HAVE YOU DONE ALL TO STAND?

Ephesians 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore...

Again we shall speak on spiritual warfare from this chapter and also from the book of James. Let us take a moment to review. The enemy is the devil and his spiritual powers [vs 11,13]. The Saints of God are the soldiers. There is a true conflict, for we wrestle [vs12]. The battlefield is not heaven, but it is this world. In heaven we shall rest, on this earth we must fight the good fight of faith.

The question is can we win? Can we stand against all the wiles of the devil, against all the forces of darkness, can we stand in victory? The answer is yes. If we "have done all to stand", we shall stand.

Have you "done all to stand?"

"Having done all" would include putting on the strength, power and might of Christ, not depending on our own strength or will power, but upon Christ. It includes the putting on of the armor of God that Christ has graciously provided for us. Yet there is more, at least more in the details. The Apostle James tells us to get victory thus:

James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Many people ignore the first half of this verse and say simply, "Resist the devil and he will flee". But the truth is, if you do not submit to God first, your supposed resistence will be vain. It would be likened to the exorcists who attempted to cast the demon out of the man in the name of "Jesus who Paul preached". They had never submitted to God, they had never made Christ their Lord, thus their so called "resistence" failed miserably [Acts 19:13-14].

So there is of necessity first a submission to God before anyone can experience victory in the spiritual war that we are in; and there must be absolute surrender, for us to experience the full victory that is possible in Christ the Lord.

ABSOLUTE SURRENDER IS NOT...

"Absolute Surrender" is a phrase that has lost its power with the modern Church; so let me in briefly summarize its meaning.

A. First "absolute surrender" does not mean that you admire Christ. You can admire his excellence and never surrender to him.

B. It is not "praise". You can praise Christ for all of his attributes, but that does not mean you have surrendered.

C. It is not to imitate Christ. It is not to attempt the "WWJD" life. You can attempt to mimic a person, and yet never surrender to that person.

ABSOLUTE SURRENDER IS:

The complete surrender of the entire life to Jesus Christ. Let me sum it up thus:

A. The will must be surrendered to Christ. Every choice that I must make, I will put before Christ, to see what is his will about it. And then I will submit to his will.

B. My desires must be surrendered to Christ. I shall hate what he hates, and I shall desire and love what he loves.

C. The mind must be surrendered to Christ; that I might think as he thinks. That I may judge as he judges. That I might submit to his teachings.

This is the full surrender of the life, all other facilities of your being is contained in these three things. Absolute surrender to Christ is the Christian submitting to the one who now indwells us. The victorious life consists of yielding the throne of your heart to Christ, and acknowledging him as LORD over all, not with our words, but with our obedience.

Is your will surrendered to Christ, so that even though you still make the choices, you base all of your choices on the desire of Christ? Lord, is it your will that I go here? That I say this? That I do this?

Is your mind surrendered to Christ, so that you stand upon his words as truth, above all the men, all the scholars that ever lived? Is God's word true and all other men liars in your estimation?

Is your emotions surrendered to Christ? Some say you will not experience any anger if you are surrendered to Christ; but Christ became angry on several occasions. He had righteous indignation. All human anger that does not correspond to his is sin; but sin should anger you.

Is your love surrendered to Christ? Do you love him above all things? All people? Do you love what he loves? Be careful that your love is submitted to Christ, many a man has fallen because they have "loved" that which God has forbidden. Samson loved Delilah to his own detriment. Demas loved this present world, and forsook the truth. Judas loved money and betrayed the Lord.

Surrender is taking the whole of me and unlocking every door of my life and my heart and saying, "From now on I will have no other master but you dear Lord, reign over every aspect of my life.".

RESIST THE DEVIL

James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Now that we see what surrender means, we are told that we must 'resist the devil'. Which means that we must stand up against him, to fight him. We should settle it in our hearts that if we are Christians then we must battle. We are called not only to 'trust' but also to fight.

The Apostle Paul writing to the Hebrews said, "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." They had resisted sin, and Satan, and the world with its lusts; but they had not yet resisted unto blood. Yet as long as they had life they should be willing to have their blood spilled for Christ's sake; rather than to sin against him.

There is no use in coming to Church on Sunday and 'submitting to Christ', lest you are willing to fight when you walk out of these doors. And be warned you will never come to a place in this life where you can stop fighting. The battle will be waged until you take your last breath; then you can rest.

IS VICTORY REALLY POSSIBLE

James 1:13-14 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Is total victory possible for us? First let us all acknowledge that Christ cannot be defeated. He cannot fail, his power, his wisdom, his might, his strength, his love is all perfect and he cannot be defeated.

Secondly let us examine our own lives and see if this is not true; every failure we have experienced, every defeat we have endured has been our own fault. Not God's, not Christ's but our own fault. We failed to implement God's provision in our life.

Too often we try to blame our environment for our failures, but it is not that. Or we wish to blame our "up bringing", but it is not that either. It is simply our fault: we are either trusting in our own strength and not Christ's power. Or we have not submitted to GOD, or we have not resisted the devil.

One illustration and I will close. There was a young man who was addicted to lust; he came and gave his life to Christ. His life was changed and he did wonderfully for about six months or so it seemed. Then he began to miss church, when the preacher went to his home to check on him the man replied, "It is no use, the Lord cannot save me". The preacher looked around the room and saw indecent pictures on the walls, and said, "How long has these been on your walls?" The man replied "for years". The preacher answered, "you are a scamp. You pretend Christ cannot save you; when you have not even begun to fight!". Part of the fight my friends is to pluck out and to cut off that which tempts us; if we are not willing to do that, there is no way we shall escape hell.

Come now children and let us determine that we shall stand for the Lord. We shall submit ourselves to him absolutely and we shall resist the devil even to the letting of blood if we must. Come and experience the victory that Christ has wrought for you on the cross.