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Sermon Transcript

Open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 6. Last week we started our final series in the book of Ephesians, entitled Rules of Engagement. Last week we talked about how to engage the workplace.

Let me just ask, how did it go in the workplace this past week? I bet everybody just cheered you on, everybody just spoke nice things to you. Probably every morning when the alarm clock went off, you just felt this momentum surge through your body—just lifting you right off that mattress—and sending you out there into the workplace! Or, you faced some resistance, some opposition, almost like you had a headwind, right? What is that?

Well, this morning we’re going to talk about what that is. Let me tell you what it is. Here’s the title of the message: We Are at War. And we have an enemy that has put his crosshairs on anyone who declares the Name of Jesus Christ to be supreme, and tries to live for Him and worship Him as the object of their affection and worship. So, we need to know the rules of engagement in our warfare. And so we’re going to study that here this morning.

Let’s just jump right into it! I’ll give you the first point of the message right now.

 

  1. Spiritual conflict is inevitable. Defeat is not. (v.13)

So we got bad news and good news. Spiritual conflict is inevitable: you are going to face a spiritual battle if you are a believer in Jesus Christ; however, you don’t to have to be defeated by your enemy!

Let’s learn that here in Ephesians 6, beginning in verse 10. “Finally. . .” Now, you understand, for a preacher, the word “finally” is symbolic, right? That does not mean—in any sense of the term—that we are almost finished, okay?  So, the apostle Paul says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of [what’s his name? the] devil.” [Ephesians 6:10, ESV] The word “devil” just simply means “adversary.” Evil has a name; another name for him in Scripture is Satan. He is our opponent. He resists God and he resists anyone who wants to serve God. There’s your enemy!

Verse 12 says, “. . .we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” [Ephesians 6:11-12] Now, let’s stop right here. We’re going to cover all of this this morning, but let’s talk about this conflict that we are in. Do you understand that there are some people who pay way too little attention to the devil? You just may be living in denial about how much your enemy is opposed to your obedience to God.

Let me give you a little history of the devil. If you were to survey the Scripture, you would find—about on the second or third page of your Bible—we are introduced to this guy. And if you read the last page of your Bible, it doesn’t end well for him, and everything in between is a battle. And God has placed you and I into this battle, and we have an enemy. The devil is the unwilling servant of Almighty God. The devil is powerful, but God is all-powerful. And the Bible tells us that the devil was not originally created as this awful monster, this opponent of God that we know him as today.

As a matter fact, if you were to read in Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28 we kind of read a summary of kind of history past – that there was this special created being (he was an angelic being that God created)—his name was Lucifer. And his job in Heaven was the worship leader. He was the worship leader in Heaven (I’m not saying that that means anything about Micah in the church, but)—the devil was originally a worship leader.

And his job was to call all the attention to Almighty God: “Hey, all the angels, look at how beautiful God is! Give all your worship to Him!” That was his job. Well, after a while, he wanted some of the attention, he wanted some of the glory—he wanted to be like God. And so he led a rebellion against God, and he was so beautiful and so persuasive and so influential and such an incredible leader he was able to influence one-third of all of the angels to come with him on his rebellion against God.

Now, God was not threatened by that in any sense. He immediately kicked Satan and those one-third bad angels out of Heaven. Now—let me ask you a question: If you were God (by the way, turn to your neighbor and say, “You are not God!”)—but if you were God, where would you have put these rebel angels? I’m thinking Mars, Jupiter, some—on the outer corridors of the universe. But do you know where God put them? God cast them out of Heaven, and the Bible says He placed them on the surface of the earth. Hmm! That’s where I live! That’s my neighborhood in the universe—and it’s yours, too. That means that, right now, you and I occupy the same geographical territory as the devil and his angels.

And do you know what they are doing right now on the surface of the earth? They are doing the same thing they were doing on the day they were kicked out of Heaven. They are leading a rebellion against God, and they are trying to influence you to come with them. They want to convince you, you don’t have to worship God; you can be your own God. And that’s the scheme of the devil. And we think too little about that, too often. We need to understand, we have an enemy.

Now, some of you may say, “Well, I just don’t really sense that I’m an enemy or a target. I just—I don’t know that I’ve had any spiritual opposition this week.” Maybe it’s because he knows you’re not a threat. You’re not trying to do anything for God. But listen, the more you attempt to serve and to love and worship—and to lead others in worshipping God—the greater the threat you are, and the more opposition you should expect.

You should hear the way some of our pastoral talks to one another as we walk up and down the halls of the church, trying to do some things for God around here. You talk to any of us: we’ll tell you, we face some opposition as we are trying to do something that only God can take the credit for. And so, we need to think soberly about the devil.

2 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 11 says, “. . .we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.” God doesn’t want you to be ignorant of how the devil wants to take you out.

And so, let me just give you, real quick, seven designs of the devil to knock you off your feet. The first one is this: He tempts us to sin, and we read about that in the opening pages of Scripture. God created Adam and Eve, placed them in the garden of Eden, perfect environment. . .somehow Satan shows up in the garden as a serpent (a talking serpent) and he asks Eve a question. Notice, he doesn’t make an accusation. The first thing he does is ask a question, and here’s what he asked: “Did God really say you can’t eat of the fruit of the knowledge of the tree of good and evil?” He didn’t say, “God didn’t say that!”—he just, “But—are you sure you heard from God? Are you sure God really has spoken? Are you sure what God has said is rea-a-a-lly true?” And that’s his first scheme, is to tempt you to doubt God’s Word.

His second scheme is to accuse you. We read a little later in Scripture—actually it was the oldest book of the Bible—the book of Job. And Job was the most righteous man on the earth; he served God, he loved God, he worshipped God—and he had a wonderful family, and he had a bunch of wealth. And Satan, one day, shows up before the throne of God and says, “The reason that Job does all that is for an impure motive. It’s because You bless him. If You stop blessing him, he’ll stop serving You.” God says, “Okay, I’ll stop blessing him. You have access to Job.” And so, Satan took away all of his health, all of his wealth, and all ten of his children.

The only thing left was his wife, and he wished Satan would have taken her away! Do you remember what she said to him when all this was going on? “Why don’t you just curse God and die!” [Job]: Well, thank you! God bless you for that encouragement you’re offering to me in the midst of this trial.” And yet, what did Job do? He said, “The Lord gives; the Lord takes away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord!”—proving, “I don’t serve You because of what You do for me; I serve You because of Who You are!” So he passed the test.

But, over in the last book of the Bible, we read why that happens is because the devil is the accuser of the brethren. He wants to accuse you of having wrong motives for serving God. He wants to accuse you of not loving God enough and not serving God enough. He’s the accuser—he’s always whispering in your ear, “You’re no good! God doesn’t love you! You didn’t do enough!” You’re being accused.

The third thing he does is, he twists Scripture. Jesus, one day, went into the wilderness—as he began his earthly ministry—to be tempted of the devil. And three different times the devil used Scripture on Jesus to get Him to violate other Scripture. Did you know that the devil knows the Bible probably better than you do? And yet, he uses it and twists it just enough that it almost sounds true—that you’ll believe him—but Jesus put back in his face, three different times. He said, “It is written, it is written. . .and He defended Himself with the Word of God—and He passed the test.

The fourth thing he does, the Bible says in John 10:10, is that he steals, kills and destroys. So, he wants to steal your joy, he wants to steal your faith, he wants to destroy the intimacy in your marriage. He wants to kill everything good in you. He steals, kills and destroys.

Number five: he wants to scare you. In 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 8, the Bible says, “The devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking [whom he may] devour.” He wants to scare you! Now, probably, your only encounter with a lion—here—in northern Indiana—has been at the zoo, and there are bars between you and the lion, or at least a moat. And so, not a real scary thing to see a lion. But, if you’re over in Africa and you see a lion, and he’s roaring. . .what is a smart person gonna do? “See ya! I’m outta here!” Right? He wants to scare you.

Now, somebody has said that the lions that roar, they’re just the old lazy ones that have lost all their teeth—and they’re trying to intimidate people, or intimidate other animals—and so maybe there’s some truth to that as well. But he wants to scare you! He wants to frighten you—so that you won’t take your next step toward God or take your next risk for God.

Sixth, he wants to deceive you. In 2 Corinthians 11:14, the Bible says that he disguises himself as an angel of light. . .that’s how tricky and sneaky he is. He could show up in the form of a philosophy, or maybe through the ministry of a very religious, spiritually-minded person or group of people. And, because it almost looks authentic, it can deceive us into following false theology, false doctrine, false teaching—even in a church.

And then, finally, probably his number one priority is this: he blinds people to the gospel of the glory in the face of Jesus Christ. That’s what it says in 2 Corinthians 4:4: “He has blinded the minds of. . .unbelievers” so that they will not believe “the gospel of the glory of [Jesus] Christ.” And he’s trying to do that right now. He’s trying to do all seven of those things right now! We are at war, and we are in a battle! Some people make too little of the devil.

But the flip side of that coin is this: some people make too much of the devil. You can’t blame the devil for your problems. Do you remember Flip Wilson, back in the seventies? Do you remember when he would dress up as Josephine? And what did he say? “The devil made me do it!” No, he didn’t! You did it ‘cause you wanted to do it! Now, he may have tempted you, but the devil can’t make you do anything, and the devil is not all-powerful! You don’t have to tremble, you don’t have to fear, you don’t to have worry—and you don’t have to be miserable, even though you are the target of the enemy.

As a matter of fact, look at what the Bible says is going to happen to your enemy. Romans 16, verse 20: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan. . .” Don’t you just love the sound of the word “crush?” He will crush Satan “. . .under your feet.” Notice, it doesn’t say He’s going to crush Satan under His feet; He’s going to crush Satan using your feet.

How many of you have had he glorious experience of seeing a cockroach (not in your home, but the home of a friend), and wanting to be a good houseguest—“I  got this!”—you walk over, and you put that cockroach under your foot. . .and apply all of the pressure on the cockroach until you hear the snap, the crackle and the pop of said cockroach! That is a glorious thing! And it is just a taste—that is—that’s called “common grace.” That’s just a taste of what God is going to do to our enemy, under our feet. You don’t have to wonder what the fate of the devil is. He will be a defeated foe!

And the battle plan is very simple: James 4:7, (Number 1): Submit [yourself] therefore to God. (Number 2): Resist the devil. . .(Result): he will flee from you.” Now, listen, the sequence of this verse is very important! If you try to do Number 2, resist the devil, before you do Number 1, submitting yourself to God, he is going to wipe you out! But every day, to get up and say, “God, this day belongs to You. This body belongs to you, this mind belongs to You – my time, my calendar, my kids, my family – it all belongs to You. I put myself at Your disposal, and every time I hit resistance, I’m pressing through.”

Do you know what that does to the devil? It makes him think, “I’m going to go find somebody else—who’s not submitted to God—to mess with—because this guy means business!”  And so, some people think too little of the devil, some people think too much of the devil.

The story’s told of Martin Luther, the sixteenth-century Reformer…we’re celebrating the five-hundred-year anniversary of the great Protestant Reformation this year—in 1517—and the spark for all of that was theologian Martin Luther…who began to cite reforms that needed to happen in the church because of all the heresy and false doctrine that had infiltrated it. And Martin Luther, because he was so courageous, made himself not only the opponent of the devil, but the opponent of many church leaders!

And so, there was a man that loved Martin Luther, and he actually brought him to a place in Germany—the Wartburg castle—and he put him in hiding. He put him in solitary confinement so nobody could find him for ten months. And so, during that time he wanted to be productive, and he decided, “I’m going to translate the Bible from Greek into German.” How many of you are grateful for people that know languages, and translate it into a language you can read so you don’t have to learn, like, Greek and Hebrew or German? And so, that’s what Martin Luther gave himself to.

Do you think the devil was happy about the Bible being translated into the language of the people? And so, the story is told that Martin Luther—during that ten months—had incredible battles with the enemy! He faced depression and he faced fear, and he faced things that even seemed supernatural in nature. . .so much so, that today if you were to go to that room where Martin Luther translated that German Bible, you would see, on a wall, an ink stain. And the legend is that during a time of intense spiritual battle, Martin Luther picked up the inkwell that he was using to write that Bible and he threw it at the devil! He must have missed him, ‘cause he hit the wall!

Now, listen, that’s probably not the best battle plan, but praise God for a man who submitted himself to God and resisted the devil—and as result, there was a Bible translated in the language of the people! Don’t make too much of the devil, but don’t make too little of the devil either.

 

  1. God’s strength is sufficient. My strength is not. (v.10)

 

Turn to your neighbor and say, “My strength is not sufficient!” No, we’ve got to do this in God’s strength—and so, look at it here in verse 10. He says, “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” Listen, you and I are not as powerful as the devil. The devil has supernatural power at his disposal. As Christians, we are to take ground, to occupy spiritual territory and to defend it in our battle with the enemy and our pursuit of the Lord. But listen, we’re born into this world enslaved to the devil.

One day Jesus looked at the Pharisees—the most religious people on the planet—and said, “You are of your father the devil.” They thought their father was Abraham! That’s how deceiving the devil was—and Jesus said, “You’re children of the devil!” And there’s a sense in which all of us are born into this world under the power of Satan. And it’s not until an alien power—a foreign power—breaks those shackles, overcomes the power of the devil, so that we’re set free to become children of God. And so do not try to engage in this battle in your own strength! We do battle in the strength of the Lord! “Some trust in chariots, some trust in horses; we trust in the Name of the Lord our God.”

I have this vague memory of when my son, Zac, was about five years old. He was always around older kids, and the older kids would always organize a game—either on the playground or maybe out on the soccer field—and, you know, I have this vague memory of him kind of going out there as a five-year-old, and there were, like, ten-year-olds playing soccer. And he was out there trying to get the ball, you know, and they would just kick him and push him out of the way and he’d end up on the ground, and he’d scrape his knee.

And pretty soon he’s all depressed and he’s kind of waddling off the field and he’s got a bloody nose, you know, and it’s like, “What happened?” And he’s like, “Sniff, snob, uh, I lost.” You know. I picked him up in my arms; I said, “Where are those ten-year-olds?” I went, “Alright, we’re going to go play some soccer!” And so, with Zac tucked under my arm, I went out there and I kicked the ball, and we crushed the ten-year-old soccer team!

Your strength is in the Lord! And you win only when you are carried in the arms—in the strength—of Someone who is massively more powerful than you and massively powerful than your opponent. God’s strength is sufficient. My strength is not.

 

  1. The devil is my enemy. His victims are not. (v.11-12)

 

Look at it here in verse 12: “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against. . .rulers. . .authorities. . .powers. . .darkness. . .forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Listen, some of you have some cute names for your wife: “Honey, pumpkin.” Alright, she is not a cosmic power or a force of evil. Turn to your spouse right now, if you are married, and say these words: “You are not my enemy!” Who is your enemy? Your enemy is the devil, and do you know what the devil does? He tries to stir up relational conflict and get you to think, my biggest problem is a person: my spouse, my boss, the President, or a kid or a parent. Your problem is not someone who has flesh or blood. So, if you are having conflict with a person who has blood or flesh, you need to make sure you understand, “That is not my enemy! My enemy is spiritual, cosmic, and he has a scheme to take me out.”

I appreciated an older man in our church. He’s a former pastor, and he came up to me before the eight o’clock service, and I was sitting over here and it was about five minutes before the service started. And he walked up and he looked down at me like your doctor looks at you when he’s trying to diagnose a problem. He looked at me. He said, “Did you face any spiritual conflict this week?” And I smiled, and I knew what had happened. He knew what I was preaching this morning! When you preach verse-by-verse through the Bible, it’s real hard to sneak up on you people! You kinda know what’s comin’ next, right?

So, he had read the verse; he knew we were going to be talking about this war that we were in. And he—you know what? He prayed for me this week, because when you start speaking about the opposition, you get the crosshairs of the enemy on your life! And I actually had to tell him, I was like, “Yeah, I did.”—and I remembered this moment on Thursday.

Now you have to understand, Thursday is cave day for Trent! Okay? Don’t call me, don’t text me. I am in the sermon preparation cave. I’m trying to prepare a meal for you, and it is a spiritual battle! Now, Andrea—a couple of weeks ago—she had sinus surgery—and, she’s trying to clear up this crazy chronic sinus infection that she gets every winter. And so, she had sinus surgery, and she’s doing fine—she’s doing okay—but she’s really been low-energy and just kind of recovering from all that.

On Thursday, it was a beautiful day outside, and she wanted to get outside for just a little bit. So she told me, she said, “Hey, I’m going to go out and pull some weeds—try to pull some weeds out of the garden.” And so, she went out there—and I thought, you know, I had just bought some weed-killer that I wanted to make her aware of (trying to be a servant), and so I followed her out there. And she was about to go grab some of the weeds over there, and I looked down at my feet, and I said, “Hey, honey, as you’re pulling the weeds, you need to pull these over here. I’m not sure you saw these.”

And she said, “Those aren’t weeds. Those are strawberry plants!” I said, “Well, they’re growing in the grass, and so they might as well be weeds; you might want to pick those!” (Just trying to be a servant; just pointing out more things for her to do, you know.) And, “Here’s a bottle o’ weed-killer, if you want to spray that on there.” And—she hasn’t been feeling good. . .I adore my wife. . .but she looked back at me with the stink-eye, and she said, “I’m tired! I barely have enough energy to pull the weeds that I see!” And I looked back at her and I said, “Do you want me to just to get out of your life forever?!” We had a little moment there in the driveway!

And then I remembered, “What am I preaching on this week? Oh, yeah. “You are not my enemy. And what’s happening right here is spiritual in nature!” By the way, we’re doing fine, we’re doing okay. . .we’re alright, we’re alright. . .she came to church this morning, she still comes to church here, you know. It’s okay, we’re doing great.

But have you ever had something go on like that? Like, “Where did that tension come from?” Let me tell you where it came from—it came from your enemy. And your spouse is not your enemy, your parents are not your enemy, your boss is not your enemy and your pastor is not your enemy. Turn your neighbor and say, “Your pastor is not your enemy. He’s your friend!” I’m your friend! It’s because I’m your friend I’m telling you these things.

So, the devil is your enemy. Do you know what? The people that give you flak—as awful and as immoral as they may be – the abortionist, the pornographer, those that through the media would try to infiltrate your mind, false prophets, false teachers—they’re not your enemy. They are the victims of your enemy, and our prayer is that God would set them free from the enemy and make them our friends. And so, remember that we do not wrestle against—what?—flesh and blood, but against cosmic forces.

 

  1. God’s armor is effective. My best thinking is not. (v.14-17)

 

So God has some armor. Let’s look at here, beginning in verse 13: “Therefore take up the whole armor of God. . .” See the word “take up” there? That is a responsibility that you have. Do you understand that the arsenal of God’s weaponry sits in a corner, unused, until you make the decision, “I’m going over there; I am taking it up; I am putting it on!” You do this repeatedly, you do this daily, you do it immediately as you walk into battle.

“Take up the whole armor. . .” The word “whole” means “complete, sufficient.” It is the collection that God has given His people so that you can win in the battle. “…The whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day…having done all, to stand firm. (Verse 14): Stand…” Did you notice, four different times in this passage he uses the word “stand?” Because the devil’s trying to knock you off your feet.

            “…Stand therefore, having fastened on…” these six pieces of armor. “…The belt of truth…having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God…”

Now, how many of you parents, in trying to train your children to be good warriors, you had a collection of armor? Anybody have these things? Yeah, good! Now come here, Sam. Alright, I’m sure Sam had this. Sam, you probably had several sets of this in your family, right? ‘Cause Sam’s got a lot of kids in his family. So, I would like you to gird yourself up, put on the armor here. Here. We’ve got to get you ready for battle. There you go! Are you ready to go to battle?

Sam: Yep.

Trent: That’s good! You ready for war?

Sam: Yep!

Trent: You ready to face the enemy?

Sam: Yeah.

Trent: Can you say it with some gusto?

Sam: Yes.

Trent: Alri-i-ight. That’s good. You ready to face the enemy?

Sam: Yes.

Trent: Alright, here’s your enemy.

Alright, here we go. Alright. We’re going to have a little contest here. And, here we go. Alright, let’s put you here. Alright, let’s come up here. Alright. Let’s just take a little survey here. Applaud if you think Sam is going to win the battle. Alright! Applaud if you think Eric is going to do a little better in the battle. Alright, alright, good.

Now listen, here’s the problem for so many of you. So many of you are going out into battle dressed like Sam! Your armor is plastic, and it’s not going well for you! And you’re going to try to defend yourself—flaming darts, really?—with this? This guy can take a bullet! Ow! This guy has body armor here. This guy is ready for war! The best that you can put on! Okay? So, I need you guys to go fight it out in the back yard there. And let me know, Eric, how it goes. How long it takes him to…to…alright.

So, here it is, let’s talk about these pieces of our armament. First of all he mentions the:

 

  • BELT OF TRUTH (v. 14)

 

Now, listen, many of you have a belt on right now. That’s not the kind of belt we’re talking about. . .not a little one-inch strap to hold your pants up. This thing was meant to fasten all the other pieces of armament together. It had things to protect your loins down here, and you’re to gird the loins up so you can have more freedom to run in the battle.

So many people think that truth is something that restricts you. Truth is something that sets you free to fight and win! And the truth is the central piece of armament. What is truth?

First of all, understand truth is transcendent. Big word, multisyllabic—let me explain. It means that truth exists outside of you—not inside of you. It means in order for us to know truth, someone has to tell us what it is. That’s what God has done. God has chosen to speak into our existence. And so, truth is not formulated in some philosophy department at Notre Dame. Truth exists for all time, for all people, in all places because it exists outside of time and places, and outside of people Truth originates with God, and as God speaks—what we do is—we take that truth and we fasten it to ourselves.

So, what do you think the number one tool of your enemy is? Lying! He wants to lie, and he’s like, “Did God really say that’s true? I mean, that may have been true in 1947—but surely that cannot be true in 2017, because we’ve progressed. We’ve evolved!” Right? No. We lock ourselves in, we buckle ourselves up with truth, so that we can withstand the lies of the enemy. And without truth, you can’t even know how to navigate this life.

I have a pilot friend—he has a plane—and every now and then he lets me fly with him, and he even lets me sit in the copilot seat (as if that’s going to help anything! If he has a problem? I don’t know.) But, he’s taught me some things about flying. And he says there’s two different types of rules you have to follow as a pilot.

On a bright sunny day, when things are clear, you can follow visual flight rules—because you can see. “There’s the airport, and here’s where I’m going. I’ll follow this road and I’ll get where I’m going.” But, he says, on cloudy days you can’t use visual flight rules because you don’t even know where you are. You have to use instrument flight rules, and that’s where you have to follow the gauges.

But more importantly, you have to make sure you are in constant communication with the guy in the tower on the ground that can see where you are. And if he tells you to climb ten-thousand feet, you better climb ten-thousand feet. If he tells you to veer five degrees to the left, you better veer five degrees to the left—or you’re going to run into something. My pilot friend says, “Listen, without the guy on the ground, I could be flying upside down and not even know it—because the clouds are so thick!”

And that reminded me so much of the way that we walk through this world. Sometimes the darkness is so thick we can’t even see which way is up! Unless you are in constant communication with the One Who is speaking truth, and then you adjust your course accordingly. And, if you choose to strap on the belt of truth, you better mark it down – you are going to make yourself a target of the enemy! Because people who are controlled by Satan are highly offended when somebody says, “I know what’s true! It’s true for me, it’s true for you, it’s true for everybody.” Expect to be called a bigot—and hateful—that you would actually say, “God has spoken. These things are true, and we all need to adjust our course according to what He says is true.”

That’s the reason many of you refuse to strap on the belt of truth, is because you’re not willing to be unpopular, and you’re not willing to lose influence or maybe a promotion at work—or a boyfriend or a girlfriend at school—and so you’re choosing to live in the clouds, making up your own truth. You want to survive the battle? Fasten on the belt of truth!

And then, secondly:

 

  • THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (v. 14)

 

This breastplate, Roman breastplate, was designed to protect all the vital organs—not the least of which is the heart. The breastplate of righteousness – because our hearts are an idol-factory that were designed to worship—and will worship something. If it chooses not to worship God, it’s going to find something else to worship, so a heart needs to be protected from idolatry, and it’s the breastplate of righteousness.

Now, what we’ve been learning in the book of Ephesians—our identity, the indicatives, the things that are true about us—God has given us an imputed righteousness, which simply means, God has declared we are right before God. Are we right? Rarely! But God has said, “I know you’re not right, but I’m declaring: You’re right! I’m going to treat you as if you have always done everything right! I know you haven’t, but what I’m going to do is, I’m going to treat you like you did what Christ did—and He was always right!” If you’re a Christian, you’ve received this imputed righteousness. But the breastplate of righteousness means that I act on the imputed righteousness, and now I start doing things that are right because I’ve been declared right!

And how many of you know people that have made a train-wreck of their life because they have not made right choices? How many of you have a train-wreck in your life because you’ve made choices that were not right? Do you see how the breastplate of righteousness protects you, protects your heart, protects your marriage, protects your integrity, protects your family—if you would just simply do what is right, because you have been declared to be right. It’s a breastplate of righteousness.

Not only that, the third piece are the:

 

  • SHOES OF THE GOSPEL (v. 15)

 

These have to be in Footlocker somewhere! I mean, those are amazing! It’s not quite the idea I had in mind. Because, really, the Roman shoes that were used in armament were more like cleats. They were meant to sink down deep to give you stability when pressure was pushing against you. You needed something to grip. And shoes are meant to carry you somewhere. It’s to take you forward in battle.

And, as Christians, that is exactly what we are to do. We are to go into the world. The Bible says, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news…” And so, in this context, we’re to have the shoes of the readiness of the gospel of peace—to take what we get here, out there. Not just get the gospel right, but get the gospel out!

A couple of months ago I told you that we received a phone call at the church. The receptionist took the phone call, and the man at the other end of the line said, “I am in the hospital, and I would like my pastor to come and see me!” His name was Bob. He gave us his last name; we looked him up in our church database, and we had no record of him ever attending Harvest, and yet, he was identifying himself as someone who had Harvest Bible Chapel as his church. And me as his pastor.

And so, I thought, “Well, I’ll go down there and see the guy.” And so I went to St. Joseph Hospital. And sure enough, I walked in, and just had a wonderful visit with this man named Bob. And, read Scripture to him, prayed over him, and I asked him, I said, “Hey, Bob! Why do you consider Harvest Bible Chapel your church? You’ve never been. And why do you consider me your pastor? I’ve never met you.”

He said, “Well, for the last year, there have been a wonderful group of people from Harvest Bible Chapel who have come to Wellbrooke Senior Care Facility, where I have been. And every week, they’ve been opening the Bible and sharing God’s Word with me. We’ve been singing together and worshipping together. They’ve been loving me and encouraging me, and when I asked them, “Where are you from?”—they said, “We’re from Harvest Bible Chapel.” And he said, “If that’s where you’re from, that’s my church! And if that’s my church, you must be my pastor! Nice to meet you! My name’s Bob.” Sweetest man! And it was just so obvious he had a peace. He had received the gospel of Jesus Christ, and he was drawing closer to the Lord in this final season of his life than at any other time.

Well, I got another call this week, on Tuesday. And Bob had passed away, and his family invited his pastor from his church to officiate the funeral. And so, on Friday, I had the awesome privilege to be there—along with some of those people that have taken the gospel to him—to be able to share with his whole family the gospel of peace that Bob had, that I wanted them to have.

And I told them, “I’ve got a lot of responsibilities as a pastor. My number one job as a pastor is to prepare you to die. And you’re going to die. The question is, have you been declared right—so that you have peace through the good news of Jesus Christ? That because of His life and His death, you could have peace with God. Not because of your life—not because of your good works, but because of what Christ had done on the cross, in Christ, absorbing the wrath of God so that you could experience the peace of God through the gospel.” And so, it was a powerful moment!

Can I ask you, how am I doing my job? Are you prepared to die? If not, we’ve got some work to do. And right now, the gospel is bearing weight on your heart and your soul. Would you trust Christ and believe that you need an alien righteousness to make you right before God? The gospel of peace!

And then, the:

 

  • SHIELD OF FAITH (v. 16)

 

Now, the shield we think of something you carry around—and they did carry it around–but it was huge! It was like four feet wide, it was like six feet tall. It was like a door! And they were designed to be linked together as the Roman armor. Put that picture up of those guys linking those things together.

Do you understand that faith is something we practice together? When your shield is kind of not so great, you can rely on the shield of the person next to you there? The shield of faith. And it’s meant, it says here in the Scripture, to quench the flaming darts. What are these flaming darts? Flaming darts could have come from a mile away! Sometimes you don’t even know where these things are coming. “Where is the enemy coming from today?” Have you ever felt that way?

What are these flaming darts?  I just thought of some of these things—probably the five most common flaming darts. I call them:

 

Flaming Darts from Flaming Lips that are Flaming Lies

 

And here it is. Have you ever heard the devil whisper something like this in your ear?

 

  • “God isn’t there.”

 

“Why are you praying? Nobody’s listening! God’s not there! You’re on your own! Call your sister—go to a counselor—because God’s not listening!”

Or how about this:

 

  • “God doesn’t care.”

 

Oh, He’s there alright, but He doesn’t care! If He cared, you wouldn’t have cancer! If he cared, you wouldn’t have lost your job! If He cared, He would do something about it!” Did you ever have the devil whisper that in your ear?

Or how about this:

 

  • “God won’t provide.”

 

“God’s not going to provide you a mate. God’s not going to provide that money that you need to pay the bills. God’s not going to provide that job, so you better work real hard; it’s up to you! God’s not going to provide some alien righteousness for you! That’s…I mean, this old cross and Jesus thing? You gotta work hard to be made right with God!” That’s a lie!

Or how about this:

 

  • “God isn’t serious.”

 

God isn’t serious about sin! God doesn’t care what you do with your sexuality! God doesn’t care if you watch that. God doesn’t care how you treat your family! I mean, God isn’t even watching!  I mean, He’s kind of old and He doesn’t have time to look at all the stuff going on down here. He probably didn’t even see what you did last night!”

Or this:

 

  • “God won’t forgive.”

 

The devil is so crafty, he’ll turn it back this way and he’ll say, “Oh, God saw what you did last night! And God is so mad and so upset, He’s never going to forgive you! I mean, that stuff you did ten years ago—you ought to be so ashamed of yourself!” The devil will try to shame you with your past to the point that you won’t cast yourself on the forgiveness of God and receive what God freely offers by faith. Hey, listen—if the devil ever tries to shame you with your past—you just be reminded of his future, and that’ll change your outlook!

And so, God wants to speak truth against all these lies. Take the shield of faith: “I’m not believing that God isn’t there, God doesn’t care. Of course He’s there, of course He cares, of course He’s gonna provide! Of course He’s serious about sin, but He’s just serious about forgiveness!” And so, we need to understand that there is forgiveness in Christ.

And then, the:

 

  • HELMET OF SALVATION (v. 17)

 

which is really creepy—you might have nightmares about that. But the helmet of salvation.

Listen, how many of you played football? Did you play football? Because you hadn’t seen the concussion movie yet? With Will Smith? And it’s like….how many is like, ”My kids are not playing football?” Right.

Now, listen, I played football—and I was always wondering, you know…why I always had a headache. Well, now I know! I had a concussion most of my high school years, and I didn’t know that. Because it was the eighties, and they didn’t really care! “Rub some dirt on it! Get back in the game!” Like, “Okay!”—you know, and I would run my head through a wall!

I have met a lot of people in church that have spiritual concussions ‘cause you spent the whole week out there getting banged in the head with lies and accusations of the devil, because you didn’t put on the helmet of salvation! What is the helmet of salvation? It’s the trust in knowing, “I can’t save myself; I can’t deliver myself. My only hope is God! And I have assurance that God is gonna get me through this to the end. I don’t have to doubt the sufficiency of God to deliver from any sin, any circumstance.” The helmet of salvation.

And finally, the:

 

  • SWORD OF THE SPIRIT (v. 17)

 

Which is…what? The Word of God. Do you know what’s happening here for the last forty minutes? I have been swinging a sword in spiritual battle, using the Word of God to try to defeat the enemy in your life.

Let me ask you this. When we dismiss: “You are loved”—you head out of here—how much ammunition are you going to carry into the world this week? This sword was more like a dagger, and it was meant for hand-to-hand combat, when the enemy was right in your face! When the enemy’s right in your face, do you know what you have to rely upon? The words of God that you have tucked away in your heart! You don’t have time to pull up a Bible app; you don’t have time to find your Bible. It’s like it’s got to be right there. Pull it out and do battle! “It is written!” Are you giving the Spirit the ammunition that He needs to win the battle?

Now, this is what I want you to do: I want us to stand right now; I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes. Don’t get distracted, but in this moment, I want us to armor up. Heads bowed, eyes closed. Listen, conflict is inevitable; defeat is not. God’s strength is sufficient; my strength is not. My enemy is the devil; his victims are not. And His armor is sufficient; the best of my thinking is not.

In this moment, would you ask the Spirit of God to arm you for battle? Take up the arsenal that God has provided. Are you right with God? Do you have the breastplate of righteousness? Are you making right choices that are protecting you from the attacks? Do you have the peace of believing and distributing the gospel? The belt of truth – “God, I’m not going to try to make up my own version of the truth. I need to stay in constant communication with the One that can see where I’m at.” And the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Would you ask Him right now to fill your heart, your mind, with His words? The shield of faith – which quenches the fiery darts: God is there, God does care, God will provide, God is serious and God will forgive.

Father, we come to You, bruised—and maybe even bleeding, for some of us—because we’ve tried to fight for so long and been defeated, because we haven’t used what You have clearly provided. And I would pray that in this moment we would be reminded that we can stand and we can withstand the schemes of the devil. I pray that this week will one that is marked with victory, and as the victory comes, all the glory goes to Christ! We pray in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

 

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