Spiritual Warfare: The Battle for Freedom in Christ
The Full Armor of God
SPEAKER: Michael P. Andrus
Note to reader: These sermons on Ephesians are not my typical verse-by-verse exposition. Most were preached in 1990 in a series on “Spiritual Warfare: The Battle for Freedom in Christ.” I used Ephesians as a springboard for this series but referred to many other passages as well. Some of the sermons in the series are stand-alone messages preached at various times and various places. The early sermons from 30-35 years ago are not well footnoted, as I never expected them to be published.
Introduction: I don’t know where one could find a more practical, relevant, or important topic than the one in our Scripture text for today. Every believer is involved in spiritual warfare to some degree. And every believer is helpless in this battle unless he avails himself of the resources God has provided. But every believer can achieve victory over Satan if he will put on the full armor of God. Every piece of armor is important and every piece is effective.
I want us to begin with a bit of review by considering how to prepare for the battle. It starts with knowing your enemy.
Preparing for the spiritual battle
Know your enemy. Last Lord’s Day we learned that our enemy is Satan, a deceitful, scheming, crafty liar, who will do whatever it takes to entrap people and make them his servants rather than God’s. In fact, if he needs to, he will even promote righteous living and religious devotion if in the process he can ultimately lead someone away from Christ. Our enemy also has plenty of help, as tens of thousands of demons are ready to do his bidding. These creatures are fallen angels, highly organized, powerful, and devoted to all sorts of wicked endeavors. Last Sunday we considered thirteen separate strategies employed by Satan and his demons. Now in preparing for the spiritual warfare, it is crucial that we not only know the enemy, but also that we know ourselves.
Know yourself. How do you match up against the enemy of your soul? Are your natural talents and abilities equal to his? Eph. 2:1-3 indicates that far from being ready to do battle with him, human beings are on his side until by God’s grace we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ. But even after salvation we are susceptible to sin, temptation, addictive behavior, strongholds in the mind, and other Satanic influences. Almost every one of the 13 strategies of Satan we looked at last Sunday can be and is used against Christians. Well, if the enemy is so strong, and if we are so vulnerable, what hope is there for us in the spiritual battle? There would be one, were it not for resources beyond ourselves.
Know your resources. There are three primary resources mentioned in Ephesians—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is mentioned right here in 6:10 which reads, “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God.” Not for a moment are we to fight the devil with our resources, our intellect, our stamina, our cleverness, or our New Year’s Resolutions!
The Son of God is our second major resource. All through Ephesians we have been told that Jesus Christ is the One in whom we were chosen, adopted, redeemed, and forgiven, and with whom we are seated in a heavenly position that is indestructible. The Bible also tells us that Christ defeated Satan at the cross. A child was riding with his father. Suddenly he cried, “There’s a bumble bee in the car!” The father grabbed the bee, got stung in the hand, and then released the bee. The child cried again, “There’s a bumble bee in the car!” The father responded, “No problem, I’ve got the stinger in my hand.” Satan is alive but he has no teeth. Still he’s gumming a lot of Christians to death, because even a toothless Satan is stronger than they are when they fail to appropriate their divine resources.
Our third great resource is the Holy Spirit, by whom we were sealed, who is the source of wisdom and revelation, and with whom we are to be filled or controlled daily. But even with these three great resources on our side, we are not immune to Satan’s attacks. In fact, if anything, as we appropriate the resources available to us, and as we grow in our maturity and obedience, we can expect Satan to intensify his efforts against us. As believers grow stronger, so do Satan’s attacks. The Apostle Paul experienced this, as did Peter. Even God’s holy angels face opposition when they minister for God, which brings us to the fourth aspect of preparation for battle.
Give it all you’ve got. Have you noticed how many times our text uses the word “stand”? “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand…Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then….”
I heard a story from the days of the Civil War. It was illegal to trade in cotton, but many unscrupulous speculators tried to buy cotton in the South, run it through the Union lines, and sell it at great profit in the North. One of these speculators approached a Mississippi steamboat captain and offered him $100 if he would run his cotton up the river for him. The captain declined, reminding him that it was illegal. “I will give you $500,” said the man. “No,” answered the captain. “I will give you $1,000.” “No,” the captain said again. “I will give you $3,000.” At that the captain drew his pistol and, pointing it at the man, said, “Get off this boat; you’re coming too near my price.”
That is taking a stand. And that’s how Jesus dealt with temptation—no games, no pussyfooting around, no delay; He said simply but forcefully, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” Whether we are fighting defensively or offensively, one thing is perfectly clear—we are to be active, not passive.
Putting on the full armor
Our text is Ephesians 6:10-20:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”
Ephesians is known as a prison Epistle because it was written while Paul was imprisoned. I suspect he was chained to a Roman soldier at the very time he was writing this chapter. Looking at this man’s armor he was moved by the Spirit of God to draw an analogy to the believer’s spiritual armor, and he proceeds to draw an application from every piece of it. Notice that the word “full” is emphasized in both verses 11 and 13. One might think that having on a few pieces of armor might be better than none, but that may not actually be the case. Our enemy is so wily that he will always circumvent the armor and attack the unprotected place. All of it is critical.
I’m reminded of the legend of Achilles from ancient Greek mythology. Achilles had been dipped by his mother in the sacred river Styx and was invulnerable, except for the heel by which she held him. In the Trojan War precipitated over Helen, the prince of Troy, Paris, shot an arrow full of poison and it struck Achilles in the heel and he died. Believe me, Satan will find your Achilles heel if you do not have on the full armor of God.
Now the first piece of armor mentioned is …
The belt of truth (14). In the ancient Near East men almost always wore long flowing robes. For the normal duties of life, that worked fine, but when a man was involved in running or vigorous activity, he was easily impeded by the folds of cloth. Especially was this true of a soldier. To catch one’s sword in one’s skirt could be quite dangerous, to say nothing of embarrassing, so that is where the belt came into play. Resembling somewhat a weightlifter’s belt, it served to keep the folds of cloth tucked close to the body and out of the way.
The Apostle sees an analogy in this belt to the need for Truth, undoubtedly because the enemy is so clearly identified with falsehood and deception. The only sure defense against the lie is the truth, and the best way to fight the darkness is by turning on the light. Truth, however, has at least two distinct aspects, and the question arises, “Which does the Apostle have in mind here? Is he thinking of objective, propositional truth or is he referring to subjective, personal truth, or truthfulness.”
Objective truth. Objective truth is God’s truth as revealed in His Word. It is the truth that forms the foundation of Christian doctrine. The Christian soldier must know what he believes and why he believes it. However, because the objective truth of God’s Word is clearly alluded to in the last piece of armor, the sword of the Spirit, it is likely that by the belt of truth Paul intends for us to understand subjective truth or integrity.
Subjective truthfulness or integrity. As David says in Psalm 51, “You desire truth in the inward parts.” He’s talking about sincerity, candor, openness, honesty. Satan is a liar but we dare not fight him on his home turf. He can out-lie the best of us; he can out-deceive us; he can out-scheme us. Do you want to be free of Satan’s control? The only safe tactic is to always be truthful. Never lie to others, never lie to God, never lie to yourself. If you always tell the truth, you never have anything to hide. The very foundation of the Christian soldier’s position must be the belt of truth. The second piece of armor is …
The chest protector of righteousness (14). This piece of armor, called the “breastplate” by ancient soldiers, generally extended from the base of the neck to the upper part of the thighs, covering, of course, the abdominal cavity. Among those parts of the body protected were the heart, the lungs, the kidneys, and the intestines. The ancients believed these organs were the seat of the emotions. In fact, we have even borrowed some of their terminology as we speak of a person “venting his spleen.” The emotions, the will, the conscience, the passions all need protection from the wiles of the devil, and it is the chest protector of righteousness which is designed for this task. We need to know, however, that the word “righteousness” is used in two distinct senses in Scripture—imputed and imparted.
Imputed righteousness. Imputed righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus Christ which is credited to our account the moment we become God’s children by faith. It doesn’t automatically change us into righteous people, but it provides the basis for becoming righteous. Let me use an analogy to explain imputed righteousness. Suppose a very wealthy man marries a poverty-stricken woman. The moment he marries her, she becomes rich, because his wealth is automatically imputed to her, (unless, of course, she has signed a prenuptial agreement, which would destroy my illustration, and probably eventually, her marriage). At any rate, the wealth doesn’t necessarily change her, but it does give her all the security she needs.
But there’s another kind of righteousness frequently talked about in the Scriptures—what might be called …
Imparted righteousness or personal righteousness. This refers to right living, obedience to the known will of God, and it is God’s goal for every Christian. Of course, one must have imputed righteousness or Christ’s righteousness before one can have imparted righteousness or personal righteousness; otherwise, his righteousness is viewed by God as merely self-righteousness, or “filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6) The reason all purely human efforts to live rightly and to please God are doomed to failure is because God’s standards are not just high, they’re absolute.
Now what kind of righteousness is represented by the chest protector—imputed or personal? Probably the Apostle intends for us to understand both. Imputed righteousness is needed whenever Satan, our arch-accuser stands before God accusing us, as he does night and day, of evil thoughts, motives, and actions. We can’t deny his accusations, but if we know Christ we can say to him, “I stand not in my own righteousness but in Christ’s righteousness, which is perfect.” There’s a hymn in our hymnbook which expresses this concept beautifully:
Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are, my glorious dress.
Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.
Bold shall I stand in Thy great day
For who aught to my charge shall lay?
Fully through Thee absolved I am,
From sin and fear, from guilt and shame.
Putting on the chest protector of imputed righteousness at once gives the believer confidence and assurance. He does not feel exposed as he once was. He is fighting with the unlimited ammunition of Christ rather than with his own feeble resources.
However, personal righteousness is not to be minimized. The more our personal lives depart from the righteous standards of God, the more vulnerable we will be to Satan’s attacks. He will hit us with guilt and feelings of hopelessness. In fact, he may convince us we are unworthy even to go to God for help. Consistent, righteous living is the only way to protect the emotions, the passions, and the conscience against Satanic attack. First, then, we appeal to the righteousness of Christ. Then we fend off Satan’s temptations with our own obedient responses to God’s commands.
Our third piece of armor consists of …
The combat boots of the Gospel of peace (15). If the various parts of the Christian’s armor have relative importance, it would probably be our temptation to relegate the footwear to the place of least value. But we’d best be careful. For no matter how well the chest and abdomen are protected, if we get wounded in the feet we may slip and fall in battle and be easy prey for our antagonist. You’ve already noticed how often we are commanded to stand. Well, one doesn’t stand on his chest or on his head but on his feet. A Roman soldier normally wore a type of sandal which consisted essentially of a sole with straps. Underneath were hobnails or cleats. These shoes or “primitive army boots” served three primary purposes. First, they were designed …
For sure-footedness. The cleats prevented slipping, sliding, and falling, even over wet or rocky terrain.
For mobility. The Roman legions sometimes covered hundreds of miles on foot in just a few weeks’ time to surprise a foe, a tactic that would have been impossible without the mobility of their footwear.
For protection. The enemy would sometimes put stakes into the ground, designed to pierce the opposition’s feet. Thus, it is not hard to see why Paul would include armor for the feet as part of the Christian soldier’s battle gear. But what does he mean by the phrase, “with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of peace”? The Gospel of peace is the good news that believers are at peace with God. While once we were His enemies, we are now His friends. That marvelous truth gives us confidence and readies us for battle. On the other hand, if one is not relying upon the Gospel of Peace, but instead upon the social gospel or the gospel of success, there’s no way he will be able to run the race or stand and fight.
The fourth piece of armor is …
The shield of faith (16). The Roman shield was very large—about four feet by two and a half feet. It covered most of the body, but more importantly, it had a fire-proof lining of metal or heavily oiled leather. The need for this is seen in the fact that armies often used arrows dipped in pitch and lighted, which could make short work of a wooden shield and the man who stood behind it. Satan also has his fiery darts.
The fiery darts of Satan. They may come in the form of evil thoughts, imaginations, and fantasies. They may be in the form of severe trials, sorrow, or temptation. They may come as discouragement, depression or even despondency. Well, what’s the remedy for the fiery darts of the evil one?
The quenching action of faith. “Take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” Faith is the asbestos that protects us from the Devil’s darts. How does it do so? To put it very simply, faith is total trust in the character of God—trust in His power, His plan, His goodness, and His promises.
When the fiery dart of temptation comes, we put our faith in God’s promise that “no temptation has seized you except what is common to man and God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” (1 Cor. 10:13). When the fiery dart of discouragement comes, we put our faith in His promise, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5) When the fiery dart of sorrow comes, we put our faith in His goodness, “I am the good shepherd.” (John 10:11) When the fiery dart of sickness comes, we put our faith in his power, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” (Matt. 28:18) The shield of faith must always be at hand, for the fiery darts cannot be extinguished in any other way.
The fifth piece of armor is …
The helmet of salvation (17). The Roman helmet resembled a kind of cap made of leather, ornamented with protective pieces of metal, and usually topped with a plume. Paul calls it the helmet of salvation. Before deciding why, I want us to review the fact that salvation in the NT comes in three tenses. The past tense of salvation is the point at which we passed from death into life. It is the time when we quit trying to save ourselves and acknowledged the death of Christ in our place as our only hope for eternity. The key NT word that is used for the past tense of salvation is “justification.”
The present tense of salvation is often called “sanctification”. It is the process that growing believers take as they seek to mature and to develop in Christlikeness. The Scriptures encourage us to “work out your own salvation.” That doesn’t mean, “work at it,” but “work out the implications of it” in your daily experience. The future tense of salvation is glorification. That is the point when the believer receives his resurrection body and stands perfectly before God in the likeness of Christ.
When we consider the question as to which of these three tenses is the focus of the helmet of salvation, we are helped by a reference in 1 Thess. 5:8: “Let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.” The hope of salvation—that’s the future tense. Since Paul wrote that passage as well, we presume that in Eph. 6 we are asked to put on the helmet of the hope of salvation.
The significance is that Satan loves to attack us intellectually with doubts and discouragement. In fact, people experiencing spiritual conflict often question their salvation or doubt their identity in Christ. Satan knows that if he can cause us to lose our assurance and our sense of security in Christ, he’s got us right where he wants us. An insecure Christian is a defeated Christian, always. Because spiritual battles are won or lost in the mind, the helmet of salvation is a crucial piece of armor.
The sixth item of armor, referred to in verse 17, is …
The sword of the Spirit (17). The sword is the only offensive weapon among the full armor of God. Of course, it can be employed either offensively or defensively. Either way, it is without doubt the most powerful piece of armor we have. Simply put, we are informed here that we must not fight the devil with our own ideas or wisdom or intelligence; we are to fight him with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, the Bible.
Now tell me something. How can we use the Bible as a weapon if we don’t know the Bible? Obviously, the prerequisite to wielding the sword of the Spirit is to read, to study, to memorize, and to apply the Word of God! Why do we see so many spiritually defeated Christians on every side? Primarily it can be traced to two things—ignorance of and failure to apply the Bible to everyday life.
Biblical illiteracy is a major problem. If the state of general education in the U.S. is the worst of any developed country in the world, as is widely claimed, the state of biblical education might be even worse. Even people who attend church regularly are often biblically ignorant. And the single greatest way to correct the deficiency is not to hear more sermons, listen to more tapes, attend more Bible studies, or even go to seminary, though all those things are good. The single greatest antidote to Biblical ignorance is to read the Bible daily. I didn’t learn the Bible in Seminary—I learned aboutthe Bible. I learned the Bible through personally reading and studying it.
If there is one New Years’ resolution I would urge upon everyone in the church, it is to read through the Bible in 1991. I’m going to make available to you before the end of the year a Bible-reading calendar for those who aren’t already following a systematic Bible reading program. The Scottish pastor and writer Thomas Guthrie said, “The Bible is an armory of heavenly weapons, a laboratory of infallible medicines, a mine of exhaustless wealth. It is a guidebook for every road, a chart for every sea, a medicine for every malady, and a balm for every wound. Rob us of our bible and our sky has lost its sun.” Is that your attitude toward the Sword of the Spirit?
But Biblical ignorance is not the only problem. There are Christians who have an enormous grasp of the facts of the Bible and even its doctrine, but still they are defeated because to them it is only an intellectual exercise. Pastors and teachers and professional Christian workers particularly must be on guard against that danger. We must allow the Spirit of God to take the Word of God and apply it to the blind spots in our lives.
Allow me one other observation here. The term “word” in the phrase, “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God,” is the Greek term for “a spoken word.” I think this is significant in that we must not only know the Word and apply the Word, but also speak the Word. Jesus did just that when He was tempted by Satan—he quoted Scripture at him. Satan can’t read our thoughts but he can hear our words. Perhaps that’s partially why we are exhorted in Romans 10:9 to “confess with thy mouth that Jesus is Lord.”
The discussion of the Christian’s armor is complete, but Paul has one more very important matter to share. In verses 18-20 we read a …
Postscript on prayer (18-20)
Calling this a postscript may seem to minimize it, but it actually highlights it. People who specialize in fund-raising letters will tell you that the average reader will read a postscript even if he reads nothing else in a letter. Paul may have saved his most important point for last. It is as though he is saying, “Prayer is not one of the weapons in our warfare. Prayer is the warfare.” I believe that. We can be on the best-dressed soldier list, but if we are not devoting ourselves to prayer, we will not be victorious. Notice please the fourfold repetition of the word “all” in verse 18: “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and alwayskeep on praying for all the saints.”
All occasions. We are not to pray just when we reach our wit’s end. We are to pray on all occasions. That is, we are to live in perpetual communion with God. When we see something good and beautiful we thank Him; when we see something evil, we pray that He will make it right and make us willing to be used as His instruments in the process; when we are tempted, we pray for His help; when we are in trouble, we turn to Him as our Deliverer. Then he speaks of …
All kinds of prayers and requests. Prayer includes confession, praise, thanksgiving, petition, and intercession for others. The Christian should never get stuck on just asking God for things. Then we are to be alert and …
Always keep on. This speaks of perseverance and persistence in taking things to the Lord. The attitude that “I told God once and since He’s omniscient, I shouldn’t have to tell Him again,” is not biblical. The parable of the importunate widow in Luke 18:1-8 shows us that God expects us to keep coming back so long as we believe our desires are in accord with His will. And our prayers should be …
For all saints. In the fellowship of prayer, we must never be guilty of remembering only our own needs or those of our friends. Rather we must pray for all believers—the rich, the poor, those in Communist lands or living under right-wing dictatorships, as well as those who are free, those whose theological perspective is identical to ours, as well as those whose viewpoint differs from ours. And finally, Paul appeals also for himself.
Also for me. “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” I find this appeal for prayer very instructive and very different from most of our prayers. If I were chained to a Roman soldier my prayer would probably be that God would do again what He did for Peter and send an angel to release me. Our focus is so often on our situation, our illness, our pain, our problems. Paul’s focus was on what God wanted to do through him amid his problems. He didn’t ask for release but rather for words to speak and fearlessness to speak them. May we have the courage to so speak.
Conclusion: There is only one way to be sure of victory in spiritual warfare, and that is by putting on the full armor of God. The weapons of the intellect are powerless in this battle, as are those of the emotions and even those of experience. The Enemy can defeat your mind, your reason, your arguments, your common sense, your psychology, and your will power. But he is impotent against the belt of truth, the chest protector of righteousness, the combat boots of the Gospel of peace, the shield of faith in God’s promises, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, and prayer in the Spirit.
I have included in your bulletin today a sheet entitled, Warfare Prayer. If there is any area in the Spiritual battle we have been studying since the first of September where you believe Satan has gotten a foothold in your life, I encourage you to take this prayer and read it out loud every day until you have experienced victory. It is full of the biblical truths we have been studying. May God use it in your life to bring freedom.
DATE: December 16, 1990
Tags:
Spiritual warfare
Armor of God
Truth
Righteousness, imputed and personal
Prayer