Putting On The Armour Of God Means Putting On Christ

How do Christians overcome spiritual opposition? Putting on the armour of God means putting on Jesus Christ. God Himself is our defender – our shield and our strength. God gives us victory over spiritual opposition, and demolishes the attack of the enemy. New Creations, overcome the lies and deceptions of the enemy with the truth of God’s word, and stand in the victory that Jesus secured at the cross.

TRANSCRIPT

Have you ever experienced or felt spiritual Darkness closing in on you? As the recreated children of God, we aren’t immune to the attack of the enemy but our inheritance in Jesus includes the victory that he secured at the cross over all powers and authorities in the spiritual realm. Jesus is the power that conquers all! And in Him we have the victory! We’re glad you’re here in New Creations… let’s dive in!

Welcome to episode 14 of The We Are Recreated Podcast. My name is John Matthew, and I was a pastor here in Stratford for about 10 years. And in that time I had seasons of doing youth ministry, seasons of doing young adults ministry, worship ministry… but whatever kind of ministry I was doing, I often found myself, late at night, being the only one in our church building because I was on lockup. I remember a few times having these very strange experiences with spiritual opposition.

One night in particular stands out. I was locking up after a young adults meeting and Bible study, and I was the only one around… and I had this growing sense of panic and anxiety, like I was being followed around the building, like I was being pressured. And I came to realize, as the Holy Spirit gave me discernment, that I was being bothered and harassed by a demonic spirit that wanted me to be afraid.

And I tried to ignore it at first. I tried to just carry on with my night. I was locking doors and turning off lights, and trying to hurry up and get to the front door so I didn’t have to stay there anymore. And as I grabbed some of my last little bits and pieces, and took them to the front door, I thought, “No! This is not right! I’m not having any more of this!” And so I turned and I faced the very dark foyer (because I had turned all the lights off already), and I said, “No, enough of this…” and I started to sing Raise A Hallelujah. Do you know this song?

<Raise A Hallelujah clip>

Except that my version wasn’t pretty. It was late, and I was tired, and I was feeling harassed… and so it came out kind of ugly! But in that moment, that song became my declaration that I was running to Jesus, that I was leaning on Him, and that I knew He had the victory… That I knew he was powerful and strong, and that the enemy wasn’t to have any kind of authority over me and my time and my evening. And in that moment, there was peace for my soul. In that moment, everything became light, and that feeling of harassment went away.

This moment became a tangible experience for me of that verse that we read in James where it says, “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). I could have just carried on. I could have just tried to make my way through the building, grab my stuff, keep peeking over my shoulder as I make my way out to my minivan. I could have tried to encourage myself, like a “buck-up” kind of thing, where I say, “Come on! Just be brave! Just be strong! You’re a grown man, for crying out loud! Just get on with your night!” But I knew, in that moment, that Jesus was the best place to turn. I knew, in that moment, that Jesus was my hope and my strength and my salvation, and that he was powerful, and that I could trust him to intervene on my behalf.

Where do you turn when the spiritual atmosphere turns dark, and you feel a squeeze of the enemy pressing against you? I trust that you turn to Jesus and lean into Him, because you’ll find Him faithful.

First Peter also tells us to run to Jesus when we know that we’re under attack from the enemy. In 1 Peter 5 we read this warning first: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prows around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” And then the verse continues and we’re given these instructions: “Resist him [the devil], standing firm in the faith.” This is the call, to resist the devil and to stand firm on Jesus the solid foundation. We resist the enemy and we keep our attention on Jesus the Saviour.

You know, the rest of that section of 1 Peter 5 talks about the hard things of life – pain and suffering. We’re never promised that we won’t experience pain and suffering. We will! In fact, here’s a video where we talk about just that. But in the hard things of life, in the pain in the suffering, we get to lean into Jesus, and in the thick of things, when things are hard, as we’re depending on Jesus and we’re resisting the enemy, our faith closes the door on the enemy so that we don’t give him an opportunity to sweep us away or to devour us like Peter writes about. We have victory and we have freedom in Jesus, and we have grace for every trial. So resist the enemy and he will flee from you.

One of the ways that the Bible describes this intentional focus on Jesus is by clothing ourselves in Him… And you can look at Galatians 3:27 or Romans 13:14 for a couple of examples there. But in Ephesians chapter 6 we find Paul talking with the believers in Ephesus about putting on the armour of God. He tells us to put on the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, to wear the belt of truth, to put on the shoes of the gospel of peace, to take up the shield of faith and to lift the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God.

These are Paul’s instructions to the people who are believing, and there’s a lot that we could say about each of these different elements, these different items that Paul lists here but the big takeaway for today is to recognize that each of these pieces of armour is a picture of Jesus. Kim noticed this a few years ago and was kind enough to bring me in the loop. If you look at the pieces of armour, we see:

🔵The helmet of salvation – Jesus is our salvation.
🔵The breastplate of righteousness – Jesus is our righteousness
🔵The truth – Jesus is the truth, He said of Himself
🔵Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and the gospel is all about Jesus and how He’s made peace between God and humanity again
🔵The shield of Faith – Jesus is the author and the perfector of our faith
🔵And the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God – Jesus is the Living Word, and He’s the truth that’s sharp enough to divide between soul and spirit

And so, when we put on the armour of God, we’re clothing ourselves with Jesus so that we can stand in faith, and we can stand in victory against the attack of the enemy.

Well, how does that work? Why is that important? Why do we need to clothe ourselves in Jesus? Well, using the helmet of salvation as an example, Andrew Furley explains it this way in a recent post of his:

Andrew Farley:

Jesus Christ Himself is your defender, and you need to know it! When those fiery darts are coming at you, the accusations of the enemy, you need to be ready. Perhaps they’re attacking your head… but wait! You’ve got the helmet of salvation – the truth that your salvation is secure. The enemy might accuse you and say, “You’re not a real Christian. You’re not really saved. If you were a true believer then you would never have done that.” Accusation right at your head. But if you’re looking at Jesus Christ as your helmet of salvation, then His finished work is your security, and you use the promises of God: “I’ll never leave leave you; I’ll never forsake you… nobody can snatch you out of my hand!” And the fact that the New Covenant is about God’s promise keeping to Himself. It was never about your dedication and your commitment and your promises. It was all about him and his promises. So, the helmet of salvation is a beautiful defense against the accusations of the enemy.

That part about taking hold of the promises of God is so important. The Bible tells us that Satan is liar, that he is the father of lies, and that when he speaks, he speaks lies. Jesus Himself is our defender, and so you can trust the truth of the word which says “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world” 1 John 4:4. God has overcome the power of the enemy. The enemy has been deposed! And it’s all because of Jesus.

In Exodus 15:3 we read these words: “The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is his name.” Or in Zephaniah 3:17 it says, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty warrior who saves you.” It’s the Lord who fights for you and stands as your defense, and so our security is in Jesus. It’s God’s victory. It’s the victory that Jesus won at the cross that makes us overcomers, that makes us more than conquerors. It’s God’s grace that enables us to step into this free and victorious life so that the works and the schemes and the lies and the thoughts of the enemy are overwhelmed, death is defeated, and sin is obliterated. And we stand victorious and redeem. Or as Ephesians chapter 6 puts it, “Having done everything to stand…” and keep standing, and to keep standing firm on Jesus the rock.

Today I want to encourage you to lean in to Jesus when you feel the pressure of the enemy, the attack of the enemy, or when you hear lies and deception being whispered to your mind that contradict what God says about who He is and who you are in Him. Take your stand on Jesus the firm foundation. It’s not always neat and tidy, but faith aimed at Jesus wins the victory over the enemy.

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If this was helpful for you today maybe you’d pass it on to somebody that you think would also be blessed and encouraged. Click the top link there to see the last episode of the podcast and be encouraged some more. And until we see you next time, remember: We Are Recreated!