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Dear Friends,I am thoroughly enjoying our current sermon series on The Armor of God. I am finding Ephesians 6:10-20 to be some of the most practical and applicable help for Christian living in today's culture. I hope that is the case for you as well.As I wrestle with sin in my own life and help counsel folks who are dealing with the adverse effects of sin in a fallen world, it is particularly helpful to me to recognize that there is a reality beyond anything we can see and comprehend in the spiritual realm. The fact is, we are daily dealing with forces and powers beyond this world. How else can we explain the evil, the cruelty and the hate that exists in our culture and in our world right now? How else could we explain what Paul meant when he said, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:11–12 ESV)?Thinking about this, talking about this and dealing with this reality can be quite depressing. It can be downright miserable. So where do we turn? What do we do? How do we make sense of all this?We must hold onto the truths of the Gospel! “O you who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!” (Psalm 97:9–12 ESV) As David Platt states in the article linked below "we must proclaim that God is always in control, and that Satan is always controlled. God is sovereign; Satan is subordinate. We reject a kind of Star Wars dualism where good and evil forces are equally warring against one another. God does not deal in dualism. This is domination, and it’s all over Scripture."It is equally stated by Martin Luther in that great conquering hymn, A Mighty Fortress is Our God: "And though this world with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim. We tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for lo his doom is sure. One little word shall fell him!"So brothers and sisters, let us not be deceived and distracted! Let us wake up to the reality that we are in a spiritual battle and that spiritual warfare is THE reality we live in! And so therefore, let us take up the WHOLE armor of God!See you Sunday for worship as we look at this next piece of vital armor!
by His grace and to His praise,Wilson
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