Ephesians - God's Armor for the Battle - Part 2 - Ephesians 6:13-17

Now as we open the word of God to Ephesians 6, we pause to pray. Father, we always need to pray; without prayer we can do nothing, but especially when we study about Satan, we need your power and your grace. He would oppose the teaching of the word of God. He would confuse minds, he would distract us. And I pray in Jesus' name that you will give us victory and power today as we study the word together. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray with thanksgiving. Amen. 

Back in 1586, a very fine soldier, Sir Philip Sidney, was killed in a battle in the Netherlands. He was killed because he took off his leg armor. Now he saw another soldier, Sir William Pelham, who had taken off his leg armor, so Sir Philip took off his. And he was hit in the leg, and he died. Well, this is why Paul tells us, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." The whole armor. 

Ephesians 6:13, "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." That area in my life that I think is safe is the one that perhaps is the most vulnerable. Peter said, "Oh, though all else may turn against you and forsake you, I’ll never do it," but that's the very thing he did. Have you ever noticed that in the Bible, so often people failed in their strongest point? Peter's greatest point, his greatest point of power, was his courage. Peter was a courageous man; that's where he failed. What was Abraham's greatest strength? His faith. That's where he failed. He lied about his wife, then he went in and took Hagar to be his wife and got himself into trouble. David's greatest strength was his integrity. That's where he failed. He became a hypocrite, lying about what he did with Bathsheba. All the way through the word of God, you find that so often your strength becomes your weakness if you don't realize what Satan is doing. 

Now when you read Ephesians 6:13-20, you discover he’s talking about the different parts of the armor, and he uses two different admonitions. He tells us to take, and he tells us to have. "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always." We've already talked about his request for prayer and his admonition for prayer in Ephesians 6:18. 

Now at this point, it might be good for us to review the position of the Christian in the book of Ephesians. In the first three chapters, he's talked about our position with Christ in the heavenlies, seated with Christ in the heavenlies. Our position is one of victory. Far above all principality and power and above every name that is named, says Ephesians 1:21. We are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. That's our position of victory. We do not fight for victory, we fight from victory. We have already defeated the foe through our identification with the Lord Jesus Christ. All we have to do now is follow him in victory, and this is the victory that overcomes, even our faith. 

Notice now, we take the armor. We have the girdle of truth put on. We have the breastplate of righteousness put on. We have the gospel of peace put on our feet. We take the shield, we take the helmet, we take the sword. The "have" items are attached to the body. The "take" items can be laid down. And having taken these items and put on these pieces, we must stand against the wiles of the devil. 

Now how do we do this? Let's be very practical at the very beginning of this study. How do you put on this armor? We put it on through prayer. Ephesians 6:18 can be translated, and I believe it should be translated: by means of praying always, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. We pray on the armor of God through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

How do you get the energy to fight the devil? Through prayer. How do we get the equipment on our spiritual being? How do you put on the armor of God? Through prayer. Now each morning when I have my devotional time, that’s one of the first things I do. I by faith say, "Now Lord, I’m putting on the helmet of salvation." I go from head to foot. I don't think that Paul gives us any special order here because of any special spiritual significance. He's simply telling us: take the whole thing, don't leave anything behind. So I go from head to foot. I say, "Now by faith, I’m putting on the helmet of salvation; protect my mind. I’m putting on the breastplate of righteousness; protect my heart. I’m putting on the girdle of truth; now help me in my decisions and my actions today. I’m putting on the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace. And I’m taking now the sword, and I’m taking the shield, and I have taken the helmet. And now Father, help me to be adequately prepared for the battle today." 

You may have the hymn "Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus" in your church hymnal. So often we skip the third verse of a song. I’m glad I’m not the third verse of a song, I’d be terribly neglected, because the third verse of "Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus" tells us how to put on the armor. Here is what the author said: "Stand up, stand up for Jesus, stand in his strength alone; the arm of flesh will fail you, you dare not trust your own. Put on the gospel armor, each piece put on with prayer; where duty calls or danger, be never wanting there." 

Now we could spend hours on each of these pieces of armor, but we are not going to do that. I am going to simply name them and tell you what they do for your life. "Stand therefore," says Ephesians 6:14, "having girded your waist with truth." The girdle of truth. He's talking here about integrity. Satan is a deceiver. Satan wants us to practice hypocrisy and duplicity. Now the girdle of truth protected the lower part of the soldier’s body; it also gave him a place for putting his sword. The word of God is truth. John 17:17, "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth." And down in Ephesians 6:17, "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." 

Now this is talking about integrity. Satan wants us to practice hypocrisy, lying to others; duplicity, lying to ourselves and trying to lie to God. Integrity means we are one. The girdle of truth ties everything together. Oh, it's marvelous to practice integrity. You don't have to worry about what people say or do when the phone rings, when you open the mail; you're not afraid of somebody discovering something. Why? You are walking with integrity. The Lord Jesus warned us about having a double heart. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. A double mind, a double will. No man can serve two masters, he said in Matthew 6. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Now integrity means everything in my life is held together by God's truth. I will not think a lie, I will not speak a lie, I will not practice a lie, I will not defend a lie, I will not promote a lie. I will stand in God's truth. Integrity. Oh, how we need that today. The girdle of truth. 

Secondly, we have the breastplate of righteousness. "Having put on the breastplate of righteousness." The Bible talks about two kinds of righteousness. Theologians use the word imputed and the word imparted. What is imputed righteousness? Well, it has to do with our standing before God. When you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, God put the righteousness of Christ on your account. For he has made him to be sin for us, him who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. When Abraham believed God, it was counted to him for righteousness. Imputed righteousness. Right in the middle of the word "imputed" is the word "put," P-U-T. God puts the righteousness of Christ on our account. That means that he sees us in the righteousness of his beloved Son. Our standing before God is perfect. 

Now imparted righteousness means the righteousness of Christ worked out in our lives. Paul has talked about that in Ephesians 4 and 5: walk in love, walk in the light, walk in wisdom, walk as the children of God. Imparted righteousness. Walk in newness of life. Now we need the breastplate of righteousness covering our heart because Satan is the accuser. Revelation 12:10 tells us that. "For the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down." Now Satan not only accuses us before God, but he accuses us in our own hearts. He reminds us of that which we have done. He reminds us of our failures, our faults. He knows what we have done, and he comes and he accuses us. 

Zechariah 3 is a picture of this heavenly accusation. You ought to read that chapter. Joshua the high priest is standing before God at the throne, and Joshua is wearing dirty clothes. You know why? Because the people of Israel had sinned before God. And here's the high priest who is supposed to represent the people before God. He wears on his head that crown that says "Holiness unto the Lord," and he's wearing dirty clothes because the people have sinned. And Satan is standing there to accuse him. He's the prosecuting attorney. And then the Lord Jesus steps up, and he shows the wounds in his body, and he says, "I died for these sinners," and he silences the accuser. He is our advocate in heaven. 

Now when you and I realize that we stand in the righteousness of Christ, we will not be detoured or denounced or discouraged by the accusations of the wicked one. Oh, how he wants to throw at us all kinds of accusation. He wants us to leave the battle and say, "I’m not worthy to be a soldier. I have failed so many times, I’m just not worthy." Well, if you ever feel like that, read Romans 8 beginning at verse 31. "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us." The breastplate of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. 

Now Ephesians 6:15, "and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace." The shoes of a soldier are very important. If you have ever been out for a hike or a walk and your shoes don't fit properly, nothing really goes right. Well, we stand in the gospel. Now that's important. 1 Corinthians 15, "Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand." The devil hates the gospel, the message that Christ died for our sins, and he was buried, and he arose again the third day according to the Scriptures. He does everything to mix something with the gospel: good works, religion, good intentions. And we stand in the gospel. Romans 5:1 says we stand in grace. "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand." We stand in grace, we stand in freedom. Galatians 5:1, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free." 

Now the soldier needs good shoes for stability, balance, and mobility. He has to be able to move quickly, to run, to stand. Interestingly enough, we are soldiers out fighting a war of peace. We're not declaring war, we're declaring peace. Our message is: be reconciled to God. Stand in the gospel. Oh, how Satan wants to get us away from the gospel of Jesus Christ, and he does it in so many subtle ways. You get confused about the gospel, you will not have stability or balance in your Christian life, and Satan can move right in and take over. You get confused about the gospel, and you will not have mobility, you'll not be able to fight the battle. It’s so important that we not be confused about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Put on the shoes of peace, and wherever you go, be an ambassador of peace. A soldier who is not waging war, but waging peace. But as we wage peace, we are waging war against the devil. 

"Taking the shield of faith," says Ephesians 6:16, "with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one." Satan has many, many assistants who throw fiery darts at us. And this great shield deals with the handling of these fiery darts. I have at times been preaching the word of God in the pulpit, and a thought has come to my mind that has come from the devil. He's thrown a dart at me, and I've had to lift that shield of faith to put out that dart and to keep further darts from coming. Martin Luther used to say, "I can't stop the birds from circling and flying above my head, but I can keep them from making a nest in my hair." Now once those fiery darts get into your mind and your heart and you fall prey to the wicked one, then you are going to fall. This shield was like a great big door, two feet by four feet, and it was especially beveled at the edge so the soldiers could get together, lock their shields together, and move forward like a big wall. The shield speaks of the unity of God's people. Oh, how we need to be helping one another. 

The shield not only protected the soldier, but it protected the armor. Satan wants to attack our integrity. He wants to attack every part of the armor. He would strip that armor from us if he could, and we hold up the shield of faith. Faith in what? Faith in God. Faith in God's promises, moving forward trusting the Lord. And whenever Satan throws a fiery dart of fear, or doubt, or fiery words from some hateful heart, or confusion, we by faith hold up that shield, and we stop the dart and we put it out. 

Ephesians 6:17, "And take the helmet of salvation." Now the helmet of salvation speaks of the fact that we have a hope. God is concerned about our mind, not a divided mind, a saved mind. Not a deceived mind, not a doubting mind, not a discouraged mind. In 1 Thessalonians 5:8, Paul compares the helmet to the hope of salvation. A soldier who goes into battle pessimistically saying "we're going to lose" is going to lose. We put on, we take the helmet of salvation, and we have a mind set for victory. Peter talks about that, doesn't he? 1 Peter 4:1, "arm yourselves also with the same mind." What mind? The mind that Jesus had. Oh, the outlook determines the outcome. And by faith, we put on that helmet, the hope of salvation. We know that the victory is ours through Jesus Christ. Satan discourages, doesn't he? But he can't discourage your mind if you're wearing that helmet of salvation. 

Then we take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. A sword that gets sharper the more you use it. A sword that is living and powerful. It doesn't depend on our muscles because the power is in that sword. As our Lord Jesus said to Satan three times, "It is written, it is written, it is written." So we can take the sword of the Spirit and defeat the wicked one. And all of this is done through prayer. Oh, how important it is to pray. How important it is to pray on the armor every day and then to use that armor in the energy of the Holy Spirit of God. Having done all to stand, take your stand against the devil. Put on the whole armor of God.