The Bride is Blessed with the Whole Armor of God

1. Read: Ephesians 6:10-13

2. About the Text:

1) Living a Christian life is often put in martial terms in the New Testament.

2) Paul tells Timothy to …

a. Wage the Good Warfare (1 Timothy 1:18).

b. Fight the good fight (1 Timothy 6:12).

c. “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier” (2 Timothy 2:3-4).

3) Christians have a battle to fight.

4) We do so with God’s help.

3. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. Be strong in the Lord.

1) God is powerful!

2) He is only as powerful as we permit.

3) We must be strong in his power and might.

4) God does not want us to be weak.

5) “Be strong and very courageous” (Joshua 1:7).

2. Put on the whole armor of God.

1) We must be actively engaged.

2) This armor is for us to “put on.”

3) It is for us to “take up.”

4) “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22).

3. What will happen?

1) We will stand.

2) We will withstand.

3) We will have done all.

4) “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13).

1. The devil is the enemy.

1) We must stand against him.

2) We must be wary of his wiles.

3) “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9).

2. We wrestle with his evil forces.

1) Principalities

2) Powers

3) Rulers of the Darkness of this age

4) Spiritual Hosts of Wickedness

5) “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15).

3. We must stand against them – “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled” (2 Corinthians 10:3-6).

1. Girdle of Truth

1) To filter out all false teaching.

2) To keep us free.

3) “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

2. Breastplate of Righteousness

1) To protect the heart from invasion.

2) To keep the lungs breathing the right things.

3) “and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith” (Philippians 3:9).

4) “Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous” (1 John 3:7).

3. The Shoes of the Preparation of the Gospel

1) Gives us a firm foundation.

2) Helps us to move freely as God’s people.

3) “And that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15).

4. Shield of Faith

1) Blocks and quenches the fiery darts of the wicked.

2) Defends against direct assaults and attacks.

3) “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony” (Hebrews 11:1-2).

5. Helmet of Salvation

1) Guards the mind.

2) Keeps our thinking on the right track.

3) “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

6. Sword of the Spirit – the word of God.

1) “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

2) The weapon that cuts down the enemy.

3) The word of God is what convicts and converts.

4) “He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength” (Revelation 1:16).

1. Armor is worn to fight (slide).

1) These are not idle tools.

2) The soldier does not don armor to play.

3) We put on this armor to fight and win.

4) Taking off the armor is a sure path to defeat.

2. The war has already been won.

1) Christ has won the war for us over Satan – “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14).

2) We must win our battles – “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Timothy 6:12).

3) Revelation 12

a. Satan could not defeat the Messiah/Christ.

b. Satan could not defeat the angels.

c. Satan could not defeat the God’s people/the church.

d. He could still defeat you personally.

e. That’s the fight that we are engaged in.

1. The bride is blessed with the whole armor of God so that she may . . .

1) Stand and Be Strong

2) Engage in Battle with the Enemy

3) Protect and Be Protected

4) Win the War

2. Invitation