The Turth About Truth

Today we begin a new sermon series. We are calling it Suit Up: Tools for Waging Spiritual Warfare. Our text this morning is Ephesians 6:10-17. The apostle Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus clarifying doctrinal matters and then sharing application of those doctrines in the latter chapters. In chapter five and the beginning of chapter six, Paul is writing about Living out the Christian life and how that applies to family relationships. Then at the end of his letter, he speaks of spiritual warfare.

Ephesians 6:10–17 NASB95

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

First, Paul says to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

A Christian’s strength does not come from himself, but from Christ in him.

We are incapable of standing against our enemy in our strength alone. If we do, we lose every time. If we could stand on our own strength, we would not need Christ. No man has ever gone toe to toe with the devil and won except one: Jesus. Jesus alone stood against the devil and won. Jesus alone paid the penalty of our sin, was perfectly obedient to the will of the father, made atonement for us through his sacrifice on the cross, and emerged victorious when he walked out of his tomb alive! Be strong in his strength and his might. The same power that conquered the grave lives in every believer.

Paul then calls the church to put on the full armor of God. It is well known that Paul is writing this letter from a place of imprisonment in Rome. Now, this is more of a house arrest than a dark and dirty jail cell, but the condition that matters here is likely the same. Paul was waiting for his audience with Caesar as we read at the end of the book of Acts. He stayed in his own rented quarters and visitors were free to come and go. He would have been under constant guard by the Romans and it would involve Paul being chained to one of them. So as Paul is writing this letter, he is chained to a Roman guard and it is commonly believed that the guard’s uniform provided inspiration for the armor of God we read here in these verses.

We are called to put on the full armor of God because we are at war. The truth is the war has been raging since Genesis 3 when mankind fell into temptation to rebel against God. Sin entered the world, and death through sin, and God’s plan for redemption began to unfold. A war has been raging in the unseen realm for millennia. The day you and I said yes to Jesus and placed our faith in the gospel, we joined the army. You and I are soldiers who as salt and light are called to stand against the forces of darkness while looking for new recruits. Put on the full armor of God. For what purpose? so we can stand firm against the schemes of the devil.

You and I, whether we realize it or not, are standing on a battlefield. Our enemy is the devil and he is a crafty one. Verse 12 further tells us that our enemy is not the people around us who do not believe. Our enemy is the devil himself, who rules through worldly systems, worldly governments, and forces of darkness to shroud humanity from the truth. Notice all the forces we are up against are in the heavenly places, not in the physical realm. The spiritual war that is raging manifests itself in the physical space, but it is not the physical world we wage war against. Our enemy is not our neighbor, a friend, family member, or politician. Our enemy is the cunning serpent from the garden who seeks to devour souls. We seek to free them. The only way to do this is to suit up.

Failure to put on the full armor of God is to wage war naked. Sometimes we wonder why we seem to be so beaten up as followers of Jesus. Sometimes we walk out of the house without our armor on. If you want your best shot at standing against the onslaught of of projectiles the enemy is launching at you, you must suit up!

The armor of God provides the only defense against the devil and his tactics.

The interesting thing here is Paul starts with what is commonly referred to as the belt of truth. The Roman belt is seemingly the smallest and least protective piece of a Roman soldier’s armor. I don’t know about you, but a belt is the last thing I put on when I get dressed, but it is in the first position here. Is there a reason? Well, it turns out that the belt of a Roman soldier’s uniform was worn at all times, even if the rest of the armor wasn’t being worn. So of all the pieces of armor a soldier has, the belt never comes off. The belt is also the one piece that is central not just because of its location, but because it supports everything else. The sword and the breastplate are physically connected to the belt when everything is worn. So Paul creatively anchors the most important concept to the one piece of armor the Roman soldier never takes off, and that is truth.

Truth is central in our defense against the schemes of the devil.

What is truth? Truth is that which corresponds to reality. Truth is aligned with the facts. It is telling it like it is. We operate every day by this understanding. We inherently know there are things that are true and things that are false. We know there are things that are true in an absolute sense, meaning that the thing that is true for me is also true for you, the person living in Singapore, Japan, or South Africa. We call this absolute truth. The things that are true are true for every person in every place at all times.

The culture we live in has traded absolute truth for relativism, but only when it comes to matters of morality and religion. We expect and demand the truth in virtually every other area of our lives. Our culture likes to talk about my truth or your truth, or what’s true for you might not be true for me. But this concept isn’t true. If you go to the bank and try to withdraw $1 million, Jackie is going to look at you like you’re crazy because you don’t have $1 million in your bank account. But you say, “Well I feel like a millionaire and it’s true for me that there is $1 million in my account and I would like to withdraw it.” Jackie will tell you it doesn’t matter what you think or feel is true, there is not $1 million in your account. Your belief does not match reality.

Let’s say you go to the doctor and you hear the three dreaded words, “You have cancer.” You can’t say to the doctor, “Well that might be true for you, doc, but that’s not true for me.” The truth is, whether you want it to be true or not, you have cancer and that reality has certain implications. A treatment plan needs to be developed. Your life depends on your willingness to accept what is true. It is absolutely true that you have a terminal disease and it is absolutely true that that you will die if you do not treat it. It does not matter what you think or feel, nor does it matter what anyone else thinks or feels. Truth corresponds to reality and the reality is this cancer will kill you unless it is beaten.

We live in an age where absolute truth is rejected. The concept of postmodernism has risen in its place. Postmodernism is difficult to define because at its core, it rejects any sort of absolute definition. Postmodern thought rejects the idea that truth is absolute. So you will hear people say things like, “That’s true for you, but not true for me,” or, “there is no absolute truth.” But the problem with this is that it does not meet its own standard. Postmodernism has to borrow from absolute truth in order to deny it. Think about that statement. There is no such thing as absolute truth. Is that absolutely true, or is that only true for you, and not for me? The problem with this view is it can’t support itself. We call this a self-defeating claim.

You’ve heard people say, “You should not judge.” Well, the problem here is that statement is a judgment itself. So by saying it, you are doing the very thing you are saying not to do. It does not meet its own standard. How about “The scientific method is the only means of knowing truth?” Well if that were true, it would actually be false because it is a statement about truth that is not known by the scientific method.

All truths are absolute. In their book cleverly titled I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, authors Norman Geisler and Frank Turek offer six thuths about truth:

Six Truths about truth:

Truth is discovered, not invented.

Truth is transcultural.

Truth is unchanging even though our beliefs about truth change.

Beliefs cannot change a fact, no matter how sincerely they are held.

Truth is not affected by the attitude of the one professing it.

All truths are absolute truths. Even truths that appear to be relative are really absolute.

Truth is our first line of defense against an enemy who is championing the idea that truth is rooted in feelings. The problem is our feelings lie to us. If we are going to arm ourselves against deception, the truth is our greatest line of defense.

What is true? Jesus famously said as he prayed to God the Father in John 17 on behalf of his disciples,

John 17:17 NASB95

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

Jesus is saying that the word of God is truth. Now this can’t be true for us and not true for others. It is either true or it is false. So Jesus was either telling the truth, or he was wrong. If he was wrong, why do we trust him? We trust him because we trust who he says he is. He is God in the flesh, demonstrated by numerous signs and miracles, who came and bore our sins on Calvary to redeem us from our sins. He paid the penalty so you and I might have everlasting life.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 shows us that all of scripture comes from God.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NASB95

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

So how do we put on truth as a belt? We have to know what God has said. We must know our Bibles. If you want to stand against the onslaught of arrows the enemy is firing at you, it must begin by knowing the truth has been reveled and it is found in the pages of scripture. We need to be more biblically literate. We must spend more time absorbing the words of God. The only truth in existence is God’s truth and everything else is connected to it. Our feelings on the matter do not change what is true. The truth about truth is we can’t define it. We can only discover what God has already revealed. Then we must carry it with us as we face the lies the enemy will hurl at us every day.

Truth and lies were not the best of friends, but they had a habit of hanging out every now and then. Truth was always a little nervous around Lies, as Lies would try to play tricks on Truth. Truth and Lies were walking through the woods at the edge of town one summer day. It was getting pretty hot and they came to the lake. Lies looks over at Truth saying, “Just a quick dip to cool off and we’ll go home.” Truth is a little nervous. He says to Lies, “What game are you pulling?” Lies assures him there is no trick.

The two of them step behind some trees and begin to undress. Truth jumps in first. The water is cool and refreshing. He’s splashing around, having a good time, and yells out to Lies, “Come on in Lies. The water’s great!” But there is no answer. “Lies? Lies?” Truth keeps shouting. “Come on man, this isn’t funny!” Again, no answer. Truth makes his way back to shore. Lies is nowhere to be found. What makes matters worse is neither are his clothes. Truth begins to panic. “What do I do? What do I do?” He has no choice but to make his way home.

Truth moves as fast as he can trying to cover himself as he makes his way back home. The closer he gets, the angrier at Lies he becomes. He’s so mad, he forgets about going home and goes right after Lies. Truth arrives at Lies’ house and pounds on the door. The door opens and there Lies is standing in the doorway.

“Lies! How could you do that to me? How could you leave me out there by myself? And why would you take my clothes?” “I don’t know what you’re talking about” says Lies. “Of course you do! You said we should go for a quick swim and come home and then....” Truth paused for a moment and realized Lies was wearing his clothes! “HEY! THOSE ARE MY CLOTHES!” “These? No they’re not. These are my clothes.” By now, the neighbors have noticed the commotion. As the arguing continued, a police officer pulls up. “What’s going on here?” the officer asked. “Lies stole my clothes and left me out in the woods!” Truth exclaimed. “I’m not Lies, he is! And these are my clothes!” Lies replied. The officer is stunned. Who does he believe? Lies wrapped in Truth’s clothing, or the naked Truth?”

My friends, the choice before us is the same. Who are we going to believe? The reason the devil’s lies are so effective is because they are wrapped in truth’s clothing. But God has given us the naked truth right here in his Word. What are we going to believe? The truth is that if you do not place your faith and trust in Jesus as the Savior of your soul, you will not go to heaven. But if you will turn from your sin and place your faith in the one who sacrificed himself for you, you will be saved. If we are going to defend against the devil’s lies, we must be armed with God’s truth. Only then can you stand firm.