Wearing the Armor of God

The Blessing of Standing for the Truth

Book of Ephesians 6:10-24

We are advised many times in the Scriptures to be strong. As Christians our character must have two sides.

We must cease to do evil and have a hatred of all evil while not hating those who do that evil.

We must also learn to do good before all those that hate us.

As we struggle daily between these two things we will realize that the Christian life is a battlefield.

As Christians we will realize we are in a constant struggle in this evil world!

As long as we are in our flesh we will also be in a constant battle with our flesh!

It takes a brave Christian to always do right in every situation.

What is the one thing we must understand? We have a Father that this world can never overcome!

*****Eph 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

We think of the Apostle Paul as the greatest of all Christian missionaries but when he says brethren he comes down to our level.

The Apostle Paul became a very humble man once he came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.

We should also understand that as believers we become Christian soldiers. There are foes outside the church that will seek to cause us harm but there are also foes within the Church who seek to destroy it.

We are at peace with God and we have the peace of God, knowing what lies in our future but day to day we are in a war with evil!

It is the brethren who make up the army of God!

We can be strong because our Lord is strong!

We can be strong because of the power of His might!

Deu 20:4 For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

If we become weak Christians, we will perish in this war. When our strength lies in the Lord, we are never alone at any time and we can never perish because he will never forsake us!

We must overcome the battle we have with our flesh, while we battle with the evils of this world.

We have seen that we must be mature Christians.

We have a renewed mind.

We have a changed behavior.

We understand God's will for us.

We understand our relationship with all our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We have been prepared and it is time we get into this battle! We must stand for the truth!

We are on the road to Heaven, Satan will try to stop us, but our power comes from on high and our Lord witnessed the time when Satan was tossed out of Heaven.

Luk_10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Satan is on the losing side, but we must dress right, we must wear the armor of God!

*****Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

As I was taught in the military, we must know the strengths of our enemy and prepare to counter act his strengths.

Without the armor of God, we will not be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. This is a simple enough reason to be obedient to the entire Word of God!

God has prepared us armor for every part of our bodies except the back, we are to always face our enemy because to turn and run from the devil means he has won you as his servant.

There are many times in the Scriptures where we are told to wait on the Lord but even while we are waiting on a specific answer from God, we are still to be moving forward in this war with our flesh and this war with the devil.

We already know this armor has been tested and proven because it is the devil who will flee.

Jas_4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

The armor of God is another gift of God's "Grace" because there is no weapon of our own that can defend us!

This may seem to be a form of works to those on the outside, but it is only living the life of the Christian.

The Christian armor is not designed for show but to be put in use for our own safety and God says to take the whole armor which means we are not safe when we just wear the part of the armor that we choose to wear!

Satan does not possess the strength to take on the Lord for he would surely loose and he has already lost every battle, but we do not have the strength to face Satan alone without the armor of God.

Why do we need God's armor? God also gives us this answer. It is because are war is not really with any human being even those that are enemies to the Church.

*****Eph 6:12 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.

If we cannot obey the Lord in this thing, we will never conquer the greatest enemies of our life!

We must understand we are in a spiritual battle!

To wrestle is to struggle, to strive, to contend and we can add resist.

As we know Paul has used athletic forms many times and to wrestle is a contest between two people, one trying to overcome and pin the other to the ground. We are never to allow Satan or those who possess supernatural powers to pin us down!

What is it that each of us who believe must wrestle and win?

Principalities, the power of that Satan uses to control those that reject the Lord.

Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

As we war with the darkness of this world we must not get entangled with the affairs of this life.

2Ti 2:3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

2Ti 2:4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

As Christian soldiers we must always listen to our God our Father in Heaven.

Mat 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

We should understand it is not any man who teaches the "Gospel" of Jesus Christ, it is Christ Himself through the Holy Spirit.

As we look at our world we can see that the forces of evil are very powerful.

The forces of evil are very numerous.

The evil in our world is organized!

These forces of evil are also those who rule the darkness in our world!

Those in the Light of Jesus go to Heaven.

Those who are in the darkness of this world go to Hell and then on to the Burning Lake of Fire.

Those who are in darkness do not know this or they are willingly ignorant of these things!

There are also those who do not know where they are, but they refuse to believe that there are spiritual forces behind the evil in this world!

Most of these are to so-called intellectuals who highly educated.

It is these that say that Christians live in the "Dark Ages".

Satan can only be in one place at a time, but he is constantly moving about in this world.

Job 1:7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

We must understand that God, just because He is God, must always tell the truth!

God would not say there was an evil force in this world if it was not true!

God would not say that this evil force has access to the spirit of mankind if it were not true!

It is Satan that rules over this evil force and his followers.

Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Satan rules all those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ, but he cannot touch the child of God without God's permission and God will allow this from time to time, but Satan cannot take away the salvation of any child of God at any time!

1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

1Pe 5:9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

God knows what He is doing!

God provides the necessary armament for each of His children and this armament comes with instructions!

*****Eph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

The war that we face as Christians is a spiritual warfare, but God will equip us even for this war.

Holy Spirit by the hands of Paul has given us the material we need to remain strong in this war.

We need the armor designed by God, no other armor will keep us safe!

In all the great armies of this world there were deserters and they received heavy punishment in most all cases.

In all great armies there was a time of retirement.

We must clearly understand that in the Army of God there is no retirement date. Every soldier in God's Army is to stand upon His truth!

It is our duty as God's children to put on the armor of God every day. We must with stand this day of evil!

Rom 13:12 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 armour of light.

Rom 13:13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

Rom 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

The phrase "having done all" refers the armor of God.

*****Eph 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

Eph 6:15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

We could say we must where the belt of truth! We do not wear the belt of truth unless we understand that it is all the Word of God that is relevant and not in bits and pieces.

2Ti 3:16 "All scripture" is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

The belt is used to hold the soldiers clothing close to his body just as we are to hold the truth of God close to us! The truth of God must be so solid in our inward parts that it shows in our outward parts!

How is our Lord described?

Isa 11:5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

Luk 12:35 Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;

We must also wear the breastplate of righteousness.

The righteousness of God is the perfection of His nature.

Psa 119:142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.

By ourselves we will never be perfect, but we have the perfect Holy Trinity living within us, if we belong to the Lord.

Righteousness is doing things right and all the right things are listed for us in the truth of the Word of God.

But we must also protect our feet!

We must trust in "Gospel" enough that the "Gospel" will direct our every step which is needed considering the journey we have to go and this race that God has given us to run.

When we stand on these things that time we walk in the valleys will be short and we can spend more time on the mountain top!

The breast plate of righteousness is designed to protect our heart, which holds to the truth of the Lord.

2Co_3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

Above all these other things we have the shield of "faith".

It is our "faith" which will quench the fiery darts of Satan.

It is our "faith" that will cause us to avoid temptations.

It is our "faith" that will give us the strength to just tell the devil to go back where he came from!

When know the truth of God we will never question our salvation.

We will never question the call of the Holy Spirit.

We will never doubt God's ability to save.

We will never become defeated Christians, because we are on the winning side!

We must also realize that our head is that part which must carefully needs to be defended!

One heavy stroke to our head can be fatal.

Our thinking ability is our greatest tool to claim victory and reject defeat!

We must have so much confidence in the promises of God that they become a reality within us!

These all the things that we need to defend against the attack of the devil, but God also equips us to go on offence.

The sword of the Spirit

Satan may know some of the Word of God having been around for so long. He may be even able to quote part of the Scriptures, but the truth is Satan cannot withstand a continuous assault of the Word of God.

When take our shield which covers us head to toe and our sword, the Word of God, Satan will go a running.

It is true that we must defend ourselves against Satan, but we must also attack Satan and hit him where it hurts with the Word of God.

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

We attack Satan, when we stand on the Word of God and do not compromise with the ways of the world.

We attack Satan, when we battle our flesh and win every day.

The Word of God is our greatest weapon, our "Faith" is our greatest defense but our prayer to our Holy Father is our greatest tool and will lead to our greatest resource.

It is just a great honor and privilege to step right in to the throne room of our Holy, All Powerful God!

*****Eph 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Eph 6:19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,

Eph 6:20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

The Lord by the Holy Spirit has just described to us in words that are easy to understand saying that as Christians and the Saints of God, we had better wake up to the fact that we are in a war with the evil in this world. Our war is not with flesh, those who partake of this evil.

We first must overcome the evil in our own lives and we do this by giving our complete self over to the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we grow in the "grace" of God and face the battles ahead we are to tell the story of Jesus to all whom we contact, while defending ourselves against the evil in this world.

We can have no strength without the Holy Spirit, we cannot have the Holy Spirit with the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot have the Lord Jesus Christ without acknowledging the plan of salvation from our Father in Heaven.

Every child of God is equipped for this war, but the question remains, will you get into this battle.

These things start with prayer and it will be prayer that will carry us through to victory!

We must pray and then we must pray and then we must pray again, and this prayer must be in the Spirit!

Remember prayer is not always about asking, in most cases we just need assurance. Many times, we just need to talk but every time we need to take the time to listen.

We must realize there is nothing we can say to God that He does not already know. The Lord just wants us to be sure about what we are asking Him to do. and how it is going to affect others.

An answered prayer carries the force of the Almighty God!

Take a look at Paul's request.

Paul said "put me on your prayer list because we must always pray for one another.

We must always pray that the Word of God will reach all this world.

We must pray that the "Gospel" of the Lord Jesus Christ reaches all those who are lost so they will get the opportunity to make a choice about accepting the "Gospel" as the truth that it is.

We must pray for all our brothers and sisters in Christ who are all in the same battle with evil that we are!

Act 6:4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.

Luk 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

What exactly is our job as Christians? "To boldly make known the mystery of the "Gospel". The same job that Paul had!

The same job the other apostles had!

The same job our pastor has!

Even while Paul was chained to Roman soldiers, he professed the "Gospel".

Even while Paul was locked up in jail, he professed the "Gospel"

Even throughout all the sufferings of the Apostle Paul, he never once stopped professing the "Gospel" of Jesus Christ!

Even Paul could not go himself with his "good news" he sent others that he trusted to proclaim the "Gospel".

*****Eph 6:21 But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things:

Eph 6:22 Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts.

When we face the war with our own flesh every day we occasionally need some encouragement

Notice that Tychicus was a beloved brother.

Notice that Tychicus was a faithful minister.

This is all the information that this church needed if they truly trusted the Apostle Paul.

To this day not much more is known about this godly man. In fact, what else does anyone need to know about any of us other than we are brothers or sisters in Christ and faithful ministers of the "Gospel" of Jesus Christ.

What else needs to be known of any of us?

Even God has chosen not to remember our past. It is the New Man Tychicus that these Ephesians will get to meet.

Tychicus would inform these Ephesians about the Apostle Paul for sure but he would also know if this church was true to the "Gospel" and take that information back to the Apostle Paul.

If we are not faithful to the Word of God, it will show when we have those who come to visit our places of worship.

We can always learn many things from Paul as he closes his epistles.

*****Eph 6:23 Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Eph 6:24 Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.

Paul is a spiritual brother to every believer and Paul gave no consideration of himself, but he would always give consideration to all brothers and sisters in Christ.

Paul loved the Church and it showed!

The Apostle Paul was a prayer warrior for the Church.

Paul prayed for the peace of the brethren in this church and we should also do this.

Paul prayed for all to now the love of Jesus Christ.

Paul prayed that love for Christ would come because of their faith in His promises.

Paul prayed that each one of them knew the "Grace" of God that could come only by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you know the "Grace" that comes by Jesus Christ?

Amen

Let's Pray!