Whole Armor Study 1

Put on the Whole Armor of God
Literally, spiritual warfare is an inner struggle of the heart and mind for personal purity and integrity.  True spiritual warfare is resisting internal and external temptations. That is the true battle!  Holy living, shunning evil, refusing to justify secret sin, refusing to explain sexual immorality, or the littlest of sins in our lives that no one knows about but us – living a private and public life of godliness and holiness.  (Romans 13:12-14; Prov 4:23)  We are to wear battle dress to protect us – The world, the flesh, and the devil want our purity, our testimony, integrity, our intimacy with God.  Half-hearted service and worship toward God is what they want from us.

God’s Spirit inhabits us and in Ephesians 6 the Holy Spirit commands us to clothe our hearts and minds in divine battle dress to combat the lures and snare of the flesh-world-devil.

* Truth (Girdle-Belt) – We are to strap on the belt of truth and leave it on.  Believe the truth, study the truth, live out the truth practically.  The soldier drew up and cinched his tunic, before engaging with enemy.

The Belt of Truth -- Leather apron strapped to the waist that went down just below the thighs, it
is the foundation piece of armor. The breastplate attached to it, and the sword hung from it. The battleground of the enemy relates to the issue of
truth. Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44), and he spread his doctrines of devils. Satan counterfeits the truth with his own ministers (Rev 2:9).  He has his own false gospel: If you disobey God and eat that fruit, you will become one of the gods. John 17:17; II John 1-3; III John 3-4;

Hold to the truth of God's word, walk in honesty and integrity. Oven cracked pottery, dishonest dealers would fill the cracks with a pearly wax that would
blend in with the color of the pottery. But if the pottery was held up to the light the cracks would show up darker. Honest dealers advertised their pottery - "sine cera" without wax. Sine cere means sincere, honesty and integrity.

Strap on the truth of the word of God, live it out in truthfulness, honesty, and sincerity. Lying, cheating, fudging, deceiving, little white lies – you end up a casualty, not a victor. Tell the truth, do right, that is all.

Sola Scriptura – the scriptures alone, we will adhere to God’s inspired word alone for doctrine, faith, and practice.  What we have to say is meaningless, what God has to say means everything.  We only repeat what God has already said, it is the word of God that is alive, we only repeat God’s word, we don’t come up with anything new.

Not the latest heresies or fads.

Football: put mouthpiece in, adjust pads, buckle chinstrap, take stance, brace for impact

The war belt holds everything in place. John 8:32, 43-45; John 17:17; Eph 4:21; 5:9  Truth about God, ourselves, Satan, history, and the future.

I Timothy 1:19 faith and a good conscience, filled with God’s truth and living it, have a good conscience, you can face anything.  Tighten your belt.  Submit to the word.

Integrity – purity in the face of immorality, obedience in the midst of uncertainty.

Be honest, keep your word, sincere, blameless, excellent attitude, be consistent and faithful to others, love people, admit when you’re wrong, challenge and comfort others.

Truthful character and knowledge of the truth holds the rest of your life (armor) together in the fight.
Armor is cinched close to us by the belt of truth.
An honest life is never an accident.

* Righteousness (Breastplate) – Doing the word, obeying the truth that you know.

Chain mail to protect from attacks to vital organs.  It covered the soldier from the base of his neck down to his upper thighs.  It was made of heavy strips of lines and which had pieces of bone or metal attached.  The elite, higher ranking soldiers had a breastplate made of molten metal
Warded off deadly thrusts of the short sword, protected the heart and lungs.

The imputed Righteousness of Christ covers and  protects the heart.
God’s own righteousness is freely given to us who truly believe in Jesus Christ.  We cannot generate our own.  Isa 64:6; Rom 3:10-12; Our own self-goodness is worthless and rotten.  Rom 3:23

But there is a true righteousness from God.  Rom 1:17; Isa 59:17.  Phil 3:7-9 received as a gift from God.  You must have the imputed righteousness “which is through the faith of Christ” the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith alone, not our works at all.  Eph 2:8-9.  Jesus clothes us with His righteousness in our bankrupt state.  It is received and put on through faith as God gives us His righteousness (Jesus Christ Himself).  II Cor 5:21  This is imputed righteousness.  If don’t have God’s righteousness, nothing can save you, but it you have it, nothing can damn you, you are safe for eternity.  You must renounce all dependence upon the filthy rags of your self-righteousness and humbly ask God for Jesus Christ’s righteousness to cover your naked and desperate soul.  With God’s righteousness will come a righteous life lived for God’s glory alone.  A new life with these things: humility of mind, holiness, desire to please the Lord in all things you do, single eye to God’s glory, seek to walk like Jesus, live to God’s service, put off old habits of sin (deny self), die to self and the world daily, put on Christ’s traits, live to sin no more, trust God, follow the Son, yield to the Spirit.

We fight sin and the enemy on a daily basis  through practical righteousness through obedience to Christ.  Christ’s perfect righteousness is an eternal gift, practical righteousness is daily obedience to Christ.

God’s righteousness helps us develop and manifest a righteous character in righteous living.  Christ’s truth, righteousness, and nature should permeate our speech and life.  We must cultivate truth in our lives by reading, studying, memorizing, meditating, obeying, that is, truthing life in love.

We stand in God’s strength (His armor), not our own strength, not in self-confidence, but by dependence upon Him.