Background to passage:
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Opening illustration:
1. Attempts to impugn God’s character and credibility
2. Undermine present victory by generating trouble in life to make it difficult to be obedient
3. Doctrinal confusion and falsehood
4. Hindering our service to God
5. Causing division and discord
6. Persuading us to trust in our own resources rather than God
7. Leading us to hypocrisy
8. Leading us into worldliness
9. Leading them to disbelieve and disobey God’s word
Main thought:
1) Master a Worldview (v. 14)
Ephesians 6:14 (ESV)
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth,...
1) Master a Worldview (v. 14)
Explanation: tie down loose ends that Satan will use to trip you up. Not just intellectual, but not less than intellectual. Opinions, thoughts, reactions, must be put through screen of truth. The scripture defines truth. Jesus is the truth.
Argumentation:
Illustration: Gender ideology. Evolution. How you view marriage, thus how you treat your wife. His Needs/Her Needs. Men Are from Mars… How perfect or imperfect your children are. How you treat other people.
“when reviling comes, when suffering comes, when pain comes, when discouragement comes, when hateful people come,
when loss comes, you rejoice and count it a blessing to be used of Christ to demonstrate his worth and value.”
“Where are the young men and women of this generation who will hold their lives cheap, and be faithful even unto death, who will lose their lives for Christ’s, flinging them away for love of him? Where are those who will live dangerously, and be reckless in this service? Where are the men of prayer? Where are the men who count God’s Word of more importance to them than their daily food? Where are the men who, like Moses of old, commune with God face to face as a man speaks with his friend? Where are God’s men in this day of God’s power?” -Howard Guinness, Sacrifice [1936]
Application: If you are not willing to try all your opinions and behaviors against the standard of Jesus AND submit to that standard, you will fall to Satan's schemes. He will grab the loose ends of your lives and pull you down. He will convince you that you are always the victim. He will convince you that all your problems relate to your childhood. He will convince you that God is not faithful. He will convince you that it is OK to be jealous of your neighbor or friend. The lies that are in print, in others’s words, in the news will be fanned. You must think biblically. All the bad things that happen to you are not punishments from an angry God. The sicknesses and disease are just natural, random occurences. How you view tragedy, abortion, salvation, prayer...
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2) Set Your Face Toward Holiness (v. 14)
Ephesians 6:14 (ESV)
...having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
2) Set Your Face Toward Holiness (v. 14)
Explanation: Satan is called the accuser of the brethren because he will use sin to grab a foothold in your life and cause discouragement, doubt, guilt, shame, embarrassment, brokenness, and destruction in your life.
Mark 9:43–48 ESV
And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell.
And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell,
‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’
Illustration:The Holy Club, the name given to John and Charles Wesley’s group by their fellow collegians in mockery of their emphasis on devotions, was the first sign of what later became Methodism. Begun by Charles and led by John after his return to Oxford University in 1729, the Holy Club members fasted until 3 PM on Wednesdays and Fridays, received Holy Communion once each week, studied and discussed the Greek New Testament and the Classics each evening in a member’s room, visited (after 1730) prisoners and the sick, and systematically brought all their lives under strict review… John Gambold later became a Moravian bishop. John Clayton became a distinguished Anglican churchman. James Hervey became a noted Christian writer. Benjamin Ignham became an evangelist in Yorkshire. Thomas Brougham became secretary of the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge. George Whitefield praying in the dirt, preaching to 80% of colonists
“When we willfully turn away from what we know to be God’s will, we open ourselves up to spiritual/demonic attack.” -Chip Ingram,
Application: Sin and guilt that follows will render you ineffective in kingdom work. Satan will use them to make you feel worthless, helpless, depressed, overcome, give up. Addictions, broken homes, violence, sexual sin, some mental illness flow from awful things that we have done or have been done to us and the shame we feel. This is why we are commanded to walk in holiness. 3. We are to take drastic measures to defeat besetting sin, cutting off the hands and gouging out the eyes. Personal holiness is not high on the personal goals of people, but merely avoiding big sins…What areas in your life are you being disobedient to Christ? Don’t be generic. What has God convicted you of? Maybe attitudes as well, pride, anger, victim, fear, bitterness, unforgiveness, greed, failure to give, to love
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3) Let the Gospel Be Your Strength (v. 15)
Ephesians 6:15 ESV
and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
3) Let the Gospel Be Your Strength (v. 15)
Explanation:
Romans 1:16 ESV
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 Thessalonians 1:5 (ESV)
because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.
Illustration: the gospel undermines a performance based religion. Charles Stanley, Martin Luther, Keith Williams,
“Engaging in spiritual warfare is fortifying our lives against the enemy by applying the Gospel to every part of our lives
(i.e., our relationships, our dreams, our self-esteem, our suffering, our joys, our hopes).
Any part of us that is not saturated with the Gospel is subject to manipulation by our enemy for our destruction.” –JD Greear
Application: Know the Gospel and know how it applies. Find the sin, and pin the blood to it. Forgiveness, freedom, and overcoming grace flow from a proper understanding and application. So, when you speak harshly to your children or family, you return and ask for forgiveness as Christ has forgiven you. You have the power to do that because of the gospel. You are not bound to pride anymore, Christ died for that, and you died with him. The gospel is the weapon by which you refuse to lose ground and you advance upon the position of the enemy. Christ wins it all, won it all.
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Closing illustration: 4000 churches close their doors each year. 1500 pastors quit the ministry because of moral failure, church conflict, or burnout. 2.7 million believers fall into inactivity each year.
Truth and Righteousness and the Gospel
