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Eternal word as Son of man, as Sovereign Lord, And now by faith on thee, we rest till all thy title have confessed 264.
If I was to make a remark or two, or talking with a brother.
Stick a little bit of gold.
And a brother.
Texas Who's speaking about the?
All that the the enemy has been so successful.
And I'm sure we're all made to feel that that the power of the enemy has been increasing and the darkness is settling down on these land so favored with the gospel.
And.
But.
I was thinking of that.
I have it in Ephesians 6.
We called on to be strong in the Lord, in the power of his might, and have on the whole armour of God.
And I was wondering if.
Would it be?
A.
What a bee of the spirit of God just to perhaps spend an hour. I don't not say all our meetings, but just an hour on the perhaps the last chapter of.
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Of Ephesians.
And perhaps we could get some help on those one of the mind of the spear. What is the meaning of our having our?
Or being girth of an annoying girt with the truth, our feature with the.
Was the preparation of the piece of the gospel of the peace of God. What is the what is the meaning of having on the breastplate of righteousness and and the helmet of salvation?
Perhaps we could get some help. And if it's of the spirit of God, maybe we can be encouraged to to press on and and to look up.
Where our redemption is growing near.
Verse 10.
Thanks so, ****.
If you agree.
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.
Wherefore 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, stand therefore, having your loins Gerda, ball with truth.
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, 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.
Which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak, but to ye also may know my affairs, and how I do tickets a beloved brother and faithful minister. And the Lord shall make known to you all things whom I have sent unto you, for the same purpose that you might know our affairs, and that he might come for 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.
Not sure. Crossed.
The Jordan.
With the children of Israel he found himself.
In the land it was. In the land of Canaan, but it was.
He found himself in conflict.
There he met the man with the drawn sword, the drawn sword in his hand.
Now let's show that it was.
It was That meant conflict. There were enemies in the land.
But who was the man with the drawn sword? Perhaps someone will tell us.
Lord Jesus.
I believe so, certainly.
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Yes, the Lord Jesus meets Joshua with a drawn sword.
And Joshua asked him for us over against us, and he says, as captain of the Lord's host, I might come.
And so, Israel.
Where the Lord's host.
And.
The Lord Jesus has gone.
Gone into death for us.
He has gone down into the grave, and these he has gone below.
Creation in a sense.
But there he's he's gone down into those caverns of darkness.
Where Satan reigns.
And.
He overcame thee. By his death he overcame the power.
Of the wicked one, and he has ascended, he has.
Taken captivity, He's taken his enemies along with him. But he's taken us. He's raised us up together with him, Made us sit together in heavenly places in the heavenlies in Christ.
The Heavenlies. He has won the Heavenlies for us.
And that's where we belong and that's where he's going to bring us.
The Heavenlies We are a heavenly people, but the enemy is there.
And he's doing everything in his power.
Try and spoil what the Lord has won for us and this is going on in our life every day.
Is that right, Clem?
We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but with spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. We have enemies in the position that we are put in too, don't we?
Would you say today claim that we are the Lord's host?
Yes, we are. That's right.
The captain delayed in all the battle that's before us.
But that is a very solemn thing, is it not? Where Joshua said to him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay, but as captain of the host of the Lord, am I now come, Joshua had to realize that he was standing on holy ground.
And we think of the words of him that is holy and him that is true.
The testimony today has to be in that character or it will come under the government of God for sure.
That is holy and he that is true. So it's very solemn to see the Lord Jesus.
There in Revelation chapter one.
Displayed in a judicial way.
That doesn't change, of course, His love toward us, or our perfect standing in Him. We don't want to put any question at all upon that, but we may indeed feel our His hand upon us because of our low state.
For Israel, the warfare was physical because their inheritance was connected with this earth. That's why the Lord Jesus said in Matthew concerning their blessing, it was from the foundation of the world because it's connected with, was connected with this world and they will yet be blessed in that way in a future day. And so it was right and proper that they go in and conquer with the physical sword and drive out those physical enemies. But we don't have a physical warfare.
We wrestle not against flesh and blood, as Brother Clem has brought before us, but it's a very real warfare nonetheless.
And for Israel as they went in to possess the land. And it's interesting that the real conflict for Israel never began until they went in to possess their inheritance. It's true they had a skirmish with Amalek in the wilderness and so on, but the real conflict never began until they went in to possess what was what God had provided for them. But as long as they went in with the realization that there was one fighting for them and went in in his strength, they had victory and were able to set foot on their inheritance.
And drive out their enemies. When they went up to possess Jericho, they went up in the strength of the Lord. And there was a great victory at Jericho. And the Lord caused the walls of that city to come down, and he gave them victory over their enemy. But then they quickly forgot and they said, well, AI is the next city, and it's just a little city, and we won't send up very many of our men. They went up in their own strength, and they were soundly defeated because they forgot that it was not in their own strength, but it was in the strength of the Lord.
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And I believe the land of Canaan brethren brings before us that which we can have an enjoyment of Indiana, our souls. Now it's all that is brought before us in this first the first few chapters of the book of Hebrews of Ephesians. That is our heavenly blessings in Christ. And so we can have an enjoyment of these things in our souls now. Not something we have to wait for until we get to glory. It's true we'll have a greater enjoyment in that day when we no longer know in part and prophecy in part, but he wants us to enjoy these things now.
But I believe, brethren, in the measure in which you and I seek by grace to set foot on our inheritance, to enjoy all that is ours in and through Christ. Now in that measure the enemy is there, and he's seeking to rob us of the enjoyment of all that is ours in Christ. If we're seeking to enjoy these things this afternoon, by the grace of God, from his word, in the power of the Spirit, the enemy is going to be busy to interject every kind of thought, to take our minds and our hearts away from that.
Which he would desire us to have the enjoyment of. But, brethren, we can't do it in our own strength. Sometimes I've heard people say, well, I can do it with the Lord's help. Well, I know what people mean when they say that. But really, it's not just doing it. It's not doing it with the Lord's help. It's doing it in the strength of the Lord, not in my own strength. And so at the beginning of these meetings, I believe it's good to realize this. And again, he wants us to have an enjoyment of these things, to go in and possess the land.
But let's remember we have a real enemy. An enemy that's powerful, but there's one who's all powerful. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
Chapter 20.
As a good example for us to illustrate what we're talking about.
Second Chronicles, Chapter 20. There's a nice prayer there. And there's the eyes of the Lord. We've just been reminded about the eyes. So in chapter 20 of Second Chronicles, beginning with verse 11, we'll read a few verses. Behold, I say how they reward us.
To come to cast us out of thy possession.
What belonged to the Lord's host belonged to the Lord which thou hast given us to inherit.
We've got the heavenly things, or God, will thou not judge them?
For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us.
Neither know we what to do. They had the right object but our eyes.
Are upon thee, and who and all Judah stood before the Lord.
That's the position of the Saints today, the Lord in the midst.
With their little ones, their wives, and their children. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
I noticed in the Joshua where we've been referring to in the first chapter that Joshua is told by the Lord some of the same words that we have in our 6th chapter of Ephesians just to go back there. Joshua 1/5.
He says to Joshua, there shall not any man be able to stand before thee.
All the days of thy life, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage, for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers, to give them Only Be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it.
To the right hand, or to the left, that thou mayest, prosper whithersoever thou goest.
Verse 9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage?
It's been mentioned the inheritance is ours, brethren.
Heavenly places. We've been blessed with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places. No one can take it from us. The enemy and all the hosts of hell cannot take it from us. But what he can take from us is the enjoyment of that.
Blessing. And that's what his constant effort is to do. But we need to realize, brethren, the exhortation of the Scripture is to be strong. It's been mentioned. It's not in our own strength that we can do it if we.
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Exert our own strength. We're going to be made to feel how weak we are, but it is in the power.
Of his might no power like it. When we see the enemy and all his designs, like you've been mentioning Brother Clem, all his efforts and all his seeming successes, it tends to call us, make us feel so small. And it's right. We should feel our weakness, but we should not doubt, on the other hand, the power of the Lord to be strong.
In the Lord, in the power of his might, and in these verses in Joshua, we see that his strength was.
To be very courageous, to observe, to do all according to the law which Moses my servant commanded thee, turn not from it to the right hand or to the left.
In being in obedience to the Word of God, for we can be strong, brethren, we have a powerful enemy. But if we walk in the fear of the Lord, we do not need to fear the enemy to walk in. The fear of the Lord is to be delivered from the fear of all other areas.
Yes, the devil. And he will flee from you if you're walking with the Lord in communion with the Lord.
With Christ, Christ has already defeated sin. And if you were I are walking with the Lord and commune with him. When Satan comes, he finds Christ there, then he please, and he'll flee.
The children of Israel had more conflict in Canaan than they did in the desert.
Well, I suppose clamp on. I not. I don't know others and could give you a better answer than me than I could.
But the the privileges, the great privileges that were that belong to them as God's people, that he gave them this land, that land flowing with milk and honey, and what a land it was.
A wonderful land and it was. It was Jehovah's land, and he and he gave him that well, the Lord Jesus.
He has redeemed us at the cross, He has risen from the dead. He's put all our sins away, and he's gone back to sit on the throne of God. And all the way he feels, all the way from the cross to the throne of God. And there he places us in the greatest privileges that God himself could give, everything short of the Godhead that he could not, that he could not give.
But everything short of the goodness he's given us were in the heavenlies He's given us that it's our title. And so privilege brings conflict. I don't know, Clem, maybe you've got a better answer than that. Oh, that's that's very good. And Satan hates for anybody to enjoy that place so near to God.
Satan's fall himself was that he wanted to be God.
And Adams Four was he shall be his God. And they tried to steal that place. And Satan tried to steal it. And I believe the two great enemies that Satan raises up, the Antichrist and the imperial beast will be Satans last effort to get into the place of God.
And they'll be destroyed. They'll be the man of glory that does that. Now, who is it that has the nearest place in a moral position?
To the Lord Jesus gets us.
Satan hates that. He doesn't like to see brethren walking in the path close to the Lord and enjoying heaven ahead of time. So he tries to make us fall from that high standard. So every time we're warned here, it's to stand stand fast. With stand, we can't go higher, and we dare not go lower. The enemy would like to dislodge us and put us down.
That means Satan's. The fiercest of point of Satan's attack is the holiness. If Saints are seeking to walk in holiness, this is. This is where Satan makes.
His greatest attack the holiness of God. I was thinking our brother Don brought before us earlier as to Genesis. God created a paradise on earth for man, a paradise on earth. Well, Satan comes and he ruins the whole thing. He enters into that and he ruins the whole thing. The Lord Jesus has in at the cross. He's brought us into the He creates a paradise involved for us.
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And his grace is going to bring us there, but he wants us to enjoy it in a measure now. But Satan is seeking to do everything he can to spoil it. He'll he's not. He cannot spoil the heavenly. He's going to be cast out of them. We get that in Revelation 12. The time has not come yet. God is using him as a test during these. During this time, God is using him well. Today is coming when he's going to be cast out of heaven.
He accuses the Brethren up there. He's the accuser up there now, but down here on Earth he tempts us.
With his Wiles he'll do anything he can in order to spoil that which Christ has won for us, the joys of the joys of of all that the Lord Jesus has brought us into.
More of the flesh, wasn't it? What is typical of the flesh? I think it's helpful to see. So the conflict was more within in the desert pathway, but in Canaan it was direct conflict with another enemy, which is figurative of Satan. And as is said here in our chapter, it's the.
Principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness and heavenly places.
I think it's extremely important for us to realize that we are in full warfare now. If the enemy can persuade us that we're at peace, he can advance in a lot faster form against us. We need to realize we are at war, We are treading enemy territory, and every step that we take in the right direction is going to be tested, going to be.
Contested by the enemy of our souls are powerful.
Uh, enemies. And we need to realize that Satan is a defeated enemy. He's already been defeated, but he wants to persuade us that he's not, that he still has authority and power, and the only way we can advance against them is to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his mind. I think it's really important for us to realize we're exhorted to be strong as thinking of what Paul says to the Corinthians in the 16th chapter First Epistle.
Which you like? Men be strong we tend to be. But the enemies efforts to be cowed into position, of being scared and withdraw, Brethren, we have reason to stand not in our own strength.
God granted that we may really realize how weak we are, but to be strong in the Lord, how important that is.
Thing to realize too, that it is a defensive warfare. There's really no provision made for a retreat. That is, it's a question of standing. So there's really no armor to speak of on the back part. Someone was mentioning that just recently, so that ought to be a real exercise to our hearts. It's a question of standing in an evil day and so forth that's emphatically brought before us.
I think too versatile is very important because it points out that we're not selective in this armor. The word is very clear put on the whole armor of God. It's the wisdom of God that knows really what it is we face. And so as we look at the different elements of the armor, we're going to find that it's what God is giving us as complete. It's the whole armor. And it's important that we understand all the elements of this armor.
So that we may be able to stand. And of course what it is, is the Wiles of the devil. It's already been pointed out. But as we know, he's a clever adversary. He can appear as an Angel of light. He's very subtle. And so it's the Wiles of the devil, with all his cleverness. And the only way that we can stand is to put on the whole armor of God.
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Very vital to us to realize the sphere of conflict.
In 2nd Corinthians 10, the Apostle says that though we walk in the flesh, though we are living men and women in this body, the weapons of our warfare are not according to the flesh. We are wrestling with spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies.
Our citizenship is in heaven.
We are no longer citizens of this scene. We are here, but the sphere of our conflict is heavenly, and the weapons of our warfare are not according to man, not according to the fight. We do not get involved in the affairs of this life and become entangled in order that we might be faithful and good soldiers for him who has called us into this warfare. We wrestle with spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies, which is our normal place as believers on the Lord Jesus Christ and our the weapons of our warfare are the word of God and this panoply that God has covered us with AS.
Defense against the the subtlety.
Of a wily enemy.
Connection with what you said about no armor in the bet for the back. It says of Ephraim that being fearfully turned back in the day of battle and was slain.
But I was thinking of how you have an exhortation in Second Timothy, and it's very precious to me that it's in Second Timothy where there is an attack on the truth and a giving up there. In that first chapter it says he's not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. If we have the spirit of fear, we didn't get that from the Lord. We got that somewhere else because he's not given us the spirit of fear. I've been encouraged to how in the minor prophets, and even in Isaiah as well, you find when Israel was at a low point and God had placed his.
Governmental hand upon his people, how often he gives them an exhortation to fear, not to find their strength and their resource in himself, even in days of weakness and ruin. And so again, Paul, when he wrote to Timothy in the second epistle, he said, Therefore my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
He told him later on in that same epistle to continue in the things that he had learned and been assured of. Because we might take up these things at a meeting like this, and there might be young people who say, well, you don't know what I'm facing at school. You don't know the conflict of the enemy in this dark day in which we live.
And I realized that things are getting darker and darker. And in a the western world where things were ice and over and we haven't felt the power of darkness in the way that we did in the past generation. We're feeling it today. These things are coming right into the United States and Canada. And you say, can we really go on? Is this provision for the last days? Yes, brethren, the resource that we have in Christ is the same limitless supply that's always been available to the people of God. This whole armor of God that we have in our chapter is available to every St. of God on the face of the earth today.
It's all provided for us, not our provision, but his provision, if we're willing to avail ourselves of it.
And so we don't want to underestimate what life is in a world like this, but I've appreciated when Caleb went in to finally possess his inheritance, he asked for the very part of the good land where they had observed 40 years before that the giants and the high walls were those enemies that just seemed insurmountable and that had scared them. But what was the difference with Caleb? Well, he had seen those giants, but when he saw the giants, he compared them to the Lord.
And it wasn't the people that looked like grasshoppers. It was the giants that looked like grasshoppers. Because the Lord was so much greater. And he asked for that very part of the good land. I don't believe he asked for it. So much for the fact that the grapes of Eshkol were there, and the figs and the pomegranates and no doubt all the wonderful things that were there. But he wanted to prove that in the strength of the Lord he could go in and take possession of his inheritance and overcome the enemy. And was the Lord able? Of course he was.
Caleb had said some 40 years before, if the Lord delight in us, he'll bring us into the land and give it to us for an inheritance. And he found that the Lord was sufficient, and brethren, the Lord is sufficient. Young people, I know you're growing up in a day of darkness, and when you go to school, the presence of the enemy is felt in a greater way than perhaps when we went to school just a few short years ago. But the Lord is sufficient. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And you can overcome the enemy and go on in the enjoyment of all that is yours in Christ.
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And live for God's glory even in 1996.
No.
Is that ignorance of God and the corruption and all the wickedness that come in as a result of it? How about that? Is that right, Clem?
Ignorance of God. You know not in the light. You don't see the light.
In the night and brother, you get the smoke coming up out of the bottomless pit. That's the influence of the pit upon the minds of men, to exclude the knowledge of God, and that is the darkness.
What is the evil day? The evil day?
I'm sure it is, yeah.
Was it the evil day then?
In the days of the apostle.
Just looking at him when he was chosen, Paul.
And given his Commission, or sent on his mission by the Holy Spirit, he and Barnabas.
The first case they met was Elimis, the sorcerer. Satan began right away. I don't know how much Satan knew about, oh, what are we going to do? I don't think much, but he was going to resist that man who had chosen to go up. And he goes a little further, gets over into Macedonia.
Their gospel is going to spread into Europe, and there was a.
Woman with the spirit of divination.
And she tried to join along with Paul. Now the enemy will do this. He'll try to resist it and put it down or try to join in with it. And she said these men be servants of the Most High God. What's wrong with that state?
It looks good.
Yes, but Jesus hasn't taken that position as Most High God yet. He's going to do that in the day of the Lord. So she was wrong on that. Well, oh put her out, put that spirit out. And the work of God went on so weird to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his mind.
To to mix up the dispensations.
You take like these Jehovah Witnesses that come to your door.
This is the day of grace they bring in. Satan will bring in what is the past or what is future in order to confuse, in order to deny the truth of the present.
But I was. Is it not so that the evil day was would take in this whole dispensation? The whole dispensation? I'd like to think, brother, as to the evil day, it is said this is your day and the power of darkness. So when the creature lifted up his hand against the Creator to slay the Son of God, that began the evil day. And now we're in the last hour of that day. John tells us it's the last hour.
You know Paul, it got progressively worse because when he was there and he upset the work of the silversmiths, you know, and and Ephesus.
That was the crowning blow and they tried to pull him apart.
And I believe even after that they tried every way they could to put him to death. I believe that's what he means when he says I have fought with beasts at Ephesus. So when you really disturb a stronghold of Satan like that, you can expect the worst. What the Lord preserved you. They're greater than that stronghold of Satan and the same. I like what? Clemens Buckley. Boris the evil day. It's the whole of the age. Is that what you're saying?
The enemy fighting against the truth of Christ and the church that he's bringing to heaven.
It's really encouraging to really encourage you to consider what the scripture says about this power of the Lord. There's no greater power than this, and it's important to be reminded that even though we live in the midst of powerful enemies, the power of the Lord is the greatest power. We belong already to the winning side. In the first chapter of Ephesians, it speaks about.
That power and justice like to read those verses. It's just so thrilling to my own soul to get a glimpse of that power. We sometimes talk about the power of God in creation, and it is a tremendous power.
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It's really thrilling to study the universe and to consider the power of God that not only created it but maintains it in its order. But here we have a power of God that is greater than the power of God in creation.
It is the power of God in resurrection and in the 19 verse.
The apostle prays that their eyes would be open to know that power, and he says here, verse 19, what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us Word who believe according to the working of his mighty power. It's almost as if he runs out of adjectives describing the greatness of the power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.
And notice this far above all principality and power and might and dominion.
So you want to talk about those powers of wickedness that it mentions in our chapter?
Far above all that power, there's a man sitting on the throne of God.
Oh, what a thrill, brethren. The one to whom we're united to intimately. We look up, and as we view him, we can go on in the power of the Lord. Sometimes the Lord allows the enemy to make inroads. But remember this, that when the Lord allows Satan to do something in our lives, he always sets the limits how far he can go.
We have the example in Job where he was allowed first of all to take away everything that Job had, but he told them don't touch him. And then the second encounter was Satan. He was allowed to touch Job himself, but don't take away his life. He always set the limits. So remember that even though the enemy may make inroads.
It's for us to get into the presence of God.
When he makes inroads, we don't have to do with the enemy, we have to do with God.
We walk this before God. God sets the limits and He cannot cross those lines. The enemy cannot cross those lines.
So that's the power that is working here in the first chapter of Ephesians. It's in to to us word who believe in the third chapter just to point it out, and the 20th verse unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us so.
That word, that power, works towards us who believe, and it works in US who believe.
Speaking of the power of Satan, it's in our chapter, is it not? It's not so much the Satan of the Roaring Lion, but it's his Wiles. It's his Wiles that we're so much worn to him, but we need to have on the whole armor of God for that. The only power that we have is the power of God. Anything else from that is the flesh, and we're sure to fail.
If I get out of communion, Satan knows it right away. He's right there. If I get out of communion and I perhaps I'm due for a fall. If I don't get back into the Lord, ask the Lord to come in. But.
He is. We have such a subtle enemy, and he accomplishes more by his Wiles, and oftentimes much of the time, than he does by outright power.
Relative to armor, the only other time it's mentioned in the New Testament is where the strongman is encountered by one stronger than he and takes away his armor. So he's a defeated foe and we have all the equipment in our chapter.
To succeed against him.
What was the armor that he took away?
Tell us that Hebrews chapter 2.
Through death and joy of death, and delivered them, who through all our time were subject to ******* through fear of death.
Power to passwords to believe. That's resurrection. That's raising Christ from the dead. One of the old brothers said that there was a time.
00:45:08
When Satan, when Jesus lay in bed, that God's power was called in question.
Could he? Would he racing from the dead? Of course he did. And that's what Bob has written to us about. Now we get to the last chapter in the Book of Revelation. Jesus says I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. Have the keys of hell and death. The power over death belongs to a man now. It's our savior. Now can't we be strong in the power of the Lord and in the Lord and in the power of his mind? He got He got power over the greatest enemy that's ever come. That's death.
Resurrection. What a wonderful thing it is.
Death is the greatest weapon in the arsenal of God.
And we have the, we have the privilege of using it.
In our practical, everyday life.
To be used amongst us First Corinthians.
Think it is the third chapter. We learn what death does for the believer.
Just read that it cheers you up. You know, First Corinthians 3.
Verse 21 The last part of it all things are yours. Whether Paul or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life now look or death, or things present, or things to come, all are yours and your Christ. And Christ is God. The only thing that death can do to the believers, Usher him into the presence of the glory.
And even now it disarms the enemy.
I haven't thought of those apostles and those that bore witness to the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus. In the first days, those men were living practically on resurrection ground. You can threaten a man, and I suppose the severest threat you can give to a man is to kill him. But here were men who really were living beyond death. They were living on resurrection ground. You threatened a man that's already died.
And it has no effect on him whatsoever. And they threatened those men. They threatened to kill them if they continued to.
To speak in the name of Jesus and it had absolutely no effect on him, continued right on.
It was the power of this world knows nothing about It's the power, if we know, brethren, what it means to live in resurrection life. It's a power this world cannot touch, really is.
What we use death as a weapon against the enemy is given to us in Second Corinthians chapter one.
Where the apostle said.
That he was so distressed by the activity of the enemy that he was fearful even of his life. Nevertheless, he said, we had the sentence of death in ourselves and are confident that having been delivered, we will yet be delivered. That's a very poor paraphrase, but it's the word, the death of the death instrument of death being translated into experience. So that accepting the fact that we're already dead, we're dead with him.
His death is our death, and so, translating that into our experience, we can wield that power against all the power of the enemy.
And and render him powerless against us.
Later on, because it's Corinthians, Second Corinthians, there it says, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest. So in that sense we have the sentence of death in ourselves. It's an area where the enemy cannot touch a believer.
Do I say that he kept himself under such a under that sentence of death that the only thing that appeared, the only thing that manifested, was like?
He was.
Just like, that's right. The life of Jesus. That's right. Yeah. Well, could we have a word? Perhaps? And what is it to have our loins guard about with truth?
Certainly the seed of strength are they not, and so they certainly ought to be gird about with truth. It ought to characterize our our lives in this world. That ought to be what sustains what strengthens us, is the truth of the word of God.
00:50:01
It's a practical thing. All the armor is practical, isn't not. Yeah because the breastplate of righteousness, what is that That's not the divine righteousness of the gift of God. I believe it's practical righteousness and we can lay ourselves open to the enemy if we're our dealings are unrighteous in this world even like it says of an overseer having a good report of them that that are without you know.
Because the enemy is ever looking for a way to accuse us. And so these things are extremely practical. Even our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. We ought to go through this world as those that have a message of peace rather than contending with our fellow men. You know, it's like the one who came with the beautiful feet proclaiming glad tidings. So all of these things are extremely practical and.
Our heads. Or rather, the shield of faith. You know the enemy is ever looking for a place.
That he can lodge a fiery dart of doubt, and then the helmet of salvation. How the mind has to be guarded.
From the attacks of the enemy. So these things are extremely practical. There's another thing too about those elements. There's an interesting sequence. You can almost relate it to that which is ours is to our steps, you might say, towards salvation. First you start with the truth, and that's the truth of God. And it's not the theories of men. It's not the ideas of men that we often encounter when we speak to people that their souls, but it's the truth. The Lord Jesus Christ himself is truth.
Then having that, then there's righteousness.
And righteousness is related to truth because it's that which is honoring to God that which is.
Through that which is proper. So first we have the truth. We have a sense of that which is.
Becoming to God righteousness. Then what? Then we hear the gospel of peace.
And isn't that wonderful? Because that's the good news. That's the glad tidings for simple men. But how do we make that good to ourselves? The next element? Faith. Because it's in believing that the gospel has any power in our lives. It's a wonderful truth of God that stands salvation to whosoever will, but to whosoever has to have that faith. So then after the faith, then what do we have? Then we have salvation. We know.
That we're forgiven. We have that perfect position before God. Our sins are dealt with, so we have salvation. And then what? The spirit we're in developed by the Holy Spirit of God, which makes things good to our souls and and is the the thing that gives reality. In a sense. Maybe that's not the right word, but it makes it good to our own souls being entwled by the spirit. And then finally we have the word of God.
And that's where we have in our hands right now. It's the word of God, wherewith we grow, that we learn that we have the full enjoyment of our faith. So in these elements that we find in the armor, it's also a little bit of the progression that we have.
And starting out, you might say, as those who are without Christ, but then leaving us to that full place of blessing, where we wind up with the full word of God and the truth of God.
Jesus says.
I am the truth. He is the truth, the 4th chapter of a patient says. As the truth is in Jesus, I think you can look at these things as a person. The truth. He is the truth. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ and the next one.
The breastplate of righteousness I remember aren't the Barry telling us one time that.
Nothing that Christ did is our righteousness. Nothing that he does is our righteousness. But He is our righteousness. So it's a person. Again, the breastplate of righteousness. And who is the gospel? Who is the gospel clan? What Jesus. He's the good news always. That he in person is the good news.
And.
The Helmet of Salvation. I'm not getting all these. Maybe, but.
When?
Umm, that old man took out Jesus, Jimmy, and took up Jesus in his arm, he said. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. He is, it's Jesus. It's the person. So if we look at these things as as a person, well, let's, let's rejoice in him and keep close to him.
00:55:05
Going back to the.
Going back to the having our loins gird about with with truth as you're saying that the Lord Jesus, I said to the Lord how knows this man not having learned how does he know all these things? He's he's never went, never went to school, never went through our colleges and well, the fact of the matter was he was the truth. He didn't only have the knowledge of the truth, but he was the truth itself in his own blessed person. He was he was the truth. He could say I am the way, the truth and the life and you can't separate.
Either one, any of them, He was the truth. But then he's left us here in this world and in our own, in our own measure and in our way. We're called to be the the what the Lord was here before the the manifestation of the truth of God. No, we're never called. We're never called the truth.
It was only the Blessed Lord Himself could be said to him that he was the truth.
But we're called to be in this world, a display of the truth. The truth is all.
And the Church is spoken of as the pillar and ground of the truth.
But we as as individuals, we are called to the in our everyday walk.
As has been brought out, this is these are all practical. In our everyday walk, we ought to be the display of the truth of God and ours, and as things come a long way.
I may not be able to get my Bible and turn to the Scripture, but nevertheless walking in the truth, walking in communion with God, with the Lord, and in The Walking in the truth, then this is the this gives one, this answers the gives us direction, gives us guidance for everything that comes up, anything that comes up along the way.
We were having real difficulty at home years ago.
And I complained to a brother that we were just so weak that we couldn't deal with the problem. And here I believe he gave us It's been so in my own soul anyway, the solution to dealing with difficulties, he said. When you walk in obedience to the word of God, you have all the power of God at your disposal. Having your loins gird up with the truth is walking in obedience to the Word of God.
That sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy word is truth. So the Lord Jesus is the truth that he says thy word is truth. And so this shows the extreme importance of reading the scriptures and how important that is. You young people go to school or are indoctrinated are reading in the books the ideas of men and they change so rapidly.
Really created a lot of waves when I was down in South America this last time it came out in the newspapers that.
The Pope had said that evolution is now true. He adopted evolution. It really was amazing. The waves that it created down there really made me feel sad because there are more and more departure from the simple truth. And truth, dear young people, is absolute in its character. We're we're in a in a world, and especially in this country where we're told that everything is relative. Your idea. You have your ideas. I have my ideas.
I say completely separate from your idea, completely separate from my idea. There is a standard, an absolute standard that never changes. What is it? It is God and His word. The Lord Jesus said I am the way, the truth that excludes every other option. It means that he is it. That is the truth and.
If you don't line up with that, you are not lining up. That's all there is to it. And it's the scriptures. Oh, to be well versed in scripture. It's our strength, your young people. I know you got a lot of homework at school and at college, but I want to encourage you to never neglect the reading of the scriptures. Girt your loins with truth. Find them about you when you hear ideas.
In the classroom or in any other area that don't line up with this scripture, remember this is the word of the living God. It will never pass away. It will stand. When heaven and earth are gone, it will still stand.
Oh, how important to have our loins girt about with truth. I remember reading a statement when I was in high school of one of the early statesman in the United States, and he's made a statement I thought was good, he said.
01:00:14
Error needs a strong government to support it. Truth will stand alone.
That's true, brother. If you stand in the truth, you have strength that nothing can challenge. It will stand like that. One more thing about truth, Maybe some have noticed it. Let's turn to 1St John chapter 5.
We are living in the age of the spirit of God. Down here on earth, we know that. And you're looking first, John 5.
At the end of the verse six it says and it is the Spirit beareth witness because the Spirit is truth. There's the truth in that person and he's down here. The word is the truth. Jesus is the truth and the Spirit is the truth. We're to have our loins gird about this truth.
We also say new man just referring back to Ephesians chapter 4.
Where we have the truth thought out in a practical way and connected with the Lord Jesus in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 20.
But ye have not so learned Christ, if so be, that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning the former conversation, the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful loss, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
And that she put on the Newman, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Wherefore putting away lines, because every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another, just to amplify a moment.
Ephesians is particularly the conflict brings in God and Satan.
And it's God's, as we have in Ephesians in chapter 3, is God's eternal purpose that's at issue. And he has, according to the council of his own will, purposed that there be a man, Christ, under whom He will put all things, and has formed a church to be identified with his Son. Where were we when the whole process started? We were dead.
And trespasses and sins, What has God done to bring us into his purposes?
He has raised us up to sit together in heavenly places in Christ, and now there's a conflict between God and his purposes and Satan and his attempt to thwart the purposes of God, because Satan wants that place. And so we need to be protected, and we need to go on in a practical way that the purposes of God be fulfilled in and through us, because not through us, but in us that he purposes and so.
He is going to display his wisdom in the church, and that's what we're part of. And So what does he do? He says, well, you've got to have my armor. It's God's armor here. It's not the armor of Christ. It's not our armor. But we need the whole armor of God. And we have been given a life and a nature which belongs to the family into which we have been brought, which is that new creation that's brought out in Ephesians.
And so he says, you've got to put that Newman on in a practical sense and walk according to it, because that's where the safety is and that's where God is given his glory, as it were, when his people are kept, and walk in obedience in a practical way to himself.
I just mentioned it because it's it's well for us to realize, just by contrast, that Ephesians.
The enemy is Satan, and the emphasis is on God who opposes him, and we come into it as dead, but now alive in Christ Jesus. And so Satan is our enemy as well, because he's the enemy of God. In Romans, the enemy is the flesh, and the Godhead in opposition to it brings in the spirit of God. And so you have the man, and he goes in Romans 5 and six and seven and so on.
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Sets him free. In chapter 8 is the Spirit. In Colossians, the enemy is the world. And what is this set in opposition to it? It's Christ. And He has given us an object in himself, in the heavens. And so we're told that your mind on him, on the things in the heavens. And so it's well for us, in studying the word to distinguish the things which differ and to be able to get the full benefit of them. And so in this particular chapter, even in these verses.
It's well to remember that God is in conflict with Satan. It's in the heavenlies that the conflict is an issue and woe to us to try and do as it were battle in an offensive way. As it's already been mentioned, it's more a defensive warfare or can I say it's more the protection of God for us in his conflict with Satan and that we will be brought into our.
Full enjoyment even now what is opposed in US? It is that measure in which we enter into our place in the heavenlies in Christ and the inheritance connected with it, which Satan is trying to keep God from having in the person of his Son Christ.
The Don my brother Donald was mentioning that these are all practical, these details here, and they're all practical, is the having on the breastplate of righteousness. You're saying that's not righteousness before God, but it's righteousness in our everyday life. It's having a good conscience. Is that right, Dom?
About things.
And if we have a good conscience, then the Spirit is free and we feel we have the Lord with us in in what he was having to do and.
We have a good conscience, he said to the Lord Jesus Christ that he loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore God is God.
Exalted him above his fellows. So if we have our affections set on.
Righteousness as he had the love of righteousness and we walk as he walked, John tells us, he said, say if they biteth in him all himself also to walk as he walked, then we are loving righteousness and hating iniquity, and therefore our affections are guarded by the breastplate of righteousness without feeling. I just have appreciated the fact that there are two great things that Satan is seeking to do to us. One is he's seeking to fill our mind with everything that is not of Christ.
And fill it with that which is error. And the other thing is he's vying for our affections. And that's why I believe these two things are brought out first of all in connection with the armor. First of all, the loins gird. Because in first Peter chapter one we're told to gird up the loins of our mind. And I can't overemphasize enough what Bob has said earlier concerning the truth of God as reading it from the word of God you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. I used to hear a statement when I was growing up that meditation was becoming a lost art. But I wonder, brethren, if reading itself is becoming a lost art in the audio visual computer age in which we live.
Where perhaps not the generation of readers that we once were. And, brethren, there's no substitute for storing up our minds with the word of God.
For reading it for ourselves and storing it up. I realized that the mind is not the dwelling place of the truth, but it is the entrance. And what is it that's going to combat Satan coming in and filling the mind with that which is not the truth, It's having the truth of God itself. I used to hear a statement when I was growing up. Store up your mind with the word of God until you think in the very language of Scripture. Well, how good to store up our minds in that way with the truth when we hear something that is error.
How are we going to detect it? Because we've studied up on that line of error and that kind of thing. No, I don't say there aren't times when we need to have some outline of something in a specific situation, but I believe to take up all those false doctrines and errors, only defiles. How are we going to know when something doesn't have the ring of the truth? It's because we have the truth itself. The teller at the bank doesn't handle counterfeit money so she can detect it when it's passed to her. She detects it because she handles the real money from day-to-day.
And being used to the feel of real money. Then when something that's false is passed to her, she realizes immediately that it's not the real thing.
01:10:04
And so it says, Be simple concerning that which is evil, wise concerning that which is good.
I say again to those of us who are younger, store up your mind with the word of God. What's going to keep us is to be well rooted and grounded in the fundamental truths of the Word of God. Timothy was told that what would preserve him was to have an outline of truth or a form of sound words. We need that more and more in the day in which we live. But then there's the affections. Satan is vying for our affections this very day, and so we need to have the breastplate of righteousness.
And so I just say again, Satan is after those two things, our mind and our affections. Let's be, in a practical way, put on the armor of God that we may be able to withstand. And maybe just allow me to say too, as a warning to those of us who are parents. I'm appalled when our children go to school to see how not only are their affections vied for by the enemy, but there's a great movement today in teaching to empty the mind. Oh brethren, we need to be careful of these things.
If our children come home and tell us that they're trying to put us, put them into some state of meditation or whatever, they may label it to empty the mind. We need to be on our guard. We're never exhorted in Scripture. To empty our minds were to bring every thought into Obi, into obedience, into captivity, under the obedience of Christ. Again, it's having the mind filled with the word of God, not emptying the mind, because as soon as the mind is empty.
Satan has plenty to fill the mind. Well, these things are very real in the day in which we live, and we need to be watchful and on our guard.
Ministers later remarked the other day. I didn't hear him, but somebody told me I think it was over the radio, he said. The worst enemy to this nation, he says, is television.
The worst enemy to this nation is television. And I don't hesitate to say to it one of the worst things that that is for the Saints of God is that very thing, how it has taken time that could be spent in communion. I remember the day when I was a boy, we used to sing. It was a favorite pastime for the family to get together and sing. Hymns. Get around the old organ or piano and somebody would play and we would sing. It's almost a lost arc. It's it's hard to get. It's hard to get people together to sing.
But Satan is hoisting in new things all the time in order to keep us away from the this precious book. He hates this book. He hates this book. What is the very thing that is the most precious thing that we hold in our hands?
To understand that it is a good conscience, it's the practical walking in righteousness. And you and I have a conscience brother Don was talking about in Genesis chapter 3, where?
Even then, Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That's what conscience is. It is the knowledge of good and evil, but it operates according to the amount of light. It's like somebody has said, you can have good eyes, you can have them wide open, but if there's just darkness in this room, your good eyes don't see anything. It's in the measure that there's light that you can see things. And so it is in the light of Scripture that you and I.
Are able to discern what is good and what is evil, and it is an exercise. I think we need to realize that, Paul said to Felix. I think it was herein. Do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men? He didn't say I have a good conscience. Always. No, he says. I exercise myself, and it's a constant thing. We need to be on our guard. And I just like to say.
To those who are younger and to all of us really, if there's some area of your life, something you are permitting, that your conscience says.
Bad. Don't allow it. It's going to take away that defense of your heart. The breastplate covers the heart and one bullet through the heart of the soldier, and he's done. Don't allow it. It's important to have on the breastplate of righteousness, and I think of the Apostle Paul how he said before the council, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. And then the high priest commanded that somebody hit him on the mouth.
And so Paul kind of reacted. He said, God shall smite thee, Thou whited wall.
01:15:04
And somebody called to Paul's attention. That's the high priest you're talking about. What did he do? He immediately he judged himself. He said, I wit not it was God's high priest, for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people. Immediately he applied the word of God to himself and put that breastplate right back on how important it is to be exercised in the.
Epistle to the Hebrews in the last chapter he also says.
Pray for us, for we trust we have a good conscience. Brethren, our consciences are not the measure, are not the standard. But we need to live in the light of the truth of God, according to what our conscience tells us. Never avoid the voice of conscience. This is telling you something and you ignore it. Then you can have a cauterized conscience, and that is dangerous.
Don't spare yourself when the Spirit of God lays something on your conscience that you are allowing.
Deal with it. Get it out. Make sure that that breastplate of righteousness is in its place.
Whatsoever.
A good conscience is that of a holy faith.
Hebrews says without faith it is impossible to please him.
Roman says that which is not a faith of sin.
So it's a holding faith in a good conscious.
I can remember Clarence Lundine saying a number of times, The first principle of the Kingdom is righteousness. You know the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. And when Paul was talking to Felix, you know he reasoned with him as to righteousness, temperance and judgment to come, and he trembled because the life of those Roman officials was bad.
And so he sought to reach his conscience, and eventually to.
For the good of his soul. But he just trembled, and he only considered what might be of a temporal benefit.
A bride, you know.
You're referring Don to Roman 14 verse 17 just to.
Clarify the point, Romans 1417. The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, and I remember Clark saying that.
You can't see the Kingdom of God, but you can see the moral results of it. And that's what the moral what these are the moral results of the Kingdom of God. We're in it, and these things ought to be seen in US. What righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
M226.
And Arthur Gray.
Shall we?
Holy unpro.
Oh great, my glory is her, all right.
We'll see.
Come on, Frozen.
And sorrow.
Grace.
My love will create all the rest of the world.