Ephesians 6, we're going to read verses 10 through
20. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the
strength of his might. Put on the full armor
of God so that you will be able to stand firm
against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle
is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers,
against the powers, against... the world's forces
of this darkness against the spiritual forces
of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore,
take up the full armor of God so that you will
be able to resist in the evil day, and having
done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm, therefore,
having girded your loins with truth, and having
put on the breastplate of righteousness. and
having shod your feet with the preparation of
the gospel of peace. In addition to all, taking
up the shield of faith with which you will be
able to extinguish the flaming arrows of the
evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and
the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
God. With all prayer and petition, pray at all
times in the Spirit. And with this in view, be
on the alert with all perseverance and petition
for all the saints. And pray on my behalf that
utterance may be given to me in the opening of
my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery
of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in
chains, that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly
as I ought to speak. Let's go to the Lord in
prayer. Father, we come to You this Lord's Day.
Father, we thank You for Your Word. And Father,
we thank You for the fact that You have given
us truth in the Gospel. Father, You have given
us revelation to know who You are, to know who
Christ is, to know what is true of the world
around us, to know what is true of ourselves.
Lord, to know what is true concerning eternity.
Lord, to know what is true concerning spiritual
realities. Spiritual forces and enemies that
oppose the church. Father, we ask tonight that
you would bless our time in the word of God.
Lord, that you would make us to be a people of
truth. We ask these things in Christ's name.
Amen. We live largely in a world that is highly
characterized by falsehood and deceit and manipulation,
crooked agendas, error. People trying to malign
other people. These are commonplace in the unbelieving
world that the church exists in. But the church
is meant to be very, very different than the
world around it. Unlike the world that is characterized
by falsehood. The church of Jesus Christ is meant
to be characterized distinctly by truth. The
truth of God that he has given to us in the word
of God. One of the primary means and reasons
why the enemy of God's people, the devil, and
spiritual forces of wickedness, has such free
reign in the unbelieving world, is because he
works efficiently through error and falsehood.
But again, the church is meant to be different,
a place of truth, where it is known, where it
is exalted, where it is valued, where it is propagated,
where it is thought on, where it is part of us,
where it forms us and shapes us. The truth, if
we think about it, is that thing that distinctly
makes the church different in this world. So
tonight, we're going to consider... Spiritual
warfare again. We're going to consider verse
14, which says this. Stand firm, therefore, having
girded your loins with truth. Now, as we consider
this, there's three things that I think we have
to consider with regards to this piece of armor.
The truth as part of the armor. or where it fits
into the armor, its place in the armor that God
has given to us, then we have to consider the
truth as something to be girded with, to be wrapped
in, to be attached to us, to be bound to us.
But we also have to consider truth's role in
this warfare. So first, considering the truth
as part of the armor. I think it would be helpful
for us to first consider how we define and what
we consider truth to be. So we'll work our way
through Ephesians here for a few minutes and
see what Paul conveys truth to be throughout
the book of Ephesians. We read in Ephesians chapter
1, Verse 13, in him you also, after listening
to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
having also believed, you are sealed in him with
the Holy Spirit of promise. So in Ephesians 1
.13, truth is the message of the gospel. It's
not abstract. objective. It is the truth of the
gospel message. It's the reality of Christ made
known in God's self -revelation that he has given
to his people in the gospel, which we find inscripturated
in the Bible, ultimately, with a closed canon.
Now, we also read in Ephesians chapter 4, Verse
15. We see truth. Mentioned again. We will start
reading in verse 14. As a result. We are no longer.
To be children. Tossed here and there. by waves
and carried about by every wind of doctrine,
by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful
scheming. Now notice that Paul is characterizing
these realities which keep a person in immaturity,
that keep a person from growing in the faith.
He characterizes them in ways that are in accordance
with the workings of the devil. Craftiness, trickery,
every wind of doctrine, deceitful scheming. Remember,
the devil, his method is schemes, subtleties,
perversions, tricks, craftiness. But listen to
verse 15. But speaking the truth in love, We
are to grow up in all aspects into him who is
the head, even Christ. So, the church is not
to remain in immaturity. The church is to grow
up. And how does the church grow up? Through
the truth being spoken. Through the truth being
present, being conveyed. being communicated in
the midst of the church. It is a means of the
church growing into the fullness and maturity
of Jesus Christ in this world. So here we find
that truth is the means of bringing maturity
into the life of the church, into the life of
God's people. Now, if we jump down to the next
section, We'll go ahead and start reading in
verse 20 of the same chapter. But you did not
learn Christ in this way. If indeed you have
heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as
truth is in Jesus, that in reference to your
former manner of life, you lay aside the old
self, which is being corrupted in accordance
with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed
in the spirit of your mind, and put on a new
self, which in the likeness of God has been created
in righteousness and holiness of what? Of the
truth. So here, we find that truth is that thing,
That our regenerate part of our self is in accord
with. Where we are conformed more into the image
and likeness of Christ. Who is the living embodiment
of truth. So truth is that which defines the
regenerate part of the believer. The new man.
The new self. the new creature that is in accord
with the person of Christ. But if we go on, then
we read in Ephesians 6 .14, where Paul says this,
Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins
with truth. So when Paul says that the believers
at Ephesus are to gird their loins with truth.
He's speaking about objective truth, the Word
of God. He's speaking about the message of truth.
He's speaking about the reality of who Christ
is, the reality which grows the church in maturity.
But he's also speaking about the fact that truth
is to be a defining characteristic among the
community of God's people. It's that which is
spoken, that which is conveyed, that which is
enjoyed. It's part of the atmosphere of the church,
you could say. So when we think about this, we
have to think primarily about the truth being
objective and outside, separate from us, something
to be laid hold of, something to be taken and
applied to ourselves. So truth... in this context,
as that which we are to gird our loins with,
is the first piece of armor. It comes before
the breastplate. It comes before the shotting
of your feet with preparation of the gospel.
It comes before the shield of faith. It comes
before the helmet. It comes before the sword.
It comes before prayer, brothers and sisters.
In a sense, we could say that everything else
is built on this piece of armor, truth. It's
foundational and essential to the Christian life
in standing firm in this spiritual battle that
we are part of. Just as a thought experiment,
consider living the Christian life without truth.
How would you do that? How would you live the
Christian life if you didn't know what was true?
If God hasn't given us the Word of God, if He
hasn't given us the truth, if He hasn't given
us this deposit of revelation, how would we know
who we ought to be in Christ, what Christ has
done, what the church is to be, how we are to
live, how we are to behave, how we are to act,
how we are to think? We could not do it. Truth
is essential and foundational for the Christian
life and for this spiritual battle. But we also
see that truth is something to be girded with.
Now when we think about this, it's important
that we understand the metaphor that the Apostle
Paul is using. Before we get to that, let's look
at a couple verses briefly. Look at Luke chapter
12, verse 35. Luke 12, 35 says this. Be dressed
in readiness and keep your lamps lit. That word,
dressed in readiness, be girded. Have your loins
girded. Be ready. Be prepared. It has to do with
readiness for something that is coming. Preparation
for something in the future. It's preparation
that you might be able to do something. It frees
you to be aware, to be ready to respond, ready
to react, ready to act, ready to take action.
Now, we also see this same word in 1 Peter. In
1 Peter 1, verse 13, we read this. Therefore,
prepare your minds for action. Keep sober in
spirit. Fix your hope completely on the grace
to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus
Christ. Here, the mind is to be girded, prepared,
readied, brothers and sisters, to live the Christian
life. So when Paul says that Christians are to
be girded with the truth, he's saying they are
to be prepared and readied with the truth. Now
the metaphor. In that day and age, men would
typically wear long tunics. Very similar to dresses.
Now, if that man was going to fight, if that
man was going to have the freedom of movement
to engage in some activity, he didn't want the
flowing tips of his tunic to be an encumbrance
upon his movement. He might move to the left.
and step on his tunic. He might move to the right
and get his leg caught in the tunic and fall
over. It was a hindrance. It was an encumbrance
to the activity which he wanted to engage in.
It got in the way. So what did the man do if
he needed to engage in the activity, to be prepared
and to be ready to fight, to be in battle? Well,
what that man would do is he'd grab the tips
of his tunic, he'd take them up, he'd tighten
them real tight around his thighs, and then he'd
tuck them into a sash or a belt, and he'd tighten
that around his waist. So we get the image, don't
we? The tunic is out of the way, and he is free
to move and act. And engage in a manner where
he is no longer encumbered by his tunic. This
is what the author wants us to see. This is what
Paul wants us to understand. That we are to take
truth and gird ourselves with it. So that we
are freed from encumbrances. and we are ready
and prepared to engage in battle. So that we
are ready to fight, so that we're not going to
trip over ourselves. So that we're not going
to catch the corner of the tunic and tumble and
be incapable of doing battle. He wants us to
be ready and to be prepared. But here's the important
part. This is an action, isn't it? If we are
to gird ourselves with the truth, It means taking
action. It means that something is required of
us. So let's consider the nature of this action
very briefly. If we as Christians are to gird
ourselves with truth, then this necessarily involves
dealing personally with the truth itself. If
I'm going to take truth, which is sitting over
here, and I'm over here, and I'm going to gird
myself with that, that means I have to personally
and intimately take hold of this and bring it
over here and apply it to me. We have to deal
intimately and personally with that. So we cannot
gird ourselves with truth and be ready for this
warfare that Paul is talking about. If we are
unwilling to deal intimately with the truth of
God's Word. If we are unwilling to give ourselves
to dealing with the truth of the living God in
such a way that something is required of us.
Now, that's the first part. We cannot do this
if we don't deal intimately with the truth. But
it's not just dealing intimately with the truth.
If we are to gird ourselves, this also means
dealing intimately with what? Ourselves. And
how must we deal with ourselves? With the truth
in hand. So we have to deal with the truth and
we have to deal with ourselves. That means taking
the truth. And dealing with the truth in our
own hearts, our own minds, our own thoughts,
our own longings, our own desires, our own lives.
I cannot take the truth and shove it in somebody
else's chest and make them appropriate that reality,
brothers and sisters. But you know what I can
do? I can deal with the truth and I can deal
with myself personally. And I can pray and ask
God to apply it to my heart and I can receive
it by faith. That's what we're called to do here.
It's interesting that here at the beginning of
the list of armor, the first way that Paul tells
us to deal with warfare out here, is to deal
with the truth and ourselves right here. If we
want to fight, then brothers and sisters, we
must first deal with the demons in our own hearts
and our own minds. If you want to stand firm
against the onslaughts of the devil and spiritual
forces, then you must deal with the issues of
your own heart and apply the Word of God to yourself.
faithfully, consistently, and regularly. We must
take up the truth. In a sense, grab the sword
and plunge it within our own chest, right? To
deal with the corruption, the remnant of sin,
the heartache, the pride, the struggles in our
own life. So we must Deal with the truth personally.
And we must deal with ourselves. I really think
this is a hiccup for a lot of people, brothers
and sisters. I think many people are unwilling
to take time to wrestle with their own hearts.
To slow down and to think through their own issues.
Their own struggles, their own problems. Why
is this occurring in my life? Why is this happening
to me? Why do I keep getting the same outcome?
Why is this struggle? Why is this temptation?
Why is this trial? Why is this sin so prominent?
Whatever it might be, I really believe that men
and women today really struggle with the fact
of sitting down, taking time, and intently dealing
with their own hearts with the truth. In a sense,
this is the first step, brothers and sisters,
to standing firm against the schemes of the devil.
Don't think you can fight in this war if you're
unwilling to battle your own hearts. That's the
first step that we must take. And sometimes that's
not that pleasant, is it? Sometimes we just don't
reign in our minds. And give enough diligence
to thinking about ourselves. And our own sin.
And our own issues. When in reality. This is
what is required of us brothers and sisters.
If we are to put on the truth. If we are to gird
ourselves with the truth. Now because this involves
truth. I believe that. this piece of armor chiefly
corresponds to the mind. I believe the truth
in Scripture chiefly corresponds to the mind
of the believer. So when Paul says, gird your
loins with truth, the armor does not necessarily
correspond with the metaphorical placement of
it on the armor bearer in Ephesians 6. So if
we are to gird ourselves with the truth, it means
girding our minds and our thinking, our thoughts,
our understanding with the truth of the scriptures.
How do you affect a person's life? How is your
life affected? How is your life changed and transformed?
What is it that influences our hearts? What is
it that leads and guides our affections in life?
Brothers and sisters, what's the gateway? What's
the window into all those things? What's the
door you have to go through? It's the mind, brothers
and sisters. So Paul is calling us to take the
truth and bring it into our life through... Our
minds. To think about these realities. To think
about who Christ is. To think about who we are
in Christ. To think about what he has done. To
think about what is true. Of redemption. What
is true of me. And what will be true of me. What
the church is. What is required of me of the
church. All of these realities contained in the
word. These are the things that are supposed
to. be girded to the Christian's mind. It's the
mind, heart, will, affections. That's the order,
brothers and sisters. The mind, heart, will,
and affections. So, if the devil wants to lay
hold of a person, If the devil wants to influence
a person's affections, if the devil wants to
influence a person's heart, their desires, their
longings, if the devil wants to change a person's
behavior and their actions, where does he go
first? The mind. He distorts and he perverts
and he twists the truth so that our thinking
is all wrong. Thinking is perverted. And then
he's got the person. So what must a believer
do? The believer must combat the lies of the
devil and the errors of the world that he works
so thoroughly through with truth. The people
of God must gird themselves and their minds with
truth if they are to stand in the face. Of the
father of lies. Who works through deception and
deceit and error and false doctrine. So it's
the mind. What is it that shapes you more than
anything else? I'm not talking about what should
shape you more than anything else. I want you
to do an inventory of your life, brothers and
sisters. Think about what you are feeding on.
What is influencing you? What is it that your
mind is being filled with? Is it the truth of
God's Word? Is it the Scriptures? Is it Christ?
Is it the glory of God? Is it the revelation,
the deposit of revelation that God has given
to us? Is it the Word, brothers and sisters?
Is it your Bible? The Word of God is that thing
which ought to preeminently influence our minds
and shape our hearts and drive our wills and
lay hold of our affections so that we love the
things that God loves and we hate the things
that God hates. And the devil knows that. He
knows that better than you know that. He understands
that reality better than you do. That's why he
tries to pervert so many believers' minds with
false doctrine and untruth and half -truth and
error. Because he can direct the life through
the mind of a person. He can destroy a person's
life and the whole trajectory of their life if
he can just lay hold of their mind and their
thinking. Because then he's got the heart. and
then he's got the will, and then he's got the
affections. What is shaping your thinking? What
informs the way that you think about your brothers
and sisters in Christ? What is it that informs
the way you view the world around you? What is
it that informs How you view yourself in Christ.
It ought to be. And it must be brothers and sisters.
The word of God. The truth. Which sanctifies
us. This is why we have Romans 12 .2. This is
why Paul talks about. Ephesians 4. We did not
learn Christ in this way. This is why he talks
about that the Gentiles also walk in the futility
of their mind. Because a life is led by the mind
and our thoughts, brothers and sisters. So if
we are to obey this command, and we are to stand
firm against the schemes of the devil, that means
girding our mind with truth. So, does that mean
that it's okay to disregard doctrine? Or does
this necessarily imply the significance and the
importance of doctrine and truth? The majority
of the New Testament epistles, the Word of God,
why were they written? To address error. To address
issues in the life of various churches in Asia
Minor in that day, in that age. They are full
of doctrine, brothers and sisters. One of the
best things that a believer can do to combat
the wiles of Satan is to think on doctrine that
is derived from the Word of God. To grow in their
understanding of who Christ is, who God is, and
how He works in this world. To grasp doctrine
in greater ways. and in greater measure in your
life. We don't have some gold standard with regards
to doctrine and understanding and comprehension,
brothers and sisters. What this means is asking
God for help in this task of understanding the
truth of the Scriptures. We cannot do that if
we are not willing to give ourselves to understanding
doctrine in the Word of God. It's essential for
being successful in the Christian life, living
bold and vital Christian lives, and standing
firm against the schemes of the devil. Now the
last thing we have to consider is truth's role
in warfare. I want to give you three specific
ways that I believe the Bible teaches that truth
enables the believer to stand firm against the
schemes of the devil. Now, one of the interesting
things about this text in Ephesians 6, the verb
in verse 14 is stand firm. But then there's a
bunch of participles that modify the verb. And
so, most likely, the verb, stand firm, is being
modified by these participles, gird your loins,
or put on the breastplate. They are modifying
them in a way that they are, it is means. I'm
telling you this for a reason. The way a person
stands firm is through the participles. So if
a person wants to stand firm, then they have
to utilize the means of the participles. So if
a person wants to stand firm, what does that
require of them? that they gird their loins with
truth. If a person wants to stand in the battle
against the devil and this fallen world, that
means they must put on the breastplate of righteousness.
There's no standing if there's no girding. There's
no standing if there's no putting on the breastplate
of righteousness. There's no standing if there's
no taking up the shield of... faith. There's
no standing if there's no putting on the helmet
of salvation. So the means by which a believer
stands in this battle is by utilizing the means
that God has given them to do so. Truth, righteousness,
the gospel, faith, salvation, the sword of the
spirit, the word of God. and prayer. So, the
three ways that I believe truth particularly
helps the believer stand is the means. Well,
it first enables the Christian to recognize false
doctrine and error. If a person doesn't know
truth, If they don't know what is true, then
they can't recognize error and false doctrine.
So, how does the devil work to obtain the mind
of the believer? Through error and false doctrine.
So the believer must give themselves to the truth
so that they can recognize and see. There is
something off about that. doesn't sit well with
what I know about the Word of God. That doesn't
seem to be what Paul means when he says faith.
That's incorrect. The believer must gird themselves
with truth so that they can spot and recognize
error and false doctrine in this world and in
the church. But also, It makes the Christian
see more clearly the lies and deceptions that
are associated with temptation and sin, which
the devil so thoroughly works through. Every
time a believer sins. Every time a believer gives
in to temptation, or they openly commit transgression
against the living God, the reason they are doing
that is because they are believing a lie in some
way. They're caving to the truth in some capacity.
It's convincing you that this is better than
God. That this is better than Christ. It's a
lie. It's not true. So the believer who knows
the truth, who girds their minds with truth,
can come to sin, can come to temptation, and
they know the truth, and they can say, no, God
is better. Christ is more beautiful. Christ is
more enjoyable. Christ is greater and more supreme
than anything I can enjoy or experience in this
moment right now. They must know the truth so
that they can see the deceitfulness of sin. But
also, and this may be the most helpful, I believe,
it enables the believer to utilize the rest Of
the armor that God has given to them. Because
this is foundational. That means that everything
else in a sense is dependent on it. That man
earlier that we were illustrating. Imagine him
having his long flowing tunic out and about.
And putting on his armor around him. He's going
to have the armor but he's going to put his sword
in and it's going to stab through his tunic and
then all of a sudden he's going to go and fight
and he's going to slice his leg. Because he did
not gird his loins. The same is true with regards
to the armor that God has given to us. We cannot
look to the righteousness of Christ if we don't
understand the righteousness of Christ. Brothers
and sisters, we cannot lift the shield of faith
if our faith is not set on truth. We cannot wield
the sword of the Spirit if we don't know the
Word of God. In a sense, all of them depend and
are built on the truth. The devil's playground.
is falsehoods, error, deceit, and lies. Brothers
and sisters, that's where he plays. That's where
he swings. That's where he jumps. And that is
where he climbs. That is where he hangs on to.
So the people of God must be people of the truth.
The devil doesn't get his hands around truth.
Nothing in him is about the truth. Read John
8 and Jesus talking to the Jews. He talks about
how the devil is a father of lies and there is
no truth in him. That he acts and speaks in accordance
with his own nature. Deceit, malice, lies, hatred.
So, brothers and sisters, if we are to combat
the schemes of our enemy, it must be with what?
Truth. If we are to combat and defend against
the arrows and against the falsehoods of the
enemy, it must be with what? Truth. Truth defends
against the father of lies. the deceiver. Truth
combats false doctrine and error. We must be
people of the truth.