The Whole Armor Of God

“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour 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 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: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.” —Ephesians 6:13–18

We have been considering the Christian’s conflict and have found that it is not with flesh and blood, nor is it with our own carnal nature for we have not been called upon to fight with that but simply to deny it; to refuse its claims. It is a conflict with the wicked spirits in the heavenlies who would seek to keep us from the blessed enjoyment of our portion in Christ. This they do in many insidious ways as well as by open manifestations of warfare. We are to stand against the wiles of the devil for in every conceivable manner he will seek to hinder us from making progress in our Christian lives, in our Christian experience, and therefore, we need to be constantly upon the watch and we need to be accoutered with the whole armor of God.

“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God.” This is something very different from the clothes in which we stand before God through grace. Every one of us who has put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ has been made the righteousness of God in Him, the best robe is ours. We stand before God in Christ but we do not put this on ourselves. God has clothed us. But when it comes to the panoply for conflict, we need to put on each separate piece of armor in order to withstand in the evil days when the hosts of hell are pressing upon our souls and it seems as though we would be borne down and defeated. We are not to turn our backs and flee from the foe. We are not to act on the presumption that “he who fights and runs away may live to fight another day,” but we are to face the foe for there is no armor for the back. If we turn our backs, if we retreat, we but expose ourselves to the fiery darts of the wicked one, but as we face the foe unflinchingly in the power of the finished work of Calvary, we shall be able to stand.

“And having done all, to stand.” Where and how do we stand? Is it simply by determination of our own, in some goodness of our own? Not at all. But we stand in the perfection of Christ’s finished work. The foe cannot harm us there. We meet the foe in the name of Christ, the Victor. We claim victory over him because of the One who has already defeated him on the cross. There Satan bruised the heel of our blessed divine Redeemer, but his own head was bruised also and now we are entitled to consider the devil as one already defeated. But, though he knows he is defeated and that his doom is sure, he will do everything he can to harass and distress the Christian as long as he is in this scene. Therefore, [there is] the need of standing strong in faith, resisting the devil, in the power of the cross.

“Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth.” That may seem to us [Westerners] a rather awkward expression. There would be no question in the mind of the [Asian] person for, you see, the easterners wear long flowing garments. They are perfectly comfortable when just moving about at leisure, but if going on a journey or engaged in any kind of conflict, there is the necessity of drawing them up about the waist and holding them in by a girdle so as not to impede one’s efforts or hinder progress. Just so, you and I as believers are to have our loins girt about with truth. What does he mean? Elsewhere we read, “Gird up therefore the loins of your mind.” Just as the [Asians’] flowing garments are to be rightly girded that they may not be carried about by the wind, so we are to have the loins of our minds girt about with truth in order that our imaginations may not be “carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.” We are to gird up, to draw up, the loins of our minds, “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” In other words, our minds are to be controlled by what God has spoken, not by what we think.

I wish Christians would come back to the Book. I am often distressed when people ask me, “What do you think about this, or what do you think about that?” And I have to tell them, “It does not make any difference what I think. My thoughts do not amount to anything. The great question is, what has God said; what is written in the Word?” If the Word does not speak, we have no right to attempt to speak, but where it has given a clear definite declaration, we should be positive and sure in our faith. That is what it is to have the loins of the mind girt about with the truth of God, our thoughts all brought into subjection to His holy Word. How important that is when you have to face the devil because he works through wily error, presenting all kinds of false systems and views and evil speaking in regard to Christ. It is only as our minds are controlled by the Word that we will be able to meet these things. The better you know the Bible, the better fitted you are to meet the assaults of the enemy, and yet some of you have never even read your Bible through once. Have you? You have never gotten beyond the genealogies. You came right up against them and stopped. You never went any farther. You did not know that hidden in those genealogical chapters there are some of the most beautiful little gems you will find anywhere in the Bible. You are going to miss them if you are not careful.

A friend of mine used to tell of listening to Andrew Bonar many years ago. Dr. Bonar was speaking on heaven and the great reunion of loved ones over there, and in his eloquent way, he pictured the believer newly come from Earth walking along the golden street and suddenly coming right up against a group of Old Testament sages and prophets. In a moment he recognizes them and says, “Why, this is Ezekiel, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” says Ezekiel, “I am so glad to meet you.”

“And this is Micah and Zechariah and Amos.”

And then Andrew Bonar said, “And just imagine Ezekiel saying, ‘Oh, you knew about me, did you? How did you like the book I wrote?’

‘Book? What book was that?’

‘Oh, surely you remember my book? Did you enjoy it?’

‘I am sorry to say I never read it.’”

“And then Micah would say, ‘And what did you think of my book?’

‘Let me see, was that in the Old Testament or in the New Testament? It seems to me I remember there was such a book.’ How would you feel to have to meet these men and never have read their books?”

Some of you better get busy. There is far too much time spent in reading novels and in reading the newspapers and too little time given to the Word of God. Good literature is fine, reading the newspaper is all right, but these things should not crowd out time for reading God’s Word.

There was an old Scotchman who could not read nor write. His minister wanted to teach him and so, although he was very busy, he arranged to go to this man’s house for an hour every day and teach him. He took the Gospel of John as a textbook, and the old Scot was greatly interested. By and by, the minister was called away for a time and when he came back, he wanted to see how his pupil was progressing. He went to his home but the man was not there. The minister asked the wife how her husband was getting along with his reading.

“Oh, she said, “he is doing very well.”

“Is he able to read now?”

“Yes, he is doing wonderfully.”

“Is he able to enjoy the reading of His Bible?”

“Oh,” she said, “he has gotten away out of the Bible and into the newspaper long ago.”

Remember the Bible is the only Book that will last for all eternity and anything you get out of it here you will have for all ages to come.

And then we are to have on “the breastplate of righteousness.” I want you to follow me carefully here for sometimes I have difficulty in making this verse clear to people. It is a blessed truth that we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ. It is a wonderful thing to know that righteousness is imputed instead of sin to every believer in the Lord Jesus. But that is not the righteousness that is referred to here. You see, you and I do not put on the righteousness of God. God does that for us. But here is something we are to put on. Turn back to Isaiah 59, the portion that the apostle evidently had in mind. You will see that the righteousness referred to is practical righteousness. “And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke” (Isaiah 59:16–17). Isaiah speaks here of the Messiah, our blessed Lord. He put on righteousness as a breastplate. That is something different from what was always His in eternity. He came into this world as a man, and as a man, was obedient in all things to the will of God. He put on righteousness as a breastplate and now you and I are called to imitate Him by putting on the breastplate of righteousness.

You see, the breastplate covers the heart of the man, and when we think of the heart, we think of the conscience, and mark this, unless you as a Christian keep a good conscience in regard to practical living, you will never be able to defeat your foe. When the devil comes against you and you know there is some hidden sin in your life, you will go down, you will not be able to stand against him. How many a one has failed when Satan made a tremendous assault upon him and people said, “Wasn’t it sad, such a failure and coming so suddenly?” But it was not suddenly for there had been an undermining going on weeks and months and perhaps years, little unrighteousnesses indulged in here and there, unholy thoughts, wicked things going on that were not dealt with in the presence of God, and when the foe came, there was an exposed breast because righteousness had not been put on as the breastplate. You go to deal with the unsaved and if they know that you do not have on the breastplate of righteousness, your testimony will not amount to very much. You may say to a friend, “I would like you to come to meeting with me,” and he may say to you, “I don’t know, Jack, but it doesn’t seem to have done very much for you.” He has been watching you day by day in your work and has seen that you are just as irritable and impatient, that you have just the same meannesses that others have, and he says, “You may talk about good meetings at your church, but I do not see that they have done much for you.” You have not the breastplate of righteousness on. If you want to win in this conflict, you must practice righteousness. Your life must be clean, there must not be hidden sin, or unholy thinking tolerated; no unrighteousness in your life covered up in you would have victory in this conflict. That is what the breastplate of righteousness means. Do not talk about being made the righteousness of God in Christ if you are not living righteously, for when God justifies a man, he makes him just. He justifies us by faith but having been justified, He now makes us just in our dealings with other people.

Then, some of us need a new pair of shoes. “And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” What does that mean? It means walking in accordance with the Gospel. You tell men that you have been saved by the grace of God, that you have peace with God. Very well, let your life show it, let your walk be in accordance with that. There is also the suggestion of feet swift to carry the Gospel of peace. The latest Spanish translation of this is, “Having your feet shod with a joyful readiness to propagate the gospel of peace.” But we are not to go about propagating the Gospel of peace by word of mouth unless we are living in the power of it and walking in it ourselves. Otherwise we just bring dishonor upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then over all, “Taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” The shield covered all the rest of the armor. It is the shield of confidence in God. That is what faith is. It is not “The” faith, it is not what you believe, but how you believe. It is faith in the sense of confidence, trust;—going to meet the foe with your trust not in yourself, but in the living God. Here is a preacher who stands up to preach the Gospel to an audience and says, “Well, I have an old sermon here. I have used it seventy-two times already, it is nearly worn out but I think it will do for this audience. Yes, I think I will use it again. I remember years ago, there were eighteen converted when I preached this sermon and it is still good.” The devil hears all that kind of thing and he says, “I will show you that you have to come up against a greater foe than you realize.” The meeting is a poor wretched failure, and the preacher says, “I do not understand it. I have preached that sermon any number of times. I wonder what the trouble was.” It was that the confidence of the preacher was in himself instead of in the living God. I do not care how many times you have preached on a text, if you ever dare to stand up before an audience when you go to preach the Word without getting your message fresh from the living God and going out in confidence in Him instead of in yourself, you will be a failure. I want that lesson to be impressed upon my own heart, that is why I am putting it so strongly to you. Having “the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.”

And now there is something for our heads. “And take the helmet of salvation.” That is, you see, if I have any doubt as to my own salvation, I will have no real confidence when it comes to facing the foe. Therefore, for a helmet I take the knowledge of salvation that He has given through His Word.

Then we read, “And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Do not make a mistake here, the sword of the Spirit is not the Bible. This Bible is not the sword of the Spirit, it is the armory. There are thousands of swords in here and every one of them is powerful and two-edged. There are two different terms in Greek for “word.” There is “logos” which is the term we generally use, but the other word, “rhema” is the one used here. It means, “a saying.” “And the sword of the Spirit, which is the saying of God.” If the devil comes and you throw the Bible at him, it is not going to drive him away. You might do that and go down yourself. But when he comes, and you say, “Here is what God says,” and you have a definite saying of God to meet the case, you defeat him. Take the example of the blessed Lord in the wilderness. The devil came so cunningly and said, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” He took the sword out of the armory. You need to know your Bible so that you will be able to meet the devil whenever he comes with these suggestions. Then the devil showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and said, “All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” Out came another sword and the Lord went at the devil with it. He replied, “It is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” Then the devil tried to use the saying of God himself. He took Jesus up on a pinnacle of the temple and said, “It is written, he shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” Think of the effrontery of the devil quoting Scripture, and that to the Lord of life and glory Himself! But he left out the most important part of the verse. It reads, “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone” The Son of God was not falling from the temple in order that men should see Him borne up by angel hands. That was not part of “His ways.” The Lord used another “saying” from the Book of God, He said, “It is written again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” The sword of the Spirit is the saying of God. Get to know your Bible and then when the devil comes against you, you will be able to say, “But the Book says thus and so,” and you will have the Word for him.

If we want the blessing of God, we must walk in obedience to His blessed Word.

But now after all this, when you have the various parts of the armor in place, there is something that must never be omitted. Bunyan speaks of it as actually a part of the armor. He says, “in addition to all the rest there was a piece called ‘all prayer.’” “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” You see the armored believer is independent of the devil because he is utterly dependent upon God, and prayer is the source of his dependence.