Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. The Lord gives believers several weapons to use in fighting the invisible war. Paul names them in Ephesians chapter 6 in a list he calls the armor of God. Today, we enter basic training to learn how to use weapon number one.
From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, truth is hard to find anymore. From the news media to the Congress, it's tough to hear a straight answer to anything. And you know, Dave, oftentimes truth is also very difficult to find within our own hearts.
And when the Apostle Paul was talking about the belt of truth, He meant that personally.
So I want to challenge everyone who is listening today to invite the blessed Holy Spirit of God to search our hearts for that which is untruthful. And of course Jesus not only said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, but he also said, You shall know the truth. and the truth shall set you free. I'm so thankful for the many who are listening today. And I want to remind them that it's because of the body of Christ, people just like you.
This ministry continues. But also, we're making a very special resource available for you, which we believe is based on truth. It's a book I've written entitled How to Break a stubborn habit. For a gift of any amount, it is yours. Here's what you can do.
Go to rtwoffer.com. Or call us at 1-888-218-1. ninety three thirty seven. Remember, Jesus indeed is the way, He is the truth. He is the life.
And He is the one who enables us to walk in truth. Uh God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. We've heard that many times. But there is a corollary, and that is that Satan hates you and has a destructive plan for your life. There is in the world the devil.
The devil is God's adversary, initially created by God, but then, of course, having fallen, having fallen into the sin of pride. established his own dark evil kingdom. and he wants us to be a part of it. As a matter of fact, it is perfectly possible that he has already made plans for our own individual. Downfall.
Satan can only be in one place at one time, but because he has demons that do his bidding, it almost gives the illusion of being omnipresent everywhere at the same time. When you look at the Bible, you discover that his name is Satan, which means adversary, but another name is the devil, which means accuser. or slanderer. As a matter of fact, it is possible for us to do the devil's work. Very interesting passage in 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 11.
where the Apostle Paul is talking about wives of deacons. And this would apply, of course, to wives of elders and all of us who are males as well. But it said this, that the wives should not be slanderers. The Greek text reads, the wives should not be diabolos, they should not be devils. You realize that when we slander one another, When you get on the phone and you begin to criticize another Christian sharing information that is of no value in retrofrying, I know that there's a word something like that.
rectifying. I knew that I could get it. the problem. When you do that, you are doing the devil's work.
Now his method is very clear. What he does is he wants to inject thoughts into our minds that we think are our own so that we're not afraid of those thoughts. For example, in the book of Acts, chapter 5, a couple by the name of Ananias and Sapphira. they decided to lie about the amount of money that they got for a price of land.
So they pretended they gave everything to the church. It was really a half-lie, it was really a white lie. Let's suppose that they sold the land for $1,000. They gave $500 to the church and gave the impression. that they were giving it all.
Later on, Peter walks into their homes and says, Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?
Now, if Ananias and Sapphira, had known that the devil was there when they were eating their bagel. In the morning and discussing this. If they had known that the devil was there, they'd have been terrified, but they didn't know that because the devil is unseen, even though he put the thoughts into their mind to lie. And therefore, they obeyed him. When you and I open up our minds and our hearts to sin, we open up ourselves to the possibility of having thoughts injected into our minds that are really put there by the devil.
That is the nature. of temptation. What kind of thoughts does he put into our minds? Certainly, thoughts about suicide. Not only that, In the Bible, there are all kinds of sins that are associated with demonic activity.
Everything from divisiveness You find hatred. False guilt, anger, occult practices, immorality, rebellion, all of that biblically can be traced back. To ideas that Satan puts into our minds.
So we are in a tremendous battle. And that's why the text that we have with us today is found in the sixth chapter of the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 6, if you would turn to it for a few moments this morning. You'll notice that the Apostle Paul says in verse 10, Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Verse 11 of chapter 6: put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against.
the schemes of the devil. And he has many schemes, and in this series of messages, which is entitled The Invisible War, we're going to find out what those schemes are. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. That's amazing. Many of the battles that we get into, many of the conflicts that we have.
We attribute it simply to flesh and blood.
Well, flesh and blood may be involved, but remember back of all of that, there may be indeed evil spirits. We are up against the devil. In fact, three or four times Paul uses the word against. He says, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Wow, what a battle we are in.
If you're here today as a Christian, And you don't think that you are in the battle and Satan is leaving you alone, maybe the reason is because you are not a threat to him. He knows that he can count on you to do nothing to advance the kingdom of light. And so he simply says, there's a Christian who may be a Christian, but he's doing no damage to the kingdom of darkness. We'll let him alone. My friend, you and I are in a battle whether we like it or not.
Satan hates us. and he wants to destroy us.
Now Very quickly, the question is: how do we then put on this armor? Today I'll deal briefly with the first piece of armor that is listed in the text. There are six in all. You'll notice it says in verse 13, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand. And Paul loves that word, stand, withstand in the evil day, having done all, stand firm.
Verse 14, stand therefore fastened with the belt of truth. Let's begin there, the belt of truth. The belt for a soldier basically held everything together. His sword would be on his belt. It was kind of the basis.
In fact, there are those who think that it was a kind of metal dress that is being spoken of here, that basically was important to the entire soldier and the battle that he would face. And you'll notice that the text says, stand with the belt of truth. Very briefly, what are some of the characteristics of truth? Characteristics of truth found in the scriptures, and then we'll talk about its application. First of all, you find that truth is established by the truth.
By God. It is established by God. Jeremiah 10, 10 says, O Lord, you are true. All throughout the scriptures, you will find that God is spoken of as truth. Always keep in mind that there is no standard outside of God by which he can be judged.
God is the standard for everything. He is the middle sea, so to speak, by which all other aspects of the universe and creation are judged. And so God is a God of truth.
Now What does the devil do? If he is the one who is the father of lies, and by the way, he is. In fact, the Bible says regarding him, Jesus said of the Pharisees, you are of your father the devil. And the desires of your Father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and he did not abide in the truth because, notice this, there is no truth in him.
Wow, no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of himself because he is a liar and the father. of lies. Do you see Satan's opposition to truth? He hates truth.
You say, does Satan ever speak truth? And the answer is yes, when he must. For example, in the New Testament, there are stories of demons who were in the presence of Jesus. And a demon will say, we know who you are, the Holy One of God. He had to confess it because he was in the presence of Jesus.
But apart from that, Satan will always lie. He will always deceive. It has been said: the only time you know for sure that Satan is telling the truth is when he tells you, if he were to tell you, I am lying. then you could believe him. Because he always lies.
Years ago, Bunyan wrote a book entitled The Holy War. In the Holy War, He gives a demonstration of the kind of battle for our mind that we are involved in. And he talks about man's soul as man's soul. In fact, the name of the place is Mansoul. And Diabolos is having a discussion with some of the demons as to how they are going to trick man and deceive him.
And one of them says to the other, we will conjole them, we will tempt them. But at the end, what we do all the time is lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies, lies. That's Satan's scheme.
Now if you're living with a person who is a deceitful person A person whom you cannot believe, a person who will not tell the truth unless they are absolutely forced to. If they are deceitful people, they are in Satan's pocket. because he is a liar and the father of lies.
So, what he wants to do, the minute truth is encountered, he wants to distort it, he wants to deflect it. He wants to change it because he hates truth.
So, what does he want us to think about God?
Well, Rather than thinking of God as being truth, the first lie that Satan always wants us to believe about God is that God isn't good. that God isn't good. You found that, for example, in the Garden of Eden. Satan comes to Eve and basically says to her, you mean that God said that you cannot eat of every tree of the garden? A God who restricts you can't be a good God.
God is not at all interested in you. He's not interested in benefiting you. All that God cares about is Himself. But if you eat of the fruit of the tree that he's asked you not to eat of, you will be like him.
So, what Satan does is he comes along and tells us: if you follow God, it is not the best way because God is not best. Good. He wants us to think wrongly about God. He'll also come to us and say, God isn't faithful. And you can't depend on his promises.
For example, 1 John chapter 1 verse 9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us. from every individual unrighteousness.
Now, some of you are still struggling with guilt over issues that God has forgiven. And one of the things that Satan does is he comes and he says, God isn't faithful. He has promised to forgive you if you have confessed it, and you have confessed it, but he cannot be relied upon to keep his word. And so Satan wants us to disbelieve God. and his truth.
And so, whenever we sin deliberately, as Luther has pointed out, Whenever we sin deliberately, we have already thought wrongly about God. We've thought to ourselves that sin is actually a better way than God's way. As a matter of fact, that's what Satan spends most of his time on: is to try to get us. To see that sin is something good, and that our own way is better than God's way.
So first of all, truth is established by God, and what Satan wants to do is to distort our view of God so that we don't trust him, we don't believe him, and we don't believe that he's faithful or good. There's a second statement that can be made about truth. And that is that it is recorded. in the Bible. In fact, I've already assumed that, haven't I?
It is recorded in the Bible. John 17, 17, thy word is truth. Thy word is truth. In the Old Testament, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The testimony of the Lord is true. Here's the word, true and righteous altogether. Thy word is truth. So, what does Satan want us to do?
What he'd like people to think about the Bible is that it is an ordinary. human book. That it is a collection of man's wisdom. That it is a book that has benefits, but it is not the Word of God. And if it is the Word of God, it is an incomplete word of God.
We need other books. to supplement it. That's why you find in other religions you always have other books. Because the assumption is that the Bible isn't sufficient, we need another book.
So, you have the book on science and health and a key to the scriptures. That's another book added to the Bible. You have the Quran. It's a book added to the Bible. Because what Satan wants people to think is that the Bible itself is not reliable in and of itself.
You need something additional beyond it.
so that you can really get to God. And so he wants to distort our idea of God's truth. By the way, how did Jesus regard the Bible? Imagine. Heaven and earth shall pass away.
And yet my word shall not Pass away. Wow. Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Those are the kinds of convictions Jesus had, and we can't believe less. then our Saviour believed, can we?
And so We find that Jesus countered Satan. With a word. It's a great story that you already know, but The tempter came to him and says, you know, turn these stones into bread. And Jesus says, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
So there you have Jesus Christ affirming the scriptures. Satan comes along and says, look, If he can get you to disbelieve the Bible, That's the first thing he wants to do. If you believe the Bible and there's nothing that can be done because you have come to the conviction that the Bible is God's word, then next ploy is for you to ignore God's word. and to keep it on the shelf. And you never read it, and you have no reading program whereby you're reading anything.
And occasionally, you take it from the shelf and hope that it'll fall open at a place that might be helpful. But there's no systematic attempt to say, what is God saying? And so Satan wants us to do that because he knows that it is through God's word that we have victory over sin. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word. word So, first of all, truth is established by God.
Secondly, it is recorded in the Bible. Third, Third, it is revealed in Jesus. It is revealed in Jesus. You know, my friend, this could be part of a larger discussion, but really all truth. resides in God.
And all lies reside in Satan. who is the author The father of lies.
So we are always in the midst of a conflict, aren't we? I've written a book entitled How to Break a Stubborn Habit.
Now, this book, I believe, is based on the scripture. I believe that it is based on truth. And it will enable us to put on that belt of truth.
so that we can begin to stand against the wiles of the devil. And I don't need to emphasize, do I, that we are indeed in a spiritual battle. And every single piece of armor is important. For a gift of any amount, we're making the book available for you, entitled How to Break a Stubborn Habit. Here's what you do.
Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888. 218. ninety three thirty seven. And as I mentioned at the top of this program, let us invite the Holy Spirit of God to search our hearts.
to see whether or not there are some lies. that we have believed so that we might repent and get back to the truth. Once again, go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888. two one eight 9337. The title of the book, How to break a stubborn habit And as you have heard me say many times, Thank you so much for joining hands with us as together we run toward the finish line.
It's time again for you to ask Pastor Lutzer a question about the Bible or the Christian life. A listener named Bonnie has a question about a famous artifact which is said to be from the time of Christ, she asks. When Jesus was placed in the tomb, The Bible only speaks of a linen cloth wrapped about him. Where and when did the name Shroud of Turin come about? I don't see this particular wording in the Bible, and wondered if the name just came to be as archaeologists and historians are trying to look for this item and testing it to see if it is the real thing.
Well, I'm sure that you can go online and find out a great deal about the Shroud of Turin. But the bottom line is this, nobody knows what happened to the linen cloth or the shroud in which Jesus was placed. when he was put into the tomb. But people love tradition. People love mythology.
And that's why you have mythology growing up around, for example, the Holy Grail. supposedly the cup used when Jesus Christ had the Last Supper. And I put the Shroud of Turin in that category. It is believed that somehow this shroud got from Jerusalem to Turin. And that's why it's called the Shroud of Turin.
And as archaeologists and experts look at it, they can see apparently, and you've seen pictures of it, they can see the outline of a human being who evidently was crucified. Because they can tell by the bloodstains, etc.
However, I don't believe in the resurrection because of the Shroud of Turin. I believe in the resurrection because it is so clearly spelled out in the Bible by the four different Gospel writers, by the Apostle Paul, And of course historically also, even in secular literature. That is a sure word. The Shroud of Turin may be of interest to many, many different people, but It is only a shroud. In my opinion, it is not proof of Jesus and the resurrection.
It may never have been his shroud. but the traditions that grew up about it have made it famous.
Well, that's my opinion. Thanks for asking, and you have a good day all day. Thank you, Bonnie, for your question about that famous shroud. If you'd like to hear your questions answered, go to our website at rtwoffer.com and click on Ask Pastor Lutzer. or call us at one eight eight eight two one eight ninety three thirty seven.
That's 1-888-218-38. 9337. You can write to us at RunningTowin 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. Satan is the father of lies. The first one he told was, Has God said?
planting seeds of doubt. he's still hissing that same old song. trying to get believers to either doubt the scriptures or ignore them altogether.
Next time on Running to Win, more about the Belt of Truth. Our defense when Satan tries to get us to believe lies about the Bible. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
