Description
TANK U
Armor All – Part 1
Ed Young
March 3, 2002
(Video of George C. Scott as General Patton, giving a wartime speech)
That is a pretty motivational speech, isn’t it? I don’t care who you are, that fires me up. I don’t care what stage of life you are in. A lot of us know a lot about speeches. Speeches, if you study history, pretty much make or break a lot of battles and also a lot of athletic contests. Obviously, to hear a speech by General George Patton sends some motivational octane our way and causes us to feel patriotic. I think some battles and contests have been won because of great speeches. On the other hand, I think a lot of battles and contests have been lost because of pathetic speeches. Wouldn’t you agree?
I think I was a part of one of the most pathetic pre-game speeches in the history of athletics during my freshman year at Florida State University. We were playing an NCAA tournament against the University of Kentucky. Right before the game, the coach called all of us in.
I thought to myself, “I am going to hear one of the greatest and most motivational pre-game speeches anywhere.”
I was a little 18-year-old guy and I am stretching my ears to hear. He goes, “Okay, guys, let’s just go out there and have a good time.”
I thought to myself, “That’s it?”
Then he looked at me and said, “Ed, lead us in a word of prayer, would you?”
So I prayed and we hit the court. We got beat by 25 points. That was a pathetic pre-game talk.
We are in a series about spiritual warfare called “Tank U.” We are calling it “Tank U” for several reasons. Number one, we call it “Tank U” because God has provided some serious armor for those of us who know Christ. This is a legitimate British Scorpion tank and we have armor that makes this tank look like a piece of trash. God tells us we have this armor available to us. We need to understand what’s there for us as Christians.
Another reason we call it “Tank U” is because we are going to get a biblical education about this topic. We need to sit under the teaching of God’s word and understand who we are in Christ, what kind of stuff is available to us, and how to utilize it. A lot of us know about it, but we don’t know how to use it in our lives.
Another reason we are calling it “Tank U” is because when a little child is learning how to articulate “thank you,” he or she normally says to their father, “Tank you.” As God’s children, we need to say, “Tank you,” to our heavenly Father because of the stuff he has provided. We are at war. The moment we step over the line and become a Christ-follower, we move from one team to another team. Satan is after you and me.
A lot of people have a hard time believing in Satan and accepting the fact that he is real, but all you have to do is look at all the evil in the world. What causes evil? A damaged chromosome? Was someone’s diaper put on too tight as a kid, or their nursery painted the wrong color? I don’t think you are that dumb to believe that. I think we are more intelligent than that. I think we realize that there is a sinister and evil force and there are beings out there that are wreaking havoc across our planet. If that is true, then we better understand God’s armor and how to fight this stuff.
If you are not a Christian, welcome to Fellowship Church. We are glad that you are here. Listen to me very carefully. We don’t want anything from you. Did you hear that? We don’t want jack from you, but we do want something for you. We want you to know Christ personally, and we want you to know what is available to you as you do life. We are all in a battle.
The Apostle Paul, in Ephesians 6, gathers all these people together. Just picture the Apostle Paul in a locker room or, better yet, picture him like General George Patton. Picture him talking to all of the Christians out there. Picture him telling us what to do, what to be ready for. Picture him giving us the ultimate Vince-Lombardi-on-steroids-General-George-Patton motivational speech, because that is what Paul does when he talks to us about spiritual warfare. That is what we are going to listen to today, as we sit under this teaching in Ephesians, Chapter 6. Paul tells us what we have got to do if we are going to be victorious. Remember something. As Christians, we don’t fight for a championship. We fight from a championship. We fight from victory. We have already won. That’s the good news of the Bible. The Bible says that we are winners so we must act like winners and fight like winners. Then we can be the kind of victorious people that God wants us to become.
Before I get into what Paul says, I want to ask you to do something for me. Picture your greatest strength as a person. What is it? What are you good at? What activity or area in life can you put the ball through the net in? What can you score touchdowns in? What are you good at?
Think about what you are weak at. Think about that area that causes you to struggle. Think about that habit that always trips you up. Just think about that for a second. You got it? I’m going to give you a promise. You can mark this down, write it, highlight it and put it in your database. The evil one will attack your strengths and he will also attack your weaknesses. If he is going to do that, we better understand what is available to us.
Paul gives us four two-word commands. Let’s just run through them rapidly. In Ephesians 6:10 (NKJV), he says, “Finally, my brethren (the word “brethren” here means brothers and sisters. If you know Christ personally, you are a brother or a sister to other Christians around the world), be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.” What does it mean to be strong in the Lord? What’s up with that? I’ve seen Christians walk up to other struggling Christians and say, “Be strong in the Lord.” It’s good to say that, but what in the world does that mean? How are we strong in the Lord and this world of spiritual warfare?
The next verse tells us. Here is the next two-word command, Verse 11 (NKJV), Paul says, “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
You might be saying, “Why in the world is Paul talking about armor?”
This whole military theme is the most used analogy in the Bible regarding the Christian life. You have got to remember what Paul was up to when he penned these words. Do you know what Paul was doing? He was chained to a Roman centurion. As he checked this Roman centurion out, I believe the Holy Spirit just prompted him to compare that to the Christian struggle, to the Christian fight, to the Christian life. That’s why Paul says be strong, put on the whole armor of God. Don’t be partially dressed. Don’t be underdressed. Put on the whole armor of God so we can stand against the “wiles of the devil.” This word “wiles” means the methodology or the battle strategies that Satan has for your strengths and mine, and for your weaknesses and mine. Right now, the evil one has a plan to take you and me out. But if we know Christ, we are on the winning team.
Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV) tells us something that I highlighted in the introduction. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” That’s kind of intimidating. We can’t see our enemy. They are out there but we can’t see them. We can see the results of them, but we can’t see them.
Now look at Verse 13; Paul says something else to us. He says, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all, to stand.”
What does it mean to take it up? That means to use it. I have a friend that I fish with now and then. He lives in Houston. This guy is one of those gear guys. He loves equipment. Every time I go fishing with him, he has about 13 tackle boxes, the latest fishing gear from the shirt to the pants. He has got the special fishing sandals and so forth. He is so into the equipment and the gear that he rarely gets around to fishing.
I tell him, “John, that’s great that you went to Orvis. That’s incredible that you went to this or that fly shop. Let’s fish.”
He says, “But look at this. Is this cool? I can snip the line and it turns.”
A lot of believers do life like that. They are so immersed with the armor.
“Man, I’m not sure about this British Scorpion. Look at those treads. How fast will that go? 55 mph? Wow. You have a machine gun?”
Use the stuff. That’s what God is saying, use it. Put it on and use it. Put it on. Take it up. Use it.
Then, the last little command Paul gives us when he is chained up to this Roman Centurion is in verses 14-15, “Stand firm.” Just be firm. Stand there.
This word “stand” is not to just relax. It’s not to have your feet planted in mud. We have got to be ready to rock and roll and move. Because a tank, if it’s in battle, is not going to just stand there. If you stand there when you are trying to fight someone or do battle, you are going to get nailed, aren’t you? We’ll talk about standing firm a little bit later as we develop this whole thing.
Here’s what he says, “Stand firm then with…” and now he is going to go to something called the armor of God. Do you ever use Armor All? I love Armor All. Armor All works on pretty much anything. You spray the stuff and it shines. It makes it last. I have called this message “Armor All” because the armor that Paul is going to talk about works for us all. If you are a student, a single adult, married, this works for everyone, all ages. It’s custom and tailor-made.
The Belt of Truth
Let’s go through this armor of God because we have to know what the armor is and how to use it. The first thing Paul talks about is something called a belt. Let me read it in Verse 14, “Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist.”
Remember, Paul was chained to a Roman soldier. The Roman soldier had this long toga on and, over the toga, he would buckle this giant belt. It was like a utility belt. This belt integrated the entire outfit. It was the thing, the most important aspect of his gear.
Speaking of belts and utility belts, I grew up watching Batman. I’m talking about the original Batman. How many of you guys were alive in 1966? Maybe two or three of us. There was a movie called “The Batman Movie,” that came out in 1966. It was an incredible movie, because you had the Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler, and Catwoman joining together to fight the dynamic duo, Batman and Robin, Adam West and Burt Ward. I’m not talking about this weak stuff, George Clooney, Val Kilmer, Nicole Kidman stuff. I’m talking about the real deal. One time in this movie, Batman was trapped on this buoy, and you just have to watch it and see what happened.
(Video of Batman and Robin)
Isn’t that great? They made it. Those utility belts work every time. The evil one is firing torpedoes at you and me and we have the belt of truth. Because Christ said in John 8, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
Why did he say that truth sets us free? And why did Paul, in Ephesians 6, talk about the truth and the belt of truth as part of our spiritual armor? Here is the beautiful thing about a Roman soldier. When a Roman soldier was ready to fight—remember they had the long toga on and this belt around their waist—they couldn’t fight with this long dress-like thing on. Their knees would be hampered. They couldn’t move. They couldn’t fake or fight. They would do something called “gird up their loins.” The Bible says to “gird up your loins.” The literal language, when you see this term “the belt of truth buckled around your waist,” means to gird up your loins. It means to take your toga, a Roman soldier would do this, and tuck it in the belt. Then they were free to fight. Isn’t that cool? Before we became Christ-followers, it’s like we had our togas on and we couldn’t move very well. We were limited.
“Oh, yes, I am really free. I can really move around. I’m ready to fight.”
No, you are not. You are believing a lie.
Satan says, “You’ve got it going.”
No, you don’t. Once you meet Christ, his truth will set you free. As you gird up your loins and tuck your toga in, you are free to be the kind of man and woman that God wants.
The evil one fires lie after lie, torpedo after torpedo, at you and me. But if we have the belt of truth on, we have got the truth and it sets us free. We have got some stability in our lives.
I love to tell stories to my kids. My wife and I have twins who are 7 years of age. Their names are Laurie and Landra. I always tell Laurie and Landra these stories for some reason about bears. Almost every night, I tell them a bear story. I just make these stories up. I’ve made up so many, I might just write a children’s book one day about bears. I give them these wild titles. One of the bear stories is called “Snow Cones.” Another one is called, “Windows.” But one of my favorites is called, “Seatbelts.”
I’ll tell you, briefly, this story because I get them all freaked out before they go to bed. I say, “Laurie and Landra, a couple of twins lived in the mountains and let’s just call them, Baurie and Bandra.”
They say, “Are you serious?”
“Yes, Baurie and Bandra. One day they were going with their parents in their Suburban on a little journey to a park. Right before they left, in their driveway, their father turned to them and said, ‘Hey girls, don’t forget to buckle your seatbelt.’”
Then I say, “seatbelt,” very dramatically and it starts to scare them. I go on and on and say, “They went to McDonald’s to eat. After McDonald’s they were pulling out of the driveway and their father turned back and said, ‘Hey, girls, don’t forget to buckle your seatbelt.’”
I talk about going to the park and grizzly bears attacking the car, saliva dripping off of their canines and their eyes wild. I talk about the grizzlies turning the car over and trying to get at the family.
I say, “Oh, no. If their claws touch the family, it could be all over.” I make all of these menacing motions and sounds.
Then I say, “Girls, they were saved. Do you know why? Because they had their seatbelts on.” Isn’t that a great story?
The Apostle Paul is telling us in Ephesians 6, “Hey, don’t forget to buckle your seatbelts.” Because seatbelts give us safety. Satan will fire junk at you and me, so we have got to have the truth. I’m talking about the belt of truth buckled around your waist. I could go on and on and talk about this whole thing about truth, because the word “truth” comes from the word “integer.” Integer is a whole number and a lot of us are living out fraction lives instead of whole lives. That is a whole other message.
The Breastplate of Righteousness
Let’s go to something else, the breastplate of righteousness. That’s the second part of this armor that the Apostle Paul talks about. This soldier had a breastplate that covered his chest, and his back. I’ve heard some teachers incorrectly teach that the breastplate only covered the front. That’s wrong. If you do some study and look at Romans, they had the breastplate that covered their entire torso. So this breastplate of righteousness, the Bible says, is in place.
What does it mean to be “righteous?” What does righteousness mean? Let’s talk about two types of righteousness. The first kind of righteousness is something called “practical righteousness.” Let’s say it together. That is just pure and holy living. I am to live a holy lifestyle, not because of a legalistic trip but because of my personal relationship with Christ. I should live a righteous and pure life because of what Christ has done for me on the cross, because of my love for Him.
In Romans 12:1, the Apostle Paul says, “Present your body as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God.”
That’s my act of worship. So, I am to live a holy and pure lifestyle.
The second aspect of righteousness is called “positional righteousness.” We’ve got practical righteousness and positional righteousness.
I want to show you this positional righteousness by asking a couple of people to come on the stage. Rob, Yanci and Vanessa will come out here and we will understand what it means to be positionally righteous.
Quickly, let’s say Rob is not Rob Johnson anymore. Rob is God the Father. We are using our imaginations. Yanci is Jesus Christ, his Son. Vanessa is just Vanessa Christian. I am this guy, Billy Bob Igmo, walking around. This is a hypothetical situation now.
Let’s say that I see God the Father and I say, “Wow, it’s unbelievable. I’ve seen God the Father.”
All of a sudden I see his Son, Jesus, and I see Vanessa Christian over there. What if I asked God the Father this, “God the Father, which one of the two do you love the most? God the Father, which one of the two are more acceptable? Which one of the two…” Do you hear where I am going with this?
Of course, most people would say, “I’m sure God the Father loves Jesus the most. Jesus is the most acceptable and so forth.”
No. Positionally, they are both equally righteous. Because Vanessa had the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed, given, to her. Thus, when God the Father sees them, he loves them equally.
So, practically, practical righteousness, I am to live a holy and pure life. Positionally, look who I am in Christ. Why am I talking about the breastplate of righteousness? Because Paul knew that the breastplate covers our, figuratively here, emotions. Satan likes to attack our emotions and say, “You are a no-count, Vanessa. You don’t deserve the Christian life. You don’t deserve to lead in Fellowship Church. You don’t deserve…”
Satan does that to you and you and you. That’s why we have got to say he is a liar and that you know who you are in Christ. We mess up, though, when we just say, “Positionally, I am a believer. Positionally, I have the righteousness of Christ.”
We have got to have it positionally and understand that, but also, practically, we have got to live it out. Because positional righteousness without practical righteousness is sad. If you don’t have the practical stuff with the positional stuff, you will give Satan a toehold, an opportunity, to fire one of those torpedoes at you. It will hurt if you are not practically living it out.
I don’t know about you but that fires me up. Positionally, I am just as acceptable as Jesus? Yes!
2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Here is my paraphrase. Because you have been given the righteousness of Christ, you are just as pleasing to the Father as he is. I just love that.
The next time Satan tries to abuse you and throw some junk and bunk your way, and fire those torpedoes your way, just say, “Wait a minute. I’ve got the belt of truth on. I’ve integrated truth into my life. I’ve got the breastplate of righteousness on. I’m protecting my emotions. I know who I am positionally and also practically.”
Gospel Boots
There is one more piece of armor that we will talk about in this wardrobe: Gospel boots. I call them Air Gospel Boots. Ephesians 6:15, “And with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of peace.”
Roman soldiers had these cool sandals and the sandals had spikes on them. They were like Doc Martens on steroids. These spikes would give them the ability to grip the turf. They could fight and have traction and all that stuff. It was a really cool part of their armor. It was kind of the foundational aspect of it, because we have to have feet and the feet to fight to keep us grounded.
When I was five years of age, they didn’t have cleats for kids. But I really wanted cleats. My parents went and bought me some dress shoes. They took the little dress shoes to a golf shop and put golf spikes on the dress shoes. I will never forget the first time I put on cleats. When I laced these cleats up, they were the coolest thing of all times, just that stability, being able to take divots out in the yard. I would run around and have all this grass and stuff stuck to my feet. I loved those cleats. I let my friend, Robert, who I hung out with all the time, have one cleat. I would wear one cleat and Robert would wear the other cleat and we would run around and just have a great time.
The Bible says we have this stability, this foundation, this gripping power when we know Christ. He will set us free, but he will also give us peace because we will have the Gospel of peace.
What is the Gospel? The Gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. It’s salvation. Satan hates that. Do you know why he hates that? Because that is what defeated him. He hates it. He tries to mess with you and me over this whole Gospel thing.
“With your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” They are custom-made with words and actions. That is what the word “fitted” means. “With the readiness that comes from the Gospel.” The “readiness” means that I am ready to move. I am ready to share. I am ready to go for it. Once again, if I am fighting, I don’t just stand there with these cleats on. I have got to move around. I have got to advance. I have got to go to the left and sometimes to the right, but I have got to have shoes on. Shoes are not made just to stand there. They are made to work, and this is what we have got to do.
It says, “from the Gospel of peace.” We have the peace of God and we also have peace with others. We ought to always ask ourselves that, “If I know Christ personally, do I have peace with God and am I at peace with others?” That’s what the Gospel is all about. We must have the gospel of peace. We must be grounded there.
I met with a guy a while back who is not a believer. He is a friend of mine and this guy is just a far-away-from-God type. He told me something over lunch that really shocked me.
He said, “Ed, I have been living my life based on a lie.”
I said, “Tell me about it.”
He said, “I thought that money and success would really give me peace, and I am just going to tell you that I am not at peace. It’s like I am looking for this target and I can’t find it. I can’t find it.”
I said, “I think the target for you, like it is for me, is going to be Christ. I think it is going to be Jesus Christ, because he is truth. And you won’t base your life on a lie anymore once you know him. Also, he will give you peace, a peace that surpasses all of our comprehension and all of our understanding. Because we are going to be at war until we meet Jesus Christ.”
Let’s go down once again the parts of this armor. We have got the belt of truth. God wants us to utilize truth because why? Satan fires those lies, those torpedoes, your way and mine. The breastplate of righteousness. We can use that to realize that we have God’s approval, can’t we? Positionally, we are on God’s team. We have Christ’s righteousness imputed to us, because God knows that Satan will attack our emotions. How about the shoes? The shoes tell me that I am ready to share the gospel. Satan always likes to tell you and me, “Don’t share the gospel. It won’t mean anything. Your testimony? Your life change? Don’t share it. People will think you are a weirdo. Don’t share what Christ has done.”
Do you know why he is saying that to you and me? Because he knows the power of it. It defeated him. I pray that we are all dressed up. I pray that we are not underdressed. I pray that we are prepared and ready to go, because Armor All works for everyone.
Remember, when you do battle, when you do warfare, you can’t fight outside the tank. You have got to fight inside the tank. You have got to realize your defensive armor and also your offensive armor, because we have got both. But I leave you with this. Remember your weakness, that area that causes you to stumble? Remember that? Remember your strength, that area that you are pretty good in? Satan is going to come after you. But if you don’t have Armor All, you will run into some serious problems. If you do have Armor All, you are going to fight from a championship, not for a championship.