2016.02.14 Ephesians 6: 13-17
The
Armor of God Part 2
Once again this morning… I have Good News for you…. His
name is Jesus… As most of you know… Here at Calvary Chapel Wiesbaden we teach through the Bible verse by verse… Because we want to see the Big picture… We want to know and understand our great God and
Savior… The Lord Jesus Christ… That is the reason that we study the Bible…. To
know the Lord Jesus better day by day…
We are studying Paul´s
letter to the Ephesians… This
morning we will pick up chapter 6 again as we continue part 2 of the Armor of
God…
For context, I will back up a few verses and read verses
10-17… Eph 6… 10-17…
Ephesians
6: 10-17 NLT Neues Leben
10 A
final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of
God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of
the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but
against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers
in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
13
Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the
enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing
firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of
God’s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good
News so that you will be fully prepared. 16 In addition to all of these, hold
up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. 17 Put on
salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word
of God.
Ephesians 6: 10-17 NLT Neues Leben
10 Noch ein Wort zum Schluss: Werdet stark durch den
Herrn und durch die mächtige Kraft seiner Stärke!
11 Legt die komplette Waffenrüstung Gottes an, damit ihr
allen hinterhältigen Angriffen des Teufels widerstehen könnt.
12 Denn wir kämpfen nicht gegen Menschen aus Fleisch und
Blut, sondern gegen die bösen Mächte und Gewalten der unsichtbaren Welt, gegen
jene Mächte der Finsternis, die diese Welt beherrschen, und gegen die bösen
Geister in der Himmelswelt.
13 Bedient euch der ganzen Waffenrüstung Gottes. Wenn es
dann so weit ist, werdet ihr dem Bösen widerstehen können und noch aufrecht
stehen, wenn ihr den Kampf gewonnen habt.
14 Sorgt dafür, dass ihr fest steht, indem ihr euch mit
dem Gürtel der Wahrheit und dem Panzer der Gerechtigkeit Gottes umgebt.
15 Eure Füße sollen für die gute Botschaft eintreten, die
den Frieden mit Gott verkündet.
16 Setzt den Glauben als einen Schutzschild ein, um die
feurigen Pfeile des Satans abzuwehren.
17 Setzt den Helm eurer Rettung auf und nehmt das Wort
Gottes, euer Schwert, das der Geist euch gibt.
As we saw last week… There are 2 two essential components to this final exhortation…
#1
you must be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might...
Then, you must #2 put on the whole armor of God... Both of these
components are essential…
Equipping ourselves for Christian combat must begin with
the Lord Jesus…
God has vast reservoirs of strength and power for us to
use in our Christian life… He works in
us and through us… We are in a war… A cosmic battle… But in truth…
The
battle is the Lord’s… We need to Let him
fight it… We hold on to Him… He knows what he’s doing… Let Jesus be the one who fights the battles
for us… There’s no reason for feeling
defeated… There’s no reason to think
that a believer is so overwhelmed by Satan that he can’t get out of it… There’s no bondage so great that there’s not a
way to escape… But we need to take advantage of the resources that God has made
available… They are… #1 confidence in
the power of God… and then as we’ll see this morning… #2… putting on the armor of God… Back to Eph ch6 v13…
Ephesians
6: 13 NLT Neues leben
13
Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the
enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing
firm.
13 Bedient euch der ganzen Waffenrüstung Gottes. Wenn es
dann so weit ist, werdet ihr dem Bösen widerstehen können und noch aufrecht
stehen, wenn ihr den Kampf gewonnen habt.
v13a…
Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor…
Paul
tells us to put on the Lord´s Armor here…. When he does this he is recalling the Prophesies of Isaiah… Isaiah prophesied that
the Messiah would put on His Armor and Fight for us…. Now Paul says… Christian put on the Armor of
God… Isaiah ch52 and ch59… A wonderful text for your own personal quiet
times… Paul is saying it´s a dangerous world out there… You need protection….
Use the Lord´s Armor… next phrase…
v13b…
resist the enemy in the time of evil... Then after the battle you will still be
standing firm… As we saw last week… Paul introduced the idea of
the whole armor of God back in verse 11… In this verse… He reminds why we need
the armor… #1 It is a battle and #2 He wants us to be still standing when it
is all over… As Believers who have had our sins forgiven through God´s mercy
and grace… We have a solid foundation under our feet… Paul was always teaching
and exhorting the church to remember our great God and Savior… And in Ephesians
… He tells us over and over that we are in Christ… Here in this text… Paul says stand your ground…
God gives
the Christian a glorious standing to maintain by faith as we stand in this
spiritual warfare…
Stand
your Ground
- We
stand in grace… Romans 5:2
- We
stand in the gospel… 1 Corinthians 15:1
- We
stand in strength… 1 Corinthians 16:13
- We
stand in faith… 2 Corinthians 1:24
- We
stand in Christian liberty… Galatians 5:1
- We
stand in Christian unity… Philippians 1:27
- We
stand fast in the Lord… Philippians 4:1
- We
stand perfect and complete in the will
of God… Colossians 4:12
All in all, there is a lot bound up in that little word… Stand… Paul is preparing us for the
battle…
1 we
are going to be attacked…
2 we
must not be frightened…
3 we
must not be half-hearted in the fight… no self-pity is allowed…
4 we
are to maintain our position and stay alert…
5 we do not give even a thought to retreat…
Without the Strength
of God… v10… and the Protection of His Spiritual Armor… it
is impossible to stand against the attacks of our spiritual enemies…
As we continue this morning… Paul tells us to put on the
armor of God… v14,15…
Ephesians
6: 14,15 NLT Neues Leben
14
Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s
righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so
that you will be fully prepared.
14 Sorgt dafür, dass ihr fest steht, indem ihr euch mit
dem Gürtel der Wahrheit und dem Panzer der Gerechtigkeit Gottes umgebt.
15 Eure Füße sollen für die gute Botschaft eintreten, die
den Frieden mit Gott verkündet.
v14a…
Stand your ground… We can only stand when we are equipped with
the armor God has given us in Jesus Christ… Paul wrote this while in the
custody of Roman soldiers… Paul used their equipment and weapons as
illustrations of how God has equipped the believer...
The order that Paul uses… Is the order in which soldiers
would put them on…
v14b…
putting on the belt of truth… Truth is symbolically
represented as a belt… It was a thick leather belt that protected the middle of
the body… The belt of truth has to
come first… It was also used to gather up our garments so that we can run and fight
effectively…
Truth is
where it all begins… Truth has been relativized today… This culture says that
we can all have our own version of
truth… We hear… well that may be true for you… But it´s not true for me… There
is unfortunately a part of the church that is saying the same thing… Impossible…
Francis Schaffer coined to phrase True truth to distinguish the Truth of God´s
word for relativisms poison… The Word of God stands against all such nonsense… John
described Jesus as being full of grace
and truth… John ch1…
In another place Jesus
said… I am the way the truth and the life…. No man comes to the father but by
me… John 14…
The belt of truth reminds us as Christians…. To take the
whole counsel of God as truth… To accept the entire Word of God as the way we
look at the world… We need to have a solid biblical understanding of the Lord
Jesus… Knowing Jesus is the entire reason that we study the Bible…. It is the
reason that we are here in the church… Here we grow in grace and in the
knowledge of the Lord…2 Peter 1:2-4 NLT
v14c…the
body armor of God’s righteousness… Righteousness is represented
as a breastplate which provides essential protection for our lungs and hearts…
We cannot fight the good fight… without putting on our body armor… Notice here
that this righteousness is not ours… It is God´s righteousness...
This is not our own earned righteousness… It is not a
feeling of righteousness because we had a good week… You know… I did my Christian
duties list this week…. I read my Bible and pray every single day… I didn´t
yell at the kids… I didn´t kill anyone this week… No… We need the
Righteousness of God… Not our own rather God´s righteousness… which is received
by faith… It gives us confidence and an awareness of our standing and position in Christ…
We are sometimes tempted to think "Look at all I've done for the Lord." But that is very shaky ground… If we have done anything of lasting value…. It is the Lord working in and through us…. We
cannot take any credit for the good that we have done… We cannot depend on what
we do for the Lord… We fail far more than not… We don´t have any good works
credits to provide us with our own righteousness…
The Good news is that God's righteousness is always
available… The breastplate of righteousness is your best defense against the
sense of spiritual depression and gloom that comes against us… It is usually
caused by our failure to live the perfect Christian life….
We fail and we sin… and we are devastated and depressed… our
self-righteousness is dead… It is laying in the pothole streets of our pride…
But God's
righteousness is always available…
That
is truly Good News… next verse…
v15a…
Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace… The
preparation of the gospel is represented as the protective sandals worn by
Roman soldiers... Historians credit the very substantial Roman foot wear… as
contributing to the success of the Roman military… No one can fight effectively
barefoot…
Preparation is
a word meaning "a prepared foundation." The Good News of the Gospel provides the foundation and solid footing
for everything we do...
Paul
has Isaiah 52:7 in mind when he refers to having shod your
feet… How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad
tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, "Your
God reigns!
v15b…
be fully prepared…The idea of preparation is readiness… we need
to be ready to share the truth to a lost
and dying world… There is hope…. There
is forgiveness and mercy…. His name is Jesus… v16,17…
Ephesians
6: 16,17 NLT Neues Leben
16
In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery
arrows of the devil. 17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of
the Spirit, which is the word of God.
16 Setzt den Glauben als einen Schutzschild ein, um die
feurigen Pfeile des Satans abzuwehren. 17 Setzt den Helm eurer Rettung auf und
nehmt das Wort Gottes, euer Schwert, das der Geist euch gibt.
v16a…
In addition to all of these…Paul says… there is more…
Add these things too…
v16b…
hold up the shield of faith… The KJV say take up the shield of faith… Now
we come to the armor that we need to take into the daily battles of life… These
are parts of our armor we need to take up from situation to situation… as the
moment demands… Did you grab something to protect yourself from incoming
missiles? You know… When your brother or sisters start throwing rocks at you…
Or the world starts to tempt you to sin…
Think about those many "demanding moments" in
spiritual warfare… Times when the assault is coming on like freight train…
When
is it Time for the Armor of God?
When
a flood of depression or discouragement paralyses us… We
become unable to stand up and trust the
Lord to restore our hope… It is time
to pray when that happens… Luke 18…v1…
When
we are tempted to blow little things way out of proportion… We
get so upset that we forget the Grace
and mercy that the Lord has poured out on our lives…
When
we have an opportunity to testify about the Lord Jesus… We
use His Word To Share with someone of
the Grace and Mercy of God…
When
we are filled with a sense of panic and helplessness…
In those critical moments, we need to take up our armor…
Look again at Eph 6: 16,17…
v16…
hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil… Faith
is represented as a shield… protecting us from the fiery darts of the wicked
one… those persistent efforts of demonic foes to weaken us through sin, fear
and unbelief…
The shield Paul describes is not a small one… Sometimes
you would have a sword in one hand and a small round shield in the other… He is
talking about the large rectangular shield that could protect the whole body…
You know the ones…. They are the ones that the Romans used in the Asterix and
Obelix comics…
In ancient warfare… these fiery darts were launched in
great number at the beginning of an attack…
The idea was not only to injure the enemy… but to shoot at him at all
sides with a massive number of darts… and thus confuse and panic the enemy... the
soldier was tempted to get rid of his burning shield and expose himself to the
enemy's spear-thrusts... But the shield of faith not only catches the fiery
Arrows (darts)… it extinguishes them…
Fiery darts and arrows like… Temptation… Unclean Thoughts…
And fears of every kind… These things try to cause us to lose hope… And all of
these can be hurled at us by Satan as fiery darts… As we stand
firm…. Full of Faith in our loving God… We remember that the victory is
His… We are comforted and protected by His unfailing love… We are not filled with fear… Because we know that the victory is certain…
We cannot be defeated… we have the helmet of salvation…
v17a…
Put on salvation as your helmet… In the ancient world… this
was a thick leather cap studded with metal for extra strength… Salvation is
pictured as this kind of helmet… protecting us from the potentially fatal blows
of the enemy… A soldier would be foolish to go into battle without his helmet…
1
Thessalonians 5:8 speaks of the helmet of salvation in connection to the hope
of salvation… The
helmet of salvation protects us against discouragement… against the desire to
give up… giving us hope not only in knowing that we are saved… but that we will
be saved… It is the assurance that God will triumph… Not only in the world
out there… but in here too… That´s Good
News…
One of Satan's most effective weapons against us is
discouragement… When we are properly equipped with the helmet of salvation…
it's hard to stay discouraged… He will finish the
work that he has begun in our hearts and lives… Philippians 1:6… What a
wonderful promise… The promises of God are Powerful Tools in our battle to stay
Joyful and Hopeful… We need this book…. We need to hide it in our hearts… next
phrase…
v17b…
take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God… The
idea is that the Spirit of God
provides a Sword for us… And that Sword
is the Word of God… It is our only
offensive weapon…
Now… Some Christians seem to think that we have another
even more powerful weapon… Our tongues…
We sharpen
our tongues and get to work on brother so and so…. And of course the
pastors and elders do not escape it… Sadly… We use often this terrible weapon
on each other… and the leaders of the
church… James says our tongues are set on fire of hell itself… Our evil tongues must be tamed by the Work
of the Holy Spirit…
We need to apply the only true weapon that the Lord has given
us… on ourselves first… We must apply
the Word of God to our own hearts and minds…. So that we can enter into
this battle…. Remember… This battle is for the hearts and lives of our own
families and friends and neighbors…
We Proclaim and defend the Gospel with His power and His
wisdom… And as Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 10… v3…5…
2
Corinthians 10: 3-5
NLT Neues Leben
3 We
are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 4 We use God’s mighty weapons,
not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to
destroy false arguments. 5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people
from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey
Christ.
3 Wir sind zwar Menschen, doch wir kämpfen nicht mit
menschlichen Mitteln. 4 Wir setzen die mächtigen Waffen Gottes und keine
weltlichen Waffen ein, um menschliche Gedankengebäude zu zerstören. 5 Mit
diesen Waffen zerschlagen wir all die hochtrabenden Argumente, die die Menschen
davon abhalten, Gott zu erkennen. Mit diesen Waffen bezwingen wir ihre
widerstrebenden Gedanken und lehren sie, Christus zu gehorchen.
We are called to change the world… One heart at a time…
Now to effectively use the Word of God… The Sword of the Spirit… We need to understand the power that is has #1 The power to correct and teach us…. 2
Timothy 3…
#2 The
power that it has to bring repentance and revival… This
book has everything we need for life and Godliness… It has the Word of life… Salvation…forgiveness
and mercy… Jesus said you are the light of the World… Go… That is the
question…. Will we… take up the Sword of the spirit…. Will we open our mouths
with these words of life…Will we proclaim
the Good News to this culture full of dead men and women…. We live in a lost
and dying world… The Word of God is the only light … the only hope for them…
Here in the 21st century…. We can and must be
totally confident in the Word of God….
The Divine inspiration of Scripture is central to the Power and authority of
this book… It is God´s revelation of
Himself…. In it we see his character and CHESED… His unfailing love and grace…
Not only did the Holy Spirit give us the Scriptures… but also He makes them
alive to us… The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth… 2 Timothy 3… John 16:13…
Effectively using the sword takes practice... The great
example of this was Jesus combating the temptation of Satan in the wilderness...
He used the Word of God to respond to the temptations of the evil one… David
said…. Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you… Let´s pray…
