William Branch - Armed and Ready - Ephesians 6:10-20

why don't we pray Heavenly Father we thank you for this day where are we excited because with the people of God use this time to bless your people the ones that are present and the ones that are tuning in online we love you Lord in Jesus name Amen amen I don't know if you've seen it but there was a movie back in 2000 called the Patriot starred Mel Gibson and then the late Heath Ledger it was all about a fictional character named Benjamin Martin Benjamin Martin was a veteran of the French and Indian War at the time the movie opens up he's now a simple farmer he's a widower he lives with his seven children desiring nothing more than to live a peaceful life well there's a problem the Martins lived during the time of the American Revolution and therefore they lived during a time where there was intense war he doesn't want any parts of it so he tries desperately to sort of just mind his business and live his passive his ways and his son sneaks and he actually enlists in the army turns out that his son one day comes running home the British are following him and they come to the doorstep of the Martins and they catch of the Sun and in the midst of it all they kill one of the other sons and set the house on fire and take Martin Gibson's son off to be hung the very war that he wanted to avoid came to his doorstep well he then goes upstairs in the midst of the flames he goes to this chest he opens it he reaches inside pulls out all manner of weaponry he grabs his two small sons had to be like eight or nine maybe even younger than that and he runs after those who've taken his son to hang him he gives his two little sons muskets long barreled shotguns and he says I want you to snipe at the British military army while I go and get our brother and son back the two little ones begin to pick off the British military army while Mel Gibson in Mel Gibson fashion spazzes out and with two machetes chops down everybody else all I thought to myself in that movie is how important it is for everybody in the family to know how to fight especially because everybody in the family is involved in the war this morning our text leads us to be mindful that every Christian is involved in a war no one can decide they want the peaceable life and that they can avoid being a part of the world the war so we must all know how to fight since we're all in the war and the question on the floor is are you armed and are you ready the text I'm referring to is Ephesians six to twenty you perhaps you know it it's about what Christians have known as the armor of God the armor of God turned with me there to Ephesians chapter six let's just read it Ephesians six starting with 10 finally be strong of the Lord and then the strength of his might put on the whole armour of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the authorities against the cosmic powers over this present darkness against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places therefore take up the whole armour of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness in their 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 that 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 might declare it boldly as I ought to speak you see here in this text there's a battle that we're in this armor that we have in this prayers that we need first 10 and 12 10 to 12 talks about the battle that we're in don't be fooled there is a battle we can't see it often but it's a real battle it's kind of like the cloud I remember when they start telling me don't worry just let it go to the cloud I was like going to the cloud where's the clown and what happens if something goes wrong with the cloud hand me my floppy disk that was back and floppy disk hand me my thumb drive that was back at thumb drives I need something more than something I can't see was the goal that's that's before the time our streaming I wanted to go in and see my album on the shelf they say hey you know people don't even carry those things anymore they just stream this is much like that it's it's very real even though you don't see it like Benjamin Martin many of us may think I don't want to be a part of this war whether you can see it or not some of us say we want the Christian life to be the blessed life the life is made with like the American dream maybe you've moved to the serene setting of the suburbs the quiet recesses of the rurals even jumped the jumpin scenes of gentrified cities you say I just decided I'm gonna go wherever there's a Starbucks and a chick-fil-a and a Chipotle all within walking distance or better yet how about this we plant churches that we plan on succeeding at we do conferences we start Kingdom diversity initiatives all of that is good just don't forget all of that is still smack dab in the middle of a war zone regardless of who you are where you it's on battlezone Boulevard in Wall Street he begins finally versed in which transitions that say after all that I've said I'm about to say something else so in conclusion to crescendo everything that I've said I'm going to give you some more instructions but first remember what he said in Chapter one he talked about this god I love the way our sister Amy Whitfield said this morning God you wanted a people for yourself the Bible says in chapter 1 that God determined to have that people for his self that he loved and chose that people that he blessed that people chapter 2 in Ephesians says he saved that people and he's growing that people together into one family chapter 3 says he's chosen to get glory from that people it's through him it's through the church that God shows off his mind-blowing and multifaceted wisdom that's what God has done and that's the predicate for what we do on a regular what God has done graciously is supposed to affect what we do habitually or regularly fortify basically says we're supposed to live in concert with one another as one people then he says that we should live in contrast to those around us who are not part of that one people as a holy people and then we live Christianly in whatever category of life that God has placed us husbands wives in the lake in other words there's a picture here before the finally comes up it's the ideal Christian life the ideal Christian life is where you go to the ideal church talked about the church making the most of the time they're singing Psalms hymns and spiritual songs I go to the ideal Church and I live in an ideal home my husband loves me like Christ loves the church and my wife submits to me as unto the Lord and my children obey me and my servants are nice and the masters are nice and all of us are living the ideal Christian life and then the record has the needle go across this don't forget that even all of that ideal Christian NEADS this next piece I'm going to say finally you need a reality check there's a battle you need supernatural power aka you need a unique kind of armor because you face a unique kind of enemy the Bible wants us to know that there's a reason why right now I believe the church often finds itself in conflicts and trials and tribulations especially one with another told dr. Aiken this morning I said one of the reasons why I wanted to talk about this passage is because it makes sense of why right now people who used to live in harmony together are now arguing with one another statements are being released in things you normally would affirm now people are saying I can't sign or affirm that statement because right now there's some disconnect between the ones who sign it and the ones who say I won't sign it even though most people would say I agree with what's being said there's a reason why those who used to plant churches together now I don't want to have anything to do with each other there's a reason why when we come to this institution there's a kingdom diversity initiative but when kingdom diversity has their initiatives only enough people to fit in a small room with about fourteen chairs in a circle only people come to it can fit in that room I said this makes sense the devil is always warring to ruin God's ideal the ideal is God has a people God saves the people God unifies the people and gets glory through that people yeah he says finally put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers against authorities against the cosmic powers over this present darkness against the spiritual forces in the heavenly places this is a battle first we see it's serious business the battle is serious business you can't use your own strength be strong in the Lord it could be translated be strengthened by the Lord because it's not you swelling up dropping down and doing a few push-ups be strong in the Lord is really be strengthened by the strength that's in the Lord early in the first chapter 19th verse he talked about the Lord Jesus there's a divine resurrection power the same power it took the raised Christ from the dead is the power that's at work that's being dispensed and downloaded for our access be strong in the Lord because in the Lord there's a power source that you don't have outside of the Lord he says you need a special kind of armor full body put on the whole armor put on the whole armor of God why this comes from not only the the armor that God will supply you it's the armor that God himself in the Bible has been known to wear so it's the armor God supplies and the armor that God wears Yahweh and the Bible is called a warrior he goes out and he tramples on his enemies he goes out Isaiah 59 16 the 17 says God saw there was no man wondered that there was no don't want to intercede so he got in on the action he suited up verse 17 says he put on righteousness as a blessed breastplate a helmet of salvation on his head he put on garments of vengeance for clothing and a wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak it's this picture of Yahweh saying I'm going to battle I'll be strengthened by the fact that if you're in him that Yahweh is not battling against you that Yahweh is battling for you and he will give you his clothes when it's time for you to go to battle oh if you remember little David rejected a king's clothes Saul's armor he said I haven't tested it all southeastern and Beyond may we not reject our Kings clothes and say we haven't tested them may we be those who are in the regular practice of wearing the armor that God provides in fact the armor that God Himself wears all the language lets you know that this is serious business the fact that you talk an armor the fact that you're not just talking again if you talk about a cop and a cop comes takes his hat off how you doing ma'am are you doing sir but what if that same cop comes in riot gear you know that there's a different kind of engagement put on the whole armor as a different kind of engagement one time I went to play paintball and they set you down and you think you're going to have fun and then they get real serious on you they're like all right and I'm gonna tell you something now this paintball can knock your eye clear to the back of your head and that's true but be strengthened in these goggles and then what they saying is I'm gonna give you the nature of how to engage on this paintball battlefield and that's supposed to take the fear you have and turn that the fear into the fun he says there is no fun here there's no fun and games but there is the promise that because you can find strength in the fact that God is sending you out in his own battle fatigues this is serious business standing business he says put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand stand is really the crux of this kind of battle and how we engage it verse 11 you may be able to stand verse 13 the whole arm of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day probably in though the worst possible scenario you could stand having done all to stand firm stand verse 14 this is all about standing we're not gaining new ground the Bible says 1:22 Jesus has triumphed over all the rulers over all the authorities when he got up out of the grave he looked at them and say huh take that and then he said now the war is over so we're not aiming for we're not trying to gain any kind of victory we have the victory and yet he's says wear the armor because those who've been defeated still like to throw darts this is standing business there's a spiritual business that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against something he calls the rulers and against the authorities the cosmic powers over this present darkness against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places hmm unseen but very real this enemy we find out a few things in this text about the enemy chiefly it's the devil and then his entourage his scheme the powers the authorities these in the Bible are behind the scene characters that in Chapter two he says they are at work in the sons of disobedience so the flesh and blood that we don't wage against human beings are not the real enemy but there is something that often shows up through the vehicle or the instrument of humans you remember what Jesus said to Peter get thee behind me Satan we don't believe that Satan was actually that Peter was actually Satan but Satan was behind the scenes maneuvering this Peter well the Bible makes clear that Jesus stands against the Satan who's behind the scenes look at this generally speaking the Bible says because the Ephesians would have understood the reality of spiritual warfare the occult was popular you remember in Ephesus there it was there that they came and had a bonfire burning all of their occultic paraphernalia they didn't need convincing that there was a behind the scene worlds that made itself known in the visible but sometimes for us we don't sort of see the devil as real some people try to make him just a principle of evil some people say no these cosmic powers and rulers are just social systems well they may be instruments however behind the scenes is an actual devil with actual demons who have actual power John 8 says that he's a liar revelation 12:9 says he's a dragon and he's always especially after people who bear the mark of Jesus Christ cop friend of mine told me they're told not to wear wedding rings he says because if someone wants to do me harm one of their brightest ideas is to harm those that are closest to us it's as though the devil knows that God has us unique affection for his church and that's why most of his weaponry is aimed straight at it and straight at us Ephesians 2 says he's working at those in disobedience and the devil likes to mess with God's people he's good at religion Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 11 4 to 15 says that his ministers go out so that means that Satan has people who like to get dressed up we would like to go to church and who actually could exegete a text Lemuel Haynes one of the earliest black preachers in America said this Satan is a very successful preacher he draws a great number after him no preacher can command heroes like him he mix his truth with era in order to make it go well what it carry is point out Satan is a very laborious wearied preacher he has been in the ministry almost 6,000 years and yet his zeal is not the least abated I like that in other words this is the one he says take up the full armor of God because you're facing an enemy who has been around for a while he loves the mess with the church in particular he's a liar he's a murderer and he wants to do especially the church harm he contaminates church discipline in 2nd Corinthians 2 about making people think in the name of holiness that they don't need to embrace a repentant sinner he says I don't do that replace them don't give Satan any kind of foothold by you keeping a repentance Center out of the unity of the Fellowship of the Saints he attacks marriages some marriages in Corinth Easter saves me real spiritual we don't even do it with each other he says no no no don't stay away too long you the devil get in y'all better go ahead and do what God has blessed you to be able to do together this is the enemy we face and I believe that he is at work among us in particular in our day how about you are you aware that he's at work well don't fear in light of the battle we're in in light of the enemy we face there's our armor we have thirteen to seventeen he says therefore connecting it since you got this kind of enemy take up the whole arm of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm you know Christ doesn't being his people up and out but he parachutes us in Star Trek sometimes it gets so tough they warp speed away from the trouble there is no such setting for the Christian the Lord Jesus created in John 17 don't take a Mount Lord just armor them up armor them up and protect them from the evil one this one that we're talking about right here and so he gives us armor and the armor is like there's some allusion to the Roman soldier who would have sort of been equipped in in an armoured gear but more specifically Paul is undergirding his description of the armor and how it affects us by looking at the way the armor is sort of depicted in the Old Testament particularly Isaiah so let's just look at the armor first of all stand therefore having fastened the belt of the truth as a 11 5 says righteousness shall be the belt of his waist and faithfulness it's a hebrew word that actually can be translated truth so the truth may be is the belt of his loins the truth may be speaking truth or the truth of the gospel or the truth could be inner truth integrity character I like the preachers that say let's not argue about these things these things go hand in hand the one who has truth in the inward place would be the one who speaks truth to the person who's beside them oh there's truth the role that truth plays in the life of the the people of God the belt is not like ours it was more like a apron under everything to sort of hold everything together so fundamentally the people of God ruined Satan's plans when they walk in truth true Satan loves lies he speaks it is his native language he's fluent and yet when we walk in truth we actually foil his plans the rapper Eminem sort of he sort of specialized in and popularized the technique of battling but the battle he would take mo from those who would seek to do him harm by telling the truth about himself he would put his own self down talk about his own broken relationships his own mom and he would basically you and the enemy would say I don't even know what to say you basically have ruined everything I wanted to say we can actually ruin Satan's plans by just being under girded with truth he says put on the belt the truth God is faithful put on faithfulness of character that results in speaking truthfully he he says having put on the breastplate of righteousness okay we're standing by putting on the breastplate of righteousness Isaiah 59 17 again he put on righteousness as a breastplate the breastplate would have protected all the major organs the breastplate would have been something that you would have to have in order to go to battle all the theologians say is this the imputed righteousness that God gives his people they say well these are more relational terms so this may be more the righteous character once again of the people of God that Satan wants to ruin our holiness it is our holiness that's part of the distinguishing mark of the people of God that's what he would attack certainly did it to David certainly did it throughout the ages and yet he says put on righteousness as though it were guarding the very organs that you have that you need to survive righteousness in the community dr. MacArthur recently has been defending what he believes is an aberration of gospel truth and one of his things is I hear the spirit of victimization people keep asking people to join and help them because they're being victimized and the only thing I could think of is I'm sure there's probably some people out there like that but he doesn't seem to make a category for what about people who are just begging for the righteousness that God's people are fond of which is the rightness the justice that God's people are fond of happening for people who don't have as much power to make it happen for them like it happens to others in other words I'm not saying I'm a victim I'm just saying don't you love righteousness don't you speak truth in the inners well since you're my friend I just wanted you to help me to get a little bit of that righteousness in the community can we have that righteousness Satan would love to tear us apart all righteousness he says and then 15 a shoes for your feet having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace oh that goes back to Isaiah 52 7 how beautiful on the mountains are the one who comes bringing good news when you have good news a lot of times you're eager to go in you're ready you're prepared I got good news about peace suppose you have to the doctor has to come in and tell you bad news you have two weeks to live they walk a little more slowly suppose they have news the cancer is gone they come in quick I got good news the cancer is gone it's a whole different he says have your feet undergirded shod with the readiness to take the gospel that brings peace people need to know that in a world where everyone is fussing and everyone is fighting and everyone is divided we can run in and tell them there's a way to be reconciled because he is our peace who made the two one he has made he's with his blood this is what we're ready to go and take to someone he says have your feet Satan would hate it as you go out eager to proclaim the gospel that unifies enemies that reconciles those who've been far away 4:16 in all circumstances take up the shield of faith which you can make which can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one this is a door sighs she'll usually draped in leather soaked in water so that when the the arrows come it could extinguish the the flaming darts well basically what he's saying is as we continue on this battlefield you're not always going to be able to know which way they look but there's one way we can always look internally we can look up in faith and believing the one who is righteous and who is faithful in other words Satan is going to shoot two things at us at least he's gonna shoot has God not said or has God actually said arrows of doubt or arrows of accusations he says when you're confident of who God has again remember chapters 1 all the way to chapter 6 when you're confident that my salvation doesn't rest on me he's predestined me before I could do anything when you're confident that God has already laced you with all you need you don't have to worry about backup won't come he's given us every spiritual gift in heavenly places or heavenly blessings when you're confident who we is we have faith in Him he says the enemy cannot do what he can do to people who take matters in their own hands because their faith in God runs short you remember Abraham and Sarah God's taken too long and they brought in Ishmael God says wait for me I got Isaac in the queue take the helmet of salvation verse 16 17 and take the helmet of salvation I say a 59 17 he put on righteousness as a bless break and he Elmen of salvation on his head we have to look at where else Paul does use this imagery in first Thessalonians five eight and nine he says let us be sober like let's let's let's let's see things rightly having put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation also this is a helmet to guard you is the great hope you had then ultimately if everything bottoms out we've been saved we've been saved he says go out there knowing this for certain you have been saved he keeps going take the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God time would fail we could go into this where a Bible school or a Christian school central is the Bible fellow professors may we open the Bible may we make our points including the Bible students bring a Bible he says you use this the only offensive weapon it's the sword that the spirit energizes that the Spirit gave us it's the Word of God 11:4 and Isaiah says he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked it is actually an offensive weapon and yet they say a best the best defense is a good offense sometimes they say the best offense is a good defense well this does both it's part of the standing arsenal in yet it is actually the way we defeat Satan oh you remember the temptations of Christ don't you Satan came up to him and said hey I got away you listen why should you be hungry why don't you eat the lord jesus said it is written three times it is written it is written it is written he used that in the Bible says and then the devil went away till an opportune time Martin Luther said though this world with Devils filled should threaten to undo us we will not fear for God as well his truth too triumph through us what truth the biblical truth the truth of who he is as revealed in the scriptures the Prince of Darkness grim we tremble not for him for Lois Doom is sure one little word shall fail him what word only God's Word can fail him hmm he says the battle you're in requires the armor you need the armor is yours take it up lastly the prayers we need 1820 this is not really separate it sort of connects to the sword of the Spirit but it really links all these things do all of these things praying at all times of the Spirit verse 18 with all prayer and supplication to that end keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for all the saints oh really what this is just saying is you need all kinds of prayers I like it our president son one time preached at our church he says this is real simple Timothy teaches us make all manners of prayers for all manners of people and that's what we can say here pray at all times for all the saints keeping alert because there's always a time to pray and there's always a benefit in prayer how much have we prayed about our conflicts today how much do we pray about our unity which has been facilitated by Kingdom diversity which has been Phyllis imitated by common missions which has been facilitated by conferences in church plants how much prayer do we go into into nurturing it because it says all times one one commentator said most of us we do we pray sometimes in the spirit with some prayers we keep alert making supplication for some of the Saints he said oh we could just switch the word some with all he says and then the devil has to back up this is really saying that you can do all of the other things but without being plugged into the power source you can't do all of the other things you know every now and then your laptops get those weak well weak batteries I guess back when laptops have batteries and if you still have a laptop that has a battery that's kind of old however you remember the bad are the ones that you have to keep plugged up because they don't hold the charge so you always need the power in order to be able to benefit from the equipment the Bible says guess what I haven't made this so you can unplug from me you never will be able to hold this charge you must always be plugged up independence to me because I am the power source all prayers all times all saints mm-hmm look at this last part Paul's prayer for himself it becomes the prayer that I have for us Paul says and also for me verse 19 that 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 might declare it boldly as I ought to speak Paul right now is a prisoner so he knows all too well that the battle is fierce he knows all too well that Satan is unrelenting he knows all too well that Satan takes no prisoners but Jesus Christ makes prisoners and these prisoners say ah I'm chained but the gospel is not pray that I will continue to be faithful to take the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God that I will begin to keep that shield of faith and believe God even though I'm in prison what are you going through right now he's just pray that I will continue regardless of how fierce the battle gets for Paul that's so fierce I'm now threatened in terms of my life all I'm saying is right now southeastern may the Lord God remind you that he's done at all chapters 1 to 6 and when you get to verse 10 he says but finally remember all that he's done still has to be experienced on a battlefield he goes on to say this is the prayer that we would continue great war movie Saving Private Ryan immediately baptizes you into the horror of battle the fierceness of it back in the days they used to say we do more before 6:00 a.m. 5:00 a.m. one of than most people do in a whole day and you see guys having fun they got their little computers there's propelling off of mountains that looks fun join the Army Reserves I remember it then Saving Private Ryan comes out are you like I'm not sure I want to do that but there's a scene where there's a young soldier behind a wall around the corner is his friend about to be killed by a man with a knife he's there with the automatic weapon fully loaded he's crying he's too afraid to go around the corner though he is armored with something that could defeat the man with a knife his friend dies because of it may we not have the armor of God but failed to appropriating so that the enemy causes more casualties than he needs to since we have the armor and he doesn't you know no we don't have the strength but we close with this yet again from Martin Luther did we in our own strength confide all striving would be losing I like that we're not the right men on our side the men of God's own choosing dust ask who that may be Christ Jesus it is he Lord Sabaoth his name from AIDS to AIDS the same and he must wind up he's one pick up the armor gracious God and Father we thank you we pray that you will fuel motivate encourage empower bless send us in the strength fully clothed in the armor that you provide the armor that you wear to the end that Christ would be glorified in the world would continue to hear ambassadors go and proclaim this gospel this good news of peace we pray it in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Southeastern Seminary

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Keywords: Southeastern, Baptist, Theological, Seminary, Chapel, Message, Jesus, Preaching, God, Book, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Gospel, False Teaching, False spirits, Spirit, Danny, expository, Great Commission, Truth, Grace, Love, Discerning, Training, Education

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Length: 37min 16sec (2236 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 21 2018