Get Dressed for Battle
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Soldiers dressed up in their dress blues
Look regal and majestic
Sharply dressed an magnificent, but even with the Marine sword, this is the dress for a parade and not a battle
If they are going to fight, their uniforms look completely different
They have armor and protection on
They have weapons for offense and defense
Christians are not parading around, but we are going to battle
Make sure you are dressed for the right event
14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;
17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
Command to stand firm has already been given
The General has issued his orders for us
How do we accomplish this?
By using the right equipment
Paul was looking at a Roman soldier and was reflecting on the Scripture that spoke of God’s armor and the Messiah’s armor
This is a metaphor
Don’t over emphasize the weapons themselves
Look at the full picture
1. Fasten the Belt of Truth (v.14)
1. Fasten the Belt of Truth (v.14)
14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
What is the truth?
That was the question that Pilate asked Jesus
Jesus had already given the answer
Truth is freedom
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Truth is God’s Word
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
Truth is the Gospel
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
Illustration
Imagine going to battle with nothing to hold your pants up?
When we went to Virginia to Clintwood a few years back, I learned that a lot of the guys that go on these trips wear suspenders. You want to take a guess why someone in construction would do that?
Soldiers would gird up their loins by tucking them in their belts and clearing the way for their feet, giving them freedom of movement.
Application:
How do you know if you have put on the belt of truth?
Do you know that truth?
If you will not read the Bible, you will not know the truth. There simply is no other way.
People who don’t want to engage with the Bible, don’t really want to know the truth.
2. The Breastplate of Righteousness (v.14)
2. The Breastplate of Righteousness (v.14)
14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
We all recognize that a breastplate would protect the vital organs, so this is a pretty important piece of armor.
But, what is righteousness?
It comes from a word meaning straightness
It essentially means “right living” before God
It’s ironic that the breastplate protects the heart, but the heart has to be right in order to have righteousness.
And here is something else we need to realize. We do not have enough righteousness for ourselves. We need the righteousness of God.
Illustration
Have you ever wondered why in the Roman Catholic Church, they pray to saints?
The reason why is because the official teaching of the RC church is a righteousness by works. This is why there was a “protest” or Protestant Reformation. It came when Martin Luther was reading the Book of Romans, a Book of the Bible that I just actually finished reading through, and he came to realize that the Scripture teaches that we are saved by grace, through faith, and not of our own righteousness.
Well, coupled with the praying to saints was the sale of indulgences to help people get out of a place called Purgatory. You will not find the doctrine of Pergatory in the Bible because it is a made-up doctrine from outside of the Bible.
Purgatory is where everyone but the saints was believed to go when they die if they were believers. So, the lost go on to hell, and then the final hell after the judgment in Rev. 20, but believers, those who are spared from God’s wrath, go to Purgatory to pay for their sins some more.
Seems like when Jesus said “It is finished,” from the cross, He must have forgotten to pay for some sins according to the RC Church.
Well, if you bought an indulgence, you could get some time off of your sentence in Purgatory, so they were going around selling these things. They still do. The last Pope (Francis) issued a decree that said if you followed his Twitter account you could cut some time off.
Now, another way you could do this is to pray to the saints. The RC tradition teaches that the saints were so holy that they didn’t go to Purgatory and can give you some of their righteousness, like taking some money out of the bank.
You can see why the separation from Rome was necessary for the Protestants who believed the Bible was the truth and not the false teachings of the RC church. These teachings were possible because many of the clergy themselves couldn’t read the Bible and certainly not the people. The Church claimed to not want to give people a Bible because they might teach themselves incorrectly or not understand the Bible, but you can see the real motives were in protecting the abuses of doctrine that were going on.
The people needed the belt of truth to free them from their burdens, but Rome wouldn’t let them have it.
Application
I say all of this to say that not even the saints according to the Bible, which includes all of us, have enough righteousness on our own.
We have to be given wedding garments. We have to be given the righteousness of Christ.
7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;
8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
Have you put on Christ’s righteousness by faith or are you trying to live in your own?
3. The Shoes of the Readiness of the Gospel (v.15)
3. The Shoes of the Readiness of the Gospel (v.15)
15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
The shoes were kind of like cleats that the Romans would wear to give them good footing.
Imagine being in hand-to-hand combat and you loose your footing. It would be deadly as your opponent would come with a sword to dispatch you.
We need to have strong footing as well as Christians.
Notice that it is the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
Because we have been saved by grace and have peace with God, we can be excited to share the gospel.
We are not going around telling people how they have to earn their salvation. We are sharing them that they have peace with God through the blood of Jesus.
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Illustration
Have any of you ever watched the medical dramas where there is a patient that goes into surgery and you see the doctor come out to talk to the family afterwards? Some of you have not just watched this, but you have lived it.
No doctor looks forward to coming out to talk to the family when it is bad news. If the patient didn’t make it or they found something worse, there is a hesitancy to go share with the family or the patient.
But! If there is good news, it is a joy to get to share that news.
Application
That’s the case for us with the gospel. We have good news so we should be ready to go share that news!
Conclusion
We are going to stop here with the armor and pick up next week with the second half.
As we do, what pieces of the armor are you failing to utilize everyday?
You know as a soldier, if you went to battle, but never used your weapons that were given you, you would not be a very useful soldier. You might even be putting yourself and your fellow soldiers in danger.
Well, like the old song says, “I’m in the Lord’s army.” The question remains for us tonight. Are we dressed for battle or are we exposed?
Get ready. Get dressed. Let’s go!
