I please the Lord to bless us
together this morning as we consider his word. Let's turn to the epistle
of Paul to the Ephesians chapter 6 and we'll read verse 11. The epistle of Paul to the Ephesians
chapter 6 and reading verse 11. Put on the whole armour of God
that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Paul uses here an illustration
for us to easily understand, and it's a picture of a soldier
having to put on his armour. Well we don't perhaps see nowadays
people putting on armour like they did when Paul was alive
and indeed through many centuries afterwards when people went to
war, the soldiers went to war, they dressed up in armour to
make themselves as safe as possible so that arrows and such like
weren't able to penetrate and to kill them. And therefore there
was this statement that they should put their armour on. Well
it would be foolish in old times to go to war without any armour. And everybody would dress up
in their armour as they fought the battles. Well, the apostle
wasn't speaking physically about dressing up in armour, a natural
armour, a steel armour or whatever. He was speaking of a spiritual
armour. Now, we today still need a spiritual
armour. We are soldiers. We are soldiers
of the cross if we are true children of God. And a soldier's life
is not an easy life, it's not a comfortable life, because a
soldier has to fight battles, he has to continue to be on the
watch, and observing if the enemy is about to attack, and therefore
he's always to be watchful. And so we see a natural picture
of a soldier being watchful and putting on an armour. Well, that
is the same in a spiritual way, that throughout the ages we are
all needed, and we do today, to put on the whole armour of
God. The Apostle, when he wrote this
epistle, this letter to the Ephesians, as he came towards the end of
this letter and the end of this chapter, he says, finally, my
brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might,
put on the whole armour of God. As he comes towards the end,
He directs the Church of Ephesus and, of course, the Church of
God to the need that we have. A final instruction, as it were,
a final statement. There's many other things, but
now he comes and he says, finally, my brethren, listen to this statement. Be strong in the Lord and in
the power of his might, not to rest on his own strength. not
to rest on our own strength, because our own strength is weakness. But we have a God who is all-powerful,
a God who is strong. And the Apostle tells us, when
he wrote to the Ephesians, when he said, I can do all things,
not himself, I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth
me. Now that was true of the Apostle
Paul, and my friends, it's true of every believer. We're not
strong in ourselves, but bless God if we can be strong in the
Lord. And so we have this statement,
finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power
of His might. We have, bless God, an almighty
God, an all-powerful God, a God who can do for us far more and
exceeding abundantly than we can ask or even think. We may
find difficult things arising in our life, difficult things
arising in our natural life, in our spiritual life, but may
we have that confidence in our God. The Apostle Paul had confidence
in his God. The Apostle Paul had to fight
many battles, didn't he? He was a soldier of Christ. There
were many battles he had to contend with. And he walked near and
close to his God, but he still had to fight many battles. He
still had many oppositions and many situations to endure. And therefore, he was able to
write words like this, having passed this way, having known
the importance of putting on the whole armour of God. And
it's important that we notice the wording. He says the whole
armor of God, not just putting on one bit here and one bit there,
because we don't know how we're going to be attacked. And therefore,
we need to put on and have on the whole armor of God. And the reason the apostle gives
the reason that you may be able to stand against the wiles of
the devil. Now we must not and we must never
underestimate the wiles of the devil. He is very clever. He's very clever and very wily. And my friends, he can often
produce situations that we listen to. We spoke this morning to
the children at Sunday school about the devil. You children
will remember how wily the devil was in that Garden of Eden when
he came to Eve and spoke to her and questioned whether what God
had said was true. Hath God said? And that's the
same today. He brings questions into our
minds. Hath God said? Yes, God has said.
He had said to Eve and Adam what they should and what they should
not do. My friends, he said the same truths to us today in our
lives. But yet sometimes, like Eve,
Eve looked at that fruit and it was nice and attractive, and
she fancied it, and she was encouraged by the devil, so she took an
acid. We might have things in our lives, my friends, which
we may look at, we may think that's rather nice to take. I
really could quite enjoy having that. The devil would encourage
us in it. And so we do that. What did Eve
do? She sinned. My friends left to
ourselves, what do we do? We sin. You see, there are those
things naturally attractive and the devil encourages us in it.
He pushes us along. He's very wily, my friends. Don't
forget, you're not as clever as the devil. Devil's very cunning and he's
cunning because he knows what your weaknesses and my weaknesses
and that's perhaps very different. You may have a weakness which
I don't have. I may have a weakness which you don't have. And Devil
knows what those weaknesses are and he homes in on those weaknesses. And so we have this statement
that we are to put on the whole armour of God, that by His grace,
by His mercy, we may be able to stand against the wiles of
the devil. So please do not underestimate
the adversary, the strength and the power of Satan in our lives. He's looking for every opportunity
to turn you and me away from the things of God. He's looking
for every opportunity to attract us to do something which is not
the things of God. He wants to turn us away and
he thinks he can get us a little bit down the road. He'll push
us a bit further and further and further. Believe you me,
once you go down, once you start on a downward track, You know,
you gather pace. You know, it's like going downhill.
You put a ball on a hill, it starts off slowly, and it goes
down that hill, it gathers pace. My friends, if you and I are
on a downward track in the things of God, the devil will push us
faster, and we go faster and faster, and before we know where
we are, we've gone a long way from God. It's not easy to get back uphill,
is it? It's easy to roll downhill, not
so easy to get back uphill. The devil tries to push you down.
So, we have a statement like this. Put on the whole armour
of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. And again, we have this figure
of standing. Standing. Why do you think I
have a statement like that? Well, you can't go to sleep if
you're standing, can you? If you do, you fall over. You can go to sleep if you're
sitting down. You can go to sleep if you're lying down. You can't
go to sleep if you're standing. What's the inference there? The
inference is this, to be alert in the things of God. to be alert,
to be mindful and not be lulled to sleep by the devil by involving
ourselves in natural and carnal activities which do not feed
the soul but just feed the mind and the body. Again, let us not
forget the subtlety and the cleverness of Satan who remembers and knows
and never forgets What are your weaknesses and my weaknesses?
And so here we have this statement, we put the whole arm of God that
we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Now the Apostle then, as it were,
flushes out this figure a bit more to give us a bigger grasp
of what he's speaking. And he tells us, for we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in higher places." That is a comprehensive
statement, is it not? And he uses again this word,
wrestle. You know, wrestling, you don't
wrestle with someone a mile away, do you? The wrestlers are very
close at hand, aren't they? It's a very close situation to
wrestle. Wrestling match, people are really
close together. They're in bodily contact. So
here, the Apostle says we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
not against something physically close to us, against us, but
in the same way there is wrestling and we have this opposition which
is against principalities and powers, against the rulers of
darkness in this world, against spiritual wickedness in higher
places. That means it's not something which is a long way away. It's
very close to us. It's right by us. Therefore we've got to be very
aware of the battle that we're involved in. It's like a wrestling
match. But it's not a physical one.
It's a spiritual one. It's against wickedness in high
places. Against the rulers of the darkness
of this world. The devil loves darkness. He loves to envelop us in darkness.
And the darkness of the things of this world, my friends, the
things of this world are not light. They're darkness. And they envelop us. And we don't
see the light of the great things of God. No, the things of the
world are darkness. And they're very close to us.
And the devil will try and envelop us in them. Let us be warned. You know, these
things, it's wonderful, you know, to realise that God, in his great
favour, has given us such wonderful illustrations in our life today. To warn us. in our spiritual
life, because we live in an age, a dark age. We only have to recognise
the darkness of our age. As we hear, for those of us who
come, and it's a good thing to come to our prayer meetings,
and hear Frank Kelly pray, and he tells us when he prays, his
house is darkness. A poor man lives in a dark house.
My friends, it's a blessing if we live in a lighthouse, where
God is, I mean the light shining in, shining into our hearts,
shining into our souls, and not enveloped in darkness. The things
of the world are darkness. Don't pretend they're not. Don't
think you can get away with being involved in the things of the
world. and then add in the things of God when it's convenient.
It wants to be the other way around. The things of God want
to dominate our lives. And then if there's any room
for other necessary things in the world, we may be able to
accommodate them, but only if they're good, and not if they're
bad, and not if they're going to direct us in a wrong way.
They're going to take us away from God. Then we need to run
away from them. Well, says the Apostle, we wrestle,
it's a warfare, my friends. Don't forget the devil's there,
very close, trying to envelop us in his darkness, so that we
can't see out. We can't see the blessing, we
can't see the Saviour. Now we're enveloped in darkness. So, my friends, here is a warning
to us, isn't it? It's a very important warning. And that we are wrestling against
principalities and against powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. It's all around us. We're to
be warned about it. That's what the Apostle is saying.
And thank God we have such a warning. And I suppose it was so in his
day, the Apostle's day. Very clearly, my friends, it
seems to be far worse today. seems far worse today in the
world in which we live, the darkness which envelops so very, very
much. And so the apostle comes and
he then reiterates and he says, wherefore, having given this
statement, wherefore, take unto you, he said previously put on,
now he comes and says, take unto you, again the whole armour of
God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done
all to stand. So let's be clear about this.
There will be evil days. There will be difficult days
in our spiritual life. There will be. There will be
times of temptation. There will be times of opposition. There will be times of hardship. And so the Apostle says that
we may be able to withstand in the evil day. The evil days do
come. They will come. And what an encouragement
it is then to have this armour. Wherefore, it says, 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
now, we will only be able to, as you may be able, it's only
as we receive it from God. It's the armour that God gives
to us and that we are provided with it. It's not our own strength. Again, Let us never depend on
our own strength. Let us never depend on our own
ability. Let us never consider that we
ourselves can argue the devil out of a situation. He knows
all the answers. You will need the Lord to stand
with you and to encourage you and to help and bless you that
you might be able to stand indeed in the ewer date and having done
all to stand. And so the Apostle then gives
us some indication of what this armour is, what the armour is
that we are to put on. And it's an armour that covers
us, it covers our loins, it covers our feet, it covers our head,
it covers our breasts, it covers us all round really. And the
only thing it doesn't cover, I'll tell you, one thing it doesn't
cover, do you know what that is? It doesn't cover the back. You see, we're not to turn our
back from the things of God. We are to be facing frontwards. All these things we see the Lord
provides for us, we're not covering our back. So he says, stand therefore,
having your loins girt about with truth. Truth. Now, why is that so relevant? It's so relevant because the
devil is a liar. And you see, the devil doesn't
speak truth. The devil speaks lies. He's been
a liar from the beginning and he's still a liar today. And
He wants you and me to believe His lies. And therefore we have to be very
aware, having our loins girt about with truth. And what is
that? The truth of God's Word. The truth of God's Word, what
the Lord has said. That's what we can rely upon.
That's what Adam and Eve did not rely upon. That's why they
fell, that's why they sinned. They knew what God had said.
They didn't rely upon it. They didn't follow it. They followed
their own inclinations. It's a great danger for us to
not follow the word of God, but to follow our own inclinations.
Well, I think I'll do this. Well, I think I'll do that. Is
it in accordance with God's word? Does it stack up? Does it stand
scrutiny? before a holy God and the things
that we do. Can we honestly say, yes, I know
this is truth? Or do we kind of sneak in a little
bit and pretend we're perhaps doing that and we've got an excuse
here and we've got an excuse there. Excuses do not stack up
with God. They do not stack up with God.
You can convince yourself You can convince your family, you
can convince your friend of being justified in doing a certain
thing, or in not doing a certain thing. My friend, does it stack
up with God? Does the excuse stack up with
God? And I believe, without any doubt, our conscience will tell
us quite clearly whether it's right or wrong. If we're honest,
if we really have an open heart, and before God, and seek for
that clear direction and that clear understanding, God will
tell us. In actual fact, we know already.
We haven't been willing to accept the truth of God. Now this is
part of the armour, and it's an essential part. And he says,
here therefore, stand therefore, having your loins girt about
with truth. The middle section of our body
goes about with truth. The truth of God's word. How
important it is and how wonderful it is. And you see, God's truth
all comes together. Yes, there's nothing lacking
in God's truth. The devil has many holes in his
armour. He has many holes in the armour
that he'll give you. My friends, God's armour is true, and it's
solid, and it's abiding, and it's safe to wear. Stand therefore. Again, don't forget, it's a standing
situation. The Christian warfare is one
of constantly being alert, constantly being aware, because if we turn
away, and the things of God the devil pounces on us. Stand therefore
having your loins girt about with truth and having on the
breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate of righteousness.
What does that do? It covers the heart. It covers
the heart. And why is that important? The
heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. That's why you need the breastplate
of righteousness. And that righteousness comes
from God. It comes from God Himself. He gives us His righteousness. And that righteousness is pure
and white. Yes, and there's no sin. with God's righteousness, having
on the breastplate of righteousness. That means it's part of the armour
and we are to have it on. We are to have it on so it covers
us up. What a blessing it is to be given
this, this breastplate of righteousness. It's a wonderful favour and it's
not our righteousness, you know, as we know in Zachariah. Zachariah speaks of that righteousness
which is but filthy rags. There's no cleanliness, there's
no holiness, there's no righteousness in our righteousness. We might
think there is sometimes in our lives, but my friends, as the
Spirit of God comes and, as it were, opens to us our heart,
what do we see there? All manner of unclean beasts. all manner of evil within. So
we need this righteousness of Christ, this pureness which covers
us and protects us and enables us to do that which is right
and God-honouring and having on the breastplate of righteousness. It's no good not having it on.
It's no good having it in the corner. It's no good relying
on our own righteousness. My friends, we need to have it
on. It's part of this whole armour of God. And then the apostle
goes on and says, and your feet shod with a preparation of the
gospel of peace. It's an interesting phrase, isn't
it? The gospel of peace. The gospel is peace to the soul. The gospel is good news. And may you and I be walking
in the gospel way. There's not a way of peace outside
of the gospel. There is no peace, saith my God,
to the wicked. There's no peace in this world.
People think there is. They're always striving after
natural peace. My friends, the gospel of peace
Oh, it's a lovely, glorious position to be in. Walking in that way,
shod with this, the preparation of the gospel of peace. What
is it? The gospel is good news. Why? Because it speaks of what Christ
has done. Yes, it's what Christ has done.
If we walk in this way, we're a true follower. of our Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ, following His gracious and glorious example,
the Gospel of Peace. He has taken our place. He has died in our place. He
shed His blood to atone for all our sin. Oh, this Gospel of Peace. Yes, when the Gospel comes home
to our heart, oh, how it enlivens us. how it strengthens us, how
it encourages us to stand. There are many temptations to
take it easy, to sit down and to lie down. But you see, when
this Gospel of Peace comes into our minds, into our hearts, we
are alive. We are alive in the things of
God and they rejoice our heart. Do you rejoice? Have you rejoiced
in what Christ has done for your soul? Do you bless God for what
He's done and therefore are your feet shod then? Are you walking
in the gospel way? The preparation of the gospel
of peace put on the whole armour of God. Yes. We have the loins, we have the
breastplate, we have the feet shod with the preparation of
the Gospel. And then the Apostle comes on
and tells us we need taking the shield of faith. The shield of
faith wherewith we shall be able to quench all the fiery dance
of the wicked. Again, the wording is important.
Above all, above all, we must have faith. We must have living
faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Above all, taking
the shield of faith. You see, the devil cannot stand,
he hates to hear the name of Jesus. Above all, taking the
shield of faith, that God-given faith, that faith which God gives
where we shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, the devil. He is looking for
a place to be able to pierce your armour with his fiery dart. And there's many fiery darts
he throws. and he'll try and pierce. Now,
Hugh and I, my friends, have the shield, you see. A shield
is something, I'm sure you know, which is held, and you can move
the shield around. You can move the shield around,
so whatever way, therefore, he throws these darts, you see,
you're able to resist them. Above all, taking the shield
of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked. A fiery dart is very painful. And if the devil is able to thrust
his fiery darts and they penetrate into us, they are very painful. And they cause us perhaps to
tend to move away and run away. Well, we are to take this year
of faith because faith believes. Faith laughs at impossibilities
and says it shall be done. God gives faith to believe the
truth of God's Word. God gives faith to put all our
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and in his finished work. It
gives us faith to look out of ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ
and to his great and finished and glorious work upon that cross
at Calvary. The shield of faith. You see,
the devil's fiery darts are one of the ones that most painfully
is that fiery dart of doubt. Yes, doubt. He loves to cause
us to doubt our standing in the things of God. He loves to cause
us to doubt whether the Lord Jesus Christ has died for us. And you see, when these fiery
darts of doubt are thrust at us and they enter in, they make
us very uncomfortable and they're very painful. Well, if we possess this shield
of faith, what a blessing it is. God gives us this taking
the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked. Then he says, and take the helmet
of salvation. What does a helmet do? A helmet
protects our mind, doesn't it? Our head. It protects, as it
were, spiritually, our mind. What is our mind? Our mind is
one which reasons. It reasons. And the devil gives us many things
to reason. Why we should not believe the
Word of God. Why we should not believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ. how we need in this helmet of
salvation, the saving of the soul, because then, he says,
we possess this, it directs us to the glorious finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The helmet is that which is our
mind, and it protects our mind, protects our head, so that we
are able to concentrate on the great and glorious theme of salvation,
We don't then possess that evil heart of unbelief. Take the helmet
of salvation. See the whole armour of God. It's all needful, my friend.
It's all needful in all its elements. That's why the Apostle comes
and says, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and all
these parts of the armour are in the Lord. Take the helmet
of salvation. and the Sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God. What a blessing that you and
I today have the Word of God. Many people don't have the Word
of God, but we do have the Word of God, and we are to take the
Sword of the Spirit. It's that which God has given
us to be able to fight the devil, How did the Lord Jesus Christ
fight the devil when he was on the earth? You remember he was
baptised and then he was led into the wilderness. He was there
40 days and 40 nights. And then he was tempted of the
devil. And the devil questioned him
and suggested he do this and do that. And how was the devil
resisted? The Lord Jesus Christ He quoted
the Word of God. My friends, may we never forget
the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Let us resort
to the Word of God when we need that help, when we need ammunition,
when we need the sword. Refer to the Word of God. The devil was not able to respond
to those words which the Lord Jesus Christ spoke. And the same
today, the devil will not be able to respond, as you and I
may be able to point him to the truths of God's Word, and to
point him to the Saviour, and to tell the devil that Christ
has died, rather has risen again, Yes, there is my hope and it's
built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And so take the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God. And then he comes and says,
praying always, with all prayer, and supplication in the Spirit
and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints. So we have this statement to
pray always. When he wrote to the Thessalonians,
the Apostle said to pray without ceasing, pray always. Surely that's one of the great
lacks we have today. We don't pray as we should. We
don't pray as often as we should. We reason things in our own poor
old minds, without committing ourselves unto the Lord, and
praying to Him that He would appear, that He would give us
strength to do His will, to follow His way, to live closer to Him,
praying always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,
and then watching. Watching. If we truly pray, we
should be watching for answers. If we're not truly praying, you
won't be watching. It'll be just words, my friends,
and sinful words. Remember this, that which is
not of faith is sin. We haven't prayed in faith, it's
sinful. We just pray words, just familiar
words, just a tradition to satisfy our conscience. It's not real,
it's not true, it's just words, and it's sin. the effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man avoideth much." Oh, my friends, praying
always with all prayer and supplication. What a great part of the armour
this is. Oh, how important it is that
we possess this very valuable part of the armour, praying always
with all prayer and supplication and watching, waiting for answers
to our prayers. Oh, it's a very clear indication
that prayer is real if we're waiting and watching for answers
to those prayers? With all perseverance. Perseverance. Perseverance in a way. It's not
an easy job to be a soldier naturally. It's not an easy job to be a
soldier spiritually. It's a question of perseverance. There's opposition. There's daily
opposition from without and from within. We need perseverance. We need God to give us that perseverance
and supplication for all saints. Well, we touched on these elements
this morning. Put on the whole armour of God. Oh, my friends, if you and I
might walk We might stand and walk uprightly and faithfully
and truthfully in the things of God and not be overturned
and not be overcome by all the cunning skill of the devil, but
to go forward in the strength of our God, not forgetting those
words that I mentioned. The Apostle said, I can do all
things through Christ. that strengthens me. There, my
friends, is the secret. And as we look to the suffering
Saviour, and as we view Him doing all things for us, we realise
that through His grace, through His favour, and because of His
great love toward us, we can also do all things through Him. And so, finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord. We need the encouragement today
in which we live. Oh, there's so many temptations
to turn us away from the things of God, to water down the things
of God, to follow the things of the world. How we need the
grace of God to hear such words as this coming powerfully into
our hearts. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord and in the power of His might and put on the whole
armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles
of the devil. Amen.