Armor of God (Part 2) - Ephesians 6:10-17 - Pastor Greg Addison - June 9, 2024

Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.

You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers.

Thank you for listening.

If you'll turn with me in your Bibles back to Ephesians chapter 6, we began last week a study that we'll work through this summer on the armor of God.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

And it is that battle that we go through as we are trying to live for Jesus, as we are being transformed into his image.

The Bible warns us that there is a spiritual battle that goes on around us that is trying to pull us away from Jesus, trying to keep us living for Jesus.

The testimony that Casey shared about when we're in those circumstances, and are we going to turn to Jesus and trust him to carry us through those or not?

All those are a part of the spiritual battle that goes on around us as spiritual people as we are striving to live for Jesus.

So we set that up last week.

But let's go again and look at this passage of Scripture, and then we'll begin unpacking what each of the pieces of armor is over the next several weeks.

The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10, finally be strengthened by the Lord.

Ephesians 6:10

That's that testimony that he shared.

Those are the songs we've been singing.

It is God's strength in us.

Not our strength, it's his.

Be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength.

Put on the whole armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics.

I also really like the word schemes.

There's both of those, and those are both great words.

And that word scheming just feels evil, doesn't it?

And that, I love that word, that picture.

And then tactics, I think, is important because Satan doesn't just mess around.

He's just not trying to thump you on the back of the head.

He is planning and he is strategizing about how to bring down followers of Jesus and the church of Jesus Christ.

And that word tactics has power in it as well.

For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.

This is why, because of that battle, you must take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.

Stand, therefore, and then he tells us how to stand.

He's just told us why, now he tells us how.

Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, and your feet sandal with readiness for the gospel of peace.

In every situation, take the shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Again, tactics, the power of that.

He is attacking us.

He is strategizing and planning, and God is telling us how to stand in his strength.

Verse 17, take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is God's word.

And so he uses this illustration of a Roman soldier, which was ubiquitous in that time, because Rome was the governing body over the world.

And so pretty much anywhere somebody would read this, they have seen Roman soldiers if they're not living in that where they are as a cap as a captivating army, as a conquering army, ruling all of that Roman Empire.

And so it's an incredible picture that he gives us.

What's also beautiful about this, in the way that God, as the author of Scripture, can do, he speaks to the church in Ephesus with this incredible illustration.

But God, in his infinite wisdom, chose this illustration because he knew there would always be soldiers.

And the function of personal armor and equipment in a soldier's function and work and life is going to look relatively similar.

I mean, if you took an American soldier today and you put him up here, this illustration works just as clearly as we'll see throughout this summer.

It's just incredible how God looks down through the quarters of time and he sees exactly what we need, and he writes his word to be as applicable today as when the Holy Spirit directed Paul what to write in that day.

It's an incredible deal.

So it really applies and helps us.

So let's take, how do we stand, this first piece of armor today, and we're going to talk about the belt of truth.

The belt of truth.

Now, let's talk just for a minute about Roman armor, and we'll get deeper into this as we go.

But this begins as the first piece of armor because it really, in many ways, is the key to their identity as a soldier and equipping themselves as a soldier.

So everybody's seen a picture of a Roman centurion helmets and all that, and I'm not putting those up there yet because I don't want that to be a distraction.

Sometimes you see that helmet, you think that's cool, and that breastplate shines and it's got all that stuff on it.

Well, this belt right here is a key.

Now, as you read through and study all this armor, and there's all kinds of his historicity on the study of Roman soldiers and how they fought and all of that.

It's really fascinating.

And it was really watershed in the world at that time.

They were able to conquer in nations and all kinds of different cultures and everything else based on the structure of their army and how they fought.

And that armor is an integral part of the strategy of how they fought.

Now, this first piece, the belt, is key.

Now, when you picture a Roman soldier, you picture them like I do with all that gleaming armor on and that helmet and got that big red plume and all that kind of business.

Well, they only wore that when they went to battle, which was not all the time, obviously.

And so, how would you identify someone as a Roman soldier?

If they're living in the community where they have conquered and they're an occupying army and force and a police force and all the different things that there were, most of the time, what they would do is they would just wear their regular tunic and it would be long down past the knees.

They would pull it up and kind of balloon it over, and then they would put on their belt.

And so their belt served two per major purposes.

The first is it identified them as a Roman soldier.

If they're not in their armor and they're walking through the community and they're walking through everywhere, it is their identification as a Roman soldier.

You knew that was a Roman soldier because he had his military belt on, his sword was hanging at his side, they had a particular type of dagger that hung here.

That belt was so important to them, in some places where they would do rebellion, they would try to crowd around soldiers like they're walking through a crowd, and someone would sneak up behind him and try to slit the leather on their belt and drop their belt because it was a sign of disrespect to who they are as Roman soldiers.

Because it was so important to them, they began to decorate it at times.

And so they would have pieces of leather that would come down and they would ordain or they would adorn that with different shiny objects and silver and different things.

They, for a period of time, would have two belts.

One that was more decorative, that held their knife, and they would crisscross them and all that.

I mean, it's a very um it is a very identifying thing, and and soldiers all throughout time, armies all throughout American history have done that sort of thing.

And if you think about it, you can picture all kinds of ways that happens.

You picture Celtic warriors and kilts and Spartan plaids and the different colors.

If you ever look at Civil War photographs, you'll see generals and cavalrymen with high boots and they adorn their hats with plumes and all kinds of stuff to identify them as the cavalry because they were the cavalry.

If you get into World War II when we began to use airplanes as a weapon of war, and then they figured out you can jump out of airplanes behind enemy lines, and we created airborne troops, they developed a special way that they would tuck the bottom of their trousers into their jump boots and balloon them out.

And you would get in deep trouble if you uh did your pants that way and you had not earned your jump wings.

All throughout history, soldiers have been doing those kinds of things that identify who they are and what branch of service.

And so this belt is a source of identity that is important to Roman soldiers.

And then it is also has a very strong function.

When you put on your sword and you have your knife and you have your breastplate on, it would strap into all those pieces and it would hold it together.

Even today in our world, we understand the importance of a belt because it is the anchor of web gear for modern soldiers.

It is in your torso, nothing that you do can you do without moving your body.

If you ever broke a rib, you know exactly what I'm talking about, right?

I broke three ribs in a basketball game because some guy that didn't know how to play basketball and was a big goofy oaf and shouldn't have been out there ran into me, and I'm not bitter about it at all.

But I remember him barreling into me and breaking a couple of ribs, and I mean, you can't sleep, you can't breathe, you can't laugh, I mean, you can't laugh.

I mean, it's even hard to eat.

That's just evil, isn't it?

I mean, that's terrible.

And so you've broken ribs, you can't move.

I remember when I was playing basketball, because I learned how to play basketball, unlike the oath, right?

You got that?

And uh, when you break down and you're playing defense, and you what they would tell us is you look at your opponent's belly button.

Because wherever their belly button goes, that's where they're going.

They can head fake you, they can do all this kind of stuff, but their arms and whatever may go that way, but they can't go anywhere without their belly button going.

Our grandson, it's been several weeks since you had a grandson's story, so I'm deserving of another opportunity, right?

And so he is trying to crawl, and he's trying to sit up.

And as he is crawling, and he'll be crawling in a couple of weeks, and he's only six months old, so he's like really smart.

He's at least as smart as your grandchildren, okay?

Um, and so as he's doing that, our daughter, who's a physical therapist, is talking us through that when he's rocking or when he's sitting up and he's learning to sit straight.

It's all about the muscles in his torso and whether he's strong enough to do that, right?

All of this is the key of how we function.

And so they tie everything here and it settles in.

So it is both identity and it is the anchor point of how we anchor our armor and function.

And anyone who was familiar in that day with anything would have seen Roman soldiers, they would have seen them in both settings, they would have understood the culture of that.

And so there's what he says stand therefore with truth like a belt around your waist.

So what that means is our tool is truth.

It's truth.

And it functions like a belt.

It is our identity as a soldier of God in the family of God, and it is also the anchor for how all these other things work: helmet and breastplate and sword and all that other business, it anchors with our belt.

The truth is our belt as Christians.

Now, here's, I think, what is important for us to understand.

As we walk through this picture, understand that this whole picture is really a detailed teaching in who we are in Jesus Christ.

This is your identity as Jesus Christ.

I think that's why it's a brilliant illustration that God has given us through Paul of how someone looks when they're dressed, how prepared for battle they are when they're dressed, their identity as a soldier and who they are as they are dressed.

And this is a deep, rich picture of who we are in Jesus, our identity in Jesus Christ.

That is a major theme throughout the book of Ephesians, and so it is a theme of this part.

And so how we go about fighting our spiritual battles, how we go about standing strong in culture, in temptation, in all those things, it relates directly to our understanding of this is who I am in Christ.

I am his and not mine.

He is my identity, he is my strength, the wisdom that I need, the strength that I need in all these moments, it all comes from the Lord.

And that's why the command is clear.

You put on the full armor of God so that you can stand.

It is understanding who we are in Jesus and what he does in our lives that makes us strong and able to stand victorious in the battles.

Now let's talk about truth.

What does this mean, truth?

And how does truth anchor us in what we're talking about?

Well, there's a couple things I want you to see this morning.

First of all, truth is defined by its source.

By its source.

So think about this.

This is a common phrase in our world today.

You have a discussion with someone, and generally it goes like this.

You can be talking about whatever it is, um, abortion, marriage, relationships, whatever it is.

And you win the argument by using truth, and then people just back out and go, Well, that's your truth.

And I have my truth.

And they say, You should live your truth, and I should live my truth.

Well, let me ask you a question.

Do you want to live by your truth?

When the Bible says that you are a sinner and have fallen short of God's glory and you're living under judgment.

You want that truth?

Or you want the creator God of the universe, the King of kings and the Lord of Lords, who is perfect and honorable in all his ways and all he does, and he steps into earth, into humankind with resurrection power as the Redeemer lives a perfect life, shows us the joy of what that looks like, dies on the cross for your sins, because he loves you more than anyone else ever will love you.

He rises again from the dead, conquering death and sin, to offer you salvation and forgive you of your sins.

Whose truth do you want to live by?

You watch things on television, whether it's advertisements or political ads or television or whatever, you know, news, whatever it is.

You think, like, do y'all live in the same world?

You said this and you said this.

And there's no way that can work.

And how's that work?

Because everybody's got their own truth, and what we need is real truth, absolute truth, actual truth.

And so truth is known by its source.

I had a friend in law school who we were burgeoning lawyers, we were second-year law students, we thought we knew the world and everything, and he got a speeding ticket.

And he goes to court, he's going to represent himself.

And we're saying, don't you remember first day in class when they told us he who represents himself represents a fool?

But hey, his name was Canon, and he was always ready to fire.

And so he went and he goes in and he's gotten a speeding ticket.

He comes up to a stop sign, goes through the stop sign, speeds out of that deal.

So they got him for running a stop sign and speeding in a zone.

And so he comes back, he's laughing, he says, I won.

I got out of the ticket.

How'd you do that?

And he said, Well, here's what I did.

That cop did his thing or whatever and all that.

And then I went to the judge and I said, Your Honor, it's great.

I stopped at that red light.

He said, Well, he said you didn't.

Well, I did.

I stopped, I just didn't hesitate.

And he said, What does that mean?

And he said, Well, Your Honor, it's a very simple, it's the application of absolute truth.

My keys went up to come down.

At some point, they had to stop.

They just didn't hesitate.

And the judge said, Well, I'm not buying that, but that's the funnest thing I've had in court today, so you're dismissed.

And so there are several layers of truth in that story.

But where is truth?

Truth is defined by its source.

And absolute truth only comes from the creator God of the universe.

He put it in play.

The laws of physics are truth because he put them in play.

The laws of mathematics are in truth because he designed them that way.

Biology has so much absolute factual truth in it because God, the creator of God and universe, has brought order and put it in place.

And in the same way that there is physical truth, there is spiritual truth because God created all that as well.

The Bible says that Jesus told us in John 14, He, Jesus, I, Jesus, and the way, the truth, and the life.

No man comes to the Father but by me.

And so we know that God is the author of truth, and he is the one who determines what is true, and he is the one that teaches us truth.

So how does he teach us truth?

Well, let me give you just a series of statements here.

It's going to feel a little bit academic, but if you'll bear with me, this is life-altering spiritually.

We need to understand that truth is the anchor of our identity, and that truth only comes when we have our identity found in Jesus.

Jesus, John 14, is the way, the truth, and the life.

And then in John 14, verse 16 and 17, he says, This, now I, the truth, I'm going to go to heaven.

John 14:16

And when I get there, the Father is going to send to you a comforter, the Holy Spirit.

And Jesus says plainly, He is the Spirit of truth.

This is a picture of the Trinity that we talk about.

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

God the Father, the creator and the determiner of all this.

And then if you want a quick way to understand this, then God for us is Jesus on the cross, and God in us is the Holy Spirit.

And so what Jesus says is, when you are saved and you trust me as your Savior, you will, after the day of Pentecost, receive the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

I am sending him to you on purpose, and he is the Spirit of truth.

He is God's truth-telling spirit.

The Holy Spirit will never lie to you, he will never lead you astray, because number one, Jesus has said so.

Number two, he cannot, because it is in his nature as God to always be holy, to be honorable, to never break a promise, to always work in love and mercy in your life, and to always guide you in all truth.

And so the Holy Spirit himself is the spirit of truth.

So if you're going to know if something is true or not, you turn to the Lord.

And he will tell you what is true in those moments.

Next truth.

Let me just give you a series of these real quick.

So you see there, now the Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of truth, the Bible tells us, is going to guide us into all truth.

So just don't turn to it.

Make a note of those scriptures right there.

And just listen real quickly how this how this reads.

It's just so clear when you hear it this way, as Jesus explains it.

So in John 14, he's opened the topic of the Holy Spirit.

Now listen to what he says in verse 16.

Just listen, chapter 16.

I've told you these things to keep you from stumbling.

Doesn't that sound like Ephesians 6?

So that you'll stand?

They will ban you from the synagogues.

In fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering God's, he is offering service to God.

Think of Saul, the apostle, prosecuting Stephen as a heretic because he's preaching Jesus.

These things they will do because they haven't known the Father or me, but I've told you these things so that when their time comes, you may remember I told them to you.

Of the culture.

And Jesus says, Listen, the Holy Spirit is here to guide you in this.

Verse 5, but now I am going to way whim that sent me, and not one of you asks me where are you going, yet because I have spoken these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart, because they're thinking, where's Jesus going to go by ourselves?

Nevertheless, Jesus, I am telling you the truth.

It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don't go away, the counselor, the Holy Spirit, will not come to you.

If I go, I will send him to you.

When he comes, he will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment, about sin because they do not believe in me, about righteousness because I'm going to the Father and you'll no longer see me, Jesus, personally.

And about judgment because the ruler of this world has been judged.

I still have many things to tell you, but you can't bear them now.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth.

For he will not speak on his own, but he will speak whatever he hears.

He will also declare to you what has come.

He will glorify me, Jesus, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.

The Spirit of truth.

It's the Holy Spirit who teaches and guides us.

And in the moment when you get saved, in the moment that you trust Christ as your Savior, he comes in and he forgives your sin.

In that moment, immediately the Holy Spirit comes and he becomes the indwelling presence of God in your life.

And from that moment forward, even though we're as new believers are still trying to learn what all that is, the Holy Spirit already knows all that, and he's already speaking truth to you.

Say this, don't say that.

Go there, don't do this.

Take this out of your life, put this in.

Be there.

Love that person.

Let them love you.

Don't listen to that person.

That's bad advice.

And the Holy Spirit is guiding and teaching us.

Now let me give you the next truth about the leadership of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth.

How does He do that?

Well, a major way He does that is through Scripture.

2 Peter chapter 1, verses 19 through 21 says this that Scripture does not have any individual, personal, human interpretation.

2 Peter 1:19–21

You can't make up what you want to make up and say the Bible says so.

Why?

Because Scripture was not written by men.

Holy men of God surrendered to the Lord as moved by the Holy Spirit, took the words of God and wrote them directly as he directed.

When we say in 2 Timothy 3, all scripture is given by inspiration of God, how did he do that?

Well, Peter says that the Holy Spirit impressed on Paul.

Paul didn't make this up.

Paul wasn't sitting around being creative and go, oh, this would be a cool piece of literature.

Look at that Roman soldier.

Let me write that.

The Holy Spirit identified that as something we would understand and would teach us and a lesson that he wants us to have.

And he impresses on the heart of Paul, and that's why we can stand firmly that this is the word of God.

It does not have error because God wrote it.

You can say, well, I believe it says this or I believe it says, but you can't change it.

It is what God says it is.

And the Holy Spirit guides us into all truth and he teaches us the things of the Lord.

And then he comes into our life and he takes scripture that he has confidence in because it's the Spirit of truth.

He was part of writing the scripture so he knows it's true because he's the Spirit of truth and he speaks into our lives.

1 John chapter 2 says this.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

And just listen, it's incredible when you just read it, when you hear it read.

It is so simple, and yet so many times we struggle with it.

Here's what he says in verse 20.

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you have knowledge.

That's the Holy Spirit.

You have the Holy Spirit.

When you got saved, when you gave your life to Jesus, the Holy Spirit came and lived in your life.

And he says, This I have not written to you because you don't know the truth, but because you do know it.

In other words, this is written to us because we already believe in the truth.

We have the Holy Spirit that teaches us.

We believe in the Word of God.

And because no lie comes from the truth, who is the liar if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Messiah?

That is the battle that Paul wrote about in Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

This is the one, the Antichrist, the one who denies the Father and Son.

Now he who denies the Son can have the Father and confesses the Son as the Father as well.

What you have heard from the beginning must remain in you.

If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father.

If you have the belt of truth determining your perspective and your decisions and your identity, you will remain in the Father.

And he says, in verse 26, I have written these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.

The same things Paul warned about.

What he's saying is, listen, you really don't need me.

You have the Word of God, which you know is true, and you have the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, inside you, who speaks to you through his word and guides you in all of that.

In fact, things are not true just because I stood up here and said them.

I know that better than anyone.

I mean, I know my own sin and flaws way more than anybody else, except maybe Janet or my kids, someone close to me.

And so here's the deal: anything I ever say, and pastors, one of the things that I love about this church is that our pastors through the years have been men of God who preach the word of God under the empowering work of the Holy Spirit.

And I bet you we could find every one of them at some point in their tenure where they said what I'm about to say.

Don't take what I say as truth.

I'm teaching you with as much integrity and honesty as I can, but listen, you take it and you get in your quiet time and you read it and let the Holy Spirit confirm it in your life.

Does that make sense?

Because all we're doing, we're just, Pastor I grew up, used to say all the time, I'm just God's messenger boy.

We're just giving you the message that he wrote, and anytime a preacher goes afar from that, they're lost.

I mean, out of direction, not unsaved, but they're out of direction.

Our direction comes from here, and when we stick to the word of God, then the Holy Spirit has plenty to work with.

When I talk to young preachers sometimes and they ask me about preaching, I'll tell them, listen, here's the only two things I know.

You read as much Scripture as you can read, stick to the Scripture, and you say Jesus as many times as you can say Jesus.

If you do that right there, the Holy Spirit has plenty to work with.

And it's all going to work.

And that's how God speaks to you.

So in your life, it's the same thing in your quiet time as it is here.

When you face decisions, when you're looking for answers, you go to the Word of God and you open yourself to the Holy Spirit of God, and He speaks to you and He guides you, and He will never lie to you.

Even if you don't like the direction He gives you, He's giving it to you in truth.

He's giving it to you because He loves you, He's giving it to you because He's warned you, He's given it to you because He knows what's down the road if you don't follow Him, and He is trying to guide you into the plan and path that God has for you.

He is trying to make you strong to stand against whatever Satan is throwing at you.

And so you can't function this Christian life if you are not in the Word of God.

And but this truth is about us putting on the faith and belief in Jesus as our Savior so that we are willing to surrender and trust the truth of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit guiding us in life.

If you don't have the Holy Spirit guiding you in your life, you're in deep trouble.

I tell our staff all the time, we're three quiet times away from stupid.

All of us.

And so we have got, and so this belt that we put on that holds our armor together, defines our identity.

It is our surrender as a Christian to the person of Jesus.

It is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit living inside of us, and it is us surrendered to allow Him to speak truth to us and guide us and teach us through His work and through the Word.

That's what that belt of truth is, and that's why it's our identity, and that's why it holds it all together.

Now, let's take a minute and listen to what Scripture says again.

He tells us in Ephesians chapter 6 that we are to put on the whole armor of God so that we can stand against the tactics, the schemes of the devil.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

And then he talks about that spiritual warfare where he's lying to us and all of that.

This is why you must take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, having prepared everything, to take your stand.

How does the belt of truth work in that?

Why do we need this truth belt as part of our full armor?

Well, first of all, because we are sinners.

We start out life as sinners.

Sin has tainted our hearts, our emotions, our minds, our perspective.

We are under judgment of sin.

We are driven by internal self-interest, pride, selfishness, all those different things because of sin.

When we are saved, we give our lives to Jesus Christ.

He washes those sins away.

The Holy Spirit comes inside of us, and then he begins a journey of taking things out and putting things in to transform us to the image of Jesus so that we can stand for the glory of God.

All those things we looked at last week, wives submit your husbands, love your wives as Christ, love the church, children obey your parents, parents love your kids and teach them and nurture and admonition the Lord, and all those things that are about standing, all those things are about living for Jesus.

That begins a journey of learning how to do that.

And it's the Holy Spirit that guides us in that.

But on the first day you're saved, you're a whole lot more like old lost Greg than you are like Jesus.

Three years in, you've only had three years of walking with Jesus, and you had however many years before you got saved of being a sinner.

And so we still struggle with all those things that used to be the vestiges of sin, the wounds and struggles of sin, and Jesus is working in our life to heal those and grow those.

That's why he gives this command.

It's a never-ending, always command that we are to put on the whole armor of God, because it's the only way for us to listen to the Holy Spirit.

And so the Bible makes it clear for us, Jeremiah 17, verse 9 and 10.

Jeremiah 17:9

He's talking about the heart, and he says, Who can know your heart?

For it is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

Proverbs chapter 14, verse 12.

Proverbs 14:12

There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is destruction.

Why?

Because we have this ability to self-deceive ourselves or to rationalize any decision that we want to make.

I mean, there is a reason why I have to have a milkshake at Chick-fil-A every single day of the week.

I'm supporting the economy.

We love students and all those nice students that are delivering it to the truck or the car every day.

I need to go share Jesus with them and be nice to them, right?

I mean, I can rationalize all that kind of stuff.

We can rationalize anything we want.

Why?

Because that's where our heart is.

And so Jesus is in the process of transforming us.

Our sins are immediately forgiven, but the journey never ends of being transformed in the image of Jesus and becoming like him.

Listen, again, I want you to write this reference down.

You don't need to turn to it, just a couple pages over.

Galatians chapter 5.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

You know Galatians chapter 5 is famous because of that statement about the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentlemen, self-control.

There's no all that.

What he's talking about there is being surrendered to the Holy Spirit.

It's the same thing as putting on the belt of truth.

It is resting in my identity that I am Jesus and I belong to him.

I am his.

I belong to him.

And the Holy Spirit is guiding me, and I'm surrendered to what he's doing in my life today.

And because of that, I am letting God guide me and not my own self-interests rationalize whatever I want to do.

Listen to what he says.

For I say then, walk by the Spirit, put on the belt of truth, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

For the flesh desires what is against the spirit, and the spirit desires what is against the flesh.

They're opposed to each other, so that you don't even do what you want to do.

But if you are led by the Spirit, you get that?

Then he says, so the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kind of, generousness, all that.

Because you are listening to the Holy Spirit, truth is determining your perspective and not what you think it ought to be.

And that sin nature, that struggle that's being changed in us, makes us inherently vulnerable to Satan's lies and temptations.

You go back to Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

We're not wrestling against flesh and blood.

It's the scheme and the tactics of the devil.

All of these lies, all these things are happening.

They're all coming at us.

The Bible says that not only is Satan a liar, he's the father of all lies.

His lying started in the Garden of Eden.

He's not stopped since then.

He's only gotten better at it through the years.

His minions lie on his behalf.

The culture that he creates that has not been redeemed by Jesus and by the truth is a culture that lies and pushes against us.

That's what he's talking about here.

And he warns us of the same thing in Ephesians chapter 4 as we saw last week.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Same warning.

And so how does that work?

Satan's lies, his temptations, they come into us, they tug at those things about us.

There's certain key things he'll do.

He'll lie to you about who God is.

That's how he lied to Adam and Eve in the garden.

God doesn't love you as much as he said he did.

God's plan is not as good as he says it is.

You can't trust the Lord.

He'll lie to us about who we are.

You're better than that guy.

You don't have to do that.

You don't have to walk.

You're already better than them.

You don't have to go to church every week.

You don't have to tithe.

You don't have to do all that.

You don't have to share Jesus.

You're better than all those folks.

The Bible calls him the accuser of the brethren.

Well, you really don't need to tell people where you work about Jesus because they heard what you said when you got mad the other day and pitched a fit.

And so you really have no credibility.

And so don't share Jesus.

You'll just embarrass yourself.

That's Satan being an accuser of the brethren.

He tries to get you in this conflict in Galatians chapter 5, this eternal war about I'm following Jesus, but temptations of my old vestige, this struggle that I have, these wounds of sin that keep pulling at me, and I'm in this battle.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

What he wants to do is divide your heart and mind so that you can't serve Jesus.

When you put on the whole armor of God, you become someone who follows the truth and the guiding of the truth, and you become one person.

You are not divided in yourself.

You are focused on Jesus because the belt of truth is determining your perspective and how you make decisions.

If you are allowing this other thing to battle you, then what happens is you get caught in the conflict and you're not able to live for Jesus and you're not able to stand.

In James chapter 1, the Bible says this be doers of the word and not hearers only.

James 1 · chapter mention

Why?

Because if you are not a doer of the word, if you're not following the truth because you have on the whole armor of God, you are unstable and divided in your mind and who you are.

Division is always the work of Satan.

Satan is always attacking followers of Jesus and the church of Jesus Christ.

That's always happening.

He will try to divide you as an individual because if you were conflicted inside and you were leaving some opportunity to hold on to sin or to not follow the Lord in that area or whatever, you have been rendered weak and you are no longer standing as that example of Jesus.

Division is always the work of the devil and comes from lies.

Division in churches is always the work of the devil.

He is trying to get people to think about their own perspectives and their own desires and their own preferences and what they need.

Because when we're arguing over the color of the carpet or whatever kind of thing is, we are not on our knees pleading for souls and out sharing Jesus with boys and girls and men and women who need to be saved.

And you can put it down.

It is always the case.

Division is always the work of Satan, and it's always a lie that has come in and he's tempted a church, a person, a family, a dad, or whatever it is, and he's creating that division.

Now here's what happens.

Circumstances.

Circumstances create settings where Satan's schemes, they confuse, deceive, or provide a rationalization to give in.

Get a note from the doctor, your company is downsizing, whatever, you got these wounds and a relationship with a friend, and you're tempted to somebody in your Sunday school class and you're going to cut that off, or you're going to gossip or chew on them, or whatever's going on, and all of that's happening.

Those circumstances are settings.

Am I going to place my faith in God's provision because I am looking at this through the truth and turning to the Holy Spirit to guide me through this?

In a relationship with a friend, whatever it is, maybe somebody you, whatever, all the different settings in which we have friendships, next door neighbor, whatever it is.

And I'm in this relationship, and now I'm mad because they hurt me and I have this wound, I'm frustrated, or I had an expectation they didn't meet, or I don't like them because they just they fly a you know LSU flag in their front yard, and we know all those people need Jesus, right?

I mean, that's kind of, and so we're just whatever the thing is.

That was a joke, y'all.

If you're an LSU person, we're glad you're in church, right?

And so you're in that deal, and it's am I looking at this from truth?

Am I trusting Jesus?

Am I thinking out of love?

Am I thinking out of grace?

Am I thinking out of forgiveness?

Am I willing to put on the belt of truth so that determines my perspective?

And so, circumstances, all those different circumstances, they create those settings.

That's a battlefield, if you will.

And then Satan steps in and he begins to lie and he begins to pick and he begins to pull and he begins to lie.

Jesus doesn't love you as much as he did.

Jesus is not at work, you're not this, you're not that.

And he begins to lie and lie and pick and lie and pick and lie.

And now you're in that battle that he talked about, and we are called to stand.

And how do we stand?

We get out of the double-mindedness, we put on the belt of truth, which means we surrender to our identity in Jesus.

I am yours, you died for me, you saved me.

The Holy Spirit lives inside of me.

This is the word of God, this is the truth that I can stand on.

Holy Spirit, guide me in this moment.

And in those moments, you are standing for Jesus in whatever it is.

And you can trust in that.

So, how do I do that, Pastor?

How do I put on the belt?

Real simple.

We give these all the time here at church.

There's nothing that's earth-shattering about it, but it is a discipline every single day.

The Christian life is far more about discipline than rocket science.

It's not that complicated because it's not your strength anyway.

It's the Holy Spirit guiding you through.

So, what you have to do is memorize and meditate Scripture anywhere in Psalm 119, over and over and over and over about that.

The longest book of the Bible is about memorizing and meditating on scripture.

What does that tell you?

That's how we put on the belt of truth.

Here's two areas I would do that in.

Number one, praise and worship for who God is, because of one of Satan's fundamental lies is God doesn't love you, he doesn't have the character he says.

You need to spend time in praise and worship of the Lord.

And second, you need to spend time in your identity in Christ, like what we're doing with the armor of God.

Those are two areas where you need to always be putting on the full armor of God.

Number two, when you get in a situation, if it's a relationship, if it's economic, if it's a stress, if it's a job deal, if you have decisions that you have to make for your family, and you're trying how to make those decisions, what I'm going to encourage you to do is find a couple of scripture verses that fit in that circumstance, and then you brew those.

We went through that last week, how to do that.

You you get anchored in the word.

What you're doing is you are putting on the belt of truth.

You are submitting yourself to that leadership of the Holy Spirit, and you are trusting Him and His Word to guide you in truth.

You've put on the belt.

That identity of who we are.

And the third thing is when you're in the battle, belt up.

Grab your belt, hold on to it.

You get in a moment at work and something's happening and you're stressed and you're tempted and you feel yourself divided in the flesh and deal and Satan live.

You get quiet in your head and you start to repeat those verses over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

And you just repeat them over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

Why are you doing that?

Because you are trusting the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to lead you into truth in that moment.

Those are simple exercises, but they are powerful because as a belt of truth, they will define your identity as a follower of Jesus and they will anchor your armor for battle.

So we close, I want you to bow your heads.

I want to ask you this morning.

Have you, this is about our identity in Christ, and I just want to ask you a simple question.

Have you ever trusted Christ as your Savior?

Have you ever come to Him and said, I know I'm a sinner?

I feel those things in my heart, that self-rationalization, and I feel that.

I didn't want to say that to my kids when I got mad, but it popped out, and I can't control that.

You felt those things as the word of God guided you in that truth.

That's sin.

And that sin is going to be punished.

It has consequences.

But the word of truth is also that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

And no man comes to the Father but by him.

But if you come to Jesus, that's how you are saved and get to the Father.

He is our life and our truth.

And if you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, I'm going to invite you in just a moment to come and to give your life to Christ.

If you're watching at home, I'm going to invite you right there where you are.

Just let the Holy Spirit talk to your heart and you just speak back honestly to Him and tell Him that you repent of your sin, that you believe Jesus died and rose again for your sins.

And you ask Him to save you.

And then you contact us as a church.

We have information, help, prayer warriors.

We'll walk through that journey with you.

If you're here in the room this morning, I'm going to pray.

Our people are going to stand and sing.

And if you need Jesus, I'm going to invite you to come and begin the process of being, of becoming that person protected and strengthened by the vast strength of God through his armor.

Lord, I pray this morning that you'll speak to us through your word.

We trust you, the Holy Spirit.

We have read where Jesus said, You got us into truth, and I trust you that you speak to people.

We have read verse after verse after verse, and you just say to the hearts of our people whatever you say, because we trust you and your voice.

And give us the freedom and the faith to respond to whatever it is that you're talking to each of our hearts this morning.

And we pray for people who need to trust Christ as their Savior that they'll come.

It is in Jesus' saving name that we pray, and all God's people said, We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus.

Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you.

Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.

Thank you for listening to chapter and first, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith First Baptist Church.