Equipped for Battle

SERMON: 2013-02-10--e0613b--equipped-for-battle-part-2 SOURCE DURATION: 00:45:27.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 0.95 APPROVED: false REASON: The entire sequence maintains a consistent devotional and theological tone (benediction/hymn-like conclusion). Since there is no clear transition to music, an announcement, or unrelated audio, the final candidate is selected as it belongs to the concluding sermon material. Acoustic segmentation found sustained music at the end edge and moved the boundary to the adjacent transcript segment. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: 00:41:24.700-00:45:26.340 ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: yes ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: end Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- I want to pick up this morning then where we left off last week. Last week we were looking together at the first two pieces of armor that Paul talks about here in Ephesians chapter 6. We look together at the belt of truth and we look together at the breastplate of righteousness. Paul puts it this way in verse 14, "Stand firm then with a belt of truth buckled around your waist with a breastplate of righteousness in place." And the belt of truth we saw refers to the truth of the gospel summed up in a verse like 2 Corinthians 5 19 where Paul says that in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. But belaboring the point, the foundation of our fight against the forces of evil is always the truth of the gospel. The truth of the gospel is that we are sinners, Christ is righteous, and in him we become his righteousness. And that's why the breastplate of righteousness then we saw last week is the righteousness of Christ with which we can stand against the accusations of the devil. The devil is the great accuser of the brethren. If he can find a flaw in you or in me, if he can prod or poke and find places where we have failed, then it doesn't take very much for us to be wiped out. We lose our confidence because we are convicted, and the antidote to that is the righteousness of Christ, the breastplate of righteousness. Now what that does this morning then is it brings us to the third piece of equipment that Paul talks about here in Ephesians chapter 6, and we could call that ready feet. Romans 6.15, "Stand firm then with your feet fitted with a readiness that comes from the gospel of peace." Your feet fitted with a readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Now I mentioned, I believe in passing last week, that of the six pieces of armor, this is the most difficult one to understand because commentators and translators differ on the meaning of that verse, with your feet fitted with a readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. We'll come back to that in just a moment, but clearly what this is talking about, this is talking about the footwear of the Roman soldier and by extension then the footwear of the Christian warrior. When the Roman soldier going into battle would typically be clothed with a sandal, and you see a picture of it there, it is laced up. Sometimes they would also wear what is known as greaves, which are really shin pads, typically only one shin pad for the left leg because that would be the leading leg for them as they marched into battle. But what is significant about these shoes is that they had cleats or spikes on them. The purpose for that is easy enough to understand, it's very much like soccer shoes today. It enables you to have a solid grip with the ground. One of the things that Paul is getting at here in terms of our spiritual armor is that we need to be sure-footed. We need to avoid sliding and falling. What an insight into what happens in spiritual warfare. How many times don't our feet slide out from underneath us and we end up going for a dive? Sometimes what happens is you want to give the enemy a good kick, but even as you're giving the enemy a good kick your other foot slides out and before you know it you're on your behind and you wonder what happened. Other times you're walking the slippery slope, you think you can avoid the temptation, you can avoid falling into sin, but you're getting a little too close to it and before you know it your feet slide out from underneath you and there you go. The protection is to have your feet fit, he says, with the readiness or the preparation that comes from the gospel of peace. Before I talk more about that, understand too the second function of the sandal is to make you light on your feet because part of warfare is that you need to be able, you need to be limber, a lot of us here are perhaps old enough to remember the days of Cassius Clay before he was Muhammad Ali and famous boxer of course, and rose to fame in part because he was so swift on his feet, he danced around all his opponents and he won a lot of championships that way. The history of warfare shows you, it's an interesting thing, the history of warfare shows you that the armies that were most adaptable to the changing times typically had the advantage when it came to the battle and Dave Botting and I were talking about that just this past week and Dave made the observation that typically when a new war breaks out the leaders are the generals that have come up through the past wars and for that reason are often behind the times when methods of warfare are changing and so too in the Christian life, Satan is a strategist, he is constantly as you know on the lookout to do his thing and so if we fight today's battles with yesterday's methods, if we are slow and sluggish, he's got the advantage all over us and part of having our feet fit with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace is to be able to make the adaptation to be light enough on our feet so that we can respond to the changing strategies of hell. And all of these provisions again, Paul says are in Christ, in Christ we have what it takes to stand firm. So what's the meaning then of the phrase with your feet fit with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace, well there are different interpretations, a lot of commentators think it means be ready to share the gospel at the drop of a hat and that certainly is a possible interpretation and a legitimate one but other commentators point out that in this context it's not about evangelism as much as it is about standing against the wilds of the devil and so others then talk about the preparedness refers to living in the peace of God. That is to say peace in our relationship with God, peace in our own hearts and peace in our relationships with others and that's certainly also a good possibility because how many times doesn't it happen in living the Christian life that we get knocked flat on our backs because we're not confident about our relationship with God, we're not confident about our relationship with other people, we struggle, we're in a battle, we have relational tension or sometimes we're just in turmoil on the inside and God calls us to step out into the battle, we have to stand up for what is right, we have to stand up for what God is calling us to and frankly we just can't because our feet have slipped. I love the way the psalmist puts it in Psalm 73 verse 2 but as for me my feet had almost slipped, I had nearly lost my foothold and that's of course in the context of envy for the wicked because he looked around him the psalmist did and he saw how prosperous the wicked were and then he looked at his own life and he said all in vain I have kept my hands clean, what good is it to be a believer when unbelievers seem to have such easy lives compared with me and he says my feet had almost slipped and I dare say there's more than one of us here this morning who by times has wondered is this really what I've bargained for when I gave my life to Jesus, life was easier before I met up with him and of course life was easier before you met up with him, it's like a swimmer floating down the river out to sea as long as you go with the flow there is no awareness of a fight never mind it eventually end out in the ocean discover that you're heading out for the ocean start trying to swim for the shore and what happens all of a sudden you discover how strong is the current and what a fight it is that you have on your hands and so I love the way Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 16 verse 13 he says be on your guard stand firm in the faith be men or women of courage be strong so we are to have our feet equipped with readiness that comes from the gospel of peace which brings us then next to the fourth item of our armor which is the shield of faith verse 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 the shield of faith a couple of things to note here that I think are rather critical and one interestingly enough is that the tense of the verbs change I had never noticed this in all my years of reading this passage until somebody pointed it out to me up until now each piece of the armor is expressed in terms of the passive or the middle voice that is to say it is something that happens to you you have the belt of truth buckled around your waist you have the breastplate of righteousness in place and you have your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel but now the verb becomes active take up your shield of faith put on the helmet of salvation and take hold of the sword of the spirit which is the word of God and so here's the picture picture a Roman soldier who is dressed for battle but he's taking a breather so he has on his breastplate he has on his belt holding it all together he has on his sandals but he's taken off his helmet he has put down his shield and he has put down his sword and he's sitting around carousing with the friends when all of a sudden there is the cry enemy at 10 o'clock so what does he do he grabs his helmet puts it on his head grabs his shield grabs his sword gets on his feet and he prepares to fight that's the image you're equipped for battle you're taking a breather but you step into the battle and you take the shield of faith now the Roman shield as you might have noticed on that picture earlier was a humongous piece of war equipment to carry around it was anywhere between three and four feet high it was at least two feet wide it was curved the Roman soldier would hold it like this with his arm and it weighed in the neighborhood of 15 to 20 pounds you think pressing 10 pound weights gets your arm tired you ought to try carrying one of those shields with you into battle that's no little picnic and it was made of wood but it was typically covered with hide to give it some additional strength and Paul calls it the shield of faith now Scripture says faith is the assurance of things hoped for Hebrews 11 verse 1 the conviction of things not seen very important to understand that because what that means is faith says God is and because God is through Christ I am in relationship with him so he loves me he has committed himself to my good he will provide for all of my needs and nothing but nothing in all of the universe can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord that's of course the good news of the gospel so it's this shield of faith Paul says with which we can quench all the fiery darts or the flaming arrows of the evil one now a fiery dart or a flaming arrow is pretty self-explanatory it's an arrow that has been dipped in a flammable substance and lit and its aim is to burn down whatever it reaches and so if it can lodge in your shield it can set your shield on fire if it can lodge in your clothing it might set your clothing on fire and certainly if it lodges in your thatched roof or your building made of combustible material it will set your building on fire and what an example of how Satan strategizes in your life and in mine how many times doesn't it happen that he will send a fiery dart into our hearts and into our lives that threatens a very existence how many times hasn't it happened for many of us you're sitting in church like this and you're participating in the worship or you're listening to a message or participating in prayer and and all of a sudden there is this thought that cuts through the core of your being and it says I don't know if I believe a word of this how many times doesn't it happen that you will see somebody and all of a sudden there is this inexplainable rage or this this sense of he or she doesn't like me and I don't think I like him or her either and it just lodges in your heart or you're reading your bible or you're listening to some science program and all of a sudden you say to yourself I don't see how the two square up at all burning arrows do you know what I'm talking about doubts that enter in that have a life of their own what happens if you don't pull them out they burn down your whole house before you know it you begin to question the very existence of God before you know it you begin to question the very integrity of his people you begin to question the historicity of scripture you begin to question the goodness of God because Satan has been pointing out to you all the things that are in truth are all lining up they enter into your heart the more you own them the more you ponder them the worse it gets and scripture says we need the shield of faith with which we can quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one we need to hold on to what God has promised and said so that we don't go down the tube with the doubts and the temptations that Satan sends our way then says the Apostle Paul we are to take the helmet of salvation Ephesians 6 verse 17 he says take the helmet of salvation now think that through with me because what does the helmet cover cover your head what do you do with your head I know some of us don't use it very often but our heads for thinking and the book of Proverbs says as a person thinks in his heart or his head so is he and here's the foundational biblical truth we really need to be able to understand one of Satan's primary strategies in getting the people of the world to abandon God and to follow him is to deceive our thinking because most people's thinking eventually translates into their actions which you believe you end up practicing it if for no other reason by night by default and so I love what the Apostle Paul says in second Corinthians 11 verse 3 I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ Satan is after the mind that's why he has huge control over educational systems in the world that's why he has huge control over mass media because it's all about shaping a world and life view that we are immersed in to such a huge degree that most of the time we haven't even begun to understand how far removed we are from God's biblical truth so the antidote to that is what well it is the helmet of salvation and without again belaboring that we need to dwell on that for a moment or two because it's an interesting terminology the helmet of salvation how does our salvation influence our thinking well salvation can be defined like this at least this is the definition that I really like the process whereby God in Christ delivers us from sin and all of its consequences and restores us to our rightful position as the children of God we're all conceived and born in sin God is outside our circle as we know in Christ God brings about reconciliation and so salvation moves us from the world of sin into the kingdom of God but salvation as you may or may not know has three components to it it's summarized first of all in Colossians 1 13 and 14 where Paul says he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of sins that's that whole process of moving us from one world into the other but that process has three tenses if you will there is a past there is a present and there is a future past salvation we call justification I was saved the first time you came to Christ confessed your sin acknowledged him as the Lord of your life you were saved you were moved into that second circle you became positionally a child of God nothing and nobody can take you away from there but salvation is more than a past experience it is also a present experience I am being saved we call that sanctification it's the process whereby God helps us to put off the old and to put on the new as you know it's a lifelong journey but it is an ongoing process whereby the life of Christ in us changes us and transforms us from glory to glory and then salvation has this whole future component I will be saved that is to say there is coming a day when this journey will be completed when sin will be done with once and for all where the wickedness that is present in the world that continues with us even today will be totally removed thrown in the lake of fire and God will make a new heaven and a new earth and Paul says put on the helmet of salvation when your thinking messes you up and the enemy comes along and he tries to blow his lies into your heart and mind then remember I came to Christ I belong to him I was saved devil go away you've got no power over me and when you're struggling with a need for transformation and the besetting sins that so seem to own you to the point where you say what is the use God will never come through that's the time to remember that greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world and the work that he's begun in you he will bring to completion in the day of Jesus Christ and then when you despair about the state of the church or you despair about the state of the world or you despair that peace on earth good will towards men will ever be a reality then you got to remember history has an ending we know from scripture what that ending is going to be Jesus Christ is going to reign Lord of Lords and King of Kings and he is going to squash every enemy under his feet see that's what Paul talks about when later on in one Thessalonians 5 8 he says but since we belong to the day see we're already there since we belong to the day let us be self-controlled putting on faith and love as a breastplate and the hope of salvation as a helmet the hope of salvation he says put on the helmet of salvation cover your thinking with the truth of God saving power past present and future in Christ Jesus our Lord making sense that's what he's talking about that's part of the armor of God well very quickly then to wind up one piece of armor that remains and that is the sword of the spirit verse 60 17 of this chapter he says take the sword of the spirit which is the word of God don't know if you've noticed it but of all the armor that he has been describing this is the first piece of weaponry that can be used offensively everything else has been defensive the belt of truth the breastplate of righteousness your shoes your shield of faith your helmet of salvation all of them have as a purpose to ward off the attacks of the enemy so that you can remain standing and the sword too can be used defensively it can be used to ward off you know all the sword fights we used to have as kids you can ward off the attacks coming against you but it's more than that it's also offensive and here is the first weapon that God gives you and me so that we can actually step into enemy territory and send him fleeing the sword of the spirit which is the word of God thank God we don't just have to stand around for the rest of our lives passively waiting for the enemy to come at us with his shots there is a place too where having stood we can wield the sword of the spirit which is the word of God and we can put to flight the enemy the best example of that just for the record is of course the Lord Jesus in his wilderness temptations in Matthew chapter 4 you will recall that after he was baptized by the Holy Spirit he was driven into the wilderness he was tempted by the devil for 40 days and 40 nights the first temptation is recorded in Matthew's gospel is Jesus you're hungry you are the son of God why don't you make some bread out of these stones that are all around you seemed like a logical temptation after all you have the power to make this happen but Jesus response was a quotation from scripture it is written man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God Satan was not about to be undone he then took him to the holy city had him stand on the highest point of the temple and he said if you are the son of God throw yourself down God's angels will catch you you see the devil is a great imitator Jesus quote scripture now the devil knows how to quote scripture the devil knows the Bible better than you do believe you me and he's not afraid to use it on you to try to get the advantage over you so he says why don't you jump down and you can demonstrate to everybody that you're the Messiah because you see everybody was expecting the Messiah to suddenly appear in his glory notice again Jesus doesn't debate him doesn't argue with him but rather he quotes scripture it is also written do not put the Lord your God to the test while Satan is not about to be discouraged and so now he takes him to a very high mountain and he showed them all the kingdoms of the world and their glory now understand this he says to Jesus bow down before me and all of this I will give you that's no idle boast just for the record because he is said to be the God of this world that is to say he is behind the political and the economic and the military geniuses of this world to establish the kingdom of to establish his own kingdom God is greater than he is but for reasons we won't get into now God allows that to happen and he says to Jesus talk about a temptation you worship me and all of this everything that the human race has ever striven to own everything that everybody wants you know talk about winning the lottery I let you win the lottery if you give me your loyalty and again what does Jesus do he quotes scripture he says it is written away from me Satan for it is written worship the Lord your God and serve him only who remembers the next verse in Matthew chapter four verse eleven then the devil left him and the angels came and attended him see the day of evil doesn't last forever times of temptation have their moments of victory and you and I are called upon then to draw on the resources of Christ so that we can remain standing notice the emphasis here on putting on the armor of God Jesus has done everything that needs to be done so that you and I can remain standing even in the day of evil and history is filled with men and women simple believers like you and I who have by God's grace stood firm under the greatest temptation in the midst of the greatest trials in the midst of the hottest fires because they had put on the armor of God and perhaps Lord willing next time when we come back to this we'll talk about that in more detail but now as we wind this up and we turn to communion here's where I want us to end how do we put on the armor of God doesn't help to leave it on the hangers in the closet Jesus as I said has done everything that needs to be done so that we can remain standing our responsibility as the hymn stand up stand up for Jesus declared so so boldly many years ago each piece put on with prayer it's through our union with Christ that we can be fortified and as we eat by faith his body and drink his blood symbolized in the celebration of communion what we're saying is I don't have what it takes to do this myself I really don't but Jesus you do so equip me prepare me and what happens then is he opens our eyes to the nature of the spiritual battle I am convinced that many many believers wouldn't recognize the devil if he stood right in front of them because he often comes as an angel of light but in Christ our perception can be sharpened in Christ we will grow in our awareness of our places of vulnerability remember the devil is a strategist he is not a foolish warrior if he sees that your shield is up he is not just going to keep on budding into your shield he will withdraw and he will look for your places of vulnerability the places of besetting sin the places of tiredness the places of weariness the places of disillusionment and when you are least on your guard he will shoot his fiery arrows and he will try to take you down and before you know it you're lying flat on your back and you wonder how you got there all it takes is a hole in your armor but Jesus can show us where our places of vulnerability lie and just for the record vulnerability is not always in the places of our greatest weakness because our place of greatest weakness is usually where we are most aware and we best have our guard in place our greatest vulnerability is offered in the places of our greatest victory and in the greatest places of our strength because scripture says let anybody who thinks that he stands beware lest he fall and then Jesus by his word and through his spirit can work in us the ability then to draw on his equipment so that we can we can know the truth and stand firm in it we can have our hearts covered with a breastplate of righteousness so that our hearts aren't going to lead us astray we can have our feet prepared so that we can both stand firm and we can be nimble enough to change strategy we can we can have the shield of faith put it up and the doubts and the temptations come flying our way we can put on the helmet of salvation and control our thoughts Peter says be sober and self-controlled Paul says God has not given us a spirit of timidity but of power love and sound mind God wants to control our thinking and then we can use the shield of faith not the sort of the spirit which is the word of God and we can say it is written God can give us the scripture passages that we need when we need them to put to death the lies of the devil but we have to be prepared to pick it up and to use it and so now as we turn to communion let's just ask God to do in our lives what needs to be done so that when all has been said and done in good times and in bad times we can take our stand for God and having done all remain standing yes stand with me as we pray Father in a moment or two we're going to turn to communion and as we turn to communion we acknowledge first of all that that we've all seen and fallen short of your glory and that it's only because of the blood of Jesus that any of us can stand and so Lord in the places where we need to be convicted about that show us and show us what we need to do about that but because of Jesus we're also clothed with his righteousness and so help us also to believe that that is true of us even when sometimes we don't feel it or it seems like it and because of Jesus we're also called to stand in the battle so Lord show us where the battles rage and show us what our part in those battles is to be not only individually but also collectively and then when sometimes we are afraid and when so often we feel inadequate and when so often we don't know if we can see it through and help us Lord by faith to believe that whatever we need has been given to us in the person of Jesus so clothe us with the armor of God help us to put on each piece by peace in prayer and then in our daily walk in our daily lives may we as soldiers of Christ remain faithful to you faithful to your calling upon our lives knowing that in the end there awaits your children a crown of righteousness that the Lord will reward to those who have been faithful [PROPOSED CUT 1 START at 00:41:24.700; remove through 00:45:27.000] in that final day even so [CUT] Maranatha come quickly Lord Jesus amen. My hope is found he is my life my strength my soul this cornerstone the solid ground firm through the fiercest drought and storm what heights of love what depths of peace and fears I feel that striving seems my comforter my all in all here in the love of Christ I stay in Christ alone who took on flesh fullness of God in helpless pain this gift of love and righteousness stormed by the ones he came to save to all that cross as Jesus died the wrath of God was satisfied for every sin on him was laid here in the death of Christ I live there in the ground his body lay a light of the world by darkness slain that bursting cold in glorious day up from the grave he rose again and as he stands in victory since curse has lost its grip on me for I live and he is mine but with the precious blood of Christ no fear in death this is the power of Christ in me from life's first cry Jesus comments my destiny no power of hell no scheme of man can ever part me from his hand till he returns or calls me home here in the power of Christ I'll stay no power of hell no scheme of man can ever part me from his hand till he returns or calls me home here in the power of Christ I'll stay [CUT] [PROPOSED CUT 1 END at 00:45:27.000; resume after this marked segment]