Ephesians 6:13-17
Title: Live the Truth by Standing Firm
I think we typically think of the verses on spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6 as an add-on.
Or we tend to think that (at the close of the letter) the Holy Spirit just took Paul in a really weird direction.
Maybe it seems like Paul just couldn’t keep the intrusive thoughts from winning in the end.
And he just had to say something about the spiritual forces of evil before closing.
It’s kind of like saying good night to your kids just before closing the door with,
“Good night. Sleep tight. Don’t let the bedbugs bite!”
If they think too hard about it, they might just wonder how in the world they’re supposed to sleep after
that farewell.
Rather than thinking of these closing verses on spiritual warfare as Paul’s paranormal soapbox.
I think it’s best to see them as the closing of the letter that is telling us how much is riding on how well we
apply the truths of Ephesians to our lives.
I think we can see the fact that these verses close the letter by the word that they start with.
* 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you
may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 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 in the heavenly places.
Last week, we focused on the importance of Being Battle Ready.
As believers it’s the truths of who we are in Christ that guard us against the schemes of the devil.
And it’s relying on the very strength of God that empowers us to live by who we are in Christ.
We also focused on how it’s not people that we are struggling against.
We’re struggling against the one that holds people captive to his evil plans.
And it’s not the ground between us and those that oppose us that is the battlefield.
The battlefield is our hearts which are susceptible to pride, self-righteousness, and all other sinful desires.
So this brings us to our passage for today -
13 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 firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the
breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel
of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming
darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
God,
So, I believe that what we’re learning from today is the closing metaphor that can help us to apply the
truths of this letter to the Ephesians.
So, my message is titled “Live the Truth by Standing Firm”
It could also be called Stand Firm by Living the Truth.
The armor of God is a metaphor for the normal Christian life, not a special technique, ritual prayer.
This is for Christians who have embraced the gospel and been regenerated.
The gospel is a foundational assumption for every piece of the Armor of God.
But the gospel is not compartmentalized in any of the pieces.
These verses are about helping Christians stand firm against temptation and trials
The first aspect we’re taught about standing firm is to -
1. UNDERSTAND OUR ORDERS TO STAND FIRM AGAINST EVIL.
* 13 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 firm.
We’re told that our job is to withstand and to stand firm.
To withstand implies holding one’s ground against opposition.
Most of you are familiar with the warning found in -
* 1 Peter 5:8 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring
lion, seeking someone to devour.
We were told in Ephesians 5:16 that we need to make the best use of our time because the days are evil.
We’re to always be ready in the whole armor of God and the strength that he supplies.
About this need for vigilance, John MacArthur writes,
“We cannot know exactly when, where, or how the enemy will attack. We therefore need to have on all
of God’s armor all the time. When the believer has on God’s full armor, it is not necessary to fully know
or specifically understand the devil’s schemes. In fact, many times the Christian soldier will not even be
aware of a danger from which God’s armor is at that moment protecting him.”
I can remember watching movies or TV shows about the Vietnam War.
To me it all seemed like a horrible sweaty, grungy, dangerous nightmare full of swamps, snakes, and
booby-traps.
I was especially struck by the guys that would get stuck defending a FOB (Forward Operating Base).
It seemed like these situations would end up surrounded by enemy soldiers and on constant alert.
The worst scenario would be if their defenses might be overrun and the enemy would end up within
their camp fighting them in hand-to-hand combat.
I think of that sort of alertness that’s called for when I read this verse.
It’s not that God has left us to fend for ourselves.
But we must heed to call to stand firm against the devil’s daily assaults.
No Christian just falls into an argument in which they do irreparable harm with their words.
No Christian just falls into an affair.
Very few Christians wake up on a fateful morning and decide their going to upend their lives.
It begins with letting the enemy sneak into the camp of our hearts when we’re not standing firm.
I want to encourage you to take a little assessment of your readiness.
How well do you stand firm in these evil days?
a. Do you care about being ready for trials or temptation?
b. Does standing firm depend on what mood I’m in or crowd I’m with?
c. Could it be that you want to stand strong, but you don’t see much progress.
d. Maybe you’re very aware and weary of Satan’s assaults.
e. Are you constantly afraid and don’t feel like you’re strong enough.
f. Or is it possible that you’re finding joy in following Christ, standing in His strength.
So, what does it look like to stand firm against evil?
Metaphorically, it looks like being suited up with the armor of God.
2. STAND FIRM AGAINST EVIL…
* 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of
righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of
the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18
praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all
perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
To stand firm against evil…
2A. SUBMIT TO GOD’S TRUE TRUTH.
* 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth,
The belt of the soldier was what held everything together and was foundational to the rest.
The term fastened means literally to “gird yourself.”
This is because the soldier wore a flowing tunic.
And it would be pulled up closer his hips for speed and agility.
This is a common metaphor for being ready to obey as in 1 Peter 1:13.
There we’re told to gird up our loins for action.
What I believe the belt of truth represents is the acknowledgement of the authoritative truth of God.
This certainly includes the truth of the gospel.
But in the broadest sense, it is the acknowledgement that there is such a thing as a TRUE truth.
And with God being the author of all creation, His truth is authoritative.
It’s easy to see how foundational it is to life and understanding the world that we accept the idea that one
person’s definition of truth is not equally valid with everyone else’s - “relative truth.”
So, putting on the belt of truth is foundational to our ability to stand against the devil’s onslaught.
In Ephesians 4, we learned a lot about the importance of truth in our relationships.
In 4:15, we saw that it’s by “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head,
into Christ”
In 4:20-21 we read that the truth is in Jesus.
This is on the intellectual level.
But it’s also important that we embrace the truth personally in the sense of living with integrity.
We saw this in Ephesians 4:25, as we read -
“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor”
So, we start being ready by accepting God’s Word as TRUE truth and being honest about how poorly our
hearts measure up to it.
The second aspect of our application metaphor for standing firm against evil is to -
2B. RESOLVE TO PURSUE RIGHTEOUSNESS.
* and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
There’s the theological concept of being made righteous before God through the gospel.
This is the righteousness of Christ, which grants us the position of being a forever child of God.
But there’s not a need to put on that kind of righteousness - our positional righteousness.
Instead, this is the righteousness that we should pursue as an important aspect of walking with Christ.
It’s the practical righteousness of walking in obedience to God’s commands.
We were instructed in the importance of our daily walk as Paul urges us in Ephesians 4:1 -
“to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called”
We were warned in Ephesians 4:17 -
“that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.”
And what we learned was foundational to the discipleship process of the early church is what we read in -
* Ephesians 4:22-24 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is
corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the
new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
The New Testament Commentary lays it out when it states,
“To neglect what we know to be righteous action is to leave a gaping hole in our armor.”
I think we’re all pretty familiar with breastplates from TV or movies.
Similar to flak jackets or body armor, what’s important is that they cover vital organs.
When we drop our breastplate of righteousness and choose to sin, what happens to our hearts for God?
They are demoralized
They’re turned cold and callous, or consumed with guilt and shame.
John MacArthur writes,
“[Satan seeks] to undermine pure living and replace it with immorality, greed, envy, hate, and every
other vice. He wants us to laugh at sin rather than mourn over it, and to rationalize it rather than
confess it and bring it to the Lord for forgiveness. He seduces us to become so used to sin in us and
around us that it no longer bothers our conscience. The protection against those attacks of Satan is the
breastplate of righteousness.”
It’s still true that we do not stand in our own strength or in our own righteousness.
But we must live in a willing and obedient surrender to God’ commands if we are to keep from living a
defeated, joyless, spiritually anemic life due to wounds to our hearts.
John MacArthur also wrote,
“No program, method, or technique can bring wholeness and happiness to the believer who is unwilling to
confront and forsake his sin.” - John MacArthur
To stand firm against evil…
2C. BE FULLY ASSURED OF YOUR SALVATION.
* 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
Rome’s armies were known for being able to march surprisingly large distances.
A large part of this reason is the shoes they wore which were mostly thick, rugged layers of leather.
What their shoes also incorporated were metal spikes or cleats which allowed the soldier to hold his
ground.
Imagine a football game on a muddy field and the defensive line is wearing cleats against an offensive line
that’s barefoot.
You can see the advantage that this gave the Roman soldiers as they battled.
So, how is it that the gospel of peace can allow the Christian to stand unmoved against the devils attacks.
This is pointing to the importance of the Christian’s peace with God as a solid conviction and comfort.
Paul described the gospel message itself as preaching “peace” in -
* Ephesians 2:17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those
who were near.
We should find firm footing to stand firm against doubt of our salvation in the truth of
* Ephesians 1:3-4 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in
Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
Paul showed the implications of knowing that you are secure as God’s child, as we read in -
* Ephesians 1:13-14 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of
our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Being sure that you possess saving faith should be a peace that helps you to stand firm.
Now, the first three items, the belt, breastplate, and shoes are kind of dressing room stuff.
You’d expect the soldier to come out to wearing them.
The next three, the shield, helmet and sword would be more expected to be taken up just prior to battle.
But notice what we’re told regarding these three - don’t treat them as optional.
* 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of
the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18
praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all
perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
To stand firm against evil…
2D. TRUST GOD FULLY FOR PROTECTION AND PROVISION.
* 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of
the evil one;
I think the point of this is to recognize that we’re never out of the fight until Jesus returns, which is where
we’ll end up in this discussion.
Regarding the shield of faith, similar to the other articles, faith is involved in the salvation experience.
But we’re talking about our ongoing walk of faith -what the Christian might foolishly lay aside for a time.
This is our daily reliance on and trust in God, His character and His promises no matter the circumstances.
The Roman shield that’s referred to here would’ve been about 2.5 feet wide and about 4 feet tall.
This would’ve been the one carried out onto the field of battle and the soldiers shields would’ve been held
up in unison as a protective wall.
The shield would’ve been constructed of two layers of wood glued together and covered with linen and thick
leather that would’ve been recently soaked with water.
Why would it need to be constructed so and saturated?
Because it was going to be needed to protect the soldier against arrows with tips that had been wrapped,
dipped in tar and set on fire before being shot at the line of soldiers.
The intention was that the shield would deflect the arrows or extinguish the ones that sunk into it.
I don’t know about you.
But if I imagine how it must’ve seemed to notice the sun being eclipsed with a sky full of flaming arrows, I
think I’d be tempted to turn tail and run.
It would take a lot of trust for me to crouch behind a piece of wood.
Do you know what the devil’s minions launch instead of physical arrows?
They launch lies - lies that are similar to what their master used in the garden -
“God doesn’t care about you!”
“God can’t help you!”
“God isn’t telling you the truth!”
“God doesn’t know what’s best for you!”
We don’t have to worry if our shield is going to hold.
We only need to take it up and keep holding it up.
We don’t need to worry about whether it will hold because the power of the Christians faith isn’t based in
our strength.
It’s based in the strength of the one in whom we trust.
Or as one writer says, “Christian faith never fails, because the One in whom that faith is placed never fails.”
It’s easy to see how this metaphor is used to show how important it is that we trust the truth we’ve learned.
We’ve been told some pretty amazing things like -
* Ephesians 1:3 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
We’ve also been assured in Ephesians 2:19 that we’re
* “ no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the
household of God”
Remember the reassurance of Ephesians 3:20 that God is the one -
* “ who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work
within us”
Don’t turn tail and run, believing the lies the enemy is shooting at you.
Take up your shield of faith and rest behind it as it deflect the enemy’s darts.
To stand firm against evil…
2E. LOOK TOWARD GOD’S FULL DELIVERANCE AT HIS SECOND COMING.
* 17 and take the helmet of salvation,
Once again, this part of our armor is rooted in our gospel-relationship with God.
But it goes beyond that.
This is our full and complete salvation.
You can think of coming to Christ in conversion as being saved from the penalty of sin.
Our sanctification (our breastplate of righteousness) aligns with being saved from the power of sin.
This salvation is our looking toward the future with the confidence that God is going to save the Christian
from the presence of sin - once and for all.
=>This interpretation fits with 1 Thessalonians 5:8, where we’re told to wear “for a helmet the hope of
salvation.”
In closing his letter, Paul wants us to see the vital nature of remembering that this world is not our home.
This metaphor is intended to hammer home Ephesians 1:18 where Paul prayed we would know -
* “what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the
saints”
This is the final hope of our salvation, as we saw in -
* Ephesians 2:4-7 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have
been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ
Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus.
Friends, if you are saved, God is still saving you from the power of sin, and he will one day save you from
the presence of sin.
Wear the hope of that salvation as if it were as important as your helmet because every day is a battle.
Lastly, to stand firm against evil…
2F. KNOW AND APPLY THE WORD OF GOD.
* and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
The Roman foot soldier would’ve had a double-edged, dagger-like sword that could be as long as 18 inches.
It was their main weapon for hand-to-hand combat.
= We’re familiar with this analogy for the Word of God from -
* Hebrews 4:12 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions
of the heart.
And it’s also called the sword of the Spirit because the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of the Scriptures.
And the Holy Spirit works in us through God’s holy Word.
Jesus’ ministry on this earth didn’t begin with fanfare.
It began with a battle.
After Jesus had fasted for 40 days in the wilderness and was in a very vulnerable state, we read -
* Luke 4:1-13
3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’ ”
5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and
said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I
give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”
8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you
serve.’ ”
9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are
the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels
concerning you, to guard you,’ 11 and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot
against a stone.’ ”
12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
The devil is always looking for an opportune time.
And we must take up God’s Word along with the rest of the armor of God when that time comes.
If the Lord that we follow fought by wielding the Word of God, you and I must do the same.
When those daily times of battle come, I hope that this isn’t what we look like.
I’m afraid that this might be what most American Christians look like in the spiritual battle.
- very few belts, or the right shoes, only a couple of breastplates or shields, one or two helmets or swords
And this even when we’re all told to be ready to fight!
And I’m afraid this is what most Christian families look like.
Where do you need improving your defense against the devil’s schemes?
Or where do those who are depending on you for guidance need to improve their defenses.
a. to submit to the fact that God’s truth is the TRUE truth
b. to resolve to pursue righteousness in all parts of your life
c. to be fully assured of your salvation
d. to trust God fully for protection and provision
e. to look toward God’s full deliverance at His second coming
f. to better know and apply the Word of God
If we find ourselves getting run off the battle field in defeat, these principles are where we must start.
