I'd like to ask you this morning
if you would turn in your Bibles to the sixth chapter of Ephesians. While you're turning there, Ephesians
chapter six, allow me to read from Matthew 26 verse 41. In Matthew chapter 26 verse 41,
we read these words, spoken of by our dear Savior, our Lord
and God Almighty, He says, watch and pray that ye enter not into
temptation. And then he closes this statement
with this. He says, the Spirit indeed is
willing. We love God's law, don't we? It's good. It's good for us. It brings good peace. to our
walk in this world? But I don't know about you folks.
I struggle deeply with walking in God's ways, walking in His
statutes. I struggle with it always. Listen
to what the Lord says next. He says, the spirit indeed is
willing. I want to. But the flesh is weak. Do you find yourself in that
same boat? Our Lord gives us wonderful instructions over here
in Ephesians chapter 6 on how to walk our walk through this
world, this valley of death to those who don't know the Lord,
those who go through that door marked death and unbelief. But it's nothing but a shadow.
It's a shadow of death to God's people. Why is it a shadow? Because
Christ died for us. Christ took what we deserve,
the death that we deserve, he took it upon himself at the cross
a little over 2,000 years ago. All for whom the Father gave
him before the world was ever created, all of their sins, All
of their iniquities, all of our sins, all of our iniquities were
laid on our Savior that day that He went to the cross and died.
That's why it's nothing but a shadow to us. But that doesn't mean
we don't struggle, not just with the things of this world, the
trials and tribulations of this world, but with the sin that's
within us, don't we? Paul did the same thing. He said, O wretched man that
I am, We could say that about ourselves, couldn't we? Oh, Richie,
I can't believe the Lord is using this man who's standing before
you to preach his gospel. I was telling Kevin, I met Kevin
here this morning for the first time. I was telling him, I said,
brother, I'm gonna forget your name real quick. It just amazes
me that God would use this man who can't even remember the person's
name. You know, most pastors, they
can remember names forever. If you went and talked to Shelby
Fortner, she could remember you if she only met you once, ten
years ago. Not John. I'm just weak in the
flesh. And that's exactly what the Lord
just said there. I'm willing in spirit. And we
are. We're willing, but we know that
the flesh is weak. And that we're going to come
up short every time, don't we? So our Lord gives us something
here to talk. to inspire us, to comfort us. And that's what
His Word is. It's exactly what He told Isaiah. He says in chapter 40, Comfort
ye my people, sayeth the Lord. How? By telling them their warfare
is accomplished. Here in Paul's letter, as I was
thinking about him, in his words where he says, oh, wretched man
that I am. And he talks about, and I'm paraphrasing, he talks
about the situation that he was in. He had a thorn in his side,
whatever that might have been. That could have been sin. It
could have been an actual thorn. It could have been anything.
Whatever it was, it was something that he could not remove himself. So he cried unto the Lord to
remove it for him. And the Lord said, my grace,
It's sufficient, but as he went through those words, he also
said this, he says, what I wish to do, I just don't. The good
things I know I should be doing, I don't do. Paul said that. How much more does this man before
you say that? Much, much more. And the things that I shouldn't
do, I do. So as I thought about Paul, well,
if Paul's gonna say that, My prayer is this, Lord, what can
I do? Where can I get peace? Every time we cry unto the Lord
with that very question, He brings us to the feet of His Son, our
Savior, our all in all. This chapter six, Paul is writing
a letter to the saints at Ephesus. And the Spirit of God inspires
him to give an answer to our question of, Lord, what can I
do? And it begins here in verse 10.
So if you would, in Ephesians 6, verse 10, read with me. Finally,
my brethren... In other words, coming to a conclusion,
my brethren, all the things that he had just spoken of there a
moment ago, And we'll go back and look at a couple of things
in a little bit, but I want to basically concentrate on verses
10 through 18. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord and in the power of his might. Notice whose power it is. Notice
where we're supposed to put our trust and our faith in. Notice
what it is that we are to look to when we get to that point
of our life and our walk before this world. Lord, what can I
do? What can I do to turn away from
the sin, to have peace with this sinful flesh, this weak flesh?
And he says, be strong, in the Lord. This is important because
these next verses we're going to read about is all about that.
It's all about being strong in the Lord, not strong in you.
Oh, I can do this. I've given you examples of golf
before. You know how golf is. Sometimes
we, and even the professionals, you see them struggle. So you
hit the ball right down the middle and guys like me think, Oh, I
could be like Tiger Woods. That's a beautiful shot. Next
shot, poof, off in the weeds. Don't be strong in John Reeves,
John. There's nothing strong in me
is what our Lord said. The spirit is willing, but the
flesh is weak. You know, religions, they love
to bring people in and say, you can do it. They're like the comedy
skit that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Martin Short put together
one time. They put on these suits and they beefed them all up. I will pump you up. That's what these false religions
are. They pump you up. You can do
better. Their self-help ministries are
what they are. They can raise people up if you'll
just take a little fan and fan that flame that's within you,
you can be better. You know, this is the only religion
I've ever heard where people stand up before men and they
say, your flesh is not gonna get any better than it is right
now. I find that to be true. In fact,
I find it even worse than that. I've gotten worse. I understand
what sin is now. I understand what the depravity
of man is. I look within myself, I don't
see that guy who wasn't so bad before, I see who I am before
God. A misery wretch, deserving nothing
but God's wrath. Yet my Lord says, peace, peace
to my heart. Despite that ugliness that is
within me, that sinfulness that is within me, the sin that I
struggle with. I could say I struggle with it
daily, but folks, in truth, I struggle with it every minute. Every minute. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord. Now let me bring up three points
to think of before we go into how the Lord tells us to be strong
in Him. The things which are commanded
of God are impossible to perform in the flesh. That's just all
there is to it. What God tells us to do is impossible
for us to do it in the flesh without Him. If the Lord pulled His restraining
hand back from this world, you think things are chaotic right
now? You think the world is in chaos right now? There have been times in the
world when it was a lot worse, and we know that, don't we? If
the Lord pulled his restraining hand back from John Reeves, the
chaos that would be inside of me would be just like it was
when I was 40 years old and I knew not the darkness that I walked
in. Secondly, we need his strength
and power to overcome our enemies. the enemies of the flesh, the
enemies, Satan. We need his strength to adorn
the doctrine, to wear the doctrine of Christ, to cover ourselves
in him with holiness and integrity. And though we are weak and can
do nothing of ourselves, his grace is sufficient. That's what
Paul said. Lord, help me. And the Lord told
him, nah, take it, bear it, for my grace is sufficient for thee. As believers, we live in a world
of evil. I was talking about this with someone the other day.
I think it was in our Bible study
Friday night. Do you know that we walk in a cursed world? When
Adam sinned against God, what did God say? He said this, cursed
is the ground that you walk on. Everything we see with our eyes
in this world, everything we feel, everything we experience
is cursed. We live in an evil world, evil
against God. We're surrounded by evil powers
and evil people. This world is not a friend of
grace nor of God. Not only is sin around us, but
sin is within us. The Christian life is a race
to be ran, as it says in Hebrews 12, verse 1. It's a battle to
be fought, as we read in 1 Timothy 6, 12. 2 Timothy 4, verse 7-8. Turn over there, if you would.
Hold your place in Ephesians, if you would. And turn over to
2 Timothy. It's to the right, towards the
book of Hebrews. 2 Timothy. Chapter four. Paul writing to Timothy, he says
in verse seven, he says, I have fought a good fight. I have finished
my course. I have kept the faith. Henceforth,
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. and not to me
only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." There's
a conflict that goes, that's going on between the flesh and
the spirit as we've been talking about. And it'll never be over
until we leave this world in death. We need help. We need
strength. We're sheep, weak. Easy to stray. And we need strength to stand
up against all the deceit and the strategies of Satan, who
is the great enemy of Christ and his people. Back in our text,
look at verse, in Ephesians chapter six, look
at verse 11. Put on the whole armor of God
that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
God has provided an armor for his people and weapons to be
used against Satan, sin, and error. So look at verse 12 now
with me and we'll move on. Verse 12, it reads, for we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, and against
spiritual wickedness in high places. We're not contending
against physical opponents, ones that we can see before us and
fight with our fist. No, our Lord tells us here that
they're against powers, against the rulers of darkness, against
spiritual wickedness, Wickedness that is within ourselves, high
places. Our battle is against wicked
spirits who inhabit the supernatural sphere, who deal in lies, who
deal in pride, who deal in idolatry, covetousness, lust, deceit, self-righteousness,
and a manner of sin against God. Look at verse 13, Wherefore take
unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand
in the evil day and having done all to stand." Take upon yourselves
the complete armor that God has, not just one or two, the ones
that you like, but all of his armor that he's provided for
us, that you may be able to resist these evils and stand during
every trial, every conflict, every temptation. Having met
every demand to continue to stand firmly in Christ, the battle
is not the anguish of the flesh. Therefore, the armor and the
weapons which God provides us are not carnal as well, but spiritual. Hold your spot again in Ephesians
and turn to the left. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 10.
2 Corinthians chapter 10. Wouldn't have mattered if I was
a tough guy. Tough guys can get up there and
punch it out with you. Wouldn't matter if I was a tough
guy. I can't punch it out with the sin that was within me. Look
here at verses three through five. For though we walk in the
flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down
of the strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high
thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing
into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ."
Back in our text, if you would. These next five verses that we're
gonna look at here, verses 14 through 18, gives us all the
parts of the armor, and I wanna quickly go through them. If you
would, read along with me, verses 14 through 18, and then we'll
break it down by each piece by piece. So 14 through 18, stand therefore
having your loins gird about with truth, and having on the
breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith,
wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of
the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of
the spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all
prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all things. Now, the first
one it lists here in verse 14 is gird about with truth. Gird your loins, wrap about you. That's what that means, gird. Wrap it about you. Wrap your
loins, the part of your body that is the middle. Very important part. You ever
watch Gunsmoke? I'm a big fan of Gunsmoke. I
seem to watch it all the time for some reason. I've seen them
all five times. I still watch it. But every time
I see where somebody gets shot in the gut, in the loins, gut
shots are dangerous. Very few people ever survive
a gut shot. That's death. You might as well
just shoot the guy in the head and put him out of his misery
right then and there. That's what this is talking about.
Girding up your loins, your center part, The most, the very sensitive
part where your organs and all are. Wrap them about with what?
As a strong girdle. With the gospel of God's redemptive
glory in and through Christ Jesus. You ever see how they put a girdle
on? You know, back in the old days, there's corsets. They get behind the girl and
they put their foot up there on her back and hold her. Just
cinch that thing up there. That's what it's talking about. Wrap yourself in Christ. Nothing can protect you more
in this world and in fighting the sins that we have within
ourselves than wrapping ourselves in Him. Why? Because He's put
our sins away, that's why. He's washed us clean of our iniquities. All of our sins were put on Him. He who knew no sin was made sin. I don't understand that. And
I don't understand passages you try to explain, to be honest
with you. I'm just going to be truthful with you. I just don't
understand it. What a miraculous thing that
He who is perfect in every way was made sin. He was made our
sin. He had none of His own. That sin that we battle with
this, He was made that. He catch the love of God for
you? This is the love of God for us.
He was made sin that we would be made the righteousness of
God in Him. Wow! Isn't that wonderful news? That's what the gospel means,
you know that? Wrap yourselves in the gospel of Christ and Him
crucified. Don't wrap yourself up in something
that you can do. You're just gonna ruin everything. It's going to mess up the good
news of His works. Gird yourself in truth. Turn
over to 1 Peter. Mark your place there. We're
coming back to it. Turn over to 1 Peter 1. Go to the left.
No, to the right. Your left. My right. Go towards
Revelation. 1 Peter 1. Look at verse 13. Wherefore, gird up the loins
of your mind. That's what this is talking about. Cover your most sensitive parts. Gird up the loins of your mind.
Be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought
unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Did you notice
where the grace comes from? Did you catch that? Could it
be any more clear? It has nothing to do with you
making a decision. It has nothing to do with you
coming down and saying a prayer at the front of the... It has
nothing to do with getting into the waters of baptism. It has
to do with Christ. Wrap yourself in Him. You struggling
with something? Wrap yourself up in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Oh, how it takes so much of what
we fight in this world, in this flesh, away from us. Back in our text, if you would. This girding ourselves, wrapping
ourselves with the truth is the most important part. It's the
first part, not the most important, I'm sorry, it's the first part
of the armor that is mentioned because it is the most important.
And it's the foundation of all the rest. The truth about God,
the truth about myself, the truth about my race, and Christ and
His redemptive work keeps me close to God and defends me against
all the evil suggestions of Satan, which lead to a false hope. Secondly,
it says to us, the breastplate of righteousness. Now this breastplate
of integrity Right standing before God and holiness cannot be works
of righteousness or moral integrity done and produced by me. I can't
do anything like that. I have no righteousness. So it's
got to be talking about the righteousness of somebody else. The breastplate
of righteousness, that's the plate that goes over your lungs
and keeps you breathing. That's the breastplate that protects
your chest, your lungs, the air that comes into you. You know,
if I start breathing something of myself, pride is gonna build
up. Pride's like that ball that I
hit down the middle of the fairway. Woo! See what I just did? Oh, how quick pride can swell
up in us just like that. You folks know what I'm talking
about when I say that, don't you? Absolutely. It's our standing before a holy
God. This righteousness of Christ,
my Lord, His perfect righteousness was imputed to me and received
by faith. It repels any accusations or
charges which Satan could bring against me. Hold your place.
Turn over to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. In verse 33, Paul says this, after declaring,
he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? He
says in verse 33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? Satan can't lay anything to my
charge. Christ has already paid for it
all. His righteousness is mine. Not
anything you see before you, but looking to Him and His righteousness. Paul goes on to say in verse
34, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession. for us. Next, back in our text again,
we see the next part of our armor is to have our feet shod with
the preparation of the gospel of peace. Now, several things
could be taught here from that. A firm-footed stability or a
foundation in the gospel of peace, a godly walk that is agreeable
to the gospel of peace. What does it mean to be a godly
walk? acceptable to the gospel peace. Does that mean what you do? Yes. But we can't do that, John. You're
right. So what does it mean? If we can't
walk it, then what does that mean? Folks, our walk before
God is a walk of faith. You know what the unforgivable
sin is? It's going through that door
marked death and unbelief. That's what it is. All those
who refuse to believe God, and you and I would be right there
in that crowd if it wasn't for His grace and His gift in giving
us faith in Him. That's our walk before God. I believe that not only is Jesus
Christ God, in the flesh. I believe that He is not only
the Creator of all that is. I believe that He is not only
the One who rules and is sovereign over all things. I believe that
He is my Lord. He is Lord over me. John's not
the Lord. I used to be. I used to be. Those who believe that their
decision, those who believe that their will trumps God's, believe
that they're God. The true and living God, the
very one that Peter confessed to be the Son of the living God,
when Christ asked him, who do you say that I am? He said, you're
the Son of the living God. I say that He's the Son of the
living God, and He's my God. Do you? Is He Lord over you? If he is, it's because he has
made himself to be so, not you. Next we see the shield of faith. I gotta get through this. Satan hurls darts of doubt at
us all the time. You ever doubt yourself, am I
saved? How could a guy who just thought that thought about the
man on the motorcycle yesterday, believe, how could I believe
that I'm saved? That thought that went through
my mind about this man, and I'll tell you about the story later.
It's a man who was on a motorcycle who wanted to start fights. I
wanted to run down and grab him by the neck. I wanted to be the
tough guy. How could God save a man who
has thoughts like that? You ever have doubts? Come on. We've had some doubts over some
pretty worse things, haven't we? Satan hurls darts of doubt and
fear, depression, weariness, and all kinds of manners of questions
regarding our spiritual state every day. We can only be shielded
against those fiery darts by faith in God's Word. That's what
the shield of faith is. It's the Word of God that tells
us only those who are of the Holy Spirit can call Christ Lord. with their heart. A lot of people
call Him Lord, don't they, with the mouth? They service Him with
the mouth, but their heart is far from them. My heart knows
that He is Lord of all. He is Lord of me. And the only
reason I know that is because the Spirit of God dwells in me. That's why. His Word tells me
that I can't come up with that on my own. Grab ahold of His Word. The shield
of faith. Believe on the Son of the living
God. Take the helmet of salvation.
The helmet of salvation is a piece of armor for the head, and it
protects the head against false doctrines. Our Lord says, beware. Take heed in Matthew chapter
16. Take heed against the leaven
of the Pharisees, the works of religions. Don't fall for them. Don't fall into that trap. You
know what? If we belong to God, He won't
let us. We may wander off like a lost sheep for a little bit
and follow something, but if you belong to God, He's not going
to lose you. Take the sword and the spirit.
The Word of God is compared to a two-edged sword. You ever see
a sword? got that really sharp edge on
one side and then some of them will be blunt on the other side.
God's sword is not. It's sharp on both sides. One
way it's gonna cut to destruction, to damnation, and the other side
is gonna cut to salvation, the love of God for his people. Sword
of the Spirit, which is the word of God, the word of God is compared
to a sword that has two edges, the law and the gospel. Listen
to Hebrews 4 verse 12. For the word of God is quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing ascender of soul and spirit and of the
joints and marrow and the discerner of the thoughts and the intents
of the heart. The word is all edge. There's
no blunt side. One cannot come near the word
without its having some kind of effect on him. It either convicts
of sin cutting away the righteousness of men. It kills pride, envy,
lust, and all sin, and it reaches the hidden secret parts. It is
the weapon that God uses to defeat his enemies. And lastly, praying. The last weapon is prayer, and
it includes all sorts of prayer, public, private, in your own
home, in your closet, at the dinner table. Folks, we should live consistently
in prayer. Prayer without ceasing. That's a consistent conversation.
Let me tell you something. If Christ has made Himself your
God, if He is dwelling in your heart, you're going to talk to
Him all the time. We have a brother up there in
rescue that works on construction. He'll often be found on the roof
hammering, saying, thank you, Lord, I didn't smash my thumb
today. Thank you, Lord, that I hit the
nail right on the head. You think, you know, some people
walk by and say, well, that guy's just playing crazy. God's people
know. He's talking to the Lord out
loud. We do that every day, all day
long with our hearts. Speaking to the heart of the
one who rules over all that is. Pray. Our prayers must be and
will be in the Spirit by the assistance of our God with a
sincere heart. We'll persevere in prayer regardless
of the suggestions that Satan says, oh, you couldn't be saved. And then our Lord closes there
in Ephesians 6, verse 19, Paul says, pray for me. This is my request unto you today. Folks, I'm a weak, weak man.
Some of you may be saying, yeah, me too. Yeah, me too. That's all we are is just men.
I pray for you. I pray the Lord will speak to
you through his word today. And I hope that you're praying
for me.