The Belt of Truth

READ, Ephesians 6:10-20

Do not trouble trouble
Until trouble troubles you.
For we make trouble double trouble
Whenever we do.

We don’t have to go looking for trouble with Satan.

He will bring the trouble to us.

We are not called to aggress the battle with Satan.

We are called to stand our ground.

We shall not be moved!

We advance the Gospel, but as we do, the fight will come to us.

God has given us His spiritual armor and weapons.

Here is the armor that God has given to us:

The Belt of Truth                 The Breastplate of Righteousness
Shoes of the Gospel             Shield of Faith
Helmet of Salvation             Sword of the Spirit

The first piece of the armor we will be looking at is: The Belt of Truth

READ, Ephesians 6:14

For the Roman soldier, his belt was like the foundation of his armor.

A. It kept the rest of his body armor together and accessible.

- His breastplate was fastened to it.

- His sword was fastened to it.

B. His belt was used to keep his tunic tucked in.

(Eph. 6:14 KJV) Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth

- It kept him from free so he could fight and not be easily captured.

Illus. Breakaway football jerseys

Truth does the same thing for the Christian soldier:

A. Truth keeps the rest of our spiritual armor together

Our Righteousness is based on truth.
Our Salvation is based on truth.
Our Gospel is based on truth.
Our faith is based on truth.

God’s Word (the sword of the Spirit) is based on truth.

If we don’t have truth as our center, our entire Spiritual life will be off kilter.

B. Truth keeps us free to fight and our lives kept tightly to God so we won’t be captured by Satan.

Satan has a strategy.

1. To draw us away from God.

2. To distract us from God’s purpose in our lives.

3. To deny God of his glory in our lives.

4. To destroy us.

One of the ways Satan tries to draw us away from God is to cause us to doubt God.

Jesus called Satan, “The Father of Lies” (John 8:44)*

From the beginning, Satan has sought to destroy the truth given to us and implant lies.

It was his scheme with Eve in the Garden:

Did God really say . . .

You surely won’t die . . .

He tempted Eve to doubt God and His Word.

Satan is doing a good job of trying to destroy truth in our culture:

Many in our culture can’t handle the truth.

READ, Romans 1:18-25

It says that everyone can see truth, knows the truth, but because of sin, denies the truth and believes lies and lives lifestyles that deny God.

Some truths that have been denied in our culture.

Truth: God is Creator

Lie: No, we are the result of Billions of years of evolution

Reason: If God is my creator, then I would have to be accountable to Him.

Truth: Jesus Christ is God the Son

Lie: No, he was a good man and teacher.

Reason: If Jesus is God, then I would have to accountable to Him in regard to my life and His salvation.

Satan’s schemes are subtle.

Satan is subtle in how he denies the truth and implants lies.

Let me give you an example of the subtleties of his lies and how he gradually implants them among us.

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is possibly the most popular celebrity in America today.

Millions of people (mostly women) watch her television program every day.

She has magazines, book clubs, and realities shows.

She has become a major influence in the popularity and approval of Democratic Candidate, Barak Obama.

Because of her influence, a book she introduces in her book club can go from unknown to a #1 bestseller literally overnight.

Her daily television talk show began as a benign informative show, but gradually, she has introduced many religious heresies over the years:

What Oprah said in previously on one of her shows:

“One of the mistakes human being make is believing that there is only one way to live and that we don’t accept there are diverse ways of being in the world and that there are millions of ways to be a human being and many paths to what you call God. Her path might be something else and when she gets there, she might call it the light. But, her loving, her kindness, and her generosity and if it brings her to the same place that it brings you, then it doesn’t matter if she called it God along the way or not. . . . There couldn’t possibly be just one way.”

Her latest book club selection: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose

by. Eckhart Tolle (New Age Religion Guru)

Here is what this book teaches:

Who you are requires no belief.
Heaven is not a location but refers to the inner realm of consciousness.
My mind is the mind of God.
Holiness is my salvation.
Salvation comes from me.
Let me remember that there is no sin.
Do not make the pathetic error of “clinging to the old rugged cross”.
The only message of the crucifixion is that you can overcome the cross.

A couple of months ago Oprah Winfrey had a internet simulcast of a type of church service where she and Tolle taught their new age beliefs to millions of people over the world wide web.

She took calls from listeners. Here is the transcript of one of the calls:

Kelly (from Illinois)-

“In reading books like Tolle’s, it’s really opened my eyes up to a new way of thinking, a new form of spirituality that doesn’t always align to the teachings of Christianity. So, my question to you Oprah is how you reconcile these spiritual teachings with your Christian beliefs?”

Oprah-

“I reconciled it because I was able to open my mind about the absolute, indescribable hugeness of that which we call God. I took God out of the box, because I grew up in the Baptist Church, and there were rules and belief systems and doctrine. I happen to be sitting in church in my late twenties . . . there was a very charismatic minister and everyone was into the sermon and this great minister was preaching about how great God was how omniscient and omnipresent and God is everything and then he said that the Lord thy God is a jealous God and I was caught up in that rapture of the moment until he said jealous (Tolle laughs) and something struck me . . . God is all, God is omnipresent and God is also jealous. God is jealous of me. And something about that didn’t “feel” right in my spirit. Because I believe God is love and God is in all things. And that’s when the search for something more than doctrine started to stir within me.

And I love this quote that Eckhart has in his first chapter, “Man made God in his own image. The eternal, the infinite, and unnamable was reduced to a mental idol that you had to believe in and worship as my God or our God.”

Eckhart Tolle:

“I don’t’ see God as an entity in a certain place somewhere but as the essence, the intelligence, the animating, life essence behind all life forms.”

Oprah-

So, you believe what happens to us when someone dies.

Tolle-

I don’t give it any thought.

Oprah

God in the essence of all consciousness isn’t something to believe, God is. God is a feeling experience, not a believing experience. If your religion is a believing experience, if God for you is still about a belief, then it’s not truly God.”

Millions of Christian women are being drawn into lies by sitting under this woman’s teaching every single day. She has become America’s “Pastor”.

Satan will use whatever means necessary to tempt us to deny the truth of God (the truth that is our foundation) and believe lies.

How is truth to be our belt (That which keeps us together)?

Three ways:

1. Love the Truth Intimately.

John 14:6-
Jesus said. . . “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Truth is not just a concept, it is a Person- Jesus

Jesus- is the Truth

Jesus- knows the Truth

Jesus- speaks the Truth

Jesus- lives the Truth

What does it mean that Jesus is the Truth?

All truths find their origin in Him.

To keep yourself safe from the attacks of Satan,

You must love the Truth (Jesus Christ) intimately.

Everything in your life will be out of order, unless you submit to and love the truth of Jesus Christ.

Illus. The Sun keeps the Solar System in Order

How is truth to be our belt (That which keeps us together)?

1. Love the Truth Intimately.

2. Learn the truth thoroughly.

Psalm 119:160
The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.

John 17:17
(Jesus prayed) Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth.

Reading, studying, memorizing, and knowing the Word of God will protect you from the lies that Satan seeks to implant in your life.

By not knowing the Bible, many believe false teachings.

By not knowing the Bible, many are led to doubt God in hard times.

How is truth to be our belt (that which keeps us together)?

1. Love the Truth Intimately.

2. Learn the Truth thoroughly.

3. Live the Truth with Integrity.

It is not enough to just know the Word of God, but we must do it.

James 1:22
be doers of the Word, and not hearers only.

Romans 12:1
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

According to Paul, the mercies of God were to be the foundation by which we are to live lives of spiritual worship before God.

What are the mercies of God, that Paul is talking about?

Romans is divided into two parts:

Chapters 1-11 are theology (the truths about God and His work

Chapters 12-16 are practical (how to live lives based on the truths of chapters 1-11)

In other words, the truth we read in God’s Word are to be the basis of how we live.

We are to know the truth and live lives of truth

Integrity: there should be no contradiction as to what we believe

and how we live.

By obeying the truth of the Word of God, we keep our tunics tucked.

Satan will not be able to capture us if we keep our lives tucked into the belt of truth.

We will be free.

Conclusion:

How about you, are you free?

Do you love the Truth (Jesus Christ) intimately?

If not, you can come to Christ today and be set free. John 8:32

Do you know the truth thouroughly?

Do you spend time in the Bible?

Are you vulnerable prey to Satan and his lies because you don’t know His Word?

Do you live the truth with integrity?

Does what you believe and how you live hold hands?

Or,

Is your life a contradiction?