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Book: Ephesians
 Print ( PC Only )
Ephesians 6:14
I. The whole armor that you may be able to withstand, i.e (The
principalities and powers, and rulers of darkness, and the wiles of the
devil.) And having done all to stand.
A. We are in a spiritual war, and we need the whole armor of God
to withstand the attacks of the enemy.
B. We then need to stand up against him.
C. Commentators have noted that there are six pieces of armor that
we are given.
1. Most of it is defensive.
2. One is an defensive as well as an offensive weapon. The
sword of the Spirit.
3. One commentator has noted that there is no armor for
you back for the Lord does not expect you to run from
the battle, but to stand your ground.
4. Though it is not listed as a part of the armor, there
is really the seventh weapon mentioned here and that
is praying with all prayer and supplication in the
Spirit.
II. We begin by girding ourselves with the truth.
A. This is the first thing that a soldier would do before going
into battle. He would gird himself.
1. They wore long robes in those days which restricted
rapid movement.
a. You can imagine how difficult it would be if
you sought to run in the Boston marathon
wearing a long robe.
b. Preparing to go to work or to run, or to fight,
one would first gird up his loins.
c. The girdle was a sash that was like a belt
around the waist, and they would pull up the
long robe and tie the sash around the waist
with the excess material above the sash, so
that the legs are free for movement.
2. Paul mentions this first for it is the first thing
necessary in preparation for conflict.
3. It was something a servant would do before beginning to
serve. Jesus at the last supper with His disciples.
B. Jesus said to His disciples,
LUK 12:35 Let your loins be girded about, and [your] lights burning;
LUK 12:36 And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when
he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and
knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.
LUK 12:37 Blessed [are] those servants, whom the lord when he cometh
shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird
himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth
and serve them.
III. We are to gird our loins with truth.
A. The first thing necessary to prepare you for the spiritual
conflict is that you know the truth.
1. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "Watch ye, stand fast in
the faith, be men of courage, be strong." Faith here is
the faith in the truths of Jesus Christ.
2. We must have a strong foundation in the truth if we are
to stand.
B. Jesus said to the Jews that believed in Him,
JOH 8:31 If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed;
JOH 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
1. Jesus speaks of knowing the truth. The idea is the
whole body of truth that is encompassed in the
Christian faith.
2. He said that the truth would make them free, free from
what? Free from the power of darkness, where you were
once held as a captive.
C. In His prayer in John 17, He asked the Father to sanctify the
disciples by the truth, Thy word is truth.
D. John in his first epistle speaks of the spirit of truth and the
spirit of error and the importance of discerning between the
two. We are thus exhorted to try the spirits to see if they be
of God.
E. In promising the Holy Spirit to His disciples, Jesus referred
to Him as the Spirit of truth.
1. He promised that He would lead us into all truth.
2. There are some people who seem to be drawn to every
false and deceiving spirit.
a. They go from one bazaar doctrine to another.
b. They seem to be attracted and drawn to heresy.
3. There are others who seem to be born again with a
discerning spirit.
F. The early church sought to guard against error creeping in.
1. The first church counsel was called to settle a dispute
that arose concerning the relationship the Gentile
believers had to the Mosaic law.
2. The trouble makers from Jerusalem who visited the
church Antioch.
G. I would say that one of the great weaknesses of the church
today is the lack of a strong foundation in the truth. This is
why such things as the so called Toronto Blessing can sweep
through the church world.
1. Peter spoke of the damnable heresies that had crept
into the early church. They are still a plague in the
church today, because people are not gird about with
the truth.
a. It is the will of God to heal everyone.
b. That riches are a sign of godliness.
1TI 6:5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of
the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw
thyself.
c. That you can get whatever you want from God, if
you just learn how to write your own ticket.
d. You can purchase the blessings and favor of God
by contributing to the telethon.
2. In his letter to the Corinthians Paul associates truth
with the armor of righteousness.
2CO 6:7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of
righteousness.
3. It is interesting to me that in all of the spiritual
armament Paul says nothing about experiences.
a. When it comes to the real spiritual battle, the
exotic experiences of the past of are of no
value.
b. When the battle gets really heavy it is the
truth that will sustain you.
4. Get ready and prepare yourself for the battle. Gird
your loins with truth.
5. Wrap yourself up in the truth.
6. It is so important that we know the truth concerning
Jesus.
1JO 2:21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but
because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
1JO 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He
is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
1JO 2:23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: [but]
he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
7. In the early church they had what was known as the
Arian heresy. Arius basically denied the deity of Jesus
Christ.
a. The Nicean council was called to deal with this
heresy.
b. According to this heresy, Jesus was a created
being less than God.
c. He would have been more in the ranking of
angels.
d. This is the heresy followed by the Jehovah
Witnesses today.
e. We will deal more with this when we come to the
helmet of salvation.
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