Sermon May 31, 2009
Sermon Series: Spiritual Warfare
Sermon #02: The Belt of Truth
Scripture Ref: Ephesians 6:10-18
10: “Finally, my brethern, be strong in the LORD & in the power of HIS might. 11: Put on the whole armor of GOD, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12: For we wrestle not against flesh & blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13: Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of GOD, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, & having done all, to stand. 14: Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with the TRUTH, & having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15: & your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16: Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17: & take the helmet of salvation, & the sword of the SPIRIT, which is the word of GOD: 18: Praying always with all prayer & supplication in the SPIRIT, & perseverance & supplication for all saints.’
II Corinthians 10: 3-4 3: ‘For though we walk in the flesh, we do war after the flesh: 4: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through GOD to the pulling down of strong holds.’
Introduction:
In this sermon series on Spiritual Warfare our text is taken from the book of Ephesians, chapter 6.
The author of this N T epistle is the apostle Paul. Now Paul was familiar with Ephesus because he was the one who went to Ephesus & planted the local church there. The Ephesians were acquainted with Spiritual Warfare for the city of Ephesus was filled with demonic powers.
Paul came to Ephesus & there he found about 12 men who were believers in JESUS but they did not know anything about the Holy Ghost.
In Acts chapter 19 we find Paul laying hands on these men & they were baptized with the Holy Ghost & they began to speak in tongues & prophesy. & a GREAT REVIVAL broke out in the city & many souls were won to the LORD. & PAUL continued there in Ephesus for about 3 years.
Acts 19: 11-12 ‘& GOD wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul; So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, & the diseases departed from them, & the evil spirits went out of them.’
This is where we get the matter of PRAYING OVER ANOINTED CLOTHS.
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When the HOLY SPIRIT begins to BLESS MIGHTILY & we’re EXPERIENCING REVIVAL --- it’s THEN ----------- we’d better be PUTTING ON the WHOLE ARMOR of GOD because SATAN is NOT going to SIT BACK TWIDDLING HIS THUMBS & WATCH WHAT --- GOD IS DOING without him TRYING to TEAR IT DOWN & DESTROY IT.
This genuine MOVE of GOD stirred up the power of the devil & there was Spiritual Warfare that broke out – in the heavenlies. There was the power of God against the power of Satan.
How many this morning ---------- KNOW that GOD is always the VICTOR.
In ACTS chapter #19: A group of DEMON POSSESSED EXORCISTS tried to CAST OUT DEMONS in the NAME of JESUS & it BACKFIRED on them & the DEMONS JUMPED on the EXORCISTS. The DEMONS TORE OFF their clothes & they RAN them out of the HOUSE of GOD buck naked & SHOOK UP.
The APOSTLE PAUL was always SO BOLD & SO DEPENDENT upon the LORD & upon GOD & that is HOW GOD brought about so many SUPERNATURAL DELIVERANCES in people’s lives. The power of the devil was no match for the name of JESUS & the power of the Holy Ghost.
The devil was defeated in Ephesus. Praise the LORD!
Acts 19:20 ‘So mightily grew the WORD of GOD & prevailed.’
The DEVIL’S plans BACKFIRED. What he thought he would DESTROY (the WORK of GOD & the local CHURCH there in Ephesus) ---------- GREW mightily.
Now some years after Paul had left Ephesus --- he takes the opportunity from his PRISON CELL to write this letter to the church there. Paul doesn’t need to convince them of Spiritual Warfare but he REMINDS THEM that the ENEMY -----WHO was AT WORK to DEFEAT the BEGINNING of that local church was STILL AT WORK trying to DEFEAT & to DESTROY not only that local church but also each one of them & their lives.
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That is the reason WHY Paul writes to them in the 6th chapter of this letter:
‘Be STRONG in the LORD & in the POWER of HIS MIGHT --- BECAUSE we are continually WRESTLING with the DEVIL & all his POWERS as they are trying to DEFEAT us & DESTROY us.
I want to REMIND us AGAIN this morning that SATAN is STILL in the DESTROYING BUSINESS:
The DEVIL has tried to DESTROY this local church. & is STILL trying.
He is also TRYING to DESTROY each one of us & our lives.
SPIRITUALLY --- PHYSICALLY ----- DESTROY OUR FAMILIES HOMES, MARRIAGES ----
I have NEVER been called upon to FIGHT the DEVIL any MORE than I have here at this local church. & I credit it all to THE TIME WE’RE LIVING IN.
But I would WORRY MORE IF SATAN was NOT TRYING to STOP us & BLOW us up into smitherrings. WE MUST be DOING SOMETHING RIGHT ------- IF the DEVIL doesn’t like it.
I’d much rather have the DEVIL WORKING AGAINST ME & have GOD WORKING for me than for me to DISCOVER GOD to be WORKING AGAINST ME & the DEVIL WORKING for me.
An old song said:
‘I’d rather be on the INSIDE LOOKING OUT than to BE on the OUTSIDE LOOKING IN.
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Paul was in PRISON in ROME when he wrote this letter.
Constantly in front of him at all times were these ROMAN SOLDIERS dressed in their ARMOR. They were ALWAYS DRESSED in their ARMOR & were ALWAYS READY for BATTLE.
So Paul uses these ROMAN SOLDIERS & their ARMOR as a METAPHOR for us as CHRISTIANS.
IF we are going to DO BATTLE AGAINST the DEVIL THEN we MUST NOT ATTEMPT to BATTLE HIM without us 1st PUTTING UPON US the ARMOR of GOD. The ARMOR of GOD!
How many of you KNOW this morning that GOD has NEVER LOST a BATTLE?
How many of you KNOW that GOD has NEVER even COME CLOSE to LOSING a BATTLE?
The SCRIPTURE assures us TODAY that GOD has GIVEN us HIS ARMOR for us to place upon us when we are at WAR with the DEVIL. They are GUARANTEED VICTORIOUS SPIRITUAL WEAPONS.
We have to PUT THEM ON --- GOD DOES NOT PUT THEM ON US.
The DEVIL doesn’t have ANYTHING that can OVERPOWER them! REJOICE in that TRUTH!
‘For the WEAPONS of our WARFARE are NOT CARNAL but MIGHTY through GOD to the PULLING DOWN of STRONGHOLDS.’
Now as Paul writes to them about PREPARING themselves for DEMONIC ATTACKS the 1st thing he tells them to do is to PUT ON the BELT of TRUTH.
The WEAPON of TRUTH:
Ephesians 6:14 ‘Stand firm then with the BELT of TRUTH buckled around your waist.’
TRUTH is a POWERFUL WEAPON.
TRUTH is a WEAPON against DECEPTION.
How many of you have ever been LIED TO? Raise your hand.
How many of you this morning, at SOME SEASON in your life, you were LIED TO & you DID NOT DISCOVER the TRUTH for a long time? You were DECEIVED.
How many of you KNOW that we LIVE DIFFERENTLY when we LIVE under a LIE than when we LIVE under the TRUTH?
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JESUS said in John 8:32 ‘& you shall know the truth & the truth shall make you free.’
If we were to LOOK at that in the context of the Scripture of the N T, we would recognize that simply KNOWING the TRUTH is NOT enough. We MUST ACT upon the TRUTH as well.
The ONLY TIME the DEVIL gets WORRIED about the TRUTH is when we DO what the TRUTH says:
James said in James 1:22 ‘But be ye DOERS of the WORD & NOT HEARERS ONLY, deceiving your own selves.’
If we are going to BATTLE AGAINST SATAN & his ARMIES then the #1 --- (one) thing we MUST be DOING ----- DOING the WORD of GOD.
It’s so very important for us to be LIVING by the WORD. There is NO ANOINTING upon us IF we WILLINGLY WALK in DISOBEDIENCE.
CONSIDER the IMPORTANCE of TRUTH:
WHY is the TRUTH so IMPORTANT?
1:} The TRUTH is IMPORTANT because the DEVIL’S MOST EFFECTIVE WEAPON is DECEPTION. Therefore he will use DECEPTION MORE than any other of his weapons.
The SCRIPTURE says of the DEVIL, John 8:44 b ‘The devil is a liar & the father of liars.’
Told the 1st lie
Good at what he does.
When he LIES to us & we believe that LIE – then we begin to go down a path that is NOT the path the LORD wants us to take,
When he DECEIVES us --- then we ACT upon that INFORMATION & we ACT WRONGLY.
So the DEVIL’S WEAPON – before he does anything else is DECEPTION – LIES.
DECEPTION was the DEVIL’S 1st WEAPON:
Genesis 3:1 in the Garden of Eden
What was the DEVIL’S scheme to CONVINCE Sister Eve & ultimately Brother Adam as well, to DISOBEY GOD?
“Did GOD really say that to you?”
He LIED about GOD & said, “GOD did not tell you the truth.”
DECEPTION was the DEVIL’S TOOL that brought about the DOWNFALL.
DECEPTION the DEVIL’S MOST EFFECTIVE WEAPON.
The DEVIL doesn’t tell us “Now this is a BIG LIE I’m telling you.”
He is extremely gifted in the ability to tell us the BIGGEST LIE & make it sound BELIEVABLE.
Revelation 12:9 ‘& the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, & Satan, which DECEIVES the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, & his angels were cast out with him
So if the DEVIL is EFFECTIVE enough to lead the whole world astray THEN SURELY DECEPTION should be considered DANGEROUS to us.
WHAT DOES the DEVIL DECEIVE PEOPLE ABOUT?
Note these things:
#1: He sometimes DECEIVES us about the CAUSES of our SITUATIONS.
WHAT or WHO has CAUSED my SITUATION?
We sometimes place the BLAME on GOD.(aggravated at GOD, Question GOD rebellous
We sometimes place the BLAME on OTHERS.
The DEVIL will place the BLAME on anyone & everyone EXCEPT the REAL CULPRIT.
#2: He sometimes DECEIVES us about the CONSEQUENCES of our SINS.
The DEVIL will tell us; “Well, what you did is NOT all that BAD.”
No one will ever KNOW.
Everybody is GUILTY of SOMETHING.
You’re just as good as Sister ---- or Brother ----.
Surely GOD wouldn’t send you to hell for something that little. Hell is for the BIG OFFENDERS.
Numbers 32: 23 “Your SINS will find you out. “Your blood won’t be on my hands!”
#3: He sometimes DECEIVES us about the CONDITION of our SOULS:
He’ll try his best to convince us that we’re alright spiritually when we’re NOT.
The church at Laodicea Revelation chapter 3: Better known as the lukewarm church Verse #17
‘Because thou sayest, ‘I am rich, & increased with goods, & have need of nothing; & knows not that thou art wretched, & miserable, & poor, & blind, & naked.’
Proverbs 30:20 ‘Such is the way of the adulterous woman; she eats & wipes her mouth, & says, I have done no wickedness.’
She feels no guilt, no remorse, no conviction, no condemnation.
I have heard people say something like this:
“Well, if I know my heart, I’m alright with GOD.”
“I don’t feel like it’s wrong, if it was wrong then GOD would show it to me?”
“I don’t feel condemned over it & until I do I’m gonna keep on doing it.”
We cannot go by feelings of the heart to determine whether something that we do or don’t do is right or wrong.
Jeremiah 17: 9 ‘The heart is decietful above all things, & desperately wicked, who can know it?
Proverbs 16: 2 ‘All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weighs the spirits.’
25: ‘There is a way that seems right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death.’
Proverbs 30:12 ‘There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, & yet is not washed from their filthiness.’
II Thessalonians 2:11 ‘& for this cause GOD shall send them a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.’
The DEVIL’S BIGGEST LIES:
1: There is NO HELL: { Actions speak louder than words}
2: There is NO HURRY {Keep on doing what you’re doing, Plenty of time]
3: There is NO HOPE {You may as well give up completely; you cannot]
4: There are MANY WAYS to GOD & there are NO ABSOLUTES:
We need to come back at the Devil & contradict that:
1: There is ONLY ONE TRUE STANDARD – The BIBLE
Many of today’s generation argue:
The Bible is just a book, written by man
It was written over 1500 years by 40 authors from various walks of life. Kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesmen, & scholars.
Moses was a political leader: Peter was a fisherman:
Amos was a herdman: Joshua was a military general:
Luke was a doctor: Daniel was a prime minister:
Solomon & David were kings: Matthew was a tax collector:
Paul was a Jewish rabbi & lawyer & tentmaker:
The Bible made literally 100’s of prophecies concerning the coming of JESUS & everyone of them was fulfilled exactly was they were foretold.
What other book with as many authors & from so many different places & from so many years apart fulfill its predictions? There are none!
It’s been banned, burned & outlawed but yet it still stands.
JESUS said, ‘Heaven & earth shall pass away but MY WORD shall abide forever.’
2: There is ONLY ONE WAY to GOD:
I Timothy 2:5 ‘For there is one GOD & one mediator between GOD & men, the man CHRIST JESUS
Acts 4:12 ‘Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.’
3: There is ONLY ONE WAY to be SAVED:
Acts 3:19 ‘Repent ye therefore, & be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the LORD.’
Confess, Repent, Turn from sin
I John 1: 9 ‘If we confess our sins HE is faithful & just to forgive us our sins, & to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’
