So once again the Lord's helped
to give me the ability to speak to you this morning. I would
like you to turn to Ephesians chapter 6 and the text you'll
find in verse 11. Put on the whole armour of God
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Those of you who were here last
week will remember that we looked at verse 10, finally my brethren
be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. And we noticed that it is the
Lord's strength and as the Apostle comes to the close of his letter
he writes to encourage the people of God who are reading the letter
to be strong in the Lord. they were not to rely on their
own strength or ability to accomplish the will of God in their lives
or to live out the Christian faith but they were to rest upon
the strength of God. God's strength we know is the
same strength by which we believe he founded or built the heavens
and the earth. It is an omnipotent strength
and it is seen in creation but his great strength we noticed
is seen in the salvation of people in bringing the Lord Jesus Christ
to this world to live that perfect and that spotless life that he
may die upon the cross that the sins of his people may be credited
to his account that he may pay their debt and so the great strength
of God is seen in that perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ
and it is that strength that is given to the people of God
to enable them to walk out the Christian pathway. It is a supernatural
strength that is outside of themselves. And as we go through church history,
we can see that there are many Christians that have been able
to do great things for the Lord. And it was not in their own ability
that they have done so, but it is in the strength of God that
gave them the ability to live out and to walk out the will
of God in their lives. And we notice that most and all
believers feel themselves to be weak and insignificant. We
notice the Apostle Paul that he felt himself to be weak and
the least of the apostles. And so no Christian is filled
with pride in their own self-ability, in their own self-confidence,
but they rest on a supernatural strength that gives them the
ability to accomplish that will of God. we need that strength
and we need that power to resist the oppositions that we have
and as the apostle goes on to explain to us that there are
there are oppositions from within, there is that two natures that
the born-again Christian has, there is that opposition from
without, the pull of the world and a temptation, and then there
is that spiritual opposition, that opposition of Satan which
seeks to lure and to trick and to trap people from following
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Christian pathway
is never set before us as a walk in the park, it is never set
before us as a holiday, it is set before us as a battleground,
it is set before us as a war by which we are heading to heaven. and this side of the grave we
are under constant warfare. We walk in a battleground. And the only peace which we get,
that full of peace, will be in our thoughts as faith lays hold
of the promises of God. But the ultimate peace will be
in heaven at last. And so Paul closes his letter
to the Ephesians with this image of a Roman soldier and saying
that this is the armour in which you Christians are going to need
if you're going to stand against the constant onslaughts of the
opposition and the enemy of our souls. So he says, finally brethren
be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on
the whole armour of God that you may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil. So why then does he say the whole armour
of God? Why do we need an armour? Why are we not given a onesie
or why are we not given shorts and T-shirt? Why are we not given
some joggers to walk on the Christian pathway? Why does it say take
the armour of God? because the Christian pathway
is not an easy pathway. The scripture tells us, the Lord
Jesus Christ tells us, it is through much trouble that you
are going to get into the kingdom of God. If they have persecuted
me, then they will also persecute you and so the armour is given
because of the type of lifestyle that we are going to have to
live. It is not a peacetime in the Christian faith it is a time
of war. If you remember in the book of
Samuel and we have King David as a young boy And as he comes to the camp of the Israelites,
he comes to visit his brothers and he sees Goliath coming out
of the Philistine army, challenging the Israeli army, the Jewish
army. And everybody is afraid because
of the size of Goliath and they all tremble. David believes that
he is able to fight against Goliath. In chapter 17 verse 33 it tells us there that Saul gave
him an armour and Saul said unto David that thou art not able
to go against this Philistine to fight with him for thou art
but a youth and he is a man of war from his youth. And David
said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there
came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock. And
I went after him, and smote him, or killed him, and delivered
him out of his mouth. And when he arose against me,
I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. thy
servants slew both the lion and the bear and this uncircumcised
Philistine shall be as one of them seeing he hath defied the
armies of the living God. Verse 38 and Saul armed David
with his armor and he put a helmet of brass upon his head and he
armed him with a coat of mail and David girded his sword upon
his armor and he said to go for he had not proved it. And David
said unto Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not proved
them. And David put them off. And we
know the story that he takes off Saul's armour that was too
big for him. And he goes in the strength of
the Lord with his sling and his shepherd's stick and his five
small stones. And he slays the giant that is
before him. And so David takes off the physical
armour and he relies then upon the spiritual armour of God,
that faith in God, in God's ability to direct the stone into the
forehead of Goliath. And so David was equipped with
an armour that wasn't suitable by man, yet he was equipped with
a spiritual armour that was suitable for the task that God had given
him to do, ultimately to slay Goliath and to become king of
Israel. so the armour that Christ gives
to his people is a suitable armour for the warfare that they are
in, for the type of lifestyle that they are going to be living,
for the battle by which they are to advance to the kingdom
of God. It is not It's not a decorative
armor it is an armor that is purposely made for the type of
war that is going to take place and they are to put on all of
it and not to leave any part of it. And it is suitable for
it must protect us from a violent and a difficult enemy. If you
were to see the soldiers in the Roman times, you've no doubt
seen them in books and in museums, they have a suitable armour for
the type of battle that they were going to face. In our own
day, the military have a suitable armor for the battles that they
face. And that armor is often evolving
to become better and better and better. They have bulletproof
vests, they have Keflar helmets, and they have military vehicles. And we look at the war in Russia
and Ukraine and we see that all the time their armour is evolving. And so the armour is specifically
designed for the particular battle that is taking place. And so
this armour then, it must be put on. And this shows us that
it is needed. That our own natural ability
and our own flesh is not suitable for the type of battle that we
are in. If you were to see a soldier walking out into the battlefield
with no armor on, you would think that he was stupid. You would
think he was either really proud or he had some mental condition
that caused him not to fear. As we know, that in war our flesh
is vulnerable to injury and to death. And so Jesus says that an armour must be worn because
in your own strength you're unable to resist the enemy that is against you. We read in Timothy if we turn to 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 12 Timothy
is told by Paul to fight the good fight of faith and to lay
hold of eternal life whereunto thou art called. and hath professed a good profession
before many witnesses. I charge thee in the sight of
God, who quickeneth all things, and before Jesus Christ, and
before Pontius Pilate, witness a good confession, that thou
keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable unto the appearing
of Jesus Christ. And so he charges him to fight
the good fight of faith. It is never set before us as
an easy pathway but it is set before us as a fight to overcome
the opposition and to persevere with the armour that God has
given us to fight with. In 2nd Timothy that we read together it says, now therefore endure
hardness as a good soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ. A good
soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ. No man that woreth or no man
who is in an army or is fighting in a battle entangles himself
with the affairs of this life that he may please him who has
chosen him to be a soldier. And so he's speaking to Timothy
and telling him that be a good soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Put on the whole armour of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't entangle
yourselves with the things of this world but fight as a soldier
of the Lord Jesus because he has chosen you. He has chosen
you. We know that believers, they
are chosen of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are his. They belong
to him. He has chosen them. He has died
for them. He has rose again for them. He
has saved them. They are brought into his army,
as it were. They are brought into his family.
They are brought into his sheepfold. And they've been taken from the
enemy. They've been taken from the kingdom
of darkness. Those who are born again will
acknowledge freely that they were once in the darkness. But
Christ worked in their heart and gave them light, gave them
an understanding of the knowledge of their sin and their need for
the Lord Jesus Christ. They were brought from nature's
darkness into his most marvellous light. And so they were chosen
by Christ. And so they're taken from the
enemy. And this is one of the reasons
why this armour is needed. Because we were once in the darkness,
in the kingdom of darkness, but we have been brought into the
kingdom of light and we are still walking through enemy land. We have, as it were, defected. We've gone from one army to another
army. We've gone from Satan's army
to the King's army, the Lord Jesus Christ's army. If any of
you watch the news over the last year or so, there's been a lot
about the occupation of Ukraine and many things that are going
on there. But there was one story that I was reminded of yesterday
of a Russian helicopter pilot He made a pact with Ukraine and
that he flew his helicopter over the border and landed it and
basically sold himself to the Ukrainian army for $500,000.
And as he landed his helicopter in the enemy land, in the Ukrainian
land, they killed his his comrades and they gave him the money.
He defected from the Russian army. They told him that he was
to live in Ukraine and they would be able to give him safety but
he didn't want that. He wanted to take the money and
he wanted to go to Spain and they gave him a new identity
and sent him to Spain and there he lived but he lived supposedly
in secret. Well you know Russia has its
people and he was known as a defector from the army and they wanted
vengeance upon him. He didn't stay there very long
before he was killed and driven over by somebody, but he was a defector from the
Russian army. And so Satan doesn't like defectors as we do not like
defectors. We have gone or the believer
has gone from one camp to the other camp and he will do all
in his power to cause us to turn from following the Lord Jesus
Christ and to allure us back to his ways. if he can bring
us to to if he can tempt us and lure us to draw us aside he will. as that Russian could not get
away from the Russian army, the Russian secret service. So the
Christian can never get away from the kingdom of darkness.
And Satan and his angels, they're always following him or her to
allure them, to bring shame upon the Lord Jesus Christ and to
defect back to the kingdom of darkness. We turn to Romans 13. It says in verse 12, the night
is far spent and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off
the works of darkness and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly as in the
day, not in rioting, in drunkenness, in chamberling or wantonness,
not envy, strife. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ
and make no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof. And there he tells us then, put
on the armour of light. The armour of light. Put on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Dress yourself. As he says, dress
yourself in the armour. Dress yourself in the light.
Dress yourself in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the armour ultimately
or primarily is the Lord Jesus. You cannot
wear this armour if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ. You
cannot walk in this armour if you are not following the Lord
Jesus Christ. In Hebrews he is spoken to us
of as the captain of our salvation. That he is the one who has gone
before and got the ultimate victory over sin, Satan and the world. Hebrews 2 from verse 9. It says,
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels
for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he
by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became
him for whom are all things and by whom are all things to bring
many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect
through suffering. And so Christ is set before us
as the captain of this great army and he has gone before and
he has gained the victory through his finished work upon the cross
but his followers, the Lord Jesus, his followers are still walking
through the enemy land. Ultimate victory is guaranteed
but they are still having to wander through enemy territory
to get to their desired haven. If you go to Isaiah 59 And verse 17 we have that prophecy
regarding the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, And he put on the garments of
vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak. And in chapter 61 verses 1 to
3 it tells us there of what that finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ granted to his people. spirit of the, or we can go from
verse three, to appoint unto them that mourn in zion to give
them beauty for ashes the oil of joy for mourning the garments
of praise and for the spirit of heaviness that they might
be called trees of righteousness and planting unto planting of
the Lord that he might be glorified. And so Christ gained the ultimate
victory by wearing the full armor of God that he might grant salvation
to his people, that they might be given the the beauty given to them, beautiful
ashes and the oil of joy for mourning. So that great exchange
takes place through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ
as he, the captain of their salvation, gained them victory over sin
and death and the grave. And so Jesus stood against Satan. and gave and completed that ultimate
victory. And so he wore the armour that
he gives to his people. We know that the armour begins
with truth. Stand there for verse 14, having
your loins girt about with truth. What did the Lord Jesus tell
us? He says, I am the truth. The scripture tells us that your
word is truth. so Christ was girt about with
truth we believe that he is the son of God he was God in the
flesh and so the one attribute of God is that he is of truth
that he can't lie and so the words that Christ spoke they
are the words of truth he's girt with a breastplate of righteousness
We know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the righteous. He had a perfect
and a sinless life. He was beloved of God. He was without sin and so he's
girt about with truth and he has a breastplate of righteousness. It goes on that his feet or the
shoes that he wears It is the preparation of the gospel of
peace. Our shoes are that which enable us to walk freely over
all types of terrain. And the Lord Jesus Christ walked
freely, proclaiming the gospel of peace, the good news of salvation,
which he came to bring about through his work, his life and
his death. And so he wore the very shoes
that we are to wear. as he takes the gospel into those
areas. It says about the shield, the shield of faith wherewith
ye may be able to quench the fiery darts of the devil. know that Christ suffered exceedingly
through his life. After he was baptized he was
taken into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. The
scripture tells us that he was tried and tested in all points
as we are yet without sin and he had the shield of faith to
being able to resist the fiery darts of Satan that Satan sought
to fire at him as he was there in the wilderness, as he was
there in his life, as he was there in the garden of Gethsemane,
as he was there upon the cross. Satan was opposing him and it
was faith in the ability of his father, faith in the will of
God, faith in God's ability to do all things that resisted those
darts of Satan and there is the helmet of salvation as we have
said that Christ is the captain of our salvation that he wore
that helmet he worked a salvation for his people. He made salvation possible. He accomplished salvation
for the lives of his people. It was a finished work that the
Lord Jesus Christ did and he held in his hand the sword of
the Spirit which is the Word of God. As we have said that
Christ spoke the truth As he came to Satan, when Satan opposed
him in the wilderness, he spoke the word of God. And he used
the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, to attack what was being laid before
him. And we know that Christ, as we
read through the scriptures about the Lord Jesus Christ, he was
praying always. And so he's set before us as
the captain of our salvation, wearing the armor which you and
I are to wear, setting that example that he set throughout his life,
praying always. Praying always with all prayer
and all supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and all supplication for the saints. And so this armour
is suitable for the warfare by which we are called to walk.
And it's to be put on daily. We are always to be ready. In the military they're always
to be ready. They're forever training. Their
bodies are to be in tip-top condition so that in any moment they can
be called to any part of the world to defend or to overtake,
to occupy or to bring about peace. They're always ready. Their armour
is always ready to be put on in preparation for that battle. so believers are to put on their
armour daily because their life is a lifelong walk with the Lord
Jesus Christ and therefore their life is a lifelong war, it is
a battle. If you think of those people
who join the military, a couple of brother-in-laws in the military,
there are certain things that they must consider before they
join up. It's not just a spontaneous decision,
or it might be, but they might be very disappointed. Someone
with wisdom will first consider that if I join the military,
there are going to be certain things expected of me. There
are going to be certain criterias that I'm going to have to meet. My life is never going to be
the same again. It's not like any other job.
As you join the military, you're signed up. You have to be trained
and you're owned almost for a period of time. And so your life will
never be the same. They expect sacrifice. You can't
say, well, I can't go to war because my wife's having a baby,
or one of my children is ill, or my car's broken down. They're
not interested. You're going to war and you've
got to go. And so you hand over your will,
your life to the military so that they can use you as they
see fit. And it's the same with following
the Lord Jesus Christ. You're in his army, in his military. He doesn't want any excuses as
to why we can't combat sin in this area or why we can't do
this or why we can't do that. He wants that we are in the army
of the Lord and we have put on that whole armour we are under
his authority he is the captain of our salvation we have entered
into his army and he is over us as the scripture tells us
he's the head of the church he is in charge he is what takes
everything is under his authority in the military it is it's a
hard life Not an easy life. Up very early in the morning,
training. People shouting at you, telling
you to do this and to do that. Saying that we're going there,
saying that we're going somewhere else and called up. Everything
is controlled and it's not an easy life. Yet there are blessings. There are benefits of being in
the military. And there are great benefits
of being in the army of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's set before
us. It's not an easy road. It's not an easy life. In the
battleground, the spiritual battleground of the Christian pathway, it's
not easy. And it's never set before us
as easy. Yet there are great blessings
to be had. Eternal life, the forgiveness
of sin, the joy of belonging to the church and the community,
the joy of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as your saviour, the joy
of knowing God as your father, the joy of knowing that he is
watching over all aspects of your life and taking care of
everything that takes place and knowing that his eye is upon
you. And it's hard for the military
because they might have to go to war. I don't think many soldiers or
many young men join hoping that they will go to war but it's
the reality of joining the military. It is a hard life and that you
might have to go to war. But with the Christian life it's
not you might have to go to war is that you will have to go to
war. No Christian life is free from
battle. We have the battle of our own
flesh with the old nature. We have the battle of the world
and the draw and the allure that it sets before us. And we have,
as Paul puts it, the wiles of the devil, the tricks of Satan. but there are those great rewards
and everything is given to help us in that battle. As a boy or
a girl joins the military they hand over, they sign on the dotted
line, everything that they need is given to them. They're granted
a weapon, they're granted a uniform, they're granted a helmet, boots,
socks, a place to stay, they are given food, everything that
they need for the military they are provided for. And everything
in the army of the Lord Jesus Christ is given and it's provided
free of charge. We know that salvation is a gift
of God. We are saved by grace, not of
works. And as we enter into that army,
we are given an armor and we are provided everything that
we need. But. The armor must be put on. A soldier
may be given all of the things, but if he fails to train, and
he gets fat, he gets unfit, it's down to him. And so as believers
we are to train, we've gone through it before, training there is
in prayer, training in the word of God, knowing Christ in fellowship
with the saints and as we do a battle day by day with sin Satan and the world. We are exercising
those gifts that has been given to us to overcome that opposition. And so it is a battleground,
but we are given the gifts and the weaponry needed to be able
to help us in that battle. The Holy Spirit, the scripture
tells us, is indwelling with, indwelling in each and every
Christian. And so the life of a Christian
is a battleground. It's also a life of sacrifice. It's also a life of obedience. A soldier cannot live as he wants
to live. All the while he's in the barracks,
he's subject to those in authority over him. He cannot do as he
pleases. He must do as he is told. an army must be uniformed and
disciplined to enable it to operate effectively. Which is why the
scripture refers to the church as the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is uniform, it works in accordance with one another,
it is knit together And so is the military. A good army is
knit together, it is uniform, it is obedient and it is disciplined. And so in the Christian life
there is a need for sacrifice and there is a need for obedience. In Luke chapter 14 there's the
very searching words of the Lord Jesus Christ in verse 26. It
tells us there if any man come unto me and hate not his father
and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yea
in his own life also he cannot be my disciple. In the book of
Matthew it says if we love our father and mother
more than Christ In other words we know that the scripture tells
us that we are to love our neighbours as ourselves and in our lives
there is to be honour and respect given to mother and father. So
it's not telling us that we're to hate and to not love our relatives
but it's to say that the love that we have to Christ must far
exceed the love that we have to those who we should be loving
anyway. And that would be the same in
the military. You can't say well I love my
mum I can't go to war. I love my dad so I can't do this
and I can't do that. There must be that separation. Obedience to the military must
supersede the natural love that is there. so it would be the
same with the Lord Jesus Christ. The love that we have to the
Lord Jesus Christ exceeds the love that we have to our natural relatives around about us and
so that sacrifice is to be made. If Christ calls you to be a missionary
there is that obedience that needs to take place and that
separation that needs to take place from family members and
they go forth into the different countries of this world and so
the love that we have to Christ causes us to be willing to sacrifice
and to obey. In the military you are either
in or you are out. They call us civilians or civvies
I think. We are not in the military. And
it's the same with the army of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are
either in or you are out. He can also be kicked out of
the army. I had a friend who was in the
army and one day he ran off. He came back to Eastbourne and
he stayed with his brother and he was AWOL, absent without leave.
Then he decided to go on holiday with some of his mates and when
he returned the military police were waiting for him. They met
him at the airport and they put him into the military police
custody and there he stayed. I'm not sure for how long. You
can be kicked out of the military. You are in or you are out or
you can be kicked out. And it's exactly the same as
the Christian church. You are in or you are out or
you can be kicked out. The scripture says that there
are reasons why people are kicked out of the church and there is
a procedure by which they are kicked out of the church. but
it's for ungodly behaviour. Behaviour that does not conform
to those who testify of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are not
wrestling against flesh and blood. Those who are still walking in
sin and not doing battle with Satan. And so it's a very searching
thing to or a serious thing to testify that I know Christ and
I'm in the army of the Lord Jesus Christ yet I keep defecting I
go from one camp to the other then back again and then again
and again and again and you're inconsistent in the darkness
in the light in the darkness in the light what sort of a soldier
are we? Are we putting on the whole armour
of God daily that we may be able to resist the tricks of Satan
or do we not bother putting on this armour and we're just allured
by Satan daily back to the kingdom of darkness to enjoy the pleasures
of this world. Timothy is told be a good soldier
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Fight the good fight of faith. And so the armour that we have
is not for decoration but it is needed. It used to be fashionable,
didn't it, to say, I'm a born again Christian. It was sort
of like a badge that one could wear. I'm fighting. But there is that true born-again
believer, that true Christianity that is a hard work that enables
someone to walk on the narrow way that leads to life, following
the captain of their salvation, the Lord Jesus. And the Bible
promises us that one day, although today
you may be carrying this armour, carrying this sword, One day
that armour can be put down. In the prophecy of Isaiah, speaking
about the children of Israel, they are told that they're in
the time of battle. The time will come when they
can put their armour down. Isaiah 2. And many people shall
go and say, come ye. And let us go up to the mountain
of the Lord, to the house of God of Jacob. And he will teach
us his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion
shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the
nations and shall rebuke many people. And they shall beat their
swords into plowshares, into plows, and their spears into
pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house
of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the light of the Lord. And so in that today we're speaking
about peace in Jerusalem, peace in Israel, but ultimately it
speaks of peace eternal peace in heaven at last. That day,
the day that the believer dies and enters into the kingdom of
God, that armour can be put down. The battle will be over and we'll
walk in heaven with the Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity
with eternal peace and and with eternal life. And there'll be
no need to daily pick up the armour, for the armour can be
laid down forever and ever. And so if today you feel that
you are fighting the battle, that you are in constant war,
then the scripture says press on. Keep pressing on, keep picking
up that armour that you may be able to stand against the tricks
of Satan, for one day, the day will come when you will meet
your Lord Jesus Christ and you will be with him forever and
ever and that the battle will be over. May the Lord add his
blessing. Amen. Our closing hymn is hymn number
176 from Hymns of Worship. Abide with me, fast falls the
eventide, the darkness deepens, Lord with me abide. When other
helpers fail and comforts flee, help of the helpless, O abide
with me. Hymn number 176 from Hymns of
Worship to the tune 758. ? Abide with me ? ? Fast falls
the invent time ? ? The darkness day burns ? When other helpers fail and comforts
flee, Thou of the helpless, O abide with me. As joys grow dim, may its glories
pass away, Change and decay, Thou who changest no, abide with
me. I need Thy presence every passing
hour. Thy grace can foil the tempter's
plan. Who, like Thyself, my guide and
stake can be? Through sunshine, sunshine, Lord,
abide with me. In my farm with the odd hunter-glass. Eels have no weight and there's
no baits on us. Where is the sting? I triumph still, if Thou abide
with me. Reveal Thyself before my closing
eyes. and point me to the skies, and
hold in praise, and as flame shadows flee, in life, in death,
O Lord, abide. Dear Lord and Almighty God, we
thank Thee for the armour of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank
Thee that it is suitable for day-to-day battle and we pray
that we may be equipped to be able to use it to resist the
oppositions, the enemy that is without us and within us. We
ask that we may be taken home in peace and safety and do return
us here this evening according to thy will. And now may the
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father,
with the fellowship and the communion of the Holy Spirit, to be with
us all now and forevermore. Amen.