Believers are called to stand firm in spiritual warfare by putting on the whole armor of God, as detailed in Ephesians 6:10-18. This spiritual battle requires strength not from oneself, but from the Lord's might, to withstand the devil's schemes and the forces of darkness. The sermon outlines the components of this armor: the girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes prepared with the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Ultimately, believers are urged to stand by constantly praying, watching, and depending on God's provision for victory in this ongoing spiritual conflict.
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I'll return to the Ephesians chapter six. And may I thank to the glory of God and the happiness of all of us. I am sure that the Spirit of God has directed the ministry of the conference all the way through. It would almost seem that Brother Little and I had conceived together that we'd go into the Epistle of Ephesians and neither one of us knew what the other was going to take up. But we rejoiced that the Spirit of God has certainly directed the ministry as well as conducted the whole conference to the happiness and blessing of all of us in such a wonderful way.
We can only raise our Ebenezer and say hitherto hath the Lord helped us, and we give him all the glory. Shall we read in chapter six of verse ten through verse eighteen? Paul writing by the Spirit to say, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. put on the whole armor of God that she may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness or wicked spirits in high or heavenly places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole honour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore having your minds gird about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of faith. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery doubts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
May we bow in a moment of prayer. Blessed Father, we raise to thee thanksgiving, worship, and pray for the direction of thy spirit that thou hast given us throughout the whole week gathered together in this conference session. We pray for thee, we thank thee, we worship thee. Now we ask that we shall by thy grace profit from the ministry of this morning session what already our brother has given to us which has blessed and thrilled our hearts to know what we are and what we have and whom we have in Christ by the Spirit.
Now we pray thee take this portion of thy word and sanctify it to us to send us all upon our sacred ways to live for thine honor, to stand faithfully for thy glory in every vocation of life, in our Savior's name, amen. You that may have studied the Ephesians' epistle at large may certainly have noted that you have in this epistle three particular positions that belong to the believer. Our brother little is particularly spoken in the early part of the epistle of that exalted position that belongs to the believer.
He has set before us the spiritual blessings which are ours in the heavenly places in Christ and shown to us that we are seated in Christ in the heavenly and these are our heavenly possessions. And what a joy to recognize by God's grace we have thus been brought to be seated in those heavenly places in Christ where we enjoy our possessions. Through him the Spirit of God is emphasized properly. Our blessings are not down here. Our blessings are heavenly.
our blessings are not earthly they are spiritual and proper emphasis has been given to that to all of our hearts then God directed us by his spirit in the second part of this epistle which we began at the early part of the week chapter four to another position that is the believers responsibility and that is a walking it's one thing to be seated but it is another thing to be walking. That this position and responsibility of walking God is set before us as we have ministered and listened to His word together this week.
We have found the responsibility of walking in love, of walking in light, of walking as we should circumspectly, and of walking in particular in those relationships of life that God has given us as Christian wives, as Christian husbands, as Christian parents and children. And if I may briefly suggest, though we haven't touched on it in detail, even as employees as well as employers as the case may be, God has covered every faith in our walk in this epistle.
and you alike and glory in the divine guidance that he gives, in his word, that you and I should follow his blessed instructions regarding our walk. But in the closing exhortation of the Apostle's writings, he exhorts the believer to stand. And if you may note, please, in this thirteen verse, if I may point it out, wherefore take unto you the whole honor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil game. And having done all, meaning having put on that armor, to stand. And, beloved, as we may depart from this conference, it is my desire with soul and earnestness of heart that every one of us will go out into the conflict which we face around us, and thy God's grace and enabling power stand.
For the Epistle not only tells us of our spiritual blessing, it not only tells us of our spiritual unity and what it is our responsibility, but it also brings in its closing exhortation our spiritual warfare. And you and I are to be engaged and we are engaged in a warfare. The blessings are spiritual. The walk is to be spiritual. And the warfare is to be spiritual. Everything pertaining to the believer's blessings. The believer's walk. The believer's warfare is of a spiritual character.
Never deviate. Never lower the standard. Whether it be in the blessings that we have in Christ. the walk that is ours in Christ and the warfare that is ours in Christ. Everything is to be on a spiritual plane and a spiritual level. And God has given the divine provision for that spiritual warfare. I'm sure that we all are acquainted and deeply so in our hearts with the difficulties, the dangers and surroundings to carry out these truths that God has given to us through the week. that in God's grace he has provided as an armor.
Therefore take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand, and you and I will conceive immediately, this is an evil day that we live in. We do need power to stand. We do need strength. to be found in such evil days standing true, firm, faithful to the divine revelation of what our Lord is to us and what we are to him and what we should be for him. And I say very reverently and earnestly, God help me to stand faithful in these evil days.
Now he's given a divine provision. It is called the whole honor of God. And may I point out the expression, not just the honor of God, which is true, but the whole honor of God. And we do not need the part of it, we need all of it. The whole honor is to be yours and to be mine, in actual experience, as thus we wage the warfare. Now may I give you three points about it to consider with me this morning. First of all, consider with me why we need it. And then consider what it is.
And third, we'll consider how to wear it. First of all, why do we need it? Now note verse eleven. Again, begin at verse ten, and read with me through verse twelve. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. And thank God for the encouragement. It's not our strength. Thank God it is not our might, but it is the strength of the Lord. It is the power of his might, expressed by the armor. Put on the whole armor of God. that she may be able to stand against the wilds of the devil.
Now may I point out first, why we need it? But because of the wilds, the strategy, the subtlety of the devil. We have an enemy that we must not minimize. And we should not minimize his power. He is supernatural. Our brother is brought before us through the wits, the greatness and the glory of that created being, who was the highest of all created beings, Lucifer, whose name now is Satan, the devil, and so on. And he is the great enemy of the believer, the enemy of God, the enemy of man, the enemy of Christ, the enemy of the Word of God, the enemy of the child of God.
Don't minimize him. Acknowledge he is a supernatural being, is the word of God revealed. But also acknowledge. Acknowledge he is subtle. He has had years of experience with the human race. He knows in his power and wisdom. He knows how to deal subtle with subtlety with the human race more than any other. Now Peter said, Your adversary the devil goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
And I want to tell you frankly, when I hear a lion roar, I don't go near him. But Satan is called in Second Corinthians an angel of light. My beloved brother and sister, may I say lovingly to you dear young believers, as well as we older ones, recognize we face the subtleties of a very great enemy. But we not only face his subtleties, but in verse twelve, as you may read on, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness properly rendered wicked spirits in higher heavenly places.
The whole spiritual realm of Satan's authority and Satan's influence and power, all that are solid in, they too are against God, Christ and the child of God. and the character of the enemy and the enemies. God very specifically tracks people within this force. That is why we need not just part of the honor of God but the whole honor of God. The character of the enemy and let us recognize without hesitancy This is the real enemy.
Now note what the Apostle said before we go further. Very carefully in verse twelve. We wrestle not against what? Flesh and blood. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. The real enemy is not the human instrument that Satan may use. That of that human instrument It might even be a believer. Or it may be an unbeliever. And if Satan can use a believer, the better he likes it.
Don't help you and me from ever being used by him in such a way. But that flesh and blood is not the real enemy. My beloved believer, whenever you are facing such an issue that you recognize that he is at work, even to whomever it might be, look beyond that and see the real enemy as Satan. That's why we need the whole law. Now what is it? Let's look at the component parts briefly. as the Spirit of God goes down, saying, and let me read again, verse fourteen.
Stand therefore, and note that, that's the expression the Apostle gives to us, the responsibility to stand, stand with the whole armor of, you know, do you know something? He doesn't say fight, but stand. But it is a battle for the word wrestle implies we must get All the strength that we have, but don't forget whose strength it is. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. For it is the wrestle. We are straining against the power of the enemy. But nevertheless, it is to stand true and stand faithful that the enemy may not push it backwards.
for that we may be able to stand against the evil of the present day. And we are thus to stand. But there's only one way we can stand. And be invulnerable. We must have the whole honor of God. Now the component parts of these. First of all, stand there for having your loins good about with truth. Here is the old Roman soldier's description, as we know. And there was a girdle around that soldier, around his loins. And your loins having a belt are a girdle of truth around.
I'm sure that we recognize that the loins are indeed the secret strength of the human body. And the secret strength of a believer's life to stand against the wicked one has to be missed. that his whole being and his whole life is motivated by the word of God alone. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And my beloved believer, you and I must have our whole being motivated, controlled from the inner man by the word of God.
has a belt and a girdle of truth that motivates the whole life. That's the secret in the strength of a believer as he battles against Satan's host. You remember the psalmist wrote, By word have I heard or laid up in mine heart that I might not sin against thee? and the secret strength of a believer's life and power against the enemy is to say I'll not go contrary to this word of God. The word of God will motivate me in my whole being seeking by God's strength and grace to lift up his glory.
And then second, the component part that follows, there's a blessed place that is called the breastplate of righteousness, that was outwardly seen and visible upon the Roman soldier. And that breastplate of righteousness was a protection too against the blows of the enemy. Now the breastplate of righteousness is the breastplate of practical righteousness. If I may put it in simple words, it is the breastplate of right living. The breastplate of right living. You remember back in the book of Job, Satan said to God, You've got a hedge about him.
I can't get to him. You know why you couldn't get to him? He was living right. He was living right. What could say, Has thou seen a man like my servant Job? He abominates evil. that's not right in all the earth. No beloved, I'll tell you frankly, you'll live right. You'll have your breastplate polished up and be wearing it. You know and I know that if you and I do not live right, the devil's got an advantage upon us.
And the breastplate is missing. The breastplate of right living. God help us. I remember a little poem I enjoyed as a young Christian. Teach me to live. Tis easy a father to die, gently and silently to pass away. Honor dark night to close the heavy eye and make it in realms of glorious day. Teach me that hard lesson, how to live, to serve thee in every path of life. Harm me for conflict now.
Trust me again. Make me more than conquer in the stride. My beloved believers, I plead with you and with my known heart, may God teach us how to live. to put on the breastplate of right living. Third, as you go on, something to the feet. Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Now when we as believers go into the presence of God, like the priests of old, we realize that we must take the shoes from our feet as we enter into the holiest, figuratively speaking. But here are shoes.
and we're to be shot with these shoes. So we're in battle. This is a warfare. And we are facing the enemy. And in facing the enemy, there is a necessity of shoes upon us. And you know, no soldier can fight, no army can fight without the provision of shoes. No army would go into battle safely and securely without the knowledge that they were properly equipped. and shoes upon their feet. One of the most important provisions of a soldier as he goes down into warfare is that his feet are shod, properly shod, and you and I as believers should recognize here are the shoes of the separation of the gospel of peace as it is so called.
Now, Moses, this is not preaching the gospel. Don't make that mistake. But the gospel that you and I believe is a gospel of peace. It is a gospel that is brought us into peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And briefly, it is a gospel that is brought us also to enjoy into a position and place where we can enjoy the peace of God. And it is a gospel that is brought us where you and I can know and enjoy the God of peace himself. may seem a strange analogy but the shoes of peace would indicate if they are lacking it is that the believer is not enjoying the peace of God and the God of peace let me quote the words of Isaiah twenty six three thou keepest him in perfect peace Darby's translation puts it peace peace two words Come on, peace.
Thou keepest him in peace, peace, whose mind is straight on thee, because he trusts in thee. Now may I just briefly suggest, you know and I know that when our mind is not in peace, Satan again has an advantage over us. Can I quote Philippians four, six, and seven? Be anxious for nothing, be careful for nothing, but in everything. Thy prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep garrison your heart and mind through Christ Jesus.
Beloved, it may be the mind but it is the fact that figments of me when the mind is enjoying peace the peace of God the shoes are there and Satan does not disturb that my thank God how are you shooting part of the armor enjoying the peace of God in my soul and in my life. David said of such a man, He shall not be afraid of evil tidings.
Why? Because that man's mind is fixed on the Lord. His heart is fixed on the Lord. I say, My beloved believer, keep your eyes on the Lord Jesus. Looking unto Jesus, and keep them on him. Then note the fourth, verse sixteen. Above all, take the shield of faith. Wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery thoughts of the wicked. Our brother has been reminding us of the danger of quenching the Holy Spirit. But here is someone you should quench. Here is something we should be quenching. And that is the fiery thoughts of the wicked.
They are fiery, the flames of hell. come with them. There may be dots of doubt, dots of discouragement, dots of disappointment, dots of fear, dots of many kinds, and they come with their fiery power from the very field of health, as it were. The shield of faith. You see, what's that? Well, I think Job had it. When thus the fiery dots of Satan began, And when Satan was permitted to take away all that he had, his possession, then his family, with the exception of his wife, Job will never forget his memorable words, Do he slay me, yet will I trust him?
The shield of faith, confidence in God, So he slay me yet will I trust him. Trust in the Lord with all thy might. And now the joy to recognize the shield of faith I believe God. You know, I'm glad I believe God. I really am. I've never been happier in all my life than I have in these days to realize I believe God. and recognize my confidence is in God.
Paul on that journey to Rome, that shipwrecked journey, those two weeks of storm and fury that they had on the sea. Paul stood forth one night and said, "'Pairs, you should have listened to me,' as he spoke to the centurion and the captain of the ship. For he says, "'Bairs stood by me this night.' My God, whom I serve, the angel of the Lord, whom I serve, and who assured him, Paul, you'll get to Rome, and I'll see that all these on the ship will be saved. And Paul added, and I believe God. And believe me, it's a wonderful thing to have confidence in God.
Don't throw your confidence away. Don't lay your shield down. Trust him. For when you and I stand on the Word of God, we can trust Him through everything. Remember the old hymn, simply trusting every day, trusting through a stormy way. Even when my faith is small, trust in Jesus matters all. The shield of faith. And every time a God comes, the doubts are held by Satan. I believe God. It shall be as he has told me. Now, I'd like to start preaching a sermon on faith in God.
You reveal unto Hebrews. They'll give you a lot of encouragement. Then look the next. Verse seventeen. Take the helmet of salvation. The helmet is sounding. Now, may I remark, I don't know whether you ever seen a Roman helmet. Now, not the officer's helmet, ornate and beautiful, but you may find in some museums, as I have seen, the old Roman helmet, thick, formidable, protective helmet for the head. That was a wooden helmet, but very suitable for the protection of many as deadly blows. and many a blow that perhaps would have made it not only a fatal but even a serious wound.
And one could recognize in the medieval warfare of the past days that that helmet was the source of protection for the soldier in battle. Now may I remind you of some, I suppose you know where the helmet goes on the head, and may I remind you it's not a nightcap to sleep in either. It's something to wear in battle. And God calls it the helmet of salvation. And may I suggest I found, and our brother Little has mentioned again and again, that they're all undoubtedly amongst the professing people of God, many dear Christians who don't have this helmet on.
It's missing from their heads. You see, what do you mean? They don't even know what salvation is according to the Word of God. The most essential and the first essential doctrine of the Bible that every Christian should understand is the doctrine of salvation. How do I know I'm saying? Do I know what the Word of God teaches regarding my salvation and my security? And thank God, when I read his word, let me just put it in this simple way. Jonah said, Foundation is of the Lord, as he prayed from the depths of the bowels of the great fish.
It's entirely of the Lord. And you know it is. It's from start to finish of the Lord. And when I know I'm saved, I can say, I've been saved, I've been saved, and I shall be saved. My past is under the blood of Christ. My present is under the care of Christ in glory. My future is in His hands as we've been learning this morning. And from beginning to the end, salvation is of the Lord. Now may I tell you this, when God spoke to the great fish to deliver Jonah, he didn't deliver Jonah in the middle of the ocean and say, Now Jonah, you'll go ahead and swim the rest of the way.
And when he saved me, his word assures that he'd bring me to the desired haven of glory. Salvation is a work that is entirely done by God, whereby God bestows upon a believing sinner eternal life now and rescues him from eternal hell. and puts upon him the gift and gives to him that eternal life now with the assurance he'll bring that sinner that has trusted Christ to eternal glory and I'm trusting my Lord all the way now suppose I didn't believe suppose I believe that I could lose my salvation I'll tell you one thing I get a good whack on the head and it would hurt And that there are a lot of Christians who are suffering.
They're weak in their hands. Oh, my beloved believer, oh, our brothers brought it out so well this morning. Don't doubt your salvation. Keep that home around. And then, just seventeen last. Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Now you may note, you may note that five parts of the armor are defensive parts.
There is only one offensive weapon, and that is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And there you have the picture. of what the honor is. First of all, there's the girdle of truth motivating the soul and the life. Then there's the breastplate of righteousness. Right living. They're the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace. Peace surrounds me. And I preach a gospel of peace. I enjoy a gospel of peace. And peace can indeed to be said to be my shoes as I walk through this thing. And then, thank God, I have a shield of faith that protects and crunches every fine regard of the wicked one.
And then, I have a helmet where those saints who would possess if he could, my mind by planting tears doubts regarding my salvation. The Word of God assures me that I am saved, that being saved, I shall yet be fully saved. And then he puts within my hands the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Now this is not my sword. Lots of times Christians said, I've got to get my sword. This is the sword of the Spirit. It is the sword of the Spirit that you and I can only use effectively when we attack Satan.
There's no other weapon. So now Jesus used it in Luke four and Matthew four, as we know. It is written. It is written. I read an interesting story years ago. When I was a young lad. In the days of coats, coats traveled, states coats traveled across the country. When many miles had to be covered as they traveled through the prairies. There was a group of men traveling in a state, men traveling in a state coach. And one of them in there was an infidel. And in those early days, an infidel was usually loudmouthed. And there were very few in number. But he was making known his infidelistic belief.
And one man in the company happened to be a soldier, a colonel in the U.S. Army, and he happened to be a Christian. And so he carried every remark of the infidel with the word of God. When they came to the end of the journey and the men separated, one came to the colonel and said, Colonel, I am very much disappointed in you. He said, Why? Well, he said, when that incidental started talking about what he doesn't believe and does believe, you didn't give him a very good argument. All you did was just quote scripture. The colonel looked at him and he said, my friend, listen, if you were on in the battlefield and you saw the enemy coming at you and he was coming with his sword and you had a sword at your side, what would you do?
Arguing? No, he said, I'd use my throat. He said, that's what I did. And the sequel was a good sequel to the story. The infinite was convicted. And the infinite was converted. Use the word of God. Oh, beloved, what a weapon. The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Now, last of all, how should we wear it? How should we wear that? Look at verse eighteen. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all things.
Wearing it in the expression, constant expression of dependence, which prayer is, dependence upon God we express. And thus we stand beloved may I just close by saying our blessings are certainly grand and glorious our responsibility is a wonderful but thank God for the divine provision of an armor that he has given for you and for me to stand in such an evil day and independence upon that one whom we know and love oh I pray oh I do pray that I leave this conscience more dependent on my Lord than I've ever been before.
Praying always with all prayer, but having the whole honor of God upon me, as just as we continue in the warfare. Oh, I hope sometimes I say to my friends in our neatness, how goes the battle? And I hope for you, my beloved Christians, as well as for myself, We may remember that battle is not yours but God, and He's given us the divine provision for His name's sake. Amen.