Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to the portion we read, Ephesians
chapter 6, and reading from our text, verse 11. Put on the whole armour of God,
that he may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Ephesians 6 and verse 11, and
we have a very similar verse as the Apostle develops the teaching
of the need of armour and resisting the devil. In verse 13, wherefore
take unto you the whole armour of God. that ye may be able to
withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. And it is the whole armour of
God that is upon my spirit to speak to you on this evening.
Before we come and look at the individual parts of it, there
are several things that we may deduce from the word, from the
text, a very idea of the need of armour. And sometimes it is
good, rather than getting straight into the details, is to stand
back and to just look at what is being set before us here. Here are Ephesian believers. Here are those that have been
called and chosen and quickened and the apostle says in chapter
one that it is the same power that brought them to believe
as what was used to raise Christ from the dead. These are not
unbelievers that he is writing to. So what is evident as well
is that believers, true believers, they have a great adversary. And that adversary is not just
what they are able to see in flesh and blood, but they are
invisible adversaries, principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, of
the darkness of this world's spiritual wickedness in high
places. It leaves us in no doubt that
the Church of God is embattled here. She does have enemies. She does have those that seek,
if they can, to destroy her and attack her. What is evident as
well is that God has, in his word, set forth an armoury and
those things whereby the Church of God is able to resist that
evil and those enemies against her. This letter is not the only
letter that is written by the Apostle that addresses the idea
of armour. In his epistle to the Romans
and chapter 13, he says in verse 12, the night is fast spent,
the day is at hand, Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness
and let us put on the armour of light. And he speaks there
of the armour being an armour of light. Then we have in his
second epistle to the Corinthians and chapter 6 and verse 7, He
says, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour
of righteousness on the right hand and on the left. This is
the way that he was approving himself as a minister of God. And his armour there, the armour
of righteousness, which is also covered in the list before us
in Ephesians. And so then we have the idea
as well that a Christian, a believer, is not only to have or may have
made known that there is this armour, but it is to be taken
unto them. In verse 13, wherefore take unto
you the whole armour of God, that it could be the situation
like a person having armour but he doesn't put it on, he doesn't
take it to him, or he takes part of the armour and not the whole
armour and thinks that that would be sufficient in the day of battle. God tells us clearly here that
there can be a partial putting on of armour or there can be
a complete disregard of that armour. So there's the application. aspect as well. And so we have
these principles that are set before us here. We know from
the Word, we know from John 10 especially, that God's dear people
are safe. They are secure in his hand. But how the devil can annoy. What inroads he made with Job,
with Samson, with David. conquest, as it were, he made
and distresses over the people of God. Recovered? Yes, they did. But wounded? They were. And so we need, and
this is where it is set before us here as well, we need this
armour, we need it put on. God has seen fit in his holy,
inspired, infallible Word to give us a summary here, a list
of the armoury for a Christian, for the people of God. Put on
the whole armour of God that you may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil. I want to just look at two main
points this evening. Firstly, a Christian's enemies,
and then secondly, the Christian's armour. Firstly, his enemies. Our text is very explicit as
to what enemy is principally aimed at. Our text says that
he may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. That
is his deceits, his baits, his snares, his traps. When he comes in as an angel
of light, when he comes as Peter says, as a roaring lion seeking
whom he may devour. When he comes like he did to
David and Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number
Israel. That caused then the Lord to
chasten and to deal with Israel. The wives of Satan when he would
take Peter and put him into his sieve. The Lord says of Peter,
Satan hath desired to have you and to sift you as wheat, but
I prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. When he comes, as it
were, in an angel of light, speaking through one of the Lord's people,
like he did with Peter, one moment the Lord had heard from Peter's
lips Thou art the Christ, the Son of God. And the Lord said
to Peter, flesh and blood hath not revealed that unto thee,
but my Father which is in heaven. But then when our Lord started
to show his sufferings, his death, what he was to accomplish at
Calvary, then Peter says, be that not unto thee, Lord, be
that not unto thee. In other words, spare thyself,
don't go to the cross. But our Lord saw through it that
this was Satan speaking through Peter. What greater conquest
could Satan have if he could stop the seed of the woman from
bruising his head, if he could prevent Calvary, if he had caused
the Lord to spare himself and to not suffer and not be obedient
unto death. But here in the mouth of Peter,
so our Lord returns and speaks to Peter and rebukes, Satan,
get thee behind thee, me, Satan. Thou savest not the things that
be of God, but the things that be of men. Satan, we are clearly
told here, works As working in principalities, powers, rulers
of darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places, we little know
of what is going on in the background. We little know how many of the
troubles in our churches and the Christendom at this time
is that Satan is at the root of it. playing on people's pride,
dividing as a whisperer, separating chief brethren, and that this
is the adversary's work. And we are to be mindful of this.
Sometimes we lose sight of it and we just see the people, we
just see brethren, we think if only they would know, if only
we could convince them and turn them. But we don't realise of
the power that is behind it and what is moving them and stirring
up in the Church of God. He also works on our fallen nature. We're told that our heart is
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know
it? And Satan plays on that. He uses
the world that is all round about us and lays his baits. so that we take up with those
banes. But it is principally when he
comes in, whether Satan himself or whether through false brethren,
we are told by the Lord, by our Lord, that there must needs be
heresies among you, that they that are head might be, or they
that are approved might be made manifest. heresies, vital truth
denied, real error, not unimportant things, and yet in the midst
of the church. We read in the letters in Revelation
that they had those that held error, and other churches they
held those that taught error, and it was allowed to go on in
the church of God. in the very place where truth
was to be set forth, error was being set forth, the very place
where the people of God should be safe from attacks that were
being attacked, maybe through those that were professed brethren,
undermining and destroying the faith of the young in the way. It's especially where the enemy
comes in, and he contradicts the gospel, accuses a believer
as if he was not in Christ but under the law, brings him under
the law again, undermines the sufficiency of the precious blood
shed at Calvary, undermines the teaching of the mercy of God,
undermines the strength of God's love, the strength of the promises
of God. All the promises of God are yea
and amen in Christ Jesus. When he takes away or seeks to
take away or blind us to the blessing of imputed righteousness
of Christ and points us again to try and rest in our own righteousness,
it is when he unpicks the gospel. If he cannot destroy and could
not destroy what Christ did at Calvary, then he would seek to
intercept the message of the gospel and that he will make
it like he did with the Galatians, to be given to them by false
brethren, bring them again to be circumcised, again under the
law, fallen from grace, again into bondage. And this is what
Satan will try and do. May we be very aware of this
because it has the appearance of being righteous and good.
Yes, we know that he will tempt us to do physical and mental
acts of sin and evil, unholiness, ungodliness. But what Satan will
do, he'll tempt us to do those. He'll bring us to fall. He'll
bring us in as guilty, and then He'll turn around and He'll say,
now look what you've done. There's no hope for you. You
were a professed Christian. You made out you were saved,
and now look what you've done. And He will fail to say what
is set before us in 1 John, chapter 1. If we confess our sins, He
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us.
from all unrighteousness. He fails to say that if we say
that we have no sin, the truth is not in us and we lie. And
if we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar. Satan, he will distort the truth
of God. He'll try and use it and bring
before us those things like he did even with our Lord. telling
him to cast himself down from the pinnacle of the temple because
the Word of God says the angels would bear him up in their arms,
lest he dash his foot against a stone. But the Lord then rebuffed
that with, it is written again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord
thy God. But if our Lord was tempted in
that way, with Satan taking some of the sacred holy word of God,
wrongly applying it and using it as an incentive to act is
not surprising that there will be those in the church of God,
those of God's people that are left to fall in this way, thinking
that they are doing the will of God, thinking that they are
walking according to the word, but because they do not compare
scripture with scripture, because they do not pay heed to the armoury
here, then they fall in that way and fall into Satan's traps. And so, the enemy especially,
we should always view where there is an attack against the Gospel
teaching and bringing back to the law, back to where there
is no hope. There is no hope out of Christ. There's no hope for a sinner
in his own works, his own righteousness. It is all of grace. It is all
of mercy. It is all of the good will and
love of God. It is not of us. Salvation is
of God. And the attacks will be principally
against that, to take the people of God off their rock, off their
God, away from salvation. And yes, he will also lead them
to sin that grace might abound and to walk in unholy ways. But principally, he will attack
the very essence of the gospel. And of course, the gospel does
not lead to licentiousness. It leads to be ye holy as I am
holy, and the desire, as the apostle said, when I would do
good, evil is present with me. But he would do good, and the
evil that he would not. There was evil that he would
not, and yet he still did it. But this is where the gospel
comes in. For poor sinners that cannot
do what they want to do, and they do what they don't want
to do, There's mercy, there's forgiveness, there's deliverance. And so I do want to emphasise
this because the armoury that is here is specifically aimed
at combating the way the enemy attacks a Christian's hope, attacks
that which is really standing for heaven. And if he can get
him off that hope, If he can get him onto something else,
then he's achieved his end. And so this is the reason why
I want to be very clear in this first point of the enemy, the
adversary. Our text is very clear in both
verses 11 and also 13, that the devil is set forth, the evil
day is set forth, Satan is set forth more than a match for us
naturally. We need the armour of God, no,
the whole armour of God. So I want to then look secondly,
briefly, at each point of this armour. There's seven aspects
of the armour of God that's set before us here. The first is in verse 14, and
the introduction is that we are to stand therefore, having done
all to stand. In other words, not lose ground. Under these attacks, we're not
thinking, as it were, of gaining ground, but not losing ground. There's no armor for the back. All what is spoken of here is
aimed at the front, not for the back. We are not to turn and
run as it were, but to stand and to fight. So the first one
in verse 14 is having your loins girt about with truth. Now, we think of the girding
up, it gathers in and especially in the nations where we're talking
of here with the robes and their clothing, they needed to have
a girdle that bound all together. And when we have the idea of
loins, the loins of course is the strength of a man as well,
but bringing all of his armour in together, not flapping loosely,
not carelessly, but all kept close together and it is here
described as girt about with truth. In the word we read of
those that are tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine
and put in the illustration that's here is like having the armoury
or the clothes all just flapping loosely about with no clear,
distinctive truths that hold us fast. The idea of here stand,
therefore, is very different from one tossed about with every
wind of doctrine. It is the truth is very firm,
very structured, it all fits together, is not just random
separate statements that don't actually all fit and knit together. The whole truth of God, one point
depends on another point, they're all working together. And that is important too. to
realise we don't have in the Word of God just a whole lot
of scattered truths and no cohesion in bringing them all together.
They are one truth of God, one plan of salvation. And so in this way, this is the
first thing the Lord said to those that believed He said to
them, that if ye continue in my word, then ye shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free. Pilate asked the Lord,
what is truth? But here our loins are to be
girt about with truth, and then we will not be tossed about with
every wind of doctrine. The second piece of armour is
to have on the breastplate of righteousness, to guard the heart. The righteousness that is the
saints is the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Jeremiah
we read, this is the name wherewith he shall be called the Lord our
righteousness, that is Christ. And then later on in the same
book, this is the name wherewith she shall be called the Lord
our righteousness. The Church of God has the same
surname. Their righteousness says our
Lord is of me. and that we are to hold fast
too. When Satan comes in and he accuses
us of our life, our conduct, our sins, when he shows us our
unfitness to stand before God, we may clearly tell him that
God never ordained that sinful man should ever be able to stand
before Him in his own righteousness. The word of God is very clear
that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. The apostle,
in writing to the Romans, he says that they were ignorant
of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own. If we have the breastplate of
righteousness on, we are not going about to establish our
own. we are going about holding fast
that the Lord Jesus Christ is our righteousness. What does
that mean? It means that Christ's life from
first to last on this earth was lived in perfect obedience to
his father, even obedient unto death, the death of the cross,
and that that obedience is imputed or put to the account of God's
people, so that it is he instead of them that is seen when they
approach to God. The righteousness of Christ does
not put away sin. It is the blood of Christ alone
that atones for and takes away sin and without the shedding
of blood there is no remission It is the blood that makes the
atonement for the soul, not the righteousness covering a sinner
in that way. But it is to make him so that
he can stand before God. If we were to stand before God
and we'd say, but my sins are all put away. And then it was
asked, yes, but what about your life? And if all we could do was to
point to our life, how ashamed we would be. But when we could
point to Christ's life and say, there is my righteousness, that
is the answer. And Satan can have nothing to
say against that. And that is acceptable to God. And so that is the armory, the
breastplate to guard the heart. It is the righteousness of Christ
that is our standing before God. Then we have, thirdly, our feet. Our feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace. This is one of those texts that
I often think of, or what of this word that could possibly
be taken out, your feet shod with the gospel of peace. But it says the preparation of
the gospel of peace, not just the gospel of peace. And there's
two thoughts that I put before you in this regard. One is that
the preparation of the gospel goes right back for eternity. Now I have loved thee with an
everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
thee. And we are chosen in Christ from
the foundation of the world. Those counsels of God are eternal
counsels. And in all of the types and all
of the shadows and all of the promises, there is a preparation
of the gospel of peace. John the Baptist coming, he went
to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And so in that
sense, when our feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel
of peace, we have an armoury that says this is not something
that has just come up today. This is not something that God
has just devised today. This is what Adam and Eve and
Abel and Enoch and all the saints, they had that trust in this,
even thousands of years before Christ literally came, because
he was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, already
appointed, already ordained to it. And in these gospel days,
we can say, All of these types and shadows, they are brought
to pass. Christ has come. He has suffered. He has bled. He has risen again. And so when our feet are shot
in that way, when we walk in the footsteps of the flock, when
we walk with the midst of the long cloud of witnesses of Hebrews
11, then we walk in the footsteps of those who walked in the gospel,
the preparation of the gospel of peace. Abraham saw my day
and he rejoiced at him. It's not something that does
just have a shallow foundation, there's a great depth to it. The other aspect is this. I know we said that this letter
is to the Ephesians who were believers, but Even as they were
believers, they were still being taught. Paul in the first chapter
would have them know the power that made them believers. He's
teaching them through these chapters. And as he teaches them, then
they have the blessings of the peace of the gospel in their
hearts. And you know when you think of
when the Lord begins to work. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. And this
armoury will turn around to the accuser of the brethren and say,
despise not the day of small things. The Lord is the author
and finisher of faith. He has given me life. He has
given me light. He has begun at work. Yes, you
accuse me I don't yet have the peace and assurance of God in
my soul. I don't have yet the comforts
that I long for and I seek after. But I do have the preparations
of the gospel of peace. I do have conviction of sin. I do have an ear to what the
Spirit saith unto the churches. I do have the fear of God. I
do have a love to the people of God. I do have those things
that have the marks of accompanying salvation. And it's good for
us to remember that. Sometimes when I, years ago,
I used to be very discouraged in the psalms. I'd start to read
a psalm and I think, I can really go along with the psalmist here. I feel like he did, and he speaks
my language. And then a few verses later,
he leaves me behind, and he comes into a favourable state of soul. And I thought, well, that's not
me then. And I didn't think, well, I'm
in the first part of the psalm. In the Lord's time and way, he
will bring me into the latter part, the psalmist. He went from
one to the other, and the Lord will do the same for me. And
so it is not our feet just shod with the gospel of peace, but
in what leads up to that peace. The blessings the Lord gives
along the way to that time that then the peace of God is known
and felt in the song. Then we have in the fourth place
the shield of faith. This is in verse 16. And this
is prefaced by the words, above all, above all, above everything else, taking
the shield of faith. And this, we're told very specifically
how that this shield is to be used. wherewith ye shall be able
to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." Of the wicked. You know, the wicked have so
many things to say against Christianity. They ridicule it, they mock it,
they pull it to pieces. But we're told that all men do
not have faith, and without faith it is impossible to please God. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. And faith is that which sees
what the eye does not see. Faith is what holds fast to the
word of God, It believes the word of God, it understands how
the world was created out of nothing and God made the world. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. And we read of those that even
the word of God did not profit them because it was not mixed
with faith in them that heard it. And when we have so much
opposition against the Word, against our faith, against the
teaching of the doctrines of the Gospel, then this is the
shield. This is the shield. Be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. What a description
it is of them. Fiery darts of the wicked. The
mocking. that which our Lord had, the
contradiction of sinners against himself, those things that we
also shall hear from men, pulling apart the word of God, undermining
it, ridiculing it, mocking it, deriding it, teaching contrary
to it, the fiery darts of the wicked. Really, not only does
this Word give the armoury. It clearly sets forth what we
are to expect from the wicked, from the enemy. Then we have in the fifth place,
the helmet of salvation. The helmet is to be used for
the head. Take the helmet of salvation
Salvation is the deliverance from hell and it's a deliverance
to heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
God of salvation and we have that set forth in Psalm 68. Our God is the God of salvation. If Satan could undermine or destroy the head
of the Church of God, then he would destroy the Church of God. The Church of God does not have
the Pope as the head, it does not have the Queen of England
as the head, it has Christ as its head. And the Word of God is very clear,
in, shall we say, guarding the head. The Apostle Paul, he would
determine to know nothing among men save Jesus Christ and him
crucified. And we have John in his epistles
writing to them and warning of those things, those attacks,
especially against Christ. In his second epistle, he says,
there are many deceivers are entered into the world who confess
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver
and an antichrist. Whosoever transgresseth and abided
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. And it is so emphasised, if there
come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him
not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. For he that
biddeth him Godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds. Now there
are some denominations, some cults, that openly fight against
the idea of the Trinity and the idea that the Lord Jesus Christ
is the true God. And yet the word of God is very
clear. This is the true God. This is. John, in his epistle,
he says this forth in At the end of the epistle, we know that
the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that
we may know Him that is true and we are in Him that is true
even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal
life. Solomon, he says, but will God
in very deed dwell upon the earth? The very word Immanuel is God
with us. And Job says, I know that my
Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon
the earth. If ye have seen me, ye have seen
my Father also, said our Lord. I and my Father are one. And
the Jews were in no doubt of what he was saying. They said
that thou being a man, Make thyself God. Our Lord never turned and
said to them, no, I don't. I never claim to be God. He didn't
say that. He was God that made himself
man, not the other way around. But he is the true God, truly
God and truly man. And he then is the head of the
Church of God, the firstborn among many brethren. It is absolutely
vital in the Christian warfare that that helmet, that protection
of the head is taken especially. Those are true heresies that
fight against the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said, because
I live, ye shall live also. if they're able to destroy him. You know, what he accomplished
at Calvary really was typified in the battle between David and
Goliath. Goliath, in effect, set the terms
on it. It doesn't need that the whole
armies fight. If I prevail, then Israel shall
be my servants. If Israel If the man you send
prevails, then Israel shall be our servants. And David prevailed,
and David cut the head off of Goliath. Goliath was killed,
but Israel's head. I come, says David, in the name
of the Lord, the God whom thou hast defied. In all the attacks
of Satan, May we truly have that helmet that protects that our
salvation is of the Lord. That is what Jonah said in the
whale's belly. Salvation is of the Lord. And the Lord spake unto the fish
and he vomited him out onto dry land. And our Lord said, as Jonah
was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, so
shall the Son of Man be three days. and three nights in the
heart of the earth, as Jonah was in the fish, in the heart
of the fish, so it should be with the Son of Man. And so may
we truly take this helmet of salvation, this precious truth,
the Church of God has a head. It has a bridegroom. The Church
of God is secure. and every blessing flows down
to the Church through Christ. And then we have in the sixth
place, the sword, the sword of the Spirit, which we are very
clearly told is the Word of God. As a sharp, two-edged sword,
dividing asunder even to the joints and marrow, thoughts and
intents of the heart. Yea, a sword shall pierce through
thine own soul also, it was said of Mary. The word of the Lord
is not only used in conversion, is not only used in the blessing
of the people of God, it is used, as already we have referred to
by our Lord, to combat Satan. And Satan may try and use the
word, but when we compare Scripture with Scripture, it is the sword
of the Spirit. The sword of the Spirit, because
the Word of God is the inspired, infallible Word of God. It's
not the Word of man. We're to hold very fast to that. Don't let anyone take that sword
from your by saying that that's just Paul, or that it is not
part of the Word of God, or that is a wrong translation, or a
wrong rendering, or some way to undermine and take away the
authority of the Word of God. Every Word of God is pure. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable. And the psalmist, he left no
doubt what that word was. He says, thy word have I hid
in my heart that I might not sin against thee. And so it is the word, as Paul
says in Romans 10, the word that we preach is the word of the
gospel. And that is taken the sword of
the spirit is taken by the ministers of the Gospel. Our command is
preach the Word, not preach man's thoughts. Though the Word is
applicable to us in our lives and we bring forth the experience
of that Word, yet we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the
Lord. And it is the Word of God that
has the authority and the power And so this then is the six,
the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The last is prayer. Praying always. You know, there's
three parts that are set before us here is praying. So what a
weapon is prayer, we've sung of it. Prayer is a weapon for
the feeble. Weakest souls, they wield it
best. Man speaking to God through the
Lord Jesus Christ. But they're not just praying,
it's praying always. Constant prayer. And they're
not only always, it is with all prayer and supplication in the
Spirit, not just some of it. When it is in the Spirit, it's
not, as James says, to consume it upon our lusts. It is praying
according to the Word of God. We read in Psalm 37, delight
thyself in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine
heart. If we are delighting in the Lord,
then our prayers will reflect that, and we'll rise up against
sin, we'll hate the inroads of Satan, we'll hate those things
that come against the Word, we'll cry out against them. And so
there's a watching, watching unto prayer, not just for ourselves,
but for all saints. So we have here the complete
armour, a summary of it, bringing it all together, the whole armour
of God, for a child of God. And you know, you and I will
need it. Sometimes I feel, and I would
fall under it myself, that we don't use it. We just wilts. We just give up. We just be discouraged
because there's an enemy and we don't think here is an opportunity
to take the armour given to us. Wherefore take unto you the whole
armour of God. Or in the words of our text,
put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil. We could turn the text and put
it this way. If we do not put on the whole
armour of God, we will not be able to stand against the wiles
of the devil. The Lord has so given us in this
inspired word of God that which we are to use and which is assured
here that we will be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. May the Lord help us then to
pay heed to it, heed to every aspect of it, bearing in mind
it is not just put on some, but the whole armour of God, and
that the Lord would make this word a blessing to us and help
to us, and that we might truly walk in the joy of the Lord and
be able to repel these darts of the wicked and of the attacks
of the devil. Put on the whole armour of God
that he may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. The Lord at his blessing. Amen.