I invite you to go into your Bibles. We're reading today from Ephesians chapter six, verses 10 through 20. You can find this also printed in your bulletins. This famous passage titled, The Whole Armor of God. Ephesians six, verses 10 to 20. Finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the scheme of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against their rulers, against authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you might 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 breastplates of righteousness, and as 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 word may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in change, that I may declare boldly as I ought to speak. Let us pray. Dear God, we thank you for having the great privilege of hearing you speaking directly to us through your word. and having the Holy Spirit in us, giving us understanding and faith of what we read in your word. We thank you, Lord, because this is just because of your grace. We were your enemies and you have brought us near. You have given us new life. You have given us a new spirit and now as we look at your word, you give us understanding of things that happened in the spiritual realm. Things that are not visible to our eyes but happens there. And all this revelation is your mercy, your grace on your people, on your church. Help us, Lord, as we consider these verses together to become aware of this spiritual battle in which we are. And help us to, as we consider these verses, to be prepared as we face this enemy daily in our lives as believers. We pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen. One of the things that you can easily see around the world when you look at nations and how they have strategies to defend themselves or to fight against other nations is that they like to show up their weapons. And you will see these big parades where you see all these big weapons and soldiers and things like that that you could see, you could think that is actually scary just to see that. But in fact, I will say that probably we should not be that scared about those parades because I think that the whole strategy of doing them is actually to make their enemies scared so they don't attack them. So in fact, they are not looking for fights, but what they are trying to prevent is fights by showing up what they have in their land to defend themselves. I will be actually more afraid, and I think that we all, I guess we all agree on that, on somebody or an enemy that is hiding his weapons, that is not trying to show you what he has at hand to attack you. An enemy that is trying to hide his strategy and to become invisible to you so that you know that when he is actually planning to attack you, You will never know when it's coming, it's just planning to do it because he really means destruction for you. And I think that this past year, we have experienced what is to fight, or maybe sometimes to run away from an invisible enemy. because we have seen that the world has faced an enemy that we cannot see it with our eyes, but we know it's there, we just don't know where and how it's moving around, and there are all these different theories about that, and that just make us even more confused about it. But what is curious is that when you look at the big nations around the world, they ended being powerless before this enemy. And the only recommendation that they have for their citizens is go and hide. Don't go out, stay home. Because they didn't have a weapon to face that enemy that move around the world so fast. And we all know what we're talking about, right? Which is COVID. But as Christians, we also face an invisible enemy. And I say it's an invisible enemy because we face an enemy that is not out there in the material world, but is present in the spiritual world. And I think that his main strategy, and he has been successful at times, is to make a belief that he's not there. In fact, I think that probably Hollywood and all these movies has helped the cause of the enemy because when you look at the movies and then you look at how the movies are made afterwards, you see, oh, this is all fantasy. And people, in thinking about that, the spiritual world is fantasy. Also, there is the reality that sometimes, as Christians, we trust, yes, that the kingdom of God is right now here, because the kingdom of God is right now here, but we forget the fact that we have the already here, but the not yet part, that the enemy is still present here, and uses his strategies, and he's actually very active. chasing and looking for opportunities to bring down all of us as believers. And then we wake up every morning and we go out and we face different things in the world, sometimes unaware of what is happening behind the scenes when these invisible, to our eyes, enemies, is working together to get us down. And I think that this is one of the wonderful things that we have in this passage is that what Paul is trying to do is making us aware of things that are invisible to our eyes. And I will say at least I will highlight four things that you can learn from this passage that Paul is making us aware of. And I'm not saying that these are the only things. Different people will come out with different outlines and highlight different aspects of the sermon. on this passage. I will say from the beginning that I will not focus in all the details of how the Roman soldier armor is composed and this and that, and I think this is great. You will find plenty of sermons of that, but I would like to focus in actually what is the meaning of each of these parts and how we can learn. and be prepared. And a big question that I think that I want us to keep in mind is, what does it mean to take up and to put on that armor of God? Because we're talking about something spiritual. If we were talking about something material, it would be easier just to think about it, how you take up and put on that armor of God. So here we have these four things that Paul is making us aware. The first one is that there is a spiritual warfare and we are weak. That there is a spiritual warfare and we, Christians, by ourselves, we are weak. Paul starts with this word, finally. which is a translation of a Greek word that can give you, in our versions, the way it is rendered, the idea that Paul is getting to the end of the letter. He's saying, finally, I'm gonna tell you about this. But in reality, that word finally is better translated in a different way. And when you translate it in a different way, it actually gives you a better understanding of what Paul is talking about here. This way is that you could translate this finally, that is translated as finally here as for the remaining time, for the remaining time. And you see it's very different finally to what it means for the remaining time. And why is that so important? Because that for the remaining time is giving you a frame or a vision or the things that are happening here happens in a time between the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. These things that Paul is referring to regarding this spiritual warfare are happening between the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, what Paul is telling you, for the remaining time until Jesus comes, or if you die and go to his presence before he comes, you're going to have to face this. It is not that there will be a break time or that we are living in a break time. We as believers may want to leave. We may want to leave and enjoy the beautiful kingdom of God, the fellowship of believers, and enjoy eating together and hanging out together and praising the Lord together and worshiping the Lord together without having to deal with the fact that for the remaining time, Until Jesus come, or if we go to his presence, we're gonna have to face this reality. One word that is repeated at least four times in the three first verses, verses 10, 11, and 13, is the word to stand. You see that in verse 11, to stand against at the end. You see that again on verse 13. to be able or be able to withstand. You see that at the end of the verse when he says to stand firm. And you see that also in verse 14 when he says stand therefore. That in itself reveals to you that there is something that is trying to get you down. There is something that is always trying you, is working hard for the remaining time, is working 24-7 for the remaining time to get you down as believers. And is showing the strategy of that enemy that we have in front of us. Now, also we learned here from these verses that in order to stand, we cannot stand on our own. It is not that just the fact that we became Christians, now we are strong enough on our own, or even a person before becoming a Christian will be able to stand on his own against the strategy of this enemy. That's not true, because he says in verse 10, finally be strong in the Lord. Be strong in the Lord. Therefore, in order to stand against that enemy that wants to bring you down, you need to be strengthened in the Lord. You cannot face this enemy on your own. If you go out and you try to face it on your own, you will not be able to withstand. You will not be able to stand against that enemy. Therefore, what we see here is that Paul is revealing to us right away when he says, finally be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might, which Paul is actually using some interesting words because these are the same words when he talks about being strong in strength and might. These three Greek words are the same words that Paul used in reference to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. So the same power of the resurrection is the power that we need to withstand, to stand firm in the strength of the Lord to face that enemy. And this enemy, as you see, you will see throughout the test, the second word that you see throughout the test is also against, against, against, against, against. This enemy is against all of us. And I think that does. important because I don't know how much we are aware of the fact that we go out and everything that we're doing, that we have somebody working against us all the time. Sometimes we get concerned when we have somebody that we don't get along well at work or in some place and we feel that that person is against us and it troubles our minds and it make us think, how am I going to deal with this? But in those cases, we are aware because we are seeing those attacks. They are visible, things that people might do against you. But here, Paul is revealing to you, he's making us aware of something that is happening at the spiritual level that we might not even, that we might not realize that is happening constantly with an enemy that wants to bring us down, that we need to stand against, and that we cannot do it unless we do it in the strength of the Lord. Now what is the second thing that Paul is making us aware? Paul is making us aware of our enemy. Who is our enemy? Who is our enemy? So first of all, we can see it clear here that Paul says that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. But, and then he describes rulers, authorities, cosmic powers, the spiritual forces of evil. It has been understood throughout the history of the church, and I think that all of us, when we read this, it's not so difficult to think that Paul is referring to we are not wrestling, we are not fighting against human forces. But we are fighting against something more powerful and greater. and supernatural and spiritual that is not comparable with human forces. Yet there has been, in the last centuries, some theologians that have tried to argue that the words that Paul uses here, rulers and authority, refers to actually political and judicial structures of this world. But one way we can see that Paul is not referring just to political and judicial structures of this world is that Paul is talking about heavenly places. And if you remember when we studied chapter one, Jesus Christ is highly exalted and he is the head of the church and he's in the heavenly places. He's referring to the spiritual realm of this world. It is true that political structures and judicial structures can be used by these spiritual powers against the body of Christ. For example, John Stott will suggest that in fact, all non-believers are used as instruments of these evil powers. We read in Ephesians chapter 2 that we were at one time following the prince of the earth. So without realizing we were made instruments of these evil powers against believers. And I'm not saying that every non-believer becomes one enemy of you, but the reality is that these authorities and cosmic powers and spiritual forces that work in the heavenly places will use anything at their disposal to bring you down. Remember, you have to stand in the strength of the Lord because they are working in bringing you down. There are three things talking about characteristics of these enemies which Stodd and Boies agree on. One is that they are powerful. It talks about cosmic powers, cosmic powers. It's not referring to an enemy that is a weak enemy that pretend to be powerful, as I said, those nations that will bring out all these weapons to show to the world. It's talking about an enemy that is really powerful, that is more powerful than any human being. that unless we are standing in the strength of the Lord, he will for sure defeat us. We don't have a way on our own to face this enemy. The other characteristic that they will see both together, John Stott and Boyce, is that they are wicked. That they are wicked. Here is a thought from Stott on this. He says, if we hope to overcome them, we shall need to bear in mind that they have no moral principles, no code of honor, no higher feelings. They recognize no Geneva Convention. to restrict or partially civilize the weapons of their warfare. They are utterly unscrupulous and ruthless in the pursuit of their malicious designs. Therefore, we are facing an enemy like no other in this world. He's an enemy that is out to get us with great weakness. The other thing is that they are cunning. And you see that when you read there, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. It means that the devil is not gonna, again, show you all his weapons to show up so you will be afraid. But these enemies will try to hide their plan. They might actually present themselves, or they will use structures to present themselves as pursuing something that might look good to the world, when in fact they are trying to destroy God's people. So here we have a description of our enemy. Now, what are the things? The third thing is, what do we have at our disposal? to face this battle, because again, you might not be aware of this spiritual warfare, you might not be aware of your enemy, and also one of the things that you might not be aware or we might not be aware is the fact that we have a weapon against, or an armor against this enemy. And here is where Paul goes to use the example of a Roman soldier that were around all over the place to look at him and use the parts of his armor to describe the things that we have. And one thing that we need to remember, what Paul is doing is just using a metaphor. He's just looking at these parts And I think that we should not be focusing the parts but in the content or the meaning or what actually are those parts that sustain our faith when we face this enemy. So first of all, Paul talks about the belt of truth. The belt of truth is the first part. First of all, he says, therefore take up the whole armor of God that you might be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened the belt of truth. The belt in the Roman armor will be what will hold all things together. But what that means for us has been interpreted at least in two ways. One is that the bell of truth is the truth that we find in the gospel. The gospel provide us with the truth. The truth that we need in order to withstand the attacks of the enemy. But also some others has interpreted this to mean the sincerity of the heart of the believer. If a believer is speaking with truth. I will say that it is really a combination of both things. It is, on the one hand, the reality that we depend and we rely and trust in the truth of the gospel that offer the truth of the reality in this world that we need Jesus to be saved, but also the fact that as we trust in Jesus and are saved, this transform our whole worldview and move us to live and walk in sincerity before the Lord. So he's saying, Paul is saying, Stanford, therefore, having fastened the belt of truth is having close to you. It will be what will hold you together is the truth of the gospel. Then he goes to say, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and the breastplate is what will protect a soldier. Imagine, especially in this kind of wars, going out without a breastplate, you will be killed. like this, immediately. But what is the best place of righteousness? It is something actually interpreted as similar to what happened with the bell of truth. On the one hand, it refers to us being declared just, justified, righteous before the Father, because of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. For example, if we read Romans chapter eight, verses one and verses 33 and 34, you will find this. It says, there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This is Romans chapter eight, verse one. And if you read verses 33 and 34, it says, who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justified. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. So when we talk about the breastplates of righteousness, it's that we are standing before God the Father justified, righteous because of what Christ did on the cross. But the other aspect is the reality that as we are justified by God, we are in that process of sanctification that is making us walk in righteousness. It's moving us towards walking in righteousness before God. Then we have also the gospel shoes. It says, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. This in fact have two ways of interpreting or translating this sentence, depending how you understand the genitive that goes after the word feet and shoes. is that you can see this not just as readiness, but also as being firmed, as firmness. So in a sense, when we talk about as shoes for feet put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace, it might mean that it's telling you the importance of going out and bringing the gospel out. which is the way we face the enemy, rather than being reactive, being proactive of getting the gospel out. But it also talks about, or it could talk about, the fact that when you are standing in the gospel, you are standing in a firm foundation. Then he continues talking about the shield of faith. He says, in all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. The way the enemy is gonna try to get us is by moving us to distrust in the promises of God. Therefore, the shield of faith is grounding us in the promises of the Lord, grounding us in what we trust that God has promised to us. And this is how we withstand the flames, the darts, flames, the flaming darts that are coming at us because they are trying to destroy our faith. The fifth part is the helmet of salvation. It says, the helmet of salvation. How do you understand the helmet of salvation? Another way in which Paul used this word was in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, 8, which I think clarified it for us. It says, but since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplates of faith and love, and for helmet the hope of salvation. the hope of salvation. So what this means is that what helps us to stand firm the attacks of the enemies is that we have, the hope that we have in that we will be safe. It's the firm hope that Christ has already achieved on the cross what he has promised for us. And the last part is the sword of the spirit. It says, I am the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And this is the one that Paul actually clarifies for us right away. He says, he's the sword of the spirit, and what is the sword of the spirit is the word of God. And the word of God is what we use in our defense. Remember our Lord Jesus Christ quoted God's word to defend himself from the temptation that was presented to him. But the word of God is also the one that we use, the weapon that we use in order to attack the enemy. Now the big question that I mentioned to you before is, that you may have is, then how do I take up and put on all these things? All these things are spiritual. And how do I take it up and put it on? Well, I think that the way we do that is by going back to the gospel every day of our lives. Because if you look at all these parts, which is the bell of truth, which is the gospel, the truth of the gospel, the righteousness that comes from putting our trust in Jesus, the Gospel shoes, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, is us going back to the Gospel every day of our lives as we go out and face the enemy. Because the enemy is going to try to make us believe that we are not righteous before God. as we saw before from Romans, but our defense is that we are standing righteous on the fact that Jesus Christ paid on the cross for our salvation. But we are also standing in the truth of the gospel, and we are armed with the sword which is the word of God. So to take up and to put on the armor of God is to go back to the gospel daily in our lives. We do that every day when we confess our sins, right? We come before the Father and we bring before the Father our knees and we pray, but we also bring before the Father repentance of our sins. But when we confess our sins and we ask for forgiveness, we are trusting in the gospel. We are trusting in what Jesus did on the cross because we know that he's gonna grant us that forgiveness based on what Jesus did on the cross. So to put on and to take up is to go back to the gospel every day of our lives. The third thing that, or the fourth thing that Paul is making us aware is that we are here to support those who are in the front lines. And this is outside the armor of God is to support those who are in the front lines. So look what Paul says in verses 18 through 20. Say, 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. So we are all praying for one another, right? But beside praying for one another, there is a special prayer that Paul is asking the Ephesians to pray for. This is, 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 change, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak." Paul was in the front lines. Remember, you have the kingdom of God, and you have those who were in the front lines making attack to the enemy by going to places as Paul was going, preaching the gospel, sharing the gospel, exposing the works of the devil, rescuing those who were captured by the devil. And Paul is asking the Ephesians, pray that I will have, that God will give me words to proclaim the Gospel. In this spiritual battle, it's not just about what we are facing individually, but what the church of Christ is facing globally. And what the church of Christ is facing locally as well. And you will have brothers and sisters that have departed this church to go to other countries to share the gospel. They are in the front lines. But you also have brothers and sisters who stay here in the city and are going out to share the gospel. They are in the front lines, and you might be one of them. We are called, as Paul was asking the Ephesians to pray for him as he was doing the work, we are called to be praying for them. It is not about just looking at our needs, our physical and even spiritual needs, personal needs, but it's also looking at the needs of the church of Christ that is moving forward facing, as we saw, an evil enemy that is at work, 24-7, attacking the church just to bring Christians down. So brothers and sisters, how do we take up and put on the armor of God daily? It might sound something as simple, but I think it is what we learn from these verses, which is to get back to the gospel daily. That we are submerged in the gospel, immersed in the gospel every day of our lives. Because that is what gives us the strength when we face the enemy, that we stay in the gospel as we go out, as we interact with others, and that we also remain conscious that our enemy is there and that we have a responsibility to pray for those that are in the front lines. Let's pray. Dear God, we thank you that we don't face this battle on our own that you just didn't save us and left us here to face this enemy that is more powerful than us on our own, but you have called us to be strong in you. You have called us to pray that you will strengthen us as we face this enemy. We praise you, Lord, because we know that that you are already victorious, that you are already seated at the right hand of our Father, and we are seated with you in these heavenly places. We praise you that you have given us this victory, but we also pray, Lord, that you will strengthen us, each one of us individually, as we face this enemy daily. Help us, Lord, to remember that that these enemies behind many of the things that are around us and help us, Lord, to always be going back to the gospel. We also pray, we take this opportunity to pray for those that are serving you in the mission field, those that have gone from our church and from other churches that are around the world. facing this battle in the front lines. May you strengthen them. May they be strong. May you protect them and protect their families as well as they continue to bring your word to others. May you give them words to speak. boldly the gospel and may you also give us word to speak boldly to those around us, to our neighbors, to our friends. May we be the aroma of Christ to those around us. We thank you all these things in Jesus name. Amen.