Standing Firm: The Gospel of Peace in Battle

"Now the very word the very principle that the Apostle keeps on emphasizing shows us the importance of the feet. We've already considered it his great word is to stand to stand and to withstand and after all you stand upon your feet you don't stand on your chest you stand on your feet so that in a sense everything depends upon the security and the safety and the good functioning of the feet." [00:07:20]

"Now the very figure that the Apostle uses reminds us you see of the wholeness and that every part of us as Christians is engaged in this we are not Christians in sections in portions it takes up the whole life and the whole men so we've got to protect ourselves at every single point now it's interesting nevertheless to notice that the different parts of course are of importance in different ways and they have their relative importance." [00:04:34]

"Well now here it is again the feet absolutely essential because of the unity of the body the Christian man is one personality every part of him counts and we mustn't treat any part with disrespect or with any kind of negligence so we come to consider what must be done about the feet these common ordinary feet of ours that walk along the roads in the dust and the mud and the M they're very important let's be very careful that we know exactly what to do with them." [00:08:29]

"Now then what does it mean therefore well regarding it as being defensive we derive principles such as these the first thing is I say again firmness confidence a sense of assurance you see if you engaged in this Mortal conflict as it were with us strong powerful Wy Nimble adversary you must have no doubt or question or query into your mind as to whether you're going to fall and slip and slide suddenly whether your feet are going to let you down as it were you must be quite certain about that." [00:26:00]

"Now the revised standard version of America has got a very good translation here it seems to me they take the word as equipment having your feet sh with the equipment of the gospel of peace I've turned up for your benefit this latest and newest and best lexican anunt and Gish and they're very interesting they don't even mention the idea of firmness and they are undoubtedly the best authorities the translation given by the new English Bible is not even considered by an and Gish." [00:16:31]

"Now the Romans were very interested in this because the men who first saw the importance of mobility in a military sense was Alexander the Great one of the greatest captains of armies and of war that the world has ever known brilliant outstanding General Alexander the Great Well now he had lived you see a few centuries before and he had had his greatest successes by moving his armies quickly and done expectedly while the others were stationary or moving in a ponderous and a slow manner." [00:12:32]

"Now then we reject that entirely this is entirely a matter of defense and nothing else now then what does it mean therefore well regarding it as being defensive we derive principles such as these the first thing is I say again firmness confidence a sense of assurance you see if you engaged in this Mortal conflict as it were with us strong powerful Wy Nimble adversary you must have no doubt or question or query into your mind as to whether you're going to fall and slip and slide suddenly whether your feet are going to let you down as it were you must be quite certain about that." [00:25:48]

"Now the Apostle sees a very valuable and instructive picture in all that for these Christians who are fighting and standing against the Ws of the devil and the principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world and the spiritual wickedness in high places so he says your feet shod with a preparation of the gospel of peace now then what's his application of this what's he mean he says I'm going to use that and as the Roman soldier is sh in that way I say that you should be sh with the preparation of the gospel of peace." [00:13:30]

"Now the Apostle here is using a figure and we must be very careful not to over literalize it or to press it too far it it's a fig as we've already seen but it's a very wonderful figure and as long as we allow the great Apostle to lead us and to guide us in our interpretation of it we we can't go astray the danger is with a figure always to uh start using your imagination and to put things in which the Apostle never intended we must confine our attention solely to the way in which he uses this which was then a very familiar figure of a Roman soia clad in his armor in order to show how the Christian believer has to defend himself and to protect himself against the Ws of the devil and all that is opposed to him in the way that is here described." [00:03:08]

"Now the Apostle is reminding these Ephesians of what we've just been reminded of in that that hymn we've been singing We are fighting against innumerable foes the devil and all these powers that He commands and controls very well then says the Apostle in the light of that that there are only two things to do there are only two things which can keep you in safety and enable you to stand the first is that you've got to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might the arm of Flesh will fail you you dare not trust alone stand in his power alone you've got to stand but in his power and he gives it us and the second thing is that we've got to put on this gospel armor this whole armor of God as the Apostle describes it twice over and what we are doing at the moment is to consider the various parts and portions of this armor as described by the great Apostle." [00:01:08]

"Now the Apostle here is using a figure and we must be very careful not to over literalize it or to press it too far it it's a fig as we've already seen but it's a very wonderful figure and as long as we allow the great Apostle to lead us and to guide us in our interpretation of it we we can't go astray the danger is with a figure always to uh start using your imagination and to put things in which the Apostle never intended we must confine our attention solely to the way in which he uses this which was then a very familiar figure of a Roman soia clad in his armor in order to show how the Christian believer has to defend himself and to protect himself against the Ws of the devil and all that is opposed to him in the way that is here described." [00:03:08]

"Now the Apostle is reminding these Ephesians of what we've just been reminded of in that that hymn we've been singing We are fighting against innumerable foes the devil and all these powers that He commands and controls very well then says the Apostle in the light of that that there are only two things to do there are only two things which can keep you in safety and enable you to stand the first is that you've got to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might the arm of Flesh will fail you you dare not trust alone stand in his power alone you've got to stand but in his power and he gives it us and the second thing is that we've got to put on this gospel armor this whole armor of God as the Apostle describes it twice over and what we are doing at the moment is to consider the various parts and portions of this armor as described by the great Apostle." [00:01:08]