The Armor of God - Tony Evans

you're listening to dallas theological seminaries chapel podcast again good morning to you and it's an honor to be here at Dallas seminary one more time when I was 18 years old I was part of an evangelistic crusade that our church was a part of the evangelist was dr. beat'em heart of Philadelphia and it was that message that day that led me into full-time ministry which sent me to study the Word of God in Atlanta which where I met the professor who told me about Dallas seminary which led me to Dallas seminary and and that history on Monday of this week he died and was called home and the family has requested that I do the eulogy it was through him that not only I did the ministry but with the ministry with him that I met my wife and and of course that that involves my family now being a part of this seminary and they did try to adjust it so it could be on Saturday but it didn't work out for a number of reasons and so it was appropriate that I am do that so I do want to publicly apologize for not being here tomorrow I've asked my brother-in-law my wife's brother Paul Cannings who was a graduate of Dallas seminary and it's pastoring a vibrant Church in Houston to come stand in my stead and to try not to act like I wasn't here all week long but I do apologize for that but it was it was something that we could not avoid thank you for your understanding it has been a great honor privilege to be here all week long and to have the privilege of being with faculty staff students and Friends thank you for giving me your attention and giving me this privilege again on your way out there's a table in the back so you can find out a little bit one who I am and what we do not only in Dallas but around the nation and there's also an opportunity to get a free iPad so you can stop by the table on your way out father may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart acceptable to you give me the word that works in Jesus name Amen when my son Jonathan on one occasion was playing I believe it was for the Washington Redskins at that time I could not make the game I tried to make all of his games but this one I could not make and so I wanted obviously to see the game and I have Direct TV which allows me to pull up the NFL Network and the NFL Network will show you repeats of the game so you can see the full game unfolding on the NFL Network now I knew what had already happened because the game had already been played so I knew that the Redskins had won that particular game I was entering into watching the game unfold with full knowledge of what the end was going to be because I knew where this was going and I knew where it was going to wind up it changed how I reacted to what was happening during the game because I had pre knowledge from a different point of view a fumble by the Redskins didn't shake me up because I knew where this was going an interception by the opposing teams didn't I went on in WoW and boy that was that was a bad mistake but I didn't get all all messed up because I knew what the end was going to be knowledge is a wonderful thing especially when you know it in advance when you've been given information inside information it doesn't change the reality of the fumbles and the interceptions and the sacks and the tackles but it certainly changes how you relate to it you can look at it with a sense of confidence even a sense of authority because you've been pre informed about where this thing is going God has not only pre informed us eschatologically we know where this thing is headed we know where time is going we know about the rule of Christ in his millennial reign and where earth will become what it was created to be we know how the Sun will turn it over to the Father and eternity will be the net result but what about history we've been talking about spiritual authority in history I'd like to suggest the same is true it's been recorded but we already have some inside information my favorite book in the Bible is Ephesians because it is a book that is the Clea logical in nature it wants to talk to you about the church at the end of the book Paul says finally this is the last word that I want to give you having cited in the chapters up to this point his spiritual perspective for God's people living in a pagan environment called Ephesus and he tells them to three times stand firm stand firm stand firm translation don't move don't move don't move Oh what you don't get all shook up don't get all taken out of sorts by what's happening around you I want you to stand firm he's telling them to stand for because he's reminding them of a battle of a contest that they are part of that well-known scripture our struggle is not against flesh and blood verse 12 but rulers and powers and world Force's of this darkness against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places this is Paul's special language heavenly places so euphemism for the spiritual realm he's already said in chapter 1 verse 3 our blessings are there he said in chapter 2 verse chapter 1 verse 18 Jesus Christ has been seated there he says in chapter 2 verse 6 you and I have been seated with him there he says in chapter 3 verse 10 the Angels operate from there now he tells us in chapter 6 verse 12 the demonic realm operates from there you would get the impression everything is going on there that heavenly places is the happening place or to put it another way what Paul wants you and I to know and give us some inside information on is that everything visible and physical is preceded by something invisible and spiritual and therefore if you want to address the visible physical result or effect you must identify and address its invisible spiritual cause without identifying the invisible spiritual route you're going to be thrown off by the visible physical fruit much that goes under the name of ministry and that goes under the name of what's going on in our life has little to do with the fruit it has everything to do with the route heavenly places he says is where all this is coming from and it is our ability or inability to address the unseen that will determine how successful victorious empowered and authoritative we are in the visible realm when I discovered this principle it changed counseling in it changed how I related to people because I spent less time on fruit and more time on route and when I could get to route I could see fruit change I could see the authority of that realm operating in the realm in which I live Paul is going on to say that God has provided us equipment tools if you will to use to operate from that realm in this realm with authority and he calls it the armor of God he makes no bones about it that God gets us the armor but he doesn't put it on us he instructs us to put on the full armor verse 11 of God so you can have it and it not benefit you because while he gives it he does not force you to use it it's like a doctor handing you medicine but you must take it so to preach about the full armor and not to use it is to not benefit from it and therefore not have authority in earthly places because we're not operating from heavenly places he divides the armor into two categories of three introduced by two different verbs the first three are introduced with the verb to be the last three are introduced with the verb to take why does he switch verbs halfway through the armament because he wants you to understand two specific distinct orientations to the six pieces of armor the first three relates to a state you should always be in the last three take is what you use on an AZ a basis it's like a baseball player he has on his uniform for the whole game cuz that's the state he's in but he only picks up the bat when it's time for him to go to the plate he only picks up the glove when it's time to go to him to go to the field to play to play defense in other words he has a state the first three pieces he's always dressed in those but then he has certain pieces he picks up on an as-needed basis his concern is the evil day the evil day is the day all hell breaks loose on you it is the day when your number has come up and the spiritual forces of evil have decided they're coming after you today now we we all know what it is to be in a battle environment or when our troops are in generic harm's way that's just the state of being in a war but the evil day is when the enemy has decided to launch an offensive to launch an attack to destroy your marriage you break up your ministry to discourage your dreams to unravel your finances so that you don't know how you're going to make it it is the day of assault not just the general state of being in an adverse scenario nothing will prove to you or to me where we stand spiritually anymore than how we respond on the evil day it's easy to love Jesus when there is no assault what do you do on the evil day the day of assault and attack how do you express this authority now I know that the Roman soldiers are guarding Paul and Paul seized their equipment and he uses what he sees them wearing in order to transfer it over to spiritual principles for to use but make no mistake about it when you're in the battle you want you don't want equipment in theory you want equipment in fact you don't want philosophy and only theology you want something that's going to work so any discussion of the armor of God that does not have pragmatic warfare reality - I do it is irrelevant equipment it's equipment you can't use it becomes theological theory that does not relate to the nasty here and now of the evil day in which all hell has just broke through on me well I need to exercise authority to overcome what has come against me now Jesus has made it plain stand firm stand firm now the reason he can say that is because we have already been told in Ephesians chapter 1 that Jesus Christ has been elevated overall rule in all authority from our first day you know what that means I'm in charge now I get to rule and I get to overrule not just in heaven but in history we know that because chapter 1 verse 22 and 23 says that Jesus Christ is the head over all things but he's only been given to one thing the church he is the sovereign lord over everything every society every government every corporation every institution he is the sovereign lord over all but all that he's over does it know he's over them because the all things he's over he has not been given - he's not given - he's only given to one thing the church so only believers in Jesus Christ have access to the Lord who's over the offing in order to communicate with us about what it means for him to be over all things he has relocated us so that chapter 2 verse 6 says we are seated with him in heavenly places so staggering is this concept chapter 3 verse 10 that he wants you to know that before God does anything up there he checks down here first chapter 3 verse 10 says that God checks with the church before he addresses the principalities and the powers so unless we're doing what we have been equipped to do he won't do what he has the ability to do up there because he can't get cooperation down here so God checks with the church before he does something in the spiritual realm so your decisions my decisions our actions reactions become critical to the exercise of authority and history from our repositioning in eternity the question is how can I do that what does it mean to be in two places at one time I'm living on earth but I'm in heavenly places technology has answered that because it's possible for me to be in Dallas physically and being a board meeting in Chicago through technology I am physically in Dallas while actually in Chicago attending a board meeting because technology has allowed me to be in two places at one time one of men can create technology that allows me to be in two places at one time it's no problem for a sovereign God to have me on earth operating from heaven where I'm physically here but I'm operating from up there he comes with the six pieces of armors I would like to suggest these are all you need in fact I would like to suggest to leave these six pieces of armour is to contaminate them with human opinion I am NOT I'm not the big on apples I'm not I'm not an Apple kind of guy I'm an orange dude so I'm not in the Apple's except at the Texas State Fair now I love dem apples because they're my candy apples at the Texas State Fair but my doctor tells me once I eat a candy apple that Apple is of no nutritional value to me because it's been dipped in liquid sugar and the liquid sugar cancels out the nutritional value that the Apple is designed to have far too many of the Church of Jesus Christ and its leaders declare the truth of God then they dip it in human opinion they dip it in human perspective it tastes sweet not knowing they've canceled out its nutritional value its authority he says the first thing is the belt of truth now we can talk about the Roman soldiers belt and other things could hook into it and all of that but when you in a war a spiritual what does that mean truth may be defined as an absolute reality an absolute standard by which reality is measured truth is reality in its original norm truth is simply God's view on any subject on the front end what often happens is people use man's view and wind up at truth when man's view has failed which is why there's so much in the Bible about first that Christ might have first place and everything think he first the kingdom of God you've left your first love you start with truth truth is more than feelings because feelings fluctuate but let me tell you something else truth is more than facts you can have facts and not have the truth I have a headache my head is hurting me it really is hurting me so I go to Walgreens I get some excedrin pm because the fact is my head is hurting and I won't don't want this headache so I want to address the fact of my headache I get some Tylenol PM only to discover it's not working I did something to deal with the fact I go to the doctor he does a head scan he discovers a tumor you see I was treating a fact without knowing the truth the truth is my head was hurting because of a tumor which means the way I was trying to solve the fact was with an insufficient medication until you know the truth people argue with facts without knowing the truth and the truth is God's view of a matter God has spoken he has not stuttered there are two answers to every question God's answer and everybody else's and everybody else is wrong all the time because people get stuck on facts and never arrived to truth they do not get solutions and it is not the truth that sets you free it is the truth that you know that sets you free you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free so if it's truth but you don't know it you're still in bondage the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln in January 1863 the slaves in Texas were not told till June 19 1865 so the information of the signing was not passed on it was true the slaves were free but in Texas they didn't know it for a year and a half later we've been partying ever since they discovered a year and a half about a truth that was inaugurated a year and a half earlier and so they lived in bondage with no authority to execute their freedom because they did not know the truth and the reason why this is critical in spiritual warfare is that our enemy of the liar that's all he does he is a liar and a deceiver and if he can use facts to trick you he will if you do not start with the truth reality and Surrey jennel norm or God's view of a subject you're automatically in bondage and he will use religion to keep you there nothing holds more people hostage than religion when he went to Eve in the garden his first discussion was let's talk about God hath God said of course you notice the word he left out in chapter one the Lord God the Lord God the Lord God the Lord God the Lord God Elohim Yahweh when he talks to Eve he said let's talk about God he drops Lord let's keep religion let's just don't have him calling the shots he then goes on to righteousness righteousness what's the connection truth is the standard once you know the standard you know what right and wrong is because now the truth has told you what the right action is now the reason why that's important is because wrongness invites demonic engagement in other words like ants and roaches love trash demons love wrong and so if they can get you wrong because they've disconnected you from reality the truth they can control the environment much of what people are wrestling with is not the thing they're talking about it is the thing that they're talking about having been exacerbated by demonic influence so you can talk to them till they're blue in the face about the issue they brought to you but if you don't discuss the demonic influence because wrongness has attracted that realm then you have not dealt with the power behind the problem righteousness is tethered to truth I remember seeing the movie Inception can I say movie at the seminary okay I remember seeing the movie Inception and Leonardo DiCaprio could visit dreams he could go into the dream world the movie leads him to the dream world to the fourth power he goes into the dreams dreams dream dream but he's lost because he doesn't know whether that's real or whether it's a dream because the dream seemed so real and so he has a totem as a spinning top and if the top falls over he knows he's not in the dream world if it keeps spinning he's in the dream world in other words he needed an objective standard outside of himself to tell himself what reality really was so that he could now go right versus go wrong because he couldn't Bank on himself to know reality righteousness has to do with being able now to make the right decision because demons are operating on the wrong decision which now clears the way for authority to be exercised in history he then goes to the feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace the Roman soldiers shoes with spikes allowed sure footing how do you know you're on the right track how do you get confirmed that the decision I'm making the direction I'm going the perspective I have is the right one there are a myriad of choices and decisions that we have to make in life peace he's not talking about the peace with God that is outstanding our position because in a battle you just don't want to know that your commander likes you in a battle you didn't want to know you've made the right decision what is peace - pain is one day we're asked to paint a picture of peace one painted this magnificent picture of calm and our Shepherd leading sheep by the water and it was such a calming environment and there was a horizon and the Sun was setting and the water was still and he called it peace another painter painted a picture and it was torrential rains lightning shooting across the sky it was dark the water was turbulent there was chaos everywhere except at the corner of the painting where there was a little bird on a rock singing with notes coming out of its mouth and a sliver of light coming through the storm resting on it that's biblical peace biblical peace the way you know you have biblical peace is not because nothing is wrong it's because everything is wrong and you're still singing because he's talking about the evil day he's not talking about a nice cute and problem 'less existence he's talking about when all hell breaks loose on you you can be sure because what the Holy Spirit does is he confirms your movement assuming truth assuming you are now moving in the right direction by peace because the gospel does more than get you to heaven but gospel brings heaven to you and it is confirmed with peace in this world you are going to have tribulation the evil day be of good cheer peace I leave with you not as the world leaves happiness comes and goes I'm gonna I'm gonna let you know you're in my place because on the evil day I'm gonna give you calm assuming truth and assuming righteousness you can now move because that's what feet do you can now move in the direction you ought to go if you are basing your decisions on biblical truth you're operating them in a righteous way God will solidify that decision in a pragmatic way by giving you calm even and though you may be in the midst of a hell breaking loose on you to be the first three that's the state you're in but now these are the tools you pick up on an as-needed basis you take the shield of faith the shield of faith this concept of faith has confused many and many people are trying to whip up faith find faith get more faith and it's not nearly as complicated as that because faith is not the room this eerie thing you try to wear in a battle you want to know you have have something not this guess how do we define faith well it's coming out the shoes shoes is movement because biblical faith is acting like God is telling the truth that's it another way biblical faith is acting like an inn so even when it's not so in order that it might be so somebody because God said so faith is measured by feet so you can feel faith less and be full of faith you can feel full of faith and have no faith because faith is tied to your feet the greatest faith chapter in the New Testament Hebrews chapter 11 it tells you who the person was Noah Abraham David Abel eater it tells you who the person was then it tells you what they did it shows you an action taken not merely a feeling felt so you can always know if you have faith you don't have to guess do I have faith do I have enough faith do I have real faith oh no all you gonna do is check fee because feet reveals faith because the footsteps reveal the movement so that's why it's called walking by faith not feeling my faith or thinking by faith or emoting by faith you always know if you have faith check the movement of your feet he says pick up the shield of faith which is able to address all the fiery darts of the evil one interesting fiery darts not darts Hebrew word is a Greek word it's arrows not arrows but arrows on fire why do i why fire ii-era what arrows set aflame rather than just shoot shooting arrows you remember the cowboys and Indians when they would attack the wagon train cowboys and Indians would attack the wagon train and the wagon trains would get in a circle so the Indians will go around the wagon train and they were they would be shooting the Cowboys and the Cowboys would be shooting shooting shooting guns and Indians that's not a fair competition you arrows versus guns but then that would be this one smart aleck Indian who would dip the tip of his arrow into oil and light it so now it would be a fiery dart the fiery dart was not meant to shoot a cowboy you don't need a fire on an arrow to shoot a cowboy to kill it the fiery dart was used to shoot the canvas of the wagon because the Indian understood a cowboy couldn't fight fire and fight Indians at the same time it was to create a diversion he says the shield of faith is able to overcome every fiery dart because if you are moving in sync faith with the truth in the right way confirmed by piece demonstrating faith the faith that is demonstrated overcomes the darkness at our church because of high electrical bills we have installed motion detector lighting when you walk into the room the lights come on when you walk out the lights go off in order to save energy the power is there the lights are there everything you need is already there but until motion is detected power is not revealed the power is there it's ready to come all the lights are there they're ready to shine the room is dark once movement is detected everything goes into motion and I have authority over the darkness I have authority over the darkness coz my movement gave it to me and that's why throughout scripture God waits for the movement before he moves Moses y'all getting ready get killed up in here unless you hold out that rod what are you waiting for stop whining and hold out the rod and then the miracle Joshua tell the priests to put their foot on the shores or the bank of the Jordan River and when they do I will Dam up the water so you can walk across Joshua tell the people to march around the wall once a day for six days seven times seventh day and and and and and after you have done what I told you to do movement now you'll see power and authority whip we are we are often waiting on God when God is waiting on us to express his authority which is the demonstration of faith the helmet of salvation a helmet covers the head the head covers the brain but the brain is to the body the mind is to the soul he's dealing with you're thinking I grew up on the Beverly Hillbillies this is a story about a man named Jed this man worked hard just to keep his family fed then one day without shooting for some food and up from the ground came a bubbling crude oil that is instantly Jed Clampett and his family become mega millionaires actually they had always been mega millionaires they just didn't know it everything they needed to live the high life had already been imparted when they owned the property they just never knew it their thinking had become limited to what they could see in the hills of Tennessee their thinking was limited because they didn't know all this underneath stuff that was hidden under the ground that changed their lifestyle now what made the Beverly Hillbillies interesting was when they moved from the hills of Tennessee to Beverly Hills and the comedy was about mega millionaires still living like Hillbillies in Beverly Hills in other words they had not learned to live up to their new position they were living in Beverly Hills still acting like folk living in Tennessee you and I have been elevated to heavenly places along with every other believer but we're still operating like we are limited to earthly places and so we become self-limiting even though we've been relocated he says you pick up the helmet of salvation in other words you bring your thinking in line to God the mind because everybody's soul in this building has been distorted by sin and circumstances to put it another way you can't trust you you can't trust you because sin inherited and sin practiced by us and upon us and circumstances that overwhelm us confuses our souls that's why the Bible says receive the word implanted James 1:21 which is able to deliver talking to believers he says my brethren which is able to deliver your souls because we have souls that need deliverance the body only does what the soul tells it to do so an undelivered soul will create undesirable practice he says that must be the mind as part of the soul there must be this soul reorientation now that you've discovered your spiritual wealth and then he goes to his only offensive weapon it goes to the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God why would he only give one offensive weapon could it be that if everything else is in place it's really all you need it is the sword of the Spirit because it is the only weapon the Spirit uses we're asking the spirit to do stuff he doesn't do and they use things he doesn't use the sword of the Spirit we talk about a battle which on metal war is the Word of God now the word word is interesting we have the graph a which is the book the writings that have been compiled Scripture we have logos which is the content of the and its meaning but neither though neither those on is the word that he uses here it was word here for where it is Remo Remo is utterance it is the word declared it is the word spoken it is the word used he says take up the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God it is the word used but under what conditions is the word used the word is being used in battle maybe we're doing something a little backwards could it be that we're teaching people to have Bible studies with Christians and not teaching people have Bible studies with the devil because he's the one who needs it not because we're trying to change him he's unchangeable we're trying to exercise authority over him I think this is what Jesus did in Matthew 4 and Luke 4 when he was sent into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil it is written man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God it is written you shall not tempt the LORD thy God it is written you shall worship the Lord thy God and serve him only evidently God likes baseball three strikes he was out of there because he's allergic to scripture very few of us use Scripture with the devil but Jesus did he taught his disciples the word but he used scripture with the day actually quoted he googled food devil says you're hungry Jesus googled food came up with Deuteronomy 8 says that Old Testament passage applies to this New Testament scenario and used it on him because I would like to submit that not everybody who believes that the Bible is the Bible treats it like the authority it is which is why we add so much to it it is not the final authority and the ultimate authority it becomes one of many it is the only thing that the Spirit uses I'd like to suggest that when those six pieces of armour are in place you are operating from heavenly places not earthly places and with that comes authority and the question is well how do you put on all this equipment how you putting are you honey how do you put this on I think I don't think he leaves you are not knowing how to dress for success because he says in verse 18 and in all petition and everything always praying in every season the word time there is opportune time every because it's an evil day when you need it is it you under attack so this is an opportune time to get dressed and three times in the verse verse 18 he says pray what is prayer prayer is earthly permission for heavenly intervention it is earthly permission for heavenly intervention it is sucking down your authority it is sucking down the rights of your new identity it is sucking down your salvific privileges because this is a battle he's talking about and that's why he calls on us to call heaven down in the same way when moses in exodus 17 held up the rod with the help of two men and what he was doing up there determined what would happen down here when he held it up he won israel was winning when he took it down israel was losing the battle on the ground was determined by the connection up here no connection you lose high connection your win no matter how hard you're fighting it was happening they're that determined down here no holding your hands up no victory here because you and I have been relocated up there to exercise authority down here and that changes everything it changes how you look at everything because you don't go into situations now hoping for victory you assume it cuz this thing has already been pre done you'll soon victory not in a pompous pious proud way but in a Jesus Christ is already Colossians 2 v 215 defeated the enemy way you threaten me with the gun I'm gonna be terrified if I ever discover they're blanks in in it we the battle is now changed you threaten me with a look that isn't reality my favorite enclosing trilogy is the matrix the Matrix Reloaded matrix revolution love them every time they come on TV re-watch of love it here's a man Thomas Anderson ordinary guy computer program a computer hacker who's introduced to another realm called the matrix he's introduced to this realm and when he gets there he discovers some stuff he discovers he's got powers in that realm that he never had in Israel his mind can conceive of things in that realm that he couldn't do in this realm is his uh his love relationship changed because he meets Trinity and that realm and and now he can love in a way he's never loved before he's part of a new community Sion in that realm that's different than the realm he was from in that realm he had a new name neo because he had a different identity when he's introduced to that room morphus the keeper of the realm since I got a blue pill and I got a red pill you take this blue pill and you can go back to your plain old ordinary life you can go back to computer programming you can go back to doing your everyday stuff take this pill and we'll forget any of this ever occurred but he said now here's a red pill you take the red pill and you're going on the journey of a lifetime because Neil you need to know something we've been waiting a long time for you because you are the one you can leave our time together this week and take the blue pill and we'll forget we were here a week a month a year from now and we'll come back to be reef simulated again at another conference and this will go down in history as the 2012 spiritual life conference now you can take the red pill and you can go on the journey of a lifetime because you now get the exercise authority from this other realm because when God saved you you are the one god bless you

Channel: Dallas Theological Seminary

Views: 380,895

Rating: 4.7906699 out of 5

Keywords: Dr. Tony Evans, Dallas Theological Seminary, Spirituality, Spiritual Life, armor of God, spiritual authority, Dallas, Texas

Id: ulswQICDAk0

Length: 48min 2sec (2882 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 27 2012