The Belt Of Truth Series

The Belt of Truth

Ephesians 6:11-14, Rom 16:20, John 3:21

March 5, 2004

I. There is one thing that I believe all Christians want, we all wish we could be all that God wants us to be.

A. At the very least I believe that people want to have peace with themselves, and whether we realize it or not that peace comes from our relationship with God.

B. God wants us to have what is best for us.

1. He wants us to be happy.

2. He wants our lives to be full and joyful.

3. He wants us to be content.

4. God never intended for our lives to be a turmoil and time after time in the bible Jesus says peace, or peace to you, or peace be still.

C. God wants us to have a life of peace.

D. But, if God doesn’t have His will in our lives, we will never have the peace in our lives that God wants us to have.

E. We have to clothe ourselves in Jesus. We have to let Him surround us, encompass us, inclose us.

F. Jesus has to be the barrier that separates us from the world, because when Jesus separates us from the world, he separates us from the problems that the world pushes on us.

G. The problems may not go away, but when we are surrounded by Jesus even though the problems still exist we are separated from them.

H. Not only are we separated from them, we’re lifted above them. We CAN live above the problems of this world, because we were created to live above the problems of this world.

Ephesians 6:11-14 (NIV) Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 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. 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. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,

II. We talked about putting on the whole armor of God, and preparing for battle a couple of weeks ago.

A. The first things that are necessary when you expect to go into a battle are;

B. Who is the enemy? Who is it that you need to watch out for. When I was in school there were times that word would get to me that someone was after me.

C. There would be some guy that would put the word out that he was gonna whip me, that he was coming after me. Do you think I didn’t keep and eye out for that guy?

D. No way, I wanted to know where the enemy was, because if I didn’t see the enemy coming, the enemy might accomplish his mission.

E. If we don’t recognize the existence of our enemy satan and watch for his attempts to get us to destroy ourselves, he will accomplish his mission.

F. We talked a couple of weeks ago about who the enemy was.

1. Satan is the enemy and we have to see him for what he really is.

2. We have to realize that he will never come at us as what he is.

3. And, he will always come at us as the things that we are most attracted to.

G. The second important thing to know is who is supposed to do the fighting.

1. We were not created with the ability to start a fight with satan.

2. But we were created with the capacity to trust God to do the fighting for us. When it was time to redeem the world God didn’t call on us to fight the battle with satan.

3. When spiritual battles are going on its our job to trust God, because these battles are not fought against flesh and blood.

H. These are not battles with other people. These battles are fought in the spiritual realm and God is the one who is able to fight them. NOT US!

(Rom 16:20 NIV) The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

1. Throughout the bible it says that it is God’s job to defeat the devil. It does not tell us to attack him.

2. It is our job to advance as God pushes back the enemy. It is not that we’re not in the battle, because we are to advance and hold the ground that God opens.