Girdle of Truth
Ephesians 6:13-14a
http://gbcgracenotes.podbean.com/2013/11/20/girdle-of-truth/
How do we dress for success in the Christian battle? In a spiritual garb, illustrated here by Roman armor of that day.
This girdle is not just a strip of cloth like a girdle of today, or leather like a belt. It is a large, thick, heavy apron which covers the entire abdominal region, or innards. It serves several functions:
• A defense barrier against enemy swords. It was hearty enough to keep a sword out.
• A place to tuck in your outer robe, so your legs would be unencumbered during battle.
• A sheath on which to hang your sword.
And Paul calls it a girdle of 'truth.' How do you put on this girdle? You simply must be able to accurately define truth, and by doing so, you wear the truth, and truth protects you inwardly. Prevent truth decay!
The Bible defines truth in 3 ways:
1. The Word of God.
John 17:17
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
2. The Son of God.
John 14:6
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
3. The Spirit of God.
John 14:16-17
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth...
As we put on this girdle of truth, it's a 3 step process. We must apply all 3 of these.
Shifting gears now...
ill.--[volunteer] You cannot see the real person here, because the real person is his never-dying soul. That soul has 3 parts: Mind, heart, and will.
A mind with which to think.
A heart with which to feel.
A will with which to act.
These 3 comprise him...they make up his soul. And these are the 3 areas Satan will attack, and so we need to be inwardly girded up!
ill.--The Bible records the first time Satan attacked Judas Iscariot in his mind, and his heart, and his will. His betrayal of the Lord was just the natural outward fruit of what the devil had accomplished in his inward parts.
Now, we have seen 3 modes of truth, and 3 parts to man's inward being. Let's hook them up with one another.
The Word of God applies to the mind.
The Son of God applies to the heart.
The Spirit of God applies to the will.
As a human, this guy struggles with particular temptations, and so he gets with God each morning, and quotes a verse which deals with his temptation, and the Word girds up the mind! He prays and gets his heart right with Jesus, walking together in communion. And then he yields his will to the Holy Spirit of God, giving Him total control.
Our innards are all protected with the same thing: truth!
1. Truth of the Word-
The child of God should look daily into the Word of God and see the Son of God, and be transformed by the power of God.
Romans 12:2
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Satan attacks mentally
Now, what would you do if you were Satan, and you knew that the Word protected the mind? You'd do all you could to prevent people from hearing the Word. And if they hear it, you'd steal the seeds of that truth from their hearts. You'd distract them in church with anything you could. Random thoughts / someone heading to the bathroom / cute baby / smart phone. What a warfare goes on in church when the Word is being preached!
We should be praying, and pleading the blood of Jesus over every service here. We've got great seed, and we want it to fall on good ground.
Satan will do all he can to keep you out of the Word on your own time at home. But it's at home God can do His best work in your mind.
If you let Him, God will feed it. You're aware that you need it, but Satan knows if you read it, you may heed it. He will impede it. He will lead it. He himself will seed it. Let God weed it. Then you can read and succeed!
There's a great battle for the mind in the intellectual world today. It's a psychological war, and it is waged in our schools, on the internet, in Washington, D.C., and in churches.
ill.--in the keynote address to the 1973 Childhood International Education Seminar in Boulder, Colorado, Harvard psychiatrist Chester M. Pierce said:
"Every child in America entering school at the age of five is mentally ill because he comes to school with certain allegiances to our founding fathers, toward our elected officials, toward his parents, toward a belief in a supernatural being, and toward the sovereignty of this nation as a separate entity. It’s up to you as teachers to make all these sick children well—by creating the international child of the future."
I've grown up in that generation, and his philosophy has worked, and snowballed. The battle for the mind is being waged.
Our children's s.s. teachers and youth workers have such an awesome responsibility to gird up little minds with the Word of truth! Those seeds are magic beans which can grow into something that can lift them high above this world into another, and defeat the giant of worldly thinking.
I'm so glad that when Jesus was tempted of the devil, He didn't try to outsmart Satan, or use logic and reason. If He did, then there would be no hope for me, because I already know I'm not as smart as Him. All 3 times Jesus was tempted, He put on the girdle of truth, the Word of God. "It is written..." [X3] If He needs it, then we needs it!
Truth of the Word, Satan attacks mentally...
2. Truth of the Son.
Satan attacks morally
He wants to replace your love for the Son with a love for sin. Now the heart is attacked. Wrong thinking leads to wrong believing. And then what you believe affects how you behave. Generations of kids have been told they came from animals, and they are acting like it.
And how do you stay in love? Time together, fellowship.
And so, Satan will do all he can to keep you off your knees, and hinder you from praying. Because time with the Son of God who is the way, the truth, and the life, will gird you up on the inside.
3. Truth of the Spirit.
Satan attacks motivationally
He wants mind [mentally], heart [morally], and will [motives]
James 1:14-15
14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
'drawn away' and 'enticed' are more fishing terms. It's temptation. The fish circles, then nibbles, tastes, and desire explodes from within him, he takes the bait, and then he gets hooked. And we are all hooked on sin.
Why are prostitutes called hookers? Same idea.
The Spirit of truth is the Comforter, the Spirit within...that still small voice that will remind us of what is right, and empower us to do it. It's a force more powerful than our flesh, which cannot win on its own. It's the power to say no!
I challenge you to daily put on the girdle of truth. Spend time in God's Word, on your knees, and before you get up, yield your will to the Spirit, and then walk in it all day long.
http://gbcgracenotes.podbean.com/2013/11/20/girdle-of-truth/
