Summary: Ephesians chapter 6 and we’re taking a behind-the-scenes look at the invisible world. A very real, a very powerful world. You know we are not human beings living in a spiritual world; we are spiritual beings living in a human world.

This is from a transcript of a sermon preached by Dr. Jack Graham on September 25, 2011

Thank you so much, students. And I would invite you now to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Ephesians, chapter 6. If you don’t have a copy of God’s Word there’s one provided for you in the pew rack. If you’re at one of our other campuses our ushers will get you a Bible if you will just hold up your hand and we will get you God’s Word. We want you to follow along and I do welcome not only our North Campus and our Dallas Campus, but also all of you online who are watching right now around the world on the web. So welcome to Prestonwood and welcome to the Word of God.

Ephesians chapter 6 and we’re taking a behind-the-scenes look at the invisible world. A very real, a very powerful world. You know we are not human beings living in a spiritual world; we are spiritual beings living in a human world. We’re not human beings having a spiritual experience but we are spiritual beings, created by God, eternal, having a human experience. And behind the scenes there is an invisible life, an invisible world in which we are all engaged. And it is a critical, critical understanding of this world that our faith, our family, our very future are at stake. That’s why the Scripture tells us that we in these last days are to put away the darkness and put on the armor of life. We’re to shake off the lethargy and the apathy and push back the darkness by engaging in spiritual warfare. But we dare not fight alone; we must fight in the Lord because the battle is the Lord’s. And we dare not fight without the equipment, the armor that is needed to defeat the enemy if we’re going to win this good fight of faith.

Now as we stated last week, Jesus has defeated the darkness; He has defeated the devil at the cross, and by the power of His resurrection the enemy is done. One day Jesus is coming again, the Warrior King, to finish him off completely. But until that time Satan is alive and well and living on planet earth. And behind the scenes he is working along with the invisible host and hordes of hell, the hordes of darkness; and while we have victory that does not mean that we do not suffer satanic attack, demonic attack. And so we must look through the lens of Scripture, through the Word of God, behind the curtain, into this invisible world because what you can’t see can hurt you! What you can’t see can hurt you! The devil means to do you harm, and therefore, we must not be unaware of our spiritual enemy and our spiritual engagement this battle for life itself.

We just got back from a trip to Israel, and while I was there I took time to have a conversation with our long time guide, Yuval Shemesh. Yuval is fifty-one years of age and he had quite a career in the Israeli army before becoming a guide in Israel. When you are 17,18 years of age, get out of high school in Israel, you go straight to the military. No exception, men and women, boys, young men and young women go straight to the military. And so as an 18-year-old Yuval went to the military. He was involved in some of the behind the scenes operations, covert operations of the Israeli army. He ultimately, after spending his term and time in the army became a reserve and so he is called up as most are in Israel in the reserve for about 20 years. When you are 50 years of age you are no longer called to reserve duty.

So now that he is a little bit over 50, 51-52, I asked, “Yuval,” I said, “Okay, so what happens now after all this time in the army and your reserve duty?” And, of course, we know that the Middle East can be a hot spot, and the Israeli armies are on duty on guard constantly. When you visit Israel, there’s always a sense of safety because of the Israeli army and the protection that is there. I’ve never felt ill-at-ease or ill-at-ease for anyone we’ve taken to Israel, but it is true to say that there is a tenseness in the air. There’s this sense that we are at ground zero of the problems of the world when we visit Jerusalem and the Middle East.

And so I asked Yuval… I said, “Suppose that is a war. You’re 50-something years of age. Will you go back into war? Will you go back into battle?” He said “Absolutely!” He said, “Because here in Israel we are fighting for our family, we are fighting for the future of our people, and so we stay on guard we stay vigilant all the time.” And here was a dad, now a granddad who is saying no matter what it takes, because of the realities of the future in Israel, I am ready and I will be responsible to fight for my family because what is at stake here is our future.

And it’s with that same sense of readiness, knowing that we’re fighting for our families, fighting for our faith, fighting for our future, that we must all be in the battle! It’s not enough to show up at church and be an audience! God has called us to be a mighty army!

D.L. Moody, the great evangelist, would not allow the great hymn Onward, Christian Soldier to be sung at any of his revival or evangelistic crusades because he said, “Can you imagine anything less like an army than the church?” It’s a sad indictment upon many of us. But God has called us to battle.

So in one sense this message today is a call to arms. It is a battle cry! It is a winnable war, but we must prepare a divine defense. And that divine defense is seen in the book of Ephesians, chapter 6. Let me back up to last week’s passage.

10) Finally be strong in the Lord (verse 10) and in the strength of His might. 11) Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12) For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers (these are demon spirits) against this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Heavenly places is not descriptive of heaven… the throne of God, but rather the invisible spaces, the heavenly places around us, all around us. Verse 13:

13) Therefore take up the whole armor of God… (all the panoply of God! Every piece put on with prayer!) that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, (this is, this day! These days are critical and, yes, they are evil.) that you may be able to stand in that evil day, and having done all, to stand firm!

Again and again we’re told in this passage of Scripture to stand, to stand, to stand! To withstand against the works and the wickedness of the devil and his demonic powers and forces. But to stand is not to stand still! But it is to stand strong, it is to stand in resistance. Just as a linebacker on a football team would take the proper stance and be prepared for action to defend the territory, we are to resist the devil. We are to stand against the enemy. We’re to take this strong stand!

And even when we don’t understand… and there are many things about the spiritual war, about the enemy himself, the mysteries of iniquity that we don’t understand. But while we don’t understand, we are to withstand; knowing that Satan himself is moving across this world. And we’re to have spiritual weapons in order to defend ourselves and to defend our families and defend our future! This divine defense, divine defense is described as the armor of God.

The Bible says we’re to take up the armor of God, or put on, do you see it there? Put on, this is something you do. This is not what God does for us; it’s what we do in taking up the armor. There are six pieces all protecting us as we stand and each one provides us strength in order to stand. We are to not pick a piece here and there, put on a helmet but not the breastplate of righteous. No, we’re to put on the entire armor of God, all of it! There is no place, no position in our lives that must be unguarded. We’re to be fully armed! If I go to battle, I don’t want to go into battle with a butter knife against an AK-47! I want the whole armor of God!

And this armor is not for style and profile, but it is for protection. It also covers only the front of the soldier. In fact we have a photo, a picture of a Roman soldier. Remember Paul in writing the book of Ephesians was in prison and so he would have been looking at a Roman soldier; chained to a soldier almost hourly. And while a soldier would not have been in full battle garb he began to think under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of what a soldier appeared to be and how that applies as a metaphor, as an illustration of the Christian life, this battle, and you can see this soldier standing strong, decked out strongly in the armor.

So we also have a spiritual armor and each piece is essential. We’re going to take each piece. I would encourage you to take notes, to write these down, to write in the margins of your Bible, and let’s together put on the armor of God that we may fight the good fight of faith and win.

Number one, he says, verse 14:

14) Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth…

Now the belt in a soldier’s garb obviously fitted around the mid-section; it held everything together, the pieces of the armor including the breastplate of righteousness, or the breastplate of the Roman soldier; it held that together. The belt also contained weapons for warfare as in the soldier’s sword would be hung on that belt, and other implements of war and of fighting. Also the soldier would often wear a long tunic and so when the soldier needed to go to battle and fight, he didn’t want to be running in a dress and so he would gather up the tunic and gird it up in that belt, cinch up in that belt as it were tightening the belt.

And so that’s the picture that we have here as we engage in this spiritual warfare. We are to first put on this belt of truth, because this belt of truth holds everything together. The belt of truth is the believer’s integrity because we are protected against deception, and stand against deception the believer’s integrity. If you are not supported with truth, you will lose in life. The belt of truth supports the core of who you are and what you believe. Truth, absolute truth, biblical truth, God’s truth!

Satan attacks with lies and errors and deception. We often live with secrets but God says we are to live with truth! Get the truth straight! Because if you don’t have your belt tightened with truth, the inner core tightened, the inner you of you strengthened, then everything else is going to fall apart. Everything hangs on the truth of God’s Word.

Maybe if you’re working with a trainer, weight training or physical training, you’ve heard your trainer talk about your core, getting your core stronger. Right? You know I walk around with some mild back pain constantly. Not bad, just a little mild back pain. It’d go away if I quit playing golf probably. But really my back is not my problem. I don’t have a back problem, I got a front problem! And if you want to help your back you strengthen your core, right?

And so in this spiritual battle strengthen your core! That includes standing for truth before your friends. Remember it’s our goal to advance the Gospel, to advance the kingdom of God! And so we stand for truth before our friends, before our family; and we preach the truth, God’s truth to ourselves! This is a crazy, violent, insane world in many ways! Demonic powers are on the loose. I would be personally frightened, I would be frightened for my family, I would be frightened for my grandchildren and their future were it not for what I know: the truth of God! It is what I know that strengthens me in the inner person, in the inner man! So this is why I preach the Gospel, the truth of Jesus Christ to myself! I preach it every day because we stand in this truth! Don’t go to battle without your belt on! You’ll lose your pants and you might just lose your life!

The second thing is, we are to put on, verse 14:

14) the breastplate of righteousness… the breastplate of righteousness.

Now obviously this is critical to a soldier because the breastplate covers the heart, the visceral organs, the vital organs of the body, and therefore, the breastplate is critical to staying alive and winning a battle.

Police officers know this. We were just talking to Mike Gurley who’s a Dallas police officer for many years. He says he never puts on his uniform without putting on his vest. I’ve done some reading this week of tragically some police officers, because it was too hot or it was uncomfortable, not wearing a vest and paying a big price for not wearing that vest. To put it in a more lighthearted, though somewhat serious way, I mean, I guarantee you Tony Romo is going to put on his flack jacket, his vest before that game tomorrow night; to protect the ribs, protect the body, all the assault of the opponent! So we are to put on this breastplate which represents the believer’s purity, as we stand against defilement. Protects us against defilement!

The breastplate of righteousness: what is this righteousness? We are righteous in Christ; this is not self-righteousness, this is not striving. Our weapons are not carnal or fleshly, but mighty to the pulling down of strongholds! So we stand, not in our own strength, but we stand in the strength that is Christ, the righteousness that is in Christ. But what Paul is talking about here, what the Bible is telling us here is to apply this righteousness! Just as you put on the armor, you’re to put on and apply the righteousness that is in Christ! In other words, to live in purity, to live in devotion, to live in godliness, to live the right way! It’s right living![Proverbs 4:23] “Guard your heart,” the Bible says, “for out of it flow the issues of life.”

So we put on purity and we ask God to protect us from defilement. Satan is a dirty, filthy animal. And sin is a violent, seductive power. And the devil only needs a little crack to get in. [taps 8 times on the pulpit] “Who is that that knocks so loud? The answer came, ‘Just a little sin.’ So I opened the door and sin and all hell was in!” Don’t give the devil a way in! Put on the breastplate of righteousness. Nobody started out to be addict; for some it was the click of a mouse on your computer, and “now all hell is in.” For some it was just a little flirtation, now “all hell is in.” For some it was just a little anxiety! Now with fearful force the bondage has taken over.

I’m telling you, we’re in a battle! Get dressed up everyday! If I were to ask you, “Why do you share your faith? Why do you not share your faith?” many Christians do not ever share their faith. If we’re in an army we should be advancing the Gospel, we should be talking about Jesus, we should be sharing our faith. But for the most part, you have to admit, “I don’t share my faith, not because I’m afraid to or because I’m intimidated, or because I don’t know the Gospel.” But so many would have to say, “I don’t advance the Gospel because I’m not living right myself! My friends know it; my family knows it! What kind of phony would I be to talk to somebody else about Jesus?” You see what has happened here? You’ve allowed Satan to neutralize your witness! Maybe even to nuke your witness! You don’t have a witness because you’re not living the right way.

Again, I’m not talking about legalism or self-righteousness; I’m talking about putting on the righteousness that we have in Christ. God gave us this armor and the power to stand. [1 John 4:4] “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” Paul talks about this mighty power that we have in Ephesians 1:19-20. You can… you can look at it; mark it later. But what is this power that we have to resist the enemy? To resist temptation? Is it some Mickey Mouse power? No! It is the same power that brought Jesus out of the grave and raised Him up to the throne on high! This same power, this is the strength that is in us! Don’t tell me you can’t live for Jesus if the power of the living Christ is in you! But it takes discipline. It’s not just calling for an exorcist to get rid of some demons. But rather to discipline yourself in your mind in the Word of God. We’re going to be talking a lot about that next week.

But there’s something else: there’s not only the belt of truth which is the believer’s integrity, holds everything together; not only the breastplate of righteousness which is the believer’s purity, protecting us against defilement; but then notice verse 15:

15) … and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the Gospel of peace.

Now a Roman soldier had to take care of his feet. There were mountains to climb, there was territory to take, there were obstacles to overcome. It… it was a kind of guerrilla warfare, hand to hand combat, and so your shoes, your feet had to be in good condition. Sometimes enemies would prepare booby-traps with long pointed sticks that soldiers would step on and pierce their feet and so on. So it’s vital that the soldier’s feet be in good condition, and therefore, good shoes. The hobnail boots of a Roman legionnaire or… or the sandals… They were cleated, if you will. They were… they were strong so that the soldier could take a stand and that the soldier could move forward! The soldier could be hostile and mobile, alright? And shoes were needed to do that!

I love the stories about John Wooden, the great basketball coach of UCLA. He taught his players, these great giant basketball players how to put on their socks and shoes. And you had to, if you played for Wooden you had to put on your socks the same way and your shoes on the same way, because he knew if you didn’t put your socks on the right way, if they were crumpled up, you’d get a blister and a blister can take a seven-footer down! One of the popular injuries in the NFL today is turf-toe. I’m not sure exactly what it is but I know it’s bad because if your toe’s bad you’re not running very far very fast. So you have to protect your feet.

Now today we have all of these athletic shoes. Back in the day all we had was our Converse All-stars. But today you go to the store… the Sports Authority wherever, and there’s shoes for everything! There are shoes for every sport and mixtures of shoes within the sport, because why? An athlete wants to be braced for action. An athlete wants, must be ready for action. And therefore this speaks of the believer’s stability and protects us against discouragement. The believer’s stability or shoes, strengthen us against discouragement.

How many of you are discouraged? Because I have been discouraged at times, and I know that’s one of the devil’s chief tools. Of all the fiery darts of the enemy, discouragement is one of the more powerful. Can completely take you out and lay you out. Discouraged, despondent, depressed, darkness takes over. Therefore we need to stand sometimes all you can do is stand up in the power of Christ and hold on in the name of Christ. That’s our stability! But we don’t go down, we don’t go down because our feet are firmly planted in the peace of the Gospel. Do you see that there? Your shoes with the readiness of the Gospel of peace.

This is, of course, the peace with God in knowing that our future is secure, that we have peace with God. We know that there’s nothing ultimately the enemy can do to destroy us because we have peace with God; our peace is made. But it also refers to the peace of God, and that peace of God in all circumstances it’s not the absence of fearful circumstances or difficult circumstances… That’s not peace, but it is the presence of strength and power in the face of our circumstances! That’s stability or standing strong. Remember, I said at the beginning of this message it’s not just standing still, it’s standing strong! You say, well, I’m not strong, pastor. I’m weak! Yes, but in the power of Jesus Christ you can stand! You can stand!

But the shoes of the Gospel of peace not only refer to our stability in Christ but our mobility in Christ. Notice he talks about our readiness to share the Gospel of peace. Paul talks about this in Romans 10:15 when he says, “How beautiful are the feet of them who preach the Gospel.”

I love the story of Acts chapter 8 when Philipp, that godly deacon was led out into the wilderness to share Christ ultimately with an Ethiopian and when the Spirit of God moved on that godly man’s life, the Bible says he ran to the chariot! He ran to witness to this man! What, That’s what we’re talking about here. “Be swift, my feet, to action. Be jubilant my feet.” We stand in the peace of God. We run in the peace of God.

The devil wants to discourage you; don’t let him do it. You’re grounded in the Gospel. “Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed, finding in His promise perfect peace and rest.” “You will keep in perfect peace, those who’s minds are stayed upon you.”—Isaiah 26 and verse 3.

So we put on the belt of truth, that is the core, that’s the truth, that is our stability and our integrity, or rather, our integrity in truth. And we put on the breastplate of righteousness and this is our purity, that we stand against defilement of any kind. We put on the shoes of the Gospel of peace… this is our stability and our mobility as we stand with the Gospel, as we run with the Gospel.

But then he speaks again in verse 16:

16) In all circumstances (whatever you face) take up the shield of faith, of which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;

That is, take up the shield of faith which is the believer’s certainty. We protect ourselves against doubt when the flaming, fiery arrows of hell are falling, we put up the shield of faith. The Roman shield was 2 feet typically by 4 feet; made of leather and medal and you could literally hide behind your shield. When an army was under attack they would place their shields together, hinge them together and the entire army could get behind those shields.

And that’s an important lesson to remember, isn’t it, that we are to connect our shields; that we are in this battle together when our shields are held together as we come to gather in this place today, I trust that we hold up our shields of faith and the army is strengthened against the assault of the enemy. You want to know what fiery darts, fiery arrows of wickedness look like? Just watch this:

VIDEO: [40 seconds of battle scene with action music.]

Okay, I’m ready to be a gladiator right now, aren’t you? Okay, but it’s scary being a gladiator! Scary being a Christian at times, and those arrows are flying at you! Arrows of anxiety, arrows of lust, arrows of… of sinful pleasure, arrows of addiction, arrows of… of fear. You name them! These fiery darts, these missiles from hell!

But you put up the shield of faith because this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith! Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ! You can’t help from seeing those arrows come against you. You can’t help it if the devil decides to send fiery darts against you, but you can keep from starting a fire! Put up the shield of faith! Put up the shield of faith and quench the fiery darts of the wicked.

When you believe… and this isn’t intellectual faith, this is fighting faith! Same kind of faith that Paul talked about when he was going up against the devil himself. [2 Timothy 4:7]“I have fought the good fight! I have kept the faith!” Hold up the shield of faith.

There’s one final piece of armor… two actually, we’re going to cover next week as we talk about the battle for the mind. And he said “Put on the helmet of salvation… the helmet of deliverance (verse 17) and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” When we put on the helmet of salvation we’re putting on the helmet of victory… or rather of security as we stand against disaster, because we have a hope in Him. The helmet of salvation. We’ll talk about that more next time.

I don’t know how long it’s been since you have read Pilgrim’s Progress. If you haven’t you need to put up all that beach fiction you’re reading and read something really good, like Pilgrim’s Progress. Students, if you haven’t read this great book by John Bunyan you’re not fully educated until you do, in my opinion.

Christian is going against the enemy. He comes against Apollyon who is the devil himself.

“Be care, Apollyon, what you do; I am in the King’s highway, the way of holiness and I am in His service. Therefore, take heed that you do not overstep your bounds.”

Then Apollyon sprang across the highway in front of Christian and said, “I am without fear in this matter! Prepare yourself to die, for I swear by all the infernal powers that you shall go no farther! I will take your soul right here!” Then he hurled a flaming dart at Christian’s heart. But Christian held out his shield and blocked it. Christian drew his sword and braced himself for battle. Apollyon came at him with a fury, of flowing darts as thick as hail. Some stuck above and some below Christian’s shield, wounding him painfully in spite of all that he could do to defend himself. Then he fell back a little! And seeing this, Apollyon came on with all his force!

Here Christian remembered the effectual prayer and took courage. They fought up and down the highway for over half an hour and Christian’s strength was almost spent from loss of blood and sheer exhaustion. Apollyon perceived that Christian was gradually growing weaker, and taking advantage of this he took hold of Christian and threw him to the ground. Then Christian’s sword flew out of his hand! “Now,” said Apollyon, “I am sure I have you!” And he almost beat him to death.

But as God would have it, as Apollyon gave his final blows to finish him off, Christian’s hand touched his sword which gave him fresh spirit. He gripped the sword with all his might and said, “Rejoice not against me, O my enemy! When I fall, I shall rise again!”

And giving Apollyon a deadly thrust which caused him to fall back as if mortally wounded, summoning all his strength, Christian rose to his feet and advanced toward him, crying, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us!” And this was so much for Apollyon, he spread his wings and flew away!

[James 4:7]“Resist the devil and he will flew from you!” This is victory that overcomes the world! Even our faith! Put on the armor of God, church! Because when you put on the armor of God, you’re putting on the Lord Jesus Christ! He is the armor of life! He is our Truth; He is our Righteousness; He is our Peace; He is our Strength; He is our Hope; He is the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of the living God! Put on the Lord Jesus Christ! And having done all, to stand. Because, Christian, the victory is yours if you will fight in Jesus’ name. Amen? [Amen]

Heads are bowed and eyes are closed.

If you can say today, “I know that I have trusted Christ as my Savior. I believe in my heart that God has raised Him from the dead. I’ve confessed Him as my Lord and Savior. I know that I know that if I were to die today, that I would go to heaven. I know that my sins are forgiven, all of them. And therefore, I know that I’m saved; not because of anything I have done but because of what Christ and Christ alone has done for me, I know that I am saved. And furthermore, because I am saved, I have publically confessed my faith in Christ; I have followed Him in the testimony of obedience in baptism, believer’s baptism, having been baptized since I’ve believed in Christ. Furthermore, I’m actively serving Him in the fellowship of His church, His people, His mighty army.” If you can give me that testimony, would you hold up your hand right now? Hold it up. Say, I’m in the army! I’m in, pastor. I can give that testimony.”

Amen! Put your hands down. Now some of you didn’t or couldn’t lift your hands, or maybe if you did, you just told a… went along with the crowd, but you don’t know. You don’t know that you’re saved. You don’t know Christ as your Savior. Maybe you’re lacking in assurance. You think so, maybe so, hope so. That’s not good enough, is it?

Or maybe you’re the kind of person who would just say straight up, “Look, I know I’m not saved. I’m certain I’ll bust hell wide open because I don’t know Jesus.” I want to invite you to receive Christ today.

Christians, I want you to do some spiritual battle right now. I want you to be praying for people all around us. Pray against, stand against the work of the enemy in unbeliever’s hearts.

And if you will receive Christ today, invite Him by praying a prayer like this:

Lord Jesus, I turn from my sin; I trust in You. I believe You died for me and rose again. I ask You, Lord Jesus Christ, to come into my life to be my Savior and my Lord and my God.

Invite Christ in. The Bible says,[Acts 2:21] “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” Call upon His name. And then having called upon His name, promise to live for Him. Say:

Lord Jesus, I will live for You in the power of Your Spirit. I will serve You for the rest of my days because You have saved me and because You are my God.

Will you tell Him that? Will you pray one more thing?

Lord, give me the courage and the strength to stand up today and to stand in my faith and to go forward and to trust openly in Christ.

The ministers of our church are going to be standing here at the front; also upstairs in the balcony for those of you seated there. Our ministers are waiting for you, men and women, boys and girls, to come forward, to resist the enemy and to respond to the Gospel by saying yes to Jesus Christ today and openly confessing Him. Ask God right now to help you to do that. Ask Him to give you the courage and the faith to do that. There are fiery darts and missiles from hell that are flying all over this room right now. Put up your shield of faith and ask Jesus in His name to enable you to make that decision and to make it public today.

There are others who need to get in the army. You need to get in this church. You’re not content anymore to be in the audience or to be a deserter in this army. Come and join this church. Get in the battle with us. Fight the good fight of faith with us. Live for Jesus with us. We need each other. Let’s link our shields of faith together and let’s storm the gates of hell.

Thank you, Lord, for these moments of decision. I pray that You would bring men and women, and boys and girls to a personal and living faith in You. Add to your church, O Lord, this day. Renew our hopes and our confidence and out trust in You. For we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.