"Know Your Armor, Part 1" Ephesians 6:10-17
- Senior Pastor, Robert Dennison, preached this message on July 2, 2023.
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Audio Transcript
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Let’s take our Bibles and turn to Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 10 through 15. And I know it says up there, know your enemy. If you were here last week, you know that that was last week’s sermon. I’m not doing the same thing again. It should say, know your armor, part one.
And that’s. That’s my boo boo. So know youw Armor, Part 1. Ephesians, Chapter 6. Begin reading in verse 10.
Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil spiritual forces in the heavens. For this reason, take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day. And having prepared everything to take your stand.
Stand therefore with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest and your feet sandaled with the readiness for the gospel of peace. May we pray? Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a good, gracious, loving, omnipotent Father. And we thank you, Father, that your word reflects all of that, that it is good for us and that in it we can find everything that we need to know regarding salvation and how to live our lives so, so that we might please you and reflect your Son’s image in this world. In his name we pray.
Amen. Just as a bit of review, we talked last week and we talked about knowing your enemy. Verse 11 says, Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. We are not fighting against others. We’re not fighting against governments.
We’re fighting in all of our battles against the schemes of the devil. The devil is our enemy. And we find that helping him. Here are a host of fallen angels or demons. It speaks to them as the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of darkness against evil spiritual forces in the heavens.
Just want to comment that we seem to see here that there’s some order of rank among the demons, as there are ranks in our military. Today we see a similar thing talking about the angels that are not fallen. Over in Colossians 1:15 16 when we read about Jesus Christ, that He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For everything was created by him in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him. And for Him.
Just want to Comment that that term firstborn there does not mean that Jesus Christ came into existence at some point. He is eternal. He is part of the Trinity. He has always existed. But in this case, as in other parts of Scripture, firstborn does not always refer to birth order, but sometimes it refers to the preferred or the favored child who would be the leader of the family.
Hence, Jesus is the favored son. He is the leader over all creation. We see a similar thing in Psalm 89:27, where God says of David, I will also make him my firstborn, greatest of the kings of the earth. David definitely was not the firstborn son, but he was God’s preferred son to be the king. Now, what we see here are not the evil side of the demons, but that of the angels.
That again, there are thrones, there are dominions, there are rulers, and there are authorities. Once again we seem to see that there are ranks among the angels similar to those within the demonic world. We know that some angels are seraphim. We know that some are cherubim. We know that Michael was an archangel.
And these different angels have different functions. In Revelation, Michael is leading all of his angels, those that are under him, against the dragon. It also tells us that Michael was the great prince that stood over the Israeli people. And on the other hand, there was the evil demon who was over the prince of Persia. Different ranks.
Just mentioning today that there is an enemy out there and he has a vast army that is out to get you. But not only are we supposed to know our enemy, but most importantly, we need to know our real source of strength. We must not take pride in our own resources or strength, especially when it comes to spiritual warfare, because our human resources will definitely not prevail against Satan and his evil host. We go to Psalm 20, verse 6, 8. Now I know that the Lord, not us or any other person, gives victory to his anointed.
He will answer him from his holy heaven with mighty victories from his right hand. Some take pride in chariots and others in horses. But instead of taking pride in our own resources, we are to take pride in the name of the Lord our God. And then they collapse and fall. But we rise and stand just to review.
You need to know your enemy. You need to know your source of strength. Today we’re going to be looking at know your armor. We go back to verse 13 for this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to resist in the evil day. And having prepared everything to take your stand.
The source of our armor is God himself. He has forged this armor for us. He offers it to us freely. There aren’t any extra pieces, we aren’t short any pieces. He knows exactly what we need because he understands and knows the enemy far better than we do.
He is able to make and provide armor that is not just somewhat adequate, but armor that is completely adequate for the task. We would be foolish to try to figure out how we would make our own armor. Imagine going to Walmart and saying now what do I need to pick up here today so I could fight against Satan and his demons? I mean, what aisle would you go down, the toy aisle and get a water gun or would you go to fishing and get some tackle? I don’t know.
We can’t prepare to fight against Satan. That’s why we have to depend on, depend upon God. And not only would it be foolish, but it’d be a waste of time because God’s already provided the armor. Why do we need to make something different? Imagine two soldiers going into a modern day battle.
Soldier one picks up the equipment that’s been provided for him, he picks up the weapons, he picks up the clothing that are provided to him, the jeep, whatever they’re giving, and he takes it and he goes against the enemy into battle. But then imagine soldier two. He refuses the garments, he refuses equipment, and he just decides, well as I’m going to the enemy, I’m going to pick things up along the side of the road so I can use those to fight. Which of the soldiers is going to make it through the day? More than likely it’s going to be soldier number one who takes what’s prepared for him instead of the one who’s trying to prepare the for himself.
Know your armor. We’re going to look at three different pieces of armor today. Verse 14 says, Stand therefore with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace. Look at the belt of truth. We’re going to look at the breastplate of righteousness and we’re going to look at the shoes of the gospel.
Note your armor, the belt of truth around your waist. For the Roman legion, those that were in the army, they had a belt that was made out of strong leather and they placed metal on it for decoration but also to keep the belt from, from rolling over. They wanted something that was sturdy because it was going to have to hold their sword and their dagger and an apron in front and also to hold their breastplate. They weren’t looking for a skinny belt like the ones that my wife sometimes wears. Husbands, do your wives have those?
If I wore those, it would look silly, but it wouldn’t do anything to help to hold my pants up. I want a nice, thick, all leather belt that’s going to last a long time. So it was. The soldiers needed a really good, good belt because the first thing is that the belt held their clothes in place. The soldiers normally wore a long garment, as you see in those hot climates over there, to keep them cool.
But when it was time for the battle, this long, flowing garment, that would be more like a long dress, it wasn’t the thing that you would want to wear when you were running. So they would have to pull it up and they would tuck it into their belt. The belt kept that loose garment from tripping them. It kept them from falling. In essence, their belt kept their shirts down and it kept their pants up.
Imagine running to an emergency and your pants are falling down to your ankles and your shirt’s just flying every which way. If you don’t have the proper belt, that’s what it was going to be like. But a second thing the belt did, it held the offensive weapons. It held the sword and it held the dagger, and it held the weapons in just the right location so that they could be pulled out quickly to fight against the enemy. And without the belt, they would have had a sword, they would have had a dagger, and they would have had a shield.
And if they were just trying to hold all these things, they couldn’t fight. The belt kept things in order. The third thing that the belt did is it held the breastplate in proper balance. The breastplate was somewhere between 22 and 33 pounds, and it was held in place by this belt so that it wasn’t flopping around and falling off of them. What is this belt?
It tells us here that it is the belt of truth. The word truth here means the reality that clearly lies before our eyes. That is what God’s word is for believers, the reality that clearly lies before our eyes. We can know that it’s certain because it is from God. God’s word is truth.
And therefore, having the belt secured around you is having a full understanding of God’s word. The better you understand it, the better your belt, the better you will be prepared for the battle. Now, the world sees all this as foolishness, but we have the spirit in us. And he confirms in our heart that when we read God’s Word, it is the truth. The more of God’s word you have in your mind, the more you have in your heart.
The sturdier, the wider and the heavier this belt of truth will be about you. J. Vernon McGee shares a story. He said, there once was a commander of an army that was about to go into battle. And the night before the battle, he had a wise idea. He had several of his soldiers sneak into the enemy camp and he had them cut all of their belts into two pieces while they were asleep.
So you can imagine the battle the next day they came running out of their tents and their pants were falling down and their shirts were flying and they couldn’t carry their weapons. You know who won that battle. So it is with us. If we don’t have the belt of Truth, we’re not going to be prepared for battle. If you have a lack of truth in your life, you’ll be like a soldier with a weak belt or no belt at all.
And this is the very first piece of armor that we are told to focus on. Therefore, God is telling us that you need to learn more of God’s word in any way and every way that you can. Because without a belt, Satan is going to cause you to stumble. He’s out there to trip you every day. You’ve got to have God’s word in your mind and in your heart.
The reason for this is because it’s all about the truth. And what does Satan do? He is always lying. He’s the father of lies. He was able to deceive Eve.
And if you think back to the circumstances there, Eve was perfect. Her thoughts were perfect, her life was perfect, she had the perfect husband. Everything was going wonderfully, everything was provided. But even in that situation, when she was walking with God every day, Satan is so good at deceiving people that he was able to deceive her and lead others, Adam, to make a wrong choice. Only if Eve had a difficult time withstanding the lies of Satan, we have to understand that we even more so.
That’s why we need to have the truth of God’s word in our life. Satan, for the past 6,000 years has been practicing his skill of lying all that time. Therefore he is an excellent liar. The fourth thing that the belt does is it identified a soldier from the rest of the population. They might not have their helmet on, they might not have their breastplate, but when they had that belt, people said, yes, that is a soldier of the Roman army.
And so it is in the Christian life when we bear the truth of God’s word and the way we live and the way we speak, how we talk to other people and what we share, it identifies us with Jesus Christ. And also on that belt, as they added the metal pieces, the richer you were, the more pieces of metal or the nicer metal you were able to add. And so it is the more of God’s word that we have in our life, that we share with others, it sets us above the rest. The more you know of it, the more you’re going to add to, to your belt so that your belt is stronger and so you’re more identifiable to those around you know, your armor, the belt of truth. Let’s go to John 17, verse 17 through 19.
Let’s just affirm here that the word, the Bible, what we have, is the truth. Jesus said, sanctify them by the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. I sanctify myself for them so that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
You know, God’s word should be a thing of beauty that we wear. God’s Word should be a symbol of status in our life, that we are children of the King. We should speak our Father’s words to others and others should know that we belong to him by what we say. God’s word also sanctifies us like that belt. It sets us apart from all other peoples, from all other religions, and we have the truth in the sure Word of God to carry with us.
Second Timothy 3, 16, 17 tells us how God’s Word helps us. All scripture is inspired by God. That means the Old and the New Testament. If we talk more about it, God gave it to us. And it’s profitable for doing four things.
It teaches us. It tells us how we’re supposed to live. It tells us how we can come to faith in Jesus Christ. But it also gets onto us. It rebukes us when there’s sin in our life.
And it tells us that you need to be sad for that. You need to, to feel bad because what you’ve done is wrong. But the Bible doesn’t just beat us down, but it turns around and it corrects us. It says, don’t do that. But now this is the proper way to do it.
This is the right thing to do. But also has the aspect of training. And just like a soldier has to train continually, so we need to use God’s Word to train ourselves every day. And this is all so that the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work. Or we could say that the soldier of God is complete and equipped for every battle that he needs to fight.
The word of God always prepares us for what we have to do. And the more you know it, the more prepared you will be. Know your armor, the belt of truth. The next piece is the breast plate of righteousness in verse 14. Righteousness like armor on your chest.
According to Rod Mattoon, in Paul’s day, the Roman breastplate was a tough sleeveless piece of armor, leather or heavy cloth in which overlapping slices of either animal, hooves, horns or pieces of metal were laid. It wasn’t that beautiful thing that you see the centurions wearing in place because if you were a common man, you couldn’t afford that. You would have taking whatever hard substances you had to protect yourself. It was wrapped around their entire body. It protected their heart, it protected their lungs and it protected their internal organs.
Now how many of you think those are important to protect? It’s a good thing to keep your heart, your lungs protected. Yes. And your internal organs. I just say that.
Remind us to pray for Joe. His three organ transplant, heart, liver and kidneys went well. He’s very confused and the kidney has not woken up yet. So Rene has asked that we continue to pray for that. He’s only like one of six or eight people in the world that’s ever had a triple organ transplant, so this is a new thing.
But be praying for him. This breastplate of righteousness, it protected all these internal organs that were necessary. And to the Jews, when they talked about your heart, to them it meant their mind and their emotions and their will.
When I talk to my wife, I don’t say I love you with my head. I say I love you with my what? Your heart. So we understand. It’s more just a knowledge here.
It’s this sense of being that controls the way we think and the way we feel and what we will and desire. You know, it’s in all of these areas that Satan is constantly trying to attack us. He attacks your mind. He wants to get you to change your mind about God and what his word says. Remember that’s what he did with Eve.
God didn’t really say that. And God didn’t really mean that. Maybe you’ve got things confused. Satan does that to us. He attacks our mind and our thoughts, trying us to get us not to fully understand God’s word.
That’s why the more you know God’s word, the less likely he can attack your mind. But he’s also there to mess with your emotions, to make you feel like giving up. I don’t feel like a Christian today. Maybe I’M not one. I don’t feel like God loves me today.
Maybe he doesn’t love me. I don’t feel like he hears me. Maybe he doesn’t exist. All of those things are attacks from Satan to use your feelings. But we all know that we can’t live by our feelings.
We have to go back to living according to the truth and especially according to God’s word. He attacks our mind, our emotions, but also our will. He’s going to tempt you to want things that you should not want in God’s Word. Your firm understanding of it will help you to know those things which are good for you and those things which are not. But if you don’t have that firm understanding of God’s word and what it teaches, Satan is more likely to be able to lead you astray, to cause your will to want things that you should not.
What does it mean to have a breastplate of righteousness? It means to live a right or righteous life every day and every hour in order to protect your heart. It means that you’re staying on the right or the righteous path instead of walking on the wrong path over here. Imagine an army that’s going into battle and they’re all marching in formation down the right or the righteous path. And then you have one soldier that’s going to be rogue, and he says, no, I’m going to do my own thing and go off this way.
He’s not going to be protected. He’s going to be on the wrong path. That’s what it means not to live a righteous life. When we’re not following God’s direction, living the way he wants us to, we get off the path where we’re no longer protected like we should be. And it’s something that we have to continually choose to do, to live on the righteous path.
This is impossible for us to do on our own strength. So we have to look to God to first get this breastplate of righteousness. Let’s go to 2nd Corinthians 5:21. And what we’re going to see is that God has provided the righteousness for us. It’s just a matter of us taking it up and using it.
In Second Corinthians 5:21, it says, he made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us. That’s talking about Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, God in the flesh. He never sinned, but he took sin upon himself. For us, that means he came and he lived in a sinful world. He experienced sin and there on the cross he took on the weight of all of our sin.
He felt the pain and the agony that sin causes. And he felt the the guilt of all the sins of the world laid upon him and how it separated him from God. He did that so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. When we turn to God in saving faith, we have the righteousness of God. He gives us the strength to live a righteous life when we are placed in Jesus Christ.
By accepting that righteous life, by living that way, we protect our vital organs, living in obedience to God. But in order to do this, you have to know his word to know how to stay on the right path. At the belt of truth, we have the breastplate of righteousness. Then we come to the shoes of the gospel. Verse 15 says, and your feet sandaled with rock.
Readiness for the gospel of peace. Those don’t look like very good shoes for fighting a battle there. But that was the best that the Romans could come up with in their day. I want you to look at that word readiness. It means that we have to be ready to fight the battle.
The Roman soldiers had to be ready at any time to jump up and out of bed to stop whatever activity they were doing. They needed to have their feet sandaled and ready to go at all times. And so it is for us that we are asked by God to be ready at all times. And what is it that we’re supposed to be ready with? It’s to share the gospel of peace.
Our feet are associated with the gospel because we’re not supposed to just stay in one place in this building and share the gospel. Our feet take us out, out into the world, into the grocery stores, the highways, the byways, the shopping centers, into other people’s homes and all of our going. We’re supposed to be sharing the gospel of peace. And why is it the Gospel of peace? Romans 5:1 says, Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, the word justified means there are all the sins that we’re guilty of.
They’ve been expelled, expunged from our record. It’s completely God clean. So that when God looks at us, he says, I don’t see your sins. They’re as far as the east from the west. What I see in you is my perfect child, because you are in my son Jesus Christ.
Because we’ve been justified by faith. Because our record has been expunged of all evil. It tells us now that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And so it is the Gospel gives us true Peace in our life. It gives us peace between God and us.
The Gospel establishes peace between God and man. Whereas before we were his enemies, now we are his friend. As before we were his enemies, now we are his children. As before we were his enemies, now we are actually the bride of His Son, Jesus Christ. But not only did the Gospel establish peace between God and man, but it also established peace between man and man.
Those that were in conflict once, they bring their life in line with God’s will, it creates peace between them. We saw it between the Jews and the Greeks before the Gospel. They were separated, they hated each other. But in the Gospel, they were brought together to be one family. We see it between the Romans that were free and the Romans that were slaves that served them in the church.
The gospel of peace brought the two together. Matthew 28, 19:20. Jesus last command was about wearing the shoes of the Gospel of peace. He said, go, therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything. I have commanded you.
Make disciples and do it while you are going. You can’t just sit in one place. You have to have those shoes on and ready to go. But if you’re going to have shoes, you have to go out and purchase some. You have to get the right ones.
What is the right gospel that we’re supposed to share now? There are many ways to share the gospel. You can use the Roman road, you can use the bridge illustration. You can use Steps to Peace with God. We’ve been going over this presentation that starts back in Genesis because I think God started out where Genesis 1 is a good place to start with the gospel.
And we’ll talk briefly about each of these. But the basic Gospel is that there is a good creation. There was a disastrous decision. There was a deadly condition. There is a gracious cure.
There will be a new creation. And all this comes about when there is a necessary response. Let’s look at these individually. Let’s go back to Genesis chapter one. We find here that there is a good creation.
But even before that, we find out in Genesis 1 that there is a God and that God has existed eternally. And then we find throughout the chapter that God creates one thing after another. And it says that everything he created was what it was good. And when he created everything and put it all together, it was very good indeed. And because God’s works were good, we know that he is also good.
Think about someone who every time you eat one of their Dishes, whether it’s at their house or they cook at a restaurant. This is delicious. That’s delicious. Everything that they make is delicious. Everything they make is good because everything they make is good.
We say, what kind of cook are they? They are a good cook. Cook. And so it is with God the Father, because everything he made is good. It’s all evidence of who he is.
We have to be ready to share this with people. God created a good world. That was his intention for mankind. But Adam and Eve made a disastrous decision. In Genesis 3:6, the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom.
So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Now, we’re not reading the whole story, but who led her to make this disastrous decision? It was Satan himself, through his lies and his twisting of the truth. But when Adam and Eve made that disastrous decision, everything perfect that God had made began to fall apart.
They didn’t immediately die, but from that point on, their body was going to be in the process of death. Their own sons, one killed the other. Work became hard, childbearing became hard. And there were conflicts immediately between husband and wife. That one decision was disastrous for their life.
But it was not only disastrous for them, but it was disastrous for all of their children and all that would follow. Because Scripture tells us that now. Because what Adam and Eve did in the garden, we have a deadly condition. Romans 5:12 says, Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, in this way, death spread to all people because all sinned. How many of you believe that you’re going to die someday?
It’s inevitable because it’s been passed on to us. It’s a physical condition, but it’s come about because of sin. But what’s harsher than the fact that our body is going to die someday, there is also a spiritual death where there is this separation from God. And when people describe what hell is like with brimstone and fire, that is not the worst part of it. The worst part of it will be the sense of being apart from God and not having fellowship with anything good or lovely anymore.
We all have this deadly condition. And unless someone or something comes along and solves that problem for us, we can’t take care of it ourself. That’s when we come to the good news, the gracious cure. What we could not provide for ourself, God has provided for us. Romans 5:6 says, for while we were still helpless in our sin, we couldn’t do anything for ourselves.
To write the sin situation while we were in that helpless estate at the right time, Christ did something. He died for those that are wonderful. Is that what it says? No. He died for the ungodly.
That means he died for everyone. Doesn’t matter how good you think you are, you are an ungodly person. And there are those that are even more ungodly than you. But Jesus Christ, out of the love of God, died for you and for all of them. Verse 7 says, Rarely will someone die for a just person, though for a good person, perhaps someone might even dare to die.
But God proves His own love for us in that not only while we were helpless, but while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And it goes on to say, while we were his enemies, while we were antagonistic against him and fighting against him, that’s when he chose to die for us. Therefore, how much more then, since we have now been justified by his blood? That means that his blood is why God can wipe away all of our sins and give us a clean record. We’re justified by his blood.
We’re saved through him from wrath. Meaning eternal damnation is no longer on our schedule or on our calendar because Jesus Christ has given us a new path. That’s God’s gracious cure. And that word gracious there means that it’s freely given to us. It’s not a payment for anything that we do.
It’s not a payment for how we behave. It’s not a payment because we’ve given money to good causes. God offers it to us freely out of his love. But not only does he offer this cure to us now, but he tells us in the future there’s going to be a new creation. Whereas Genesis 1 starts out with the first creation.
When we come to the end of the book in Revelation, we find out that there’s going to be another creation, a brand new one. Here we read. Then I saw a new heaven in a new earth. God isn’t going to remodel an old house for us. It’s all going to be brand new with all the latest wonderful things for the first heaven.
And the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. He says, I also saw the holy City, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. It’s going to be a perfect new creation, just like a wedding. You work at everything being perfect so that when the bride walks down the aisle, everybody is in awe. So it will be at the new creation that is coming.
Then I heard a loud voice from the throne. Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. The most glorious part of the new creation is we’re going to be there with God. He’s with us all the time.
But even more so, we will be supernaturally aware of his presence. That will be the best part of the new creation. Then we go on to verse four. It describes the new creation even more. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more. Grief, crying and pain will be no more, because the previous things that have passed away. And then the one seated on the throne said, look, I am making not some things new, but I am making everything new. And he also said, write, because these words are faithful and these words our truth. We understand where we’ve come to and what we need.
And we understand where we are going towards a new creation. But as with any gift, you can wrap it and you can make it beautiful. But a person, in order to benefit from that gift, has to what? They have to receive the gift. They have to take the gift from you.
And so it is that God offers us his gracious curiosity. But if we just think about it in our head and we look at it, we can understand it, we can examine it all the way around. We have to at some point receive it. That’s what we read in John 1:12. To all who did receive him, meaning Jesus Christ.
He gave them the right to be children of God to those who believe in his name. There has to be some point in your life that you say to God, God, I want to receive the gift of salvation that you are giving to me. And not only do I want to receive it, but I believe that Jesus Christ is who he said he is, that he is the Son of God. And we believe that he died on the cross for our sins, that he was buried and he rose from the dead. The necessary response is explained even a little further in Romans 10.
Let’s read verses 8 through 11. This is the message of faith that we proclaim. If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord. After we receive Jesus Christ, there must be a willingness to tell other people that he is Lord. That means he’s God.
He’s in control of my life, and I serve him now instead of Satan. I serve him now instead of myself. There has to be that willingness to confess with your mouth that he’s Lord. But there also has to be a belief, not just in your head, but there has to be a belief in your heart. There’s a certainty there that you know that God raised him from the dead.
And when that comes about, when we’ve received Jesus by expressing to God our desire to receive it, when we’re willing to tell others that he’s Lord and we actually believe in our heart, not just in our head, it says that then you will be saved. For one believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. For the scripture says everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame. I’m concerned that there are many people in churches today that they’ve got the knowledge up here about why we have a problem. They understand what God has done for us, but either has it gone to their heart or they’ve not received the gift of salvation.
And we can see that in people that aren’t willing to talk about their relationship with the Lord. Baptism is an excellent picture that tells the world I’ve now given my life to Jesus Christ. We’re going to be having an opportunity to be baptized in August coming up. If you haven’t made that public profession, we invite you to talk to me or to Hunter about that. This is another way of expressing to people that Jesus is your Lord and that you have come to saving faith.
If you’re going to wear the shoes of the gospel of peace, you need to make sure you have the right shoes on. That means you have a way to present the gospel to others as you are going throughout the world. Know your enemy, know your source, know your armor. Last thing that we’re looking is today is go to boot camp. Look at the responsibility that we have in verse 13.
God has provided us with what we need, but we are still responsible on our side for this reason. Take up the full armor of God. You can’t just leave it sitting there. You have to take it and put it on daily so that you may be able to resist in the evil day. And, and you never know when that evil day is going to come.
You never know when Satan’s going to attack you. So you have to take up the full armor of God every day. And having prepared everything. That means that there’s some preparation in this and it goes back to studying God’s word, getting to know the Bible better. You’ve got to know the truth so that you are prepared in everything.
And once you do that, then you are ready and you have to willingly take your stand. You don’t run from the battle. You know that. You have the equipment. You’re certain about it.
God is your source. When Satan attacks you, you are able to confront him with God’s word. You have to make the choice daily to live like a soldier and be prepared for battle. You can’t be a soldier today and not be a soldier tomorrow, because you never know when the attack is going to come. And if you’re unprepared, you will certainly be left in a weak position that Satan can easily take advantage of you.
There are four questions today I’ll leave you with. The first one is, are you girded with the belt of truth? Are you working to learn more and more about God’s word? Is your belt getting thicker and wider? And are you able to decorate it more elaborately so that people, people see from the truth in your life who you are, a child of God.
Are you making it stronger? The second thing is, are your internal organs covered by the breastplate of righteousness? The first step of that is to receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ by accepting the Gospel and saying, God, I accept your gift of salvation. But then you have to choose daily to live in that righteousness. You have to stay on the right path and not choose from day to day whether you’re going to be on the right path or on the wrong path.
Certainly whenever you walk down the unrighteous path, you’re going to be more capable of being destroyed and deceived from the evil one. Are you girded with the belt of truth? Do you have on the breastplate of righteousness? Third, are your feet ready with the shoes of the Gospel? Are you ready to share the Gospel?
If you’re not, you need to carry something with you so you can at least read it. It’s your responsibility to know the Gospel of peace that what has been given to you, if it really is valuable to you, you should see how it’s valuable for everyone else that you love and care for. And lastly, are you training daily at boot camp? A soldier can’t just train one day and then go out and fight for years. There has to be continual training.
There has to be continual sharpening of their skills. And we do that by reading scripture. We do it by spending time in prayer, by journaling, by fasting, by memorizing scripture, by singing songs, by praising, by meeting with other, meeting with other worshipers. God’s presence. All of these things help us to train daily so that we’re prepared all the time so that we remain stronger and only grow stronger in our faith.
May we pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the equipment that you provide for us. Help us to understand it better and to take it up daily and to wear it proudly so that others will identify us as one of your children. And they will be desirous to speak to us to know the truth. Father, we pray and we ask that all of us here today will be ready to share that gospel of peace.
That you’ll make it more clear to us so that we can share it with others. And we do all of this to glorify your name and to represent your son more adequately in this world. And it’s in his name that we pray. Amen.