We are going to jump back up to the first verse in which Paul says , Finally. This means that Paul is drawing to a close with the letter to the Ephesians. Paul was writing this letter from prison. He had been in prison for five years and he was a political hostage. The Jews wanted to get rid of him and the Romans had no idea what to do with him. There was not a single charge against him that held up in court and the Romans kept him in jail to prevent further unrest. Yet, Paul says twice in Ephesians:
For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—
Ephesians 3:1
(bold for emphasis)
Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received,
Ephesians 4:1
(Bold for emphasis)
Paul calls himself not a prisoner of the Jews, not a prisoner of the Romans, but a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is writing to Ephesian believers and wants them to understand what they have in Jesus Christ. Here is a man who has not lost the wonder of his salvation. He is trying to get it across to these Ephesian believers and wants them to realize what they have in Christ and how to appropriate what they have in Jesus Christ.
I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit,
Ephesians 3:16
(Bold for emphasis)
We can not go to Ephesians 6:10 without first finding the context and the flow of everything that has been said. What was Paul wrapping up when he said finally? His prayer in Ephesians 3:16 says it all.
The word “power” (dunamis) means ability, ability to do what you could not do before Jesus came into your life. The Holy Spirit now is in our lives. He lives in the inner man in order to strengthen us, to cause us to be able to do what we could not do without Him. The degree of the strengthening, he says, is
“according to the riches of His glory”.
Ephesians 1, 2 and 3 sum that up.
Ephesians 1 talks about the RICHES of His glory. Verse 3 sums it all up:
Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ.
Ephesians 1:3
Then Ephesians 2 shows us the REASONS of our salvation.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins
Ephesians 2:!
We could not save ourselves. It was God who came to save us, to pay a debt on the cross that He did not owe.
In Ephesians 3 there is the REVELATION of our salvation.
Now according to all that we have in Jesus Christ, He has made us saints; He has chosen us; He has sealed us. All the things that He has done, according to all of that, we are to be strengthened in the inner man with power by the Spirit of God.
and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love,
Ephesians 3:17
Paul now explains to us how we are strengthened. It says we are to let Jesus dwell in our hearts by our faith. The word “dwell” does not mean to come in. It means He is already in and should be made to feel at home while He is there.
Our hearts are like a house. There are different rooms—a room of our thoughts, a room of our attitudes, a room of our emotions and so on. In each of the areas where our problems fall as we come to God, as we come to His Word, we do what He tells us to do. As we are willing to obey Him, He strengthens us with the ability to do what He has assigned in our life.
Now this thread, being strengthened in the inner man by the Spirit of God, runs all the way through the book of Ephesians. As a matter of fact, in Ephesians 4:1-5 the first thing you notice is how it changes the body life of the church. Just think of the potential if each and every person would be abandoned to Christ saying,
“Lord, I want to do whatever you tell me to do. I just want to be filled with Your Spirit, controlled by Your Spirit.”
Do you realize the impact we could have on our world? We would be seen differently in the way we behave. We would have humility and gentleness and patience and forbearance. We would be seen handling our differences, loving one another and seeing each other all the way through. We would be seen and identified by the way we believe. You wouldn’t have a doctrine here and a doctrine there and a doctrine over there.
You see a body is to bring visibility to an entity. A church would not be known for its programs, for its preacher, for anything else. It would be known for the Lord Jesus living in the people who make up that church. We would be built up. We would obtain the stature of the fulness of the measure of Christ. It is the design of God that we begin to be fulfilled when each and every person is strengthened in the inner man by the Spirit of God.
It is like putting on a brand new garment.
to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires,
and to put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.
Ephesians 4:22, 24
What is happening on the inside must be seen on the outside. Now this garment is a special garment. It is a way of life. It is Jesus being Jesus in me. Let’s read from God’s Word what this garment is:
Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another. 26 Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and don’t give the devil an opportunity. 28 Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need. 29 No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear. 30 And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. 32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.
Ephesians 4:25-32
Does not lie or deceive. It always tells the truth and is affected by truth — vs25
Does not become angry at people but only at sin – vs26
Does not take nor deplete, but gives and replenishes – v28
Tells us it does not destroy relationships but builds them up – v29
Does not grieve the Holy Spirit of God – vs 30
Is not bitter, it is not angry, it is not explosive with temper. Is not obnoxiously loud when provoked. It is not motivated by malice – vs 31
It is kind, tender-hearted and forgiving. – vs 32
And finally:
Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, 2 and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.
Ephesians 5:1-2
A new way of living, imitates God Himself. It walks in love.
What are we looking at here?
It doesn’t matter what you say… it is how you live.
Putting on the new man – a new garment- does not in any way participate in immorality.
3 But sexual immorality and any impurity or greed should not even be heard of among you, as is proper for saints. 4 Obscene and foolish talking or crude joking are not suitable, but rather giving thanks. 5 For know and recognize this: Every sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, who is an idolater, does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
6 Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things. 7 Therefore, do not become their partners. 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light— 9 for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth— 10 testing what is pleasing to the Lord.
Ephesians 5:3-10
Our garment is light that radically effects the darkness.
Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise—
Ephesians 5:15
It causes us to walk wisely in a dark, perverse generation. How do you walk wisely?
making the most of the time, because the days are evil.
Ephesians 5:16
Paul says, redeem the time, make wise decisions and understand that what you choose, you live by.
So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
Ephesians 5:17
We must understand what the will of the Lord is. Generically, that means to be submitted and strengthened in the inner man. Specifically that wisdom comes as I am willing to submit to it.
And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit:
Ephesians 5:18
When we are putting on Christ, the new creation that is in us, we are being filled with the Spirit of God. Now that is in the present tense. In other words, the word “filled” means constantly being controlled by the Holy Spirit of God. It causes us to fulfill God’s design in the area that we live, in our homes.
In Ephesians 5:22-6:4 wives are told to submit to their husbands, husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church, children are to obey their parents and fathers are not to provoke their children to anger. It even effects the work place (Ephesians 6:5-9).
If you have managed to follow along, we have covered almost the entire book of Ephesians and there was a verse I left out. Did you see it?
and don’t give the devil an opportunity.
Ephesians 4:27
Friends, I want you to see something and I want you to hear it loud and clear.
OUR GREATEST WEAPON
The greatest weapon we have in the spiritual war that we are cast into the moment we are saved is not what we say to the devil. It is how we live the Christ-life before him.
My obedience,
my surrender,
my submission
is my greatest weapon in defeating the one who is the prince of darkness that lives around me.
We have seen this strengthening in the inner man, this brand new garment, all of this. Now Paul says:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might”
The whole book has been leading up to this.
We live in a world that is hostile. I do not need to worry about what I have to say to the devil. But when I bow and I say “yes” to Jesus and commit to doing what His Word has to say, at that very moment, I become a fortress against evil. That is my weapon in the warfare I am forced into when I received Christ as my Savior. My weapon is my submission to the Lord Jesus Christ.
I want you to see something back in chapter 2. We used to be in the devil’s world. We lived in his world. If I could give you a picture this morning of the world totally being enveloped in darkness, that is kind of the way the world is right now. The devil has infected the minds of lost people. They think in such a perverse way. We saw that back in chapter 4. They have depraved minds, depraved morality. They do not have a clue about God. We must understand the hostile world that we live in and came out of. Ephesians 2:1-2 says:
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient.
Ephesians 2:1-2
The devil has power in the lower heavens. He has access to the third heaven to accuse the brethren, but his power is in the lower heavens. He walks to and fro on the earth as we find in the book of Job. We do know that there is going to come a day when he is finally and ultimately kicked out of the lower heavens and cannot leave this earth. There he incarnates the Anti-Christ and for three and a half years persecutes the woman, who is Israel. That will be in the latter days of this age. We know right now the prince of the power of the air is Satan himself.
Ephesians 2:2 continues, the spirit now working in the disobedient.
This raises some questions:
Do you mean to tell me that I used to think that way?
You mean to tell me that I used to think I was moral when I was probably immoral and didn’t know the difference?
Do you mean to tell me that I used to do good and think it was righteous but didn’t realize that it was unrighteousness and filthy rags in God’s eyes ?
Do you mean to tell me that I used to live that way?”
That is right. That is exactly right. Before Christ came into my life, I was under the domain, the right and the might of the ruler of this world, the prince of the power of the air, Satan himself.
Ephesians 2:3 says…
We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.
Ephesians 2:3
But thanks be unto God.
He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.
Colossians 1:13
Something happened when you received Christ. Did that change the world? No, it didn’t change the world but it changed you in the midst of the world. That is what we have to see. Now I and you are in the world, but are not of the world. We’ve got to realize this. Let us read Colossians 1:13 again!
Do you understand what we just read?
Do you mean I live in a world that is hostile and surrounded by darkness?
Do you mean I live in a world that is filled with deceit and lies and does not know the truth, yet I have been delivered from that?
Do you mean I have been put into another kingdom?
Do you mean that there is somebody else now that rules and reigns over me, I am His property, He purchased me?
Do you mean that He bought me with a price by shedding His blood on the cross?
Do you mean the devil does not have power over me anymore?”
Yes! When will we wake up and understand that? We are saints. Saints means that we are in a class all by ourselves, set apart.
Do you mean among human beings in this world, controlled by the darkness of the world, infested by his lies and deceit, we are in a class all by ourselves because we have been taken out of his domain and made light?
Do you mean God has actually saved our minds?
Do you mean God has given us the ability to think the right way?
Do you mean God has turned us right side up when we were upside down?”
That is exactly right!
Friends, if you do not know this, warfare is going to be a struggle to you. You need to know who you are, whose you are, what has happened to you, and what Jesus Christ has done in your life.
18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not sin, but the one who is born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.
1 John 5:18-19
Do you know what “touch him” means? It means to touch him or do him harm. We are God’s property.
Do you mean to tell me whatever the devil does in my life, He has to give him permission because he can’t touch me to do me harm. Is that right?”
That is what it says.
Look at 1 John 5:19 again.
We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.
1 John 5:19
It is like the whole world is asleep and doesn’t have a clue that it is in the arms of the evil one. You see, every day, as a believer, you need to remember who you are, what God has done in your life, whose you are and be strengthened with might with the Holy Spirit of God. Then you are able to live in a world that is infested and infected by the devil. We are able to live in it but never be a part of it because we have the truth that we believe that radically transforms our life.
We must daily understand the flow of Ephesians:
Be filled with the Spirit,
be strengthened in the inner man by the Spirit of God.
That is our classic weapon against the evil one.
I want you to see in verse 10 what Paul does. We have to focus, not on the darkness, but on the light and the power that we already have. When you flip on a light switch and one of your lights goes out you think, “Uh oh, I am losing power.” No, you are not losing power. It is probably just a bad connection. The power is usually always there. If you understood the power source, you could better understand why being connected to it is so important.
When you begin to realize the source, then you begin to want to be connected to the force that comes from it.
The Apostle Paul says, I want you to see Jesus. I want you to see His power. I want you to see who He is. Come on, let’s go deep. He takes us deep into the recesses of Ephesians 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Then when he is about to discuss warfare he says, Now I want you to understand the source so that you can understand the force that He has in your life.
In Ephesians 6:10 I want you to see, first of all, the command.
He uses three words. There are four words for power, authority or strength in the Greek language. Three of them are used in verse 10. It sums up everything we have already studied.
Before Paul says, “Now put on the armor of Christ” he wants you to know what you have in Christ Jesus. What are the four words? Well, the one that is not used is exousia. That is the right and the might, the authority. But there are three words that are used.
1. BE STRONG: ENDUNAMOO
First of all, he says, “be strong.” The word that is used there is endunamoo. It is the word that means to be strengthened with ability. Dunamis would fit into that class. It is the word which means to be given ability. Greek verbs ending in double “o” (“–oo“) mean not just to be strengthened but let it be proven to be strong.
For example in James 2:21-23
21 Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete, 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend.
James 2:21-23
Abraham was said to be righteous (“justified”) by his act of obedience. The word James uses for justified (dikaioo) ends in double “–oo” and does not mean that Abraham was made righteous by works. What it means is that by Abraham’s act of obedience he was proven or shown to be righteous. His righteousness was put on display by his obedience.
What Paul is saying here is, Yes, be made strong, but be seen to be strong. Let others look at you and see you as strong. Put it on display, be proven to be strong, be proven to have ability.
The idea is not a one-time being strong. It is an increasing type of thing.
But Saul grew stronger and kept confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
Acts 9:22
In other words Paul became stronger and stronger spiritually in the ability to prove that Jesus was the Christ. Paul was a converted Jew who had previously persecuted Christians, but now he has been given strength to prove that Jesus was the Christ.
Philippians 4:13 says,
“I can do all things through Him who strengthens (endunamoo) me”
It is not a one-time strengthening. That automatically kills some people’s idea of warfare. They think all they have to do is jump into it and it is a one-time thing. No, it is an increasing, it is an ever growing type of strength.
In 1Timothy 1:12 Paul is thankful that Christ has strengthened Timothy so that he would effectively minister the gospel.
“I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened (endunamoo) me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service”
In 2Timothy 2:1-2 he says,
“You therefore, my son, be strong (endunamoo) in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
In other words, the only way to have this kind of strength, this ability, is through the Lord Jesus Christ.
In 2Timothy 4:16-17 Paul writes that…
At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. 17 But the Lord stood with me, and strengthened (endunamoo) me, in order that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered out of the lion’s mouth.
Paul was strengthened when no one stood with him. He said everybody left me but God strengthened me.
What we are seeing here is that if you are going to be made strong, it is going to be seen and the greatest way for it to be seen is when you stand face to face with the devil and you are able to continue to stand after he has finished whatever he is bringing in your life.
So the first word (endunamoo) means to be made able, but in such a way that it is demonstrated, proven out, shown forth and put on display.
2. STRENGTH: KRATOS
The second word he uses, though, is just as powerful. He says,
“in the strength of His might.”
The word “strength” is the word kratos. Kratos is a little different from the other word. It is the word that refers to the outward manifestation of his power. It is that which determines His dominion.
Now look at what Paul is saying here. “Be made strong in the strength of the Lord.” In other words, you had better find out what He has done to find out if he is able to handle it. So you go back through Scripture and take a look at it.
In Luke 1:50-55 Mary goes over to see Elizabeth. Elizabeth is pregnant with John the Baptist. Mary is pregnant with baby Jesus and she goes to Zacharias’ house. When she walks in the baby inside of Elizabeth leaps. The passage says that she is filled with the Spirit and she blesses Mary. Mary comes out and blesses God. Why? Because of His power to place a baby inside her womb, the eternal Son of God, with her having had no relationship with any man on this earth! What a God!
Secondly, in Acts 19:20 it talks about the word of God prevailing and becoming strong. It was increasing and prevailing. The word used there in the strengthening (“growing mightily”) of it is this word right here.
“So the word of the Lord was growing mightily (Kratos) and prevailing (ischuo)”
The Word of God says, preach the Word and God will take this Word and cause it to increase and cause it to prevail. You do not become like the world to reach the world. God uses His Word to increase and to prevail. This God is the one we are looking at.
In Colossians 1:11 Paul prays that the saints at Colossae might be
“strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might (Kratos), for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously”
The idea here is in the ability of two things, one to bear up under whatever circumstance comes my way (hupomone). The other is to put up with whoever is in my way, whatever person I have to put up with (makrothumia). You mean to tell me that God is powerful? Yes. He is the God who caused the virgin birth, the God who causes the Word to prevail, the God who gives me the ability to bear up under and to put up with whoever I have got to put up with.
In 1 Timothy 6:13-16 Paul writes to Timothy…
I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, 14 that you keep the commandment without * stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which He will bring about at the proper time –He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion (Kratos)! Amen
That is the one we are talking about right here.
Hebrews 2:14 says God has the dominion, the might, to render the devil powerless!
Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power (Kratos) of death, that is, the devil
God has the might to shut him up and to shut him down. God is the One that we are to be strong in.
In 1 Peter 4:11 God empowers ministry in our lives, Peter writing…
“Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion (kratos) forever and ever. Amen.”
In Jude 1:24-25, He is able to keep you and me from stumbling.
“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion (Kratos) and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”
In Revelation 1:6, He alone made us what we are in Him.
“He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion (Kratos) forever and ever. Amen.”
Look at who you are. Look at whose you are. Look at who He is.
3. MIGHT: ISCHUS
The last word is ischus. It means His preeminence. He does not have to do anything if He doesn’t want to. It is just who He is.
Paul says, You want to talk about warfare? Let’s talk about the victor. Let’s talk about the warrior. Let’s talk about the winner. He lives in you and your greatest weapon is when you are strengthened by Himself in the inner man by the Spirit of God.
Listen to what I am saying and put it in the light of Ephesians. He has built it for six chapters. Now he says “Finally.” If it was so important, why didn’t he put it in chapter 1? Because the important thing is not who our opposition is. The important thing is Who our ally is and that He is in fact the Lord Jesus.
Friend, do you want to defeat the enemy?
Then get filled with the Spirit of God. Get in the Word of God and obey Him.
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