00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
the armor of God Ephesians chapter
6 we'll be picking up in in verse
13 and 14 is all we're going to look at as far as Ephesians
goes although we do have a few passages to look at I'm going
to pick it up for context sake in verse 10 and read through
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
Put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand
firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not
against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the
spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore,
take up the full armor of God that you may 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, and having shod your feet with the preparation
of the gospel of peace. In addition to all, take up the
shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all
the flaming missiles of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. With
all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit, And
with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and
petition for the saints. And we'll stop there for now.
Now, again, a little bit of review here, just because it's important
to get the context in case you missed it last time. But that
take up, again, take up is, again, an heiress imperative, which
implies take up the armor and keep it on. That's the implications. It's important to know that.
It's the exact same thing we saw back in verse 11 where it
says, put on the full armor of God. There again, that was an
aorist imperative, which means it's something you do in a point
of time, but the imperative being a command, you put the two together. It means put it on with the implication
and keep it on. Because let's face it, the battle
we're fighting is not going to stop. So there's never going
to be a day when we're not engaged in spiritual warfare. It's just,
you know, that's the life. That's it. That's the life in
which we live. That's the way it is. So we need
to be prepared for it. And what is it? Resist an evil
day basically means, and we looked at this last time, stand your
ground in the evil day. I want to start by looking at
1 Timothy 4. And we'll move on from there
and just really pound this truth home. I just hope I don't overdo
it. But like I say, if I do, then I just need less handouts
for next week. But 1 Timothy 4, 1 and 2 says, but the Spirit
explicitly says, in the latter times, some will fall away from
the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines
of demons. by means of the hypocrisy of
liars, seared in their own consciences as with a branding iron." Hey,
guess what? These folks are still out there,
okay? These folks are still out there.
Fall away from the truth. What does that mean? Does that
mean you lose your salvation? Is that what this is talking
about? No. What this is talking about is
those that have made false professions of faith. and then prove it by
their action. Let's look at Hebrews 6. Look at a few warning verses
here in Hebrews. Hebrews 6, 4 through 8 says,
For in the case of those who have once been enlightened, catch
these terms, who have once been enlightened and have tasted of
the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit. Interesting phrase. And have
tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come
and then have fallen away. It is impossible to renew them
again to repentance since they again crucify to themselves the
Son of God and put him to an open shame For ground that drinks
the rain, which often falls upon it, brings forth vegetation useful
to those of whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing
from God. But if it yields thorns and thistles,
it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up
being burned." That end analogy, it's almost like, remember the
sower and the soils, the wheat and the tares? Same principle
here. Same principle here. There's
going to be people that, at least on the human level, the mental
level, accept the gospel, accept the word. They're even joyful.
They express joy. And then as time goes on, it
just kind of peters out. Nothing there. you know and and
that's that's what seven and eight are talking about and you
look at their for those case who have once been enlightened
okay and tasted never really consumed it but they've tasted
it they've been familiar with it and even been made partakers
of the Holy Spirit well how does that happen well in that apostolic
age in the age when just miracles were running rampant. They saw
it. They witnessed it. They might even experience some
miracles. Remember when the 12 were sent
out and they did great things, working miracles, doing all that
kind of stuff? Does anybody remember were all 12 of those folks saved? No. It was Judas Iscariot. Right. He went out there and
he was a partaker with all of that. And he's the classic example
of apostasy. You talk about one who knew the
truth and then rejected it and walked away from it. That's Judas
Iscariot. He's the pinup boy for apostasy. I mean, if anybody was exposed
to the truth and rejected it, it was Judas. He ate with them. He walked with them. He lived
with them. I mean, just like the other 11. And so on the human
level, we say, man, how could anyone do that? Well, they do.
They do. As a matter of fact, look at Hebrews 10. Do you think that that's
something that we see readily? Or I mean, I know there's people
that we can talk to and they know the scripture really well,
but we can just sense that there's something maybe not quite connecting
with the relationship. before they fall away? There's
usually I say yes, but maybe not always just a little. Um,
a lot of folks are going to give telltale signs that, you know,
like there's something not right here. It's like, uh, we know
one lady, for example, that we know I'm not gonna throw any
names out there, but we, that's us, I don't know, anyway, that
never seems, comes to a lot of functions, but never seems to
have any joy about anything, doesn't seem to really grasp
it, you know what I mean? And then we knew a fella from
years ago, back in our early days as believers, I mean, we
got saved in that church, we're talking back in the 70s. Okay,
1970s, all right. And this guy, I mean, he could
not tell the truth to save his life. And, I mean, we kind of,
being young and not really understanding everything, you know, we even
said, like, man, this guy lies when he doesn't have to. You
know, I mean, there's nothing, but it's like he just can't tell
the truth. Well, there's a telltale sign. And so, yeah, we can spot
it. And those folks, you know, those that we need
to minister to, if we see that, and this is sometimes hard, go
up and say, hey, you know, are you, and talk to them and share
with them. And don't be surprised if you
make them mad. A greater level of accountability if you've been
exposed As a matter of fact, you read
in 2 Peter 2 and Jude. the little one-pager Jew, they're
talking about those very people, those that apostatized from the
faith and now go out there and preach against the faith. They exist. There's seminaries
full of those people. Oh, no. I mean, you talk about
apostasy. Princeton University, okay? Some of the theological giants
came out there. Warfield, Hodge, and people like,
if you're familiar with those people, they were there back
at the turn of the 20th century. And then when they were fighting
the battle, but like a lot of places, the battle was lost.
And Princeton does not even close to preach a gospel anymore. It
started that way. It started not that way, but
it started as a seminary. Yeah, so did Harvard, so did
Princeton, Harvard, the Ivy League, what we know as the Ivy League
schools. As a matter of fact, it's in their charter of Harvard
that, you know why they built Harvard to begin with? So our
preachers would not become illiterate. They wanted those preachers of
the gospel to be literate, that they could read the finer study
tools that were written in Latin and Greek And I digress a little
bit, but you go back 150, 200 years, and you know it was required
to get a doctorate degree out of those seminaries back then?
You had to fluently speak and communicate in ancient Greek,
in Hebrew, and some even Latin, and some even you had to have
a good understanding of what they used to call theological
German, because so many of the great commentaries back then
came out of Germany. And then when they apostatized,
look what happened to them. Wasn't too long after that, the
apostate movement in Germany hit that you had World War I,
World War II, and the rest is history, as they say. But that's
where it goes. That's where it goes. And I think
I'll move on now. And so in Hebrews 10.20, I could
make so many analogies Our present day situation in
America is pathetic. Okay, Hebrews 10 26 31 says for
if we go on sinning willfully after Receiving the knowledge
of the truth. There is no longer means a sacrifice
for sin, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment and the
fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries Anyone who has
set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony
of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do
you think that he will deserve who trampled underfoot the Son
of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by
which he was sanctified and has insulted the spirit of grace? This is not small language here. For we know him who said, Vengeance
is mine, saith, I will repay again, the Lord will judge his
people. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the
living God." Going back to Kendon's point, that's the point right
here. It's a one who knows the truth,
denies the truth, and has actually accepted the truth to a certain
degree and then just walked away from it. At this, at Applegate Church,
the gospel is preached. Truth is preached. If it weren't
so, I would not be here. Okay? This is one of those churches
that you do not want to die and go to hell from. The truth is
being taught here. Do not reject. The truth is being
taught here. Okay? It's like, remember back
in Matthew 11, when he says, woe to you, Chorazin, woe to
you, Bethsaida? That was where Jesus did much
of his Galilean preaching. It'll be more tolerable for Sodom
and Gomorrah than for you. You had the truth. They really
didn't. So, and again, that's just one of those passages that
shows you there's various levels of eternal punishment. There
really, there truly is. That's why they're all judged,
as we will be, based upon their works. Because there's various
levels of eternal judgment. Just like on our side of the
coin, there are various levels of reward. And that's a subject
for a different time. But, anyway. Okay, Matthew, I've
got on here Matthew 26, 14 through 17. I'm not going to go there.
That's a story about Judas Iscariot, where as they were approaching
the Last Supper, Judas was striking a deal with the priest, 30 pieces
of silver. We all know that. Matthew 24,
24, I won't turn to all these. Matthew 24, 24 to 28 describes
the same will, the same thing is going to occur during
the Tribulation period, which this portion of Scripture covers.
But let's look at 1 John 2, verses 18, and all of a sudden
our time is fleeting. Somebody slow the clock down,
will you? First John 2, 18 to 24. Children, it is the last
hour. Same idea as what Paul was talking
about, this is the last days, in the last days. This is the
last hour and just as you heard the Antichrist is coming, even
now many Antichrists have arisen. From this we know that this is
the last hour. If I had more time I'd even name some for you. They went out from, here's the
key, they went out from us, but they were not really of us. For
if they had been of us, they would have remained with us,
but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all
are not of us. But you, here's the difference,
but you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.
I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but
because you do know it. and because no life, no lie is
of the truth. Who is a liar? But the one who
denies that Jesus is the Messiah or the Christ. That is, that
this is the Antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the
Son. Little Trinity introduction there. Whoever denies the Son does not
have the Father. The one who confesses the Son
has the Father also. And again, one of the big primary
heresies that's already put out there is they attack the deity
of Christ. Or if you live in town, they
may still knock on your door. They gave up on me years ago. But now where I live, they can't
get to my door, so they're not worthy to make the walk. OK,
but there it is. How do you tell them? If they
just walk away and deny the gospel, that's proof. They never really
were. See, that's the key. It's not
a matter that they lost their salvation. There's so many explicitly
clear-cut passages of Scripture upon the doctrine of eternal
security or the preservation of the saints that a few verses, you know, that are in
Scripture that make it seem like the ones in, we read in, well,
the one in Hebrews, you know, have tasted and fall away, like,
you know, that make it sound like they might be losing salvation.
And those are the ones everybody that believes in that false doctrine
camp on. But again, it's one of those
doctrines, like so many others, you must interpret scripture
by scripture. And if you take all up, you put,
take all scripture and bring it together, the security of
the saints is real. Again, that does not give us
a license to steal, because then you might find yourself on the
other side of that equation, right? So anyway, OK, back to
Ephesians 6. And that one took a lot longer
than I thought. But anyway, it seemed so quick when I was reading
it. Yeah, that's OK. We got all the way to the rapture. oh the one that first John passage
yeah yeah cuz he was saying says he says you know there you know
there is an antique the Antichrist will come But for now, but as
we look around the world now, and we can say the same thing
today, but there are just numerous antichrists, small a, that are
here. And everybody that's an apostate,
antichrist. Anybody that is, well what's
the word antichrist mean? Anti means either against or
in place of, depending on the context. And both would apply.
There's a certain fellow in the neighborhood of Rome that says,
I am the vicar of Christ. I stand here in place of Christ. That's why Martin Luther and
the boys called him Antichrist. And that was during a time when
the Catholic Church was also the government. So many people
died as a result of that. But that's what they believed.
And they had the wherewithal to say it. and didn't care really
who knew it. They stood for it, and they went
to the fiery death, standing for it. But it wasn't the second
death. No, no, no. That's the one you
got to worry about. The second death's the one you want to worry
about. Again, the second death is a death that the true believer
will not experience. See? We will, in that sense,
live forever. We will not die a second time.
Some of us, thinking of the church universal, because it still could
be hundreds of years away, there's a generation out there that isn't
even going to die the first death. In an instant, they will be changed.
It could be us. You never know. You never know.
But even though the world's in a mess, even though the world's
in a mess, don't count on that to get you out of it. Don't run up the credit card
bill just yet. You may have to go face the banker. Okay, verse 14. 6. Stand firm, therefore, having
girded your loins with truth. Scripture kind of stresses this.
Truth, Aletheia, refers to the content of that which is true.
The truth of God found in the Word of God, I believe, is the
main context of this truth. Where do we find truth? I always
think of Pilate speaking to Jesus. What is truth? I have to think
he had a little bit of a scoffing attitude behind that question.
But a lot of people ask that question. don't know if they're
looking for the sincere answer, but what is truth? God's word
is truth. And then that's where you lose
a lot of them. But anyway, Pilate never went all the way, that's
for sure. John 17, that magnificent prayer, John chapter 17, 13, And this again, they call this
Jesus' high priestly prayer after the Last Supper. And in the upper
room there was some beautiful teaching going on. I mean, it
started in John 13, goes all the way through here. And now
this high priestly prayer, I believe they've left, they're out. I think the setting is they're
probably standing at the edge of the temple grounds, and Jesus
in front of the 11, Judas had already moved on, prayed
this prayer. He says, but I now come to thee
and these things I speak in the world that they may have joy.
Praying for the 11, we're going to find out for us as well. I
have given them your word and the world has hated them because
they are not of this world even as I am not of the world. I do
not ask you to take them out of the world but to keep them
from the evil one. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Sanctify, or set apart, sanctify
them in the truth. Your word is truth. And you did send me into the
world, and I also have sent them into the world. And for their
sakes, I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified
in truth. He was their shining example
of what that means to be set apart in truth. Okay? Verse 20. Here's where we enter the picture.
Okay? It says, I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for
those also who believe in me through their word. Okay? You follow that chain. All of
our salvations ties right back to these 11. Someway, somehow. if you could follow it back.
They're influence out there, you know? You can throw Paul
into the mix, too. But anyway. And verse 21, why? That they may be one even as
you, Father, are in me, and I in you, and that they may be in
us. that the world may believe that
you did send me." That's why it's so important. See, the unity
of the church is extremely important because it's the church the world
must look to for the truth. Therefore, we cannot let them
look at us. We can't control anybody else,
but just here at Abbot, we must not allow them to look at us
and see a confused mess. Okay. We got to get it and keep
it together. Yes. And at all times, because
that like Jesus says, you know, you are the light of the world.
You are the light of the world. So we I can sanctify it, it says,
we shan't not be dull bulbs, okay? We, huh? You can write that one
down. That was a quote right out of
Hezekiah chapter four. All right. Okay, having girded
your loins with truth, having girded to gird all around or
to fasten one's belt around. I know the old King James used
the word girdle, but we have a – strange pictures come into
my mind when I see that word. So it's like a belt. Remember
this is the armor of God. This is a belt. A belt that used
to go all the way around and a lot of times you had tunics
and stuff. This tightened up the tunics
and any extra cloth could be pulled up to that depending on
what the individual soldier was wearing. And also it had a function
that things like the sword could hang off of it. There was pouches
on it where special gear could be attached to it is extremely
important. The breastplate, which we'll
get to in a later lesson, would flop around without it. It could
be tied down to that belt. The belt just kind of holds everything
together. So that's why I believe it's
mentioned first. Because the first thing we have
to have on, if we're going to battle Satan's kingdom, is truth. Don't go out there with error.
It's not going to get the job done. Matter of fact, we'd be falling into
his trap. So we must have, and know, and understand, and promote
truth. Truth. Truth. OK? And again, this act having girded,
the act of the grammar says the act of putting on the belt is
the soldier's own action. It's not the Lord doesn't put
your belt on for you. You must, like the armor, we
must take it up. We must take it up. Put it on.
It's out there. It's for us. This armor is out
there. We don't have to go find it. It's there. It's out there. It's there. Just put it on. Use
it. See? Use it. And again, like we said
last week, we need to use all of it. See, the lack of truth. As a
matter of fact, I want to look at 1 Peter 1.13 before we move
on. I can just read it real quick,
1 Peter 1.13 says, Therefore, very similar concept here, gird
your minds for action. Keep sober in spirit, fix your
hope completely on the grace to be bought to you at the revelation
of Jesus Christ. Notice, that's Peter's way of
saying, gird up your minds, just get the junk out, gird up your
minds, get prepared, And the grace of God is going to carry
us to the end. That's a loose explanation of it, but that's
basically what it's saying. Now the lack of, again, the lack
of truth is characteristic of the world system. And we may
not get any farther than this one today, but that's okay. I don't mind finishing next week
and then moving down and just keep adding armaments in as we
go because this is this is critical you know and and I look at it
this way too when you get to a passage like Ephesians 6 with
the armor of God at my age I may never get back to this one again
so you know the shoes could turn up this
week I don't know Jeremiah, you're right, I shouldn't. Jeremiah chapter 7. Now here's
an example of unbelieving Judah. Jeremiah, the scene here in Jeremiah,
the Babylonian captivity, quite frankly, was looming in the near
future. Israel, the northern kingdom,
had already been taken into captivity by Syria. So they're pretty much
gone. As a matter of fact, the Judah
itself has been under siege also. So their time is getting very
short. Jeremiah 7, 26. Remember, these are God's people,
right? 26 through 20 says, speaking of them, it says that they did
not, yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but
stiffened their neck. They did evil more than their
fathers. Now that's saying something.
Remember, their fathers in the world is what they do. They built
idols. So did these folks. Right? Remember the golden calf? And
they kept doubting God and not believing God. So they wandered
for 40 years. They sent the spies in. The spies
said, oh, we're like little grasshoppers. OK, grasshopper, stay in the
desert. For 40 years, the next generation
went in. So anyhow, verse 27, and you
shall speak these words to them, but they will not listen to you.
And you shall call to them, but they will not answer you. And
you shall say to them, this is the nation that did not obey
the voice of the Lord their God or accept correction. has perished
and has been cut off from their mouth. You know that awful thing
to say about God's people? Truth has died and has just fallen
out of their mouth. There's nothing there, man. Nothing
there. God's own people. Absolutely. They're digging in
their heels and they're just rejecting God's word, rejecting
the word of the prophet. Yep, that's that stiff neck means
just you can just kind of just see like they're digging in their
heels saying no, just flat saying no, saying no to God. Nine, again in Isaiah, or excuse
me, Jeremiah, if I can turn that last page. Nine three through
six says, this one's kind of, he's saying the same thing, but
they, and they bent their tongue like their bow. lies and not
truth prevail in the land. For they proceed from evil to
evil, and they do not know me, declares the Lord. Can you imagine
that? They do not know me, declares the Lord. Let everyone be on
guard against his neighbor, and do not trust any brother, because
every brother deals craftily. and every neighbor goes about
as a slanderer. See lies and see falsehoods just
rule the day. And everyone deceives his neighbor
and does not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue
to speak lies. They worry themselves committing
sin. Can you imagine? They commit sin on such a high
frequency that they exhaust themselves sinning. I mean, what a negative
testimony this is. He says, your dwelling is in
the midst of deceit. Through deceit, they refuse to
know me, declares the Lord. That is why the Babylonians came
in and took them camp. It's just that simple. God will
judge sin. Daniel 11, we're in the prophets,
Daniel 11, 27. Here's one, the scene is, here Alexander who died a young
death Alexander is gone as a result of his passing the nation was
split up into four pieces among four generals and then later
through time you had here you have two of those folks this
is not the the original four but you have the area of Syria
which were the Seleucids, and then you have the area of Egypt,
which were the Ptolemies. If it doesn't make sense, don't
worry about it. That's their name. And so now here you have
two of these people that are going to sit around the negotiating
table, and if this does not sound like today, I'd like to know
why. For both of these kings, right? Verse 1127, as for both
kings, their hearts will be intent on evil. There's both of them.
And they will speak lies to each other at the same table, but
it will not succeed, for the end is still to come. It isn't
at a point in time." You see these guys, two foreign leaders,
sitting together at the negotiating table, lying to each other. Neither
one of them has any intention of living up to anything they're
saying. They're all trying to snooker the other guy, you know,
and get the advantage so they can drop the hammer on him, right? Does that sound anything remote
to you? Good restraint, Bob. Good restraint. Oh, man. And I will not make
any analogies to our Congress. But anyhow. And then John chapter
8, you had the Jewish leadership. OK. Let's look there. We'll finish with John 8 and
Romans 1. It's always a fun place to end. beginning with verse 43. Jesus, again, speaking – this
is the middle of the conversation he's having in with his critics,
who were constantly there. We see it in, when those of you
that went through John with us, we saw it there. We're seeing
it already as Will takes us through Mark, and you're going to be
seeing more and more of it. I mean, it's just like, it's
like every chapter he's confronted with another, you know, doubter,
another attacker verbally to begin with. John 843, why do you not understand what
I'm saying? And he answers his own question, because you cannot
hear my word. You are of your father the devil,
and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer
from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there
is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he
speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of
lies. But because I speak the truth,
you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me
of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me? He
who is of God hears the words of God. For this reason, you
do not hear them because you are not of God." Folks, that
hasn't changed. You know why they reject the
gospel? They're not of God. Godless people want no part of
it. But that doesn't change what
we do. We as a church are commissioned to put forth the gospel, and
just expect that many, depending on how far afield you go, the
majority of people you share with will reject. That's just
the way it is. You should go on a door-to-door
campaign. It's kind of tough in this day and age. But with
Cujo out in the front yard, you know, people protect their, they
just don't let you up. They don't, that's. You mean
a hockey player? Huh? But, But I remember going door to
door and, gosh, one out of a couple hundred is all that's going to
do anything even remotely positive. That's just the way it is. That's
just the way it is. And so don't let that dim your spirits at
all, because that's the way it is. we're the minority here we
are the you know you look throughout scripture God's people have always
been the remnant we've always been described as being the remnant
and just just know that that's what it is but you know because
that is what it is that God's people are the remnant be real
thankful that we are part of that remnant because you just
look at human odds odds are we wouldn't be see that from human
logic by God's divine purpose he called us and chose us. Okay. Well I'll tell you what, you
know I almost, I will, I downloaded some pictures I'll bring them
in next week that shows a fully geared up first century Roman
soldier. It's all in the front. It is.
There's nothing on the back. Yeah. If you run, you deserve
to die. That was Rome's philosophy. I
don't think that's quite what you meant. No, that's not what
I meant. What I meant is my kids would understand somebody in
armor. They'd understand that. But the relative sense of what
each one of these pieces of armor stands for. Well, that's exactly
what I intend to do. And why it's important, yeah. What is it? How do I deal with
it? What do I do? And why is it important?
Well, it took us 20 minutes to get halfway through truth. And
that's the bill. So no, I appreciate it. I'm glad you brought that. Because
sometimes you think, as a teacher, sometimes you think, am I doing
too much, too little? You know what I mean? And you
want people to get it, but you don't want to, you know, you're
going to bore some. So you say, just pedal to the
metal, huh? There's two. When two are gathered,
no. OK. It's a done deal. We will, no skimping. No skimping. I do want to get
the last one about the majority of mankind. Romans 1. And this passage pretty much
speaks for itself. Romans 1, 18 to 25. And this
is the unsaved world's reaction to truth. Reaction to God. This
is their mindset. Romans 1, 18 to 25. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
suppress the truth in unrighteousness." They don't just unbelieve or
disbelieve. They actually suppress the truth.
And it means just what it sounds like. You just picture a guy
just pushing the truth down. Like in the swimming pool, pushing
that beach ball underwater. Go ahead. But the truth's going
to pop up anyway. But they suppress the truth.
They suppress the truth. That's what they're doing. They're
suppressing the truth. Because, verse 19, that which is known
about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them.
How in the world? Every human being, the worst,
pick your worst person you can think of in world history, even
that person was made in the image and likeness of God. But only the believer can live
up to that image. For, verse 20, since the creation
of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power, his divine
nature, has been clearly seen, being understood through what
has been made, so they are without excuse. A person who is truly
seeking God can see that there is a God just by looking at creation
itself. Creation itself. Logic tells
us there must be a God. This just didn't blow up and
happen, even though some say it did. Some marvelous scientists
say it did. Really? Come on, guys. With about
half the alphabet trailing after your name, you should be able
to come up with better than Oh, we had an explosion billions
of years ago. Okay, thanks. Okay. For even though, verse
21, they knew God, they did not honor him as God, or give thanks,
but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish
heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became
fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for
an image in the form of corruptible man as of birds, four-footed
animals, and crawling creatures. In verse 24, it says, Therefore
God gave them over to the lusts of their own hearts to impurity,
that their bodies might be dishonored among them. And they exchanged
the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature
rather than the Creator. I mean, who is blessed forever. Amen. The Creator, not them.
Okay. And I'll tell you, isn't that
what you see today? Today they're a little bit more
sophisticated, so they don't carve up images and bow down
to them yet. Although, wait and see. As societies
keep depraving, don't be surprised what might pop up. I know in the church, Catholic
church, people sat down in front of those statues and are praying
very fervently. If I tossed a rock at one of
those lifeless statues, this was just a saint. They'll come
after you. So that's one of the reasons,
even as a crazy kid, I never did it. But anyway, we better
close in prayer or they're going to come with the hook, knocking.
Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for this time. And again,
we thank you, Lord, for your truth. And Lord, may we, your
people, live your truth and portray your truth to the world in Jesus'
name and for his glory. Amen.
The Armor of God -part 2
| Sermon ID | 522221537301907 |
| Duration | 45:34 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Ephesians 6:13-14 |
| Language | English |
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.