The Belt of Truth
The Armor of God • Sermon • Submitted
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If you are just joining us, we are studying the Armor of God in our Sunday Adult Bible Fellowships and in the Youth Group. Last month, we took more of an overview of the armor, now we are going to be talking about each piece in detail starting with the belt of truth.
14 Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest,
Ephesians 6:
It is interesting that we start with the belt of truth. If you think logically, it probably wouldn’t have been the first piece of armor that the soldiers would have put on and yet, in terms of spiritual armor, it is first and primary. Why?
Truth is under assault today. Lies, deception, and misinformation are spread like wild fire. It is hard to know what we can trust and what we can’t trust. Our new media is corrupt and doesn’t tell the truth. Our politicians are largely corrupt and don’t tell the truth. Public figures routinely fall from their lofty positions because of indiscretions. They even try to get us to think that Jeffery Epstein killed himself, but we all know Jeffery Epstein didn’t kill himself.
Do you remember what Pilate said when he was questioning Jesus?
37 “You are a king then?” Pilate asked. “You say that I’m a king,” Jesus replied. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
38 “What is truth?” said Pilate. After he had said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I find no grounds for charging him.
What is truth?
The first thing I want you to be confronted with this morning is that Jesus is the Truth.
Jesus is the truth.
Jesus is the truth.
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
In other words, Jesus defines what is truth and what is not. It is for this reason in the Baptist Faith & Message we say:
The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.
The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the truth. The truth belongs to him. The truth is his. He is the very embodiment of truth. What this means is that you and I are not allowed to define what is true and what is not. We arrive at the truth through Jesus.
We can’t define marriage in a way other than how Jesus defined marriage. We can’t define proper sexual relations in a way other than how Jesus defined proper sexual relations. We can’t define gender is ways other than how Jesus defined gender. When we are confronted with ideas and philosophies, we must check them against the Scriptures. Jesus is the Word and the Word is God.
14 Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest,
God’s Word is the truth.
God’s Word is the truth.
17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
John
You can’t stand firm if you don’t know the Word.
You can’t stand firm if you don’t know the Word.
oooo…that has a rhyme. Say it with me. You can’t stand firm if you don’t know the Word. Might have to make a meme out of that. You can’t stand firm if you don’t know the Word.
Look at what happen if you don’t know the Word.
14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit.
It so easy to get blown around on the open water. Some of you may know, that I just got a new boat. My last boat met with a tragic end that I still am in therapy about, but we saved up and bought another one. When you are out of the water, sometimes you want to hold a spot, but the currents and winds will prevent you from being able to stay still. My new boat has the ability through the trolling motor to lock onto GPS signal and just hold the spot. Let me tell you. It is amazing. It has changed my life. I just push a button and it keeps the boat locked on that spot.
Here is the thing. If you aren’t locked on God’s Word, you will get blown off course. There is no doubt about it. The current and winds of change in this world will blow you away. You will start to think things are okay when God has clearly said they are not. You will start to do whatever is right in your own eyes rather than what is right in God’s eyes. Jesus is the truth. God’s Word is the truth.
Put on the Truth.
Put on the Truth.
14 Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest,
Ephe
You can’t just know the truth. You have to live out the truth. The truth is to be lived out practically in our lives. Warren Wiersbe, “Once a lie gets into the life of a believer, everything begins to fall apart. For over a year, King David lied about his sin with Bathsheba, and nothing went right.” David described the way he felt in .
2 How joyful is a person whom the Lord does not charge with iniquity and in whose spirit is no deceit!
3 When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was drained as in the summer’s heat. Selah
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not conceal my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
Psalm 32
While David was living a hypocritical, dishonest life, he lost the blessing of God. He experienced sickness, depression, and physical weakness until he confessed his sins. As he said in
,
6 Surely you desire integrity in the inner self, and you teach me wisdom deep within.
Lies and deception open the door to the devil; therefore, we must put off falsehood and practice transparency before God and others as we confess our sins (cf. , ). Satan likes to work in the shadows—he wants people to keep their sins in the dark instead of confessing them before God and man. It gives him a base from which to attack us. But the light of confession enables God to work in those dark places and set us free.
Lies and deception open the door to the devil; therefore, we must put off falsehood and practice transparency before God and others as we confess our sins. Satan likes to work in the shadows—he wants people to keep their sins in the dark instead of confessing them before God and man. It gives him a base from which to attack us. But the light of confession enables God to work in those dark places and set us free.
In what ways are you giving the enemy a foothold by practicing dishonesty? Is it through cheating on tests, lying on taxes, illegal downloading, or telling little fibs at work? In what ways are you practicing transparency—confession before God and man—in order to close the door on the devil?
In order to put on the belt of truth, we must practice honesty and get rid of all deception in our lives.
Introduce Bible Study Teachers.
If you do not have a Bible Study that you attend, fill out one of the cards or go and meet one of the teachers; they will be standing in the back as you exit.