Many of you have seen the movie Ironman. A wealthy person who decided to do good, invented an armor impenetrable from bullets.
If Tony Stark did not put on that armor, a bullet can easily kill him and Ironman couldn’t do any good thing!
Wouldn’t it be nice to have one of those armors?
Although fun to think about, I hate to burst your bubble. It’s only a movie! Ironman is fiction; it is not real!
But let me tell you what is real; If you are a Believer of Jesus Christ, you are called and empowered to do good for God; but there is a devil who will attack you! The spiritual world is real! We Christians not only live in the physical but also in the spiritual and we are in a battle! It may be fun to be Ironman but we all need to be “Christman”!
What is true and real for us Christians?
God is for us and the devil is against us!
And so, God tells us in Ephesians 6:11, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes!” If you look into the Greek Grammar of this passage, you will find that the intent of the phrase “put on” is that Christians are personally responsible for putting on the full armor of God. Are you putting on the full armor of God on a constant basis?
What is this full armor of God and how do we wear it?
Open your Bibles to Ephesians Chapter 6.
Ephesians 6:10-18………..
God will never ask us anything that we can not do! We Christians are to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. This is a command that we all can do as Christians because Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, our Leader, is strong and mighty in power. Jesus Christ who loves us created the whole universe and He created you and me!
Jesus Christ overcame the devil and every person’s sin by dying on a cross for those sins and rising from the dead! Jesus Christ is now seated at the right hand of God and will return to earth soon and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!
Have you made a commitment to believe and follow Jesus Christ as your only Lord and Savior? If so, Hallelujah, you have eternal life with God; you have God the Holy Spirit empowering you; and you have the full armor of God available to you! You are called to be “Christman” with an armor!
If you have not completely trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, now is the time to do so! For if you are not a true follower of Jesus Christ, you are still an enemy of God; and if you never believe in Jesus Christ, you will be judged forever! Believe and follow Jesus Christ today!
For us who are Christians, the devil will attack us. Are you and I putting on the full armor of God? If we Christians are not wearing the full armor of God, the devil will hurt us.
Let us get to know this full armor of God so that we can know what to put on.
There are seven pieces to the full armor of God! Some of you may have just counted six. These six are stated specifically in v14-17. Let me suggest remembering these letters: B B S S S H! or B-bisssh!
The first B is for Belt of Truth! The second B is for the Breastplate of Righteousness! The first S is for Shoes for the Gospel! The second S is for Shield of Faith! The third S is for Sword of the Spirit. And the H is for the Helmet of Salvation. What is the 7th piece of the full armor of God?
Look again at v18……….. Prayer!
God doesn’t give us a name for this piece of the armor, so I will suggest one. Prayer covers all doesn’t it? It is like this picture….
What is this called which envelopes and protects a person? The 7th piece of the full armor of God is prayer, which we can call today a “Forcefield”! And so the full armor of God can be remembered with the letters BBSSSHF!
Again, I encourage you this week to read daily and try to understand each piece of the full armor of God; and put them on! This morning we will focus on the Belt of Truth. We will learn more about the other pieces in future weeks.
What does a Belt do??
A belt holds everything together and it wraps completely around the body! We are to put on the Belt of Truth, wrap it around us and let it hold everything together!
Now, what is the Truth in this verse 14?
At first thought we can easily say that the Truth is God’s Word right? But look again at verse 17………….
Is God being redundant here? Is the Belt of Truth the same as the Sword of the Spirit? What’s the number one rule of interpreting the Bible? Interpret passages in context!
Bible passages are to be interpreted in context within the paragraph, within the chapter, within the Book or letter, and within the rest of the Bible! Always be careful of pulling out a bible verse on its own!
Our passage tells us that the Belt of Truth is definitely different than the Sword of the Spirit which is for sure the Word of God! But they are connected aren’t they? Where do you hold a sword? A sword is held by the belt!
What is this Belt of Truth then?
The word “truth” is found in Ephesians 7 times. Turn back briefly to Ephesians 4:20-21…… And Ephesians 5:8-9...
And Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the truth!”
The Belt of Truth is Jesus Christ and what He says!
Doesn’t this make sense? Jesus Christ is to wrap around us and He holds everything together; and the Word of God is held by Jesus Christ!
We as Christians are to always put on the full armor of God and the first thing we are put on is the Belt of Truth who is Jesus Christ! Always put on Jesus Christ and trust Him for everything in life!
The devil will attack us Christians with all sorts of ideas not of God and we can allow the devil to win.
We read in Colossians 2:8, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ!”
Think about government for a second. If governments do not depend on Biblical principles, all sorts of will weird ideas will come up. We’re seeing this in our own country aren’t we? Tax paid abortions???
If we don’t put on the Belt of Truth who is Jesus Christ, trusting Jesus in everything, we can be taken captive of hollow and deceptive philosophies and evil principles; and it can happen in churches!!
Can you picture “Ironman” putting on his armor?
“Ironman” will not go to the battlefield without his armor.
How about you and me? Will we go to the spiritual battlefield without an armor?
You and I who are Christians are in the spiritual battlefield on a daily basis. We need to put on the full armor of God! Let us all make a commitment to always picture ourselves with the full armor of God! Start with the Belt of Truth.
How do we put on the Belt of Truth?
Follow Colossians 3:17, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus!”
Picture Jesus wrapped around you always and ask Him what He thinks of what you are thinking and doing.
