The Weapons of Authority

When you're in a pinch, you don't know where to go to in the Word of God to cut the devil in half.

No wonder you're defeated. Dr. Tony Evans says Christians often ignore one of our most powerful resources when trials and temptation come along. If you don't know how to utter the Word of God, use the Word of God. Take it and use it when you need it. You're going to be defeated.

You're wasting your time. This is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of The Urban Alternative. You wouldn't think of leaving home without your clothes on, but many believers go out into the world spiritually naked on a daily basis. Let's join Dr. Evans as he explains how to suit up for a showdown with Satan. Paul is concerned in Ephesians Chapter 6 that we understand the tools of authority. He wants to get us back to the source. He wants us to understand what is the cause of our greatest dilemma, greatest issue, and greatest problem. And so in the greatest single passage on the matter of spiritual warfare, he is going to now tell us the tools, the weapons, the equipment that you need to fix whatever is broken in your life.

And so today, we'll be able to combine to make you victorious, I guarantee it. First of all, I want you to know that in these verses, his concern is that believers are equipped with the armor of God. I want to talk about the need for the armor, the nature of the armor, and the names of the armor.

First of all, the need for the armor. We are told that we need the armor in order to stand firm. Please notice the word stand firm in verse 11.

That's our key phrase. That you may be able to stand firm against the schemes, the craftiness, the wiles, the cunning, the planning of the devil. Notice he also says in verse 13, the end of the verse, having done everything to stand firm. He says it again in verse 14, the first line, stand firm. Why do we need God's armor?

I'll tell you why. You are fighting angels. You are fighting angels.

In fact, he says in verse 12, you are not fighting people. The worst person in your life is not your problem. They're only the vehicle through which the angels are getting to you.

The worst situation that you're facing right now is not your problem. It is only the vehicle that Satan is using and his angelic host to get to you. And many of us for most of our lives have been fighting people when we ought to have been fighting angels. Because he says you wrestle not against flesh and blood, you wrestle against the principalities and the powers. That is, the angelic world. You can't use human tools and win a spiritual war.

He says that you must use the armor of God. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4.18 that we do not look on the seen, but we look on the unseen. We fight an invisible war against an invisible enemy in an invisible sphere, but it affects us in our earthly realm. This cunning is so crafty. It's called the wiles of the devil. It's called the schemes of the devil. He is cunning.

He has underground minds that you don't know are there and you step on them and all of a sudden they explode. And what does God want you to do? He wants you to—two words—stand firm. Now, why would he tell you to stand firm in a war? Don't you want to go out and fight in a war? Don't you want to go out and win?

Don't you want to storm the enemy's camp in a war? Why would he say, stand firm? Well, I'll tell you why he wants you to stand firm, and there have been every sermon I've preached up to this point. He wants you to stand firm because Jesus has already won the offensive victory.

That's why he wants you to stand firm. You're not in this war to fight to win. You're in this war to take care of the ground already won. Victory has already been won for you at Calvary. That's the problem why we have so many defeated Christians. They're still fighting to win. If you're fighting to win, you're not fighting the battle that Jesus fought because the battle that Jesus fought was already won at Calvary.

We saw it in Colossians chapter 2 verses 14 to 15. He has already embarrassed the principalities and the powers. He defeated them. So what must you do? Stand firm. We are like a football team where our team is up 72 to nothing. We don't have to score any more points. We just have to stand firm. We just have to stop the other team from doing what they want to do.

Why? Because victory has already been won. It means to hold on to the territory that Christ has already conquered. The offensive work was done by Jesus Christ on Calvary.

The victory has already been won. So stand firm. Why? Because of the evil day, he calls it in verse 13, that you may be able to resist in the evil day. What is the evil day? That is the day when your number comes up. Every Christian in here has a number.

That is a number when Satan is going to unleash hell after you. You having a good day today? Good.

Enjoy it. Because tomorrow may be the evil day. Ask Mr. Job. He'll tell you about the evil day when God let Satan come after him. When his whole world fell apart.

There is coming a day when Satan, even at the permission of God, in order to win the angelic conflict, will let Satan give you an evil day. And your job, like Job, is to what? Stand firm. He couldn't do anything about the loss of his kids. He couldn't do anything about the loss of his health. He couldn't do anything about the loss of his job.

He couldn't do anything about the loss of his career. All he could say, though, is, though he slay me, yet while I trust him, he stood firm. He did not let Satan budge him off of his spot. And so what God says is that you need the armor of God to stand firm in the victory that has already been won. And that's why we spend so much time giving thanks. We want to thank God for the victory to remind ourselves we have won, even when it looks like we're losing.

Even when it looks like we're losing, we have won. So you have to stand firm when hell is unleashed against you. First Corinthians 16 verse 13 says, stand firm in your faith.

Secondly, the nature of the armor. Please notice verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord. Finally, be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might.

Now you know what that says? The battle is not yours but the Lord's. The nature of the armor is that it's God's armor. That's a passive in verse 10. Be strong in the Lord. That is a passive imperative. It means it is the Lord's strength that will enable you to stand firm. It is his work. The battle is not yours but the Lord's.

Or to put it another way, you must learn to dress for success. Now this is a very interesting set of armor here. Before we get into naming it, I want you to look at two verbs, two key verbs. Please notice he says in verse 13, having girded in verse 14 and then he said later on in verse 14, having put and then he says in verse 15, having shod. The first three pieces of armor are from the verb to be and it reads having. But notice the shift in the text with the last three. He says in verse 3, taking up.

He says in verse 17, take the helmet and the sword or the sword of the spirit. He moves to the verb to take. Two key verb changes.

Now I must admit I've taught this passage many times but this is the first time I noticed to this degree the change of verbs. From having to take. What's the difference? Some of the armor you keep on. Other parts of the armor you pick up as you need it. Having, the first three, a way of being dressed all the time.

Taking, you keep it nearby so you can pick it up at a moment's notice. In all six pieces of the armor, there are simply six ways of saying the same thing and that is get dressed up in Jesus every day. Look at Romans 13.

Hold your finger here. Look at Romans 13. These are all ways of talking about Christ. Look at Romans chapter 13. He says in verse 11, and do this, knowing the time that it is already the hour for you to awaken from your sleep. Because we have a lot of sleepy Christians. For now salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed.

The night is almost gone and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. The same author Paul uses the word. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness and in sexual promiscuity and in sensuality, not in strife and jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lust. He says put on the armor of light, which means put on Jesus. So if you want to dress for success in the spiritual warfare, dress up in Jesus. Dr. Evans will have more on suiting up for spiritual warfare when he returns in just a moment.

Now, if you're wanting to dig deeper into the important subject he's presenting today, I encourage you to check out his complete two volume 12 message series. It's called Spiritual Warfare. In it you'll learn the toughest problems you face are often created by spiritual issues that demand spiritual solutions. Dr. Evans offers an effective plan of attack and shines a revealing light on the devil's tricks and tactics, allowing you to become equipped for winning victories on spiritual battlefields that can affect your marriage, finances, even emotions and addictions.

Get your own copy of Spiritual Warfare on CD or digital download. And if you contact us right away and make a contribution to the ministry, we'll say thanks by sending you the complete Spiritual Warfare series and your choice of one of two follow-up books, Victory in Spiritual Warfare or Prayers for Victory in Spiritual Warfare. Just visit tonyevans.org and get the details before time runs out.

Again, that's tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222 where resource team members are standing by around the clock to help with your request. I'll have that information for you again after part two of today's lesson and this. Whether you're facing a decision or a dilemma, it's smart to ask, what would Jesus do? But first you have to know what Jesus did and what God has to say about the situations you face. Well, if building your biblical foundation is your goal, the help you need is as close as your computer or mobile device, thanks to the Tony Evans Training Center. It's packed with online courses covering core concepts of the faith and in-depth scripture studies you can work through any time you want at any pace you want. Along the way you'll explore key teachings and learn how to apply them in real world situations.

There's lots of exclusive content from Tony to keep you interested and motivated and an online forum where you can ask questions, get answers and collaborate with other students. It's almost like having a seminary on your smartphone. Visit tonyevans.org today and connect with the Tony Evans Training Center where you can explore the kingdom anytime, anywhere. The only thing that's ever scared the devil is Jesus Christ.

Let me say that again. The only thing that has ever scared the devil is Jesus Christ. So if you want to get the devil off your back, put on your uniform, your Jesus mask, put on your Jesus Christ appearance and the devil won't be able to hang.

He won't be able to handle you because you are Christ. You have dressed for success. So now he moves from the need for the armor to the nature of the armor and now he gives six names of the armor.

Let's look at them. Verse 14, stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth. Peace number one. You need a truth belt. Now the Roman soldier had this long tunic that flowed down to the ground, but when it came time to fight, he couldn't really maneuver with that thing. So he would tuck that thing up underneath his belt.

So he would have mobility. The belt had loops on it which would carry his sword, for example, which would carry some clips so he could connect his breastplate into it. If he didn't have his belt, he couldn't wear his breastplate. If he didn't have his belt, he couldn't carry his sword.

If he didn't have his belt, he couldn't hold everything together. To stand firm, hold on to God's ground that Satan is trying to take from you. He's trying to take your meaning. He's trying to take your purpose. He's trying to take your future. He's trying to take your life.

He's trying to take all of that and God said, if you just get dressed and stop trying to live a naked Christian life, he won't be able to take stuff anymore. Which means the first thing you got to have on is your belt. What's the belt made up of? It's made up of truth.

It's made up of truth. What do I mean? A standard of reality. Suppose you went to the doctor and he was getting ready to perform an operation and he said, now I think this is where I need to cut. Is that the doctor that you want? Suppose you went to a pharmacist and you went to the pharmacist and he said, well, I think this is the medicine you should take. Or suppose you got on a plane and the pilot said, now I think this is the button I'm supposed to push.

Let's try this button and see if it gets us off the ground. No, at the doctor's office you want truth. At the pharmacist you want truth. In the airplane you sure enough want truth. You don't want no pilot talking about, I think. Or a doctor say, I think.

Or a pharmacist say, I think. Well now, if you can respect the truth of a doctor and the truth of a pharmacist and you can respect the truth of a pilot, how come God can't be yay and amen? He's truth.

And Satan is winning a lot of us because how we feel is more important than what God says. There is not an objective belt of truth by which we live our lives. And if that is not there, nothing else will work. Nothing else will latch.

Nothing else will be able to hang in there. And you say, well, how does that relate to Christ? John 14 verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus says, I am truth. So truth is not only a book, it is a book, but it's also a person. It's the written word and it's the living word. So get up dressed in truth. In other words, walk around with a viewpoint that God is true.

And I am not, neither is anybody else who disagrees with him. Now, people are going to call you arrogant. Are they going to call you narrow?

That's a big one. You are so narrow. Yeah, well, if I have a heart problem, I don't want nobody cutting on my leg. I want him to narrow it to my chest. I want him to be narrow.

On a one-way street, I don't want somebody driving down the other way saying, it's too narrow to only go one way on the street. I want him to be narrow. And if you're going to stand against the devil, you better get narrow, because broad is the way that leads to destruction. And narrow is the road that leads to life.

You've got to be narrow enough to say this is true and this is not. Thus saith the Lord. Now, it's important that you know that the belt goes around the loins.

It goes right here. That's where the belt goes. You know why? Because the loins provide the strength.

See, if you have to pick up something heavy, you don't just take your fingers and pick it up or else it's not heavy. The truth of God is a strong tower. Second piece of armor.

Look at it. Having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Now, what did the breastplate cover? It covered your chest.

It hooked into the belt and it covered the chest. You start with truth, then you move to the heart. The Bible says, set your mind on things above where Christ is. 1 Corinthians 5 21 says that Christ is our righteousness. So you still talk about getting dressed up in Christ. To put on the breastplate of righteousness means to commit yourself to a holy life. Righteousness.

Predicated on the imputation of righteousness that you receive when you receive Christ. Most Christians don't know what happened when they got saved. Most Christians only know he forgave my sin.

No, that's not all that happened. Something else happened when you got saved. If you're here today and you know Jesus Christ as your personal savior, two things happened. He took away your sin, but he gave you his righteousness.

That's called imputation. That is, he credited to your account the righteousness that belongs to Jesus Christ. So you don't get up in the morning saying, I'm just going to be righteous today, because now you can jump back to human effort. You get up in the morning to say, because of Christ, I am righteous today. You start with your position in Christ before you hit your actions for Christ. Because if you start with your action for Christ without understanding your position in Christ, then it's going to be your own human effort with no divine supply.

But if you get dressed up in the morning saying, thank you Lord that I am clean in Christ, and I use 1 John 1.9 confessing any uncleanness in my life that doesn't reflect my cleanness in Christ, you're going to find your ability to be more holy than you ever were before because it's based on who you are and not just what you're trying to do. That's why the book of Ephesians spends the first three chapters telling you who you are, and then the last three chapters telling you how to act. Because if you know who you are, you'll have the ability to act like you should act. The reason many of us act like we act is because we don't know who we are. We're eagles hanging around with turkeys.

Okay? Eagles hanging around with turkeys. And because we don't know who we are, we don't soar. Some of us have got to get out of that caterpillar thing and become the butterflies we were redeemed to be. And that means your position.

That is, get up in the morning and after you put on your truth belt, Lord today your standard governs my life based on your word, I thank you that I am already righteous so that when I step out here I want to look like what I am. So get up and put on your breastplate because if you don't, you will have an environment where demons can foster. Demons can always foster in an environment of unrighteousness. That is their environment.

So if you're in an environment of unrighteousness, they can foster. That's why the Bible says grieve not the Holy Spirit because he can apply and has applied the righteousness of Christ. Dr. Tony Evans will come back with a final word to wrap up today's message in just a moment. As I mentioned earlier, we'll send you all twelve full length lessons from his current series on spiritual warfare with our thanks when you make a donation to help keep Tony's teaching on this station. And as a special bonus, if you contact us right away, we'll even include a copy of one of his two popular companion books, either Victory in Spiritual Warfare or Prayers for Victory in Spiritual Warfare.

Take your pick. Just visit tonyevans.org to get the details and make the arrangements. And that's where you can also find out about streaming the popular film Journey with Jesus. In Journey with Jesus, Dr. Evans travels to Israel along with his adult children Crystal, Priscilla, and Anthony Evans to experience firsthand the places Jesus walked, taught, and ministered while on earth. More than just a captivating travelogue, the Evans family discusses the biblical and historical significance of each stop along the way and what it means for us today. For only a few more days now, you can stream Journey with Jesus right into your own home. Find out more about the film or the spiritual warfare resource package when you visit tonyevans.org or call us at 1-800-800-3222, and one of our helpful team members will assist with your resource request. Again, that web address, tonyevans.org, or by phone, 1-800-800-3222. Dr. Evans has said spiritual temptation and opposition can't be avoided, but they can be overcome. Tomorrow, he'll tell us more about the biblical survival gear that helps us attack our problems at their real root. Right now, though, he's back with his final word. The alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative, and is made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like you.