Well, if you miss Dave Wright
here, it's because he had surgery Thursday. How's he doing? Still
doing good? Better? Oh, I've been hard on
you trying to take care of him, I'm sure. Back to Ephesians chapter 6.
I hope that every one of us will hear this message asking the
Lord to give us the grace to put on this armor. I've entitled this message, The
Whole Armor of God. And this is provided for every
single believer to put on every piece of this armor. Now, My intention is to look
at the whole passage of scripture tonight, look at all six pieces
of armor. Lord willing, next week I would
like us to consider this one question, why did he tell us
to put it on? For what reason? And then I would like to back
back and look at each piece of armor individually in a message
by itself. Put on the whole armor of God. Verse 10, finally, my brethren. He is closing this wonderful
epistle, this sublime epistle. There's no other epistle like
Ephesians. It deals with things that are not dealt with in other
epistles. And he says, finally, my brethren,
be strong or literally be strengthened in the Lord. and the power of
his might. Put on, verse 11, put on the
whole armor of God. Now, he's giving us direction.
Each believer, put on. You say, well, how do I go about
doing that? Ask the Lord to give you grace.
Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand
against the wiles, the deceptiveness of the devil. That one who Peter
says goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And he does so through deceit. Turn with me for a moment to
2 Corinthians chapter 11. Look in verse three, I fear less by any means as the
serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, his deceptiveness. So your minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity that's in Christ. I fear that, don't you?
I fear that. Look in verse 13, for such are
false apostles. deceitful workers, transforming
themselves into the apostles of Christ, and no marvel, for
Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. He's standing in many pulpits,
even tonight, as an angel of light. Therefore, it's no great
thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness. whose end shall be according
to their works. You know, he's called in Revelation
chapter 12, the accuser of the brethren. Now, what all does
that mean? He's so subtle. He says things
like this. How can you be a Christian when
you did that? How can you be a Christian when
you thought that? How can you be a Christian when
you desired that? How could you possibly be saved?
Why your profession is nothing more than hypocrisy for you to
claim to be a Christian and you did that? You committed that
sin? You had that wicked desire? You
had these unclean motives? How can you be a Christian? Now, does that mean that if I didn't
do those things, I am a Christian? You see how subtle he is? That's
the subtle wiles of the devil seeking to get you to look to
your own life rather than Christ himself. You probably deal with
that every day at some point. How can you be a Christian? That is the deceitful wiles of
the devil, the attempt to cause you to look to your life rather
than Christ. And he has so many wiles and
so many devices, and me and you aren't up to the task. You see,
he's got so much he can work with with us. Now, I love the
way the Lord said, the prince of this world has come, and he
found nothing in me. He didn't find anything he could take a
hold of. Oh, the glorious Savior. But oh, he's got a lot to work
with, with every one of us. And he can turn us inside out
apart from the Lord preserving us from it so easily. And we're told to put on this
armor that we might be enabled to stand against the wiles, the
deceit of the devil. Verse 12. Four, we wrestle not. You know, I'm afraid that that
could characterize most people's Christianity. And that's why
I'm calling it Christianity. It's not the gospel, but we wrestle
not. We don't struggle. We're in good
shape. I'm OK. You're OK. Everything's fine.
We wrestle not. Paul didn't say we wrestle not
and stop. Look what he said. We wrestle
not against flesh and blood. Now we're not fighting men. We're not fighting men. They
may be the instruments of the devil, but we are not fighting
men. There's an unseen world that
Paul speaks of, look what he says. 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. Turn with me for a moment to
Colossians chapter one. You know, Daniel spoke of these
high places in his book. But look at this passage in verse
16 of Colossians chapter 1. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven and that are in earth. That's our realm. Visible,
that's our realm, and invisible. This invisible world, whether
they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by him and for him. Now, before we get
too afraid of this unseen world, who created it? Jesus Christ. And why did he create it? For
his own glory. Look in Colossians chapter two. Verse 14, blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross, and having spoiled
principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing
over them in it, in the cross. That's what the Lord was doing.
He was handling these principalities and powers that you and I are
no match for. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
10. Verse two, but I beseech you
that I may not be bold when I'm present with that confidence
wherewith I think to be bold against some which think of us
as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk
in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. using fleshly methods
and carnal means. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, they're not fleshly, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, reasonings,
my marginal reading says, and every high thing that exalts
itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. Now back to our text. We wrestle not, verse 12, against
flesh and blood, men, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. You know, I don't have any doubt
that whenever the gospel is preached, there are wicked spirits there,
seeing what they can do. Now, they're under Christ's thumb.
And I don't want anybody to think, oh, what are we going to do?
It's what he's done. They're under his thumb, doing
his will, performing his purposes. But they don't know that. They
don't know that. What are you and I before this
world of darkness? We can't stand up before it.
And that is why we need this armor that he speaks of. This
whole armor of God. I'm no match for the devil. Neither
are you. But the Lord has given us this
whole armor of God. So it says in verse 13, wherefore
taken to you the whole armor of God. I want to put on there
a piece, don't you? I don't want to leave anything out. Put on
the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the
evil day. And that's talking about the
day when you're attacked. You will be attacked. I will
be attacked. You can write that down. but
having done all to stand on that evil day. Now, concerning Satan,
demons, and you, you're not important to him. Neither am I. He hates the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he doesn't know infallibly whether or not you're one of
the elect. You know that? If he knew you were one of the
elect, you know what he'd do? He'd leave you alone. He'd know anything
he could do would be powerless because you belong to Christ.
He knows that. He studied the scriptures. He
knows the scriptures really better than you do and better than I
do. He's had a long time to go over them. But he doesn't know
whether I am elect. He doesn't know whether you're
elect. And he's going to do everything in his power. His great design
is for you to not trust the Lord Jesus Christ, but look to yourself
and be a member of the religion of Babylon. That is his great
design for you. And the only way we will stand
and not be defeated by him is Christ. Christ. That's my victory. I'm doing toe-to-toe combat with
the devil. No, I'm not. Christ defeated
him, he crushed his head, and he is my salvation. He is my
security. And he's given every one of us
this precious armor, the gift of his grace to put on to fight
the wiles of the devil. Verse 14, stand therefore. You'll find that statement three
or four times in these first few verses where he tells us
to stand. And I couldn't help but thinking of Martin Luther
when he was called to recant what he believed. He said, here
I stand. I can do no other. My conscience
is captive to the word of God. Here I stand, God helping me,
amen. And I hope that's our attitude
with this armor of his providing. Now, stand therefore, verse 14, drink
water. Stand therefore, and here's the
first piece of armor. He gives six pieces of armor.
I think that's interesting. Six is the number of man, isn't
it? Adam was created on the sixth day. And he gives six pieces
of armor for men, his people, to wear. And the first thing
he mentions, stand therefore having your loins girt about
with truth. Now this girdle is the belt. Have your, this is the first
piece. And in reality, no other piece can be put on unless this
piece is put on first. This belt of truth that you gird
up. This is what gives you freedom
of movement. This is what enables you put on the other pieces of
armor. The belt of truth. Now, if we don't start here,
we cannot possibly end well. You got to begin with The truth. Error never did anybody any good
but lead them away from Christ. Here's where we have to begin
the truth. And the Lord said in John chapter
17 verse 17, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. And I love the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ in John chapter 14 verse 6. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man comes to the father but
by me. Now that's the truth. He's the
way. He's the only way. You can't
get to the father apart from being in him. That's the truth.
His life is the life, that's the truth. The only way that
you'll get to the Father is if his very life is your life before
God. He is the truth. I love it when the Lord said
in John chapter 18, verse 37, for this cause came I into the
world to bear witness unto the truth. And how he bore witness
to the truth when he was nailed to a cross. Now what's that mean? When he was nailed to the cross,
that bore witness to every attribute of God, the truth concerning
the true character of God. Does God hate sin? Look at the
cross. Is God going to punish sin? Look
at the cross. Is God a respecter of persons?
No, look what he did to his son when sin was found in him. Is God merciful? Look to the
cross. Does God delight in saving sinners? Look to the cross. Is God so
wise that he's found a way to be utterly just and yet justify
somebody unjust like me? Look to the cross. Oh, the genius
of God in the cross, the wisdom of God. The power of God, we're
in the cross. He makes sin to not be. Oh, the
cross is a declaration of the character of God. That's the
truth. The cross is a declaration of
mine and your character. Now you think of every problem
you've got, you think of every issue you have, they don't tell
one millionth of the problem. The cross tells the truth about
me and you. If God left me to myself, I'd put him to death. And that's exactly what the cross
declares. The cross is the truth regarding
how God saves sinners by what Christ did. Not by what you do,
but by what he did. If you don't have the truth,
you don't have anything. I love the way the Lord says
they that worship him. God is spirit. And they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. There's no worship of God. There's
no salvation. There's no putting on this armor
apart from the truth of the gospel. Thy word is truth. You could look up these things
on your own, but let me give you three scriptures. You can
write these down, 1 Timothy 2.4, 2 Thessalonians 2.25, and Titus
1.1, but they all speak of the truth. In 1 Timothy 2.4, we read
that salvation is coming to the knowledge of the truth. In 2 Timothy 2.25, we read that
repentance is the acknowledging of the truth. That's what you
do when you repent. You change your mind. You didn't
believe the truth. Now you do. Faith is called in
Titus 1.3, the acknowledging of the truth, which is after
godliness. The faith of God's elect, the
acknowledging of the truth, the embracing of the truth, which
is after godliness. Now you can write this down.
None of the other pieces of the armor of God will be put on unless
our loins are girt about with the truth. And the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the truth. My soul, that's the truth. Everything
is known in light of the cross. The character of God, the character
of man, God's salvation, what Christ actually did. The cross
is the truth. Now he says in verse 14, stand
therefore, having your loins girt about with truth. Lord,
give me the truth. Give me the truth. Let me be
girded with the truth. Let my salvation begin with the
truth. No salvation apart from the truth.
And then he says, having on the breastplate, here's the next
piece. The first is the belt, the girdle,
And the second piece he tells us to put on is the breastplate
of righteousness. Righteous living? Yeah. The righteous living of Jesus
Christ. His righteousness. Now the breastplate
is to protect your heart. It's to protect your internal
organs. Now the only breastplate that
will protect me and you is the righteousness of Jesus Christ
as my righteousness before God. That's the only righteousness
there is. Turn with me to Romans chapter
four for just a moment. Verse four. Now to him that worketh,
is the reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt. Now, if there's
anything that you do that moves God to respond to you because
of what you've done, that means he's paying you what he owes
you rather than the gift of his grace. If you work, you're earning. What are works? Anything you
do. Anything you do. If you think your salvation in
any way to any degree is depended upon something you do that works. That works. To him that worketh
is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt, but to him
that worketh not. Now why is it that someone would
work not? Are they lazy? Are they indifferent
about good works? No, they are persuaded. that anything they do is evil
because they did it. That's why they work. There's
no point. There's no point. Anything I do because of who
did it, that makes it bad. I'm a sinner. That's the person
who works not. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. God takes an ungodly sinner and
makes him to where he's perfectly just before him through the work
of Christ on the cross. We believe on him who justifies
the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. And here's what all this means,
even as David also describeth the blednessedness of the man
unto whom God imputeth. Righteousness without works, without you doing anything to
earn it. Saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven,
whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Now, the breastplate of righteousness
is the righteousness of Jesus Christ being my personal righteousness
before God. Now, just as truly, and here's
the only way you can come anywhere close to grasping this, although
you're not gonna grasp it, neither am I, we just believe it. How
truly did my sin become his sin? Did he die? It truly became his,
didn't it? He was made sin. Just as truly
as my sin became his sin and he became guilty of it and he
died for it because it became his, his righteousness, his perfect
law keeping becomes mine. My personal righteousness before
God. What a breastplate. This one
can't be improved. This one doesn't have any seams
in it. It's just his righteousness. That's all it is. Just his righteousness. But his righteousness is the
righteousness of every single believer, and what a breastplate. It's impenetrable. David said,
I've made mention of thy righteousness, even thine only. Why? Because his righteousness is
the only righteousness there is. I love it when he said to
John the Baptist, thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness
When the Lord fulfilled all righteousness, he did it for a large group called
us, every believer, all those for whom he died. And what a
breastplate of protection this is. Now this is simple. This
is the only, I don't want this to become complicated in any
way. It's his righteousness. His righteousness is my personal
righteousness before God. And that's the only thing that
protects my heart, or all my internal organs, is the breastplate
of righteousness. If somebody tries to make this
as the breastplate is how we live our righteous living, they
don't know anything about what sin is or they wouldn't say anything
like that. They have no concept of God's law or they wouldn't
say anything like that. This breastplate is the breastplate
of his righteousness. Now verse seven. Back to our
text in Ephesians chapter six. Now the first piece of armor
is a belt, the belt of truth. The second piece of armor is
a breastplate of his righteousness. Is that the only one you feel
safe in? I don't feel any safety anywhere else other than having
his righteousness. The third piece of armor, verse
15, your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Now he
talked about shoes. Now I know this, a man fighting
in those days, he couldn't do it without shoes. I mean, can
you imagine being barefoot going across rocky ground trying to
fight and win and protect yourself and Barefooted, cutting your
feet, stoning them, stubbing them against rocks. One thing
you had to have for a battle is shoes. You could not fight
without shoes. Well, what are the shoes of the
believer? Your feet shod with the preparation. Now, that word preparation means
readiness. Readiness. Think about that word,
readiness. What makes you ready? One answer,
the gospel of peace. The only thing that makes me
ready, ready to meet God, ready to meet God in judgment is the
gospel of peace. Now, what this is referring to
is his, this breastplate we have on, If I have on this breastplate
of righteousness, his righteousness, you know what I feel? You know
what I have? Well, first, you know what I
have? Let's forget the feelings for a moment. You know what I have?
I have peace. God's at peace with me. God's
not mad at me. There's nothing for him to be
mad at. I'm perfectly righteous before him. And God's at peace
with me. He's satisfied with me. He says
there's no sin. He sees no sin because there's
none there. I have perfect righteousness. That's the gospel. I have perfect
righteousness. God's at peace with me and that's
the only thing that gives me peace. That's the only thing that gives
me peace. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink, but righteousness and peace. The only peace I have
is to know that everything God requires of me, everything, He
looks to his son for, and I lack nothing else. What peace there
is. And you know what? That makes
me ready. I'm ready for Christ to come. You know why? Because I have perfect righteousness.
I'm ready to stand before God in judgment and have the thrice
holy God judge me. Why? Because Christ is my righteousness. This is the gospel of peace.
Now, these are the shoes I can walk in. Any other shoes, I can't
walk in them. They hurt my feet. They don't
do me any good. But oh, the glory of having your feet shed or shot
with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Now, that's the only
way I can walk in peace. And you know what? If that's
my shoes and that's your shoes, you know what? We're going to
have peace with each other. We're going to be agreed to. How can
two walk together except they be agreed? We're agreed that
the gospel of peace is the only shoes to wear, and that's the
only way we can walk through this world, is having our feet
shod with the readiness. This is what makes us ready,
not, are you ready, are you ready? Well, Christ being my righteousness,
I'm ready. The gospel of peace, Christ made
my peace with God, I'm ready. Now these are some shoes By the
grace of God, I'm putting on. I'm putting on this belt, this
girdle of truth, this breastplate of His righteousness, and these
shoes that are the preparation of the gospel, or the readiness
of the gospel of peace. Now look what he says in verse
16. Above all. Now when he says above all, he's
saying this is what's most important. Above all. taking the shield
of faith. Now these shields that he is
speaking of are not these little round, talking about a body shield,
a shield that covers your whole body. So wherever the darts come
at you, the shield will ward them off. The shield of faith. Now, I wish I could simplify
this. is faith in him. It's not faith in yourself. It's
not faith in somebody else. Faith doesn't have anything to
do with what you believe about yourself. Faith is faith in him. You believe that he is the son
of God. You believe that? He is. the eternal son of God, the uncreated
second person of the blessed Trinity. He is the son of God. And he did what he came to do. He came to save his people from
their sins and he did it. And guess what? I am relying
right now while I'm talking to you on who he is and what he
did as the only way I can be brought into the presence of
God. I'm relying on him. I'm not looking
to myself, I'm looking to him. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted
for righteousness. Now I'm trusting him who justifies
the ungodly. That's the shield that's going
to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Whatever comes
your way, whatever fiery dart the wicked brings your way, there's
only one way it's going to be quenched. Faith in Christ. That's
it. What about faith in Christ? Look
to Christ. That's the answer to every single
question. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not faith and. Faith alone. This shield is made of one material,
not faith and something you bring to the table. Faith alone, who
he is and what he did is not merely the minimum requirement. It's all that's accepted. Anything
else is poisoned. Faith alone, looking to Christ
only. That's the shield that we're
to take above all things. Now, if you attempt to use anything
else to quench these fiery darts, your experience, your personal
growth, your progress in holiness, and you look to these things
for some measure of assurance, it's poison. It's antichrist. You look to Christ alone. What a shield. And then he says
in verse 17, here's the fifth piece of armor, Take the helmet
of salvation. Now, what's a helmet for? It's
to protect your head. Protect your head. Now, what's
going to protect your head? What's going to protect your
mind? What's going to protect your thinking? Salvation is of
the Lord. It's that simple. Salvation is
of the Lord. Now, let me give you a scripture
that I think tells what that means, maybe more than any other
scripture. 2 Timothy 1, 9, we read, he saved us and he called
us. What came first? He saved us. Then he called us. But he saved
us before he called us. Now, we didn't find out he saved
us until he called us. But he saved us and he called
us. Now, how do you explain that? Well, Christ is called the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. You know what that
means? All the elect were saved before time began by the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. He saved us. By grace, you're saved. Salvation is not an offer. Salvation
is not God making this available for you. No, he saved
you. By grace are you saved. And everything
that passes through your mind, all the weird, dumb stuff that
passes through my mind and your mind, let it go through this
filter, salvation is of the Lord. And any thought I have that's
contrary in any way to salvation is of the Lord is wrong. Is wrong. What's going to protect my head?
The helmet of salvation. And you'll notice the last thing
he mentions is the only thing that's used for offense. Everything
else is to protect you, isn't it? Helmet, shield, breastplate,
shoes, it's all to protect you. The girdle. But here is the weapon
of offense. The sword of the spirit, which
is the word of God. That's the scripture. the scripture. Preach the word. That's our purpose, to preach
the word. That is how God is going to bring
in his people, preach the word. Now, I want to remind you of
the honor and respect the Lord Jesus Christ gave the scriptures
when Satan came to tempt him. How did he answer him every time? It is written. Now I put myself in, I can't
put myself in his place, but whatever I'm trying to say, if
I was there, if I had the power that he has, which obviously I don't, but
if I did, and Satan came to me and started trying to tempt me,
I'd just smash him. I'd torture him. I do, you know,
if I had that power, I mean, I would say you questioned, you
try to tempt me, you know, I know the way I would respond, but
he didn't. He said, it is written. And that is the answer. It is written. Now that's the
sword of the spirit. All scripture, is given by inspiration
of God. May God give us grace to believe
that more than we ever have. We're not looking to what men
say. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. Every word
in this book is God-breathed. Now, if we don't have that, what
do we have? Nothing. We've got my opinion. We're in
trouble if that's the case. We've got your opinion. We're
in more trouble if that's the case. Not really. I'm just being a
smart aleck when I say something like that, but the point of it
is, is all we have is the word of God. Now let's close in second
Peter chapter one. Verse 16, for we have not followed
cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power
and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses
of his majesty, and he's going to take us back to an event that
took place in his life. For he received from God the
Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from
the excellent glory. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. John and James and Peter heard
that voice come from heaven. They heard it with their own
ears. They heard it audibly. They saw the Lord transfigured
before them. They saw his face shine as the
sun and his garments became white as light. They saw this. And they heard that voice from
heaven, and that voice from heaven was in response to Peter's dumb
statement when they saw Elijah and Moses talking to Christ.
And Peter said, Lord, it's good for us to be here. Let's make
three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, one for Elijah.
I don't reckon there's ever been a more stupid statement ever
made. And that gives me comfort when I make stupid statements.
Well, Peter did. When somebody makes a dumb...
Don't be nervous about it. I can't say something to the
preacher. I'm afraid it's going to be stupid. It probably will be. It probably
will be, but you ought to be right at home. I say stupid.
We are what we are. And Peter was what he was. And
he made that stupid statement. And then that voice came from
heaven, a bright cloud overshadowed them. They hit the dirt and they
heard that voice. Thou art, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. Hear him. Forget Moses, forget
Elijah. Hear him. Now, verse 17, for he received from
God the Father, honor and glory. When there came such a voice
to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. And this voice, which came from
heaven, we heard. When we were with him in the
Holy Mount, and look what he says next, we have also a more
sure word of prophecy. We've got something that's better
than that experience. What's sitting in your lap is
better than if you would have been on the Mount of Transfiguration. We have also a more sure word
of prophecy, wherein do you do well that you take heed as unto
a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and
the day star arise in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy
of the scripture is of any private interpretation. Now, this is
very important. How many times have you heard people say, well,
here's what I think it means. This is my interpretation of
it. It's not up to that. The scripture
declares what it declares, whether you see it or not. It's not of
any private interpretation. Well, that's your interpretation.
It's not of any private interpretation. The Bible is the inerrant, inspired
Word of God. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Now, this is the sixth piece
of armor, but it's for offense. It's for defense, too. You need
to read the Word. You need to hear the Word preached. Nothing
as good for somebody as to hear the Word preached, but this is
what we attack with. that we look to God to bring
his people in the word of God. Now this is the armor of the
believer. The loins girt with truth. The belt of truth. The breastplate of righteousness. His righteousness. Those feet
that make you ready. shod with the gospel of peace,
the gospel of the peace that he accomplished, that body shield,
faith that causes all the fiery darts of the wicked to be quenched. The only thing that'll protect
your head is the helmet of salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. And oh, the sword of the Spirit,
the word of God. May we all, even now, by the
grace of God, put on this armor. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would be pleased to enable us to put on the whole
armor of God. We thank you for this armor.
We thank you for your son. Now Lord, as we prepare to observe
your table in obedience to your command, enable us to do this
in remembrance of you. We're now going to observe the
Lord's table. This thought came to me. I imagine
it's probably come before, but the Lord's given two ordinances,
baptism and the Lord's table. I know the Catholic church says
there's seven ordinances. No, they're not. They're two
ordinances. That's what they're called. They're not called sacraments.
Having a saving efficacy in them, or they're of a sacrificial nature,
so their grace is not conveyed through these two ordinances.
They're just ordinances that picture something else. Baptism
and the Lord's table. Now, in baptism, that's me being
in the water, me being in Christ. In the Lord's table, it's Christ
and his gospel being in me. I eat it, and it becomes a part
of me. Looking to his shed blood and
his broken body, this is my food. This is my necessary food. This is what comes in me. So
we pass out the bread and wine.