I wonder if we could open our Bibles this afternoon to the book of Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians chapter six. This morning we were reminded of a race that we run, what the end of that race is, a pride, the high calling of God, a Christ likeness being conformed to the image of God's Son. Surely if we were to ask ourselves as Christians what our desire was, we would say, well, we desire that. We want to be Christ-like, but sometimes there's things in a way that seem to hinder and things that seem to make it difficult in running the race. I remember as a young man, when I used to go to camp every summer, and it wasn't a Christian camp. It was a camp where we would go to, it was sort of a thing for underprivileged kids and you'd work three hours in the morning and then in the afternoon you'd have a time where you had competition and things like that and teams and I recall one time we had a cross-country run where each runner would run about a mile and you carried a baton and then you handed it to the fella next to you and he took off for the mile. Now you can recall I was about to force one in a series, and boy, by the time my team member got to me, we were in last place. And I had made up my mind, I was going to put us in first place. But I'm sure you can guess what happens to a runner who starts out running awful fast. He doesn't go very far. And pretty soon my lungs were burning, and it didn't look like I was going to finish the race at all. But the truck that came along picking up the fellas had a little Indian boy on that truck who was on my team. And he had already run his mile and when he saw the trouble I was in and the difficult time I was having breathing, he jumped off the truck and he got beside me and he said, Ray, don't touch my arm. And he stuck his arm out in front of me. And so I backed off so I wouldn't touch his arm. He got me breathing again so I could breathe regular. and then he picked up the pace and I could pick it up with him. I was able to finish the race because there was one called Alongside to Health. And because he taught me to listen to the one that was alongside, and so I followed his instructions and finished the race. I sometimes think that as we start out the run, we have in our own hearts a purpose to finish so successfully and so strongly. that we forget the one that our strength and our power is to be in, and we did it like I did as a boy, thinking I was going to do it. But I found out I didn't have the strength. And so as our brother Holloman reminded us of that race this morning and the life that we live in that race, I was thankful for that. Seems to fit together. with what we're going to look at this afternoon, that as we run that race, there is a fight, and that we are called to be warriors. We do not expect an easy course. Oh, I know how I better take that back. Some people do expect an easy course. We think that once we get saved, everything's going to be hunky-dory in the way. It's all going to be a nice, smooth path to run. But it's not. It's uphill and down Dale. It's over rough road and over smooth road. It's through rivers, sometimes very deep trials. But if we have the recognition that there is one that we're to be strong in, who is there, then we're going to fight the good fight of faith. We have an enemy. who is there to resist us. The enemy is very real. Now my brethren, now my family, our brother reminded us this morning of the family. Many times in our own homes, resistances can come to running that race and fighting that good fight of faith. That's why we need the word of God in it. And I was glad for what our brethren brought this morning. But now let's take a look at what God says here, and then we'll take a look at the enemy. And then at the Lord and what's accomplished through him. Verse ten of Ephesians six. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wilds of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness in this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand in the evil day, having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins gird 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, which 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. watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. And for me, that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I an ambassador in bonds that in this I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. First of all, when we entered into that new life, When we received the life of Christ, we did enter into a warfare. The warfare is spiritual. It is not physical. It is not against flesh and blood. It is not against an enemy that we can see. It is against an enemy that we cannot see. And because that enemy is superhuman, then we need superhuman power. We need superhuman strength. And we need that from the Lord. We're not going to get it from ourselves. We're not going to get it from some vain imagination. And even though we may have heard this numerous times in our lives, it seems to me that as the battle goes on and the day draws near to us being ushered home, and I believe I hear the footfall at the door, the near that day comes, the stronger the war gets. The stronger Satan brings forth his methods or his wiles, and the more alert we must be to them. And so when we go to battle, it is against spiritual powers. Principalities are really princedoms. They're high-rank authorities. Powers or potentates vested with authority. Rulers of darkness in this world. Now we have rulers in this world, but there's a ruler of darkness behind the rulers. And many times men that you see in preeminent places are men that are motivated by a spiritual power of darkness behind them. Let me put it to you this way. You remember the book of Daniel chapter ten. You remember Daniel's prayer, how Daniel had been praying, that God would deliver his people. The seven years, seventy years of the judgment are passed. It's time for Israel to be returned from their bondage. And he begins to pray. Now, later on the angel said, Oh, I heard you from when you first began to pray. But the prince of Persia hindered me these twenty-one days. until Israel's prince came and gave him that help. Now, certainly the physical prince of Persia could not have hindered an angel, but an angelic force behind the prince of Persia could have hindered an angel. And so while we looked at government and authority and kingdoms here, So many times there's rulers behind them that are motivated by a satanic power. I give it to you again in the book of Ezekiel chapter twenty eight. There we have a description of Lucifer who is the anointed cherub. Yet that portion of scripture initially was addressed to the king of Tyre. And so again we view a potentate. an anointed cherub with a power there behind the king of Tyre. Let's take it to a New Testament context. And we look at the book of Revelation in chapter two, and we think of the message to Pergamoth. And in that message he spoke of the place where Satan's feet was. Imagine that. That that principality and power, that high potentate. Satan himself had a throne. He had a place of rule on the earth there at Pergamum. I wonder where that place of rule is today. But as we view it, first of all, that's who our war is against. And because it is against that spiritual power, then we need spiritual armor. We need spiritual weapons. Now, when I went overseas during the Second World War, I can recall the first time going over all the things that they equipped me with. I was in the Air Force. I was a mechanic, and that's what I went over there for. But you know, they sent, they gave us a fly-in suit, all insulated with nice sheep wool and everything else. They gave us woolen ODs, long-handled underwear, everything for a cold country. But where did they ship us? To New Guinea. Now, first time I got over there, I carried that stuff with me for quite a while. But after a while, I began to get heavy baggage, and I got rid of it. Wasn't of any value. There's a couple of things I would not get rid of. A forty-five strapped to my hip. I kept it with me most of the time. A tin helmet. and a gas mask. Those are some things I didn't shake away too easy. I made sure I knew where they were. Now after two and a half years, let me come home on temporary duty. I really didn't think they'd get me back. But General McArthur had signed my orders, and Commander at a Sixth Corps area said, I'm sorry. The only one that could counter man knows would be the President. You're going back. And so after two and a half years in the jungle, they shipped me back to the jungle, and what do you think they gave us? Long-handled underwear, woolen ODs, flying suit, the whole bit. So when we get on board ship and we're down in the hole, and the fellas are down there batting the breeze of where they're going. And I hear this one soldier saying, we're going to Alaska. And I said, you're what? He said, we're going to Alaska, and I broke out laughing. He said, all right, Sergeant, what's so funny? Where are you going? I said, I'm going to New Guinea. I said, what makes you think you're going to Alaska? He said, all this woolen stuff they've given us. I said, well, here's what lets me know I'm going to New Guinea, and I showed him our orders. He was one sad boy. But when we got to New Guinea, this time I didn't carry the surplus. I got rid of it at the first base. I dumped it all. I knew that in the jungle, in that type of warfare, you didn't need all these things. Now, there's a captain of our salvation, and there's a captain of this army who has equipped us. He did not equip us with a useless bunch of junk. He equipped us with a wardrobe. And he equipped us with a wardrobe with a command to put it on. Now, you know what? You can put on a tin helmet and you can take it off. And one time I did that, up there and when we first went into combat, had a tin helmet with a pith helmet underneath it. And that tin helmet was just too heavy that day, and I decided, oh, well, there's no enemy around, no use for this thing, and I laid it down in a Jeep. But you know, I went out to the airport, getting acquainted, and what do you think? The enemy decided to come overhead. And inside those airplanes, they had some eggs that they liked to lay. Only those were eggs that exploded. And you know they started dropping them over there and passing them overhead. And when I'm in that slit trench, I'm hiding under that piece of pressed paper. I was wishing for my tin helmet. Listen, God has given us a wardrobe that isn't to be put aside. And sad to say, even though I see a lot of gray heads and ball heads from age, in our lifetime as we go along, there are many times we take the equipment, and we lay it down, we feel in some way it got heavy, and we felt that because we weren't near to the captain. We didn't know his will, and because it seemed like an excessive weight, we put it down. Dad, have you done that in your home? When you didn't have that armor and you didn't carry that shield of faith to ward off the fiery dart. And that temper, as our brother reminded of, comes just like that. See, when the oil's all over the driveway or what else? You see, so many times we get a little in the weary in the way and we put it down. God didn't give it to us to do that. He said, put it on. Now, did you ever hear one of the ladies go up to a closet and she opens the door? And she looks in the closet and says, I don't have a thing to wear. And you look and there's something all down the line. Well, what she meant, you know, was for the right occasion, I don't have the right thing. God has given us in this armor, spiritual armor, for the right occasion, it's for battle. And any time we forget there's a battle, we're dreamers. We're looking for our own strength and thinking that we can rely on it, and we are soon headed for a defeat. Satan has methods, and he has wiles that are beyond our imagination for him to come up with. And that is why we need, in the warfare we go to, to take the armor that he's given and put it on. I'm not going to go into the armor right now. I just wanted you to see a little foundation. I want to go back to this verse. Be strong. And I see three movements in the verse. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Our strength as believers is going to be in the power of His might. But first of all, his desire is for the believer to be strong. Now, I remember when Moses preached his last sermon, he said, Joshua, you're going to be the captain to take the children of Israel in. I led them out, you're going to take them in. So when he addresses them, he said, Be strong and be of a good courage. Immediately he took him. To that place of strength and courage. But you know, with it, he said something. And the Lord, he it is that goeth before thee. He will be with thee. He will not fail thee. So with the admonition that he gave to Joshua, he turned it right back to the Lord. He said, Joshua, be strong. But Joshua, the Lord's going with you. Now, child of God, I can see in my lifetime how many times I've got weak. And I understand something of weakness. I know somewhat of failure. I know what I've done when I've leaned on that weak old crutch of the flesh and have seen it fall. And so I know what we need when he says, Be strong and be of a good courage. Be strong in the Lord. You know, when Joshua went, leading that multitude of people, he went with the realization that the Lord is with me. Now, Joshua is commissioned again by the Lord himself. In Joshua chapter one, verse seven, you find there the Lord addressing Joshua. What does he do? Same words. Be strong. Be of a good courage. You see, in our strength, It takes some courage. Instead of saying, who, the trial's too rough. I'm too tired. It's too much for me. I'm going to back off. He says, lean on the Lord. Lean on His staff. Realize His rod, thy rod and thy staff. They comfort me. See, passing under the rod of God is something that should comfort us. And a trial is something that God is going to permit in our life. He's going to permit it that He might test us, that He might refine us in the fire. The devil's got a desire. His is to tempt us. His is to bring out our weaknesses. His is to cause us to sin. But God is to cause us to be strong. Now, God commissioned Joshua. But I was amazed in reading that first chapter and I get to the last verse. The people that Joshua was going to lead had a realization that Joshua needed strength. And they said to Joshua, only be strong and be of a good courage. You know, elder in an assembly, and sheep who are being shepherd by that leader and by that director. Sheep, that ought to be something in your heart. that you could go up to the brethren who have the oversight and the responsibility of your guidance. And you know they're going through trials to put an arm around them, as the people of Israel did, to Joshua and say, be strong and be of a good courage. I wonder how many shepherds of the sheep have had that sense of strength that comes when the sheep come and give that encouragement as well. We need it. Now, I'd like to suggest some things this morning. In a practical sense, this afternoon, I'll catch up. I'm a little behind you. What are some ways that we can be strong? What's he saying? Let's suggest the first one is this. To take a knife to every known sin in your life. We're not going to be strong if we excuse sin. We're not going to be strong. Now, I notice with age comes a recognition of the magnitude and the greatness of sin in the eyes of a holy God. I have to say, there were sins in my young life or things that I perhaps didn't recognize as sin, that I could excuse, that I could never excuse today. And so when we look at things in our life, the Christian, as he goes to his warfare, must declare war against the secret sins. Have you ever been amazed at how some of the sins of a babe may raise its head again and want to vaunt itself in your life? Let's go back and take a look at something. Some of the sins of a newborn babe that he's told to put away. He said, wherefore putting away all malice and all guile and all hypocrisy, all envy, all evil speaking. Wow. What sins those are. And as you go along and you lay down the armor, you're going to raise their ugly head. You're going to find that malice, a sin of a babe. Suddenly raises its head in a young man who swat a good fight. And then suddenly his victory and his pride in the victory overcome. And he falls flat. It's amazing what a sin pride is. It was there in eternity past in the devil as he raises his head as beautiful as a being as he was. Yet pride found a place, and he wanted to be as the Most High God. And when he fell, he wasn't satisfied, and he took the creation that our Creator God made, and he says, Look, Eve, you eat of the fruit of this tree, and you'll be as a God. You'll have a knowledge of good and evil. Oh, you know, I like what Paul wrote to the Romans in Romans, sixteen, nineteen. He said, I would have you be wise concerning that which is good and simple concerning evil. Eve didn't need that. You don't need that. What we need is a study of good, beloved. And that's why I appreciate this conference has gone on these many, many years. It's an opportunity to teach good. It's an opportunity to teach the strength of God and the power of God. What have you, be wise concerning that which is good and simple concerning evil. We need to put the knife to all those sins. Do you have a sin of pride? Do you have a sin of malice? Do you have a sin of envy? You have a sin of spiritual hypocrisy. My how easy that is to raise its ugly head, to be spiritually proud. We need to apply the knife. That all fits in what our brother Henry said. You know, I believe unbelief is the parent for every sin. And all these sins come out of that. And when we let that process of unbelief begin to work in our lives as a Christian, mind what it brings forth. Put a knife to it. Secondly, a Christian is not to walk in the ways of the world. And I've been amazed at how many worldly ways are being dragged into the church. It's like somebody told a friend some years ago. He said somebody was showing them in a city of Tulsa, their gigantic church, and it went down below, and here was a bowling alley and a billard hall and all the rest of it. And he said, you know, we don't have the church in the world. He said, we got the world in the church. And that's exactly what they did. It's an amazing thing that we can take some of the things that seem right and just in a proper place out there, but bring them and bind them into the fellowship of the believers. And I'll put it in a little touch of music. How many years ago has it been that the rock emphasis on music came out? It wasn't too long that the Christian said, oh, we've got to have Christian rock. I don't know what that means. I really don't. But we had to take that and we had to bring that to music and get that beat to it and all the rest. Why did we have to do that? Do we have to do it to conform to this world? Does that make a pleasure to God? Now, I know you're saying, Ray, you're picking on something. And listen, if I really wanted to go on that this afternoon, I'd pick on it the rest of the afternoon. It is leading our young people straight down the road to hell. It is bringing in the occult. It's bringing in... Change it in the past tense. It's brought in the occult. It's brought in the drug. It's brought in the sexual immorality. And it's doing its level best. And when we encourage it, I think we're in a rough spot. I think that we need to weigh... We need to know the things that differ. And so as we look at these things, we need to weigh them according to truth, according to the Word of God. That's part of the armor, and we'll get to that in a minute. We need to weigh them according to the truth of God to see how they fit. If they're beneficial, fine, then we'll use them. But if they're not, we're not going to abuse them by bringing them in to the place where we fellowship in the body of Jesus Christ. and to permit our young people to be ensnared in them. Third thing, a Christian is to keep on his way in spite of all the scandal that's thrown on the way of God by the false professors and the apostates. There are so many people who have had a profession by lip. that they belonged to Christ and then did some work along their lifetime that seemed so great. And then all of a sudden they step aside. And then they look back at the work and say, We really didn't believe all that stuff anyhow. And religion is a terrible thing. You know what that reminds me of? Reminds me of Mr. Bunyan's... What was his name? Mr. Fairweather was that. I might have to apologize to Mr. Bunyan, but I think that was the guy's name. And he said, well, I like religion when it's in silver slippers. And the winds blow it in the right direction, and it's beneficial. He said, when religion gets to be in the testing and the hard weather, I don't like that sort of thing. I like religion in silver slippers. And there are some people who play the game. in silver slippers, and when the going gets rough, they cast the slurs on the path that God had had for the true child. Listen, child of God. Having in your heart that prize, that mark and pressed toward that prize, our brother reminded us of the high calling of God, the Christ-likeness, ought to be Christ-like. Oh, to be Christ-like. Sometimes in my life I see my roughness and my coarseness and my heart cries out, Oh, God, give me a gentle spirit. Make me like your son. We cannot listen to the man who's gone a short way, who started out so strong, but isn't there in the end of the race. You know what I thank God for today looking out on a bunch of gray heads in the Lord. Oh, you know, when I stand and preach the funeral of someone, a body that's laying there, that I know that that soul and spirit is with the Lord, and I see that gray head, I say, oh, thank God, you've taken another one home who's finished the race in a faithful way, one secure with him. Bless your heart. Don't turn aside from the way because of the remarks of the apostate and the false professor. You know, and I say one more thing. Point number four, we must trust in a withdrawing God. You know, as we do battle sometimes, it seems that the heavens are as brass and that they're silent. And we don't hear the voice of God. We don't see His presence and we wonder. Isaiah fifty in verse ten puts it this way. Let him that walks in darkness and sees no light trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon His way. Isaiah was writing to a people who had been tried and tested and fallen yet some faithful Honey, and chapter fifty brings us to that student there that's a learner, the servant, who's the learner, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think of the time when the heavens were shut up for him, and there was no voice. And he cried from his heart, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and the sound of my roaring, a cry in the daytime, and thou hearest not in the night season, and I'm not silent. God shut the heaven. He did not speak to his son, but his son remained faithful until every single bit of the fight was done, and he could cry. finished. And as a Christian soldier, and we go in the way, we need to be like Esther when she was willing to go into Ahasuerus to know that there may not be that golden scepter suspended toward her, and she could say, if I perish, I perish. Child of God, are you willing to continue on the way in that sense, fully in the way, knowing that it's His path, and you won't turn aside from it, even though you know it might mean that you perish. I like what Job said. Job said, though he slay me, yeah, well, I trust him. And Job knew no matter how rough the way God, how battle it was going to be, how strong the battle, he was going to trust him. Remember the Canaanite woman in Matthew fifteen? And that dear lady there in Tyron Sidon. And you know, I love that story. There's so much to it. I see the Lord Jesus journeying all the way to Tyron Sidon. Just to talk to that one woman. I read in Matthew fifteen after he talked to her, he turned around and we left. It's just like when he went to Sychar, he needed to pass through that land to talk to that woman at the well. And he goes all the way. What a walk to Tyron Sidon. And he meets that woman sitting by the side of the road, crying, Son of David, have mercy on me. Will I read, He answered her not a word. He was a withdrawing God. And he was silent. And he walked. away. But she didn't stop crying. She kept on calling. And, you know, finally the Lord answered, but He answered the disciples. He said, I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then He said, you know, she got something out of them. He had drew her a little closer. And then He said, it's not meat or not fit. To give the dogs the meat that's for the children? And then I see that humble heart in that woman, and she says, Truth, Lord. But the dogs, the little puppies, eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table. And then she simply cries, Lord, help me. And he did. Hmm. The heavens were shut and He passed by. Yet she cried and cried again. And finally an answer came. She was drawn a little closer. Be strong. But God's desire is that we would be strong in the Lord. You see, David said, He's taught my fingers to fight and my hands to war. Who do we give the credit for? Who do we give the credit to for our successes, beloved? When you're dressed in your finest suit, and you've done your greatest accomplishment, you have to say, He gave it to me and He finished the work. It's of Him. You know, the Lord Jesus said in His discourse on the vine, without Me, He can do nothing. And as Christian soldiers, as we go to battle for Him, without Him, we're not going to do anything. Without that spiritual equipment that He's given to us, we're not going to accomplish. Paul could say in second Corinthians, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. Our sufficiency is of God. Be strong in the Lord. It is God who worketh in you both to will and to do. of his good pleasure. He works in you. He will do it. He will perform it. His desire is that we would be strong in him and then in the power of his might. There's a teaching here, a doctrine in that, in the sense that it teaches the Christian in all his trials and temptations. that we should use care in strengthening faith in God's Almighty power. Abraham, he called out. He called them by faith. Abraham went. He called Isaac. He gave the promise to Isaac. He gave the promise to Jacob. And he says in Exodus chapter six that the name that he was known to them by was Almighty God. It wasn't until then that he revealed himself to his people as the I am. But Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob walked in that path of faith drawing on the power of an Almighty God. That's what they kept their house with. all their days. They lived comfortably, and they died victoriously. Moses' faith was indeed tested. One time when the people were crying for food, and God said to Moses, I'm going to give it to you, Moses. I'm going to give you meat. That's what they want. I'm not going to give it to you for a day or a week. I'm going to give it to you for a month. And Moses said, Lord. If we took all the cattle we brought along with, and this is Ray Rowley's paraphrase, if we took all the cattle we brought along with us and we killed them all, would that be enough to feed six hundred thousand footmen? But you know what? Moses had a question. But he forgot for the moment about God's power. And what did God do? He sent in the quail. He sent them in by flocks low enough that they could knock them down with clubs, and they had enough meat for that month. But while it was in their teeth because of their greed, a judgment fell. Have you tested the strength of God through faith? Do you rely on that? Be strong and be of a good courage. Your strength find in the Lord. It's in His sufficiency. And then in what power? In the power of His might. The race is not to the strong, nor the battle to the swift. You see, it's His power, His might. It is not by man's might, nor by man's power. But by his spirit, saith the Lord, may we trust in faith in that spirit and his might and power. God would bless to us his word.