Ephesians 15
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 5 viewsNotes
Transcript
Our Armor for the battle
Our Armor for the battle
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
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.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
Intro: Talk about the devil our enemy. (David Jem) )Exalting Jesus)
Exalting Jesus in Ephesians We Need to Know Our Enemy (6:11–13)
Paul has already mentioned “the Devil” in Ephesians (4:27). His Greek title, Diabolos, means “slanderer.” He opposes. He accuses. “Satan” in Hebrew means “adversary.” Consider some other titles:
• “The Devil” (
Of all the parts of the armor Of God, there nothing protecting the back.
Belt of truth:
Belt of truth:
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
STAND:
having girded your waist with truth
13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
The Roman soldier’s belt about 6” wide. Maybe the Roman Soldier didn’t think of this as a part of his armor, but Paul saw this as an important part of the Armor of God.
In that day people wore robes, and that would a piece of cloth around the waist, a Soldiers would be a leather belt.
Lets look at some reasons for the belt. One was to move forward, to advance.
The robe would be tuck in the belt so the Soldier could move fast.
To move forward, you don’t want to obstructions.
The devil like to put obstructions in our life so we want move forward in our Christian walk.
Paul is telling the Ephesians he is writing to, to put on the belt of truth so nothing will hinder them in the battle.
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
So Paul says, put on the belt of truth, one reason is for advancing.
The belt was also used to hold the soldiers sword. The sword was use for attacking. (We talk more about that later)
What was Paul talking about for us?
The belt is truth.
As Christians, as we are in the battle, we must rely on the truth of Gods word.
To many people today rely on fables, or opinons.
Most people do not believe Gods word is truth.
Gods word is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
People will say that they don’t believe what the bible says.
People will say I choose to believe parts of the bible.
It doesn’t matter what people don’t believe, or what they choose to believe. God’s word is truth.
As Christians, we have to truth of Gods word.
What God has in His word for us will not change. Yes, times have changed, but Gods word has not changed.
Not more need to be added to Gods, He has all He wants in His word, that is why there is no more prophies.
The belt of truth that we have is also us living a life of truth, of being trustworthy.
Integrity: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness:
the state of being whole and undivided:
For us as Christians, we have to have a life of integrity. Elab.
This a big part of truth.
The breastplate of Righteousness.
The breastplate of Righteousness.
having put on the breastplate of righteousness
For the Roman soldier the breastplate covered the chest to protect it against assaults. The breastplate protected his upper vital organs, particularly the lungs and heart.
The Greek word translated “righteousness dikaiosunē, occurs ninety-two times in the New Testament (including thirty times in the book of Romans
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
The book of Romans teaches us that God is righteous—He always does what is right. He does what He does because He is who He is.
He does what is right because it is impossible for Him to do anything wrong. He makes no mistakes.
Just as God does what He does because of who He is, we do what we do because of who we are. Since we are sinners by birth, by nature, by practice, and by choice, we do what is unrighteous and wrong.
Through salvation we are saved. Paul said we are to walk worthy of our calling.
1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.
God is not asking us to imitate His righteousness, that is impossible for us to do.
God gives us His righteousness nature by us being born again.
He gives us the Holy Spirit to live in us so we can live more like Jesus.
We as Christians are to show the righteousness of God to the world.
The worlds need to see the righteousness of God in us.
The people that I work with, need to see the righteousness in me.
The families that are hurting, and complaining need to see the righteousness of God in me.
That righteousness is in our hearts, and that is one place that Satan will attack us. So we need our breastplate.
Satan is the accuser, but he cannot accuse the believer who is living a godly life in the power of the Spirit.
The life we live either fortifies us against Satan’s attacks or makes it easier for him to defeat us.
Put on the breastplate of righteousness so you do not give an inch to Satan in the areas of impurity, lust, greed, or injustice.
Realize who you are in Christ, and that you have His righteousness.
The breastplate has to be worn to fight out the attacks for Satan.
Gospel of Peace
Gospel of Peace
15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
We have truth. Because of truth, we have righteousness we have peace.
Paul uses the peace that we have and uses for our feet.
In battle (war) the feet are important. There 2 pictures of friend Johnny, that was killed in Beirut. In one of the pictures he is washing his feet.
Elab on the Roman soldier sandals.
He had to have firm footing for battle.
As we are in this spiritual battle we need firm footing to “stand”
15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
In this battle we have to trust God. We have to have confident in what God has done for us. If we have this is our lives, we will have peace.
Satan is the destroyer of peace, and if he can cause us to loss the peace we have, he can keep us for victory.
We have peace we have peace in Christ.
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
What keeps us from peace?
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
If we worry we don’t trust, and we don’t have peace.
I love to stand before you and preach with a spirit of peace. But, there may be times when so many things on my mind, it makes it hard to have that peace.
Without the peace of God our lives will be a mess.
25 Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years,
26 and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse.
27 When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment.
28 For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”
29 Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.
30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”
31 But His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ”
32 And He looked around to see her who had done this thing.
33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.
34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”
35 While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?”
For 12 years she suffered, for 12 years she lived a life with no peace. Then her faith lead her to Jesus, and Jesus gave her peace.
33 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
If Satan can attack you and cause confusion, you have no peace.
7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
People who worry have no peace.
People who are ungrateful have no peace.
People who are not saved have no peace.
People will do all kinds of things to have a peaceful feeling. Elab. But without Jesus, there is no peace.
Shield of Faith
Shield of Faith
16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
Elan on the Roman Soldiers shield.
The type. What it was uses for.
Unity with the shield.
Above all: taking the shield of faith
“taking the shield of faith.”
Faith isn’t just given to us. Elab
Faith takes work.
Faith takes trust.
Faith is something we have to work at.
Faith is what keeps it all together.
Faith: Faith save us. “By grace are you saved through faith”
Faith: It is faith that gives us our greatest needs.
34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”
10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
Satan wants to attack our faith.
He wants us to doubt God.
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
Satan will attack our faith with fear:
35 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.”
36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him.
37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling.
38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”
39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.
40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”
16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
We need our spiritual shield of faith for all the fiery darts that Satan shoots at us.
doubt.
Fear.
Our weaknesses.
People that he uses.
Helmet of Salvation
Helmet of Salvation
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
Elab on the type of helmet the Roman Soldier would wear.
Our military wears helmets. They have changed over the years.
The helmet of salvation is more then our salvation that we receive through Jesus.
The helmet protects our mind. When Satan attacks us through things like doubt, fear, or just wanting us to give in or give up, he attacks our mind.
Our minds have to be controlled by the power of God, so helmet is how we get the power of God.
We need wisdom to make the right decisions, to say the right thing. Satan attacks out minds to confuse us. The wisdom we need comes from God. All we have to do is ask.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
Satan attacks our minds, we need the wisdom and power of God so we can victory.
The sword, Gods word
The sword, Gods word
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
2 different GW for the word word.
Logos: Primarly is talking about the Bible.
Rama. Thing said or a utterance from God,
Rams is the word used here.
Paul is not saying take hold of your Bible, but the sayings of the Bible.
The bible is loaded with spiritual weapons.
This how Jesus fought off Satan when He was temped in the wilderness.
3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”
The sword Paul is talking about here in not a long sword. Elab.
He was talking about a little dagger it's a little 6 to 18in dagger.
The is what the Soldiers used when they came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of G.
It is what Peter used when He cut off the ear of the High Priests servant.
It was used for very precision and close combat.
Paul calls it the sword of the Spirit.
Its is what is in our Bible, the written word, that are our for hand to hand combat training.
Verse that tell the truth.
Verses that help us with fear.
Verses that help us with doubt.
Verses show us that we can do all things through Christ.
Verses that show what is wrong, and what is right.
We need to read Gods word.
We need to know Gods word.
We need to obey Words word.
We have to take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
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.
