The Belt of Truth
Armor of God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Recap Last Week
Last week we began by taking a trek through the book of Ephesians, covering what Paul reveals about the identity of the believer in Christ and Christ’s work in us.
That identity and power are critical as we arrive at chapter 6 where the scripture begins to speak of setting in order the Christian life, ready for what lies ahead.
Then in verse 10 we read…
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
12 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.
13 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.
Paul makes this assumption, that once you realize who you are in Christ, the question is not whether you will enter the battlefield, but will you be prepared when you get there?
How does he say to prepare?
First is to recognize that the strength belongs to the Lord…
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
Be strong IN THE LORD and the strength of HIS MIGHT.
I just wonder how many of you are intimidated in this type of conversation because you’re convinced you can’t do it. You’re not strong enough to do it… You’re not good enough to do it…
I’m here to tell you, you’re not good enough, but HE IS! And He will provide you with everything you need!
57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
He is my strength! His power resides in me! My victory is found in HIM!
That word strength there is the Greek is kratos which can be power or might, but most of the time it is translated DOMINION… because this strength is not just physical, it is influential…
This victory isn’t resting on your strength! This victory is based in HIS dominion, rule, and reign…
That is the strength of His might!
We rely on him because the bible says the day is near:
12 The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore we lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.
This armor is not just a defense against the enemy it is the very power by which the enemy is expelled from his place…
Darkness cannot compete with the light.
You’ve never flipped on the light switch and saw a cosmic battle for territory in which the darkness resists the light on every front..
The power of the light is such that when light enters, darkness must flee…
And this armor is described as an armor of light against the deeds of darkness…
7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
But the key to the armor is that every piece of the armor is represented in submission to God.
Remember, it’s the strength of HIS might, not the power of your will.
This armor of light when fully assembled and worn by the Christian warrior so devastates the enemy that he is driven from every point of influence he once had…
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
We aren’t running, we are attacking! This armor isn’t just defensive, it is for moving forward, it is for offence!
We aren’t just reacting to the dark, we are flooding the world with the light!
So we do what the scripture calls us to…
11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
12 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.
I watch as people have drifted so far from sanity in the last few years to the point where they no longer believe there is a truth, but only your truth and my truth and their truth where people are free to be whoever or whatever they want including identifying as animals…
But it’s not the media that’s the problem… It’s not the liberals that’s the problem… It’s not the president that’s the problem… It’s not even hollywood that’s the problem…
No the problem is rooted here in verse 12:
12 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.
The problem is that the enemy has taken too much territory and the Church has conceded too much for the sake of political correctness…
The problem is that there are spiritual influences that have been ignored and overlooked and allowed to set up camp in corners of culture…
But Now is the time when the Church of God must stand against the schemes of the devil, dressed in the armor of God, with a shout of victory in our mouths!
It’s time we put our foot down and stand firm on what this word teaches!
13 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.
14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth…
Stand firm!
How do we stand?
Having girded your loins with truth!
ESV says it this way:
14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth…
We stand by first introducing truth to the situation…
Why is truth the first piece?
He could have started with the helmet and worked his way down, or with the shoes and worked his way up, but he starts with truth right in the center.
Truth is the first consideration of standing because the tactic of the enemy is described as scheming…
11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
The schemes… The whiles… The tricks… the deceit… the lies… of the enemy!
Jesus described the enemy this way:
44 …He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
It’s no wonder, then, that the scripture begins with Truth when describing an effective armory against the enemy…
If you were formulating battle tactics, you would take out the enemy’s strongest weapon first and that’s exactly what is happening here…
The most effective weapon the enemy has in his arsenal is to convince you of a lie.
But the way he does that is not through an outright bald face lie. No, he takes a piece of truth and weakens it and skews it and alters it until it is truth adjacent, but not actually truth..
In other words, he will take something that is close to truth and put a question around it…
Did God really say???
Did He really call you?
Did you really get saved?
Were those tongues real?
Maybe you were just caught up in the moment…
After all, you were emotional at that moment…
Maybe that’s all this was… maybe those people don’t actually care…
Maybe you were mistaken.. Maybe You shouldn’t go back..
Maybe this is too much… Maybe it’s not worth it..
It would be easier if you went back to the way things were…
It’s too much pressure to get baptized.
It’s too hard to actually be a Christian…
You’ve been the way you are too long, you can’t change now… Just give up.. Just give in…
And it all started with a seed of truth wrapped in deception…
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,
4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
This is the importance of the belt of truth…
Because the power of the enemy relies on speculations and stray thoughts and anything that is raised against the knowledge of God!
How do we stand firm?
By putting on the belt of truth!
Regardless of what culture would like you to believe, truth does exist!
In fact, the reason the enemy battles so hard against truth is because truth is a fundamental moral and personal quality of God…
6 Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;
10 All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth
To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies.
3 He will send from heaven and save me;
He reproaches him who tramples upon me.
Selah.
God will send forth His lovingkindness and His truth.
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
Lovingkindness and truth go before You.
1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us,
But to Your name give glory
Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.
Isaiah calls him the God of truth…
16 “Because he who is blessed in the earth
Will be blessed by the God of truth;
And he who swears in the earth
Will swear by the God of truth;
Because the former troubles are forgotten,
And because they are hidden from My sight!
The psalmist declared…
142 …And Your law is truth.
151 You are near, O Lord,
And all Your commandments are truth.
160 The sum of Your word is truth,
And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.
God is truth and He always acts in truth and there is no deceit in him!
29 “Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”
Jesus is the Word of God who became flesh, “the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (
God is truth, the Spirit is truth, and Jesus is truth…
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
So an attack on truth is not a trivial thing to be ignored or dismissed…
No the misrepresentation of truth is an attack on the character of God Himself!
This assault on truth in our society today may seem like people who are just detached from reality, but it is a spiritual battle raging for control of the culture that disdains the existence of God and you and I as His Children…
This is not something to minimize or ignore, it is a scheme of the enemy that we must address and correct.
Here at the Shed we have a policy of transparency… We hold to a value of vulnerability because we lead with truth!
I can’t stand this institutional language we dress up lies and deception in.
Let’s get back to truth!
31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
I get so tired of this terminology we use that makes truth somehow offensive…
“Well I feel like…” NOPE!
9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?
How about we start thinking again and get back to the truth?
I understand there are different perspectives on the same set of circumstances, but the fact remains, there is a truth!
This is why the bible is so adamant about our transformation beginning in the realm of our thinking…
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
We are renewed in our MIND by the truth of the Gospel…
Here’s a deeper look:
17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,
21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,
22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,
23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind…
This attack on truth is not just a passive drifting of culture, it is an intentional strategy of the enemy to keep people from escaping their ignorance and being transformed by the renewing of their minds!
This is where the armor begins… This is the first thing in priority… but this is also what holds the rest of the armor together…
The belt in the armor is what connects everything, holding your pants up, providing a sheath for your sword, and an anchor for your breastplate…
Everything relies on the truth to hold it together…
If you don’t have truth to stand on, the enemy will convince you of anything…
We begin putting on the armor by putting on the belt of truth…
The question is… Will you receive the truth?
