Well, let's open to Ephesians
chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6. I need to do a better job about
telling you what I'm going to tell you, showing you, and then
telling you what I told you. So I want to tell you plainly
what we're going to look at today. We're going to look, we're going
to see briefly, we have a need of the armor of God. All of it. It's His armor. It ain't yours. It's given to you. It's put on
you and every piece of that armor is Christ. He's every piece of
it. We have to be taught that. We
don't learn that. We have to be taught that. And
at the end of it, how do we put this armor on? How do we do that? Nonsense is prevalent throughout
man's simple brain. I do this. I pick up. What does
the Lord show us in Joshua? It ain't your bow. It ain't your
sword. He used hornets. Hornet ain't
that big, and buddy, he gets a hold of you. Hurts, don't it?
Enough to drive you out of the land. The Lord said, I'll send
hornets. Your sword won't be used. But
we pick up his sword. We adorn his armor. Ephesians
6 verse 11. We need to put this armor on
because we're frail. We're tender. Ephesians 6 verse
11. Put on the whole armor of God
that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. This armor is not a physical
armor. I wore a whole lot of physical
armor in my day. I come to know it very well.
I slept in it quite a bit. All day, every day. becomes part
of you. I wore a lot of physical armor,
but this is not speaking of physical armor. It's not talking about
something we do in the flesh. This is spiritual armor, an internal
armor to withstand the wiles and the trickery, the subtlety
of the devil. This isn't for warring in this
world. To be properly equipped defensively
and offensively to go downtown and go to battle for Jesus, as
everybody says. Onward, Christian soldiers. Sit
and go to fight abortion clinics. Go against the government. We
got to go fight Hamas right now. What are they doing over there?
You seen the news? This armor is for a spiritual
battle. And let me tell you something. I can tell you from experience.
Experientially. Physically, everybody wants to
go get in a gunfight and tell you you're in a gunfight. Real
quick you change your mind. Spiritually, foolishly, everybody
wants to get in a gunfight. We want to be in a war. I want
to fix some stuff. I want to correct some stuff.
I want to go against the enemy. You do until he gets a hold of
you. Until you're in it. Lord will change your mind real
quick. You'll get stung by some ornaments. Verse 12, for we wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. I don't want to dive into the
dark and evil things that goes on in this world and man's walk
in this world, but I'll tell you this, and you listen to me,
this ain't some big evil thing out there. This war is right
here, and if we don't see it individually in ourselves, you're
going to get killed in this war. To you, point number one. To me, this is where it's taking
place. This is in us. This is the battle
that's going to take place in our own bodies, and nobody has
to be present. We can be alone by ourselves
on a deserted island. Principalities, powers, rulers
of darkness. Who used to rule us before the
Lord saved us? What were we in bondage to before
the Lord saved us? What is the spiritual wickedness
in high places? Boy, we think the other side
of the world, don't we? Rome, Salt Lake City, wherever the
heads of these corporations are is what you're talking about.
That ain't it. You know what the highest place of wickedness
in my body is? All the way up here at the top inside of my
brain. My own thoughts, my deceitful mind. We go looking outward,
don't we? Who's to blame? What did they
do wrong? We've got three fingers pointing
back at us. All the way up here in the top, that's where the
wickedness is. Verse 13, Wherefore take unto
you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in
that evil day. And having done all, to stand. Severe trials, the battles inside
of us are coming to the child of God. Hard times are coming
if they ain't already been here. And if they have already been
here, you're going to have some more coming. War don't stop because the sun
goes down. It's 24-7 until the war's over. We are instructed to take on
the whole armor of my armor. No, that's not what it says.
Armor of God. This is His armor. All of it,
that we can withstand that evil day, having done everything we
can to stand and to not fall. What is this armor of God? What's
the totality of our defense against anything? Christ is. Christ is. Turn over to Psalm 18. Psalm 18. Christ is our up-close
armor, our personal body armor. And He's our surrounding defenses.
He's our defenses all around us. Psalm 18, verse 2. Psalm 18. The Lord is my rock,
that's what I'm standing on, and my fortress. He's the walls
all around me and my deliverer. My God, my strength in whom I
will trust, my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high
tower. I will call upon the Lord who
is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from mine enemies."
I'm going to call on this armor, on this fortress, my Lord. He's my rock that I stand, He's
the fortress that I dwell in and He's the one that delivered
me, set me on the rock and put me in the fortress, put me in
Christ. And I'm going to call upon Him. Why? He's worthy to
be praised. If you're standing on that rock and you're inside
them walls protected, you were delivered there, oh, you'll praise
Him. He's worthy to be praised. Four
more times in the Psalms that word fortress is used. Thou art
my rock and my fortress. Therefore, for Thy name's sake,
lead me and guide me. He is my refuge and my fortress,
my goodness and my fortress, my high tower, my deliverer,
my shield in whom I trust, who subdueth my people under me.
He subdueth all my enemies. This armor is Christ. Back in
our text there in Ephesians 6, verse 14. We're going to look
at this armor. Ephesians 6, verse 14. Stand therefore, having your
loins girt about with truth. What's the girting of the loins? We don't see these things in
this part of the world, but in a big portion of the world, over
in the Middle East and stuff, they still do this. It's a, we
always called them a man dress, but I don't want to degrade that.
It's a robe of sorts, a long sleeve in the winter, short sleeve
in the summer, maybe a no sleeves, but it's a garment that goes
over the top of a man. He slides it on from his head
and it comes down to his ankles. It flows like a dress does kind
of garment robe. And whenever he girds his loins,
he takes that garment and he reaches down and he gathers it
all up, pulls it up and he wraps it around himself and he ties
it. That's where we get the word girdle. You gird your loins. You ever seen those back braces
they wear at the stores? If you've got to pick something
heavy up, you've got to put that tight thing around you? That's
like a girdle. Gives some support, don't it?
It's the one that's closest to you. That's girding the loins. It's the base layer that gives
support. A base layer is important whenever
you're dealing with armor. What's closest to the skin is
important. That's what's going to regulate
your temperature, keep you from chafing and having all kinds
of problems. Girding your loins with truth.
And it's going to give you that support to carry weight, to carry
the armor. Gets us ready to work. That's
when they gird up their loins before they got to go do some
hard work, some labor. Gets ready to run. Run to the
work or run away from enemy. Got to gird your loins up to
play. To enjoy, to rejoice, to gird up your loins. Be ready
to do that. To support and carry a heavy
load. We gird them up in truth. In truth. Gird your loins in
truth. Turn to John 14. We see this often, but it's good
for our eyes to look at it. What is it that we need spiritually
next to our skin that supports us, that regulates us? It's Christ
the truth. We need to wrap ourselves up,
not in falsehoods and in lies, and diver's doctrines and everything
else. Well, let's go look at that.
No, don't go look at that. Wrap yourself up in Christ. He's
the truth that we gird about ourselves and supports us and
regulates us. John 14, verse 6. Jesus saith unto him, I am
the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me." Christ is not a way, He's the way. He's not a truth,
He's the truth. He's not a life, He's the only
source of life. He is our life. When we stop
seeing truths, plural, When we stop seeing doctrinal applications,
I see these five doctrines, these five points, and I can see how
they can apply logically to this text and we can draw some things
out of it. When we stop seeing the meaning
of words, do you know what that word meant? Do you know what
that king's name meant? When we stop seeing these things
and we start seeing a person, Not just facts like, oh, the
brazen serpent, that's a picture of Christ. It didn't have no
venom in it. Christ didn't have no sin in Him. When we see the
person, not facts, that He is the truth, these scriptures open
up to us. Go to Hebrew, don't turn around
now. In your own time, any of these things we see, any of the
fruits of the Spirit, you can replace that with Christ. Go
read Hebrews 11 and take faith out of there. Everybody's so
proud of their faith, how strong they are. And you put Christ
in it and it reads perfect. By Christ, Abraham. By Christ,
Sarah. What's the substance? Christ
is the substance. That's the meat. That's what
we need. What's the truth we gird ourselves
with? Gird yourself with Christ. Wrap up in Him. Right next to
your skin. It will do you good. Especially
for what else is about to be put on you. He said in John 8. We'll turn over just a little
bit there. Back in John 8. John 8, verse 31. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on Him, if you continue in My Word, then are
you My disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. How often do we hear that quote?
Oh, the truth sets you free, won't it? Replace truth with
Christ. Who's the truth? Christ is the
truth, isn't He? So I'm the way, the truth, the lie. If you continue
My Word, you are My disciples indeed, and you shall know the
Christ, and the Christ shall make you free. We need to be girded in that.
We need Christ right up to our skin. We need Him closer than
a brother, don't we? Our base layer, our foundation of our
armor. Just got to start with Him. Now back in our text. We
got that base layer on, what comes next? It's the breastplate of righteousness.
It says in verse 14, Stand therefore, having your lorns girt about
with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness. That breastplate of righteousness,
that's our body armor. That's an armor, they call it
an IBA, individual body armor. You've seen those guys on the
news, those soldiers. That thing comes over their shoulders,
it wraps on their chest and their back, from them old movies. made
out of metal. It had extra muscles because
it fit right to them. You see the muscles on the outside,
that's how they tailored. Made just for them. Covers front
and back. Covers front and back. And these
old, there in Roman times, it was laced onto a soldier. Someone
had to help them. Someone had to hold it up. Let
them wiggle in there and get it to them and they would lace
them into it. That way it wouldn't slide off in battle. It was secure. It's attached to them. It's tailor-made
individually. Individually for that person.
Spiritually, what is the complete thing that covers our heart,
that covers our lungs, our life, our vital organs to our core?
It's the righteousness of Christ. He's the end of the law for righteousness.
It's what Paul told us, wasn't it? All the righteousness we
need. What's all the protection I need
of righteousness? It's fulfilled in Him to everyone that believeth
in Him. He's our righteousness. Those
who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, who have our loins girded
with the truth, we have someone to put this breastplate on us.
And we are robed in the righteousness of the spotless Lamb of God and
it's ours forever. tailor-made to us, laced onto
us, tied on tight. Jeremiah told us, he said, in
the days Judah shall be saved, the Israel shall dwell safely,
and this is His name whereby He shall be called their Savior,
the Lord our righteousness. Christ is our righteousness.
And then if we look over just 10 short chapters in Jeremiah,
it says, In the day Judah shall be saved, and Jerusalem shall
dwell safely. And this is the name we're with.
She shall be called. We just looked at the husband
and wife, didn't we? The Lord our righteousness, our
husband, our kinsman, redeemer, He's the righteousness. What
will His bride be called? She shall be called the Lord
our righteousness. We're given His name. Clothed
in His robe of righteousness. What a precious thing. Do we
glory in Him then? Be put in that fortress? We praise
Him, don't we? We are given His righteousness
forever. What's our proof? We're made
one with Christ our Bridegroom. We're given His name. We are
girded in the truth of Christ. In His righteousness, we're protected.
It's near and dear to us. And we wear His breastplate.
That's what we're robed in. And oh, what comfort and security
that breastplate gives us. That's not armor we made in our
backyard, is it? Remember, the bullets start flying.
When the arrows come flying, you want to trust your equipment.
You don't want something that's been recalled, do you? I can
make my own. I'm handy. You don't want it
in that day. You want the armor of God. His
righteousness put on you. If it were an armor of righteousness
that I made, Satan's arrows would find the only soft spot in it,
wouldn't it? And it would penetrate all the
way to the heart. It'd kill me. But it's God's own armor. It's
His armor. How else did Paul word that?
He said in Romans 8, "...who shall lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? Yea, it's Christ that died, yea
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Where in his armor,
any accusation or charge aimed against me just bounces off.
It bounces off. It's His armor and He put it
on to us and it's given to us. His righteousness. I used to
sleep like a baby with that body armor on. You get used to it,
boy, it gets comfy. People say, how could you walk
around in that all day? Well, I'd stick my hands in this way and nudge
it up some and it'd prop my head up. I could sleep sitting straight
up and down. We walk with it every day and
you don't know how to use it right off the bat. It takes some
time to get used to. It takes some time to... It doesn't change. We conform
to it. We are conformed to it. It takes
some time to get used to. Our loins are gird in the truth
of Christ. Our whole chest, our whole back,
the sides are all protected forever in His blood and His righteousness.
But now we're going to need some boots to walk around in, aren't
we? We can't just stand still during this war. We've got to
walk some. It says our feet are shod, there in verse 15. Ephesians
6, 15. And your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace. The gospel of peace. What's the
gospel of peace? The gospel of the Prince of Peace. That is what our feet are shod
in. That's our foundation. All the way down to the bottom
of us. Everything else is built on The
foundation of the spiritual armor is the glad tidings of Christ,
the good news of Christ. I told you that before, I think,
but the Scriptures say, how beautiful are the feet of them that bring
good tidings, right? Those that preach the gospel.
When I was about five years old, Dom was staying with us, and
I low crawled underneath that table, and I said, this guy preaches
all the time. Nice looking feet. I wonder what's special about
his feet. And I saw and I said, well his feet just look like
anybody else's feet. His feet ain't that beautiful.
About 10, 15 years later I realized that was his foundation that
he came on. He was shod in that gospel of
peace. That's what protected him traveling over those hot
places, those sharp rocks, those slippery places. Bringing it
all the way to a center. Took some time to learn that,
don't it? Being shod, being laced up by another. Them old Roman
sandals, they got strings going every which way, don't they?
It looks complicated. We have the ability to walk on
some hard terrain. We have our foundations, our
footers, bound in the peace of Christ living and dying for us.
He is my substitute. Can you walk around in that during
the day? We can withstand some cold nights
too, can't we? Keep our toes warm. Having his
peace tied on to us, protecting our feet, we're more willing
to go out on those long roads of life to publish this gospel
of peace. To go tell another. He equips
us to do so. American tax dollars paid for
me to have some very high quality boots in my day when I was a
soldier. And that was very important. It was needed. I needed good
footwear. That's how you walk. But everybody
always used to say, you need to break your boots in. If you've
got a real good set of boots, you don't break a set of boots
in. The boots break you in. We don't break in our gospel
and make it fit us, do we? No, it stays the same. That gospel
doesn't change. We'll callous up here and soften
up there. We'll bend and conform to that
boot, to that shodding. We are conformed to Christ, and
He breaks us into Him. And these shoes are durable.
Good boots last a long time. This gospel lasts forever that
we're shot in. Israel is a picture of that when
they walked for 40 years through the desert. Never did need new
shoes, did they? The gospel of Christ hasn't changed.
It doesn't wear out. It doesn't get old. It doesn't
weaken. It doesn't fray. That was what
was laced tightly on the feet of the children of God. The good
news of the person and the work of Christ. We got shoes on, we're
gonna need a shield. Look here in verse 16. It says,
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall
be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Who is this
shield? We just read that Christ is our
fortress, isn't He? And He's our buckler. Psalm 91
says, He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings
shalt thou trust. In His truth, His Christ, shall
be thy shield and buckler. The Lord's truth, the Lord's
Christ is our shield. That's what stood in front of
you, and whenever the arrows come flying in them old days,
you had to have it above you too. That's what we hold, and
He's our buckler. I looked up the word buckler.
One of the translations for that throughout Psalm 7 is alligator
skin. That's one of the protective
ways to translate that. You got some good hard alligator
skin right up next to you. Clothed in it. The Lord is our
girding, He's our breastplate, He's our shoes, our fortress,
our shield, our buckler. Do we trust Him? Do we trust
our equipment? Do we trust our armor? that He's
put on us? Or do we still trust just a little
bit in us? I know some things. Or is He
our wisdom? I did some good stuff, or is
He our righteousness? We can't handle that old man.
We can't take on the devil by ourselves. He can't do it. He must do it for us. We must
trust Him. Proverbs 30 verse 5 says, Every word of God is
pure. He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him.
Is He a shield for everybody? No. Just the ones that put on
the armor of God. They've been given the faith
to look to Him. They've been given the Christ
to look to Christ and trust Him. Like Zacchaeus. Sell off everything
to God. Well, you got a lot though. And we'll shut up to him. Zacchaeus
had some power, didn't he? He had some standing in the community.
Whether it was knowledge, he knew how to make money. Did he
say, hey, get out of my way. I'm going over there. He kept
his mouth shut and he climbed a tree. He had need, didn't he? The Lord will shut us up to him.
He'll shield us. Those that trust him, we lay down everything.
My pride and my righteousness and all that come to him, come
to a person. What are these fiery darts? You're a sinner. You ever said that to yourself?
You ever had somebody tell you that? You don't deserve God's
grace. You don't deserve his mercy.
God doesn't want you. You can't know him. That's a
fiery dart of the wicked. You don't put your money where
your heart is. You don't live like you ought to. You couldn't
be a child of God the way you're sitting there right now. My wicked fleshly nature born
of Adam shoots those darts at myself all day long. Maybe I'm
the only one. This couldn't be for me. But when I'm reminded of Christ
my shield, Christ is my girding. Christ is my breastplate. Christ
is my shoes. We agree, don't we? You're a
sinner. I know I'm a sinner. You're right.
Christ died for sinners. God doesn't want you by myself.
No, He doesn't. He wants Christ who's in me. I'm girded in Him. I have no
righteousness, but I have the Lord's my righteousness. God
doesn't accept me, but He accepts Christ. My faith, oh, it's so
little. It's weak. It ain't even as big as a mustard
seed. But it's the faith of Christ.
And it's the faith that solely looks to Him, the object of my
faith. It's in Him. You know what that is? That's
called saving faith. I heard a man say one time, well,
they're barely saved. What nonsense. What blasphemy. Blasphemy. That's a wicked dart.
Somebody's barely saved. God Almighty saves sinners. He
doesn't try to save sinners. He plumb saves them. You ain't
kind of made righteous. You were made His righteousness. Nervous people. I have no defenses. I'm not agile enough. I'm not
strong enough to stand up against the great accuser of my brethren.
or even the accuser that's in me, myself. I can't stand up
to myself, but my Lord's my shield. He's my buckler. He's my alligator
skin. I need to be shielded all around,
above, from below, and I'm going to need a helmet too. Look here in verse 17. Look at
the helmet. Ephesians 6, 17. and take the helmet of salvation.
Those old Roman helmets, they covered the top of the head.
We get that, don't we? It covered the neck, in case
you had your head down an arrow, it wouldn't get you. But it covered
the ears and the cheeks, too. It covered the sides. It covered
the ears. You ever been hit in the ear?
It hurts. It hurts a whole lot. You ever been hit in the spiritual
ear? You ever been hit with a word? Word's sharp, isn't it? Like
a little tiny rudder on a ship. It can turn a whole bunch of
stuff. We need a helmet. Who's our helmet? What goes on
our head? The mind of Christ. A humble,
lowly countenance. That's a good helmet to have.
Look over in Philippians 2. Just a page there to the right.
Philippians 2 verse 5. Philippians 2 verse 5. I was
looking at Philippians 1. Let this mind be in you. Let
this helmet be on you. Which was also in Christ Jesus,
who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God. Why not? He was God. But made himself
of no reputation. and took upon Him the form of
a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found
in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross." That would protect our
weak minds if we were to be reminded of Christ and His countenance,
of Christ and His sacrifice. Him willingly going to the cross
of Calvary for His people to shed His blood What, what precious
blood for a worthless sinner like me to be made like, to be
made me to take my place, to give me all this armor. It's
all his. I got any steam left in my cells
to go take my sword, my bow. That'll hush you up, won't it? Shut up to my iniquity. What a thought. That's much better
wearing that helmet of Christ than against spiritual wickedness
in high places Paul spoke of in verse 12, isn't it? Thinking
how good I am, how high and mighty I am, how grown up I am. Oh, that the mind of Christ would
protect our ears, not let us entertain falsehoods that we
conjure up or that other men conjure up. There's so much heresy
out there. Not air, heresy. in this world. It's all over. It's prevalent.
Lord, don't let me willingly hear these things. Don't go seeking
them out. That's snake handling, isn't
it? I want to go listen to something, see if I can find what's wrong.
Why don't you go grab one of them big old rattlesnakes up on my
property and hold it up and see if there's poison in it. No,
leave it alone. Avoid it. You got a helmet on,
cover your ears. So Paul told us, he said, mark
them and avoid them. There it is. You see a rattlesnake, you
mark it and you avoid it. Hey, it's telling me it's rattling. Go that way. Go the opposite
way. Don't test out the helmet. Don't tempt the Lord. Just put
it on. Just put it on. There's a sword there. I'll hurry.
Sword of offense and defense. A sword can cut, but a sword
can block too, can't it? There in Ephesians 6 verse 17.
and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God." The sword is sharper than any two-edged
sword. I'm sorry, the Word is sharper
than any two-edged sword. Who's the sword of God? Who's
the Word of God? The Word was with God and the
Word was God. It was Christ, isn't it? What could be an offensive
measure I can have? That's the only one we're given
in this whole thing. The Word of God, the Word of Christ. Paul told Timothy, he said, I
charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ
who shall jog the quick and the dead at his appearing in his
kingdom. Preach the Word. Preach Christ. Be instant in
season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with
all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine. Somebody's going to want to hear
something else. But after their own lush shall they heap to themselves
teachers. We can figure this out on our
own. We don't need God. We don't need the poor simple
sinner that he sent to us. We'll find our own teachers.
We'll huddle up together and do it. Heaped themselves teachers
having itching ears. They don't have a helmet on,
do they? That wind is making their ears itch. You've got to
hear something. And they shall turn away their
ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. They'll
fall away. We are to pray for ourselves
and our brethren, those that Christ died for, that would be
not turned away. Lord, don't leave us to the evil.
Don't leave us to ourselves. Now, verse 18. This final part
of the armor is prayer. And prayer is not an offensive
weapon. That's trying to twist God's
arm, isn't it? Lord, I'm going to need you to
do this. Lord, this ought to happen. We don't gang up together and have
prayer circles. That's called a mutiny. Prayer
is submission to God, bowing to Him. When those fiery darts
hit and say, I'm a sinner, go to the Lord. Lord, you come to save sinners,
who I'm chief. Every time I read that, Paul
says, I'm the chief of sinners. I just want to hug him and say,
I know you really think you are, Paul, but I am. That's how down Zacchaeus'
Lord is going to bring us. I'm the chief of sinners. If y'all live inside of my head,
you quit eating lunch with me. for the helmet that's on me.
All the righteousness I've been given, can't beat it. Best armor
in the world. Verse 18, praying always with
all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching there
unto with all perseverance and supplications for the saints,
for all saints. How are we able to get this armor
of God on us and use it? Well first we're going to pray.
I pray for you. Wouldn't that be something if
God saved a sinner? I'll close my eyes. What if He
saved you? What if He saved me? That's something worth praying
for, isn't it? Perseverance and supplication. Lord, those that
you have saved, keep them forever. Shod them. Give them a breastplate.
Give them girding. Give them a helmet. Give them
a shield. Give them a sword. Provide everything for them.
Feed them. How are we able to get this armor
of God on us and use it? God the Holy Spirit must equip
us. He must put it on us. Says this
is a helmet, I'm going to put it on you. Breastplate, here's
a breastplate. I'm going to wrap you in it and
I'm going to lace you up in it. Those things that we wear nowadays,
I can take an IBA apart and you ain't going to get it put back
together. You can't do it yourself. Someone has to teach you how
to put that thing back together. It's complicated, even with instructions.
God the Holy Spirit, through the preaching of the gospel,
tells us about that breastplate that's been laced onto us. He
equips us through the preaching. What about them preachers? They're
good to go. They're something special, ain't
they? No, they ain't. Just a different piece of clay
that's been pinched off. The Lord uses. Pray for them
too. Pray for me. I have a message
for you. Look at verse 19. Paul says,
Pray and pray for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may
open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. It takes an act of God for a
man to stand up and boldly proclaim Christ. Boldly, boldly proclaim
that all flesh is grass. Boldly proclaim that you ain't
got nothing to do with your righteousness. Christ is all your righteousness. He deserves all praise for it.
God has to give that. For which I am an ambassador
in bonds. This word that I speak, I don't
tell you what I think. I tell you what the one that
sent me speaks. I'm just an ambassador and I'm
in bonds. I'm a bond servant. that therein
I may speak boldly as I ought to speak." We need to be dressed
in the whole armor of God and the Spirit will do that through
the preaching of Christ and Him crucified. How's the Lord going
to train up His children? Through the preaching of the
Word. That's how He's going to teach them something. How's He going
to save His children? Through the preaching of the
Word. How's He going to put a breastplate on you, give you a sword, tighten
your shoes up? Through the preaching of the
Word. The person and the work of Christ. If we are physically
hungry, Probably none of us have had severe hunger pains lately. If you miss five or six meals
in a row, you start getting hungry. Do you know what solution there
is for that? Eat a meal. Right? I'm hungry. Eat something. It's
going to do you good. It'll refresh you. If we're spiritually
hungry, boy, we're having some heart pains. We don't know when we're hungry
spiritually, do we? But when we have some heart pains
here and there, what's a solution to that? Eat a meal. Be fed by
the word. Be fed by the Lord. My dear brother
said one time, when you need to eat, I mean, you got a need. If everybody was starving to
death and I was handing out bread, they'd be elbows flying trying
to get to it, wouldn't they? If you need to eat spiritually,
it may be a bologna sandwich and it may be a filet mignon.
But if you need it, it doesn't matter which one it is, does
it? And you know what? I'll be honest with you. A bologna
sandwich would probably go down a whole lot easier and digest
better, wouldn't it? Than a big old steak. Probably what you need
is some milk. If we are under the gospel, He
will put that girding of Christ the truth on us. He'll put on
the breastplate of Christ's righteousness, those boots, that gospel, the
Prince of Peace. His shield of faith, His faith.
And that helmet, that mind of Christ. And He'll give us the
ability to pray for our brethren. And He'll give us the ability
to hear our brothers that preach to us. Isn't that something? That'll get you through. The
Lord does that for us. He'll do that for me. The next
time I've got anxiety and I'm depressed, all on. I'm shooting arrows at myself. Oh, what a good meal would do.
Be reminded of what He's did for His people, in and for them. And that it's put on by Him,
and it's mine. I want it forever. I pray it
will keep us all.