The Belt of Truth

See how this goes. Maybe that's better there, huh? Hear me in the back, all right?

Sweet.

Gosh, that was a wonderful song just to kind of start our time in the Word. Just reminded me of what God said to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 9, verses 23 to 24, where it says, Let not the mighty man boast of his might.

Let not the wealthy man boast in his riches. But let him who boasts, boast in this, that I know him and that he knows me. It's just such a, just a wonderful song. Thanks for picking those out. Those were, yeah, quite solid, I'd say.

But it's good to be here this morning. If you didn't meet me already, my name is Jose Garcia. I'm here with my roommate, Will. We go to church at Grace Bible Church over in Bozeman. So made the drive over this morning, and I serve on staff at Grace Bible as an apprentice there, and I help out with our college ministry in which, yeah, I do other preaching opportunities.

This last week, we had a boating day over at Houser Lake. We do fun things like that, and then this next weekend, I'll actually be at the Tetons, so maybe camping. So I'll also be part of the church skippers club, but, but yeah.

The Armor of God and the Belt of Truth

Just to introduce to us this morning, we'll be studying the first piece of armor of God, that being the belt of truth. I don't know if all of you got a little, little bulletin or a little insert, but yeah, we'll only cover the one piece today.

We won't cover it all. So yeah, let me get this plane on the runway and get to cruising altitude as fast as possible. So if not there already, turn to Ephesians 6, about halfway through the New Testament.

Past the Gospels, past Acts, Romans, past the Corinthians. If you hit Revelation, you've gone too far. Make sure you turn back. Ephesians 6. And we'll read starting in verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the mind of his strength.

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 the rulers, against the authorities, against the world 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.

In addition to all, having taken up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Also, receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

So to get ourselves orientated a little bit with where we're at in the book of Ephesians, of course, we're in chapter 6. We're in the latter half of Ephesians. And maybe as some of you know, typically Paul likes to structure his letters where the first half, in this case chapters 1 through 3, there's a heavy emphasis on doctrine and theology and who we are in Christ.

And now in chapters 4 through 6, we now learn how we are to walk in Christ. It's more practical. And then more of the immediate context is, it's just before this, it's talking about children's and parents and how they are to act.

About how you are to act with slaves and masters, co-workers, wives and husbands. Of course in Ephesians 5, it talks about marriage. And it kind of raises the question of why does Paul then close the letter with the armor of God?

It almost seems as if it's misplaced. It's, all right, talk about your marriage, your kids, your parents, and then boom, armor. It's like, where did that come from? But I think really what Paul is trying to get at is just that these relationships are such a large influence and just an aspect of our lives that this is where the evil one, the deceiver, the father of lies, tries to get us off the path.

So it is here then that Paul gives us the means by which we will have victory. And so Satan's very objective is to make man distrust God. Let me say that again. Satan's very objective is to make man distrust God.

But church, our greatest strength then is to trust God. So we'll dive in to that a little more. You can see even in verse 10, it says, finally be strong in the Lord and in the might of his strength. Put on the full armor of God.

Two very important opener points is, first, our strength in the battle against the devil, our sin, or the world doesn't come from us, but from the Lord. Second, it isn't our armor that we're putting on.

It is God's. And when putting on the armor, we must put it all on to be effective. We can't just put on one part or another part. So I highly recommend, after this message, maybe you dive in to the rest of the armor because it really is just such a rich, rich passage.

These very points, though, is just foundational to the believers' everyday battle. Just like in our own salvation, man's strength or effort cannot do anything to save himself. As Paul said earlier in the letter, in the famous Ephesians 2 verses 8 through 9, it is by grace you've been saved, through faith, not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God. So then, if we couldn't bring about life or salvation to our dead bodies, what makes us think that we can bring victory to our war with the devil, without God? It's simply unreasonable.

So then, the strength that we draw on when in battle is not our own. It is the Lord's. As a psalmist puts it in Psalm 121, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord. We know that in John 15 5, Jesus says, he who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit.

And from a poor apart from me, you can do nothing. Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2 verse 1, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. The strength is key because in ourselves, like I said already, we cannot defeat our adversary, but Christ already has.

This doesn't mean also that we can put the recliner up and be a couch potato. We know from James 4 8, it says, draw near to God, right? There's an imperative, a command, draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

God's strength is appropriated only through obedience. Now, if I can just emphasize this one point, is that we are at war with the devil. Verses 11 and 12 say that. It's against the schemes of the devil.

Because you need to recognize this, because if you don't, you won't see the urgency to want to put on the armor. I know I am a case of this, and maybe you are too, but often I leave the armor at home.

Many of us aren't interested in armor because we don't recognize the kind of battle or war that we're in. We don't recognize the eternal ramifications that our sin brings about. We have grown comfortable with our sin.

It has its own little secret room in the back of our minds, and we think no one can see it, so it's of no bother. Yet, we know that isn't the truth. Maybe to put in an illustration, think of it this way, if the thought life of your entire day, maybe take yesterday or even this morning, was recorded and put on film, and it was played up on this big screen in front of, let's just say, 10 of these people, not even all of these people, what would they say?

Would they say, oh wow, they fell quick. I can't believe they thought those thoughts. Or would they maybe say the opposite? Wow, good job. They got in the word early. They nourished their bodies. They put on the armor.

The truth is, friends, God sees it all, so we must be obedient at all times. God wants our universal obedience. Well, maybe you say, well, Jose, I am being obedient, but I still fall in temptation here, or I lack here, or I still can't hold my tongue in the right way, even when I read God's Word and I pray to him.

Well, let me put it a way a commentator put it, and I quote, Being filled with God's Word, but not obedient to his spirit, has caused a downfall of many believers. Right doctrine without right devotion is a serious pitfall for many Christians.

The person who trusts in his own understanding instead of the Lord himself plays into Satan's hand. End quote. The famous proverb says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on what? Your own understanding.

Exactly, right. So our greatest strength, and again, I say, is to trust God. Satan's very objective is to make them distrust God. It's the first trick in the book, right? Genesis 3, the deception. Our greatest strength is to trust God.

So our first point then, you can see on your outline, is we must gird ourselves with the truth so that we may be prepared. We must gird ourselves with the truth so that we may be prepared. I'll read verses 13 and 14, what we'll be in for most of this morning.

Therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day in having done everything to stand firm. Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth. Now, before we get to our beloved belt of truth, a few points.

Point number one being, the way in which Paul lists the armor, that being the belt, the breastplate, the gospel shoes of peace, would have most likely been the way that a Roman soldier would have put on the armor, in that order.

And then, the second point is, Paul most likely used the picture of a Roman soldier because the Ephesians would have most certainly known what a soldier looked like. Also, if you look down just further into verse 20 of chapter 6, it says, Paul says, for which I am an ambassador in chains.

So, Paul was most likely, when in jail, we know he wrote Ephesians, was actually chained up to a Roman soldier. So, that is where we get to the armor of God. Now, back to our belt. Some translations say different things in verse 14.

The ESV says, having fastened on the belt of truth. The NIV says, having buckled on the belt of truth, which honestly, I think is a better translation than mine. Because when I hear, gird your loins, and someone were to ask me in the morning, Jose, did you gird your loins this morning?

I'm like, what does that even mean? But to tell you what it means, in Exodus 12 verse 11 is when we first see this. It simply states, now you shall eat in this manner with your loins girded. Your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat it in haste.

It is the Passover of Yahweh. The context here in Exodus 12 is God giving Aaron and Moses instructions for the Passover. And to better picture what these men would have worn, they wore these long robes that would keep them cool and keep their bodies entirely covered.

And if you could imagine, it's almost like wearing a bedsheet in a sandstorm or wearing a bedsheet to the dinner table. If you didn't have that puppy cinched down, it'd be all over the place. So unlike today, the belt back then, it shows preparedness.

To gird oneself is to prepare oneself. Unlike today, the belt is this big thing that we like to put big, fancy buckles on, right? We go to 4-H's and we hope to win the big buckle. We go to the rodeos and we want the big buckle.

Back then, the buckle wasn't a decoration. It was actually to be used. But yes, that is the term gird. And maybe just to give you another illustration would be just the importance of girding oneself. Let's say you have 10 Roman soldiers lined up and they have all got their armor on.

They've got their swords, they've got their shields, they've got their helmets. But Jackson on the corner over there doesn't have his belt. Now, that isn't a problem. It's not a problem because his pants are going to fall down because he didn't wear pants back then, right?

What did they wear? They wore tunics. So what they would do when they put on the tunics, right, it's like a big bedsheet. You would put it on and then what they would do with their belts is you would put it on probably around a little higher than we put it on.

And then what they would do once they tighten it down is they would re-tuck the four corners of the bedsheet, or the tunic rather, back into the belt because that would make them more mobile. That would make them more movable and effective because we know that back then in Roman times the combat that they had wasn't the kind of war, just wasn't the advanced warfare that we have now.

It was hand to hand. So if you had this bedsheet flying all in front of you, you just, you weren't effective. You would, it's like trying to swim with a Carhartt jacket on. You just, you hinder yourself.

It makes no sense, right. Now we've talked about what the word gerd means, but let's talk about what the word truth is referring to. Though at first glance it may seem simple and we can brush it over and simply say, well truth is God's word and this is objective.

Well that is most certainly an option. The word truth here in the Greek is pronounced aletheia, which can be defined either as objective, being the word of God, or subjectively in the sense that it refers to sincerity and integrity of character.

Let me just give you examples of how those are used differently. In John 14 .6, in John 17 .17, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And then in 17 .17 it says, sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth.

So that's how it's used objectively. And then it's used subjectively like in 3 John 3 where it says, for I rejoice greatly when brothers came and bore witness to your truth. That is how you are walking in truth.

So what's the consensus with how it's used? I don't think we really need to say either or. We could even say that it's both. To put it this way, I quote, surely to take up the belt of truth is to ensure that Jesus is the truth, and since the gospel has come to us as the truth, one of the evidences that we are truth trusters is that we are truth tellers.

So that the subject dimension of the work of grace is an evidence in our lives. I think I'm more bent to the word being used subjectively because of how we are to use God's word. Also, it seemed like Paul would be repeating himself because we know later that the sword of the spirit is God's word, but I could also see the case being made for objectively.

If not, you could say it's being used both and rather than either or. Because what is it that anchors us? It's God's word. We must not be ships that are tossed by the waters. We need to chain ourselves to that anchor.

To give us a better picture, if you want to go to 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 13, just to the right, past Hebrews, past James, 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 13, and it reads, therefore, having girded your minds for action, being sober in the spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Christ.

Peter is applying what the readers would have understood. It's like, do you understand what it means to gird yourselves with the belt? Do that exact same thing with your mind. Tuck the four corners in.

Don't let any loose ends. Fix your hope completely on Christ. Maybe a more familiar passage would be 2 Corinthians 10. Sorry to make us hop everywhere, but go back to the left now. Past Ephesians, Galatians, go to 2 Corinthians 10, and we'll read verses 3 through 5, where it says, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the tearing down of strongholds.

As we tear down speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. If you recall back to that movie illustration of the illustration of playing your thoughts on the screen, it's just think about it here with this context of thinking, taking every thought captive.

Just ask yourself the question of what does your thought life look like? When temptation arises, in which way do you act? What do you do with that thought? Do you trust the lies of the devil and give in to the instant gratification of sin?

Or do you recite to yourself the wonderful passages of scripture, knowing that only Christ can satisfy? You know, even from that last song, that our worth is not in our own, it is Jesus that satisfies our soul.

Do you fold when the devil brings in his deception, or do you recognize that he is the father of lies and there is nothing good in him? Listen to these words from John Owen on what we are to do with sinful thoughts when they enter our mind.

Bring your sin to the gospel, not for relief, but for further conviction of your guilt. Look on him whom you have pierced and let it trouble you. Say to your soul, what have I done? What love, what mercy, what blood, what grace have I despised and trampled on?

Is this how I pay back the father for his love? Is this how I respond to the Holy Spirit for his grace? And quote. Those are challenging words to hear, aren't they? Once we've properly examined what sin truly is before a holy God, we need to seek a constant longing and thirst to be delivered from the power of sin.

Whenever a sinful thought enters into our mind, we need to recognize it quickly and deal with it rapidly. A mental alarm, what we call the conscious, should go off. And just like our car alarms beep when our belts aren't on, so the same thing should happen when we don't have our belt of truth on.

It's just, it's beep, beep, beep. And finally, you get so annoyed that you're like, OK, let me just put it on quick. But really, this is different in the sense because, yeah, in the car, it's different if you don't put your belt on.

But we know the end goal is with a car and you get an accident and you don't have your belt on. Well, most likely you're going to die. So in the same way, then, if you don't have your belt of truth on, you're unprepared.

You're just you're not ready for the day. As as Paul puts it in Romans 12 to do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So you may approve what the will of God is, that which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Persistence in the Christian Life

So our first point is we must gird ourselves with the truth so that we can be prepared. Our second point is we must gird ourselves with the truth so that we may be persistent. So that we may be persistent.

It doesn't matter what a believer has done, but rather it is his steadfastness, his persistence that matters at the end of his life. The metric by which we are measured is faithfulness. The Christian life is often depicted as a long race.

In First Corinthians 9 verses 24, 25, it says, do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize. Run in such a way that you may win. Now, everyone who competes in these games exercises self-control in all things.

They then do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible one. There is an end goal in mind for both the believer and the unbeliever, but the distinctions are very different. Unbelievers seek to please themselves and to exalt themselves, in turn earning a corruptible crown.

Believers seek to run for Christ and magnify his name because he has bought us with his blood. And now, in turn, we should be willing to shed our own for him so that we may receive the incorruptible crown, which once we get into eternity, we'll just toss right back at his feet.

Now, what does this look like practically? What does a life of longevity look like? Well, practically, I think it looks like this. We need to lay aside every weight in the sin which so easily entangles us, right?

Hebrews 12, we need not to lie or to be impure or be jealous or be deceitful. We need to dethrone ourselves and recognize who it is that is on the throne in his rightful spot. We need to gird our minds, as Peter puts it, fixing our gaze completely onto Christ.

Or as the Apostle John puts it in 1 John 1, our aim is so that we may not sin. He doesn't say that our aim is so that we may not sin very much. But if I can just be honest, I often feel in my own heart that my aim is to not sin very much.

I lack the commitment to holiness. I lack the commitment to his word. My flesh loves sin. It seeks it and it wants it more and more. We cannot give in to that because that is exactly what the devil wants.

He wants us to say, well, it's only one time. You'll be you'll be OK. It's like, well, you're not as bad as this guy. So you're off the hook. It's like, oh, come on. It's just one time. Just just do it.

Just do it. You're fine. Grace abounds. Grace abounds. Friends, if we do this, we abuse his grace. We we grieve his spirit that lives inside of us. First Corinthians six, verse 20 says, Do you not know that you've been bought with a price and that you are not your own?

For we are a temple of the Holy Spirit. When we begin to recognize that it's not us who lives, but Christ lives in us, then we begin to to live with a high view of what sin is before the Lord. We want to seek to mortify it.

Maybe say this to say this to yourself the next time you find yourself in a in a tricky situation. If it if it breaks God's heart, what makes you think it will satisfy yours? If it breaks God's heart, what makes you think that it will satisfy yours?

Bring your sin to the gospel, seek to mortify it. You must not try to sin very much. You must not sin at all. We have to be persistent to look at another passage that's maybe a little more vivid and ties in with our our armor.

Look at Second Timothy chapter two. You're still in Second Corinthians. Go to the right. Pascalations, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians into the tea books. I didn't grow up in Iwana, so I teach myself all the other things I just I just call them the tea books.

Got Thessalonians, Timothy and then Titus. Second Timothy two verses three and four will read suffer hardship with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

We need to be buckled down every day, not just when the tough gets going, not just when you show up Sunday mornings. Not just when that alarm of your consciences goes off. We need to have already been fastened with the belt, but maybe throughout the day we do need to cinch it up a little tighter.

It's almost like when you warm up a horse. Right. You start to cinch a little soft and then you tighten it up. Right. We have to make sure at the end of the day we are fully cinched up so that we are prepared, so that we are persistent.

Because if we aren't prepared, we will be caught with our tunics flying around part of our armor on the ground. Because naturally that is that is what will happen. But then also naturally, then if we put on the belt of truth and we're prepared, if we put on the belt of truth and we're persistent, then the third point is true.

If we gird ourselves, we may prevail. So that's our our third point this morning. We must gird ourselves with the truth so that we may prevail. Going back to to Ephesians now, Ephesians 6. I think I'll keep this here for for the rest of the sermon, so no more flipping.

In verses 10, it says,. Finally, be strong to the Lord and in the might of his strength, put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Some of your translations in verse 11 may read as so that you may be able to stand firm, which I think is a a tad misleading only for the reason when we do recognize our own weakness and draw on the Lord's strength and might.

And we do put on the full armor of God. What or who is going to stand against us? You know, from Romans 8 verse 31, it says,. If God is for us, who could be against us? There is no question that we do such things that we will prevail over the deceiver.

When we gird our loins with truth. Sorry, when we gird our loins with truth, the deceiver, his lies will not be effective because our minds are girded by that very thing that he isn't. The war has already been won.

Yet again, I remind us that doesn't mean that battles aren't going to stop. They will continue so long as we are here on this earth. We live in what's called skin suits or I like to call them sin suits.

Just take the K out. So we must look carefully at how we walk, not as unwise, but as wise because the days are evil, not being foolish, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Paul says this to the Ephesians just before chapter six and chapter five or 17, because the days really are evil.

We bump our shoulders more with unbelievers in the world than we do believers. And we are constantly, whether we recognize it or not, are being discipled by the world. We are slowly trying to go off the cliff.

No one just jumps off. We just we work our way down it slowly without us recognizing it. Because if sin is subtle, if it's watchful, if it's strong and it's always at work in the business of killing our souls and we are slothful, negligent and foolish in this battle, can we expect a favorable outcome?

By our own strength, we can accomplish nothing. Let me tell you that many of all people should understand this time and time again. I struggled with with lustful thoughts and other temptations and impatience and frustration and anger.

And every time I try to grab myself by the bootstraps and maybe for a week it worked by my own self-sufficiency. But we trick ourselves and we distrust God and we trust ourselves. That is Satan's very objective.

And maybe you've fallen into temptation this week. Maybe you said something that you regretted. Maybe it was something else. Friends, let me tell you this, this wonderful truth that you should consider the infinite patience and forbearance of God to you.

Consider all the times God was gracious to you and merciful, sparing you in your life, not turning away his face, looking not unto you to empty his wrath, but rather to Christ. He looks to Christ because he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we may become the righteousness of God in him.

Because he has conquered sin. He has conquered death. He made it possible for us to find eternal life in him. Right. John 17 3. He has made it possible for us to say no to sin. We're no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness.

Because at that very moment that we are saved, we are justified. We are filled with the Holy Spirit. And then the power of sin is no longer held over us. We know that in justification, the penalty of sin is taken away and that in sanctification, the power of sin is taken away.

And one day when the Lord comes back and we are glorified, there will be will be from the presence of sin. And I just I can't wait for that day. I just I can't wait for it. We are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness.

And there is victory in Jesus.

Amen.

Maybe there's a few of you, though, who are in this room and you are enslaved to sin. Your battles with the devil tend to end with you defeated. Well, friends, you need to draw near to Christ. You need to recognize and repent and say to God, God, my sin has killed your son.

He was punished for me. That cross that Christ took was meant for me and not for him. I thank you that in Christ I can be set free, that his blood is sufficient and that there is victory and forgiveness of sins.

So then it is not of our own doing, but of God alone, for he saved us not by works, which we did in righteousness, but according to his mercy. Now, as we begin to wrap up our time in God's word this morning, let's look one last time to first Peter, first Peter five.

I'll read verses eight and nine. Be of sober spirit, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, but resist him. Firm in the faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished among your brethren who are in the world.

And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore strength, will restore, strengthen, confirm and ground you. A few reminders now is we need not to seek out sin for the devil and his team of demons seek us out.

We need to be watchful. Friends, you cannot grow comfortable with sin. You simply cannot. We need to be asking ourselves the question of in our in our daily thoughts of can I give thanks to God for this very action?

And if you can say yes, go on with it. But if you say no, retract from it. Repent of your sin. Repent of your of your thought. We are to be holy. Win the battle first in your conscience. For that's that's where it starts.

We win this battle by being firm in the faith, as Peter says. So so be in the word. Gird yourselves with the truth. Don't be content with mediocrity or indifference or half heartedness to display. Such characteristics is to be is to sorry, is to fail to be armored with the belt of God's truth and to leave oneself exposed to the devil schemes.

Rather, be prepared, be persistent and you will prevail. That's that's a promise. Let me close by reading this hymn by John Monselle. Fight the good fight with all thy might. Christ is thy strength and Christ thy right.

Lay hold on life and it shall be by joy and crown eternally. Run the straight race through God's good grace. Lift up thine eyes and seek his face. Life with its way before the lies. Christ is the path and Christ the prize.

Cast care aside. Lean on my guide. His boundless mercy will provide trust. And my trusting soul shall prove Christ its life and Christ its love. Let's pray. Gracious Father, we are so thankful for life this morning.

We thank you for the breath in our lungs, the beats of our hearts. We thank you so much that your word is it's living, it's active or it's sharper than any two edged sword. It's able to judge the intentions and thoughts of our own heart.

Lord, I do just pray that that my aim, our aim, Lord, in this life would be not to sin very much, Lord, but not to sin at all. That is the command in 1 John 2, 1. So, Lord, let us properly gird ourselves with the truth or let us recognize that your word, it's sweet or it's desirable or it's profitable.

We thank you so much. Their word just speaks to our hearts. And we thank you again for this morning in this church. Praise on Christ name.

Amen.