Turn to the Old Testament to Isaiah chapter 59. In the New Testament to Ephesians chapter 6, let's stand, giving our reverent attention to the Word of God, remembering the privilege that it is to have the Bible in our hands, to have it read publicly. a privilege that many in the world today don't have many in the history of the church did not have but we have in the gracious kindness of our god as a fifty nine beginning at verse fourteen in this portion of the book of isaiah there is a description of israel's sinfulness and then Israel was not only sinful, they were surrounded by enemies. And beginning at the middle of verse 15 and on through verse 16, we have the declaration of the Lord's intention, His own intention, to be a redeemer to His people, the Savior of Israel. We pick up at the end of the description of their sinfulness, In verse 14, justice is turned back and righteousness stands afar off, for truth is fallen in the street. Inequity cannot enter, so truth fails. And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his own arm brought salvation for him, and his own righteousness it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay. Fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies. The coastlands he will fully repay, so they shall hear the name of the Lord from the west and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. The Redeemer will come to Zion. And those who turn from transgression in Jacob, says the Lord. As for me, says the Lord. This is my covenant with them. My spirit who is upon you and my words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants, says the Lord. from this time and forevermore. Turning now on the New Testament, you'll very quickly see that the Apostle Paul, as he writes about the armor of God, has the scriptures of the Old Testament in heart and mind by the inspiration of the Spirit. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, Take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints, and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. This is the word of the living God. We turn to Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians chapter six, looking there at the verses 13 through 17, perhaps more tightly 14 through 17, though verse 13 is really the heading of this section. Still studying spiritual warfare. Tonight, looking at the equipment for the battle. For the past two sermons from Ephesians chapter six, we have looked at the following things. Spiritual warfare in general. two sermons ago talking about the idea of situational awareness. The believers, the necessity that a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ be aware that there is a kingdom of darkness. Verse 12, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of the age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. That there is a kingdom, There's a prince of the power of the air, Satan. There's a kingdom of darkness, which is evil and powerful, together with Satan, a whole host of fallen angels that have designs, if they could, to obliterate the name and worship of Christ from the earth, to destroy all vestiges of Christianity, of Christendom, to, if it were possible, destroy the kingdom of light. by their powerful, intelligent opposition. There's phrases here in the text which remind us of the intelligence of that opposition. Verse 11, we put on the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand against the wiles or the schemes, the intelligent planned opposition of the devil and this host. We've seen there's a call of duty. Call of duty for the believer. Verse 13, therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand. Stand therefore, again, verse 11 is the same, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And we saw that all of this, was flowing from that final exhortation, verse 10, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. And we saw that this grand, beautiful, overarching theme is that this is a call to live out of our union with Christ. Now, it takes more than knowing that there is an opposing army and more than the command to go to fight. It's very clear from the Ephesians chapter six that in order to fight and be victorious, in order to fight and win, a Christian needs to be equipped, not only aware, not only commanded to go, but we were commanded to go in a particular way. And again, by putting on the whole armor of God, verse 11, therefore taking up the whole armor of God, verse 13, that there is a particular manner or way in which we enter the fray, we enter the battle. There is Weaponry. Required weaponry. It's interesting that in the history of the world, war is one of the things that has advanced technology. I think of World War I, lots of people entered World War I with still riding horses. Actually, some armies entered World War II still trying to face German panzer divisions riding horses. The warfare of World War I resulted, however, in a whole lot of technological change, changes in armaments. You've got tanks, you've got planes were used, tanks were used, machine guns really developed for the first time. You've got the horror of poison gas. And all these things forever changed warfare, both offensively and defensively, and every new war seems to do that. And in order for one army To have a hope of facing another army and having victory, it needs to be equipped. It needs to be equipped. And it's that idea, the equipping of the army, which means life or death, winning or losing, being victorious or being vanquished. It's that urgency tied to the equipping of the army, particularly the equipping of the Christian soldier, that lies behind this text. It is an extended image. of a soldier clad in his armament, his armor for warfare. And the Apostle Paul uses this simple principle from the warfare that we see with our eyes, the flesh and blood warfare, to paint a picture of what's necessary for spiritual warfare. See, this image is an illustration. The armor of God is an illustration that is given to us by the Spirit of God to make spiritual warfare memorable, to make it easy for us to remember its urgency, because it's warfare, but also the armament, the equipping that we need. And so you keep the image in mind. Back to the beginning, awareness of another kingdom. Motivation, even commands to fight alone, do not make a good soldier. And we are to be good soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ, what Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3. We are to be engaged in this warfare earnestly, and we are to be engaged with weaponry. Again, the Apostle Paul writing to the Corinthians, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare, he goes on to say, are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. That there is a war and there is weaponry, there is equipment. The Apostle uses this language in other places. And the victory The victories of the church come by using the divinely given supplied weaponry. You've got all kinds of Old Testament examples of this principle. The divinely empowered warrior of the Old Testament in the physical battles of Israel is another good image or illustration of the warrior in the New Covenant in the Lord Jesus Christ. You think of how the Lord blessed David, though he rejected Saul's armor. He didn't go into the battle empty-handed. He went with a sling, and he went empowered by the Spirit of God with that weapon, and he was victorious by the power of God, and he confessed the same thing. Samson, the jawbone of a donkey, fought great wars, great battles, rather, and killed many, empowered by the Spirit of God. And then we have this remarkable description of David's mighty men, In 1 Chronicles, chapter 12, where you read the same thing, that these men were skilled in warfare. In chapter 11, we read that they were men who were also full of the spirit of God. 1 Chronicles, chapter 12, we have this description of some of David's mighty men. Some of the Gadites joined David at the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty men of valor, men trained for battle. who could handle shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions and were swift as gazelles on the mountains. These are the ones who crossed the Jordan the first month when it overflowed the banks. They put to flight all those in the valleys to the east and to the west. And then in the middle of that section, these were from the sons of Gad, captains of the army. The least was over a hundred. The greatest was over a thousand. The picture of the valiant warrior for the kingdom, the name, the glory of God runs all through the scriptures here in the spiritual realm of the new covenant battle against the kingdom of darkness. We're going to see in a moment some of the most compelling passages. We already read one from Isaiah 59 in relation to Ephesians 6 are in the descriptions. of the servant of the Lord, Yahweh himself, who comes to fight on behalf of his people. And we saw that, we read a moment ago from Isaiah 59. There'll be more as we continue to study. In the passage we're studying tonight, then, the Apostle Paul takes these principles of warfare broadly. drawing on Old Testament imagery, contemporary Roman armament and weaponry, and fashions a careful illustration by the inspiration of the Spirit to present an answer to this question. How can I be strong in the Lord and in the power of His mind? How can I stand against the wiles of the devil? How can I face principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places, and triumph? How can I stand against the kingdom of darkness? Again, the Apostle Paul takes all of these Old Testament images, contemporary Roman allusions to the warfare of his day, presenting spiritual instruction on how to win the war, how to obey the command to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might, how to answer this question, one of the most serious and urgent questions of the Christian life. How can I face Satan? Not just Goliath, not just the lion, not just the bear like David long ago. How can I face Satan? The arch enemy who himself sought to tempt the Lord Jesus. How can I face him in his kingdom and win? The Apostle Paul says, it can be done with the armor of the Lord. So we're gonna study that armor, verses 14, 17, next week looking more at prayer and its connection to the armor, but here looking at the various pieces of armor and this overarching image, the image that is before us. Put on the full armor of God. The first piece that is described to us is in verse 14, stand therefore having girded your waist with truth. Some of your translations are simpler, simpler images put forth, having put on the belt of truth. Now, the language of putting on a belt in preparation for action is all through the New Testament. It is a common image in the New Testament, in the Middle Eastern, culture, that the New Testament was written in the idea of wearing a long flowing robe or something similar. And then if you're going to be called to action to run or to fight, you were to put on a belt. And that language is found throughout the New Testament. For example, Jesus uses it in Luke chapter 12. Let your waist be girded and your lamps be burning. And he's speaking there being ready in the service of God, and he uses that simple picture of letting your waist be girded, your lamps be burning. Again, it's a common language for readiness, to be ready for action. The belt. For the Roman soldier, the Greek word that's used for that describes often something bigger than just a thin, narrow leather band and an apron that covered more and was more of an armament, a more significant piece that would be tied around the waist and protect all the way down to the thighs. It's hard to know. But the idea is that there is something in preparation for battle which is to be tightened. Tighten your belt and get ready to fight. And you're going to keep your finger probably in the book of Isaiah tonight, as we're going to go back and forth between Isaiah and Ephesians and see that the Apostle Paul, who knew the Scriptures while trained in the Scriptures, was thinking Old Testament thoughts and illusions as he talked about this New Testament warfare. In Isaiah chapter 11, there's this promise. A rod will come forth from the stem of Jesse, a branch will grow out of his roots. This is a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the servant of the Lord, the messenger of Yahweh, the warrior king. that will conquer and vanquish the name of Jehovah in all the earth. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by the sight of the eyes, nor decide by the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness he shall judge with equity and shall decide with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. And then righteousness shall be the belt of his loins and faithfulness the belt of his waist. And here the picture is the servant of Jehovah, who we know to be the Lord Jesus Christ, himself prepares for war by putting on this belt. And the imagery and illusion carries over here, and they're going to be critical to our understanding of the armor of God. Behind these imperatives, there's also another theme from the book of Ephesians itself, In Ephesians 4, you remember, you have not so learned Christ that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lust, be renewed in the spirit of your mind, Ephesians 4.24, and put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. The idea here of being clothed in something for the fight is linked to the fighting, first, of the servant of Jehovah, the Lord Jesus Christ. It also has a connection to putting on the new man in Ephesians chapter 4. And then, if you keep on with these general ideas in the scriptures, it's going to help us understand the armor of the Lord more specifically. Romans 13, 14. Developing this a little bit more. The idea of putting on. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. And make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. And in Colossians 3 verse 10 we have a similar command. We have a similar command here. And when we start to pull all of this together, remember the initial command. Finally my brethren be strong. in the Lord, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the power of his might, the same power that raised him from the dead and seated him above all these principalities and powers. He came to destroy the works of the devil. The armor of God, the fundamental way to describe it, before we get into the details here, in this first piece, is again to live closely out of our union with Christ. The armor comes from God. It is provided by the mediator, warrior king, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who in the first place put it on in his battle against sin and Satan, against death, and the powers of hell. And he was the one who conquered first. And we then follow in his train. The armor comes from God. It is the whole armor of God. It is supplied by our union with Christ. This alone gives us the understanding of what the armor is and what divine empowerment is to fight in the battle. But back to the item. Back to the thing itself. Having girded your waist with truth, Two sermons ago, we were reminded that Satan's primary way of attack is to what? Undermine the truth of God. God has spoken clearly in history, in his word. He's declared his character, his kingdom, his glory. He's declared his son the savior of sinners and the king over all. Satan would obliterate, deface, and destroy the truth, to use Paul's phrase in this letter, as it is in Jesus. He would have it be defaced and destroyed and doubted in your heart and mind so that you doubt whether or not there was a Jesus, whether or not perhaps he rose again from the dead. There are thousands who do this. Satan wants you to doubt all these things. Whether or not the eyewitness testimony inspired by the Spirit of God in the four evangelists concerning the personal work of Jesus Christ. This is what Satan wants to do. He wants to twist and deny. He's the one who has said from the beginning, has God indeed said? The beginning of our spiritual warfare here, the first piece of equipment is to put on the truth. Well, let's define the truth a little bit more. The truth of the word, the truth of the gospel, the truth as it is in Jesus, the objective realities conveyed to us in Holy Scripture, particularly concerning Christ's person as the God-man, his work, his birth, his virgin birth, his sinless life, his substitutionary death, his resurrection from the dead, his ascension, And the way you put on the truth as it is in Jesus is not just mere mental assent to these things to be true historically. But in the war against Satan, Charles Hodge says this is far more than simple assent to facts. But this is the wholehearted, the imagery of putting on the truth is the wholehearted trust that what God has said is true and is true for my salvation, is true for time, true for eternity. It is not only knowledge, it is not only assent, but it is trust in the Word of God. It is putting on the belt of truth. Having put on means that we receive the word of God as it is to us the very truth of God and particularly here the truth of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ conveyed in the word to us. So how do you put it on? You first have to know it. Biblical teachings and realities need to be embedded in your conscious thinking. Parents. You teach your children the living and powerful word of God. You also know that when you teach them, Satan will oppose that teaching. And he will do everything he can to undermine faith in Jesus Christ, trust in the living and powerful word of God. You devote yourself to reading the Bible, to listening carefully to as much preaching as your life gives you time to listen to. and to pray over that word that you receive in order that Satan would not snatch it up, but rather you would have around your waist that you would be girded about your waist with the truth, God's truth, the truth as it is in Jesus. Second piece of equipment for the battle. stand or for therefore having guarded your waist with truth having put on the breastplate of righteousness interesting in in battle still today a tremendous amount of time and intelligence and and work is devoted to body armor we would think of this is body armor uh... uh... bulletproof vest is what you might think in the present day in paul's day This would have either been a heavy leather article that was laid across the chest and down across the torso. Or sometimes, an even better equipped soldier would have metal plates in there. And the idea was that he'd be able to stop a sword, or a spear, or an arrow. That it was a strong article that would stop penetrating injuries that would bring wounding or death. It's a simple picture. Here, the breastplate is the breastplate of righteousness. Now we're going to go back to the Old Testament. And we're going to go back to Isaiah. And we're going to see again this grand connection between the armor of God and the servant of God. Isaiah chapter 59. Beginning at verse 17, you remember the Lord saw the sins of Israel and the enemies of Israel surrounding Israel, and He saw that it displeased Him. There was no man, there was no Redeemer, there was no one to help. But then, God Himself put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put the garments of vengeance on for clothing and was clad with zeal as with a cloak. And then with these things, he did two things. He redeemed his people and he destroyed the enemies. This is the armor of God, because first, it belongs to God. The righteousness of God is in view here. Now, how is it then that this image in the Old Testament becomes ours in the New Testament and then through Jesus Christ? Now, people have argued two things from this text. First, this refers to the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, that by faith we believe the gospel, and in believing, our sins are imputed to Christ in justification. And then, Christ's righteousness is imputed to us in that double grace of justification. So we stand open and acquitted before the throne of God. That's the great truth of justification. And in a sense, the breastplate of righteousness cannot be divorced from this idea of justifying righteousness. It cannot be. Indeed, that breastplate of righteousness and the knowledge that we stand before God clothed in the righteousness of Christ is one of the greatest defensive armaments against the wiles of the devil who wants you to believe that because of your sins and failings, because of your lack of perfection, as the accuser of the brethren, that you don't have a chance before the throne of God. The righteousness of Jesus Christ says, no, because my righteousness is in another. But the word righteousness here, if you trace through Ephesians, there's a righteousness which flows from the believer's joy and justification, and that's the righteous life. And again, they're connected. The righteousness of Christ is the imputation of a righteousness that came from his perfect obedience to our, which covers our disobedience, even as that is forgiven through the blood of his cross. But the believer lives then to God and wants to echo in the very pattern of life, in the daily moment-by-moment obedience to God's commands, a life of righteousness which is part of our warfare against the devil. In other words, a life that looks like the life of Christ, a life that is obedient. And if God calls us to die for that obedience, obedience unto death, even as our Savior was obedient unto death. This living of a new life, to be imitators of God as dear children, to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, is the pattern of the believer who puts on the breastplate of righteousness. How do you put this on? You meditate on, you meditate on the goodness of God in the provision of an alien righteousness that is not your own, that is freely given. And then the more you meditate on that, you say, Lord, make me like my savior. That my day-to-day walk in union with him would reflect true heavenly righteousness. In other words, we make it our aim to please him. And when you do so, Satan and his kingdom are frustrated. And you stand with the armor of God. Third piece. The third piece here, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Here he's describing something. He actually doesn't describe the article. Normally in the image he talks about a breastplate or a helmet or a shield or a sword. But here he says, you just put this on your feet. And you have in your mind of shoes and they're not mentioned explicitly, but the shoes are described as the preparation of the gospel of peace. He goes straight to the spiritual realities. And again here from Isaiah 52 verse 7, there is another allusion that reminds us of the way in which the servant, suffering servant, warrior king of Isaiah achieved his victories. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns. And here's a prophetic picture of the preaching ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, which Paul then in Romans 10 picks up and he applies it to the minister of the gospel who preaches the word. And here he says to the Ephesians that there is in some way to be an echo. of these images in the daily life of the ordinary believer as we follow Christ, seeking that the mission of Christ, that the gospel would spread to the ends of the earth, the gospel of peace, would indeed come even as we stand as the whole church against the wiles of the devil. It's interesting that Paul calls it here the preparation of the gospel of peace. And he's giving an allusion here to that reconciliation that we studied in chapter two. The reconciliation that Christ himself, we have been, we were once afar off, we've been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace. And the Apostle Paul is saying here, to use the imagery, the imagery is that to be on your feet as you run the Christian race, as you serve as a soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ, the thing that protects you from the thorns and the stumbling and the rocks on the ground is the constant awareness of the gospel of peace, that we have peace with God and with our neighbor through the blood of the cross of the Lord Jesus, and that this ministry of reconciliation is real, it has come to us, and that we live by it, we run by it. That we would be, to use the language of 2 Chronicles 8 that we read a moment ago, swift like gazelles on the mountains. running in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ and unhindered by the enemy's frustrations. There's also the beginnings of something here in this image of the offensive nature of the warfare of the kingdom. In other words, here, for the first time in the warfare, you have the idea of running with the gospel and by the gospel, the idea of the preaching of the word, the declaration of the kingdom and glory of Jesus is attached to this image. And here, that is part of putting on the armor of God. How to put this on? It is a willingness to share. to proclaim, to assist in the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ by going, if God calls you to go, and preached by praying, by giving, and by laboring against the kingdom of darkness with the image in mind of the gospel of peace given that the gospel might run through the earth by the church. Fourth piece of armor, the shield of faith. The word here that the Apostle Paul uses is directly linked to Roman warfare. It's a kind of shield. It covers the whole body. It's a big shield. It's the shield that you would want to have when the enemy is firing at you, his arrows, his fiery darts. And there's a reference to that later on here in the text, the fiery darts of the evil one. And there was a practice in ancient warfare. Again, talking about warfare and technology, this sounds rudimentary when we have precision laser-guided bombs. But the idea here was to dip the arrows that you would shoot into pitch or something else flammable, and then you would shoot fiery arrows. in order to burn and to maim, and if you shoot them into a city to cause a fire. This was advanced warfare, bringing pain and suffering. Now against this kind of warfare, the Roman soldier would take this whole full body shield. And again, time would fail me to use all the Old Testament allusions to the idea of the shield that God himself is for his people. It begins in Genesis chapter 15. I am your shield, Abraham, and your exceedingly great reward. In Psalm 5 and Proverbs 30, the idea of God providing for his people a shield and himself being our shield runs throughout the scriptures. This shield here, however, is defined very carefully as the shield of faith. In other words, the shield, though it reminds us of God as our shield, it particularly, by the Apostle Paul, is talking about faith. Faith that we have in God himself. The Apostle Paul is saying that if you want to exercise warfare victoriously against Satan and his kingdom, it involves the constant exercise of faith in Jesus Christ, that faith by which we receive and rest upon Jesus Christ, alone for salvation, who is freely offered to us in the gospel. This faith, I say this perhaps often from this pulpit, is not a one-time act. People so often think, I believed, I did that. No, the life that we live, we live by faith in the Son of God. We are always clinging to Christ. Faith is the hand that holds to Christ. And faith, by faith, we never let go. And it is this kind of living that is commended here, which is a shield for the believer. It is this kind of actively engaged faith, the continuous disposition of the Christian towards Jesus Christ, which grows in this life as we grow in our knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is a principle way in which we win the war against Satan. The Apostle John says, this is the victory that we have. 1 John chapter 5. He's talking about victory overcoming the world and he's also talking in this section about overcoming the evil one. And he says our victory is our faith. 1 John 5 verse 4. In other words, he's saying if we by faith are clinging to Jesus, and again, the union with Christ can't be separated from all this, if we by faith are clinging to Jesus Christ freely offered in the gospel, it is to us like a shield, keep reading the verse, with which you will be able to quench all, not some, all the fiery darts of the evil one. you will be able to resist him, as Peter says, and what's the next phrase he says? Firm in the faith. The Apostle Paul is saying is that if you live by faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave himself for you, none of the fiery darts of the evil one will dislodge you from your victory in Jesus Christ. You may feel the heat, you may feel the pain, you may hear the sound and fury, but you live clinging to Jesus and that shield of faith will enable you to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. This is the language of assured victory without the possibility of destruction that comes by faith in Jesus Christ. This is one of the great benefits of the gospel, that we have the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. If the flaming arrows of the evil one will not land when we use the shield of faith. And he shoots a lot of them. He tempts you to do wicked things. He's going to try it again this week. He's going to place before your eyes things that you shouldn't look at. Before your ears things you shouldn't listen to. Your passions will rise up. Anger for one of them, Ephesians 4, 27. And you're gonna be tempted to be angry and let the sun go down on your wrath and Satan's gonna be waiting for the opening. He's gonna sow the seeds of doubt, despair, false teaching, try to persecute you. And a reminder is that this is pitched warfare with eternal consequences. And the armor, the only way, the only way to win To stand and to be covered is by faith in Jesus Christ. Now the helmet of salvation, number five, described here again is the language for the Roman helmet with the side protection. And again in Isaiah 59 verse 17, we're not gonna turn back there again, the warrior king is described with this same helmet of salvation, Christ the first. And when Paul speaks of salvation, he is saying that the salvation that Christ has purchased, accomplished, You need to think about, you're gonna fight against the devil, you need to think about this. That what Christ has done has secured certain eternal victory that will never be taken away from the Son. And that the way the Christian lives against the kingdom of darkness is, as it were, takes the helmet of that accomplished salvation. He puts it on. and so is able to stand in the evil day against the kingdom of darkness, knowing." Again, Paul, when he uses the term salvation, he thinks often of the whole sweep of the work of Jesus Christ. beginning with the cross and ending with the consummation of all things and including the application of that salvation. Chapter two, by grace you're saved through faith, not of yourselves. And the application of that salvation to us by the spirit of God, uniting us to Christ. He's saying everything that Christ purchased on the cross, all of his benefits, you put that on, you remember it. You are armored with it so that your head is protected in the heat of the battle because there is a salvation that belongs to the Lord. You put on the helmet of salvation. You consciously meditate on the full import of the finished work of Jesus Christ. You remember Ephesians 2, 5 through 8, that God, who was rich in mercy when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive. You remember Ephesians 1, 20 to 23, that Christ is enthroned and reigning as conquered the kingdom of darkness. You remember Psalm 110, that he will, with his great volunteer army. scatter the corpses of all who oppose him across the earth and at the end of it all he will lift his head he will drink from the book in absolute victory this salvation belongs to the Lord and the believer puts it on by faith in Jesus Christ and we think of it so when Satan comes to accuse we know at the beginning the middle and the end has been purchased and secured in Christ. Finally, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. There was a hint of an offensive weapon in having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, particularly as we look back to Isaiah 52. But now it's not a hint. Now, it's the full-throated roar of 2 Corinthians chapter 10. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spiritual. And then the apostle goes on to describe the effectiveness of the spiritual weapons granted to the church of Jesus Christ. They are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. The central weapon in this is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, which is given to the believer and to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ in order to destroy the kingdom of darkness. I remind you of Romans chapter 16. The God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The standing of the believer is not a passive standing only. It is an offensive warfare against a kingdom which will be crushed under the feet of the church. Even as Christ brings history to a final victory. The sword here is one of the short swords. The Greek word here is the short sword for close combat warfare. It's of the spirit. Reminds us of Hebrews chapter four, verse 12, where we read that the word of the Lord is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. And here, word and spirit are brought together beautifully in this image as the spirit works by the word, sharpening it and driving it against the kingdom of darkness in order that the kingdom of darkness would be destroyed. Preaching. is in view here in the demonstration of the Spirit's power. which stands against the kingdom of darkness. The imagery of the sword of the spirit and the words of the mouth that come from the mouth, first of Christ, in Isaiah chapter 11, in Revelation chapter one, in Revelation chapter 19, out of his mouth comes a sharp two-edged sword. He, empowered by the spirit, leads the army as the preacher who stands against the kingdom of darkness. Now you remember, Satan said, In the temptations, three temptations of the Lord Jesus, what did he try to do? Twist the word of God. How did Christ reply? It is written, it is written, it is written. Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. This is the same way our Savior fought against the devil. This is the heavy weaponry of the kingdom of heaven. People are often afraid of nuclear weapons or nuclear war. This weapon is the same one when God said, let there be light, there was light. This is the weapon through which the worlds were made, the universe. This is the weapon that calls sinners from light to darkness, and this is the weapon of our warfare that will vanquish Satan, and will one day, from the lips of Christ, vanquish Satan to the pit forever. How do you put it on? You know it, you read it, you love it. You pray for the spirit to understand it. You do everything within your power to support and promote the preaching of the gospel to the ends of the earth and the mission of the church. And you are so busy with this passion for the glory of Christ that you have no time for evil. You have time for the word and the word to go to the ends of the earth. This is how you stand strong in the Lord. Satan will attack you again. He is chasing down the woman. He's chasing down the bride of Christ. He wants to destroy the church. He wants to extinguish the gospel. He wants to destroy preaching. He wants to destroy Christians, because he could not destroy the Savior. This is what he's doing right now. This is what he's doing while I'm preaching. Doubts and fears, temptations to evil, generating trouble in your life, hindering Christian service, confusing you, if he could, with false teaching, sowing discord in the church or in your relationships. He is busy seeking to destroy. The only way to stand against him To be strong in the Lord and the power of his might is to put on the full armor of God as exhorted here by the Apostle Paul. This battle never ends. You don't retire from it. There's not 20, 30 years. This goes until your eyes finally close in death. The Apostle Paul, there's only one place that he could say, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. There is reserved now for me a crown of life. And that's because he knew he was about to die. This is the war. Calvin, let us pray that we may so profit from God's word that it would guide us forward to the very end so that we would not falter, that the devil would always be perplexed and confused as we fight, and our Lord Jesus Christ exalted. This is the aim of the believer and the church. One more thing, that grand theme, union with Christ. It comes. in and through Jesus Christ. Remember this command. This is the secret of all spiritual victories. The imagery is the illustration you go out into the world with, remembering there's a war, there's an enemy, there's a battle, there's danger, I must fight. But remember these words. Over it all, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Let us pray. Lord our God, you have given us again the secret of all spiritual victories. You have instructed us with this vivid illustration of the importance of spiritual engagement against the kingdom of darkness. Grant to us, we pray, that we might indeed gird our waist with truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, have our feet shod with the perspiration of the gospel of peace, to take the shield of faith and stand against all the fiery darts of the wicked one. to take the helmet of salvation and be protected from his attempts to destroy. And Lord, to take the sword of the spirit, which is your living and powerful word and resist the devil that he might flee from us standing firm in the faith. We pray, make us courageous, happy, victorious soldiers of the land. as you equip us with the armor of our Lord Jesus Christ. Help us, oh God, to be good soldiers of the cross, to fight the good fight, to resist the devil, that you, the God of peace, would crush Satan under our feet shortly. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.