Put on the Whole Armor of God

Herod's Temple. This is a photo of a sketch, or rather a reconstruction that they have in Jerusalem, and then it's a sketch on the right. I want you to notice, and I don't know if you can see my little red dot here, this area. There's the temple right there, so to the north as it would be, because it's looking from the east across the Kedron Valley from the Mount of Olives. So you see those those four towers. That is the fortress Antonia, or the castle Antonia. Herod built it. He named it in honor of Mark Antony. Or it's called the praetorium in the New King James. We're going to take a little, I almost pushed the wrong button then, almost. This is a bit of a closer shot, and you see that each corner had a tower. And especially this one that would be in the, this one is the southeastern corner of that praetorium fortress complex. The Romans generally had a thousand soldiers here. At Holy Day seasons, when there is more of a danger of revolt by the Jews, they had as many as five thousand by some records. Now, whether they could all stay in there or not, I don't know. But if you could imagine being a Roman soldier either on top or looking out one of these windows, there was a scene that began to take place once upon a time in about 56 A.D. That's about as close as I can get. The Feast of Pentecost time, 56 A.D. And that's a close enough estimate. As you're on duty, you're looking down and here is over in, as we saw in the earlier, let me back up since this thing actually works. But in this court area, that's, you have the Court of Gentiles, Court of the Men, or Women Court of the Men, and you see a commotion break out. And you see a lot of Jews around this one man. And you realize they began to beat him. And so you report up the line and the commander. Now, the Book of Acts tells us that commander's name was Claudius Lithius. The commander with centurions and soldiers goes down right in the midst and as they arrive, the beating and the commotion stops. Let's go to Acts 21, and we'll pick up just a little bit. I don't want to spend too much time here, but you may remember that Paul had been at Ephesus. In Acts 20, he had spoken to the elders. The elders and the brethren pleaded with him, do not go to Jerusalem. But Paul was driven. He had to go, and he wanted to be there for Pentecost. Chapter 21, he makes his way by ship over at Tyre, where there were disciples. And he went on to Caesarea, stayed at Philip's house, and then made his way. That's where Agabus the prophet came and took his own belt and tied up Paul and said, this is what's going to happen to you. And Paul went anyhow. So he ends up at Jerusalem, and since Trophimus, who was not an Israelite, had been seen with him, there were those who thought he had brought someone into the court where only Israelites could go. And so this commotion breaks out. Notice toward the end of Acts 21, look at verse 28.

And the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. Verse 31, now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. He immediately, so this is the commander, this is the top man there, immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them, and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. Well, we can't read all of this. I just want this as a little background. This is where it led to Paul was about to be examined, and you know what a scourging is. And Paul asked the commander, is it lawful to do that to a Roman citizen who's un-condemned? And that stopped them, because that was highly illegal. That's when the commander said, are you a Roman? And he said, I was a great price. He had purchased Roman citizenship, but Paul said, I was born free, born a citizen. So the story goes on. He's taken actually into this praetorium for his own life's safety. In chapter 22, he is allowed, he asked the commander in Greek if he could address the people. He spoke to them in Hebrew, and he gave this defense. And then in verse 21, he comes to the crux of his message. He said to them, then he said to me, quoting from Jesus when he had appeared to him, depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles. Well, and at that point, the crowd went berserk. Because again, think of the setting. You have a bunch of Jews who thought Judaism, they were it. They looked down on any non-Israelite. They cried out, verse 23, they cried out and tore off their clothes through dust in the air. The commander ordered him be brought to the barracks that he should be examined. Well, this is where the next story I referred to took place. Then he goes, chapter 23, he appears before the Sanhedrin council. He recognized you have Pharisees and you have Sadducees. Some believe in a resurrection. Some do not believe in a resurrection. And verse 6, the latter, half, he said, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead. I am being judged. Pandemonium breaks out once again. He's taken back four to the barracks for his own life safety. Verse 11, the following night, the Lord stood by him and said, Be of good cheer, Paul, for you have testified for me in Jerusalem. So you must also bear witness at Rome. The story goes on of a conspiracy to kill Paul. A nephew informs the authorities. And that is when, in verse 23, the commander, verse 23, he called for two centurions, saying, Prepare two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen, to go to Caesarea at the third hour of the night. And they were taking no chances. You leave way after dark with lots of armor, lots of people, and then just noticing verse 33, when they delivered him, or when they came to Caesarea and had delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him. So he is sent down, and he is kept in the praetorium. Praetorium refers to the governor's palace, but it also was generally a military headquarters as well. As it turns out, Paul ends up two years in Caesarea under arrest, under guard. It is during that time, in the intervening chapters, that he appears to the governor Felix.

The end, the last verse of chapter 24, says that after two years, Porshesstas succeeded Felix. And so, two years, he's cooling his heels, being guarded at Caesarea. The new governor comes along. Chapter 25 tells of how Porshesstas, wanting to do the Jews a favor, hears Paul. This led to Paul appealing to Caesar. And when he appealed to Caesar, the die is cast. He has to go. King Agrippa came along later, and he wanted to hear what was going on. He had an audience with Paul, and he actually told him, you almost persuade me to be a Christian. And he also said, if you had not appealed to Caesar, I would have set you free. But the die was cast. Chapter 27 tells of the trip, as they traveled toward Rome, the shipwreck. And then chapter 28 ends with the fact that Paul, chapter 28 of Acts, verse 30, then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus with all confidence, no one forbidding him. It's a little hard to piece all the timing together, but somewhere around Pentecost 56, he is taken captive. He's at Jerusalem as a captive for a period of time. He's sent by night down to Caesarea, which was the Roman headquarters for the Holy Land at that time, down on the Mediterranean. He's there two years. He then is transported to Rome, however long that would take. The shipwreck and all of that took place. The viper that struck him. And then he gets the Rome. We're talking easily five, maybe six years. From 56 until it's generally thought he was released because he did have his day in court before Caesar, who just happened to be named Nero. Not one I would have wanted to appear before, but he was set free. He was free for somewhere, maybe two to three years, recaptured, and then he was condemned to die. And then later he was executed. But here are years that he was guarded by Roman soldiers. Now, early this morning, I pulled out, this is William Barclay. This is the new, the revised series. This is his volume on the letters to the Galatians and Ephesians. And when we get to this point in Ephesians 6, remember he had been at Ephesus, went to Jerusalem, had Trophimus the Ephesian with him, and now he's cooling his heels in Rome. But while he is there, he is writing. He wrote the prison epistles, which are Ephesians, Philippians, Galatians, Philemon, at least those four. So one of the churches he writes back to is to a congregation where the people pleaded with him, don't go. But now it's been years and he's guarded by Roman soldiers. And here in this section around Ephesians 6, verse 11, William Barclay says, all this time he was chained by the wrist to a Roman soldier, night and day the soldier was there to ensure that he would not escape. Paul was literally an ambassador in chains. Now he was the kind of man who could get along with anyone, and without a doubt he had often talked to the soldiers who were compelled to be so near to him. As he writes, the soldier's armor suggests a picture to him. Christians, too, have an armor, and item by item Paul takes the armor of the Roman soldier and translates it into Christian terms.

Many times when he wrote, he said we are to endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. And he referred to Jesus as being the captain of our salvation. We're going to be talking today about putting on the armor of God. A couple of different slides that I found online. Let me read just a little bit. It was years ago I read a book, War Through the Ages by Lyn Montrose. And he had a section, pages 47-51, the Roman Legion, description of some of their armor and kind of the evolution of some of their weaponry. But Montrose wrote, and I'll read just a few excerpts here, at 17, the Roman youth entered upon an obligation of military service which did not end until the age of 60. That is a long time. The last 15 years were normally devoted to garrison duty. Wasn't out there marching all over creation.

A bit later, he said, only men of good physique could qualify. The recruit must have sharp eyes, a head carried erect, broad chest, stout shoulders, big fists, long arms, well-proportioned growth, feet and soles less fleshly than muscular. If he has all this, no stress need be laid on his height. It is more important to be strong than tall.

A bit later, he said, the training of the Legionary was never relaxed. When in training, the burden of the soldier consisted of his cloak, shield, armor, helmet, weapons, axe, spade, pot for cooking, several weeks' rations, and two stout palisades to be used in making camp. The total could hardly have amounted to less than 75 pounds. 75 pounds! These guys were in awesome condition to be able to carry that around. Let's go to Ephesians 6 and begin in verse 10.

Ephesians 6 verse 10.

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles. marginal note says the schemings of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. So here he begins laying out the battle plan. All battles must have a plan if they are to succeed. There is that saying that goes, if we fail the plan, we plan to fail. And so here God lays out that we, God through Paul, tells us we need to be strong. We need to be in good condition so as to carry a spiritual army and the necessary provisions. The battle, as has been described here, is going to be a battle that largely takes place within the mind. It happens between our own ears. It is a spiritual struggle, a spiritual battle, but there are direct parallels from a literal battle and literal armor to what will make possible our victory. A little later in Montrose's book, War Through the Ages, he said, in order to conquer enemies that terrified his men, a Roman general heightened their morale not by enthusiasm but by anger. He made the life of his soldiers miserable by excessive work and privations. He stretched the force of discipline to the point where, at a critical instant, it must break and expel itself upon the enemy. The early legionary made it his single-minded aim to crush, if not exterminate, the enemies of the Republic by the most earnest and direct means. You may want to make a note of another passage. I won't turn there. 2 Corinthians 10, verses 3 through 6. 2 Corinthians 10, verses 3 through 6. That's where it talks about bringing every thought into the captivity of Jesus Christ. That too speaks of the spiritual battle that we wage within our own mind. The enemy is identified as Satan, and he also uses the carnal nature that he has broadcast to us. And he also uses the world, the society around us. But we have just been assured that with the help of God, we can withstand. Verse 13. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. So when the heat of battle comes and goes, when the battle rages around us, the dust rises, the smoke. When all that settles, God looks around and his Christian soldiers are still standing there. Now Satan is likened to many places to being a roaring lion, being the accuser of the brethren, the father of lies, the prince of the power of this air. And he's not going to give up. He's not going to quit. But as we get to verse 14, we have in the next verses seven parts of an armor that I want to discuss with you. We first of all have the belt and the tunic. I'll include these together. Now the slide on the left picture taken here was of someone dressed a little more class than the average soldier would outgoing in the battle. They would wear this heavy thick woolen tunic that covered from their shoulders all the way down nearly to their knees. That was there to protect the body from the chafing of some of the heavier armor that would go on top of it. But it would be important to have the belt around it. The belt is where you're going to attach so much. You have, you see here, the part that comes down in the front. It's kind of dressed up on the left, more like he was going to a formal occasion, but they wore these at all times. It was for protection of some of the vital organs of the body.

Now, let's...

I've got one more slide of that, and I realize it's even a little fuzzy here to me, but the belt, it says the leather belt, was tied around a wool tunic, connecting connected bronze plates hung from the belt to protect the the soldier's groin area. Also, it supports sword dagger and the bronze apron. It was worn at all times, even without other pieces of the armor. Let's think of this tunic and belt. It was the first piece of dress that the soldier would put on. The heavy material protected the body from the chafing from the abrasive heavy armor. The tunic went down almost to his knees, and it was also a practice that when the heat of battle was upon them, they would pull it up and tuck it up under that belt so it would not hinder their movement. You wouldn't want it long enough where you would trip over in the heat of battle. Now Paul compared this tunic and belt to the truth of God. Verse 14, Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth. And we pause right there. We need to be tightly girded with the truth at all times. The truth keeps us from tripping over loose strands of doctrine. The truth protects us from error. The truth shows us where we need to step as we face the trials and storms of life that come upon us. Another passage you may want to make a note of here. Peter used a similar analogy as did Paul, but 1 Peter 1 verse 13. 1 Peter 1 verse 13, he mentioned, gird up the loins of your minds. So he was kind of weaving together this armor of a soldier with the battle that a Christian has. Now we realize that Jesus himself defined truth as he prayed that Passover night. John 17 verse 17, your word is truth. The truth of God is that which protects us. The truth defends us. The word of God sets us apart. It guards us against the lawless lifestyle of the world around us. Now we read where the Roman soldiers were put through very strenuous drills that prepared them for actual combat. And the same would be true for us as well. That we are continually being given trials and tests. We face all kinds of situations. We continue to face situations and we think, well, just when we thought we faced it all, here something new comes along. And we all share in that. But the truth is the foundation. That's where we start. The foundation of our armor. All other parts are attached or rest upon the tunic with the belt that goes on first. Now, let's read the latter part of verse 14. Having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Now, here are two pictures of a Roman breastplate. The one on the right is probably a more formal, for a more formal occasion, or it may have been an officer's breastplate. But the one on the left is the one that the average soldier would have worn. You see that you have overlapping layers or strips of metal that are then laced together. They are overlapping because it would be very common to have a glancing blow come across your way from an enemy's sword or spear. Across the shoulders, you likewise see the overlapping bands of metal. And very important to protect the shoulders because take out a shoulder and the man is then less able to protect himself.

Paul called this the breastplate of righteousness. In the Sermon on the Mount, one statement in the Beatitudes that Jesus made was, Blessed are those that are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness sake. Righteousness speaks of living rightly, living the way God would have us live, living a Christ-like life. We look to the Scriptures. In fact, you could just make a note of 2 Timothy 3 verses 15 through 17. I won't take the time to turn there. It should be very familiar. 2 Timothy 3 verses 15 through 17 because that's where in writing to Timothy, when Paul was about to be executed, he reminded them, and reminded him, from a child you've known the Holy Scriptures. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and one item he mentioned was that it is profitable for instruction in righteousness. The Word of God, the Holy Scriptures instruct us in right living. The breath plate is that which goes on next. It protects us. It's not enough to just know the truth. We started with the tunic with the belt of right of the truth, but then we put some weight on it with the breath plate. We live it. We do it. James spoke of the doers of the Word would be justified. It's not just saying, Lord, Lord, but those that do His will. There is a doing to being a Christian, and this breast plate is there. By living the right way, it puts some protective weight on us, and it protects us from being exposed to a variety of dangers. Let's go back to verse 15 this time. And in verse 15, we read, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. So our next slide. We see a couple of sketches here, a couple of pictures of some, what they envisioned to be the old Roman sandals. Actually, archaeologists have found enough to where they are able to recreate them. But you will see the one on the right where it shows the soul. You have all of these, looks like little hobnails, but they're kind of, they have kind of a point coming out of them. This one, you could see more clearly up closer here, where they have these pointed protrusions that come out all over the bottom of the sandal. And then, of course, it laced up their leg up over the calf muscle and tied. But, and then, of course, they had a shin guard that went on over that. But it's very important to have your feet shod, so we have the hobnailed sandals. The Roman soldiers wore these. These carried him to the scene of the battle, but they secured his traction when the heat of battle came.

It's hard to fathom, hard to even imagine if you're in a war, if you've seen movies like Braveheart. Of course, that was a different day and age, but it was a battle with a lot of swords and arrows and spears. And if you're in close quarters, hand-to-hand combat, and you lose your footing, you're very likely to be taken out. That's the only thing any of us can imagine. And so, these were important parts of the armor of the Roman soldier to keep his traction, to stay on his feet. Sure, footing was paramount. To this day, a boxer, for instance, will put rosin on the bottom of his shoes, so that it does, they do not slide as much.

The pitcher out on the mound will use some rosin to be able to maintain control. I have a book at home written by Coney Bear and Housen called The Life and Epistles of St. Paul, and they actually have their own translation of Paul's writings. And on this verse, they translate it as this, and shod as ready messengers of the glad tidings of peace. In other words, we are commissioned to take a message. Jesus left that behind for the disciples. I have all power, but I am sending you. Go and teach. Baptize. Teach some more. Praise the kingdom of God. We maintain our footing by being engaged in the work God has for us to do. For decades, we've always heard that. A very good barometer of our own spiritual health is the degree to which our heart is in the work of God. And we need to keep it there. A Christian needs to maintain solid footing. We need to be grounded in the gospel, in the work of the gospel, in order to combat the worry, the anger, the frustration, the jealousy that Satan is going to continue to try to throw at us in order to knock us off balance. So we are left with the question, am I a ready messenger of the gospel of Christ? Or as he called it here, the gospel of peace. And we do that by our prayers, laboring in prayer. We do that, yes, there's a financial side, financially giving to the furtherance of the work. We do it by service, one to another. A lot of service. A lot of people perform a lot of service every Sabbath day to just make it work. The hall is comfortable, the gate is open, the food appears, it gets cleaned up, somebody hauls off trash, things need to be cleaned in other parts. Projectors need to be set up, and this is all the parts of working together, singing. That's a sacrifice with which God is pleased. Fellowshipping, sharing with each other, and hopefully everyone leaves here feeling that I was strengthened today just by the stories that I heard, and the people of God whose shoulders I rubbed against today.

Again, I won't take the time to turn over here. Romans 10 verse 15. Paul wrote to the church at Rome, and he said, And how shall we preach, or they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things. I have yet to meet somebody who's been all puffed up because they have beautiful feet. Most of us look at our feet and we think, well, okay, it's not pretty, but it works, or we hope it works. But it's a beautiful thing for God to look down and see His people, and their feet are part of the effort that they put into doing the work, serving others. One act of kindness after another. It's a beautiful thing to God, and probably it should be to us, too. Let's read on in verse 16.

Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. The shield of faith. So let's look at our next photo. The shield of faith.

Different people in antiquity had different types of shields.

If you saw the movie Troy, and I'm not plugging any of these, I'm just referring to them, but that was in the day of the Greeks, and they were storming Troy, and they had more of a large round shield. But they, too, had a means by which they would lock shields to protect them, or they could just inch forward until they would break free and try to bust a hole in the line of the opposing forces. But here you see on the left a battle formation, but you can see a little bit more of the the Roman shield was it was taller. It went basically from the neck almost down to the knee. It was longer, but but arced, semi-cylindrical, and you hold it there with his left arm.

Anyhow, the shield. But Paul called it the shield of faith. And the shield was there to protect from direct blows and then glancing blows as well. You might have your comrade in arms, and an enemy strikes at him with a sword, and it glances off his shield or armor, and it comes at you. And this was formed in such a way to protect. Paul calls it the shield of faith. And faith, very simple definition, is that faith is the degree to which we believe God's promises. Faith is believing God. And so to add upon what we've seen thus far, we have to walk by faith. We walk by faith. We look to God as our shield. In fact, way back in Genesis 15, verse 1, if you want to check that out later, God appeared to Abraham, and He said, I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward. So God called Himself our shield. So God used some of the language of weaponry way back when. And faith in God, belief in God, belief in His promises, belief in where it all is headed, helps to get us through some of the bleakest of times. Because we live in a world that has very little hope. There are people that do not know which end is up. And we were able with God's help to see where it's all going to end. David also cried out once and said, you, O Lord, are a shield to me. And our faith, our trust goes to God. And as it does, He is our shield. In fact, more than once, Jesus said, I'll be with you always, even to the end of the age. I'll always be there with you. But there are deceptive arguments. There are fiery doubts, or darts rather, of doubt that Satan will continue to throw at us. But our belief in God allows us to ward off, fend off these attacks, because we have the shield of faith. That was the fourth part of the armor. The fifth is the helmet. Let's read of that in chapter chapter 6 verse 17 of Ephesians. Ephesians 6 verse 17, and take the helmet of salvation.

Now, Paul, when he wrote to those at Thessalonica, 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 8, he called of the helmet of the hope of salvation. So we might add that thought in there as well. Here we have a couple of samples. In fact, let me back up, because you've got a pretty good example with the soldier on the right. Notice it's smooth across the top. In the next one, we'll see some of the officers, some of the, like a tribune, though those up in rank, they have these ornamental things on top of their helmet, probably so the men could recognize them on the field of battle.

But this one on the left, you know, it's got this big thing, and to me it looks like a good thing to catch a sword that swings at you and knock your helmet off your head, and then you're at their mercy. But the one on the right is more so what the average soldier would have worn, and it's there to protect the head, where we have the mind.

But notice the cheek guard that came down. This one pretty much covers his ear. The last one shows the, depicts the ears sticking out. At any rate, this more ornamental fancy one actually has a part coming off the back to protect that area where your, the breastplate would not cover. But the helmet, obviously there to protect the head, and the head's the most vital part, because that's where the brain is located. And if you lose the mind, you're out of the battle. You're a casualty, or you are a fatality.

The helmet, again, protected the mind. To a large degree, the mind determines the outcome of a battle. It dictates what orders, it processes orders that are given from up the line. It dictates when it's time to stand and fight. To draw a line and hold the line. It dictates how to fight, or when to fall back and regroup, or once in a while, when it's time just to retreat, or even surrender. But again, he called it the hope of salvation. And salvation is a process by which we're saved from the death penalty.

It began with repentance. God calling us and bringing us to point of repentance. Belief in God, Christ, their plan, their Word. Being baptized, having the past washed away, receiving God's Spirit, living a Christ-like life with His help. But looking forward always, having that hope of eternal life. And it's that hope, the safeguards that protect the Christian's mind. The assurance that the past is forgiven is such a wonderful thing. It gives us hope. Let's read now the latter part of verse 17. And the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. So here we have an example. In Montross's book, War Through the Ages, he described, well, they had the spear, but they had this about a 20-inch, double-edged cut and thrust sword called the gladeus. And here on the left, we see it in its sheath. There we see it out. But that was one of the main weapons. And from everything we've covered so far, all has been defensive. This one is offensive. This one is offensive. And Paul is thought to have been referring to this well-known Roman short, 20-inch, approximately double-edged sword. The design was important. Many opposing soldiers, many enemies, had a lot larger, longer sword.

Again, if you saw the movie Braveheart, you know, the Scots had those. I mean, the blade must have been three, four feet long, with long handles. Swing it with both hands. But if somebody would come at you with one of those, and it glances off your shield, or you duck under it, then the Roman had that short sword to cut and thrust come up from underneath. And they perfected it. They were deadly in battle that way. So the design was important. And the opposing enemies became vulnerable because the Romans learned how to use it.

Well, when Christ, John was given a vision, of course, the bulk of Revelation is a vision. And in Revelation 1, verses 13-16, he defined or described what he saw as the glorified Christ. But out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword. And there's more than one place in the Bible that talks about the Word of God is like a sharp sword. It comes from Christ's mouth.

What comes from Christ's mouth gives us our offensive weapon to be used. It can cut down to the very depth, to the morrow. It can discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. We read in Hebrews 12, but the Word of God can cut through the deceit of any enemy. And we have the precedent that Jesus set when the tempter came to Him in Matthew 4 or Luke 4. Every single time, Satan would quote Scripture, but he would put a twist to it. Every time Jesus defeated him by saying, it is written, man shall not live by bread alone.

Or he said, it is written, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. So he always used Scripture to strike back. We have one more part of what makes, what secures, what involves putting on the whole armor of God.

And this probably is the most important part, and that's in verse 18. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end, with all perseverance and supplication for the saints.

I would call this communication with Commander-in-Chief. This is not a part of a literal armor, but it is all important. We need to know what Christ would have us to do. We need to know what the will of God is. The Romans appointed a consul who essentially operated as the Commander-in-Chief. There's a picture of some soldiers kneeling down to pray.

But they appointed a consul who acted as Commander-in-Chief. He was answerable to the Senate, the Roman Senate, back in the days of the Republic. Under him were six tribunes, but the most important of the officers were the centurions. Those were the ones out there with oversight of 100 soldiers. Those were the point men who were out there at the heat of battle. And a soldier might be armed to the hilt.

But unless he understands the orders of his superior officers, he's going to be lost. He's going to be picked off. Mayhem is going to set in, and you may have a whole army in wild retreat.

Let's look at Psalm 55.

David was a man of war. He understood a great deal.

And notice what he wrote here. Psalm 55. Let's read verses 16 through 18.

As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon, I will pray and cry aloud, and he shall hear my voice. He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, for there were many against me. And, wow, did David ever have enemies! Before he even became king, he had the current king coming after him to take his life. Saul threw a javelin at him once. David saw many battles. David had his own son, Absalom, trying to take the kingdom from him. He had to run throughout his whole life. He had to fight throughout his whole life. But the key to David was, he made many mistakes, but the key was, when it all came down to it, his heart was right. His heart was right. It had to become right because evening and morning and noon, I pray and cry aloud, and God hears. Let's look at Daniel 6 and read verse 10. Because Daniel also was a mighty man of prayer.

And this was a time when the decree came down from the powers that be. There'll be no more crying out to your own gods, and that meant the true god.

And if you do, you'll be cast into alliance, then.

Daniel 6, verse 9, therefore King Darius signed the written decree.

Verse 10, now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home, and in his upper room with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. We must have frequent contact with our commanding officer, Jesus Christ. If we do not, we do not know what the Lord's will is. If we don't know what his will is, then we're out here on our own. And that's a scary prospect. It is essential to seek guidance continually with respect to when and where and how to act in all of the battles of life. Now, here's a slide I ran across. It does not include prayer, but it has the other ones that we have looked at. From the helmet, the breastplate, the belt that's wrapped around the tunic, the shield, the sword, and the feet with the sandals. And you can see he's got the shin guards that came up there as well.

If we include prayer, these are the seven points Paul gives us for preparing for spiritual combat. And it behooves us all to inspect our own armor on a regular basis. And so we are left with questions such as these. Am I tightly girded with God's truth? Because the truth is that which sets us free.

And we can ask, are there any cracks in my breastplate of righteousness? If there is a weak point in our breastplate, the enemy will find it. He'll keep trying until he finds the weak point. We need to find it first and with God's help, get it mended, get it fixed. We are left to ask, are my feet properly shod with doing the work, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ?

We are left with a question, am I properly holding up my shield of faith? We can have that shield, but if we don't hold it properly, or if we don't, as we saw earlier, if we don't interlock it with the others on the team, it'll be of no value.

Another question, does the helmet of salvation protect what comes into my mind? There's a lot of trash out there, brethren, as we know. It's everywhere out in the world. We need to be very discerning because garbage in will equal garbage out in due time. The Proverbs says, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. I think that's Proverbs 23 verse 7, but I don't trust my memory like I did five years ago. But it's close. Another question, are there nicks, dents, chips in my sword of the Spirit? If so, we need to sharpen it. We need to clean it, hone it. And then finally, how strong is my contact with the Commander-in-Chief? We'll close with this passage I'll put on the screen for you. 2 Timothy 2 verses 3 and 4. Because, you see, 2 Timothy was his last letter. He had been free a while. He was taken again. He was once again a prisoner in chains. But he, still living, but he knew he had been condemned to be executed. And he said to Timothy, you therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. And we were drafted. We were called, chosen, and made a part of the very elect. And let us pray that sometime in the near future our Commander-in-Chief Jesus Christ, when he returns and when the smoke and the dust and all settles, he'll look to all of us and say, Well done, good and faithful servant.