(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our services here at Faith Ward Baptist Church. So nice to see you all here on this Sunday morning. If you don't please find your seats now and grab a hymnal. Go to hymn 223. We'll begin this morning. Hymn 223. 223 is Springs of Living Water. Hymn 223. Hymn 223. Hymn 223. 223. Once you find your place, we'll lift it up together. Right on that first, I thirsted in the barren land of sin and shame. Hymn 223. Sing it out together now. I thirsted in the barren land of sin and shame and nothing satisfying there I come. But to the blessing cross of Christ one day I came. The living water did abound. Drinking at the springs of living water. Happy now am I. My soul is satisfied. Drinking at the springs of living water. Oh, wonderful and bountiful supply. How sweet the living water from the hills of God. It makes me glad and happy all the way. Now glory, grace and blessing are the path I've trod. I'm shouting hallelujah every day. Drinking at the springs of living water. Happy now am I. My soul is satisfied. Drinking at the springs of living water. Wonderful and bountiful supply. Oh, singer, won't you come today to Calvary? A fountain there is flowing deep and wide. The Savior now invites you to the water free. Where Thursday spirits can be satisfied. Drinking at the springs of living water. Happy now am I. My soul is satisfied. Drinking at the springs of living water. Oh, wonderful and bountiful supply. Hymn number 294. Stepping in the light. Hymn number 294. Lift it up on that first verse. Trying to walk in the steps of the Savior. Hymn number 294. Sing it out together now. Trying to walk in the steps of the Savior. Trying to follow our Savior and King. Shaving our lives by his blessing. How happy the songs that we bring. How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior. Stepping in the light. Stepping in the light. How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior. Let it pass the flight. Pressing more closely to him who is leading when we are tempted to turn from the way. Trusting the arm that is strong to defend us. Happy, how happy our praise is each day. How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior. Stepping in the light. Stepping in the light. How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior. Let it pass the flight. Walking in footsteps of gentle forbearance. Footsteps of faithfulness, mercy, and love. Looking to him for the grace freely promised. Happy, how happy our journey above. How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior. Stepping in the light. Stepping in the light. How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior. Let it pass the flight. Trying to walk in the steps of the Savior. Upwards, the love word will follow our guide. When we shall see him, the King in his beauty. Happy, how happy our journey above. How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior. Stepping in the light. Stepping in the light. How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior. Let it pass the flight. All right, this time we'll go through our announcements together. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand and start with one. On the inside we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week we will be in 2 Chronicles chapter 13. We've got the so many times listed there below as well as salvation and baptisms. Across the page is the note about how we finished knocking every door in Greenlee County in Arizona. Also, we knocked every door on the Hopi Reservation If anyone participated in either of those two things, so if you either went soul winning on the Hopi Reservation or soul winning in Greenlee County, then there is a special lunch for you next Sunday at 1 p.m. Please sign up if you're planning on attending just so that we'll know how many people to prepare for. And then below that of course we've got some people soul winning in Nigeria. We don't have the details on that yet, so stay tuned, keep praying for them. And we'll let you know how that turned out. And then thank you of course to everyone who participated in the Fiji Mission Strip from our church. We had 23 soul winners out there that had a total of 750 salvations over the course of a few weeks. It was extremely receptive over there. And so, great job everybody who participated in that. And then below that, and then there was also a group of 20 some people came from the church in Australia there with Pastor Sepulveda, and so all told all the different groups that were there and everything, it was a couple thousand people saved. And so it was pretty exciting. Below that we've got the note about the soul winning trip up to the Navajo Reservation and also including a visit to Grand Canyon National Park. That's coming up this weekend, this Friday and Saturday. So the details for that and the link is right here to my right. If you have any questions let me know. On the back we've got the schedule for the mega conference. So we've got a whole bunch of guest pastors coming in and preaching from July 14th to August 7th. And if you have perfect attendance there will be a prize for that. I will be preaching next Friday, not this Friday, but next Friday, July 5th at Stronghold Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina. There's a new church out there. And the grand opening of that new church is Sunday, July 7th. But I'll be preaching on Friday, July 5th. And there will be a big soul winning marathon on the 6th. And so if you know anybody in that area be sure to let them know about that. Other upcoming events, another small town soul winning trip. And then also we're going to have a church roller skating night on August the 15th. This is where we rent out the roller skating rink just for our church. So it's a little ways out, but stick it under August 15th. And that's about it for announcements. Let's sing our next song. Come lead us. Alright, you should find the insert in front of your hymnal with Psalm 15. If you don't have an insert, you can raise your hand and you'll receive one. Psalm 15. Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walk in love brightly and work in righteousness and speak in the truth in his heart. He that walk in love brightly and work in righteousness and speak in the truth in his heart. He that bide in love with his son. Lord, do with evil to his neighbor. For taketh the fun reproach against his neighbor. He that bide in love with his son. In whose eyes a vile person is content. But he onereth them that fear the Lord. In whose eyes a vile person is content. But he onereth them that fear the Lord. He that swear it to his own hurt and change it not. He that put it not out his money to his grief. He that swear it to his own hurt and change it not. He that put it not out his money to his grief. For taketh reborn against the innocent. He that do with these things shall never be blue. For taketh reborn against the innocent. He that do with these things shall never be blue. For who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hell? This is hymn number 248. We'll sing it out. On that first Jesus my Lord will love me forever. Hymn number 248. Jesus my Lord will love me forever from with no power of evil can sever. He gave his life to ransom my soul. Now I belong to him. Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me. Not for the years of time alone but for eternity. Once I was lost in sins degradation. Jesus came down to bring me salvation. It picked me up from sorrow and shame. Now I belong to him. Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me. Not for the years of time alone but for eternity. Joy floods my soul for Jesus has saved me. Free me from sin that long had enslaved me. His precious blood he came to redeem. Now I belong to him. Now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me. Not for the years of time alone but for eternity. Let's turn our Bibles to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter number 6. As we always do we'll read the entire chapter beginning of verse number 1. Follow along silently with brother Nick as he reads Ephesians chapter 6 beginning of verse number 1. Ephesians chapter 6. Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor thy father and mother which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth. And ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ. Not with eye service as men pleasers but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. With good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men. Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free. And ye masters do the same things unto them forbearing threatening knowing that your master also is in heaven. Neither is their respective persons with him. Finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Stand therefore having your loins girt about with truth and having on the breast plate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints and for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in bonds that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. But that ye also may know my affairs and how I do take a kiss a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord shall make known to you all things whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose that ye might know our affairs and that ye might comfort your hearts. Peace be to the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. Amen. Ephesians chapter six we have this familiar passage about the whole armor of God beginning in verse number ten and just to put this in the greater context of the book of Ephesians if you remember we talked about recently how the book of Ephesians you can really divide it in half. The first three chapters are really just talking about all the blessings that we enjoy being saved Christians a lot of assurances are given to the Gentiles that they are now accepted in the beloved they are now the chosen people of God they are no longer strangers and foreigners but they are fellow citizens of the commonwealth of Israel of the household of faith and so we have the first three chapters sort of just giving all those spiritual blessings about how our salvation is by grace through faith and all the things that Christ has done for us our salvation is just a done deal but then in chapters four through six there is a lot more practical instruction and practical application chapter four talks a lot about having unity in the local church and just a lot of just things that we shouldn't be doing or should be doing about you know not being drunk as we get into chapter five about not stealing in chapter four not letting filthy communication come out of our mouth and you know just so many practical applications in chapter five we have the passage about husbands and wives and how they're to interact within marriage chapter six is as we just read telling children to obey their parents, servants to obey their masters so after all of this really just practical advice about how to act within the church how to act within the family how to act in business and in life in general he closes things out in verse ten by saying finally my brethren so this is sort of just a conclusion to the whole thing finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places and so what you have to understand is that as we read the advice given in chapters four, five and six it seems really straight forward and maybe you can even be tempted to look at it and say well this is going to be easy simple piece of cake right? I mean husbands love your wives and everything's going to be great wives submit to your husbands and everything's going to be great children obey your parents everything will be great hey as long as you're not lying and stealing and doing these things you know life's going to be great but here's the thing about that is that it isn't that easy it isn't that simple because as soon as you start actually following the admonitions of scripture and putting chapter four into practice and putting chapter five into practice and putting chapter six into practice guess what? There's an enemy out there trying to stop you from living right trying to stop you from serving God and to stop you from having the blessings that God wants for you and so it's not just as simple as oh do the right things and everything's going to be great no because when you do the right things there is still an organized concerted attack against you that you're going to have to be able to withstand you know I remember talking to a young man and uh well we were having a conversation about marriage and it was it was several guys that were married that were having this conversation and then this young single guy just said well you know I don't understand what's the big deal what's so hard about it it's just husbands love your wives I mean you know and this guy then got married less than a year later and his marriage lasted about three months literally you know but he was just so confident just husbands love your wives what's the big deal what's so hard what's the big deal well you'll find out buddy when you actually get married you know you'll find out what the big deal is when you actually try having children running a business doing whatever you do in life life ends up not being as straightforward and simple as just oh do the right things and everything's going to be great no you do the right things and everything's going great everything's going smooth but then the devil comes along and throws a monkey wrench in what you're trying to do right you're pastoring a church or you're a member in a church and you're trying to evangelize the community and what happens you know the devil comes in and tries to throw a monkey wrench into things and so that's why it's not enough to just know don't sin be a good husband be a good wife be a good parent be a good child that ends up not being enough we need to be ready to stand in the evil day as well because every day is not just going to be a normal day get up do all the right things be blessed and go to bed at night if only it were that simple it'd be wonderful but it isn't that's why we've got to be strong in the lord and in the power of his might because if we are spiritually weak then when the evil day comes we will fold like a deck of cards right and we will not be able to stand up for what's right so we've got to be strong in the lord and in the power of his might and it says put on the whole armor of god now when the bible talks about the armor of god right what kind of an of are we talking about here we're talking an of like source of right this armor comes from god this is the armor that is provided by god and this goes in line with the idea of being strong in the lord and in the power of his might it's not just our own innate character or strength or fortitude or goodness or whatever it's going to have to be from god that we have the power to get through the wiles of the devil and the attacks that satan will bring and so it says put on the whole armor of god that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil right the devil and his wiles wiles would be like deceits tricks traps different things that he has concocted for us his machinations it says for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers you know it would be simpler if it was just a human physical enemy we could identify and just hey stay away from that guy or whatever it's not as simple as just a physical enemy that's just easily unifyable you know we're wearing one uniform and he's wearing a different color uniform and so we know he's the bad guy no the devil is transformed into an angel of light the devil will come in and deceive you seeming to be good trying to seem to be righteous and so we have to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil because we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against something more difficult against something more insidious principalities and powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness and high places you know those three phrases together principalities and powers the rulers of the darkness of this world spiritual wickedness and high places you know when you put this together what you get is an organized attack against God's people not just random you know the devil just kind of throwing something at you out of nowhere but rather that there is a systemic organized orchestrated attack in this world not just against one individual Christian but rather just against Christians in general there's a system in place that is there to try to trip you up and so this is a very formidable foe this is a really sophisticated opponent that we're dealing with here that is coming at us it's not just a flesh and blood opponent it's principalities it's powers against rulers of the darkness of this world now what does that even mean principalities and powers well powers in this context are talking about authorities right the powers that be right principalities are again talking about rulers talking about uh you know organizations and powerful people the rulers of the darkness of this world and so forth right so when we think about principalities and powers we can think about governments we can think about corporations right we can think about religious denominations you know powerful organizations is what we're talking about with rulers and leaders and people in charge that are steering the darkness of this world and of course ultimately this is demonic right satan is at the top of this evil pyramid and you've got his minions spiritually his demonic minions and then also the human beings that are working for him you know there are entire corporations and businesses and governments that are out to subvert right living I mean what did the apostle Paul just finish telling us how a marriage is supposed to be you know with the wife submitting to her husband with the husband loving his wife with children obeying their parents but are there not entire corporations and media outlets whose goal is just to subvert those values and destroy that system of the family and so here we are we're trying to have a biblical family and we've got this evil orchestrated attack on the family trying to get in there and twist our minds and teach us all these weird alternative lifestyles and try to make the Bible look stupid or try to make God's way look wrong or stupid or abusive or whatever right because the devil hates God's people and he doesn't want us to just be able to just go through our lives living a quiet and peaceable life and all godliness and honesty and just evangelizing the lost he's not just going to let that happen without a fight he's there as an adversary and so that's what the Bible's talking about when it says principalities powers rulers of the darkness of this world it's not just necessarily governments it could also be corporations it's also religious denominations because keep in mind those are very powerful entities in the world in which we live right it's not just the United States government that has power it's banks that have power it's religious denominations that have power the Roman Catholic Church has power right these other various denominations and religions of East Orthodox and whatever they have power and they're wicked they're ungodly and they're out to destroy that which is righteous and so because of this verse 13 wherefore he says take unto you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand now when the Bible says here the evil day I don't believe that this is primarily talking about a specific end times evil day in the future or something like that that you know one generation is gonna grapple with I think that when he says uh that you may be able to withstand in the evil day this evil day can come at various points in anyone's life right just your evil day right the evil day is just that day in which you are under serious attack and when you are struggling to you know keep your head above water spiritually that's what the Bible is talking about when it says that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand stand therefore now obviously it jumps out at you just how many times the word stand is repeated we were told to stand in verse 11 in verse 13 it's withstand stand and then verse 14 stand so just four times in a row just stand stand stand stand and you see the idea here is not necessarily that we are to uh be as Christians going and taking over these institutions and we're gonna defeat the US government and we're gonna defeat you know uh the YouTube and we're gonna defeat Amazon and we're gonna defeat you know the Roman Catholic Church we're gonna defeat the Mormon Church cause you wanna talk about a demonic principality in power it's the latter day Satan Church based in Salt Lake City, Utah but you know what the Bible is not telling us is hey you know you're gonna go in there and you're gonna overthrow these institutions folks these institutions have existed before we were born and they will always exist right the devil is gonna have all of his wicked institutions and powers and we're not going to be able to overthrow these things it's not our job to overthrow these things and in reality if you stop and think about it Christ has already gotten the victory over all of these institutions he's already won the battle the battles already been fought and won keep your finger here and go to the parallel passage in Colossians Colossians is a book that's parallel with Ephesians most things in Ephesians you'll find the same stuff taught in Colossians worded just a little bit differently but over in Colossians chapter number 3 or I'm sorry chapter number 2 it says in verse 14 of Colossians 2 blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his cross and having spoiled principalities and powers notice the same wording here having spoiled principalities and powers he made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it and so you know Christ conquered at the cross right Christ's death burial and resurrection was a conquering of all of these spiritual enemies conquering of Satan conquering of his kingdom and so in reality you know the devil and his minions are already defeated they're already beaten okay it's sort of like you read about history where there will be a decisive battle where at that point it's obvious who the winner of the war is the other side just can't win anymore and so that's kind of like when most of us will kind of think of as when that war ended but then the war doesn't officially end sometimes for a few more months or even a few more years or something you know like I'm a little rusty on my American history it's been a long time but you know I want to say there was a major battle in 1781 at Yorktown that just kind of finished the American Revolution and then in 1783 though is when it was like officially the war's not over officially till 1783 can I get a witness alright good one person says that I'm accurate it's been years but that seems vaguely familiar to me you know you think about other major battles in history obviously where there will be a decisive battle you know the other side's beaten but maybe it takes a few months for there to be a surrender for there to be a treaty for it to be officially over you know the decisive victory is Christ death, burial and resurrection it's over for the devil at that point you know what I mean he's defeated he knoweth that he hath a little time you know obviously that's going to be more literally true in the end times but the point is that the devil and his minions are defeated it's not our job to feel like we have to go out there and just eradicate evil from this world it's a fool's errand it's never going to happen you know let's say we were to just completely put the Mormon church out of business we'd love to do that some other weird cult would just bring up somewhere else you know because this is just the way the world works this is the way the world's supposed to work and so God has allowed that the wheat and the tares would both grow together at the same time until the end of the world that's what the bible says and so the devil and his minions have already been defeated but what we need to do is just stand our ground is what we need to do you know Christ has already purchased the church in his own blood he's already given us all the things that we need to live the godly Christian effective life and we've already got everything we need but we've got to stand our ground and not give ground to Satan we need to stand we need to withstand so in many ways it's a defensive battle which is why it's the whole armor of God and it's focusing on defensive armor obviously there's a sword involved but in general it's mainly a defensive armor because of the fact that the battle's really already been won and we just need to stand our ground as Christians and not give ground to Satan and you know what specifically let's not give ground let's get this in context why don't we not give ground when it comes to one lord one faith one baptism of Ephesians chapter 4 why don't we not give ground when it comes to the roles of men and women in marriage in Ephesians chapter 5 why don't we not give ground when it comes to children honoring their father and mother you know those are the things the devil wants to attack and those are the things on which we should not give any ground should stand and withstand in the evil day stand therefore and then he talks about what the whole armor of God consists of that's going to allow us to stand in the evil day it says stand therefore verse 14 having your loins gird about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace above all taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God now when you think about the devil's attack on us we're not ignorant of his devices he starts out at the very beginning of the Bible questioning God's word right yea hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden and so as we're going about our Christian lives and trying to put into practice what we've learned in chapter 4 chapter 5 and chapter 6 about just how to live the Christian life the devil's going to come at us and try to get us to doubt what we're doing and try to get us to doubt the wisdom of the way of life that God has given us right he'll try to show us some other way to live our lives that's supposedly better or try to get us to doubt that God's way is going to work or that the Bible really means what it says he'll try to twist it into meaning something totally different and so if you think about most of these pieces of armor what they end up doing is giving us assurance that we are in the right place we are doing what God wants us to do we do believe what's right and so it gives us the assurance when the devil's coming at us trying to get us to doubt trying to get us to you know reject the teachings of God's word or to live our life according to the way of this world you know we've got to be firm on these things and strong on these things and the first piece of armor here is having loins go about with truth you know understanding that God's word is the ultimate truth we have the truth and we should be people who care about truth and hate lies and so if we care about truth and we hate lies and we know that Jesus Christ said thy word is truth you know this should help us to stand in the evil day when it seems like maybe uh things are falling apart for us when it seems like uh our life isn't working out the way that it was supposed to even though we we followed God's word and things aren't going well you know and then we wonder hey am I all wrong here you know maybe maybe these worldly people are right maybe these corporations are right maybe the media is right maybe Hollywood's right maybe these other denominations are right and you know you start to doubt but you've got to stop and say what is the truth according to God's word right that is going to be the thing that keeps you cinched down and tightened up on the truth it's got to be you know first of all I love truth I care about truth and the word of God is truth you know that's going to keep us standing when maybe our life sometimes isn't going the way that we expected to go I mean look at a guy like Job you know Job's doing all the right things the devil attacks Job and you know he could be tempted to say maybe I'm not living my life the right way maybe following the Lord is not the right path maybe I should be listening to these other worldly people or these other pagans or something but of course he didn't do that he kept his integrity he stayed with the Lord we've got to have our loins girt about with truth truth matters we should be lovers of truth and that means that when someone shows us facts we should accept those facts and not just deny reality and even amongst independent fundamental Baptists you'll get this kind of reality denial sometimes when they just see something that goes in the face of what they believe they just kind of stick their head in the sand and whenever I see that mentality I just say to myself this is not a lover of truth and you know I wonder if this person is going to be able to stand in the evil day when they're one who ignores truth you know look when I go soul winning and I show someone something point blank from the word of God you know I expect them to believe it if they used to believe that it was by works and I'm showing them that it's by faith I expect them to change what they believe because of what the Bible says you know but then a lot of Christians are hypocrites because then they'll be shown clear scripture point blank from the word of God that's obvious and then they just don't want to accept it they just don't want to accept facts they don't want to accept truth you know we need to be lovers of truth we need to be willing to embrace the facts wherever they lead even if we don't like where the facts lead or where the truth leads you know we should be lovers of truth one of these reality deniers a few years ago said you know we don't walk by facts we walk by faith it was like the stupidest quote of the year maybe even the stupidest quote of the century we don't walk by facts we walk by faith you know faith should be based in oh here's another word for facts truth truth faith should be based in truth oh you're just such a great person of faith because you have so much faith in lies I really admire you I really admire the fact that you have so much faith in fairy tales and fables and made up things that aren't true no my friend the only thing worthy about faith is when your faith is in truth truth so you got to have your loins girt about with truth how are you going to stand in the evil day when your basis isn't truth truth needs to be your basis and you know what young people growing up in these churches that are just kind of like a church that just kind of says shut up and believe it because I said so but they don't really give like truth or facts or basis you know eventually when the evil day comes for those young people they're not going to be able to stand with their loins girt about with truth because they're going to realize that some of the stuff they're taught wasn't even true we need to make sure that the stuff we're teaching is based in truth so we can withstand the evil day because then no matter what happens no matter what the onslaught we can say you know what hey I know what the Bible says I know what the truth is and I am one who loves and believes and stands on truth and so whatever the devil throws at me I'm standing on truth I got my loins girt about with truth you know sometimes you could maybe try to think about like which article of clothing you know goes with which attribute and you know it's maybe questionable whether these things are connected but but hey you know if you're not girt about with truth you're going to get caught with your pants down spiritually right because the belt or the girdle is what basically holds your pants up keep you from being ashamed because you're not standing on truth and so we got to have our loins girt about with truth and we got to have on the breastplate of righteousness the breastplate of righteousness now there are some other scriptures that talk about this breastplate of righteousness or that kind of deal with this same idea go if you go to 2 Corinthians chapter 6 2 Corinthians chapter number 6 of course the Apostle Paul is ultimately quoting from Isaiah chapter 59 in Isaiah chapter 59 verse 17 uh talking about Jesus Christ it says that he put on righteousness as a breastplate and um a helmet of salvation upon his head and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with a girdle as a cloak so you have this reference to the helmet of salvation the breastplate of righteousness back in Isaiah and this is something that the Apostle Paul uses repeatedly obviously Ephesians 6 is the big famous armor of God passage but he talks about the armor of God in his other epistles actually as well and one of these uh places where this is touched upon is in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 beginning in verse 3 it says giving no offense in anything the ministry be not blamed but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonment in tumults in labors in watchings in fastings and so he's talking about as a minister of God he's going through all these trials and tribulations and difficult things but then he talks about beginning in verse number 6 you know how is he getting through these things how is he living his life how is he enduring these afflictions he's doing it by pureness by knowledge by long suffering by kindness by the Holy Ghost by love unfeigned this is how he gets through these difficulties of the Christian life right using pureness using knowledge and so on and then it says in verse 7 by the word of truth by the power of God and then it says by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left so we have this idea of the armor of righteousness which ties in with the breastplate of righteousness uh by honor and dishonor by evil report and good report as deceivers and yet true he's saying look we're telling the truth but we're being treated as deceivers you know our people think of us as deceivers uh we're as unknown and yet well known right uh as dying and behold we live as chastened and not killed as sorrowful yet always rejoicing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing and yet possessing all things and so the reason that I point out this passage is because there's kind of a question when the Bible talks about the armor of the breastplate of righteousness some people question you know is this the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ that we have as believers because we believe in Christ Christ's righteousness imputed unto us or is this talking about righteousness as in doing the right things you know and I would lean toward the latter that it's talking about righteousness as in doing right you know the Bible is talking about here how the Apostle Paul is getting through these hardships in the Christian life by pureness knowledge, long suffering kindness these are things that he needs to exercise as a Christian in order to make it through these hard times by the word of truth he's got to be in the Bible by the power of God he's got to be filled with the Holy Spirit and have the power of Christ upon him by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left you know we've got to do the right things if we want to succeed in the Christian life right sounds simple but it's true look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 here's another allusion to the breastplate this time the breastplate of faith and love but another reference to the armor of God 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 6 says therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober for they that sleep sleep in the night and they that be drunken are drunken in the night but let us who are of the day be sober putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for an helmet the hope of salvation for God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another even as also you do so here instead of the breastplate of righteousness we have the breastplate of faith and love okay and so obviously yes faith is what it takes to be saved to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to believe Jesus is the son of God that he died for our sins etc but we also go through life with faith in God's word about other areas of life right if we're gonna you know live the right way we need to trust everything that God tells us in the Bible about how to live our lives like we said about how to live in the church about how to have a marriage about how to raise our children and how to deal with our parents and so forth and so we've got to trust those things and we've got to have love love worketh no ill to his neighbor love is the fulfilling of the law love is doing right ultimately because love leads us to do the right things go if you would to Romans chapter 13 this is the last place we'll look at uh to kind of like check out other parts of Paul's writings to figure out what he's talking about here with the armor of God first Thessalon sorry Romans chapter 13 verse 12 says this the night is first spent the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light so again you see here that putting on the whole armor of God has to do with living right and that's why I think that the breastplate of righteousness has to do with living a righteous life as far as actually like living a life of Christian virtue is what the Bible is saying it says let us walk honestly so he says put on the armor of light and he's going to expound on that let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envy but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof so let's go back to Ephesians chapter 6 with that in mind the Bible says in verse 14 have your loins girt about with truth you got to make sure you're standing on truth you got to make sure that you're a lover and believer of truth that you're not one who just loves to deny reality and just embrace convenient untruths but also have on the breastplate of righteousness you know if you're going to withstand in the evil day you've got to know what the truth is and be willing to die for the truth but not only that you've also got to be one who puts the truth into practice in your life you know it's not enough to withstand in the evil day to know what the Bible says in Ephesians 4, 5 and 6 to understand what a marriage is supposed to be like to understand what children are supposed to be like no no you got to do those things right to withstand in the evil day you've got to be believing those things relying on those things and doing them you got to be a doer of the word if you want to withstand in the evil day and so you got to have the breastplate of righteousness and then he says in verse 15 and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace right so the devil's coming at you and he's trying to get you to doubt your way of life trying to get you to doubt the Christian way of life trying to get you to doubt your beliefs as a fundamental Baptist and trying to get you to think hey maybe I should be in one of these liberal denominations or maybe I should be more like the people on TV or something or more like the Hollywood and music industry types hey maybe I should you know uh rethink these things that you know are clearly laid out in the word of God so the devil's coming at you with this how does having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace how does this protect you from that type of an onslaught because if you think about it I mean having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace this is talking about being ready and able to evangelize right because you know how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace that bring glad tidings of good things and so your feet shod with the preparation the preparation is that you are ready you're prepared to preach the gospel and by the way this is one of the reasons why soul winning is so important obviously soul winning is important for its own sake getting out there and preaching the gospel to someone getting someone saved I mean that in and of itself is an amazing thing and worth it and something that we need to be doing just because we love lost people and we just want to get people saved obviously soul winning is an end in and of itself okay but another thing that I'm constantly bringing up to people about why it's so important to get out there and go soul winning door to door and this is a big one for me is that if you go out door to door soul winning you will actually get good at explaining the gospel okay and then when you're in a situation where you have that loved one that you really care about that friend that you really care about that coworker that you really care about and you have the opportunity to give them the gospel you're not going to be oh uh uh uh uh uh you don't know where to turn you don't have the bible verses and you know what you're not always going to have a bible with you you know at the risk of sounding like that teacher in the 90s who told you you're not always going to have a calculator with you and then it turns out you are always going to have a calculator with you with a smartphone and I guess yeah everybody's got the bible on the smartphone but you know what I don't know about you I don't want to be fumbling for my smartphone oh here let me download a bible app real quick cause I don't even have one let me figure out how this works you know trying to shuffle and then oh I don't know where to turn hey you know what if I had that primo opportunity to give the gospel to somebody I want Romans 3.23 just rolling off my tongue I want Romans 6.23 rolling off the tongue I want John 3.16 rolling right off my tongue I want it to be smooth I want to be able to easily and expertly preach the gospel to someone and take that opportunity and you know what that alone should motivate you to get out there and learn how to go soul winning even if you don't even have a burning desire to get you know random strangers saved which we ought to you know I mean God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son you know we should care about everybody and want to get everybody saved and just want to get out there but you know what even if you're just kind of like eh I don't really care about those people yeah but there are people that you do care about so how good of a job do you think you're going to do at witnessing to that person when you haven't witnessed to anyone in three and a half years when it's been five years since you've presented the gospel versus when it's been five days that you've presented the gospel who do you think is going to do a better job of giving the gospel and you know what I know this from experience because I remember as a teenager before I'd ever gone door to door soul winning and I had opportunities to give people the gospel and I did a lousy job I was saved I knew what the gospel was but I did a lousy job of presenting the gospel and my friends didn't get saved because I didn't know what I was I wasn't I wasn't using the Bible versus I wasn't explaining things well I just didn't have the tools I didn't know what I was doing and I was real proud of myself that I had witnessed to my friends but I you know looking back I did a poor job and that's why none of them got saved you know fast forward to when I turned 17 years old I start going out door to door winning souls to Christ now I start witnessing to my friends now I start witnessing to people at work and I'm just getting people saved getting people saved tons of people getting relatives saved co-workers saved friends say why because I actually learned how to do it how do you learn by doing by experience you know and you know the the great thing about a church like ours is that it's just so easy to get started because you show up at a soul winning time and you can literally just go as a silent partner and you know and if I were you I would go with a variety of people you know because obviously some people in this church are going to be better at soul winning than others and so I would go with a variety of people see a lot of different people in action see a lot of different styles see what's out there learn let them show you the ropes and then eventually you know I would encourage you to do the talking but you know some people will remain a silent partner for several months and that's okay you know I would never pressure anyone to start talking if they just want to be a silent partner Pastor Dave Berzins you know he of course is a pastor in Atlanta now but back when he first came to our church he was my silent partner for like three months and just week after week he was just learning and observing and then finally I remember the first time he gave the gospel I remember the first time he did the talking he literally dropped his Bible you know the proverbial dropping of the Bible he was nervous and but he got somebody saved you know he and obviously now not only is he great at soul winning I mean he's behind the pulpit preaching whole sermons you know but you got to start somewhere you know and he started out as just being a silent partner on soul winning but you know people that have been a silent partner for a really long time you know I would encourage you to start doing the talking and start giving the gospel if for no other reason than that you will have the preparation of the gospel of peace when that opportunity falls in your lap and it's something that you really do care about and so what does this though have to do with protecting us against the devils attack well let me tell you something my friend the people who don't go soul winning they're open to attack from the devil in a lot of ways because soul winning really keeps you grounded in the reality of the gospel and in the reality of our Christian faith okay and people who don't do any soul winning they can easily lose touch with this you know when you see people getting mixed up into stupid doctrines regarding salvation like Calvinism or just or like repent of your sins type of goofball ideas and stuff you know when you see people going down those paths these are typically people that are not out soul winning because these type of ideas aren't really compatible with soul winning you know if you're out there when you're actually out there in the field in the trenches living real life actually pulling people out of the fire witnessing to people man it keeps you solid on your salvation doctrine not only because you're in the word of God preaching your salvation doctrine and you're hearing the wrong objections from them and you're debunking these wrong objections not only that but you're also participating in getting people saved it makes it very real to you not just some theory you know it's sort of like these these people that are off in some classroom somewhere kind of talking about communism or something and how communism is really truly wonderful and it's going to be great and it's going to work out you know and they're sitting around theorizing you know it's like it's like Plato or something you know devising his ideal state or his ideal republic you know it's pretty easy when you're just kind of sitting back in a chair coming up with your ideal republic or coming up with your little communist utopia or something right but then there are the people that are actually running countries or actually dealing with groups of people in the real world and a lot of these stupid theories aren't really going to pan out right you know there's the guy who's not married telling you about marriage and then there's the guy who's actually been married for decades telling you about marriage right and it's going to be a little bit different because of the fact that stupid ideas often sound good on paper but then in reality they kind of are shown to be the falsehoods that they really are when you actually you know people are actually doing the work in the field or like yeah that's not really how it is you know it's kind of like my dad was in school and they were telling my dad that you know if you get shocked if you get fried you know from one arm to the other it'll kill you because the electricity will go through your heart and my dad's like that isn't true because if that were true my dad would be dead and I'd be dead 20 times you know I personally have gotten shocked with like 110 220 and 277 volts from my right arm to my left arm I've gotten all three of those voltages at least all together probably 15 to 20 times personally and yet I'm still here I'm a walking miracle no it's just that it's just that every electrician in the world knows every who here isn't are there any electricians here today okay keep your hand up if you've ever been shocked from arm to arm yeah and you're all alive every electrician if they do it long enough is eventually gonna get electricity from one arm to the other and get fried and they know that's not gonna kill you because we've all done it even at 277 volts I've done it and it was very painful but it doesn't kill you again what'll actually kill you is from your right hand to your left foot that will kill you because that does go through your heart or from your left hand to your right foot that will kill you but you know my dad had this guy in school that this teacher that's saying oh yeah arm to arm that's gonna kill you you know he knew that wasn't true but this guy for this guy is just a theory he's just looking at pictures of the human body and he's just thinking about it from a scientific perspective right but then there's the guy out there that's going no man I'm fine you know you see what I'm saying and so the point is that actually being out there in the field preaching the gospel to every creature keeps you no pun intended but it keeps you grounded you know in the right gospel and the right salvation doctrine and the right doctrines about evangelism and soul winning because you know what it's so funny when the Calvinists act like oh we Calvinists evangelize and then they bring up some guy from the 1700s that evangelized it's kind of funny when you have to go back a few hundred years to find examples of evangelism going on you and I both know that Calvinists aren't constantly knocking our doors and preaching the gospel to us or you know Calvinists aren't walking up to us on college campuses and trying to win us to the Lord you know and by the way all throughout my life I've had a bunch of people come to my door or walk up to me in public walk up to me at the gym I've had people come up to me at the gym and try to win me to Christ at the gym who's ever had somebody at the gym try to win you to the Lord I've had multiple times people come up to me at the gym and give me the gospel and try to win me to Christ or out front of the place and you know what I love it because I'm just like I'm already saved but I'm really encouraged whenever people are out evangelizing you know because I'm talking about true saved Christians are evangelizing and I've had people even within the last like two years I've had like a couple people walk up to me and try to win me the Lord I guess I've just seemed like an approachable guy but I've had a couple people try to win me to Christ over the last few years and you know I love that when that happens because you know it's just like it's so encouraging that people are out there witnessing but you know what it's not the Calvinists that are out you know they've never been Presbyterian they just haven't I'm sorry but they haven't just the reality is they're always Baptist or Evangelicals of some kind hence the name Evangelical you know coming up to you and giving you the gospel you know being out there soul winning is going to keep you grounded in right doctrine and it's also going to give you the confidence to know hey my Christian life is right what the Bible teaches right I'm doing it right I need to keep doing what I'm doing you know what you're not just going to get de-tethered and say like man I don't even know maybe I should just start living like the world maybe I should just be you know going down some other path no man because when you're soul winning it really keeps you anchored just like the truth just like the righteousness the preparation of the gospel of peace also keeps you anchored in right belief above all taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked again faith, faith means believing believing God's word, trusting God's word you know the devil's coming at you trying to get you to doubt the Christian way of life trying to get you to doubt his word and the shield of faith just says no though he slay me yet will I trust him I'm going to trust God's word no matter what I have ultimate faith in the Bible take the helmet of salvation the sword of the spirit which is the word of God praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints and that's really where the discussion on the armor pretty much ends he segues into just talking about his prayer requests and so forth and so we as Christians we want to have the complete package the whole armor of God look if you think about armor the whole point of armor is to cover everything because whatever is that exposed portion that's where the devil's going to go for I mean right if you're out in battle whatever is that exposed area that's where the enemy's going to aim right they're not just going to just stab you in the breastplate they're looking for that chink in the armor okay and so whatever weak spot that you have in the evil day that's what's going to be exploited that's what the devil's going to exploit so if you're kind of one of these reality denying types that just doesn't really care what truth is and you're just kind of like well I just kind of believe whatever my church says believe whatever my pastor says whatever I don't really care okay just tell me what to believe because I don't really care you know if you're not a lover of truth you don't have the whole package you don't have the whole armor of God you know you're not putting into practice the Christian life you know you maybe have a lot of good knowledge and faith and beliefs but you're not actually a doer of the word you don't have the whole package you're not prepared to give someone the gospel if we held a gun to your head right now and said present the gospel you're going to be like you know you don't have the shield of faith you're constantly doubting doubting what God has told us to do helmet of salvation you know here's the thing obviously if you're saved you're saved so how do you put on the helmet of salvation well over in 1 Thessalonians this is called for in helmet the hope of salvation and what that means is that it's the idea of knowing that you're saved having that hope the Bible says that the righteous has hope in his death you know oh death where is thy sting oh grave where is thy victory you see a lot of Christians who are truly saved who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ they doubt their salvation I think all of us have doubted our salvation at one time or another because we're human you know I know I've doubted my salvation before we you know we've all doubted but at the end of the day the people who are doubting their salvation the most are usually the people that are kind of backslidden kind of away from church away from soul winning away from reading their Bible and they can start to you know get untethered from those things even though they are truly saved they can start to doubt and look there are people that are saved but they're shaky on their salvation they're shaky on their salvation doctrine they're shaky on the assurance of salvation you know in order to really have this piece of armor securely in place you've got to basically know that you're saved and be confident about why you're saved I know I'm saved I know why I'm saved I know what it means to be saved anyway do people have the preparation of the gospel of peace they got the helmet of salvation on tight you know but you know we've run into people out soul winning that were saved but they're they're shaky on it they're not they're their helmets rattling all over their head and you kind of you know obviously our main goal out soul winning is to get people saved but sometimes also we just walk up to somebody who's already saved and we kind of just take that helmet of salvation we adjust it for them and tighten the chin strap and get it on tight and you know that's worth doing as well that's part of our ministry as well is helping give people assurance of their salvation and helping get people tightened up on salvation doctrine and so you know the helmet of salvation the sword of the spirit which is the word of God you've got to be reading the Bible and praying so look the bottom line is when the evil day comes whatever weakness you have in your armor is going to be exploited so you want to make sure that you got the whole deal you you know you're a lover of truth you're standing on truth you know the truth you believe the truth right you're living a righteous life in accordance with God's word obviously no one's perfect but you're putting into practice the word of God you're following his teachings you got your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace you got that helmet of salvation you got the shield of faith you're ready to quench whatever the devil throws uh things at you you're quenching those things with the shield of faith you're reading your Bible you're praying right if you're reading your Bible praying you're standing on truth you're ready to preach the gospel look if you if you put these things into practice you will be able to stand in the evil day why is it because you're so mighty no because you're being strong in the Lord and in the power of his might and if you will do these things that you're supposed to do God will do the rest but if you're one who has everything I mentioned but you don't read your Bible that weakness is going to be exploited someday you're doing all these things but you don't pray that's a weakness that can be exploited you know you're super faithful super righteous doctrinally sound but you don't do any soul winning you're not able to witness you know what you're going to become a victim of the devil's attack at some point because he's looking for an opening and if you give him an opening he's going to exploit it and so let's as Christians make sure that we put on the whole armor of God and to realize that look following the Christian life and following the principles that we've been taught in chapters 4 5 and 6 is not going to be easy right it seems easy until you start doing it and you start getting attacked that's where you're going to wish man I wish I read my Bible I wish I was ready to preach all those things are going to suddenly matter to you when things are going smooth you don't need these things the whole armor of God is cumbersome you know when it's easy but my friend you better put it on because you don't know when that evil day is coming you better be ready for it Father we thank you so much for your word thank you for giving us everything we need to be fully equipped and armed to stand in the evil day Lord help us to withstand Lord there's an organized onslaught of all of the devil's minions using the media using businesses, corporations governments Lord help us to be able to hold onto the ground that you've already conquered for us at the cross Lord help us to be able to withstand and help us to be able to live that quiet and peaceable life that you want us to live in all godliness and honesty and in Jesus name we pray amen man take your hymnals please hymn number 10 let's go to hymn number 10 near the cross hymn number 10 we'll sing it out together in that first verse now Jesus keep me near the cross hymn number 10 sing it out now Jesus keep me near the cross bear a precious fountain bring to all the healing flows from calvary's fountain in the cross in the cross be my glory ever till my wretched soul shall find rest beyond the river near the cross a trembling soul love and mercy have me bear the bright and morning star shed its founding in the cross in the cross be my glory ever till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river near the cross oh lamb of god bring his sins before him help me walk from day to day with his shadows or me the cross in the cross be my glory ever till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river near the cross watch and play hoping trust ever till I reach the golden strength trust beyond the river in the cross in the cross be my glory ever till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river