Paul's epistle to the Ephesians
is a letter in which he sets forth the glorious truth of Christ
and his church. Of how the church is the bride
of Christ. Of how every saint for whom Christ
died and ransomed from the grave with his blood is a member of
that church. of how that church, gathered
out, called out from the darkness of this world, the Ecclesia,
those who are called out and gathered as one body in Christ,
how that church is called out from both the Jews and the Gentiles. How those who were once afar
off, the Gentiles, are now gathered in. with the Jewish believers
to form one Israel, one church, one ecclesia in Christ. It's a work that sets forth the
eternal purpose of God in calling forth this people. that God,
in His good pleasure, chose a people before the foundation of the
earth. He chose the names of those whom Christ would suffer
and die for. He chose everyone who would believe
on Christ, everyone who would be gathered in this church. God
chose them before the foundation of the earth. A covenant was
made between Father and Son and Holy Ghost to deliver a people
for God's good pleasure in His determinate counsel and will.
Their salvation owes nothing to their decision, nothing to
their will, nothing to their own good works, but everything
to the good pleasure and will and purpose of God. Hence we
read in chapter 2 that you have he quickened who were dead in
trespasses and sins. You who walked according to the
course of this world. You who were like all others.
And yet God, when you were dead in sins, quickened you together
with Christ. Raising you up together to sit
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. that in the ages to come
He might show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness
towards us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved, through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. So Paul makes it plain from the
very beginning of this book how it was God's pleasure to call
forth this people, to redeem them through the blood of Christ,
to deliver them by His grace, and to gather them in out of
the Jews and the Gentiles as one habitation of God through
the Spirit. He shows forth the love of Christ
for his people and how Christ laid down his life for those
who once hated him. He shows the oneness of the church. It's one body with one spirit,
one hope of its calling. There's one Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one God and Father of us all. It shows how God gathers
the church and nourishes it and provides for it. He sends pastors
and teachers. He sends those like Paul who
are given up, who are, as it were, prisoners, servants in
bonds for the Lord's cause. They give up everything for the
good of God's people. God calls these, these men, whom
he uses to preach his gospel, that the church might be fed
and nourished and built up in Christ. God, in His eternal purpose,
determined to save a people, a church, a bride for His Son. He gathers that people out of
the four corners of this earth. He uses the gospel to deliver
them from the darkness in which they dwell, to bring them to
life from the deadness of their trespasses and sins, to redeem
them through the blood of Christ. He uses the preaching of the
gospel. He sends forth preachers with
that gospel to not only add to the church, but to nourish it
and feed it and strengthen it throughout all time. Paul shows
the mystery of the bride. and a husband, a husband and
her bride. How from the very beginning Adam
was given a bride and even how this was a picture of the church. This is a great mystery but I
speak concerning Christ and the church. Husbands love your wives even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. And then in the end, in chapter
6, he concludes this glorious vision of the church with exhortations
towards us as a reminder of what brought us into the church, of
what gave us this life and this deliverance from the darkness
of sin in this world. A reminder of what brought us
in and a reminder of what will keep us. The church will stand. It will stand in an evil day. It will stand in a dark age. It will stand in a wicked world
in one way and one way only. And that's if it stands in the
power of God's might. in the Lord's strength, in his
gospel, in Christ alone. There's only one way for a believer
to stand in this world and not be swept away by the power of
his enemy or by the wickedness of his own heart. There's only
one way for the church to stand and not be scattered and divided
and destroyed and swept away by all the wiles of the devil
and all the principalities and powers which are set against
it and the darkness of this world and the spiritual wickedness
in high places. There's only one way for the
church to stand. That's if it stands in the strength
of Almighty God, the power of God's might. Standing in the
gospel, in the truth, in righteousness, in the gospel of peace, in faith,
in salvation, in the word of God by His Spirit. There's only
one way to stand. So Paul ends his epistle to the
Ephesians with these words. Chapter 6 and 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 ye 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 places. Wherefore take unto you the whole
armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil
day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having
your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of
the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith
ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which
is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication
in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints. And for me, that utterance may
be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make
known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador
in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak."
What an exhortation at the end, and what a reminder, not just
so much an exhortation, but a reminder to this people that they were
saved by grace, that they exist as the Church of God entirely
because of the work of God and the purpose and will of God,
and that they will stand and only stand in this world by His
power, by His will. If they are clothed in this armour,
nothing will harm them. If they are clothed in this armour,
they can stand in the face of the wiles of the devil himself. But without this armour, in their
own strength, with their own will, they are lost. Turn away
from the gospel. Turn aside from faith. Turn aside from Christ and you'll
sink in a moment. The darts of the evil one will
strike through. But if you stand clothed in this
armor, you are mighty because you stand in the mighty power
of God, protected from every foe, walking in his strength
and his strength alone. It all comes down to the gospel. It's the gospel, believer, that
found you in your sin, in your blood, in the gutter of this
world. It's the gospel that found you
dead in trespasses and sins. It's the gospel that found you
lost and wandering far off from God. It's the gospel that found
you in your helpless and your hopeless state. And God sent
that gospel. God sought you out. God purposed
to save you. God brought you to hear it. God
brought you to life. It's the gospel that added you
to the church. It's the gospel that feeds you
as part of that church. And it's the gospel and the gospel
alone that will keep you standing in that church, standing in an
evil day, standing in the truth, standing in the face of all opposition. Paul concludes his epistle with
this wondrous call to stand, to stand clothed in his armour. And he concludes with this prayer
that the church should pray for him, as it prays for all God's
servants, that he may open his mouth boldly to make known the
mystery of the gospel. for which, he says, I am an ambassador
in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak."
What they needed as a people was to hear this gospel. What
they needed was for God's servants to open their mouths boldly. What you need, my friend, this
day is the gospel. What you need to hear this day
is the gospel. What you need to hear is that
gospel declared boldly, faithfully, truthfully, and powerfully to
your soul. What the Church of Christ, in
this day, in this country, in this world, needs to solve every
single trouble in its midst, and every single trouble that
can come upon it from outside, is the gospel. It does not need
instructions on where it should go and what it should do and
how it should solve this and how it should solve that. It
does not need the wisdom of man or the advice of man that it
should be more like this and more like that and should be
doing this and doing that in order to gather people in. It
needs the gospel. Every single trouble in the church
that may be seen in its midst is answered by the Gospel. Paul's prayer as a preacher,
as a servant of God, was that the people of God should pray
to him that he should declare that Gospel boldly that I may
speak boldly as I ought to speak." He knew that what they needed
was the gospel. He knew that what had brought
the church into being was the gospel, that what would feed
the church was the gospel, that what would protect the church
was the gospel. It is the gospel and the message
of God's grace which is vital from start to finish. Any preacher that comes to a
congregation to preach unto them should bring no other message
but the gospel. If he says, I have a word from
the Lord for this people and I must preach it, if it's the
gospel, that may be so. If it's not, it's not so. He's
deluded. If he goes to a place and thinks
they need to hear this or they need to know that, or I should
tell them this, if it's not the gospel, It's a deception. It comes from the wiles of the
devil, who's seeking to get something in through the gaps in the armour
when the people are at their weakest. But the gospel will
keep them clad in this armour. The gospel will protect them
from every foe. The gospel will feed them and
strengthen them. The gospel will cause the church
to stand. Whatever is wrong with the church
today. Whatever you may see wrong in
any believer, whatever you may see wrong in yourself, the answer
is in the gospel. Preach Christ and his work. Preach the grace of God, the
electing grace of God, the free and sovereign grace of God. Preach
the eternal purpose of God. Preach redemption through the
blood of Jesus Christ. Preach the righteousness of God
through the faith of Jesus Christ. Preach the resurrection. Preach
the power of God delivered in the gospel. Preach the gospel. That will change people's hearts. Are you saying But it's almost
wrong in the churches, the people are so apathetic, they don't
care. I need to stir them up, I need
to show them what's important. How do we get them to the prayer
meeting? How do we get the people praying about this? How do we
get them to care? The gospel. Rebuke them all they
like for their unbelief. Rebuke them all you like for
their apathy, rebuke them all you like for the fact that they
don't walk the way you want them to walk, that will achieve nothing.
The gospel brings life. The gospel will clothe them with
the armor of God. The gospel will cause them to
stand. So Paul in Ephesians preaches
the gospel in its truth from the very first words of this
letter under the closing words. And he comes to this grand conclusion
in chapter 6 where he describes how the people of God, the church,
will stand. It stands in the armour of God. It stands in the strength of
the Lord. It stands in the power of God's
might. It stands in grace. It stands
in the gospel. How are you to stand? in this
evil age? How is the church to stand in
this evil age? What is the answer to its every
failing? The gospel. 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. That's Paul's prayer
as a preacher. That's my prayer as a preacher.
When you have something to pray, think of those who are sent forth
for the gospel. Pray that they may stand. Pray that their mouth may be
opened boldly. Pray that the doors might be
opened for the gospel to go forth. Pray that the doors to people's
hearts might be opened to hear it. Pray that they might make
known the mystery of the gospel. pray that they may speak boldly
as they ought to speak, not distracted by the wisdom of men, not distracted
by fear of the flesh, not distracted by the desire to be pleasing
to this person or to that person, but to preach the gospel boldly,
fearlessly, knowing that the reward is of God and not of man,
and knowing that only the gospel can do the Church any good, and
knowing that the Gospel will do the Church every good. It's
the answer to every problem in this world. This world is in
darkness. It's perishing. It's only here,
because God has a people in its midst, whom He is delivering
through the blood of His own Son. The world exists because
out of the darkness of this world, out of the children of Adam,
God chose a company and said, I'm going to deliver that people. And in time, he sent his son
into the world as a sacrifice for the sins of everyone whom
he chose before the foundation of the earth. Every one of the
Ecclesia, the church. He came as a sacrifice, He took
their sins, He bore their sins, and He stood under the judgment
and the wrath of God against those sins. And He bore all the
anger, all the fury of God's holy law, of God's justice, of
God's righteousness against those sins. He suffered, he felt the
fires of God's wrath against them. Against him in their place. In that people's place. He felt
the fury of God's wrath against sin and iniquity. And he drank
that cup of God's wrath to the very dregs. That's why he came
into this world. That's why Jesus Christ as a
man was born, lived and died. It's why he's known in history. It's the reason this earth was
created. That in the midst of time, God's
Son, Jesus Christ, should come into the world to save sinners. The hour at which Christ was
nailed to a tree and hung up outside Jerusalem in a place
called Golgotha, the place of a skull, the place of death,
the place where the head of the church should die, the place
of the skull. The reason this world exists
is so that Christ should come and go to that place, that he
should suffer in that place, that he should wash his people,
the church, with the blood that he shed on that day. And having
done that, having borne the wrath, having borne the judgment of
God against those sins, having brought in righteousness for
his people, he cried out in victory as the cry of a warrior, as the
cry of someone at war who'd accomplished his mission, who'd won the battle,
who'd won the battle of good and evil. who conquered over
the devil, his enemy, who destroyed Satan, who trampled him underfoot,
as Satan bruised his heel, as the cry of a warrior, he cries
out, it is finished. And it was finished. And he gave
up the ghost. And his church, his people, were
saved. Never to be taken away. Never
to be plucked out of his hands. all to be brought in by faith
into that one company which one day will live and reign with
him forevermore. Since that hour when he cried
out, it is finished, he was thence laid in the grave And on the
third day he rose again spiritually with all that company for which
he died. And spiritually they all rose
in him to live and reign with him in glory above. He then ascended
up into glory and he lives and reigns there this day for one
purpose, to preach his gospel to make known this salvation,
to send it forth in power, to send it forth by the Spirit of
God, that sinners like you and I should hear it, be brought
to life, be quickened to life by the Word of God, be gathered
into the church, until the last day should come, when the last
of those for whom Christ laid down his life and shed his blood
has heard and believes and is brought to faith and is gathered
in with the elect. And when the last one believes,
then Christ will return. And this earth will be no more.
This earth upon which you stand this day. This earth which seems
so real and everlasting to you. This earth in which you set all
your hopes and ambitions as a fallen sinner. This earth to which you
look. with such desire and such lust
to have everything you can from it, all the pleasure you can
gain from it, all the riches you can gain from it, all the
life you can gain from it. This earth is faded. It's judged,
it's condemned and on that day when Christ returns it will be
no more. It will be burnt up with fire.
And then you, with all men, women and children, will stand before
this saviour, stand before this great king, this great warrior,
this great victor, who came into this world and fought a battle
you could never fight, and won a war that you could never enter
into. This great king will stand before
all mankind and all will give an answer and they will be separated,
the one to one side and the other to the other side. And those
for whom he died, those who have been washed in his blood will
go as the sheep with him into everlasting glory to live and
reign with him forevermore. And those who don't know him,
Those who rejected his gospel, those who have hated him from
the womb to the grave, those who despised his name and trampled
it underfoot, will go with the goats into eternal judgment and
wrath. And this world will be separated
cleanly into two. Now you're amongst one or the
other. You're either a member of Christ's
Church or you're not. There's no memberships of churches
on earth that count. No memberships of this denomination. or this church or that church
that counts. That's all the organization of
men. There is one church throughout
all time and history and you're either a member of it or you're
not a member of it. You don't become a member by
your decision, by your actions, by your baptism, by your confession. You become a member by the eternal
purpose of God when he chose you before the foundation of
the earth, when Christ died for you and when you're brought to
faith. You are a member of this church by God's decree or you're
not. You're either a sheep or you're
a goat. You're either saved or you're
lost. What is it? But if you are a
member of this church, then as you journey through this world,
from the day you hear this gospel, From the day God quickens you
and brings you to life by the Gospel, when you see your sins,
when you see your guilt before Almighty God, when you know that
your sins condemn you, and when you come to see a Saviour crucified
in your stead, and you see the rivers of blood pouring from
His side, and you see that blood washing you, washing your sins
away, and you see yourself in that man, in Christ himself,
when you see yourself in Christ, washed by his blood, and you
come to life, and God puts faith in your heart, and you see him
and believe him, and you rise up with him, and you then know
that you're part of his church, from that day, you then journey
through this world, A world that is hostile. A world that hated
him and crucified him. A world which will hate you for
confessing his name. A world which has nothing to
do with you. You'll then journey through this
world, feeling the world around you to be evil, and resting in
Christ alone. And to journey through this world
in such an evil age, you need to stand. And you need to stand
clothed in armour. Because you cannot stand any
other way. You never did before you were
brought to faith. You were washed away by sin.
Helpless. Your will was to go away from
God. You never chose God. You never
chose Christ. You never chose his way. You
chose yourself and your own glory. Everything that you did was for
your own glory, even if you're religious. Even if you've been
in churches, even if you've read the Bible and made a profession
of Christ, all you were doing was living by your own works
for your own glory to say, God love me because I'm so good.
In the darkness of your religion. when you never truly knew Christ. But when God opens your eyes
to the truth, and the truth of salvation by grace, then you
look upon all your religious works up until that hour, all
your decisions, all your striving to be good before God as filthy
rags, and you say it's of nothing worth like Paul did. He counted
all his religion before he came to know Christ, before Christ
met him on the Damascus road and said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? He came to see all his prior
religion as filthy rags before God, as dung. He counted it as
naught. He counted it as a hindrance
to knowing Christ. From that day forth, you'll count
all of that as filthy rags. You'll know that all your strength
is in the Lord, because you'll look back and say, when I walked
in my own strength, in my own wisdom, even in religion, even
hearing in the outward letter, the Bible, God's Word, the Gospel,
I heard it with the outward ear, but it was all in my head. I
couldn't stand in that way. I never stood. I was washed away.
There was a tidal wave of water. I was like in a flowing rapids
of a river, washing me away. I never stood. But now Christ
has delivered me. I can stand. I do stand. I stand in the truth. I stand
strong in the Lord. And I can stand no other way.
No other way. The believer finds He finds all
his strength in the Lord. He can find it nowhere else.
And all that strength comes through the Gospel. The Gospel that came
unto him in power. Not in word only, but in power. And much assurance in the Holy
Ghost. That Gospel A word only gospel. A letter gospel. Wisdom in the
head will do him no good. And when he goes to places and
hears men who sent themselves standing up and speaking from
the Bible and giving words of their own devices, however right
they may seem, he knows the difference between the gospel that comes
in power and that which comes of men. And he says, that's just
words. It may be from God's Word. They
may be right words, but there's nothing in them. It's dead. But I know what the gospel is
in power. I know what it is when the Spirit
of God speaks it. Then it's a living word. And
it's a living word that causes him to stand. He knows the gospel
is the answer to all his trouble and every trouble that the church
may face. He knows the whip in the church.
Condemning the Church, berating the Church to do better will
do no good, because the strength isn't in man or in the Church
itself, the strength is in God! The strength is in the Gospel!
What the Church needs to hear is the Gospel! If the people
are weak, if there's division in the midst, like there was
at Corinth, you don't go in whipping the people, you go in with the
gospel. What did Paul do at Corinth?
A broken church in which there was all sorts of confusion, all
sorts of controversy, and all sorts of wicked sin had come
in the midst, amongst believers. A divided company, some following
Paul and some following this one, some following Apollos,
some following him, some following him. And some being so super
spiritual they wouldn't follow any man but said, I only follow
Christ. And they wouldn't receive the
servants that Christ sent unto them. Oh, what a chaotic place
Corinth had become. But Paul didn't go in there full
of condemnation. And he didn't go in there saying,
oh they're not going to like this message, it's a hard message
but they need to hear it and go in whipping them. He went
in with that which would do them good. The preaching of the cross. Every division is answered by
the preaching of the cross and the gospel. And the believer
knows this. Preach unto me Christ. I must
have Christ or else I die. I know I'm wrong in myself. I know I'm weak in myself. I know I make the wrong decisions
in myself. I know I'm going astray. Give me that which causes me
to stand. Give me life. Feed the new man
and starve the old man. Preach unto me Christ. What the church needs is the
gospel. The gospel will find us where we are, as sinners.
It comes with a message that exposes our sin and that will
bring us under conviction. But ultimately it's good news,
it brings salvation. It clothes the child of God in
the blood of Jesus Christ, in the whole armour of God. It clothes
him in truth, with righteousness, It clothes him with the gospel
of peace, with faith and with salvation. And by the Spirit
of God, through the Word of God, it causes him to stand fast and
makes him to be strong in the Lord and to walk in the power
of His might. Disarmament is described in six
ways. because it's an armour suited
for men in the church. The number of men is six, and
man needs to be completely covered if he's to stand. So God has
an armour for his men in the church in six ways. It has truth, righteousness,
a gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and a sword of the Spirit. Also stand strong in the Lord. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord and the power of His might, because there's no
strength in man or in self, nor in our efforts, our will, our
response, or our wisdom. We've got no strength. So if
I exhort you to do this or do that, and I'm just simply exhorting
you in the flesh, you will fall in a moment. Your strength is
in the Lord. Your strength is to hear the
gospel and to know Christ and to walk in him, or else you perish. We have no strength against our
enemy, the devil. Be strong in the Lord and in
the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. This is what we need to stand
against and we can't do it. Not unless we're clothed in this
armour. Because we wrestle not against flesh and blood. We're
not dealing with those who have similar strength as ourselves. We're not fighting against individuals,
against other men and women. We're not dealing with those
who come with their arguments versus our arguments. Well, I
believe in Jesus Christ. Why do you believe in him? Because
I believe this and that. Oh, well, what about this and
that? We're not dealing with men and their answers. It's not a case of, well, we've
got better answers. Our answers are true. Their answers
are false. I can answer everything they
say. And if I debate with them and reason with them, then maybe
I will win them over. We're not battling men. We may
deal with men and women, they may be all around us, but they
are driven by other forces. There are a multitude of them,
far more than us, we're completely outnumbered. But behind everything
they say and everything they do, behind all the opposition
that comes against the gospel, and comes against the church,
and comes against the believer, there are powers and forces that
drive it. And they're not flesh and blood,
and you cannot stand against it. You cannot stand in your
own strength against these things. 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 places. The enemy of the church, the
enemy of you, believer, is not a man. It's not many men. It's the devil himself and his
legions of angels, his principalities, his powers. You stand in your
battle against the rulers of the darkness of this world. Look
around you in this world. You can feel the darkness. You
can see the darkness. You can hear the darkness. You
can hear the rage of the darkness. You can see the fruit of the
darkness every day. And there are rulers of this
darkness. And the darkness exists and works
and acts to try to destroy the church. Every movement of politics
in the world around us which is against the truth and against
the truth of God. Every law passed that goes against
God's word and how many of these we see. Every movement of the
people, every action of the media to distract and lead people away
from God's word, from seeking God. Every devising in the world
around us, which is devised to lead people astray and away from
God, is all led by rulers of the darkness of this world. The
devil is having his way. He uses every means at his disposal
to trample underfoot the gospel, to scatter and divide the church,
to bring in animosity, to bring in apathy, to bring in error,
to bring in weakness, to bring in destruction. That's your enemy
and you cannot stand against him in your own power. You cannot
stand against him or them in your own power. What trouble
he causes. He loves to see division amongst
God's people. He will play on every issue and
every idea and every so-called truth and doctrine that he can. He will stir up these people
to go on about this thing and those people to go on about that
thing. Whatever he can do to bring division, He'll magnify
this truth above all others, and he'll magnify that truth
above all others, and he'll minimize this and minimize that. He'll
take things that are right and bring them out to proportion.
He'll cause strife and envy and argument. He'll divide everywhere
he can like he did at Corinth. And men's response to all of
this division is always to go in like fools, headlong, arguing
the point and arguing this and trying to convince everyone of
this view or that view. Well, the answer is the gospel. Paul dealt with Corinth through
the preaching of the cross. I am not sent to baptize, he
said. I'm not sent to do this or to
do that. I'm sent to preach the gospel. And every answer to every trouble
in the church's midst is the gospel. Any other way and you
fall. Because you have a great enemy. And the enemy knows how to distract
you and the thing he wants to distract you most from, most
from, is the gospel. The truth. standing in Christ
alone, standing in the liberty of the gospel. He'll bring the
law and say, but you should live like this. He'll come as he did
at Galatia and say, well, Christ has done this, but now you need
to walk like this. You need to be careful of your
walk, believer. You're God's ambassador. You're
God's light in the world. You need to live like this and
live like that. You shouldn't be doing this, should you? And
you shouldn't be doing that, should you? And he'll come at
you with a legal emphasis, telling you to do this and that, and
it's not the gospel. It's a distraction from it. It
comes on alongside it. It goes away from it. It takes
away from it. It sounds so right. The believer's
so taken in by his wiles. Because the believer knows he
should live a certain way. He knows there are things that
are wrong. He's turned from things that are wrong. He knows he should
be like this. And when the devil comes in and
says, ah, but what about this? And what about that? And shouldn't
you be doing this? He's taken in by it. And he stops looking
at Christ. He stops hearing the gospel.
He stops standing fast in the truth. And he goes off in his
own strength, trying to live a certain way. And he falls. And the fruit is division. What
the devil does not want you to do is hear the gospel. He doesn't want it preached in
the churches. He doesn't want doors open to
it. He doesn't want the preachers
to be bold in their declaration of it. He doesn't want the believer
to see it as the centrality of all that they do. He doesn't
want them to stand in it, go any other way, but don't be clothed
in that armor. Do you really need the help?
Isn't the armour enough? Can't you take the helmet off
and breathe a little bit better? Isn't that a heavy helmet you
have on your head? Yet the helmet's what brings
salvation. Do you really need those things on your feet? As
the gospel of peace in which you walk. Do you really need
to carry a sword? Yet the sword is the word of
God that the Spirit uses to bring life. Oh, how He'll have you
clothed in some of this armour, but take something away! And
oh, how persuasive He will be! Yet, we can only stand if we're
clothed in it all. Put on the whole armor of God
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Don't take the helmet off. Don't put the sword down. Don't
take the shoes from your feet. Don't dispense with the shield.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but an enemy that
can destroy you in a moment. Wherefore, take unto you the
whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the
evil day, and having done all, to stand." Don't stand for 40
years and then put something aside and fall in a moment, but
endure to the end. Stand, stand, stand. Hear the gospel today, tomorrow,
next week. Stand fast. Stand fast in the
liberty wherewith Christ hath set you free. Stand, and having
done all, stand. Stand, therefore, having your
loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate
of righteousness this armour, has its parts. It covers the
loins, the centrality of your body with truth. We must be covered
in the truth. Lies won't save us. The truth
of sovereign grace. The truth of God's eternal purpose. The truth that it's God alone
that saves. The truth of who Christ is, the
eternal Son of God, co-equal with the Father. The truth of
his virgin birth. The truth that he's truly man
and truly God. The truth that he came into this
world to save his people. The truth of his death. A substitutionary
death for everyone for whom he died. The truth of his redemptive
work. He saves those he chose to save. Those whom the Father named and
gave to him. Those elected of God. His salvation
is perfect. He doesn't try to save anyone. He didn't die for all men, but
only saves those who receive Him. He died for all those that
God chose before the foundation of the earth, and He delivers
them all, and every single one will hear the gospel. We stand
in the truth, and not in lies. And any departure on any point
is a chink in the armour through which the enemy will strike.
We stand clothed in righteousness, the breastplate of righteousness. Righteousness covers our hearts,
because out of the heart, by nature, proceed all manner of
evil. All manner of filth and communication
flows out of our hearts. Our hearts are desperately wicked
by nature. We're full of sin and we need
to be clothed in righteousness. We need our sins washed away.
washed away from that which flowed from Christ's heart. The blood
of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. That blood that
flowed from His heart must wash our hearts. We need a new heart,
a new heart for the blood of Jesus Christ. And if we have
that heart, if we're washed in that blood, then we're washed
in the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God that
Christ brought in through His faith when He laid down His life
upon the cross, knowing and believing that what He did at that hour
would bring in salvation for His people, that His blood would
wash their sins away, that His blood would clothe them in the
righteousness of God. And the reward of His faith was
their salvation. And we stand with that as our
breastplate. That's what covers our heart.
The blood of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God. Our feet
are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. We walk
in the gospel and we stand in the gospel. The gospel of peace. This gospel brought those who
were at war with God, at enmity with God, to peace with God. The blood of Jesus Christ shed
through his gospel made peace. It propitiated, it quenched,
it silenced the wrath of God against us. and it brought us
to peace with Him. That's what saves us and that's
in which we stand. Therefore our feet are covered,
are shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace. We stand
in this Gospel and we walk in this Gospel. How do you walk? With your feet. How do you instruct
the walk of the believer? Through the law? No! That will
condemn him, that will slay him. Through the wisdom of man? No,
that will lead him unto death. Through the gospel of peace. This is the way. This is the
way you walk. Walk in the way in which you
started. You heard the gospel. You heard
Christ. Walk in his way. How do you instruct
the walk of a believer? Preach the gospel. The gospel
of peace. Above all, taking the shield
of faith. What's going to protect you from
the fiery dance of the evil one? What's going to protect you when
the evil one, when your enemy tries to strike you? When he
tries to hit you and bring you down? What stops you falling? What stops him getting through? Faith does. Faith does. You don't have faith by nature.
It's a gift of God, as Paul says earlier in Ephesians. It comes
through His grace. It makes you to see the Saviour. It makes you to see this One
that arms you and clothes you. And it's the only thing that
will give you hope when distress and trouble come your way. Every
time the enemy tries to strike, Every time you're cast down,
every time he hits you and you fall to the ground, what's going
to get you up again? The shield of faith is. Your
faith will cause you to look up and see a saviour who was
struck by the same enemy, who was put to death by that enemy,
but through his death brought your salvation. Through his death
wrought the victory that saves the entire Church of Jesus Christ. Through his death won the war. Then where are you going to look?
You look with the shield of faith unto Christ your Saviour. Wherewith
ye shall be able to quench all the fiery dance of the wicked.
Nothing will hit you if you walk by faith. And you can't walk
any other way as a believer. Once God gives you faith, that's
the only way that you can walk. Anything else will just bring
you misery. But when that misery has done its work, you'll know
there's no hope in self, no hope in your own strength, no hope
in your own wisdom. It just brings trouble. But then
God speaks quietly into your ear through the Word of God as
the Spirit comes by His Word and speaks unto you and says,
look up by faith. Walk in the gospel of peace. Be clothed in righteousness and
in truth. Look up to your Saviour from
whence your salvation comes and take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Your helmet
is the helmet of salvation. Salvation must cover the head
because your destruction comes through your head. When you look
upon evil, how the evil enters into your mind and heart and
conscience. When you hear evil words, how
those words enter in. When you breathe the wickedness
of this world, how it gets into you. When you speak, How you
show forth what's in your heart. Everything comes and goes through
your head. That's where the mind is. That's
where the understanding is. That's where the senses come.
And it needs to be protected. You need to be safe. You need
to be safe from that which is without and that which is within. You need to be safe from that
which would come from a sinful heart by nature and that which
would come into you. You need your head covered by
salvation. Take off this helmet to get a
bit of air from this world and you'll fall in a moment. Oh,
the devil will say, do you really need to have everything? Do you
really need to be carrying that heavy shield and walking with
those heavy shoes? Having that breastplate? Do you
really need that heavy helmet? There's the helmet. of salvation. It speaks of the head. It points
from your head to your spiritual head. Where does salvation come
from? It comes from the head of the
body, the head of the church, Jesus Christ. Where must you
look by faith to he who is your head from whence is salvation? and take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. The sword
of the spirit. You can only walk, you can only
live in the spirit. You can only stand as God himself
gives you life. It's the Sword of the Spirit,
the Word of God, the Truth, the Scriptures, opened up by the
Spirit of God in living power. It's that Living Gospel which
brought you life. And it's that Living Gospel which
will continue to give you life. And it's that Living Gospel which
will cause you to stand against every enemy. The Spirit of God,
the Word of God. as used by the Spirit. The Spirit works through the
Word of God. But you'll only stand as you
know this Word, but not in letter, as you know this Word as taught
to you by the Spirit. It began to be taught on the
day you first heard the Gospel, the day you were brought to faith. The Word of God is quick, The
writer of the Hebrews says in chapter 4, "...and powerful and
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It's
the Spirit's use of the Word of God, the Gospel preached in
power to your soul, that brings you to life." It divides asunder. It divides you from this fallen
evil world. It divides that which is of God
from that which is of man. That which is true from that
which is a lie. That which is from above from
that which is of religion below. It's that which brought you life. It's that which brought you faith.
It's that which brought you salvation. And as the Church walks through
this world, the only way that others will be brought to life,
the only way that it will grow in number, the only way that
it will be added to, the only way that those for whom Christ
died, who have yet to hear the Gospel, will be added to the
midst of the Church, is through the preaching of that Word by
the Spirit of God. That's the church's sword. This armour of which Paul speaks
is not merely what the individual believer walks in. This is the
picture of the church as a whole. Here it is in this world, the
church armed clothed in the whole armor of God. It has salvation
as its head. It sees at the top Christ, its
head, the head of the body. The body is clothed in the armor,
the armor that finds its root in the gospel and in Christ,
in the truth, the righteousness, the gospel of peace, the faith,
and the salvation of God at the head. and it brings about its
work, it saves souls through the sword that it bears, the
sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, that is declared boldly
by those God uses to preach. His mouths are opened to make
known the mystery of the Gospel. O believer, O Church of Christ
in this day, Where is your hope? Where is your salvation? Where
is the answer to every trouble, every division, every single
issue that you face? The answer is in Christ alone,
in the Gospel alone. The answer is being strong in
the Lord, in the power of His might, The answer is to stand
in this evil day. To stand fast, clothed in the
whole armour of God. In his gospel. Look nowhere else. Turn nowhere else. Walk no other
way. But in the gospel of peace. Have
nothing else upon your head. Have nothing else in your hand.
Have nothing else upon your feet, and upon your chest, and upon
your lungs. Be clothed in the whole armor
of God. It's God's work to clothe you.
Paul says, put on. But it's an exhortation following
the work of God. God clothes you in this. And
he reminds you that you must remain clothed in it. Don't be
tempted to take any part off. Don't be fooled by the wiles
of the devil. Don't you think that all you
can add to it, or remove from it. Stand fast. Stand fast in
the liberty of the gospel, the liberty wherein Christ hath made
you free. Stand clothed in blood, clothed
in the righteousness of God, following by faith in the footsteps
of he who walked by faith, Jesus Christ, look unto him and his
salvation. Stand, and having done all, stand.