“Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”
There are a number of stories through history, that impress upon the hearer the importance of full protection in a time of battle.
Most of us know the story of the mythical Achilles; the Greek hero who was dipped as a baby in the river, Styx, which contained magical powers, to make him invincible.
Unfortunately, his mother held him by the heel to do it, and neglected to get the heel all the way in. Later, although a great warrior, he was struck by a Trojan’s arrow in that heel and died.
Another example is in I Kings 22, where Ahab disguises himself so he can go into battle unrecognized, but one of the enemy’s soldiers randomly shoots an arrow into the air, and it goes straight to a joint in Ahab’s armor and kills him. Now in this case we know God directed the arrow, but there was a chink in the armor, nonetheless.
During the Battle of the Wilderness in the Civil War, Union General John Sedgwick was inspecting his troops. At one point he came to a parapet, over which he gazed out in the direction of the enemy. His officers suggested that this was unwise and perhaps he ought to duck while passing the parapet. "Nonsense," snapped the general. "They couldn’t hit an elephant at this dist--." A moment later Sedgwick fell to the ground, fatally wounded. Today in the Word, August 30, 1993.
In this case there was no armor involved at all. But if he wasn’t going to wear armor, he should have kept his empty head down.
Few of you will remember this, but on August 1, 1966 Charles Whitman found his way to the tower of Texas University in Austin, Texas, and began shooting people with a high powered rifle. Police agencies learned a lot of lessons from that day, simply because that sort of thing hadn’t happened in our country and no one was prepared for it.
One of the lessons they learned was the difference between cover and concealment. Officers trying to get a shot at the sniper while avoiding being shot themselves, hid behind whatever was available.
The ones who found actual cover, that is, behind stone walls or the corners of buildings, had protection from bullets. Others, hiding behind things like bushes, which do not stop bullets, got shot. They had found concealment, but not cover.
Christians, I wonder, if the spiritual armor of God could be translated into actual, physical armor on each believer, what kind of an army would we appear to be?
When I hear reports and statistics concerning the depth of teaching in many of our churches today, and when I see the floundering and failing of so many who call themselves ‘Christian’, I have to wonder if they would look dressed at all!
THE NEED FOR PROTECTION
The reason for putting on the full armor of God, according to Paul in this verse, is for protection against the devil’s schemes.
I reiterate here; Paul began this letter teaching us about our relationship with God, established entirely by Him through Christ. Then he went on to teach us about our horizontal relationships, as those who have that vertical relationship with Christ. So we might say that he is now teaching us about our dealings, as those in Christ, with those things that are below.
We are saved, and we have the Holy Spirit in and with us, and we are protected by the power of God. But we must never think that while we are in this flesh we are exempt from the devil’s wiles. He hates us, and although he cannot touch us without expressed permission, he loves to keep us ineffectual for kingdom building, and walking joyless and short of victory, through deception.
And while it is true that Satan, as a created being, can only be in one place at a time, he does have his minions to carry out his will and his schemes.
So our protection against his schemes is to be armored, sober, alert.
After Adam and Eve sinned and became ashamed, they hid among the trees. They found concealment, they thought, but they were no less naked and vulnerable.
The truth we can learn from their account is that in fact, their real vulnerability, their real nakedness, existed before they ate the fruit and had their eyes opened to their circumstances.
When the serpent cast doubts on the word of God, Eve misquoted God, adding to His word, and then taking away from His word, and then she departed from His word altogether and listened instead to the serpent.
Remember, Adam was given warning and instruction concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and evil before she was even created. So if he had properly expounded the word to her, and then she had remembered what she had been taught, she might have used God’s pure word as the sword of the Spirit and stopped the devil in his scheming.
But she wasn’t taught well, and therefore God’s word was not hidden in her heart that she might not sin against Him.
We are to put on the full armor of God, that we may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
THE SCHEMES
So what are the devil’s schemes?
To deceive: Jesus exposed this about him in John 8:44
“He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth; because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.”
And in II Corinthians 11:3 Paul, speaking to Believers, says “But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”
Satan, first of all, is a deceiver. Deception is a direct attack on the mind. It cannot make your members do anything, but if it tricks the mind, it controls the members.
There are numerous themes that run through the entire scriptures like threads. One of those is the need to guard the mind. To protect our minds. To have our thinking changed.
Isa 26:3 says “The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace.” and the second half of that verse tells us how steadfastness of mind is maintained and made manifest, when it says, “Because he trusts in Thee”
Some of you may already be thinking of Romans 12:2, which exhorts the believer to not be conformed to this world, “…but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Again here, we have a command and a promise. Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind. And the promise, if we submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit’s transforming power; that our lives will prove the will of God as we live it.
In Philippians 4:7 Paul, after telling his readers to pray with thanksgiving, assures them that the peace of God shall guard their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And it interests me that he follows that assurance with this encouragement:
“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.”
We must protect our minds against the deceit of the Devil, believer, and the way to do that is to let God transform us by the renewing of our minds, and be diligent to dwell on Godly things.
I heard of a man who once used a glass and water as an illustration. He held up the empty glass and asked, “How do we get all the air out of this glass?” Well the obvious answer was, fill it to the brim with water. If our minds are filled with God, there will be no room for Satan to pour his deceit into them.
To destroy: Listen to Revelation 9:11
“They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon” Destruction, or Destroyer, is his very name!
Every time we see him in scripture, he’s trying to destroy something. He wanted to kill Job’s children, destroy his body, and if possible, destroy his relationship with God. In fact, that was his expressed and primary purpose. In Job 1:11 he answers back to God: “…put forth Thy hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse Thee to Thy face.”
He asked God permission to ‘sift’ Peter like wheat.
He wanted Jesus to throw Himself down from the Temple.
In the beginning, he enticed Adam and Eve to defy God, because he knew that God’s words were true, and he wanted them to die. And when he was successful, sin entered into the world, and death through sin. Destruction.
If you wonder about the desire of Satan to destroy, look at the effects of sin everywhere. He wants to destroy life, and that is what sin does. Physical habits, chemical dependencies; they destroy the body. Sexual perversion stops life, because two members of the same sex cannot produce life between them. Satan would love for the whole world to go homosexual, because it would die in a generation.
Sin destroys, people. It destroys relationships, it destroys the ecology, it destroys the body, and it destroys the chance for any fellowship with a holy God.
Satan is the Destroyer. It’s what he does; it’s who he is.
Next,
To Control: He wants to rule.
He wants to be the ruler in people’s lives. He wants their will submitted to him for his use.
In truth, our will is never our own. And isn’t it almost comical to think of this? The very foundation of evil, is pride. The very introduction of sin into the world and into the individual’s life, begins with the desire to usurp God’s authority.
Satan started it, when he declared, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly. In the recesses of the north, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High” (Isa 14:13,14)
He tripped Eve with the same lie. He had her thinking to herself, “I will be like God”. So she ate.
And ever since then, everyone born from woman, except One, has had as his or her greatest natural ambition and drive, to be their own god and reject the will of the one true God; until they come to Christ and are born again.
People boast that they have a will of their own, that they can stand on their own, be a survivor, do it their way. They are wrong. Because while they are thinking those very thoughts, or uttering those words, that is when Satan has the strongest grip on their will. They think they are acting according to their own will and thinking their own thoughts; but they are puppets. And it is their own bilious pride that will not allow them to recognize that their will, if not surrendered to God’s will, is bound to Satan by chains that are dragging them down into Hell.
Let’s not let it escape our notice, that in the glimpse we’re given of what had to be the most difficult struggle against all the forces of evil in all time, there in the Garden of Gethsemane, we hear the Son of God openly surrendering His will to the will of the Father.
Was there a need for that? Hadn’t He lived a life of absolute surrender and devotion to the Father’s will?
“Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work‘.”
But there in the Garden was His opportunity. Toss the plan. Avoid the pain. Take back His crown and say, literally, ‘to hell with it all’. And I believe He was being sorely tempted to do just that.
Instead, for us, for you and for me, He said “Not as I will, but as Thou wilt” and won the battle.
This is one of the most important lessons we can learn after becoming a Christian. Our tendency to have things our way and do our own will can only get us into trouble. It is a tendency of the fallen nature, and must be surrendered to God fully, and frequently.
We will always take the route our own will tells us to take, unless we consciously deliver our will over to God’s will. We all do it all the time. I do it. It’s what comes naturally to us when we’re not spiritually tuned and alert.
And the most powerful weapon Satan has against the Christian, is the Christian’s own will.
If we have any hope of walking victoriously in Christ, then our will must be locked up in His will. It’s the only place it is safe. Satan can’t touch it there.
To accuse: This is how pathetic he is. For the Christian, Christ paid the debt in full. The one who has put his trust in the shed blood of Jesus and His resurrection, is accepted by a Holy God and has a place in Heaven forevermore.
Satan can’t touch us. So he tries to get us in trouble with ‘Dad’. Like the neglected older brother who has no self-esteem and no drive or ambition of his own, so he has to make himself feel better by dragging his little brother down before his parents.
“I heard Johnny say a cuss word on the way home from school today”
The devil is the accuser of the brethren. He doesn’t have to accuse unbelievers. He owns them. Besides, they are dead to God. So the only dealing God has with them is to give them life if they’ll respond to His call. So it wouldn’t benefit Satan at all to point an accusing finger at those already securely in his clutches.
Revelation 12:10 says, “And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ‘Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night’.”
Now this is not the really troublesome part. He accuses us before God, and God answers him that we are washed in the blood of the Lamb, and that for which the devil is accusing us has been paid for already.
The trouble comes in, where the devil accuses us to ourselves, and because we are ignorant of the truth, or because we are not wearing our armor, we believe him and despair.
“You did such and such”
“But that was 15 years ago”
“Time means nothing! You caused hurt and you can’t take it back!”
“But I’m not the same person anymore”
“Don’t kid yourself! You’ll never change”
“I told them I was sorry and they forgave me”
“Now you’re justifying yourself. How selfish, after all the hurt you caused”.
It can go on and on, and in many cases does, and keeps Christians from experiencing the joy of their salvation.
If you are feeling conviction about an un-repented sin, you should sense a degree of relief. Because that is the Holy Spirit. And if He didn’t care about you; if you weren’t His; if He had given up on you, you wouldn’t know that conviction. You would not feel the need to change something in your life.
Rejoice that He loves you that much, repent, accept His loving forgiveness, and go on.
But if you are feeling guilty, and you know that in the past you made all the amends you could and asked God’s forgiveness; maybe you’ve asked forgiveness many times because of the recurring guilt; then you need to know that guilt is not from God, but from your accuser. And he is a liar.
The third chapter of Zechariah is a beautiful picture of the complete forgiveness and restoration of the one whom the Lord redeems.
Satan is there with Joshua, standing before the angel of the Lord, who we understand to be the pre-incarnate Christ, and accusing Joshua.
But the Lord rebukes him, and after that, if you read the chapter, seems pretty much to ignore Satan. I don’t know if he left right away, or was standing off to the side sulking.
But the Lord has Joshua’s filthy garments removed, and puts royal garments on him, and sets him right back to doing his work in the house of the Lord.
So that’s how it is when Satan goes before God to accuse you and me, believer. Even if Satan is right about his accusation, he still gets rebuked. Because you belong to the one who purchased you back. And the Spirit grants repentance, and you confess, and the sin is under the blood of the Lamb and Satan is thwarted again.
Never forget, Christian, that Satan never comes before God to accuse you, that he doesn’t find your Advocate there already.
“My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous…”
(I Jn 2:1)
The letter to the Hebrews establishes Christ’s High Priesthood for us in heaven, and in chapter 10 verse 14 we read, “For by one offering He has perfected for all time, those who are sanctified.”
Satan is the accuser, Christians, but he spins his wheels; because you have been Justified by faith, and sanctified by the Spirit and the Word, and you have an Advocate before the throne.
THE FULL ARMOR
So this is why we need to daily don the full armor of God, Christian. Satan has the unbeliever. He doesn’t need to waste time on him. All of his efforts and schemes are directed at you, with his minions to help, to keep you, if possible, defeated, deceived, joyless, and fruitless for the Kingdom of God.
You must wear the armor to protect your mind from deceit, your body from destruction, your will from capture and misuse, and your joy from theft
Jesus Christ the righteous stands before the throne, claiming you as His own and acting as your Great High Priest, continuing to sanctify you and fit you for heaven. In the meantime, there is ground to be made for the Kingdom here in the enemy’s territory.
So keep your head down from the parapet. Wear your armor, make good use of cover and concealment, fight with courage and Godliness, stand firm on the Word and prayer, and stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
He’s whupped, and he knows it. Revelation 12:12 says he knows his time is short. So continue to stand in the strength of the Lord. It won’t be much longer.
“The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him; his rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure; one little word shall fell him.” - Luther
