InPerspective

Harry Reeder: The majority spiritual battle is the daily battle of the believer, called of Christ, drafted into the army of God, called to resist Satan and to fight all of the enemies of which he has already won the victory. Now, to do that, there are two things that we need. We need the armor of God and we need the weapons of God. We now have been trying to understand spiritual warfare and now we come to that as the Greek word is the panoply, the whole armor of God.

Guest (Male): Putting life in biblical perspective with Dr. Harry L. Reeder. This is in perspective, a radio and internet ministry of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. A child at play may fashion a pretend suit of armor out of cardboard and aluminum foil. But a soldier who goes into battle with such armor would be cut down in short order. The soldier of Christ never has to worry about the quality of our spiritual armor because it has been designed and fashioned by God himself. So, we might stand firm in the battle that the Lord has called us to. Stay with us now as Dr.

Reeder continues our series, spiritual warfare, the embattled Christian. Today, we turn to Ephesians chapter 6 and verses 10 through 19 for the first half of the message, the armor of God, part one.

Harry Reeder: Ephesians chapter 6 as we resume our study, this seventh study of spiritual warfare, Ephesians chapter 6. Of course, I love the moment in the book of Daniel, I believe it's the 10th chapter, where Daniel is aware of the fact that Michael has been coming to his aid, but that Michael has been stopped for a time because of the battles that are taking place in heaven. You see, when we think of spiritual warfare, that is usually what we think about. Heavenly spiritual battles in the heavenly places, the angelic battles are and exotic demon possession battles here.

And I believe that it is a mistake for us just to think of spiritual warfare in those dynamics. Certainly, yes, there is spiritual angelic warfare going on. The Bible's clear, book of Daniel, 10th chapter. Bible's clear, the book of Jude, where we're informed of the contending between Michael and Satan over the body of Moses. Those things are very clear that such battles take place in the heavenly places, but also clear are the battles, the spiritual battles take place upon the earth as well. And there are times in which these battles become intensified where Satan has grabbed such a significant foothold that he manifests himself in the demonization of people and places.

We're going to be studying how are we called to that part of the battle. But with all due respect to that part of the battle that is a part of the battle and B, it is not the majority spiritual battle. The majority spiritual battle is the daily battle of the believer, called of Christ, drafted into the army of God, called to resist Satan and to fight all of the enemies of which he has already won the victory. Now, to do that, there are two things that we need. We need the armor of God and we need the weapons of God.

We now have in our series been trying to understand spiritual warfare and now we come to that as the Greek word is the panoply, the whole armor of God. Now, what I want to do, I'll mix my metaphors here for a minute. I want to march around the armor tonight so that we understand it and then we're going to work our way through the armor piece by piece. But to get to it, I think it's very important that we understand the armor of God as a whole because twice it says, put on the whole armor of God.

So, we need to understand it as a whole. Would you take your Bibles and look with me at the text that has been our home base thus far? Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm. Stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace in all circumstances. Take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God, praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication.

To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. And also for me that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. Well, the first thing we want to remember is what have we said about the embattled Christian? And that is that spiritual warfare is, as we've already noted in the introduction, not an exotic subset of the Christian life or another worldly part of the Christian life, but a universal and daily reality in the lifestyle of every true believer who is attempting to serve the Lord.

Now, having said that, we have already noted in our study three general orders that have come from headquarters to us. General order number one is that spiritual warfare, general order number one is that it is the Christian life. It is the Christian life and to live it, we must be strong in the strength of his might. Strong in the strength of his might. That is the strength of his might which comes to the power of the gospel, which comes to the power of the presence of the Holy Spirit, the strength of his might which comes from the word of God.

The word of God is the word of power. The gospel is the power of God. The divine weapons that accompany the Christian armor and most of all the Holy Spirit. He says, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. So, the strength of the Lord is our first necessity to enter in to the battle. Secondly, the second thing that is of great necessity is we must put on the complete armor of God. To put on the complete armor of God, to live the Christian life and the battle that we've been called to, we need the complete armor of God which is fitted by God, formed by God, forged by God, and is in fact Christ himself, the son of God, and all of his gospel blessings that are to be put on in our lives.

Now, we're going to build on that just a little bit. General orders number three. General orders number three that we've already covered is this. The action is stand. Stand against. Stand therefore. Stand firm with stand. Resist and that we are to wrestle. Notice the word wrestle. We stand and even as we stand, the assumption is there's going to be close encounter in this warfare. Close encounter that is described by wrestling that God has called us to hold fast. God is called us to stand firm. Those are the orders. So, we've got the strength of his might, the whole armor of God, and called to stand.

Now, what I want to do is back up and let's take a look at this whole armor of God. First of all, with five observations as we approach the armor of God. Observation number one is this. The armor of God is designed by God to enable the soldier of Christ to stand firm, to stand firm for what the Lord has called me to, to stand firm. That is I'm to stand firm as a man over my life. I will not give Satan a foothold in my life. I am to stand firm as a husband for my marriage.

I am to stand firm as a father for my children. I am to stand firm as a citizen of the kingdom of God in the world, but not of the world. I am to stand firm in his church. We watch church after church after church empty, empty, empty, empty, empty first of all of spiritual power and then emptying beyond that to the point that it's no longer even recognizable as a church that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. It just occupies a space and a tax code and it occupies merely a place in the pantheon of religiosity in the world.

No, we want to stand firm for his church, stand firm for his kingdom. We are called to stand firm. That means that we have to stand firm assumes what? We are under attack and you will be under attack. To stand firm with stand, wrestle, to do that, what keyword is there in the scripture? What is it? Resist. Resist. Take your Bibles if you would and turn with me to first Peter chapter 5. First Peter chapter 5. In first Peter chapter 5, Peter is getting at the same thing that Paul is getting at, using a little bit different pictures, but he's still coming to the same exhortation.

In first Peter chapter 5 says he comes to the conclusion, this is what he says, having warned us that Satan is an adversary. Look in verse 8. Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls. Notice the present tense and continuing. Prowls and continues to prowl around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Every time I read this, I guess I have been either the beneficiary or it's a liability, I don't know which. There is a channel that I have access to called the Discovery Channel. And in the Discovery Channel, I was not aware of how many ways a lion could eat something as I have seen in the Discovery Channel and how many different things it will eat if it gets a chance.

But the one thing I've watched every time I've watched the lion, he never is able to win when his prey is in the pack. He always captures it straggling and alone. And our evangelical view of Christianity sets up Christians to be prey for Satan's crippling attacks because while we know that I have to make a personal commitment to Christ and I must personally be committed to Christ, the Christian life is not lived in insulation and isolation, but in the context of a company of believers who know the Lord, love the Lord, and serve the Lord.

We are not to live in isolation. We are not to live in independency. We are to live in the interdependency of relationships in the body of Christ so that we are gathered together in the company of God's people which God uses as protection. So, here is what the roaring lion does. Now, watch. What am I supposed to do? Not only should I not be in a position that he can cripple me. What? Verse 8. Resist him. Firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Of course, most of you know the context of that is these believers at Rome where Peter is writing and ultimately to whom we'll get this are actually being burned, impaled upon poles with signs. You are the light of the world and the laughter of the Roman government. He says suffered for a while. That is what God has called us to.

God has called us to stand firm, resist the attacks of Satan, whether it 's persecution from the outside or penetration from the inside with false teachers and false leaders and false sons within the pale of Christianity that we are to resist. And how long are we to resist? How long am I a soldier? How long is my tour of duty to the end? Stand firm to the end. Satan's attacks will be how long? To the end. I am to stand firm to the end. And I am to stand firm and I am not allowed. This battle is for life and I am to stand firm in all of the spheres of my life for Jesus Christ by the strength of his might with the armor of God, even though I'm under attack.

And in fact, I am to realize that retreat is not a tactic. I am not allowed to retreat. It is cowardly. I am not allowed to retreat. It is disastrous. It is disastrous if I retreat personally. It's disastrous for my testimony. It's disastrous for my family. It's disastrous for my ministry. I am not allowed to retreat. God has called me to stand firm. I'm grateful when I faltered that I can come and he restores and refreshes and encourages, which I do and I know I do. And I know that when I do falter, he will yet even use that to teach me.

But I don't enter the battle to falter. I enter the battle to fight. I enter the battle to fight. I don't enter the battle for flight, but fight. And to fight to the end, knowing he is my strong tower, knowing he is my strength and my armor. Have you ever read Pilgrim's Progress? I do hope you have. You certainly should at least during this series of sermons. Their pilgrim makes it clear the Christian life is a battle. Now, the victory's been won, but it's still a battle. Do you remember when he enters into the valley of humiliation and there Apollyon rises up like a flood to overwhelm him?

Do you remember what Pilgrim remembers? My armor is not equipped for me to turn my back. You go through the six pieces of armor in Ephesians chapter 6, you notice there is no back door protection. There is nothing there to protect the back because God does not allow us either as a personal inclination or as a tactic to turn our back in flight. He calls us to stand firm and to fight. He doesn't allow us to give a truce to Satan. He doesn't allow us to retreat and he certainly doesn't allow us to surrender. But he's equipped us with the armor to stand firm and the armor is sufficient and his strength is sufficient to stand firm and fight, not flee.

If you flee, I don't want to push the imagery too far, but as I read this armor, I would hate to have to flee with this armor. I think I'd probably end up falling on my face. It not only wouldn't protect my backside, it would probably encumber me and entangle me if I tried to run. It wasn't made to run. It was made to stand firm and to fight. To stand firm, God has designed it for such a purpose. Let me give you the second observation is that the armor of God is to be worn in its entirety.

Put on the whole armor of God. Twice it says that. Here's what you got to remember that this armor is made to be a whole. Every piece works with the other piece. It's all there as a whole. It is there to each piece complements the other. It is not hanging up in an armory and you walk up and say, well, I'll take the shoes, I'll take the shield, I' take the helmet. I don't need the breastplate. I don't need the shield of faith. I don't need that. It's not a collection to go pick and choose from.

It is something that is made to be worn in its entirety. Every piece is not only necessary, every piece complements each other. Now, this sounds a little redundantly, but let me give you the third observation. This means that you understand that the armor of God is a uniform. It is your uniform battle gear. It is not a collection of pieces. It is a uniform that's to be worn in its entirety. So, it is to be worn completely in its entirety. It is to be seen as a uniform, not a mishmash of pieces that have been put together, but a uniform of the whole.

And fourthly, the armor of God is Christ and his provisions for his people. The armor of God is Christ himself. Now, the tendency is is to look at all those little pieces and see them as little pieces of armor or big pieces of armor that God has provided when in reality the armor is a unit. It is a uniform. The armor is Christ. Now, that's going to affect us by the way. That's going to affect us as we go into our study of the pieces because for instance, what is the first piece of armor? What is the first piece of armor?

You're supposed to gird your loins with what? The belt of what? Truth. Now, what is truth? Well, we got a couple of choices there. One choice that we've got is what? Word of God. What's another choice? Christ. I am the way, the truth, and the life. So, if I'm studying and I understand the armor as a whole is Christ, then I know it's not just one piece that's Christ. There's something about that peace that is a provision of Christ. It's not that my loins are girded about with Christ, but truth must be pointing somewhere else.

Now, you're off and running. What do you think it is? What does it mean to gird your loins up with the truth? What does that mean to gird your loins up with the truth? Now, I don't think that means to gird your loins up with Christ, although that is the eventual blessing of it. I actually think it means there's something else that's truth that enables you to put on Christ in the entirety because all of the armor is Christ together. Now, what does it mean to put Christ on with that piece? What is that? So, what you want to understand is the armor of God is Christ and all of his gospel provisions that have been given for us.

But number five is they are to be put on. They are to be taken up. That's the language. There's something I am supposed to do in my Christian life with Christ. I am to put on Christ. I am to take up Christ. You see, I know that I am in Christ. I know that Christ is in me and I have this glorious, legal, factual, positional blessing that in Christ in the heavenly places I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing. I know what is mine in Christ legally. I know what it means to be positionally in Christ, his righteousness, his truth, the shield of faith, all of that.

But now, what does that mean in my daily life to put it on? To put it on. It doesn't save me. I'm saved in Christ, but it does something for me as I live for my savior daily for Christ under attack. What does it mean to put on Christ and his provisions? Yes, I rejoice. I'm in Christ. Christ is in me. I have his blood imputed to me that pays for my sin. I have his righteousness imputed to me that clothes me for eternity. I have legally the right into the presence of God. Isn't that amazing in the fulfillment of the new covenant how simple it gets?

I mean, if we wanted to come and worship the Lord on the day of the Lord in the Old Covenant, you know all the things we'd have to do. Did you get a lamb? Did you get a dove? Did you get the priest in line? Did you get the sacrifice? We got to get somebody to go in there for us. He's got to go in with our names, the name of our tribe on his breastplate and all of these excruciating, exacting things that have to be done step by step by step by step by step and then he just led us right into the Holy of Holies.

Just let us right on in. And remember what he's just said. I mean, it was so remarkable when he said and amazingly as he leads us and the rest of us are praying, the Lord has absolutely no difficult in the intimacy of each one. All the glorious simplicity of all of those things. I rejoice in the positional blessings that are attributed to me in Christ. But now, what does it mean to take it up every day? What does it mean to put on truth every day? What does it mean to put on the breastplate of righteousness every day?

I know I've got his righteousness pleading for me in heaven, but what does it mean to put it on every day? How is that done? The taking it up, the moving from the glorious rejoicing of positional blessings to the experience of the power of putting Christ on daily with this armor. It's this living relationship with Christ, a living relationship with Christ. That's what I long for me and you.

Guest (Male): We can engage in spiritual warfare with confidence for our spiritual armor has been designed and fashioned by God himself. You are listening to in perspective featuring the teaching of Dr. Harry L. Reeder. Our current in perspective gift offer is Dr. Reeder's series, what happens when I die? That is a question that everyone has asked at some point in life. This series reveals the answer through the pages of scripture. What is it like when I step into eternity? Will I recognize my loved ones? What will I be doing? Dr. Reeder answers these questions and more in the series, what happens when I die?

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Our purpose is to proclaim biblical doctrine to foster a reformed awakening in today's church. Connect to blogs, podcasts, and more at inperspective.org. Again, if you would like to receive a complimentary copy of the series, what happens when I die? Call 1-800-488-1888. Interestingly, there is no part of the armor of God that protects your back. Why? Dr. Reeder explains why. Next time as we turn back to the scriptures to put life in biblical perspective.