The Armour Of God

Intro

How many of you are ready for a battle today? For some of you the battle will be to try to stay awake. For others the battle might be to try to concentrate and focus on God's word. Satan brings all kinds of distractions into our minds so that we will not learn the things that will destroy his work in our lives.

How many of you remember the test Gideon had for his soldiers to see if they were ready for battle? They went down to a brook and those that cupped their hands but maintained vigilance, were taken into battle. Out of 10,000 soldiers only 300 passed the test. Only 3% passed the test of being alert to dangers.

How many of you are ready for spiritual battle today? How many brought your weapons with you? Can we do better than the Israelites? In today's passage we see that the spiritual weapon we need is the Sword of the Spirit. - the Word of God. How many Bibles are here? If you use your cell phone with a Bible that counts. We did much better than the Israelites being ready for battle but the second part of Gideon's test was whether we are on the alert for the enemy.

Paul finishes his letter to the Ephesians with one last mighty exhortation.

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Our strength comes from the Lord. Where do you get your energy from? Wheaties? Oat meal? Fasting? Coffee? The Lord? Our strength is to come from the Lord.

11 Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. Who do we fight? What kind of weapons do we use?

2 Corinthians 10: 3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

The Enemy

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Notice who is the enemy. We don't struggle with people, but spiritual forces battling with God for your soul.

Paul wrote this letter from prison where he would see the soldiers every day. He was escorted by soldiers so this he has thought about this analogy for a long time.

The Red - Green Show would be proud of the quality of these weapons. Yup, most of this is cardboard and duct tape.

Belt of Truth

Verse 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,

Stand firm - We can have confidence that the truth will keep us. Jesus said, "I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me. There is much confusion about TRUTH today.

In Jesus day, even Pilate was confuse as to what the truth was. Pilate asked Jesus if He was a king. John 18: 37 - 38 Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." 38 "What is truth?" retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him.

Truth frees us even though some might feel that absolute truth will bind us. If you do not have the belt of truth, there is no place for your sword and the uniform will come to disarray in the heat of the battle. Other Christians realize the importance of the belt of truth and will be prepare with the truth. They will be able to discern the mistaken teachings of other false religions and will be able to philosophically be able to defend the faith.

We have confidence when we have the belt of truth fastened about our waist. Satan will seek to cause us to doubt by subtle lies. But when we have the belt of truth we can stand fast.

The next piece of the believer's armour is the

Breastplate of Righteousness

14b with the breastplate of righteousness in place,

Breastplate of righteousness Some people try to win the battle by fighting with righteousness - For them righteousness is based on following the law. They try to legislate and believe everyone will become good and righteous. This doesn't work. Righteousness is not a status or state or a weapon, it is having the right character and practice and protection from the evil one.

The Roman soldier wore a breastplate to protect his heart and vital organs. In the same way, righteousness protects us from the attacks of the evil one. However, our own righteous will not due. Isaiah 64:6 says "All our righteousness is as filthy rags." A bunch of filthy rags wouldn't help a soldier much. In the same way, we cannot depend on our own righteousness if we want spiritual protection. We must rely on Christ's righteousness if we do not want to be defeated. When we have appropriated Christ's righteousness and God looks at our heart He does not see our sin but rather Christ's righteousness. The Roman soldier was always taught to advance toward the enemy and fight bravely. The Christian also does not have to flee from the devil because Satan has already been defeated. Satan would like to attack us where we have no armour. James 4:7 tells us to "resist the Devil and he will flee from you."

The Chinese Character for righteousness is GI. It is made up of two parts. The top part is the character for lamb and the bottom part is the word for US. When the blood of the lamb is sprinkled over us, be become righteous. We are forgiven and cleansed.

Feet Ready for Peace

Ephesians 6:15 says have your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Roman soldiers wore leather shoes to protect them from the sharp stones along the road. Any peace philosophy has to include Christ as the Prince of Peace to have any lasting spiritual effect. That is why religions like Islam or Hinduism do not have a message of peace but of violence and hate.

When a soldier has put on his shoes he is ready to move out. We as Christians need to go out and share the gospel of peace. We are not to sit in our lazy boy chairs entertaining ourselves if we are warriors for Christ. This responsibility to share the gospel is not just the responsibility of the missionary or the pastor but the responsibility of every Christian. Every Christian should be experiencing the wonderful peace that God gives to his children. Since we have this real inner peace we should be sharing how others can obtain this peace with as many people as we can. God brings others into our life so that we can share with them God's peace.

You know a person with slippers on will not be going outside. We must have our sandals or shoes on and be ready to go. Eager to be on the way to share the gospel.

Is 52:7 says, "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Get energized and get out and share the message of peace with others.

Every Christian should be a bearer of good news. Paul in his letter to the Romans asked, "How can people hear except someone go to them. Romans 10: 15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Who will we send next? Who wants to go and proclaim the good news of peace and joy!

Shield of Faith

16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Satan is trying to burn you. We do not fear Hell.

The Roman soldier used a large square shield. The left hand grasps the shield of faith. Heavy, strong, but not flammable. The soldiers would line up in a row and begin to advance. It was like a big wall coming at the enemy. If one of the soldiers got out of step or fell there would be a hole in the defense and the enemy could slip through that hole. It speaks of the solidarity that we as Christians are to have and to advance the gospel together. When one slips or falls the whole advance may be affected.

Our faith protects us from temptations. The temptations which Satan hurls at us -seek to hit us in the weakest areas. The shield of faith will protect us no matter what kind of attack or from where it comes. Like the shields of the Riot police. Molotov cocktails can not get through. The fiery darts of temptation are blocked by faith in the true God. I John 5:4 tells us that "everyone born of God has overcome the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith."

Helmet of Salvation

Next in Ephesians 6:17 we are to take on the helmet of salvation. The helmet of salvation protects our mind and our senses of sight and hearing. Spiritually speaking the helmet of salvation protects our spiritual discernment. We can also be certain about our salvation. The helmet also can protect us from wrong doctrine.

1 Thessalonians 5:8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. The Helmut protects our head - gives protection to our thoughts. Our thoughts should be filled with gratefulness for the salvation we have and hope God has given us for eternal life.

If you have not put on the helmet of salvation of Jesus Christ you leave yourself vulnerable to Satan attacking you and knocking you out of your chance for heaven. We have the hope of eternal life with Jesus if we have received His forgiveness.

Sword of the Spirit

The sword of the Spirit, which is the rhema - the word of God. (Mt 4:4; 26:75, Heb 12:19, Jn 3:34: 8:20) Rhema are individual scriptures the Spirit brings to our remembrance. Jn 14:26; Ex 4:12;

The Old Testament prophets saw the word of God as powerful and deadly. We should fear the Lord. This fear is not cowering in a corner because we know we are sinful people and thus deserve to die but a fear that is made up of awe and praise. If we really had the fear of God, we would be seeking to make sure that everyone in our family, our neighbourhood and community know that God is an awesome and just God.

Offensive weapons

Isaiah 11:4, but with righteousness he (God) will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

How do we fight Satan? Jesus used the Word when Satan attacked. The word of God is sharp. Cuts like a 2 edge sword. The inspired Word of God destroys the worst and retains the best.

Hebrews 4:12 tells us of the power of the word of God. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The soul is primarily our emotional side. Our spirit is our spiritual side which needs to determine from the word of God what God's will is. Sometimes our emotions are running our lives instead of our spirit. The only way we can find out God's will is to study the Bible, God's word to us.

Paul then compares the soul as the joints and the spirit the marrow. That picture shows us that the joints allow us to move but deep inside our bones is the marrow which keeps us healthy. The marrow is the place in our body where we create new blood cells and stem cells. These cells in the marrow rebuild all the cells in our body every several months. The spirit is what gives us life and the Word of God feeds our spirit and keeps us from following the knee jerk ( joints) reaction of emotions.

Keep your sword sharp. Memorize and meditate on scripture. Pray scripture back to God. Know how to resist temptation as Jesus did by using scripture to defeat the enemy - Satan. It's no good if your sword is dull. A knife cannot cut well if it is not sharp. Can you cut tomatoes or fresh bread with a dull knife? Read your Bible often though out the day.

If we have all the armour now what??

Prayer!

v 18 - 20 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.

Eph 6:18 Prayer is how to stand fast. It is not armour or a weapon. Mk 13:33 Lk 21:36.

Pray in the spirit - not in unintelligible utterances but we are to be immersed in the Holy Spirit. Eph 5:18 says that we are to "be being filled with the Spirit." This is a constant continuous process which happens when we make Christ Lord of our lives and we are immersed in or filled with the Holy Spirit. We quench the Spirit when we disobey and don't listen to God who speaks through His Spirit.

Notice here that prayer is
a) constant - on all occasions
b) intense - concentrated - all kinds of prayers and requests
c) unselfish intercession - all the Lord's people

Prayer is needed. Our passage started out saying that we need to be strong in the Lord. We do that when we connect with God in prayer.

Prayer is important to destroy the enemy. Holy Spirit is the sword and He works in the lives of people through the prayers of saints. We pray for each other. Paul asks for prayer that he would be able to proclaim the gospel. Watch out for all the saints but watch out for me that I may do what is important. Need to advance. The night Jesus was agonizing before he was captured, He admonished his disciples to watch and keeping vigilant. Mark 14:38

We can pray a wall of protection around other believers to bind Satan and keep him from destroying our relationship with the source of power - Jesus. Like the Roman soldiers who advanced as a group with their swords drawn, they protected each other. So we are a community which needs to fight together to defeat the enemy though pray and support. Satan tries to divide Christians but as we unite in Christ, we advance the Kingdom of God.