We are about to see the book of Ephesians come to an end. In verse 10 Paul says,

Finally, be strong (2PPPM) in the Lord and in the strength of His might

The word "Finally" means that he is drawing everything to a close. In other words, everything that has been said he is now summing up as he closes the book of Ephesians. I want you to know that a lot has been said. The Apostle Paul is writing from prison. Remember he has been in prison for almost five years. He is a political hostage. The Jews want to get rid of him, and the Romans don’t know what to do with him. There is not a single charge that will hold up in any court. He was falsely accused way back in Jerusalem. Here he is several years later writing the book of Ephesians. Yet in Ephesians 3:1 and Eph 4:1 he 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. He 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. He wants them to realize what they have in Christ and how to appropriate what they have in Jesus Christ.

Look back with me Eph 3:16. There is no way to go to Ephesians 6:10 without first of all finding the context and the flow of everything that has been said. That word "Finally" is wrapping it all up. What is the "all" that we are talking about. What has been said in Ephesians? Well, his prayer in 3:16 tells us everything:

"that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man."

The word "power"  (dunamis) (note) 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 (click for messages) talks about the RICHES of His glory. Verse 3 sums it all up: We have been given

"every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ"

Then Ephesians 2 (click for messages) shows us the REASONS of our salvation. We

"were dead in your trespasses and sins".

We couldn’t 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 (click for messages). 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.

Now Ephesians 3:17 (click message) tells 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.

"Do you mean all I’ve got to do is submit my life to Jesus and be willing to obey Him in every area of my life? I’ve got a problem today. What do I do?"

Well, you go to the Word of God and say,

"God, what do You want me to do?"

Do what God tells you to do. The words faith and obedience are synonymous. By my faith I accommodate His presence. That means I am going to be strengthened in the inner man by the Spirit of God.

(Ed note on "FAITH": "When John Paton was translating the Bible for a South Seas island tribe, he discovered that they had no word for trust or faith. One day a native who had been running hard came into the missionary’s house, flopped himself in a large chair and said, “It’s good to rest my whole weight on this chair.” “That’s it,” said Paton. “I’ll translate faith as ‘resting one’s whole weight on God.’” MacArthur, J: Ephesians. Chicago: Moody Press)

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, 2, 3, 4, 5ff (click for messages) 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. There are seven doctrines we would not depart from, Eph 4:4 (note), Ep 4:5, 6. We would be seen in the way that we are being built up into the body of Christ. 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. Eph 4:22 (click for message) says to take off the old. In Eph 4:24 (note) it says to put on the new. A garment is something people see. 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. "You mean to tell me that when I say ‘yes’ to Jesus, He takes over and begins to manifest who He is in my life?" That is exactly right. This garment, in Eph 4:25 (note), does not lie nor deceive. It always tells the truth and is affected by the truth. Eph 4:26 says it does not become angry at people but only at sin. In Eph 4:28 (note) it does not take nor deplete, but gives and replenishes. Eph 4:29 (note) tells us it does not destroy relationships but builds them up. In Eph 4:30 (note) it does not grieve the Holy Spirit of God. Eph 4:31 (note), it is not bitter, it is not angry, it is not explosive with temper. It is not obnoxiously loud when provoked. It is not motivated by malice. Eph 4:32 (note) says, however, it is kind, tender-hearted and forgiving.

Eph 5:1 (note), Ep 5:2 (note) say that this new garment, this new way of living, imitates God Himself. It walks in love. The word "imitators" there is the word "mime." (Greek = Mimetes)  How many times have we said it?

It doesn’t matter what you say...
it is how you live.

It does not in any way participate in immorality, according to Eph 5:3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (See notes Ephesians 5:3;  5:4;  5:5;  5:6;  5:7;  5:8;  5:9;  5:10). It is light that radically effects the darkness.

In Eph 5:15 (note), it causes us to walk wisely in a dark, perverse generation. How do you walk wisely? Well, Eph 5:16 it says to redeem the time, make wise decisions and understand that what you choose, you live by. In Eph 5:17 (note) 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. In Eph 5:18 (note) 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. That is in Eph 6:5, 6, 7, 8, 9 (see notes Ephesians 6:5; 6:6; 6:7; 6:8; 6:9)

Now you say,

"I’ve been following you. You have gone through the whole book. You left out a verse and I saw it. I am strengthened in the inner man and I put on the new garment. There is something that happens and you didn’t say it. I guarantee you that you forgot it."

"What did I forget?"

Eph 4:27 (note)  You said earlier that when you put on the garment, the garment does "not give  the devil an opportunity."

Did you forget that?"

No, I didn’t forget that. I left it out on purpose in order to bring it up last.

Folks, 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 him. That is my weapon in the warfare I am forced into when I become a Christian. 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 his 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. As a matter of fact, the devil has so 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 don’t 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, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience." (see notes Ephesians 2:1;  2:2)

The devil has power in the lower heavens. He has access to the third heaven (Click note on "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 (cf Rev 12:13-note) 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, "of the spirit that is now working  in the sons of disobedience."

"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 (cf Is 64:6)? 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 (note) says...

"Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were  by nature children of wrath, even as the rest."

But thanks be unto God. If you will look over in Colossians 1:13 (note), something happened when you got saved. Did that change the world? No, it didn’t change the world but it changed me in the midst of the world. That is what we have to see. Now I am in the world, but I am not of the world. We’ve got to realize this. In verse 13 of Colossians 1 it says,

"For He [Jesus] delivered [rescued] (see note) us from the domain (right and might) of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son" (note)

Do you understand what we just read?

"Wayne, 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 reig