Gospel Of Peace Series

GOSPEL OF PEACE

Last week I mentioned that the first time I really heard anything about Spiritual Warfare was from a church seminar at Chartwell Baptist when I was in seminary. Growing up I had really never heard anything about it. There was the movie The Exorcist, which I did not see. I knew that the bible spoke about demonic possession but that was about all I knew. It was not until I went to Kuwait that I had my first face to face encounter. One of my first weeks there we were praying with a woman who suddenly began to manifest a demon. It totally freaked me out and I was unprepared for it.

This stuff is real. It is happening all around us. A few years ago I got a call from someone in Orangeville. Someone from our church had a house that they were renting there, and the person responsible for renting out the house was having a problem. It seemed that there were all kinds of weird things happening and the current tenants were about ready to move out. Shirley and I went up for a visit. The tenants took us around the house and told us about hearing footsteps when there was no one home, banging cabinets and closet doors when no one was in the room and voices. We walked into one bedroom and they said it was a center for the weird noises. I asked if they knew who lived there before them. They said they did not know, but in that bedroom when they moved in there was a big upside-down star painted in red - a pentagram. Obviously the people who had lived there before had dabbled in the occult and now there was a demonic presence there.

We prayed against the spirits in Jesus name. We anointed the house with oil. We asked God to protect the people who lived there and claimed the blood of Jesus over their lives. From that day, they never had another problem in that house.

There was a very real spiritual war raging in that house. Most people just driving by would have no idea, but the people who lived there certainly knew it was happening. It was only through Jesus that there was finally peace. We are continuing our series today on the armour of God.

Eph 6:14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

A great many people are trying to make peace, but that has already been done. God has not left it for us to do; all we have to do is to enter into it. -- Dwight Lyman Moody

The third piece of armor are the shoes or boots of peace. It has been said that the Roman soldiers boots were the secret of the Roman conquest. The boot that a Roman soldier wore was an open toed, spiked shoe which laced up past his ankles. It could be compared to the shoes that football players wear. Any football fan knows the need for a player to have shoes that can grip the different types of turf that they play on. Without the proper shoes, a football player will slip and slide and be unable to evade or fight off a would be tackler. It was very similar to a Roman soldiers need for firm footing. A soldier must traverse different terrain, climb rocks and trees, walk over sharp jagged stones, wade through ponds and swamps, and have sure footing during combat. Most battles were hand-to-hand and a soldier could not afford to be pushed backwards or slip. The soldiers boots helped a soldier stand his ground and advance on his enemy.

So what does it mean to have our feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace?

Why is peace so important?

Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.

1. Peace with the Law – justified through faith

This passage says that we are no longer at war but now stand in a position of peace. The word justified is a legal term. It does not indicate true innocence - only judicial innocence. Someone who goes to trial for a crime is found guilty or innocent based on the prosecution and defense. There are times when an innocent person is found guilty and a guilty person is released. Likewise God knows you are guilty when you stand before Him. He makes no attempt to change that. Instead, He has found a way to declare you legally innocent in Christ by paying for our sins through the cross.