We've come now to the exposition of God's holy word and congregation. Let me ask you please to take your Bibles out and let's turn back together to Ephesians chapter 6. As we continue in our exposition of Ephesians, we are considering in these days the words of the Apostle Paul as it relates to the subject of spiritual warfare and taking upon ourselves the armor of God. And let me read in your hearing in Ephesians chapter 6 verses 10 through 13. The apostle Paul writes and he says, 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." Let's now join together before the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come before you now as we open your holy word. And Father, as we come to your word, we come as a people eager to receive the truth of your word implanted, able to save our souls. Father, we come today that we might receive your truth and that we might be enabled to not only believe it, but obey its teaching in our walk with you. We pray, Lord, that you would draw us closer to Christ, that we would realize the very real warfare that we are in, and that we would not give up our call for a truce, but that we would move forward in this warfare, seeking to war in the battle that you have placed before us. Father, it is our prayer that those apart from Christ would come to an awareness of their need of Him, that they might receive him, believe in him, and find forgiveness of sin in Christ alone. Father, we thank you for that salvation and we pray this all in his holy name. Amen. As we have been looking in these days at these verses here talking about spiritual warfare, we already have noted several things in verses 10 through 12. First of all, we noted the source of our victory over our adversary, and that is the strength of the Lord and the power of His might, verse number 10. Then we noted the reality of our adversaries, verses 11 and 12. The very last word of verse 11 speaks of the devil, and then verse 12 speaks of his associates. These principalities, powers, those rulers of the darkness of this age, these spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places, the devil and his demons. Then we spoke in verse 11 of the strategies of our adversary. We considered scriptural examples of the devil attacking God's people in the New Testament, just a sampling of a few passages in that regard. And then we considered some of those methods, those strategies. The word there for wiles is the word methadiah, where we get our word methods, that the devil uses. We said the devil is always active. He is always seeking to attack. And He comes and we must be aware because before we know it, He is on the attack in our lives. We said He uses our doubts. He tries to get us to doubt God, doubt the Word of God, the promises of God, the goodness of God. We saw that in Genesis when we saw the fall of Adam and Eve. We talked about how He uses difficulties. Think about Job. where there was that attack by Satan and all of those pleasures and blessings of life were removed, even his wife, his foolish wife said, curse God and die. And yet, even in those difficulties, he refused and he was fateful in that attack against the devil. We consider the idea that certainly he comes and tries to twist our desires, and we said that his primary tool is deception. The devil is a liar. He is the father of lies, and so he comes with subtlety, and he comes and he twists the truth so that it is somehow misunderstood. We must be aware of the wiles of the devil. Now we want to proceed today and look at verse 13 and we want to consider in verse 13 this idea of the armor of God. In verse 13 we have here presented to us the plan that we have given to us by God in this warfare and what is that plan? We are to take up the whole armor of God. And what is the purpose, verse 13, part B, that we may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. So in verse 13, we see the plan and we see the purpose that God has given to us. So first of all, notice again in verse 13, the plan laid before us. What are we to do in the midst of this very real adversary and the wiles of the devil? Paul says, therefore, take up the whole armor of God. Notice there he references that word therefore is pointing back to everything we just reviewed in verses 10 through 12 in light of the reality of our adversary. in light of the strategies of our adversary. Therefore, this is the command of God." And he says, notice verse 13, ìTake up the whole armor of God.î That word there ìtake upî is an active imperative. It is a command. This is not optional. It isn't something that you can do if you feel like it. It isn't something that is what we may decide to do or to leave off depending on the situation. No, this is an imperative. It is a command. We are to take up, take up what? Notice verse 13, the whole armor of God. We are to take up the armor of God in this warfare we are engaged in. Notice in verse 13 as he speaks of this, he says that we are to take up the whole armor of God. All of it, not picking and choosing. We will need every single piece, every element of the equipment that God has provided. It isn't a picking and choosing. It isn't a selecting. It is all of it that is necessary in this warfare. And then he says what it is that we are to take up, and that is the armor of God. Our spiritual equipment. Listen to the words of R.C. Sproul. R.C. Sproul, and I quote, says this. He says, quote, Paul takes common elements of battle garb from the Roman soldier and gives a spiritual application to each one. We need this armor for protection from the might of Satan. The whole armor of God is necessary, lest a point of vulnerability in some part of our body is exposed to the darts of Satan. Listen to what Dr. Curtis Vaughan says again in this regard. He says, quote, Paul employs the imagery of a Roman man of arms, fully equipped for heavy battle. It is the armor of God in the sense that it is armor that God provides. Each piece is furnished by Him. So when we think about this armament, we're going to talk about the pieces, obviously, but we need to always keep before us that it is the armor of God. It is what God provides for the people of God. It is the armament, equipment, that God has given for His people. So, what is the armor of God? Well, that is stated in verses 14 through 17. And we're just going to survey them this morning and we'll go back and look at these in more detail. There are six different elements that are given and only one is an offensive, positive element. The other are defensive in nature. We see in verse 14, he says, therefore, stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth. So the first element is the belt of truth. A loose tunic worn in those days was to be pulled up and tucked into the belt or you would trip over your tunic in battle. Secondly, we read in verse 14 of the breastplate of righteousness, having put on the breastplate of righteousness. This would have been a sleeveless piece of leather that was worn to protect your vital organs, like your heart and other vital organs. Then we read and notice in verse 15 about the feet, the feet shod with the gospel of peace, having shod your feet, verse 15, with the preparation of the gospel of peace. In the imagery of a Roman soldier, the soldier's shoes had nails in them to grip the ground. Think about football players or soccer players that have cleats. Why do they have those? Well, it's to grip the turf so that they won't slip when they're engaged on the gridiron. And so in a very similar way, you have this description here. Our feet is to be shod with the gospel of peace. Look at verse 60. We have here the shield of faith. He says, verse 16, above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. The shield gave protection, of course, from the attacks of the enemy. And then in verse 17, you have those final two parts. You have the helmet of salvation and then the sword of the spirit. Take verse 17, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. The helmet obviously protected the head, which was a major target in battle, as you can well imagine. And the sword was that offensive weapon here described as the word of God. So, congregation, whenever we think about this injunction, this plan in verse 13, therefore take up the whole armor of God. How are we to understand this armor of God? Well, several things I want us to say as we introduce this passage. Number one, we are to understand the armor of God metaphorically, not literally. It is to be understood metaphorically, not literally. It is not a literal, technical description of various elements that we are to take as physical objects in spiritual battle. An example of this, notice in verse 14 we read about the breastplate of righteousness. Now that's the idea of this breastplate protecting the vital organs. Here it is described as the breastplate of righteousness. But now if you will turn with me in 1 Thessalonians, just turn back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, you have Paul, the same author, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, using another reference of breastplate, but it is described differently. in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 8. He says, verse 8, But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. So in Ephesians 6, it is the breastplate of righteousness. Whereas here it is the breastplate of faith and love. These things do not contradict. It is simply an imagery used in these various contexts of those various graces that we are to have and be endowed with in the battle that we are engaged in. It should be very obvious. These are not literal pieces of armor. We are not trying to take these pieces of antiquated armor and somehow see them in terms of modern items for modern warfare. People talk about, you know, we need to put on the drone of truth or the bazooka of righteousness. No, that misses the analogy altogether. This would miss the application. It is a spiritual warfare that we are engaged in. These various elements, they refer to Christian virtues and Christian graces that are to be a part of our Constitution. Listen to Pastor Richard Phillips, a fine Presbyterian pastor. He wrote these words in his commentary. He says, quote, these pieces of armor are not truly items we can simply put on. as we would a helmet or a belt. Rather, they are graces we are to receive and habits that we are to cultivate in our discipleship with Christ. And that's how we are to understand them. These are graces we receive. They are habits that we cultivate in our discipleship with the Lord. So, first of all, how do we interpret the armor of God? We obviously interpret it not literally, not technically, but metaphorically, speaking of these Christian graces. Number two, not only are we to interpret these as metaphorical, representing something else, but we are to interpret them scripturally, scripturally. And what I mean by that is that we are to recognize these various elements of the armor are both an imagery of first century Roman soldiers, which was what Paul was referencing when you think about the imagery of these elements, but also These different elements of the armor have Old Testament antecedents. That is, they point not only to the first century setting, but as we're going to see today, all of these elements are rooted in Old Testament imagery. Paul was a man whose scriptures were the Old Testament scriptures. Amen? And he was a man of the Word of God. And these elements were elements that we find in the Old Testament. They influenced his understanding under the inspiration of Scripture. Now, there are two things in this regard that I want to say. First of all, the Old Testament often refers to God and His Messiah as a warrior. and his people as his soldiers in need of his strength and his equipping. And so the imagery here is pretty strong. Turn with me first of all in the Old Testament back to Exodus, all the way back to Exodus chapter 15. Exodus chapter 15 is what we call the Song of Moses after the crossing of the Red Sea We know the story of Exodus. God, through Moses, led his people out of Egypt, out of slavery and bondage. Praise be to God. They were emancipated from that setting. And in doing so, it was the mighty hand of God as the warrior, Jehovah, who led his people out of that bondage. And in response to this, Moses, that great deliverer and prophet, speaks of this reality. And notice how he describes it here, Exodus 15, just reading the first few verses. Beginning in verse number 1, ìThen Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord and spoke, saying, I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously. The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him. My Father's God, and I will exalt Him. Verse 3, the Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army he has cast into the sea. His chosen captives also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them. They sank to the bottom like a stone. Do you see here the imagery that Moses is invoking? He says the Lord has come as the great true deliverer, the great warrior for God's people. And he has entered into our spiritual battle and conflict with Pharaoh and his armies. And interestingly, look at verse 3. He describes the Lord as a man of war. Congregation, we must have this imagery of our God when we think about God. Amen? He is a man of war. No, not a mortal. But He is that which, as God's people's deliverer, comes and leads that great engagement with the enemy and ensures the victory that we have through God, who is a man of war. Look with me please in your Bibles over to Psalm 18. And again, we have this language of God and His Messiah being a warrior. And His people are His soldiers. And they need Him to give them strength in the day of battle. Here, Psalm 18 is a song of David when he was delivered from his enemies. And he writes in verse 1, I will love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust, my shield, there's that idea of a shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Now, there's the statement in general terms, but now turn down to verse 31 and listen here to how the Lord gives this armor and equipment for the people of God. David writes in verse 31, For who is God except the Lord? And who is a rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer and sets me on my high places. He teaches my hands to make war so that my arms can bend the bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand has held me up. Your gentleness has made me great. You've enlarged my path under me so my feet did not slip. I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them. Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed. I have wounded them so that they could not rise. They have fallen under my feet for you have armed me with strength for the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me. You have also given me the necks of my enemies so that I destroyed those who hated me. Here, David sees the Lord as that Lord who gives the equipment. He gives the armor. He gives the enablement so that we can fight against our foe and have the victory. Did you see how strong he states this? Verse 32, it is God who arms us. Notice verse 34, it is God who teaches our hands to make war. Verse 35, it is God who gives us this shield. And of course, that's an element of the armor that we have. Verse 39, it is the Lord who has armed us with strength for And so this is a very common theme found in the Old Testament. One final place I would ask you to turn, turn over to Psalm 35. Psalm 35. In Psalm 35 again we see that it is the Lord and His Messiah who is described as a warrior who arms His people who are His soldiers for strength. Psalm 35, verses 1 through 3. Again, a Psalm of David. Plead my cause, O Lord, with those who strive with me. Fight against those who fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler and stand up for my help. Also draw out the spear and stop those who pursue me. Say to my soul, I am your salvation. Here again we see this call of David in the midst of spiritual warfare. He cries out to God and he says, Oh God, I am reliant upon you in this spiritual engagement with my enemies. And I pray that you would be the one, verse 1, who fights against those who fight against me. Congregation, the battle is the Lord's. Amen? It's not simply our battle. We are not alone in the battle. Praise be to God. It is the Lord who is with us, who strengthens us, who empowers us. And apart from that in strength, As Paul says in Ephesians 6 verse 10, we would have no strength at all. And he cries out, and you see in verse 2, again in verse 3, these elements of armament that God as the warrior God gives to His soldiers in the day of battle. Congregation, we are warriors in a spiritual warfare. And the Lord is a mighty, vengeful warrior on behalf of His people. Amen? He is. The Lord Jesus is not a mild, winsome, effeminate figure. The Lord Jesus is not someone that modern Christianity has refashioned and repackaged so that it is palatable for the modern consumer. singing Jesus Is My Boyfriend songs when they gather. That's what you see in so many so-called churches today. A kind of effeminate minister with an effeminate Jesus singing effeminate songs to an effeminate God. No, what we find in the Bible is that God is a holy, avenging warrior. And we are His soldiers. And we are called to be about that battle of warfare in our day with all of the enemies of truth which are inspired by our adversary, the devil. The Lord God of heaven is an avenging, vengeful, wrathful God. Indeed, Paul says that through Jesus Christ, And through him alone, we can be delivered from the wrath to come. The wrath is coming. And we are the servants of God. We are the soldiers of God. And God is a warrior God. And we are to be engaged in the warfare that God has called us to. So whenever we think about the scriptural understanding of this elements of the armor of God, we should first of all remember that the Old Testament refers to God as a warrior, the Messiah is presented as a warrior, and we are His soldiers. And we do battle with the armament that God Himself provides. But now, secondly, I want to take this even more specifically As we think about the armor of God and how we interpret this passage, not only is God a warrior and we are His soldiers, but even these individual elements that we read of in Ephesians 6 find references in the Old Testament Scriptures, each and every one of them. So let's just look at this as we consider this today. Again, we're really just kind of introducing our text on the armor of God today. Turn back to Ephesians chapter six. And what I want to do is have you hold your place in Ephesians six. And then if you're dexterous and adroit, you can have with your other hand the ability to turn back in the Old Testament and we'll see the Old Testament references to these images, these elements of the equipment of this warfare. Notice in verse 16 of Ephesians 6, we read of this shield, above all taking the shield of faith. Now, you may have noted that already twice we have read about this shield in the references that we've already read from. But now, if you will, turn with me to Genesis chapter 15. Genesis chapter 15, and I want to read here in Genesis just one verse, the first verse, where we have this reference to the shield. Genesis 15 and verse 1. Now, most of us, we are familiar with this passage. This has to do with the Abrahamic covenant, and it has to do with that that dream where God moved through the pieces, and it was that statement of the unconditional Abrahamic covenant that God made with Abraham. But at the very beginning, notice in verse 15 these words. It says, After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Do not be afraid, Abram. and your shield your exceedingly great reward. Now in Ephesians chapter 6 we read about we need to take up the element of the shield. Here we read in verse 15, the Lord says to Abram that God Himself is our shield. The idea is that He is our protection from all evil. That's what's meant in verse 15 of Genesis. So here you have this idea already, all the way back in the book of Genesis, as God being personified. And in the imagery of an element of warfare, God Himself is our shield. He is the one who provides protection against all of our enemies. Now, turn back with me to Ephesians 6, and notice secondly, we're just going to kind of jump around in the text here, but look back up at verse 14, and we read about the belt. The belt. It says, therefore, stand therefore, verse 14, having girded your waist with truth. The idea of girding your waist is the idea of a belt. So do we have this imagery in the Old Testament? Now the rest of our references are all going to be found in the book of Isaiah. So turn with me to Isaiah chapter 11. Isaiah chapter 11 as we think about the belt. And in Isaiah 11 we have this reference to Messiah who is our warrior king, and we read in Isaiah 11, verse 5. It says of Messiah, righteousness shall be the belt of his loins, and faithfulness the belt of his waist. Congregation, we need to praise God that our Lord, our Savior, our Warrior Messiah has a belt of righteousness and of faithfulness. This is the description of who God is. No, Jesus doesn't wear a literal belt. He is marked by, personified in terms of being in all of His totality, in His person. He is one of righteousness. He is one of absolute faithfulness. And you have this imagery of the belt related to Messiah. Look back with me in Isaiah 6, and we read in verse 17 of the sword. The end of verse 17, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Well, where is that found? Turn with me back to Isaiah, and look with me please in Isaiah chapter 49. Isaiah chapter 49. Reading just verses 1 and 2, again, this is a reference to Messiah. It's messianic. And we read in Isaiah 49, verse 1 and 2, Listen, O coastlands, to me, and take heed, you peoples from afar. The Lord has called me from the womb, from the matrix of my mother, he has made mention of my name. And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand he has hidden me and made me a polished shaft. In his quiver he has hidden me. Here again you see in verse number two this reference to Messiah, his mouth is like a sharp We read of the Lord Jesus Christ, and out of His mouth is like a sharp two-edged sword. There's the reference here. And here again is this idea of a sword which is an element of our armor. A mouth like a sharp sword. Now, back to Ephesians again, just working through these six elements real quickly, seeing that they have Old Testament references and antecedents, we read in verse 15, of the feet. In verse 15, Paul writes, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Is that found in Isaiah? Well, look with me, please, in Isaiah chapter 52. Isaiah chapter 52. And the language here is very explicit. Isaiah 52, and we read verse number 7. 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. Here again you have this idea of feet shod and here is this idea of good news, glad tidings, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, the final two references here are combined in Isaiah, but if you'll turn back to Ephesians 6, we have two left that we haven't seen, and that is verse 14, the breastplate. We'll read there, having put on the breastplate of righteousness. And then verse 17, we read of the helmet of salvation. And take the helmet of salvation. Both of these references are found in a single text in Isaiah. Turn with me please to Isaiah chapter 59. Isaiah 59, reading beginning in verse 17 through 21. Again, this glorious statement of this deliverance that is found through Messiah. Isaiah 59 and verse 17, ìFor 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 adversary. recompense to his enemies, the coastlands he will fully repay. So shall they fear 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 to 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. Here again you have this language of God, the Messiah, being what? A warrior. He is a warrior. And we read of Him putting on the garments, verse 17, of vengeance. Putting on and being clad with zeal and fury, verse 18, and with recompense being brought upon the enemies of God's people, so that they will fear, and the enemies, even though they may come like a flood, they shall be thoroughly, completely, and absolutely annihilated and defeated. But notice, if you will, we have those last two elements, and that is found in verse 17. We've talked about the shield, the belt, the sword, the feet, and we see here in verse 17, the breastplate and the helmet. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head. So congregation, here we see the Lord is our Redeemer, taking vengeance on our enemies, and this language of warfare, of battle, And these very elements that Paul speaks of in Ephesians 6, this is the language of the Old Testament prophets to describe the engagement of our warrior king against our enemies. Listen to what G.K. Beale says in this regard. You say, well, is there any kind of a reference? Does Paul have in mind the Old Testament? Or are we just looking back into the Old Testament and picking out these elements and trying to find these different things, these armaments? Well, listen to G.K. Beale. He says, quote, The evidence for a direct and important link between Ephesians 6 and Isaiah is impressive. Besides the close verbal correspondence, there is also a close conceptual correspondence. And then he concludes, the evidence favors direct use of Isaiah. So congregation, whenever we think about these elements of the armor, we immediately always think of, well, that's talking about a Roman soldier. And that is true to some extent. But we also need to remember this is pointing back to something even more deep and profound. This is pointing to our warrior king, our Messiah, and these elements are the elements, the armaments, which our warrior king wears when he goes out into battle on behalf of his people. Again, Pastor Richard Phillips says this, quote, Paul's thoughts, whenever he speaks of these elements of armor, Paul's thought was always shaped by the Old Testament, and Paul's teaching here is mainly drawn from there. And so that's how I believe we should see as we interpret these elements, yes, they are to be understood metaphorically, obviously, not literally, not technically, they are Christian virtues and graces. They are to be understood scripturally, not simply seeing a first century Roman soldier, but seeing the Old Testament antecedents with our warrior king, our Messiah. And then thirdly, we should interpret these things Christologically. Christologically. These various armaments for battle are rooted in our relationship with Jesus Christ. And that's how they must be understood. They are graces that we receive from the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Paul is talking about. They are habits that we cultivate in our discipleship with Jesus Christ. These are not simply images, they're not simply elements that are somehow disconnected. They are all rooted in that relationship we have with Jesus Christ, that warrior king who wears these elements as well. Now, if you would please turn back to Ephesians. I know we've been going back and forth quite a bit today as we've seen this in the Old Testament But again, look in Ephesians chapter 6, that is, in verse 13, the plan that is laid forth in this spiritual warfare. We have very real enemies, and they have very real strategies, and so what is the plan? Well, the plan is take up the whole armor of God, and then notice verse 13, part B, we see the purpose. What is the purpose? It is that purpose clause that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. What I want you to notice there is the use of that word stand or withstand because it is a word that is actually repeated in this passage. In fact, notice back up in verse 11, Paul speaks of this. He says, as it relates to putting on the armor of God, put on the armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Then in verse 13, he says we are to take up the armor of God that we would be able to withstand in the evil day, that is in the midst of the warfare and the battle and the engagement with the enemy, and having done all, to stand." And then notice in verse 14, he uses this again. He says, stand therefore. And then he gets into the elements, the specifics of the warfare. What exactly does Paul mean when he speaks about standing here? Well, it is basically, as I understand this idea of standing, It is that perseverance that we are to have as soldiers of the Savior. We are to be persevering in this engagement with the enemy. We are to stand with no wavering, no falling, no retreating, and we are to be persevering and doing all that we under God's enablement can do, withstand, and having done all, we persevere through the grace of God, through the enablement and provision of Jesus Christ. This assumes congregation engagement with the enemy. This assumes a call to active duty. James says in James 4 and verse 7, resist the devil and he will flee from you. And that's what we are to do as we stand against our adversary. We are to resist him. We are engaged in a warfare against him. He will be attacking in every way he can. And we know some of his strategies. We don't know all of them. He's very clever in his methodologies. But we know that he is a deceiver. We know that he is always active. And we are called to persevere in the midst of this warfare. So next time, congregation, we'll look, beginning in verse 14, and we'll get into the specific elements of this warfare. Let's conclude with just a few words of application. Specifically concerning verse 13, we see here in verse 13 our duty stated very clearly. This is the imperative in this long sentence before us. It is that we are to take up the whole armor of God. It is a command we are to obey. It is not optional. We need all of it and the warfare is very real. And we need to be engaged as warriors in this warfare. We see, secondly, verse 13, part B, what is our goal in this? Our goal in this is not to defeat the devil, congregation. Why is that? The devil is already a defeated foe, amen? He's defeated. He is defeated. Satan crushed his head and he will be defeated and forever cast into the lake of fire. Praise be to God. No, our goal is to persevere in this life, in the engagement with our adversary, realizing that we are to stand and persevere as God's soldiers as those who would take up the warfare and the armament against our adversary. We know this is our goal and we are to know practically and personally this engagement on a daily basis. Really that is a question that we could ask ourselves as God's people. To what extent are you familiar practically and personally with this kind of warfare spiritually in your life. You know, you preach on a subject like this and some people say, that all sounds like a bunch of really silly talk. Taking up armor, having this invisible enemy called Satan and we're going to be battling with him daily and constantly, that sounds like silly talk. Congregation, if we know the Lord, we know that it is serious talk. We know that this is a real warfare. And so we as God's people, we need to be engaged and to the extent that we are, we know the reality of this warfare. It was said of Martin Luther that he was so aware one time of the presence of Satan in his private study, you probably have read the story, that he took up an inkwell from his desk and he threw it across the room as he sensed the presence of Satan there. Here, the great reformer, Martin Luther. Have you ever experienced something like that? A sense of Satan's activity, his engagement, his opposition? Some of us claim to be Christ, and yet we don't really have any enemies. We don't have any opposition. We don't have any struggles. I like what Spurgeon said. He said, the devil never kicks a dead horse. And I think that's so very true. He doesn't. Some of us are engaged in real warfare with the enemy for the sake of truth, and we are making enemies in this life. It is inevitable. You stand for the truth against the devil's schemes, you will not be popular with many, you will be hated by some. That is inevitable. Some of us will cower. who claim to be Christ's people. They want to avoid any kind of strong stand against the devil and our adversaries, because after all, their most important agenda is them being successfully at ease with their neighbor. Congregation, we have not been called to be at peace for the sake of truth. Amen? We have been called to be warriors for truth and this warfare is inevitable. We will have enemies. We will have people who will oppose us, people who will misunderstand us, people who will twist our words against us, people who will look for any and every reason to dislike us and to hate us. But if you're not engaged in anything controversial, everybody's going to love you and everybody's going to pat your back and say, oh, everybody loves Brother So-and-so. My friend, which category do you most find yourself in? Is it the category of opposition with an enemy and difficulty? Or the easy way where everyone loves you and everything is smooth sailing for you? Some of us need to realize that this call of warfare is not just some sort of a hypothetical pulpit prose, but a very real engagement that we should be engaged in against the enemy that is ours and the truth that we are to uphold. Some of us, on the other hand, need to turn to Christ and trust in Him. You don't know that you are engaged in a world where there is a real adversary because you haven't come to Christ in salvation. And for many of us, we never believed in any way in the idea of a devil until we were saved and then, sure enough, we believed in the devil. My friend, if you have not turned to Jesus Christ, the call of the Gospel for you, before you take up the armor of God, is trust in the Savior of God. Believe in Jesus Christ and find salvation in Him. And then you'll be called to active duty, living for truth, declaring God's Word in the midst of a wicked and perverse generation. Trust in Christ today and be delivered of your sin. Let's bow together in prayer. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you again for your word as we think on these vital and practical truths. Help us, Father, that we would recognize that this warfare is not optional, but that we all have been called to active duty. Help us to live as your servant soldiers who seek to follow our warrior king and seek to uphold your truth and to engage in a very real warfare against an adversary. Help us, Father, that You would help us to see that it is indeed not our strength, but it is the strength You provide, and it is available only in and through Your Son. Father, those who do not know Christ, may you, in your sovereign mercy and grace, open their eyes to see so that they would be enabled to trust and believe in Jesus Christ. Father, add to your church, bless your people, extend your kingdom, and may you receive all the honor, praise, and glory. And we pray all of this in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And for His sake we pray, Amen. Amen.