Supernatural Warfare part three

Two weeks ago, we looked at the evidence all around us of the supernatural evil – the growing supernatural evil.  Last week we began our look at the supernatural armor God has provided us for our protection in this deadly spiritual battle. In so doing, we also reminded ourselves that we are never, ever alone in this battle. God lives inside each follower of Christ, and God provides angels who always guard us. Always guard us, even when circumstances seem as it we are left alone.

As we began our examination of the Christians spiritual armor found in Ephesians six, we looked at the belt of truth with which the apostles urged us to bind up our loins. The word ‘loins’ in Scripture often refers to the seat or the essence of a person’s strength.

So, when Paul used the belt illustration, he was telling his readers that if we don’t hold truth close to ourselves, if we compromise or dilute God’s truth, then we open ourselves to mortal attack by that enemy – which is likely the reason we are seeing so much demonic activity in our culture. Truth – God’s eternal truth – has been utterly diluted and compromised, even in many churches – that it is nearly unrecognizable. I’ve talked about that many times in the last several years during Bible study and my Sunday messages.

When I first preached this message a year and a half ago, I had had a brief conversation with someone on one of my social media sites who thought a church marquee was an abusive use of the Christian message.  Here is what the church sign read: “The fact that there’s a highway to hell and only a stairway to heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers.”

He responded: “Christians should do better than using abusive scare tactics to gain and retain members.”  I told him the church sign was a direct allusion to Matthew chapter seven: (Matthew 7:13-14) “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” But he didn’t seem impressed. He certainly didn’t change his mind.

And so, the dilution of the gospel message continues in many churches into near oblivion. I have even had pastors tell me in private conversation that they do not talk about certain social issues in their homilies so as to not offend people in the pew.

That is one reason we are looking once again at this armor of God. We must never compromise truth. So, let’s move on through the text in Ephesians 6. Today we pick up at verse 13.

“Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints  . . . .” (Eph 6:13-18)

Let’s look now at two more elements of the spiritual armor: The breastplate of righteousness, and the shield of faith. The word ‘righteousness,’ as used by the writers of Scripture, often carries the idea of thinking and acting according to God’s commandments. It holds virtue, integrity, moral purity, as godly principles.

The equation seems simple enough. Obey God’s laws – the more scrupulous the better – and you’ve got nothing to worry about. But God has something deeper in mind when it comes to Biblical righteousness. Here is what the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Philippi:

“. . . I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith . . . (Philippians 3:8-9)

And listen to what the Lord Jesus said during His sermon on the mount to the crowd of disciples, curious onlookers, and some religious leaders. “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom.” (Matthew 5:20)

The scribes and Pharisees were meticulous in their observances of the Law of Moses, as well as in their multiple oral interpretations of those laws by their scholars. In fact, the two major theological schools of Hillel and Shemmai both taught that oral traditions were as authoritative as the written laws handed down by Moses and the prophets. Their oral traditions informed them that if they followed those traditions and interpretations of the Law, God would consider them ‘righteous.’

Yet, the Lord Jesus told His disciples – and He tells us the same thing – unless their righteousness surpassed that of their religious leaders who were scrupulous in their observances, they would not enter the kingdom of heaven.

I can imagine what the crowd thought to themselves: If even the holy men around us will not enter heaven, then WHO can ever be saved?

Who, indeed?

As the New Testament repeatedly informs us, Biblical righteousness is not defined so much by what we DO, but by what we ARE. And please pay attention to this follow-on comment: It is what we ARE that must translate into what we do.

That’s why anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ but still acts and thinks and talks like he or she did before allegedly becoming a follower of Christ, that person is a liar. Here is this word from John’s first epistle: (1 John 2:3-5) “This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commandments. The one who claims, “I know him,” while not keeping his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in this person. But the love of God is truly perfected in whoever keeps his word. This is how we know we are in him.”

To repeat, because of its important point: Religious rituals and good works, in and of themselves, save no one. That was precisely the stumbling stone the Holy Spirit spoke of in Romans 9:30-33 “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

Painstaking observance of the law or of tradition alone saves no one. Why? Because sin is part of our inherited nature, written like some genetic code into our spirits that invariably leads us away from the Savior.

That was the lament of that great apostle, St. Paul. Feel this man’s passion as he cries out in Romans 7 regarding his sin nature: “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. . . . For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want . . . I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good . . . Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? (Romans 7:15-24)

But thanks be to God, Paul didn’t stop at the end of chapter seven with the bad news. He moved on to the next verses that we find in chapter eight. It is there that Paul shouts the good news about the righteousness that God imputes to us – the righteousness God credits to us – solely on the basis of our baptismal faith: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus – which mirrors what he wrote a few chapters earlier: But now apart from the Law, the righteousness of God has been manifested . . . even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe . . ..” (Romans 3:21-22).

And again, as I quoted earlier his words to the church at Philippi: “[N]ot having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith . . . (Philippians 3:9)

I hope you caught those Biblical promises, for they are vital to the integrity of our spiritual breastplate and our shield of faith with which, Paul tells us, we extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Let me repeat myself: It is not so much what we do as what we ARE that imputes or credits to us God’s righteousness. It’s about what God promises us the very thing He already did the moment we are born again. It is a fait accompli.

So, what ARE we? The follower of Christ’s answer is girded and secured by the belt of truth – truth that assures us that we are a precious child of God, that you were born into His family through your baptismal faith – faith in the shed blood of Messiah Jesus that alone can wash away each stain of our sin.

St. Paul tells us what we ARE in his letter to the Christians at Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:30-31)  But by [God’s] doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption . . . .”

Just as God calls us ‘saints’ – meaning ‘holy ones’ because of our relationship with Him through His Son – God calls us ‘righteous’ for the same reason. That’s God’s view of us; Holy and righteous because of who we are – what we are – in Christ.

For example, and here is an important text from 2 Samuel. David writes: “I was also blameless toward Him, and I kept myself from my iniquity. “Therefore, the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness before His eyes.” (2 Samuel 22:24-25)

It is essential that we understand the context of David’s remarks. This is AFTER his sin with Bathsheba, and his murder of her husband Uriah. But when David repented of His murderous sins in Chapter 12 of 2 Samuel, the prophet Nathan told him: “The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.”  (2 Samuel 12:13)

Certainly, David suffered terribly in his lifetime for his sins. Bathsheba’s first child with David died, and David’s own children rose up against him. One even tried to murder him.  But our point here is that David’s remorseful repentance brought him not only forgiveness from God, but that God ALSO removed David’s sin. He REMITTED David’s sin. He obliterated David’s sin. That is why the king could say he was clean in God's eyes.

I’ve spoken multiple, multiple times in the past about God's promise of forgiveness. I’ve reminded us all that He completely obliterates our sins from His memory.

But if Satan can create doubt in our mind about God’s truth concerning what we already ARE in Christ – forgiven, clean, holy – if he can insinuate uncertainty in the unalterable promises of God, then he will have created a critical chink in your breastplate and shield – and he will go in for the kill.

That is why girding ourselves securely with Biblical TRUTH is so important to the Christian. God’s truth produces a strong faith and trust in Christ. God’s truth sets us FREE from fear that God has lied to us about any of His promises, or that His promises do not apply to us because of our past sins.

Which brings us now to that shield of faith.

The Roman soldier’s shield was often made of tough animal hide. It stood approximately 4.5 feet high and 2.5 feet wide. Before battle, soldiers soaked their shield with water which helped extinguish any flaming arrows fired at them by the enemy. The soldiers also formed parallel ranks as they marched toward the battle line, their shields protecting them from the oncoming army. But when a volley of arrows arced toward them in the sky, the first rank kept its shield in front of their body, while the second and subsequent ranks lifted their shields above the heads of the soldiers in front – forming something like a tortoise shell.

That is analogous to how YOUR shield of faith can protect those you love. Wetted by faith in God’s truth, your shield will extinguish the fiery arrows of doubts and fears and confusions and temptations sent against you from the enemy. At the same time, when you share God’s truths with those who are temporarily – shall we say – on the front lines, your words of Scripture, reinforced with prayer, will encourage, cover, and protect those who are under attack.

None of the Roman soldier’s armor was superfluous. Each piece was vital to his safety and the safety of his comrades, as well as to his ability to successfully wage battle against the enemy. In the same way, none of our supernatural armor is superfluous. Each piece Paul mentions in this sixth chapter of Ephesians is rooted in God’s truth and is vital to our safety – and the safety of others. Our armor, all of it, is also vital to our ability to successfully wage battle against our supernatural enemy.

Gird your loins with truth – God’s inerrant and infallible word. Read it. Study it. Memorize it. Tell it to others. And put on the breastplate of righteousness which God credits to us through our faith in the sacrificial atonement of Jesus the Messiah. And take up the shield of faith with which you will extinguish the enemy’s fiery lies and doubts and temptations and confusions.

We will look next at the other pieces of the Christian’s supernatural armor.