The Belt of Truth (Ephesians 6:14a)

Context

1. 1. The battle is spiritual and not physical (Eph 6:12c)
   2. We have an enemy that isn’t flesh and blood (Eph 6:12c)
   3. Our enemy is the devil and his cadre. (HC 127)
   4. We don’t need to find the enemy, he will find us. (Dt 11:24, Josh 1:3)
   5. We need to stand firm, and refuse to yield any territory to the devil (James 4:7)
2. The Belt of Truth
   1. Historical Background
3. What is Truth?
   1. Does Truth Matter? YES!
      1. Truth is one of the characteristics of God. (Westminster Shorter Q4, Ps 31:5, Isa 65:16)
      2. God is a God who never lies (Heb 6:18)
   2. What is Truth?
      1. 1^st, Truth is the Good News (Eph 1:13, 1Tim 2:4-6)
      2. 2^nd, Truth is Scripture (2Tim 2:15)
      3. 3^rd, Truth is the life of true righteousness and holiness (Eph 4:21-25, 1Pt 2:12)
      4. 4^th, Truth is the exposing of evil and understanding the will of God (Eph 5:6, 9-11, 17)
         1. There will be false teachers (2Pet. 2:1-2)
   3. Can we know Truth? (Prov. 23:23)
      1. Jesus thought we could 78x “I Tell you the truth”
      2. Truth is known by obedience to Christ, and obedience to Christ comes from the renewing work of the Spirit in a person’s heart. (Jn 8:31-32, 1Pet 3:15)
4. What does truth protect us from? (Eph 6:11)
   1. Lies
      1. Satan is the speaker of Lies (Jn 8:44)
      2. Some of Satan’s lies:
         1. An unforgiving spirit^[1] is okay. Remedy (Eph 4:32)
         2. ^[1] It is right to fear, God wont care for us. (Phil 4:6)
   2. Led astray (2Tim 4:3-4, Eph 4:14)
5. William Gurnall, Christian in Complete Armour
   1. We must not confide in the armour of God, but in the God of this armour, because all our weapons are only ‘mighty through God,’ 2 Cor 10:4 (vol I:53)
   2. Thus you see it is not armour as armour, but as armour of God, that makes the soul impregnable. (vol I:54)

^[1] R. T. Kendall, Understanding Theology, Volume One (Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus, 1996), 265–266.