Stand Firm Where the Battles Rage

Transcript

GRM 1225
Stand Firm Where the Battles Rage
09/15/2019
Ephesians 6:10-20
Gil Rugh

Well, I wonder if you have a thought of where we’re going today in our study. Its not Ecclesiastes, we will get back to Ecclesiastes, probably be a couple of weeks from now, three weeks from now my plan. I had thought maybe I would short-circuit some of the things that I had prepared as I was away, and then I couldn’t do it. So I want to direct you to Ephesians 6. And I appreciate the article on a little bit, of how the Lord worked in my life and the quote from Martin Luther in your newsletter in that last column there as they have shared my testimony.

“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”

That was quoted in Francis Schaffer and that’s crucial for us as believers. We can talk a lot about the Word, we can encourage one another, but if we ignore where the battle is raging and avoid that, become delicate about that, we become unfaithful. There’s always that intimidation that comes. Well, people may misunderstand, they may question the motive in it. And we do want to be careful and honor the Lord in what we do but we honor Him by being faithful. It wasn’t the prophet’s ministry through the Old Testament to speak nice things at nice times to nice people. Its important that the word of God speak to us where we are and to the situations we are in, and that is a burden of mine to this day.

We’re in Ephesians chapter 6 together today, and we’re going to talk about the warfare in battle that we are in and how we prepare for it and how we stand firm through it. I talked a little bit in our previous study about some of the situations regarding the church and concerns, and I’m concerned for myself, for our church, that we are characterized by standing firm. You know our faithfulness is tested in the conflict. Its easy to talk nice and be bold in our speech but when the battle’s engaged there are too many casualties, there are too many deserters. And that’s the way Paul spoke about it as he was in his imprisonment. He said, “All those who are in Asia have abandoned me.” He had also talked about Demas who at one time was a faithful worker with Paul, “He deserted me.” Something happens under the pressure and in the conflict and we want to be those who are standing firm.

That’s what Paul is encouraging the Ephesians and you know when he said all those who are in Asia have abandoned me, none stood with me. You know where the church at Ephesus was located -- in Asia. This church comes to the fore a number of times. Paul addressed the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20, warned them, “From among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” Those elders had to be faithful in defending and protecting the flock. Paul would write two letters to Timothy, 1 and 2 Timothy. There we’re told that Paul left Timothy at Ephesus to help continue the work that Paul began there in getting that church solidified, but there’s a problem, there’s false teaching there’s unfaithfulness. It has to be dealt with.

Jesus Christ addressed a letter to the church in Revelation chapter 2, the first of the seven churches of Asia, and he tells the Ephesian church they’ve done well but they’ve left their first love. So its a prominent church and here we have this letter that Paul writes to the Ephesians in the Spirit of God (addressing it to the church at Ephesus) preserving it as a message to you and me and to the church today. Following the pattern of Paul’s letters, he began and through the first three chapters lays a solid doctrinal foundation. You know, sometimes we’re satisfied with somewhat of a superficial knowledge of the word of God. Its the bane of the church. People come and hear nice Bible talks with applications to life.

You know what Paul starts out talking about, the doctrine of election and predestination. That’s in the first chapter. You have to know something about the sovereignty of this God that we serve, the salvation He has provided, and the security of having been sealed by the Spirit in this salvation. Chapter 2 he talked about the wretched miserable condition that was ours before God intervened and brought us to salvation in Christ. We were literally dead spiritually, chapter 2 verse 1 says, “You were dead in your trespasses and sins.” Now often believers over time sort of flatten out and see themselves, “I never was that bad. I never would have done those kinds of things.” And God looks at our heart and says, “You were as bad as you could be, because you had a heart that’s deceived and desperately wicked above all things.” We don’t want to lose sight of that. He reminds them you were dead. “You walked under the power, authority and leadership of the devil himself,” He says in verse 2, “You walked according to the course of this world.” Look at the miserable wretched condition of the world. And we shake our heads and wonder what are they doing, how could it get like that. That’s where you would be, I would be, if it wasn’t for God’s grace. We’re no different.

He tells these Ephesians you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. That’s the devil, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. That’s what we were, sons of disobedience characterized by our disobedience to the Lord, and yet the marvel of it all is God’s grace. Even when we were dead, verse 5, in our transgressions we were made alive in Christ. And then those great verses, verses 8 and following, “For by grace you have been saved through faith that not of yourselves it’s the gift of God not as a result of works, and so none of us can boast.” Its the marvelous grace of God.

After going through the first three chapters and this great doctrine then he picks up chapter 4, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” Another great word for our salvation in the context of our salvation, the call of God, walk, conduct yourself now. So he lays the doctrinal foundation then he applies it in chapters 4, 5 and 6. Some people want to talk about always the application. I want something practical, I want something applicable to my life. Let’s start out with the doctrinal foundation. You understand about the doctrine of election don’t you, predestination, the sovereignty of God in salvation, what grace is? You know… Isn’t it enough I’m saved? No, you don’t tell God what’s enough. Can I say this with respect? Some people act like God is a windbag, He just talks because He’s filling in space. We don’t seriously grapple with the Word and submit ourselves to the Word and want to understand what God says. How do we honor Him? Why did He say it? Why is it there? Well, you know how it is. It’s not to put down other Christians or to be arrogant but you can sit and talk with Christians and you say, “What do you think about… well, I don’t know if I believe that or not.” What is exactly the truth of God?

I say all of this because chapter 5 opens up and says, “Therefore be imitators of God.” Does the standard get any higher than that? Be imitators of God. In other words, we have become the sons of God. Peter says we have become imitators of the Divine Nature. We haven’t become gods, we’re not deity, but we are God’s children. His character is now to be manifest in us, in our behavior, in our conduct. Verse 8 and this will tie into where we’re going in chapter 6. “You were formerly darkness…” That ties to what we read in chapter 2. We lived in the realm of the devil, spiritual darkness. “Now you are light in the Lord…” God is light, in Him is no darkness at all. We’ve been brought into the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ, and the light of the knowledge of God.

And what He has done for us in Christ has shone into our darkened hearts, by God’s grace we have been transformed. Now walk as children of light, conduct your life accordingly. You understand what that means; the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth -- the character of God manifest in us. Something happens, the danger… the Ephesians needed this, and we need it. God wouldn’t have put it in the Word if not. We come to chapter 6 and you note family things, we were in this in our previous study, husband and wife relationship, what God intended and intends for that as His people in that relationship. Some Christians just abandon that and throw it out the window.
This is not good advice this is God’s requirements. The conduct of children and parents need to know that. How can you be a godly person if you’re not raising your children in a godly manner? We adopt the thinking of the world and then we claim to be those in love with the Lord.

You come down to verse 10, really verses 10 to 20 wrap this epistle up. You’ll note verse 10 begins with “Finally…” let me pull this all together for you with a series of commands and the explanations that go with it, and the commands, let me mention them to you. You can mark them and then we’ll pick them up as we go through. Commands, imperatives, something God is saying is required of us, here’s what you must do. First, “be strong,” verse 10, “be strong in the Lord.” Verse 11, second command, “Put on,” “Put on the full armor.” Verse 13, “Therefore, take up,” another command, “take up the full armor.” Verse 14, “Stand firm.” Verse 17, “take.” Those are the commands.
That command in verse 17 covers down through verse 20. In verse 18, our English Bibles begin a new sentence but as you have it in the margin of your Bible, its another participle. Participles are used through this section to modify and elaborate on these commands so our participles in English are usually like our words with ing on the end, “praying” in that example in verse 19.

Now we pull this all together. You know its serious business. We are in a war, some Christians act like they’re on a vacation. And I’m not attacking vacations especially since I just got back from a long one they must be okay. But the war goes on wherever we are whatever we’re doing, and we individually and we as a church have to be always on guard. That’s what he talks about here, the spiritual warfare and if we don’t obey this when the battle is raging we have casualties, we have deserters. That’s what Paul faced, that’s what happens and the danger is the longer we’re believers, the longer the church functions, the more relaxed we can get about everything.

I grew up in the Vietnam days. It was pertinent to me because they had a draft in those days. You had to get a draft number and you might be drafted. I happened to be a ministerial student, that made me 4D. Just after pregnant women, I would go. You know I remember reading how the Viet Cong, and I’ve shared this, in those battles would work on defeating the Americans. They interviewed some of those and they said, “We never attacked them head on. We always waited them out. Sooner or later those soldiers would get tired or careless, decided they needed a break, lay down their guns, sit down and have a cup of coffee and a cigarette, and then when they were least expecting it we would go after them full force.” That’s sort of how the devil works and we get casual, we get indifferent, we get careless. So Paul’s addressing this, verse 10 of Ephesians 6.

Finally, let me wrap this up and pull it all together for you. “Be strong in the Lord.” Or literally, as Paul writes this and in the Greek… And with verbs you have voices, a passive voice, a middle voice. A passive voice means something is being done to you. We have the same thing in English although our words don’t manifest it with the same form. So you could translate this, ‘Be strengthened in the Lord.” This is something done to you by the Lord in your relationship with Him and His provision for you, for me. We are to be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of His might or in the might of His power. And you see it building up these words, we’ve got strength, might, power. We need not our strength, he doesn’t say, “Just strengthen yourself,” he says, “You be strengthened by the Lord with His might, His power.” This is a battle and a war going on beyond anything we can conduct in our own strength.

Now this might, power, strength of God… Come back to Ephesians chapter 1, Paul’s praise for the Ephesians. We pick up, (this is one of Paul’s long sentences) but we pick up with verse 18, “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.“ He wants to know that. That should become part of their lives. Just not facts on a page but this becomes the experiential part of their lives. It comes from knowledge of what God has revealed regarding his salvation, and verse 19, “what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” The power of God “toward us who believe… in accordance with the working of the strength of His might.”

You see power, strength, might, and then he elaborates, “that which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,” in heaven itself. That same power of God that worked in Christ to raise that body from the grave, and elevate Him to the right hand of the Father in heaven is the power of God available to us. There’s no excuse for casualties, there’s no excuse for deserters. God’s power is not diminished, its not weakened, we’re not doomed to failure, the devil is not too great an enemy. We serve the living God who has provided His power for us, and His Spirit who dwells in us, so that’s the context where we are.

Come back to Ephesians 6. Be strengthened in the Lord, in the strength of His might and the might of His power. That’s the command. There’s a second command that follows that up. We’re to be strengthened in the Lord. What does that involve? The second command… And now we change from the passive voice to the middle voice, and the middle voice means you do something to or for yourself and this is a personal responsibility. “Put on” for yourself “the full armor of God.” Here we are. I want God’s power, I want that power, that might, that strength to be at work in my life. “Put on” for yourself “the full armor of God,” and that’s what he’s going to do in this section. Show for us the seriousness of the battle, and the armor that must characterize us. And that metaphor of the armor will show the qualities of life that must be true of us, as the word of God is becoming part of us.
God’s power is at work in us in our development and you’ll note the emphasis. You put on the full armor of God so that you’ll be able to stand firm, the end of verse 13, “having done everything to stand firm.” And if that’s not enough then he gives a command, “Stand firm therefore.”

Something is wrong. I was visiting with a pastor a number of years ago who has a very fine ministry, very well known, and he said to me, “Gil, do you ever just want to quit?” I said, “Of course not, I’m spiritual.” No, I didn’t say that. He just went on, he says, “You know, teach the word, teach the word. We get into a battle. People haven’t learned anything. They just forget it all and do whatever, and that is a constant thing.” We want to be careful. The test comes when the battle comes. We all talk a good line, of course, yeah. You know, its like in school. You could brag, “Oh yeah, I can beat up anybody” and then one of the linemen from the football team says, “Hi, my name’s (anybody).” “Hi, ah, I was just talking about you. I just told them, anybody could beat up anybody.”

You know we brag a game and the battle comes. We look around and, like Paul, here I am a prisoner and everybody from Asia found something else to do, someplace else to go, and I was depending on Demas, as he relates, but he deserted, and he used the word for deserted. So “be strong in the Lord in the strength of His might. Put on for yourself the full armor of God.” Why? “So that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.” We forget, we get careless, we lose sight of the magnitude of the conflict we are in. We talk about things like the conflict of the ages. This is the battle, the battle between the devil and his forces and God and His people, His forces. It engulfs the angels as well as humans.

Paul’s concern for the church, they understand they’re involved in this battle, you cannot escape it. Every person ever born into the human race is part of this war, there are no neutral zones. Remember what Jesus said, “The one who is not for Me is against Me,” period. Who’s side are you on? That’s the question. Ah, I don’t take sides, I’m somewhat neutral. You are on a side just like we read already in Ephesians. Before we were born again what were we? We were following the course of this world under the authority and power of the devil himself. Jesus said to the religious leaders of His day, John chapter 8, “You’re of your father the devil. You desire to do his will.”
Its not neutral, you are on the devil’s side until by God’s grace you are transferred from darkness to light as we saw earlier, and that comes when by grace through faith you enter into God’s salvation. Recognizing your sin and guilt, recognizing Christ as the Savior and believing in Him. So we need the armor that God has provided, its the armor of God. This is God working in our lives. Obviously, these are not pieces of armor literally but Paul is a prisoner when he writes this. The letter to the Ephesians is one of what we call the prison epistles. Paul spent an extensive amount of time chained to a Roman soldier. He had time to analyze. The Roman soldiers were of course prolific in the empire but Paul got a close up view. And we need the full armor. Be careful, you only have certain pieces, the pieces that are lacking make you vulnerable, and you know where you’re vulnerable.

You know who knows where you’re vulnerable, the devil and he encourages us. You won’t need that piece and it’s not a big deal but he’s just setting us up. You put on the full armor so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes, the plans, the workings of the devil. He’s always working and always looking for a weak spot in us individually and in us as a church, so that he can attack at the weak spots. And you’re going to note here before we go further all the equipment that he’s going to talk about here is going to be defensive. He’s not going to be saying you need to be charging out and taking the territory of the devil.

You know what he’s going to be saying? Stand firm, the goal is to stand firm. And we’ve all seen pictures or movies where you have a military campaign or something and certain soldiers they’re assigned certain responsibility and this group is over here. And what do they say? You have to hold the line at all costs, you have to stand firm, prevent the enemy from breaking through. That’s the picture Paul’s presenting that individually and as a church, we must be prepared to stand firm. He’s not telling us go on the attack. You stand firm and then when it’s all said and done and the battle subsides we are found to have stood firm.

That’s the situation we’re in, put on the full armor of God so you will be able to stand firm against the plans, the schemes. Why is the devil always at work, always planning, always working, always looking for the weak spot, always setting us up and the church up where their defenses get lax, where they aren’t paying attention so he can go on the attack? And then he expands here before he picks this up because you’ll note he says in verse 11, “put on the full armor of God” and then verse 13 he’ll repeat the command, a different verb, but he says, “therefore, take up the full armor.” But he explains why the seriousness is -- the devil. You know its so common, we use that term and we know he’s a person but he says, our struggle, the battle we’re in, the war we’re fighting is not against flesh and blood. That doesn’t mean people aren’t involved in it but the people are just those empowered, enabled, and servants of the devil attacking the servants of God. But you understand it’s a battle on a greater scale than that; it’s not against flesh and blood.

I talked in our last study when we talked about neo-evangelicalism. I don’t understand how these men can make the mistake that they make. Carl F. H. Henry a brilliant man, he writes so much stuff that it seems like he understood the gospel and believed it. But then he thought if we could bring our intellect to the stage of the unbeliever, and demonstrate that we are just as scholarly as they are, and our arguments are better than theirs then we can win the day. That’s not where the battle really is, it’s a spiritual battle behind that. It’s not against flesh and blood and we all slide into it. We’ll sometimes have someone with a scientific background speak here. And we’ve all thought, boy, if they could just go down to the university and present that material, and show science really supports the biblical position. But you know what, that’s not the issue.

I’ve shared with you repeatedly, I’ll share again. John Whitcomb, who knew much about science and written about it, always told us in seminary the only apologetic for the unbeliever is the gospel. I don’t go out and talk about science and scientific facts because that’s not going to overwhelm the unbeliever or win them over. He’s blind, he’s dead; the only apologetic for him is the gospel. Some of these things are encouraging to us as believers, and a reminder of the truth of the word of God, but the issue is you’re dead. Well, let me tell you about how scholarly we are. (Knocking) Anybody there? No, this is a coffin, I’m dead, there’s no spiritual response. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. So don’t get lured into it, as well a battle of the minds, it’s not a battle of the minds. It’s more serious than that -- but against rulers, against the powers. These are spirit beings with authority and the power to do things. Against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Heaven itself is where this contest began, where it centers, this is a contest for heaven. Satan would like to usurp God’s place. He wants to be the object of worship, Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28. We’ve looked at that if you have been here for those times of study, this spiritual battle that engulfs heaven itself. Not that heaven is a threat but this is where this battle comes from, so I’m not capable with my puny mind, my puny abilities to do battle. It has its source and enabling power from heavenly beings. God in heaven provides for me as His child power and strength and might, but the devil provides his strength for his people and he cannot compete with God but God allows the battle to go on. That’s the battle we are involved in. We lose sight of that, we get caught up in our little interactions, and then things come up and it’s against the world forces of this darkness.

There is a cosmic war going on, sometimes portrayed in not biblical ways but in science fiction kinds of things. People grab onto it and… but there is a real one. In fact the word here world forces… its a compound word and the first word is kosmos and it’s the world powers. This is going on, on this level. The world forces of this darkness, spiritual darkness, Satan battling, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, lest the light of the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ should shine into that heart. You, the devil knows you. He knows you individually, his demons know you. You are the enemy, he targets you individually. Now the unbeliever, he belongs to the devil and the devil uses, misuses, and abuses. He is not in any way a gracious or loving ruler. He has one goal, to win the battle against God and it doesn’t matter how many of his followers are destroyed, but he knows who the believers are. Remember what Jesus said, “If they’ve hated Me they hate you.”

We can express that in the manifestation. We don’t make friends with the world, there’s no friendship between God and the devil. Now I’m not saying we have to be mean or unkind to unbelievers, but we don’t want to lose sight of what the issue is. We’re sometimes afraid to share the gospel with them because we’re afraid they’ll react negatively or won’t like us anymore. We know there’s a battle, it’s against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. You don’t think so, read the opening chapters of Job, the conflict that takes place in heaven itself in conversation between God and the devil. What happened when Jesus was tempted and what happens when He’s led out by the Spirit into the wilderness? Christ at the beginning of His public ministry, He’s without food for an extended period of time, He’s isolated, then the devil comes to Him and tempts Him and one of the things he says… What? Takes Him up and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world. He says, “I’ll tell you what, I’ve got a bargain, I’ll give them all to You, put them under Your authority if You will worship me.”

Of course, Christ cannot do that, but you see the goal. The audacity, the fearlessness in that sense of the devil to come to the Son of God, think he could lure Him away from faithfulness to His Father, to submit to the devil and then you could have all the kingdoms of the world and you don’t have to go to the cross to get them. We could have the kingdom now with You in charge under me. That’s the battle. “Therefore,” verse 13, “take up (for yourselves) the full armor of God,” another command. If you don’t have the full armor on you’re in disobedience to God. If I don’t have the full armor on I’m in disobedience to God. We tiptoe around this and have all kind of ways to excuse our disobedience and disregard for the scripture. The command is “Take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day.” Now every day is an evil day in one sense but he’s talking about, let’s win the battle.

Like I say, believers talk a good line but when the battle comes, we find some of those who talk so big don’t fight so strong. They’ve somehow disappeared into the woodwork so to speak or as Paul said they just flat out become deserters. So you’ll be able to resist, the devil’s watching for the time to give a full out charge to be as destructive as possible. He’s always working, the conflict is always there, but it’s not always on the same level of intensity. And you know the goal is you take up the full armor. That’s necessary so you can resist in the worst of times, in the heat of the greatest battle. That’s when we’re tested. Paul told the Corinthians there must be divisions among you so that those who pass the test can become evident. I don’t want to fail the test so that when everything is done at the end of verse 13, what? You’re standing firm, I’ve not been moved, I’ve not been bowled over.

I don’t watch a lot of sports but I was watching a professional football game with Marilyn. That’s sort of some of the personal cuddling things we do. But we were watching the football game and you’ve got this big lineman and he had been in the pro-bowl and that. But there was a play (and you know with the reruns I’m sure he loved it) this big lineman didn’t get his feet planted, and this guy from the other team just came in and bowled him over. And the next thing you know he’s just rolling over backwards and they keep playing that. And what did they say? You know, well, he didn’t get set, he wasn’t ready. Well, its another analogy and Paul uses the sports analogy here. When all’s said and done in the heat of the battle the dust settles down, you know what we ought to see, people in a church, they didn’t move, they held the line, the attacks of the devil weren’t sufficient. Why? Because they’d been strengthened by the power of God.

Well, I prayed to be empowered. Did you put on armor? “Therefore, take up the full armor of God.” God doesn’t say you’ll be able to stand without it. What is it? All right, we can move through it rather quickly but look at verse 14, command again, “Stand firm.” It’s not an option. If I abandon my position, if I allow myself to be run over, or if I just run home, I haven’t obeyed. The enemy can be intimidating; there are a lot of reasons not to stand. There are no excuses acceptable.

What are you going to do? Soldier is part of a line to stand, the battle comes and his place is empty. Well, I was hungry, I went out to get something to eat. Well, you know I get nervous when there are battles and there’s probably something to be said for both sides so I decided not to fight. There’s no excuse, “put on the full armor,” “stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth.” So you’re going to picture all these, but they’re really characteristics of God’s work in our life. They are subjective not objective, in other words when he says girded with truth he’s not talking about the objective truth of the word of God but the subjective truth. Taking it and making it part of us, absorbing it into our lives so that girded… that belt fit around the middle. And we’ve all seen pictures of the Roman soldier and that basic garment that he has that protects the lower part of his body and the thighs and also a place where sometimes other things you’ll need are girded.

That’s truth or truthfulness, in other words the truth that he’s presented, the truth that we claim to believe has become part of our life. I’m a truther; I not only have truth I believe; I’ll hear the objective word of God. I practice that truth; that’s what he talked about with that word walk. Walk as children of light, put the truth of God into practice in your life. If you don’t you will be vulnerable. That’s truth that absorbed. But, well, I want practical. Well, the practical is you put into practice the truth that we’re looking at. I mean, we’ve talked about some of that truth; he’s talked about how it’s implemented in a husband and wife relationship. The husband doesn’t love his wife as Christ loved the church, he’s not putting the truth that he claims to believe into practice. If a wife is not submissive to her husband in everything, she is not putting the truth in. If children aren’t obeying their parents and parents aren’t requiring that obedience they are not putting the truth into practice and on it goes. We talk about these things and then we act like they’re optional, then we realize we left off a piece of the armor. I constantly want to be looking at my life under the searchlight of scripture. And saying, “Is that truth part of me or is that just something I teach to you? Is that truth that characterizes my life?”

Girded with truth put on the breastplate of righteousness and that breastplate, we’re all familiar with the Roman soldiers, covering these vital organs, this part of the body. It’s righteousness that’s to characterize us. Remember back in chapter 5 verse 9, “for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness, and righteousness and truth.” Two things we’ve talked about, righteousness, now the breastplate, truth, the belt, the girdle around the waist. These are things that’s the fruit of the Light, that I’ve come into the light, the God that is light has brought me into His light. This now righteousness, am I a righteous person? We live in an unrighteous world. Then ask if the world around me is righteous, its not. Am I righteous, am I living out the righteousness that I have in Christ that now is to become the characteristic of my life?

That’s a protection, if that’s not, that makes you vulnerable, any area of inconsistency, of us not being sure. We talk about it, but we haven’t really decided, not really ready to submit that, we find reason not to. If my wife was the person she ought to be I would love her and if my husband was a loving husband I would obey, and then we find all kind of it goes on in other areas. We’ll wait a minute, we’re deciding not to wear certain parts of the armor. You think the devil doesn’t know what part is missing, where the weak spots are? Yeah, but I’ve been doing this awhile and nothing’s happened. You’re being setup. Truth, righteousness, verse 15, “having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” I take it what he is talking about here is first of all the peace that is ours in our heart. You know all these have the external and the internal. But he’s primarily talking about us putting this on now as believers, it’s becoming a characteristic of our life. “We have peace with God,” Romans 5:1 says, “through our Lord Jesus Christ.” But Philippians 4 says that we are to have the peace of God stand guard (he uses a military term) at our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.


The feet, you know, important to the Roman soldiers. You know we buy our shoes and boots according to what we’re going to do, and you know they have different soles for different things and they have it in athletics and they… But a Roman soldier had sandals. But Roman sandals for the Roman soldier, you know, they did something different with the soles of those, the underside, because it was important their feet don’t slip. Remember they’re in hand-to-hand combat. You know, its like trying to have a sword fight on ice, if you’re slipping all around your future’s not good. Well, they had to have soles of their shoes that would grip, so this is the peace of God.

If I don’t have the peace of God standing guard at my heart and mind in Christ Jesus, as Philippians 4 talks about, you know what, I’ll be uncertain, unsure. You know, I’m just not comfortable, I don’t… What’s wrong? Well, I don’t feel good about it. Well, find out if you’ve got false feelings or your feelings are telling you something true. We just muddle along. God’s peace is to stand guard, its a military term, that’s what he’s talking about, that’s like having your feet… If you’re unsettled on the inside, you’re fearful and afraid, it’s hard to be confident.

Marilyn and I used to ride the motorcycle. It never bothered me, never afraid. Got older and I started to think straighter. I just think at my age, “Do I want to end up in a hospital bed some place just because I rode a two-wheel bike?” Well, you know, you start thinking about things like that and then you get afraid, so we sold it. You know those kinds of things, a soldier going out, there’s a certain fear that’s good for you. I want to have a healthy fear of the devil. I respect him as Michael the archangel did as Jude talks about, so I have that kind of fear but I’m not have a fear he can defeat me. I have the fear he has the potential if I try to take him on myself. So that peace of God.

If I don’t have God’s peace in my heart, I have to stop and think what’s wrong. Lord, you are the God of peace, you promised Your peace would stand guard at my heart and mind. I need to get this resolved. As I sort through it, I may find out there are certain things that are detracting from that peace. I can’t be not doing what God would want me to do here and expect Him to give me His peace here. Am I putting the truth into practice here? Am I functioning in a righteous way here? Now we want to do a superficial evaluation. No, Lord I’m not at peace. Well, sometimes, we just jump on that and say, well, I’m not at peace then I’ll just go and do this. I don’t have peace in my heart so I’ll do that.

Wait a minute, wait a minute, let’s back up. Why don’t I have peace? Sometimes we compound our problem because we think since I don’t have peace I’ll do this. Now I’ve just compounded it because I did something else I shouldn’t do and we wonder what… Well, wait a minute. What about the truth? Does that permeate my life in every area, and the righteousness and then the peace? “Take up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” You know, he’s shooting at me, this is serious business. So the shield of faith and this is the big shield, the door shield we call it because it’s built from the word door. It’s just the word for door with an ending.

There was the other little round shield you see in the movies and they could put their arm through the belt on the back and hold it up. This is that door shield, it was about 4’ by 2½’. It was made by strips of wood then overlaid with things, leather and then sometimes put cotton in it so they could dip it in water when they went into battle, so when fiery arrows were shot it wouldn’t hit the shield and catch it on fire. Because if they caught fire that… you know, you’ve got a wooden shield and it’s got leather and it starts to burn and then you drop the shield. That’s right then you’re somewhat exposed, so you have the shield of faith.

You know obviously it started with our faith in Christ and faith in the word, but this is that personal trust in God, faith in Him through the day-by-day experiences of life. You know, the best preparation for tomorrow’s battle is to be what we ought to be today. Well, we excuse things today because you know I’ve got to get this part of my life corrected and fixed but I’ll do that tomorrow, but then tomorrow may be the biggest battle of your life. I’ve sometimes looked back and say, boy, the devil set me up. I knew I should have dealt with that, I knew I shouldn’t have been so careless about this. You know then he storms in. Are you walking by faith today? My full trust is in Him and His word and I have that confidence that comes. I’m putting the truth into practice, I’m living as a righteous person. His peace is standing guard over my life, I’m trusting God for whatever comes.

The devil may set up attacks that are intimidating, but greater is the One who is in you than the one who is in the world. He’s more than a match for my puny abilities, but he’s no match for the sovereign might and power of God. Take the helmet of salvation, that is understanding and knowing our salvation. Paul started out with the doctrine of election. Some people leave this church when I teach on the doctrine of election. You don’t want to know it! It’s knowing all about my salvation, past, present, and future. In another analogy like this in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 8 Paul calls it the helmet of the hope of our salvation focusing on the future dimension. I want to know the ins and outs and all about my salvation. Because what is more important? We’re talking about this in Romans the doctrine of the gospel of our salvation. I want to know about it, understand it that’s protection for me, so that I won’t be vulnerable.

The devil brings doubts in. Maybe you’re not secure. In the early days, as my testimony shares, we were in a group that believed you could lose your salvation. Every Sunday I was up at the altar praying, “Lord, give me one more chance. I’ll, never-never, ever-ever treat my brother that way again, unless he irritates me. Forgive me.” You know, I thought, “I’m lost.” I’d go to bed at night and say, “Oh Lord,” with the devil attacking. Why? I opened the door, I didn’t have the helmet of my salvation on, I didn’t have a firm knowledge of it, clarity. I think, oh, when I come to know more fully and understand my salvation.

“Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Some people say this is the only offensive element, but this is the short sword. There’s a word for that long, straight sword, you’d see. The words for prepositions here are often the word pros, which means “a face to face.” This is talking about personal contact, this is my defense as the devil comes at me. Like Christ in the temptation, where the devil tells Christ, “Doesn’t the Bible say, ‘throw yourself down from the temple and he’ll give His angels to carry you up?’ So let’s put that word to the test, jump off the temple and see if the angels catch you.” How did Jesus respond in each of them? To the temptation to rule, “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only. You shall not test the Lord your God.” We ought to be ready with the scripture.

One of the disheartening things and many of you as teachers experience it. You teach it and something comes up, it’s like that pastor, they didn’t learn anything. One of the most disappointing, discouraging things as a minister is in a battle, the war is being waged and people act like they didn’t learn anything. This is the opportunity to put it into practice, to stand firm so the sword of the Spirit, we defend ourselves as Christ did. The devil knows the Bible; I don’t have any question he could quote it from the first verse of Genesis to the last quote, and he wouldn’t have to have any help. And he throws it at us, and he knows exactly where and he catches us off guard. And we say, “Well, the Scripture says that… I don’t know.” I shouldn’t be confused, that’s what he is telling the Ephesians. You have the sword of the Spirit, that’s what you fight back with like Christ did in the temptation. And then in prayer, praying at all times and you pray with perseverance, and petition for the other saints, for those who are standing with you. Lord, I want your grace to strengthen them that they’ll stand firm. Because you know what happens? For those who don’t stand firm we’re weakened.

We find opportunities for the devil and then other people. We’re like an army that gets into disarray, and when the army is put into disarray then its crushing defeat. It ought not to happen among God’s people. When the battle comes is not the time to decide, well, let’s see, if I put on the armor… Its too late. I guess I run. Remember in the Old Testament, occasions where the army got scared and it said they left all their weapons and all their things. Because what? I’ve just got to get out of here, and we run. So we need the armor, its a serious thing, you as an individual believer are in a battle.

You think, well, I’m just nobody, the devil’s not going to bother with me. I’m just a pastor in Nebraska. There are a lot of places where pastors and preachers have more influence. I’m sure I’m not that big a deal, he’s got things to do, I’m just a believer that serves in this way. You know, when it comes to the battle everyone is important. My dad was in the Navy in World War II, and he told me what his job was on the ship and, you know, he says everybody had to be ready. When the battle comes you knew your place and you stood at your place. It doesn’t matter how much the battle raged, how much… You had a place, you had a job, you do it, and its like that in other things. You watch the athletics, the quarterback doesn’t decide that he’ll be the running back. He’s this, he doesn’t decide. What’s the church miss?

All of a sudden, people who never thought that they should be the elders, decide they ought to make the decision of the elders. Who cares that God says Christ is the Chief Shepherd and he appoints the under shepherds. It doesn’t apply here, and it doesn’t apply in my relation with my wife, it doesn’t apply with my husband, it doesn’t apply here. Now wait a minute, who said it doesn’t apply here? What’s God saying? Put on the armor, evaluate yourself. Am I strong here? The devil putting doubts in my mind in the areas of the implementation of truth here. Am I beginning to accept things in my life that I know with the light of scripture are not righteous? But nobody’s perfect, and on this I want to work through. Do you have the full armor on? You know, we forget. We get in the battle and we act like its just disagreement among people. There are spiritual forces at work. I don’t want to miss my opportunities to stand. You know, I don’t know what battles, the big battles, the little one. So the best preparation: I want to be prepared to stand every day, you need to prepare to stand every day. You know the best preparation for standing tomorrow is being fully armored, standing firm today. I don’t know what tomorrow brings. Ecclesiastes tells us we don’t have any control over it, we can’t determine it, but I can determine today I will stand firm fully armored. And tomorrow when I get up that’ll be another day to make sure I’m fully armored, standing firm, then the Lord’s strength will be sufficient for whatever comes.

Let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for the riches of Your word. Lord, the wonder of it is Your patience, Your love, and Your provision for us. We want to individually and as a church to realize the seriousness of the warfare in which each of us are involved, and Lord, for us as believers we want to stand firm. We want that to characterize us whatever the battle may be, whenever it comes, whatever form it comes. We are prepared because we have Your strength, Your power, Your might because we have fulfilled our responsibility. We have put on the complete armor You provide so that we can stand firm. Bless this day. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

2