Things to Avoid
A Sermon on Ephesians 6:10-13
Originally preached Dec. 10, 1961
Scripture
10Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against …
Sermon Description
Faith means believing the word, and therefore, acting. In this sermon on Ephesians 6:10–13 titled “Things to Avoid,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones gives this strong call to action and urges Christians to rid themselves of passivity. Spiritual health includes positive and negative aspects, including taking in what is beneficial and avoiding what is not; avoiding dissipation of energy such as zeal without knowledge, talking too much, or vain arguments; and acknowledging that activities must be thoughtful, disciplined, governed, and directed. A person must sit down to determine what can be done and what can’t. Through too much talk, people find themselves in spiritual trouble. However much one argues about truth, if one is not growing by it, do it less. The test of everything must be: is it profitable to one’s own soul and to other people? He calls the listener to avoid enervating atmospheres, including spending too much time in worldly, unspiritual company will dull one’s spiritual edge and waste vitality. He also encourages avoiding foolish talk and jesting, bad company, and polluted reading; making no provision for the flesh to satisfy its lusts; keeping watch over thoughts and imaginations that can be evil; and avoiding Christians who don’t believe that the Bible is the authoritative word of God. A life will go wrong if the doctrine is wrong and this is a main cause of decay in the church today.
Sermon Breakdown
- 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 wiles of the devil.
- 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.
- Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand.
- Here is the first great thing we've got to grasp in this struggle, this conflict, this wrestling against the devil and all his powers arrayed behind him.
- And there's nothing more important, therefore, than for us to understand what this means.
- And we've been taking time to do this, showing that it isn't a doctrine, teaching some kind of passivity, which just tells us that we hand it over and just wait and watch for the victory that is won for us.
- We have seen rather that it is an exhortation to us to act with all our might and main, realizing that we can only be empowered and enabled by the power of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
- And last time we tried to show by a number of illustrations, particularly from the scriptures, how this works out in practice, that faith means that we believe this word.
- We therefore act, as our Lord said to the men, with a withered hand, who couldn't move his hand at all, stretch forth thine hand.
- The men made the effort and found he could do it. So this great principle here works in actual daily practice, so that there is therefore an adequate explanation.
- In that way, the command carries implicit in it this enabling power, and therefore we must rid ourselves of any notion of passivity and of doing nothing and of handing it over, a false notion of the rest of faith.
- The rest of faith means that you rest in the word of God, that you have faith to believe that as your day, so your strength will be that you are to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, because you know that it is God that worketh in you both the will and to do of his good pleasure.
- Very well now, and we've been seeing how, therefore, the thing for us to concentrate on positively is the realization of the power that is given to us.
- In the rebirth, a seed of life with power and life and vigor in it. We must see to it that this grows and develops. We do so by taking the appropriate food. Here it is drink, prayer, exercise, practice, doing the work and so on.
Sermon Q&A
What Does Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones Mean by "Be Strong in the Lord and in the Power of His Might"?
Based on Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' sermon on Ephesians 6:10-13, here's an explanation of what it means to "be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might."
What does it mean to be strong in the Lord according to Dr. Lloyd-Jones?
According to Dr. Lloyd-Jones, being strong in the Lord means:
"It isn't a doctrine teaching some kind of passivity, which just tells us that we hand it over and just wait and watch for the victory that is won for us. We have seen rather that it is an exhortation to us to act with all our might and main, realizing that we can only be empowered and enabled by the power of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ."
He explains that it's not passive but active - we must act while relying on God's power, comparing it to Jesus telling a man with a withered hand to stretch it forth, which enabled the man to do what was impossible on his own.
How does spiritual strength develop according to the sermon?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains that spiritual strength develops through:
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Proper spiritual nourishment: "We do so by taking the appropriate food. Here it is drink, prayer, exercise, practice, doing the work and so on."
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Avoiding things that weaken: "So we must avoid, in general, anything that tends to weaken us, to SAP our energy or to rob us of our spiritual health, out of which comes our spiritual energy and vigor."
What are the major things that weaken our spiritual strength?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones identifies several things that weaken spiritual strength:
- Dissipation of energy: "Dissipation of energy. Doesn't matter how much energy you've got. If you misuse it, dissipate it, throw it away, the result will be that you'll have less of it." This includes:
- Thoughtless activity or "activism" without discipline
- Too much talking without thinking or meditating
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Pointless arguments and disputations
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Spending time in enervating atmospheres: "It doesn't matter how strong you are if you are in the wrong atmosphere." Including:
- Lack of discipline and laziness
- Too much time with company that isn't spiritually helpful
- Worldliness and the love of money
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The "atmosphere of respectability" that quenches spiritual vigor
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Exposure to spiritual diseases and infections:
- Bad company: "Avoid bad company. If I've told you of the danger of more or less innocent company, which isn't spiritual, well, how much more is that true about bad company?"
- Bad reading: "Avoid bad reading. And now I mean general reading, polluting reading."
- Wrong thoughts and imagination
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False teaching about the Bible: "Avoid them, I say, have nothing to do with them. They'll do you harm. They'll take from your spiritual energy."
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Overconfidence after spiritual victory: "Having done all, here's the danger to take off your armor. It's all right. You say, I've had a victory. All is well."
How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones say we should handle doctrine vs. disputation?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones says we must maintain a balance:
"We've got to keep to a position which is between two extremes. Some people who never defend the faith at all, they say they're just nice, good people. They don't argue... Well, that's a very unscriptural position to take up. We are meant to contend earnestly for the faith. Yes, but there's one extreme. Here's the other. We are never to become guilty of this vain disputation, vain wrangling."
He quotes Paul: "The servant of the Lord must not strive." The key is to "contend for the faith" without "striving" - the latter meaning your spirit is wrong and your motive becomes prideful.
What is the proper approach to biblical authority according to the sermon?
Dr. Lloyd-Jones takes a strong stance on biblical authority, stating:
"I have no hesitation in asserting again that the main cause of the condition of the Christian church today is the departure from a belief in the divine inspiration of the holy scripture and its final authority in all matters of faith and conduct."
He instructs believers to "avoid all such teachings as the very plague" that undermine the authority of scripture, and warns against fellowship with those who deny fundamental Christian doctrines.
The Book of Ephesians
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.