Ephesians 6:14-15 "The Armor of God" pt.3

Introduction:

If I were to be totally honest with you this morning I would have to say that I don’t enjoy spiritual warfare.

But I would also say that I tend to find security and comfort in my spiritual complacency.

Nothing more appealing to the sinful nature of man than to embrace the idea that the status quo of our spiritual journey is sufficient when it comes to our sanctification.

This will only in the end promote self-reliance in the life of the Christian.

This is why spiritual warfare is helpful. Nothing like being in over your head to remind us of our weakness and our need for God’s provision in our lives.

This is why we need the armor of God in order to stand against the evil one in the day of battle.

And this armor begins with the Belt of Truth. Look back at your text to the first half of verse 14:

I. The Belt of Truth (14a).

The soldier’s belt was useful to hold his garments in place so that during battle the garments wouldn’t restrict or hinder him in battle.

But the soldier’s belt was also foundational to his armor. This is because other pieces of the armor attached to it in order to support the weight by resting on the soldier’s hips.

I once owned a backpack that would wrap around your shoulders, but it also had a sown in belt that went around your waist to support the bulk of the weight of the backpack with your hips and not with your upper body.

In this case the belt of the Christian’s armor is truth. Truth is crucial when it comes to spiritual warfare. Because truth is what informs us regarding the nature of our battle and the means by which we fight and stand victorious in the end.

Truth actually contextualizes the whole of the Christian life. But this is not a relative or subjective idea of truth.

Paul instead has in mind the absolute truth of the word of God.

The Christian soldier can’t find truth of this nature being conveyed by the modern day culture.

We live in a post-modern culture today where truth is only considered to be a subjective set of ideas relative to individual preferences or a social construct of the majority.

We even see the pressure and expectations coming from inside the Church. Many believe that the Church has to accommodate the culture in order to stay relevant in the world.

The Church doesn’t get its certification of relevancy from the world. The relevancy of the Church in the world is by divine appointment. And the message and purpose of the Church is ordained by God almighty.

The critical need for the belt of truth never goes away. Because there is no stand to be taken without it. And it never goes out of fashion because without truth we have no measurement or standard by which to expose falsehood. Nor do we have a guide that we can trust to inform us of our individual and corporate identity as the body of Christ.

Truth does not flow out of the inmost being of you or me. That would be a subjective idea of truth relative to the self and those you can convince to go along with you. Real objective truth flows out of the inmost being of God Himself and everyone is subject to Him and to the absolute reality of His truth.

Without God’s revelation of Himself and His truth in the Scriptures, all of us would be powerless under the dominion of the father of lies, the devil himself. Jesus told us this when He spoke to the Pharisees in John 8:43-45 --“43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.”

Christ is the word of God having taken on flesh. He is the embodiment of truth incarnate. Truth is an attribute at the core of the character of God Himself. Fallen man rejects truth because he rejects the God of the Bible. If we do not have truth then we do not have the one true God. We have a false one made up of our own subjective ideas. Such a god is tantamount to being an idol fashioned by our own imagination and is no difference to the Pharisees of old. They wanted a god that fit their own expectations.

The prideful nature of man feels most at home in the sufficiency of the self and it will show in how how necessary one deems the word of God as a necessity for life. And I am not talking about “a verse a day keeps the devil away” but I am talking about eating the word like food is to the body. We eat in order to live the Christian life and stay healthy.

It is out of absolute necessity and need that we eat and it is out of absolute necessity that we buckle up for the battle because without truth there is no readiness for spiritual warfare and there is no support for the armor of God in the battle. And this includes the breastplate of righteousness.

Look at the second half of verse 14: and having put on the breastplate of righteousness....

II. The Breastplate of Righteousness (14b).

This was a protective covering over the vital organs of a soldier. Most critical was the heart. This righteousness is not an inherent righteousness that comes from a person nor is it derived from a person’s good works. Isaiah 64:6 reminds us that all we have are filthy rags.

Kent R. Hughes in his work on Ephesians 6:14 reminds us that “Filthy rags form a futile breastplate.” We have no righteousness on our own. This righteousness depicted by the breastplate is imputed to us by God through faith in Christ.

It is impossible to wear this breastplate in confidence of your own self-reliance.

Without faith in God’s provision of righteousness to us through faith in Christ the devil will manipulate us into a performance based pursuit of salvation or into a personal absolution of moral failure to subside feelings of guilt.

Even the moral law written on the heart of man is enough to bring conviction to the hearts of fallen man and produce guilt in the moral conscience.

Fallen people often believe it is due to the presence of Christians and the social construct of Judaeo-Christian morality on the culture. It is not, it is due to the law of God written on the heart where every person has a conscious awareness of basic moral right and wrong (Rom. 2:14-15).

If you are not suited up with the Breastplate of the Righteousness of God in Christ the devil will use your guilt from your sin to pound you into the ground.

Story of a man and how he perceived the potential loss of his job as God’s punishment for his sin that he repented from decades ago. As it happened he did not lose his job but was able to keep it. Failure when it came to understanding the gospel.

The Christian warrior has to have the protection of the righteousness of God in Christ.

And Christian you can’t go into battle wearing the breastplate of the righteousness of God in Christ barefoot. The shoes have to theologically match. Look at verse 15:

III. The Shoes of Readiness (15).

In this case you have to have your belt and shoes on first to be able to put on the breastplate. The truth of the Gospel of Peace is what gives us our readiness Christian.

But then there is the irony of Paul’s statement that needs to be resolved. How is it we are talking about Spiritual warfare and part of the armor is characterized by peace?

The warfare is against the devil but the peace is with God due to all that the gospel has done on our behalf.

If God has not opened your eyes to the reality of the gospel then you are held captive under the devil’s dominion. And as such you are under the justice of God’s wrath. And the devil is not a being that you fight but he is actually your master.

You must be set free from that prison and liberated from your master by God through the gospel of peace. God is the one who breaks you free by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The German poet and novelist Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe made this observation about the human condition, “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free” (Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe).

This is one of the greatest deceptions of human bondage. But if you are not a believer I have good news of great liberty for you today!

Conclusion:

Jesus Christ came into the world to liberate you from the bondage of sin and death and to set you free from the tyranny of the devil.

Unbeliever knowing you are in bondage is a prerequisite to being free. Believe the gospel!

Christian you have been liberated and Christ has secured you to God. It is the Holy Spirit that liberated you and empowers you to live for God and His glory.

Memorial Day- Those who died to secure our freedom in America. What they did is a reflection of something far greater. Something that only God could do that has eternal implications where our ultimate Liberty has been purchased by Christ and His death.

But with Christ he rose from the dead on the third day and this is how we know that death is not our end. Rest in Christ. Confess your sin and trust in Him.

Let’s pray!