Some of the pets that I enjoyed the most growing up were the kind that ate other living things. Most of you know that I spent the first 12 years of my life in South Jersey just across from the Delaware and then moved into Pennsylvania on the other side of the Delaware. As a kid, I owned a lot of pets! I had hamsters, hermit crabs, at one time we had five Doberman pinchers, and a whole bunch of cats! If I am honest, my favorite pets were the kind that ate other living things. For example I used to own multiple Black piranhas that I would not only feed feeder goldfish to, but I would catch salamanders to feed to my piranhas. At one time I owned a yellow rat snack I would feed mice! However, I have never seen an anaconda in person. I did come across something that caught my attention with the title: “How to be Prepared for an Anaconda Attack.” Here is a list of instructions in the event that your path does cross with an anaconda, and it decides wants to eat you for lunch:
- If you're attacked by an anaconda, do not run; the snake is faster than you are.
- Lie flat on the ground.
- Put your arms tight at your sides and your legs tight against one another.
- The snake will begin to climb over your body.
- Do not panic.
- The snake will begin to swallow you from the feet end.
- Step 6 will take a long time.
- After a while, slowly and with as little movement as possible, reach down, take your knife, and very gently slide it into the snake's mouth. Then suddenly sever the snake's head.
- Be sure your knife is sharp.
- Be sure you have your knife.
Some Anacondas can grow up to 30 feet long and weigh over 500 pounds. You will not catch me lying flat on the ground positioning myself to be its lunch! Clearly this list is meant to be funny. Yet, there is a greater serpent who is much more dangerous from which we very much, in a metaphorical sense, chose not to run; instead, we make it easy for him to do the thing he wants, and what he wants is to destroy us!
Be Aware of the Devil’s Schemes
When Adam and Eve were in the garden, there was something worse than an angry anaconda talking to them! He is also known as Lucifer, Satan, and the devil. He is described in the following scary ways: he is the Beast (Rev. 14:9-10), his name is Beelzebub (Matt. 12:24), he is described as a Dragon (Rev. 12:9), he is a roaring lion (1 Pet. 5:8), the god of this age (2 Cor. 4:4), the Prince of the power of the air (Eph. 2:1-2), the Ruler of Demons (Luke 11:15), the ruler of this World (John 12:31-32), Serpent of Old (Rev. 12:9).
Of all the places in the garden of Eden Adam and Eve could have hung out, they decided to idly stand unprepared before the one tree they were told not to eat from. It was at that one tree that great Serpent waited and schemed his way into their minds, hearts, and lives. It was the institution of marriage and family the Serpent wanted to attack and destroy, and he did it when Adam and Eve were unprepared! Listen, the Serpent of Old still does the same thing today, the only difference is that he has had more practice at scheming since the Garden. This is why Paul addressed how we can walk in a manner worthy of our calling in marriages, in our parenting, with our children, and in our working (see 5:22-6:9). What “tree” are you idly standing in front of that you should not be?
We laugh at the list I read to you about what you should do if attacked by an anaconda, but when it comes to sin and temptation, how many of lay down on the ground instead of running to Him who is the great serpent crusher, namely Jesus. Instead of standing before trees we have no business standing in front of, we ought to be running to another tree, namely the cross of Christ! Why? Because “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (6:12).
So, what are the devil’s schemes? Well, he has a whole list of names that gives us some clue as to the kind of scheming he is up to. Satan is known as the Accuser (Rev. 12:10), the Adversary (1 Peter 5:8), the Deceiver (Rev. 12:9), the Enemy (Matt. 13:39), the Evil One (John 17:15), the Father of lies (John 8:44), the Lawless One (2 Thess. 2:8-10), Murderer (John 8:44), the Tempter (Matt. 4:3), the Thief who comes ONLY to steal and kill and destroy (John 10:10), and the Wicked One (Eph. 6:16). So what do these titles and names tell us about our great enemy?
- As the accuser, Satan wants you to be paralyzed by past failures with the kind of shame and guilt that keeps you from running to Jesus in repentance because he wants you to believe that your sins are too great for God’s mercy, love, and grace!
- As the adversary, the Devil seethes with hatred towards you. He will use all that is at his disposal to destroy you. He wants to separate you from the community of God’s people because he knows that is where you are weakest.
- As the deceiver, he seeks to harm you with his cheap counterfeits by deceiving and scheming you into believe that the counterfeit will satisfy more than what God has designed for your good. He does this with sexuality, politics, and the good things that he can get you to treat as ultimate things.
Satan is an enemy because he wants to harm you. Satan is the evil one because he is sinister, malicious, diabolic, heinous, crooked, vile, and malevolent... and all of his evil scheming is directed towards you and the success of God’s mission! Satan is not only a liar, but he is also the father of lies; so of course he wants you to turn from any and all truth... especially God’s truth found in His word. Satan is lawless, so he has no moral compass. Satan has been a murder from the beginning, so he is no advocate for life. Satan is a thief who only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Does it have to be any clearer than that? The first step in standing firm against the schemes of the devil is to know how it is that he intends to scheme.
Listen, Satan is the personification of evil, but he hides his true colors behind a veneer of what appears to be innocence. To understand the devil’s schemes you must be aware that he, “disguises himself as an angel of light”; and all the demons do the same (2 Cor. 11:14). We will look into this more next week but know that he is not running around in a red suit and a pitchfork. He is scheming behind the rulers, the powers, the world forces of this darkness, and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (v. 12).
Stand Against the Devil’s Schemes
If you are a Christian, you are at war! You who were once dead in your sins and were by nature a child of wrath (2:1-3) and were under the influence and enslaved to the rulers, the powers, the world forces of this darkness, and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (v. 12). However, as powerful as the devil and the demonic world are, Jesus has already defeated them all! Remember what we read in Ephesians 1:19-22; first Paul’s prayer: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the boundless greatness of His power toward us who believe” (Eph. 1:18–19a). The boundless greatness that is ours who believe, is NOT our power but the power of Almighty God!
What happened at the cross and the empty tomb is that Jesus defeated the devil along with the rulers, the powers, the world forces of this darkness, and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places! Listen to how Paul describes the way the devil and the demonic have been defeated:
“These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and made Him head over all things to the church...” (Eph. 1:19–22)
All things are in subjection under the feet of Jesus, and it is He who is head over all things. The devil has been defeated and he is not happy about it! Because of Jesus’ victory through the cross and the His resurrection, your salvation was made possible (1:7-12; 2:4-5)! We must stand against the devil’s schemes, but we are only able to do so in the strength of the might of King Jesus! We do this only by putting on the full armor of God.
Do not miss what is being said in verse 12: “Put on the full armor of God.” This is not a suggestion, but a command (an imperative)! Now, notice who the armor belongs to. It is not armor we create that we are to put on, but armor that belongs to God! The armor of God is armor He has provided, but you only need to put it on in order to “stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”
Now we are going to take our time working through what each piece of the armor of God is in the weeks to come, but for now, you need to understand what it is. We are not told to put on some of the armor to stand against the devil’s schemes, but the full armor of God; so what is the full armor of God?
The belt of truth: This is the first piece that a soldier would put on around his waist that would hold all the other clothing out of the way so that he could run and fight without any of his clothing under the armor getting in the way. It is not “your truth” but God’s truth that you are to put on and it is foundational for standing against the devil, but it will do you no good if you do not put it on by obeying the truth of God’s word.
The breastplate of righteousness: The breastplate as part of a warrior’s armor protects the vital organs, so it is no mystery why Paul would characterize the righteousness of Christ as essential to protecting the vital organs of the Christian’s faith. The breastplate of righteousness is provided by God because what we need and will always need is the righteousness of Christ!
The shoes of the gospel of peace: Just as any warrior cannot fight effectively without shoes, so it also true of the Christian. The one who has the righteousness of Christ is one who hungers for the righteousness of Christ. Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.” The shoes of the gospel of peace are the gospel of Jesus Christ that gives us shalom, which is the peace of God that prepares us to stand against the devil’s schemes as we are satisfied in Christ alone.
The shield of faith: The shield Paul has in mind here is not the little round shield a soldier might wield on his arm, but the kind designed to shield the whole body from the onslaught of arrows which I believe are the doubts, temptations, impure, and evil thoughts that come out of nowhere. The shield of faith is only as large as your confidence in the Word of God, dependance upon the righteousness of Christ as your righteousness, and your conviction that only Jesus satisfies your soul.
The helmet of salvation: The helmet of salvation is the hope of our salvation (1 Thess. 5:8-9); it is the confidence that we belong to Christ and that there is no other who can satisfy and bring life to our whole being, but Christ alone! The helmet of salvation is the security that we have in the assurance of our salvation. The devil is the accuser and although he cannot rob you of your salvation, he can erode your confidence in the truth that the cross of Christ is sufficient for all your sins.
The sword of the Spirit: The Sword of the Spirit is our only offensive weapon in all the armor we are to put on. The Sword of the Spirit is the word of God, and like the shield of faith, it is only as effective as our ability to wield it through as we grow in our knowledge of it. Of the word of God, we are told in Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). Sam Storms suggests that there are three primary ways we can use the Sword of the Spirit: “We proclaim the Word (as Jesus did; see also Rev. 12). We pray the Word (Eph. 6:18-19; Acts 6:4; John 15:7). And we praise with the Word (i.e., sing the Scriptures).[1]
Conclusion
So, how can you begin to stand firm against the devil’s schemes? Well for starters, don’t lie down and make it easy for your enemy! Stand firm by deciding to submit to God’s truth instead of what the culture says truth is. Stand firm with a confidence that all the righteousness you will ever need is the righteousness of Christ. Stand firm in the peace that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings. Stand firm in a faith that God is both infinitely good and infinitely greater than all that stands against you. Stand firm in the security that you are now a son/daughter of God because you are alive with Christ. Stand firm with the confidence that the Bible is the Word of God and that it is indeed sharper than any other sword; stand firm by proclaiming the Word of God, praying the Word of God, and by praising with the Word of God.
We can stand against the schemes of the devil in the strength of the One who beat the beast, bludgeoned Beelzebub, defanged the dragon, and leveled the roaring lion at the cross! The Christ of the cross is the King of kings who is infinity greater than the god of this age. He preeminently and powerfully prevailed against the prince of the power of the air. He reigns on High and His heel is on the throat of the ruler of demons. One day soon the full weight of Jesus’ omnipotent heel will be felt upon the skull of the serpent of old, and on that Day his skull will finally and permanently be crushed! Brothers and sisters, we can be strong in our Lord and in the strength of His might because He reigns! We stand in the might of Jesus who said, “I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades” (Rev. 1:17-18).
[1] Ibid., p. 305.
