Please turn with me in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6 will return to our studies in Matthew's gospel, God willing, next Sunday morning. This morning we're going to look at the whole armor of God in Ephesians chapter 6, verses 10 through 20. Ephesians 6, I'll pick up reading at verse 10.
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 6:10–20
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. and having done all, to stand.
Stand, therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, 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, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. Amen.
Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Father, we thank you for your Holy Scripture. We pray now that you would come in power by your Spirit to instruct our hearts and our minds in your truth. We confess our sin to you, God, as we read through this scripture. We are mindful of succumbing so often to temptation and sin.
We just pray, cleanse us in the blood of the Lamb. We pray, God, wash us afresh and cause us to come to that fount that is open for sin and uncleanness. We pray that your spirit would guide and enable and empower us to engage in biblical Christianity in a manner that is consistent with your written word. We just praise you, God, and ask now that in all of this you would be glorified and honored and praised.
And we ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well, in bringing this particular letter to a close, the book of Ephesians, the final words here, Paul's final statement concerns a call or an encouragement or an exhortation to rouse the readers to vigilance in their Christian lives. Paul has already stated Christ's position of exaltation and supremacy in chapter 1, verses 20 to 23. He's highlighted the fact that the saints are already seated with him in the heavenly places in Ephesians 2, verse 6. Well, also, or what he does now is come to call us to readiness and to diligence.
He says that those these are blessed truths. Believers must still engage the enemy in the battle. And that's what Ephesians 6, 10 to 20 is all about.
Sermon Outline Announced
I want to consider three things by way of exposition for this morning. First, the command stated versus 10 and 11. Secondly, the reason given versus 11 and 12. And then, thirdly, the armor described in verses 13 to 20.
I think Calvin issues a good word of caution with reference to the details. He says, now follows a description of the arms which they were enjoined to wear. We must not, however, inquire very minutely into the meaning of each word, for an allusion to military customs is all that was intended. We're not supposed to, you know, sort of have this visible image or this poster of what we need to look like.
What we see here are the means by which God has called us to stand in our Christianity and wage the good warfare against spiritual enemies. Well, let's look at the commands.
First Point: The Command Stated
The first is
Be Strong in the Lord
the command to be strong, to be strong. Verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord. This was what God said to Joshua in Joshua chapter 1 verses 6 to 9.
Be strong, be courageous, be bold. You're engaged in a military campaign. You can't be a wimp. You can't be a woman.
You have to be strong in the Lord God Most High. In the book of 1 Samuel, we see that David strengthened himself in his God. It was at a particular point where David no longer had a city. He no longer had refuge.
He no longer had material comforts. But he did, in fact, have his God. And he strengthened himself in the Lord. And then in Second Timothy, chapter two, verse one, Paul encourages Timothy, a young minister of the gospel, to be strong.
He says, You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And notice back in Ephesians 610, he says, Finally, my brethren, be strong. in the Lord and in the power of His might. It's not to be a native strength. It's not to be a natural tendency.
An expression of who you are as a being, or as a person. You know, all of us could say there are strong people we know, there are weak people we know. There are those who dispositionally are able to bear up with a lot more than some dispositionally are able to. We see those sort of natural tendencies.
That's not what Paul is speaking to here. Paul is saying be strong in the Lord. He is the strength, he is the source, he is the one by which we derive the strength to face the battles that God calls us to undergo. Be strengthened in the Lord.
John Eady has a very appropriate comment. He says, soldiers have an invincible courage when they have confidence in the skill and bravery of their leader. You will follow the captain of your salvation into battle, knowing that he is sovereign, knowing that he is supreme, knowing that he is strong, and that he has the resources and the benefits to uphold you and strengthen you in the fight. So that is the first command that the apostle issues.
We are to be strong in the Lord.
Put On the Whole Armor
And then secondly, he says, and put on the whole armor of God. Put on the whole armor of God. And as we run through those particular elements, we'll see the bulk of them are defensive, right? The bulk of them are defensive articles so that when you go out into the battle, you're not hit, you're not torn down, you're not struck.
You need these defensive elements in order to protect you physically in the battlefield. You need these defensive elements to protect you spiritually in the battle as well. But there's also an offensive weapon. By offensive I don't mean bad, I mean offensive.
It is the sword of the spirit. So the idea, the image is that you are decked out in this entire gear and you've got the sword of the spirit and this is what God says for you to engage the battle in. The text calls for responsibility and engagement. The believer is not to retreat from battle or escape from battle.
He's not to start monasteries. He's not to withdraw himself. We've seen that in the Beatitudes and in the statement concerning salt and light. Yes, you are to be a distinct people.
Yes, you are to be a separate people in terms of your attitudes and your actions. But you are to be the salt of the earth. You are to be the light of the world. You are to be a part of society in such a way that you serve as a preservative, that you serve as a light diffusing mechanism. so that people can hear the gospel and be called out of darkness into marvelous light.
This text is very clear and very simple. Notice that you may be able to stand. This is the specific purpose for the armor of God. Now, it's spiritual warfare that's in view here.
You ever come to a place where you've seen people take this passage and they construct this great big theology of spiritual warfare? on how we're supposed to cast out demons, on how we're supposed to pray for the rapture, on how we're supposed to engage in a Christianity that is devoid of Paul's intention here. The issue is you are to stand. You're to withstand in the evil day. You are to so be strengthened in the Lord your God that instead of collapse, instead of succumbing to the temptation, instead of running after the sin, instead of siding with spiritual forces of evil, you stand, you withstand, and you don't follow in their particular pursuit.
Paul is very simple as a preacher. He's not trying to dazzle people with his abilities in spiritual warfare. He doesn't say, back in August of whatever particular year, I met this person and they were possessed by a demon and I accurately saw through this and I... No!
It's very simple. Spiritual warfare in the Scripture is a lot simpler than certain men make it out to be. You are to stand. You are to resist.
You are to watch your heart and pray. You're to don the armor of God in such a manner and in such a fashion that you are able to withstand in the evil day. It's an amazing thing in James and Peter. They say that the devil seeks you like a roaring lion, seeks to devour you.
What's the instruction given by James and Peter with reference to the devil? Attend a Bob Larson conference. Attend a Mark Driscoll conference. Learn all the intricacies of spiritual warfare.
Learn 15 easy ways to cast out the demon in your life. They say to resist him. That's the issue, that's the focus, that's the scope of our instruction with reference to spiritual warfare. Don the armor of God so that you can resist, so that you can withstand, and so that you may in fact glorify God.
Seek your strength, seek your sufficiency in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. One commentator says, to stand involves standing firm. Holding one's position, resisting, not surrendering to the opposition, but prevailing against it. Not surrendering to the opposition, but prevailing against it.
Charles Hodge says the believer has not only to defend himself, but also to attack his spiritual enemies, and the latter is as necessary to his safety As the former, it's repeated three times in the context. Verse eleven, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand. Verse thirteen, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand. Verse fourteen, stand.
Therefore, what's Paul's point? You need to stand. You offer up resistance. You need to not follow those tendencies and those pressures.
You need to resist the devil and he will flee from you. And to that end, God has prescribed through the Apostle Paul certain elements that are crucial to your defense and for a good offense.
Second Point: The Reason Given
But let's look secondly at the reason for the command. Notice, first of all,
The Devil's Schemes
he speaks of the wiles of the devil. Verse 11, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wilds or the schemes of the devil. It suggests a plurality. Back in Ephesians chapter 4, Paul says you ought not to go to bed angry.
Why? Because you give place to the devil. You don't reconcile with your bride. You don't reconcile with your husband.
You don't let the sun go down on your anger. You fix things. You deal with things. You maintain short accounts.
Because if you do not, the devil is going to get in there. In 2 Corinthians chapter 2, Paul says, and we are not ignorant of his devices, the devil has several devices or schemes, or to use an old Puritan word, machinations, that he uses to try and disturb the very people of God. This is one of the reasons, but notice, secondly,
Spiritual Warfare's True Scope
he highlights the reality of spiritual warfare. He says in verse 12, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. The Apostle Paul does not say this to paralyze us with fear. You're not supposed to read verse 12 and say, well, I'm going to just sit in my house. as if the devil can't get into your house.
I'm just going to go live on an island as if the devil can't get to that island. I don't know how he travels. I don't know about all those particular things, but the devil will find us pretty much anywhere. He is not writing this to paralyze believers with fear.
Rather, in the language of Calvin, he describes our enemy as formidable, not to overwhelm us with fear, but to quicken our diligence and earnestness. By speaking of the power of the enemy, Paul labors to keep us more alert. You see, the fact that Christ is supreme, according to Ephesians 1, 20 to 23, the fact that believers are seated with him in heavenly places in Ephesians 2, verse 6, does not mean or does not invalidate the current responsibility believers have in this lower world to effectively resist the temptation of the evil one. You need to be on guard.
You need to be alert. You need to stand. You need to withstand. You need to offer up opposition and resistance.
When you sin, when you fail, you confess it to God. You forsake it. You seek fresh grace and mercy so that you may stand. Brethren, if you go through this particular passage, you could probably trace in your mind when you didn't stand, when you did fail.
We were reminded this morning of Peter. Do we forget Peter? Peter denied his Lord with oaths and cursing to a servant girl. He wasn't kowtowing to the emperor of Rome.
It was a servant girl. This man was with Jesus. No, I wasn't. Oh, certainly your dialect betrays that, Peter.
You're a Galilean. You speak the Galilean tongue. I was not with that man. times, Peter with a pounding the pulpit fervency denies Christ. What we see in the book of Acts and chapter two, who is the first among equals there?
It's Peter preaching the glorious gospel of forgiveness and grace. You trace the history of Peter. Did it stop there? Peter's in Galatians chapter two.
Not because Paul says, I want to point you to the superlative example of free grace. I want to point you to the example of one who has never compromised the truth. Paul has to write in Galatians 2 that I withstood Peter to his face. Brethren, we cannot forget that there is forgiveness with God that He may be feared.
We have all succumbed. We have all fallen short. As Christians, we have failed to offer up a complete resistance. Go back to the Savior.
Go back for mercy. Go back for grace. Receive it and press on by the grace of God Most High. We need to understand, with reference to verse 12, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
We need to realize that the enemy is not man, flesh and blood. However, listen to this. The devil uses man. How do you explain Planned Parenthood?
How do you explain an organization whose fundamental tenet is murder for money. How do you explain that? You have to see the diabolical nature of the devil behind it. How does Christ describe the devil?
He's a father of lies. He's the murderer from the beginning. You see, godless regimes that oppose the Lord and oppose his people. Our wrestle isn't with them primarily in terms of going out and sniping them, but we need to remember the spiritual element.
It was the dragon who empowered the beast in Revelation chapter 13. As bad as the beast was, there was something far more grievous behind him. And so this text calls us not to consider the fact or not to disenfranchise or to distance ourselves from the genuine wickedness that is going on all around us. But we need to be able to look through that wickedness and see the greater and more formidable enemy is the devil.
You take these godless regimes. I'm not talking about Idi Amin. I'm not talking about Pol Pot. I'm not talking about Stalin and Hitler.
I think there's godless regimes a whole lot closer to us in terms of time and even in terms of geography. What's driving this madness? What's driving this wickedness? What's driving the fact that you can, for a fee, murder the baby in your womb?
We have to understand, brethren, there's a spiritual dimension to this. So that we need to be a prayerful people. We need to engage in wearing the whole armor of God. We need to go into the battle realizing that these are some unseen forces.
And it hopefully will cast us in utter dependence upon God Most High. Paul says the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They're not carnal. But they are mighty, he says, for the pulling down of strongholds.
He's speaking primarily about preaching and about prayer. He's speaking about the Word of the Living God and our time at the throne of grace. Jesus taught us to pray that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So though our wrestle isn't specifically against a man in a suit, it is nevertheless the devil activating, using that particular beast and calling us to consider this in our prayer closets, in our preaching, in our witness, in our presentation of the truth of God Most High.
His word applies to the totality of our lives. We ought not just to say, well, that's a wicked regime. Oh, you know, that's the way it goes. God, bring it down.
We ought not to just look at Islam and say, well, you know, some people are mistaken about it. They're really a peace-loving people. Bring it down, God. That is a spiritual problem.
There is spiritual elements involved. People are being led astray in mass, thinking that it's somehow good and decent to kill other people in their religion. I heard a complaint recently that we Christians, we pick on each other. We argue with each other about doctrine, about different teachings and all that.
We should be more active picking on whoever else. I'm not here to suggest that we're good or we're not to pick on each other and get healthy dialogue, healthy debate. If people call that picking on, maybe they just need to man up and be strong in the Lord. You know, the discussion boards that I see with reference to Christianity or blogs, it's, you know, differences of eschatology or differences of ecclesiology.
I'm not trying to minimize that. How do you disagree in Islam? The gun. with bonds. You can't just say, well, that's a bunch of reckless people that don't have any clue.
Yeah, that might be the case, but what's behind it? What's behind it? What's going on? Beneath the surface, there are spiritual dynamics involved.
Again, he's not saying this to alarm us or to cause us to fear in a paralyzed sense. He's calling us to pray. He's calling us to employ the weaponry that Christ has ordained for the advancement of his kingdom, for the good of his church, and the salvation of sinners. See, that's the point of the apostle in this particular section of Holy Scripture.
The apostle tells us to be strong in the Lord because it is Christ who has disarmed the enemy. Colossians 2 15. It is Christ who is seated at the right hand of God, far above all these powers. You don't come to Ephesians six by bypassing Ephesians one.
Go back there for just a moment. Ephesians chapter one, beginning at verse 19. Paul's point in context here is to illustrate the great power of God most high. He wants the people who read this letter to know something of God's power.
This is a prayer report. This is Paul on his knees. This is how Paul prays. Let's go back so you can see that in verse fifteen.
Therefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. How does Paul pray? Well, that's following now. He says that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him.
You see, Paul prays that they would know the scripture better. Paul prays they would know Christ better. Paul prays they'd be theologically astute. Paul prays that doctrine would matter.
Paul prays that they would be interested in the written and revealed will of God. Verse 18, the eyes of your understanding, literally having been enlightened. The fact that through regeneration, God has caused the light to shine in your life. You have been enlightened as a result of that.
Now you are in a position and posture to study the word and learn of Christ. You see, unenlightened people, unregenerate people can't learn theology. They can't learn truth. I mean, they may know certain things.
They may say, yes, of all the religious systems, this one seems to make most sense. That's not what Paul's meaning. Paul wants you to know it so that it affects you. Paul wants you to know it so that it promotes worship.
Paul wants you to know it so that it produces righteousness and carefulness in your living. Verse 18, that you may know what is the hope of his calling. Paul wants you to think about heaven. Paul wants you to concern yourself with that great inheritance.
He wants you to live your life in the reality that one day you will enter into the glorious presence of Christ Most High. Verse 18, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And here's what else I want you to know. Verse 19.
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe? You need to know that. You need to know the exceeding greatness of God's power, not your power, not your sufficiency, not your ability. You see, the believer is always cast back into the lap of God.
Later on in Ephesians 3, another instance where Paul tells us how he prays. He says, I want you to understand the love of Christ, not your love for Christ, but Christ's love for you. You see, we get it all wrong. We try to wage the Christian life based on how we respond, based on what we do, based on how we view things.
Paul says, think about God, think about Christ, think about the glorious truth of the gospel, and let that be the fuel that fills you up so that you may indeed live the Christian life. He casts us upon God. Verse 19, what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe? Now he's going to illustrate it. according to the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come.
So we don't come to Ephesians six and read about this wrestle that we have with principalities and powers divorced from Ephesians one. When we understand where our wrestle is, who do we appeal to? The Christ who is over them, the Christ who is sovereign, the Christ who is supreme, the Christ of verse 22. And God put all things under his feet and gave him to be had over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
So when you get to Ephesians six and the enemy is portrayed there, you're not supposed to despair. You're supposed to remember our Savior, our captain, our Lord, is bigger, greater, and more powerful than any of the enemies that bother us here on earth. Let us pray. Let us live.
Let us preach. Let us engage ourselves in those activities God says are mighty for the pulling down of strongholds. That's the flow. That's what he wants.
That's where he's going with this.
Third Point: The Armor Described
Let's look at the armor. Verses 13 to 20. The command is reiterated, verse 13, Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Take up the whole armor of God, withstand in the evil day that defense that you will need on the day that you are assaulted, and having done all to stand.
That's what Paul wants. It's a great statement, isn't it? Stand where you're at. You've got to stand in the biggest church.
You've got to stand as the most accomplished homeschooling mom. You've got to stand as the one who has done more than it. Brethren, to stand is a blessing. That's what God calls us to.
Some of us aren't happy unless we're standing with the celebrities. Some aren't happy unless they're standing with having done great things. Standing is a great thing. Because you cannot stand apart from the power and the gospel of Christ.
Some of you may have heard me say it, and I maintain it. If I fall into heaven, I'm going to be so thrilled. I mean, the best is to run like Liddell with his head up and, you know, running like that. That's great.
That's how we enter heaven. Praise be to God most high. My vision is similar to what we see in the Pilgrim's Progress. Constant battle.
Constant turmoil. Constant fight. Constant temptation. Constant assault.
So that if we fall into heaven, it is by the grace of God and the power of His Spirit alone. Paul says these things are necessary with reference to the whole armor of God. And let me just ask you at the outset, do these things surprise you? Truth.
Righteousness. Gospel. Salvation. We know Paul, right?
I mean, he uses some military, uses some martial imagery, metaphorically, to present these concepts. No doubt the readers had seen the Roman soldiers in all their gear, in all their regalia. marching in their squadrons, or marching in their flights, or marching in their platoons, or whatever they called them. Phalanx, maybe, was one of the words. They had seen this image.
They had seen the soldiers geared up. They had seen the breastplate. They had seen the helmet. They had seen the shoes or the boots that men needed to wade into combat with.
You see, if you're a computer technician firing bombs on a on a target far removed, you don't need good boots. You could wear slippers. You could wear sandals to push buttons and engage in modern warfare in some scenarios. Not so then.
You needed boots. You needed good footwear. But what Paul does in this metaphor is use things or appeal to things that ought not to surprise any reader of the Bible. Let's just unpack them.
Truth and Righteousness
Five defensive elements and one offensive. First, truth. Verse 14. Having girded your ways with truth.
This should make some sense to us in the 21st century. We follow anything about the fitness craze. What have we been hearing for the last 10 years? Strengthen your core.
Strengthen your core. Your core needs to be strong. Get that core strong. Why?
Because if your core is weak, the rest of you is going to be weak. You put that belt on. You gird that truth on. If that core isn't strong, the rest of you isn't going to be strong.
Truth is not a commodity for a certain few within the life of the church. Truth is not something that we bandy about, something that we keep at arm's distance. Truth is vital to our existence as Christians. If it isn't true, what's it going to be stand?
Therefore, having dirtied your ways with truth, you will not resist the enemy. You will not offer up opposition. You will not stand. You will not be able to withstand in the evil day apart from hiding God's word in your heart.
I have hidden your word in my heart. We saw this last week that I might not sin against you. You need to know text. You need to know doctrine.
You need to know covenant theology. You need to know who God is. You need to know the Trinity. You need to understand justification by faith alone.
You need to gird your waist with truth. You need to avail yourselves of those things that are out there and available for your study, for your perusal. There really is no excuse for a modern day Christian to be ignorant of the truth. There's no excuse.
I mean, at no time in the history of the world could we click one button and listen to a great sermon. I mean, come on, think about it. There's a ton of theology in that literature rack, which right now is quite sparse. It's not teeming, it's not bulging over, but there's some good stuff there.
Are you familiar with those pamphlets? The imputation of Christ's righteousness, imputation of covenant theology. Have you reviewed these things? Have you gone through the confession of faith?
Have you gone to those things most surely believed among us? Those things hammered out by godly men in the history of the church. It girds your waist. Truth.
Truth is not a, you know, we'll take it or leave it kind of a thing. I suspect, brethren, within not only evangelical, but in the reform movement, this is the battle. Truth. Truth.
Truth. What was paramount at the Protestant Reformation? Truth! What was paramount on the day of Pentecost?
Truth! What happens to those who gladly receive the Word of God? They continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine. Does that describe us?
Is that what we're about? Is doctrine matter? Is it important? Remember Christ's high priestly prayer?
Sanctify them by thy truth. Thy word is truth. You cannot wage a spiritual battle without arm, without truth, without being ready, without having your core in place, without cinching it up, without being strong. Notice secondly.
Righteousness, having put on the breastplate of righteousness. It's a great image, isn't it? The breastplate of righteousness. What's the breastplate there for?
So that you don't get hit with a fiery dart. I realize that that imagery leaks over in other places here, but you've got this breastplate on. Again, it's cinched up time, and I don't know that the righteousness, first and foremost, is our acts of right doing. I like what John Gill says.
He says that this reference, this statement, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, is an allusion to Isaiah 59, 17, meaning not works of righteousness done by men, though these are offense when rightly used against the reproaches and charges of the enemy, as they were by Samuel, but rather the graces of faith and love. Though, faith has another place in the Christian armor, after words mentioned. Here's what he said. Wherefore, it seems best to understand this of the righteousness of Christ, which being imputed by God and received by faith is a guard against and repels the accusations and charges of Satan and is a security from all wrath and condemnation.
That's the breastplate of righteousness, the imputed righteousness, the alien righteousness of another, the joyous exchange. Now, we know from reading our Bibles that a justified sinner is a sanctified saint, and that when we have the imputed righteousness of Christ, we will pursue righteousness in terms of our being. For brethren, to stand on the evil day, to withstand enemy opposition, it is not your acts of righteousness that you engage in that is going to buttress you and fortify you and strengthen you. It is going to be the doing and the dying and the imputing of the righteousness of Jesus.
That's how we go into battle. That's how the Saints face the adversary, in the strength of their Lord, who is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. It's said of those French Calvinists, the Huguenots, that they used to sing Psalm 68 as they entered into battle. Oh, for days like that, when Psalm 68 is the battle cry of our military men.
You see, they're thinking in terms of the Bible. They're thinking in terms of the Gospel. They're thinking in terms of an imputed righteousness. You can't wage this battle in your own strength.
You can't withstand based on your doing. You can't stand the enemy's got that over you all the time. Remember that scene in Zechariah chapter three. Joshua, the high priest, appears in all of his filthiness and all of his dirtiness.
And the devil is right there at his hand to accuse him. He is the accuser of the brethren. He'll always be able to offer up till he'll always be able to say you're a wretch. He'll always be able to do that.
And what happens? You begin to succumb, you begin to falter. Which in righteousness is not your own, it is Christ. It is the Lord Jesus.
It is impeccable, it is spotless, it is beautiful. That's the strength by which we stand in.
Gospel, Faith, and Salvation
Notice thirdly, he speaks of the gospel. Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. You've got to appreciate Paul here. You've read Orwell's 1984.
Propaganda was the ministry of truth. The War Department was the ministry of peace. Doublespeak, right? An unwary reader might suspect that Paul's got a bit of that doublespeak.
You're going into battle based on the gospel of peace. You shod your feet with the gospel of peace, in order to engage in spiritual battle, in order to engage in spiritual warfare. As I said, footwear to us isn't as important as it was then. I mean, if you have a jet to fly you around in, if you even have a horse or you have a tank or you have a helicopter. or you have a train, or you have a car, or you have a cart, you really don't need that great of footwear.
But in order to engage the enemy in the Roman Empire, if your feet weren't solid, you were going down. I read once that was one of the big problems in the Vietnam War. Soldiers were getting jungle rot in their feet. I mean, it's one thing to be the macho soldier, but when your feet are messed up, it's hard to think about anything else.
Walking through rice fields and walking through swamps and rivers, what happens? Your feet become mush. It's a horrible image. And yet Christians are trying to engage the enemy with mush, with slogans, with mottos, with conferences, with pull up your boots.
You need the gospel of peace in order to wage war. You need the gospel of peace to stand. You need the doing and the dying and the rising of another. You don't need your testimony.
You don't need your statements. You need the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's how you shod your feet. If we are to stand in the spiritual battle, it necessarily follows that we stand in the gospel.
We may differ on some correlators. We may differ on some periphery. We may differ with our our dear brethren, Presbyterians. We may differ with Dutch reformed in some areas.
But where we cannot differ is in the gospel. We cannot differ when it comes to how a sinner is right with God. We cannot fight the devil. We cannot withstand temptation.
We cannot stand on the evil day if we don't know the gospel. That's why it's emphasized a lot. That's why you hear about it a lot. You can get to heaven with an unbiblical eschatology.
Maybe if I was God, it'd be different, but just kidding. Just kidding. Oh, those Reformed Baptists, they're so mean. We are, but not because of that statement.
You can't get to heaven apart from Christ. You can't be wrong here. If any statement of the apostle illustrates that, it's Galatians 2.21. Therefore, I do not set apart the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, my efforts, my doing, my contribution, then Christ died in vain, Paul says.
Gospel is of utmost importance. Gird your waist with truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Notice fourthly, above all, taking the shield of faith above all may not be the best translation. It's not as if faith is above all.
Faith is a vital element, but so is truth. I think the ESV rendered it a bit better in this particular instance. The emphasis is this one above the rest. This one in conjunction with the rest.
He says, above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. How do you deal with the wicked one? The shield of faith. Charles Hodge in his commentary says this.
It's a bit of a lengthy comment, but I want you to pay attention. I think he really captures this whole idea very well. He says, as burning arrows not only pierced, but set on fire what they pierced, they were doubly dangerous. I got to tell you, getting hit by a dart would be bad enough.
But one on fire, that's doubly bad. I mean, I might conjure up the strength to rip that unfiery dart right out of my chest, but the fire would probably cause a bit of panic, and I'm going to watch it burn me. You see what Hodges is saying? Fiery darts are a doubly bad.
He says, they serve here, therefore, as the symbol of the fierce onslaughts of Satan. He showers arrows of fire on the soul of the believer, who, if unprotected by the shield of faith, would soon perish. He says it is a common experience of the people of God, that at times horrible thoughts, unholy, blasphemous, skeptical, malignant thoughts crowd upon the mind, which cannot be accounted for on any ordinary law of mental action and which cannot be dislodged. They stick like burning arrows and fill the soul with agony.
They can be quenched only by faith, by calling on Christ for help. He says, these, however, are not the only kind of fiery darts, nor are they the most dangerous. That idea that once in a while an atheistic thought jumps into your mind. You haven't been reading philosophical treatises on atheism and why it's a better way.
I mean, just stuff just enters into the mind. Where does that come from? It may come from our wicked hearts and that remaining sin that is there, but we must remember we wrestle not against flesh and blood. There are unseen foes in our life.
But he goes on to say, there are others which in kindle passion, inflame ambition, excite cupidity, pride, discontent or vanity, producing a flame which our deceitful heart is not so prompt to extinguish. I mean, generally, if the thought of atheism leaps into your mind, horror of course, get it out. This thought of ambition. Pride, this thought of being esteemed. by others.
This thought of being looked at as a hard worker, a good student. How come we don't see those sins? How come we see the sins that we want to see? He says, and which is often allowed to burn until it produces great injury or even destruction.
He says, against these most dangerous weapons of the evil one, the only protection is faith. It is only by looking to Christ and earnestly invoking his interposition on our behalf that we can resist these assaults, which inflame evil without the warning of pain. They inflame evil without the warning of pain. That atheism brings, or that atheistic thought brings a warning with it.
Like, look at what you are, apart from the mercy of Christ. But when it appeals to us, when there is that pride, or there is that ambition, or is that pat on the back, or is there something there that we like and cherish, faith, faith in Christ will banish that. Faith in Christ will back to Christ. You haven't learned that yet.
That's the lesson of the Bible. Go back to Christ. We saw that in Psalm 119, 176. I have wondered.
Seek me. The whole Bible is about throwing us back into the lap of mercy of our great God in Jesus Christ. And then the fifth element in terms of defense and take the helmet of salvation. It rounds out the image now.
Of course, taking care of The breastplate is on, the feet are shot with the gospel of peace, and now we've got this helmet on our head and we're ready to go do battle. It's salvation. Again, John Gill, he says, such a hope of salvation by Christ is a defense of the head against false doctrines. A lot of commentators see here with reference to the helmet of salvation is that that sort of assurance of salvation, that realization that you are Christ and Christ is yours.
That realization that you are in Him. It's hard to wage the warfare if you're still wondering if you're even a Christian. It's hard to swing that sword of the Spirit if you're not fully committed to it. Right?
Assurance is important. You need to study the Scriptures. You need to be honest with your Bible. You need to be honest with your God.
You need to be honest with yourself. He says, in such a hope of salvation by Christ is a defense of the head against false doctrines for the helmet is a piece of armor for the head, and it is an erector of the head in times of difficulty, affliction and distress, and it covers the head in the day of battle when engaged with Satan, the enemy of souls. Those are the defensive elements. righteousness, gospel of peace, faith, salvation, that rounds out the soldier, that rounds out the defense, that fits you to go there for and stand in the evil day. But remember, it's not just defense.
It's not just getting knocked down, but it's withdrawing that sort of the spirit and lashing out at the enemy and probably in view is the short sword that the combat soldier had for close in battle. I'm not talking about the ten-foot sword by which he's lopping off heads from a distance. I'm talking about that short sword that when you're in close-in combat, hand-to-hand combat, you've got that sword of the Spirit by which you prevail against the foe, you prevail against the enemy. Don Eady said, the captain of salvation set the example, and once and again and a third time did he repel the assault of the Prince of Darkness by three brief and simple citations from Scripture.
It's not what we find in the wilderness. The Spirit leads them out into the wilderness. What does Jesus do? It is written.
It is written. It is written. He'd hang garlic around his neck and try to repel him with some symbolism and take his Bible and hit him on the head with it. It was the written word of God.
Three simple times. What happens? The devil leaves him. E.D. says this.
Diplomacy and argument, truce and armistice are of no avail. The keen, bright sword of the spirit must be unsheathed and lifted. It's not the time for diplomacy, not the time for treaty. It's not the time for armistice.
It's not the time for sitting in Geneva, exchanging chocolate and watches and discussing how we're going to be at peace with one another. No, you unsheath it. and you swing it at the enemy of your soul. The Word of God, prayerfully engaged.
The Sword and Prayer
Notice, above all, taking the shield of faith, verse 16, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, 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, being watchful to this end, with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. Look at the language Paul uses with prayer. You've got these defensive elements, you've got the offensive element, and they're all bathed in prayer. Look at how Paul describes prayer.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance. If you had to describe your prayer life, would the word perseverance indicate it? Is that really how we want to pray? We want to meet with God.
It's not a bad thing. We should want to meet with God. We want God to bless us. Not a bad thing.
We want God to bless us. But is perseverance a part of our prayer life? Even when we don't see results, even when it doesn't seem as if our prayers are getting out of our closet, Even when it doesn't seem as if the Lord is hearing, do we prayerfully consider Matthew six? And when you pray, go into your closet and your father who sees in secret will hear you.
Perseverance. You see, you might withstand in this evil day, there's going to be another one tomorrow. You may have faltered today. You confess it and you forsake it and you ask the Lord to relieve you or to forgive you and to strengthen you so that next day you'll be able to stand.
You need to persevere. These aren't haphazard. These aren't things that you just take once in a while. These are things, truth, righteousness, gospel, faith, salvation, the word of God you prayerfully engage in on a regular basis for the glory of God and for the good of your soul.
Application
Well, brethren, if we learn anything, we learn first the necessity to stand. Stand in the Lord and realize ultimately it is the Lord's battle. I think that's an encouragement as well. Paul describes the Christian life as a good fight.
Why is it a good fight? Because it's God's fight. Jesus has promised in Matthew 16, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. If there isn't, if that isn't an encouraging text to you, I don't know what is.
You take a group of believers and you say, I want you to build the church, does it always work out well? Really, does it? And how many churches does a city really need? Right.
The fact that Christ is building his church ought to engage us. It ought to stir us up. We ought to realize that the one we are called to be strong in, it is ultimately his battle. He has dealt the death blow at Calvary.
He has crushed the head of the seat of the serpent. We are engaged in some mop-up battles. We know how it ends. Christ is victorious.
Christ is triumphant. Christ is all in all. Christ is everything in this battle. Secondly, we need to come to this passage and realize there is a spiritual element engaged in our warfare.
There is a spiritual dimension behind the things that we see. Now, I know a man who came out of a Charismatic or Pentecostal church, and he said, we were casting demons out of tumbleweeds. We were praying that the demons of rain would not affect our car wash. Of course you can go hog wild and foolish.
Right? You see the devil in everything. With the reform, the problem might be we don't see the devil in anything. We don't see the spiritual element.
We don't see the spiritual dimension. We don't see the spiritual framework or context which casts us in dependence upon God Most High. So there is a spiritual warfare going on. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Paul's very language is beautiful. We don't wrestle against. Wrestle, fight, struggle. Did you sign up for a Christian life that would have no fight, no struggle, no wrestle?
You're in the wrong place. There's no such thing as a Christian life with no fight, no struggle, no wrestle. You're going to fight the world. You're going to fight the devil.
And more often than not, you're going to have to fight yourself and the inclinations of the heart. It's a fight. It's a struggle. It's a wrestle.
It's a battle. It means hand-to-hand combat. One of the things I noticed, you all knew Micah entered the Air Force. They've extended basic training.
They added dimension to it that they didn't have when I went through. You see these guys with these sticks with almost cushions on the end. They're sort of beating on each other with these sticks. I wish they would have had that when I went through.
That's the image of the apostle here. The Christian life is not take that hill, get your sniper rifle out and lay down, and when you see an enemy shooting. The Christian life is a stick. Not with cushions on the end, not wearing helmets and not wearing padding, where you're banging back and forth.
It's combat. It's close in. It's hand to hand. It's a struggle.
It's a wrestle. It's a fight. Again, just for a moment, supposing the devil isn't bothering you on a particular day. He's over at somebody else's house.
You still have a struggle. You still have a battle. You still have a wrestle because there's enough remaining corruption in your heart. Do you realize that when we do the right thing, pride is always there.
Do you realize that there is a self-righteous tendency in every one of us? Do you realize the tendency of your heart as a Christian to take credit for your salvation? You know, in the prophet Isaiah, a text we refer to often. When he says all our righteousness says are like filthy rags in your sight, have you ever pondered that he's not saying our adultery, our murder, our idolatry, our thievery.
He's saying when we go to the temple, when we offer sacrifice, when we obey the law of Moses, when we give attention to those things written for our admonition and for our instruction, those things that we do that on a given day, we would say those are righteous. We present them unto you and God, holy God. pure God, righteous God, unmingled God, looks upon those righteousnesses, he sees the offering, he sees the sacrifice, he sees external attention to the law of Moses, but he sees hearts that are divided. He sees hearts that are far from him. He sees hearts that may be, while the lips are singing the praise, the heart is in the parking lot.
That's what he says, our righteousness is our life. And I don't want to be offensive, but the Greek or the Hebrew language is it is like menstrual rags, used menstrual rags in your site. So Pastor Butler is trying to that's the prophet Isaiah. The best that we do when we present it to God needs to be cleansed in the blood.
Our repentance needs repenting of. Our holiness needs purification. Our righteousness needs a good dose of Calvary's fount. Everything we stand in need of is in Christ.
And then thirdly, I had alluded to the battle for truth. I want to read a quote from Thomas Brooks. We read it in our Bible study on Satan's devices, his statement concerning truth. It's disconcerting when you see and you have seen men that have held fast to the truth and then they depart from that truth.
They leave that truth. That's very disconcerting. It's difficult to see. I'm sure Paul felt something of that when he says all in Asia have turned to me.
He speaks in Second Timothy, chapter two of Hymenaeus and Philetus, who led many into shipwreck. teaching that the resurrection had already occurred. You can find hyper-preterism in the Bible. It's in 2 Timothy chapter 2. Thyminaeus and Phileas.
What did they do? They led many into shipwreck. You see, you deny the future, you're denying the past. You deny the future, you deny the present.
You say that Christ is not coming back bodily, you say He didn't go into that tomb bodily and rise again. Big problems with that. But men depart from the truth. Why is that?
Paul says from among you, Savage Wolves will rise up some of the Ephesian elders that he's addressing. He says you will rise up and try to get disciples to follow you. Paul saw that. And hence he leaves Timothy in Ephesus in First Timothy.
Charge them that they have no other doctrine. But says this all souls. Have you not found truth, sweetening your spirits and cheering your spirits and warming your spirits and raising your spirits and corroborating your spirits? Have you not found truth, a guide to lead you, a staff to uphold you, a cordial to strengthen you and a plaster to heal you?
And will you not hold fast the truth? Has not truth been your best friend in your worst days? Has not truth stood by you when friends have forsaken you? Has not truth done more for you than all the world could do against you?
And will you not hold fast the truth? Is not truth your right eye, without which you cannot see for Christ, and your right hand, without which you cannot do for Christ, and your right foot, without which you cannot walk with Christ? And will you not hold fast the truth? Oh, hold fast the truth in your judgments and understanding, in your wills and affections, in your profession and conversation.
You are better let go anything than true. You are better let go your honors and riches, your friends and pleasures and the world's favors. Yeah, your nearest and dearest relations. Yes, your very lives than to let go true.
O, keep the truth, and truth will make you safe and happy forever. Blessed are those souls that are kept by truth. It's a great endorsement for all that Paul says here in terms of us donning the whole armor of God. It's truth.
It's gospel. It's faith. It's salvation. It's righteousness.
That's what Christianity is all about.
Call to Faith in Christ
And finally, if you have not come to Christ, you certainly cannot engage in this battle. You don't engage the battle without having first come to Christ. You can't take these imperatives. You can't take these commands.
You can't gird your ways with truth. You can't put on the breastplate of righteousness. You can't shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. You can't take the shield of faith.
And you certainly can't put on the helmet of salvation if you're not a Christian. So, to try and take this and say, well, now I've got some tips and some principles on how to deal with the enemies in my life. No. You need blood.
The Bible says without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. That same Bible says the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. There is one to whom that blood pointed. It is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
You need Christ. You need to be washed. You need to be purified. You need to be justified.
You need to have him wash you, cleanse you, and that righteousness given to you. That's, that's of utmost importance. Can't put the helmet of salvation on if you're not a Christian. Can't put that breastplate of righteousness on if it hasn't been imputed to you.
You can't shod your feet with the gospel and the preparation of the gospel of peace if you're a stranger to the gospel of peace. My encouragement? My statement to you is to take the Bible, to take what God says concerning his son, specifically, that he lived a perfect life, that he died as a substitute and sacrificed at Calvary, and that he rose on the third day. You take that information, you take that data, and by the grace of God, believe it.
That's what makes a Christian to differ from a Muslim. That's what makes a Christian to differ from an atheist. It is the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Believe on him and you will be saved.
Beautiful. Believe on him and you will be saved. Believe now and you will be saved. That is the best news any man could ever tell you.
Believe and you'll be saved. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for its sufficiency and for its clarity for our lives. And I pray that you would help us to take these things to heart, help us to prayerfully consider them. And I pray that you would just forgive us for all of our sins and our transgression. that you would cause us to see the glory that we have and the glorious gospel that is ours by your grace. And we just pray that you would grant us the zeal to go and to don this armor, to stand in the evil day and to withstand the fiery darts of the tempter.
We just pray that you would watch over your people. We pray that you would grant us peace and help and strength and that you would just deal graciously with us. And for those who do not know you, We pray in a powerful act of your sovereign grace, you would open their hearts to receive the truth and to believe on Jesus for their salvation. We ask in his most blessed name.
Amen.