Tuesday, June 26, 2018 - Eph 6:14-17

The Armor of God, Pt. 32,
Summary and Conclusion to the Armor of God, Pt. 1 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSzlE5hvk24&t=7s

Grace Fellowship Church

Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard

www.GraceDoctrine.org

Stand in Warfare – Eph 6:10-20.

Summary and Conclusion to The Full Armor of God, vs. 14-17.

In vs. 14, we were first told, once again, to “stand firm,” which means to hold our ground against the assaults of the enemy, Satan and his cosmic system. Then we were exhorted to “bind around our loins the truth.”

This truth, ALETHEIA, is speaking to both the person of God, the attribute of veracity of all three members of the Trinity, and secondly, His Word, Bible Doctrine. We are exhorted to know God by means of knowing His Word. When we know His Word, we know Him, and have tremendous power and resources to stand firm against the evil one.

John 18:37, “Therefore Pilate said to Him, ‘So You are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice’.”

John 1:17, “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”

Jesus Christ is, “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” for salvation because, “no one comes to the Father but through Me,” John 14:6.

John 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

Isa 65:16, “Because he who is blessed in the earth will be blessed by the God of truth; and he who swears in the earth will swear by the God of truth.”

Psa 85:10-11, “Lovingkindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. ¹¹Truth springs from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.”

Psa 25:5, “Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day.”

Psa 86:11, “Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name.”

Next, we were exhorted to “put on the breastplate of righteousness.” There we noted that:

1. God is righteous.

2. He imputed His righteousness to us at the moment of our conversion, being born again.

3. His word is righteous.

4. We are to walk in righteousness by applying His word to our lives.

5. We are blessed by God’s righteousness through His grace pipeline because of the imputed righteousness in us, especially when we walk in His righteousness.

2 Cor 5:21, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

1 Cor 1:30, “But by His (God the Father's) doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom (truth) from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.”

Rom 14:17, “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

Phil 3:9, “That I may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.”

Mat 6:33, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Then we noted in vs. 15, that we are to “shod our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.”

“Feet” speaks to our daily walk in Christ; in His righteousness and truth. The key word there was “preparation,” HETOIMASIA that means, “readiness, preparation, or equipment.” In other words, we are to be continually prepared and ready to witness the gospel of peace through our words and our lives, our Christian conduct.

1 Peter 3:15, “But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.”

Psa 119:1, “How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD.”

Psa 119:101-104, “I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Your word. ¹⁰²I have not turned aside from Your ordinances, for You Yourself have taught me. ¹⁰³How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! ¹⁰⁴From Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way.”

Psa 119:105-106, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. ¹⁰⁶I have sworn and I will confirm it, that I will keep Your righteous ordinances.”

Heb 12:13, “And make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.”

Isa 52:7, “How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” cf. Rom 10:15.

Moving to vs. 16, we were exhorted to “take up the shield of faith.”

This also was the first piece of armament that was given a purpose, “to extinguish all the flamming missiles of the evil one.”

The Book of Ephesians has much to say about faith, including:

Eph 1:15, “For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints.”

Eph 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

Eph 3:12, “In whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.”

Eph 3:17, “So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love.”

Eph 4:5, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.”

Eph 4:13, “Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

Eph 6:16, “In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”

Eph 6:23, “Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Therefore, those who have faith in the Lord are commended:

• We are saved by faith alone in Christ alone, (i.e., our entrance into the spiritual life by faith).
• Faith in Christ gives us boldness and confident access to the Father, (i.e., our prayer life of faith).
• Christ is at home in the heart of faith, (i.e., our walk in faith).
• We have One Faith, (i.e., positional unity in the Body of Christ).
• We are to attain a unity of faith with the brethren, (i.e., experiential unity in the body of Christ).
• We are protected by the shield of faith, (i.e., the guardianship that is faith).
• God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and Paul desire us to have faith, (i.e., their hope of faith for us).

Rom 1:17, “For in it (the gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘But the righteous man shall live by faith’.”

Heb 10:38, “But my righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

Gal 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

2 Cor 5:6-8a, “Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord -⁷for we walk by faith, not by sight.

1 Tim 6:12, “Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

The shield of faith is necessary to halt the destructive tempations, “flamming missles/arrows,” of Satan from pentrating the soul. The Roman soldier’s shield used in analogy here, was a very large shield. Faith is a very large and important aspect of protection for the spiriutal life.

Then we noted in the first half of vs. 17, “take the helmet of salvation.”

This helmet is given to protect our head, the place where we do our thinking. It is designed to protect our thoughts, heart, mind, and soul. When we understand our salvation, we have this protection experientially in time. This knowledge of salvation includes our Past Salvation, the day of our conversion; our Present Salvation, our daily deliverance from sin and evil; and our Future Salvation, the eternal inheritence waiting for us in heaven. Equiped with this knoweldge and assurance, we are able to defend against the tempations of evil thoughts and practices, and remain walking in the righteousness of God.

Titus 2:11-14, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, ¹²instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, ¹³looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; ¹⁴who gave Himself for us, in order that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

Phil 1:6, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you (Past) will perfect it (Present) until the day of Christ Jesus (Future).”

Heb 9:28, “So Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”

1 Thes 5:8-11, “But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. ⁹For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.”

Rom 5:9-11, “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, (Present Tense Salvation), we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him, (Future Tense Salvation). ¹⁰For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, (Past Tense Salvation), we shall be saved by His life, (Future Tense Salvation). ¹¹And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, (Present Tense Salvation), through whom we have now received the reconciliation, (Present Tense Salvation).”

In this we learned of our:

1. New Situation; our legal status has changed. We have acquired new rights and responsibilities as a result of our union with Jesus Christ because of our Redemption, Justification, Adoption, and Reconciliation.

2. New Self; to be “In Christ,” undergoing inward renewal, 2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15, to live for Christ, designated by a new power and a new orientation to life.

2 Cor 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

1 Peter 1:23, “For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.”

Rom 12:1-2, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. ²And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Eph 4:22-24, “That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, ²³and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

Col 3:9-10, “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, ¹⁰and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.”

3. New Steps, as a result of our rebirth, union with Christ, and gift of Christ’s Spirit we are expected to live differently, that is behavioral change we are to undergo as a result of our salvation with the result of producing Divine Good, the Fruit of the Spirit, because of the Christ-like nature that is developed within. This is the demonstration of our salvation to God and to a lost and dying world.

Rom 6:4, “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

Col 2:6, “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.”

Gal 5:25, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

1 John 1:7, “But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

1 John 2:6, “The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”

1 John 3:9, “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”

1 John 4:7, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”

And last, but certainly not least, we were exhorted in the second half of vs. 17, to, “take … the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.”

Here, we saw that the “sword” is from the source of God the Holy Spirit, who empowers and enables us to wield it, and that the sword is the “Word of God,” (RHEMA HO THEOS), Bible Doctrine resident within your soul. This armament is both defensive to stop the personal assault of the evil one, and offensive to set him a flight. James 4:7, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Cf. Mat 4:11. With the Word of God, we both defend against the inward and outward temptations to sin, and stop them from becoming consistent future temptations that lead us astray. Instead we walk in Christ but the power of the filling of God the Holy Spirit, producing Divine Good.

1 Cor 2:13, “Which things (Bible Doctrine) we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual with spiritual.”

John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

Therefore, when we put on the whole armor of God, we have guidance and protection from the schemes of Satan and his cosmic system and live the victorious life of Christ.