Latest / Messiah in Life / Ephesians Part 13

Transcript

Ephesians Part 13 · Messiah in Life

• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Messiah in Life podcast, hosted by Bishop Justin D.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Elwell of Restoration Fellowship International and Messiah Congregation, recorded at our congregational home in Washington Mills, New York.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: In this study through Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, we invite you to rediscover the beauty of God's covenant purposes revealed in Messiah Jesus.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: Together, we will explore the theological and covenantal foundations of Paul's letter.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Its call to unity, holiness, redemption, and covenant identity for both Jew and Gentile and Messiah.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is more than a theological study.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: It is an invitation to see the story of Scripture as one unified testimony of the Lord's faithfulness from Israel to the nations, all brought together in Messiah.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us as we seek to live Messiah in everyday life.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: And now to Bishop Justin.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: So Ephesians chapter 6, we will be concluding our study of Ephesians, Lord willing.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Begin in verse 10.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'll read to verse 20 because it's obviously one subject, the full armor of God, or the whole armor of God.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's what we'll be looking at today.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm going to take a little bit of a different twist than maybe you're used to.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: On the handouts, you'll see that the second page attached is a diagram.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: One is, or two pictures, I should add a diagram.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: One is a the picture of a Roman soldier.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: The one the second picture is what I believe Paul is kind of basing the theology behind the visual.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: So they're kind of parallel, but there is uh good scriptural foundation for the reasons why I lean toward Paul drawing on the Hebrew scriptures rather than uh solely relying on the visual of the of a Roman soldier.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll explain that as we go.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: Let's read.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: Beginning in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: 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.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: If I was underlining, as I have in my scriptures, um stand is is when I would underline, to stand against the schemes of the devil.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: 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 and heavenly places.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand, I would underline that, in the evil day, and having done all to stand firm, stand therefore.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Are you seeing a pattern here?
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: Having fastened on the belt of truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: In all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the fiery 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 prayers and supplications, to that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that my words may be given to me, that words may be given to me, and 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.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: This is God's word.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_01: Paul has given us in the first three chapters of this epistle a theological overview of Father, Son, and Spirit, the work of the Messiah, what he has accomplished.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: In chapter four, as we considered, we shift to walk worthily of the calling in which we have been called, establishing how we are to be matured.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: We're matured through the gift office as we uh the the office gifts that Christ has given to his body.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: As I've said so many times before, the whole body of Christ are priests.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone in the body of Christ are ministers as unto the Lord, ministers in service to do the work of the gospel, but we all need to be prepared.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: If we look back at the paradigm of Israel, we see that even though Israel was a nation of priests, they also had priests.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Priests to minister on behalf of the priests.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: The same is consistent, uh remains consistent in the uh the Ecclesia, the outcalled ones of the Messiah, that even though we are all called as priests, we're priests as unto the Lord, we're a nation of priests, we need priests, we need ministers to minister to us, to prepare us, to um bring us into maturity, and so on.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so that be creates this um paradigm for us to understand how do we mature in faith, not only within the covenant community, those who gather together in a synagogue setting or a congregational setting, but also in our homes.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: And we shifted in chapter five to married life, to our husbands, our husbands and wives, our children, um, slave and master, and so on.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: And what did that look like?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: What does it look like as he moves into chapter six?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: How do we raise our children in faith?
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: How do we how do how are children to respond to parents?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: What does the scripture say about this?
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: So Paul very consistently through this letter is maturing us.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: He's doing exactly what he as an apostle is called to do.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: He is laying a foundation of faith, and in that foundation of faith, he is helping us to understand how we ought to walk with the Lord and how we ought to walk together.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: Overall, it's a picture that, again, he is he's presented that Messiah has torn down the hostility between Jew and Gentile, the dividing wall, and because of that we've been reconciled and we can have peace not only before the Lord, but also with each other.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: But what happens when the enemy uh uh takes hold of this and attempts to disrupt what the Lord is doing?
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, he will do so, he will try to do so, he will attempt to do so.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: And that is what Paul is helping us to um grapple with here.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: How we are to be prepared.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: What do we look like in the spirit?
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: How do we understand what we look like in the spirit?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: And what does that how does that manifest within our lives?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: So he compares it to armor.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now, in my presentation, I'm not arguing that the the Roman armament had no influence on what Paul was writing.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think that as Paul was in his cell, he beheld, you know, this Roman officer who was standing outside of the cell and he saw how he was adorned, how he was um, how he was dressed.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: And from that, I think Paul began to meditate on, well, what do we look like in the spirit?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: And then drawing back, as we'll see, he draws back from Isaiah.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: The very same uh comparisons, but it creates uh a picture that is spiritually rooted.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: We're not, as I'll argue in a few moments, we're not Romans in the spirit.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: We're not Roman um, we're not a legion in the spirit uh dressed as Romans, but rather we are putting on.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, Paul tells us to put on Yeshua the Messiah, put on Jesus Christ.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: So it's how we are and who we are adorned in.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: But what does it look like?
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: How can we draw tangible connecting points for us to understand what Paul is writing?
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, excuse me, theologically, I think it reaches much deeper than that of the Roman illustration.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: When we think back to the Hebrew scriptures, particularly Isaiah, Isaiah in 11.5 speaks of the coming Messiah being girded with righteousness and faithfulness.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: And what does he having fastened on the belt of truth, you know, having girded ourselves, being girded about the waist to the to the work that we are to do.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: When you're girded about the waist, you are at work.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: When you're girded about the chest, as we see in Messiah in Revelation chapter 1, you are at peace, you are at rest, you're no longer working.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: So 11, uh Isaiah 11:5 speaks, excuse me, of the coming Messiah, girded with righteousness and faithfulness.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: Isaiah 59 17 describes the Lord Himself as putting on righteousness as a breastplate and salvation as a helmet.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Isaiah 52, 7 describes the feet of the one who brings good news.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: So Paul isn't just borrowing from the equipment of the Roman soldier, he's drawing on illustrations that the prophets have given to us.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I think he's making the connection between the two.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: How can, of course, you're talking about in the Roman Empire, all of Judea, the diaspora, everyone was familiar with what a Roman soldier looked like, how he was attired, and so on.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: So as the body of Christ takes that image, but then it begins to apply scripture to it, what does that look like when we apply this piece of equipment to a concept that we have in Scripture already?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: So Paul tells us in Romans 13, but put on the Lord Yeshua the Messiah and make no provision for the lusts of the flesh.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, we know that the lust of the flesh is an avenue that the enemy uses to enter into our hearts, to enter into our minds.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: So we have to be mindful of what Paul is telling us regarding these specific uh elements of this armor and what is protecting us, what the purpose of it is.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: So put on Yeshua the Messiah.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Ephesians, of course, he's already told us to put on the new humanity.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: And again, that is demonstrating the difference between the old man and the new man, the old nature and the new nature, that we are to put on the new nature and walk in that nature.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: But we need illustrations to help us to understand what the uh what we look like in the spirit, right?
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: We put on, think about how we dress just in general in our everyday lives.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_01: If we're going to, we we know how we dress if we're going to a graduation or a or some type of an event that is special, it's unique.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_01: We we demonstrate that by usually putting on something that's a little bit more formal or a little bit nicer.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: If we're going to, you know, a football game in the fall, we'll put on a hat, we'll put a couple fleeces on or whatever, we're dressing for the occasion, we're dressing for the situation.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: But what does it look like in our everyday life?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: Because we don't take the spirit off.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the important things as you read the of the full armor of God is that it's uh the the Greek is written because it's already happened, or as it has already happened.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: So you have put this on.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: And he doesn't say to take it off.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say, you know what, when you get home this evening and your couch is calling you, your lazy boy is calling you, and the TV's calling you, make sure you take off the breastplate, take off the helmet, make sure you put the sword aside because you're gonna stab your couch.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say that.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: So again, it's it's constantly being mindful of what has already been done.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: Put on the full armor of God.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: So the believer isn't simply putting on or making uh, let's say, a collection of spiritual virtues, right?
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: We're not just putting on virtues in the spirit and hoping that when a battle comes up, we can be virtuous through it and everything will work out.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now we have to be ready by standing in Messiah himself.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: So being strong in the Lord, again, that's not our strength.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's not it's not our ability to muster the amount of strength that we need in order to overcome the enemy.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's recognizing in whom the victory has been won, who is the one that has the strength?
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: From where does our strength come from?
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: Our strength is from the Lord.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not being spiritually determined.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: Today, I'm spiritually determined to be strong in the Lord.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: That would be a wrong direction to head.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: You have to recognize what he has already done, that it is already done.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: Don't insert yourself into it.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: He's already done it.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: You have to rest in him and let him be the one fighting the battle before you.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: So Paul has um given us this concept throughout this epistle.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, our blessings are in Messiah, our redemption is in Messiah, we've been raised and seated in heavenly places with Messiah, we've been reconciled through Messiah, we have access to the Father through Messiah, and we're being built together as God's dwelling place in Messiah.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: So our battles are fought in Messiah.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: So we are in him, and we don't come out and say peekaboo and taunt the devil because we think we're strong in ourselves.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: So our ability to stand is only because we are in him.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: Only because we are in him.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not self-generated, it's it's receiving from the one who has overcome.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: And knowing, as you know, as we talked a little bit about this morning in the men's group, knowing who we are in the Lord.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: We have to have our identity set in the Lord.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: So, Paul, again, as we look, as we can uh look through this, verse 11, put on the full armor of God or the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: We have to be mindful that the devil is not going to come at us.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: The Arche, the Exusa, the Exusia, the Cosmocratoras are not going to come out after us in only one way.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: The schemes.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: The devil is a schemer, the devil is a liar.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: He's not just going to come at us constantly with one type of temptation, one type of um irritation, one type of stumbling block.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: He is going to use a variety of things and hope that he can dislodge us from faith and attempt to disprove the Lord's faithfulness.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: See, he's not really faithful.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Look at all that you have going on.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: Look at how difficult this is for you right now.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: The Lord clearly doesn't love you.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: Oh.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: The Lord clearly doesn't uh go before oh the Lord clearly didn't say oh.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I heard it said once, and I don't remember who it was.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um maybe I'll remember at some point.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's not the fangs, it's not the fangs of the serpent in the garden you had to worry about.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_01: But it was the lies that he put in your heart.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: Alright?
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's not the it's not the bite here, it's the lies that he puts in here.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: And if he can begin to seed more lies into you, right, and get you to question, get you to doubt.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why Paul is saying, we need to cover our hearts, we need to cover our minds, we need to make sure that we're girded about the waste and so on.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Because he knows how the enemy works.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: Paul spent a lot of time in prison.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: He spent a lot of time uh, you know, meditating on these types of things.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: So the enemy has wiles, he has schemes.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: But he's not telling us, Paul is not telling us to become fascinated with the devil.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: It seems as though at times people preach more about the devil than they do about Christ.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: They preach more about the adversary than they do about the victor.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: And we have to be careful uh about doing that.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: So he's telling us to recognize opposition, that the opposition to the Lord's purposes are real, and that we have to be prepared to stand.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_01: We have to be prepared to stand against the flood of uh falsehood, the flood of waywardness.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_01: We have to be prepared to stand and not acquiesce, not give over, but to stand in the truth.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: So Paul says, therefore, take up the whole armor of God to withstand the evil day.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: So, what does that tell us?
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: There's going to be evil in the day.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: There's going to be something that comes along, a lie that comes along, a memory that comes along, something that we'll find if we put the shield down, if we don't have the shield before us, um, and of course, scripture continually talks about the Lord being a shield.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: So if we if we don't have him before us, that rumor, that lie, that thought, that history, that pain, that anger, whatever it is, will find a way, find someplace to take root.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: So that from that, heaven forbid, evil should come forth, division should come forth, heartache should come forth.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: And again, he says, stand, therefore, but again, stand in Messiah.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: Know who you are in him.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: So Paul's emphasis is not about going out and looking for the spiritual battle.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say, you know, get in your car, drive down to Route 5, stand up on the roof as you're driving and start proclaiming and casting down and casting up and tearing this and doing this and saying this and doing that.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say that.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: Because, you know, if we know, we know the ruler of this world, we know the one who has the greatest influence in this world, and we know how he works.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Paul structures this very specifically.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against Arke, the authorities, the cosmic powers, the uh the exusia, and the uh cosmocratoras.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: So we see this hierarchy in the in the spirit, just as the Lord has this hierarchy in the spirit, the devil power again, he he likes to imitate what the heaven has done.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: He likes to counterfeit what heaven is doing.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, it's I know we talk about it quite a bit, you know, when they teach um when they teach the agents who deal with counterfeit, you know, they don't parade in the latest counterfeit material.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: They keep continually give them the real thing, the real thing, the real thing, so that when they touch something that is not the real thing, they know instantly the difference.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not by studying the counterfeit, it's by studying the real.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_01: So if we only hear snippets of scripture, sound bites of scripture, as wonderful as our artwork is that depicts it, if that is our sole source of scripture, if we're not fed by scripture, if by hearing, faith cometh by what?
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: Hearing.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: Hearing by what?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: The word of the Lord.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: So we have to be in constant contact with the real so that when the counterfeit comes along, we know it.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's so much, you know, on the on the YouTubes and everywhere, there's always this constant battle between different factions in the Christian world of this type of orthodox, that type of this, this type of that.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: And they they do these little battles between so that what quite often happens is the counterfeit just moves right in and deceives people.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_01: Because we're too busy arguing and counter arguing our particulars, that we we've uh really stopped paying attention to the main thing.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, there are some things we do have to refute, but uh, you know, uh on the YouTube it seems like we have to refute everything.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: So we don't go out looking for the battle, we don't go out looking for the fight, but we do stand when it comes to us, and we stand in him.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: So we remain faithful.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: If we're standing in him, we're remaining faithful when the battle does come.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: So the powers of darkness, of course, want to oppose you know what's going on, what the Lord is doing.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: And I think if we are if we pay attention to uh when things are going well.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: Somehow the enemy will find a way in and cause disruption.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: Why?
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because quite often, if we are not girded, if we're not paying attention, if we are not mindful of the schemes of the devil, when when the enemy does toss a grenade in the midst of your life, you can very easily become distracted by that.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: Or in the midst of your congregation, you can become distracted by that.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: And that's how divisions and how pain and you know um uh splits happen.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: We take our eyes off the Lord, we keep our our eyes on our own personal kingdom, and then when the first thing that disrupts us uh divides us.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so when things are going well, that's when you want to be more prayerful.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when the Lord is really blessing and uh blessing people, that's when you want to be uh prayed up.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: You want everybody to know um where what they should be doing, how they should be um in the spirit.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: Again, so when Paul tells us that we wrestle not, right, the statement is particularly significant, as I've already indicated, when we consider the whole letter, because of what the Lord has done, what Messiah has done, that he has broken down the hostility between Jew and Gentile.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: That, of course, why is that important?
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: Why would this be important?
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_01: Why would that simple point be important?
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: Because it is a major shift along the theme of redemption, of redemption history.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: In the first century, when Paul is writing this, when Paul writes in Romans um uh 116 that he's not ashamed of the gospel, for there's the power of salvation to the Jew first, but also to the Greek, that's a revolutionary statement.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: Why?
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: Because Jews and Greeks certainly did not want to reconcile.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: No, that was not something on anybody's radar.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: We're fine.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: You do your Greek thing, we're gonna do our Jew thing, and you you know, neither of the twins shall meet, you know.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: But if Paul says it's the power of salvation to the Jew first, but also to the Greek, that is a revolutionary statement that says the power of the gospel not only changes us, but it does something that is inconceivable and impossible for us to understand.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: So when he says Greek, he means every nation in between it.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: Every nation in between the Jew and the Greek, and every people group, the Lord can reconcile through the gospel.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_01: And again, that's a recovery or repair of Genesis 11 and the and the uh the establishment of the nations.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: As the Lord spread the nations out, he divided the peoples into nations.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: The gospel is the reversal of that and the bringing together in the one new man, right?
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: They were one people, they had one language, and they used that to raise themselves up.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: The Lord scattered the language, scattered the people, and then upon, you know, face of the earth, everybody developed into their own groups.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: But now, through the gospel, he's given us one language, he's given us one body, one identity in Messiah.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: So, of course, the devil would want to disrupt that.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yes?
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: I think so.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: So he wants to reverse that.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: So the person standing in front of us is not the enemy.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Reality.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: And in reality, that person is not the enemy.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_01: Again, our struggle is not with flesh and blood, our struggle is with the devil, his demonic kingdom, his counterfeit hierarchy that influences all of creation.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: The spiritual warfare is everywhere, right?
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: You can't go to the store without seeing perversion, you can't turn on the TV without seeing perversion, you can't turn on the radio without hearing perversion.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: So, in every way, shape, and form, the enemy is surrounding the world with the desires and the lusts of the flesh that would lead people astray of faithfulness onto the Lord.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: So when we keep that in mind, how much more so when we go out into the highways and byways of our society, do we need to be uh suited up in the full armor of God and be mindful of that?
• 26:23
  unknown: Right?
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: You don't have to stand by your car door and do a meditation, and I'm putting this on and I'm doing this and putting this on.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: You have to do that.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: You have to remember what he's already done and go out remembering with the memory of what he's already done.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: So the the answer to spiritual opposition is not hatred of people.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_01: It shouldn't cause us to go out and hate people.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: Quite the opposite, because ultimately we are not the judge of the, you know, of that person, of that soul, of that person before us.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_01: But we do need to give the gospel.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: We need to be a representative of the gospel.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: As Paul even said, I'm an ambassador in chains for the cause of the gospel.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: He's still a schliach, he's still an apostolos, he's still a sent one, even though he's sitting in prison in chains.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: He's still an ambassador for Christ.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: He is an embassy for the Messiah while he's in prison.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: He didn't see his job description changing because he was in chains, and that's marvelous.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_01: So the armor comes again from the scriptures, uh, the Hebrew scriptures.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: We've already looked at Isaiah 59.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it describes, Isaiah 59 describes truth and righteousness, an era when truth and righteousness have been abandoned.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: I think we live in an era that is very similar to that, if not exceeding that.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: So justice is lacking, truth has fallen uh in the streets, humanity is unable to remedy its own condition.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: Have you noticed that?
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: No matter what man tries to do, we can't establish peace, a lasting peace, we can't repair ourselves, we can't, you know, we can try all we want.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: But and then the Lord acts.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: That's what we see in Isaiah.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: The Lord acts.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: The Lord begins to put on these things as an example for us, for he put on righteousness as a breastplate.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: The helmet of salvation is on his head.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: So that imagery is very striking.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: Righteousness as the breastplate, salvation as the helmet.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: So Paul, of course, looking at these images, or this, I should say, the image of this soldier standing there, begins to make these connections back to Isaiah.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: Why?
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_01: Because Isaiah is, of course, one of the great prophets of the Messiah.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: He describes the exile, he describes the sin, he describes the restoration, and he describes the hope, the comfort of Israel that comes from the Messiah.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: So the armor ultimately belongs to God.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: What we are adorned in belongs to him because we put on the Messiah.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: It belongs to him.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it points us toward his character and the work of Messiah.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: What is uh, you know, some of the things I say quite frequently is that we we go out in the character of Messiah.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: We're just display the character of the Messiah, not only in the streets and the stores, but in our homes and our personal relationships and our friendships and so on.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: It should give the example of it doesn't mean we're perfect.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't mean everything in our history is perfect.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: It means that we are trying to display and glorify Him and hopefully not bring shame to His name.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: So the belt of truth, let's look briefly at each of these elements.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_01: Paul begins with the belt, having girded your waist with truth, or as the uh ESV says, having fastened on the belt of truth.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: This is a little bit misleading for what it actually looked like.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: It was, I've got a belt on to help hold up my dungarees here.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um it wasn't this type of western belt.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_01: It was actually, now you've probably seen it.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: It was actually a leather.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, what's the best way to?
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: I don't want to say a shirt, but it was like a you know, slip, you know, put slips on.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: So it was like this big heavy leather slit, and it went over their head and it went down to about your knees.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: And everything fastened to it.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: So every part of the every part of your gear was fastened to this.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: So it went, you know, it guarded your up, you know, to your knees, basically, your thighs, your backside, uh, you know, it added a layer of protection, but everything else connected to it.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not just this little rinky belt, uh, rinky dinky belt.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: It was a heavy article that went over most of your body.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: So it provided a great deal of covering.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: So the belt was uh this is what held everything together for movement, for activity.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: So Paul is saying that truth is foundational.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: Truth is the foundation of everything.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: And what do we know?
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: We know that the word of God is truth, as Paul, as uh as Messiah said in John 17, your word is truth.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: So we are first covered in his truth.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: So throughout Ephesians, truth isn't just intellectual information, it's not just uh studying and learning, it's the reality revealed in Messiah of who he is.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: That's truth.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: Those are each direct articles.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_01: So he is truth, he's truth itself.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: Now remember, Paul tells us to speak the truth in love.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean I'm gonna air my grievances, but I'm gonna tell you there it's in love.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: So you can't refute it, you can't argue with it because I'm telling you the truth in love, right?
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: Now, now, you know, as we share, as we share the truth, as we share the personhood of Messiah.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, as we're doing that quite often, the things that are disjointed in our life that are inconsistent with the person of Messiah in our life will be brought forward.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: But as the Holy Spirit does it, um, we don't do the conviction, right?
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: We don't do the um, we don't do that level of work.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: We're to share the truth, we're to be there for the person, and so on.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_01: So to be girded with the truth means that our lives are secured by what the Lord has revealed.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: And really, it's the word of God.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: So we're not governed by rumors, we're not governed by accusations, we're not governed by fear, we're not governed by the shifting opinions of others or our society.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, people keep saying, you know, the times they are a change, and right to quote uh Bob, uh, which Bob is that?
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: Delan.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_01: Dylan, thank you.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: I should know he's uh still a brother in the Lord.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, Zimmerman.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: He's still uh he's a Eden as well.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um but you know the times are gonna change all they want, but the Lord never changes.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: So Israel, of course, we're so we're not governed by any of these things.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: As easy as it would be, because that's the thing.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: If the enemy can get you to follow the the winds of change from one moment to the next, whether they be emotional or social, he can completely distract you from what the Lord is doing and what the Lord has said.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: So, what did Messiah say?
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're governed by the word of God, we're governed by his promises.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: Messiah, as he was, uh, of course, uh going back to Deuteronomy, Israel was taught Messiah quoted when he was tempted by the adversary man shall not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds, or the word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_01: But by all, it literally says, by all that proceedeth from the mount of the Lord, or the word of the mouth of the Lord.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: So Messiah uses that to refute the enemy, and the truth strengthens us.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um the truth that is found in him ultimately is what strengthens us.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: So let's consider the breastplate.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: Breastplate covered the vital organs, right?
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you probably survive an arrow strike to your arm, maybe to your leg as well, but more than likely to the gut, to the heart, not going to uh not going to work.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: There's gonna be a long-standing uh problem of being dead.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be a little harder for you to recover from dead-sease.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but it recover, I thought that was funny.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, um, it covered the vital organs.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: So Isaiah has already used that imagery regarding the Lord.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the Lord himself putting on righteousness as a uh breastplate.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: But for us, it's not self-righteousness.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a customing of self-righteousness that look how perfect I am, look how wonderful I am.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's not self-righteousness.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_01: Again, it's not an attempt to generate a righteousness that would cause us to be acceptable before him in ourselves.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's not what this is uh depicting here.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_01: Our righteousness, of course, is rooted in Messiah.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: So what we've seen thus far is you know, Messiah is the truth, Messiah is our righteousness.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: And that is the theme, and I'll I'll recap that uh in a little bit, and it might be in your sheets, I'm not sure.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: But Paul has already explained that we have redemption and forgiveness found through his blood.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_01: And again, that is the source.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: Messiah is the source of the righteousness that we now have because we've trusted in him.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_01: We're trusting in him.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not just something we believe about ourselves.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know, righteousness is not, this is what I believe about myself.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: It is who he is.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_01: It is our standing before him, what he has imputed to us.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: His righteousness is now uh imputed to our account, as we might say.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it becomes something that we walk in.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_01: And it is, again, it's his character, it's who he is.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: It is having been justified through Christ, and now as we stand in Christ, we are adorned in his righteousness of who he is.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_01: So the believer, again, is made new in Messiah.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_01: And how are we made new?
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_01: We're called to reject the old ways of darkness that we've pursued, the old ways of darkness that we had walked in and living according to, that are contrary to the righteousness of God, that bring us into judgment.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: We don't get born again and then all of a sudden go back to the old feeding trough that uh that that filled us before.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_01: We have to move on in the Lord.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why we need fellowship with other believers.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: We can't, we will not survive on our own under normal circumstances.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we have some wonderful examples of history of saints who were, you know, isolated and imprisoned for for many, many years and they remained faithful.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_01: But ordinarily that's not that's a special grace that the Lord would give to somebody in that position.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_01: But we need each other.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_01: We need, again, this is why Paul, throughout this text, has led us to the point of he talks about relationships just before he talks about the armor of God.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's it's a beautifully uh well uh you know hebraically laid out idea because the armor of God ultimately is very personal.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_01: Very, very personal, because it is being in a person, and that person is Messiah.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_01: So the breastplate speaks both of our standing in Messiah and the righteous life that flows from that standing.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: Do you know where you stand in him?
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, Lord, thank you.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: So from that standing, what flows out of you?
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's the question.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: That is the question.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: So the enemy is called the tempter, right?
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_01: He seeks us, he seeks to draw us away from the Lord's faithfulness and also the Lord's righteousness.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_01: So our defense, if we become defensive in ourselves for ourselves, because of what the enemy is sowing in our life or firing into our life, we're going to lose.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, we're not our own defense, we're not our own advocate, we're not our own um paraclete, we're not our own lawyer.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: Christ is.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: So we need to be very aware that any area of weakness, guess where that fiery dart's gonna go?
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_01: Have you noticed?
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: He, you know, the devil's not a f he's not a fool, he's not stupid.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: He's a schemer, he's a liar, he's a tempter, but he knows our weaknesses, and he will attempt to uh take advantage of that and utilize that for his own good.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: So when we find ourselves in places where this has a certain amount of temptation, certain amount of temptation, we have to make sure that we position ourselves that we're not opening ourselves to that type of temptation.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm trying to think of an example.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, uh my my wife and I were out on a an expedition, you know, having a nice we took the long way around the Adirondack Park to Old Forge.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_01: What should have been or ordinarily would be like an hour and 15-minute drive turned into like a four-hour drive.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: So we took the long way.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_01: But we went into uh an establishment, a wonderful establishment for lunch.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh love the the best fish fry I've ever had.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um but here uh, you know, the way that the restaurant's set up, they you know, they have the bar on this side.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_01: Now 30 years ago, that would have been a very strong draw for me.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm well past that.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: But you know what I didn't do?
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't tempt it.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_01: So when I sat, I couldn't really, you know, there was only one table open.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_01: It was football Sunday, and the bills were playing and everybody was, you know, hooping tolerant.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: So my wife is directly across from me, but what did I do?
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_01: I turned slightly.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_01: I just turned slightly so that my peripheral vision wasn't right because not that I think I'm going to be tempted to go over and hey, what do you got on draft?
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_01: But because I did not want the opening to be made available.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_01: So you just do little things that help you to, you know, cover those areas that might be um temptation or cause something to come to remembrance, right?
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_01: That isn't helpful.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_01: So Messiah is our excuse me, messiah is our righteousness.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_01: Not the best example, but I I did my best on the fly.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the feet prepared.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_01: What does he say?
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: As shoes for your feet.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_01: Paul loved his footwear, right?
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_01: As shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace, putting on the readiness, having your feet shawed, right?
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: The language, of course, it takes us back to Isaiah 52, 7.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_01: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good news, who proclaims peace.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's not the style.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we all know that Doc Martin boots are the official footwear of heaven.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that's a joke.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_01: Or Chuck Taylor's, those are good too.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_01: My wife might like Vans to be.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's not what we're putting, it's not the footwear, it's not the protection of our foot necessarily, but it's where our feet are going.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's where our feet are going.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_01: Where are our feet going?
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: Where are they heading?
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_01: The gospel is not meant to be stationary.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think all of us, there's a temptation for us to become stationary.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_01: I found the seat that I like, I'm not going to move from that seat.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_01: Don't take my seat, that's my seat.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's a temptation for us to become stationary rather than active for the cause of the gospel.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_01: Remember, we've been reconciled to the Lord, um, and we now carry that message of reconciliation.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_01: I can't remember one of my uh one of my uh colleagues.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we were uh working uh working on a situation uh with him, and he sent me a beautiful text.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, he sent me a beautiful text, and at the end of it he said, and thank you for being a restorationer.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_01: A restorationer.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, being the Bishop of RFI Restoration Fellowship International.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for being a restorationer, because I remember when he called me, he initially thought I was going to reach through the phone and give him the right hand of fellowship with force.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: But that didn't happen.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_01: What did he what did he find when he called?
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_01: He found the voice of reconciliation.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_01: He found the voice of there was a voice of correction, but it wasn't a harsh voice of correction.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it was, you know, it was the gospel delivered once again to him, but in peace.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_01: And from that restoration was able to, uh, he was able to walk in restoration.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_01: So I was so, I was just so tickled when he said, Yeah, thank you for being a restorationer.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: I thought that was really cool.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna get a hat that says that.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a restorationer.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but Ephesians is repeatingly, uh Ephesians has repeatedly emphasized peace.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: Messiah is our peace, of course, from chapter 2, 14.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_01: Reconciled Jew and Gentile into one body through the cross, of course.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, chapter 2, 16, 17.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: So God's people are prepared.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_01: Our feet are prepared with the gospel of peace.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_01: That when we walk, when we walk, we are walking in the message of the Prince of Peace, right?
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: We're walking in the message of the Messiah.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_01: We don't carry the message of hostility.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_01: Ultimately, judgment is not in my wheelhouse.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not in control of that.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_01: If you know, people will ask me all the time, do you think so-and-so is in heaven or hell?
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: Don't know.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: That's above my pay grade, that's above my listing.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_01: The Lord hasn't given me the heads up on where somebody is.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm I'm not, it wouldn't be, it would be inappropriate for me to speculate.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_01: So we carry that message of restoration and reconciliation.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_01: So the armor is, again, it's not just to protect us from the enemy, it's to prepare us to continually move the gospel forward.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_01: Because ultimately, when we share the gospel, there's going to be resistance.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_01: Someone that may, you know, someone that may resist the gospel the first five, ten dozen times you share it with them and push back against it and make accusation and yell and shoot and hoot and holler and so on, on that whatever number of time, they might say yes.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what we have to be to be uh present, have present in our mind.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_01: So uh as we move the gospel forward.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_01: So the gospel of peace is the proclamation of Messiah.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_01: We're proclaiming him, we're not proclaiming ourselves, uh, the shield of faith.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_01: Above all, taking the shield of faith for which you're able to, with which you are able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_01: Anybody ever experienced fiery darts?
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_01: Any of you ever put them on your own bow and all of a sudden find yourself getting hit by your own fiery dart?
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_01: So this is confidence, it's trust.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_01: Who are we trusting in?
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_01: Who are we confident in?
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_01: We don't want to do a self-inflicted wound here.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's why we keep ourselves behind this shield, because he is our shield.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_01: He is, as it says in uh 2 Samuel 22, 31, he is a shield to all who call, or excuse me, he is a shield to all who trust in him.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_01: We read from Proverbs this morning, Proverbs 30 and verse 5, talking about shield.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_01: The Lord is our shield.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_01: So it's not a confidence in our own ability to withstand attack.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a confidence in our own ability to always have the right answer, to always say the right thing.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's not our ability, it's our confidence in the one in whom we've placed our trust, who we're trusting in, who our confidence is in.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_01: So the enemy may bring accusation, the enemy might bring temptation, the enemy might bring fear and doubt and discouragement and deception.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_01: But faith answers by looking beyond the attack to the faithfulness of God.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_01: Is he faithful to restore?
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_01: Is he faithful to forgive?
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_01: Is he faithful to make new?
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, he is.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_01: Are we?
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_01: Not generally.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when especially when we're wounded, you know, uh Pastor Sharon says quite often, hurt people, hurt people, right?
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that is a natural response.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_01: When we are hemorrhaging, when we are bleeding, the last thing we want is, you know, someone else to be healthier than we are.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_01: So we need to be uh we need to be hidden behind that shield because the enemy will throw everything at us.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_01: He might, he might not open the roof of your house and shout it in, but he might put it on the you know, the idiot box, he might put it on the radio, he might bring a flash of a memory back to you by some word here or there.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_01: So our confidence is in the one we placed our trust in.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_01: So we stand because the one in whom we trust, who cannot be shaken.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_01: So our faith is in Messiah, Yeshua.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_01: And then finally, the helmet of salvation.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_01: Paul says, put on, take the helmet of salvation.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_01: Again, the connection back to Isaiah is uh unmistakable.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_01: Isaiah 59, 17 describes the Lord wearing the helmet of salvation.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_01: So it's placed to protect our head, because our hope is fixed upon what the Lord has accomplished and what he has promised to complete.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_01: Do you ever notice that your mind can begin to give you a false gospel?
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_01: That the mind can become a place where our memories, our hurts, our shame can begin to dance around and make us feel as though you know we're 30 or 40 or 50 years in times past, and that's who we really are, is that person way back there, not who we are right now?
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: So we have to put on that helmet of salvation.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_01: The salvation that we have in Messiah.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_01: He's what he has promised to accomplish that every promise of God is yes and amen in Messiah.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_01: We don't want the fear, we don't want the doubt, we don't want the condemnation, all of those easy, that's low-hanging fruit for the enemy.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_01: We take, you know, he'll put it out there and we'll take it.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll just take a hold of it and we will run with that fruit.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_01: So we have to be very careful with that.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_01: So we begin to believe what here's the here hear me on this this bit here.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_01: I double underlined it, so it must be important.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_01: We begin to believe what has been said about us rather than what God has said about us.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_01: What has he said about you?
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't know your identity in him, you'll listen to those voices.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_01: So salvation reminds us whose we are.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_01: We're not our own.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_01: We're bought with a price.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_01: So our de again, our salvation doesn't depend on our own strength, our emotions on any particular day.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_01: It rests in the saving work of Messiah.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_01: So we've been redeemed, we've been forgiven, we've been brought near.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_01: This is how Paul lays this theology out.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_01: We've been sealed with the Holy Spirit, we've made alive and Messiah, we've been raised and seated with him in heavenly places.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_01: Glory to God.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, the helmet of salvation, therefore, guards our minds by continually directing our thoughts back to the saving work of Messiah.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_01: So he is our salvation.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_01: Just write in his name.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_01: Sword of the Spirit, of course, is the word of God.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_01: And we go out with the sword of the Spirit.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_01: The word cuts through deception.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_01: So when we have a deceptive thought, when deception is uh we've discerned deception, when there is deception um inserted into our relationship or our conversation that begins to disrupt the peace that we have in Messiah, the word of God will settle that.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_01: The word of God will cut through that, the word of God will reveal what is true and what is falsehood.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, the author of Hebrews 4.12 says, the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_01: So the sword is not given to us to use scripture as a weapon against others.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna take my sword of the spirit out and I'm gonna start cutting everybody I find, right?
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_01: That's not what we're called to do.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_01: It's given so that by the Spirit we recognize truth, we resist deception, we answer temptation, and we remain faithful to the Lord.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_01: He's given us this word, and as I don't know if it was here or if it was this morning.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure when I talk too much, I know that.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_01: But we have to know, maybe it was earlier, we have to know scripture, we have to know the word, we have to know the real so we can uh immediately discern the counterfeit.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_01: So the word of God goes before us, and the word ultimately comes from the mouth of God.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_01: The armor is not, the armor is a idea, the I the idea that Paul is giving us, the picture that Paul is giving us, is not human equipment.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's spiritual.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's a walking in the spirit, as we talked about a little bit this morning.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_01: What does walking in the spirit look like?
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it's a certain disposition, as we see from the fruit of the spirit, but it is also uh a garment.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's not only putting on Messiah, but it is, as we've just talked about, how all of this comes together.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_01: So God He is our provision.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_01: Messiah is our provision.
• 54:22
  SPEAKER_01: He's the Word of God made flesh, and the Word of God reveals him to us.
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 54:30
  SPEAKER_01: We you know, there's so many people, there's so many very prominent pastors that tell us, well, we don't need anything, we don't need the the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament at all, and you know what, we really don't need any of it, but we just need Jesus.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_01: I understand the sentiment, but it's a it's sentimentality that will lead to damnation because the word of God reveals who Christ is.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know he's resurrected apart from the Word of God.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know who he is, we don't know what the prophetic expectation was apart from the Word of God.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, we create our own Jesus, and that of course is heresy, falsehood, and damnable.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_01: But what surrounds all of this?
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_01: What surrounds all of this?
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_01: Verse 18, praying at all times in the spirit, with all prayer and supplication.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_01: To that end, keep alert, stay alert, pay attention, be watchful, be mindful, with all perseverance, making supplication for all of the saints.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_01: Prayer is not a direct element of the full armor of God, but it surrounds the full armor of God.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_01: It is our lifestyle.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_01: It is uh prayer surrounds and activates the entire life of the believer who's standing in the armor of God.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_01: So we pray always, as Paul says, with all prayer, in the Spirit, with watchfulness, with perseverance, and for all the saints.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_01: Did you notice he doesn't turn it inward?
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_01: He turns it outward.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_01: Praying for all the saints.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it doesn't lead us into the cave.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_01: It leads us out just as the gospel leads us out.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_01: Spiritual warfare is not just about protecting ourselves.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just about protecting ourselves.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_01: Immediately, Paul turns our attention toward the saints of God, towards our brothers and sisters, and then toward the proclamation of the gospel.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_01: Because there's times when we have to stand in the gap for someone else.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_01: We have to maybe tuck them back behind, you know, our shield here for a little bit, we might say, to help them when they're weak, right?
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_01: We have prayer vigils going on, we have prayer groups going on, and all of that is to come alongside of and to be uh personally involved with this uh language of supplication before the Lord on behalf of others.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_01: So this is particularly important considering that Paul was writing this as a prisoner.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't ask them to pray for his chains to be removed, right?
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_01: That's not his that's not the heart of what he's saying.
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_01: He asks them to pray that utterance that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_01: So even as he's sitting in chains, he's not saying, Oh Lord, drop down the key from heaven that I might escape.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_01: Oh Lord, send the Holy Spirit to open these shackles.
• 57:47
  SPEAKER_01: He's saying, Lord, give me the words to speak on the mystery of the gospel.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Paul is an example to us and for us.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_01: That's you know, I have I would say doctrinally, you know, most people are surprised by this, especially given my positions on things, but they're surprised when I say I'm Pauline in theology.
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_01: In other words, I I follow the Apostle Paul very closely in how I interpret and apply the Word of God.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_01: Most people would say he's gotta be Petrine.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_01: He's gotta be petrine, and that's kind of why I'm moving to Peter for our next series, is I haven't taught on Peter in a long time.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_01: I've been dealing with Paul for years and years and years and years and years, and I I need a Paul and I need to just make a take a break for a little bit.
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_01: Not in a bad way or nothing.
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sure he would uh he would call me a mark, you know.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_01: Get away your encumbrance to me.
• 58:52
  SPEAKER_01: Anyway, so uh I don't even know where I was in my notes.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_01: So he's physically bound, but spiritually he's free to proclaim the gospel.
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_01: And the and here we are seeing this he's surrounded by a Roman authority, and he asked the church to pray that he'll have the courage to proclaim the authority of Messiah.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_01: He's sitting, you know, not too far from someone who has all of this authority over life and death, and and you know, who can who's there guarding him, who represents the empire, and so on.
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_01: But he's asking for the right words to say to that person.
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's remarkable when you think about it.
• 59:38
  SPEAKER_01: So the mess the armor of God is Messiah centered, that's the whole point.
• 59:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's messiah-centered, and it points to Messiah himself.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_01: So just to look at these these pieces of the armor, truth, messiah is the truth, righteousness, messiah is our righteousness, peace, messiah is our peace, faith, our faith rests in Messiah, salvation, salvation is found in Messiah, the word, Messiah himself is the living word, and the written world reveals him.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_01: Finally, prayer through Messiah, we have access to the Father by the Spirit.
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_01: So everything of the Lord's mission is accomplished in Messiah, or to walk with Messiah, or to stand in Messiah.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_01: Paul, dear friends, he does not tell us to become obsessed with Satan.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't tell us to be focused on the devil.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't tell us to be focused on the demonic.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_01: He tells us to be aware, to watch.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_01: Because as we watch, what's before us?
• 1:00:49
  SPEAKER_01: The shield is before us, the sword of the spirit is in our hand, the helmet of salvation is upon our head, the breastplate of righteousness is upon us, the belt of truth is surrounding us.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_01: We're already equipped for that.
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll be aware of it.
• 1:01:05
  SPEAKER_01: Why?
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's all a counterfeit.
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_01: And we don't have to be nice about it.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_01: We just have to know that it is a counterfeit.
• 1:01:12
  SPEAKER_01: So Paul is imprisoned, but Paul is yet still very much free.
• 1:01:20
  SPEAKER_01: So just to kind of bring this section before we just move on, 21 to 24 won't be very long.
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_01: But Paul is telling us to stand in truth, to stand in righteousness, to stand in peace, to stand in faith, to stand in salvation, to stand upon the word, and stand in prayer.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_01: And above all, stand in Messiah.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's where in him all of that comes together, because he is our truth, our righteousness, our peace, our faith, our salvation.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_01: He's the word.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_01: And through him we pray to the Father by the Holy Spirit.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_01: And we have access to boldly go before the throne of grace.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_01: So the full armor of God belongs to the Lord, the victory belongs to Messiah, and the strength by which we stand comes from him.
• 1:02:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I want to read verse 21 to 24, so that you may also know how I am and what I am doing.
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_01: Tacius, the beloved brother and faithful minister, and the Lord will tell you everything.
• 1:02:30
  SPEAKER_01: I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage your hearts.
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_01: Underline these words, peace be to the brothers.
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_01: Peace.
• 1:02:45
  SPEAKER_01: You have to underline that.
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_01: And love.
• 1:02:48
  SPEAKER_01: Underline love with faith.
• 1:02:52
  SPEAKER_01: From God.
• 1:02:53
  SPEAKER_01: And underline from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
• 1:02:59
  SPEAKER_01: And finally he ends with grace.
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_01: Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
• 1:03:15
  SPEAKER_01: So he sends this message so that they would be aware of what he is enduring, what he is going through, how he is, and that that would be an encouragement.
• 1:03:26
  SPEAKER_01: And he sends a brother in the Lord, he sends a faithful minister to tell them everything, to encourage their hearts.
• 1:03:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then he concludes with this peace.
• 1:03:38
  SPEAKER_01: Peace, love, grace from and so on.
• 1:03:45
  SPEAKER_01: That we would love, that we love, grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible.
• 1:03:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's to comfort them, it's to help them, it's to remind us of the lived reality of what faith is.
• 1:04:02
  SPEAKER_01: Faith is not just an intellectual enterprise, faith is a lived reality.
• 1:04:07
  SPEAKER_01: We have to walk in it and exercise in it.
• 1:04:10
  SPEAKER_01: We can know the faith without actually practicing it.
• 1:04:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's, you know, I know people like to make jokes about it.
• 1:04:27
  SPEAKER_01: Medical doctors spend many years learning the texts, learning anatomy, learning physiology, and so on.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then once they're all trained up, they begin to practice.
• 1:04:40
  SPEAKER_01: First, they practice under the watchful eye of a lot of people and institutions, and then they begin to practice on their own, right?
• 1:04:49
  SPEAKER_01: They become an attending or however, you know, whatever that might be.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_01: But they practice, they continually put to work what they have learned.
• 1:05:00
  SPEAKER_01: So how do we do that?
• 1:05:02
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we walk in grace.
• 1:05:04
  SPEAKER_01: We extend grace not only to others but to ourselves.
• 1:05:08
  SPEAKER_01: The grace to know that, you know what, I'm not perfect, I never have been, I never will be, but I am in the one who is perfect.
• 1:05:14
  SPEAKER_01: So we give each other grace.
• 1:05:16
  SPEAKER_01: We walk in forgiveness, knowing that you're gonna offend me, I'm gonna offend you, I'm gonna hurt you, you're gonna hurt me.
• 1:05:22
  SPEAKER_01: These things are gonna happen.
• 1:05:23
  SPEAKER_01: Life happens, but we have forgiveness.
• 1:05:26
  SPEAKER_01: And we have grace that allows us to walk in forgiveness and with forgiveness.
• 1:05:32
  SPEAKER_01: So we're we we pay particularly attention to that because that those are the areas that the enemy will attack time and time and time again.
• 1:05:40
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, you really forgive this person?
• 1:05:43
  SPEAKER_01: Watch out.
• 1:05:44
  SPEAKER_01: Zap.
• 1:05:45
  SPEAKER_01: And we see how strong that forgiveness is, right?
• 1:05:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we need to walk in that.
• 1:05:53
  SPEAKER_01: We need to walk in faith.
• 1:05:54
  SPEAKER_01: We need to walk in confidence and hope of our Lord, knowing that He has walked out of the tomb, that He has ascended to glory, and that we are loving His appearing.
• 1:06:05
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 1:06:06
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the lived reality of what this life of faith is.
• 1:06:10
  SPEAKER_01: It is a lived reality and it is a lived practice.
• 1:06:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's not sedentary, it's not uh just something that we contemplate or muse over, it's something that we daily apply to life.
• 1:06:21
  SPEAKER_01: And there are seasons when it's harder than others.
• 1:06:24
  SPEAKER_01: There are seasons when we don't feel, uh, again, if you say, you know what I'm saying, uh, I'm stressing that word feel.
• 1:06:30
  SPEAKER_01: We don't feel it, right?
• 1:06:32
  SPEAKER_01: It might be something that is not uh not particularly good at that moment or feels good at that moment, but we do it because we're faithing unto the Lord and we're trusting him and we have confidence in him through it.
• 1:06:47
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 1:06:49
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 1:06:51
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 1:06:52
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for studying with us.
• 1:06:54
  SPEAKER_00: And until our next episode, may the Lord bless and keep you all in the mighty name of Jesus.
• 1:07:01
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.