Ephesians 6:15
SPIRIT-FILLED WARFARE - PART 2d
THE BOOTS OF PEACE
Intro: As we
continue to study the whole armor of God,
we continually need to be reminded why this is such an important topic. Verses 10-13
introduce the subject of spiritual warfare. We are told that the saints of God
are engaged in a great cosmic battle against a powerful, relentless enemy. Our
enemy is called the devil, v 11. Our enemy is said to employ wiles, v. 11. This word refers to the tricks, schemes,
and methods the devil uses to
undermine the faith of the saints, and to attack the glory of God.
Gods command to His people is that they stand against the attacks of the enemy, vvs. 11, 13, 14.
The word stand is a military term. It means to hold a critical
position during a time of enemy attack.
It is the image of a soldier refusing to yield even one inch of ground to an
attacking foe. It is not the image of
someone on the offensive, but rather, it is the picture of a soldier on the
defensive, protecting the ground that has already been won.
God had given His people some very precious
possessions. He has given us truth, His church, His Word, His grace, His salvation, His
blessing, etc. And, the devil wants all of it. He will stop at nothing to take
everything we have been given by the Lord.
If we are to keep what we have received from the
Lord, we must stand and hold on to
the critical ground we have received from the Lord. To do that, God says we
must put
on the whole armor of God. This
passage tells us about the pieces which constitute this armor. We have already
discussed The
Belt Of Truth, and The Breastplate Of
Righteousness.
The Belt Of Truth refers to a life of total commitment to the Lord.
It refers to a life that is built upon faithfulness to the Word of God and to
the God of the Word. It speaks of truth in testimony and truth in living. This
belt of
truth will provide the Christian
soldier stability, and it also provides a place for the other pieces of the
armor to rest. Without the belt of truth the
soldier of God will find the other pieces of the armor useless.
The Breastplate Of
Righteousness refers to power of a
holy life. A holy life, that is, a life that is lived according to the
teachings of God in His Word is a powerful defense against the attacks of the
enemy. When we allow sin to dwell in our lives, we give Satan a beachhead from which he can attack us and exploit us, Eph. 4:27. Holiness
closes the door to the devil, and it helps protect us from his attacks.
Today, as we continue to discuss Spirit-Filled Warfare, we want to consider The Boots Of Peace. Lets examine what Paul means when he says that
we are to stand with our feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.
III. V.
15 THE BOOTS OF
PEACE
I. WHY THESE BOOTS ARE DESIRED
We take shoes for granted, but they are a very
important part of our apparel. We have different shoes for nearly every kind of
activity. I have dress shoes, casual shoes, work shoes, and shoes that I wear
when I go walking. I have lots of shoes. My wife has lots more shoes than I do.
What I plan to do on a given day determines the type of shoes I put on.
I dont often think about my shoes, but I am
grateful for them. They protect my feet from the dangers of walking around
barefooted. They keep my feet warm, dry, and safe. When I was a child, I rarely
wore shoes between May and September, now I cant imagine going anywhere
without them. Shoes are an important component of our wardrobe.
Think about how important shoes are to certain
professions. Construction workers would be crazy to try and do their job
without proper footwear. Could you imagine a football player walking onto the
field without his cleats. Could you see a baseball player doing that? What
about a tennis player. No, it doesnt happen because athletes understand just
howe important the right shoes are to what they do.
As important as shoes are to an athlete, a
construction worker, a business man, a housewife, or even a toddler, they are
even more important to a soldier.
The soldiers life could depend on his shoes.
Soldiers are required to march long distances,
fight battles in all types of environments, walk through jungles, over rocks,
cross stream beds filled with sharp, jagged rocks, slog through the snow, and
cross burning deserts.
If a soldiers feet become swollen, tender, cut, or
blistered, that soldier would be greatly hindered in the day of battle.
That soldier might not be able to stand and fight.
He might not be able to march.
He might not be able to properly handle his
weapons.
He certainly could not advance on the enemy.
Sore feet would undermine the soldiers ability to
stand firm.
The Roman soldier, the image Paul is using to
illustrate the
whole armor of God, wore leather
boots that protected the feet and ankles. These boots, called the caliga, were a half boot that allowed the soldier to
advance toward the enemy undistracted about what they might step on. This piece
of the armor was essential to the Roman soldiers preparation for battle.
These boots usually had hobnailed soles, which
means they had bits of metal, or nails, driven through them. These hobnailed
soles gave the Roman soldier great traction as he climbed hills, and fought on
uneven terrain. The boots worn by the Roman soldier gave him great stability as
he engaged the enemy.
If we are going to stand against the wiles of the devil, we must have on the proper spiritual footwear.
We can be girt
about with the truth, and we can have
on the
breastplate of righteousness, but if
we neglect to have our feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, we are destined to stumble and fall.
I. Why These Boots Are Desired
II.
WHAT THESE BOOTS DEPICT
The word preparation refers to
being
ready. This same word appears in Titus 3:1, which
says, Put
them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates,
to be ready to every good work. A
soldiers boots allows him to be ready for whatever he faces. A good pair of
boots makes him ready to march, to stand, to climb, to fight, or whatever else
he may be called on to do. That same readiness should mark the people of God.
To what does this kind of readiness refer? In one
sense it means that the child of God must always be ready to be about the
business of sharing the Gospel with a lost world. We are to be to move at the
Lords command, going from place to place preaching the Gospel to the lost and
telling them about Jesus. There is a sense in which all believers are to be
actively engaged in the business of evangelism. Peter said it this way, But sanctify the Lord
God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that
asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear, 1 Pet. 3:15.
When God saved us, He commanded us to tell others
what He has done for us, and what He can do for them, Mark 16:15. He has
given us His Spirit, and the Holy Spirit has equipped us for the work of
evangelism, Acts 1:8.
The very heart of our duty to the lost is that we go and tell. That is The Great Commission. Go ye therefore, and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost:Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.
Amen, Matt. 28:19–20.
I believe that sharing the Gospel with the lost
advances the kingdom of God.
I. Why These Boots Are Desired
II.
What These
Boots Depict
III. WHAT THESE BOOTS DELIVER
In my opinion that isnt Pauls primary emphasis in
our text, is not on going but on standing. Paul is not talking about sharing the Gospel, he
is talking about fighting Satan. The Gospel of peace refers
to the glorious news that, through our relationship with Jesus Christ, we are
at peace with God.
It wasnt always that way. Before we were saved, we
were the enemies of God, Rom. 5:6-10. When God saved us, He reconciled us to Himself, v. 10-11. When He
did, He declared us to be at peace with Him. Therefore being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Rom. 5:1.
Now, in Jesus, the saints of God are at peace with God. Col. 1:21-22 says,
And you,
that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciledIn the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy
and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.
Beloved, the Gospel of peace
Paul refers to here is the marvelous news that in Christ we are at peace with
God. It is the glorious truth that we have been made one with the Lord. So,
having our feet
shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace means that we stand in the absolute confidence that God loves us,
that He has forgiven us, that we are united with Him, that He fights for us,
and that all is well with our souls. It is the confidence that we are saved.
When we have that confidence, and when we possess the peace of God in our
hearts, we are ready to stand against any enemy that comes against us.
Example of this kind of peace abound in the Bible.
The children of Israel, under the leadership of
Gideon, witnessed the Lord reduce the size of their army from 32,000 to 300.
Those 300 men placed their confidence in the Lord and followed Him into battle.
They saw the Lord defeat an immense Midianite army without the use of a single
weapon. All those men did was break clay jars, allowing a lamp inside to shine,
blow a trumpet, and cry The sword of the Lord and of Gideon. Their faith in the Lords promise gave them the
confidence to stand, Judges 6.
In 2 Chron. 20 the people of Judah were about to be invaded by
the powerful armies of the Ammonites and Moabites. They were afraid. But, the
Lord spoke to King Jehoshaphat and said, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude;
for the battle is not yours, but Gods,
2 Chron. 20:15b.
Verses 18-23 tells
us what happened next, And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and
all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping
the LORD. And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the
children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud
voice on high. And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the
wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear
me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so
shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. And when he
had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that
should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to
say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever. And when they began to
sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon,
Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. For
the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir,
utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the
inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.
Judah experienced a great victory because they took
God at His Word and stood in their confidence in Him.
Simon Peter drew his sword against the soldiers who
came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He did this because he had
just seen the whole group fall to the ground when they asked Jesus if He was
the one they sought. He replied, I am He, John 18:6. In that
moment, Peter felt like he was invincible, and he was ready to take on the
whole army.
The redeemed child of God, who stands in the Lords
power, and in full assurance of the Lords salvation, does not have to fear any
enemy, even if that enemy is Satan himself. When we are attacked, we stand on
the firm, unchanging ground of the Gospel of grace. The same Gospel that
converted us from sinners into saints. The same Gospel that changed God from
our enemy to into our protector. We who were one on the outside, are now the
sons of God. He is our heavenly Father, and we are His children. Everything we
need to be
strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might, v. 10, is at our disposal.
Our confidence in the day of battle does not rest
in our own power, but in the promises of God. Here is what He promises His
children:
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who
can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us
all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay
any thing to the charge of Gods elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he
that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who
is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For
thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the
slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him
that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, Romans 8:31–39.
Those promises, those truths, are the shoes that
give us the ability to stand in the evil day.
The truth that we are loved by the Lord gives us
the confidence to stand.
The truth that we are saved by His grace, gives us
the confidence to stand.
The truth that we are His children gives us the
confidence to stand.
The truth that we in His tender care, and that He
has promised to stand with us, to protect us, to keep us, and defend us, gives
us confidence to stand.
Conc: So, the
question here is this: Are you ready to stand? Do you have absolute confidence
in your heart that God has saved your soul, forgive your sins, and adopted you
into His family? If you have the kind of confidence, you can stand regardless
of what the enemy throws at you. If you dont have that deep, settled
confidence in your heart, you will be unstable in all your battles. Unless you
are grounded in absolute assurance of salvation, the enemy will have little
trouble knocking you off your feet.
You can be sure! You can have confidence that all
is well. You can know Him, and His power to stand. You can be stable, strong
and sure. To have that stability you need to be sure you are saved. When you
are, the enemy will have a hard time with you, because you will be able to
withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.
Do you have on the right shoes today? If the Lord
has spoken to you about this matter, please come to Him and let Him have His
way in your life.
I. The Belt Of Truth
II.
The
Breastplate Of Righteousness
III. The Boots Of Peace
