in Ephesians 6. Ephesians 6,
and let's begin in verse 10 and read down through verse 18. This
is what we'll be looking at in the weeks ahead. Finally, my
brethren, be 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 walls, the trickery of the devil. But we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take unto
you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in
the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore,
having your loins gird about with truth, and having on the
breastplate of righteousness, your feet shod with the preparation
of the gospel of peace, and above all taken the shield of faith,
wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of
the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of
the Spirit, which is the word of God. with all prayer and supplications
in the Spirit, and watch him thereunto with all perseverance
and supplications for all saints." Put on the whole armor of God. And he says here in verse 10,
Be strong. Be strong in the Lord. Be strong
in the power of His might. Never is a man so weak That's
when he thinks he's strong in himself. The minute we think
that we have something within us that can help us, down we
go. I think the Lord Jesus described
our situation very well when he told his disciples, without
me, without me, not only without what I've done on your behalf,
but without me working in you, You can do nothing. That is a big fat zero. A big
fat zero. There has been wiser men than
you and I. There have been more mighty men
than you and I, who have trusted in their own strength, and they
utterly were defeated. Listen to Jeremiah chapter 17
and verse 5. Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth
in man, and maketh the strength of the flesh his arm, and whose
heart departeth from the Lord. And then on the other side, never
is there a man so strong as when he sees himself utterly weak,
and he finds his strength in the Lord Jesus Christ. Without me, you can do nothing. But I can do all things through
Christ who strengtheneth me. Be strong in the Lord. and in
the power of his mind. Brother Terrence was telling
me last week when I left the pulpit. He was telling me in
a very good illustration of this. He made the statement that sometimes
we surprise ourselves at what we've done and what we're able
to do. And he gave me the example of Abraham. Remember last week
he was telling me about this. You remember when Lot was in
Sodom and Gomorrah and his family. And there was four great kings. They were mighty kings. You can
read about them in Genesis chapter 14. And they came against Sodom
and Gomorrah and all the cities of the plains. And they whipped
them. They were four mighty kings. And they took Lot and his wife
and his family and all his possessions. And they took them off on with
them. And somebody came and told Abraham, these four mighty kings
with all their armies have done this and they've done that. Abraham
armed 318 of his servants, and almost in a spontaneous manner,
took off to where those kings lived, and he overthrew all of
their armies. And he delivered Lot and all
of their goods and brought them home again. And turn said, I
bet Abraham was surprised. He was almost shocked when he
stopped and realized, what have I done? What have I done? And it seems that that's the
case because the very next chapter, and you mentioned this, the Lord
come to Abraham and He said, Abraham, fear not. Don't be afraid. I know that what you did, you
did spontaneously. And now you may be afraid. Boy,
what have I done? I made war on these guys. I whipped
them. But they're going to get together
and come back against me and my family. And the Lord says,
don't fear Abraham. I am your shield and your exceeding
great reward." But how did Abraham do that? That's the verse that we just
read, isn't it? Be strong in the Lord and in the power of
His might. Surprise! Aren't you surprised
at yourself? I'm surprised at myself. I tell
you, if you and I had been on those hills of Judea. When the
Philistines were gathered on one side of the mountain, and
Saul, King Saul, and the army was gathered on the other side
of the mountain, and here this giant of a man, between eleven
and twelve foot tall, was standing crying out for somebody to meet
him down in the valley to fight with him. And all the armies
of Israel were scared to death. They trembled at this giant of
a man. And here comes this little David,
and he says, I'll go fight with him. Can you imagine this? Saul said, David, you're just
a youth, and here's a man of war from his youth. And he put
all of his armor on little David, and David said, I haven't tried
this. And he pulled it all off, and he got his little sling,
and he picked him up five little stones from the brook. Now, if
you and I were standing there, if you and I were standing there,
And we watched that little lad as he went up the side of that
hill to take on this giant. Would you have said, is that
possible? Is that possible? And wouldn't
you and I have been surprised when he put a stone in that sling
and he put a stone in the center of that giant's head and down
he went and he got his own sword and cut his head off. How did
David do that? This is the verse that you and
I are talking about. Be strong in the Lord and in
the power of His might. David was telling about him being
a little lad when Saul said, David, you're going against this
giant. And he said, let me tell you what happened to me a few
days ago. I love this story. He said, Saul, I'm a shepherd.
I'm just a little boy, but let me tell you something happened
to me the other day. While I was out keeping my father's sheep,
he said a bear came in the camp. And a lion came in the camp.
This probably happened two different times, but he's telling about
it. And he said the lion took one of the lambs and took off
outside the camp with it in its mouth. And I took off after that
fellow. I slowed him, and he turned around
and came against me, and when he did, I tucked him by the whispers."
That's what he said. I tucked him by the whispers,
I slowed him, and I slew him. Isn't that amazing? I bet you
when the lion felt that little childlike hand grab him by the
whispers, he thought, what in the world have I gotten myself
into? Can you imagine that? That little hand that got a hold
of that beard was the very hand, the very power that laid the
foundations of the earth, that spread out the sky as a tent
to dwell in, that gives existence and life and upholds all things
and all peoples. And he said, I took him with
a whisker. Now, if David had said, God sent lightning from
heaven and smoked the bear and smoked the lion, Saul and you
and I wouldn't have been surprised. God can do that. But he didn't
say God smoked him. He said, I smoked him. Ah, that's
the surprise, ain't it? That's the mystery of it all.
Don't we surprise ourselves sometimes? And why do we do it? Because
we know it's not us, really. It's this power that's working
in us. The power of His might. And I'll tell you another miraculous
thing. You take a poor, miserable, unconverted sinner, and his heart
is full of darkness, his heart is full of enmity against God,
and you take a man like that, that he comes to believe the
gospel. He hears the gospel of Jesus
Christ, the gospel of grace, the gospel of forgiveness of
sin, the gospel of reconciliation with God, and he comes to believe
it? Ain't that a miracle? Ain't that a miracle? That's
a miracle, brothers and sisters. And you know something? He believes
it. He believes it. If you believe
with all your heart, you may. And how did he come to believe?
Listen to what Paul said in chapter 1, verse 19 of this book. We
believe according to the working of His mighty power. I tell you, the longer I live,
and we don't see this happening very often, is why I'm surprised
with it. I'm surprised anymore when I
see anybody come to faith in Christ. Because it's a miracle. It's a miracle. It's the same
power that took hold of that beard of that lion and smote
him and slew him. That's the same power. The same
power that went out against those four kings and overcame them
and defeated them. The same power that it took to
raise the Son of God from the dead. That's the power that it
takes to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And how can a man
do it? You may be here this morning
and you say, Bruce, I can't believe. I've heard you preach the gospel
and I can't believe. Yes, you can. Yes, you can believe. Anybody can believe if you believe
through grace. If you believe according to the
working of this mighty power, you can believe. He will help
you believe. The same one that helped David
slay that lion and the bear and Abraham, those kings, He will
help you believe. He will help you come to Christ. You just do it. You just do it. Do it and see if it hasn't been
Him that helped you to do it. And you may be surprised at it.
You know, I wasn't too awful surprised when the first time
I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. But you know, the more
I look back on it, the more surprised I am. Because I see now, it was
Him helping me. Look! Look, He says. And He'll
give you eyes to see. Share! And He'll give you ears
to understand. I'll tell you something else
that's surprising. This is surprising to me, and it's owing to this
very same power that we're talking about. There have been some of
you, and you've been brought low. Bless your hearts. You have
been brought low. I mean you've been brought on
your face. I have seen some of you laying on your face. And
I begin to think within myself, is that person ever going to
get up or not? I've thought that. But here you are. Here I am. I've been there. I've been in the ditch and couldn't
get out. But here we are. Here we are worshiping the Lord.
Here we are enjoying His blessed presence. Here we are hearing
the gospel. And how did we get up? We got
up. Rejoice not against me, O my
enemy. When I fall, I shall arise. I fail, and I'll get up. But
how do we get up? It's His powers. Be strong in
the Lord and in the power of His might. Through grace we can
conquer and defeat all our foes. And aren't we surprised at that?
Aren't we surprised at that? Be strong in the Lord. Be strong
in the Lord and in the power of His might. Why is verse 10
so critical? Well, look here in verse 12.
It tells us why verse 10 is so critical. Look in verse 12 again. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities. That's different ranks of these
powers. In the physical realm, we have
presidents, we have senators, and we have representatives,
we have mayors, right on down to the city council. That's different
ranks of powers. There are some angels that are
more mighty than others, even among the elect angels as well
as the fallen. Principalities against powers
against the rulers of the darkness of this world. Against spiritual wickedness,
wicked spirits in high places. Look at that. We wrestle, we
fight, we make war with the rulers of the darkness of this world. The darkness. The darkness. Can you see that? The darkness
of this world. We don't live in a world, brothers
and sisters, that is light. We live in a dark world. Be strong
in the Lord. Because we're at war with the
powers of the darkness of this world. Where were you and I before
the Lord saved us? We were there, weren't we? We
were there in the kingdom of darkness. All through the New
Testament, as well as the Old Testament, we're told such scriptures
as this, that He delivered us from the power of darkness. and translated us into the kingdom
of His dear Son. Peter says you are our chosen
generation. You are a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, a purchased people, and listen, that you should show
forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light. When the Lord Jesus appeared
to the Apostle Paul on the Damascus road and saved him there, He
said, Paul, I've appeared to you for this reason. I'm going
to send you to the Gentiles. And here's what you're going
to do. Here's what you're going to do. You're going to bring
them out of this darkness. You're going to open their eyes. How can he do that? By the gospel. I'm sending you to open their
eyes. Paul will never preach to anybody
with their eyes open. Sister Shirley sometimes, when
she's here, she sits with her eyes shut. She often tells me,
Bruce, I'm not sleeping, I just hear better with my eyes shut.
But you've never seen Paul go around preaching to people with
their eyes shut. What does he mean, open their eyes? It means
they can't see. If you've got your eyes closed,
you're in the dark, aren't you? All you can see is darkness.
Men must have their eyes open. And listen, he said, to deliver
them from the power of darkness, to turn them from Satan to God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sin. Here's what the Lord
Jesus said about this darkness. He said, I am come, a light into
this world, that those who believe in me may not abide in darkness. He came into this world. And
as he went preaching the gospel, and as he went healing people,
revealing himself, the Bible says it like this, and I love
the way the Bible says it. He went preaching along the seashores
of Galilee, and the Bible says those who sat in darkness saw
great light. And those who sat in the regions
and shadow of death, unto them light has sprung up. Isn't that
the gospel? What is this light? Christ is
the light. He's the light that shines into
our hearts through the gospel. And when He does, He delivers
us from this darkness of this present evil world. Paul says
it like this. He said, God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness. When did God command the light
to shine out of darkness? Remember way back in creation?
when He began creation, and the earth was without form and void,
and darkness was upon the face of the deep? Isn't that our hearts? Darkness was upon the face of
our deep. We couldn't see. We couldn't
understand. And God said, Let there be light,
and there was light. And that's the way the gospel
of Christ comes to us. Paul said, God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. We're in the
face of Jesus Christ. Christ and Him crucified. So
here we are, Paul said, we were in darkness. We were in darkness. We were in the kingdom of darkness. We're these rulers, these fallen
angels. They rule there. They work there.
It's their kingdom. God's given that dark kingdom
to them. It's theirs. And there you and
I were, brothers and sisters. We could not see to get out of
it because we were in darkness. We had no strength to get out
of it because the devil held us by his power. And here the
Lord come in great grace and mercy and redeeming love. And
He delivered us from the power of darkness. And He sets us down
and He says, you see that darkness? I'm calling you to make war on
it. I'm calling you now to oppose
it and to stand against it. And for that, you're going to
need some armor. You're going to need some armor. Look over
here in 2 Timothy, what he says about this in 2 Timothy. Look
in chapter 2. When Paul often wrote of the
Christian, he often talked about his warfare as if he's a soldier. And that's what he's saying here
in 1 Timothy chapter 2. I want you to know how similar
this language is in 1 and 2 Timothy. How similar it is to Ephesians
6. He's speaking about being strong
in the Lord and the power of His might. And look here what
he says in 2 Timothy 2, in verse 1. Look here what he says about
it. There's a reason that he says, verse 1, look here. Thou
therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ
Jesus. Sounds a lot like our text, doesn't
it? Be strong in the Lord. Be strong in the grace. Be strong
in the doctrine of grace. By grace are you saved through
faith. Be established in that. Don't
let any works come into your salvation. You're saved by grace. He purposed to save you by His
grace before the world was. He sent His Son to redeem you
in time and in your lifetime. By grace, He calls you and saves
you. And grace will keep you. And
grace will lead you safely home. Be strong in the grace. Be strong
in this grace that's in your heart. My grace is sufficient
for you. Grace is strong as it works in
our hearts. We can't do anything by ourselves.
But oh, there's grace in us that is strong. That's why we're told
to come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. Some of
those old Puritans used to have somewhat of a vulgar way they
said things. But they said a mother's breast
is full of milk, and an infant hangs upon it and sucks its nourishment
from that breast. Hang upon Jesus Christ, they
said. He is full of grace. Suck this
grace from His breast of grace. There is where we find our strength.
Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And why does
He tell us that? Look down in verse 3. Thou therefore
endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Why do we need to be strong in
the Lord? Because we have been called to combat, brothers and
sisters. We've been called to fight. And our enemies, they're
mighty. They're powers. They're gods
of this world. And Paul said here, in dear hardness. You have a captain. You have
a captain of the host. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. And
He's called you and He's chosen you to be a soldier, therefore,
in dear hardships. Hardships. He tells us about
some of these afflictions, and this is the hardships. Look in
chapter 1 and verse 7 and 8. The Lord Paul knew something
about enduring hardness. Look what he says in verse 7
of chapter 1. God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of
power, there it is, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou
therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor me his prisoner,
but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel." Now, according
to the power of God. Look what he says in chapter
2, and look in verse 8. Remember that Jesus, Christ of
the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my
gospel. Whereunto I suffer trouble as an evildoer, Because I believed
and preached the gospel, yes, even unto bonds they put me in
a chain, put me in jail. But the word of God is not bound. Therefore, I endear all things,
I endear hardness, that the elect of God may be saved, that they
may obtain the salvation which is in Jesus Christ. This is a
faithful saying, if we be dead with him, we shall also live
with him. If we suffer, we shall also reign
with him. If we deny him, he also will
deny us. If we believe not, yet hereby
the faithful, he cannot deny himself. Look in chapter 3. Look in verse
10. Thou hast fully known my doctrine. Some people hide theirs. you
fully know my doctrine, my manner of life, my purpose, my faith,
longsuffering, love and patience, persecution, afflictions which
came to me at Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, what persecutions I endeared,
but out of them all the Lord delivered me, yea, and all that
will live Godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution. But
these evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse, deceiving
and being deceived. But continue thou in the things
which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing
of whom thou hast learned them." We're a soldier. We're soldiers. And as soldiers, we're into dear
and dear hardness. Did you ever think of this? Did you ever think of this? Every
affliction that you suffer because of the gospel, the devils are
behind it. Did you ever think of that? I
just wonder if we can find any dear child of God in all the
history of the world, in the history of this Bible, that was
ever persecuted by others but what Satan and the powers of
darkness was behind it. Do you ever wonder why Cain killed
his brother Abel? It didn't make much sense. Why
did he want to kill him? Over the gospel. Abel went into
God's presence with this blood, this bloody lamb, and it made
Cain so mad that he killed his brother. Why would he have done
that? Do you know why? Who motivated
him to do that? Do you know what the Bible says?
Don't be as Cain who was of that wicked one and slew his brother. Who motivated him to do that?
The devils. These powers of darkness. When
Paul and Barnabas went on their first missionary journey, they
stopped at a place called Paphos. There was a deputy there who
wanted to hear the gospel. And Paul and Barnabas went in
and was ready to preach the gospel to that man. And there was a
saucer there, a musician, magic man. His name was Bar-Jesus,
son of Jesus. Ain't that a strange name? Bar-Jesus,
son of Jesus. And he sought to turn the debitee
away from the faith. You guys aren't going to preach
to this man, he said. He's mine. I'm making money off of him.
I've got influence. You're not going to preach the
gospel to this man. And here's what Paul said. Here's what was
motivating Bar Jesus to keep this debitee from hearing the
gospel. And here's what Paul said to him, O thou full of all
subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, you enemy
of all righteousness, will you never cease to pervert the right
way of the Lord." What are these powers that you and I fight against?
They're the enemies of all righteousness. You see, anything that's good
in society, You see, anything that God has given to a society
to uphold that society and sustain it, marriage for instance, that
God has given to us to populate society and for the joy and the
health of both man and woman, what do these powers do? They
seek to overthrow it, don't they? They are the enemies of all righteousness. It may be spiritual. It may be
moral. It may be political. It may be
social. But if God has blessed a society
with these, the devils are against it. Look what's happening to
our government today. Look what's happening, brothers
and sisters. And we blame our poor politicians. And in a sense,
they can be blamed. But you know who's behind all
of this? You know who's behind the immorality? Who's behind
all the perversion? Who's tearing the institutions
down? I love my country, and I know
you love our country too. And it was set up by men who
were, in a political sense, greatly enlightened. They knew the depravity
of man. They knew there had to be checks
and balances. The government had to be kept
on the back burner. The government was set up to
punish the evildoers. and protect the lawful? Everything now is beginning to
be turned upside down. Is it not? I tell you, it's not only spiritual
darkness. It's every kind of darkness. And who's behind it? Who's behind it? Paul said, oh,
you enemy of all righteousness. Everything that's good. Everything
that's wholesome. You're an enemy of it. And what
does the Lord tell us to do? As His church, He tells us to
put on the whole armor of God. We have a battle on our hands. He delivers us from the power
of this darkness, and now He says, you take them on. You stand against these rulers
of darkness, of this world, wherever you find them, and whenever you
find them. You're a soldier of Jesus Christ. And you're going to have to endure
some hardness. And you ain't going to make it if you're not
strong in the Lord and in the power of His grace. Look here in 2 Timothy 2, verse
4. Look in verse 4. No man that wars. This word simply
means no man that is warring. No man that wars. No man that
is warring. The old man that's fighting in
this battle entangles himself with the affairs of this life
that he may please Him who has chosen him to be a soldier. Isn't that wonderful? I love
that, don't you? You haven't got into this battle,
dear soul, on your own will and accord. Don't worry when you
find yourself right in the heat of the conflict. You did not
call yourself. You did not choose yourself to
be a soldier. He chose you. He's the one that
set you against this conflict. And he says, don't entangle yourselves. This word entangle means to twist
or to interweave in such a manner as not to be easily separated. Don't entangle yourself. And
I know this is mainly speaking here to preachers, but he's talking
to all of us. All of us. I know, brothers and
sisters, listen to me. I know. I've been right wherever
the last one of you has been as far as living out in the world.
Now, I can take my little handful of books. I don't even have to
get dressed, don't have to shave, don't have to shower. When my
wife goes to work, I can go out in my little office and hide
out, and I don't have to confront the world. You do. You do. And I know we have to live in
this world. We have to work. We have to support
our families. We have to raise our families.
And there has to be some time just to get away and rest. There has to be a time to go
to Arizona or go down in Florida and rest yourself a little bit.
The disciples came to the Lord Jesus and they said, Lord, we're
war out. And He said, come apart and rest
yourself. Brother Paul said, you either
come apart and rest yourself or come apart. And there's time
when we have to rest. There's time when we have to
go on vacation. When we have to kick back in
the recliner. So I know about those things. I've been there
and done that. But what Paul is telling us here as soldiers,
Don't get so intertwined with work. And don't get so intertwined
with the things of this life that are necessary and the cares
of this life that you don't have time to read. You don't have
time to pray. You don't have time to meditate.
You don't have time to worship. Don't entangle yourself with
the affairs of this life. where you don't have time for
these essential things. This world is a dark kingdom
and it's full of sin and wicked spirits. Don't wear yourself
out with this world that you don't have the time and energy
to do these essential things. Sometimes I'll see on the news
or in some documentary our soldiers there in Afghanistan And you
know, you never see those guys buying houses. You just don't see it. I've never
seen one of them kick back in a recliner watching TV. I'm sure
they have that time. Sometimes you see them in their
short sleeves and relax them a little bit while other people's
guarding around them. But you know, when you see them,
you know how you mostly see them? Boy, they got that helmet down
over their heads. They've got these vests that
those powerful rifles won't hardly shoot through. They've got these
boots on, rough terrain. They've got their gloves on.
They've got their rifles in their hands. They're suited up for
war. Why? They're in a battle. They have people laying in wait
for them. They have bombs planted where they have to walk and ride
their vehicles. They're in a war. And they know,
they know, if they get too relaxed and too careless, their life
depends upon it. This is what Paul is saying,
brothers and sisters. We are soldiers. We have a battle
on our hands. The Lord has not called us to
sit and be at ease. He has called us to make war
on these principalities and powers, the darkness, the darkness of
this world. Now look back over at my text
right quickly, and I'll let you go in just a minute, I promise.
Look back at Ephesians chapter 6. Let's look at this verse 13
right quickly. Look in verse 11. Look in verse
11 and verse 13. He says this twice. Put on the
whole armor of God. Be strong in the Lord, brethren.
We have a battle. They are put on the whole armor
of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. And he reminds them again in verse 13, "...wherefore take
you, taken to you, the whole armor of God that you may be
able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to
stand." Since the Lord has delivered us from this kingdom of darkness,
He puts us in His army And he sends us to battle. And here's
the first thing he says to us. Put on the whole armor of God. What do we see here? Here's the
first thing we see. And I cannot stress, I cannot
stress enough this point. Put on the whole armor of God. You see the obligation in that?
Do you feel your responsibility, dear child of God, in this Word?
You put on. You take up this armor of God,
and you put it on. I cannot put this armor on you. And you cannot put this armor
on me. I have to put this armor on myself. And you have to put this armor
on yourself. And let me say this and stress
this, God will not put this armor on us. We must put this armor
on ourselves. He takes us and He shows us each
piece of this equipment. And then He turns to us and He
says, now you put it on. You put it on. I saw it. I was watching. I'm not for sure
who it is. Some of these special forces,
this Hell Week, where they put them through Hell Week and teach
them. It's awful. But I kept watching some series
of that. And a little while after that, they had the maneuvers
where they took the rifles and they went through these maneuvers
and they'd have to shoot these targets that rose up in front
of them. And they laid all the equipment out that those men
need to complete that procedure. One of them got right in the
middle of his procedure and ran out of ammunition. And they stopped
the whole procedure. Everybody, they shut the place
down. You come to instructors out and they were mad, they were
cussing, they were kicking things. And they got that one guy and
jerked him up and looked him in the face and said, what are
you doing, soldier? Why are you out of ammunition?
Did we not lay your ammunition, all the gear that you needed
out, and they dressed him down in front of everybody else? Why? It was his responsibility to
make sure that he used everything that was available to him. But
he was careless, and he paid the price. You put on the whole
armor of God. I've never been in the military,
but I just about know when some of you brethren that's been in
there, I bet you not one time, Glenn, did your sergeant come
around and dress you. Wouldn't it have been preposterous
to ask him to? Here's what the Lord tells us.
He shows us this equipment, and He says, here's your obligation.
Here's your responsibility. Put it on. Put it on. Take it up and put
it on. But look what else he said about
it. Secondly, it's the whole armor of God. It's the whole armor of God. In other words, it's not man's
armor. It wasn't supplied by man. It's God's armor. You see, he knows what it's going
to take to withstand these enemies. He knows our enemies better than
you and I do. And when he provides us this
armor, it's divine armor. So he says the only way you can
stand and be a good soldier and fight this warfare is take this
equipment, the whole of it, as I present it to you. And you'll be amazed how well
it works, the whole armor of God. When you and I look at this
armor, when he talks here, for instance, about girding up the
loins of our mind with truth, where do we get this truth? He
didn't say gird up the loins of your mind with opinions and
notions, but truth. But that's not our truth. It
didn't originate in our hearts, did it? Sanctify them with thy
truth, thy word is truth." It's the truth of God. It's the truth
that He gives you. And He says here, take the breastplate
of righteousness and put it on. But it's a righteousness that's
been provided, is it not? All we do is put it on. And when
He says here, be shod with the preparation of the gospel of
peace, whose gospel is that? We're just to buckle it up. We
have nothing to do with planning it, executing it. We just buckle
them on, don't we? It's His gospel. And you go through
all the rest of that, and you find out that this is divine
armor. It's what God has provided for each one of us. And our responsibility,
brothers and sisters, as we'll see in the weeks ahead, is just
to put it on. Go back to verse 11 again and
look at this, the third thing. The third thing we see here.
First of all, put it on. That's our obligation. Put it
on. Secondly is, it's divine armor. God has provided it. He's
not asking you to go to war at your own charges. But look thirdly
at this. Put on the whole armor of God
that you may be able to stand. To stand. Here's a possibility
stated. A possibility stated. You say,
Bruce, is it just possible? I like possibilities. I'm glad
he put it that way. That you may be able. There's
a possibility. And then we turn around and say,
with God, all things are possible. It's possible that you can stand
against the gates of hell. That's possible. Isn't that possible?
If you had watched little David going across that valley with
his sling, wouldn't you have said, now, is this possible?
Oh, it's possible. With God, all things are possible. You can conquer. You can defeat
all your foes. That's possible. That's possible.
I would say this, and I want you to check me out on this,
if you can think of all these things. I was sitting and thinking
about this yesterday. You know, I can't think of where
one time, in all the Word of God, I know in my own experience,
there has never been one shawl of God that fell before this
enemy, but he was lacking a piece of
this armor. Or somewhere or another he had
it twisted on him. Somewhere or another he had dropped the
sword from his hand. Every time I could think of when Abraham
lied about Sarah and said she was my sister, why did he do
that? There's a piece of armor here
missing somewhere, and I bet you'd study on it just a little
bit, and you'd find out which one it was. Why did David fall
as he did? Why do the saints fall? Why did
Peter deny the Lord? There was a piece of this armor
missing somewhere. I would just about bet you won't
find any child of God falling before these enemies but what
he's lacking. You take this whole armor of
God, And it's possible that you'll never fall. You will never fall. We don't have to fall, brothers
and sisters. We don't have to fall flat of our face and lay
there and wallow. We don't have to. It's possible. It's possible. And there's something
inferred here in verse 11. It's not stated, but I think
it's inferred. And it's this. If we don't take
this armor, and if we don't put it on, We will fall. Ain't that inferred there? Put
on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand, but
if you don't put it on, you won't be able to stand. The powers
of darkness are too grim. They're too strong. We don't
have sufficient to war against them. The only way, brothers
and sisters, we can defeat them is take this armor. We'll begin next week, the Lord's
willing, and we'll begin one-by-one the loins, the belt of truth. May God bless His Word. Let's
pray.