The Full Armour of God

SERMON: 2016-11-06--e0601--the-full-armour-of-god-part-1 SOURCE DURATION: 00:38:20.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 1.00 APPROVED: false REASON: The material from segment [0] through segment [375] constitutes a continuous theological exposition and pastoral application regarding Christian conflict and spiritual warfare. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: none ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: no ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: none Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- Well, I pointed out last week that the Christian life is a life of conflict biblically speaking. Paul says in Ephesians 6 verse 12, "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." And we've been seeing in recent weeks that what God is looking for in your life and my life is for us not only to understand what our identity in Christ is as the children of God, but to leave it out by the power of the Holy Spirit. So that by the power of God's Holy Spirit we can accomplish those good works that God has prepared for us from before the foundation of the world. And we've been seeing together that as we grab hold of that vision, as we try to step into those places, try to live out of the core gifting of our hearts, that's when we discover that there is a battle. And sometimes that battle comes to us in the form of flesh and blood. Other people, sometimes people closest to us who take issue with the fact that they no longer can control us because we're controlled by King Jesus. But behind flesh and blood, according to Paul's teaching here, are what he calls the rulers, the authorities, the powers of this dark world, and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Those forces are the spiritual forces that are in league with Satan. The name means adversary. He hates God. He hates the purposes of God. He hates it when you and I escape from his power and submit ourselves to God's power. And he hates it even more when we become instruments in the hands of God to rescue other people. And so the more we commit ourselves to following the Lord, the more we commit ourselves to living in our spiritual gifts individually and corporately, the more we will experience that conflict of which the scriptures speak. That is not a sign of failure. That is not a sign that we're doing something wrong. That is not a sign that we are losers. No, it just means that we have become a threat to Satan's kingdom. How do we protect ourselves? We protect ourselves by putting on the full armor of God. Paul puts it this way in the passage that we have been looking at. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. Then verse 13, 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 the emphasis is on remaining standing. And as Martin Luther wrote so many years ago in the great hymn of mighty fortresses are God did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, we're not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing. There's only one person who was able to live in such a way that the devil had no hold on him. His name is Jesus. And when you and I by faith are joined to Jesus, the victory that he has won, he shares with you and with me and it comes to us in the form of spiritual armor. The armor is complete. It is the whole armor of God. But you and I have a responsibility to put it on and to the degree to which we put it on to that degree, God's promises that we can remain standing in the day of evil. And I think you will agree with me, we live in a day of evil. We live in a day when Christian values are blatantly being disregarded in our society. And when the values from down below are embraced in the name of love and tolerance that includes everybody except Christians. So having painted the big picture of the whole armor of God, Paul now goes on in this particular passage to talk about the individual pieces of armor, the provisions that God has made in Christ to enable us to remain standing in the day of battle. And in the time that remains this morning, let's at least make a start at looking at those individual pieces of armor. Want to begin then with what Paul calls the belt of truth. Stand firm with a belt of truth buckled around your waist. Now it's really interesting that in Greek it actually says having your loins girded with truth. That is a phrase that you will find in older Bible translations. The newer translations don't translate it quite that way. But your loins are of course your waist area. It is in biblical language the place of vigor and strength. Children are said to come forth from your loins. And the phrase having your loins gird, girded, refers to the fact that in biblical days people wore long flowing robes. And if you were caught in a situation where you had to run or make fast movements, of course those robes would get in the way. And so what would you do? Well, you would hoist up your skirt so to speak, tie it with a belt or a sash around your waist so that you could be free to move. So the phrase your loins girded about is a biblical way of saying be ready for action. Don't be caught off guard, don't be caught short. And so Jesus puts it this way in Luke 12 verse 35 and this is the King James version of it. Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning. And then the NIV translates in the more modern fashion be dressed ready for service. Don't be caught off guard. Peter does the same thing in 1 Peter 1 verse 13, again in the King James. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The loins of your mind. In other words, be mentally prepared and active standing for the truth waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus. So when Paul talks here about the belt of truth, he is talking about a preparedness that is necessary to engage into spiritual conflict. The belt was also one of the ways in which your scabbard was attached to you so that you could have your sword handy and again, an indication of being prepared for the battle. Now here's the thing of course, this belt, says Paul, is the belt of truth. Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. Raises the question immediately, what is truth? And you might recall that's the question the apostle or Pontius Pilate asked of Jesus. He said, what is truth? And it's the question that many, many, many people are asking today. And many people are answering, we don't know what the truth is because in today's society, there is no such thing as absolute truth. Truth is what you make it. Truth is what you experience. Truth is the narrative that your clan has written up. And so truth for a lot of people is just what I want it to be. Very convenient because then you can do whatever you want to do. But that's not, as you will know, the Bible's version. The Bible's version of truth is that it's the way things really are from God's perspective. It doesn't matter what you think, it doesn't matter what I think, it doesn't matter what I feel, it doesn't matter what you feel, it's what God says is true. And that truth is written to us in the created order before it fell. That truth is revealed to us on the pages of scripture. And that truth more than anything is revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ. He put it this way in John 14, 6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." And what Jesus means to say here is that he is the bridge between a holy God and a sinful people. When Jesus says, "I am the truth," he says, "Look at me to see what God thinks of a fallen humanity." If you ever want to know what God thinks about sin, look at Jesus on the cross. If you ever want to know the truth about God, look at the holiness of Jesus as he reflects the person of God. So when Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me," he is really saying God is supremely holy. The human race is supremely sinful under subjection to Satan's power. And the only way a sinful people can be restored to a holy God is by the cross of Jesus. There is no other way to salvation. All roads do not lead to heaven. All religious systems do not lead to truth. The only way to be saved is to repent of your sin, put your faith in Jesus, and surrender your life to him. That is the overwhelming message of the gospel, and that's what Paul is referring to first and foremost when he talks about the belt of truth. The battle begins by a clear understanding and a clear embracing of the truth of the gospel that only in Jesus Christ is there salvation. Now why do I make a point of that? Because Satan is a liar, and he is the father of lies. He hates the dividing line that runs through humanity between those who are the children of God and those who are the children of Satan. If he can erase that dividing line and make the children of Satan think they are the children of God, then people cannot possibly escape from under his power, and the kingdom of God cannot possibly come. And so Satan is constantly at work sowing confusion, trying to deceive people concerning the truth. And our obligation is to understand the truth clearly, proclaim it clearly, and live it clearly. I love the way Paul writes it in Galatians 1 verse 18, "Even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach a gospel other than the one we preach to you, let him be eternally condemned." The word is anathema, Paul's way of saying, "If anybody compromises on the truth of the gospel, let him go to hell." Strong language. We're not comfortable with strong language, and because there are all kinds of people in the world who are rigid and unloving and unkind and who don't manifest the Spirit of Jesus in their conflict with the world, that having been said, the gospel can never ever be compromised because when you do, God cannot save the world. There is no other way. So whenever you hear teaching, or whenever you hear movements, or whenever you find there is somebody trying to persuade you about some point of view, the first question that you must always ask yourself, and I've talked about this before, but it bears repeating, where is the cross of Jesus in what is being suggested and being proposed? Does this message, does this philosophy, does this movement emphasize that we are totally fallen away from God, totally subject to God's judgment, does it teach me that only in repentance and in faith, in coming to Jesus, can I experience the saving power of God? Not that complicated, but you will find that if you ask yourself that question, you can see through most of the devil's lies. I have to tell you, I cannot believe how susceptible God's people are to a whole host of philosophies out there that come at us, that sound good, that are discriminatory against the cross of Jesus because the cross is rejected as foolishness, and it's harmful and it's destructive. So Paul says we are to put on the belt of truth, and then he goes on to say we need to put on the breastplate of righteousness. Confirm then, with a belt of truth buckled around your waist, with a breastplate of righteousness in place, and what you can see from the picture there, and that's actually a pretty accurate picture of the kind of breastplate that the Roman soldiers used in the time that Paul was writing. If you study the history of Roman armor, then it went through all kinds of different modifications as the decades and years went by, but as you can tell, a breastplate, a breastplate as it's described to here, covers the chest, covers the abdomen, sometimes it would extend further down and covered part of your bowels as well, and that is significant in that it - well it's like a flak jacket that police use today, right, or people that are involved in a military situation. The breastplate or the flak jacket covers your vital organs, the biggest target when somebody's coming after you and the most dangerous, and so it includes your lungs, it includes your heart, and it includes your stomach and your bowels as well, and the heart in Scripture is always identified as the seat of your intellect, or the seat of your emotions, and the seat of your passions, it includes the will, often includes the intellect, often includes the emotions as well, and bowels in biblical language is a very interesting thing, bowels are often the gauge of your emotional state, and you know, if you've ever been in a situation where you have been required to step out of your comfort zone into something else, you will know the butterflies in your stomach and you will know how many times you've got to run to the bathroom just to stay on target, that's where that kind of notion comes from. And so these vital organs of our lives are especially Satan's target because if he can get to our heart, if he can get to our will, if he can get to our emotions, he can take us in a lot of directions that the Lord God would not have us go. In fact, let me give you just very quickly three reasons why the heart needs the covering of the breastplate. First of all, it's because our hearts easily lead us astray. Proverbs 423 above all else, "Guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." And what that means is that what your heart feels is often what you end up doing. And how many people don't you and I know who have drifted away from the path of faith because their heart was drawn to another love. A young woman who abandons her walk with God and her desire for purity because she loves her boyfriend or vice versa. A man or a woman who sills out his passion for God because he or she craves the riches or the wealth of the world or the approval of his or her friends. And so our hearts are a wonderful tool that God gives us to motivate us and to engage us and to drive us forward, but that also makes our hearts very dangerous. Because if the devil can find a way into our loyalties, into our affections, then that's going to change us. Some time back, I was really surprised. In fact, it was at Roberta's mother's funeral. I got into conversation with a man in our denomination that I have known for many, many years and have respected tremendously because he has been so innovative and so desirous to see the kingdom of God move forward. And this was just after Synod met and Synod had this big, long discussion about providing pastoral care for people who struggle with same-sex attractions in the church. And I said, well, what did you think of that, and I was shocked to hear his very negative reaction to the position our denomination had adopted, which was actually a pretty good position, biblically speaking, if you consider the tremendous forces that are at work to deal with this particular issue. And then he went on to explain the reason why he felt the way that he felt is because he has a son that is gay. And my heart went out to him because I can understand what kind of a struggle that is, but that illustrates how easily our hearts get in the way. You see, most people are prepared to submit to biblical truth on issues like divorce and remarriage and biblical morality and you name it until somebody that is close to them steps into those areas and then all of a sudden we've got to recalculate what the Bible is saying because our hearts are tugging at us, isn't that true? Satan knows how to capitalize on the niceness of relationships. Second reason that Satan capitalizes on our hearts is because our hearts are easily overcome with fear. If you've ever been in a situation where you have been invited to step out into something that you've never been in before, then you know what fear is. I remember years ago when I first came to this community I was invited to be one of the speakers at the All Ontario Convention in Kingston at Queen's University of the Utah and as providence would have it, I seem to remember that I had to, I think I spoke twice at the beginning of this event, but also at the very end. You don't know terror until you've got to speak to a thousand young kids who have been up all weekend and who are much more interested in flirting with each other than they are hearing the truth about the book of Proverbs that says commit your way to the Lord and he'll make your path straight. Never you mind, just let me be. And I remember in the session before that which I think Henry Wildeborg was doing, I was sitting on the top bleachers in the back and I'm sitting there and I don't want to be crude about this but I just about did my pants. Actually I have never been so petrified in my life and it's in moments like that that you say to yourself how in heaven's name did I ever get myself into this situation? I should have just been smart and said no when the invitation came my way. Ever been there? Hearts tremble with fear. The psalmist put it this way, he said I am poured out like water, and this is a Messianic psalm, psalm 22, I am poured out like water, all my bones are out of joint, my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels. There you got the two together. My heart is running right down into my love biblical language like that. Just for the record a lot of Bible translations really clean up the emotional intensity of the Psalms because they don't think good Christian people can handle how dirty and ugly sometimes life can be. Third reason, our hearts are susceptible because Satan in scripture is the accuser of the brethren. If the devil cannot tempt us into sin then he will try to accuse us with everything that he can. And if ever you have found yourself in a position where you are stepping out into something new and the challenges are big and your heart is full of fear and you are wondering you know how can I do that then you will know the devil comes along and he will remind you of everything in you that is inadequate. He will remind you of every sin that you have ever faced and he will remind you who do you think you are that you think you can do this particular thing. He wants to dissuade us from obedience by playing on our fears and our insecurities and our places of brokenness. Michelle and I used to joke in the early years of my ministry that we could only have a marital fight that lasted for less than a week because you see Sunday would come along and if I was going to preach on Sunday I have to have my relations in proper order so we'd fight like dogs and cats upon occasion but I had to make sure to make up by the time Sunday rolled around it was a good discipline so that I couldn't carry grudges beyond six days. Short too. You should try it straighten your life out before you come to church and it will shorten your fights by a long shot. So our hearts are susceptible and the antidote to all of that says the Apostle Paul is of course the breastplate of righteousness stand firm then with a breastplate of righteousness in place. The only one who ever lived a hundred percent righteous was the Lord Jesus. And John's gospel has a fascinating little verse that we tend to read over without giving much thought to but it's very telling. It's Jesus speaking he says he's talking about when he's going back to the Father he says I will not speak to you much longer for the prince of this world is coming he knows he's going to the cross and God's going to give him over into Satan's hands but then he says this he has no hold on me. The Greek says he has nothing in me do you know what that means? It means there is nothing in Jesus that Satan can latch on to. There is nothing in Jesus that gives Satan power or authority over Jesus that's why Jesus could die on the cross death could not hold him. God raised him from the dead because Satan's power was completely broken because of Jesus's obedience unto death. The only one that ever lived perfectly righteous before God the Father was Jesus. Jesus himself says you know who accuses me of sin? How many of us can say that? We can't. So what we need is the breastplate of righteousness that is the righteousness of Jesus that enables us to stand against the wilds of the devil. Now when it comes to the righteousness of Jesus it's very helpful to understand that we can distinguish between righteousness that is imputed and righteousness that is imparted. Righteousness that is imputed and righteousness that is imparted gets a little technical but stick with me and then we'll be done in a few moments. Very important distinction imputed or imparted you can say objective subjective you can say positional you can say experiential. Imputed righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus that is credited to our account. The Bible says concerning well imputed righteousness is righteousness that is credited to us on account of Jesus Romans 4 9 Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. What that means is that because Jesus was perfectly righteous you and I by faith in him not only have all our sins forgiven and I've talked about this many times before but it's so critical to see it we are considered righteous before God and when the devil comes at you and reminds you that you're a no good loser that you have failed all your life that you can never be like other people who measure up to whatever status you think we ought to be measuring up to in the kingdom then you need to declare I am righteous in Christ doesn't matter how messed up you are doesn't matter how many sins you're still stuck in doesn't matter how big your failures are doesn't matter how bad you've been or how bad you're going to be in Christ you are the righteousness of God we call that justification. We are perfectly righteous before God and so when the devil comes after you or the devil comes after me when he tries to rub our noses in our failures in the fact that our hearts are just twisted and we're in love with the present world and we just cannot be what God wants us in Christ that's not you in Christ you are righteous from God's point of view and as long as we confess our sins and keep short account with God the devil can't get at you that's pretty good news you know that's the breastplate of righteousness and if you don't get that would you please ask the Lord to show you what that is because it's the remedy to shame it's the remedy to self-effacement it's the remedy to I'm no good I'm never going to be able to get there never you mind you're already there in Christ you are that's you receive it by faith that's why we're saved by faith you see we're saved not because we feel it or experience it but because God says so but there's a second side to righteousness and that's where we need to understand the lack of confusion that's this is where we often get confused the other side is imparted righteousness which is the righteousness worked in us on account of Jesus remember that under the terms of the new covenant we're joined by faith to Jesus and when we're joined by faith to Jesus the Holy Spirit comes to live in us the Holy Spirit applies to us the benefits of who we are in Christ helps us to recognize what's bad helps us to put that off helps us to recognize what's good stirs in us the desire for righteous living and begins to change our lives so that from the heart we become obedient to the standard of truth to which we have been committed thanks be to God this is Romans 6 verse 17 and 18 that you who are once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you are committed and having been set free from sin have become slaves of righteousness and we call that sanctification we need both we need positional righteousness of Jesus but we also need to learn to keep our lives free from sin so that the enemy cannot come after us and use those places of sin in our lives to discredit us or to tear us down and the more we are involved in ministry or the more we are involved in trying to lead an obedient life before God the more important it is to heed the words of Jesus when he said to his apostles be innocent as doves but wise as serpents and you know why that matters because when you live obediently you're going to make enemies people are going to misunderstand you their feelings are going to be hurt and when their feelings are hurt and they're under the conviction of the Holy Spirit because of your life and your testimony they're going to turn around and they're going to look at you and they're going to try to justify their position by finding anything in your life that they can find to hang on to so that they can discredit your message you understand what I'm saying and if they can find something in you that they can find blameworthy then they can write you off and they think they don't have to listen to you because you're no better than they are and that becomes an excuse for them to reject the truth of the gospel and our job is to put on the breastplate of righteousness we'll never do it perfectly and there will be lots of things in our lives that we have to keep taking responsibility for but the less cracks we have in our armor the less opportunity we give to our opponent to try to tear us down which is why the New Testament constantly says to the church live upright lives in God and in Christ so they cannot speak evil of you how many people are offended how many people do not come to Jesus because there's a Christian in their lives that lives hypocritically that says one thing and does another and gives cause for offense and how important for us to walk in humility how important it is for us to embrace our own failures and our own shortcomings and say yes I know these things are true but what I stand for is true nevertheless and Jesus still calls you to follow him you know we talked earlier and I'm going to close with this about the chaos of the presidential election south of the border I don't know that there's ever been a campaign with so much mud slinging and name-calling and all of that kind of stuff why because if I can throw mud at you and it can stick with you that I can discredit you and I can discredit your position and when the race is on and the stakes are high I will try to find anything that I can find in you to nail you and if I can't find the truth and I will make it up until I can win the battle that's a strategy of hell and the biblical antidote is the breastplate of righteousness those are the provisions that God has made in Christ I think that's where we'll stop I had wanted to go on to the next item which deals with having your feet shod with the equipment of the gospel of peace but I'm giving you homework assignment go home look at that verse having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace and do some thinking and do some research what in the world does that verse mean of all the verses in this passage that is the hardest one to understand and has the most different interpretations come back next week and Lord willing I'm going to give you the [PROPOSED CUT 1 START at 00:38:14.520; remove through 00:38:20.000] right interpretation with all humility. 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