Alright, we’re there in Ephesians 6. And tonight, we are going to go through a very famous passage in Ephesians 6 dealing with spiritual warfare and with the armor of God. I thought that tonight would be the last sermon in Ephesians and it’s not going to be. We’ll have at least one more and I think only one more after this. Because this armor of God, there’s so much here to really talk about and to teach through. And I thought if we tried to finish the entire chapter, we wouldn’t do it justice. You’re there in Ephesians 6. If you remember, last week we ended in verse 9. We’ll start right here in verse number 10 where the Apostle Paul says this, “10 Finally, my brethren,”. He is beginning to wind down this letter. And to end it he says “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”. He says “11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”. And then in verse 12 he says this, “12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”.
And the Apostle Paul in this passage is teaching us about spiritual warfare and explaining to us that we are engaged in spiritual warfare. Whether you understand it or not, whether you realize it or not, when you got saved you were also drafted into the army of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Apostle Paul here is going to tell us that look, you’re in this fight whether you like it or not, whether you understand it or not, whether you want to be in it or not. You are in the midst of a war. And he is it going to explain to us how to survive this war, how to come out victorious in this war. Now I want you to notice that there are two kinds of things that he talks about, two subjects he is referring to. This war. And you can cut this passage into two different parts. The first one deals with the adversary in spiritual warfare. And I want you to notice there in verse 11, he says this, “11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”. And we’re going to come back to that verse later but I want you to notice he says the wiles of the devil. When we were talking about spiritual warfare, we are talking about the fact that we are at war with the devil. He says, I want you to “11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”. He said you are fighting the devil. He says this is not a physical fight.
He says “12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,” We’re not fighting other human beings. We’re not fighting other people. And look, obviously there is a time to defend yourself and defend your family and even defend your nation. And I believe that there’s a place for war. The Bible talks about a time for war and I think defensive wars where you’re protecting your land are appropriate. But as Christians, our main priority should not be going off into a battlefield to fight a physical fight. Our priority should be the spiritual warfare that we are engaged in. He says, “12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,”. We are wrestling. We are in combat. It’s just not against human beings. He says we are wrestling. He says “but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”.
And keep your place there in Ephesians chapter 6. That is our text for tonight. But go with me to John 10. We are at war with the devil. I mean we have an adversary and his name is Satan. The Bible says, “8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”. You might think, oh the devil is no big deal you. The devil is my friend. He’s not your friend. He might act like he’s your friend. But if you’re saved, you are an enemy, you are an adversary to the devil. And he has one goal for your life. The devil has a will for your life and it is this, that he may devour you, that he might destroy you, that he might cut you into pieces.
Look at John 10:10 “10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
I want you to know what Jesus said about the devil. He said, “10 The thief”. And this is a reference to spiritual warfare with the devil. He says “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:”. He says the thief only has 1 purpose. The enemy only has 1 purpose. He’s only coming for 1 reason. He wants to steal; he wants to kill and he wants to destroy.
Listen, as Christians we need to get this in our heads. The devil has one thing that he wants to do to your marriage. He wants to steal, kill, and destroy. There’s only one thing he wants to do in regards to your child-rearing. Kill, steal, destroy. There’s only one thing. He’s not trying to help you. He’s not trying to give you an opportunity to have a good time or give you an opportunity. When the devil comes alongside you, when he’s by you, he’s there for one reason. To steal, to kill, to destroy. The Bible says that he is as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. When you are a zebra or an antelope or whatever, and you are out in Africa and a lion comes alongside, he’s only there for one reason. That is to steal, to kill, and to destroy, to devour your life.
We are engaged whether you like it or not, whether you want to admit it or not, whether you want to think about it or not, we are engaged in a spiritual warfare. And the Apostle Paul says look, you have an adversary. He says put on the whole armor of God. He’s urging and saying I need you to put on this armor. Because he says that you might stand against the wiles of the devil. He says for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers. He says against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. He says look, you got to put this armor on. Because whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not, whether you want to think about it or not, whether you want to admit it or not, you’re in a fight. You’re in a spiritual battle.
I want you to notice that Paul begins by talking about the adversary, the devil. We’re going to talk about him all night long. But I want you to notice, he then begins to explain this idea of the armor. He says in verse 11, put on the whole armor of God. He says God has armor that he wants you to put on as you engage in this battle. He says “11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”. Look at verse 13, “13 Wherefore” Now verse 13 comes after the context of verse 12. “12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”. Then he says “Wherefore”. The word wherefore means for that reasons. He says “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”. He says you need to put on the whole armour of God. He says you need to suit up and get ready for battle because the enemy is coming whether you like it or not.
In 2 Corinthians 10:3, the Bible says this “3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:”. This was a passage that brother Matt preached about on Sunday night about the pulling down of strongholds. He says “3 For though we walk in the flesh,”. Notice, he says “we do not war after the flesh:”. It’s not a physical fight. It’s a spiritual fight. He says “3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:”. Then notice verse 4 “4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,”. He says we have weapons available to us to engage in the spiritual warfare, but these weapons are not carnal. “but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)”. And I’m not going to re-preach the sermon that brother Matt did on Sunday night. But the truth is this there are some strongholds that need to be pulled out. There are some spiritually fortified areas that have been taken over by the devil and we need to engage in spiritual battle, in spiritual warfare. How do we do that? Well, we’ve got some weapons that are not carnal. We have some spiritual armor, some spiritual weapons. And the Apostle Paul is going to break these things down for us.
In Ephesians 6:14, I want you to notice he talks about having your loins girt about with truth. Ephesians 6:14 says “14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth,”. What is this referring to? Now he’s going to take an actual armor and this is the 1st Century. And he’s in the Roman Empire. He’s probably spent a lot of time with Roman soldiers. And he’s actually looking at a Roman soldier or in his mind’s eye or physically looking at one. And he’s looking at the different things that the soldier has on him. And then he’s going to equate these things spiritually.
The first thing that the Apostle Paul says that needs to be done is that your loins need to be girt about with truth. And the idea here is that you need to put a belt on. He says look, a soldier puts on a belt. He has his loins girt about. And he says but your belt is a belt of truth. And the idea that the Apostle Paul is teaching us here is if you’re going to engage in spiritual warfare, if you’re going to engage the devil in a spiritual fight, you’re going to have to surround yourself just like a belt you would put around you. You’re going to have to surround yourself. You’re going to have to gird yourself about with truth. Now why is that? The reason for that is because the devil will attack us by lying and deceiving us.
One of these days we’ll do an entire study on series on the devil. There’s so much to cover but one of the things that you’ll find about the devil is that he is highly connected, he’s associated with the idea of lying and deceiving. 1 Timothy 2:13 “13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.” The first time we meet the devil, the serpent is in the story of Adam and Eve. Notice what he says “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.”. The word transgression is referring to sin. The woman Eve sinned. Why? Because she was deceived by the devil, because the devil lied to her. And we’re going to go to that passage later on in the sermon. He lied to her. He tricked her. He deceived her. And that’s how he attacked her.
Look at Ephesians 6:11 “11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against” Notice “the wiles of the devil.”. Wiles is referring to when something or somebody tricks you, deceives you or fools you. You say, “I’m in this spiritual fight. I’m in this fight with the devil. What’s the attack going to look like?”. Here’s what the attack looks like. He’s going to try to deceive you. He’s going to try to lie to you. He’s going to try to trick you. He’s going to try to fool you into doing something that’s going to hurt you. You say, how do I fight against that? You girt yourself about with truth. You surround yourself with truth.
Go to John 8. Notice what Jesus said about Satan in verse 44 “44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning,”. Notice what he says “and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”. Look, the Bible is clear that Satan is a liar. He’s a liar from the beginning. In him there is no truth. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own. He says he’s going to deceive you. He says you need to stand against the wiles of the devil. And then for this reason Paul says look, if you’re going to fight the devil, because that’s what we’re fighting. It’s spiritual warfare. It’s the devil and his angels. The devils and the demons. If you’re going to fight them, you’re going to have to girt yourself about or surround yourself with truth.
Now what’s true? Look at John 14:6. “6 Jesus saith unto him,”. Here’s one of the great I am statements from Christ. He said “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”. Jesus said, hey, I am the way. But he says I am the truth. Jesus is the truth. So, he, the devil, is going to attack you with lies, with deceit, with wiles. And then we have to surround ourselves with truth. Well you say, what’s truth. Well Jesus is truth you. “So, I surround myself with Jesus”. Well yeah, spiritually speaking, we surround ourselves.
You say, well what does that look like practically? Here’s what it looks like practically in John 17:17. He says this, “17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”. See, the devil is going to come to you and he’s going to tempt you and he’s going to deceive you or attempt to deceive you. He’s going to put a wile out there for you. He’s going to try to, without the Bible. He says that we are not ignorant of his devices. He’s going to try to trick you into doing something you shouldn’t do. But he’s going to say, is that what God really said? Is that the truth? He’s going to try to trick you. You say well, how do I keep from getting tricked? How do I keep from becoming a casualty? How do I keep from becoming a prisoner of war in this battle? I mean, we’re in a fight.
I mean have you ever wondered why it seems like a Pastor is in the fight and then all of the sudden, what happened? Well what happened was that he didn’t put his armor on. What happened is that the roaring lion came and devoured him. What happened is that look, there are casualties in these fights. There are POWs in this war. There are those who do not come out victorious. You say well how do I fight the devil? Well, you got to surround yourself with this right here, the Word of God. Sanctify them through thy truth, thy Word is truth. See, when the devil comes in and lies to you, you need to open up the Bible and say “No, I know what the Bible says”. Look, we have to bring ourselves back and we have to recalibrate ourselves.
“I Know the Bible doesn’t say that I should do this”. Or “I know the Bible says that I should do this”. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. The Bible says that a whore is a deep ditch. The Bible says that alcohol will destroy your life. The Bible says that that there are certain things that the devil might lie to us. “No, it’s not a big deal”. You go ahead and follow that. See where it takes you. The roaring lion will take you. “Well how do I fight? How do I make sure I don’t get hurt”? Surround yourself with truth. Sanctify them through thy truth, thy Word is truth. He says you’ve got to have your loins girt about with truth.
But i want you to notice the second thing. The second part of this armor. Go back to Ephesians 6:14. “14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;”. The breastplate of righteousness is like the body armor. The piece of metal that they would put on their chest in order to protect themselves. He says you need to put on not just a belt but you also need to put on the breastplate of righteousness. But what does that mean? Well notice how the word righteous there, how the first part of the word is right. The word righteousness means to do right. Now to an extent, there is none that doeth good. There is none righteous no not one. Only Jesus is righteous. Only God is righteous. But God wants us to try to live a life of righteousness.
See, Paul says look, if you’re going to fight the devil, you’re going to have to surround yourself with truth because he’s going to try to deceive you. He’s going to try to lie to you, trick you, fool you. You’ve got to know the truth. He’s a liar and you’ve got to know the truth. But then Paul says this, you also need the breastplate of righteousness. What does that mean? Look, that means this, you’ve got to live a right life. If you’re going to fight the devil, you have to live a life that’s right. You say, well what do you mean. Well go to Matthew chapter number 4.
See, the devil doesn’t only lie to you, he doesn’t only deceive you. He does lie to you, and he does deceive you, but he does it so that he can tempt you. You say I’m ready for spiritual warfare. What is the strategy of the devil? What is it? He’s going to deceive you. He’s going to attempt to deceive you. And then he’s going to attempt to tempt you. We could go to a lot of places. I’m not going to take the time. I’ll show you one. Matthew 4:1 “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.”. Notice verse 3 “3 And when the tempter came to him,” He’s going to be tempted of the devil. Then in verse 3 the devil just called the tempter. Why? Because that’s what he does. He tempts. What’d he do with Eve in the garden? He was tempting her to disobey God, to eat of this tree that God has forbidden.
“3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”. The Devil is going to try to trick you into sinning, tempt you into sinning, get you to sin. You say, how do I fight against that? You choose to live a life of righteousness. You put on a breastplate of righteousness. How do I know what’s right? Well, you go back to point number 1. Put on the girdle. Girt your loins about with truth. Figure out what truth is. Sanctify them through thy truth. What does it mean to be sanctified? It means to be holy, to be set aside. What does that mean? To live a righteous life. He says your girt yourself about with truth and then you live a life of righteousness. You put on a breastplate of righteousness. You say why? Because the tempter wants to destroy you. The tempter wants to kill you. Remember the thief, he came to do what? To steal, to kill, and to destroy.
And look, please understand this about the deceiving aspect of sin, the Bible says that lust when it hath conceived bringeth forth sin. And sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. One of the things that the devil does is get us to sin and feel like it’s not that big of a deal, right. The thief came to steal, to kill, and to destroy. I remember somebody one time used the analogy of a matador, right. You have a matador and it holds the red cape for the bull. In Spanish the word matador means the killer. That guy is the killer. Often the devil is very much like a matador. He holds up that red carpet of temptation. The matador holds up the cape in front of the bull. The bull gets all excited and wants that. This is what the devil does. He’s going to put up that red cape of drugs, that red cape of alcohol, that red cape of fornication, that red cape of stealing, that red cape of whatever it is. He’s tempting you. He’s going to put that red cape up. But you know, with those matadors, when they entice that bull to attack, they let that bull kind of hit that cape and just kind of go over it. Hey, they do it again. The bull thinks that was fun. Nothing happened. Let’s do it again. The bull backs up and revs up and puts his horns down and runs in towards that cape. The matador just lets them have fun with it. By the time the bull gets really comfortable with it, there comes a time when a sword comes out on that bull.
Remember the story of Samson? Go ahead and lay your head down on Delilah. No big deal. That was fun, wasn’t it. Let’s do it again. That was fun, wasn’t it. Let’s do it again. That was fun, wasn’t it. Let’s do it again. And by the time you’re not paying attention, here comes the sword, here comes the spear. Look, I’m just telling you, if you’re a bull and there’s a matador in the arena with you, he’s not having fun with you. He’s not playing with you. He’s there to steal, to kill, and to destroy. And teenagers think “Oh I fornicated and nothing happened”. Maybe the first time. Maybe the second time. Maybe the third time. That’s what is called being deceived. One day the swords going to come out. One day the spear is going to come out. One day he’s going to trick you and deceive you and tempt you into sin.
You say, “I drank before. Nothing happened. I can do it again”. Or “I committed adultery on my wife before. Nothing happened. I can do it again”. And you go ahead and run into that temptation once and twice and three times but eventually you’ll die. Because lust when it hath conceived bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bring forth death. So how do I protect against that? It’s called the breastplate of righteousness. Don’t mess around with sin. Eyes need to be protected. You say, how do I do that?
2 Timothy 3:16 “16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine,”. What’s doctrine? Doctrine is what is right. “for reproof,”. What is reproof? What is not right. “for correction,”. What is that? That’s how to make things right. “for instruction in righteousness:”. The reason why you come to church. I mean you’re supposed to come to church to hear the word preached. Preach the word, be instant in season, out of season. You know one of the things that we’re supposed to be doing is instructing you in the breastplate of righteousness. It says for instruction in righteousness. We come in and say, hey, here’s right doctrine. Here’s reproof. Stop doing that. That’s not right. Here’s correction. Here’s how to fix it. And then we’ll say, here’s what God wants you to do.
And look, you can sit there and say “Well I don’t care. I’ll just do what I want.”. Go ahead and do what you want. But whether you like it or not, there’s an adversary called the devil that wants to kill you, destroy your marriage, destroy your children, destroy your finances, destroy your health, destroy your opportunities, destroy everything you have. He wants to steal and kill and destroy. How does he do it? Well, he’ll deceive you. You need to be gird about with truth. He’ll tempt you. You to need to put on the breastplate of righteousness.
Notice the 3rd piece. Go to Ephesians 6:15. He says this “15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;”. The way that we engage in spiritual warfare against the devil is through soul-winning. That’s what he’s referring to. He says, your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Go to Acts 26. Look, I am a pastor and my wife’s a pastor’s wife. We’ve been doing this for a decade now and we love doing this and we wouldn’t want to do anything else. But I’m just telling you, I’m tired of seeing people not realize that they’re in a fight and just think that they can mess around with stuff and it’s no big deal. It’s like we said on Wednesday that that you’re walking into a war zone and not even understanding that there’s a fight. And then you end up dead spiritually. A POW missing in action. What happened? Well, you got to put on the whole armor of God. He says the feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Acts 26:18 “18 To open their eyes,”. This is talking about the Apostle Paul. This is Jesus, the resurrected Christ, speaking to Paul about what he wants Paul to do. “18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light,”. Look, when we go out soul-winning, what are we doing? We’re opening their eyes. We’re turning them from darkness to light. What are we doing? “and from the power of Satan unto God,”. You know that when we go out, when our feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, when we go out to preach the gospel, we are engaged in a spiritual warfare. We’re turning people from the power of Satan unto God. “that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.”.
If you’re going to be part of the fight, here is what I’m saying, you cannot say I’m in a spiritual fight if you’re not soul-winning. Let me let you in on a secret. That is the fight. That’s what it is. You say, I thought the fight was church attendance. No, this is like the rally. This is where we get together, all the soldiers get together, we tell our war stories, then you get training, this is boot camp, this is where we organized. We motivate and mobilize soul-winners to go out into the fight. To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God. And look, I get it, we had a coronavirus. You took an extended break. That’s fine. It’s time to get back in the fight. People didn’t stop going to hell just because you got lazy. You know, everything got shut down because of the coronavirus. I don’t think hell got shut down. I don’t think the devil stopped fighting. You got locked down. I got locked down. The devil is still out there. We’ve got to get back to the fight. Get your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Romans 10:14 “14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?”. Sometimes we read these verses and we don’t really think about what it’s saying. But listen to what the Apostle Paul is saying. He’s asking about a question. He’s talking about people who are out there, who need the gospel preached to them. And he’s saying, “14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?”. He said how are they going to call because you have to call upon Christ for salvation. How are you going to call on someone that you have not even believed in. Then he says, “and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?”. He said, how are people going to believe in someone that they haven’t even heard of. “and how shall they hear without a preacher?”.
And then verse 15, he says, “15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written,”. Notice “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”. See, to be part of the fight, you got to get your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. You need to put on your soul-winning shoes and go out soul-winning. You say why? To open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins. That’s the fight. So, he says you got to get your feed shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Let me give you a fourth one in Ephesians 6. You say how do I get ready for this fight? You have to have your loins girt about with truth. You have to have on the breastplate of righteousness. You have to have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Number four, he says you need the shield of faith. Verse 16, “Above all,”. I think it’s interesting he says above all. He says about everything that is needed and then he says above all for the shield of faith. I think the reason he says “above all” is because this is where it all begins, faith. I mean you’re not even saved without faith. You must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. The word believe means to have faith. He says “16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith”. He says you pick up that shield of faith because you’re going to need it. He says “wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”. He says that the wicked is going to be shooting darts at you. Then be shooting arrows at you. Fiery darts, fiery arrows. And you’re going to need the shield of faith to quench those fiery darts. You say well, what does that mean? I don’t understand.
Go to Genesis 3. We’ve been talking about Adam and Eve. Let’s actually look at the story. Because see, when the devil attacks you, I’m just telling you, when the devil attacks you, he’s going to attack you by lying and deceiving. When the devil attacks you, he’s going to attack. So how do you defend against lying and deceiving? You get your loins girt about with truth. When the devil attacks you, he’s going to attack you by tempting you to sin. So how do you fight against temptation of sin? You put on the breastplate of righteousness. You live right. You do right. When the devil attacks you, just know this, he’s going to cause you to doubt.
Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more subtil”. That word subtil means clever or and indirect way of accomplishing something. The Bible always uses this word subtle in a negative way. Remember, Jonadab. Amnon had a friend. The Bible says sometimes people come into church and they cause problems. They’re very subtle. It’s a clever and deceptive way. There’s always plausible deniability. “Well I didn’t actually tell them”. But you put that thought in their heads. You put that idea in their brain. You kind of said, what do you think about… “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman,”. Notice what he says. “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”. See, if God would have stopped and said are you telling her to do that? He could say, I was just asking a question. He’s subtle.
“Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent,”. Because at this point, she has her loins girt about with truth. She knows the truth. “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:”. You know what he did? He questions God’s Word. Then he caused her to doubt God’s Word.
Do you know what happens in a church like Verity Baptist Church? Some of you kids that grow up in this type of church, you come here and you hear me and other men preach. And we try to warn you and tell you “Hey, there are some things that are going to destroy your life. Don’t go down that road. Don’t make those decisions. There’s wisdom in a multitude of counselors and listen to your parents and listen to your pastor and listen to your pastor’s wife”. We try to help you. The devil says he shall not surely die. It’s no big deal. It’s fine. They’re just grumpy, negative people. Just go for it. You know what he does is he causes you to doubt. “Did God say that? Is that what God meant. Is that what God wants you to do”. How do you fight against that? Well go to Romans 10.
Look, when he’s trying to cause you to doubt, you need the shield of faith. Because what’s the opposite of doubt? It’s faith. Look, everybody doubts from time to time. John the Baptist, Jesus said the greatest man who ever lived, John the Baptist in prison doubted. He said, “Are you really the Messiah? Is this really what God wants?” And I’m here to tell you that when the devil attacks you, he will attack you through doubt. You’ll begin to doubt. “Do I really need to? Does it really matter. Does God really care. Is it really that big of a deal”? You know, they’re trying to scare me. Because God said you shall not surely die. How do you fight against that? You pick up the shield of faith. You say, well pastor, the thing is my faith is weak.
Romans 10:17 says this “17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”. You know it’s interesting, how your faith is built by hearing the word of God. Your breastplate of righteousness comes through “16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”. Look, he wants you to be connected, he wants you to be girt about with truth. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth”. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy Word is truth. But he wants you to get connected through the Word of God, through the preaching of God’s Word, through the reading of God’s Word. And there’s an application for prayer. We’ll deal with that next week. When he talks about praying, always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. But look, he’s saying you got to get suited up. He says you need to pick up the shield of faith.
Then he says this in Ephesians 6:17, you’ve got to increase your faith. You say “Pastor, how do I know if I’m under spiritual warfare? If I’m in a spiritual battle?”. Well let me ask you, is someone whispering in your ear trying to deceive you of something that you know to be true? Is there something or someone trying to tempt you into something that you know is wrong? Is there something or someone trying to cause you to doubt? Or someone saying, that’s no big deal, it’ll be fine, they’re not telling you the truth? This is how the devil attacks. This is a spiritual warfare. I don’t know what you thought spiritual warfare was. You thought you’re going to be casting out demons or something? Spiritual warfare is you knowing the truth, is you living right, is you going soul-winning, is you picking up the shield of faith and saying “I’m not going to doubt. I know what the Bible says and I’m not going to doubt. And if I start doubting it then I just need more Bible”. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
Then he says in Ephesians 6:17 “17 And take the helmet of salvation,”. You say what’s that about? Well here’s the thing, Satan wants everybody to die and go to hell. Now that’s why we’re out there preaching the gospel. Turning people from the power of darkness, from the power of Satan unto God. Matthew 25:41 “41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:”. You know that hell was created for the devil and his angels. Hell is not created for us. God said the wages of sin is death and he created hell for Satan. And then Satan decided he’d go to war with God. He said okay, you want to send me to hell because I sinned? Let me go tempt Eve into sinning. You have to send her to hell too. Because God you’ve got to be just right. God is no respecter of persons. And the devil’s agenda is to take as many people down to hell with him as possible. That’s the war is.
How do you fight that war? Well you need to have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Hebrews 2:14 “14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;”. The devil has the power of death right now. He is killing people with sin. The wages of sin is death. And he’s bringing them down to the second death, the lake of fire. And we have to engage in spiritual warfare.
Go back to Ephesians 6. Let me give you the sixth piece of armor. He said have your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation. And look, by the way, you’re you’re not in the fight if you don’t have the helmet of salvation. Understand that. So, someone’s not even saved, they’re not in the fight, okay. But let me just say this, you’re in the fight if you have the helmet of salvation. You understand that? You say “Oh I’m saved”. Okay. Then you’re in the fight. You say “I don’t want to be in the fight”. Salvation comes as a helmet that you get when you got enlisted. So, if you’re in the fight, it’s because you’re saved. Ff you’re not saved, you’re not in the fight. There’s no neutral. There’s no “Well, I’m saved but I’m not in the fight”. No, if you got the helmet of salvation, it is because you’re in the fight”. Now the difference is, are you going to fight?
Then he says this, Ephesians 6:17 “17 And take the helmet of salvation,”. Then he says this, “and the sword of the Spirit,”. Look, it all comes back together with “which is the word of God:”. He says you’re going to fight in the spiritual battle and he said you better have your helmet of salvation. You better pick up your sword which is the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. You better be girt about with truth. Sanctify them through thy truth, thy Word is true. He says you better have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Look, do you understand what spiritual warfare is? You better engage in this fight because you’re in it whether you like it or not. John 6:63 “63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”. Proverbs 1:23 “23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.”. Isaiah 59:21 “21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.”.
Here’s what I’m telling you, you say I want to get in the fight, you better get in this Bible. Look, you better know this Bible. Did you read the Bible today? Did you read the Bible yesterday? When was the last time you even opened your Bible? If the last time you opened up your Bible was the last time you were in church, look fine. But you’re not going to make it in this fight. You can’t go into a fight without a weapon. He says you better pick up your weapon, the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. Go back to Ephesians chapter 6.
So, we begin with the adversary, the devil and his angels. And then we see the armor. What is it? Well the devil’s going to talk to you while lying and deceiving so you better be girt about with truth. The devil is going to attack you by tempting you to sin so you better put on the breastplate of righteousness, of living right. The devil wants to send people to hell so you better put on your helmet of salvation and get your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. The devil’s going to attack you by causing you to doubt so you better pick up the shield of faith. The devil is going to engage in spiritual warfare so we need weapons. You better pick up the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.
Now here’s a problem with most Christians. Most Christians think, “Well, I got the helmet of salvation. I’m good to go. Well I got a shield of faith. I’m not doing the preparation shod thing. I don’t have the breastplate of righteousness based on how I’ve been living my life. But you know I’ve got one or two out of six. I’ve got three out of six. How good is that?”. Notice the emphasis is this, Ephesians 6:11, “11 Put on the whole armour of God,”. The entire thing. You need all of it. “11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”. Verse 13. “13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”. Look, it’s not an option. You need all of it. “So, do I need all of it to be saved?” No, you just need the helmet of salvation to be saved. You need all of it if you’re going to survive this fight.
And by the way, let me just point this out, notice how there’s no protection for your backside. I mean the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith. There’s nothing to protect your back. You say why is that? Because there’s no retreat. There’s no turning around and running. You say, “What does the fight look like?”. It looks like this, you’re either advancing or at the very least you’re standing. There’s no going back. Notice verse 11, “11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”. Then he says in verse 13 “13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”.
You say, what’s the difference between standing and withstanding? In football, when you line up on the line of scrimmage, you bend down in a 3-point stance as a lineman. But then when the ball is hiked, you go from standing to withstanding. You know what the Bible says? Resist the devil and he will flee from you. You say, how do I fight? Here’s how you fight. You’re always standing and when they say hike, you resist the devil. He’ll eventually flee. God promises it. So how do I do that? With your shield of faith. With your breastplate of righteousness. With your loins girt about with truth. With your feet shod with the preparation. Every day you say, today I’m going to stand. Today I’m going to stand. I’m going to take a stand for God. And if I have to, I’ll withstand and resist the devil and he will free from me.
And look, that’s spiritual warfare. I don’t know what you thought it was or people get these mystical thoughts that they’re in some room and there’s bright lights. Look, spiritual warfare is you get up every day and you just do what God has called you to do. You live right. You do right. You read your Bible. You win souls for Christ. You break out the shield of faith. You pick up the sword of the Spirit. You wake up every day saying “I am NOT at home. I’m just a pilgrim on a war zone today. I will stand and from time to time I’ve got to withstand.”. And when you resist the devil, the Bible says he will flee from you.
Let’s pray.