In order to be effective in our war against Satan, there are various pieces of armor that we must put on. In this message we examine the last 3 pieces of armor: The Shield of Faith, the Helmet of Salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit. May the Lord enable all of us to put them on and defeat the enemy’s attacks!
Teaching Notes:
The Believer’s Armor
Ephesians 6:14-17
Intro: Read. Pray.
In our last study of Ephesians, we saw the truth that we are in a great spiritual war w/ devil! Noted Our Enemy (the devil is cunning and powerful); Our Battle Plan (not pleading blood, rebuking or binding enemy) – resisting & standing firm; and Our Resources (the power of God & the armor of God). Well, here in 14-17 Paul goes into more detail as to just what this full armor of God is. In vs. 11 he says to put it on, and in vs. 13 he says to take it up. What does he mean by that? Make use of what God has given you. Don’t let it lie around gathering dust – appropriate it!
6 pieces of armor: Truth – Righteousness – Gospel – Faith – Salvation – Word. If you are a Christian, have received this armor already. But may not be appropriating it! To appropriate means “to make use of for oneself.” To put on the armor is not to go out and get something don’t already have & put on. It’s the difference between going out to buy a shirt & putting on a shirt sitting on your bed. In other words, make use of what God has already given you.
Some expositors go into great detail about this armor. William Gurnall wrote a book in the 17th century called “The Christian In Complete Armor” which was 1189 pages. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached 52 sermons on Eph. 6:10-20 (1 years worth!). I’m going to attempt to cover the armor in 1 message. My reason for that is that I think we get into error when we press the details of this imagery too far. For example, we say that the belt cinches up the robe for fast movement and attaches the sword and the breastplate. Thus, we say, truth prepares us to fight and integrates all the other virtues of the Christian life. Again we say that the breastplate protects the vital organs. Thus, righteousness protects us from spiritual death. Again, the shoes were boots with hobnails to keep steady footing. Thus, the gospel keeps us steady on our feet in our battle against Satan. The problem is that in 1Thess.5:8 Paul speaks of the breastplate of faith and love, NOT the breastplate of righteousness, which he mentions in Eph.6. So, what is it – the breastplate of faith or the shield of faith? The point seems to be that Paul simply chose pieces of armor at random & assigned a spiritual truth to them.
Where is Paul? He wrote Ephesians from a prison cell in Rome. He was probably chained to a Roman soldier as he was writing!
It Is Difficult to Know the Precise Meaning of these words: Was Paul speaking about God’s truth or our truthfulness (sincerity); God’s righteousness imputed or our righteousness demonstrated? How can know? Principle that guides me in interpreting these words is the phrase – “armor OF God.” This is not my armor, but His. Thus, this armor not something I drum up within myself, but a gift given by Him! That one thought has helped me immensely in studying this passage! Thus Paul must be speaking about His truth, not my truthfulness; His righteousness, not mine; His gospel granting objective peace, not subjective peace; His faith given as gift, His Word, His salvation.
1. The Belt Of Truth: Truth must be the entire truth of God – the entire inscripturated revelation of God. God has given us His truth in the Bible. We need an overall knowledge of God, man, Jesus, Satan and sin to be effective in this warfare. We need an understanding of the Big Picture. We need to see human history as a great drama of redemption unfolding before our eyes. We must see this warfare as a temporary, interim revolt between 2 vast eternities. At 1 time there was only 1 Kingdom & 1 will. Satan sinned & now there are 2 kingdoms & 2 wills. God’s purpose is in the fulness of time bring back things again to perfection. He will destroy the kingdom of darkness and put away Satan’s rebellion. He has allowed it manifest His glory, but He will put down the revolt through Jesus Christ & Him crucified! All history is moving toward this end. We need to understand the sweeping view of history from Genesis to Revelation to get this big picture. It will strengthen us in our battle to understand Satan’s end. This is where reading large sections of the Bible helps us. Yes there are times to meditate on just a paragraph or a verse of Scripture. But there are also times when we need to just read long sections to get Big Picture. You might consider listening to the Bible being read on CD or reading whole books of the Bible in a single sitting in order to take up the Belt of Truth.
2. The Breastplate Of Righteousness: Many commentators believe is speaking about our righteousness demonstrated in holy living. However, this is the armor of God. Also, how can my own righteousness defend me against the accusations of the devil. He will always be able to find a flaw in it somewhere. No, I need a righteousness far better than my own. I need a perfect righteousness! And I have one! That’s exactly what Phil.3:9 and 2Cor.5:21 tell me. If Satan can oppress me by telling me I am so sinful that God will have nothing to do with me, that He doesn’t love me any more, and won’t forgive me, he’s won! I need to take up and make use of the righteousness of Christ! We are speaking here about the doctrine of justification. The Westminster Shorter Catechism defines justification this way: “justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.” This righteousness doesn’t depend on my works, but only on His perfect work. There is no chink in this armor! In spite of devil’s accusations, I’m justified in His sight! Zech.3:1-5. Satan can’t win when we have on the breastplate!
3. Shoes of Gospel of Peace: I used to think this meant “by preaching & witnessing the gospel” I would be armed against Satan. But again, this is my work, rather than His armor! The gospel of peace is the gospel which establishes peace. Rom.5:1; Col.1:20-22. We were at war with God. God destroyed the barrier of sin, and reconciled us through Christ’s blood. The good news is that God has provided peace with any sinner who will come to Him on His terms. The sinner must wave the white flag, and unconditionally surrender to the Dread, Sovereign, Majesty! How does this help in our battle with Satan? When Satan seeks to convince you that your sin has separated you from God and His wrath is upon you, remind him it can’t be! God Himself took the initiative by sending His Son to destroy the enmity. The devil is a liar! God’s word is truth! We must take our stand on this wonderful gospel of peace! Rom.8:31.
4. Shield of Faith: If this God’s armor, then faith is His gift. That seems to agree with Eph.2:8-9 where Paul says “we are saved by grace through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Here we are told that faith is like a shield in that deflects the fiery missiles of the enemy. What are these fiery missiles? Doubts, temptations, and despair. When you face these things, lift up the shield. Believe God’s promises and these missiles can’t hurt you! When Satan tries to get you to think that something else is more desirable than God or His will, believe the Word! Satan will seek to convince you that you would be happy if you just had that beautiful woman, that money, or that powerful position. But faith will deflect these darts. How? By faith we believe God’s Word that He is more satisfying than these. Ps.16:11. This faith robs temptations of their magnetic pull. Instead we find ourselves pulled to God! Sin is what we do when our heart is not satisfied with God. No one sins out of duty. We sin because it holds some promise of happiness. When we find God more lovely and satisfying than sin, its power is broken, because we don’t want it any more! But the only way to be satisfied with God is by faith. We must believe He is as precious, desirable & good as the Bible tells us He is!
5. Helmet Of Salvation: What does this “helmet of salvation” refer to? 1Thess.5:8-9 gives us some idea. There we read, “having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul speaks here of the HOPE of salvation. What is that? He explains it in vs. 9 as not being destined for wrath but obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Hope is that on Judgment Day, we will not find ourselves with other nonbelievers hearing Him say, “Depart you accursed ones into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels”, but instead hear Him say, “Come, you blessed of My Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” “Hope” is forward looking. It has to do with receiving something good in the future. Biblical hope not an optimistic wish. It’s not “I hope I win a trip to Hawaii!” No, it’s a sure confidence based on God’s promise. Thus, the hope of salvation is a strong confidence in the future aspect of salvation. There is a past, present, and future aspect to our salvation. We have been saved from sin, we are being saved from sin, and we will be saved from sin. This helmet of salvation is our strong confidence that we will be utterly saved from all sin on that Final Day and obtain eternal glory. How does someone attain this hope? They ask themselves if they are the kind of person the Bible assures this salvation to. There are 2 kinds of danger. One kind is in being assured of this hope when you have no right to it. The other is in not being assured of this hope when you do have a right to it. So, to help you in putting on the Hope of Salvation ask yourself if you see true evidence of 1) faith in Christ; 2) love for God; 3) hatred of sin; 4) pursuing holiness; 5) desire to please God; 6) the fruit of the Holy Spirit; and 6) perseverance in tribulation. How will this help you in spiritual warfare? You are protected from the devil’s attacks when he tries to get you to despair and give up. He can’t win, because you have a strong hope as an anchor of your soul (Heb.6:19). The purpose of an anchor is to hold the ship in place so that it does not drift. Well, this hope of salvation anchors our souls so that they don’t drift away from a sure and strong confidence in our future deliverance. Though the devil may whisper that you have sinned and aren’t worthy of eternal glory, you can shout back that your Hope is not in yourself, but Christ. He is the One who began this good work in you and He will be faithful to complete it. The devil can’t win w/ someone like that!
6. Sword of the Spirit: We have already mentioned the Belt of Truth, which refers to all of God’s revelation in Scripture. The Sword of the Spirit speaks of specific truths of Scripture that we use in specific skirmishes with our enemy. The Greek word is “rhema”, not logos. The Dictionary of New Testament Theology defines “rhema” this way: “whereas logos can often designate the Christian proclamation as a whole in the NT, rhema usually relates to individual words & utterances.” There are 2 greek words for sword. One refers to a large broadsword, the other to a small word (anything from a 6” dagger to an 18” sword). The latter is the word Paul used here. This was the weapon Jesus used against the devil’s temptations in the wilderness. Satan tempted Jesus with 3 specific temptations. Jesus fought back with 3 specific statements of God’s Word. Matt. 4:4,7,10. He used specific utterances that had specific relevance for the temptations of the devil. Thus, for us to use the sword of the Spirit to fight against Satan’s attacks, we must be able to bring specific truths of the Word to bear upon each thrust of enemy. We need to know the Word well enough to draw upon its truths no matter what the devil is seeking to do (lust, anger, pride, despair, doubt, greed). This is where memorization so helpful! Ps.119:11. It is also helpful to teach a Bible study to someone else. No one learns more than the one who teaches the Scripture. Find a younger believer and help them understand the truths of God’s Word, and you will be arming yourself with this sword for future battles with the enemy!
So, what are the pieces of armor that will equip us to stand against Satan? God’s Truth, Righteousness, Gospel, faith, Salvation, and Word! Take them up and put them on!
Can you think of a time when one of these pieces of armor helped you in your struggle against the devil?
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