Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers… I. THE FOES. Spiritual enemies. Our danger arises from - 1. The advantage they find in this world. It is in many respects their own. 2. Our natural inclinations. 3. Their number - Legion. 4. Their mightiness. 5. Their invisibility. 6. Their artfulness. 7. Their malignity. II. THE ARMOUR. 1. The articles in which it consists. None provided for the back. He who flees is wholly defenceless, and sure to perish. 2. Its nature - Divine. (1) Appointed by God. (2) Provided by God. 3. The appropriation of it. You must apply it to the various purposes for which it has been provided. There are some who are ignorant of it; these cannot "take it to themselves," and they are "perishing for lack of knowledge." There are others who know it, but despise it; they never make use of it; their religion is all speculation; they "know these things," but "they do them not"; they believe - and "the devils believe and tremble." 4. The entireness of the application - "The whole armour." Every part is necessary. A Christian may be considered with regard to his principles, with regard to his practice, with regard to his experience, with regard to his comfort, and with regard to his profession; and oh! how important is it in each of these that neither of them is to be left in him exposed and undefended. He is to "stand complete in all the will" of his heavenly Father; he is to be "perfect and entire, lacking nothing." Nothing less: than this must be our aim. III. THE SUCCESS. Three inquiries are here to be answered. The first regards the posture; what does the apostle mean by "standing"? It is a military term; and "standing" is opposed to falling. A man is said to "fall" when he is slain in battle; and he does so literally. It is opposed to fleeing. We often read of fleeing before the enemy in the Scriptures: this cannot be "standing." It is opposed to yielding or keeping back; and so the apostle says, "Neither give place to the devil." Every inch you yield he gains, and every inch he gains you lose; every inch he gains favours his gaining another inch, and every inch you lose favours your losing another inch. The second regards the period; what does the apostle mean when he says, "Stand in the evil day"? All the time of the Christian's warfare may be so called in a sense, and a very true sense; but the apostle refers also to some days which are peculiarly evil days." Days of suffering are such. The days in which the poor martyrs lived were "evil days"; they could not confess and follow Christ without exposing their substance and their liberty and their lives; but they "stood in the evil day," and "rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His Dame." There are "evil days" morally considered - perilous periods, in which "iniquity abounds and the love of many waxes cold," in which many may "turn aside from the faith and give themselves to vain janglings." The third regards the preeminence of the advantage gained; "stand in the evil day, and, having done all, stand." Some of God's servants have been foiled after various successes, and have become affecting examples to show us that we are never out of the reach of danger as long as we are in the body and in the world. The battle of Eylau, between the French and the Russians, was a dreadful conflict; more than fifty thousand perished. Both parties claimed the victory. What, then, is the historian to do? To do? Why, he will inquire, Who kept the field? And these were the French, while the Russians all withdrew. Oh, my brethren! it is the keeping of the field to the last - to see all the adversaries withdrawn - that is to make us "more than conquerors through Him that loved us." It is this that gives decision to the battle. Some have overcome, and then, alas! they have been overcome. What is it to gain success and yield it at last? The Romans often were checked: they often met with a defeat; but then they succeeded upon the whole, "and having done all, they stood." Of Gad it is said, "A troop shall overcome him, but he shall overcome at the last." And this will be the case with every real Christian. What comes from God will be sure to lead back to God. (W. Jay.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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