So you can once again, the Lord's
help, I'd like us to turn together to the chapter that we have been
considering over the past weeks of the armour of God, Ephesians
chapter six, and the text you'll find in verse 15. And your feet
shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. We've seen over the past weeks
that there is an armour that is given to those who are following
the Lord Jesus Christ. As the Apostle writes to Timothy,
he says, be a good soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we
found that Now that soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ is one
who has been taken from the kingdom of darkness and brought into
the kingdom of light, been brought onto the narrow way that leads
to life. He has no strength or ability of his own but he is
given the power of God and the strength of God. the strength in the Lord and
in the power of his might and he's to put on this armour that
is given to him by the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Lord's armour
and we notice that that is the case with every military. that
everything that they need is provided for as they sign up,
they are provided with their clothing, their armour, their
weaponry, even their food and so it is with those who are brought
into union with the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into fellowship
with the Lord Jesus they are brought into this army and they
are provided everything that they need. They are warned about
their enemy. The scripture tells us that we
are to put on the whole armour of God because of the tricks
of Satan and the spiritual enemy that we have. And it is an enemy
that knows our weaknesses, therefore we were to be girt about with
truth, we're to know the truth of the word of God, we are to
to enable us to combat the lies of Satan. We learnt that the
Lord Jesus tells us that Satan is the father of lies. He first
lied right in the Garden of Eden where he undermined God and he
said, hath God said, you will not die but you will be as gods. And so Satan has continued to
be a liar and he continues to oppose the truth of God's word
and therefore the Christian is to know the truth and the truth
will set him free from the lies of Satan and as we see is to
be girt about with that truth. He's also to be standing He's
not to be in a sleep. He's always to be in a ready
position, standing firm, that he may be able to withstand the
oppositions that are pushed against him. Often there is much persecution,
and the Christian is to stand firm to the truth. He's not to
bow down under peer pressure or constant opposition. He's
to have his breastplate of righteousness, the righteousness of Christ and
also a righteous standard of living. As we noticed that the
breastplate was always polished and shining and therefore the
Christian life is to be a life of righteousness, of godliness. He's not to have any blemishes
on his armor and should he be should he be attacked, should
he find a stain of sin, is to turn to God in repentance and
polish that armour by prayer. And so the Christian, girt about
with truth, standing firm, understanding his enemy with his righteousness,
girt about his heart, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ covering
him, and then he's to have on his feet shoes which are made of the preparation
of the gospel of peace, their feet shod or having covered his
feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Or it can
be translated that he is prepared with the gospel, he is He has
been made prepared by the gospel of peace. That is the only way
in which he is able to stand firm is to stand having had the
gospel affect him and to stand firm in the gospel. So it's to do with our shoes. The Roman army were known for
having good shoes. They were men who marched for
miles and miles on the Roman roads. They were men who were
able to stand in their ranks. They were disciplined men who
stood in their ranks and were able to march forward into the
enemy because they had good shoes on. Their shoes were made of
leather. They had metal spikes or studs
underneath them. And so when they walked, they
imprinted into the dirt. And so that gave them grip. It
gave them a confidence that their shoes were helping them to advance
in their marching or in their warfare. And so they were prepared. shoes. If anyone has anything to do
with children you will notice that as you're about to go out
the door the command is shouted, get your shoes on. It's an important part of our
preparation to get our shoes on. We don't normally go outside
for a walk or into town or to chapel in bare feet. We are normally,
we normally put on our shoes. We know that babies are not born
with shoes, they are born barefoot. And so we are barefoot by nature. That shows us that even spiritually
we are without these gospel shoes. We are without the preparation
that the gospel gives to us. We are barefoot spiritually and
we are likely or liable to slip and to suffer harm. There was once a young lady who
was going to London to meet with her friends. She dressed herself
up, put on some shoes that her mother said, those shoes, they're
unsuitable. You'll get blisters. You've got
to walk, you're on the train, you've got to walk from the station,
you've got to walk to meet your friends, you've got to walk around.
And her mother said to her, these shoes that you are wearing, they
are unsuitable, they'll give you blisters. That being a teenager
who thinks that she knew best, more than her mother, she refused
to listen and she went on her way. Came back weeping with sore
feet. So our shoes were unsuitable
for her day out. And so we have bare feet that
make us slip and also we have unsuitable shoes that cause us
harm and are uncomfortable because we don't listen. the Gospel makes
us prepared. They are prepared shoes for us
to put on. By our nature Like that young
girl, we are hard-hearted and stiff-necked. We don't want to
listen to what is being told us and to what is right. And
so we willingly walk in unsuitable footwear or we willingly walk
barefoot, slipping and sliding into sin. We are unprotected
from the fierce eyes of God as he looks to us without the Lord
Jesus Christ. We are unprotected from any attack
of Satan. We are easily lured into sin. We're easily drawn aside and
we slip and we slide. Thorns also. stab into our feet. We were in
Kenya. Although the children there didn't
wear shoes and their feet were extremely hard, they would often
come to the mission with cuts that had got infected in their
feet. They'd come with big thorns in
their feet which we'd have to pull them out. And so even if
our feet are tough and calloused, We are still liable to injury. And so the apostle says there's
a need to put on these gospel shoes to enable us to walk on
this narrow way that leads to life protected and secure on
that journey. And we read of the prodigal son. And he was a boy who ran away
from his parents, from his dad and he ran into sin. He spent
all of his money, the Bible tells us, on riotous living and he
became bankrupt and ended up feeding pigs and he is brought
to poverty. But he came to that point of
being in want and he decides that he's going to go back to
his father's house and he's going to confess his sin and tell him
all that has happened and that he's willing to become one of
his servants. But his father receives him and
accepts him and then gives him a change of clothing. And he says bring forth the best
robe and put it on him and put the ring on his hands and shoes
on his feet. And so by our nature we have
no shoes. We are spiritually unprotected. We are spiritually bankrupt and
in poverty. And yet when we come to our senses
and we make our way back to the Father, the Father provides for
us. those things that we need. He
gives us that robe of righteousness, that ring on his hand and he
gives us, puts shoes on our feet. And so shoes show us we are provided for. We are not
in our poverty. We often think of those who are
poor one of the things that those age agencies ask for is shoes. Shoes are difficult to come by
when you're struggling just to make ends meet and so when the
image that is given when we have no shoes is that is of poverty. And so when we're still in our
sin outside of Christ we are in a poor state. It shows us uncleanness
and unprepared. Why do mum and dad shout get
your shoes on? Because the children they are
unprepared to go out of the door and so with this soldier having
his shoes on tightly shows that he is prepared. Without any shoes you can't walk
for a very long distance because of injury and so you need shoes
for the journey to heaven. So we can say you can't walk
the road to heaven with the bare feet of unbelief You need to
be shod, you need to be covered with the gospel of peace. And so as that father received
his son, he gave him the shoes. As the military give the shoes,
so these shoes are also given. The gospel has been given. Remember Jesus was prophesied
right in the Garden of Eden and he was told there that the Lord
Jesus Christ would bruise the head of the serpent. Genesis
3 it says, and I will put enmity between thee and the woman and
between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head. and
thou shalt bruise his heel. God has given us an image of
the Lord Jesus Christ treading upon Satan and Satan would be
crushed under the heel of the Lord Jesus Christ when Jesus was prophesied in the time of
John the Baptist, that as John the Baptist came to be a forerunner
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel is described there as
a way of peace in Luke chapter 1. And verse 76, and thou child, meaning
John the Baptist, shall be called a prophet of the highest, For
thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission
of their sins, through the tender mercies of our God, whereby the
day springs from on high hath visited us, to give light to
them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death to guide
our feet unto the way of peace. And so Christ is prophesied as
being the one who would come to stamp and to crush the head
of Satan and in doing so he would be wounded but not completely
but bruised and then as we know as Christ gained the victory
upon the cross Satan was defeated, Christ was wounded, gave his
life as a ransom for sin but scripture tells us he came also
as a light to them who sit in the darkness. The bible tells
us that the kingdom of satan he has blinded the eyes of those
who are in that kingdom and Jesus Christ came into the world as
the light of the world to bring and to shine a light upon salvation
so that those who were in the darkness would be enabled to
be freed from from that darkness that they were in to give light
to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death and
to guide our feet into the way of peace and so the gospel is
the way of peace, peace with God The kingdom of darkness is
at enmity with God, at war with God. But Christ came to bring
peace. And for those who are in Christ
Jesus, there is now peace between them and God. A way of salvation
has been made and that wall of hostility, that wall of sin has
been taken down. There is now no more condemnation. to those that are in Christ Jesus. They are justified by faith. And so that sin which brought
about the anger of God has been removed and so there is peace. And so the gospel is the gospel
of peace. It is good news. And so the feet of this soldier
They are wrapped in this gospel of peace. Our feet are that which
secure us to the ground. They are our foundation by which
we grip the earth. And so good shoes are essential
and the gospel is a good founding. It is a foundational doctrine. And so the soldier is gripped
to, he stands firm in his faith by the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, his hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is an essential
truth that we are prepared by the gospel of peace. The soldier
has to have faith. his shoes that they're not going
to fall apart right at the right moment and we know that we have
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and that anchors us firmly to
the rock and it will not fall apart. The gospel is It's not going to fall apart
when it matters most. It is secure. It is an eternal
gospel, good news, which brings about that reconciliation with
God. And so faith lays hold of that
message as the shoes grip into the earth. So our faith grips
into the Lord Jesus Christ, the rock. And so it is good news
of salvation. Remember the angels when the
Lord Jesus Christ was born, they said it was good news. The Lord Jesus Christ was coming,
had come to take away the sin of the world. And so he says
that your feet are to be shod or to be wrapped or undergirded
with the preparation that the gospel of peace brings and so
they are suitable suitable shoes. The military are not going to
give you something that is unsuitable they're going to give you that
which is suitable for the warfare that you are in so they are special
shoes If you have ever brought children
new shoes or when you were young and you were brought new shoes
you know there's that feeling that you have that you can do
anything. If mum or dad buys you some trainers
when you put them on you feel like you can run even faster. If they buy you some shoes for
climbing, then you feel like you can climb better just because
you've got new shoes on. And if you buy little girls new
shoes, they spend all the time looking at their new shoes and
walking everywhere looking at their new shoes. And so these
shoes that Christ gives to his people, they're enabling shoes. They're beneficial and helpful
to them. They have those studs in them
which give them that grip to continue to go forward. and to stand firm against that
opposition. When the ground is slippery with
temptation, they're enabled to push their feet into the ground
and to press on and not listening to the lies of Satan. We're told in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, from verse 17 it says, and the
70 returned again with joy saying, Lord, even the devil is our subject
unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld
Satan as lightning fall from heaven. And behold, I give unto
you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the
power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you by any means hurt
you notwithstanding in this rejoice not but that the spirits aren't
subject to you but rather rejoice because your names are written
in heaven. And so the Lord Jesus tells them
that I give you power with these gospel shoes that you are wearing. I give you power to tread upon
the serpents and the scorpions. And so he provides protection
for his people. It doesn't mean that we literally
go out looking for snakes and scorpions and saying that God
has said I can stamp on snakes, but it means that he has given
complete protection for his people. And no doubt there are times
in your life when you have experienced that protection. And in the time
of Jesse's life, he was literally protected from a snake. He went
into the cupboard when we were in Kenya to get a biscuit and
curled up next to the biscuit tin was a black mamba, one of
the most poisonous snakes in the world. He put his hand in
there to get the biscuit tin and the snake was there curled
up. No harm came to him. So the Lord is able to protect
his people from danger and from harm. There are many stories
aren't there throughout history of how God has preserved his
people. They are walking in his will
and there is opposition that has come and safety has been
given to his people. 91 tells us in verse 11. For he shall give his angels
charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear
thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against the
stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion
and the adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample
under feet, because he has set his love upon me, therefore will
I deliver him. I will set him on high because
he hath known my name. And so there he promises, the
Lord promises that he has set his angels over his people to
protect them. And you remember that Satan tested
the Lord Jesus Christ, says throw yourself down from the top of
this, from the top of the temple because it is written he will
give his angels charge over thee. And the Lord does. protect his
people. He does set his angels over them
to keep them from harm and from danger. It doesn't mean that
no bad thing will ever happen to any Christian but it does
mean that God permits and or he sometimes he permits Christians
to be injured and hurt but it does mean that he is also able
to stop harm and danger from taking place in the life of a
Christian and so as they walk the narrow way that leads to
life they are shod with the they are prepared with the gospel
by the gospel of peace and they are provided with that safety
should you stumble should you fall he set his angels to protect you But also we are
being given these shoes that we may go. That we may go. The Christian pathway is described
as a way, as a journey. We are walking, we are not stagnant. The Lord Jesus told his apostles
to go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in
the name of the Father and in the Son and of the Holy Spirit
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you and lo I am with you always even to the end of the world.
And so we are given these special shoes not to stand and to relax
but to go forward and to go forward with the gospel knowing that
God will protect and take care of the needs of his people. We see the early church going
forth with the gospel, wearing these gospel shoes, taking the
message of the gospel, taking the message of peace with God
through the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture tells us in Isaiah,
also repeated in the book of Romans, how beautiful upon the
mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that
publishes peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publish
salvation, that saith unto Zion, thy God reigneth. It says how
beautiful are the feet not literally the feet, but the messenger that
brings the gospel is carried by his feet. And so the gospel
is to go forth as a beautiful message, a message of peace with
God, a message of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. In the
Book of Romans also it's repeated are there. Romans 10 and verse
15. How shall they preach except
they be sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of of good things. So the shoes are given that the
gospel may go forward, it may take it into all the world to
publish the message of salvation that Christ has come, that he
has come to take away the sin of the world, that whosoever
believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life, turn
away from your idols turn away from your sin and believe upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so these shoes that have
been given to the soldier of the Lord Jesus enable him to
stand firm against the opposition, prepare him to go forward with
the gospel but also they give him a confidence in the trials
that he passes through. I've said that the soldier must
have a confidence in his armour, in his leadership and in his
shoes and so he goes forth with a confidence. In Psalm 23 it says, Yea, though
I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no
evil, for thou art with me. It is a walking through. It is
a journey. And that gives us a confidence.
Why? Because God is with us. He will
not allow our foot to slip or to slide. Our faith is gripped. Our shoes are gripping into the
rock which enable us to go forward. And there are times when we feel
like we are slipping. That's because we've taken our
eyes off the Lord Jesus Christ. We've been deceived by Satan
and we're to stamp our feet into that ground again, into the gospel
which brought us onto the pathway, that we are loved with an everlasting
love, that our sins which are so many, they're done away with.
and satan will say well what about that sin or what about
that one or why are you so weak and fearful and you begin to
slide again but we recognize not by works of righteousness
that we have done it is by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
our sins are remembered no more and so we stamp our feet back
and we grip again and rest in that righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so when we walk through the
valley of the shadow of death we are to fear no evil as our
feet are shod with the gospel of peace. We have been prepared
by the gospel to walk this narrow way that leads to life. So as our feet take us places
and the Bible tells us that we are to walk the Spirit. The Christian is not to be one
who walks in the darkness, he's walking in the light, walking
in step with the Spirit of God, his armour shining brightly declaring
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, his good works
adorning the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as he walks in the
Spirit and we are to walk worthy of our calling. We claim we are
Christians, we claim that Christ has died for us and that we're
on this narrow way, we claim that we are soldiers of the Lord
Jesus Christ, then we are to walk worthy of our calling, having
our feet shod having been prepared by the gospel of peace. Or maybe be enabled then to stand
firm in the message, being able to walk that way, declaring the
gospel of the Lord Jesus and to shine as a light in a dark
well, being prepared, having our shoes on, ready at a moment's
notice to go forward. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen. I conclude our morning service
in singing hymns for worship number 167. 167. Lord, speak to me that I may
speak in living echoes of thy tone, as thou hast sought, so
let me seek thy erring children, lost and lone. Hymns for worship
number 167, tune 405. Lord, speak to me that I may speak of thy tome. As thou hast sought, so let me
seek thy herring, children lost and lone. O lead me, Lord, that
I may lead Thou wandering hand, thou wavering feet, O thee be
born, that I may feed Thy hungering warts with manna sweet. O strengthen me that while I
stand, firm on the rock and strong in the air, I may stretch out
a loving hand to restless wind, the troubled sea. And fill me with thy fullness,
Lord. my very heart afloat. In kindling gold, tell her in
word, I love to tell my praise to thee. Oh, use me, Lord, use even me,
just as Thou wilt, and where, and where, until Thy blessed
face I see, Thy rest, Thy joy, Dear Lord and Almighty God, we
do thank thee for the gospel of peace. We thank thee that
thou hast granted it to the church, that we may go forward with those
shoes in preparedness on the narrow way that leads to life.
And we pray, Lord, that we may use the equipment that thou has
given to us and being able to stand against the wiles of Satan
and the weakness of the flesh and enable us Lord to grip firm
and to stand upon the rock the Lord Jesus Christ. Do dismiss
us we pray with thy blessing and do enable us to gather this
afternoon 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, do rest and abide with
us now and for evermore. Amen.