The Armor of God

William Stout

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The Armor of God

Ephesians 6:10–18 NKJV

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—

eph 6:

As a Christian, you need a suit of armor

Consider the game of football: There is a suit that goes with that game - a uniform

it is uniquely prepared to make the players successful

imagine a player that decides he isn’t going to wear his pads with his uniform.

Yet, there are a lot of people who try to “Play” the Christian game, without putting on the suit that goes with it

they may be Christians, but they aren’t very victorious at it.

We have an adversary

The bible teaches that we have an adversary - the devil

The truth is, we had this adversary before we became Christians and read the bible

But now we know who he is, and what he wants

Put on the whole armor

In the past we had no defense against this adversary, but now we have a suit of armor.

God wants us to be more than conquerors

He wants us to always have the victory over the devil

And so He has prepared us armor, protection for the challenges

We are to be able to stand up to the devil, and against his wiles

Ephesians 6:12 NKJV

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

We are reminded that we are not fighting against each other -

Not against flesh and blood – or with flesh and blood

But against principalities, and powers, spiritual hosts, and wickedness in heavenly places

Spiritual Powers and Heavenly Places

So to be clear; there are events going on in heavenly places that affect us here

And there are things that we can do here that will have effect in these heavenly places

2 Corinthians 10:3–5 NKJV

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,

2 Corinthians 10:3 NKJV

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.

But we have to be prepared – properly attired - all the armor

The Whole Armor

He didn’t say “some of the armor of God”

Each piece is important

Waist girded with truth

The belt of the Roman Soldier’s armor was an important part of his armor

it held everything else together

It held his sword, and his breastplate

Paul compared truth to this belt

Truth - honesty, integrity, are like a belt that hold other things together in our lives

and without it, they tend to fall apart.

You can do a lot of good things and be a nice person, but if you are not truthful, trustworthy, it will eventually come to naught

Jesus said that He was the truth

Breastplate of Righteousness

Righteousness - the character or habit of doing right - holiness, Godliness

Our righteousness is like a breastplate -

The devil may throw a lot of junk at us

we may be persecuted, falsely accused, mistreated

But if we hold to Jesus Christ, and His righteousness - we will prevail

Isaiah 54:17 NKJV

17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord.

We can see that this “righteousness” comes from Jesus

through faith in His name, we inherit His righteousness

So, while I am trying to be “righteous” and I should try, I will never be perfect -

Yet, when I take on this righteousness that comes from Him, I have a breastplate that no weapon can prosper against

A breastplate of righteousness

Shoes of gospel

A soldier is ready -

When he has his armor on, he isn’t barefoot - he is ready to go

We need to be ready with the gospel - the gospel of peace

This gospel is just as powerful and life changing today as it was 2000 years ago

We need to have our shoes on - ready to share the good news

not just ready to tell people to change - but to tell them why and how - to become Christian.

The gospel is the answer for our city and it’s trouble with violence.

But do the Christians have their shoes on - are we ready to share the news of Jesus Christ with this city?

Shield of faith

He said “above all” taking the shield of faith -

this shield that with it you can quench all the fiery darts of the wicked

the wicked does have fiery darts, that stick in our soul

words of doubt - spoken and unspoken, and remembered to life so often

like a dart in our hope, in our lives, in our future,

And with this shield of faith - unshakable faith - we can put out the fires of doubt and despair

this faith that just won’t stop believing that God is for you not against you

that what He said He is able also to perform

That everything is going to work out for your good

Romans 8:28 NKJV

28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

This shield of faith will keep you in the battle long after the enemy thinks he has win

It will keep you from quitting, even when it is past human reason to think that you could win

even when Your own senses and education and emotions say “it’s over”

2 Corinthians 5:7 NKJV

7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.

So we hold fast our profession of faith firm until the end. - the very end.

Helmut of Salvation

You have to protect the head - if you kill the head the whole body dies

You must be born again - by faith

this knowledge that I am saved - protects my mind

no matter how much you believe in God and His power, if you don’t believe that you are saved by Him, it will not help you at all

… The same word preached to both -

- These all died in faith ....

There will always be some promises that remain for the other side -

So keep your helmet on - (personal story)

Then your mind is sound and your purpose is sure, even if you get knocked down seen times.

The Sword of the Spirit

Most of our armor is defensive -

But God has not left us without a means to fight back -

We have a sword, a Word of God, sharper than any two edged Sword

It is alive and powerful

When the devil brings on his attacks, and the stormy tumults of life have us shaken we can pull out our sword

first we check our armor, then we use our sword

And we can fight back with mighty power -

Some blades in my arsenal:

, , , , , , , , , Jame 4:7 and so on

You can fight the good fight of faith, and you will win

c. Shoes of the gospel of peace

d. Shield of faith

Prayer and Supplication

Every good soldier communicates with his superior

e. Helmut of salvation

Checks with Mission Control

Must have good intelligence and command

For the Christian, the is all done through prayer

We pray with thanksgiving and supplication, and perseverance.

Your prayers are not in vain, and this kind of prayer will prevail.

So put on the Whole armor of God and Stand!

f. Sword of the spirit

g. And prayer

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