Stand Fast in the Fight

If you have a copy of God’s Word, please turn to Ephesians 6. Ephesians, the sixth chapter. It is an unusual time of the year, sort of after Christmas and then before the new year. You’re sort of not sure. It’s the no man’s land of the calendar, it feels. You’re not quite sure where you are. And yet it’s a time for reflection, a time for pondering the year that has passed and setting ourselves up, we trust, for the year ahead.

I’ve turned your attention for today to Ephesians 6. I’m going to look both morning and evening at this chapter with you. We’ll look at verses 10 through 13 this morning and then 14 through 18 this evening, God willing. And really I’m preaching to myself, but in preaching to myself I trust preaching to you as well.

Because as we reflect upon these verses, it is in the recognition that many of us will reflect upon the year. And in reflecting upon the year, we may despair. We may despair because of a lack of spiritual progress. We may despair because of certain trials that we have faced, and we may find ourselves greatly weakened by our reflection, being so discouraged and weighed down by things not being as we may have hoped, and it will create just a little crack, as it were, for the thin edge of Satan’s wedge to get in and to wreak havoc. And so, what we’re going to reflect upon, I trust, will enable us to understand what you have been up against, as well as equipping you for future days.

So, Ephesians 6, we will read from verse 10. 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 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. Wherefore, take on to you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, 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, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”

Amen, we’ll end the reading at the close of verse 18. And what you have heard, beloved, is the word of the eternal God, which you are to receive, believe, and obey. And the people of God said, amen.

Let’s pray. Lord, help us. We pray for grace to understand, and to imbibe, and to find rest for us. Because thy word is given for our help. And thou hast no desire that thy people be weak in any respect. We do therefore ask that there would be enablement this morning to rightly understand and receive the Word of God. And please, by the Spirit of God, be intermixed. By the Spirit of God, apply the truth. By the Spirit of God, let it go further and deeper—be more transformative than anything man could endeavor to accomplish. So please, shut us in now. Let us know that sense of being closed in with God and God giving us His Word and sitting at the feet of Jesus to hear from Him. Help now, we pray, in our Savior’s name. Amen.

I believe it to be a common fault among many believers to underestimate the full extent of the spiritual battle that we are all in. Of course, on one side we can overstate it. We can so imagine everything to be a spiritual battle that we are obsessed, our mind is distracted by this sense of spiritual warfare. That certainly can be the case. But it shouldn’t be that in order to avert such an obsession, we should then ignore the fact that there is a real spiritual battle going on.

The apostle, as he brings his epistle to the close, he is driving home really something that I think we could say is in his heart crucial for the Ephesians to understand. They’re in this large city. It is filled with all sorts of philosophy. There are certain spiritual powers at work. Many of them have been delivered by forms of idolatry. They have known that spiritual warfare within their own soul. They have gained a victory through the gospel, and yet it still swirls around them in their environment. And it’s real to them. And what they need to understand is that all that they need for the Christian life they have in Christ.

He has carried them along theologically in this epistle. He has emphasized their position being seated in Christ. He has driven home the obligation of the believer to walk in Christ, if we could summarize it that way. And as he closes the epistle, he closes with this driving emphasis, you must stand in Christ. Yes, you’re seated in Him. Yes, you’re to walk in a way that honors Him, but you must stand. This is not going to come easily. The fact that you are seated in Christ, that you’re positionally in Him is glorious, but it doesn’t negate the warfare. The fact that you’re called to walk in a way that is worthy of the Lord’s name is not something that is going to be carried out without opposition. You’re going to find yourself needing afresh to be equipped for this battle, to stand for the Lord by His grace.

The apostle has already encouraged them to understand certain truths I think are important for us to reflect upon. If you go back to chapter 1, for example, chapter 1 verse 18, he is praying for them that the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened. There are certain things that they need to fully grasp. They may know some of these things. There’s certain truths that they grasp, but there’s more enlightenment necessary that you may know what is the hope of His calling and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe.

This power is according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. There is power. Power that you don’t fully understand. Power that you need to grasp more fully. It’s that power that’s going to help you. That power that is going to enable you in this spiritual battle that you are in. Yes, you’re seated, Ephesians 2 verse 6. You’re raised up together and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. But none of this removes the current spiritual conflict. None of this nullifies the present experience. And though the victory of Christ is decisive, the battle rages on. These Ephesians knew it. As I’ve said, they live in a large city surrounded by all sorts of idolatry and sin. All that the world could show in its ugliness, they could see. And at times, many of them had been no doubt fascinated with the occult and forms of spiritual wickedness. In Acts 19, you see the remarkable deliverance that this city enjoys, and many of them see the gospel and its power unleashed in their very city. And yet, there is still a need to exhort these believers amidst the battle they are in.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord. The answer to the power that you’re up against, the demonic influences you’re surrounded with and by, is your union in Christ. Your strength is derived through your union with Christ. Verse 10 really is a summary of the exhortation. Your strength is only a strength found in the Lord. And if you try to find strength in yourself, if you try to go to another resource, you’re going to fail.

As we come to the end of the year, you have faced a conflict throughout this year. And as you review it, maybe like myself, you are reminded of your own vulnerability. The year is not replete with victory after victory every single day of the year. There are those markers, perhaps more of them than we would like to admit, where we have, in some fashion, failed, succumbed, been overwhelmed, and can admit a sense of defeat—we have given way to sin and temptation. We have expressed anger where we shouldn’t, have felt feelings that are not becoming of the Christian. We have been unloving. We have been unkind. We have had thoughts that we would be absolutely horrified if anyone was aware of what at times goes through our minds. Spiritual despair—thoughts that really reflect the kind of atheism, denying God in some way, questioning His wisdom, doubting His love, arguing against His providence.

Reviewing the year can be humbling. Hopes unfulfilled, prayers seemingly unanswered, progress nullified by, in our estimation, one step forward being greeted with two steps back.

So I want us to reflect upon what we’re up against. That as you review the year, you do so recognizing that there are forces intent on destroying you. There are real forces against you. And we need to be aware of them. Because in our battle and turmoil and our feeling of failure and discouragement and unbelief, we can forget that there is a real enemy. And we’re not just these isolated entities in which everything that is wrong with us is solely because there’s a problem in us. Yes, there are weaknesses in us. We have a propensity to sin still. But there is a foe that knows how to leverage our weakness.

So this morning, we’ll consider, stand fast in the fight. This evening, we will suit up for the fight. That is how we are looking at the verses we read today.

So, stand fast in the fight. Note with me, first of all, the strength that enables your stand. Verse 10, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Let us underline this. This strength that enables your stand is, first of all, the Lord’s strength. It is the Lord’s strength. The imperative language is intended to remove any illusion of self-reliance. The language of verse 10 is backing up and driving home the argument of our Lord Jesus when He told His disciples in John 15, without me ye can do nothing. Not without me ye can do a little. I think as we assess our lives, we come to that conclusion, we actually believe we can do a little. As we assess the world around us, it seems to tell us that man can accomplish at least something. But how are we assessing those accomplishments? Perhaps not like the Lord assesses them. Because yes, there are things that can be done, there are boxes that can be ticked, there are things that can be built, and so on and so forth. But Jesus says, without me, nothing. You can’t do a thing. And so Paul, drawing from that, building on the same theme and idea, says, be strong in the Lord. That’s the source of your strength. Don’t imagine you have any strength outside of Him. You have none. Your strength is the Lord’s strength.

We are, being as proud as we tend to be, slow to learn that the Lord does not shame weakness. He does not point his finger at weakness and laugh at it. He doesn’t look at you in all of your recognition of frailty and mock it. That’s how the world has conditioned us. Don’t show any weakness. Don’t show that there are any chinks in the armor. But God, God’s different. God would have us to understand our weakness. He would have us grasp that the Christian life magnifies not independence but dependence, dependence upon God. The Christian life magnifies a dependence upon God.

Being as capable as he was, told in 2 Corinthians 12, my grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made perfect in weakness. That clause, my strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul, you see your weakness. This is an opportunity. This is my opportunity to show what I can do. You think it’s on you. You think that success hinges upon you. You think that the progress of the church hinges on you. You think that some aspects and details of it are about you. And I, in this moment, in this moment, Paul, as you are desperate for me to take away the weakness, I want you to learn that here is where my strength will come in.

Of course, he goes on then to say, most gladly, therefore, we glory in our infirmities. Maybe this has been the greatest problem for you this past year, self-reliance. You can do it. You’ve managed to do it. You’ve gotten to the end of the year, and in some fashion, you did it by your own effort. Too much self-reliance. And so, as you reflect upon the year and you see the pitfalls and the shortcomings and the areas that you would rather forget, maybe really what the reason you let into those and those whole, those things came about is because there was a general temperament or attitude or frame and posture of the soul that believed you can do it.

Now, you’re, most of you, if not all of you, are literate enough with regard to Scripture to never say that, I can do this myself. But I hope you’re also sufficiently self-aware to recognize that you can live believing that while never saying it. And this might be our biggest problem. If we detect the general, let’s summarize the general weakness of the congregation in this building today. What might summarize it over the past year? It may be that self-reliance is uppermost.

God aids those who come to Him in weakness. He giveth power to the faint, Isaiah 40. He giveth power. The fainting believer who feels themselves to be without any resources, God says, I see, I see it. And as you ask for strength, here it is. We sang of it. God is our refuge and strength. And not in a way in which he is reluctant, in a way in which he wants us to see that, to feel that, to recognize it, to live our lives oriented by it. So that our declaration is every day, God is my strength.

So, today the question is not, do you feel strong? It is, are you really leaning upon the Lord? If I’m to ask you, do you feel strong? I know you’re going to say no. That’s the right answer. But are you leaning on the Lord?

“The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe.” Proverbs 18. And so maybe this is the error. Maybe this is the big problem with us over the past year. We see the pitfalls and the sins and shortcomings. Why? Why has this happened? Why has this occurred? Why is this going on?

Maybe, maybe it comes down to this, we have not begun our days as consistently as we should with an explicit dependence upon God. I can’t do it today, Lord. I can’t do it. I need your Holy Spirit, I need his help now. Right now, today, not tomorrow, I need it now. Not later, this moment, I need it. I need your aid. And there have been days where that has not been how we have begun. And by that fact, we are confessing.

We began our days with an element of thinking, I can do this. This strength is the Lord’s strength, but also this strength is enjoyed through union with Christ. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Exudes that sense of union, doesn’t it? Union. It’s not being strong near the Lord, but in the Lord. We are joined to Him. This is how we are seen. This is how we are viewed. This is positionally how we stand with the Lord. And the supply then you need comes from Him. The strength you need comes from Him.

There has to be not only this objective reality of union with Christ, but a living subjectively in the reality of it, whereby we are drawing our strength from that fact. We’re living moment by moment in the reality of our union with Christ, drawing from Him all the supply that we need. The Holy Spirit has given force as there is a joining together with Him. The strength of God flows through.

If you can see it like this, the doctrine of the believer’s union with Christ is the fountainhead for all the benefits that the believer enjoys. It is because you’re in union with Christ that you have all the other benefits, whatever you care to name. Being joined to Christ means you can be nothing but justified. Being joined to Christ means you cannot but be ongoing, sanctified in the experience of the Spirit working in your life. Being joined to Christ means glorification is not a matter of it might occur, but it is guaranteed.

And the Christian then has to live in this, being strong in the Lord. It is the power of His might. It is what He has accomplished. It is His victory. It’s what He has done. All power is given unto Him. We go in His strength, we live by His power, not by our own. And so we’re to think upon this, remembering this. Remember what the Apostle Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2 verse 1, “‘Though therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.’”

Be strong by the grace supplied through Christ. That’s the sense of the argument. Not just by gritting your teeth and digging your heels in and remembering everything I taught you. Be strong through the supply of grace that comes from Christ. Timothy, that’s how you’ll do. That’s how you will live. That’s how you will stand. That’s how you will continue.

Now in verse 12, which we’ll get to in just a moment. We are told that 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. These forces are the forces that the apostle has told us Christ is over. Again, if you go back to Ephesians 1, you will see this. I think it’s verse 21 where he says that Christ being seated at God’s right hand in the heavenly places is far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come. And hath put all things under his feet.”

So the position of Christ is above everything. So those listed powers described for us in Ephesians 6 verse 12, Christ is above all those things. Therefore, to have any hope in their force against you, to have any hope as you live against these powers—surrounded by these powers—if you’re to have any hope, you have to be drawing from resources beyond yourself. The one who’s above them, the one who has power over them.

Now, you might say, well, why doesn’t he conquer them absolutely and definitively? Well, that will happen. That will happen one day. It’s coming. But we are in this already-not-yet moment in which Christ is victor and yet He has not fully exercised or brought to completion or culmination or consummation all that will yet transpire. But in order then to live in this moment, we are drawing from the strength and power that He possesses. The struggle is real, but the hope of victory also is real.

We considered recently the Lord Jesus in His death and resurrection and His ascension, He has led captivity captive, Ephesians 4, and given gifts unto men. So He is occupying a throne, He has dealt with His enemies, and He’s bestowing gifts upon His church. And here in Ephesians 6 verse 10 is just another way of reflecting on that fact. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. This is your hope. Christ has conquered the enemy. The church may share in the spoils of His victory, but it is not by living on your own. It is by living through His power. So this is the strength that enables your stand. Verse 10, be strong in the Lord. Maybe that’s all you need to hear to be reminded.

As I reflect upon the past year, there has been my problem. I have not continually I brought myself to recognize my position in Christ and live out my day through the resources He promises to His people, asking for those same resources and depending upon His grace. I have at times wandered off on my own, thinking that I can do it myself. We’re like the disciples, we’re so confident at times. You just see them there, you know, boasting, though all forsake thee, I’ll never do it. It’s a self-reliance. It’s an it in us. We just imagine that we can get by until we don’t.

Secondly, the strategies that oppose your stand. The strategies that oppose your stand, verse 11. Put on the whole armor of God,” we’ll look at that more this evening, will be our focus, but you see how he’s introducing the armor, that its purpose is that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood,” and so on.

So these strategies that oppose your stand, first of all, are subtle wiles. They are subtle wiles. The efforts, the plans, the machinery of the devil that are subtle. Satan’s not haphazard, right? He’s calculated. He knows exactly what he is doing. His first assault upon humanity is with a simple question, yea, hath God said? And if he blasts out of the gate with some great expression of force against God, he’s probably going to fail. But he comes subtly. He knows exactly how to undermine. And so this is generally how he functions, with a certain subtlety.

He knows, he knows how to feed doubt. Now, Adam and Eve did not have the inherent problem of doubt within their frame, but we do. So he has way more leverage with you and me than he did with them, and he succeeded with them, so chances are he’s going to at times succeed against you as well. And so he feeds the doubt. He does. He feeds the doubt. As a serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, says 2 Corinthians 11. Paul draws from that, so your mind should be corrupted. The same thing can happen to you. He was subtle, he beguiled, and he’s still doing it to this day.

Paul is warned that this comes through various philosophy and false teaching and so on. Ephesians 4, 14, he talks about being carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness. So it can come through forms, through men, very often does. But whatever it is, however it comes, it is Satan behind it. And he seeks to get an advantage, 2 Corinthians 2.11, lest Satan should get an advantage of us. We are not ignorant of his devices. We cannot afford to be blind to his working, his wily efforts—to destroy the souls of men.

So what have you faced this year? How has he come against you? How has Satan sought to destroy your soul? I mean, has he used events in your life to make you question the kindness of God? The love of God, has he? Have you found your mind, as you assess of certain providence, that you raise questions, questions that effectively place doubt upon the Lord. The why questions, you know what they are. You can ask why. The problem is when you start coming to conclusions that are not true. Why the sickness? Why the weakness? Why the lost job? Why the difficulty at work? Why the challenges in the family? Why the unbelief of a loved one? Why the death of a family member? And so Satan comes in, he comes in right there. So often it is in relation to how we assess what’s going on in our life.

So what truth are you doubting? What promise are you forgetting? This is how Satan comes in. Are there commands that He has managed to get you to soften or redefine? Are there sins that you’re excusing or renaming? See, He knows. He knows how to come in, and so He sees that young person, raised in a Christian environment, taught certain things, and then off to go to college, and confronted with different values. And Satan knows that, he knows it. He is going to use those opposing values, not for good, but for ill.

And the noisiest among the group will be those who are often diminishing that which honors the Lord, not elevating. Even in a Christian union context where students are getting together who profess to have a love for the Lord, who is going to have the loudest voice? Usually it will not be the one who’s trying to drive toward holiness and Christ-likeness. It will be the one who’s saying, oh, there’s nothing wrong with this. There’s nothing wrong with that. And maybe, maybe there is nothing wrong with that. But it can be a gateway, a first stepping stone.

Of course, the young person doesn’t come back to the parents, you know, to ask, you know, why were we raised this way? Why do we look at it that way? They just start trying to figure it all out in their own mind, saying, my parents didn’t know anything, and they’re a little strict or whatever. And they don’t even give the parents the opportunity to give a response. There may be a reason. They may never have explained it. Or you don’t forget, because I’ll tell you, as a preacher, you’re going to have people say, I’ve never heard that before. And I know they’ve sat in meetings where they’ve heard that before. They just never registered. And so it is with children.

Now they’re in this new peer group. The values are being assaulted. As I say, Satan’s in it. It’s a perfect opportunity, perfect opportunity when the young person is now open to the world and trying to establish themselves and they have a certain pliability to their mind and to their values. There is, there’s a pliableness in that 18 to 25 age group. There’s a vulnerability there.

Oh, and it can be harnessed for so much good. It can. You see a young person get on fire for God in that age group and establish them a platform for the rest of their lives. That’s what they understood at the school, you know, Bob Jones. Get these young people on fire for God now before they leave this school. It will set a framework, a foundation for the rest of their lives. But Satan also knows if we can destroy it right here, right now, it will also establish another foundation.

We are not ignorant of his devices. So has he been at work in your life? Not every temptation has a demon behind it. We don’t need it. We can be drawn away, as James says, of our own lust and enticed. But every temptation will be consistent with the devil’s strategy to destroy, to undermine, We’re told by Peter in 1 Peter 5, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. You think he doesn’t roam around the halls of resident students in Christian colleges, you think he doesn’t infiltrate, you think he doesn’t undermine, you think he says, I’m not allowed to go there and wreak havoc. Think again. In many instances, he will pour all of his forces there because the ungodly schools, already he has them. They’re done and dusted, wrapped up with a nice little satanic bow on them. They already belong to him. It’s where there is a warfare. It’s where there are praying parents and praying teachers, begging God, please Lord have mercy on this young person. That’s where he works. That’s where he has opposition. And he knows it.

So we’re told by Peter, this roaring lion going about trying to wreak havoc. Whom? Resist steadfast in the faith. Yes, standing in Christ. Standing in a gospel foundation. Resist him.

These strategies are subtle wiles. They’re also spiritual war. This is spiritual war. You see that in verse 12. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. It’s not a carnal war, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. We wrestle.

Anyone here ever wrestle? It’s close combat, isn’t it? Close quarters combat. And it’s utterly exhausting. I think sometimes if you’ve never done it before, you watch people wrestle and you think, well, you know, they’re not really moving a whole lot, are they? There’s a lot of sort of stalemate type postures that go on, but it is exhausting. Exhausting.

And Satan locks in with those who name the name of Christ and he endeavors to weaken them. That’s it. See whose loins will give way. He knows, he knows, he knows what he’s about. Seeking to destabilize, prevent spiritual advancement.

So this enemy is not flesh and blood, right? It’s not the same as what we might imagine. It’s not a carnal battle. So the conflict’s not necessarily against people, though people may be used. You’re not really against them, right? You’re against Satan, against demonic powers that harness people and so on.

We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual weakness. There’s rhetorical device being used, isn’t there, with repetition. He’s driving something. You’re against. These forces are against you. They’re pushing back. They’re real. Not seen with the visible eye, but they’re real.

So we need to understand this. And the only provision we have is the armor, right, which we’ll look at, God willing, this evening, this armor. But it’s a real, it’s a real spiritual battle. There are mysteries to this. There’s certainly things we don’t fully understand, right? These powers, they’re subservient to Christ, but they’re still very much at large in our world.

Remember Daniel? Daniel put his mind to prayer in Daniel 10. We may go over there, actually, just to remind you of that. Daniel, third year of Cyrus, king of Persia. This vision then unfolds. Daniel is seeking God. For three weeks he seeks God, verse 2. He tells us the way in which he sought God out. No pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. He gave up everything. He just gave up all that he could for three weeks of seeking God. I can’t read all of this. You read it yourself. Verse 10 we’re told, and Han touches him, comes up onto his knees, he’s told then, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright. For unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days, but lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia.” And so on and so forth.

But there’s some kind of spiritual warfare going on there. Whatever you make of what’s going on, there’s a spiritual warfare. Daniel’s in prayer, God hears the prayer, commissions an angel to go in response to tell him something, and in the intervening period there’s some kind of warfare unfolding. So as you live, as you live your life, you’re in the midst of this. As you reflect over this past year, you have been in the midst of this. Assaults have been waged against your soul. Attacks have been persistent to discourage. You’re living in a battle.

So the weapons of our warfare, we’re told, are not carnal. They can’t be. They won’t function. They’re no good, 2 Corinthians 10.

Finally, the steadfastness that preserves your stand. The steadfastness that preserves your stand. Go back to Ephesians 6, look at verse 13. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. So again, we’ll look at the armor tonight, but in taking this upon us, we may be able, we may be equipped, to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.” So this steadfastness is necessary for the evil day.

The evil day. What’s the evil day? I think it’s designed to drive home the point that there are occasions of peculiar efforts and assaults against the soul. Do you deal with trials and tribulation every single day of your life? Yes, you do. Are there certain things you must deal with every single day that discourage and you have to do battle with? Yes. But it seems like Paul is pressing home the fact that there will be times in your life of intense attack upon your soul to derail and destroy you. Don’t forget it. There will be an evil day. A day of opposition, a day of opposing you. This is, again, it speaks in Revelation 3 of the hour of trial. There are times when the church or the believer faces a real time of intense satanic pressure, and we are to be ready for it. Ready for it.

How are you readying yourself for this, the evil day? Do you know when it’s going to come? Do you know? No, you don’t. You know that it will come, but you don’t know when. Now, if you were the enemy, and you were endeavoring to maximize the devastation, then you’re going to time the assault perfectly. When are they weakest? At what point are they not reading the Word? At what point are they not praying? At what point are they busiest? Yes, when you’re going about your employment and you have these seasons of intense busyness, right, they’re busier than other times of the year. If I’m the enemy, without even assessing anything else, I think that may be an opportune time because they’re distracted. They may not be in the normal rhythms of reading the word and prayer and so on and so forth. So even without assessing the particulars, I think the busy season, that time of the year, that’s when I’m going to plan out a full-on assault.

The end of a project, coming close to an end of a project, there’s a deadline. And then you’re behind and you’re working 18 hours a day trying to get it. There’s a perfect time to wreak havoc. Do you see where I’m getting, where I’m coming from? I mean, there are obvious ways in which we can assess this. And you look back over the year, you might be able to narrow down how you got to where you arrived in those weak and difficult times of discouragement. Look back. Oh, Elijah, look back. You haven’t eaten. You’re weak and frail, Elijah. Sit down. Rest. Here’s some food. You want to die, but why have you come to that conclusion? Why are you feeling that way? There are things that have led up to it, and this is the perfect time to assault a man of God. Don’t be ignorant of his devices. As you review the year, you see what was going on at that time. And you use that then to look forward, to prepare yourself, to ready yourself as you look into a new year, and you realize that that busyness is going to come again, those projects there are going to need finished, and I know how, I know by now how this ends, and learning to equip yourself, learning to fall on your knees before it happens, to beg for strength and help, learning to create space for receiving strength from God, learning to continue in the confession of your sin, learning to continue to separate the Lord’s day as that little market day for my soul that I might hear from God and receive the strength I need. These things, these things are crucial.

Preparing for the evil day, the Lord Jesus had it in his temptation in the wilderness. Oh, how he was prepared for the evil day, wasn’t he? He was prepared for it. It is written. That was his hope, his strength, the fire scripture back of the enemy. Now you know, most of you know enough scripture, but you know what we’re very good at? We’re very good at living, even in the midst of temptation and assault, and we can’t get the sword out of the scabbard. I get assaulted instead of taking the word and throwing it back at the enemy. I said, this is true. Go away, foul fiend, out of my life.

It prepares for the evil day, it preserves as well, so that you can, having done all to stand. I like that, having done all to stand. You know why I like that? Because just stand. That’s it, just stand, just keep standing. It’s not up over the mountaintops and imagery of great, valiant, victorious feats of warfare as you run over the enemy and so on. It’s just, just stand. Just keep standing. Just keep standing. That’s what the Lord’s looking for. Keep standing. Not some theatrical heroism. Just keep standing. He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. It’s a mark of the elect. They are still standing at the last. Be thou faithful unto death, Revelation 2.10. They’re still standing at the last.

And this is powered by our union with Christ. This is how we do this. Standing. Standing in Him. This is it. Just keep standing. Watch ye. Stand fast in the faith. 1 Corinthians 16. Keep standing.

So here you are at the end of the year, and you look back, you review, you reflect, and you say, wow, it has not been a great year. And here you are, at the very least, before you leave this place, I am encouraging you, the Lord is saying to you, Christian, stand fast. Stand fast. You’ve been assaulted no end. Devastated in ways you might never have imagined. You have been brought low, lower than you’ve ever been in your life. Stand fast. Do not give up. Do not give in. Do not relinquish. Do not surrender. Do not in any way abandon your post. You’re a Christian. Stand fast. Stay there no matter what. Grip your sword, hold your ground. Do not give up. Do all to stand.

Yes. Isn’t it good that he stands with us? That’s what Paul said. He felt like everyone had forsaken him, no one was with him. Yet the Lord stood with me. The Lord stood with me. Yes, your nearest and dearest, your loved ones, they may not be there in some of the battles you face. But like Paul, you’ll be able to say, the Lord stood with me. Do all to stand, Christian.

Let’s bow together in prayer. Oh, it’s good to return to the cross, isn’t it? And remember that healing stream, that there is a fountain opened in the house of David for sin and for uncleanness. There is a place of recovery, a place of acceptance, a place where we are loved. Return there. Let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him. And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Lord, help us, help us, help us to abide in Thee, to abide in the vine. We pray for grace. Above all, we ask for the perception, the daily perception that our greatest need is for divine help. May we live full of the Holy Ghost. Grant it, O Lord. Hear our confessions. See our repentance. Acknowledge our frailties and give of thyself to each Christian here today. Hear us, O God.

Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and ever. Amen.