The Armor of God IV

The Wiles of the Devil

Ephesians 6 10-12

we have seen that Satan tries to get us to act upon our feelings instead of the truth.

this is why we need to have on the belt of truth

we need to know the truth of God’s word. to know what God says about himself and what he says about ourselves

He also wants to throw lies at us about our standing before God

Satan wants us to think less of ourselves this is why we need to have on the breastplate of righteousness

this piece of armor reminds us who we are in Christ.

we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus

we have been declared not guilty by the Judge of the world

we now wear the righteousness of Jesus

when God the Father sees us He sees us wrapped up is the robes of Jesus

not our filthy rags

next we see Satan making us an enemy in this world

so we need to be on firm footing with the shoes of the Gospel of peace

we have peace with God because of the salvation he has given to us

we have peace in this life because the curse of death has been conquered by Jesus on the cross

we have peace in this world because there is nothing this world can do to us that could cause us to lose our inheritance

Next satan wants us to compromise and take the cowards way out of a situation that God has brought us into

The shield of faith is used to stop the arrows of excuses to not do what God wants

God has brought us through before and He will do it again

Today we will see that satan wants to discourage us so that we will want to quit

he wants us to be depressed and lethargic concerning God’s work

we have been doing this same work for years seemingly no fruit

we have prayed for our family to be saved for decades with out them turning to the Lord for salvation

this makes us feel hopeless and satan is there to keep bringing these things to mind

he is there to try to cause us to give up

to to give up the fight. to grow weary to feel hopeless

this is why we need the

Helmet Which is Salvation

V 17

our mind needs to be protected

we look at the sinner and his life sems to be going well, no church, no giving to the offering. no time spent in Bible reading and prayer

but I grow weary in this fight

Galatians 6:7–10 LSB

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

God gives us promises so we don’t give up

Jesus has promised to return but all we see is this world getting worse

corruption in the Church, so life gets discouraging

for young Timothy a pastor of a local church

he is overwhelmed with this responsibility his mentor Paul is in prison

Satan is attacking his mind concerning this responsibility. so Paul sends him a letter

2 Timothy 1:7–10 LSB

For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and self-discipline. Therefore do not be ashamed of either the witness about our Lord or me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been manifested by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,

Paul is encouraging his young friend to step back and look at the eternal picture

and remind him the Holy Spirit is in us to give us strength and power to overcome

to the Thessalonians Paul tells them

1 Thessalonians 5:8 LSB

But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

the helmet here is the hope of salvation

the hope is Christs return

the hope is our new glorified bodies

the hope is one day all this suffering will be nothing compared to the glory before us

we will some day be laying our crowns at the feet of Jesus as we worship Him forever

with no tears or heartache with the Father every new day showing some new aspect of His grace

this hope is our helmet of salvation that we need to put on before satan tries to discourage us

every morning we need to prayerfully put on our armor

Lord I am putting on my helmet because I know that satan will try to discourage me and try to overwhelm me today

2 Corinthians 4:16 LSB

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

we have a promise that our inner man is renewed daily

God gives us strength to endure to the end

we have an anchor that is Christ who suffered under the hands of the Roman government

He did this for our good. He did this to redeem us to Himself. to buy us from the slave market of sin.

Christ has gone on before us so that we in Him can be encouraged in our blessed hope

Romans 8:35–39 LSB

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction, or turmoil, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were counted as sheep for the slaughter.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You are a conqueror so put on your helmet so that the discouragement that Satan wants to throw at you will safely bounce off