Well, let's go ahead and open our Bible over to Ephesians chapter 6. We started last week a short series called The Invisible War. And this Invisible War, you know, I was thinking about the way they make movies and oftentimes the sets, particularly what is outside. uh... when people are making movies you'll have these they seem like now sometimes they are actual buildings but many times they're simply facades that are there they're simply the front of a building that's being held up in the back and really behind there's all kinds of stuff behind but you don't see that you only see what is on the surface and that's really a lot like the way life is a lot of the the things a lot of the problems a lot of the people that we think are the problem are really many times, not to say they don't have a will, they do, but many times they're not technically the enemy, they're victims of the enemy, they're objects of the enemy, and we need to understand that, particularly when we are dealing with lost people. Now, there are evil lost people. We understand that. But I think the majority of lost people are simply blind to the truth. They have been blinded by religion. And this is what the battle is about, this invisible war that's being fought, this spiritual war that is going on. What's the purpose? Well, it's for the souls of men. In other words, Satan, the devil, is trying to keep people from trusting Jesus Christ as their Savior. And as we started this last week, I'll give just a very quick review. But we are looking here in Ephesians 6, we're looking at the issue of the armor, the spiritual armor of the believer. But understand that when we look at the armor of the believer, it's not an end in itself, OK? There's a reason for the armor. Soldiers put on armor to do battle. They don't put on armor to be comfortable. Armor is not comfortable. It's weighty, it's heavy, it's uncomfortable, it's hot. You know, I think of the amazing amount of stuff that our soldiers in the Iraq war and in Afghanistan, all the stuff that they wore and have to wear all the time. And it's this huge amount of weight that they're carrying. And it's very uncomfortable, but they have to have this stuff on. It's not there by accident, okay? It's all been designed, and in the minds of our military, it's all necessary for them to do battle properly. So it's the armors isn't so that we can live lives of success from a human perspective It is so we can be good soldiers in the battle that is before us All right, and so it says in ephesians 6 verse 10 It says finally my brethren be strong in the lord and in the power of his might All right now in review You notice here first we are to find our strength in the lord and not in ourselves That is where we get the strength. It's not even, okay, let me in my mind put these things on, and so we go through this mental exercise, and I'll say more about that in just a minute. No, really, the idea is, the bottom line, really, is to be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. We don't find the strength in ourselves, we find it in the Lord. Don't be like one of these ignorant people who has this idea that because they're saved, they can become cocky with the devil. All right? He is much, much more wise than we are, okay? He's much smarter than we are, and he is very, very powerful. And there's many instances, you can hear stories to where Christians have haphazardly dealt with people involved who had demons and so forth, and the frightening things that believers have gone through. Not from the inside, because demons can't get into the believer, but from the outside. They're real. They're powerful. Understand, demons are fallen angels. They're supernatural beings. And you don't want to mess with them. Now, that doesn't mean we should be afraid of them, but we ought to have a proper focus, a biblical focus. The Bible says, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. And so we know we have the Holy Spirit in us as believers, so we know we have the Lord. But nevertheless, with that, the fact that we have the Lord, we are to find our strength in him and not in ourselves. Verse 11, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. The wiles, the strategies of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. Look at this, against spiritual wickedness in high places. It doesn't say political wickedness in high places. It's a spiritual wickedness. Why? Because the evil in the world, there is somebody tempting and somebody moving and somebody giving the ideas to the people of the world to be involved and make evil decisions and so forth. And so we are to find our strength in the Lord, not ourselves. But secondly, we are to put on the whole armor of God. And this speaks of completeness, the whole armor, completeness. Third, we are to do it so that we can stand against the wiles or the schemes or the strategies of the devil. In other words, Satan has a plan and he has many smaller plans to get to that final achieving that he has so he can succeed. And so last week we talked about, he was gonna try to keep people blind to the gospel and there are several methods that he uses and we discussed these last week. Now understand, And again, I'm reviewing by this. Understand, I do not believe, and I think scripture bear this out, the main focus of the devil is not the lost. The main focus of the devil is the saved. It is the saved. Because the lost are right where he has them. What do they have to do to end up in hell? Not one thing. They are condemned already. What he wants, his focus is to work on the Christian because if he can get us to never share the gospel, to keep our mouths shut, that is success for him because faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. If people don't hear the plan of salvation clearly, faithfully, they're never going to get saved. They're never going to get saved. And it's amazing how many believers there are today who they were excited when they got saved, but now they really couldn't care less about sharing the gospel. It never crosses their mind in sharing the gospel. And not only that, but you talk to it and it's almost like, oh, will you get off of that milk stuff? We're into the meat. You know, we're not into the milk. Well, you can't get any deeper than the foundation, okay? The gospel is the foundation, and the gospel is not milk. It is the beginning, but it's a foundation, but it's not milk. It's extremely powerful and important. So how does he keep us blind? Well, how does he keep the lost people blind, okay? He works on the Christian, and how does he work on us? What does he use? Fear, that's the first one, fear. This is by getting us to be too afraid to share the gospel, getting us to be intimidated. Secondly, he works on us by perverting the gospel. by perverting it, by messing it up, by adding works to the grace of God. He wants not only the lost but also Christians to pervert the gospel and tell people something that can't save them. When somebody enters into the quote-unquote plan of salvation when they add to the Gospel quote-unquote their gospel and they and they make part of it good works or man's behavior or man's faithfulness or man's perseverance Well, you know, it's more than believing you also have to do this. That is a false gospel It is bringing man's works into the equation, man's intentions, man's faithfulness into the equation, and that is not a saving message. All right? It's not a saving message. Messages such as what's called Lordship Salvation today, or Discipleship Salvation, or Bilateral Salvation. One that I mentioned last week that I heard, it's a good name, Lodeship Salvation, where you load people down with all these things that they have to do to be saved. Friends, Jesus did everything to be saved. He did that for us. That's what his death on the cross was all about. He died and he paid our complete sin debt that we owed and rose from the grave to prove it was done. And he says, all we have to do is believe, trust in him that he did that for us. He will give us as a gift everlasting life. That's true Bible salvation. That's how a person is truly born again. But if that's not what's being preached, people can't get saved. All right? Or if they get saved, they'll get saved because somewhere along the line, the truth was given, even if it was just a little smidgen of it. And the Holy Spirit will use that in a person's life and get them to see enough of what the gospel is to where that person will put their faith in Christ in spite of all the other stuff that was loaded in. That happens sometimes. It really does. some famous evangelist sometimes, they'll have crusades and stuff and the gospel, the gospel, they'll mutilate the gospel but somewhere in that crusade, in that message, they'll quote Ephesians 2, 8, 9. and they'll contradict but see the Holy Spirit I'm not saying they should do it it's not good that they do it we should be consistent in our message but the Holy Spirit is so willing that people be saved and man not perish that he can actually take that small bit of gospel and bring somebody to Christ through it. And I know people who've been saved at those kind of crusades, right? But is that a reason or an excuse or a license to pervert the gospel? Listen, Paul said, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that which I've preached unto you, let him be accursed. Okay, under the wrath of God, anathema is that word there, all right? Another way he keeps people blind to the gospel, again, he's working on Christians, okay? By fear, by perverting the gospel, third, by sinful living of believers, sinful living. He wants to get our lives so carnal and sinful that we are ashamed to share the gospel, because we know it's gonna fly back in our face. Somebody's gonna say, you're a Christian, good grief. I see the way you live, forget it. I don't wanna hear what you've got to say. And fourth, he gets believers to adopt false priorities in their lives to where they start living for everything but Christ. Everything but Christ. They get their schedule so filled up with stuff that they don't have time to think about the Lord and serving Him. Well, time is life. If we lose all of our time, we lose our lives. Before you know it, it's over, and we've lived a life, and the question is, okay, have we been faithful with the gospel? If we haven't been faithful with the gospel, we've wasted. our lives. Now let's go back to Ephesians 6 verse 13. Verse 13 it says, Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Now you notice both in verse 11 and 13 we see an emphasis on putting on it says the whole armor, the whole armor. I think this is the overall key to the passage, all right? Now, when we think about the armor of God, and I know the Lord uses things like the sword and the shield and the loins girt about, the idea is a belt around the waist, okay, and a breastplate and all that. I get that, but that's not something we can put our hands on, right? you can actually put your hands on the you know the breastplate of righteousness now you can put it on the sword of the spirit okay because that's the bible but the breastplate of righteousness what is the point the point is this god is giving us a picture an illustration because he wants us to link those objects with the word that goes with it but it's those Christian character traits, all right? It's those qualities of the Christian life. He wants us to be living those out. And you notice what he says, put on the whole armor of God. The Lord wants us to be Christians where every area of our lives is yielded and obedient to him. That's what the whole armor has to do with. We can only be strong in the Lord by prayer, yielding to him, and obedience. The point is not the peace, but the spiritual quality. That's the issue here. Righteousness, truth, faith, the word of God. That's what we're talking about. And it's a Christian whose life is occupied with those things. They're living that life of submission and yieldedness to the Lord and obedience to Him. And as we take every area of our lives and we bring it to the throne of grace and we surrender it to the Lord and we look to Him by faith, trusting Him for strength, we are putting on the whole armor of God. Don't think, well, oh, what was that one? Oh, oh, I haven't put that on yet. Wait a minute. You know how you can put it on? Even if you don't remember the name of the piece, the way we can put it on is by yielding ourselves to God and obeying his word. That's the point. I think that's the point here. Ephesians 6 14 stand therefore Okay, we're gonna look closely at the army now stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness We see two of them here in verse 14. Let's look at them first your loins or your waist gird about with truth this was a type of belt that went around the individual it was of it was of leather and it was studded with metal plates all right now the soldier would hang whatever he needed to any tools or weapons that he needed he would hang those on the belt that was wrapped around and it says we are to be wrapped with truth now isn't that interesting because truth is the foundation we stand on. And in fact, for the Christian, everything hangs on truth, doesn't it? Everything hangs on truth. This is not only doctrinal, but it is practical, this idea of truth. This speaks of the godly character that is produced by living according to the word of God, which is known as the word of truth. We need not only the Word of God, as we will see, but the character that is produced by the Word of God. We need to be committed to the truth in every situation. We are to learn the truth and then be committed to living the truth. So we learn the truth, yes, the Word of God, and then we're committed to living out the truth. That's how we put it on. This is a practical truthfulness of character that we're talking about here. We are to live according to the truth, and we are to do the truth that we learn. I believe this is an issue of integrity. And what is integrity? It is sound, consistent Christian living. When we talk about someone with integrity, we're talking about, if you were to talk about, let's say, a building or a beam, you see a beam, and you say, let me examine this beam. You grab it, and you pull on it, and you put pressure to it, and you say, you know what, that's got integrity. What do you mean? What you mean is that it's strong, it's something that's gonna hold up, it's consistent, it's stable. Well, that's the way we're supposed to be as Christians. Jesus said in John 17, 17, he says, "'Sanctify them through thy truth. "'Thy word is truth.'" See, truth in life, and again, that's what I think this is talking about here in Ephesians. Truth in life comes from the character that the word of God and the Holy Spirit produces. Truth in life. If I am a truthful person, if I am a truthful Christian, an honest Christian, what got me to that point? You know what it was? It was learning the word of God and then saying, I will yield and obey what the scriptures tell me. I'm going to live that way. And God takes it and he transforms me. into the child of God he wants me to be. And as I said Sunday night, this issue of desiring truth. We should desire to walk according to the word of God. And that's taking on this issue of truth. the breastplate of righteousness. One man said this, he says, it was made of rings or in the form of scales or of plates so fastened together that they would be flexible and yet guard the body from a sword, spear, or arrow. Okay, the breastplate protected all the vital organs in the trunk and also the abdomen. I think it was a little longer than many times it's portrayed to be. Sometimes the breastplate is seen as something very short, all right? I don't think it was. I think it was a little longer than that. But again, it protected all the vital organs. You see, this is a practical righteousness in our thinking and lifestyle based on our positional righteousness, which we receive when we believed in Christ. This is a practical righteousness growing out of our positional righteousness, which was a gift. Now, people say, well, I don't believe that. I think this is talking about the righteousness of God that we get when we get saved. Well, I got a question for you. Notice here, do you notice that this is something we put on? We put it on. Well, that's not salvation. This is taking what God's given us and then taking it and putting it on us. God puts on the righteousness we receive when we believe, that would be positional righteousness. Now there's, that's wonderful because that's our foundation, right? Again, we are sinners, we cannot save ourselves. Okay? Good works will not save us. And God says because we've sinned, we deserve to spend forever separated from God in the lake of fire. It's an awful thought. But God cannot let us into heaven with even one sin. That's why we need a Savior. Good works won't do it. That's why God sent the Lord Jesus Christ. And when Jesus died on the cross, he paid our sin debt, came back from the dead. And he says, if you'll trust in him, he'll save you. And not only will he save you, the Bible says he gives us his very own righteousness. That's our salvation, okay? 2 Corinthians 5.21, here we are as sinners, right? We have sin on us. Here's the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, for He, God, hath made Him, Christ, to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God. Him when we believe our sin is taken from us. We're forgiven and God gives us his Righteousness in exchange. That's a pretty good deal. Wouldn't you say that's a wonderful gift that God would give us My Bible represented the righteousness of God. All right when I trust Christ the Savior He takes my sin and he says you have my righteousness. That is what God does for us. I Now, I said all that to say this. I don't think putting on the breastplate of righteousness is getting saved because he's talking to save people. I think what he's saying is apply the righteousness of God that God has given you. Live that way. The breastplate protected all the vital organs. This is a practical righteousness. We put it on. We put it on. hold your place here and look with me to Romans chapter 6 Romans 6 and verse 19 it says I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh for as you have yielded your members and I was talking to the Roman Saints the Roman believers he says as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. I think that's what the Ephesians 6 passage is talking about. It's a practical one. God's given us his righteousness. Yes, when we got saved, that is true. But what does God want us to do? He wants us to yield ourselves to the Lord, give ourselves to him to walk in the righteousness which we have. I love what the late Dr. Harry Ironside said. He said this, and I quote, the breastplate, and by the way, truth having to do with personal integrity, based on the word of God, the principles of scripture, and then righteousness. Dr. Ironside says the breastplate covers the heart of man. And when we think of the heart, we think of the conscience, and mark this, unless you as a Christian keep a good conscience in regard to practical living, You will never be able to defeat your foe. When the devil comes against you and you know there is some hidden sin in your life, you will go down. You will not be able to stand against him. How many a one has failed when Satan made a tremendous assault upon him and people said, wasn't it sad, such a failure and coming so suddenly. But it was not suddenly, for there had been an undermining going on weeks and months and perhaps years, little unrighteousnesses indulged in here and there unholy thoughts, wicked things going on that were not dealt with in the presence of God. And when the foe came, there was an exposed breast because righteousness had not been put on as a breastplate. So when we are not dealing with sin, when we are not dealing with the things of our lives the way we should be, okay, through examining ourselves and through confession and through having true repentance, a change of mind concerning that thing, when we're not dealing with that properly, we're really not putting on the breastplate of righteousness. We're playing games. And if we're not putting on the breastplate of righteousness, we're exposed. And that's when the fiery darts can reach us. Ephesians 6, verse 15, it says, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel So that's our third one. Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Where it says the preparation of, that word means the readiness. With the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace or that is of the gospel of peace. Now I'd like to make two points of emphasis here on this issue, okay? The first is this. The only message that brings peace is the gospel of grace. It is the only message that will bring peace. Okay? Lordship, salvation, Galatianism, whatever you want to call it, legalism, none of those messages can bring peace. Why? Because now you've entered into the bondage of trying to work your way to heaven, and when is enough enough? When do you know? Can you ever have the assurance of salvation if you are basing your eternal destiny on the way you live your life, or your faithfulness, or your sincerity? No, you can't. You can't know that. And the truth of it is, that's the way God designed it. Because the knowledge, the assurance of your salvation is based on the finished work of Jesus Christ, not on your performance. And that is why it says in 1 John 5, 13, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, all right? Romans 5, verse one says, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Through what? Not through our good works, through our Lord Jesus Christ, that's what it says. See, grace and peace are oftentimes linked together by the Apostle Paul in his letters. Many times he opens them up. Grace and peace be unto you. He'll have it all through his letters. Grace and peace. How do we get peace? It's through the grace of God. Grace brings peace. But if you're not basing it on grace, you'll never have peace. That's why many famous Reformed theologians don't know that they're going to heaven when they die. Did you know that? They don't know it? The late James Montgomery Boyce, who preached for years, I can remember here in St. Cloud listening to him on Sunday mornings. I think it was the 10th Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia or something like that. expositor, verse by verse, verse by verse. He was a Reformed theologian. And before he died, he said to R.C. Sproul, who was one of his best friends, who's a very popular Reformed theologian today, Calvinist. He said to him, please, please, please, pray that I die in faith. Because according to the Calvinists, if you don't die in fellowship or in faith with God, you were never one of the elect. See, there's no assurance of salvation. There's no assurance of that. Yet the Bible says you can know. Who are you gonna believe? Secondly, we need to be ready to share the gospel with the world around us. You notice it talks about the preparation, the readiness of the gospel. Let me ask you tonight, are you prepared to share the gospel? During the day, are you prepared? Are you ready? Are you aware of opportunities when they come? Do you have literature on you? I'd say, well, you know, I usually carry tracks, but, you know, after a while they get kind of dog-eared and crummy and all that. You know what? You can take a track if it's all beat up and throw it away. It's not the end of the world. But the point is this, are we ready? Are we prepared? If the gospel brings peace, then what better truth can we share with the lost world around us that is so much in turmoil? we're here in Romans look at Romans 10 with me Romans 10 couple more verses here in Romans Romans 10 verse 15 it says and how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet there it is of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things." Hey, I would say if you're preaching the gospel of peace, you're prepared. You've got a readiness, right? Your feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. If you're preaching it, you have a readiness about it. Otherwise, you wouldn't be preaching it. See, in light of the spiritual battle we are in for the sake of winning people to Christ, it is fascinating, it is fascinating that only a very small percentage of believers ever lead a soul to Christ. Now think about that. Think about that. I'm not here to shame or browbeat any of us or make you feel guilty. That's not my point. My point is this tonight, folks. Listen, if the bottom line is for the souls of men, then Satan is working on the church to keep the mouth of the church shut. And if the majority of believers never lead a soul to Christ, I would say Satan has greatly succeeded in his plan. Now he loses in the end, we know that, he loses. But still he's succeeding in the sense of keeping us sidetracked, keeping us afraid, keeping us messed up, and on and on and on it can go. If the Lord gave us all of his word so that we can learn from it, then we should take heed to what Paul had to say about what the ministry is about. And that ministry is, the bottom line is the gospel. It's not the only thing, but that is the bottom line, isn't it? We're in Romans, let's go over to Romans chapter one. We'll close over here, Romans chapter one. Paul says in Romans 1.14, he says, I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. So as much as in me is, there it is again, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. Now he's not talking about preaching to the church the gospel. He's talking about those at Rome, right? The people of Rome is what he's talking about. Verse 16, for I am not ashamed. Now there you go. See, that has a lot to do with if we're ready or not. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that does what? Believeth. to the Jew first and also to the Greek. When you believe, when you put your faith in Jesus Christ alone as your Savior, God gives you as a gift everlasting life. He gives you salvation. And it is through that good news message, the gospel, that people are saved. That's the power of God unto salvation. So Paul says, I am a debtor. I owe this to people. See, he was seeing it correctly. He says, I'm ready to preach the gospel. And why was he ready to preach the gospel? Because it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. He got it. He got it. The question is, do we get it? Well, we get it. Maybe there's a second question. Will we say, you know what? I've been defeated by Satan too long. I'm going to stand up by the grace of God. And you know what? I'm going to put on my armor. And folks, simply put, putting on the armor means I am going to surrender myself and yield my life to God. And I am going to live for Jesus Christ as a Christian. Because there are souls at stake. And I'm not going to be held back or sidetracked any longer. That's what it's about. Well, friends, that concludes this edition of Voice of Assurance. Thanks so much for listening. And would you share this ministry with a friend? To contact us or learn more about our ministry, please visit www.northlandchurch.com. Your prayers and support for this ministry are greatly appreciated. Thank you so much, and God bless you.