Calvary Road Baptist Church
“GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH”
Ephesians 6.14a
My text is Ephesians 6.14:
“Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.”
Imagine a grizzled old man writing a letter on a stool with a quill in hand. Though his body is bent with age and the scars of beatings and torture, he is a pleasant gentleman of sweet disposition and kind manner. To the left of the stooped old man is a powerful younger man, shackled to him at the wrist. In his physical prime, the younger man is a centurion of the Praetorian Guards, the finest regiment of the most powerful army in the world. Though he is officially assigned to be the old man’s guard, the young Roman officer now considers himself to be the old man’s servant. It has been an amazing turnabout since the day the shackles were hammered into place.
How he had once hated the old man. How he had wished him dead. And how cruel he had initially been to the old fellow, despite the man’s kindness and sweetness toward him. Over the passage of weeks, however, he saw that the old man was so kind, gentle, and committed to his God and his Savior. What wisdom he had. What learning. What insight. But it wasn’t him at all. It was his God. It was his Savior. It was his Scriptures.
How strange the young Roman had felt at first; troubled, guilty, saddened, frightened, hopeless, and helpless, the strangest of all for a Roman. Helpless before the old man’s God, facing a certain eternity in the lake of fire, he had turned his heart toward the old man’s Savior and trusted Him for the forgiveness of his sins. Since that moment in time the old man had been teaching him about God and about the Savior. He taught him about the past, and then he taught him about the future. Amazingly, the old man told him that there would come a day when the Savior would actually return to earth from heaven. And so many other things the old man taught him, lovingly, patiently, thoroughly.
That’s when he found himself falling in love with the old guy, thinking of him like a grandfather, but more noble, more wise, more tender, more compassionate, than any grandfather he had ever known. This old fellow was, after all, spiritual. Eventually the old prisoner asked if he could write letters to his friends in the east, if the young officer would arrange for him to get writing materials. It had been done.
Before writing one of the letters, he spent hours asking the young soldier to describe his uniform; the girdle, the breastplate, the shield, the short Spanish sword the Romans were so proud of, the gladius,[1] and even his shoes. Then, after a great season of prayer, the old man began to write.
It was then that the young man, eldest son of a Roman senator, a centurion in the Praetorian Guards, officer in the finest army the world had ever seen, discovered for the first time who it was he was assigned to guard. He had heard the name mentioned in the barracks. “A notorious criminal,” someone had said. “A threat to the empire,” he had been told.
But now, in a flash of recognition, he knew all the rumors to be false as he leaned over the old man’s shoulder and saw the first words of his crooked hands producing letters penned with quill:
“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.”[2]
So busy had the old man been, talking about his God and his Savior, that he had neglected to make reference to himself, even to the failure of making mention of his own name. Perhaps this was how Paul came to learn about the Roman accouterments of war, by questioning the centurion assigned to him. However it came to be, Paul seems to have seized upon Roman battle dress to illustrate in a physical way the spiritual requirements for achieving success in spiritual conflict. Let us stand, Bibles in hand.
In Ephesians 6.14-20, we have three main considerations: First, there is the edict given to the Christian soldier to stand: “Stand therefore.” This was Paul’s admonition to the Christians he addressed to “Hold your ground.”[3] Second, in verses 14-17, there is the equipment of the Christian soldier with which to stand:
14 ... having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
And third, there is the expression of the Christian soldier as he stands, verses 18-20:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
19 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,
20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Considering the edict to stand, it strikes me that there are three kinds of soldiers in the Christian army or any other kind of army. There is the soldier who stands, whether wounded or not. Then there is the soldier who falls. Then there is the soldier who flees. What kind of soldier do you plan to be? Be one who stands.
Any and every Christian soldier can plan on being wounded. After all, fighting in spiritual warfare is a dangerous business. The question is, what will you do when you are wounded? Will you stand, or not? Next, there are those who fall. Most soldiers stumble and fall. But when a Christian soldier falls in battle it’s because he was not properly fighting and wielding the weapons of our warfare.
And then there are those who flee. Oh, they will deny that they have fled. They will argue that they have simply relocated, sometimes. Supposedly a tactical retreat. But the ones who flee never do so for Scriptural or spiritual reasons. And by fleeing, they identify themselves as either very immature (Ephesians 4.14) or lost (First John 2.19).
In verses 14-17, we see listed for us the equipment of the Christian soldier. Notice, if you will, that Paul described our armor in such a way as to compare it to the equipment worn by a Roman soldier. But sometimes, a study of the Christian’s armor gets so bogged down in various comparisons with Roman armor that we can forget what our armor really is.
So, let me list for you what we fight with. We, as soldiers of the cross, fight with truth, we fight with the Gospel, we fight with faith, we fight with salvation, and we fight with the Word of God. If, at any time during the conflict, you disarm yourself by failing to properly wear this armor, whether the battle is raging at the moment or not, you have opened yourself to a dangerous attack, and you will likely become a casualty, even if you are earnestly engaged in the expressions of a Christian soldier, found in verses 18-20.
And what are the expressions of the Christian soldier? There are two. There is praying to God and there is preaching to men. The wearing of the Christian’s equipment is what makes possible the continued Christian expressions of praying and preaching. If you don’t wear the equipment, you will not engage in the expressions of praying and preaching for very long.
Now let’s consider the first piece of armor the Roman soldier wore. It was a girdle, usually made of leather, that was worn about the loins. This was always worn over clothing, but under armor, to protect the loins. The leather girdle could not prevent penetration by a sword or knife thrust, but it could prevent a slashing cut that might result from a deflected blade thrust.
First to be put on by an already clothed soldier, the girdle would be the last line of defense. It would be the last item of protection before an edge or a point wounded the soldier’s loins. But what are a soldier’s loins? The loins are that part of the body between the hip bones and the ribs. So, the loins are a rather narrow region on the sides and a rather broad region in front. Loins are the soft parts of a soldier’s body that are especially vulnerable, where a wound will make it very hard to continue for long in the fight. If you’re hurt here, you may not go down immediately, but you will go down eventually.
So, what is the Christian’s first armor to put on and our last line of defense for the vulnerable parts? What is it that the Christian soldier is supposed to gird ourselves about with? Truth. Please note that truth here does not mean the Word of God, since that is specifically referred to in verse 17. Neither does it refer to the Gospel mentioned in verse 15. In this context, truth refers to the character trait of truthfulness.
The Christian soldier must, first and foremost, first, last, and always be one who traffics only in truth-telling. If you stop telling the truth, always the truth, and only the truth, you will go down quickly, Christian. Imagine how our unseen enemies will use even the slightest and the smallest deviations from truth to discredit the child of God. You may call it an exaggeration. Others may call it stretching the truth. Teens refer to it as hypocrisy. But God calls it lying. We see it in our Christian school.
Sadly, we see it in Churches. It’s rampant in the workplace. It is the basis for plot twists in every television, cable series, and movie drama. Lucille Ball, in her television series, made a career of lying to her husband and teaching a generation of women who watched her lie. Might this explain so many people claim to be Christians who are not forthright in their dealings with people?
If you plan on standing, soldier, you must traffic in truth. The truth and your commitment to truthfulness is your last defense in Christian warfare. Perhaps you can ward off most attacks with your shield of faith. Maybe you can thrust and parry much of the time with your sword. But some thrusts of the enemy inevitably get through. Sometimes the opposition’s knife edge will cut across your most vulnerable parts. Your own truthfulness had better be there to protect you when that knife edge comes. Oh, Christian, decide now to traffic only in truth. Not the slightest exaggeration. Only the truth.
Most of those who in this world are referred to as Christians, in fact, embrace Roman Catholic theology. Most of those who in this country are referred to as Christians are, in fact, a strange sort of animal called new evangelicals. Such identify themselves as evangelicals, or as Charismatics, or as Pentecostals, but they are actually, no matter what they call themselves, new evangelicals.
What is a new evangelical?[4] A new evangelical is someone who would rather line up with Roman Catholics than with true Christians, who used to prefer attending a mishmash gathering at the Los Angeles Coliseum with a group of lost guys who called themselves Promise Keepers than go to a Church where the truth of God’s Word was preached. They disagree with the Apostle Paul’s assertion that while unity is important, truth is more important. New evangelicals believe unity is the most important thing of all. That’s why they recoil in the face of strong Bible preaching that threatens unity that is based upon error and favor soft and mild Bible expositions that threaten no one’s position and offend no one, not even the most vile sinners.
This is not a new evangelical Church. The members of this Church are not new evangelicals. The pastor of this Church is not a new evangelical. We are a fundamental Church. Our members are fundamentalist Christians. The pastor is a strident fundamentalist. What sets us apart from new evangelical so-called Christians, among other things, is our belief that God knows more than we do, that God is smarter than we are, and that God is wiser than we could ever hope to be.
So, when it comes to fighting the Christian fight, the fundamentalist takes a different tack than the new evangelical. Rather than trying to build unity at the expense of truth, as you must do when you try to gather Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, Charismatics, Buddhists, and Muslims together, who have nothing in common but their unbelief, we choose to stand on the truth. And should other like-minded folks happen along who cling to truth as we do, then unity will result. If not, we will fight on alone.
Because we agree with the Lord Jesus Christ that it’s the truth that sets men free, we are not afraid of the truth, we are not upset by the truth, we do not recoil from it, as the new evangelicals and the Catholics and so many others do. Accused of being harsh and unloving for refusing to compromise on the truth, we’ll take our stand on the Lord’s side on this issue. We’ll speak the truth in love. But we’ll speak the truth.
In this message, you will find much that will irritate the new evangelical and the Catholic, much that will raise the ire of the modernist and the liberal, much that which cause the infidel and the Muslim to chaff. So be it. What I speak and what we stand on is the truth. Let those who are not afraid of the truth listen carefully.
Four things of importance to the lost:
First, LET US TAKE NOTE OF THE DESIRE OF GOD
You can argue about what you think is important all day. You can fill the air with your opinions and reflections, your surmisings and sentences, but in the end, all that matters is what God wants.
You can justify, and you can genuflect, you can posture, and you can persuade; you can associate with all the religious types, or you can isolate yourself from what you think are evil religious influences. Still, in the end, all that matters is what God wants.
Some people excuse, and some people explain. Others reason while some ridicule, but all that matters is what God wants. What does God want, my friend? Do you know? What does God want, my friend? Do you have any idea? Does your system of beliefs, your religion, tell you what God wants?
I have never had an original thought. I have never had a new idea never thought of before. I have no claim to originality or superior intelligence, but I know the desire of God. I know what God wants. I know what He wants for me and I know what he wants for you, because I read the Bible. Psalm 51.6:
“Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts.”
What God desires from you and for you, in your inward parts, is truth! That is the desire, the demand, of Almighty God.
Second, LET US TAKE NOTE OF THE DESCRIPTION OF MAN
We know what God wants. As I read these passages, think about the disparity between what God wants from you and for you and what exists.
In the heart, God wants truth. But what does God’s Word tell us exists? Jeremiah 17.9 reads,
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
God wants truth in man’s heart; instead, He finds deceit and wickedness. Instead, He finds lies. He wants truth in your heart, but finds instead lies. If you are lost, you are evil and wicked and mean and nasty in your heart. But you deceive yourself and others into thinking you’re so much better than you really are.
In the mind, God wants truth. But what does God’s Word tell us exists? Romans 1.28 reads,
“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient.”
If you are lost, this verse describes you. What, particularly, did the unsaved people do to merit being turned by God over to a reprobate mind? Look back to Romans 1.25:
“Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”
Don’t tell me that you don’t cater to yourself more than you bend to the wishes of God for your life. And why do you do that? Because there is no truth about God in your mind.
In the body. What can be said about the body? Obviously, truth is a concept, an abstraction, and not a physical commodity that can be possessed in a physical body. But this we can say about your body: It is corrupt according to First Corinthians 15.50 and personal observation, and it will die. Someday your body will die, sir. Someday, ma’am, your body will die. What will you do then? For Hebrews 9.27 declares,
“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”
In the soul, God wants truth. But what does Scripture tell us about the soul of man? Ezekiel 18.4 declares that,
“The soul that sinneth, it shall surely die.”
Do you see? It is because the soul is sinful that the body dies. And when the body dies, judgment follows. What a terrible description of you is found in the Bible.
THE DESIRE OF GOD IS TRUTH IN THE INWARD PARTS. THE DESCRIPTION OF MAN IS ANYTHING BUT TRUTH IN THE INWARD PARTS. Thirdly, THE DISOBEDIENCE OF MAN THAT IS PRODUCED BY MAN’S INWARD PARTS
What can be said about the disobedience of humanity? Let me point out that all disobedience in mankind is disobedience of God, and disobedience, by definition, is transgression, is sin. Quickly, three areas in which sinful people are disobedient toward God.
First, you show your disobedience of God toward God. Consider just these examples. What man or woman of you loves God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul? None. What one of you hasn’t rebelled against God by failing to attend Church as you ought to and as He has commanded? None. So, it is established that you disobey God by your actions toward God.
Next, you show your disobedience of God toward your family. Have you honored your parents fully and completely? Have you never provoked your children to wrath? Have you never forsaken the wife of your youth? Have you ever functioned as spiritual leader to your children? So, it is established that you disobey God by your actions toward your own family, those who of all other people, who you ought to love the most.
And, finally, you show your disobedience of God toward your fellow man. Tell me now that you have never lied, never cheated anyone, never stolen anything, never hated in your heart (which is murder according to God). Then I tell you, based upon God’s holy Word, that you showed your disobedience to God when you so sinned. For such disobedience, you stand condemned in the sight of God. Condemned to Hell forever, according to the Bible.
Finally, THE DELIVERANCE OF MAN
Because new evangelicals do not traffic in truth, so they see very few people saved. Many will attend their churches, but few, if any be saved. Why? Because they are so opposed to speaking the truth and preaching the truth about the description of human beings and the disobedience of human beings, few will realize their truly lost condition and truly desire to be truly saved.
But if you believe the Bible, and if you are committed to obeying God, and if you are more concerned about seeing that God’s desire for truth in the inward parts be fulfilled than for man’s desire for the appearance of unity on the outward parts be fulfilled, then perhaps you will sit under Gospel preaching long enough to be saved.
Allow me to conclude this message by giving to you a simple alliterated outline of what happens when someone really does come to be saved. It begins with the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God, Whose ministry involves exalting Christ and convicting of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come, works in the life of the Christian who witnesses. The Christian witness is a believer who is willing to be used of God to see people saved. The Spirit of God leads and somehow guides that evangelist, who has studied and has as his companion the holy Scriptures, which are able to make men wise unto salvation, to make contact with the sinner. When the Christian witnesses make contact with a sinner, they use Scripture to show sinners that they are sinners. Of course, all of this is superintended by the Holy Spirit, Who will create in that sinner an inner conviction about the truthfulness of what the believer is testifying, of what the Scriptures say, and he will come to see his need of a Savior. Since there is only one Savior, should that sinner be saved, he will be saved only by coming to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, by faith and trusting Him. Those who trust Jesus are delivered from bondage to sin by Him and are saved.
Perhaps you are here today, and you realize that you are devoid of truth in your inward parts. You recognize that you are a sinner in the sight of God and that you need to be saved.
I am here to tell you that Jesus saves. What must you do to be saved? That is precisely what I would like to discuss with you after this service.
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[1] Yann Le Bohec, The Imperial Roman Army, (New York: Hippocrene Books, English translation 1994), pages 122-123.
[2] Ephesus 1.1
[3] Bauer, Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2000), pages 482-843.
[4] John E. Ashbrook, Axioms Of Separation, (Mentor, Ohio: “Here I Stand” Books), page 11, and John S. Ashbrook, New Neutralism II, Exposing The Gray Of Compromise, (Painesville, OH: Here I Stand Books, 1992), pages 1-13.
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