I'd like for you to turn with
me this morning to Ephesians chapter 6. After the service last week, and I love it when people ask
me questions, but someone said, what about the old man? What
about this old man? What do we do with him? How do we contend with Him? He's
ever-present. He's always there to exploit
every situation. He's always there to pour water
on the fire, spoil the rejoicing, put an evil light on a good work.
He's always there to harass me or tempt me or take my mind off
of worship. Brethren, you can sit home and
watch four hours of basketball in every blinking eye. You come
in here to worship in five minutes doing this. Why is that? Or your mind wanders. I wonder
if I turned off the coffee pot. Your mind just goes, why is that?
Because of that old man. That's why. That old man. He's
always there to harass me, tempt me, take my mind off of worship.
He spoils my prayers. He questions my standing. He
accuses my heart. He tempts me with worldly lusts
and fills my mind full of foolish thoughts. He triggers my temper. He causes me to think evil against
my brothers and sisters when they had no intent. He takes
what ought to be an encouragement to me and makes me to find fault
in it. He's always there to question
the goodness of God in His providence. And He makes me to say things
like, why me? Why now? The old man. What can I do with
this old man of sin? Now let me say this, at the outset,
you're no match for him. You can't handle him. You can't
handle him. I listen to these preachers stand
up, just tell the devil to go on back to hell where he come
from. You better not tell the devil anything. You better just
leave him with the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one who
can handle him. In the book of Jude, verse 9, we've got a warning
over here about overstepping our authority and our ability.
There were some men, he said, who were not believers, who crept
in unawares. They came among this assembly
and made a good profession. They gained some recognition.
And then they began to manifest their true nature. And he has
a lot to say about these men, but what I want you to see is
down here in verses 8 and 9. In Jude verse 8, he said, likewise
also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh. That is talking about
circumcision, trying to introduce circumcision into their worship. And they despise dominion. They
hate authority. They can't stand to be told what
to do. Just don't tell me what to do.
I'll make up my own mind. They despise authority. And they
speak evil of dignities, and dignities has to do with the
power and authority as it is established by God. Dignities
has to do with the arrangement of all authority in all created
beings, including Satan. Now watch what he says here.
Listen to this illustration, verse 9, Jude 9. Yet Michael,
the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about
the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation,
but said the Lord would be with thee." Why did he do that? Why didn't Michael? Michael's
an archangel. As far as I know, there's only
one Michael. Most of the old writers say that
this is Christ. that Michael is Christ. But I'm
going to read you something else over here in one of the books
of Peter that causes me to believe that he's talking about a created
angel. But that aside, why would Michael, this archangel, why
wouldn't he bring a railing accusation against him? Why wouldn't he
just stand there and tell him to let go? You old devil, go
on back to hell where you come from. Why didn't Michael do that? Because he recognized God's authority
in him. He recognized that God gave this
angel an authority and that it was a powerful authority. The
devil is God's devil. Never get the idea in your mind
that the devil is out here and he does everything and anything
he wants to no matter what. He couldn't touch Job without
God's permission. Is that right? When our Lord approached that
demoniac over on that island, you remember what those devils
said? Why have you come unto us before our time? Grant unto
us that we go into those swine. They recognized whose authority
was what. And this authority that's in
Satan is an authority that's put there by God. Can I explain
that? No, I can't explain that. I just
know it's so. I just know it's so. The Lord has all authority. He has the authority to restrain
you and He has the authority to reel you in when necessary.
I'm talking about Satan. He has that authority of God. When he talks over here in 2
Thessalonians 2, if you'll go over there and read about that
man of sin after a while and the spirit of antichrist and
how it's going to grow and mature in the world, you'll find out
in there that only he who now leadeth will lead. He's restrained
by God. But in situations, he's given
power. He's given authority. God gave him authority to go
ahead with Job. He turned to his apostle Peter,
after that big boast he made, and he said, Satan hath desired
to sift you like wheat. And I decided to let him. But
I prayed for you that your faith fail not. Satan couldn't have
touched Peter without his permission. The Lord uses these things, and
He uses Satan, and He uses these evil forces. If you read Romans
9, you'll find out that these vessels of wrath that are fitted
for destruction, that the Lord uses them as He sees fit. He
uses them as He sees fit. And He used Pharaoh that way,
and He used Pilate that way, and He used Judas that way. Michael
didn't have anything to say to Satan except the Lord rebuked
him. In 2 Peter 2, Peter talks about the same thing. These false
prophets who quietly bring in damnable heresies, drawing away
disciples after themselves, making merchandise of men's souls, verse
10, and despise government. They're presumptuous, they're
self-willed, they're not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Now
listen, whereas angels, which are greater in power and might,
bring not railing accusation against them. before the Lord. Huh? What do they do? They say, the Lord rebuked thee.
The Lord rebuked thee. You're no match for that old
man. You're no match for him. In the garden was a perfect man. This was a man without sin, a
wise man, a man with the authority of God, authority over every
creature that He created. Authority over this whole earth
that He created. He put Adam in there as the head
of it. He named the animals as He saw fit. He had all authority. How long did it take Satan to
break him down? Huh? Not very long. Not very
long. Here's the first two children
taught of a man who was taught this gospel in the garden. That
Christ Himself came there and slew that lamb and gave him that
promise and pointed him to that promised Redeemer that would
come. Made him to understand the gospel. And here's His two
sons who have been hearing this since they grew up. But one of
them came and brought blood and one of them came and brought
fruit and laid it on the altar. What was the difference? That
old man. That old man didn't have any
trouble whatsoever overcoming everything that Adam told those
two boys. No trouble whatsoever. I'm told in the scriptures, actually,
that we're to be sympathetic toward these people who fall
under these heresies and that knowing that only God can bring
them back from these heresies, only God can teach them the truth,
only God can make them wise unto salvation, and to pray for them. Because they've fallen captive
to Satan and they fall captive to him, he said, at his will. That's pretty powerful, ain't
it? That tells me everything I need
to know. I ain't no match for him. I ain't no match for him. These ministers of Satan transform
themselves into ministers of righteousness, and He's their
power and authority, and we're no match for it. We've got one
hope, one way of dealing with these principalities, and that
is through the rule and authority of Christ, who's head over all
principality and power. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
6. I want to give you several things
here to think about. In Ephesians chapter 6, the Apostle
Paul tells this assembly who was a prime target for Satan.
Here they were. They were out in the middle of
nowhere. They were out here in a foreign nation. They didn't
know anything at all about Jewish religion. They didn't know anything
at all about the Bible except what they heard this man preach.
And here they was. I've got no reason to believe
it was a huge crowd, but a tiny assembly and it was there in
Ephesus. A prime target for Satan and his ministers. All alone
in the middle of heathen idolatry. Prime target for the Judaizers
and legalism and self-righteousness. Surrounded by these heathenistic
lovers of pleasures. All these vices and immorality.
Now listen to what he tells them. Ephesians 6, verse 10. Finally,
my brethren, be strong in the Lord. That's where your strength
is. Strong in the Lord and in the
power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Wiles here has to do with his
methods and his trickery, his deceit. Wiles. Actually, My lexicon
said this about this word wiles. It has to do with a passing through.
He just passes by. Just a casual passing for him. And he can tear you down. He
can bring you down with his trickery and deceit. Now listen to this. This is right
in line with what we looked at in John 8 just a little while
ago. Verse 12 here in Ephesians chapter 6. 4 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. 5 Wherefore, take unto you the
whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the
evil day, and having done all, to stand. Now, what the believer does that
no other son of Adam can do is stand. Who are those, he said,
who stand before the throne? Who are those? These are they
that come up out of great tribulation, wash their robes in the blood
of the Lamb. The believer stands. In Romans 5, verse 2, it says,
By Christ also, besides a perfect justification and righteousness,
we have access into this grace wherein we stand. Believers stand. No other son of Adam can do that.
He's got nothing to stand on. There's a sense in which the
believer is known by his standing. That's how he's known. That's
how God is going to make him known. He is going to try them. And when the trial is over, one
man is going to be standing, and that is the believer. They are going to run up to the
furnace and cast the Hebrew children in, and the fire is going to
consume them that threw them in. But guess who is still standing
in the fire, walking around? The flames didn't touch them.
They're going to throw Daniel in a lion's den. A bunch of hungry,
starved to death lions. And they threw him in there. Guess what he saw the next morning?
Daniel standing. That's what believers do. They
stand. Why do they stand? Because God makes them stand.
That's why they stand. They stand. And there's a sense
in which the believer is known by standing. Unbelievers are
ready to compromise anything and everything. They want to
work out a deal. Give or take. But a believer
stands. He will not concede the least
of God's Word. Not anything. I don't care how trivial people
think it is. He will not compromise God's
Word. He won't do it. He'd rather die
than compromise the gospel of God's grace. Old Martin Luther
stood there against the entire empire of Catholicism and he
said, having done all, he said, here I stand because I can do
nothing else. But I can do this. I'll stand
here, come what may. I'll stand. He'll part with his
parents before he'll part with the truth. He stands, but he doesn't stand
in himself. His standing is in the grace
of God. His standing is according to God's gifts and abilities.
He stands as God enables him to stand. And Paul says before
us here, a soldier ready to battle. Not like we do today, shooting
people three miles away, but these people had swords. When
they went into battle, it was up close and personal. They had
a sword and they went in swinging that sword, that battle axe,
whatever they had in their hand. It was a nasty, bloody mess when
they went to war. And he describes for us here
a soldier getting ready to go into battle. And he's commanded
to put on the whole armor of God. And his armor consists of
two things, offensive and defensive. Some of you in here play football.
You understand what that means. There's an offensive side and
there's a defensive side. Same thing with this armor. And
it begins here in verse 14 with the seed of our strength, the
loins. He said, therefore having your
loins girt about with truth. The real strength of the believer
is truth. People ask me all the time, why
are you so dogmatic? My sister asked me that. Why
do you feel like you're right and everybody else is wrong?
Why can't you budge a little bit? Because it's the truth.
And I don't have to budge. And I'm not going to budge. And
I don't fear what people say. I don't care what people say.
I have the truth. You shall know the truth and
the truth will set you free. That's what he said. You're going
to go into battle against this old man. You're going to have
to go in there with truth. You can't stand in there with,
I think so, what seems right to me. You won't stand 15 seconds. But you go in there with truth.
This is truth. I could rest on this. This is
truth. Truth. Having your loins girt
about with truth. There's no substitute for truth.
Find the truth and you cannot be overcome. When the truth is
embraced and received and experienced in the heart, that man will stand. He'll stand. You can't tear him
down. Elijah stood against 400 prophets
of Baal by himself and laughed at them. You know why? Because he had the truth. He
had the truth. He made fun of them. Caleb stood
against 2 million in Israel. Everybody else in this group,
some estimate higher than that. Some say there was 3 million
people. I don't know how many there were. But if there was
100,000, that's still pretty good odds against you. Caleb
stood alone. Joshua and Moses stood over there.
Caleb stood alone. He said, let's go in. He said,
this is like a story that's already been told. Let's go in and take
what God gave. And the whole outfit was against
him. But you know what? Caleb didn't
back down, and Caleb and Joshua were the only two out of the
whole outfit that went in. Give a man the truth and he'll
stand. The truth is always victorious. And then secondly, he says here
in verse 14, having on the breastplate of righteousness. First of all,
this has to do with a righteous cause. A righteous cause. David said to Goliath, he said,
Goliath had a spear, the scripture said, big as a weaver's beam.
That's a pretty good-sized weapon, ain't it? And a sword that old
David could barely lift up. And he said, to me, you come
against me with a sword and a spear. He said, I come against you in
the name of the living God. And you're going down. All I
got is a sling. But I got his name. And his name
in a sling is all you need. His name in five smooth stones. Somebody said that was the five
points of Calvary. I don't know. Somebody else said
Goliath had four brothers. I went back to Scripture. Sure
enough, he does. He had four brothers. David brought enough
to kill the whole outfit. But he came to them in the name
of our God. We have a righteous cause. A
righteous cause. When the heart perceives the
goodness of God toward needy sinners, the righteous character
of God slandered by the wicked, the righteousness of Christ denied
and challenged by his enemies, he's ready for battle. It's this
righteousness of God that covers the heart. No accusation of Satan
can penetrate his breastplate. It's without flaw. Do you understand
that? The believer has a righteousness
that presents him before God without fault. I've been reading that and believing
that for a long time and I still don't understand it. I have no
perception of a perfect righteousness. But that's what we have in Christ.
This breastplate is a perfect righteousness. It's the righteousness
of God that He puts in the heart and over the heart. And we cannot
stand in the presence without that righteousness. We
can't stand in that battle. We cannot defend ourselves by
a righteousness of our own making. We've got a righteousness wrought
out by God. by pure obedience of Christ,
which has already been proved in battle. I know that righteousness
is sufficient because God raised Him from the dead. It's already
been proved. I can put that armor on. I ain't
going to go out and hunt lions with a gun that hasn't been proved,
are you? He said this breastplate is proved.
It's proved. And then thirdly, down here in
Ephesians 6 verse 15, he said, having your feet shod with the
preparation of the gospel, the believer has to march into a
deep wilderness of sin. He must walk where the enemy
lives. And he wears a special boot that covers his shins and
knees. Have you ever seen these old guys, Greeks or whatever
they were, Romans, when they marched into battle, they had
these boots on and then they had this thing come all the way
up over their knees. I tell you, your shins are tender,
ain't they? Huh? I left an old trailer ball on
the back of my car and I was loading groceries and I started
walking. I hit my shin on that trailer ball sticking out the
back of that thing. I'm telling you, I about went
to the ground. It just makes you want to cry. Huh? He has
armor that covers those tender parts. He got to walk where there's
thorns and briars. He got to walk where swords are
being swung. He puts on this. He's shot with
the Gospel. But primarily he's talking here
about our walk. We cannot go into battle without
the Gospel. It's our way. It's our way. It's how we stand and why. I
remember marching in boot camp. We went up there and I joined
the Navy. We weren't going to march anywhere.
They were going to put us on a ship. I was the farthest you'd
have to go. I was on an aircraft carrier, the biggest ship they
had, but the farthest you had to go out there was about a hundred
yards. I didn't understand the marching, but we marched from
the time we got there to the time we got out. Thirteen weeks,
I wore out a pair of shoes. And we was out on what they called
a grinder, this big concrete parking lot. And we go out through
there, and one thing that I learned right up front, you just had
to hear one footprint as you went. You didn't hear this like
that. You heard one footprint. All
600 of us. And if somebody was out, guess
what? You got to march some more. And more, and more, and more.
Until at the end of the time, you could march in perfect harmony. When we go out with our feet
shod with this gospel, I don't care if I go to the islands over
in Russia or wherever I go, wherever these preachers are, we're in
perfect harmony. I sat for 30 years up there and
listened to different ones preach. I've never found anything wrong
with the preach. Never have. Never have. This gospel is in harmony. And
it's in harmony with the character of God. It's in harmony with
the needs of the sinner and with all those who preach it around
the world. And then fourthly, down here in verse 16, he said,
above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall
be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked. I believe this
has to do with receiving the benefits of Christ. I believe
this is where He puts us where we have no other hope of defense.
We receive this, I have a righteousness, but it's not mine, it's His.
You can't see it until you can see Him. When you can see Him,
you can see my righteousness. I have a perfect justification
before God, but you can't see it. When you see Him, you'll
see my justification. We take this shield. The shield
is faith. You can't see faith. Faith is
invisible. You can't see it. It produces
It produces fruit. It produces good work. But you
can't see faith. And faith is the evidence of
things not seen. Now, here comes these fiery darts.
How am I going to stand? Am I going to take my good works? Try to block it? No. Am I going to find something
back in my past, some experience, some righteousness that I did,
some decision that I made? Am I going to hold that up? How
am I going to block these doors? Faith. Faith. You take the shield of faith.
That's all you got. That's all you got. But that faith lays hold of omnipotence. That faith lays hold of Christ.
It lays hold of that justification in Him, that righteousness in
Him, that sanctification in Him. It lays hold of eternity. It
lays hold of immortality. And you can hold it up, and all
the fiery darts in hell can't penetrate that shield. It's the
shield of faith. He's got an armor, but he's still
vulnerable. And those arrows of the enemy,
they fill the air. One way to stand before those
things, that's by faith. And the believer shut up to it.
He shut up to it. And I tell you this, no man will
ever stand against the enemy without faith. You can't do it. You can't do it. He'll slay you.
He'll slay you. And then fifthly, he says this,
Put on the helmet of salvation. I got to think, I just laid back
in my chair and started thinking about this. Here's this old guy
and he's going into battle and there's 100,000 on that side
and 100,000 over here. The horizon's covered with men
and they're standing over there with them big battle axes and
swords and big round things with spikes in them. Here they are. You stand over here. You got
your sword. But boy, you know the blood is
going to fly when these two groups meet. It's going to get bloody. You're going to come to blows.
You're going to come to blows. I ain't going out there without
a helmet, are you? First thing that happened, you
run in there, take that helmet off, throw it down, you run in
there. First thing that happened, he'd whop your head off and you'd
just go rolling on the ground. You're done. You're done. Or
else you go into battle with your head all down and you can't
see nothing, you can't do nothing. But you put on this helmet. This
helmet's of God. This helmet, when he talks about
the helmet of salvation, what is salvation? Salvation is of
the Lord, ain't it? Huh? What you're doing, when
you put this helmet on by faith, you're putting on the very purpose
The very predestinating purpose of God. You putting on the counsels
of God you're putting down over your head. Who's going to wipe
that off? Where's the sword and the spear
that's going to wipe that off? He said, I'm God. There are none
beside me. I put that helmet on. You want
to put that helmet on, that little peanut God this world calls God,
you want to put that on and go to battle? I don't want it. Put on that little styrofoam
bubble over your head and run out there with those swords and
spears. You go ahead. Put on omnipotence. Put on that
helmet of God. This salvation is of Him. My
hands ain't in it. It's all Him. Now I can swing
my sword. Now I can swing my sword. The head is where we're most
vulnerable. The wound to the head, man falls forever. A man in battle with no helmet,
he'll run and hide. But the one with a true experiential
knowledge of salvation will hold his head high, walk right into
danger with no fear. No fear. His salvation is of
Him in its eternal purpose. It's of Him in His accomplishments
in Christ. It's of Him in His application
by the Spirit. It's of Him in His ultimate completion
and perfection. And nothing can penetrate that
helmet of salvation. Nothing. Nothing. Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? Who is going to separate
you from the love of Christ? Tribulation, distress, things,
future, things, now, what's next? Nothing. Nothing. Then put it
on. Why do you want to go out there
without that on? Put it on. Hold up that shield
of faith. Dirt yourself with the truth.
Put on that breastplate of righteousness. And then sixthly, he said, take
the sword. This is an offensive weapon here.
Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The
only weapon given with the armor of God is His Word. That's all you got. That's all you got. The Word of God is sufficient. That sword is sufficient. It's
quick, he said, it's powerful, it's sharper than any two-edged
sword, it pierces even to the dividing asunder of soul and
spirit, discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. You
take the word of God and when you wound a man, he goes down. You can stand up here and give
illustrations and talk to him and use worldly philosophy and
all that kind of stuff, from now the cow will come home. That
man will never be changed. You hit him one time with the
Word of God, pow, he cuts him in half. It reveals the thoughts
of his heart. It reveals his intents. It unveils
his motive. You thought you had a thick skin. That sort of cut you wide open. And when it's wielded in the
hands of a man moved by the Spirit of God, it exposes, casts down
imaginations and strongholds, and brings every thought into
the obedience of Christ. Every part of this armor is of
God and must be given of God. But when it's in place, he can
resist the devil. Scripture said, resist the devil
and he'll flee from you. But you can't resist him. But
you came with this armor. You came with this armor and
he'll flee from you. That's what it says. And it's not because of anything
in us. of our God in His favor and His grace. What can I do
about this old man? Paul said this, crucify Him. Crucify Him. What in the world
is he talking about? Crucify Him. Crucify Him in His ways and His
power and His lives and His motives. All these things were in the
person of Christ, hung on a tree, put to death, judged, exposed
for what we are. Exposed in our power, and that
power broken forever. In Romans 6, verse 6, it said,
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him. He's still here, isn't He? He's
still alive. He's still on a chain. He's still
growling. He goes back and forth like a
roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. But he's on a chain. He can't go nowhere. That old
man crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
justly and righteously put to death, that, or in order that,
henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed
from sin. I'm dead in Christ. That old
man's been taken out and crucified. That's what Romans 7, that I
read to you a while ago, that's what that's all about. He's just
a corpse. He's chained to you. You're going
to drag him to the grave where he belongs. Then you're going
to go meet with God. And you're going to leave him
in the grave. Until then, you just have to drag him along.
That's all you can do. Just drag him along. But he's
crucified. Don't let him jump on and start saying this and
saying that and influencing this and that. He's dead. He's dead. He's crucified. Look over here
in Romans chapter 8. This chapter is about this flesh and
how it must be considered crucified with Christ. I hope you'll read
this chapter all the way through after a while. Let me show you
the conclusion of it down here in verse 13. He said, if we live
after the flesh, we'll die. But if you through the Spirit,
through spiritual understanding, spiritual application, if you
through the Spirit do mortify, do put to death the deeds of
the body, you'll live. That is, judge them for what
they are. Look at them. See them for what they are. Judge
them for what they are. And put them in the grave. Put them to death in Christ.
Listen to Paul over here in Galatians chapter 2. He said, I am crucified with
Christ. Now there's two I's here. I want
you to see this. There's two men he's talking
about. He's talking about an old man and a new man. There's
two I's. He said, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I
live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me. And the life I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith or faithfulness of the Son of God
who loved me and gave himself for me. I, this old man, was
crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. I live. There is a new man in me. And
he lives. He has eternal life. He has good
thoughts. He worships God. He loves his
brother. And there's an old man in there
that just despises everything. But that old man was crucified
with Christ. And spiritually speaking, we
must learn to distinguish the difference between the old man
and the new man. Know which to obey and which
to resist. And I want to read this to you
and then I'll close over in Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4 beginning
with verse 17. This I say therefore and testify
in the Lord, that you henceforth walk not as other men walk. How do they walk? How do other
men walk? Listen, he tells you, in the
vanity of their minds, That's how they walk. Supposing they
have a sufficient wisdom, a sufficient ability, a sufficient goodness,
a sufficient desire, they walk in the vanity of their mind,
having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life
of God through the ignorance that's in them because of the
blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given
themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with
greediness. But you have not so learned Christ.
If so be you have heard of Him and have been taught by Him as
the truth is in Him, that you put off concerning the former
conversation, that word is your lifetime walk, is what that is,
the tenor of your life, that you put that off. The old man
which is corrupt after his deceitful lust, you put him off and be
renewed in the spirit of your mind That's what the gospel does. Christ is formed in you. And
in your mind, you come to understand. And your heart embraces Him.
And you see in Him righteousness. I see in Him the true character
of God. I see God just in His justification
of sinners. I see in Him peace. I see the
goodness of God in him. I see the long-suffering of God
in him. I'm renewed in the spirit of
my mind. And that you put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. How can I walk in true holiness?
By walking in faith. Because without faith, it's impossible. Huh? Ain't that what it says?
Impossible. to please God.