Are You Ready For War?

[0:00] All right, well, good morning. Thank you, choir. Would you take your Bibles and turn to Ephesians chapter 6? Ephesians chapter 6. I appreciated our children's minister, Sarah Ferris' example of the power of God and the difference that that can make in our lives, and that certainly goes along with our passage today.

[0:24] Anyway, Ephesians chapter 6, we're concluding, just about concluding our series through the book of Ephesians. And just by way of reminder, you see the resources that were used for much of the study in this series.

[0:44] The background of the book was written by Paul in AD 62 from Roman imprisonment to a church with which he was very familiar, having pastored there for three years.

[0:55] And the breakdown of the book, the first part, first half of the book, first three chapters, who we are in Christ, second three chapters, how we live for Christ. So let's stand together if you're able to, and let's read Ephesians chapter 6, beginning in verse 10.

[1:13] Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil.

[1:25] For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil spiritual forces in the heavens.

[1:37] For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.

[1:48] Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, and your feet sandaled with the readiness for the gospel of peace.

[2:00] In every situation, take up the shield of faith by which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

[2:17] Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer request. And stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.

[2:30] We're going to focus on verses 10 through 17 today, and our topic will be, Are you ready for war?

[2:41] Are you ready for war? Let's pray together. God, I pray that you would speak to us from your word today. I pray that everything that you have for us today would be absorbed by our minds and our hearts, that we would leave here having heard from you, and it's in Jesus' name we pray.

[3:02] Amen. You may be seated. Floyd, for some reason, I just lost the power of this.

[3:13] It doesn't seem to be advancing through the slides anymore. So I don't know if you can, Lee, if you can click through, maybe as I go along. So this doesn't seem to be connecting anymore.

[3:26] I apologize for that. So number one, in your bulletins today, in your outlines, number one, know your enemy. There are two things we need to understand when we are going to war, and that is our enemy and our equipment.

[3:42] Our enemy and our equipment. It's important to know who the enemy is. Is it not? We certainly don't want to shoot anybody with friendly fire. And so in verses 10 through 12, we see here in Ephesians 6, be strengthened by the Lord and his vast strength.

[3:59] Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of who? The devil. That's right. So he is our enemy. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness.

[4:18] Against evil. Against spiritual forces in the heavens. James. Okay, that just worked. We may be connected again.

[4:29] James 4, 7. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. So this is our enemy. It is the devil.

[4:40] And the devil then will flee from us. Now, Jesus has to remind us who the enemy is frequently.

[4:51] John 10, 10. The thief. He calls him the thief. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. By contrast, Jesus came not to steal, kill, and destroy, but he came to give life and to give it abundantly.

[5:06] So we can have life. And we can have that abundant life that only Jesus offers. Luke 19, 10. The son of man came to seek and to save the lost.

[5:18] That is the purpose of Jesus coming. Why are we tying this in? Because frequently, you and I can start to see the enemy as flesh and blood.

[5:30] You and I can start to see the enemy as each other. You and I can start to see the enemy as the lost outside these walls. But those are the very lost that Jesus came to seek and to save.

[5:44] So they are not and never will be the enemy. The enemy is very clear. He is the devil. He is the thief. He is the thief of joy. He's the thief of eternal life because he tries as hard as he can to keep people from placing their faith in Christ.

[6:04] That is his end goal. That is what this spiritual war that is waging all around us, that's what it's about. Acts 26.

[6:16] Jesus brings the mission back to us. He says, I am sending you to them, the lost, to open their eyes that they may turn from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.

[6:36] Here is the battle. It's between darkness and light. Here's the battle. It's between the power of Satan and God. And the enemy is darkness.

[6:47] The enemy is Satan. And we are warriors in this battle. We must know who our enemy is. So as my way of reminder, our enemy is not those outside the church.

[7:00] It's easy to look and say, we are the sanctified ones, we're the holy ones, we're the chosen ones, and it's us against them. Truth is, that's a very flawed way of looking at it.

[7:13] Truth is, oftentimes you and I do not at all act like the sanctified, holy chosen ones. Often we act just as wicked and lost as anyone else.

[7:25] We have to remember, our enemy is not those outside the church. And secondly, our enemy is not those inside the church. Oftentimes we'll treat one another inside the church like the enemy.

[7:37] If you don't like my decision, or if you don't like my way of doing things, or if you don't like the role that I have and you wish you had, whatever it is that can bring up strife within a church, believe me, our church is not exempt.

[7:53] And we have to continually remind ourselves that the enemy is not inside the church. It's also not outside the church. Our enemy is not politicians, Washington, D.C., or the media.

[8:08] How many of you are happy? How many of y'all are happy with the last several administrations in the White House in America? How many of y'all would say, we love the job that we're getting out of Washington, D.C. these days?

[8:22] I don't think there's a whole lot of hands that would go up, right? But they are not our enemy. The media, fake news, that's still not our enemy.

[8:37] We don't have to agree with what we hear. We can recognize the harm being done in the political system, etc., that comes out of Congress and comes through our televisions, through the media.

[8:49] But we must remember, as we vote according to how we believe God wants us to vote, as we make the decisions to lead our families in the way we believe God wants us to lead them, we must remember that those who don't see it like us and those who we believe are not living their lives according to Scripture or making decisions or legislating or reporting according to Scripture, they are not the enemy.

[9:16] They are deceived by the enemy. They are swayed by the enemy. Oftentimes. But they are not the enemy. They are the ones that Jesus came to save. Our enemy is not people.

[9:29] It's not politics. It's not problems. It's not pressures. It's not the liberals in Hollywood. This is not our enemy.

[9:41] Our enemy is the spiritual darkness of lostness. It's lostness. Being lost without Christ.

[9:54] That is our enemy. It's embodied by Satan and all his forces. It's a spiritual battle we are in. It is not a battle against people.

[10:04] That's why we can still pray for the president whether we like what he's doing or not. That's why we can still pray for the lost people in our community who don't live like Jesus and oftentimes oppose what we want to do for God in this community.

[10:23] However, we can still pray for them. We can still love them. We can still show grace and the love of God to them because they are not the enemy.

[10:35] The enemy is lostness. And the eternal fight, the eternal struggle will be God against lostness. Will be God against the dark. Will be God against Satan.

[10:47] And I don't know about you but I don't want to be on team lostness. I want to be on team Jesus. So know your enemy. Number two, know your equipment. Know your equipment.

[10:57] Here's the famed armor of God passage that we've been looking forward to ever since we started Ephesians. One of the most familiar in the Bible if you've been studying the Bible for any length of time.

[11:09] So, number one, the belt. The belt. Let's look back at the scriptures. For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to resist in the evil day and having prepared everything to take your stand.

[11:25] Prepared everything. What are we talking about? We're talking about putting on this armor of God and we begin with the belt. Verse 14. Stand therefore with truth like a belt around your waist.

[11:37] The Roman soldier's belt supported his sword, supported his breastplate, and provided these protective plates that hung in front of him.

[11:47] So, the Roman soldier's belt was absolutely crucial to the rest of his armor. Even though it was one of the smaller pieces of armor he wore, everything else hinged on that.

[12:01] If that belt failed, his sword would fall. If that belt failed, his breastplate would fail. So much else hinged on this belt. So, the point for us today, Satan wants to tear down the core truth that holds everything else up.

[12:18] He wants to tear down that belt of truth. What truth are we talking about? The number one truth that holds everything else together that God loves us. If God did not love us, then he would just be a tyrant in the sky.

[12:35] But he loves us. The Bible has been called God's love letter to mankind. The overarching theme from the Old Testament to the New Testament, from creation all the way to Revelation, is that God loves us.

[12:53] The most famous verse in the Bible, John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He loves us.

[13:04] That is the truth that holds everything else together. So, the belt of truth is absolutely crucial. Secondly, the breastplate. The Roman soldier's breastplate protected his vital organs.

[13:20] His breastplate protected his vital organs. Obviously, the most vital, the heart, right? But so many other vital organs around that stomach and chest area, the breastplate would protect.

[13:31] The Roman soldier depended crucially on it. When you're in hand-to-hand combat, fighting with the enemy as they did in those ancient times, they wouldn't stand back behind their lines and shoot at one another.

[13:46] Obviously, with swords and spears, they would march forward and intermingle, fighting hand-to-hand with one another. So, the breastplate was absolutely crucial. And for us, for the Christian, for the believer, our spiritual heart is protected by the righteousness we have received by faith in Jesus.

[14:03] The breastplate is righteousness. So, number one, the belt of truth. We must remember that God loves us. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life.

[14:14] But number two, we must remember our righteousness comes by faith in Jesus. Our righteousness does not come through anything that we can do or achieve ourselves.

[14:27] Ephesians 2 says it is not by works of righteousness. I'm sorry, that there are no works of righteousness that we can do to achieve any grace from God.

[14:38] There is no works of righteousness that we can do, but it is only by God's mercy that He saves us. The Bible actually says God calls all of our righteousnesses filthy rags.

[14:51] He uses that plural. All our righteousnesses, all our righteous efforts, all our righteous deeds, all our best that we can offer, God looks at it and says, no, not good enough.

[15:05] But when you clothe yourself with His righteousness, with the righteousness that comes by faith in Jesus, then God can declare you to be righteousness.

[15:19] It's this doctrine of imputation or God placing over you His righteousness. righteousness, nothing that you can achieve on your own. But our spiritual heart is protected by the righteousness we have received by faith in Jesus.

[15:37] Otherwise, you have no armor. You have no breastplate. You can try to look the part. You can try to dress up like a Christian soldier, but you're missing the breastplate.

[15:48] And the first time the enemy comes at you, you'll crumble. There's no protection. So have you placed your faith in Jesus?

[16:00] Do you have that breastplate of righteousness that His faith provides? Thirdly, the boots. The boots. I like to call this the gospel boots.

[16:14] The gospel boots of readiness. The gospel boots of readiness. What are we talking about? The Roman soldier's footwear. His boots kept him ready for warfare.

[16:28] I'm probably going to mispronounce this, but they were called the caligulae. Something along those lines. If anybody knows Latin well, you can correct me on that, but it was pretty close to that.

[16:40] And you can see a little picture there. These boots were unusual for their day, and they were unusual throughout the history of warfare, really, but they proved incredibly effective. So you can see they were made of leather, and on the bottom they had this hard, hard sole.

[16:58] And the Roman army would provide these boots for their soldiers, but then the soldiers were on their own to go have these nails put in the bottom. They would have these metal studs or nails hammered through the bottom of their shoes.

[17:15] The bottom layer, that provided grip and traction when they were going over uncertain ground, but then additionally, when they were fighting a battle, sounds a little gruesome, but they would use the bottom of those metal studs to stomp on their enemies.

[17:35] Now, the interesting thing about this footwear is they would be able to walk for miles and miles and miles, and their feet would be sore and hurt, but they would have no blisters.

[17:52] So what's the difference there? Sore, soreness and hurt, that's a temporary condition that will pass, right? Go stick their feet in the nearest water and let that soreness ebb away.

[18:06] But a blister, that's going to become a problem. That's a long-term medical problem that then needs to be dealt with. So these shoes were constructed not for comfort, but for durability and for protection of their feet.

[18:23] Because at any moment on that 20, 30, 40, 50 mile journey, they might have to stop and fight. So they had to be ready at a moment's notice to fight.

[18:36] And that's why Paul admonishes us here in Ephesians 6. Your belt around your waist, your belt of truth, your righteousness like armor on your chest.

[18:50] And then verse 15, your feet sandaled or shod, your Bible might say, with readiness for the gospel of peace. At any moment, you and I might be called upon to share the gospel with someone else.

[19:07] And we must have intimate knowledge of the message of truth, of salvation, that gospel message, so that we are ready. The Bible says, always be ready to give an answer for the reason for that faith that lies within you.

[19:24] Always be ready. So the gospel is both our motivation to not grow weary and our message that can break hard hearts.

[19:36] See how we tied in those studs? That's a terrifying thought in hand-to-hand combat, having those metal studs on the bottom of the shoes. But the truth is, the gospel message of Jesus, that can break the hardest hearts.

[19:52] I've seen it happen. You might have seen it happen when someone who for years, for their whole lifetime, said, I don't believe in that Jesus stuff.

[20:03] I'm not a religious person. I've got no interest. And then something happened in their life and God got their attention. Boy, we saw it happen to the Apostle Paul, didn't we?

[20:14] He was an enemy of the church. He killed Christians. I dare say that none of the family members that you have that have no interest in God or church, I dare say none of them have been out making it their daily business to go out and kill Christians, have they?

[20:30] And yet we saw that exact thing happen with God and His attention that He got from Paul. He shook him. On the road to Damascus, He appeared before Paul in a vision and He got His attention and He spoke to him and He changed the entire trajectory of Paul's life.

[20:53] So the gospel message can break hard hearts. And the gospel is our motivation to not grow weary. Though we walk many miles of this life, of this journey with Jesus, though time and time again it seems like Satan doesn't just, he won't let up.

[21:14] our feet sandaled with the gospel of peace can be that motivation to say, I'm going to take another step in Jesus' name.

[21:27] I know that the gospel is enough. I know it's what I need to take another step. I know it's the truth that my sister or my brother or my parents or my kids or my friends or my co-workers, I know it's what they need.

[21:44] So I'm not going to grow weary in well-doing because I know that when the time is right in due season, I will weep, reap, I will reap if I don't give up.

[22:00] The gospel boots of readiness to share the message of Jesus. And then the shield. Then the shield. Verse 16, In every situation, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

[22:26] Isn't it that interesting that this passage mentioned flaming arrows? Why do you think that is? We got any students of history out there that have an idea? Why flaming arrows?

[22:36] Well, the Roman soldier's shield was for personal protection but also for group protection. What are we talking about?

[22:46] Look at this picture. You see all these shields together? The Roman soldiers, their legions, would join together when they were advancing on a city or an enemy battalion and they would group their shields together like you can see in front and on the sides and even on top.

[23:08] So the guys in the middle would hold their shields up. Why? Because from the castle in front of them they would be shooting flaming arrows at them. So those shields, those large, long shields, almost the full body height of a Roman soldier and they would carry them this way, they would then form this protective shell around the Roman soldier and his brothers.

[23:38] So you see where we're going with this? This was actually called a tortuga, basically a tortoise shell. Our common faith is what binds us together for protection from the evil one and for the advance of the gospel.

[23:59] our common faith is what actually provides us this protection. Now if one Roman soldier would break off and try to advance on his own, then he was exposed.

[24:11] He was vulnerable to attack from the enemy. Brothers and sisters, can I remind you that if one of you breaks off from the body of Christ and tries to live this life on your own, you are vulnerable to attack from the enemy.

[24:30] Far more vulnerable than if you stay in the fellowship of the believers. God commanded that for us. He designed us that way to need each other in this Christian community of faith and fellowship and it is our common faith that unites us together.

[24:50] Jude in verse 3, would you turn very quickly to the book right before Revelation, second to last book in the Bible. Look at Jude, only one chapter.

[25:00] Look at verse 3. Dear friends, although I was eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once and for all.

[25:18] To all saints, this faith, this common faith, was delivered to us and he says, he reminds us, we share a common salvation.

[25:30] We share a common salvation. Philippians 1. Next book over from Ephesians. Probably from Ephesians 6, you can just turn the page.

[25:42] Philippians 1 in verse 27. Just one thing, as citizens of heaven, live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or am absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm.

[25:57] Here we go. In one spirit, in one accord, contending together for the faith of the gospel, not being frightened in any way by your opponents.

[26:12] Boy, that sounds like a Roman soldier, a legionnaire, joined together with his brothers in arms, advancing, protected by his faith from the front, from the top, from the sides.

[26:25] You know, the only spot that they weren't protected was from behind. Why? Because there was no retreat. There was never any plan for retreat.

[26:36] They were always advancing. When you and I break away from the family of faith and you quit going to church and you quit your class and you quit fellowshipping with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, then you are vulnerable.

[27:01] You are unprotected by that body of believers that God designed for you to be a part of and designed you to be a part of.

[27:12] We rely on each other. We need each other. It's what binds us together for protection from Satan and for the advance of the gospel.

[27:28] This is Southern Baptist Church. We're part of Texas Baptist. We're part of our local Wichita Archer Clay Association. Christian, we have this idea, we believe it, we ascribe to it that we are better together.

[27:43] Let's say it together. Ready? Better together. That's right. We do believe that we are better together. So what does that mean? That means that joining our forces, our resources together, we can accomplish so much more for God than we could all by ourselves.

[28:01] One church all by itself can do great things for God. But if churches get together, if they unite in one accord and doctrine and say this is what we believe about the Bible and this is what we believe about the message of Jesus Christ and that message is what we are going to take.

[28:17] And even though we disagree about other things, we're not going to let that divide us from the greater good, the greater message of sharing Jesus with the nations. So that is why our church and that is why individually we decide to not live this life on our own, to not live this life as a maverick just going out by ourselves and trying to accomplish whatever we can.

[28:40] We need each other. We rely on each other and then nothing can stop us. Nothing can stop the advance of the gospel when God's people get together united by our common salvation, by our common faith, striving together with one faith, with one accord for the gospel.

[28:59] and then the helmet. Let's look back at Ephesians 6. Take the helmet of salvation. The Roman soldier's helmet provided full protection.

[29:11] You see, in the front, in the back, they had this extra back plate so nobody could come up behind them while that hand-to-hand fighting was happening. It would protect their neck all the way down to their breastplate.

[29:25] Not only did it provide protection, it also provided identification. There were many different types of these red plumes, these red feathers that would come out of their hats, their helmets.

[29:39] But that was the sight that made the enemies of Rome made their blood run cold, struck fear in their hearts, seeing those gleaming metal helmets with the red feathers advancing toward them.

[29:57] No army was feared like the Roman army. And those feathers were there to provide identification, I am a Roman soldier, I am a Roman legionnaire.

[30:12] Friends, God's gift of salvation, His free gift, it identifies us as His children and it secures us from the enemy. That is what the helmet of salvation does for you and for me.

[30:28] When God sealed us, He provided us with eternal assurance that no one, as Romans 8 reminds us, can ever pluck us out of the Father's hand.

[30:42] No one can harm us once we are signed, sealed, and someday will be delivered. on this earth, the Bible says you will have tribulation.

[30:56] But then Jesus said, fear not because I have overcome this earth, I have overcome the world. So you walk as a child of the King.

[31:06] You walk not only as a child of the King, but as a soldier of Christ. You walk surrounded by His armor and that helmet of salvation protects your head.

[31:17] It protects anything that Satan can throw at you. And it identifies you. I am a child of the King. There's a song that says, I am who you say I am.

[31:32] Everybody has their opinions on you, don't they? We have our opinions of ourselves, don't we? Sometimes we're high on ourselves, sometimes we're kind of low on ourselves, aren't we?

[31:43] Sometimes there might be dark days or nights when we look in the mirror and say, man, how could you be such an idiot? What were you thinking?

[31:55] Why won't you ever change? We can be our own worst enemy. We can beat ourselves up mercilessly. And others are certainly good at that too.

[32:07] But despite all that, our identity should not come from our own mind. Our identity should not come from the lips of others. Our identity should only come from the King of Kings who bought us, who saved us, who is our master, and he says, you are my child.

[32:28] You are valued. You are an heir to my throne. God says, you are mine.

[32:40] You belong to me. just like Rome practically owned those soldiers. God owns us, but it's such a wonderful, joyous relationship when he is our master.

[32:59] So it identifies us as his children, and it secures us from the enemy. And then finally, we have the sword. Verse 17, take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

[33:13] The Roman sword, it was a small sword. They used to use the broad swords, and pretty quickly, the broad swords were those huge long swords that you would see back in the old King Arthur days, etc.

[33:24] But pretty quickly, they went away from those, and as the legionnaires would advance and take over countries and their empire would grow and grow, it became very apparent quickly on that they needed a small, agile, fierce weapon, and so the gladius was born.

[33:42] It was double-edged, and it was easy to wield in combat. What are we saying with that? Our Bible is the living word of God.

[33:55] Would you go with me to Hebrews? Hebrews? The book of Hebrews, chapter 4 and verse 12.

[34:13] The word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, sharper than any gladius, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, the joints and marrow.

[34:30] It is able to judge or discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. God's word is our gladius.

[34:41] It is our double-edged sword. Nothing can stand before it. Nothing can stand against it. You might have someone resist and resist and resist, but God's word will win.

[34:54] The spirit of God is alive and well and present with us in, within us. The Bible says for those who place their faith in Christ, we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, but also he is present in the living word of God.

[35:12] We believe that this book is alive. It is not just paper and ink with a pretty binding. God's word of God.

[35:25] It can puncture us, it can reveal to us the truth about ourselves, and it can do the same to those. So we must learn to wield God's word skillfully, just like a Roman with his gladius.

[35:42] Our Bible is our weapon. But let's not use the Bible as a weapon to hurt. Let's not use it as a weapon to harm, because that was never God's intention, was it?

[35:55] There are ways that we can take individual verses out of Scripture, and we can try to use scriptural principles to attack others, to make them feel worse about themselves, to try to hurt, to harm, to undermine, and that is not what God intended.

[36:12] God intended to reveal to us our own sin nature, the truth about our own sin, but then to offer us hope, to show us that He loves us, to show us that He cares.

[36:25] So that's why we must learn to wield it skillfully. Some of the most knowledgeable Bible scholars have done some of the most damage in the name of Jesus.

[36:41] Hurt more people than those who don't know a tenth about Bible. about the Bible as those wise, learned men, who aren't living wisely, who aren't living with the wisdom that comes from God.

[36:59] So just because you know a lot about the Bible doesn't mean that you've learned to wield it skillfully as God intended. So, by way of conclusion, I want to share this quote with you.

[37:13] God, we just got done talking about the armor of God, didn't we? We went through every piece listed here in Ephesians 6. It was an outstanding summary from Paul.

[37:25] After giving us all this instruction, here's who you are in Christ, here's how you should live in Christ. Now, here's how you equip yourself for the battle. Here's who the enemy is, and here's how to win the battle that God's already won.

[37:40] But I want to share this quote with you. We must not confide in the armor of God, but in the God of this armor, because all our weapons are only mighty through God.

[37:58] That was said by William Gurnall, wrote one of the greatest books called The Christian in Complete Armor, one of the greatest books on this topic that's ever been written. How many of you all have ever heard the name Charles Spurgeon?

[38:10] Anybody? Yeah, if you've been around church for a while, he was a great pastor in England, wrote a lot of books. They called him the Prince of Preachers. Very, very famous, and well, well used by God.

[38:25] Charles Spurgeon said, the man who said this quote, wrote this book, The Christian in Complete Armor, he said that that was the most thought-provoking book in his library. So if Spurgeon says something like that, I want to sit up and take notice.

[38:40] And I took that, I actually found that book online this past week and read quite a bit of it in preparation for this sermon. And I took this quote out and wanted to share it with you today.

[38:53] it is easy to find bits and pieces of scripture and make that bigger than God in our minds.

[39:04] Sometimes we can take something that's not God and elevate it to the place of God.

[39:16] We do that with our family sometimes. We do that with our careers. Do that with our love of money or success or comfort. But I'm telling you it's also possible to depend so much on something that's not God that it begins to take the place of God in your life.

[39:38] And these very weapons, this very armor that is supposed to protect us, they're only mighty, they're only empowered when God is behind it all.

[39:53] When our focus is on him and not so much these weapons or this armor. We must not confide in or place all of our trust in this armor.

[40:06] What are we saying? Look at Romans 13. Romans 13, it's on the screen. Let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. That's great. That's the armor we're talking about.

[40:17] Let us walk with decency as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual impurity and promiscuity, not in quarreling and jealousy, but here we go, verse 14, put on the Lord Jesus Christ.

[40:30] That is the overarching command here. That is what putting on the armor of God is all about, putting on Jesus and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.

[40:43] So the takeaway for this morning, we prepare for war by putting on Jesus. Say, man, that's quite a checklist that I have to run through. I've got to do the belt and I've got to do the breastplate and I've got to do the shield and the helmet and the shoes and the sword and all these things.

[40:58] You've got to put on Jesus. Every day, put on Jesus. This breakdown in Ephesians 6 shows what that looks like. You can do an inventory.

[41:09] Have I put on Jesus? Well, am I putting my faith in him? Am I reminding myself of the truth that God loves me? Have I picked up the word of God and used it today?

[41:23] There are many ways to discern whether or not we have put on Jesus, but our command is to put on Jesus. That's how we put on the whole armor of God.

[41:35] So our question for ourselves in our homes, have we put on Jesus today? Let's pray together. God, I pray that we would put you on.

[41:48] Thank you for simplifying it for us. We understand that we are in a battle. Sometimes it might feel like we're losing.

[42:02] But as that songwriter said, we're fighting a battle you've already won. God, I pray that we would put on the victor, put on Jesus every day.

[42:14] It's so clear when we haven't. Our spouses know it, our kids know it, our friends know it, our employees or our bosses know it, everybody knows when we haven't put on Jesus.

[42:27] God, I pray that every morning when we wake up, every night before we go to bed, we would fall to our knees, we would take the time to put on Jesus.

[42:40] Whatever that looks like for us, we'll give you the glory for it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.