Thank you, Mark, for leading us this morning, some great hymns and words. If you were paying attention there, we were singing some great truth, very appropriate to our message this morning. 

We're continuing our study in the book of Ephesians, and coming really near the end of our time in this letter, we've seen such tremendous truth, doctrine in this epistle, as well as great exhortation to live out that truth, to live in consistency with who we are in Christ. 

And now in chapter 6, particularly at the end of this letter, we see an illustration, a picture for us, of how we are to live this Christian life, what it means to stand firm on all of these truths we have learned, and how we should apply them each to our daily lives. 

Remember, when Paul wrote these words, he was chained to a Roman soldier, and Paul is trying to give us a final explanation of how it is that we should apply the great truths of our salvation in our lives so that we might have victory over the enemy and be faithful and fruitful servants of God. He uses the illustration of the armor of a Roman soldier in the battle that this soldier might engage in, and he applies this illustration to the essential elements of the Christian life. 

And so this is what we have before us, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit. These are all the essential elements of the Christian life and the battle in which we find ourselves. 

And I think the best way to understand this is that these things point us to who we are in Christ, in fact, to Christ Himself. It makes me think of Paul's words in the great book of Romans, a tremendous doctrinal treatise where, like in the book of Ephesians, Paul has laid out all of the great truths of our salvation in chapters 1-11, and then in chapter 12 exhorts us to live out who we are, to stop being conformed by this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we might live out the life that God intends, that He expects because of the salvation work that He's done in us. 

And then in the midst of this section, Paul says this in Romans 13-14, he says, "but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts." Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. When I think about putting on the armor for the battle, the truth, salvation, faith, dependence on God in prayer, etc., I think of this command by Paul back in Romans 13, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. 

You see, my brother, my sister in Christ, it is Jesus that is the key to the Christian life. It is Jesus that is my life, that is my strength, that is my hope, my truth, that is my salvation. And it is a focus on Jesus and abiding in Him, a looking to Him and depending on Him that will produce the fruit that I desire that God intends in my life. 

It is Jesus and His life in me, as we just sang, that will cause me to stand in this evil day. And so here in this vital text, just like in Romans 13, Paul points us to Jesus. He asks us to clothe ourselves in Christ, to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, to put on the full armor of God. And the purpose of this is that we might stand. 

Again, it is a defensive position. We stand our ground, we stand on the truth, we stand on the gospel. And the only offensive weapon we see here is the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit, the truth. I can't emphasize this enough, my brothers and sisters in Christ, we live in an evil day. You may have noticed this. 

Do you feel like the evil is more prevalent in our time? It's always been the same force of evil, of Satan, the god of this age, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience, has been effective in this world since the garden. But it seems that this day in which we live, as we approach the second coming of Christ and the justice that He will bring, this day is becoming more and more evil, and the hearts of men, lost men, are becoming more and more evident. 

Paul warned us, evil men will prosper. They will wax worse and worse as the day approaches, Jesus told us. And we see this in our world, but really, what is the essence, the basis of this evil day? It is lies. It is Satan's lies. He is a liar; this is his weapon. And all evil spawns forth from this. 

And it is so important, so important, that we understand as believers in Jesus Christ, as witnesses in this world, as those who hold the truth of the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit, that we must speak the truth. This is our weapon, this is the battle. Whether it is the gospel, the truths of our salvation, the truth about God's creation, about man and his nature, about God and who He is, certainly about Jesus. 

I watched a little podcast, I don't know if you're familiar, is it John Rich? I think it's John Rich, the country singer. And he had a podcast with Jordan Peterson the other day, and I'm just fascinated by Jordan Peterson, because this guy is so close, but he's not. And John Rich was telling him he's not, which was encouraging. 

But he just wasn't clear with the gospel. He talked about who you're going to invite into your life to control your life. That's a pretty cloudy gospel. The essence, the truth is that Jesus died for our sins. That He, because of His work on the cross, His innocence, His death in our place, His substitutionary death for my sins, releases me from the wrath of God, that I deserve an eternal hell. 

To spend eternity in the lake of fire because of my sins against the Holy God, and only by Christ's death in my place, through faith in Him alone, can I have God's righteousness imputed to me and my sins imputed to Christ. Why is that so hard to make clear? I long for that truth to be made clear. We are to speak that truth into the lies, into the darkness of this world. This is our weapon, this is the battle. 

But in every aspect of our lives, we must speak truth. Evil persists, and we retreat and fail to stand when we accept Satan's lies when we do not speak the truth. We will see in the course of our last couple studies in this sixth chapter that the defensive elements of our armor are a picture of Christ Himself, of salvation that we have in Him, and these defensive elements are vital to withstand the attacks, the lies of the enemy. 

But the key to standing of parrying the attacks of Satan and advancing the cause of Christ is in speaking the truth, exposing the darkness, telling the world about the greatness and glory of our salvation by telling them about the greatness and glory of our Savior. 

Let's look at our text, Ephesians 6.10. "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. And therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints, and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak." 

Man, if Paul needed prayer, how much more do we need prayer to speak boldly as we ought to speak? 

I'm going to give you six points on your outline this morning: first, be strong; second, stand; third, speak the truth; fourth, live in righteousness; fifth, stand on the gospel; and sixth, believe Jesus. 

Well, I just want to briefly remind you of what we studied in our last couple of messages, and the essence of this was that we are to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. And the literal, again, is to be continually strengthened by His power. We do not live this life by our strength or our power; we cannot stand in the power of our wisdom or our spiritual strength, but rather we must continually be strengthened by His power. 

We saw Paul explain this back in Ephesians 1 and 3, in those prayers for the saints; he told us the truth that the very power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in every believer for the purpose of accomplishing God's will. He explained that the Holy Spirit of God lives in us and imparts strength to our inner man in order to produce fruit through our lives, and that Jesus Himself lives in us and is working His righteous life out through us as we abide in Him by faith. 

And Paul closed that section with this great promise, Ephesians 3.20, he said, "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." 

You see, my brother, my sister in Christ, I cannot, but He can. I cannot, but He can. And this is why my focus, my daily focus must not be on me and my performance and my ability, but on Jesus, to know Him, to love Him, to come to understand who He is and what He has done more and more through the truth of His Word. 

And I need to look to Him; I need to keep my eyes on Him and depend on Him alone to work out His will in my life, be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. 

And we see again so clearly that the purpose of this exhortation is that we might stand. Verse 11, "Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, stand therefore." 

Seems like he has a point in mind here. The objective here is to stand on the truth, stand on the gospel, stand on the person and work of Christ, and to stand firm, bringing these truths to a world of Satan's lies to expose these errors by standing on the truth. 

It's so important that we understand this. It's very difficult sometimes for believers in this world. God has put in us a great longing for justice, for the kingdom, for Jesus to step in and make all things right. 

And that which is unrighteous, that which is evil, that which is a lie, is so disturbing and disconcerting to us. And as we watch the lost men of our world who do not love the truth, who believe the lies, no matter how crazy and obvious it is, it is so deeply troubling to us, and we want justice, we want righteousness, and sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking that this is why we are here, to make things right, to impose Christian values on the lost world, to right the wrongs and punish the wicked, to make this world a better place. 

But clearly in our text, Paul explains to us that our battle is not against flesh and blood; it's not about carnal things. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. And our goal is not to fix the problems of our world, or bring justice and judgment to the men of this world, or the system of this world. Adrian Rogers used to say that's like rearranging the chairs on the Titanic. It's going down. 

Our goal is to, by the truth, by the gospel, rescue men out of this world and its system, to open their eyes to the lies and the truth. I love this truth. 

I'd like for you to turn to Acts 26 with me, a really tremendous passage for us to consider. We want to consider Paul's own testimony concerning his salvation, but also the ministry that God gave to him, the purpose that God has for him, and how it is he is to accomplish this purpose. 

This is Paul's testimony before Agrippa in Acts 26.9. He's testifying about his conversion. He said, "Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme, and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. 

While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O King, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' So I said, 'Who are you, Lord?' And He said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now send you.'" 

Now look at verse 18, "...to whom I now send you to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me." 

In verse 19 he says, "...therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision." And in verse 22 he says, "...therefore, having obtained help from God to this day, I stand witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come, that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles." 

This day, Paul says, was this an evil day? You bet it was. I stand, he says, I stand witnessing both to small and great, proclaiming Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This was Paul's sole intent, to preach Jesus Christ, to bring the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ according to the Scriptures. 

For this very purpose, listen again to what Jesus said to Paul, "...I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness, to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me." 

This is the commission that God has given to each one of us, my friends. Not to correct the injustices of this world. Not to overthrow the satanic system of this world. We never see Jesus or Paul on any social justice endeavor. We never see them seeking political means to overthrow political power, no matter how wicked. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds of thought, of the lies of Satan, of casting down his arguments and schemes and lies, of bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. 

The battle is one of truth versus error, and we are here to speak the truth. We are the only ones who have it. No one in the world will speak the truth. The news media won't speak the truth. The politicians won't speak the truth. The religious men of the world won't speak the truth. If you don't speak the truth, then no one will speak the truth. 

Our battle is against the principalities and powers, the demonic forces that entrap men with false religion, false philosophy, humanism, self-righteousness, nihilism, all the lies that plague our world and capture the minds of men. We see it all around us. 

What is it that will set them free from the lies? Only the truth. Only the truth. What will open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Jesus? 

Only the gospel, my friends. Only Jesus, His death in my place for my sins, His burial and resurrection on the third day. 

Only when we preach Christ, tell the truth about man and about God, tell the truth about the world and its system, tell the truth about righteousness through faith, will the eyes of men be opened. 

Will they be set free from the bondage of the lies of Satan and his system? Only by the gospel truth, hearing a message about Jesus, can men believe and be saved. And this is why we are here. 

According to John 17, this is why God left us in the world. And this is the commission that He's given to us. We are to stand in this evil day. We are to stand by being strengthened by the Lord and the power of His might. We are to stand by speaking the truth. We are to stand by looking to Jesus, depending on Him by faith and telling of His excellent greatness. Stand, speak the truth, and live in righteousness by His grace and power. 

Look at verse 13 in our text. "Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand, stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness." 

The righteousness spoken of here is a practical, not a positional, righteousness. It is a command. The believers to whom Paul writes, as well as every believer, has a positional righteousness in Christ. He has been justified by faith. He now stands in grace and has the very righteousness of God imputed to him. 

We have a positional righteousness in Christ. What Paul is exhorting here is a practical righteousness. This is our breastplate, our defense against the attacks of Satan, protecting the very vital and vulnerable parts of us. 

Peter teaches us something similar in 1 Peter 2. I'd like for you to turn over to that text, 1 Peter 2, 11. "Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation." 

Well, this is such an instructive passage, just these two verses. The word sojourners and pilgrims speak of the truth that we are foreigners in this world. This world is not our home. We are transient, passing through; our citizenship is in heaven. 

The words speak literally of those who dwell with or live among. And this is a contrast in the church with that of the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel was chosen out by God, set apart as a city on a hill, a light to the world. Thus, they were to be separated from the world, a distinct people who were to draw the nations to God by their witness. 

On the other hand, the church is sent out into the world. We live among the pagans. We are witnesses to draw men to God, but not by being an entirely separate nation with peculiar laws and customs, with dress and dietary restrictions and so forth and so on. 

We live right among the pagans, next door, in the workplace, in school, in recreation. We are with them, among them. And Peter says it is crucial not only that we speak the truth among them in all of these situations but that we also live the truth among them, not undermining the message we preach by the life that we live. 

And so our life, how we conduct ourselves, becomes very important to our witness. We are righteous in Christ, regenerated, born again with new hearts and new spirits. Thus we are to live in righteousness by His life and grace and power in us as we look to Him and depend on Him and abide in Him. 

Peter says this practical righteousness will not only protect us but also impact those around us as a witness to the transforming power of the gospel. So that when God visits them, when He comes to them for salvation, they will respond in a positive manner. 

The word visitation here speaks of God visiting them for salvation. We looked at this before. It's the same word that Jesus uses in Luke 19. Luke 19 says, "Now as He drew near, He saw the city, and He wept over it." You remember that, also recorded in Matthew 23. He says, "Saying, If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace, but now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, and your enemies will build an embankment around you, and close you in on every side, and level you and your children with you to the ground. And they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation." 

It's the same word there. Jesus came, why? To offer salvation. They did not know the time of their visitation. He came to His own, but His own received Him not. Peter tells us that righteousness, righteous holy living, is an integral part of our stance against lies and the schemes of the devil, but it is also vital to our witness and to the gospel. 

Well next, we see in our text that we are to stand on the gospel. Verse 13 again, "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand. And therefore having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace." 

Well, the footwear of the soldier was vital in battle. If he did not have firm footing, if he was slipping and falling, he would surely perish in the battle. And so the Roman soldier wore secure footwear, often with spikes or nails driven through the sole that he might have a firm grip and could stand against the force of his enemy in hand-to-hand combat. 

Paul says our sure footing, our firm foundation, is the gospel of peace. In this Christian life, in our pursuit of the truth, of the knowledge of the Son of God in all His fullness, in our desire to know Him and make Him known, we never get past the gospel. 

We only come to a more full and deeper understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ and who He is and what He has done and what that means for our life in eternity. We must never lose sight of the simplicity of Christ in the gospel of peace. 

Paul explained this to us earlier in the book of Ephesians in chapter 2. Let's look at Ephesians 2.8, please. We'll read down a few verses here. Ephesians 2.8, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." 

Salvation is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Therefore, remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." 

"For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity." 

"And He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near, for through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." 

The essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ is a bringing of peace between God and man, a removal of the barrier of the law and of the sin that separated us. God has made peace between Himself and man; Jesus, it says, is our peace. He Himself is our peace. 

In one of the priest's comments on the gospel of peace, he says the word preparation was used in classical Greek in the sense of establishment or a firm foundation, so the firm foundation of the gospel of peace. 

Thus the Christian soldier should see to it that his feet are equipped with the sandals which will give him a firm footing, namely the good news that speaks peace to a sinful heart. So the Lord Jesus made peace by the blood of His cross, making a way for a holy God to reunite Himself with a believing sinner who in Adam had been separated from Him and His life. 

The Greek word peace means that which has been bound together, end quote. The truth of our forever secure relationship with God through faith in Jesus is a firm foundation on which we stand. We are in Him. He is in us. He will never leave us or forsake us. 

He's coming to take us to be with Him. Do not let your hearts be troubled, He said. He will set all things right. But this time is not for that. This time is for rescuing men from the fire, pulling them out of the world and the system and its lies. 

Grace is sufficient for this evil day, and for every day, and for eternity. We are in Him, we stand on the gospel, we have peace with God and access to His throne to find help in time of need. Come back to the gospel in times of doubt and fear. Come back to grace and faith. Preach the gospel to yourselves every day. Our sure footing in the fight is the gospel of peace. 

And our means of living, our daily sustenance and abiding relationship with Jesus and His power in my life is through faith. 

Verse 16, "Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one." Faith is our shield. Faith is our protection because our faith is in Jesus. 

This shield for the Roman soldier was large; it was two and a half feet by four feet high. He could set it on the ground before him and crouch behind it as the enemy shot pitch-covered fiery arrows at him. This shield, like faith in the Christian life, faith in Jesus, protects us from the lies and attacks of Satan. 

We see over and over again in the Scriptures that the just shall live by faith. The command of the new covenant, 1 John 3.23, believe Jesus and love one another. We believe Jesus; we believe His Word, His truth; we trust Him to give us grace for today and for each day as we abide in Him by faith and He lives in us through us to accomplish His will. He is faithful. 

We don't have to worry about that. He is faithful. He will do it; put your faith in Him. Paul explains his understanding of the Christian life this way, in Galatians 2.20, listen, he says, "I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." 

He died for us; we died with Him in order that we might now live for Him. The author of Hebrews tells us in the great faith chapter that without faith it is impossible to please God. Jesus instructs us in John 15 that we are to abide in Him by faith and that without Him we can do nothing. 

Our life is a life of dependence on and trust in God, an abiding relationship with Jesus, and our pursuit is to look to Him, to know Him, to believe Him, to trust Him more and more as we grow in faith. 

We're going to continue our study in a couple of weeks here on the armor of God, but I want you to notice verses 18 to 19 as we close. Paul says, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints, and for me, that utterance may be given to me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel." 

Praying always with all prayer and supplication. You see, we pray always because we are wholly dependent on God and His grace, on Jesus and His life in us. We can do nothing without Him, and so we look to Him; we are in constant contact with Him, trusting, depending on Him, praying always. 

If we're going to stand, it's only because we know our need for Jesus every day, and that we are wholly dependent on Him, like a branch abiding in a vine. 

I cut some limbs off a big maple tree the other day that were hanging down into the path behind our house, and when I cut those limbs, the leaves were bright and green, healthy, because that branch was connected to abiding in the trunk of the tree. 

You know what I found when I went out there the next day? All of those leaves, those beautiful, healthy, green leaves were withered and dying and curling up. And the next day they were dry and crumbling, falling off the branch. That branch, those leaves had been severed from the life-giving flow that comes up through the vine, and there would be no more fruit, no more life, no more beauty from that branch. 

We are secure in the vine; nothing can ever separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, nothing. But my brother and my sister in Christ, this is the picture that Jesus gives us of the Christian life. 

We are a branch abiding in the vine. The fruit comes out through us as the power and sustenance and provision, grace, comes through Christ. We don't go out there and tie apples on the apple tree, right? But that's the way a lot of people live the Christian life. That's not how God designed it. 

We are a branch abiding in the vine, and our life, our sustenance, our fruit is produced as Jesus provides grace and as His life is poured out through us as we abide in Him by faith. We must understand this relationship and how God intends we stand. 

We must put on the whole armor of God once for all. We must put on the Lord Jesus Christ if we are to stand in the evil day. Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful that we have salvation in Christ. We're thankful for Your love for us, what You've done, the sacrifice of Christ in our place for our sins, and we thank You that You have given us a new heart, that You've released us from the power, the bondage to indwelling sin, to the law, to the fear of death. 

Thank You that we are new men and that we now must live like new men and that this can only happen by Your power, by Your life that You've given to us. Help us just to trust You, abide in You, look to You, to seek to know You, to need You. 

And Lord, please help us to speak boldly as we ought, to speak the truth into this world that needs it so badly. Help us to love men as You love men. In Jesus' name, amen.