The Full Armor of God

No Christian immune to spiritual warfare targets of fierce attacks simply because we follow Jesus today untruthful life weekend will learn how to suit up for the continual and irreconcilable war with the evil one. Alister Bragg is teaching a message titled the full armor of God were in Ephesians chapter 6 verses 13 through 18. Now you'll notice that Paul's concern is that we would be waiting the full armor of God that is to be a member of the Army is not to be a casual dresser not to be haphazard in the pieces that we take in going out is a graph of the day, we must weighted all the whole panoply that which is where we get from the Greek word the full armor of God is the word panoply after which you get in the him soldiers of Christ arise, and take to arm you for the fight. The panoply of God. For those of you are wondering what in the world is the panoply of God. It comes there from that adjective in front environment and means the whole shooting match and were supposed to be waiting at all. We need to remember as well that Paul is writing to a church and that there is a very realistic and necessary corporate die mention to what he saying here.

While it is true that as individuals we need to be armed.

We need to see ourselves not living in isolation by living in the family and fellowship of one another so that if you think in terms of an example of taking up the shield of faith we think of it, not just an individual terms, but rather that as we took it up as a great company of people. There was just a solid phalanx of protection all around the family of God. We need the armor in order to be able to deal with the constant skirmishes of combat and we ought not to assume that we can have one of these battles when it and then go to heaven as it where flying to the skies on flowery beds of these but rather as the Westminster confession of faith says the Christian is involved in a continual and irreconcilable war. So if as you continue through your Christian life. You're saying to yourself.

I wonder when I'm going to get over this. I wonder when it'll be a thing of the past. I want you to know that will be in heaven and until then, the armor is here for our constant consideration now then let's go to it and just located in part as time allows. First of all, he says I want you to make sure that you stand firm, then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. This is the first and primary and foundational element of Christian armor. It would be a belt that would be wrapped around and tightened up in the way that a man might tighten an exercise belt or the way in which you are you talk about that buckling up for the task and the picture here is represented in all of that all of the other pieces, or significant other pieces, at least, namely the breastplate and the sword would be attaching to that belt and so if we were to leave off the belt. Then we would not be able to tighten as it where the breastplate and hold it in place around us and it would flap and would be a dangerous proposition, especially in close combat, because you need that thing buckled in, so that there are no places under which the dagger thrust can, it needs to be tightened down, and so says Paul stand your ground stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist now are we to understand this idea of truth is it truth in an objective sense, i.e. Jesus says I am the way the truth and the life isn't a knowledge of the truth which would God and keep us or is it truthfulness in the subjective sense, i.e., in light of what we were considering this morning that we would not be liars but we would be truth tellers. In reading the comments raises interesting it falls out about 50-50. Some people make a great fuss about the fact that it is truth in an objective sense and others that it is truth in a subjective sense. Following the example of William Garneau, who wrote a fat book on the subject as well. I want to take the path of least resistance and say that for us to buckled the belt of truth around us in order that we might be able to stand is to recognize the importance of truth in an objective sense the truth represented in the great declaration of Martin Luther here I stand I can do no other. In other words he was taking his stand on an issue of truth and that was not truth in terms of his own subjective truth telling what it was truth in terms of once delivered to the saints. That of course is in keeping with Paul's great concern in the in Ephesians 1. He mentions truth in this way. In verse 13 he says, and you also were included in Christ when you hear the word of truth, namely, the gospel of your salvation, eloquence.

This may seem just so straightforward that we could pass over it quickly, and indeed I'm tempted to do as I was thinking about it in preparation for tonight even as I was driving here this morning. I alternated between two of my radio programs as I usually do, and one of them.

I tune into in the morning is of a church service at somewhere in the city here in this pastor at the end of his sermon sent to his congregation. And so you see my dear friends words to this effect. There is no reason for us to propound the priority or the superiority of our Presbyterianism.

I said that's good. Then he went on to say or the exclusivity and superiority of Christianity because God at this point in history is making himself known and I'm not quoting him now but he said, seemingly, and fully in all the religions and ideas of the world what he said to his congregation was. It doesn't matter what you believe.

It doesn't matter.

The issue of truth is totally relativistic. It is on a sliding scale and loved ones is going to get much worse than right now. I really believe this, I want to be a prophet of noon. But I do believe that God has the fashion informant has deep convictions about these things for the sake of a coming generation, so we want to labor hard here as pastors and elders Sunday school teachers from the tiniest all the way through to ensure that the Army is buckling on the authority the priority of the belt of truth in this most objective way. But it also has a subjective element to it is not insofar as Paul also still in Ephesians in verse nine of chapter 5 mention this whole idea of truth telling. For you, or one's darkness, but now your light in the Lord. Live as children of the light and then he gives a little expos� of what that means. He says for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth. Therefore, for the Christian to buckle on the belt of truth is not simply to be convinced of the truth of the Scriptures is revealed to us, but also is to be committed to truth telling. At the core of our being reset a little of this morning. Do not tell lies to one another, says Paul in Colossians 3. Make it an absolute commitment of your life to say you know the Lord Jesus being my helper whenever I become in life, God helping me I will not become a liar.

I'm going to tell the truth no matter what it means I'm going to tell the truth even when I get a detention.

I am going to be known as a boy or a girl. Absolute integrity buckling up rapid tie doing God's concern about the truth term for a moment to ask acts chapter 5 now man named Ananias, together with his wife Sophia sold a piece of property fine with his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles feet.

Then Peter said, Ananias, how is it that Satan is so filled your heart to new lines of the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land did not belong to you before it was sold and after it was sold was in the money at your disposal. What made you think of doing such a thing.

You've not lied to men but to God. It was okay for them to sell it for whatever he wanted and it was okay for them to bring whatever he chose. But it was not okay for them to create a spirit of deception in front of the church about what he was doing and when Ananias heard this, he fell down and die in great fear seized all who heard and then the young men came forward and wrapped up his body and carried him out and buried in about three hours later his wife came in not knowing what it happened and Peter*tell me is this the price you and Ananias received for the land not is this the amount you brought.

Is this the price you received for the land.

Yes, she said that's the price. Peter said to her, how could you agree to test the spirit of the Lord Luke, the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door and they will carry you out also and at that moment she fell down and she died, and the young men came in and finding your dad looked at one another and said what. Here we go again carried her out and buried her beside her husband and great came on the whole church on account of this was the issue. Truth the Army can never get any further than the weakest link in the chain and right in the very heart of it all. In taking the armor to ourselves is this matter of truth both objectively, as revealed in Scripture and embodied in Christ and subjectively as it is worked on in our lives and the second aspect is the breastplate of righteousness were not only drive this truth belt buckle around our waist, but were to where the breastplate of righteousness. And again, quite frankly, this can be taken in both an objective and a subjective sense. For example, in first Corinthians in chapter 1, Paul speaks of righteousness in this very objective way.

First Corinthians 1 verse 13. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God. That is our righteousness, holiness and redemption. The same thing in Colossians 33 for you died in your life is now hidden with Christ in God. In other words, it is by virtue of our union with Christ that we been given a standing before God, and it is the breastplate of righteousness, which covers my heart and declares me justified before and that in an objective sense. Now when I have been placed in a righteous position before God on account of what Jesus has done.

I am then to live out that righteousness subjectively. Righteous living is to be part of all of my days and all of my decision. In earlier commentator Gigi Findlay said the completeness of pardon for past offense and the integrity of character that belong to the justified life are woven together in an in penetrable mail and you see that's absolutely true. The person who is a false profession of faith and declares himself truly in Christ and lives in on righteous life is vulnerable to every attack and is susceptible to every temptation.

It is when I realize that I have been given the breastplate of righteousness to protect me from all the attacks of the evil one and that the wonder of the find that God has done for me in Jesus. It enables me and quickens me to live a life that is pleasing to that's what you see when you come on, a man who is living in absolute denial of a Christian testimony than it calls into question whether the profession of faith is a real profession of faith. The man is either deceived and deceiving.

Or he is in the worst of backslidden state. You understand this, let's move on.

Just hit the shoes.

The shoes of peace with your feet fitted with a readiness that comes from the gospel of peace shoes as an Nike town this week is fairly well and was struck again by the amazing array of shoes they have found a way to make shoes for everything you know and what they're saying is shoes are really important and actually shoes are important. Josephus, the Jewish historian says that part of the success of the military prowess of Caesar's armies had to do with the footwear that he issued to his troops because he gave them search good footwear that they were able to march for longer distances than their enemies and their enemies who were wearing inferior shoes assumed that the armies of Caesar would only be of the go so far in a certain time and therefore there were okay because they won't build to show up for a while because we never can, and then they showed out and the reason they showed up was because of the thickly studded boots. They were with sharp nails which made it possible for them sent Josephus to cover long distances in such short periods that the enemies were caught off guard with our feet shod with the shoes of the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace and what a wonderful thing is that they were told at the feet of the messengers are lovely, lovely on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news. We had your shoes on this week.

You're on your gospel shoes. I don't say this derringer's Guild. I said to myself to ask the question in all of our encounters and all of our opportunities.

Have we taken the opportunity to speak a word for the gospel to speak a word for Christ. We had the shoes on set an option for as I said in the beginning. The armor is the full armor is to be worn in its totality, so we can say well you know someone else is the shoes and I've got the breastplate of another fellow. Here's the helmet and will cover it between us know it's each of us taking all of the armor so that we may stand side-by-side for the cause of the gospel now about a shield. The shield of faith in verse 16. In addition to all of this take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

When a wonderful picture. This is the historians tell us that there were two kinds of shields. There was one that was almost like a can of large red plate like a frisbee that you held that it was circular, and you kept it close to you and you used it for immediate combat and then there was another shield that was issued to the armies and it was a big shield.

It was like walking around with the door.

It was 1.2 m x 0.75 of a meter. Historians tell us that it was two layers of wood glue together and covered first with linen and then with high with leather and it was bound with iron above and below the people would take these big shields and they would hold them up to protect them from the flaming darts of the evil one if you seen any movies you may have seen these flaming darts coming over dipped in pension satellite and they would sink into the shield and be extinguished tonight.

It is the most na�ve of us who believe. Somehow or another that we can wander around and that we are immune to these flaming darts of the evil one fires them with frequency, with rapidity and with great skill. The arrow of disobedience and rebellion of luster, fear, or malice. Remember that ultimately God himself says solemn as it is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

And then finally you will notice that were to take the helmet of salvation, take the helmet of salvation that is actually the last part of the armor because the sword is a weapon is not strictly part of the armor so will finish with a helmet protection for the head and therefore for the mind. These helmets were made of bronze or of iron usually imagine wearing an iron helmet. Most of us don't even of the neck muscles to hold up the helmet would probably kill is before we got in to the battle and so they would place inside the helmets, linings of Felter of a spongy substance to try and make the weight available in the historians again say that nothing short of an ax or a hammer could pierce a heavy helmet and in some cases there was a hinged visor that was added for the protection of the face Martin Lloyd Jones in addressing this suggest that the key to understanding the helmet of salvation is found in a verse that we considered a wee while ago in first Thessalonians and five and eight where you're told the since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. Let me just quote or even of Lloyd Jones that takes us through and swiftly sources Lloyd Jones putting on the helmet of salvation means that when you're attacked besieged tried tempted and the devil comes to you and says there's nothing in it you might as well get out of it. Christianity makes false promises and doesn't fulfill them.

Get up Chuck. It leave you answer says Lloyd Jones.

No I have not been led astray by this teaching I have always known that there are steps and stages in salvation.

I know that I am saved from sin's penalty. I know that I am being saved from sin's power and I know that I shall be completely saved from sin's presence and then he says remind yourself of the hymn writer's words to him that overcomes a crown of life shall be he, with the King of glory shall reign eternally. It's not surprising to me that simultaneously with the advance of syncretism in the realms of vacuous Christian theology simultaneous with the advance of syncretism. There is also the diminutive nation of the whole idea of Christian warfare. The removal from hymn books of the warfare songs of the ideas of battle of the notion of standing and fighting and holding your ground and staying strong and being true because all of those things you see are tied to the notion of absolute truth, but if there is no absolute truth upon which we take our stand and therefore which we must defend. Then of course it is really silly to keep those hymns in our books and it is wrong for us to embrace stand and endorse and loved ones whole world cries against such a view, the only thing that people are dogmatic about is that you're not allowed to be dogmatic about anything, and God in his grace and insight is mercy has put us together in this place, and for this time in the realm of science and the privileges of the halls of meds and the rounds of production and manufacturing carpentry scholasticism Carmax, and he's just taken a funny bunch of folks to do with me being one of the funniest of all, look around thing.

You turn the world upside down with a group like this up all had a funny group in Corinth and we were a funny group in Cleveland. We have a wonderful Savior. We have a glorious, we have a victorious general at the head of the March and it is no soft option to be a Christian in this day Christian teen in a secular high school take all of your moral fiber and all your guides in the world of business same again just to tell the truth in a sales team of liars may lose you your job better be worth for the cause of the gospel. So let's make sure that we've got the stuff the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness shield of faith in the helmet of salvation. Following Christ is challenging the battle was rough.

We've been given failsafe armor we just have to remember to put it on listing to Alistair Begg on Truth for Life weekend. In our study of spiritual warfare were reminded that the devil is a fierce foe's influence can be seen all around us in our culture, and while we may be tempted to think that we live in a unique time, God's authority and design for creation has long faced opposition. That's what we want to recommend to you a brand-new book titled being the bad guys how to live for Jesus in a world that says you shouldn't. This book reminds us of God's people in the Bible who lived through challenges very similar to what we face today. How do they respond, how should we respond as you read, being the bad guys will be encouraged to live out your faith with conviction and with peace can find out more about the book being the bad guys when you visit our website at Truth for Life.work on Bob Lapine. Thanks for listing this weekend. Today we learned about the armor that protects us in the midst of spiritual warfare you want to make sure you have the right weapons as well next week and will find out what we need to fight the battles the Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life for the morning is prolific