A Study of Ephesians

The Relationship of God and His Saints

Many folks who read this lesson from the blog or email will miss a great deal of context simply because time does not allow me to fill in a lot of the material I will be discussing during our class. If you have questions please let me know I will be glad to answer you via email. Jesse

Putting on God's Armor – Part 2

Lesson #13

Ephesians 6:14-20 and Ephesians 6:23-24

Goal of the Lesson:

• To see that the armor we are to put on is the LORD Jesus Christ and His Word.

• To explain each individual piece of our armor in Christ.

• To show that Jesus Christ as LORD of our life is sufficient over the attack of the enemy.

• To show the importance of continual prayer in the battle and without ceasing.

   

This Lesson will help us:

• To turn away from self-dependence to live as a saint of God

• To depend upon the LORD Jesus Christ, His Word and the Holy Spirit to live as a Saint of God

• To increase our faith, improve our blessed hope and be confident in battle that the battle is the LORD's

If you've been around the ministry that the LORD allows me to do you know that I have used many illustrations of being in a battle. Having a military background the LORD has graciously allowed me to parallel the events of my military life with the events of my walk as a “born again” believer in Jesus.

This has been good in the sense that I see the two battles clearly for example a warrior as he or she heads into battle must be prepared. The warrior must know how to use the armor and the weapons available to them. They must know how to put on the armor and then they must know how to use armor and the weapons for offensive and defensive skill. You cannot do battle with an enemy by just looking like a battle ready soldier, you must do your part. So lets take a look.

Ephesians 6:14 The first piece of armor is the belt of truth. Anything that an enemy does is considered untrustworthy, thus everything the enemy does is a lie. To overcome the enemy, truth is a weapon of choice to protect and correct. We must have the truth, know the truth and do the truth.

To have the truth one must have Jesus – John 14:6, we must know the truth – John 17:17 and to be living a victorious life in Christ we must do the Truth. John 8:32. Now if this does not help us understand the belt of truth, maybe this verse will. Ephesians 4:21-24.

Ephesians 6:14 This next piece of armor is similar to the belt of truth. The fact is that the belt supports the breastplate. Jesus Christ Himself is our breastplate of righteousness and this we must not forget. Our righteous efforts in the battle look good to the enemy because these resemble their righteous efforts. But to God when we express human righteousness we are actually looking filthy and used. Like a dirty bloody rag. Isaiah 64:6.

The Law of God condemns the righteous activity of man. Romans 3:19-24. Now this is important for us to understand so listen up. The Law of God condemns the works of mankind. God calls all the works of mankind SIN. The deeds of the flesh are not justified by God because the Law of God reveals to man that his deeds are fleshly.

We could also say that human righteousness is relative in that what might seem right to one human being is wrong in the sight of another, so in order for God to neutralize who is right and who is wrong He allows the Law to place all of man's righteous deeds under the judgment of sin. Romans 3:24.

Therefore, to utilize the absolute righteousness of God we must have on the Righteousness of Christ. See Romans 10:4; (Romans 7:1-4) and Matthew 5:17. Jesus Christ is the absolute Righteousness that God looks for in each of His saints because He fulfills the Law of God, therefore the breastplate of righteousness is: Faith in Christ working through the Grace of God and this breastplate blinds the eyes of the enemy with the Mercy of God's forgiveness in Jesus Christ as He leads as LORD.

Ephesians 6:15 The warrior must have on shoes that will eventually bring peace. Again this is important. Shoes are the anchor of the warrior to keep them from slipping, falling and perishing. A warrior must know that they have a sure footing, one cannot be worried about their foundation or platform while in the heat of the battle.

There are two shoes and each of the shoes represent two aspects of gospel peace. ONE: Through the gospel we have “peace” with God, and TWO: Through the gospel we have the peace of God.

Romans 5:1 We are justified at the moment we believe in the death, burial and resurrection of our LORD Jesus Christ. This is phase one salvation, it is all you need to be saved (faith, trust, believe) these are all the same Greek words in the Bible. This expression of our heart then is sufficient to give us one of the shoes of the gospel of peace. Peace with God.

Now Peace of God. Phase two of our salvation is learning to live with the people around us, the Bible calls this sanctification. The world cannot get to know Jesus Christ if the world cannot see the peace of God. Jesus Christ is our peace, we were once far away from the peace of God, but God through the gospel has brought us to Jesus and made us one in Him so that Jesus Christ is our peace with Him. The other shoe is the message to the enemy that God has reconciled and created in Christ a new man (you and me). Ephesians 2:13-18. Therefore we are walking in the gospel shod in the shoes of peace.

Ephesians 6:16 Here we see that we need a protective shield, the enemy is out to destroy you and me. We must keep Faith between us and the enemy at all times. We do not have to hid as some might say; you know, to hid behind the shield is to act cowardly.

But what do people see when they see you or me approaching them. Do they see a long haired sweet Jesus, or the pale faced Jesus who gushes out a false sense of hope and a love that is really a mask of hate that is going on inside of our pretentious heart. This is not the shield that God through Christ provides.

God is our shield, He is our great reward. When the enemy sees us, he or she must see that Jesus is our exceedingly great reward. Genesis 15:1 The enemy is to see that we are surrounded by God with protective help and confident hope. We express this shield because our heart is in a rejoicing mode, not a critical or false mode. Psalm 33:20-22.

Ephesians 6:17 All of the armor is a critical need for the soldier, but consider this; if the soldier does not wear his or her helmet or if they do not feel that the helmet is sufficient for battle then he or she will become an easy target for the enemy to destroy. Many saints have lost the battle because they simply took the helmet off in battle. Samson is an example of this. Judges 16:19 The seven locks of Samson's hair represent the sevenfold ministry of God the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 11:2.

Ephesians 6:18 We as saints have continual access to the throne room of God. God knows our every circumstance and He knows every circumstance of the enemy too. God is not blind, or blind sighted to any event. We must be willing to communicate with Him. Seeing the need to put on the armor of God is one essential event in the life of the soldier of God, but it really is only half the battle. The battle plan comes with communication with our Father. Examples of this are found throughout the gospel when Jesus would go off to a quiet place and pray to the Father. If we have properly put on Christ and are making no provision for the flesh to operate. Then we must need to know the plans of God in battle. Romans 8:26-27; 1 Thessalonians 5:17 and 1 Peter 5:7.

Ephesians 6:19-24 In closing we are reminded by the apostle to speak boldly to reveal the gospel, to be a faithful minister of the the things of God, to abide in faith, hope and love and to allow grace to govern our hearts in dealing with the enemy.