The Armor
Ephesians Series
CCCAG, June 5th, 2022
Scripture- Ephesians 6:10-18
Introduction
Imagine for a moment you are in Southern Wisconsin in August. It’s 90-100 degrees, humidity about 80%. It’s hot! You don’t want to be having to work outside too much in that heat.
So of course, it’s when I decided to take FF1. In the first part of every class was a 2 minute drill. Part of the state test is seeing if you could put on all of your gear, in the correct order, in two minutes. For the first 20 minutes of every class would put it on and take it back off.
Hood goes on, the pants/suspenders, then the coat. You kneel down, check your tank’s pressure to make sure it’s full- turn it on, and then don the tank, tightening it down, Then mask goes on- tighten your straps and you get an airtight seal on it before attaching your tank regulator to the mask and breathing to make sure it works. Then you pull back the hood to cover any exposed skin on your face and head, don and strap down your helmet, and then finally your gloves.
The instructors would then look you over, and declare you ready to enter the burn building where they had built a fire we had to put out.
Why do they care so much that you do it right?
Because fire is really hot! You need to protect your body’s largest organ, which is your skin. Not only that, but a break in your mask seal could be a quick and painful death as you inhale superheated smoke filled with poisons.
We do that to protect our firefighters and make sure they can do their job in saving lives and mitigating property loss.
God has a set of protective gear for us that Paul describes in Ephesians 6. Like firefighting gear- it’s made to take the heat. It’s also able to take the poison trying to get inside you and neutralize it.
The Armor of God is a subject many of you may have heard a dozen sermons on this already, and it’s the subject of many famous preachers’ books and sermon series.
Saying that, when I was studying for this mornings message, I noticed something I never had before that I wanted to show you this morning, so we will be approaching it a little differently today.
Let’s read the scripture, and then we will dissect it a little bit.
Eph 6:10-18
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 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. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Prayer
Premise
As I said a moment ago, I want to look at the armor of God a bit differently today. We often hear sermons that separate the pieces of the armor out and really dig deep into each one. I want to take a slightly different approach this Pentecost Sunday and look at it more as a whole, and what it really represents.
The first thing I want to point out is the imperative-
I. The imperative- (Vs 10 and 13, 14)
The word imperative means “the thing of most importance”. So as we look at Pauls’ teaching on the Armor of God, what is the most important use and function of the armor?
I’ll give you a hint- he says it three times in Verses 10, 13, and 14, and when the bible repeats itself like that- it’s saying- PAY ATTENTION- MAJOR TRUTH COMING.
To stand.
You know it sounds simple. You might be thinking- “Wait a minute…God doesn’t want me to fight?”
Let me point you to Rev 19 for a moment. Revelation 19 describes the return of Jesus at the end of the tribulation (describe valley of Megiddo). I want you to notice something in these verses-
14 The armies of heaven were following him (JESUS), riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh, he has this name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.
Verse 21 The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse
You might ask- what are we going to do?
We are going to stand and witness the salvation and victory of our God.
What does God tell us to do with our armor while we are here?
To stand and witness the salvation and victory of our God.
Why doesn’t he have us fight?
Let me ask you this-
If you are in a boxing ring or a UFC fight, and you land a knockout punch, what happens?
The fight is over.
Jesus landed the knockout punch to satan at Calvary. All we have to do is stand and witness the salvation and victory of our LORD.
Now the enemy will still attack us. He will still send his minions to try and take us out or cause us to stray away from God’s righteous path and mission he has given us, but he is a defeated foe.
So we still need armor. Just like everyone on the fireground has protective gear on whether they are going into the fire or not, so God has us protected against the attacks of the evil one.
And that brings us to the reason for the armor.
II. The Reason (Vs 12)
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
I have probably read at least a dozen or so books on spiritual warfare. Books that went as far as saying you needed to identify the name of the strongman over your area and then pronounce curses over him so his forces were rendered impotent before the church.
I’ve seen people that say you have to dance in the spirit to trample the enemy under your feet.
I’ve read that unless you are crying out and screaming in tongues that your prayers against hell will not be noticed.
Let me tell you this- none of that is necessary. Again, Jesus has already defeated satan’s army. Having to dance, twirling banners, or screaming in tongues might give you a good workout, but will have no effect on the strength or plans of the enemy.
The only thing that works in spiritual warfare is humble and repentance prayer.
Isaiah 30:15 says This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.
I know what you are thinking- but we want to do something! We want to fight!
We want to slay demons! We want to route ten thousand of the enemy!
Well, that stuff might sell books, but it’s not the bible.
The bible says
2 Cor 10:4-5 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ
This is why I’m passionate about teaching the bible. It’s so you are equipped to stand- to stand before a crowd of people who might hate what you are saying but still be able to be calm and sure in your faith- to give an answer for the hope that you have.
Truth always defeats lies.
That’s the mission of those powers and principalities and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms- to promote satan’s lies and deceive as many people as possible to keep the out of the Kingdom of God.
This is the reason for the Armor- because people under deception hate truth.
Jesus put it like this in John 3:19
This is the truth: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.
Remember that when they throw insults.
Remember that when they call you names.
Remember that when they even try to cause you harm or even kill you- it’s not you they hate, it’s the person whose armor you are wearing.
It’s the spiritual forces of evil behind them driving them to hate you.
Now that we looked at the imperative to stand, and the reason we have the armor, let’s look at the armor itself.
III. The person (vs 14-17)
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. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Let’s break this down a little bit.
Belt of truth- what is that? (hold up bible)
God’s word. The pure gospel. Sin is wrong, hell is hot. God loves you and doesn’t want you to go there so He gave His one and only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have life eternal in heaven.
Everything in this book can be condensed into that simple statement. 66 books, 2 testaments written over 4400 years gives us everything we need to know about God and HIS Truth.
But I want to show you one more thing about the belt of truth.
John 1:1- In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
God is HIS word! Jesus is God!
John 14- Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.”
The belt of truth- It’s Jesus.
Let’s look at the breastplate of righteousness. It’s held down by the belt of truth, and guards our heart and our lungs.
Spiritually speaking, the heart is the center of our will and of our wants and desires. It sets the direction of our life.
The lungs represent the breath of life that God breathes into everyone of us.
Job 32:8
But it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.
After his resurrection, John 21 says that Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit into the believers. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came again to endow them with power, and the evidence was them speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. The Greek word for Spirit in fact is Pneuomos, which is the medical term for something to do with the lungs.
That’s why words can bring spiritual life and death. It’s why that breastplate of righteousness guards that area of our body.
But let’s stop and consider for a moment.
1 Cor 5:21
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
So who is our righteousness?
Jesus. He is the breastplate that guards our heart and lungs against the attacks of the enemy.
What about the footwear?
The footwear represent the Gospel. The very Gospel that Jesus told us to spread to the entire world.
The Gospel is our mission. The Great Commission tell us to make disciples of all nations, and in the first century the only way to really get around was to walk. That’s why there is that emphasis on footwear- footwear meant to walk the road that God has paved for us.
Again, all about Jesus.
The shield of faith that extinguishes all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
What is our faith in?
Jesus. Whoever believes in me will NOT perish but have everlasting life. When the devil comes knocking, we ask Jesus to answer that door and the devil flees.
The helmet of salvation- the bible says take every thought and make it obedient to Christ. It’s the acceptance of the truth of the Gospel message that helps us conform to the image of Jesus placed within us at salvation.
Again, it’s Jesus.
The sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.
Well,again John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
Jesus is the Word!
Everyone wants to yell scripture at the devil- and speaking the word to temptation and spiritual attack does have power.
But that wasn’t the point.
Jesus IS the word. He IS The sword- the one that attacks and does battle.
Jesus is the mighty warrior, not us. He is the general, the captain, the sergeant, and the foot soldier - everything when it comes to spiritual warfare. God doesn’t need your help.
Remember all the OT battles where God just pitted the enemy against one another?
Remember Gideon, who started out with 32,000 men?
What did God say? You need to get rid of most of them and set up criteria of who could stay. God narrowed it down to just 300 men, against a force so vast that they couldn’t even see the ground because there were so many of them.
So how did the 300 beat the Midianites? This was not 300 Spartans- they were largely slaves and farmers.
They didn’t.
God did- they just stood and saw the salvation of our God.
I want you to remember that. The Armor of God is not to help us fight. It’s to help us stand, and see the salvation of the LORD.
We end today with the last verse-
IV. The power (Vs 18)
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
The armor of God has a power source needed to function appropriately.
On this Pentecost Sunday, need to have rebirth of Spirit led prayer in our lives, our homes, and our churches.
Prayer has always been the lifeline of the church. It’s been our direct connection to Jesus. Praying in languages we know has power, but praying in Spiritual language, known as praying in tongues is even more powerful.
Landing Strip
In the book of Acts chapter 2, we see the birth of the church when God restores to humanity the power of the HOLY SPIRIT. We still need that power today, and should be eagerly seeking it for ourselves.
Altar Call
