Can't wait till this is over.
I say that every time, but I can't. But the Lord's in control of
it, and I'm very thankful for that. I'm speaking this evening on
this subject, gospel shoes. And we're looking a piece at
a time at the armor that Paul speaks of in Ephesians chapter
six. I'd like to begin reading in
verse 14, of Ephesians chapter 6. Stand therefore, having your
loins girt about with truth. That's the first piece of armor,
the belt of truth. If we don't have that piece,
we don't have anything else. It's got to begin with truth. And having on the breastplate
of righteousness, We considered that last week and that breastplate
of righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. I've seen people
and heard people who make this as a righteous life or righteous
living. If you feel any confidence having
that as your breastplate, go for it, but you'll find out it's
no good. This is the righteousness of
God, the righteousness of Christ that protects us. And then the
third piece he mentions is in verse 15, and your feet shod
with the preparation. And that word preparation is
the noun form of the verb prepare. I go and prepare a place for
you, the Lord said. preparedness or readiness. What makes you ready? That's
what the word means. And your feet shod with the preparation
or the preparedness or readiness of the gospel of peace. Let's pray. Lord, we ask that you would be
pleased to speak in power to our hearts from your word and
cause our feet to be shod with the preparation of the gospel
of peace. How we thank you for the gospel
of peace. May we be saved by the gospel
of peace. May we enter into the joy and
peace of believing. Lord, that's above the strength
and energy of this flesh. We ask that you would do this
for us and in us for Christ's sake. Forgive us of our sins. Lord, we pray for your presence
toward every one of your people that they might know that your
God beside thee is none else. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Now when he is alluding to this
shoe, have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel
of peace. He is talking about the shoes
worn by the Roman soldiers. All of these pieces of armor
come from the armor that the Roman soldiers wore, and they
had a sandal boot called caliga. I don't know if I'm pronouncing
it right. I've looked it up and that's the way it sounds like
it. If somebody knows better, you can tell me later, but it's
called Caliga. And they were heavy sold, hobnailed
boots. A hobnail is a piece of brass
sticking out the end, kind of like a cleat made out of brass
nails. And this sandal boot was issued
to every Roman soldier And it was ideal for marching, and it
was ideal for holding your ground in battle, kind of like a cleat. Now, the spiritual meaning of
this marching is the spread of the gospel. We're to spread the
gospel of peace. That's our message. Our message
to this world is the gospel of peace. And we are to hold our
ground and not be moved from this hope, the hope of the gospel
of peace. This is what we're set for the
defense of, the gospel of peace. Now, four times in this passage
of scripture with regard to this spiritual armor, Paul speaks
of standing, standing your ground, not being moved. Now, in sports, the shoes you're
wearing are very important. For instance, if you were on
a basketball court and you had on cleats and somebody started
boxing you out, it would be easy to move you. They wouldn't grip
to the floor. And if you're playing football
or soccer, it's better to have a cleat that goes into the soil. One without cleats could make
you be moved very easily. Your shoes are very important. And these shoes for the Romans
were very important. Can you imagine going into a
battle Without shoes? Having a shield and a sword and
a helmet? No shoes. In a rocky ground? I can't even imagine that. Can
you imagine marching to another country without shoes? Shoes
are so important. And the shoes the believer are
called upon to be shod with is the gospel of peace. Our marching orders, the gospel
of peace, how we stand our ground, the gospel of peace, the glad
tidings, the good news of peace. Oh, may the Lord enable us to
enter in to the gospel of peace. God is called the God of peace. Christ is called the Prince of
Peace. The gospel is called the way
of peace, peace with God, harmony, concord, agreement, security,
safety, tranquility, the state of a soul assured of salvation
through Christ, therefore confident and content with whatever its
earthly lot is. With regard to what we're going
through right now, the coronavirus, I can't say that I like it. I
look forward to times being where they were. And I realize that
some people, I'm not one of them as of yet, but some people have
actually lost their jobs and lost their incomes. And we feel
very much for these people. And we want to help out in any
way we can. But if you're a believer, Whatever
God brings your way, you have peace. Because he did it. You don't have to understand
why he's doing it. You understand that it's him.
I love where the Lord said, walking on the water to his disciples,
it's I. Be of good cheer. So whatever
it is, whatever trial the Lord brings your way, he says, it
is I. Be of good cheer, whatever it
is. This is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. And that's why a believer can
be content and at peace, no matter what God brings their way. Now,
this God of peace, this peace comes through the gospel of peace. Now, let me say this with regard
to the character of God. God is holy. God is just. God will never let sin go unpunished.
The scripture says God is angry with the wicked every day. It tells us God is no respecter
of persons, and the cross is the proof of that. When Christ
bore the sins of his people on the cross, God was no respecter
of persons. Christ was put to death by the
justice of God. God is utterly just. He must punish sin because of
the perfection and the perfections of his being. Now the God who
is of two pure eyes to behold iniquity and who will by no means
clear the guilty, that's what he said, I'll by no means clear
the guilty, is at complete peace with every believer. If you're
a believer, God is at peace with you. There's nothing for him
to be angry with. He is completely satisfied with
you right now. You have a readiness. You have
a preparedness for judgment day right now. You don't need anything
to be done. It's already been done. There's
nothing to fear. And that readiness is the gospel
of peace. Now, how comfortable are these
shoes? You know, it's very important that shoes be comfortable. You
don't wanna have uncomfortable shoes. Well, what could be more
comfortable than shoes which are described as the readiness
of the gospel of peace? These are the shoes the believer
walks in when he walks by faith and not by sight. I love that
passage of scripture that says, as you receive Christ Jesus the
Lord, well, how'd you receive him? As a sinner needing his
mercy. You received him as everything
in your salvation. You received him as your peace
before God. The only thing that gives you
peace is him. So walk in him. These gospel
shoes are the readiness of the gospel of peace. Now, I wanna give you several
scriptures from the New Testament with regard to the gospel of
peace. The Lord said in John chapter
14, verse 27. Now, listen to these words very
carefully. Don't let one of these go by. He said, peace, I leave
with you. My peace, I give unto you, not
peace I give unto you, but my peace, the peace that belongs
to me. I give unto you, not as the world
giveth, give I unto you. Now I want you to think about
the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has the peace of knowing his
father, is absolutely pleased with him. The father looks upon
him and says, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. This is the piece of perfect
righteousness. The Lord knows he's perfectly
righteous before his father. It's the piece of sinlessness. It's the piece of perfect obedience. It's the peace of omnipotence.
He has nothing to fear. It's the peace of everything
that is done is his will being done. He never worries. He never
has anything to worry about because he's in control of all things.
My peace, my peace, I give unto you. Now, this is a peace that the
world cannot possibly give and what kind of comfort is in these
shoes my peace I give unto you. The peace that Christ himself
has in his relationship before his father belongs to every single
believer in his fullness. My peace I give unto you. And then in John chapter 16,
verse 33, he says, these things have I spoken unto you that in
me, you might have peace. In the world, you'll have tribulation,
you'll have trouble, you'll have heartache, you'll have sorrow,
you'll have disappointment. In the world, you'll have trouble,
but be a good cheer. I have overcome the world. Now, these things have I spoken
unto you that in me, you might have peace. Now, what's it mean
by in me? We're given a beautiful illustration
of that in Hebrews chapter seven, where it says Levi paid tithes
in Abraham. Now, how did he pay tithes in
Abraham? He wasn't even born. Abraham
was a great grandfather. When Abraham paid those tithes
to Melchizedek, The scripture says Levi paid the tithes. It
doesn't say Abraham's tithe paying was counted to him. It says Levi
himself paid those tithes because he was yet in the loins of his
great-grandfather Abraham so that everything Abraham did,
he did. Now, I I understand why the Lord
says, these things have not spoken to you that in me, you might
have peace. If I'm in the Lord Jesus Christ,
I have peace because everything he's done, I've done. When he
died, I died. When he was raised from the dead,
I was raised from the dead. These things have not spoken
unto you that in me, you might have peace. Don't look for peace
in yourself. Don't look peace in anything that has anything
to do with you. These things have I spoken unto
you, that in me you might have peace. 1 Corinthians 1, verse
30 says, of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Now, if you're in Christ, that
means you have wisdom. God embraces you. as wise. You have righteousness, the very
righteousness of God. You have sanctification, perfect
holiness. You have redemption, full deliverance. Now, here's our standing before
God on Judgment Day, this gospel of peace, this being in Him.
Listen to the words of Paul in Philippians 3, 9. Oh, that I
may win Christ and be found in Him not having my own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. In Him we have perfect peace, not in the world, just in Him. Now here's the third scripture
I would like to consider in this thing of these shoes the believer
wears, the gospel of peace. Colossians 1.20 says, having
made peace, speaking of the work of Christ on the cross, having
made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile
all things to himself. By him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven or things under the earth,
and you that were sometime or before in time alienated and
enemies in your mind by wicked works, Yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Now, what did he
do by the blood of Christ? He reconciled us. We didn't have
anything to do with it. We didn't have any part in this.
It wasn't a cooperative effort. He reconciled us. Reconciliation
is what God does. I love that scripture. God was
in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. Romans 5 10 says,
if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death
of his son. Now you didn't have any part
in that except being an enemy. If when we were enemies we were
reconciled to God by the death of his son much more being reconciled
we shall be saved by his life and here's what this reconciliation
looks like and this is where this peace comes from. His reconciling
death on the cross made every believer, according to verse
22, holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Now let me tell you something.
If I'm holy, if I'm unblameable, if I'm unreprovable in the very
sight of God, I feel peace. There's nothing for the Lord
to be mad at, nothing for him to be angry with. He sees that
in me which is holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Next scripture is Romans 5.1,
therefore being justified, literally having been justified, therefore
being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, justification. In Christ's great work on the
cross, he justified the ungodly. Not only have I been shown mercy,
not only have I been given grace, not only have I been forgiven,
I have been justified. Don't miss the meaning of that.
Romans 3, 24 says that He justified us freely by His grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Freely. Freely. With no
contribution from you, you have been justified by His grace through
the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Now let me remind you
what that means. That means I stand before God having never sinned. I've never broken one of the
Ten Commandments. I've kept them all perfectly.
I've loved God with all my heart and with all my soul and with
all my strength and I've loved my neighbor as myself. There's
nothing that can be laid to my charge having been justified
by faith. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now these are the shoes of the
readiness of the gospel of peace. This is how we stand. This is
our message, our marching orders, the gospel of peace. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 14,
Paul makes this statement, and I wish I could speak on this
statement the way it ought to be spoken on. Ephesians 2, 14
says, he is our peace. My peace is not a feeling. My
peace is Him. He is my peace before God. How at peace is the Father with
the Son? Oh, there's perfect peace. Perfect
harmony between the Father and the Son. He is our peace. That's the peace every believer
possesses. Everything God requires of me,
he looks to his son for, and everything God requires of me,
I look to his son for, and what peace there is there. Now, you'll
notice when Paul opens just about every epistle, he says, grace
and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace. Ephesians 2, 8 says, for by grace
you are saved. Grace isn't an offer. God doesn't
offer you grace any more than he offers you forgiveness. When
I hear preachers say, God offers you forgiveness. No, he doesn't.
If you're forgiven, he forgives you. And you find out he's forgiven
you. Grace is no offer. Grace saves. Oh, the saving grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I love what Peter said. We believe
that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be
saved, even as they, even as those Gentiles. And this is spoken
of in such a way as you could properly translate it into each
of these three ways. We believe that by the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have been saved, plumb saved,
completely saved, nothing else needed. We believe that by the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we're being saved right now,
present tense. And we believe, as Peter said,
that by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. You see, if God be for us, who
can be against us? If salvation really is all of
grace, is it? Is that what the Bible teaches?
Being justified freely by his grace? through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus, if salvation really is all of grace, oh, what
peace we have. I don't have to look for anything
for me. I look to the grace of God as
my peace. And then Romans chapter 14, verse
17, Paul says, the kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink. It's not do's and don'ts. It's
not rules and regulations. There's not something, if you
refrain from it, you're better off, or if you take it, you're
better off, or worse off if you don't. Quit thinking that way. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Now, the righteousness that he
is speaking of is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The law keeping of Jesus Christ. The righteousness which is of
God. Now the reason I'm gonna be able
to behold his face in righteousness is because I have nothing less
than the righteousness of God. It's my personal righteousness
before God. That's what the kingdom of heaven's
about. Having God's righteousness. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Now, brethren, if our personal
righteousness is the righteousness of God, I know something about
these next two words. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink, but it's righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Ghost. I want to read a passage of scripture
from John chapter 20. This is after the Lord was raised
from the dead. We read beginning in verse 19.
Then the same day at even, being the first day of the week, when
the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for
fear of the Jews, came Jesus, and stood in the midst, and saith
unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he showed
them his hands, those nail-pierced hands. He put away his garment,
and they saw where the spear had gone through his side. When he said, Peace, to you,
he showed them his scars." And the scripture says, then were
the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Now, when I'm in
heaven, when I'm saved to sin no more, when I'm perfectly conformed
to the image of Jesus Christ, I'm gonna know that the only
reason I'm there is because of those scars in his hands and
his feet and that scar in his side. Even then, that's going
to be my peace. We sing that song, There is a
Fountain, and I love that song. I love that song. But when he
says, dear dying lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power
till all the ransomed church of God is saved to sin no more. He didn't get it right there.
The blood of Jesus Christ will never lose its power. And it
is the reason the church is saved to sin no more, continually because
of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. What made the disciples
glad? When they saw his hands and his
side, and they had some understanding. And I'll tell you what in heaven,
We'll know the only reason we're there is him. In Galatians, the
sixth chapter, Paul made this statement in verse 16, as many
as walk according to this rule, peace be on them. What rule? I hear people say, well, you
need to walk according to the 10 commandments. That's our rule
of life. Do you get peace from that? your
own personal walk, your efforts to keep the commandments. If
you get peace from your efforts to keep the commandments because
you don't know what the Ten Commandments are in the first place, you don't
understand the spirituality of them, and you don't have any
understanding how sinful you really are. The problem is you've
never been born again. If you think that that is your
rule of life, you've just never been born of God. What is the
rule of life that the believer walks by that he receives this
peace from? Well, Paul tells us in the context.
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified unto me and I unto
the world. For in Christ Jesus, neither
circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision, but a new
creation. Now, as many as walk according
to this rule, Peace be on them. The only way you'll have peace
is if by the grace of God, you glory only in the cross. You don't glory in your works.
You don't glory in anything but the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all you have confidence
in. Nothing else. Now, if you have confidence in
nothing else, you'll have peace. If you have confidence in anything
else, you won't have true peace. You may say you do, but it's
phony. It's like that fake news. It's
not real. The only peace there is, is the
peace that comes from glorying, having confidence only in the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in Luke chapter seven, verse
50, and Luke chapter eight, verse 48, the Lord said to two different
women, thy faith hath saved thee. Go in peace. Thy faith has saved
thee. Go in peace. Now, wait a minute.
I'm supposed to get peace from my faith? It's my faith that
saves me? Listen, my faith didn't keep
the law for me. Christ did. My faith didn't die
on Calvary's tree. Christ did. My faith was not
raised from the dead. Christ was. My faith is not what
saved me. Christ did. All together. And that's what my faith believes.
You see, faith, true saving faith, gives all the glory to Christ. And that's why Christ puts such
honor on faith. When you have faith, that means
you look to Christ only, not Christ and. Christ only. And that, my dear friends, is
saving faith. And the Lord says to these two
dear women, go in peace. Thy faith, that faith that looks
to me only as everything in salvation, thy faith has saved thee. Go
in peace. This is what Paul calls the joy
and the peace of believing. march in this world as soldiers
of the cross. And our preparedness or readiness
is the gospel of peace. Our standing firmly planted is
in the gospel of peace. Now, let me make a few closing
comments. God's peace with me through the
gospel. is gospel peace. Our peace with
God is through the gospel of peace. Nowhere else. The same
thing that God derives his peace from with us, we derive our peace
from, that he is our peace. Now, our peace of conscience
is found only in the gospel of peace. I love what Peter said
in verse Peter 3, 21, spoke of the answer of a good conscience
toward God by the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Now,
the only thing that produces a good conscience, and a good
conscience is a conscience that doesn't have anything to feel
bad about, doesn't have anything to feel guilty about. Somebody
says, well, my conscience is clear on that matter. Well, no,
your conscience is seared. It's not clear. It's just not
working, Ryder. You wouldn't say that. But the only way a
conscience His good conscience is that there's absolutely nothing
to be guilty about. When Christ was raised from the
dead, I have nothing to feel guilty
about. I have perfect righteousness
before God. Now, we're at peace with his
providence. Romans 8, 28, and we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are going
to call according to his purpose. What peace we have with his providence,
knowing he is controlling everything for his glory and for our good. I don't need to understand what
he's doing and I might have very difficult things ahead of me,
but he is Lord, and he's causing everything to work together for
my good and the good of all of his people and his glory. To
everyone who loves God, to everyone who is the called according to
his purpose. Here are the shoes we wear when
we face death. Do you remember what Simeon said? Lord, now let us thy servant
depart in peace. for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. If Christ is salvation, I am
ready to depart in peace without fear of death. And until then,
this is our message to the world. The same thing Peter said to
Cornelius and those listening, peace by Jesus Christ. He is Lord. That's our message. And here's
our practice. If it be possible, it's not always
possible. If it be possible, as much as life in you is, live
peaceably with all men, especially they who are the household of
faith. The peacemakers, they shall be
called the children of God. What a glorious shoe we're given. The readiness, the preparedness
of the gospel of peace. That's the message we march through
this world. That's the message we're set
for the defense of. and will not, by the grace of
God, be moved from the gospel of peace. Let's pray together. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would shod our feet with the preparation of the gospel
of peace. How we thank you for the gospel
of peace. How we thank you for the peace
our Redeemer achieved for us. Lord, give us the grace to walk
through this world in these shoes, the gospel of peace. In Christ's
name we pray, amen.