A Holy War, Part 2 | Ephesians 6:14-24

The main idea of this information is about the armor of God and how Christians are to put it on. The armor consists of the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes for readiness with the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. Christians are also encouraged to pray in the Spirit and persevere with other believers. The armor is battle tested and should be intentionally put on by Christians. The armor is a defense against the schemes of the devil and helps believers stand firm in their faith. As you grab your Bibles and make your way to Ephesians, as we continue on and even conclude our study in Paul's great letter to the church at Ephesus, as our Scripture reading this morning will be in Ephesians chapter 6, we'll start in verse 14 and finish out the chapter, indeed the book as a whole. These are the words of the one true living God. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints and also for me. The words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. And so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will tell you everything. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts. Peace be to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. The grass withers and the flower fades. Let us pray. Our gracious God and heavenly Father, indeed, your word endures forever. And as the Lord Jesus said that he prayed of us that we would be sanctified by the truth, thy word is truth. And so we pray that even now, that you would sanctify us, that you would teach us how it is we are to put on the whole armor of God, to train our hands for war, our fingers for battle, that we might be able to stand against the schemes of the devil, looking to that final day when we shall see the King in his beauty. We pray this, that you would give us the eyes to see, you would give us ears to hear, that by grace we would receive your word and store it up in our hearts. In his name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Well, Homer's great epic poem, The Iliad, is often regarded as one of the greatest poems ever written. And if poetry is not your thing, you could equally say it's one of the greatest war stories ever written. Because if you just skim through the pages of The Iliad, you will see it's full of swords and shields and spears and blood and death and grit with every page. So what scholars of Homer are fascinated by is the distinct difference between the armor that the gods wear and the armor that man wears. The poem gives this reader this feel that the gods and man are on two different teams wearing two different kinds of armor. What we have in our text this morning is the refreshing opposite of that. Because as we saw last week, the Christian is to be fully armed, so as to be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. And this morning we see the further truth that the Christian puts on, not man's armor, but the very armor of God. The armor that the divine warrior himself wore. And so we'll walk through this passage in three simple portions, looking at firstly putting on the armor, secondly praying in the Spirit, and thirdly persevering with the saints. All with that main idea that the Christian is to be fully, completely armed to be able to stand against our adversary. So firstly, putting on the armor. We saw last week, Paul told us twice that we are to put on armor, and now he's going to tell us exactly what it is we are to wear. You see the summary command, and once again, verse 14, stand therefore. And then, it's as if Paul says, if you're going to stand firm, you had better look like this. You had best take your post fully armed with this panoply of armor, and there are six pieces that we are going to walk through. But before we walk through these six pieces, we must always remember that this is battle tested armor. We are not the first ones to put on this armor. Because this is the armor that Jesus Christ Himself first put on to defeat the Prince of Darkness. And so, another way to think of putting on this armor is simply to think of put on Jesus Christ. Put on the new man to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. And so with that, let's look at this first piece of armor. What you see in verse 14, it is this belt of truth, or as the King James reads, gird up your loins, which makes sense in terms of combat, right? Even in modern day martial arts, a belt is so often worn for the very practical reason that you put this belt, you fasten it around you to hold your garments close to your body so that you can move and fight and not get trapped in your own clothing. And Paul says, do that, gird up your loins, but do it with the truth. And you see, firstly, how the Lord Jesus Christ Himself did this, that Christ always had the truth hidden in His heart, that morning by morning He was taught as one who received the truth, that He increased in wisdom and stature, not just with man, but with His God. And as the last Adam, He succeeded right where the first Adam failed, that our first Father, deceived by the serpent, let go of the truth in the garden, the last Adam held on to the truth even to the point of death on the cross. And so too for us, if we're to outsmart our enemy, how do you outsmart the craftiest serpent of all? You must have the truth. As the psalmist says, it is truth that makes us wiser than our enemies. And you see the verb there is to fasten it, to gird it, right? Belts do not fasten themselves. There is no automatic belt invented yet, right? When you got up this morning, you deliberately, purposefully put your belt on and you cinched it and you fastened it. And how much more is the truth to be fastened to the Christian soul? So the question for you is not just do I know the truth, but do I have the truth stored up in my heart? Is it binded to my heart? Is it dwelling richly in me? And that leads to our second piece of armor, which is this breastplate of righteousness. And once again, this preeminently applies to Christ himself, his perfect righteousness, that as one born of woman and born under the law, Christ always walked in the fear of the Lord. He always walked uprightly. His ways were always pleasing to God. And so as soldiers of God united to him, we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. We truly, really receive the righteousness of Christ by faith alone. And I trust you can see, surely, how great of armor that would be in spiritual combat. This breastplate that protects all your vital organs, right? Remember, one of the enemy's greatest craft is accusation to charge you, to prosecute you, that you are not righteous, you are not holy, to give in and succumb to those feelings of guilt and doubt that you have, that you're not who you say you are. And he would have you dwell on your sins much more than you would dwell upon your Savior. But the Christian's counterattack is putting on Jesus Christ and saying, yes, in myself, I'm not righteous, but in him and the righteousness that is mine by faith alone, here I stand. I stand as righteous as Christ himself. And so when that question comes up, who could bring a charge against me? Who could prosecute me with guilt? The answer is no one. Not even the Prince of Darkness. Because I rest wearing this awesome breastplate of righteousness that Christ himself has given to me. And so our third piece of armor in verse 15 is shoes for your feet, or more literally, bind your feet in preparation. If I just think of before you head out for a run, for a jog, even just a walk, one of the first things you do is you lace up your tennis shoes, right? You bind up your shoes to be ready to move. And the Roman soldier did exactly that. Obviously not with Nikes, but he would do it with his combat boots. He would lace them up to be agile for any action coming his way. Now, tying your shoes is probably something you do almost unconsciously, right? This is an area where we could be very caught unaware and negligent in. Because look what it is we are to be prepared for. Verse 15 says, have a readiness, a preparedness with the gospel of peace. And once again, we see this most clearly in the Lord Jesus Christ. That wherever he went, that when he would go from town to town, whether he was going to Sidon, or Tyre, or Galilee, or Bethany, wherever he went, he was on the ready to proclaim the gospel and to bring the kingdom of God with him. He was never unaware. He was never caught off guard, whether he was talking to a politician or to a peasant. He never had that moment we've all had of walking away from a conversation going, ah, I should have said this, or ah, I should have said that, but I cowered down in fear because I was not ready. No, he always had the beautiful feet bringing the gospel of peace, and so too for the believer. That as 1 Peter says, as Christians, we're always to be on the ready to give an account, to give a defense for the hope that is within us, whether you're at work, at your kid's soccer game, in a serious conversation, in a casual conversation, always be on the ready. And you can see just how much Satan hates that, how much he would rage against the idea of the gospel of peace going forth and his kingdom being destroyed. Our fourth piece of armor is this great shield of faith in verse 16. As many commentators know, this takes on a much more defensive rather than offensive posture. And indeed, as verse 16 continues, it says exactly that. You see this imagery of holding up this shield, and what is raining down upon this shield, you read it there, these fiery arrows of the evil one, that there is Satan, this expert archer who needs just the smallest opening to pierce an arrow into the heart and soul of the Christian. And so, once again, you can look to Jesus Christ who held up this shield, that he lived by faith. And that is so often overlooked or overshadowed, right, this wrongheaded idea that, well, since Jesus was fully God, he didn't really have to live by faith, right, in the tough moments he could kind of borrow from his divinity and not really have to live by faith, or certainly not have to live by faith in the way that I have to really live by faith. No, absolutely not. Christ, at every point, in every way, in a moment, is infinitely harder than you or I will ever face. Live by faith perfectly and fully as man ever has and as man ever will. That when Satan would have him doubt, are you really the Son of God? Are you really God's Son in whom he is well pleased? He responded fully, completely, by entrusting himself to God above. And so too for you. So too must the Christian live by faith. Notice this command, just how comprehensive it is. Verse 16 says, not sometimes, but in all circumstances, in everything, take up this shield. And again, you can see how much this would apply to our combat. Rest assured, the enemy will fire arrows at you repeatedly. It's important to remember that being tempted to sin is not the same thing as sin. But Satan would have you think otherwise. It's simply by being tempted you've already fallen. But remember, the greater the Christian walk, so often the greater the temptations. But his temptations cannot harm you so long as they're resisted. And the Christian stands firm. And so how are we to resist? Well, it's not so much our faith that we hold up, but Jesus Christ himself that we hold up by faith in order to resist the schemes of Satan. And you see, not only how comprehensive this command is, look at how sufficient, how capable, how awesome this shield is. Look at what this shield can do, as verse 16 says, that by it the Christian can extinguish not some, but all the arrows of the enemy. Every shot, every accusation, every temptation, the way of faith says, I know, I know God has provided for me the way out of this temptation. This is why the Christian does not need the world's so-called remedies for sin. The Christian does not need secular psychology or pharmacology or behavioral therapy in order to combat the schemes of Satan. That our great God has given us everything we need for a life of godliness. And he says, here, take up this shield, and with it you can extinguish all of Satan's arrows. So if you're here this morning and not a Christian, this is what God summons you to, namely, faith. In a word, faith. You see, faith is not simply knowing some facts about Jesus, though that's included. Faith is not simply agreeing that Jesus is who he says he is, though that is included. No, the essence of faith is this whole-souled rest, this reliance, this entrusting of yourself as to who Jesus is and what Jesus has accomplished. That is faith, and that is what God calls you to. Our fifth piece of armor is this great helmet of salvation in verse 17. As we even read, this is the helmet that God himself first put on, that Christ himself first put on. We tend to not think of Christ as being saved, but he absolutely was in terms of his resurrection life and his vindication, that he knew the joy of salvation that was set before him. In the very darkest moments of his life, it was that joy of salvation that propelled him to endure the cross and to despise its shame. As a Christian, likewise, is to put on that same helmet. It was Martin Luther who would often say when the devil was tempting him, he would respond by saying, devil, I am baptized. I am a baptized Christian. What was he doing? He was putting on the helmet. He was saying, Satan, you have no claim upon me. God himself has set his claim upon me. And kids, that is something you could do already right now today. But when tempted, you could say out loud, oh, devil, I am baptized. I am a baptized Christian. Because what is it you are saying? You are saying that by faith, I belong to Jesus Christ. By faith, I am dead to sin, and I am alive to God. I am a new creation in Jesus Christ. And lastly, our final piece of armor in verse 17 is this sword of the Spirit, which as commentators often point out, this is now the offensive weapon of attack. And firstly, of course, for Jesus Christ, this was a sword that he always carried. But perhaps we see him carry it best in his confrontation head on with Satan in the wilderness. That as he is tempted, what did he do? It was this sword that he reached for. It was this sword that with every accusation that came from Satan, how did he respond? Well, with three precise jabs right from Holy Scripture, and he bested Satan with the sword of the Spirit. And so too for you. So too for the believer. The believer must wield this sword by the power of the Spirit. And of course, before you can actually wield this sword, you must first possess this sword. And so you would be right to ask, how sharp is my sword? It absolutely is a sword that doles with neglect. It is a sword that pride and unbelief will deaden. But when picked up with faith, when picked up in the power of the Spirit, it is indeed sharper than any two edged sword, able even to resist the schemes of our adversary. And so there is a word on the Christians full armor that we are to put on. And I trust you can see that our great God has so richly equipped us. He has sent us out into this battlefield with this full plan of three that can withstand the onslaught of the enemy. But you might be asking to yourself, I know when I was a kid, I asked this to myself. How exactly do I put this armor on? Right. I mean, despite despite all the cardboard cutouts that every Sunday school has to offer, these are not literal pieces of armor. So you might be wondering, how do I put on this helmet? How do I put on these shoes? How do I take up this sword? And so this next section demystifies the armor of God, as we see it is one of perhaps the chief way that the Christian is to put on this armor. And so let us look now at praying in the Spirit. In the first half of verse 18, you see, Paul says there, the Christian is praying at all times in the Spirit, which calls from us two things to consider steadfastness and spirituality when it comes to prayer. Firstly, steadfastness to use once again, a wrestling metaphor, what was a very common mantra from a coach to a wrestler was that so much of their progress hangs upon consistency. Are you there showing up to train, to practice, to drill? Is the student doing that? Or is the student fluctuating, going in and out of these seasons of training, in and out of drilling, never really making progress of any substantial kind? And how much more for spiritual wrestling? Notice Paul says, praying at all times. Once again, you see this so clearly in the life of the Lord Jesus, that daily he communed with his God, that as he's being pulled in every direction, come and heal this person, come to this city and teach, come and do this miracle. What would he do? Stop. So often withdraw into solitude for the express purpose of praying, of strengthening himself in God, that the more intense his ministry was, the more intense was his prayer. And so this summons us to be a people who pray without ceasing, which so clearly ties into our spiritual warfare, that if our enemy is relentless, and he is, how much more so does it call for the Christian to always be coming before the throne of grace, pleading with him? And so practically speaking, I know for myself, for many other Christians, what tends to work best is setting a rhythm, a routine of prayer, these set times, set places, so that you could say, oh, I know at this hour, in this room, you will find me praying. And often, the other great benefit of that, that routine, is that it produces non-routine, non-scheduled times of prayer. You start to see that prayer begets more prayer in your life, and that before long, you wake up and your life is now a praying life. You are praying without ceasing. And so we are to put on the armor with steadfastness in prayer, but secondly, you see the spirituality to our prayer. As Paul says, not just pray, but pray in the Spirit. What is that, right? When you pray out of the Spirit. Well, certainly you think of the prayers of the Pharisees, for instance. Jesus is quite clear. You can pray all you want, and your prayers are just bouncing off the ceiling, right? Because they are not praying in a way that is pleasing to God, praying in faith and praying in the Spirit. Because to pray in the Spirit is simply to say that the Spirit of God enables us to do that which we could never do on our own. Jesus has so clearly taught us that we must go outside of ourselves, that we cannot come before God apart from Christ as our Mediator. We have no approach, no access to Him. But in Christ as our Mediator, this way of access has been opened up for the Christian to come before God through the Holy Spirit. That's a real, maybe one of the reasons you don't pray as often as you'd like to, is you've forgotten what an amazing privilege that is. But you, you count it a small thing. Maybe it's a very trivial thing. You wouldn't say that out loud, of course. But when it comes down to it, practically speaking, you count it a very small thing. And so you must renew your mind as to what an awesome privilege it is. I remember for us once as a company outing, we secured not just Dallas Cowboys tickets, but tickets with access to the locker room. And you never saw people more excited. I had this moment of going, what are we so excited for? We have access to a smelly locker room of a mediocre football team. But think of the Christian's access. That you, at all times, in all places, wherever you are, whatever you're doing, the believer has this intimate access to the Father of mercies, with Christ Himself at His right hand, and particularly the Spirit of God, making that access a reality. Secondly, maybe for you, one of your obstacles to prayer is that you lack confidence in prayer. I don't know what to say. I don't know how to say it. But here's the Christian's great confidence, that the Spirit comes as the great helper, the great aid, the great assister of our prayer, to enable us to pray, even when we do not know how to pray. And one way to encourage that is to simply pray God's Word. For God loves to hear His own Word and His own promises prayed back to Him. And the Spirit loves to bless the very words that the Spirit Himself inspired. And finally, perhaps the main reason we do not pray is our underlying pride. And I say underlying because if we go an extended amount of time and we haven't prayed, would pride be our diagnosis? Would pride be the thing that comes to our mind? But you see, it absolutely is, because it implicitly says, I can do what God has called me to do without His help, without coming before Him to be strong in Him. And so we deceive ourselves if we think we can say, I will be an armed Christian, but I will not be a praying Christian. And so, Christian, take up prayer with great confidence in the Spirit's work. Not just prayer. You see in verse 18 this other word, supplications, fancy way of saying our requests, our petitions. And you see how that ties right into spiritual warfare, right? Think of all the requests that would come from a soldier on the field of battle, that he would pick up his radio and say, I need air support, I need supplies, I need backup, I need more men, I need more ammo, and so on and so on. And how much more for the Christian soldier to take up in prayer saying, I need strength, I need courage, I need a renewal of mind, I need the fellowship of the saints, I need faith when I am tempted, and on and on we go, all in order to stand firm against the schemes of Satan. And so we can overcome these obstacles to prayer by praying at all times in the Spirit, and the ordinary Christian can be armed with the most extraordinary armor. And that turns us to our third section, which is persevering with the saints. How is it that the saint can win this war of attrition and endure? So to turn once more to a wrestling metaphor, one of my coaches was quite good at designing practices that were particularly demanding on endurance and conditioning. And I remember one time he devised this particularly torturous practice. At the end, most of us are not even standing, we're there just lying, panting, right, trying to recover our breath. And he paused for a moment and he simply said, why am I doing this? Why am I putting you through these kind of exhausting practices? Hearing no answer, he simply said, because when you're tired, wrestling goes away. When you're tired, wrestling goes away. It took us a minute to think about it, but after a moment we all realized exactly what he meant by that. Because what he meant simply was that it doesn't matter how good you are, it doesn't matter how strong you are, it really doesn't matter how good your technique is in wrestling, once you are tired, once you reach the point of exhaustion, it is of no use to you. You have no ability. You are as good as a wet noodle once you reach that point of exhaustion. But how much more for our spiritual wrestling, that when we are tired, that so often prayer goes away, that when exhausted, it seems our discipline goes away, that when we are at our weakest, that is when Satan comes to test us as we are most vulnerable. And, of course, that is the very moment we need prayer most, we need strength most in order to endure. And Paul says exactly that in verse 18. You see it there. To that end, to this end, keep alert with all perseverance. You may remember when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, His most trying moments before His passion. And that instructive to His disciples, what was it? Watch and pray. Watch and pray so that you do not fall into temptation. And you remember what happened. Jesus goes off to pray, comes back, and His disciples are fast asleep. Again, watch and pray. He goes off to pray and comes back. And once again, His disciples are snoozing. And what are those words? The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Christ was showing them, here is the victory of the spirit over the flesh. And His disciples were showing Him, here is the victory of the flesh over the spirit. And so Paul says, Christian, persevere, not with strength from within, but with the spirit's willing power at work. And not just for yourself individually, notice there he says, make supplication for all the saints. That is incidentally why every Lord's Day, we have that moment of prayer, not just for us, but for all the saints. And I would encourage you in your own prayer life to always have a list of names, not just for you, not just for your household, but for your fellow brothers and sisters that you're actively praying for. And lastly, if you've ever been around someone who doesn't talk much about themselves, that moment when they do talk about themselves, your ears start to perk up. It's always something important. Well, that's Paul in Ephesians. And in verse 19, we get this rare peek into Paul's psyche because he opens up and he says this. He says, pray for me that words will be given to me in the opening of my mouth, that I may declare those words boldly as I ought to speak. Remember, Paul, presumably under house arrest, right? Imprisoned, perhaps about to face this supreme tribunal. And how tempting at this point in his life, at this moment to shrink back from declaring the truth. How tempting at this point to cower in fear with a failure of nerve and not speak the words that were given to him. And how this prayer is needed today. It was Martin Lowe Jones who once said, the most urgent need in the Christian church is that of true preaching. And if that's the most urgent need of the church, it is obviously the most urgent need for the whole entire world. Because indeed, I trust you see how lacking it is in modern American Christianity is boldness. Right for the church to stand firm on the authority of God's word, to declare it unapologetically, unwaveringly and with boldness. Right to declare to a pagan post-Christian world that has exchanged the glory of God for a lie, for countless idols, and to repent and come to Jesus Christ and kiss the son lest he be angry. But you see, Paul does not see himself as some kind of Superman, right? He's not some apostle wearing a cape impervious to weakness. No, he very openly says, I need your prayers. Pray for me. I'm reminded of the great Charles Spurgeon, right? That prince of preachers, when asked, what is the secret to your ministry, a simple response, my people pray for me. And so what can I do? All I can do is but earnestly echo these men and say, pray for whoever it is that occupies the pulpit of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church, that you would pray for such a man to have boldness and that such words would go forth in a demonstration of spirit and of power. And so as we begin to close, let us lay up in our hearts two uses of this most awesome section of the armor of God. And then one final word on Ephesians as a whole, as this will be our final sermon on the book. Firstly, persevere with the saints, persevere with the saints. It's very easy to read this section on the armor of God in an individualistic way, right? Imagine some of our famous imagery. You think of Pilgrim's Progress, Pilgrim fighting the monsters like a paulion, and he's so often fighting those monsters alone, single-handedly. Instead of that imagery, think more like a phalanx, a phalanx, which was a group, a fighting force that was effective only so long as that group was tightly packed together, side by side. So for instance, in a phalanx, I would hold up my shield, but my shield was big enough that not only would it protect me, but it would overlap and protect the soldier next to me. And the soldier next to me would hold up his shield, and it would overlap and protect the neighbor next to him. And that is how the phalanx fought, right? And if that unity could be maintained, the phalanx could stand against a force far mightier than it. And if that unity was not maintained, then the phalanx was ineffective. And that is much closer to our picture of spiritual warfare, that certainly we must be strong, you must be strong individually, no doubt about it, but strong individually so that you can also be strong for your neighbor next to you, for your brother and sister to your right or to your left, that God has given us one another to persevere with one another so that the body grows with a growth from God. To persevere with the saints, for there is no other way to persevere. Secondly, encourage the saints, encourage the saints. The ending of epistles, unfortunately, never gets much airtime in preaching, but it absolutely should because it's so full of these rich, practical examples. And you see that here. Notice how Paul signs off the letter. He very deliberately tells Ephesus, hey, I'm sending you this man, this unsung hero of the New Testament, this man of great character, this man named Tychicus, and I'm sending him to you for two very specific purposes. In verse 23, I want you to know how we are and so that he may encourage your hearts. You see that this great two way street of Christian fellowship. Here's how we're doing. Here's our needs. And now let me, in turn, encourage you. That is the great bond of Christian fellowship. And Christians come together to mutually edify and encourage one another. So just ask yourself, could I be an entrusted Tychicus? Could I be sent to bring a good report with me? And as I do so, could I be sent to store up my brothers and sisters to love and good works with a tongue of encouragement as we all fight this battle together? And lastly, final word on the letter of Ephesians as a whole, because this last verse is a most fitting conclusion to this book. Look how Paul concludes. He says, grace be with you all who love our Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't it interesting that Paul ends his letter in the very same way that he begins his letter? Remember the opening, grace to you. Grace be to you. And here he closes the letter saying, grace be with you all. And why is that? It's because we never graduate from grace, do we? We never move beyond grace. I pray for you is that the next time you happen to read Ephesians, you would have these two thoughts. First thought, it would enter your mind as you're reading. Is all this really mine in Jesus Christ? Is all this treasure really mine? I'm predestined in Christ. I'm redeemed in Christ. I'm adopted in Christ. That before the world began, he knew me in Jesus Christ, that I fight the good fight in Christ, that I have the hope of eternal life in Jesus Christ. Is all this treasure really mine? And then you have the second thought. Why is all this treasure really mine? What have I done to deserve all this treasure? And of course, you'll find you have no answer to that question other than the answer. Oh, it is the grace of God in Jesus Christ. Praise be to him. Let us pray. Our gracious God and heavenly Father, we do praise you, the God of all grace, that you would have grace upon sinners like us, that when we were far off, you have brought us near through the blood of Christ, that you have made peace where there was war. And so we do pray, Father, that we would stand in such grace, even putting on the whole armor of God, that we know we have such a great adversary. But how much greater, how far superior is our Lord Jesus Christ, the one above all rule, all authority, all power, all dominion? And so we pray that you would teach us to stand in the grace that is found in him and him alone. Amen. Amen.