The Lord never loses sight of His thoughts as to the place of the church, of what it is in Christ. In all the minute detail as to the conduct of the saint (1 Cor. 1:22Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: (1 Corinthians 1:2)) contained in the Word, the highest principles are ever advanced. What the Lord looks for from the believer is consistency with the place wherein he is set, the “adorning the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.” How different this from the thought of the natural man, that is ever—do such and such a thing, and you shall be put in this place. We know that He “hath, raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus “(Eph. 2:66And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 2:6)), and having the knowledge of it, are addressed accordingly. This gives a very holy character to each direction; for inconsistency in the smallest circumstance is as unsuitable to the place in which the Christian is set as it would be in the greatest.
So far as regards our present position, there is, and must be, continual conflict; and it is only according to the measure of victory we attain that the character which the Lord Jesus Himself exhibited when here will be seen in us. “Of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.” There is not a single grace in the Lord Jesus but what is suitable for its exhibition in us as united to Him. Union with Christ sets the believer where Christ is; and through union we have the fullness of all that is in Him as our “Head.” The “growing up” into this is a matter of attainment.
The putting on the “WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD” supposes the person to be saved, to be united to Christ, to have the Spirit dwelling in him. The very effect of all this blessedness is to place him in conflict with the powers of darkness, the “rulers of the darkness of this world;” but then it is with “God for him,” against them all. God is pleased through him to display His victory over the snares and devices of Satan, and to bear witness that He has a heavenly, and a heavenly-minded people, who have no portion here on earth. The character of “the men of the world” is, that they “have their portion in this life.” But not so the child of God. He says, “As for me, I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness.” Nothing short of that will answer the desire of his heart: he “presses toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
There are two things that the saint has to be watchful about; the one that, as tempted on earth, he should not be led away after the flesh; the other, his portion being in “heavenly places,” that he should set his affections there: (Col. 3:22Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. (Colossians 3:2))
Israel were redeemed out of Egypt; so are we from this present evil world. They had seen their enemies lying dead on the seashore. If we look at the value of our redemption, we can say our enemies whom we saw are gone, we “shall see them no more forever.” We are brought into the wilderness, and that which we see the Israelites called to in their journey through the wilderness is patient faith, to walk as trusting in God when there were no supplies of food in the way. But it is in their after history in connection with Joshua that we get blessed and minute instruction as to what is our conflict with the enemies of the church of God.
The apostle in this exhortation speaks of being on our guard against the “wiles of the devil,” not of deliverance from his power. Whilst persons are unconverted, that is, altogether in the flesh (Rom. 8:8,98So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 9But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:8‑9)), Satan governs them by their pride, their ambition, their skill, and so forth, although even then the Lord oftentimes exercises a providential care over them, as we see in the case of the poor man possessed of “Legion.” The Lord never let Satan carry him beyond the region of his power; yet the moment the devils departed from him, and entered into the swine, “the swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished.”
Moreover, outward quietness and order make not the least difference as to this. Whether it be by the quiet regular order of the world, or by that which is more outrageous and openly evil in its character, if Christ be shut out from the heart, it matters not, it is all the same. The quiet Gadarenes besought Christ “to depart from their coasts” as much as did the poor demoniac, as we should call him. Satan would “keep his goods in peace” if he could. It is still his world; they are still under his power. Such is our state naturally. As quickened of the Spirit, drawn unto Christ by the gracious things which presents, we are “delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son.”
Our experience ought to be of that which we are already in Christ. Our place, in point of fact, is at present in the wilderness; but faith would ever realize union with Jesus in resurrection—“ our sitting together in heavenly places in Him.” And hence comes the conflict. There are two things very distinct, yet constantly confounded together by the saints-bondage to Satan, and conflict with him. Israel were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, but conquerors of the Canaanites. The question of the soul’s redemption is a settled one. The work is “finished,” all done for us in Christ. The Egyptians whom Israel had “seen, they were to see no more forever.” But then, after the knowledge of the fullness and finishedness of our redemption, there comes in another class of experience as to the power of Satan, and that consequent upon redemption. The moment we see death and judgment met for us on the cross, there is deliverance from bondage to Satan. Resurrection takes us clean out of it; it is no longer a question as to Egypt and bondage at all. Faith knows death and judgment passed on Jesus, and our portion in the “heavenlies.” There is our conflict. “The Canaanite is still in the land.” God “has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus;” but Satan would seek to hinder our enjoyment of these blessings. “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 heavenly places.”
The first thing we are taught here is, that “flesh and blood,” that is, all the skill, wisdom, and strength of man, cannot resist or avail in this conflict with “principalities and powers, and wicked spirits in heavenly places,” one bit. Flesh and blood may be the scene where Satan tempts; but the moment it begins to exercise its energy, the conflict is an unequal one, and Satan gains the victory. The enemies with whom Israel had to contend were enemies of flesh and blood, men like themselves; but we wrestle not with such, our enemies are brought before us here in fearful array, and we have no power in ourselves to stand against them; hence the word, “Wherefore take unto you the WHOLE Armor Of GOD, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
We have to “stand against the wiles of the devil,” the deceit of his subtleties. He is our tempter as regards the old nature, and works by presenting something that is pleasing to the flesh. Religion in many ways may be in the flesh (2 Tim. 3:55Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. (2 Timothy 3:5)), as it is said, “Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect in the flesh?” Satan can “transform himself into an angel of light,” can put on holiness, if that holiness be disconnected from redemption, or speak of redemption apart from holiness. The Spirit of God giving a new nature, and revealing to us all Christ is, as the object of our desire, practically sanctifies us. The moment that we know our title to be in “heavenly places,” and our hearts and our treasure are there, the Lord alone can be exalted; the flesh is made nothing of. On the contrary, the very minute we begin to linger in the wilderness, our hearts go after Egypt. It is our privilege not merely that Satan should not lead us into sin here, but that we should not be earthly but spiritually-minded. (Rom. 8:66For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (Romans 8:6))
The “church of God” is just the witness of deliverance from the power of him who rules the world, the “prince of this world.” “The carnal mind” is one thing that is “enmity against God;” but James tells us that “the friendship of the world” is also “enmity with God,” and that “whosoever will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God.” Whenever a man seeks enjoyment in and from the world, that man is the “enemy of God.” He may be ensnared by it, but whenever he has enjoyment and pleasure in it, he is the “enemy of God!” Again, those “who mind earthly things” are said to be “the enemies of the cross of Christ!”
The apostle tells us that this is an “evil world,” and this an “evil day;” that what we have to do is to “stand.” He supposes us to be in the place where, having our portion in Christ, we must necessarily be in conflict with Satan. The season of conflict is not the time for putting on the armor. If I am trying merely to grasp and get at Christ when in conflict, I cannot have blessed peace of soul; and then there will be no power “to withstand in the evil day.” It is a great thing to enter into the battle as a soldier on the right side, to know God “for us,” to be “taking unto us the WHOLE Armor OF GOD,” and thus to be ready when the “evil day” comes to resist—to “stand.” You never will hold conflict with Satan in energy so long as you are feeling, “Am I on the Lord’s side or not?” “Is God for or against me?” “Oh, if I could but be sure that I had an interest in Christ!” The word is, “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might;” “Take unto you the WHOLE Armor OF GOD.” And that which is first spoken of in the description of this armor is— “Stand therefore, HAVING YOUR LOINS GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH.” What is here assumed at once is the knowledge that as saints of God we are redeemed. We can never have our “loins” really “girt” until we know that we are redeemed. What is meant by “having the loins girt”? It supposes a person not to be at ease, but prepared for actual exertion. The children of Israel were to eat the passover with their “loins girded,” their “staves in their hands,” and their “shoes on their feet.” Why? The Lord had redeemed them out of Egypt; they were strangers and travelers; and so the exhortation here supposes those addressed to be strangers, and passing as strangers through the wilderness on to the rest.
Now, until a believer knows that he is redeemed, it is as though he had lost one place, and has nowhere else to go. We cannot give up this world really until we have the simple and blessed assurance that we have another; until we understand what our hope is—glory, and the ground of our hope-redemption through the blood of Jesus. “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable;” for we are called to hate our lives in this world, to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Christ. “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself.” “Himself,” that is a big word. It is not said that he is to deny himself in one thing or another, in this or in that; but wherever “himself” comes in he is to deny it. Again, he is to “take up his cross,” not once or twice, it is “daily.” But Canaan belongs to him, and he is on his journey to it.
The root of the thing-that which enables us to conflict with Satan-is that blessed truth, that we are redeemed and called to eternal glory, to an incorruptible, and undefiled, and enduring inheritance. Redemption is Christ’s having given Himself for our sins, that He might “deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father.” The apostle tells us not merely to hold the truth, but to have our loins “girt about” with it. Whenever the full meaning of “redemption” is understood, it makes us know that heaven is ours, and that earth is not ours. Nothing but this truth can “deliver us out of this present evil world” (Gal. 1:44Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: (Galatians 1:4)). Consequently we resist Satan; we “stand against the wiles of the devil,” by having the affections of our heart so knit to Jesus, and to heavenly things, as to make us strangers here, because heaven is ours.
I could not be praising God (my proper engagement as a believer) unless the song of praise were put into my mouth on the ground of redemption. In Psalm 40 we read, “He brought me up out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God.” Christ begins this song after redemption has been wrought. There was a time when “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” When the world was created all was very good, but sin has come in and spoiled that; and now Christ takes up the song of redemption, and thus the saints can sing it too, as it is said, “A song of praise unto our God;” but they cannot sing it until they know redemption.
Satan is met by our having our “LOINS GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH.” The secret of a holy and unworldly walk is the being filled with the “truth,” the inward man feeding upon Christ, and the better and enduring substance laid up for us in Him If Satan comes and says to us, “You had better enjoy the world,” the man who has his “LOINS GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH “can answer him, “No, I have got another world.” If he says, “But how do you know this?” “It is very presumptuous of you to think so.” He can answer, “No; for the Son of God’ hath died, and God hath given to us eternal life, and an inheritance in another world to all those who believe on Him “He may then say, “Then why not enjoy yourself in this world if you are assured of your safety?” “No,” the soul can reply, “He died to redeem. me out of this present evil world.” Thus Satan is foiled in all his attacks.
But though the knowledge of redemption be thus blessed, the blaze of divine love, as it were to my soul, it is all truth with which the loins should be “girt.” We can never say that any one truth may not be the very one by which we may resist Satan the next time he comes to tempt us.
In order to this “girding of the loins” truth must be got from the Lord, we must be taught it by the Holy Spirit, then there is power in it; otherwise, resting in the understanding, it serves only to puff up. For instance, that which relates to the second appearing and kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, most blessed as it is, if our “loins” be not “girt” with it, is but speculative truth. If it does not draw me out of the world, make me dead to it, and like unto a “servant waiting for his lord,” the study of it will be only the gratification of the “desires of the mind.” In like manner, if I know the blessed truth of union with the Lord Jesus risen, why is it but that I should bring forth much fruit, that my affections should be heavenly, and that I should have communion with Christ by abiding in Him, and He in me? If I know that I am safe in Christ, what should I seek for but the power of living communion with Him, the joy that I have will then be in heavenly things If the truth that we have is not held practically it is of no avail; it is just as much of the flesh as active sin.
The flesh can be shown about truth, as much as about anything else; indeed it is by partial statements of truth, not by a direct lie, that Satan generally tries to deceive men. This is most strikingly shown in his mode of tempting both the first and the second Adam. We read that he whispered in the garden, “Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Adam listened to him. What did God say? “The man is become as one of us, knowing good and evil.” But then Satan told him the truth in order to lead him to disobedience, not to obedience. Thus, it was also that He tried to tempt our blessed Lord; it was a real promise he presented, but by it he sought to lead Jesus into disobedience to the Father. He is willing to use the most blessed truths if he can but, by doing so, lead the heart away from God. It is against the “wires of the devil” that we are called to stand; he does not show himself in his true character. The hook is hidden by the bait. We should seek to know the truth in holiness, in fellowship with God. The object of our search after truth should ever be, that we might know God.
Those who minister the truth to others have specially to watch lest they should only have an intellectual acquaintance with truth, not experiencing it to be spirit and life in their own souls; otherwise they are but as the pipe that carries the water to others, themselves not drinking in, themselves remaining unrefreshed.
It is never safe for us to think that we have enough truth, if we know that we are the Lord’s; we have to resist the “wiles of the devil” He will not always use one way of tempting us. He will employ every artifice, and by his craft and subtlety seek to entrap us. He may try to deceive me by bringing a promise before me, and if I do not know the meaning of that promise, I may easily be deceived by it. We need “all truth.” Our Lord prayed, “Sanctify them through Thy truth.” Satan knows that it is by truth that we shall be sanctified and separated from the world. Though he cannot pluck us out of the Father’s hand, yet he can scatter all the blessing, and comfort and strength of the saints, and make them trip in the way; let us “stand therefore, having OUR LOINS GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH.”
The next thing that we find mentioned is, “THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS”—“having on the breastplate of righteousness.” Christ is “our righteousness,” and, until this is known simply, Satan constantly uses the conscience of a believer to distract him Where there is not simple rest in Christ, there will be perpetual distraction and distress of soul.
But then, again, as to practical righteousness, a saint should be watchful in not allowing himself in those things which he feels to be wrong. If not so, he gives Satan a handle whereby to distress him. Although he knows that he has no righteousness but in Christ, yet as regards his walk, and in conflict with Satan, he feels that “if his heart condemn him, God is greater than his heart, and knoweth all things.” If we are in conflict with Satan, and the flesh gets the better of us, Satan comes in, and we are laid low; and then, although safe as to our souls, all our comfort is lost, and the Lord is dishonored by us.
The apostle “exercised” himself to “maintain a conscience void of offense towards God and man,” although we know that he counted all his righteousness to be as “dross and dung,” as regarded his acceptance with God. Before God I forget myself, and Christ is everything; but in conflict with Satan, I have to stand for Christ against him who is His enemy. Whenever we are not walking in holiness we have not confidence in conflict; we are not “quick of understanding in the fear of the Lord;” we slip, and get into the power of Satan. If you would have strength against the world, you must have on the “BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,” otherwise Satan will try to make you forget that God is on your side. This is the greatest and most fearful exercise of his power. We read in Peter of those who, through their carelessness, could not “see afar off,” and had “forgotten that they had been purged from their old sins.” This is the only case in which the Scriptures recognize the Christian as not having peace. The saint, through lacking diligence in adding to his faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity, getting “blind,” and “forgetting that he was purged from his old sins,” he is then in a more miserable state than the ungodly, the unconverted man.
Again, truth ever gets lowered when the conscience is lowered. Men are ashamed generally to profess principles which they do not practice, and therefore they try to lower them. But we have need of watchfulness even here against the “wiles of the devil.” Satan would seek to turn all this into self-righteousness. Am I trying to do it before men, it would become such; before God it cannot. The closer our souls get to God, the more do they grow in the detection of the subtle forms of evil that arise in our own hearts, and we are kept in the dust. It is “approving ourselves to every man’s conscience, as in the sight of God.” Though we are called on to “please every man his neighbor, for his good to edification;” it is not that they may please us again (the world’s motive for pleasing each other); the example presented to us is “Christ, who pleased not Himself,” who set God ever before Him.
More saints have fallen into error, into sin, from want of watchfulness in keeping “a good conscience,” than in any other way. From self-seeking, or pride, or vanity, the Spirit of God has been grieved, and no matter what it is that grieves the Holy Spirit, it weakens us in our conflict with Satan. We see a memorable instance of this in the taking of Ai by the Israelites. Achan had taken of “the accursed thing.” They were called to conflict. It was a very little city, and they thought that a few men could take it. They went up, but they were smitten. Why? Because of the “accursed thing.” The same Lord that was at Jericho was at Ai; but He had been dishonored, and they fought not with His strength. We have no strength in ourselves at all. It is, “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.” It is God’s “Armor” we have to put on. “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
Again: “And your FEET SHOD with the PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE.” The effect of the gospel is to carry the soul into the presence of God, not in disturbance or doubt, but in perfect and settled peace, to carry up our hearts into the thoughts and mind of “the God of peace.” We have this peace as our portion through Christ having died and risen again, carrying us up in spirit where nothing can disturb our peace. Here, if the least thing is out of order, or where our wills would not have it, that is sufficient to disturb our peace. The place of peace is the presence of God. There we have the unclouded, settled light of God’s peace in our souls. Our past sins and present failures humble us, but they do not break in on this peace, yet our joy may be interrupted for a time; their end is seen in the cross, and we have passed into that place where they come not. If we see them at all, we see them in God’s presence, where they come to be the measure of the extent of God’s love to us; we see them in the perfect peace in which God has set us free from them all. “The gospel of peace” carries us into rest with God, as it is said, “We which have believed, do enter into rest,” we are “brought to God.” Sin cannot enter there. When there we are undisturbed by the conscience of sin; there is “no more conscience of sin.”
Neither do troubles reach that place, that world to come whereof we speak, a bit more than sin. All is calmness around the throne of God. When we get to God there is an end of troubles. It was in this calmness and peace that Jesus always walked when on earth. Though He had the fullest consciousness of the suffering and shame that awaited Him there, He “set His face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem.” His “feet” were “shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” When His disciples asked Him, “Master, wilt thou that we call down fire from heaven, as Elias did?” His answer was, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And He went into another city.” All the day long was He tried by the wickedness of men, who sought to entangle Him in His talk; but this only brought out more of the perfectness and grace of that place from whence He spoke. He was emphatically “the Son of Man who is in heaven.”
This is the way in which we are called to walk; but until we have rest of soul we cannot draw from God the grace we need for this end. If our souls are at rest in their heavenly inheritance, the insults and scorn of men will not disturb our peace in God. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee.” “Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy presence from the pride of men: Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.”
How far, beloved, in intercourse with others, do you pass through circumstances in peace, not letting their power come in between you and peace? When Jesus came into the midst of trouble, it was as oil on the troubled sea-all was calmed. The God of peace is our God; our portion, as believers, is to dwell in God’s presence in sure and unclouded peace.
It is true that, through the weakness of the flesh, this peace may be disturbed; but I am showing what God’s “Armor,” not what our FLESH is. It is abiding thus in the happy realized consciousness, that “being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;” that peace has been spoken to us who were afar off—eternal, accomplished peace, “through the blood of the cross.” It is this that makes the spirit of peace overflow and flow forth from our hearts, quelling the spirit that naturally dwelleth in us, of which the “scripture saith not in vain” that it “lusteth to envy,” and making of us messengers, and ministers, and men of peace. Knowing that we are predestinated to dwell together in the ceaseless harmony of heaven, we now, in spite of the world, the flesh, and the devil, in the power of Him who worketh in us, “endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.”
Such is part of the “Armor” provided for us of our God, that “strong” in Him and “in the power of His might,” we may in this “evil day” “stand against the wiles of the devil”—“resist,” and we know him to flee from us. It is only in communion that we shall be able to do this.
Fleshly weapons will not avail, and this is of vast importance. I may gain the advantage over another in confuting error by truth, but suppose I lose my temper in doing this, though I may have gained the victory over the man, Satan through his “wiles” has gained the victory over me. Our strength must ever be “in the Lord.”