The Whole Armour of God

"Therefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." Eph. 6:13.

Every child of God is a soldier, and a real one. In the Christian army, there are no feather-bed, no fire-side soldiers. All to a man are actual combatants. Are not their enemies real? Flesh and blood real? The world real? And Satan real? – a real devil? And if their enemies are real, the conflict with their enemies must be real too. "Every battle of the warrior," we read, "is with garments rolled in blood." And such is "the good fight of faith." It is no sham fight – but a hand to hand battle, in which wounds are inflicted, blood shed, and life, according to our feelings, often at stake.

But how shall we be able to fight this great battle, and so to withstand the enemies of our soul's salvation, as to come off more than conquerors? Weak and defenceless as we are, without one weapon of sufficient temper and strength – through sin, like the children of Israel, "made naked unto their shame among their enemies" Ex 32:25, fall we shall, defeated we must be, unless we have some better weapons than our own armory can furnish. God, who knows the strength of our enemies – God, who knows the weakness of our flesh, has therefore provided in the heavenly armory weapons whereby, and whereby alone, we can make an effectual stand.

Of this heavenly armor the apostle speaks in the text, where, addressing his Christian brethren, he says, "therefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." He here makes it imperative upon them to take not a part of, but "the whole armor of God," assuring them that it is indispensable to their safety – that only by being clad in it from top to toe, can they "withstand in the evil day," when all the powers of earth and hell are arrayed against them – and that even then, when they have in the strength of that heavenly armor "done," or "overcome all," they must not put it off – but will still need it "to stand."

In opening up the words of our text, I shall endeavor, with God's blessing, this morning–
I. First, to describe the heavenly armor; its various pieces and accoutrements, as indispensable to the Christian soldier.
II. Secondly, to show how this heavenly armor is taken, worn, and used.

I. A description of the heavenly armor; its various pieces and accoutrements, as indispensable to the Christian soldier. In order to do justice to our text, it will be necessary that I should take up, one by one, these several pieces of the heavenly armor; for it says, "therefore take unto you the whole armor of God." If, then, I, as a combatant, am without one piece, I run the risk of defeat; and if I, as a minister, in laying open this text, omit one, I am so far unfaithful in neglecting a part that may be for our spiritual defense. As a Christian, then, and as a minister, I must take the whole, each and all being alike indispensable.

1. The first piece of heavenly armor that the apostle speaks of is, the Belt – "Stand, therefore," he says, "having your LOINS girt about with truth." The LOINS, or lower part of the back, is the seat of strength, as well as of activity and motion. No heavy weights can a man lift, no hard work can he perform unless he be strong there. The prophet therefore says, "Make your loins strong, fortify your power mightily" Na 2:1. Of Behemoth, we read, "His strength is in his loins" Job 40:16. These loins, then, the seat of activity and strength, need to be guarded by a piece of heavenly armor, lest Satan make a deadly thrust there. If he can get a blow at our unprotected loins, it will paralyze every movement. A stroke here, so as to reach the spine, prostrates indeed. "Smite through the loins of those who rise against him, and of those who hate him, that they rise not again" De 33:11. We need, therefore, to have our loins girded about with a piece of heavenly armor which shall effectually protect them from these paralyzing blows.

This heavenly belt is "Truth," What truth? By "truth" here we may understand. I think, two things.

First, generally Christian sincerity; "Truth," as the Psalmist speaks, "in the inward parts" Psalm 51:6. Uprightness of heart lies at the base of all true Christian profession. If a man has no sincerity Godwards, he has nothing. Our loins, therefore, or the seat of strength and activity, need in this sense to be girt about with what the apostle calls "simplicity and godly sincerity" 2Co 1:12. If there be insincerity in our profession, O what advantage is given to Satan! A blow from his hand against our profession, when there is no consciousness of sincerity Godwards, must be fatal. Here he smote Judas, Saul, and Ahithophel; and they fell to rise no more. Against, then, these fatal blows, we need a belt of truth – to be sincere Godwards; to have truth in our inward parts; and, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, to be made upright in our Christian profession. "I was upright before Him, and kept myself from my iniquity."

But we may observe further, that the ancients wore loose dresses; and as these were often in their way impeding their movements, they kept them tight round their body by a belt. So we are continually impeded by the loose dress of unbelief, "the sin that does so easily beset us," as the apostle calls it, alluding to it as an encumbering garment, which clings round the limbs, and impedes all free movements. But when the loins are girt about with sincerity and truth, it braces them with flesh activity and strength.

But secondly, the word "truth" is also used in a more particular and restricted sense to signify Christian truth, "the truth as it is in Jesus." A man may be sincerely wrong. Do you think that there is no sincerity but what God implants? Are not many Papists sincere? many Muhammadans sincere? many utterly devoid of grace, and bitterly opposed to the work of the Spirit, sincere? Yes, surely. Not spiritually, but naturally sincere. View the crowds of people this day going to church and chapel where the truth is not preached--must we make a broad sweep with them all, and say, They are all of them wretched hypocrites, dishonest and designing, doing it to be seen of men.' I dare not say so. Christian sincerity is one thing; natural sincerity another. Was not Saul of Tarsus sincere? And the mariners that threw Jonah overboard?

But spiritual sincerity itself, in deadly conflicts with sin and Satan, is not sufficient without a knowledge of "the truth as it is in Jesus." Young converts are spiritually sincere, but how unable to fight in this great battle!

The truth, then, as revealed in the gospel of the grace of God must be the foundation of our spiritual strength. We cannot fight against Satan with lies. If we fight against him, it must be with truth. The truth of the gospel made known to the soul, revealed and applied to the heart and conscience by the Holy Spirit, must be the belt to strengthen and guard the loins in the day of battle.

2. We pass on to consider the second piece of Christian armor, "the BREASTPLATE of righteousness." Now as the loins are the seat of activity and strength, so the breast is the seat of the heart, the fountain of the blood, which it propels through every artery--and of the lungs, which alternately inspire and expire the air, the vital breath of heaven. These are two vital parts. We need, therefore, to have this double seat of life specially secured.

Spiritually viewed, the HEART may represent two things– firstly the conscience; and secondly the affections.

Now all these vital parts – the peculiar seat of life and feeling, the special domain of heart religion – need to be covered with a heavenly breastplate; for if Satan could pierce any of these, that thrust would be fatal.

But how often does he aim his thrust against the heart, as the seat of CONSCIENCE! and would, if he could, by deadly thrusts at that tender point, plunge the soul into despair! He would, were it wholly unguarded, hurl dart after dart, and shoot arrow after arrow into the conscience, until he made it bleed to death. We need conscience, then, to be guarded by a piece of heavenly armor. This is provided from the heavenly armory – "the Breastplate of righteousness" – not our own, no, not our own, but Christ's imputed righteousness.

Let Satan strike that, if he will. He could not pierce it when worn by the captain of our salvation, though, in the wilderness and in the garden, he thrust severely at it; as the Lord speaks, "You have thrust severely at me that I might fall, but the Lord helped me" Psalm 118:13. Let him strike at it now as worn by the soldier. It is to strike against a wall of flint, against a breastplate of steel. If that breastplate be on, let him accuse – let him tempt to despair – let him say, Your sins are too great to be forgiven – you have backslidden beyond all hope of recovery – you have no real religion; your beginning was wrong, the middle is wrong, and the end will be wrong; you are only a hypocrite, who will die in despair; there is no fear of God in your heart. These are some of the "fiery darts" of Satan aimed against conscience. If, then, we put on our own righteousness to shield us from these thrusts, it is but a wicker breastplate which the first fiery dart will set in flame, or the slightest thrust pierce through. We need a breastplate of steel, not of wicker-work such as our own fingers may intertwine, but Christ's righteousness imputed; as Deer justly says–

Righteousness within you rooted,
May appear to take your part;
But let righteousness imputed,
Be the breastplate of your heart.

And our AFFECTIONS also; for the heart is not only the seat of conscience, but the seat of the affections. What fiery darts can Satan throw into our affections! What lusts he can kindle through the eye! What love of the world; what greedy desire of gain; what sensual imaginations can he kindle into a flame! Even the tender affections which sweeten the bitter cup of life, the social relationships of husband and wife, parent and child, how he can distort even them, and pervert into idolatry the most hallowed ties! David's overweening love to Absalom nearly cost him his throne and his life. Eli loved his sons until he ruined them, and brought a curse upon his house.

No more, the heavenly affections themselves; the pure desires, the celestial love of God's own implanting, need to be guarded. These affections the breastplate of Christ's righteousness only can guard, and preserve pure, holy, and tender, that the sacred flame may be ever kept burning upon the altar of a broken heart.

But the breast is also the seat of the LUNGS, that important organ of life, by which we alternately inspire and expire the breath of heaven. This may represent, in a spiritual sense–

1. The inspiration, or breathing in of God's Spirit, whereby we draw in the breath of heaven, "Come from the four winds, O breath" Eze 37:9.

2. The expiration, or breathing out of these heavenly desires whereby the soul pours itself out before God, after his favor and presence.

This inspiration and expiration, these inflowings and outflowings of life divine, need to be covered by the breastplate of righteousness; for soon, soon, Satan would strike a dart through the lungs to stop all inspiration of God's favor, and all expiration of desire, thankfulness, or praise. But our own righteousness – what a poor defense! Can it guard or protect the vital seat of these heavenly operations? But when the impregnable breastplate of Christ's imputed righteousness is received at the hands of God, fitted on to the bosom, and firmly clasped all around, the conscience, the affections, and the life of God are all shielded as with unpenetrable armor.

3. But we pass on to the feet. "Your FEET shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." There is armor for the legs and feet; for these too may be assailed by the Prince of darkness. The feet have often to tread in miry ways; to walk amid thorns, and snares, and pricking bushes; and, in ancient warfare, the uncovered feet were liable to be wounded by a weapon called "caltrops," or balls with three spikes of iron issuing from them, strewed on the ground.

By "the feet," we may spiritually understand our walk and conversation. Against this Satan may aim a fearful thrust. He aims at every unguarded spot; sometimes at the loins – the seat of strength and of activity; sometimes at the heart and lungs – the conscience, the affections, and the life of God; sometimes at the feet – the walk, the conduct, and conversation.

Here is one of our greatest temptations – lest Satan should entangle us in anything disgraceful, inconsistent, or unbecoming! O how we seem to walk amid snares and temptations! and how Satan is aiming deadly blows at our legs and feet, to wound them, and lay us low. We need, then, shoes reaching half way up the legs, in order to protect them from these deadly thrusts of Satan. And what has God provided? "The preparation of the gospel of peace." There is something very sweet and expressive, though perhaps at first sight obscure, in the word "preparation." It seems to my mind to convey the idea that the "gospel of peace" is prepared for and fitted to the feet and legs. It is not a loose leather shoe that may be kicked off and on – not an old, easy slipper – but a tight, firm, strong, clasped, and buckled boot of polished steel – "Your shoes shall be iron and brass." This fits closely and tightly round the leg; and is "the preparation of the gospel" – the leg and foot prepared for the gospel, and the gospel prepared for the leg and foot.

Thus, the apostle does not send us to Sinai to get a shoe from that fiery mount, nor to the blacksmith of Moses and Aaron, that they may forge a piece of armor to protect and guard our life, walk, and conversation. But he sends us to the gospel, "the preparation of the gospel of peace;" not the law of war, but the gospel of peace. Here is firm standing. To be at peace with God through this gospel gives firm foothold. To be shod aright, the foot must be neither in the tight pinching boot of the law, nor in the loose slipper of 'our own obedience'; but in the firm yet pliant, strong yet soft, easy yet impenetrable shoe of the gospel.

And observe, it is "the gospel of peace," not wrangling and quarreling. Get only a sweet sense of peace into your heart; let the gospel of peace reach your soul, and you will find a piece of armor that will guard life and conduct and conversation, and be your best preservation in this wilderness from the thrusts of Satan at your daily walk.

4. To make the body armor complete, before I pass on to the shield, I shall next take in order "the HELMET of salvation," which is to cover the head. The head, we may consider, as the seat of two special things–
1. Of energy, activity, authority, movement.
2. Of comprehension and understanding.

Now Satan aims his deadly blows at our head, sometimes to destroy and paralyze all energy and movement, all life and feeling in the things of God--and sometimes to confuse our understanding, to thrust us into some error, or draw us aside into some heresy. How stunning is a blow on the head when unprotected by any defense! All energy and movement cease. So in grace. Were our head not guarded, how would we be stunned and paralyzed by Satan's blows! And we may observe, that there is an intimate relationship between consciousness and energy. The same organ, the brain, which apprehends, communicates influence to every muscle. If Satan, then, can confuse our mind, how he paralyzes all the springs of motion!

Has not your mind sometimes been sadly tempted with erroneous doctrines? When you have heard of some deadly error that has been going abroad, has there not been something in it that seemed to lay hold of your mind and carnal understanding so that it seemed almost true? Now here is Satan confusing the mind, stunning and bewildering it with his plausible errors. What need, them a piece of armor to guard the head. And we have it provided – "the Helmet of salvation."

Next Part The Whole Armour of God 2

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