Let's read those verses first,
and then we'll begin the message back at verse one. Put on the
whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil. 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. Wherefore take unto you the whole
armor of God." He mentions that twice, the whole armor of God,
that you may be able to withstand in the evil days. and having
done all to stand." Now then, here we move into these verses
that I've chosen for my text. These things that we're exhorted
to do and what we're exhorted to be in all areas, children,
parents, laborers, servants, masters, whomever. These things
cannot be performed in our own strength, in our own power and
ability. So he says in verse 10, Brethren,
finally, be strong in the Lord. Draw your strength from him.
Draw your grace from him. Our grace and power to adorn
the doctrines and to overcome this flesh and our enemies and
walk before Him in obedience to His commandments and His statutes
and His will is by His grace. That's what He said. Be strong
in the Lord and in the power of His might. It's not our strength.
It's not our grace. It's His strength and His grace.
Without Him, I can do nothing. But I can do these things through
Christ which strengtheneth me. So brethren, finally brethren,
that's what he's saying here, finally brethren, children, parents,
servants, masters, adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in
all things with obedience to his will and to his commandments,
whatever the consequences, whatever the circumstances, whatever the
opposition, do it in the power of God. Do it in the strength
of the Lord. Be strong in the Lord. and in
the power of his might. And then verse 11, And put on,
put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand
against the wows. What are the wows of the devil?
Well, it's the trickery, it's the deceit, the strategies of
Satan. That's what he's talking about.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand
against the subtlety, craftiness, strategies, and trickery, and
deceit of Satan. Now, some people deny the existence
and power of Satan, and that's very foolish in the light of
Scripture. Turn to some Scripture with me
if you want to. If you don't, just listen while
I read it. Some people are very foolish
to deny the power of Satan and the existence of Satan, but It's
foolish to do that in the light of these verses in particular.
In Luke 10, verse 18, our Lord said this. In verse 17, in Luke
10, 17, and the 70, returned again with joy, saying, Lord,
even the devils are subject unto us through your name. And he
said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. He's real. I beheld him fall
from heaven, high places. He was called the bright and
morning star at one time, an angel. Look at Luke 22. Luke 22, verse 31. Our Lord's speaking to Simon
Peter, and the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired
to have you that he may sift you as wheat. Satan's real. He's desired to have you, Peter,
to sift you, try you. But I've prayed for you that
your faith fail not. He'll have you for a little while.
But I prayed for you. And then in 2 Corinthians 2,
listen to this scripture, 2 Corinthians 2 verse 11, in the event there's
any doubt in anybody's mind about the existence and the power of
Satan, listen to 2 Corinthians 2 verse 11. Paul said in verse 10, to whom
you forgive anything, I forgive also. For if I forgave anything
to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person
of Christ. Lest Satan should get an advantage
of us, we're not ignorant of his devices. Paul said, I'm not ignorant of
his devices. He works in a sly, deceitful
way. And I'm not ignorant of how he
works. I can recognize his work. That's what Paul said. I'm not
ignorant of his devices. 2 Corinthians 11, listen to this. 2 Corinthians 11, verse 3, and here the apostles said, I
fear, I fear, lest by any means, as
the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, his craftiness,
so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that's in
Christ, the singleness that's in Christ. And then across the
page, some more verses about this person, Satan. Verse 13. Verse 13. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. And that's no marvel. For Satan
himself comes upon us, is transformed, attacks us as an angel of light. Therefore it's no great thing
if his ministers be transformed as the ministers of righteousness,
whose end should be according to their works. And then Peter
wrote in 1 Peter 5a, just one more on this subject, establishing
the terrible fact that such a person goeth about seeking whom he may
devour. Satan, Simon, hath desired you,
that he might sift you. 1 Peter 5, verse 8. Now be sober, be vigilant, because
your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about
seeking whom he may devour. Back to our text. Ephesians 6,
11, put on the whole armor of God that you and I may be able
to stand against this subtlety, this craftiness, this deceitfulness. He comes to you as an angel of
light, the wolf in sheep's clothing. Now some people in religion,
and I hear them occasionally when I tune in the television
to these impostors, but many People in religion speak lightly
of Satan and foolishly, underestimating his person, his power, his dominion. He's called in the Word of God,
listen, the accuser of the brethren. He's called in the Word of God
the adversary. He's called all these names,
listen, the devil, the enemy, the father of lies, a murderer,
the prince of this world, the prince of the power of the
air, the god of this world, the tempter, the serpent, that wicked
one. Those are names by which he's
called. And in our text here, Paul warns
us. He said, I'm not ignorant of
his devices. I know the realm in which he
works, and I know how he works, and he's hindered me. He said,
I would come to see you, Satan hindered me, he said. And he warns us. Then he says
in verse 12, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, Now there's a sense in which
we do have a conflict with flesh and blood. What Paul is saying
here that our main battle and main enemy and grand opponent
is not flesh and blood. It is a fact, there's no question
we have a conflict with the people of this world. We wrestle with
profane, dishonest, wicked people. We bear testimony against their
ways. I bear testimony against the
wicked people of this world who push drugs on our young people,
who promote homosexuality, who are dishonest politicians. I'm
opposed to people like that. And I preach against false religionists
and preachers who take advantage of poor women and men and steal
from them, widows. They're my enemies. David said
God's enemies are my enemies. And I have a conflict with them,
but that's not my main conflict. And I wrestle with people who
ridicule and approach us for what we preach. They hate the gospel of God's
grace. They'll brag on any religion
in the world, even the heathen hot and tired in Africa, but
they won't have this sovereignty of God in salvation. They'll cut slack for any preacher
in the world preaching anything but grace. They won't cut any
slack for you on that. It's the target of every man's
gun and every man's arrow. Let God be God. And I wrestle
with those folks. And I wrestle against those who
preach error and strive to keep that error out of this church
as a watchman. And I wrestle against my own
flesh which must be crucified daily, that old man that has
to be mortified daily, crucified daily. Don't you? But what Paul
is saying here is our main battle and our grand enemy is not flesh
and blood, And if you think it is, you'll be beating the air. You won't be fighting the real
enemy. You'll be shatterboxing. You
won't land any effective blows. The grand enemy of Christ and
his people, verse 12 says, principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness,
the kingdom of darkness, of this world against spiritual wickedness
in high places. The grand enemy of Christ and
his people is Satan, who inhabits the supernatural sphere, and
he deals in the spiritual realm, not just the flesh. Satan's battleground is the mind. That's where it is, the mind.
and the heart and the soul and the spirit. He's a deceitful
enemy. A deceitful enemy. We wrestle. Our conflict is not with this
flesh and blood. It's not with people that don't
like you. It's not with people that misunderstand and upset
you. It's with him who hates your
Lord. and will do anything in his power
to sow division and discord and rob you of your peace and joy
and rest and take you away from looking to Christ. That's his
ultimate goal. And he works in the mind and
in the soul and in the spirit. And he's a deceitful enemy. He
appears to be for us when really he's against us. He appears to
take up for us, and he deceives us, and he uses us to accomplish
his awful, awful work against Christ and his church. Hear him as he speaks to Eve
about God. He comes to her in a subtle way,
with his subtlety. He deceived her, he tricked her,
and she fell. And what did he say? Had God said that you can't eat
of all the trees? I'm for you. I want you to have
what's coming to you. And God doesn't want you to have
what's coming to you. Doesn't He want you to have all
these beautiful fruits of all the trees? Oh, she said, all
but one. We eat that one, we'll die. Now
you don't believe that, do you? You'll not die. I ate it and
I didn't die. Here I am, more beautiful and
subtle than any beast of the Father. God knows that if you
eat the fruit, you'll be like God. He's withholding from you. I'm on your side." And she took him. Paul said, I know him. Here he
spoke to men about God, and then he spoke to God about man. He
came in one day when the sons of God appeared before the Lord,
and there he was among them. That's right, that's what it
says. Access to high places. And God said to him, Have you
considered my servant Job? Ah, yes, he said, I know Job.
God sent a righteous man who hates evil and loves righteousness. Ah, but he said, I'm on your
side, God, and I'm going to tell you about this Job. You've blessed him, and that's
the reason he loves you. You've prospered everything his
hands have touched. That's the reason he's for you.
And you've hedged him about. You can't let anybody touch him.
And he's an accuser of the brethren. He'll accuse you to God. And the Lord said, all right,
whatever he has is in your hands, only don't touch his flesh. And then he spoke to God about
God. This fellow, I'm telling you,
Satan will attack an angel. He attacked Michael. He'll attack
an apostle, he attacked Peter, he attacked a church, he'll attack
you. He even attacked our Redeemer.
And he came to him on that mountain when our Lord had fasted for
40 days, at his weak, as a man, weak in condition. And he said,
Are you the Son of God? Are you the Son of God? Prove
it. Make these stones into bread. You're hungry, aren't you? Change
them into bread, and we'll all believe you. Our Lord said, Man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the
mouth of God. He said, Do you believe God will protect you,
provide for you? He said he'd give his angels
charge over you lest you dash your foot against a stone. Do
you believe that? Prove it. Cast yourself off this pinnacle.
He said he'd take care of you. Our Lord said, Thou shalt not
tempt the Lord thy God. But he didn't quit, and he won't
quit. That's the reason we dig this armor. He won't quit. He said, do you want the kingdoms
of the world? You want men to bow to you, and
you want the allegiance of all men? Is that your program and
purpose, to have all men worship you? Then you worship me, and
I'll give you the kingdoms of this world. Take a shortcut. Don't go that cross. That's not
the way. Do it this way. And our Lord
said, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt
thou serve. Satan had to leave him. Our Lord
defeated him with the Word. With the Word. And I'm saying
that he invades the mind. You can talk about Anything you
want to about the attacks of Satan, Satan attacked me and
all, but he attacks the mind, the thoughts, the soul, that relationship with
God. He causes, he disturbs the peace. He's the great disturber of the
peace. He's the great causer of unrest
and division and distrust. And he plants a seed in the mind,
fills it with doubt and fear, anything. He doesn't care. Therefore, because the battle
is not against flesh and blood, verse 13, wherefore, because
of this, take unto you now the whole armor of God. Because our
conflict is not carnal, it's spiritual. Let's look at 2 Corinthians
10, verse 3. Though we walk in the flesh,
we don't war after the flesh, and not the battle. For the weapons
of our warfare are not carnal, But they're mighty through God
to the pulling down of strongholds. You talk about strongholds, strongholds. Casting down imaginations and
high, every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ. That takes the power of God. Finally, brethren, be
strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Those battles,
they're not for debaters and arguers. They're
for people clothed in the armor of God. Now, let's see what it
is, this armor of God. In verse 13, he says, take the
whole armor of God, the whole armor of God. He says that twice,
the whole armor of God. It's perfect and complete. His armor is all that's needed,
but we need it all. And it's His armor. He prepared
it for us. He gives it to us. It is spiritual,
not carnal, and He'll bless the use of it. And you take it. You take it. Take his armor to
you and you use it against the power and the schemes of Satan
in that evil day of danger. Take unto you the whole armor
of God, all of it, it's all needed and it's all you need, that you
may be able to withstand, be defended in that day of danger
and evil and attacks of Satan, and having done all, having overcome,
still stand. All right, here it is, 7. Sevenfold
armor. Verse 14, "'Stand therefore,
having your loins girt about with truth.'" That's the girdle. First and foremost, wrap around
you. This is the first of the armor.
Put on the girdle, wrap it around you. The gospel of God's redemptive
glory in Christ Jesus. That's the first armor mentioned,
and that's the foundation for all the rest. The truth about
God. Have your Lawrence good about
with the truth about God, His sovereignty, His might, His power,
His holiness, His majesty, His righteousness, His name, who
He is. Have your Lawrence good about
wrapped yourself in the truth about yourself, who we are, what
happened in the garden, the consequences of sin, the curse of the law,
the unrighteousness of the flesh, the truth about Christ, who He
is, His eternality, His glory, His incarnation, His sacrifice,
His blood, the truth of how God can be just and justify the ungodly,
the truth of substitution and satisfaction. You know the truth,
it will set you free. Wrap yourself in the gospel of
grace, in the gospel of God's sovereignty, in the gospel of
the blood of Christ. He hath made him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Of God are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made undressed. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption, all we need, that he that glorieth in glory in
God. Wrap yourself up in the gospel
of God's grace, the truth. You know the truth, and the truth
will set you free. Secondly, and put on the breastplate
of righteousness. The breastplate of righteousness. Ah, that breastplate is not our
works of righteousness. Satan could easily find defects
in that, couldn't he? Oh, my goodness! If he came in
his subtlety and craftiness to destroy me, and I held up for
my breastplate my own preaching and works, giving and going and
doing and duties and works of righteousness, he'd find easily
a place for the first fiery dart, wouldn't he? Wouldn't be a problem.
He'd destroy me like an autumn leaf in a brass furnace.
But this breastplate is the righteousness of Christ. Turn over to Philippians
3, and listen, this is what Paul prayed for, sought for, willing to die for. Verse 8, Philippians 3, 8, 8,
8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, for whom I have suffered the
loss of all things, and do count them, but done that I may win
Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness of God by faith." His perfect righteousness
will repel any attack. It will repel any accusation.
His breastplate of righteousness will repel any charge that Satan
may bring. Who shall owe anything to the
charge of God's elect? We are holy, unblameable, unreprovable
in him. Who can condemn us? It is Christ
that died, having owned, wrapped up in the gospel, sold out to
the gospel, obsessed with the gospel, separated to the gospel. having on the breastplate of
his perfect holiness. And I'll tell you what that perfect
holiness of Christ will do for me, too. In the light of his
holiness, I'll see that my righteousness is a filthy rag, and never be
tempted to pick it up again. Never. Thirdly, and have your
feet, verse 15, shod with the preparation of the gospel of
peace, your feet and where they stand and how they are shod determines
your foundation. When Satan comes to attack in
his onslaught or subtlety or whatever, I'm wrapped up in the
gospel, breastplate of righteousness, but I'm established firmly on
that foundation and base which is Christ Jesus. You're only prepared to engage
the enemy when you're firmly established. I tell you, a soccer
player or a football player would have a hard time playing soccer
or football in slides. His feet would go one way and
he'd go the other. And that's the same thing about my foundation
in the faith. I've got to be on that rock.
Let me show you over here in Isaiah 28. This is the foundation,
Isaiah 28. This is my feet. charred with the preparation
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. My feet, sure foundation. Isaiah 28, 16, Therefore thus
saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone,
a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. And he that
believeth shall not make haste, shall not be ashamed, shall not
be put to shame, shall not be confounded, I shall not be moved. Open Psalm 62, don't turn to
it, you know it. The Lord is my rock and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? I shall not
be moved. My feet are planted on the rock.
My feet are planted in Christ. His oath, his covenant, his blood
support me in the whelming flood when all around my soul gives
way. He then is all my hope and stay
on Christ, the solid rock I stand. My feet don't move. My feet won't move. They're on
the rock. Have your feet shod with the
preparation of the gospel of peace. Peace with God. I have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He made peace for
us through the blood of his cross. We don't have to be shuffling
around wondering, looking for a place to stand. We stand on
Christ. And then, fourthly, above all,
oh my, above all, take the shield of faith. Above all, who can
tell the value and importance of believing God? David said,
I believe God, therefore have I spoken. Abraham believed God,
it was counted to him for righteousness. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. He
that cometh to God must believe. So Paul says, take the shield
of faith. I'm wrapped up in the gospel. Got on the breastplate
of His holiness. My feet are planted on the rock.
And Satan doesn't just come in one direction. He comes in several
directions. No matter what direction he comes, I've got that shield
of faith. I believe God. I believe God. up wherever he comes. It's faith, the gift God giveth,
faith, the grace that groweth, faith with its object, Christ
only, faith with its foundation and reason, the Word of God,
and faith with its reward, victory in Christ. faith will turn every way to
meet every challenge that Satan hurls and all the fiery darts. That's what he says here. Take
the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked. The shield of faith. That's armor. He warns us We've got a subtle,
crafty, deceitful enemy, but greater is he that's in you than
he that's in the world. And he's given you an armor that
you may be able to withstand the fiery darts of this subtle
enemy. When I was just a young person,
I read a poem about a blacksmith. A fellow came to the blacksmith's
shop, and he was looking around the blacksmith's shop, and the
blacksmith had put some metal in the fire and made it white
hot, and then he took it with the tongs and laid it on the
anvil and took his hammer back and was pounding that metal,
pounding it, pounding it. He dipped it in the water and
pounded it some more. The fellow looked at him and
said, how many hammers have you had? Oh, he said, a lot of hammers. A lot of hammers. How many anvils
have you had? Just one. This is the same anvil
my dad used when he opened this shop. You see, the anvil breaks
the hammers. And there's a whole lot of attacks
been made on this word here, this gospel. But it always breaks
the attacker, always. And this gospel never moved. It's the gospel my fathers believed,
and my forefathers, and my ancient fathers, and my heavenly father
gave it to us. Take the shield of faith. It
doesn't matter where he comes from or how he comes at you,
but when he comes, you'll And then verse 17 says, put on the
helmet of salvation. What is this helmet of salvation?
It tells us in 1 Thessalonians. It's just as plain over here
in 1 Thessalonians. You know, the helmet is for the
head. It's for the head, to protect
the head in time of difficulty and affliction and distress. against doubts and fears which
Satan brings our way. Testings. The head. It's vulnerable, isn't it? These
thoughts. Peter said, Lord, you know all
things. You know I love you. But I've had a whole lot of trouble
with your providence. A whole lot of trouble. Up here. Gets in the way, doesn't it?
What is this helmet that we take Over here in 1 Thessalonians
5, verse 8. Let us, who are of the day, 1 Thessalonians
5, verse 8, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a
helmet, the hope of salvation. The helmet of salvation. The
helmet, the hope of salvation. Our hope of salvation is in Christ.
Read the rest of it, verse 9. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath. Don't you worry about that. God
has appointed us, ordained us, elected us, predestinated us
to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Don't you doubt
that for a minute. Who died for us that whether
we wake or sleep we'll live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves
and edify one another even as you also do. Socket on that helmet. of salvation. And don't let anybody
mess with your mind. Satan or anybody else. Don't
mess with my mind now. Don't mess with my mind. Because
God didn't appoint me to wrath. He didn't reveal this gospel
to me so He could damn me. He didn't bring me to believe
on Christ and love Christ so He could cast me away from His
presence. We got a hope, a good hope, a
blessed hope, a living hope. a hope of grace, a sheer hope,
Christ. Put it on. The helmet of salvation. And
then, watch this now. Six, and take the sword of the
Spirit, which is the Word of God. Now, we've been talking
about defense most of the time, haven't we? We've been on the
Defense, defensive. Here he comes, this subtle enemy
attacking. And we've got the girdle of truth,
a defensive measure. We've got the best plate of righteousness. We've got the feet planted. We've
got the shield of faith. We've got the helmet of hope,
salvation. But we've got a sword. That's
right. I've got an offensive weapon.
I'm going after him like my Lord did. He came attacking our Lord,
and all that attacked, floor to the ground, and then our Lord
took the word, the sword, the double-edged sword, two-edged
sword, and ripped him with it. Thus saith the Lord. Thus saith
the Lord. Oh, I've been trying to tell
preachers that for all these years. Preach the word. You don't
build a church on anything but preaching the gospel. Here's where it's done, right
here. It's not done in hospital halls and homes and jail cells. It's done from the pulpit. Preach
the word. Preach the word. Preach the word. Preach the word. God's sheep
need to hear the word. Feed them the word of God. Teach
them the truth. Prepare your heart, your mind,
your soul to take that sword and go to battle. Do battle with
the enemy with a sword, not laughter, sword! Not entertainment, sword
of the Word of God. That's what it says. The sword
of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, it'll put the enemy to
flight. And it'll call out the sheep.
It'll redeem the lost. It'll comfort the brokenhearted.
That's right, the Word. It's the children's bread. Men
go all week, struggling through the deep, muggy swamps of this
world, and he can come and sit and God's servant give him a
message from God. And he breathes easily. And he
goes out with the sunshine all around him. Thus saith the Lord. Revive, renewed, refreshed. Take that sword. Comfort God's
people. Reprove, rebuke, exhort, cut
away the dross, kill the Satan, kill the enemy. And then the
last one. Praying. Praying. God, may we be men and women
of prayer. Praying with all prayer and supplication
at all times, on every occasion, in the Spirit of God, in sincerity,
with perseverance, watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication
for all the saints. Pray, pray. You have not because
you ask not. Ask and you shall receive. Pray
for all the saints. God forbid that I should sin
against the Lord and cease Him to pray for you. And he said,
verse 19, pray for me, pray for me, that utterance may be given
to me. Utterance, power to preach, effectually,
not just to talk, but effectually, that I may open my mouth boldly
and make known the mystery of the gospel. Pray. That's the whole armor of God. you take it and you'll stand
in that day and every day.