If you will, turn back with me
to Ephesians chapter six. I'm going to take my title and my subject as well from verse
10, where he said, be strong in the Lord. Salvation is a work that requires
strength. and the sinner is not equipped
for it. Do this. Well, I can't. You can if you're strong in the
Lord. It says, when we were yet without
strength, in due time, Christ died. or the ungodly. Without strength. Men think they're
so strong. They're so strong in their minds
and their bodies and their will. Strong men. Strong men. No, when we were without strength. And what a term. Ungodly. You ever think about that term?
Ungodly. Without God, Winston. Isn't that
what he says? He reminds him where God found
him. He said, you were without God
in the world. Ungodly. Unlike God. Haters of God. Without God. Ungodly. And for all the words
and professions, for all their activities and sacrifices, they
don't know God. They're without God. And in the scheme of things,
man is depicted in the word of God as a worm, a maggot. Look it up, wiggling maggot.
That's what that term means, worm. He's not the wise, strong,
dominant being he portrays himself to be. In religion, they like
to make heroes out of men like Samson and David. David went out there and faced
a man, Winston, probably three feet taller than he was. It's
just hard to imagine a man whose head had bumped the ceiling.
One guy I was reading about the other day was 8'11", tallest
man on record, 8'11". And you kids, you might have
watched wrestling, or some of you adults when you was a kid,
they had a wrestler, his name was Andre the Giant. And they
had Andre the Giant standing next to him, and this guy was
looking down at him like that. That's a big belly. Oh, we think we're so big. So
big. He said, all the inhabitants
of the earth are as grasshoppers, just grasshoppers. Yet by the
grace of God and God's wise provision, we're made meat to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints and light, enlightened saints. God has made us meat. He's given
us the ability to do these things. And that's what Paul's exhorting
this church to do. Be strong in the Lord. He's already
told you what the Lord had done for you. Read Ephesians 1. There's
not a chapter in the Bible that goes into more detail about what
the Lord has done for us. But the Lord has given us the
ability to be partakers not onlookers, partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in life. That's Colossians 112. And that
man or woman born of God is given power, he tells us in John chapter
one, power to become sons of God and believe on his name. I asked somebody one time, Did
that word power, does it have to do with ability or permission?
And he said, yes, it has to do with both. And the exhortation here is to
be strong in the Lord. Paul said, when I'm weak, then
am I strong. In order to know your strength,
you first have to know your weakness. Once you understand what your
weakness is and you understand who gives you the ability to
do these things, now I'm strong in him. Strong in him. David had no fear of that giant,
Goliath. His spear was the size of a weaver's
beam. He had no fear of that giant
because he was strong in the Lord and he knew it. Be strong in the Lord. Why? Well,
partly because of the duties and attitudes and conduct that
is just set before them. And partly, and probably mostly,
because of their powerful enemies, which he tells us are principalities
and powers and rulers of the darkness of this world. You can't see our enemies. You
can't see them. All you can do is see the effects
of it. Just like you can't see God, but you can see the effects
of his work. You can't see your enemy. You
don't pick out of my, well, that's my enemy. Not really. Not really. We fight against principalities
and powers and rulers of the darkness of this world and everything
in the life and way of the believer is contrary to the way of this
world, everything. It's contrary, it goes against
the grain. It's contrary to the way of the
flesh. And it's mostly contrary to the
way of false religion. I told a man one time, he said,
what do y'all believe down there and preach? I said, if you take
everything you believe and preach and take the opposite, I said,
that's what we, pretty much that'll give you what we preach. It's contrary. If the way you're
traveling is not an uphill battle, you're not in the way of the
Lord. In Galatians 5.17 it said, the
flesh lusteth, that is, it desires, it's desires, the desires of
the flesh, are contrary to the desires of the spirit. Totally
opposite. And the spirit is totally contrary
to the desires of the flesh, and these are contrary, the one
to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would,
either direction. I can't be as evil as I would
be because the spirit won't allow it. I can't be as good as the
spirit would have me because the flesh is contrary. It keeps
us from doing that which we would. And so he tells us here, be strong
in the Lord and in the power of his might, his might, his
strength, his power. And then he tells us this, put
on the whole armor of God. There's spiritual armor to be
put on. We're not going out in the flesh
to accomplish these things. We're not expected to go out
in the flesh and do these things without any protection at all.
There's an armor provided for the children of God. He said,
put ye on the whole armor of God. Why? Why? That you may be able to
stand against the wiles of the devil. Wiles. That means the devious, cunning
strategies used by the devil to manipulate or persuade somebody
to do his bidding. That's the wiles. We know, we're
not ignorant of his ways. That's what the apostle said.
We're not ignorant of his ways, we know. We're no match for Satan in ourselves. And even Michael, the archangel,
when contending over the body of Moses, darest not bring against
him a railing accusation, but said the Lord rebuketh. Now, if Michael said that, why
do I see these, I have to believe they're absolute morons on TV
standing up ordering Satan about. Huh? My soul, he grew with him out
of glory a third of the heavenly host. You think about that. It says in the scripture that
Satan takes men captive at his will. It's nothing for him to
take you captive. Nothing, he don't even have to
exert a big effort. But it's not likely that we as
individuals will ever personally be confronted by Satan himself. But we're most certainly gonna
be confronted with those who serve him. And that's what he's
telling us. Rulers of the darkness of this
world, spiritual wickedness in high places. Free will works
religion, Arminian religion is the army of the devil. You say
it's a bold statement to make. Well, our Lord said to the Pharisees,
and they're far above the Baptists and Protestants of this world
and the free will churches of this world, they were far above
that. They were clean as a hound's tooth. I mean, you talk about
morality, you've not seen morality till you see a Pharisee. He didn't
do anything out of place. And our Lord said to the Pharisees,
you are of your father the devil, and the works of your father
you do. Huh? That's what, when I look at false
religion, religion that goes contrary to the gospel of Christ,
that's what Paul said. If they come preaching any other
gospel, you count them accursed of God. And when I look at false
religion, I'm not talking about every religion in the world,
I'm talking about religions that go contrary to the gospel of
Christ, accursed religion. These are the army of Satan. These are the servants of Satan. These are the ones that he's
telling you are a danger to you and can hurt you. Most of what this world accepts
as godly religion is nothing in the world but Antichrist.
Just Antichrist, whose coming is after the working of Satan.
Isn't that what the scripture says? with all power and signs and
lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
are perishing because they receive not the love of the truth that
they might be saved. So what are we to do? The opposition's
all around us, even in us. How are we to confront such overwhelming
odds? How you gonna stand? That's what
Paul's talking about, standing in the evil day. How you gonna
stand? I'll just bow up. No, you'll
get crushed, what you'll do. Can you imagine some individual
out in front of Pharaoh's army and he goes out there and throws
his chest up? Well, they'd mowed him down,
they'd run right over him. Be strong in the Lord and the
power of his might. He told his servant, go down
there and conquer this people. Wasn't no ifs, ands, and buts
about it. Go on down there. So he gathered up a big army
and he came out there and the Lord said, you got too many men.
Well, he was already an underdog. You got too many. So he took
a bunch of them away. He said, you still got too many. He whittled them down to a handful.
Now, he said, you're ready. Now you're ready. Opposition's all around us. Much
stronger than we are. Much more organized than we are.
Got all kind of weapons. Do you know after this man put
on all the armor of God, they only give him one weapon? I was
looking up armor. I just wanted to get a picture
in my head what all this armor was, and I looked up armor and
went back as far as the history would take me with armor. Well,
man, once this guy put on his armor, It was unbelievable at
the selection of weapons that he, you know, a mace, you know,
this big old handle with a chain and a spike ball on the end of
it, and bows and arrows and spears and javelins, and there's no
end to the weapons that he was given. God's people just have
one weapon. There's only one weapon mentioned,
and that's the sword. and it's the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God. That's the only weapon you have. Be strong in the Lord and in
the power of his might. How? Put on the whole armor of
God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
There's a heavenly dress prepared of God to outfit the children
of his kingdom. Now let me say this up front.
You're going to confront the enemies of your souls no matter
what. Huh? Oh yeah. Put the armor on,
leave it off. Either way, you're gonna confront
your enemies. Armor or no armor. Provision
or no provision. Satan is a roaring lion. He walketh
about seeking whom he may devour. He's out here, you're gonna face
him. you're gonna face his servants. And he takes men captive at his
will. So he tells us verse 13, wherefore take unto you the whole
armor of God that you may be able to stand in the evil day
and having done all to stand. Now listen to me for just a minute.
This battle, this evil opposition and the armor we are exhorted
to put on are spiritual things. They're spiritual things. He's
not talking here about marching in a protest or fighting for
men's rights or conquering opposing governments or heads of governments. Believers, he said, look not
at things which are seen, but at things which are not seen.
For the things that are seen are temporary, they're temporal.
but the things which are not seen are eternal. You see neither Satan nor his
angels, but you'll feel their opposing power and strength.
And you're not gonna see Christ or his angels, but you will be
strengthened by his promises, and you'll withstand what you
know by faith and experience to confront you. So what are we to put on? Six
things. Six things here that God the
Holy Ghost reveals as the armor of God. First of all, verse 14,
he said, stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth. Now, I don't wanna be obnoxious
or hurt anybody's feelings or seem like I'm some nut. But all you young girls, I don't,
I didn't grow up with you. But I bet you your daddy, when
you come of age, said, if anybody bothers you, here's where you
kick him. And he'll stop. And believe me,
he will. He said, having your loins girt
about. Satan's no gentleman. When he
fights, he fights dirty. He fights to win. He fights to
put his opponent down. And the first thing he's going
to do is kick you where you don't want to be kicked. Isn't that
what he's telling you? You have your loins girt about. Girt about. What am I going to
cover them with? The truth. The truth. They're not a more tender place
or disabling blow to a man than his loins. He's the most vulnerable
there. And every picture I looked at
had a double coating of armor over the loins. You know what
mail is? It's like a dress made out of
chain, small chains. They called it mail. And they
put that under the armor plating. If you were to penetrate the
armor plating, you can't get through that coat of mail. Well, this coating that he put
about his loins, it had a chain mail under it, and then it had
leather strips coming down so he could walk and move, and every
one of them had metal plates riveted to the leather. You couldn't
get to him because of truth. Cause of truth. And I'm gonna
tell you something. You can't disable God's servant
with a lie if he knows the truth. Low blow or not. You think you've
had some low blows? Our Lord came out there and cleansed
lepers. raised the dead, and all them
things, and he cast out demons, and those Pharisees looked at
him, the servants of Satan, they looked at him, and they said,
you cast out Satan by the spirit of Beelzebub. And it rolled off
him like water off a duck's back. He said, now here's what it is. Here's what it is. Satan would
be divided against himself. Huh? The truth. The truth, the only way you're
not gonna be crippled by your enemy is to know the truth. You
have the most vulnerable part of your body covered with truth. Girt about with truth. And our spiritual loins are girt
about with truth. Satan is a, he's just not a gentleman,
he fights dirty. And the first blow he swings
is a low blow. Satan's army likes to lambast
and mock and ridicule and tear down those who stand before him.
And young warriors are not expecting a kick to the groin. And they
get blindsided every time. There's nothing to protect you
from such a blow as this except the truth. There were, at one such confrontation,
five truths to prevent such an attack. Five things every saved
man ought to know. Five things make up this armor
about his loins. And for lack of a long period
of time, I'll just tell you what they are. Tulip. Total depravity. You're not gonna cripple him
calling him a sinner. He knows what he is. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. I'll never get
old. Whenever trouble happens in a
church, they'll get one guy, usually the pastor or a deacon
or somebody, somebody at the head of the church, and they'll
get him and they'll start tearing him apart. And I want to ask
him, you trying to prove to me that he's a sinner? He already
knows that. Appears to me like you're the
one who don't know what a sinner is or you wouldn't be attacking
him. This is the truth. We're going
about with truth. And the truth is, we're totally
depraved. We depend 100% on the power of
God, don't we? And the holiness of God, the
righteousness of God. I got no hope in this flesh.
That which is flesh is flesh. It'll always be flesh. And secondly,
the irresistible grace of God. God's grace, when he comes in
the power of his grace, it's irresistible. I told you about
that wild ass's coat that was tied up. And they ain't nothing
meaner on earth than a wild ass's coat. They just mean to bite
you, buck you, stomp on you, kick you, run from you. You can't
do anything with them until they're broken. And here's these disciples,
and they just walk up to this wild ass's coat, and they unloose
him. Hold him, and away they go. Away they go. He just went
with them, didn't he? Be made willing in the day of
my power. Irresistible grace. Oh, my soul. Truth is a person. It's a person. And we could go
all the way through those doctrines, too. Look, you know what they
are. I don't need to go all the way through here. But truth,
when it's all said and done, truth is a person. I don't know
anything apart from Christ. A right. It's a person. He said, I am the truth. His name is the word of God. And there's no knowing God apart
from Christ. And then secondly, in this armor,
he said, having on the breastplate of righteousness. In close quarter
combat, the breast of a man is a large target. Everything was
designed to hit him in the heart. Spears and arrows and all of
these things. or up close a sword, a sword. Those who aim for the chest,
aim for the heart. All right. Everything about the
Christian hope is established in the heart. Keep that heart
with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. Where
your treasure is, Christ said, there will your heart be also.
You wanna take down this soldier of God, all you have to do is
hit him in the heart. Pierce his heart and he's done. He'll
fall on the ground. Wound the heart and a warrior
falls. Of God's saints, he tells us in Jeremiah 24 seven, I'll
give them a heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall
be my people and I'll be their God. and they'll return unto
me with their whole heart. Everything about them is in the
heart. Put on the breastplate of righteousness. What kind? Imputed righteousness. The righteousness of God in Christ. The righteousness given us by
faith. Nothing can slay the sinner who's
righteous before God. No weapon will prosper against
him. What can you do with this man of God who's perfectly right? Who's gonna lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? You ain't gonna cripple me. I don't have my own righteousness.
I have on the breastplate of his righteousness. That's my
hope before God, his righteousness. You're not gonna bring me down
doing that. Find a flaw in his righteousness. There's not one. Huh? They're not one. He said, no weapon is formed
against thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise
against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage
of the saints of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me. Put on the breastplate of his
righteousness. So we're gonna have our loins
girt about with truth. We're gonna put on the breastplate
of righteousness. And thirdly, he said, have your
feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In Old
Testament times, there were certain times set aside for holy days,
the feast, the feast of the tabernacles, the feast of the first fruits
and so on. But the highest day of them all
was the feast of the Passover. You know what they called the
day before the Passover? The preparation. The preparation. On that day, you didn't wait
till that high day and then start getting the lamb and start getting,
no. You did that the day before.
The day before. Provision was made before the
lamb was slain. Is that right? When was our provision made?
Before the Lamb was slain. He was the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. His slaying was the provision. The preparation of the gospel
of peace has to do with this gospel be set in place in its
place by the will and purpose of God. I don't just stand up
here and expect you to believe this and believe that. I try
to give you scriptures as the foundation for what I'm saying.
And I try to show you that this gospel is the means of God. And
in this gospel, he sets forth the glory of God in Christ. It has to do with this gospel
being set in place by the will and purpose of God. Paul calls
it the gospel of God in Romans 1.1. It is gospel. And the gospel, he tells us in
Romans 1.2, is the gospel he promised to forward by his holy
prophets concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord. God's people are from the beginning
chosen to salvation through sanctification of spirit and belief of the truth,
whereunto he called you, Paul said, by our gospel. The gospel
is something that God prepared beforehand. Beforehand. It's manifested in time. It's
being manifested to you this morning. It's manifested in time,
but the provision for it was from all eternity. And he said,
have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel. That is, understanding its purpose, its doctrines, its power and
its object. Study to show thyself approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth. And what moves us into places
where we're confronted with our enemies and the enemies of God
is the preparation of the gospel of peace. It's the gospel that
brings offense. And it's the gospel that motivates
us to preach. My brother told me one time,
he said, if I believed what you believe, I wouldn't preach. I
said, well, I say the same thing about you. If I believed that
salvation was 100% depended on you, I'd never preach. There'd
be no need. There'd be no need for me to
preach, because I know what you are. And you are the same thing
I am, a dead sinner. I have no need to plead with
you. But if salvation's of the Lord,
100%, then I can preach. Have your feet shod with the
preparation of the gospel, that which God has prepared. That's
what moves us into these places. And then fourthly, he says, above
all, above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall
be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. What makes this shield able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked? Huh? Is it the strength of your faith? It's the object of it. It's the
object of it. It's the object of our faith.
The shield is here called the shield of faith. Faith holds
the shield. It puts the shield between him
and his enemies. You know, there was a bunch of
evil kings and they came down to Sodom and Gomorrah. Abram's nephew Lot was down there. He went down there and took his
herds down there. Boy, he was prosperous. He was
making a killing down there in Sodom and Gomorrah. And these
evil kings got together and said, man, them people rich. Let's
go down there and take it away from them. So they did. Now, Abram wouldn't have cared.
He knew what Sodom and Gomorrah was all about. He wouldn't have
cared if they went down and destroyed five Sodom and Gomorrah. But
they took a lot. They took a lot. That righteous
man, God called him. And Abram went after him. Do
you remember the story? He went after him. And he slayed
him. Called it the Battle of the Kings.
He slayed him. And he took everything that they
took out of Sodom, he took it, got his nephew Lot, and was on
his way back. And the word of the Lord came
to Abram in a vision. And he said, fear not, I am thy
shield. Huh? Oh, I thought my shield
was my faith. I'm the shield, God said. Your faith puts me between your
enemies. What do I hold up? Am I gonna
hold up my profession and expect to quench those fiery darts?
No, God is our shield. He's our shield and he said,
by exceeding great reward. In Psalm chapter five and verse
12 it says, For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous with favor,
and with favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield. He gonna compass him about as
a shield. In Psalm 84 11 he said, for the
Lord God is a sun, S-U-N, a sun and a shield. When the sun, S-U-N, And we look at what that figures,
which is Christ, S-O-N. He said, when the day star arises
in your heart. Now what? He becomes our sun
and our shield. This is God in him. God in him. All right, 50. Take the helmet of salvation. What's the helmet of salvation?
Two things. First of all, it's Christ himself.
Anything that has to do with the head has to do with Christ.
He's the head. It's Christ himself. Put ye on
the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to
fulfill the lust thereof. Put on the new man, Paul tells
us, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
So our helmet is Christ himself. And then secondly, the salvation
he accomplished. That's the helmet. It's the helmet
of salvation. His title would be meaningless
apart from his accomplished redemption. Would it not? Religion has the
profession. I dare say you knock on every
door up and down this road, you won't find anybody that don't
believe on Christ. They all have him in profession,
but they don't know him. They don't know him. His title
would be meaningless apart from his work. His name shall be called
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. He's the
head of the body of church who is the beginning, the firstborn,
that in all things, he might have the preeminence. And then
lastly, he says, take the sword of the spirit, which is the word
of God. That's the only weapon a believer's
allowed to carry, is the sword. No mention of a spear or a bow
or an ax. He carries only a sword. But
this sword is so sharp, It pierces even to the dividing asunder
of soul and spirit. This sword is quick, he said.
That means it's alive and able to make alive. And it's sharp. It slices away clean all that
dishonors the name of Christ and of God. Take unto you the
whole armor of God. that you may be able to withstand
in the evil day. What is that evil day? It's the
day in which we live. It's always been the day in which
men live. That's the evil day. It's an
evil day because we're in an evil world. And we still have
an evil nature. You gonna stand in the evil day? Not apart from the armor of God
you won't. Oh, may God the Holy Ghost dress
us in such a spiritual armor that we might be able to stand
as we're commanded to do in the evil day. Father, use what we prepared
this morning. Use it as you see fit. Use the
scriptures that are quoted The way that I point it out,
I ask that you use it for Christ's sake.