Well, we're coming to the end
of our studies in the epistle to the Ephesians. And this message
is on verses 10 to 18, primarily the whole armor of God. And I'm conscious that it's not
that long ago. I think it's about six years
when I preached a whole series of sermons on this armor, sort
of seven or eight sermons, I think, which are still available on
sermon audio if anybody wants to go back to them. But this
week, we're going to look at these all at one go. Now the
message of the scriptures, as you know, as I constantly say,
is a message of salvation accomplished. That's the message of it. There's
so much that calls itself Christianity, but the acid test of that which
is true compared with the vast majority which is false is about
salvation accomplished. That's the key, that's the core.
The gospel is a gospel of accomplished salvation. Not possible salvation,
accomplished salvation. We saw in the last two weeks
in verses 25 to 27 of chapter five about Christ loving his
church, and it's a message that Christ loved his church eternally. He came and redeemed his church. Very specific, very particular,
very objective. He came and redeemed his church
with a purpose to cleanse, to sanctify his church. Why? That
he might present his church saved in glory, fitting to be his bride,
his glorious bride. But That being the case, and
that which every true believer can rejoice in and know in their
heart as true, that's fine, that's marvellous, that's wonderful,
but the church is still here for a while. We're still here
in this world, in these bodies, in these bodies of flesh and
of sin. Where is here? Where do I mean by here? I mean
in this world. Where is this world for the people
of God? It's where God has put his people. Turn to John 17, again, usual
thing, you don't need to turn to them, but turn to John 17
if you can, and verse 11. Jesus said, And now, because
this is the night before he goes to the cross and his ministry
is finished and he's going to return to glory, he says, now
I am no more in the world, but these, these are in the world. His people, his believing people,
you and me, if we believe the Lord Jesus Christ, we are in
the world. And Jesus prays to his Father,
and I come to thee. He's going back to glory. Holy
Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given
me, that they may be one as we are. And he says elsewhere in
this that he prays that God would keep his people in the world,
that he would keep them, that he would protect them from the
evil in the world whilst they're in this world. Turn to Revelation. And chapter 12, Revelation chapter
12. If you remember when we were
studying Revelation, this is a summary of the history of the
world and it's about God's people, God's holy line in the world
throughout the time of this created order from the Garden of Eden
right the way through to when Christ comes again. The world
in which we live is the kingdom of Antichrist. It's Satan's kingdom. He is the prince of this world.
Jesus called him that. He's the prince of this world.
You know, when Jesus was in the temptation in the wilderness
of Judea, when he was there, Satan came to him and said, see
all these kingdoms, I will give them to you. How did Satan have
the nerve to tell the Son of God that the kingdoms of the
world were his to give? Because, I'll tell you why, because
of the fall. Because when Adam fell, all the
kingdoms of the world became his. The kingdom that was God's
and delegated to Adam to rule over in his innocence, Satan
usurped it in the fall. And so Satan has the nerve to
say to the Lord Jesus Christ, I will give you these kingdoms.
That's where we live now. The kingdom of Satan. The kingdom
of the beast. You only have to look at chapter
13 of Revelation. The beast coming up out of the
sea and the false prophet. This is the spirit of this age
in which we live. What is it? I'll put it in summary.
It's the world that denies the need for the satisfaction of
divine justice. That, fundamentally, in a single
sentence, is Satan's lie to Eve. It is Satan's lie. You think
about everybody you know, However friendly you are with them, everybody
you know that doesn't know the gospel of Christ, the reason
they don't is because they see no need for the satisfaction
of divine justice. They either think they are all
right regarding divine justice, or they see no need for there
to be a God who has divine justice. But he's the God of the universe.
He's God the creator. He is God. Everything is his. It is his right to say the way
things are and the way things should be. But that's the world
in which we live. To a believer, it's an alien
environment. An alien environment. you know
you read about the second world war and you maybe see films and
documentaries and dramas about Allied troops being flown in
to occupied France in, say, 1942, something like that. And they
go because they're trying to subvert the enemy, they're trying
to encourage the resistance, they're trying to do all of those
things. But there's no question, where they were was an alien
environment. It was an environment that was
fundamentally dangerous to their well-being. If they'd been found
out, they would have been lined up against a wall and shot. Well,
in spiritual terms, this world is alien to the believer. It's enemy territory. Again,
in Revelation 12, you see in Revelation 12 how Christ loved
the church and gave himself for it. The woman which is the church
brings forth a man-child who's to rule all the nations with
a rod of iron and he accomplishes his purpose and he's caught up
to God and to his throne. He accomplishes his purpose of
redemption and in the process of doing that Satan's accusations
against the saints that were already in heaven, Satan's claims
of possessing them and all others, they're all rendered impotent
by what Christ has done. Look at verse 11, they overcame
him, the church, the people of God, by how? The blood of the
Lamb. They overcame him by the blood
of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. And as a
result, Satan, read on in the next few verses, Satan is cast
down, verse 13, he's cast into the earth, he's cast down. And
he's got great wrath, verse 12, he's furious, and he's got a
short time left, the time in which we're living. And he goes
about to persecute the woman in the wilderness. But this woman
is in the wilderness where God has put her. Look in verse 6.
And the woman fled into the wilderness where she had the place prepared
of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred
and three score days. A place prepared by God to feed
his church. What's this wilderness? It's
not a barren scrubland with no vegetation, this is a wilderness
of separation from the world. The wilderness is a wilderness
separation from the world. Verse 14, and to the woman were
given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness. What's the wings of the eagle
that are given to her? They're the wings of faith. What
gets you in separation? a wilderness separation from
the world around. Is it not your faith? Is that
not it? Are you a member of Christ's
church? Are you a member of Christ's church? I don't say are you a
member of a church, but are you a member of his church? His church. If yes, then you're a soldier
in a war. Let me look up another reference
for you, you don't need to look these up, but 2 Timothy chapter
2. Thou therefore, my son, be strong
in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things that thou
hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful
men who shall be able to teach others also. Thou, therefore,
endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. you're a soldier
in a war. No man that warreth entangleth
himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him
who hath chosen him to be a soldier. If you're a believer, God has
chosen you to be a soldier in this warfare. But it's not a
physical war. No, not at all. It's not a physical
war. Verse 12 of Ephesians 6, 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. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians
10.4, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they're
not physical, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,
because it's a spiritual war with spiritual weaponry. It's
a spiritual war. You see, As a believer, your
philosophy of life is the philosophy of heaven, if I can use that
term. I think you know what I mean.
As opposed to the world, whose philosophy is the philosophy
of this world and of the physical things. Your philosophy is that
of heaven, not of Satan's world. But regarding unbelievers, this
is what the scripture says, Ecclesiastes 3 verse 11, He, God, hath set
the world in their heart. You look at your unbelieving
relatives, your neighbours, the people that you come across.
Is not that a fair description? He has set the world in their
heart so that no man can find out the work that God maketh.
But not so for Christians. They've been given wings of faith
to separate the woman, the church, from Satan's world. But Satan
constantly if we were to go back to Revelation 12, Satan, it says
he spews out a flood from his mouth, and that flood is not
to drown the woman, that flood is to wash the woman, sweep her
off her feet, and wash her back into conformity with his world. That's what Satan does all of
the time. He attacks by trying to wash believers off their feet,
and into conformity with the world, because once he's got
you in conformity with the world, you're vulnerable, and he'll
say, you're mine, I've got you. In 1 Peter 5, verse 8, Peter
warns about the devil, about Satan, be sober, he says to believers,
be vigilant, because your adversary not your friend, he's your enemy,
he's your adversary, the devil. As a roaring lion walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour, whom he may eat up for his own purposes,
whom resist steadfast in the faith. How shall we resist? Where are we going to get strength
from? What is its defense? What is its weaponry? Look at
verse 10 of Ephesians 6. Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord. That's where the strength of
the believer is. And in the power of his might. What is the power
of God's might? What is the power of God's might?
Romans 1 16 tells us, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel is the core issue
of the warfare. The gospel, the need for the
satisfaction of divine justice, and divine justice demonstrated
in the gospel, that is the core issue of the warfare. You fight
a particular attack with appropriate weapons, you defend with appropriate
defenses. So if you're in a battle with
somebody with a submachine gun, a sword isn't going to do you
much good. A sword is going to be no good.
If you're fighting somebody with a knife, a sword might be a very
useful thing, but a sword is useless against bullets. And
bullets are useless against nuclear missiles. You need suitable weaponry. And here we need spiritual defences
and spiritual weapons. And we need all vulnerabilities
covered. Because you can be very, very
well defended. You know what they say about
King Harold? of England in 1066 that he was
very well defended with his armour but there was a gap in the helmet
and an arrow went through the gap and stuck in his eye and
killed him. He was vulnerable in one point.
We need what it says here, we need the whole armour of God. Verse 13, wherefore take unto
you the whole armour of God. What is the armour that God gives
to his people? What is its nature? And how do
we use it? And that's what I want to do
in the time that we have this morning. So it's going to be
a rapid review of these six or seven elements of this armour,
but in being rapid. I think sometimes there's a time
for a very detailed digging into every detail as far as you possibly
can and then there's another time get the message quickly
and apply it. That's the territory we're in
today. So verse 14, stand therefore. Put the whole armor of God on
that you'll be able to withstand in the evil day and having done
all to stand. Verse 14, stand therefore. Having your loins
girt about with truth. Your loins girt about with truth. What are your loins? Well, if
you go to the butchers and you buy a loin of pork, it's the
muscle that's between the bottom of the ribcage and the top of
the pelvis. It's those back muscles, that's
your loins. It's the seat of strength. You'll hear fitness fanatics
talking about, if you've got a bad back, they'll say, you
need to improve your core strength, which is the muscles around your
midriff. That's your loins. That's your loins. It's the part
of you that enables you to stand up and to get up and to lift
things. It's the seat of strength. Deuteronomy
33 verse 11 says this, smite, hit, hit, through the loins of
them that rise against him, that they rise not again. If you get
a blow in there, they're not going to get back up. They're
not going to get back up. They're going to be seriously
hurt. Their strength is going to be
gone. Satan will attack the believer's core strength. We're not talking
physical muscles, we're talking the core of being a believer. He will attack the believer's
core strength, which is in Christ. Be strong in the Lord and the
power of his might. He will attack right there to sweep him off
his feet and to wash him into worldly conformity. So, how shall
the trunk be defended? How shall the loins be defended?
How shall the core of the believer be defended? Answer with truth. Your loins girt about with the
truth. With the truth. The truth. The
truth of the gospel of grace. In opposition to the lie of Satan
concerning his error of no need for divine justice. The objective
Christian gospel truth, sincerely held in the mind and heart, is
what we're talking about. Defend with that truth the truth
The truth shall make you free, said Jesus. The truth. The truth
of the gospel of grace. The truth of what you and I are
as sinners before the offended law of God. The way in which
that offense is satisfied in the doing and dying of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the truth that defends
the believer against the attacks of Satan. That truth deflects
the attacks of Satan. That truth blunts the blows of
Satan. That truth denies the lie of
Satan and it denies it with gospel truth of justice satisfied for
the church in Christ's blood. You know you see films where
there's often horror films and somebody's being haunted by something
and he's under attack from something nasty spiritual and he gets a
wooden cross and he holds up the wooden cross and the devil
flees away No, that's not what it's talking about, that's stupid
fiction, that's silly fiction. No, this isn't holding up a wooden
cross to scare off devils, this is defending against the attacks
with the truth of the gospel of grace. Your lines, your core
strength as a believer, defended with the truth of the gospel
of grace. Stand therefore, having your
lines girt about with truth, then, next one, and having on
the breastplate of righteousness. A breastplate is a shield for
your chest, it's, you know, you go to the Tower of London and
see the armour that's there and you'll see a steel chestplate,
a strong, you know, the blows of a sword will rarely pierce
the breastplate because it's strong, it's very, very strong. A breastplate of righteousness.
Why does that need to be defended? Think about it physically, the
chest. The chest is where the heart and the lungs reside. That's where they're kept safe,
within your ribcage. That's where the heart and the
lungs are kept safe. Because you need air to put oxygen
into your blood, to vitalize everything, your movement, everything
needs oxygenated blood to do its work. It's the core of life. What's the spiritual equivalent
of it? What's the spiritual equivalent? What's the vital living core
of Christian life? I think we can put it this way.
It's the conscience and the affections. The conscience and the affections.
The seat of life and feeling in the believer. True heavenly
heart religion needs protection of the impenetrable breastplate
of righteousness that we're given here to put on. Now, what righteousness
is this that we're to put on? What's the righteousness that
we're to put on to protect the very core, the heart and lungs
of Christian existence? Is it your righteousness? Many
would tell you it is. Oh, you need to keep the law
that you might be righteous, that you might grow in righteousness,
that you might get yourself righteous enough to go to heaven. Oh, you
need that. No, it's not. That's righteousnesses. And all your righteousnesses
are as filthy rags in the sight of God. No, it's not that. It's the righteousness of Christ.
That's it. The righteousness of Christ is
the breastplate that we put on. What is it that protects against
all the accusations and temptations of Satan? It's the righteousness
of Christ. He has clothed his people with
the garments of salvation, the righteousness of Christ, that
seamless robe of the righteousness of Christ, it is as the hymn
says, it's ever new, it never fades, it never grows old, it's
always there, and it's always perfect, and it's always impenetrable
to the attacks of Satan. When Jesus, the man, was in the
wilderness being tempted in Matthew chapter 4, and Satan came to
him in that situation, he couldn't penetrate that righteousness
of Christ, he couldn't penetrate through that. In the Garden of
Eden when he was tempting him to give up, and to say, take
this cup away from me. this cup of suffering that would
redeem his people from their sins. Satan came with those temptations,
he couldn't break through that because of the righteousness
of Christ. Satan did indeed attack the Lord
Jesus Christ. Psalm 118 verse 13 says, and
it's prophetically the words of Christ, thrust sore at me,
thrust hard at me, speaking to the devil, that I might fall.
But the Lord helped me. The Lord helped me. Satan accuses
our conscience all he can. He accuses us, talking about
sins in the flesh, that you're backslidden from where you should
be, that your walk, your life as a believer is flawed, that
you're a hypocrite, that you're no better than others, and in
that way he targets the conscience, you know, the heart and lungs
of the living, breathing believer. But he also tempts the affections,
what we desire, what we like. He tempts us with lusts through
the eye, the things that we see, the ear, the things that we hear,
the love of the world, the greed and covetousness for material
things. He entices us with sensual enticements. He entices us, even
with things that seem to be good. Social relationships. Do you
know why Jesus said, if any man loved husband or wife more than
me, he is not worthy of me? The reason is, he must be first
in everything. But Satan tempts to put those
other things first. To put children first. Love your
children. Love your children. but never
put them ahead of the Lord Jesus Christ. He must be first, because
only when he is first is your love for others bettered. So our righteousness will not
defend, but Christ's righteousness will. Then next, verse 15. and
your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." Your
feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Feet
implies a walk and conversation. The way you live in this world.
Satan attacks here too. So cover the walk because he's
going to attack, he's going to try and sweep us off our feet
in that flood to wash us back into conformity to the world.
Cover the walk with the gospel of peace. That's what this is
telling us. This is the armour, the gospel
of peace. Cover the walk with the gospel of peace. And preparation,
the implication of the word preparation is that it's a firm and solid
knowledge of the gospel of peace. A well-fitting knowledge of the
gospel of peace. Now, I want you to note something,
and this is very important. This is instructions to believers
to defend themselves against the attacks of Satan. And in
regard to our walk in this world, feet, walk in this world, the
life that we live in this world, your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace. Did you notice what Paul didn't,
didn't tell us to use as armour? Paul doesn't send believers to
Sinai to get shoes for our Christian walk from the law. He doesn't
send us to Mount Sinai to get shoes for our Christian walk
from the law. Now then, let me be absolutely
clear. There are many, many, many people
who claim to be orthodox teaching the truth of the gospel of grace,
and they will send you to the law. They say the law is the
believer's rule of life. You must go to the law. You know
that you're redeemed and forgiven by the blood of Christ, but you
must live as if you are under the law. That is what they will
tell you, and that is wrong. It's error. It's a lie. Paul
doesn't do it. Do they think they're better
than the apostle Paul? Paul does not send believers to the law.
for their walk in this life. He sends them to the gospel of
peace. Peace with God. This is a firm
footing. The gospel is a firm footing
in life when that flood of Satan comes along. What's going to
keep you? The law? No, the gospel of peace is going
to keep you. It's not the toe-pinching boot
of the law that will keep you. You know that, oh ouch, you know
when you've got shoes on that nip your toes, you know? Some
of us here today have got sore feet, it's a painful condition,
having a sore foot. No, not the toe-pinching boot
of the law, but the firm, yet pliable, shoe of the gospel. the strong but the soft shoe
of the gospel. Gospel precepts, not law as the
believer's rule of life. That's the defense for our walk,
the gospel of peace, the gospel of peace. And then next we have,
well the order I'm going to do these in is verse 17 next, take
the helmet of salvation, the helmet of salvation, protection
of the head, protection for the head, protection for the mind. Because see, the head is where
the mind is, where the brain is, it's where the intellect
resides, it's where comprehension resides. Satan aims to disturb
the mind with his lies. It's all part of his flood that
seeks to wash believing people off their feet, to confuse the
understanding with error and with heresy. If he can wound
the head, everything else is impaired. It doesn't matter how
good your lungs and your heart are. It doesn't matter about
that. It doesn't matter how strong
your loins are, your core muscles are. If he can get a blow into
the head, then everything else is confused and the brain's ability
to direct those other parts is impaired. If you can wound that,
everything is impaired. Have you experienced temptation
to error? I know you have, at times. I
was in communication with a good friend who was talking about
the fear of losing friends because of the truth. Being accused of
being a hyper-Calvinist because of sticking to the truth. I'm
afraid, everybody here and everybody listening, if you stick to the
truth of God, and the truth of the gospel of grace, and the
truth of particular redemption and effectual salvation accomplished,
you will be accused of being a hyper-Calvinist. You will be
accused of being an antinomian. You will be accused of everything
in opposition to the true gospel. You will be accused of being
utterly ineffective. But you'll be faithful to the
gospel of Christ. You'd be faithful there. No, he seeks to wound
in the head, in the understanding. His arrows fly at the head, seeking
to sow doubt and unbelief. They sow doubt regarding Christ
and who he is, his deity. Who he is as the man, the God-man.
His blood, why his blood? The efficacy of the blood of
Christ. His righteousness, his truth,
the power of his resurrection. Satan will come with errors and
heresies seeking to cast doubt on all of those things. You see
it blatantly in the mainstream churches of Christendom, you
know, where they openly deny the resurrection of Christ and
all of these things, which are absolutely vital to the truth
of effectual salvation. cover the vulnerability of the
head with the helmet of salvation. What is it? By grace alone, in
Christ alone, through faith alone. Wear it, and watch those heretical
thoughts fall impotent to the ground, because when that helmet
of salvation is on, Satan will attack, but he can't get at the
head. Now we'll go back, I don't know
why I did it this way, but anyway, here we are. We'll go back to
verse 16. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye
shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. A shield. You see, all the other
bits of armour are on specific parts of the body. But you know
what it is about a shield? Have you seen, you know, in films,
they hold the shield on, well, usually for a right-handed person,
the sword is in the right hand and the shield is on the left
hand. And blows come from all around. Oh, look out, there's
a blow coming from behind. The shield can be there to stop it.
The shield can swivel around. The shield is there to block
it. This is the idea. The shield of faith. That shield
From the attacks that Satan fires is the shield of faith. Faith,
which is the gift of God. And what are the attacks? They're
fiery darts. You know how they used to dip
their arrows in pitch, tarry kind of substance, and then they'd
set fire to the pitch, and then they'd fire the burning arrow,
and it would go into the thatched roof of the building they're
trying to take, and it'd set it on fire, and before long they're
in there. This is what Paul's talking about in picture. Fiery
darts. The fiery darts of the wicked
to get us to renounce the truth, to get us to walk away from the
gospel, to get us to give up on the gospel, the shield of
faith will quench them, will put them out. They won't be able
to get through. Faith which the natural man does
not have, faith that sees the unseen things of eternity, we
quench the fiery darts. So let me give you an example.
say you're a believer, say you're a young believer, you believe
in the gospel of grace, but then along comes this attack from
Satan, and it's an attack of evolutionary thinking, it's been
around right the way from the Greeks, all the way through,
it came to prominence with Darwin and his friends and all of that
sort of thing, and it comes along and it's a very powerful attack,
and it comes to stick in and to burn, and to destroy. Because
you see, if Satan knows if he can get that in, a new giving
way on that, it will set a fire going, and soon before you know
it, your faith is gone. the philosophy of this world
and the so-called scientists of this world, that must be right,
and before you know it, Satan's beast and his false prophet have
completely seduced you into his camp. No, take the shield of
faith, take the shield of faith, because you see, in respect of
evolutionary thinking, hear what Hebrews 11 verse 3 says, through
faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word
of God. How are you going to understand
that evolutionary thinking is but a fiery dart of Satan? By
faith. Take the shield of faith. God
will show you, by faith. Think of another example. Abraham.
Abraham. God said to Abraham when he was
living in Ur of the Chaldees with his idolatrous family, because
we know from the scriptures they were idolaters, it tells us that
they were idolaters, And God said to Abraham, come out from
there and go to a land that I will show you. And just take that
which is yours and go there. And I'll make of you a great
nation. Do all that I command you. And Satan must have been
firing darts. But think what you lose. think
of the influence, look you're a great man in Ur of the Chaldees
Abraham you're a man of wealth and substance and influence oh
think what you'll lose, think you'll lose your family how can
you possibly do that you'll lose your family ah but what did Abraham
see and how did he see it what Abraham saw was what God had
in store in redeeming through the seed that would come from
him in redeeming his people and there being a multitude which
no man can number in eternal glory that John sees in Revelation.
Abraham saw that. How did he see it? By faith.
By faith he saw the promised seed. He saw redemption accomplished. He saw salvation. He saw eternal
glory. Abraham, by faith, in spite of
what the devil attacked with, think of what you lose, Abraham
saw by faith a city which has foundations whose builder and
maker is God and that's where he went hearing God's voice the
fiery darts of Satan were put out were quenched by that shield
of faith that God had given him and then finally and again I
say I apologize I don't know why I did it in this order but
anyway verse seventeen and the sword of the spirit the sword
of the spirit this is the only piece that is offensive All the
rest is for defense, this is for attack. It's the Word of
God. It's the Scriptures. It's the
truth of God in the Scriptures. In the temptation that I've already
mentioned in Matthew 4, Satan comes to Jesus and again and
again he tempts him. And what does Jesus reply? In
the three situations that we have recorded, though no doubt
there were many more, each time, what was his reply? It is written. It is written. It is written. How do you attack the doubts
that Satan brings you to sweep you off your feet into conformity
with the world? It is written. I remember, it
is written. What should I do in this situation?
I remember, it is written. It is written. It is written.
It is written. What should we do? How do you
take this sword of the Spirit? Read it. read it systematically. I know we have busy lives but
somehow come up with a plan that will fit it in, read it, read
it, read it. When I read the accounts of men
of old I think of, I can't even remember his name now but he
was a well-known man who ministered until about a hundred years ago
so he even lived into the nineteen hundreds and he was a very faithful
minister for many many many years and uh... i remember his testimony
was how when he first knew the truth of the gospel how he just
could not get enough of the bible he just read it of course there
was no tv there was no there was nothing else to distract
him he was from a poor background but he did have a copy of the
scriptures and he He ground that word of God into his head, into
his mind, into his conscience, into his memory. He meditated
upon it. So that, how do you think it
is, that when a preacher is preaching, that it seems as if the texts
are just queuing up, well it's by the Holy Spirit, yes of course,
but it's not just by the Holy Spirit. It's by the hours spent
reading the word of God, and practicing in it. We were thinking
this morning about Sunday schools. You know when there were operational
churches that preached the truth and they were thriving enough
to have Sunday schools? And I remember one of the things
we used to do was sword drill. I remember teaching in the Sunday
school in Liverpool at Belvedere Baptist Church. you'd take a
session of sword drill. And the idea was that the children
were meant to know the scriptures well enough so that when you
mention something, they could tell you where it was, where
you could find it. Sword drill, exercise. You know
how soldiers exercise their weapons? Good idea. It's a good idea.
Get the scriptures into you. And then all of it, now I'm finishing
with this because the time's gone. Verse 18, praying always
with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Continual prayer
of faith. You see, that is how you apply
all this armour. With prayer, supplication of
the spirit. Just as soldiers, whether they're
soldiers 400 years ago putting on their metal armour and practising
their swords, or whether they're soldiers today in their tanks
and doing their exercises. You exercise the armor. You exercise
the defenses. You exercise the offensive weapons. You learn how to use it. You
put it on. You don't just say, oh, I know
the theory, it'll be okay. No, it won't. Put it on. Exercise. Use it. And the exercise is prayer. Prayer. A prayerful demeanour
of life. Like Nehemiah, when he stood
before the king, terrified at what the king might say to him.
And how is he going to reply? And the king asks him a question.
And he doesn't go off for a half an hour prayer meeting. Prayer.
Lord, help me. And he answers. That's the prayer
of a righteous man. Lord, help me. He's exercising
it. He's applying it by prayer. Verse
13. that ye may be able to withstand
in the evil day with a firm footing, fixed on the solid rock, which
is Christ, high and dry from Satan's flood, Revelation 12.
And having done all to stand faithful to Christ all the way
to eternal glory. I think that'll do us for this
morning. That's enough. The armor of God. The whole armor
of God. There it is. Put it on. Use it. Believe that.