The Armor of God Pt 2

Would you all stand? Stretch a little before you sit again.

I want to welcome you this morning to Calvary Chapel. I want to welcome all of you who are joining us online. Would you join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity this morning to come and worship in song and study your word. Father, you're worthy of our worship, Lord. You are good all the time. We thank you. We praise you. Father, we each have various things on our mind, concerns, sometimes anxiety.

But through it all, Lord, we trust you that you are working in us, Lord, both to do in the will of your good pleasure. We know nothing takes you by surprise, even though we get surprised. And all things are working together for the good, for those who love you and are called according to your purpose. As you pray. Work in our lives to draw us closer into your image, Lord.

As you foreknew us, you predestined.

There will be that time when we go to glory, when you're in control. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. And all those things that Paul lists there, we thank you for that, Lord. Thank you for coming down to this earth, Lord Jesus. Dying on the cross, first living among us. Dying and raising from the dead. Ascending up to the right hand of the Father.

Thank you for interceding for us, Lord. My sin, my sin. Let me be seated. Father, we just praise you now. We just thank you, Lord, for who you are. The God of the universe. We look to you. We know that you're faithful, Lord, in everything. You give us life. You strengthen us. You give us all that we need that pertains to life and godliness, Lord. Your divine spirit has given us everything that pertains to that, Lord.

We thank you. Thank you. Through this darkness, you give hope. Yes, Lord, we believe that today, too. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. Oh, you're holy, too. You're worthy of our praise. Lord, we have lots of thoughts that go through our minds. And we know that distractions are so out there, Lord, as we worship and praise. But, oh, Lord, I know, man, the distractions that I find myself having.

But, oh, God, may we be focused on you. Oh, God, may we be focused on you this morning. The author and the finisher of our faith. We love you, Lord. We praise you. To the Lord God Almighty. We praise you, Lord Jesus. We don't even feel strength, Lord. We look to you to lift up these hands when we're feeble. Because we want to worship and we want to praise you.

We want to look to you. And it doesn't matter how we feel. I know that, Lord. But sometimes we don't feel whippy. We can still praise you. We can still say, Lord, I don't feel that. Lord, I don't feel whippy, but I love you. And I trust you this morning. Yes. See, I have my voice. That is, without you, we have nothing. Without you, we are nothing, Lord. It's like you said in Psalm 5.

Not in Psalm 5, but in the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5 of Matthew. You began, blessed are the poor in spirit. It has nothing to do with money. It has to do with realizing the depravity of us. And what we are without you, Lord. We're nothing. But we praise you and thank you. Would you all stand, please? Praise you, Lord. How great you are. Father, as we continue our service, Lord, may we just look to you.

May we be focused on the things of you. Speak to us by your Holy Spirit. Teach us by your Holy Spirit. Anoint Pastor Ryan by the Holy Spirit to bring forth your word. And we'll give you all the thanks in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you all. Have some fellowship. You could begin the process of finding your seat. Grab your bulletin. We'll get ready to go over some announcements.

Just a few things to take note of. Tonight is our intercessory prayer from 6 to 7 back in the Agape Room. So if you're able to, please come join us for that. A reminder that tomorrow night is the benefit dinner for Pastor Luke Wise. As I mentioned last week, Luke used to pastor. Used to pastor the Nazarene Church here in Arc City. Now he pastors the Nazarene Church.

And I still can't remember. He went back to his hometown. He's pastoring the Nazarene Church there. And he was diagnosed with brain cancer. And so he's battling that right now. Pretty young guy. Has some pretty young kids. So keep him in prayer. But also we're having this chilly benefit dinner for him tomorrow night to raise some money. To offset some of his medical expenses.

The Ministerial Alliance is putting it on. It's going to be at the Nazarene Church from 5 to 7.30 tomorrow. And then don't forget that the live nativity is coming up at Bible Christian Church. From 6.30 to 8.30 December 8th and 9th. And then if you signed up to be a participant in that. There is a sheet with your name on it out in the lobby. And then a reminder that the Women's Fellowship Breakfast.

Is coming up this Saturday at 8 o'clock at Daisy Maze. And then I need to have Janet come up and make a quick announcement about Operation Christmas Child. Good morning everybody. Okay so I want to thank you all again for the fantastic job filling shoe boxes. We so out did our goal. It was awesome. And I just want to tell you a quick story. As things go on.

The project leaders have a. A Facebook page. And I was reading through that this week. And somebody said hey. We're packing boxes with these stickers on them that have number 82. And does anybody know the story? And it was just. A really cool story. I don't know if I can tell it. But this young man. This young man's family. Put his football jersey number on their boxes.

Because he passed away. At 18. When he was. I think he was mountain climbing. And he was planning to be a pastor. Loved Operation Christmas Child. And so they fill shoe boxes and put number 82 on there. To remember him. And so. I was blessed just reading that. And you know. So we don't only just bless people. And just minister to people. In other countries.

This is a ministry that touches hearts here. In so many myriads of ways. But anyway. This Saturday. At 8.15. If any of you still want to go down to the processing center. Which is the next step for these boxes. We have a group going. And I have 40 spots. And some people dropped out. So I have four spots open now. Maybe six. I'm not 100% sure. But it's a good time.

Wear your silly hats. Come spend. We'll stay in a Holiday Inn Express down in Dallas. If you want to go. The room's about 100. With taxes and everything. $130. And we would love to have more people. I know there's always people who say. I don't know people very well at Calvary. This is a fantastic four plus hour drive down. You stand around a table. And talk to people for five more hours.

While we work. And then. You know. Ride back and get to fellowship some more. So if you're interested at all. Just grab me between services. And I'll be happy to give you one of these sheets. With more information. And you can pray about it. Thanks a lot. All right. Very good. Okay. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading this morning.

We are going to be in Psalm 3. Psalm 3. Looking at the New American Standard. So we sound the same. If you need a copy of the New American Standard. There should be one around you. And as you are turning to Psalm 3. If you would stand in the honor of the reading of God's word. I will read the odd verses. If you will follow along with Mason. With the even verses.

Psalm 3. A Psalm of David. When he fled from Absalom with his son. Oh Lord. How my adversaries have increased. Many are rising up against me. Many are saying my soul. There is no deliverance for him in God. Selah. But you oh Lord are a shield about me. My glory and the one who lifts my head. I was crying to the Lord with my voice. And he answered me from his holy mountain.

Selah. I lay down and slept. I awoke for the Lord sustains me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people. Who have set themselves against me round about. Arise oh Lord. Save me oh God. For you have smitten all my enemies on the cheek. You have shattered the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord. Your blessings be upon your people. Selah. And Father we do praise you.

That your blessings are upon your people Lord. And they're more than we can number. And so Lord we praise you for that. And Father as we spend time in your word this morning. Lord discussing how we can overcome our adversary. May we understand that armor of God that we have. Lord to be able to withstand in the evil day. So Lord give us the grace that we need this morning.

In Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. And if you would open up in your Bibles. To the book of Ephesians. Chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6. Today we come to part 2 of our series of the armor of God. Last week we looked at the battle. And today we look at the armor. We know that there's a spiritual battle that we all face. That spiritual battle is very real. Sometimes we fail to see that spiritual battle.

But it very much goes on around us all the time. And God has given us everything that we need. In order to fight on this spiritual plane. We were told in 1 Corinthians. That the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. But they are spiritual. And they are powerful for the pulling down of strongholds. And so we want to look at these weapons today. And so we pick up in verse 13 of chapter 6.

And this is what it says. Therefore take up the full armor of God. So that you will be able to resist in the evil day. And having done everything to stand firm. Stand firm therefore having girded your loins with truth. And having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. 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. And take the helmet of salvation. And the sword of the spirit. Which is the word of God. So there's two things that he gives us here. He gives us an exhortation. But then he tells us about the armor. The exhortation looks very similar to last week. And what we talked about. He gives us a command.

He says therefore take up the full armor of God. He gives us his exhortation to take up the armor. And you may notice he used that word full. To qualify how much of the armor of God we are to take up. We are to take up all of the armor that God has given to us. We must use all of the equipment. That is available to us at our very fingertips. Spiritually speaking.

Because if we don't use everything that God has given to us. We will not be prepared for the battle. So he says to take up the full armor of God. In light of the fact that we have a warfare that we fight. And in light of the fact that we need to stand. He says take up the armor of God. That you will be able to resist in the evil day. That word resist means to withstand.

Or to oppose. Or to stand against. Picture if you will a boxer who stands in the ring. And he is able to take the blows that come his way. And in the midst of all of it he still stands. He is able to withstand the evil that comes against him. And of course the last thing he says is to stand firm. He says and having done everything. Stand firm. So he gives us this exhortation to put on the full armor of God.

But now we finally come to the crux. This entire section is about what is this armor that God has given to us. What is this equipment that God has given to us. Well we are going to see that there are six pieces of armor. That are important that Paul tells us about. Now I will remind you of where he came up with this idea for the armor of God. And that is that Paul lived in the Roman world.

And as he lived in the Roman world two things were true. Number one war was a reality. Because the Romans were those who marched forward. Always looking to expand their kingdom. And they were a military led government. And so even their police force were military agents. And so seeing a soldier in his armor was nothing uncommon in that day. But not only was war a reality in the Roman world.

Soldiers were a reality to Paul. Because remember Paul wrote this letter while he was in prison. And so he would have been chained next to a Roman soldier. And I think my personal theory is that as Paul saw not only the armor that he wore. But had seen the armor of Saul. And the soldiers before. He asked the guard that he was chained to all about the armor that they had to wear.

And why these different pieces of armor were so important. Because that is the kind of guy that Paul was. He was a guy that asked a lot of questions. And so hearing all of this he began to do what all of us as pastors tend to do. We start seeing the spiritual application to the physical world. And so he brings this spiritual application to something that was very physical and visible.

To the people that were around him. Now luckily in our day and age the Roman Empire is still something that is brought up a lot. Matter of fact I was the other night. I say the other night because that can either be last week or seven years ago. But the other night I was looking for a movie to watch. Because there is just not much good on it anymore. So I have been scrolling back through some old movies.

And I came across that great movie Gladiator. We talked about this last week. And as I was watching Gladiator my wife goes I have a question for you. How much do you think about the Roman Empire? And I was like I mean every day. Right? Apparently there is this thing going around TikTok where wives ask their husbands how often do you think about the Roman Empire?

And every husband that is asked tells just how consistently how often they think about the Roman Empire. Because whether we like to admit it or not we think a lot about war. Because we as men, face it fellas, we are warriors. That is just how God made us. Right? God crafted us to be those who are aggressive by nature and warriors by nature. Therefore the greatest picture of warfare that we have seen in the last couple thousand years is the Roman Empire.

So we think about the Roman Empire. Right? And so it is great that these movies have always kept this in our forefront. Because whether you have watched 300 or whether you have watched Gladiator or you name the Roman Empire movie that you have seen. When we talk about these most of us especially as men we are going to be able to picture this. Because we have watched a lot of war movies.

Am I right? Can I get an amen? Amen. Right. So he gives us these six pieces of armor. And he starts off like this. He says, stand firm. Verse 14. Therefore. Which by the way as a side note I want to point out just how many times he has said the word stand. I think this is the fifth time the word stand is used. It might only be the fourth. But it is used often.

And we should pay attention to that. Because in a world where we are told especially as Christians to sit down and shut up. In that world it is time for us to stand. Right? And so he says. Therefore stand firm having girded your loins with truth. So the first piece of armor that he tells us about is the belt of truth. The belt of truth. Now the belt was a very important part of any Roman soldier's armor that he wore.

The belt would have been a leather belt that went around his waist. There would have been a leather apron probably coated in armor that would have hung in front of his groin area. And that belt was so important because it held everything else together. On that belt hung his sword. And on that belt was places where his breastplate would fasten to hold everything into place.

It kept whatever shorter flowing robe that he would have worn held tight so that nothing would distract him. Nothing would impede him from warfare. That belt was the central piece of his armor because it held it all together. Right? And so we are told to gird our loins with truth. To gird our loins with truth. We are to put on the belt of truth. And again, and I've pointed this out a lot of times.

Truth is one of the things that's under attack in our culture. And it's been under attack for a really long time in our culture. We tend to think that this attack on truth has only come within about the last 15 to 20 years. But really this attack on truth has been going on for centuries. Specifically in America since the early 1900s. When a group of people gathered in a room in New York City.

To figure out how they could infiltrate the United States with communism. And they found out that the best way that they could do that was through the public school system. By changing truth. Now I'm reading a fascinating book right now. This book is called The Beauty of Intolerance. And it's written by Josh and Sean McDowell. And if you have the opportunity, especially if you're a parent of a teenager.

You should pick up the book The Beauty of Intolerance by Josh and Sean McDowell. Because what they're doing is they're talking specifically in this one chapter. About truth. And the attack on truth. And what they do is they take it all the way back to the centuries. And they talk about the fact that truth has been under attack for a long time. As a matter of fact, there was a process.

There was a shift in thinking that took place. It started with the Renaissance. It moved into the Age of Enlightenment. It found its culmination in the Industrial Revolution. And the capper that was put on it was Darwinism. When Charles Darwin, who at one point in time was a theology student, believe it or not. Began to challenge the truth of God. And began to challenge the truth of creation.

With that shift of thinking, humanity began to not only have pride in themselves and their knowledge. Pride in themselves and their inventions. But with Darwin's teaching, they began to believe that because God was no longer influential. Because after all, either God is not real and didn't create us. Or God wasn't really involved in the creation of man. Humanity.

Men and women. You and I. We become the arbiters of truth. And we begin to decide what is true and what is false. At least based upon how you feel. What is true and what is false based upon morality. What is morally true and what is morally false. You move that into, that's called modernistic thinking. You move that into postmodern thinking. Which makes the individual, God.

And pretty soon, you. Determine truth for yourself. Now, the thing that they point out that's fascinating. Is that while many young people have given into this. The church is not exempt from it. As a matter of fact, many young people that grow up in church. Will not reject God. They will fully believe God. However, they will fully believe God. As long as he allows them to determine the truth of morality for themselves.

And they will believe in a God. Who will allow them to decide what is right and wrong for themselves. Because they are the arbiter of their own truth. Have you noticed the phrase that's used all the time? You see, that's my truth. That's my truth. Do you remember the phrase that went around for a long time? That said, perception is reality. Now, we say that and it's an interesting phrase.

But the problem with most people is they actually believe it. They believe that perception is reality. Well, the problem with perception. The problem with perception is it creates a pseudo-reality. Because perception is not reality. Perception is, wait for it. It's perception. It doesn't create reality. It creates a pseudo-reality. That if you choose to believe it will affect you.

They go on to talk about truth. And that truth has to be found in a person. Do you remember the question that Pontius Pilate asked Jesus? What is truth? What he didn't realize was. Is that truth was standing right in front of him. Again, I'm mildly quoting this book right now. I didn't come up with all this stuff myself. I'm not that smart. What they didn't realize is that truth was standing right in front of them.

Because truth is not a what. Truth is a who. Because Jesus is truth. Therefore, everything that we know to be true finds its root in the person of God. If you think about it, all truth was created the day that God created the heavens and the earth. Because he created objective truth. That's why we know that gravity is real whether we believe it or not. Because it is an objective truth.

An objective morality finds its root in Jesus Christ. Therefore, if you want to know the truth. You have to know Jesus. Do you understand why it's really important that they guided people away from truth? Because if you can create the perception of truth for yourself. Then you can truly be anything that you want to be. And now that means. A lot of difference.

A lot of different things. This book I believe was written somewhere around 2016. And it's fascinating to read it. Because of just how much has changed. In the last, what is that? Seven years. So much has changed in that amount of time. Especially as far as truth. It's like we hit fast forward. It's like the end of the Tetris game. Right? You guys ever play Tetris?

Remember at the end of the game when the little blocks start coming down. And you're not doing a very good job of stacking. This happened to me all the time. Because I'm terrible at Tetris. And all of a sudden the music would speed up. And so would the blocks. And they're just like firing down. Right? And you lose. And that's what's going on right now in culture.

We rejected truth. We created our own. And now it's sped up to a level that we can't keep up with. And the only thing that comes next is destruction. Right? So we have to put on the belt of truth. So what is the belt of truth? Well, truth is God. Sin. Or excuse me. We have to wear this belt of truth. And what is true about God? What is true about sin? What is true about the world?

What is true about salvation? And truth finds its root in God as he is revealed in his word. If you want to know the truth, if you want to be set free, then you have to know what this has to say. And brothers and sisters, in the church world it's no different. We used to be able to say, oh yeah, they peddle lies out there. But now, unfortunately, they peddle lies in the Christian bookstore.

Right? Because after all, they're doing good things. Right? He says, gird your loins with truth. The second piece of armor that he tells us about is the breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate of righteousness. Of course, it's easy to figure out what the breastplate is. Right? The breastplate would have first of all been a thick piece of leather that would have been

covered either in chain mail or some form of metal. Something that would protect all of the vital organs. Something that's going to protect your heart and your lungs and all of the other things that keep you alive. Because one of the greatest places that an enemy will attack is if they can get to your heart, they can destroy you. Because if your heart stops beating, you stop being alive.

Right? And so, one of the most vital things that we can do is, one of the most vital things a Roman soldier could do was wear this breastplate because it protected all of the vital organs that keep you alive. And so, Paul says that we are to put on the breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate of righteousness. The word righteousness literally means the condition of being acceptable to and approved by God.

And I believe that when he talks about this, there's two different types of righteousness that he's talking about. And I think they're both very important. It's interesting. When you read commentaries, everybody's got a little bit of a different opinion. Right? Some commentaries are saying the righteousness that he's talking about is the righteousness of Christ that we are clothed with.

Other commentaries say the righteousness that he's talking about is the righteous lives that we live. And then I came across this one commentary that I bore witness with. And they said, it's both. And I'm like, now that makes sense. Right? So let's talk about those two things. First of all, the breastplate that we put on is the righteous position. It's the righteous position that we have in Christ.

Go over like two pages to your right. Maybe not even that. To Philippians chapter 3. And I want you to look at verse 9. Philippians chapter 3, verse 9. It says, And that I may be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, which is derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ Jesus. The righteousness which comes from God. On the basis of faith.

See, that's the position that you and I sit in. And it's a position of great protection. Because once our heart belongs to Jesus Christ, it is protected by the righteousness of God. That righteousness of God that I am clothed with. And one of the greatest things that we can do is remind ourselves of who we are in Christ. Do you remember we talked about some of those attacks that the enemy brings against us?

One of those attacks being that he will cause us to doubt who we are. Well, when we doubt who we are, when we doubt who we belong to, we put back on that breastplate of righteousness and remind ourselves, I am clothed in the righteousness of Christ. I'm not who I want to be, but I'm not who I was. Because I've been clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And there is protection for all those vital organs when we clothe ourselves with that righteousness.

But the second thing that I want to say is, But the second thing that we talk about is righteous in practice. Being righteous in practice. And I do think this lends itself to that idea. One of the greatest places of protection that we have as believers in Jesus Christ is to yield to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to live out that righteousness in our lives. There's a guy that runs a ministry.

I've referred to him before. His name is Wes Bentley. He runs this ministry called Far-Reaching Ministries. And they go to the places that nobody else goes. They have people in all of the places that no one will go to in the Middle East, in Africa, all kinds of places like that. And he's a true warrior of a man. And he has a philosophy. And I heard him teach on this philosophy one time.

He says this, Obedience is the safety net of the believer. Obedience is the safety net of the believer. Because when we live in obedience, we are as safe as we can possibly be. We're as safe. And this is a guy talking about living in places that are incredibly dangerous, where he gets blown up sometimes. But his philosophy is as long as I'm doing what God calls me to do,

I will be as safe as He wants me to be until He calls me home. Because the safest thing I can do is live in obedience. And the safest thing we can do is live a righteous life. Because when you live a righteous life, the enemy can't attack you based on moral failures. Remember we said that one of the issues that the enemy attacks us with is moral failures? He wants to get us to slip into sin.

Because if we can slip into sin, it can either A, yield us unqualified or disqualified for the work of the ministry, or two, cause us to live in so much guilt that we become no good for the kingdom of God. And so one of the safest things we can do is continue, is to continue to obey God. I tell my daughters this all the time. The safest thing that you can do is do what I tell you to do.

Because what I'm going to tell you to do, I don't say because I want to keep you from having fun. I don't say because I don't know what I'm talking about. I only spout things that I know what I'm talking about. If I don't know, I'll say, that's a great question. I don't know. But what I know, I'm going to tell you, and I'm going to get jumping up and down about it.

Because I know that the safest thing you can do is what I tell you to do right now. And it's the same way with God. Our greatest protection for our heart is to do what He has called for us to do. It's to obey in little ways and in big ways. And I'm here to tell you right now, if we don't obey in the little ways, you won't obey in the big ways. You can't just decide one day you're going to obey God

in this great big giant temptation if you can't obey God in all the little temptations leading up to it. And so he tells us to put on the breastplate of righteousness. Righteousness as in our position in Christ, but righteousness as in our practice, and the way that we live. Righteous in action. Number three. I tried to come up with a quick way to say this, but you just can't.

Have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. I was like, shoes of peace? Shoes of the gospel? Gospel sandals? I couldn't come up with a quicker way to say it. That's the best I got right there. Right? Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Again, let's talk about what the Roman soldier's armor looked like. Right? So, the sandals or the shoes that they would have worn

would have laced up to about the middle of their calf so it would provide support for their ankle, but also so that the shoes would stay in place. The underneath side of the shoe would be a thick piece of rubber that was studded of leather that was studded somehow either with small nails or pieces of metal because sometimes they traversed terrain that was difficult and they needed to be able to move forward. But also because sometimes when they faced battle they had to stand still. They were strong and they didn't want to slide backwards so their shoes were designed in such a way so that they could stand firm on a firm foundation even on the shakiest ground.

Those were the shoes that the Roman soldiers wore. And so for us, we are to have, as it says in verse 15, our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. The preparation of the gospel of peace. We're going to talk about three words there. The first word I want you to pay attention to is the word preparation. The word preparation. You and I usually think of the word preparation as being prepared

and that's not a poor translation of the word. It is what it means, but it has a deeper meaning even behind it that allows us to be prepared. The word preparation can also be translated a firm foundation. A firm foundation. Now I want you to think about something. If you're standing on a firm foundation, you are what? You're prepared. You're prepared, right?

Because you're ready for whatever comes at you. You're ready for whatever comes your way. When I was first learning how to wrestle, one of the first things that they teach you is they teach you a stance. And they teach you a stance because it's really important because if you aren't standing properly, if you don't have a firm base to stand on, then you're easy to knock over.

And one of the earliest things that they do is they tell you, stand up straight. And your coach comes by and he pushes you down. Because you're standing like this. You're standing flat footed. You're ready to get pushed down. Now before you think that the coaches are abusive, you land on a really soft mat that an egg won't even break on. So don't worry. No one's being abused here.

But that's what they do with you when you're learning. Because they need you to understand the most important thing you can do is to stand firm. And so you have to have a firm foundation which starts with your stance. Well for us as believers in Jesus Christ, we have to stand on a firm foundation because if we don't, we'll get pushed back or we'll get knocked down.

And so he says, have your feet shod with a firm foundation. Well what's that firm foundation that we stand on? The gospel. That's the second word I want you to pay attention to. He says, have your feet shod, have a firm foundation in the gospel. Well what's the gospel? Well the word gospel literally means good news. And we of course know that this is the gospel of peace.

So it's the good news of Jesus Christ. You should have a firm foundation in the gospel of Jesus Christ. How do you deal with discouragement? By standing firm in the gospel. How do you deal with condemnation? By standing firm in the gospel. How do you deal with doubt? You stand firm in the gospel. Because the gospel of Jesus Christ says, even though you were a terrible sinner,

Jesus came to die for you. And once you've put your faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, you've been set free. You've been forgiven. And you now belong to Jesus. And you have to stand firm in that foundation. You have to stand firm in who you are. Because your enemy comes at you and he's going to come at you with everything possible. And the best thing that you can do is get in a stance and stand firm.

And the only way that you can stand firm is on the gospel of Jesus Christ. But there's a third word to choose there. He says, have your feet shod with the preparation. That's a firm foundation. With the gospel, that's the good news of Jesus Christ. But you notice how he defined that gospel? The gospel of peace. What does it mean to stand firm in the gospel of peace?

Well, the gospel of peace means two things. It starts off, first of all, with having peace with God. Having peace with God. That's the first step of the gospel. When you come to Jesus Christ and you accept him as your Lord and Savior, you go from being at war with God, because we need to understand that if you're an unbeliever, you are at war with God. He's not at war with you, but you're at war with him.

And until you surrender to him, through the gospel, you will always be at war with God. But once you surrender to him through the gospel of Jesus Christ, through faith, you now have peace with God. You signed a peace treaty. And everything's good. But the longer that you walk with Jesus and the firmer that you stand in the gospel, not only do you have peace with God,

but you have the peace of God. You see, the moment that you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have peace with God. The peace of God's a little bit different. Sometimes that one takes a little time. And unfortunately, sometimes in our lives, the peace of God comes and goes. You know why the peace of God comes and goes? It's not because God withheld it.

It's because you stopped standing firm in the gospel. And I'm not trying to condemn anybody. Listen, I've been there. I've been there where I'm like, Lord, I lose the peace of God until I get back to standing firm in the gospel of Jesus Christ. But Lord, I know that I belong to you. And no matter what happens, I'm still yours. And I'm going to rest in that.

And the more that you can rest in that, the more you have the peace of God. He says, have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Number four is the shield of faith. Notice what it says in verse 16. In addition to all, in other words, continuing to add to, take up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Again, let's talk about the Roman soldier's shield. There were two different types of shields usually that you would see a Roman soldier carry. One was a small round shield. That's not the kind of shield that's being spoken of here. The other is the shield that the heavy infantry would carry. That shield was about two and a half feet wide and about four feet tall.

It was designed in such a way that they could crouch down behind it and hide from all of literally the fiery arrows. That were shot at them. Again, if you've seen the movie Gladiator, you know in the very opening scene, there's a battle. And the first thing that they do is they unleash a whole bunch of arrows and those arrows are all dipped in pitch and then set on fire.

And they all hold up their shields in such a way that the arrows hit the shield. Now the shield was designed as a thick piece of wood and over the wood was, the wood was overlaid with a leather that was soaked in something that would help to extinguish the fiery arrow. Now I learned something and that's that they would shoot these fiery arrows for two reasons. Of course, first of all, to kill anyone that it would hit.

But the second thing was to create confusion. Because as the fiery arrow came at you and it hit your shield, the fear would be that the shield was on fire. And the goal was to get them to drop their shield because there's confusion that was created and begin to run, which would leave them open. And the third reason was to get them to attack, which is why he says, take up the shield of faith.

And so, and I found that to be fascinating because the enemy does the exact same thing to us. Holding onto the shield was imperative for the Roman soldier and holding onto the shield is imperative for us. And so our shield is not a large wooden piece of armor coated in leather that will extinguish the fiery darts of the enemy. It's a shield that emits light and it is called a shield of faith and it is swear and a curse.

I believe that all the words are based on the word faith. The word faith is used to refer to the conviction of one's faith. To be sure, I don't think that it's a word that I've read much in the Bible but I've read a lot in the Bible and the word faith is always referred to as faith. And one of the words the Lord said is faith. This is what he wrote. Faith. Faith is faith.

when you sat down in that chair, you exercised faith, you had the conviction of the truth of the fact that that chair would hold you up. And so you exercise faith by sitting on the chair. Anybody ever walked into a room and seen a chair and gone, I don't think so. That one won't hold me. I've eaten more brownies than I used to. And that chair looks a little bit shaky. I'm not going

to do that thing, right? Like that's, I mean, sometimes we do that. I've done that before. I've looked at a chair and gone, no, that's made for a two-year-old and I'm not going to make that work, right? But when you came in here and you exercise faith, you believe that chair was going to hold you up. Well, that's what faith is. It is the conviction of the truth of anything.

So what is our faith supposed to be in? Well, we have faith in God. We have faith in his word. We have faith in who I am in Christ. Those are the things that we put our faith in. Because listen, the enemy is hurling fiery arrows. We talked about some of them last week. He wants to hurl discouragement. And doubt and confusion and all for the sake of confusion. He wants to keep us off our game

because if he can get us off our game, if he can get us to drop the shield and run, then we're vulnerable to every other attack. Faith always seems like a great thing until we actually have to put it to the test. Faith seems like an easy thing until we actually have to decide, I'm going to believe even though I don't feel like it. I'm going to believe even though it doesn't make sense right now. Even

though this doesn't feel comfortable to me right now, I am going to continue to believe what God has to say. I'm going to continue to hold up the shield because the shield not only is able to stop the fiery arrows, but did you notice the word that was used there? It's used to, look at it again, extinguish the fiery arrows. In other words, it not only protects, but it also protects us from the fire of the enemy. And that's what faith is all about.

It's not only protecting us from the stick of the arrow, but it puts out the fire that comes along with it. That's how great the shield of faith is that we carry. So we are to take up the shield of faith. Number five, he tells us to take up the helmet of salvation, the helmet of salvation. Again, there were two different types of helmets that Roman soldiers wore.

One was a piece of leather that had a metal band that went around the back of the helmet. It went around the forehead, but that was not the more common one. The more common one was the full metal helmet that they wore to where the only thing that was exposed was the eyes and the nose. The inside of the helmet would have been lined with either some sort of leather or fur or even felt to protect the head from the metal itself. But that helmet would

protect against anything that would come against the head because the head is one of the most important parts, right? Our head is where we do the thinking. Head is what controls us. If you can stop the brain, then you can stop the heart and everything else, right? And so the head must be protected. And these Roman soldiers would wear a helmet that would protect their head. Well, he tells us to take up the helmet as well, but he tells us

not to take up a physical helmet that will prevent our heads from getting crashed by a sword or an ax or a spear. He tells us to take up the helmet of salvation, the helmet of salvation. Again, the word salvation at its root, is the Greek words soteria. Actually, I'm going to give you a $5,000 word here real quick, okay? You can impress your friends later. The study of salvation is called soteriology,

right? So use that in a sentence sometime. Oh yeah, the other day I was in the word and I was, you know, I was really looking at studying some soteriology and everybody will go, ooh, they're so spiritual. Anyway, so put that in your back pocket. The word salvation at its root is soteria. It literally means rescue or safety. To deliver or to save. That's what salvation means. Now, salvation, of course, is the very

central crux of the word of God, right? Everything in the Old Testament looked forward to salvation. Everything in the New Testament is based upon salvation. And we understand that in the New Testament, there are three tenses of the word salvation that are used. The first is the past tense. You have been saved. The day that you came to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior,

past tense. You have been saved. The day that you came to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, past tense. You have been saved. We call that justification, right? And so that's the first tense of salvation that's used in the Old Testament. The second tense of salvation that's used in the New Testament, the second tense of salvation that's used is the present tense. You are being

saved. You are being saved as you are being conformed into the image of Christ, as you are yielding yourself to the Holy Spirit, as you are working out your own salvation with fear and trembling, as you are. You are experiencing the salvation of Christ from the power of sin in your life. You are being saved. We call that sanctification. It has nothing to do with your position in Christ. It has

everything to do with you becoming more like who you are in Christ. It's sort of like the first and second halves of the book of Ephesians, right? The first half is your position, who you are in Christ as you have been justified. The second half is your sanctification, how you live now that you are justified, a sanctified, life becoming more like Christ. But there's a third tense of salvation that's used, and that is

the future tense of salvation. One day you will be saved. We call that glorification, being taken home to be with Jesus Christ. When he says to put on the helmet of salvation, he includes all three of these tenses in that. It's a somewhat neutral word that allows us to think of all of those because we think of salvation as being the thing that protects, our head. It's also kind of put like this. We are saved from the penalty of sin.

That's glorification. Brothers and sisters, you need to put on the helmet of salvation because a lot of the war takes place in your head. And you have to decide that you're going to believe that you are saved, that you are being saved, and that you will one day be saved. There's an amazing illustration of this that's given to us in the Old Testament. It comes

to us in the 23rd Psalm. In the 23rd Psalm, the psalmist David says, he anoints my head with oil. You know why he says that? Because when a sheep was dwelling out in the wilderness, they've got all this wool on top of their head, right? And there's bugs buzzing around, particularly flies. And what would happen to a sheep out in the wilderness feeding is that a fly would get

caught in the wool on top of its head, and it would buzz, and it would buzz, and it would buzz. And we've all had a fly buzz around our face, right? Can you imagine it being caught in your hair? I can't because I don't have any hair, but I can imagine what it must be like if I did and how loud that buzzing would be, right? So what the shepherd would do is he would take a horn of oil and he would pour it over the head

of the sheep. When he poured it over the head of the sheep, about three things would take place. Number one, it would kill the bug. It would kill whatever it was that was buzzing around in the wool of the sheep. Number two, it had a healing aspect, and it would heal any wounds because what the sheep would end up doing to try to kill that bug is it would actually start beating its head on the ground or even

against a rock to try to get rid of the buzzing sound. And so it would soothe any wounds that had come about from the sheep trying to deal with the sound of the buzzing. But the third thing that it would do is it would prevent future infestations because it would create a barrier on the sheep's head to protect it from any further infestations of bugs. And isn't it kind of interesting because where does the attack take place for us? Oftentimes, it takes place in our minds.

It starts with thoughts. Perhaps they're thoughts of moral temptations. Perhaps they're thoughts of doubts, confusion, fear, anxiety, depression, you name the thing. They all start taking place in our minds. Now, while I've never had flies buzzing around in my wool on top of my head, I have had thoughts buzzing around up in my mind that I can't get rid of. And I'm going to be real

honest. The thought of beating my head on the ground, I can't get rid of it. I can't get rid of a rock. It was there until I learned to put on the helmet of salvation, to know that I have been saved, to know that I am being saved, and that one day I will be saved. And it's amazing how that truth rooted in the word of God, preparation of the gospel of peace, once I put on that helmet

of salvation, it's amazing how I can handle so many of the other things that come my way because now I can think clearly to address anything else that comes along because I know that I am born again. And if God saved me and is in the process of saving me, I can believe that one day he will save me and deliver me from the presence of sin. He says to put on the helmet of salvation. And then number six, the last one, he tells us to, uh, verse 17 and take up the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Now, again, there was a couple of different swords that the Roman soldier

would carry. This one was the short sword. Literally, that's what this is described as. If you look it up, it's described as the short sword, about two foot long, double edged, easy for hand to hand combat, because when they would, move into that place of hand to hand combat, they needed something that not only could they wield easily, but that was powerful enough to take down the enemy. And so they carried with them

that double edged short sword in order to do battle. Well, you and I have a double edged short sword as well, and it's called the word of God. It's kind of interesting in the book of Hebrews, along those same lines, we are told that the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any, anybody know the verse here? Two edged sword. Kind of interesting, right? It's able to pierce between bone and marrow, between the thoughts and the intents of the heart.

You and I have a sword of the spirit that we carry. Jesus had a sword of the spirit that he carried too. Do you remember when Jesus was being tempted by the devil? When he was being tempted by the devil, every single time he responded, you know what Jesus used to respond to the devil? He used the book of Deuteronomy. He used the law. He used the word to respond to everything that the devil had to say. And he always responded,

it is written. You know what? One of the temptations that the enemy tried to bring against him was he tried to quote God's word to him. He tried to use his own sword against him. And you know what Jesus said? It's actually written. And he used God's word again. And we need to know something about the sword of the spirit. The enemy will want to use it against us,

which is why going all the way back to our discussion on truth, people today are, they're justifying things with the word of God. Do you know that the LGBTQ community has an entire Christian sect to it, quote unquote, and they use God's word to try to prove that they're right? I'm not joking about this. This is why you'd better know what God's word has to say.

You'd better know the word and be able to use the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Now, there's a couple of things that we need to know about the sword, number one, you need to know how it's used, right? You need to be familiar with the sword. Roman soldiers trained over and over and over again with their sword so that it became a part of their body. Matter of fact, if you go all the way back into the old Testament, he's not a Roman

soldier, but there was a, one of David's mighty men that when he was in the middle of a battle killed so many guys that it says his hand clung to the sword to where he could not let it go. It became like a part of his arm. That's how much he was using the sword in that battle. Now, we don't use swords anymore, at least not for the most part, but I do know some guys that are soldiers. I, several of my former youth group kids are

soldiers now. One is working on getting into the special forces in the army and other one's a Navy seal. And they've told me some things. And the things that they tell you is you spend a lot of time with your weapon. You strip it down, you put it back together. You get to know that weapon so well that it becomes a part of you. That's what your drill sergeant tells you. Get to know that

thing better than you know your mom, because you need to know that weapon. You need to understand how it works. And if we're to do battle with the sword of the spirit, you'd better know the weapon and you'd better know how it works. The second thing that we need to understand about the sword of the spirit is no Roman soldier ever defended whether or not his sword was sharp. He just used

it. So many times we're scared to use God's word because we say, well, what if they don't believe? Listen, a Roman soldier didn't care whether or not you believed if his sword was, sharp, he just stuck you with it, right? And any doubt was dispelled once it was plunged into your body. Oh, turns out that sword is sharp. Ah, right. But a warrior today doesn't defend whether

or not his gun can shoot. He just wait for it, shoots it, right? Because he knows whether they believe or not that that gun's going to work. He does believe it. So he's going to use it. And so stop worrying about whether or not you can defend your sword and just use it. Now in Deuteronomy, you don't need to turn there in Deuteronomy, but, but write this down. Chapter

32, verse 47, it says something very interesting. It says that this word that has been given to you is your life. Isn't that a great line? I wonder if you take God's word that seriously. I wonder if we take God's word that seriously. Do you view God's word as your life? And before you say yes, before you wholeheartedly amen me, which I want you to do, I love amens. But before you wholeheartedly amen me, I want you to think about whether or not

you say it's your life or whether or not you live like it's your life. Because we can all say it's our life. Oh, this is my life. This is all I do. This is what I'm all about. But you can't tell me anything about it. You don't know where anything is in it. You can't quote it to me. Matter of fact, I bet I could misquote God's word to you in several different places and a good number of

people might not pick it up. You know why? Because it's one thing to amen the fact that it's our life and it's a whole other thing to amen the fact that it's our life. And it's a whole other thing to amen the fact that it's our life. It's a whole other thing to live like it's our life. And one of the things that God continues to impress upon me is that I have got to get our church to believe that this is life and you need

to be in God's word for yourself. As a matter of fact, for next year, I am going to be putting out every week in the bulletin, a churchwide Bible reading program to where all of us hopefully are in somewhat the same place in God's word all throughout the year. That way, if you ever get together with a group of believers and you say, so what have you been reading in God's word? They'll somewhere be in the same location as you. It'll have a little bit of old, a little bit of

new, and you can decide, do I want to go through the Old Testament this year? Do I want to go through the New Testament this year? Or do I want to put my big boy, big girl pants on and go through the whole Bible this year, right? You have to do whatever's right for you. There's no condemnation either way. You just need to be in the word. But that's going to be, that's my vision for next year.

Is that we all be in God's word together in the same place, going through the same things. That way we are all on the same page and all hopefully in God's word. That's why I did an entire four week series over the summer on how to study the Bible for yourself. If you missed it, go to our website, calvarychapelarccity.org and look for the how to study your Bible four part series so that you can know and understand how to study God's word for yourself.

Because we got to get to know what the word says, because it's the only offensive weapon that we have. It's the only weapon that we have against the enemy. You notice everything else was defensive. I'm defending. I'm defending against the fiery darts of the enemy with the shield of faith. I'm standing firm against the attacks of the enemy, having my feet shod with the preparation

of the gospel of peace. I'm standing firm with my belt on that's holding all of my armor together. My breath, the breastplate of righteousness is blocking any attacks. The enemy against my vital organs. The helmet is protecting my head from any attacks of the enemy. I only have one thing to attack the enemy with, and that's the sword of the spirit because brothers and sisters, there is only one thing that will bring about victory over the enemy in our

lives. And it's not the next self-help book that you read. It's not the next, uh, it's not the next psychology book that you read. It's not any of those kinds of things. It's the word of God because this brothers and sisters is the final authority on everything. If you want to know truth, you better know the truth. You better know the truth. You better know the truth. You better know the

truth. You better get into this because truth is founded in God as he is revealed in these 66 books. And we have to know what it is because this is the sword of the spirit. He says, take up the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And so he's given us these six pieces of armor to use. There's a very real battle that we face and he's given us very real armor to use. It's up to you every day

to take up the armor. And to stand on the truth of the word of God. Amen. Well, this morning is communion Sunday. And so I want to spend just a few moments talking to you about communion.

Communion, of course, is the meal that we celebrate as believers in Jesus Christ that declares our one place of hope that declares our one place of salvation. And that is in the blood of Jesus Christ. Of course, as always on that last night of the feast, Jesus took that. Bread and he broke it. And he said, this is my body, which is broken for you. Take and eat. He took that cup and he said, this is the cup of the new covenant

in my blood, which is shed for you. And we are to take and drink. So we have before us here, two little cups stacked together. One has the cracker, one has the juice. And in and of themselves, there's nothing magical about them. There's nothing spiritual about them. There's nothing special about them. It's what we believe. That those are representative. Of the very hope that we have in Jesus Christ. They are the declaration of the one place

of hope. The one firm foundation that we stand on Jesus blood and righteousness. And so as we partake, we're told to do so in a worthy manner. And so as always, I tell you, if you're here this morning and you're not born again, you've never accepted Jesus as your Lord and savior. This meal is not for you. I'm not trying to be offensive. I'm just being honest. Bible says to warn. That's what I'm doing

is warning you. Now, the good thing is, if you're here this morning and you're not a born again believer, it's as simple as putting your faith in Jesus Christ, confessing your sins to him and accepting the work he's already done for you on the cross. The second way that we partake in a worthy manner is to make sure that our hearts clean before the Lord. We were in prayer back here this morning and somebody said, it's communion Sunday. It's

the day of repentance and renewal. And that's really what this is. It's a time of repentance and renewal where we, where we take time to search our hearts are better yet allow the Lord to search our hearts from this last month. And we pour out the things to him that we know are not right areas where we have failed areas where we have fallen short. And we rest in the fact that the same blood of Jesus Christ that bought our salvation

is the same blood of Jesus Christ that continually cleanses us from all of our sin. So I'd like to invite the worship team to come up and share this last song with us. And as they do, I ask that you would allow the Holy Spirit, to search your heart, to see if there be any wicked way, the ushers are going to come down and they're going to hand out the elements. As you receive your elements, please stand.

We will partake together.

Would you bow with me? Father, we come to you now. Lord, praising you for the sacrifice that you made for us or for your body that was broken. We praise you. Lord, for healing us with your stripes. Lord, for bearing in your own body on the tree, all of the sin of humanity. And Lord, for your blood that was shed for us. Lord, your blood that is so precious, cleanses us from all of our sin.

Lord, the foundation that we stand on. And so Lord, may we always remember and keep in mind, Lord, the greatness of the sacrifice that you made for us. We praise you, Father. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Let's partake. And if you would bow with me one last time. Father, we come to you now. And Lord, as we go out this week, Lord, may we put on that full armor of God. May we be able to withstand the evil one and to walk

in confidence and walk in peace. Father, we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed. Have a great week.