THE ARMOR OF GOD: BELT OF TRUTH - EPHESIANS 6:10-20

the glory of the Lord, forever be of joy, may redemption be the theme of our song, for by grace we have been saved, and by grace we shall proclaim to the corners of the earth that Christ has come.

let the nations be glad, let the peoples rejoice, for salvation belongs to our

God let the whole earth be filled with the praises of the

Lord, for salvation belongs to our

God, let the nations be glad through the ages, through the ages gone before, through the trial and the soil, many saints and martyrs conquered, though they died still we're holding out the cross, crossing oceans suffering loss, shall endure all things to win the crown of life let the nations be glad, let the peoples rejoice, for salvation belongs to our

God let the whole earth be filled with the praises of the

Lord, for salvation belongs to our

God, let the nations be glad yes, amen the holy church goes forth, in the holy spirit's power, with the glories of the gospel to explain now we pray your kingdom come, and we pray your will be done, for the honor and the glory of your name let the nations be glad, let the peoples rejoice, for salvation belongs to our

God let the whole earth be filled with the praises of the

Lord, for salvation belongs to our

God, let the nations be glad amen let the nations be glad, let us be glad we rejoice when we get to come and be with the household of faith and to be able to worship our great

God as other Christians all over this globe are going to be gathering for the

Lord's day and we have a very special Sunday today, every Sunday is special but when we get to bring the baptismal out, now there's something that seems unique about that Sunday we love to be able to see the working of salvation in the heart of an individual identifying themselves with Christ through the ordinance of baptism and we almost didn't get to have it this morning we think maybe some of the kids as they were running through the middle, stepped on the valve in the back and it's been leaking like crazy but a bunch of the men got together right before service and tried to stem it from leaking too bad so if you have water at your feet halfway through the service, it's just baptism water, you'll be alright we deal with what we've got this morning, but we are excited and as we get ready to worship, we like to go to the

Lord with a call to worship we like to go straight to His words typically from the

Psalms, and we've been jumping through Psalm 119 and portions of it if you've read

Psalm 119, it's a lot of verses in there, so we're not going to do the whole thing but small portions of Psalm 119 to get our hearts and our minds geared, wired, directed towards the one that we're here to worship today so if you're a guest with us, this is a read in response so there's a section on there, if you could pull up the first one,

I'll show you one half, I will read that portion of the Psalm and then as a people, you read back the second portion because this is typically how these

Psalms were sung as a back and forth you can see in the cadence of how they are written but let's go to the

Lord with a call to worship this morning where the psalmist says, my soul clings to the dust when

I told of my ways, you answered me make me understand the way of your precepts my soul melts away for sorrows put false ways far from me

I have chosen the way of faithfulness I cling to your testimonies,

O Lord I will run in the way of your commandments let's go to that great

God and Savior in a prayer of adoration as we prepare to worship

Him together dear Heavenly Father we stop now, we come before you, we bow before you you, you are the one worthy of praise this morning you are the one that brings salvation you,

Heavenly Father, are the one that chose us before the foundations of the world Jesus, you are the one that came and redeemed us and purchased us

Holy Spirit, you are the one that seals us and is a guarantee for our glorious inheritance and all of this is done to the praise of your glory there is nothing that we bring to the table this morning there is no way for us to boast today for we brought nothing, you have done everything we trust you, we thank you the fact that the

Savior came and now the nations can be glad let the nations be glad because the good news of Jesus Christ has come and brought light to man in the midst of this present darkness for you are good and gracious, faithful we thank you for that and we pray this morning that you would be honored as we prepare to do the ordinance of baptism with our brother

Kyle Lord, we pray that you would be honored in this time Lord, be with us as we sing, as we pray as Pastor Jeremiah preaches your word later on Lord, we pray that your name would be magnified in our hearts we thank you in Christ's name, amen you may be seated

Kyle, where you at? there you are, come on up man come on up so most of y 'all have seen

Kyle and Lydia around they kind of moseyed in through those doors one day and I'll let him kind of share it if he wants to but everything changed at that point yes, like all their plans kind of got thrown out the window as God was working sovereignly in them and he has shared a desire to be baptized this morning and later on actually we're going to be presenting them to the church for membership so that's exciting but Kyle has said that he would like to share his testimony in preparation for this

I grew up going to church like most of us here I would say in the bible belt being taught the word of God and the gospel and knowing these things to be true because we were taught them but only in my head and not in my heart they were true in my head but not in my heart so around 13

I had a confession of faith and was baptized and after I remember having a joy for the

Lord and wanting to live my life for him for a short time and probably around 6 months to a year after my baptism my parents were planning to separate and when

I heard this news and realized what was happening to my family I couldn't understand why God would allow such a terrible thing to happen so not understanding how

God works and not knowing the one true God of scripture but thinking that God is the God of my circumstances

I put my anger and frustration towards God and turned from Him and told

God that I would not live my life for Him and from that point I started to look to the world for my satisfaction and started to become a two faced person

I was continuing to grow up and go to church and being involved in things but at the same time still very angry with God and hating

Him and seeking to live my life without Him and while getting older I continued to go to church and not caring much for church and was living in a life of addiction to drugs alcohol and a party life through most of high school to college this was my life all

I wanted to do was party in the year 2018 my first year of college I didn't even last a full two months until I dropped out but I had a job opportunity to work at a refrigeration company about a week or two before starting the job

I had my friends from high school and I went out and bought drugs one night to get high it was around 12 o 'clock at night and my friends had already passed out so from that moment

I went and got into my truck and drove off from the moment I left my friends house

I lost most of my memory of what happened that night until around 5 o 'clock to 6 o 'clock

I woke up in a jail cell I got arrested for a DUI and around 12 o 'clock my mother came she skipped church just to get her son out of jail and from the moment

I got home and got sober one of my first initial thoughts was that this was God God was doing this to get my attention so from there the next six months was an all out wrestle and war with God I was continuing to try and live a party life sneak out at night just to go party and get high and while still trying to live this way

God was slowly pulling me away from that life until one night in my room

He brought me to my knees and put His grace on me and He made me realize

I have no life without Him that I was separated from Him because of my sin and that He put my sin upon His Son so that He would be just and justify the one who believes in Him that night

God saved a wretched sinner and soon after God led me and some family to First Baptist of Russellville for the next five years we served in ministry and in the church and going on mission trips but while being involved in all these things

I had a conviction in my heart not 100 % being true and just realizing

I wasn't quite sure when I was saved it was either at the age 13 or 19 but through the years of reading

God's Word and going to Him in prayer through the Spirit God has convicted me and helped me realize that I was saved when

I was 19 so I come today to be baptized What a powerful story of the fact that it is

God and God alone who saves we will always reject Christ we will always turn away as Paul says but He and His faithfulness if we belong to Him and if God has set

His love upon you Jesus says I have not lost one He's going to find you He's going to awaken you

He's going to bring you to new life and He will keep you and these waters we say it every time there's nothing special about this this is tap water there's nothing unique about this trough up here it is simply a picture of what has taken place in the heart what

God has done that God has washed you anew that God has put off the old and He's thrown your sin as far as the east is from the west and now

He's given you a new identity you are a new creature in Christ Amen That's amazing, right?

It is awesome Come on, step in here you will lead the way we have found a refuge only you can save sing with joy now our

God is for us the Father's love is a strong and mighty fortress raise your voice now no love is greater who can stand against us if our

God is for us yes, man even when

I stumble even when I stumble even when

I fall even when I turn back still your love is sure you will not abandon you will not forsake you will cheer me onward with never ending grace sing sing with joy now our

God is for us the Father's love is a strong and mighty fortress raise your voice now no love is greater who can stand against us if our

God is for us Amen neither hide nor dare neither hide nor dare can separate us hell and death will not defeat us he who gave his

Son to free us holds me in his love yes, amen neither hide nor dare can separate us hell and death will not defeat us he who gave his

Son to free us holds me in his love sing with joy now our

God is for us the Father's love is a strong and mighty fortress raise your voice now no love is greater who can stand against us if our

God is for us sing with joy now our

God is for us the Father's love is a strong and mighty fortress raise your voice now no love is greater who can stand against us if our

God is for us Amen yes, he is for us this morning, amen

Amen in our hope

Christ alone Christ alone what is your only confidence that our souls to him belong who holds our days within his hands who comes apart from his command and what will keep us to the end the love of Christ in which we stand sing hallelujah our hope's wings eternal sing hallelujah now and ever we confess

Christ our hope in life and death truth can calm the troubled soul

God is good, yes, God is good where is his grace and goodness known in our great redeemer's blood who holds our faith when fears arise who stands above the stormy trial who sends the waves that bring the sky and to the shore the rock of Christ oh, sing hallelujah our hope's wings eternal oh, sing hallelujah now and ever we confess

Christ our hope in life and death to the grave what shall we sing to the grave what shall we sing

Christ he lives, yes, Christ he lives and what reward will heaven bring here it is everlasting life for him, yes and we will rise to meet the

Lord their sin and death will be restored and we will feast through endless joy when

Christ is ours forevermore sing it out oh, sing hallelujah our hope's wings eternal oh, sing hallelujah now and ever we confess

Christ our hope in life and death hallelujah our hope's wings eternal oh, sing hallelujah now and ever we confess

Christ our hope in life and death this past suffices for doing what the

Gentiles want to do living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies drinking parties, and lawless idolatry with respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery and they malign you but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead that though judged in the flesh the way people are they might live in the spirit the way

God does and we pray that we would walk in the spirit as we've learned in Ephesians over the past couple of months to be being filled with the spirit to walk and to live as he has called us to walk and to live but not in our own might not in our own power but in his might as we're gonna be talking about today as Pastor Jeremiah preaches on the belt of truth from Ephesians but let's go to the

Lord in a prayer of confession and assurance this morning because here's what we know is the reality is we don't always walk in the spirit and we don't always do right and we don't always obey his precepts and that's where we lean into Christ because we know that it is of him we have great confidence in the fact that even though I fail he is faithful dear heavenly father we come to you once again and we bow before you humbly acknowledging our sin both individually for each one of us and also corporately as a whole as a people

God we fall short your precepts are clear and they're true and they're good your law is good and right and though we see it we often we often don't walk in it we often as a matter of fact rebel directly against it we run the other way at times and we fail in the flesh oh

God we come to you this morning boldly we're not afraid we're not coming into your throne room thinking that you are angry with us in some way we are coming into your throne room as our father that sees the glorious righteousness of Christ imputed to us, given to us even in the midst of this brokenness that you have redeemed us that you care for us that you hold those that are yours and you keep us where we stand in confidence this morning that way we can say as David that we love your law we love your precepts we love your word we love your truth even though we don't always obey it perfectly so we ask that you would help us with the power of the spirit to be being filled with the spirit to walk in those and when we stumble

Lord that we would remember that we would remember that our savior is there to pick us back up he said, says child

I've even paid for that it's done keep running oh

God let us be that people we thank you in Christ's name amen when this life of trials test my faith

I set my hope on Jesus amen amen when this life tests my faith

I set my hope on Jesus that's an awesome truth that we have amen we should proclaim that boldly proudly amen let's sing it out this morning

I set my hope on Jesus when this life of trials tests my faith

I set my hope on Jesus when the questions come and doubts remain

I set my hope on Jesus for the deepest wounds that time will kill there's a joy that runs still deeper there's a truth that's more than all

I feel I set my hope on Jesus I set my hope on Jesus my rock, my only trust who set his heart upon me first I set my hope on Jesus though I falter in this water of sin

I set my hope on Jesus when

I felt the flames sink within I set my hope on Jesus though the shame would drown me here in sin and I dread the waves of justice

I will cast my life on Calvary I set my hope on Jesus I set my hope on Jesus my rock, my only trust who set his heart upon me first I set my hope on Jesus no need to leave my

Lord I set my hope on Jesus though it offer all its vain rewards

I set my hope on Jesus though this heart of mine is prone to strain give me grace enough to finish till I worship on that final day

I set my hope on Jesus I set my hope on Jesus my rock, my only trust who set his heart upon me first I set my hope on Jesus I set my hope on Jesus my rock, my only trust who set his heart upon me first I set my hope on Jesus I set my hope on Jesus they called him

Jesus he came to love, heal and forget to buy my portals an empty grave is there to prove my

Savior lives because he lives

I can face tomorrow because he lives all fear is gone because I know he holds the future and life is worth the living just because he lives and then one day

I'll cross that river I'll fight life's fire no war is peace and then as death gives way to victory

I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know he reigns because he lives

I can face tomorrow because he lives all fear is gone because I know he holds the future and life is worth the living just because he lives because he lives

I can face tomorrow because he lives all fear is gone because I know he holds the future and life is worth the living just because he lives and life is worth the living just because he lives and praise you and Lord just lift your name and magnify your name this morning

Father it's all about you Lord I thank you so much for my brother

Kyle Lord and saving him Lord and his baptism Lord how awesome

Lord I just pray Jesus that you would just be with this be with the remainder of this service this morning

Lord I pray that you would just bless Pastor Jeremiah Lord as he stands before us and preaches your word boldly

Lord I pray that you would just give him the words to speak Lord if there's someone here this morning that doesn't know you

Lord I pray that you would save them you know every heart in this room Lord I pray this morning as we prepare to take up our offering

Lord I just pray that you would bless the offering bless this service we praise you we ask all these things in your name in Jesus precious holy name and all of God's people said amen y 'all may be seated because he lives

I can face tomorrow amen not just me with my church family God has blessed 12 .5

tremendously here by his grace people ask all the time like what are y 'all doing how did you accomplish

X and Pastor Nathan and I Pastor Keith we only get to say what we have observed

God doing in the life of his people if you would please turn with me this morning in your copy of God's word to Ephesians chapter 6 starting in verse 10

I want us to continue to unpack and learn what it means to equip ourselves with the whole armor of God in the midst of spiritual warfare and my prayer this morning is that we would have a better understanding that this spiritual battle that we are all in is about truth so when

I think about truth I think about the most important question we could all ask actually was uttered by Pontius Pilate speaking to Jesus Pontius Pilate said so you are a king and Jesus answered you say that I'm a king for this purpose

I was born and for this purpose I've come into the world to bear witness to the truth and everyone who hears the truth listens to my voice and Pontius said what is truth and what is ironic is that he was staring at truth in the face saying what is truth as though it cannot be known and so truth only comes from God amen and so that scene between Pontius Pilate and Jesus is a picture of spiritual warfare how the kingdom of darkness wants to deceive you into thinking truth cannot be known so let's examine our primary passage this morning

Ephesians chapter 6 starting in verse 10 finally Paul says be strong in the

Lord and in the strength of his might put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil 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 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

Paul reminds us stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and the shoes for your feet having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace in all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God 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 and Paul says also for me that the words may be given to me to open my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which

I am an ambassador in chains that I may declare it boldly as they ought to speak let's pray this morning heavenly father you are so gracious and allowing us to revere your name on high this lord's day

God I pray that as we unpack the deep truths of your word God that our hearts and our minds would be renewed with the truth that is able to set us free the truth that we can have salvation in Jesus Christ God please equip us to be able to leave here to continue to fight the enemy in this evil day knowing that he cannot contend with the truth lord we love you please give us wisdom this morning to behold the mystery of the gospel pray this in your name

Jesus amen and so something that's important as we begin to go back into our main passage

I want us to review the context all of Ephesians has been pointing us to the person and finished work of Jesus Christ that he is creating in himself a one new man the church we are the citizens of the kingdom of heaven we are saints and members of a household when we hear that word household this means that we are a family

Ephesians has been showing us that the mystery of Christ has been hidden from all ages how

God is reconciling Jew and Gentile together by faith alone in Christ alone

I want to take your attention just for a moment back to Ephesians chapter 3 starting in verse 9 as we talk about a mystery a plan that has been revealed this is the plan of redemption that God has been orchestrating from before the foundation of the world back in Ephesians 3 9

Paul says the plan of the mystery hidden for the ages in God who created all things so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places this was all according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our

Lord notice he says that through the church I meet a lot of people that say yeah

I try to go to church when my schedule allows for it you know and I'm scratching my head thinking that is such a low view of church

I've heard some people say well if we would just all do our part then the church just really isn't necessary I look back at verse 10 so through the church the manifold wisdom of God this beautiful tapestry is put on display why is that because all of history is his story of redemption all of history is a beautiful tapestry woven together pointing us to the person of Christ showing us how he is reconciling

Jew and Gentile by faith alone in Christ alone now our text there also said that it might be made known to the rulers and authorities okay in the heavenly places

I want to submit to you this is a reference to Satan and his demonic hosts the kingdom of darkness notice the church is being put on display to the heavenly beings right how

Jesus Christ is crushing continually to crush the arch enemy of God and that's because Jesus disarmed the strong man

Satan and has put him to an open shame how by continually plundering the strong man's goods regenerating hearts saving souls and transferring them from death to life all of this continues in this present evil age we live in a spiritual battle happening all around us and even though Christ's resurrection delivered the crushing blow to Satan demonstrating his ultimate power and authority

Satan is relentlessly continuing to attack the church scheming to creep inside unnoticed setting up strongholds to divide from within yes

Jesus Christ has won the war and we are victorious by faith in him but Satan is a sore loser

Jesus has cut off the head of the serpent his body is still twisting and flopping around trying to wreak havoc any way he can and so as the saints we must daily prepare ourselves for battle so if you would look back with me in Ephesians chapter 6 starting at verse 13

Paul says therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and so before we delve deeper into looking at putting on the whole armor of God I want to discuss the backdrop that we might be able to withstand in the evil day what day is this referring to is this referring to the last day of history that scripture says the great and dreadful day when our

Lord returns no that will be a glorious day for the saints when our Lord returns to judge all of the world in righteousness consummating his eternal kingdom that cannot fail

I want to submit to you that every day since the fall of Adam since he sinned every day has been cursed by sin and evil and the arch enemy of God Satan has been prowling around working in the sons of disobedience

Ephesians chapter 5 Paul instructs Christians look carefully how you walk not as unwise but as wise making the best use of the time for all of the days are evil we talk a lot about how

God is redeeming the time we live in a present evil age an age of darkness but how is

God redeeming the time through the saints we are walking as wise we are trying to renew our hearts and mind daily by trying to honor the

Lord with our life all of the days in this present age are plagued with darkness all the days are perishing and please listen saint

Paul is exhorting Christians here that all the days of our lives we are to stand strong against Satan and his schemes and so when we talk about Satan perhaps many of us have a distorted view of who the devil is he's not a little green guy or red guy with horns sitting on your shoulder trying to whisper evil thoughts into your ear right that's kind of the world's idea of Satan just an expression for when you have evil thoughts scripture is very clear that this is a fallen angelic being who was cast from his high position in heaven due to his sin of pride now he seeks to constantly oppose the will of God and thwart him with all of his endeavors scripture tells us in Revelation 12 verse 9 that he is the great dragon of old who was thrown down an ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan the deceiver of the whole world so he's the deceiver right what does that look like what are his schemes so we can be equipped to make war against him if you would please turn with me briefly in your copy of God's word to John chapter 8

I want us to see another example where Jesus is encountering spiritual warfare and he gives us a perfect example of how we are to stand firm against Satan and his lies so in John chapter 8 starting in verse 44 a little bit of the context here is the

Pharisees are saying well Abraham is our father and since Abraham is our father we are the children of God and so Jesus kind of plays on their words oh you think

Abraham is your father let me tell you who your father really is John 8 44

Jesus says you are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father's desires he was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaks he speaks out of his own character and he is a liar and the father of lies verse 45

Jesus says but because I tell the truth you do not believe me which one of you convicts me of sin if I tell the truth why do you not believe me whoever is of God hears the words of God the reason why you do not hear them is because you are not of God okay

Satan is many things he is a fallen angel a murderer he is evil and the father of lies and so verse 45

Jesus says because I tell you the truth you do not believe me this is one of the central things that I want us to meditate on this morning the spiritual battle that we are all in is over truth

Satan hates the truth his primary means of spiritual attack is distort the truth and he uses those moments of temptation in your life to in a sense tell you hey you cannot trust in the promises of God and he wants you to doubt the truth remember what

Pontius Pilate said what is truth right the secular world divorced from looking to God and what he has revealed to us says truth cannot really be known so what do you do live life how you want right that is a distortion of what

God wants us to do we know that we are called to live for his glory and so Jesus points out another truth there are two kinds of people in this world look with me at verse 47 whoever is of God hears the words of God the reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God you are either a child of God or you are a child of the devil if you're a child of God then you receive the truth and love it you're a child of Satan then you oppose the truth and hate it the devil it has been laboring to distort the truth from the very beginning and all of his feeble efforts to thwart

God were only setting the stage to be crushed by Jesus Christ the apostle

John also says in first John chapter 3 the reason that the son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil by this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God nor is the one who does not love his brother

John also says I write to you little children children of God not because you do not know the truth but because you know it and because no lie is of the truth the spiritual battle that we are in is over truth we contend for the truth that the chief end of man is to glorify

God and to enjoy him forever we know that the truth is salvation is only found in Jesus Christ alone and by faith alone in his name day after day we endure the brokenness of this world dominated by the power of the evil one the

Lord will sustain us in this battle amen because he lives we can face tomorrow if you would please turn back with me to verse 13 because as we are going to see is we are able now to be on guard and to stand firm because we are looking to the warrior king

Jesus Christ Paul says again in verse 13 take up therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day having done all to stand firm so this stand firm

Paul is not saying look inward and try really really hard to overcome the evil one he does talk about standing firm a lot commissioning the

Christian he says elsewhere be watchful stand firm in the faith act like men and be strong something that he is bringing out though by standing firm is not looking to yourself but as a life long pursuit to give

God glory this applies to all the saints and in my conversations with many people

I hear many stories about how oh well back in the days of college I used to share the gospel a whole lot let me tell you years ago how

I was able to engage in really good discipleship but my question is what does that person's life look like today this issue is not about what a believer has done but how he continues to stand firm because in this present evil age the battle of spiritual warfare is not over so yes we are to stand firm this is a life long pursuit and you may say

Jeremiah I don't think I can stand each and every day I don't think I have enough strength and I would say you're right that's the whole point you do not have the strength in and of yourself because you will fail

Paul told us back in verse 10 in our main passage finally be strong not in yourself but in the

Lord and in the strength of his mind dear saint our strength is not looking to ourselves trying really really hard to overcome sin and Satan because our strength comes from the

Lord earlier in Ephesians chapter 3 I want to draw your focus we may have it on the screen

Paul tells us about this strength and our power that comes from the Lord and his spirit Paul says in chapter 3 verse 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant to you and be strengthened with the power through his spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God that makes sense it's a heart of faith loving

Christ walking with him daily we get our strength from the Lord by resting in him do you see kind of the paradox how do you get your strength how do you stand firm by resting by resting in his finished work so in our main passage

Paul mentions taking up the whole armor of God this is the second time that he mentions this because back in verse 11 he says put on the whole armor of God the life of a believer is not just waking up some mornings and saying well

I better put on my armor today right well you know I was going about my day and I just forgot to be equipped with the helmet of salvation doesn't work like that all right it's not waking up and saying man

I just don't feel really good I'm going to stay home and I don't really have to put on the armor of God that's not the imagery that Paul is communicating this armor is once for all we permanently are equipped with every spiritual blessing that is in the heavenly places so since it's not a matter of just waking up and remembering to put on the body armor what's the point why is he commissioning

Christians to put on really we need our hearts and our minds renewed we need to remember what

Christ has already done for us he mentions this back in Ephesians chapter 4 exhorting the saints he says put off your old self which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires and here's the key principle and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds put on similar language right put on the new self created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness the armor is already there we already have the new man's clothes on so what do we need to be reminded of those truths we must continually have our hearts and minds renewed and transformed by the truth and so with this all

Christians are called to be thinking theologians always setting our hearts and our minds on the things above not the things of this earth right the things below are our own resources and our own strength that will be a massive temptation to look to our own resources looking to ourselves trying really really hard to fight the devil in our own mind you know what he is counting on us to do that he will be tempting you to fight in this battle with your own efforts and so Paul says in 2nd

Corinthians chapter 10 he says for though we walk in the flesh we are not waging war according to the flesh for our weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds

I want you to see that we are not to look inward to our flesh looking to our own resources to contend with the enemy that's what

Adam and Eve did in the garden and they failed our weapons come from above we war against the kingdom of darkness with truth that's why

Paul goes on to say in verse 5 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 we destroy arguments in every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to obey

Christ I want you to see that this spiritual war that we are in is over truth you notice our weapons come from above meaning that when we hear somebody opposing the knowledge of God we meet him with love but we point him back to Christ and his word and so some people say well that seems like that's a hard thing to do you better believe it is hard right even

Jesus confronted the Pharisees and said the intense words you are of your father the devil you may say

I would never say that I understand your heart but evil doctrine will ruin souls right bad company corrupts good morals and so we must stand on truth we take every thought captive because truth matters our inner being must be looking to Jesus who is the author and the perfecter of our faith that means your heart must be captivated by the beauty of all that he has accomplished on your behalf sometimes we sing the song my name is graven in his hands right the finished work of Jesus is personal what he did at Calvary wasn't just potentially for you pulling yourselves up by your bootstraps and making the right decision that was a very personal atonement that he was dying specifically for those that the father intends to save perfectly and so allow your heart your mind to be renewed with these truths

Paul says in Colossians 2 so that our hearts may be encouraged being knitted together in love to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery which is

Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge Paul says

I say this to you that no one may deceive you with persuasive and enticing arguments

I don't know about you but I need encouragement every day what do we get encouragement from the word of God looking to Christ and I don't know about you but I want certainty in my life

I want to know what the truth is and so Paul says oh if you want assurance if you want certainty all that is found in Jesus Christ all the riches of full assurance of understanding the knowledge of God is in Christ so when

I was a younger man a handful of years ago in college I found really quickly especially at ASU you're going to have a lot of rivaling philosophies in life that are going to question you on what is the truth going to cast doubt and ultimately point you to other places

I also love apologetics and praying for opportunities to contend for the faith and I hear a lot of wild ideas that are floating out there and I just want to tell you they all pale in comparison to the beauty of Jesus Christ all of these other worldly philosophies cannot give you certainty that means they cannot give you the truth and so Paul is saying have your hearts and your minds girded up equipped always looking to our

Lord let's look back at our main text starting in verse 14 Paul says stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth this is the first of six pieces of armor that we're doing kind of a little mini series on and so Paul would have wrote the book of Ephesians in a

Roman cell constantly looking at Roman soldiers and so what's beautiful about this is that he's using this as analogy to give us truth and yet that is all inspired by the

Holy Spirit and so there's a number of really good verses that can be translated this way in verse 14 by fastening the belt of truth around your waist having girded your loins with the truth or with the belt of truth buckled around your waist and so he is talking about warriors that are ready for battle and the idea is that the first thing a soldier must do in order to be ready to fight is that he must secure his tunic and so during this ancient time a tunic is like a long robe that kind of just hangs free and usually you would wear a robe when you're sitting down or relaxing but at the drop of a hat and you're ready for war you have to secure your tunic you have to bring it up to your waist and secure it if you think about it it makes perfect sense because if your robe was just kind of flailing about it would cause you to trip and fall you can't carry heavy armor and it may cause a fellow soldier to trip and fall this is fantastic imagery for the

Christian to be prepared for action ready to fight with the spiritual forces of evil the

Apostle Peter puts it this way therefore preparing your minds for action be sober minded be watchful because your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour so what is the first thing that a

Christian must have secure ready for battle well he says having fastened on the belt of truth so everything boils down to truth in the

Greek this is aletheia and there's two really good definitions I want to share with you but context determines how we understand the definition for truth so number one aletheia truth could mean objective reality or how

God has revealed himself to man or the definition depending on the context could be a person living out integrity of character in harmony with divine truth and so as we're seeing here with the armor pieces of God the whole armor we are commissioned we are given a command to stand firm so I think this means that Paul is charging

Christian soldiers to gird yourselves with the attitude of truthfulness right we look to objective truth that's found in Christ and we live out our lives truthfully that is our marching orders this is the reoccurring theme throughout

Ephesians look to Christ live for his glory look to Christ live for his glory

Ephesians chapter 4 I kind of see this theme being played out we preached on this a number of months ago

Paul says you learned Christ and were taught in him the truth objective truth aletheia which is in Jesus right that's objective and then he says therefore put away falsehoods let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor and don't forget this is in the midst of spiritual warfare he says and give no opportunity to the devil look to Christ live for his glory

Ephesians chapter 5 starting in verse 8 he says this instructing the Christian walk as children of the light for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good right and aletheia or true and then here's the key principle we live our lives trying to discern what is pleasing to the

Lord you kind of see the theme now in Ephesians 6 be strong in the strength of the Lord and be strong in his might stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth so another interesting note about a soldier's belt is yes you had to have the belt with your robe fastened tight ready for battle but the belt also would have held a sword and so this once again is unmistakable imagery that Paul is utilizing for the saints because the belt of truth look with me at verse 17 would be holding the sword of the spirit which is the word of God we are to live out the fruit of what is good right and true constantly carrying the sword of the spirit what did

Jesus say father sanctify them in the truth your word is truth that is because the word of God is living and active and sharper than any earthly human weapon and Jesus perfectly wielded the sword of the spirit didn't he when he was being tempted by every turn by the devil our

Lord perfectly modeled how to stand firm against the devil and his schemes Jesus knew the truth he quoted scripture and said it is written man shall not live by bread alone but every word that comes from the mouth of God Jesus said in John's gospel if you abide in my word then you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth shall set you free remember the spiritual battle is over truth and so even though the apostle

Paul would have had the imagery of Roman soldiers all around him I want you to remember Paul is a

Hebrew of Hebrews he is a Jew specialized in the Hebrew scriptures and so even though he had the imagery of Roman soldiers he would have also had the knowledge of the

Old Testament that depicted the coming Messiah as a coming warrior king the psalm said this who is the king of glory the

Lord strong and mighty the Lord mighty in battle the prophet Isaiah says this this should sound very familiar in Ephesians chapter 6 righteousness shall be the belt of Messiah's waist and the faithfulness the belt of his loins he put on the breastplate of righteousness and a helmet of salvation on his head the

Messiah says I am who speaks here I am how beautiful are the mountains and the feet of him who bring good news you know who

Paul had in mind he had in mind Jesus Christ as the true warrior the true conquering king and so once again

Paul is not urging believers to live better lives trying really hard to become more like Jesus and so maybe we'll be victorious in battle now

Paul's message here is about standing confidently in Christ's triumph that has already taken place at Calvary right

Jesus is the valiant warrior he went toe to toe with the evil one in all of his temptations in the wilderness

Satan bruised Jesus's heel at the crucifixion but Christ countered with a crushing blow to the enemy at his resurrection he has triumphed over the devil over sin and death

Jesus Christ has accomplished it all amen and so we as Christians our minds need to be renewed with the truth day by day preparing our minds for action living each day to honor the king of glory to stand firm therefore having fastened on the belt of truth so as we begin to close this morning

I want to return to asking all of us about the fundamental truth in life what is truth how you answer that question will be the reference point in which your entire life will reflect and so many of y 'all know

Jeremiah Nortier especially the youth I ask them this question all the time what is truth what is truth and I get so many mind boggling answers and yet it makes perfect sense

I've talked to many people what do you think the truth is and the most common answer I get is I don't know or I'm not really sure how to answer that Jeremiah or Jeremiah you're just getting all into that deep philosophy kind of stuff

I don't really tend to worry myself with that and as I reflect on these conversations

I'm reminded you know what their life reflects that answer going about the motions of life with no direction or I'll get this answer but Jeremiah I just use common sense

I wake up I work really hard to provide for my family I love them the best that I can and I try to have a little fun now and again there's no harm in that and then my question is is that all common sense is who gets to define common sense when

I have a different idea of how I should live my life don't tell me what you feel like is a good idea when someone else can come along and tell me what they feel is a different way

I hear this in a different way well I just let the spirit lead Jeremiah and I'm like yeah but the

Holy Spirit should lead you back to his word right so don't tell me what you feel like is good give me the truth tell me how

I can know how to live my life because I want to ask this question what is going to be the anchor of my soul when

I experience hurts pains evil suffering and I see death happening all around me what do

I do with my guilty conscience for all the wrong that I've done listen common sense cannot give you the truth to the real questions in life so what is truth truth is a divine person truth is what

God has revealed to us about reality and what it truly is only the God of truth knows all things and can give us answers of truth you know what

I'm going to say next Jesus Christ said I am the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the

Father except through me look to him saint look to him and his word because as believers we have tasted and seen that the

Lord is so good sometimes though we like to wander around in this spiritual warfare don't we right we become a rogue soldier a lone soldier that's no longer standing with the army of saints no longer gathering together with the body of Christ not pursuing opportunities of fellowship with other believers that is the individual that Satan is looking to sift like wheat that is the person that will be tossed to and fro by the craftiness and deceitful schemes of the enemy

I don't want to guilt you but I want you to understand we need one another we need one another on the

Lord's day gathering pointing us back to King Jesus the author and the perfecter of our faith and so as we're talking about having our heart and mind renewed this is something that we get to participate in every

Lord's day here at 12 .5 is we get to come to the Lord's table right this is another way of declaring truth seeing what all

Christ has done what he is continuing to do in our life and we get but just a taste of the marriage supper of the

Lamb right this is not cold and ritualistic this is God's visible truth uniting us together in sweet fellowship and I do want to say this is not just a mere representation right where we just take a little bit of grape juice eat a little bread alright

I did my thing check the box no this is a time that Jesus prescribed that will assure your hearts that God's promises are true and this can't be just a mere representation because there's actually a warning attached to coming to the

Lord's table in an unworthy manner scripture tells us that if you partake in unworthy manner some people have been sick as a result of it and some have even died

I just want to implore you to think about this you should not come to the table if you are not a baptized

Christian seeking to be held accountable in church membership or if you see this as a time to be cold and ritualistic or if you have a spirit of bitterness towards another brother or sister if there is unrepentant sin in your heart please refrain from coming to the table but I don't want you to only hear me say that if that is you

I want to encourage you come seek out myself Pastor Keith Pastor Nathan we would love to come alongside you and help make these things right so if you are a baptized believer resting in Christ alone by faith alone then here in a moment

I want to encourage you come please freely partake in the Lord's supper so how we do this here at 12 -5 if this half here in a moment after we get done praying we'll stand up and come around to the

Lord's table and come back to your seat and maybe the back corner can come to this side and then this half come to this side.

Sound good? Let's pray. Heavenly Father we thank you for your grace

God we thank you for your mercies that are new every morning and God what a beautiful truth that because you live because you are a resurrected conquering king that subdued the strong man

Satan in this evil perishing world God we can face tomorrow God I pray that this morning that we would be challenged in a very deep way to answer the question what is truth and do

I believe it? Does my life reflect that? God I pray that your spirit would move God your spirit would convict us of sin righteousness and the judgment to come and that you would compel us to find our rest in you

Jesus. Lord we love you pray this in your name. Amen. Coming around and gathering the glasses for those of you that are wrapping up I hope this was a blessing to you thank you

Pastor Jeremiah for bringing the word but before we jump into the next portion of of our gathering which is a time of fellowship and we eat together and we get to speak of the things of the

Lord I would like to invite Kyle and Lydia on up here come on guys.

Yes. So how long have y 'all been coming? It's been about four months?

Four to five months okay so everybody knows knows them they've seen their faces you guys kind of by happenstance the sovereign hand of God of course found your way to Jonesboro and doing construction and now you guys have just decided we want to live here and we want to we want to become part of this community here so they have spent many

Wednesday evenings chatting with us about all of this y 'all have gone through the membership classes we've had the membership interviews we went ahead and baptized him this morning so everything's official we are excited as elders to present

Kyle and Lydia to you the church body for affirmation to become part of this covenant body of believers they've gone through the whole process they've looked at the membership covenants

I'm pretty meticulous with those aren't I right? Make sure we go line by line so everyone understands what's expected we take membership very seriously here you can't just come up and walk down the aisle and say

I want to move my letter to this church we're like what letter are you even talking about we go through and say hey this is what we believe this is what you're committing to and then this not only is this what you're committing to as a covenant body but this is what the body's covenanting with you to do and so remember that saints when you as members stand in affirmation here in a moment you're making a covenant with them also you're guaranteeing

I'm going to walk with you in mutual edification I'm going to walk with you in keeping you accountable

I'm going to walk with you in grieving when you grieve and rejoicing when you rejoice

I'm covenanting with you you've become my family that's heavy isn't it so I would ask church family if you are a member at 12 .5

church if you affirm this couple to be the next members of 12 .5

church please stand in affirmation awesome hey awesome this is awesome this is great praise

God we're so excited to see y 'all's gifting y 'all can go ahead and be seated we're so excited to watch y 'all's gifting as we got to talk in the membership interview just kind of okay where do you think

God's calling you and those sorts of things those get worked out in family so as your brothers and sisters walk with you they're like oh

I see this and we see that and we think you're strong here and Christ Jesus is going to utilize you guys here and I have no doubt

I'm so excited to benefit from y 'all's giftings and as we do with every member and family unit you only get one as a family unit okay we have these

ESV study Bibles and for those of you that are visiting today this is not a gift we say it every time this isn't a gift this is a commissioning as Pastor Jeremiah preached just this morning it's the truth this is what the whole church is based off of this is what our lives are surrounded around and I know y 'all have

Bibles probably plenty of Bibles but this is one that we want to commission you as a family with we've signed in there with the date so you can remember hey that's the day we made a covenant with this body and come into membership with them and we hope that there's many years of this and discipleship we are so thrilled let me pray for them please bow your heads with me and pray that God would bless their ministry here in their lives as a family

Lord we thank you for Kyle and Lydia God we thank you that you have sovereignly brought them here what are the chances of them just walking through these doors at this particular place and having their hearts molded to the people here but I say what are the chances the chances are good because you're sovereign you orchestrate all things and and you are good and everything you do is good and we're so thankful for it

Lord I can't wait to see their particular gifting that you Christ Jesus have given them and the place that they're going to fit in this body and we pray that you would be honored in it

Lord bless their family, Lord bless their marriage bless their relationships and how they are truly becoming a part of this community this family, this covenant body of believers here at 12 .5,