917.God’s Amazing Armor

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina.

The school was founded in 1927 by the evangelist Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. His intent was to make a school where Christ would be the center of everything so he established daily chapel services. Today, that tradition continues with fervent biblical preaching from the University Chapel platform. Today on The Daily Platform, we're continuing a study series entitled Our Ancient Foe, which is a study of Satan, the reality of his presence, and how Christians can be victorious against him. Today's message will be preached by Dr. Greg Maszak, BJU Seminary Professor and Pastor Teacher of Trinity Bible Church in Greer, South Carolina. I want to say how blessed I've been by the different messages, but also just the theme of Our Ancient Foe. And it's been very thoughtful and encouraging and helpful for me. And even as I've had a lunch with some of the different guys on campus, just going after chapel and talking about it has really been helpful.

And I hope that today's message will be right along that same venue, that it'll be something that will be a blessing and encouragement to you. One of my favorite places in the world is my backyard, okay? I love my backyard. I live on a street in a subdivision, and there's only one way into our subdivision, and I'm on the very end street. You can't go any farther in the subdivision than our street. And then you go to the end cul-de-sac, and our house is basically the last house in the last cul-de-sac of the last street.

So it's very, very kind of private, and it's just surrounded by woods. And I sit in my backyard, and I love it. Most summers, when I don't have to get up and necessarily have appointments early in the morning, I like to be in the backyard on the deck or on the patio with a hot cup of Sumatra in my hand, that's my favorite coffee, and my laptop, and I'm just studying for my messages, just loving it, just so thankful, just feeling incredibly blessed. I also just enjoy seeing God's creation. And so I'll be back there, and this summer, almost every day, a flock of 16 turkeys walks by, almost the same time. And I'm watching them grow up, I feel like their grandpa. You know, initially they were about this big, and now they're almost full grown, and they're still coming by. There was a cardinal that had a nest, and I would watch the cardinal get little things, whatever a cardinal feeds the chicks, and I would actually watch that cardinal feed the little ones. There's a red tail hawk that comes and goes and hangs out in the woods somewhere near my house, and of course there's a lot of squirrels. Now, I'm okay with squirrels, okay? I'm not necessarily against squirrels, here's a picture of one, but once they get really comfortable and close to the house, it bothers me. Because we lived in a house once where squirrels made a nest in the attic, another house where squirrels actually chewed through the wood siding and lived in the wall. And so not only does that make a noise, and it just kind of freaks your wife out to hear stuff in the walls like that, but they can also chew on wires and start fires, and it can be bad.

So here's what I do. When there's squirrels in the yard, I kind of say fine. When they get close to the deck, I say fine. When they act comfortable on the deck, I know it's time, okay? And so I just make a decision that that squirrel can't do that anymore.

And so what I'll do, I'll just be enjoying the day, memorizing or meditating on the scriptures, drinking my coffee, I'll set my laptop down, I'll go into the house, and I'll grab my 22, and I have a little scope on my 22, and I'll just kind of take care of the squirrel. And the last time I did this not long ago, I was watching that squirrel thinking, buddy, you have no idea what's going on. I mean, you are naive.

You are ignorant. You're sitting there chewing like it's just another day, and you don't even realize that something majorly big is about to happen. And so I actually, I paused for a while, and I just thought, what is it like?

Here you are, you have no idea that someone has their sight on you. And, well, I thought it's time. And so I just take a breath and I squeeze gently, and the squirrel is gone, okay? And I don't deal with him anymore. You say, you don't deal with him? No, I just, that's it, he's gone.

You say, don't you even like, no, I don't do anything. I don't know if the hawk comes by or what, but the next day there's no evidence. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. You're thinking, Dr. Mazak, why in the world would you take your 22 and shoot a cute little squirrel like that? And there's a good reason. If I took my AR, it would make too much of a mess, okay?

So that's why I use my 22, okay? Now, you guys are thinking, some of you, that poor little squirrel doesn't have a chance. That's correct. It's not his fault.

I would argue it is. That squirrel could have made a choice to put his armor on, but he did not, okay? So I think if you go out without your armor, bad things are going to happen, all right? Now, kind of a silly picture, but the title of the message this morning is God's Amazing Armor. And if you want to open up to Ephesians chapter 6, we're going to look eventually at that passage, but actually I want to talk about a number of things that we've already kind of covered maybe in this series, but I hope will be helpful.

And here's kind of really the main thing I want to talk about today. Based on all the messages we've heard that relate to demons, that relate to Satan, how do you respond? How do I respond to Satan and to demons? I would suggest there's three general responses.

I would hope number one is not an option for us anymore based on what we've been taught. There's the response of denial. I don't really care about Satan. I don't care about demons, right? Some people would believe in naturalism. They don't even believe demons exist. They believe there's a natural explanation for everything that happens. Supernatural doesn't exist. Theological liberals maybe would just say, well, demons, they're not really like persons or have personality.

They're just abstract theological concepts, personifications of evil, but we know that's not true. And there's also believers that maybe love the gospel so much that they come to wrong conclusions about demons. And they think Christ came. That's correct. And Christ went to a cross and he not only suffered and died, but he rose again. That's correct. And Christ defeated Satan. That's correct. So Satan's no longer a problem.

That is incorrect. Satan is a defeated enemy, but his defeat is not yet sealed, if you will. We live between the first coming and the second coming of Jesus Christ. And during this time of kind of already not yet, Satan is still able to hurt people, even though he knows his doom is sure.

And we need to be aware of that. Let me ask a question, illustration that maybe will help. In World War II, in what battle did U.S. troops suffer the highest number of casualties? Who can tell me?

What would you think? Shout it out if you think you know. Okay, I actually heard the correct answer, and I heard some incorrect ones as well. I think a lot of people would think Normandy. A lot of people would think the D-Day invasion. Do you know that the battle where we had the highest number of casualties, 20,000 Americans killed, another 50 injured, was the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944. The war seemed over by then. Germany was by all practical purposes defeated. Normandy was a memory.

Paris was securely in Allied hands. In the east, the Red Army was on the move. Everybody thought it's over for Nazi Germany. And then Saturday, December 16, 5 a.m., our generals were thinking maybe our boys will be home by Christmas. The Germans thought something different. And a quarter of a million German troops with nearly 800 armored vehicles and 2,000 heavy guns ripped into our lines along an 80-mile stretch, and we retreated as quickly as we could.

Here's the ironic thing. We were warned through intelligence that it was coming. And our leader said, there is no way. Germany's a defeated foe.

This war is for all practical purposes over. That's how naive our commanders were, and we paid the price. We've already had wonderful messages. Dr. Horn preached on the conflict around us. Dr. Horn preached on demons in the world. I would like to think that this response of denial – man, I don't care about Satan and his demons.

I would like to think that's not an option for us. You say, well, what's the second option of responding to demons and Satan? It's deliverance.

It's okay. Demons are real. Satan is real. So let's cast them out.

Let's bind them. Let's go on the offensive, and let's engage in powerful – David Pauluson calls it – ekbalistic ministry. Those of you who study Greek are familiar with the word to cast out. That's in David Pauluson's wonderful book called Power Encounters. And he describes how this is very popular in charismatic circles.

Benny Hinn, for example, would teach this kind of warfare. It's not just charismatic. Even in some dispensational circles. We have books like Meryl Unger's book, What Demons Can Do to Saints. And the way I actually became the most familiar with it is through reading Christian counseling books, primarily by Neil Anderson and his Freedom in Christ Ministries.

Especially, you might have read the book or heard of, The Bondage Breaker. And it teaches the reason we struggle with fear, anxiety, depression. The reason we have maybe problems with alcohol, drugs, whatever, our marriages don't go well, or people get involved in sexual sin. It's because of demons.

And even if a Christian can't be demon-possessed, allegedly we could be demonized, and you're never going to have victory until you bind the demon and cast out the demon. And thus, that's the kind of ministry we need to be engaging in. Now, I'm going to say something that some of my colleagues disagree with. And we've already talked about it, and we respect differing positions. And in a university, there's a place for that.

And Dr. Horn, and Dr. Pettit, and a number of us are around the table, and we acknowledge that this is okay. So I'm just going to tell you what the best I know I believe, and I respect some of my very good friends and brothers who disagree. I would never try to cast a demon out of anyone.

It would never cross my radar that I had the ability, that I had the power, that I could do something like that. Think about some of the good preaching we've heard. For example, a wonderful message by Dr. Stikes, who challenged us with angels and their world, and reminded us that this is really not what angels look like.

Remember? That what happens in the Bible when people see angels, they're falling down worshiping saying, Lord, I praise you. And the angel has to say, no, I'm not God, get up. See, nobody does that to me, you know? Nobody comes to me and, wow, are you God?

It never happens. And if good angels are this awesome and mighty, then what are evil, fallen angels like? Dr. Talbert preached a wonderful message on knowing our enemy.

I was so impressed by it, I asked him if I could borrow this book. The Bible says Satan's like a roaring lion. If I come across a roaring lion, it doesn't cross my mind to take it on.

I could be out jogging and see a Rottweiler and I turn around, okay? And you think I'm going to take on, and if you haven't heard the message, it's online, I'd encourage you to go back and listen to it, and to actually think of what Satan is like. You say, is that a good picture? Well, 1 Peter 5, verses 8 and 9, right? What does the text say? Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour, whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith.

What am I supposed to do? It doesn't tell me to confront, it doesn't tell me to attack, it doesn't tell me to bind and cast out. I have no New Testament instruction on that I must do that, no imperatives.

I also have no instruction on how to do it, but I am told that I must resist. Now keep that in mind, and let's remember what Jude 9 says. It's a very complicated verse in many ways, but I think the main teaching is very clear. In Jude chapter 9, you can see it on the screen, it says, but Michael the archangel, now he's somebody awesome and incredible. It says, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, the Lord rebuke you. If the mighty archangel Michael is not going to rebuke Satan, I'm just telling you, it's not crossing my mind.

Not even a possibility for me, when I understand how incredibly powerful Satan and demons and angels really are. You say, what about the Apostle Paul? I think about the Apostle Paul when he records for us in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 that he had a thorn in the flesh.

We're not really sure what that is, but we know it's obviously something very undesirable. He calls it, notice please, the messenger of Satan to buffet me. You say, so Paul, why don't you just cast it out?

Lest I should be exalted above memory for this thing. Notice what Paul did. I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart for me. You know what Paul did? He prayed. Paul didn't cast it out. Paul prayed. And what did the Lord say? He said, my grace is sufficient for thee.

My strength is made perfect in weakness. Now I've had students that ask me, well, Dr. Mazek, if you came across a demon possessed person, let's stop, let's review. Do you believe demon possessed people exist?

Absolutely. And when I hear the illustration say that Dr. Hand or Dr. Armiston have used, and you say, do you believe that they've encountered people that were demon possessed? And I have no trouble believing that.

You say, what would you do in such a case? I'm just telling you, if I see a big lion like that, it's not even in my radar that I could cast that demon out or do something. And yes, I know in the Bible, we have accounts of that, but also I can't raise dead people. They did that in the Bible.

I also can't speak languages I've never studied. They did that in the Bible. They did all kinds of things I don't do. You say, what would you do? I would do what John MacArthur describes in his excellent book, Our Sufficiency in Christ. I would share the gospel. And I think that was the point, if I remember correctly, that Dr. Armiston was making when he encountered an individual that the best he knew was demon possessed and perhaps and probably was that you share the gospel. And I've had people even laugh at me and say, that's what you would do. You honestly think you could share the gospel with the demon possessed person.

No. Maybe the gospel is more powerful than we think. And maybe the Lord is able to use the gospel to change a person. I am not questioning the reality of demon possession. I am questioning the validity of ec-ballistic or, if you want to just use another word, a ministry of binding demons, of casting out demons. I would never talk to a demon. We might disagree on this. I personally would never speak to a demon.

That's just how I see it as I realize how incredibly powerful they are. You say, OK, then what do you do? Open up to Ephesians 6, please. And we'll have to go through quickly.

This message is hopefully setting up the next two messages. You say, what is it that we need to do? We need to have a better approach. And this third viewpoint is what we're going to call discipleship. You say, how do you fight Satan? Discipleship. Classic discipleship. You say, what does that mean, classical discipleship? Let's go here to Ephesians chapter 6, please. And I'll begin reading in verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. I am not strong, but I can be made strong. A passive idea.

How? In the Lord. It's not my might. I don't have any might.

I'm like that squirrel. I'm toast. Verse 11, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Wow. So if I put on God's armor, then I can stand. Verse 12, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Wherefore, verse 13, take unto you what? The whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Discipleship is putting on God's armor.

And maybe you're kind of thinking, well, exactly what does that mean? Well, again, we've already heard a wonderful message by Dr. Newton on the battlefield of the mind, Dr. Armistead on the tactics of Satan. There are two more messages coming up, more than two, but the next two are using your armor effectively and then resisting temptation. So in those two sermons, there's going to be more specific instruction on how to practically use your armor. But you say, what is the armor? Well, I'll just keep reading in the text.

Notice what it says here, please. It says in verse 14, stand there, having your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And then it says praying.

Let's set aside the military imagery if we can, not that it's not important, but what is God's armor? Well, just look at the words that Paul used. It's truth. It's righteousness. It's the gospel. It's faith. It's salvation. It's the word of God. It's prayer. It's me struggling on a very bad day and thinking, Lord, my whole world's falling apart and don't you love me? And are you faithful?

Are you a good God? I mean, all of my friends are getting married. I'm not getting married. All the other couples have children.

We don't have any children. I read my Bible and I pray every day and I still don't have a good job. And I know people that hardly ever read their Bibles and they have good jobs and I'm sick and they're unhealthy and what's up?

And then what do I do? I fight using the armor of God. It begins with truth. Lord, I know what's true.

I know that you love me. You've established that on Calvary. It goes to righteousness. Lord, I have no righteousness, but Christ is my righteousness and it's been imputed to me. And so I know you want me at least to try by your grace to live a righteous life. And that's all based on the good news of the gospel.

And I do believe that Jesus Christ, God in the flesh came, lived a perfect life, died, was buried, third day rose again and intercedes for me at your right hand. And then faith. The faith once delivered for the saints is the faith that I have, that I believe. And then there's my salvation. Lord, I thank you that you've not only saved me from the penalty of my sin, but you are saving me from the power of sin.

And one day you're going to save me from the presence of sin. And then there's God's word, which I can use to jab back at these false doubts or these doubts that plague me. And then there's prayer. And some people include prayer, some don't. I think it'd be wonderful to include prayer. And we say, Lord, Lord, please help me.

And the next couple of messages are going to focus on practically how to do this. And so what happens if demons are real and they are, and they're incredibly strong and they are, and they have their sights on me and they do, then how do I respond? I put on God's armor. You say, say it's somehow different.

Okay. What I do is I embrace the beauty of the gospel and I meditate on the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I dwell on the fact that I am in Christ. I am accepted in the beloved.

And because of this wonderful union with Christ, my faithful father will take care of me and will one day take me home safely to be with him. That's putting on God's armor that we'll be learning more about. If you want to read more about this, a couple of the speakers have brought up this excellent book. I don't know that it says anything radically new in it, but it's just a wonderful summary. That was a blessing for me to read. And I would recommend it to you, Spiritual Warfare, and you could see it there.

A wonderful book that would help us all to think. So responding to our ancient foe, what do we do? Number one, don't ignorantly deny that Satan is real. Being naive didn't help the squirrel in my backyard, I promise you. Don't deny it. But number two, don't fearfully retreat. I mean, I believe all of this, but I'm not walking around filled with fear.

Do you remember the illustration that Dr. Newton used? Remember, if you ever come to face with a Simba, right, with a lion, the parents would say, look him straight in the eyes. Your eyes into his. Don't move. Don't breathe. And whatever you do, don't run.

You don't have to run when you have God's amazing armor on. It's enough. It's sufficient.

You will be able to stand. Number one, don't deny it. Number two, don't fearfully retreat. But number three, don't foolishly attack. You say, would you ever go on the offensive and try to chase Satan?

No. Now in my home, I have deadbolts on every door that goes from the inside to the outside. And before I go to sleep, most of the time I check the deadbolts.

Why? Because I don't want any bad guys hurting me and my family. You say, what if they got into your house? Then I would go to round two level defense, okay?

Just think squirrel. And I would, I would try to defend my family that way. Guys, I don't jump in my truck driving around looking for things to shoot, okay? But in my home, if intruders come, I'm not going attacking anyone, but I want to be ready. And God has given us the armor to do that. So I don't ignorantly deny number two, don't fearfully retreat. Number three, don't foolishly attack.

But number four, I put on God's armor and I stand and the next two messages will practically encourage us with that, okay? Now I want to end with a picture. That is a picture.

It's kind of interesting that I'm using it for this message series. That's a picture of me on my motorcycle and I'm riding what's called the tail of the dragon because in that 11 miles or so of road, there are over 300 curves and people from all over this part of the country head up there. It's near the border of North Carolina and Tennessee. It's a beautiful place to ride. And behind me, a brother Beuter has been, we've been up there together. Dr. Parker and I have been up there.

Just a wonderful place to ride. Now you say, okay, so why are you showing me this picture? I don't know if you could see it. I'm not wearing flip flops, okay? I'm not even wearing sneakers, guys. I'm wearing leather boots that have armor in the ankles and in the toe. And I know you can't see a lot of it, but I wear Kevlar jeans when I ride. Kevlar is what they make bulletproof vests out of. So if you're on your bike and you slide, you can slide for long distances and you still have skin, okay? That's why I wear Kevlar. You say, what happens if you hit a post?

I don't think about that. But I wear Kevlar jeans in case I slide. And I don't know if you could see my jacket. It's warm, but I have a mesh jacket. So why wear it at all? Because it holds armor in it.

And I have armor in my shoulders and armor in my elbows and I have armor on my back. Because if I do go down, I want to increase the likelihood that I'm okay. Because it's very dangerous to ride a motorcycle.

I'm not naive. People sometimes say, Dr. Mazek, I'm thinking about getting a motorcycle. What do you think? I say, don't do it. I always tell them, don't do it.

In fact, one of my daughters has a boyfriend. He just mentioned to me recently, I'm thinking about buying a motorcycle. I said, don't do it. I tell anybody, don't. Any of you here, you want to buy a motorcycle? Don't do it. They're too dangerous. You say, well then, why do you ride?

And the best answer I can give you is if you have to ask, you wouldn't understand. It's just something that you just have to do, okay? But I plan to go down. I'm not naive.

I plan to go down and I dress for it. You say, do some people ride naively? Yeah, some Christians live like there's no Satan. And some guys ride motorcycles like they're never going to go down. Check this guy out, okay? I mean, come on.

Flip flops, shorts. He doesn't even have a hand on the handlebar. He has cruise control and he's steering with his feet. You say, what do you call a guy like that? Most people call him an organ donor, okay?

And it's just a very foolish thing to do. And my heart for you with this chapel series would be the same thing that God's doing in my life, that I would become more aware of the reality that spiritual warfare, it is real. I'm not going to deny it, but I'm also not going to engage in deliverance ministry. I'm going to engage in discipleship ministry, which means putting on God's armor. And again, we'll have two more messages to help us know how to do that. Keep your armor on. God bless you. You've been listening to a sermon preached by Dr. Greg Mazak, which is part of the study series entitled, Our Ancient Foe. Listen again tomorrow as we continue the series here on The Daily Platform.