As Paul wraps up his letter to the Ephesians, he gives one final charge to stand firm in the faith. And to do so, he uses the imagery of a Roman soldier armed for battle as an analogy of spiritual armament.
In this sermon, we’ll explore what the Armor of God is all about.
1) The Reason for the Armor
We need the Armor of God because we are embroiled in a spiritual battle.
The Bible tells us supernatural evil does exist, and his operations are far more subtle than we might expect. The evil one, Satan, is the father of lies, and he uses lies to leave a mark on our soul. Satan lies to over-inflate or deflate us. And both lies serve the same purpose: to drive us away from God.
The only way we can stand firm against the lies of the devil are with the Armor of God. But how does the armor work?
2) The Function of the Armor
We are armored with Gospel identity.
We have truth as your base layer protection against the lies of the evil one. Remember the truth of the Gospel: we are far more sinful that we ever dared realize, yet in Christ Jesus, we are far more loved than we ever dared hope.
The truth of the Gospel is our base layer of humble courage, our foundational protection against the lies of Satan.
3) The Source of the Armor
We are clad in the armament of God’s own character.
The forces of darkness cannot touch us because we are covered by the flawless character of God Himself. The Divine Warrior has clad His people in His own armor. Which means, Satan has no power over you.
Christ disarmed Himself before the enemy, that He might arm us forever against the enemy.
Rather than keeping the armor for Himself, so that evil couldn’t touch Him, Jesus shed his armor and hung naked on the cross, allowing evil to pierce him through so that we might be forever protected by His flawless character from the schemes and lies of the evil one.
Takeaway: Stand firm in your Gospel identity.
All of this Armor is already yours in Christ. So, act like yourself. Stand firm in your Gospel identity. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
Ephesians 6:10–24
