Okay, we're going to look for
a few moments this evening at Ephesians chapter 6. Let's read
verse 10. Ephesians 6 verse 10. Finally,
finally, my brethren, be strong, be strong in the Lord and in
the power of His might. And then he says, put on the
whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against all
the deceit, all the trickery, all these attacks of Satan himself."
Now, the title of the message today is, The Whole Armor of
God, The Whole Armor of God. Twice in these few verses, in
verse 11, and again down in verse 12, he tells us to put on the
whole armor of God, And then he says in verse 13, take unto
you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand, withstand,
in that day of attack, that day of evil, and having done all,
to stand. Now, I believe what it is to be strong in the
Lord and in the power of His might as we by by His power and
by His grace that we put on the whole armor of God and that we
take this whole armor of God and use it. Paul said in one
place in Philippians, he said, I can do all things through Christ
who is my strength, who is my wisdom, who is my righteousness,
who is my power. I can do all things through Christ.
Christ and Him alone who is my strength and wisdom. Now our
holy and wise and mighty Savior does not redeem us, regenerate
us, and then leave us defenseless in this hostile world. He doesn't
save us and then walk off and leave us and tell us to do the
best you can. Not at all. He said in His Word,
I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you. He said, lo, I'm
with you always even to the end of the earth. One old writer
that I read after some, his name is Robert Hawker, he said this,
he that begins in this holy warfare as a believer by the grace of
God as a soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ in the strength
of the Lord will be sure to find strength and grace all the way
through and will die in faith. Now isn't that the same thing
that the Apostle Paul says right down the page, if you have the
book that I have, in Philippians 1 verse 6, being confident of
this very thing, that God who has begun a good work in you,
He will finish it, He will perfect it, He will perform it until
the day the Lord is pleased to come back and take us home to
glory. Put it this way, God is our refuge
and strength of every present help in trouble. Now this warfare
that the believer is engaged in as we stand in this evil day,
this evil time, this warfare that the believer is engaged
in, Paul said his dying words, he said, I have fought a good
fight. I have kept the faith. This warfare
the believer is engaged in is an active, willing obedience. Believers are not passive in
this. Notice the language here. He says, put on the whole armor
of God. He says, take the whole armor
of God. Take the whole armor of God.
And then he says, you stand and do not back down. Stand therefore
having your loins girt about with the truth and your feet
shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all,
taking the shield of faith. Take it. And then in verse 17
he says, take the helmet of salvation. Take it. Don't just look at it. Take it. Use it. God provided
it for us. in this experience of life, in
the experience of grace as we live as believers in this life. Now look at verse 11, put on
the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand. He mentions this several times
here, this standing, standing for the truth and stand against
all adversaries, stand against even Satan himself who is a deceiver. How are we to be strong in this
world? How are we to fight the good
fight of faith? God has provided and prepared
and has given to us this complete whole armor in which to stand
and to fight against all opposition to God's gospel truth. Now let me give you these scriptures
talking about the whole armor of God. I looked that word up,
armor, and I found these references. In Romans 13, 12, it says this,
The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore
cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of
light. The armor of light. Christ is
light. Put on that armor. Make use of
it. Make use of it. And then in 2
Corinthians chapter 6 verse 7, when Paul is encouraging believers
to live a life honoring unto God and magnifying unto the grace
of God, he said, do this by the word of truth, by the power of
God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and the left
hand. Now, who is the armor of righteousness? Christ is our righteousness. Christ is our armor. before all
enemies." We are instructed here to take it, to put it on, that
is to make good use of what God gives unto us, what He provides.
Our God said that He will provide all things for us. Doing so,
the promise of God is that we should be able to stand in the
Lord, not back down, not compromise, but rather fight against all
opposition. to God's gospel and the truth
of God, even against, notice what it says there, these are
enemies that we could not handle apart from God's grace given
unto us that you may be able to stand against Satan himself. Now I'm no match for him, Peter
wasn't. Remember what the Lord said to
Peter? Satan had desired that he might sift you like wheat,
but I prayed for you that your faith does not fail. Put on the
whole armor of God. that you may be able to stand
against all the wickedness that would come against us, even the
trickery and the malicious schemes of Satan and his allies who is
called an adversary, who's called a roaring, lying lion going about
seeking whom he may devour. Now, our weapons in this warfare
are not carnal. Find II Corinthians 10. They're
not carnal. They're not carnal, fleshly weapons,
but they're spiritual weapons. Spiritual weapons. 2 Corinthians 10, verse 3. 2 Corinthians 10, 3. For though we walk in the flesh,
now we're just creatures, fleshly creatures, redeemed by the power
and blood of Christ. We do not war after the flesh,
for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through
God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imagination, and
every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge
of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ." Now that's a warfare. Stand in that. Now look at verse 12, back at
the text. He says, we wrestle not. but we don't care about it. And He's given us complete armor
in which we are to stand. Now, the first thing He mentions
here, He says, "...having your loins gird about, gird about,
wrapped up, tightly wrapped up with the truth, with the truth."
Have yourself wrapped up in the truth. In the word of truth,
Our Lord said, the truth will set you free. In the gospel of
truth, salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the truth,
have yourself wrapped up in Christ, His Word, His truth, His person. Wrapped up with Him. Girded up
with Him. That's a good place to start,
isn't it? This is the first part that's
mentioned because it's the foundation of the rest. His Word will never
fail. He said, Heaven and earth will
pass away, but My Word will never fail. His Word and His truth
will never change. It's an unchanging truth. It's a truth that never needs
to be upgraded, updated. It's always the same. He said,
I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. So have yourself wrapped up as
a believer in the Word of truth, in the Gospel of truth, in the
Lord Jesus Christ who is the truth. And I tell you, you'll
be able to stand. You'll be able to stand therefore,
having yourself wrapped up with the truth. Then second thing
he mentions here is this, having on the breastplate of
righteousness. The breastplate, it covers, you
look at those old soldiers years ago, they had that heavy armor
plate covering the vital parts so no one could lance them with
a spear or with a sword covering the heart and the lungs and those
vital organs. This is what he's saying here.
Have yourself having on, having on. Put it on. Take it. Receive it. Use it. The breastplate
of righteousness. Now again, it gets right back
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lord our righteousness,
isn't He? The Lord our righteousness. This
is not the works of righteousness which we have done, but rather
His righteousness which Christ has accomplished for us and freely
imputes unto us. Now I want you to find Romans
chapter 4. Romans chapter 4. Now this is
a blessed, blessed truth. If you look carefully at Romans
chapter 4, it mentions this over and over and over again about
righteousness that is imputed or reckoned or counted. It mentions it seven or eight
times, maybe more than that. But notice, begin reading at
Romans 4, Look at verse 5, "...but to him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. Even as David also described
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness,
he charges it to the believer's account without works." without
any contribution on our part, saying, Blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." The righteousness
we enjoy is Christ Himself. He is the Lord, our righteousness. He has made unto us wisdom and
righteousness. Satan and all his allies cannot
pierce, penetrate, This righteousness, it's the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God. That is, He is the source of
it. He is the spring of it. He is
the fountain of it, and it's given to us freely. That's why
the Apostle said in Romans 8, who can lay anything to the charge
of God the elect? It is God who justifies. He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He, not with Him also,
freely give us all things?" It's God who justifies us. It is Christ who has died. Now
who can charge us? No one. No one can penetrate
this armor of righteousness provided by God Himself. By God Himself. Look at verse 15. Now He moves
down to the feet. Have your feet shod. Have on
proper footwear for the battle. Have your feet shod with the
preparation of the gospel of peace. We have in the Lord Jesus
Christ a firm and solid foundation upon which to fight. He has prepared
us for the battle. He has laid the solid foundation
upon which believers are fastened to that rock, and our feet have
been prepared to fight. And they've been prepared with
the gospel, with the gospel, I like this, with the preparation
prepared by God, given by God, determined by God, decreed by
God, the preparation of the gospel is the gospel of peace. We have,
as believers, peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
He has bought this peace and made this peace with His own
blood. This is a message that God has
given unto His church to go and preach the gospel of peace. Peace not that we make, peace
that He made with His blood. And that's the message we declare.
Paul said, for as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the
gospel. Go and preach this gospel to
everyone that will hear it. They need to hear it. This Gospel
of Christ. The Gospel of God, if you look
at Romans 1, the Gospel of God, and then it says in verse 3,
the Gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what it's all about. And this is peace with God, peace
made with God through the blood atonement of Jesus Christ. having made peace for us." Go
with that message. That's the foundation upon which
we stand. Christ and Him crucified. And
then look at verse 16. Here's the fourth thing that
he mentions. Now notice the emphasis here. Above all. He's not saying
that these other things are not important. They are. But above
all, boy, you better go stand and fight believing God. Believing his word, believing
his truth, taking up his cause, fighting for that cause, the
cause of God and truth. Above all, taking, taking again,
it's not something that's passive, it's active. Taking, taking daily,
always taking the shield of faith. Wherewith ye shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Take it. Above all
things, take this shield of faith. You remember the scripture over
in Hebrews 11, without faith it is impossible to please God. It's impossible to please God
without faith. Do you ever think about that
statement? A man who is without faith is
a man without Christ. It's impossible to please God
without Christ. That's how Christ is received,
by God-wrought, God-given faith. Not works, faith. Without faith,
it is impossible to please God. And certainly would be impossible
to stand and fight if we did not believe God. Now, something
interesting about this word here, shield. We often see those old
movies. Some of you younger people probably
didn't see those old movies of the old timers back way back,
five, six, seven hundred years ago, how they'd fight. And they
would take those shields, and oftentimes we think of a shield
that fits on the arm. But this shield here, the word
actually means like a door. I mean, it's as big as a door.
It's a shield that you just don't hold with your arm. It's a shield
that you put up and stand behind it like you would a door. It's
actually something that can be two feet wide and four or five
or six feet high that you can stand behind, like a door. What
does that remind you of? The Lord said, I am the door.
By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved. He shall go in
to life and out of death." This is a shield that we stand behind. You see, it's all relative to
Christ, isn't it? It's all relative to the Lord Jesus Christ. Taking,
taking, taking. You see, it's active, it's present,
it's ongoing. Looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
Coming unto Him. Taking this shield of faith.
Wherewith you shall be able, you shall be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked." So they do say mean things about
us. So they do criticize our message. So they do shoot at us and shoot
us down. Does it bother us that we're
going to change our message because someone criticizes us? Not at
all. Taking the shield of this faith,
We shall be able to quench all the fiery darts that are shot
at us." And I've had more than a few,
more than a few. I had a local doctor in our area
that we had taken a young lady to, to try to get some help,
and this doctor rudely, rudely criticized my ministry in front
of this young lady we were trying to help and said, you don't want
to have anything to do with those people down in that church. They're
going to hurt and harm you. You believe such a thing? I had
half a mind to go down there and whip him. At least call him
up and tell him a thing or two, but you know I let it go. Able
to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. When you think about it, it's
only by his grace that I didn't go down there and whip him. By
his restraining grace. Because that was my first, that
was my first, you know, this young lady, she's in trouble,
she needs help, and we've been trying to help her, she's on
welfare, and she has a small child, and we're trying to do
the best we can for her, and the church family's helping her,
and I take her to this local doctor, and then he turns around
and criticizes me. What an idiot! He said, those folks down there
don't even believe. They don't believe in water baptism.
This particular doctor, who's a notorious doctor in our area,
he's a Church of Christ man. Church of crud, I call him. Church
of crud. And everybody that goes in his
office, he tries to promote his lie that sinners are saved by
water baptism. So no wonder he criticizes me. But that's okay. That's okay.
We're going to stand. We're going to stand for the
truth. And then he mentions here verse 17. Take the helmet of
salvation. Take the helmet of salvation. Now in 1 Thessalonians 5, it's
called the helmet of hope. The helmet of hope of salvation.
And then in another place, it talks about this hope that is
a good hope through grace, grace alone. This helmet is a hope
of salvation through Christ alone. You see, it's all relative back
to Him. Take the helmet of salvation
or take Christ The Savior, the only Savior. Remember what Peter
said on Pentecost? Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved. You take this helmet of salvation.
It will do you well. It will do you right. It will
never break down. Take it. Put it on. Use it. Take the helmet of salvation.
This salvation we know is of the Lord. Salvation is all of
the grace of God. Take the helmet of salvation. A good hope of salvation in Christ
is the only defense against false doctrine of the wicked. Take
the helmet of salvation. Well, number six, let's move
on. And then it says here in verse 17, the sword of the Spirit. spirit of God, a living spirit,
regenerated, and the joints of the myrrh, and is the cerner
of the thoughts and the intent of the heart. Take this sword. All the other weapons that we've
talked about in this armor All the other parts of this armor
have all been defensive weapons. Now, this is an offensive weapon.
You take that sword of the Spirit and you go fight this battle. The sword of the Spirit, which
is the Word of God. The Word of God. As I said earlier,
the sword of the Gospel, which is the power of God into salvation,
operates upon the hearts of God's elect, you cannot come near this
sword without it having an effect upon you, for it's God's sword."
Now, you imagine this sword in His hand that He has given unto
us, and it's His sword. It's His sword in His hand. I tell you, that's mighty, mighty
powerful. You think anyone can stand up
in opposition to this sword that He wields, that He puts forth? Penetrating, sharp, quick. And then, lastly, let me give
you this. Praying. Praying. Well, I tell you, how
important is prayer? Pretty important. Pretty important. Praying when? Always. As you go to fight, as you take
the stand for the gospel, go with a heart of prayer, crying
out unto the Lord as David did, Lord help me, Thou art my help. Praying always, with all prayer,
with all requests, is the word supplication. And how are we
to pray? In the Spirit, in the Spirit. watching them unto with all perseverance,
and pray for all the saints." Pray for all the saints. Pray
always. Our Lord said in Luke 18, He
spake a parable unto them to this end, men ought always to
pray and not to quit. Pray always, in everything give
thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. What
a great privilege God has given to us to cry out unto Him for
mercy and grace to help in time of need. Because He is a living
God, He hears our cry. Because He is a mighty God, He
answers in a way honoring and glorifying unto Him. Now this
blessed armor that the Lord wisely has designed for us to use, and
I pray that God would help us to make wise use of it to stand
and contend for the gospel that was once delivered unto the saints.