out of a hundred, I don't remember the exact number, but it was something like out of a hundred rattlesnake bites that had come through this particular emergency room, four of them were from snakes that the victim thought was already dead. Just because that head's been severed doesn't mean that that snake can't hurt you. And just because Satan is a defeated foe doesn't mean that we do not have to be wary of his devices. Because his desire is to steal and to kill and to destroy. He is a liar and a murderer, and we need to be wary of him. Now we don't need to be fearful of him because greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. The Holy Spirit that resides in the believer is greater than the spirit that exists in this world and is currently operating as the Prince of the Power of the Air and all of his demons. That is very true. So we do not have to fear him, but we do need to be wary of him. And in order to do that, we first have to acknowledge that he exists. C.S. Lewis wrote this in the first few pages of the famous book, The Screwtape Letters. He said, There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to believe in their excuse me, one is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight. So Satan is equally happy if you don't believe in him at all, or if you're fascinated by him and want to look into him more. He's happy with both of those results. If you're an atheist and don't believe in anything spiritual, he's perfectly all right with that. If, on the other hand, you do believe in spiritual powers and become enraptured by them and decide you want to seek out the power that is available through him, he's equally happy with that. Our mistake is either giving him too much of our attention or too little of it. We need to be wary of him. So I want to talk to you for a minute or two today about who he is and where he comes from and what his agenda is in the lives of those whom he opposes. Turn with me, first of all, to the book of Isaiah, chapter 14. The first thing we need to recognize is that Satan is a created being. And he was not always what he is today. In Isaiah chapter 14, verses twelve through fifteen, we read, How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning, how you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations. For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will extol my throne above the stars of God. I will also sit on the mounts of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the most high. Yet you shall be brought down to shale, to the lowest depths of the pit. We see here that he was Lucifer, and that his sin was the sin of pride, and the sin that suggested that he could be exalted above God Himself. Turn with me to Ezekiel chapter 28. Now in this passage, the king of tear is used symbolically of Satan. And in verse 11, the Lord says, Moreover, actually, Ezekiel writes, Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, verse 12, Son of Man, take up a lamentation for the king of tear and say to him, Thus says the Lord God, you were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering, the Sardis, topaz, and diamond, barrel, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold, the workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers. This tells us that Satan was an angelic being, that he was one from whom music flowed, that that gift of music was given to him on the day that he was created, and that he was adorned with precious stones and was a thing of incredible beauty. I established you. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trading, you became filled with violence within, and you sinned. Therefore, I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings that they might gaze at you, you defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading, therefore I brought fire from your midst to devour you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you, all who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you. You have become a horror and shall be no more forever. To get a picture of what this looks like, another perspective of it, turn to Revelation chapter twelve. This woman is representative of Israel. Then, being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. Who was it that Israel was to give birth to? And so this woman giving birth is a symbol of the nation of Israel bringing forth the Messiah. And another sign appeared in heaven. Behold, a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems on his head. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth, and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her child as soon as it was born. Satan's purpose throughout the Old Testament was to cut off the line of Abraham so that the promised Messiah could not come. He tried again and again and again, and he failed every time. He tried through Haman when the children of Israel were captive in Babylon. He tried to annihilate the Jews, but he was unable to do so. He had tried previously through Pharaoh in Egypt to kill every male child that was born, attempting again to cut off Israel and the hope of Israel and the Messiah. He had tried through their enemies in the land of Canaan, he had tried through the Moabites and the Amorites and all of the other heights on their way into the promised land. Satan had tried again and again and again and repeatedly he failed. He tried once more on that night when Christ was born. And following as the wise men came and they came through Herod. They came through and asked, Hey, do you know where this new king of the Jews has been born? And Herod called the priests and the scribes, and they said, Oh, well, he's supposed to be born in Bethlehem. And what did Herod say? He said, I'll tell you what, when you find him, send word to me so that I can come and worship him too. A deception, of course, because Herod would brook no rivals, none at all. They used to say that it was safer to be Herod's pig than his son, because he had murdered them. He was a killer, paranoid of anyone who might take his throne, and Satan used that paranoia. Satan used that evil desire for power in Herod and motivated him to send his soldiers to kill the children of Bethlehem. This was Satan's attempt once more to put to death the promised Messiah. And he thought he had finally accomplished his purpose on the cross, but little did he know that in doing so he was simply fulfilling the purpose of God. So it says in verse 5 that she bore a male child who was to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up to God and his throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days, and war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan. That eliminates any question about who this dragon is, doesn't it? It's pretty clear. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Those are the demons. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come. For the accuser of the brethren, who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them, woe to the inhabitants of the earth and to the sea, for the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time. You see, Satan's purpose was to cut off the Messiah before he could ever arrive on the scene. Once Christ arrived, Satan's purpose was to destroy him or to sidetrack his mission to prevent him from accomplishing what he came to accomplish. Having failed in that, his purpose now has become to steal and to kill and to destroy everything that he can that belongs to God because he knows his fate and he wants to take as many people with him as he can. It is a vindictive and aggressive vendetta that he is carrying out against the children of God. Why? Because he can't touch God, but he hates him, and so he touches those who bear the image of God. He can't hurt him, so he tries to hurt him by hurting us. You know, there are there are those um tropes that we see in literature and in movies, and and and one of the ones that I think of is have you ever seen the movie, the this scene in a movie, and I'm sure you probably have, where the main character has this person that they really detest, that they really can't stand, or maybe it's the villain, and the person about whom they're feeling this way is the main character, but but there's this person that they can't stand, but that they are essentially powerless to do anything against. And so we see this scene where maybe they're in their room or their office, and there's a picture of that person on the wall, and what are they doing? They're throwing darts at that person, right? They can't get at the person, so what are they trying to do? They're trying to deface that person's image. Well, Satan can't get at God, but we bear the image of God. And so he wants nothing more than to deface us, to tear us down, to destroy us. And so what does he do? He throws fiery darts at us to try and destroy the image of God that we bear in our lives. And it is motivated by hate and by rage and by wrath, because he knows that his time is short. So understanding who he is, understanding where he came from, let's talk for a moment about his methods. Turn to Genesis chapter 1. Now I want to begin by saying that if you can believe the first sentence of the Bible, then there is no other part of the Bible that you should ever have a problem believing. Let me repeat that. If you can believe the first sentence of the Bible, then there is no other part of the Bible that you should ever have a problem believing. Here's the first sentence. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Amen? If you can believe that God created the heavens and the earth, then it should not be difficult for you to believe anything else that is written there. He created it, he set the rules in place, he knows what the rules are, and he can use those rules in whatever manner he sees fit. Amen. Now, if you begin in chapter one of Genesis, and you do not read the words, but you look only at the punctuation. Here is what you'll find. The first sentence ends with a period. Then we have a comma in verse two and a semicolon there as well. And then there's a period in verse two, and then another period, and then we keep going in verse three, and there are some quotation marks and a semicolon and a period. Now, if you continue on along this vein, you will not find a single question mark until you come to chapter three, verse one. In chapter three of Genesis, verse one, we find this. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which God the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? The first question mark in the Bible. Satan's methods invariably involve calling into question the word of God. He wants to make you, the believer, doubt what God has said. He wants you to question God's goodness. He wants you to question God's integrity. He wants you to question God's faithfulness, and he wants you to question the sufficiency of the cross. He wants to introduce doubt into your mind. That is his method. The serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said that you shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the servant, to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it lest you die. And then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. You see, he begins by questioning God's word, and he proceeds thereafter to contradict God's word. And then he goes on to disparage God's character when he said, For God knows that in the day that you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. You see, he plants the idea in her mind that there is something good that God is withholding from her. How dare he do that? So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, this, friends, is the first incident of what we refer to as the lust of the eyes. She saw that it was good for food. And don't we run into trouble when we see something that is not ours and desire it for ourselves to the extent that we would be willing to take it from someone else? So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise. We have in this verse the lust of the flesh, oh, that's good for food. The lust of the eyes, it's pleasing to the eye, and the pride of life, oh, it's desirable to make one wise. And we have the first occurrence of disobedience to the Lord. She took of its fruit and ate. And she also gave it to her husband with her, and he ate. Do you realize that? He wanted nothing more than to destroy them, but he could not touch them. Why? Because they were in covenant with God. And because he could not touch them, the only thing he could do was deceive them. And the only way that he was able to introduce death was by causing them to invite it in themselves. I have to confess I like vampire movies. Anyone like vampires? I don't like vampire movies where vampires sparkle in the sunlight. I like vampire movies where in the sunlight they burst into a cloud of dust because that's the way it's supposed to be, according to vampire lore. Well, another piece of vampire lore I think that is very interesting is this a vampire cannot enter your house unless you do what? Invite him in. That's the only way. The only way a vampire can cross the threshold of one of the character's doors is if that character says to him, Yeah, you can come in. You have to give him permission. And if you don't give him permission, he can't come in. Well, I think they got that from the Bible because if you don't give Satan permission, he can't come in. As a believer in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells within you. And the Holy Spirit that dwells within you is greater than Satan. And he cannot force his way into your life. The problem is, so many of us, even as believers, go about the business of making him comfortable in our lives. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 4. In Ephesians chapter 4, which we have recently studied, we will begin in verse, well, let me see, I don't want to start in that verse. We'll start in verse 17. In verse 17, Paul writes, This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their minds, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness, working all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus. That you put off concerning your former conduct the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, putting away lying, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Would Paul warn us not to do something unless it were possible for us to do it? No, he wouldn't. If it wasn't possible for us to do it, then there would be no need to warn us not to do it. So Paul is warning believers not to give place to the devil. That means that we, as believers in Jesus Christ, have the ability through our conduct, through the way in which we live our lives, to open up a space in our lives where the devil himself and his minions can secure for themselves a foothold, which then becomes a stronghold in our lives, from which they can launch the volleys of flaming arrows that they long to attack us with. What are some things that we do that give place to the devil? You know, the devil and demons, I've heard them compared to rats and roaches. Have you ever heard that? Anyone here like roaches? You know, if you are walking through your house and you see a roach scuttle across that floor and you stomp on that bad boy, first of all, make sure you hear the crunch. If you don't hear the crunch, you didn't get him. Do not congratulate yourselves too heartily that you have killed that roach, because listen, that was just the scout. If you found one, there are a whole lot more that you have yet to find. Because they do not fly solo, do they? They like large family gatherings. And they're just waiting for you to turn out the lights so they can get the party started. But you see, rats and roaches, they like a particular environment, don't they? They like an environment in which there is a good deal of waste to feed upon. They like an environment that is dirty and filthy and is conducive to their gatherings. So you want to get rid of rats and roaches, you gotta keep the place clean, right? You gotta clean it up. Well, listen, demons and the devil, they're they're just like that. They like an environment that is filthy. They like a life that is cluttered with things that are displeasing to God. Someone once said, and I think it might have been Tony Evans, it was somebody I was listening to this week, might have been Adrian Rogers, he said, a text without context is a pretext. And I thought that was good. So if we're gonna understand how it is we give place to the devil, we need to look again at the verses before and following so that we can understand the type of things that open up an opportunity for our enemy to make himself comfortable. So let's go back to verse 14. This I say therefore and testify in the Lord, verse 17, excuse me, this I say there and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened and being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. So the first thing we want to recognize is this Satan likes an environment in which the person in question aligns themselves with the philosophies and the thinking of this world. If you are a believer who instead of believing what the Bible has to say, believes what society has to say and gives our society precedence over the Bible, then you are creating an opening for the enemy. You are giving the devil a stick to beat you with. And friends, that's stupid. Because he will. If you give him an opportunity, if you give him an opening, if you give him a place to stand, he will beat you about the head and shoulders to the point that you no longer know which way is up. What's another thing that we do? Well, he said here very specifically that they offer themselves over to lewdness. In other words, we work all kinds of uncleanness with greediness. But you have not learned Christ in this manner, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught by him the truth that is in Jesus. First of all, we are to put off concerning our former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts. So if we allow ourselves to be given over to lust in our lives, whether that be through sexual immorality, whether that be through fornication, whether that be through pornography or illicit thoughts, we are opening up an opportunity for Satan to enter in and to build his nest in our hair. We're giving him a place. We're giving him a platform from which he can attack us when we allow deceitful lusts to continue in our lives. Instead, we are to be renewed in the spirit of our minds and we're to put off the old man and put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, he says, put away lying. Let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. The devil himself is a liar. When he lies, Jesus said he is speaking his native language. He's been a liar from the beginning. The first words out of his mouth were an implied lie. Did you know you can lie even when you're telling the truth? Did you know that? I want you to imagine a scenario in which you're driving down the road and you know that your headlight is out. And all of a sudden you see the flashing lights behind you, and you pull over, and the police officer walks up to you and he says, Sir, did you know your headlight was out? And you say, My headlight is out. Well, you said the truth, my headlight is out, but your tone said that you didn't know, right? You lied even when you were telling the truth. You see, lying is not simply about the words that come out of our mouth. Lying is about our intention to deceive. And sometimes you can exercise an intention to deceive without saying a single word. Well, when we lie, we create an atmosphere that is conducive to the reproduction of cockroaches in our lives. When we lie, we are creating an atmosphere that the devil loves, and we're giving him a place from which to operate. Verse 26 says, Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Now, this one is associated directly with the text in question. When we allow anger to abide in our lives, now don't get me wrong, there's a time for righteous indignation. There is a time for righteous anger. Jesus was angry. God gets angry, but he is always angry for a righteous cause, not a self-righteous cause, mind you, but for a righteous cause. But when we allow our anger to abide in our hearts, we are creating a furnace that warms the heart of the devil. He loves to be around an angry person. So be angry, but sin not, nor let the sun go down on your wrath, because in doing so we give place to the devil. Verse 28 says, Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working good with his hands, what is good, that he may have something to give to him who is in need. When we steal, when we take that which does not belong to us, we are providing an opportunity for the enemy. I was listening to someone talk about this very subject, and he made the comment if you take so much as a pencil from your job, even a 39 cent pencil, he says, you know what? You didn't have the right to take that. You stole that. And as I was writing the notes, I realized I had brought that pen from work. We are all guilty to one degree or another of impropriety in our lives, aren't we? We need to examine ourselves and say, Am I giving opportunities for the enemy to make his residence in my borders or within the framework of my life and to be diligent to root him out by eliminating the places where he will be comfortable? You see, roaches, what happens when you flip the light on? Except the really bold ones, right? Most of them run for it, don't they? Well, in order to get rid of the roaches, we need to turn the light of Christ on in our lives. We need to abide in his presence, to walk not in darkness, but in the light of God. That doesn't mean that we're without sin. It means that when we recognize that we're guilty of sin, we confess that sin to God, and he is faithful and just to forgive us for our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Verse 29. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification that it may impart grace to the hearers. That's not just talking about cussing. If you want to know what he means by corrupt words, look at the opposite of what he means through what it is he's telling you to do instead. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but instead what is good for necessary edification. Edification is building up. So what he's saying here is this do not utter words that tear people down, but instead speak words that build people up. Because when you allow words to come out of your mouth that tear other people down, you are giving place to the devil. You say, well, wait a second, that seems kind of harsh. Well, listen, what did we just read in Revelation? What did John say that Satan was after Satan had been cast down from heaven? It called him the accuser of the brethren. He's the accuser of the brethren. Well, when we speak evil of other believers, what are we doing? We are accusing the brethren. And who does that make us like? It makes us like the devil. So watch your words. Tame that tongue. Do not allow corrupt speech to proceed out of your mouth, but rather what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. Listen, when we gossip about other people, even in the guise of, well, I'm just telling you this so you can pray for them. No, you're not. No. I talked to a person once who said, Listen, I don't like to gossip. But people just tell me things. I don't know why they tell me things. And I'm sitting here thinking, I know exactly why they tell you things. Because when they come and tell you things, instead of saying, hey, don't tell me that, I don't want to hear that, you say, Oh, really? Wow. Oh, that's terrible. You see, we have the ability to encourage one another in our corrupt speech by how we respond when people say things like that to us. Listen, if somebody comes to you and they are talking negatively about another brother or sister in Christ, you know what your reaction ought to be? It ought to be something like this. Oh, really? Let's go talk to them about that right now. Because if we can't go talk to them about it, then why are we talking about it together? If there's a problem and it needs to be addressed, let's go address the problem. Let's not ask one another, hey, did you hear about so-and-so? I wonder, are they, did you know about that? Listen, that's wrong. That's what Satan does. And we ought not to do that. And I've also heard of people who said, well, I don't go to that church anymore, and I don't go to any church anymore, because all those people do there is they bad talk other people and they tear them down. Well, wait a second, what are you doing right now? Right? If you have a problem with somebody else in the church because they've been talking bad about you, then get over yourself and go talk to that person. Deal with the issues at hand, bring things out into the light. So if correction needs to take place, correction can take place, and so that forgiveness and reconciliation can occur. Amen. Now let's be honest for a second. Raise your hand if you've been guilty of this. Right? The tongue is like a little flame that can light a great fire. So rather than feeling condemned over the fact that we've been guilty of this, let's instead be aware of it, bring it to the Lord, and allow him to change us. Wouldn't that be a great result? Verse 30. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Listen, friends, when we give place to the devil, we are grieving the Holy Spirit of God. Why? Because our heart is Christ's home. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. How many of you remember Manasseh? Manasseh, one of the kings of Judah. Manasseh had a righteous dad, a guy named Hezekiah. Hezekiah served the Lord with all of his heart. He was a good king. One day the prophet came in and told him, Hezekiah, that that sickness that you've got right now, the Lord told me to tell you, you're not gonna recover from that. You're gonna die. Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and began to weep. And he began to pray. And he began to recite to the Lord all of the things that he had done in his life to serve the Lord. And the Lord said to the prophet as he was heading out of the palace, Turn around, Hezekiah is praying. Go back and tell him I'm gonna give him 15 more years. And so Hezekiah got fifteen more years. But during those fifteen years, he had a son named Manasseh. And Manasseh was very likely the most wicked king that had ever ruled in Judah. He wasn't like his dad Hezekiah. He was into witchcraft and he was into sorcery. He was into idolatry even to the extent that he made his sons pass through the fire to Molech. What does that mean? He engaged in human sacrifice and the sacrifice of his own children as they were burned alive in the flames as an offering to the god Molech. He worshipped all the stars of heaven. He was into astrology and all of that. And what he did is he eventually brought idols, demonic idols, into the temple of God. How do you think the Lord felt about that? Well, judging by the fact that the Lord sent the Assyrians to destroy him and to lead him away naked and in chains with hooks in his mouth, it's a pretty good bet that the Lord was displeased. It grieves the Holy Spirit when we give the devil a place in the house that belongs to him. The devil is not a good roommate. And the Holy Spirit doesn't care to share the premises with him. When we behave in the manner that Paul has described here in Ephesians chapter 4 and give place to the devil, it grieves the Holy Spirit. It hurts him, it makes him sad because that is not what he has called us to. I want you to think about this. I want you to see how it grieves the Holy Spirit by painting an illustration for you that may be closer to home for some people than you'd like to admit. There's a young woman that you care about. Maybe she's your daughter. Maybe she's your niece. Maybe she's just a good friend. And she's in a relationship with a guy who abuses her, a guy who verbally tears her down, a guy who manipulates her emotionally, a guy who controls her, and a guy who physically beats and abuses her. And you're pretty sure that if unchecked, he's eventually gonna kill her. But one day she wises up. One day she recognizes that this isn't the life that she was meant to live. One day she finally understands that there is deliverance available through her, that all she's gotta do is pick up the phone and dial 911, and someone's gonna come and take that guy away. When that happens and he's removed from her life, aren't you thrilled? Aren't you excited? Aren't you thinking, finally she's been set free from this jerk? But then a few weeks pass. He gets out of jail and she lets him back in. When she lets him back in, are you grieved? Well, that's how the Holy Spirit feels when we as believers give place to the devil. He has done nothing but steal from you and manipulate you and abuse you, and his desire is to kill you, and yet we let him back in. Why would we do that when God has set us at liberty? When God has made us free. Don't be that person. Don't let him back in. Don't give him a place from which to launch his fiery darts and to deceive you and to steal from you and to destroy your testimony. Don't give him that opportunity, but be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Now, Paul doesn't just tell us to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and then go on and not give us any indication of how we're to do that, but my time has run out today. So if you want to know about the wiles of the devil, that word wiles is where we get the word methods from. If you want to learn more about the methods that the enemy uses to get his foothold in your life, if you want to learn more about those fiery darts that he's throwing at you, if you want to learn more about putting on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the wiles of the devil, then you're gonna have to come back or at least listen online. Because we've got a lot more to talk about and there's a lot more ground to cover. But I don't want to walk away this morning and allow you to feel defeated or afraid because of what the enemy is attempting to do. I want you to remember the most important facts. We know how the game ends. And we know what the winning team is. And we have been invited by God through the Holy Spirit to be a part of his team. He is the captain of our souls. And if we will humble ourselves before him and submit ourselves to him, then we can resist the devil and he will flee from us. So we have the promise of victory. We just need to learn how to walk in the reality of it. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you that you have not left us as orphans, that you have not abandoned us to the deceitful methods of the enemy, but that you have promised to equip us for the battle. Lord, I pray that every believer here would examine their hearts and look to see if they have given place to the devil or an opportunity to him to have a place from which to launch his attacks in their life. And I pray, Father, that you would bring repentance to our hearts. Lord, that we would repent of our sins, that we would resist the devil, and that we would be renewed by your Spirit. Give us, Lord, the strength that can only come from you and equip us for the battle that lies ahead. We ask these things in Jesus' precious and most holy name. Amen.

Thank you for listening to Heed the Word. Please join us next week as we continue our study through Ephesians chapter 6. God bless you.