The Whole Armour Of God - Part 5 - The Girdle Of Truth

Q: What does the Bible say about the importance of truth?

The Bible emphasizes that truth is foundational for faith and freedom from deception. Throughout Scripture, truth is portrayed as essential to the Christian faith. In John 8:31-32, Jesus states, 'You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.' This indicates that understanding and embracing the truth is vital for spiritual liberation. Furthermore, Paul teaches in Ephesians 6:14 about putting on the 'girdle of truth' as the first piece of armor necessary to confront spiritual warfare. Truth acts as a stabilizing force, grounding believers amid the challenges posed by deception and false teachings.

Q: How do we know the truth of God's Word is reliable?

The reliability of God's Word rests on its divine inspiration and its power to change lives. The Bible is considered reliable because it is divinely inspired, as evidenced by 2 Timothy 3:16 which states that 'All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.' This means that the text originates from God and is intended for teaching, reproof, and correction. Moreover, its transformative power in the lives of believers demonstrates its reliability; countless individuals have experienced profound changes through its teachings, affirming the truth within its pages. The cohesion and consistency of the biblical narrative throughout history further support its trustworthiness.

Q: Why is doctrine important for Christians?

Doctrine serves as the foundation of faith and provides clarity on essential truths of salvation. Doctrine is vital for Christians as it defines the theological principles that guide belief and practice. It enables believers to understand who God is, what Christ has done, and how salvation works. In John 17:3, Jesus articulated that eternal life is to 'know the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.' This emphasizes that accurate teaching about God and Christ is necessary for genuine faith. Embracing solid doctrine protects believers from heresies and ensures that their faith is rooted in truth rather than emotional experiences or societal trends.

Q: What does it mean to gird oneself with truth?

Girding oneself with truth involves anchoring one's mind and heart in the doctrines of Scripture. To gird oneself with truth means to wrap our minds and spirits in the realities established by God's Word. In Ephesians 6:14, Paul instructs believers to 'stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth,' signifying the readiness to combat spiritual attacks. This process starts with understanding the truths presented in Scripture and involves a commitment to living in accordance with those truths. By consistently engaging with the Word of God, through prayer and study, believers can reinforce their spiritual defenses against doubt and deception.

Q: How does truth relate to salvation?

Truth is pivotal to salvation, as it leads to a knowledge of Christ, who is the source of eternal life. Truth is integral to the concept of salvation as it provides the necessary understanding of who Christ is and what He has accomplished. In John 14:6, Jesus declares, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.' This implies that recognizing and believing in the truth of Christ is essential for salvation. Furthermore, 2 Thessalonians 2:10 warns that those who perish do so because they did not receive the love of the truth. Thus, truth enables an individual to turn to Christ and embrace the salvation He offers, highlighting its critical role in the redemptive process.

Thank you. That's an excellent
hymn. derived that from several scriptures. Several scriptures were brought
to my mind, seeing that. Verse 2, speaking of bondage,
ceasing through revelation of the truth, must surely have come
from John 8. We just read, Thou shalt know
the truth. The truth shall set you free.
And over 2 Timothy 2, it talks about those who were captive
of Satan. being delivered by the truth,
and then her talk of the bread of life. Surely it comes from
John 6, Christ the bread of life. Do you know my subject now? Would
somebody like to venture and say it? Truth. Good. All right, let's look at Ephesians
chapter 6 again. Ephesians 6. where we've been studying and
read the first few verses of this text on the armor of God. Ephesians
6, we begin with verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole
armor of God. that you may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil. 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 high or heavenly places. Wherefore, take unto you the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the
evil day, and having done all, to stand." Verse fourteen now,
"...stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth." The Apostle Paul, by the Holy Spirit, gives us
six pieces of armor to wear in order to contend with these spiritual
adversaries or enemies of ours, in order to, as he says, quench
the fiery darts of the wicked, which every child of God experiences. And we've noted before that unbelievers
or mere professors of religion don't seem to have the problems
with sin and these struggles that you do. It's because Satan
has them in a false refuge, a refuge of lies, in a refuge of self-righteousness. And he doesn't bother them. He
leaves them there. He doesn't want them to doubt
their salvation at all. But the child of God is beset
behind and before with these troubles from Satan himself—fiery
darts. And we looked into those a little
bit. Now, before I go any further
and we talk about this first piece of armor, I read it on
purpose, and we need to continually be reminded—verse 10—to be strong
in the Lord. depend upon him for your strength,
not in any strivings or doings of your own. And to use the power
of his might or his word, use the means that he has given us.
But the key there is being strong or depending or calling upon
the Lord in prayer for your help. Because he said, Without me you
can do nothing. And that's true. And you know
it's so, don't you? Without Me, you can do nothing.
So we must call upon Him time and again. That's the reason
He says to pray without ceasing, because our struggles are ceaseless. So we're to ask for His help
constantly. Now, we're going to see how that
all these pieces of armor are related to the Word, the power
of His might. We're going to see how all these
pieces of armor relate to His Word. Let me give you an illustration. The Word of God is—and this is
the analogy that Paul is making here—the Word of God is like
a wardrobe. Now, that's an old—you country
people might know what a wardrobe was, wouldn't you? It's not what
you're wearing. It's the thing where what you
were going to wear was in—an old wardrobe. Well, the Word
of God is like a wardrobe or a closet, if you will, where
we find this suit of armor to put on. Have you ever, you men,
I know you've asked your wife at times, Honey, where is my
this or that? Where's my favorite jacket? Where's my green jacket? And
she'll, more times than not, she'll say, It's where it always
is. in the closet. Look for it. Why are you shaking? They're
not in your head so much, Nancy. My wife probably is too. So we ask, where is our help
to be found? These pieces of armor, where
is it to be found? Where it's always been. In the
Word of God. Right? If you bothered to look,
you'd find it. So that's the illustration I
wanted to give to begin this thing. The Word
of God is as a closet or a wardrobe or a gold mine where we must
dig to find those rich. And this suit of armor is contained
within this Word, and we'll see how it all relates to the Word.
All right? So the first thing he says, the first piece of armor
he gives us in verse 14, significantly is this. He says, Stand therefore
having your loins girt about with truth. Truth, or we, for
ease of remembrance, the girdle of truth. The girdle of truth. And this thing of a girdle didn't
start back in the 1800s, you know, when women used to wear
those corsets and all that. This started back with the high
priest of old, or beyond that, when men wore these underlying
things called girdles, which held things together and held
things up. And he tells us that this is
the first thing we are to have on, this undergarment, if you
will, undergarment. And let me say this about the
loins first. The loins here represent our
mind. They represent our affection. It's like the vital parts of
your body are all contained in your loin area. Your liver, your kidneys, your
intestines, those vital organs that sustain your life are found
in your loin area. And any damage to that will kill
you. at least hurt you. And the loins
here are the mind, the understanding, the affection, the judgment,
okay, the inner man. You understand that? Are you
with me? Are you with me? So he says we're to have our
loins or our mind, our affection, our inner man, our judgment girded
with truth. Truth, all right? What is the
truth? Now, I know what your first reaction
is. Everybody in here, because of what you've heard preached,
is going to say, Christ is the truth. Well, that's right. That
is right. But these are pieces of a whole. These six pieces of armor are
pieces or parts of a whole. Christ is the whole picture.
And these are pieces or parts of this whole picture. And each
piece relates to Christ of a truth. But the truth that he is telling
us about here that we're to be girt with, or be the undergarment
of, or that which holds everything together is the truth of doctrine. The truth of doctrine. And that's
the doctrine of Christ. Like John said, if any man transgress
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, he's none of it. But
this is the truth of doctrine. And whenever we say the word
doctrine, it's a biblical word. It's a blessed word. I love the
word doctrine. I love doctrine. I love these
doctrines. I like to call the doctrines
of grace, I like to say it in the singular, the doctrine of
grace. And it's all grace, isn't it?
It's all of grace. Doctrine. But the word doctrine
means teaching. And you could call this right
here the doctrine of God, couldn't you? The whole book. The whole
Bible. The word, or the truth, or the
doctrine, the teaching of God himself. And so what our subject
is tonight is the truth of doctrine. And that is what undergirds or
undergirds our faith. It's what our faith is built
upon. The truth of this book. The truth of God's Word. All right? Are you with me? The
truth of God's Word. The foundation, or that which
holds everything together, is the truth. The truth. Truth as it's established in
the mind, in the judgment, and in the heart. We've got to love
it. That's what belief is, not just a persuasion in the mind,
but it's an actual loving in the heart. Now listen, I'm going
to repeat this so you'll hear it. A knowledge of the truth
and a love of it is what keeps us from being tossed to and fro
or persuaded by false doctrine or signs or wonders. A knowledge
of the truth and a love of it is what keeps us from being tossed
to and fro with every wind of doctrine or being persuaded by
false doctrine or false prophets or signs and wonders. A knowledge
of the truth and a love of it. The First Lady—and I'm not talking
about Hillary Clinton—is the First Lady of this planet. The first woman was deceived,
wasn't she? The Scripture plainly says that
Adam was not deceived, but Eve was deceived, being in the transgression.
Right? Adam knew exactly what he was
doing when he partook of that fruit. And we've seen that that's
a good—although it's a horrible thing, we see a clear picture
of Christ in that, don't we? Now that he willingly partook
of our sin and our night, knowing what he was going to get into.
But for his love to us, he did it anyway. That's what Adam did.
He was deceived. How could she be? Have you ever
thought of that? How could she possibly be deceived
by Satan? What was it? Why was it that
she was tricked and wooed by Satan? Well, there's only one answer
to that. She was apparently ignorant and
unbelieving of the truth of what God said. God said, the day you
eat, you will die, didn't He? And if she would have believed
God, She was evidently ignorant of what it meant to die and unbelieving
of God's, the truth of what God said, and that's what Satan wooed
her with, that, hey, you won't die. God's deceiving you. Here's, listen to what Paul said
in 2 Timothy in relation to that. Now, I spent some time on that.
In 2 Timothy, Paul said a preacher, a teacher, a preacher, is one
who instructs those that oppose themselves, if God will peradventure
give them repentance, that is a change of mind, to the acknowledging
of the truth, that they may recover themselves out of the snare of
the devil. When she began to listen to the
devil instead of her God, she was in his snare. She needed
to be recovered by what? The truth. That's what Paul just
said. the truth. Had Adam been around, he'd have
said, no, that's not true, what he's saying. You remember what
God said? The truth is, let God be true. He's a liar. Right? He's the
father of it. You remember Christ saying that
in John 8? If Eve had properly understood and believed what
God said, Satan wouldn't have deceived her. Right? Now listen to the analogy, or
listen to how it's still true today. Die means die, doesn't
it? When God said, the day you eat,
you're going to die. In dying, thou shalt die. That's
what he said. Die means die today as well as
it did then, doesn't it? Huh? Doesn't dead mean dead? Well, the religion of Satan today
The religion of Satan's lies today that appeals to mostly
women and has its greatest following among women says, dead in trespassing
sin doesn't mean dead. Right? You're not dead. Isn't
that so ironic? It's the same today as it was
then. So how important is truth? Do
you understand me, Terry? plunged this whole race into
sin because she didn't believe the truth. And everywhere, people
now are in darkness because they received not the love of the
truth. And so God sends them strong
delusion. They believe a lie. How important
is the truth? Paul says it's the first thing
you put on. Isn't it? The first thing. It's the foundation
of faith. It's that which holds everything
together. The truth of God. The truth of
God. Now, truth, truth or truths are,
like I said, everything God said is truth. And everything as it
relates to Him and to Christ, salvation. Let me read you some
scriptures now. If you don't get anything else,
and if I don't do anything else, this is time well spent. I looked
up several verses of scripture pertaining to the truth, and
I'm going to save you the trouble of looking them up. But listen,
OK? Everybody get your yawns over
with. All right? Now listen carefully.
All right? And this is the subject we're
going through, and it's nothing Satan likes more than to keep
you from hearing what this is saying. And I was struck with how many
times in the Psalms, I didn't write them all down, but I was
struck with how many times in the Psalms it talked about mercy
and truth in the same line, in the same voice, mercy and truth,
mercy and truth. Listen, withhold not thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord, let your lovingkindness and thy preserve
me." You see, it's God's loving kindness
or His mercy and His grace that He sends, that He has upon you,
to give you the truth. Oh, send out thy light and thy
truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring
me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles. You know, light
and truth. You remember what the high priest
of old had in that breastplate? Two words. It's the most mysterious. Two words. You may dare to say
it. Try it. Urim and Thummim. You remember that? It says that
seven times. Seven is the number of perfection.
I'm not going to go in all that. But seven times the Urim and
Thummim are mentioned in the breastplate of the high priest.
Urim and Thummim mean light and truth. You want to do a good
study sometime. I've never rightly heard anybody
do a message on that. Seven times. He says, let your
light and thy truth, understanding of the truth, lead me. Listen to this. God shall send
from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would
swallow me up. God shall send forth his mercy
and his truth. Mercy and truth are met together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. You remember
that one, don't you? The Lord cometh, he cometh to
judge the earth, he shall judge the world with righteousness
and the people with his truth. I will worship toward thy holy
temple and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy
truth. You've magnified your word above
all your name. Let not mercy and truth forsake
me. Bind them about my neck. Write
them on the table of my heart. Listen to this one. By mercy
and truth, iniquity is purged. And by the fear of the Lord,
men depart from evil. The law was given by Moses, but
grace and Say it. Truth came by Jesus Christ. Listen to the words of our Lord
himself. The hour cometh, and now is, when true worshipers
shall worship the Father in what? Spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship him. God's a spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And you shall know the truth
and the Truth shall make you free. When He, the Spirit of
truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. How important is truth? He shall
not speak of Himself. He shall speak or show you things. Here's the prayer of our high
priest. Father, sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy Word is truth. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness. And it says here that those who
are saved, trusted in whom you trusted after you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation. And I give thanks,
Paul said, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven,
whereof you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. And we read it there in 2 Thessalonians
that Satan uses all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish because they receive not the love of the truth, that they
might be saved. But God has chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of Truth. Study to show yourself approved.
A workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth. There's some people who are ever
learning and never coming to a knowledge of the truth. And
there's coming a time, and now is, when they shall turn away
their ears from the truth and be turned unto faith. If we sin
willfully after we receive the knowledge of the truth, there
is no more sacrifice to sin. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. And seeing you have purified
your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, but many
shall follow these false prophets' pernicious ways by reason of
whom the way of Truth is evil spoken against. How important
is truth? Those are just a few hand-picked
scriptures. All right? We need to ask then,
what is the truth? No way. What is this truth? And what is it to put it on?
All right? What is the truth? And what is
it—how do we gird ourselves? All right? What is the truth
of doctrine? Well, I was going to call on
one of your students, Mindy, but I won't. John 17. I wish
I could call on Luke or Sarah back there and
see if they could quote this for us out loud. They ought to
be able to. John 17 3. I won't do it, though. I won't do it. John 17, 3. Look
over there. What is this truth of doctrine
which we must put on? What is it? What's the first
truth we must learn? Huh? John 17, 3. It's all wrapped
up in this verse here. Terry said it to me when I told
him my subject. He quoted it immediately. This
is life eternal, that they might know thee. the only true God
and Jesus Christ, or the only true Christ, whom thou hast sent. True, the only true God. So the truth here, I believe,
the truth, the doctrine, that we must first be firmly persuaded
in our hearts and minds and our judgment and Love in our hearts
is the truth of who God is, and the truth of who Christ is. The
only true God. Have you ever thought about that
one short phrase? The only true God, or the one
who's truly only God. The one who is God truly. He thought about that little
short phrase, the only true God or the one who, only God who
is God. There are many gods, small g's,
who profess to be God but don't have the attributes of God. There's
only one who can. God means one. There's only one. You must know and understand
and believe and love in your heart that God is God or you
have no faith at all. Isn't that where our faith starts,
John? That's where our faith starts.
You have no faith at all. Your faith is worthless if your
God is not God. And our God must be God or we
don't have one. That sounds so simple, doesn't
it? We take that for granted. But the world, Rick, is out there
believing a God who's not God. What's the point in calling Him
God if He's not God? Huh? It sounds so simple to us,
doesn't it? He's either God. That means absolute
ruler and controller over all. Or he's not God. Call him something
else. Call him an idol. That's what he is. God must be
absolute. That means irrefutable, undeniably
God. Ruler and controller. He must
be sovereign or he's not God. Right, John? He must be immutable
or he's not God. Do you believe that? Is that
important that you believe your God doesn't change? You're going
to die in your sins, John, if He does. You son of Jacob, you. Because He doesn't change, you're
not consumed. Because His covenant doesn't
change. Because He doesn't change. If
your God's not holy, He's not God in everything. Holy. Everything
about Him. Holy. If everything about Him
is not eternal, He's not God. Eternal and immutable go together,
don't they? If he's not omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, he's
not God. Everything about him, the one
true God, everything about him must be all-powerful and sovereign. His love must be sovereign, his
mercy must be sovereign, his grace must be sovereign, his
will must be sovereign. Oh, he's not God. But if it is,
If everything about him is sovereign, then when he says something,
it's done. It's good. It's true. It's right. And it
never changes. It's true. You see, that's what truth means.
Unchanging. Something's true or it's not.
Can't be maybe. It's got to be right. Right? The truth of the gospel. Either
Christ says or he doesn't. So everything about God must
be God. That when he acts, you react.
And when he says, I will, you shall. That's what makes him
God. So we believe in the fabric of
our faith, and the first thing we must be convinced of in our
minds and our hearts is that, like Abraham, he believed God.
He believed God. Not just what God said, but he
believed God. He's God. You know what Hebrews
6 says? He that cometh to him must believe
that he is. He is what? He is God. Oh, my. Blessed are you if you
believe this. It's such as, Steve, you think,
how can anybody not believe this, don't you? You think that's the
way it is and it just can't be, oh, God's God. That's what it
means. His very name means God. But there's people, very few
people believe God is God. Now, isn't that the first thing
we must come to? The first truth, be firmly persuaded in our minds,
and not only firmly persuaded of it, but love it. Is that the
way you want it? John, how could anybody have
any peace in believing that, I don't, for the life of me,
I can't understand why this world would bother to worship a God
who lets things happen to them, that He doesn't want to happen.
Can you? who loves them so much, yet Satan
just has his heyday on them, and God stands back and watches.
And they go to hell one day, and God doesn't stop it. Why
worship a God? You see? He's not God. Why worship
something like that? Why bother? Your only peace and hope and
confidence is that God is God. God is God. That's where it starts. That's the truth. That's, so
help me, God. The only true God. The truth
of who God is and how He does things. All right? Then secondly,
and the next thing that comes, the next truth that always arises
out of a knowledge of who God is, is what? Would you like to
get? What we are. Huh? A sight of God gives you a sight
of yourself. Job was a religious man and self-righteous
and all that. He said, I've heard of you by
the hearing of ear. But now, my eye sees you. I see you with my eye. I see
who you really are now, absolutely holy and sovereign, and I'm in
your hands. And you don't have to do anything for me. You could snuff me out. I see
you now. Therefore, I hate myself. Job used to think he could do
something for somebody. And the next thing, the next
truth we come to know and understand and believe is what we are. It's a graveyard. I've never seen a man who's half
dead. Have you? Man is dead in trespasses and
sin. Christ said you will not. And
he said no man can. Not only his will but his want
to. Everything about him. He's depraved.
He's unable. He's unwilling. His will, his
mind, his affection is dead to God, dead to holiness, dead.
He's unable, he's unwilling, he's unrighteousness to Scripture.
Paul said, "...in my flesh dwelleth no good thing." I'm dead in trespasses and sin
by nature. All right? The next thing we
realize about ourself is that we're in this God's hands to
do with as He pleases. And ain't nobody going to call
on God for mercy until they believe that. Right, John? Ain't nobody going to call on
God in a saving way, Lord have mercy. They'll say, well, Lord
have mercy. I don't believe that. But they
won't say, Lord have mercy, until they believe that they are unable
and that they're in this God's hands and He does not have to
save them. Everybody comes to this same
conclusion. Everybody. Foundational truth. That we're in God's hands. That
we are clay. And He is what? The potter. Clay has no say. Never has. Never will. Wet dirt
can't do anything, can it? Dust you are, and to dust you
shall return. That's all we are. What can man
do? I ask you, what can man do? Nothing. Isn't that what Christ
said? Let's just get down to it. Did
He mean that? You're twisting the truth into
a lie if He didn't. Without me, you can do Nada,
zero, zilch, nothing. Why? You're dead. You're dead. What can man do? Nothing but
sin until God the Holy Spirit breathes life into him. All right,
when God created Adam out of the dust of the ground, He created
and formed that body and everything, formed him up there. What was
it? Was he a living After he created
all of that and made that body, was he alive? He looked like
it. He looked good. What was the
problem? God didn't breathe a breath of
life in him, did he? He may have looked good, but he was dead.
He was dead. He couldn't do anything until
God went, and then he lived. And that's man, isn't it? Do
you believe that? That's just the truth. And you
know it was so of you. Lazarus knew that he had been
dead. Now, there had been some other people who probably didn't
believe it. Oh, we don't believe that. You were dead. Lazarus
said, I was dead. Mary and Martha knew he was dead.
He was stinking. Right? Dead. Now, that's the truth about man. All right, now, what's the next
truth that we come to learn? We learn who God is when we see
what we are by nature. What's the next truth that the
Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of truth, brings us to see? The truth of who Christ is. Who
Christ is. Who is Christ? I just gave you
the answer. He's Christ. He's Christ. What's the word
mean? The anointed chosen one of God
is a representative of man. That's what Christ means. Christ
is either Christ, like God is God, or He's not Christ. He's
just another pretender. Christ says many false Christs
will come, but there's one Christ. Right? There's one mediator between
God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. The word Christ, the name
Christ, the title of Christ, means Christ. It means one anointed. And all through the Old Testament,
God says, I'm going to send my Christ, my chosen. my servant, whom I uphold, whom
I delight in, my Christ." Here he is, the Christ of God, the
Christ. Who is Christ? He's the way.
He said himself in John 16, I'm the way. The way where? Well,
the way to how to live. The way to God. He is the life,
not just how to live. He's the truth of how God saves. He is the life. He is eternal
life. To be in is to have life. Christ
is wisdom, whom to know and understand is to know God, because in Him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead in the body of a
man. Christ said, You don't know the
Father, nor me. You've seen me, you've seen the
Father. Whom to know and understand is
to know God. Study Christ, you'll know God.
Christ is righteousness, which you need to be with that God.
And Christ has it. He's the only one that does.
To be accepted by this holy God. Christ is sanctification. The
one whom God sanctified. The word sanctified means set
apart, doesn't it? God set, you know, these three
are one, they're one. God, as it were, ripped a part
of him from his own bosom, set it apart from himself, and gave
it a body. He called it Christ, his Son,
that we might know him. Sanctified set himself apart
as a man. set apart his godhood into manliness,
so that we might be sanctified. God was made a man so that man
might become like God. He said, I'm sanctified that
they might be sanctified. I've set apart that they might
be set apart from this mass, this damned and doomed, and might
come up with us, be like us. Christ is redemption. Christ
is redemption through his blood that satisfied God's justice
and paid for our sin. And if you know and understand
and love, there's a key. If the things I've been saying
to you about Christ brings a smile on your face and some joy in
your heart, I have good reason to believe that you know this
Christ, because it's more than doctrine. It is blessed doctrine. I'm delighted in thinking about
these things right now. I'm enjoying it. But it's the
doctrine of Christ. It's the doctrine of what it
means for Him to be Christ. Huh? He's Christ. Do you know
that? A lot of people call Him that. No, no, no, I take that back.
I think it's significant that people call Him Jesus more than
they do Christ. Don't you? Don't you think that's significant?
I do. You remember me telling you that
a fellow asked Todd Nyberg that one time? He said, I noticed
that you don't call, most of the time you refer to the Lord
Jesus as Christ. You don't call him Jesus. That's a good sign, isn't it?
It's a good sign. is the name of his humanity,
his humiliation, the old Puritans called it. Humiliation being
made in no man. Jesus Christ abideth forever,
they say. All right, so if Christ is your
mediator, your substitute, your Lord, your Savior, your Redeemer,
your advocate, your high priest, your altar, your law, Hmm? Is Christ your law? Or the Ten
Commandments? You say he wrote them, right? You're appealing to the lawgiver,
aren't you? Or are you appealing to the law? Which is it? If Christ
is Christ to you, then he's all and in all to you. And I just
believe you're saved. A knowledge of that truth. You
see how it all ties together? Huh? Christ first came, and I
started with God. Well, you don't start with Christ.
You start with the knowledge of who God is. That's what Christ
came to do. He said, I came to reveal the
Father. Right? Reveal that holy and righteous
God whom we sinned against, and reveal your sinfulness to you,
and then reveal who I am. Reveal who I am. So it's a knowledge
of that, of these things. It'll set you free. Free from
error and heresy. and the darts, the personal assaults
of the wicked. And lastly, and it'll just take
five minutes, how do we gird ourselves with these truths or
with this truth? John, it all goes up to make
one truth of the gospel, doesn't it? Everything I said, isn't
everything I said necessary to preach the gospel? Can you preach
the gospel without preaching the total depravity of man? Well,
a gospel ain't gospel if he's not dead. Huh? If he's not a sinner, Christ
is no Savior. Oh, can you preach the gospel without preaching
a God who sovereignly elects and chooses the people? Huh?
There ain't no gospel to somebody if they choose Him. That's self-glory. That's self-righteousness. Is
the gospel gospel without a Christ who's not Christ, whose blood
didn't actually say? What good news is there in that?
Without a Holy Spirit who must give life? Hmm? There ain't no
gospel in any of that. You can't preach it. So all of
that I've been saying makes up the gospel, the truth, the word
of truth, the truth of the gospel. All right. So how do you put
this truth on? We started this thing out, I
started by saying now, the word of God is like a what? A wardrobe. All right. He says in there,
he's found your girdle. In the morning, when I wake up,
I'm going to put on a fresh pair of underwear, right? I'm going
to get up. Where am I going to find it?
Where it always is. And I'm going to put it on. Fresh,
clean, new, white undies. And you will too. What are you
laughing at? It's a common, ordinary thing. Everybody wears them.
Huh? Where are you going to find it? In that wardrobe. Where are
you going to find these truths or this truth that undergirds
your faith? In the words. In the words. See how it all comes back to
this? Right there. Right there. That's how we get
dressed in the morning. That's how we gird ourselves.
Huh? It sounds too simple that you
thought, well it's got to be more to it than that. No, that's
it. That's it. We gird ourselves,
we go to the closet, take out God's Word. Yeah, go to the closet. When you take out God's Word,
the closet of prayer, I ask you to reveal it to you. Put it on
you. Hide it in you, my heart. Lord, hide your word in my heart
that I might not sin against thee. And a good working knowledge
and understanding of these truths is a protection against these
assaults. And so he tells us in there,
gird your loins with truth. with truth. And Sunday night
we're going to look at this breastplate of righteousness. They seem to
be vitally connected, don't they? The loins and the next thing
up here is to cover something. What's that big organ right in
the middle there that needs to be covered? Heart. That thing
that ought to be nearest and dearest to your heart. It's what? Righteousness. And I said I've
been using William Gurnall. Well, he missed it. No, William,
I tossed him to the side when I started reading him. He missed
it. He claimed that that righteousness was more an imparted righteousness
that we wear, and we do have one, but he claimed that that
is your protection and so forth, your godly life. That's not it. That's just not it. He missed
that. He missed that. We're going to
look into that. Righteousness Sunday now. All
right, stand with me and I'll dismiss this in a break. Our Heavenly Father, we beg your forgiveness for our
lack of enthusiasm for your truth. Lord, we become lukewarm to these
things that It's the whole thing called the gospel. We beg your
forgiveness. You said you would that we were
cold or hot. Perhaps if we were cold, the
gospel would burn in us. And hot or zealous for it would
truly be dear unto us. Forgive us, Lord, for making
these things commonplace. Doctrines that we've heard time
and time again to where they This Passover is like water on
a duck's back. These are blessed truths, Lord,
that make up the truth of salvation in Christ. Never let these things not be dear to us. These blessed
truths, may they be indelibly printed upon our hearts and our
minds and our judgment, our understanding, we might rightly discern, rightly
divide everything we hear and everything we come across. May
it undergird us. May it hold us up against the
fiery darts of the wicked one and his ministers who have transformed
themselves into angels of light, preachers of righteousness. The
truth is what will set us free from these things, free from
darkness and ignorance and superstition and the world's religion. And
Satan's assaults, Lord, the truth. May we buy the truth and sell
it not, but hold it dear to our hearts, the truth as it is in
Christ, the gospel, the word of truth. Thank you for it, Lord. Thank you for this doctrine.
Thank you. Thank you for revealing it to
us. We don't know. The half hadn't been told. We
don't know. We haven't touched the hem of
the garment, and we ask that you would Keep showing us the
blessed truth. In Christ's name we pray, who
is the truth. Amen.

The Whole Armour Of God - Part 5 - The Girdle Of Truth

What does the Bible say about the importance of truth?

How do we know the truth of God's Word is reliable?

Why is doctrine important for Christians?

What does it mean to gird oneself with truth?

How does truth relate to salvation?

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The Whole Armour Of God - Part 5 - The Girdle Of Truth

What does the Bible say about the importance of truth?

How do we know the truth of God's Word is reliable?

Why is doctrine important for Christians?

What does it mean to gird oneself with truth?

How does truth relate to salvation?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

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