The Belt of Truth

If you have a Bible, and I hope you or somebody around you does that you can look on with, let me invite you to open with me to Ephesians 6. Feel free to use the Table of Contents if you need to. Ephesians 6 is near the end of the Bible. 

Lies We Believe (with Questions to Consider)

I’m going to jump right into the deep end today by asking you a few questions, and I’m going to give you a little bit of time to reflect on them. So here’s the first one: “What lies are you most tempted to believe about yourself?” So, what thoughts are you prone to have about yourself that do not come from God? I told you we’re jumping into the deep end. I want to challenge you to really think about this. What are you tempted to think about yourself that is not true?

And then related to that, “What lies are you most tempted to believe about your circumstances?” So, what thoughts do you often have about your circumstances that don’t come from God? Or what lies are you most tempted to believe about others—other people in your life or just other people in the world? 

And then one more: “What lies are you most tempted to believe about God?” And I want to give you a minute, literally 60 seconds, to think about these questions, and it might help to write down whatever comes to your mind that might help you really name and identify these lies. So take one minute to reflect on the lies you are most tempted to believe. Go for it.

Okay, now, as if we weren’t already deep enough, let me ask one more question that will take us one step deeper beyond just our lives. So take one minute to answer this one: “What are the most dangerous lies you see people in the world believing?” 

And I’ll give you an example of a lie that we know was widespread in our country 200 years ago.
Many people, including many Christians in settings just like this, believed that certain people were less than human because of the color of their skin. And that lie led to people being treated as property to be controlled, bought, sold, enslaved. It was a dangerous lie.

So what are dangerous lies that people in the world are believing today? Maybe even specific lies we see people believing in metro DC where we live, this city, or maybe lies we see people believing around the world. And I should mention that the answer to this question may be similar to your answer to some of the previous questions. But take a minute to think again. Maybe write down dangerous lies you see people in the world believing today. Go for it. Alright, as you finish reflecting, I want to pray over us.

Oh God, you are the Author, the Source, the very Definition of Truth. So we pray today, we ask for your help to know and believe and live according to that which is true. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Recap of Foundations for Spiritual Warfare

So for those of you who missed last week, we have started a series on spiritual warfare called How to Fight in the Dark, and we’re walking through Ephesians six, 10 through 20 just verse by verse, word by word. And last week was pretty foundational, so if you missed it, which I know like hundreds of our students were at camp last week and missed it. So whether that was you or others, I would encourage you to go back and listen to some really important foundations that were laid. I’ll try to summarize some of that here at the beginning. But let’s start by reading Ephesians 6:10–20.

And I was thinking about it this week. We’ve talked a lot about Scripture memorization. I’d like to challenge you to memorize this passage over the course of these eight weeks that we’re walking through it. It’s a pretty short passage; that’s a little over a verse a week. So if you’re not already memorizing something else, why not memorize this? It’s definitely a passage worth memorizing. So let’s read it out loud together. I’m going to put it up here on the screen and then we’ll stop today at verse 14. But let’s start in verse 10. This is the Word of God to us. Let’s read it out loud together.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not 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. 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 firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth….”

Alright, that’s where we’ll stop. Let me recap what we saw last week. So here’s my summary of verses 10–13 and three truths.

1. We Live in a Spiritual World

One, we live in a spiritual world. This passage makes clear that there are spiritual rulers, spiritual authorities, spiritual powers over darkness, and spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. Therefore, so everything in this passage hinges on this reality. And we talked last week about how we don’t think like this; most of us only think in terms of what we can see or touch in the physical world, but there is an invisible spiritual world that is just as real as the physical, visible physical world that’s around us.

So this is actually one of the lies that we, and I would say most people in Western culture, believe—that what we see is all that exists. When the truth is, there is so much that exists that we do not see, including angels, demons, the Holy Spirit of God. Let me put it this way: Imagine you’re in a conversation with somebody that starts to lead into an argument, and you start to lose control of your emotions, and suddenly an important person walks up whom you greatly respect. Do you change your demeanor? Probably. So here’s the question: Why didn’t you change your demeanor in light of the fact that the Holy Spirit of God was already present in that conversation?

Here’s why: Because people are more real to us than God himself is; because we can see them, and we can’t see God or spiritual rulers, authorities, powers, and forces of evil in heavenly places. Which leads to the second truth …

2. We Wrestle against Spiritual Forces

We wrestle against spiritual forces. [This text says] you and I wrestle against, against, against, against, against. We get the point: we’re in a wrestling match, which means there’s both defense and offense involved here. You and I are being attacked in ways we need to defend, and you and I are on the attack in ways we need to battle. 

We saw last week how God is calling you and me to stand firm in Jesus and press forward with Jesus as we engage in spiritual battle. I was thinking this week about members of the US military, including many in our church family who wear uniforms like this with the American flag on them in a way that looks backwards for a reason, as many of you know, because it represents how those going into battle would carry the flag with stars at the front and the stripes waving behind it. It’s a picture of how service members move forward into battle in the name of our country. 

This is far more true for followers of Jesus, to be clear, not in physical battle but in spiritual battle. The command in Ephesians 6 is not to sit back; it’s to stand firm and press forward against spiritual forces of evil in our lives and in the world around us; spiritual forces of evil whose schemes in the Bible are described this way.

They slander. It’s what the devil’s name means there in Ephesians 6:11. One who engages in slander against God and others.

They accuse. It’s what the name “Satan” means. He’s the accuser. 

They tempt people to turn from God. 

They steal. The devil is a thief who wants to steal your life, and all that is good, from you.

They lie. Jesus says Satan is a liar and the father of lies, but they do not announce to you that they are lying. Instead …

They deceive. Revelation 12:9 calls the devil “the deceiver of the whole world,” who 2 Corinthians 11” disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). They deceive through false religions, false teachings, false disciples, convincing people that what they’re believing is true when it is false, which ultimately leads to how

They destroy. Jesus says the devil was “a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44). There are spiritual forces of evil all around you and me and the world who exist to slander, accuse, tempt, steal, lie, deceive, and ultimately destroy you and every single person around you. This is who we are wrestling against. And we saw, then, last week how spiritual battle against these spiritual forces cannot be fought and overcome through merely physical means, which leads to truth number three.

3. We need, we have, and we must use spiritual weapons.

We need, we have, and we must use spiritual weapons, which is what this whole passage is about. God says, “Here’s your only hope for standing firm and pressing forward in this spiritual world: Put on my armor. Take up my armor, my whole armor.” Now the language I’m using here in this third truth is really intentional. 

One, we need the armor of God. We can’t fight with our own armor and our own strength. We need his strength, his might. We saw that last week. 

Two, we have this armor, so God is not holding it back from us. He has given it to all who trust in Jesus as Lord. And this is so important, because when it comes to spiritual warfare, immediately people start talking about all kinds of things that we don’t actually see in the Bible. 

I read, I hear, Christians here and around the world immediately start talking about how we need special training and methods to fight demons, to speak to demons, to bind them and rebuke them and cast them out; demons who are passed on from generation to generation, or territorial spirits that inhabit homes or cities or cultures. But so much of what’s written and talked about when it comes to spiritual warfare, here and around the world, is foreign to how God speaks about engaging in spiritual battle. Did you know not one time in all the Bible does God ever command us to speak to demons? Not one time. Yet, one writer on spiritual warfare says, “In a prayer of rebuke we must break demons’ hold on a person, contain their power, and eliminate their presence…. I usually say, ‘In the name of Jesus, I rebuke you, evil spirit. You have no part in this person’s life.’”

But look at God’s Word. There’s not one time when we ever see New Testament writers, under the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit, talking like this. Prayer is always to God, never to demons. And this can be practically dangerous. David Powlison wrote a great book that I would recommend called Power and Encounters, where he talks about counseling as it relates to spiritual warfare. And he mentioned how “some people really do see a demon behind every bush.” And he talks about a woman named Cynthia, who he was counseling, saying, “She once cast demons out of her toaster when it failed to work! More seriously, though, she and her husband, Andrew, had a remarkable—and remarkably destructive—way of arguing with each other. For the first five minutes they warmed up with normal person-to-person bickering. But at a certain point, when the fighting turned nasty, they shifted gears and wheeled in heavier artillery. They would bind, rebuke, and attempt to cast out demons of anger, pride, and self-righteousness from each other. In Cynthia’s words, ‘I saw the demon looking out of his eyes, glittering and murderous. So I said, ‘Demon of anger, I bind your power in Jesus’ name!’ Then I claimed the power of Jesus’ blood as my cover from all demonic assault coming through my husband.’

The result? Not only did Cynthia and Andrew reinforce their hostility, they trampled the name of Jesus through the mud of their superstition, hostility, fear, and confusion. Needless to say, the real devil—who aims to dishonor God and conform us to his evil ways—could only be pleased at the personal and interpersonal wreckage [he brought about in their marriage].”

Just think about God’s Word that we’re in, the book of Ephesians. Here at the heart of the city of Ephesus was the temple of Diana that promoted all kinds of idolatry and sexual immorality, and not one time does God say “Rebuke, cast out the demons of sexual immorality and idolatry, organize territorial prayer [and] walks around the temple, and bind the spirits.” Instead, what does God say? He says, “Put on truth and righteousness with the gospel of peace guiding your every step; the shield of faith, guarding your every step.” So don’t believe the idea that you need extra methods and extra training that you don’t have for spiritual warfare. One writer said, “Dealing with territorial spirits is a major league warfare and should not be undertaken casually. I know few who have the necessary expertise, and if you don’t know what you’re doing, Satan will eat you for breakfast.”

And I want to say as loudly and clearly as possible: That is not true. God’s power in spiritual warfare is not confined to experts who have been to major league training camps. God’s power, his armor, is available to every man and woman who is in Christ who possesses his truth and his righteousness and his gospel with faith in his Word. And when you are walking in this armor, Satan will not eat you for breakfast. You will not turn into toast. Guaranteed. You’ll stand firm and press forward when you have the whole armor of God. Well, then, what’s the armor that we have and we must use? Well, it all starts, it all holds together … “Stand therefore having fastened on the belt of truth.…” Truth. What a statement.

Spiritual Battle Begins in Your Mind

So just let this soak in. Let’s just meditate on this spiritual battle … starts with fastening on “the belt of truth.” If that is true, that means spiritual battle begins in your mind, with your thoughts, and we see this all over the Bible. Let me show you a few different places.

First, here in the book of Ephesians, look back at what Paul wrote before this in Ephesians 4:17. It’s the Bible talking about Gentiles who are living in all this immorality and idolatry. And Paul says,

“Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:17–24) 

Do you see it? To fight spiritual warfare, you need a renewed mind that is filled with the truth that’s in Jesus. You need to leave behind futile ways of thinking, false ways of thinking in your mind, which we know from the very beginning of the Bible is where sin starts. Do you remember the first picture we see of spiritual warfare? Genesis 3 …

“ … the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw the tree was good for food, that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:1–6)

Do you see it? Where did sin start? Not when they took a piece of fruit and ate it. It was when they doubted the Word of God in their minds, when they thought, “I won’t die if I do this. I’ll actually be better off if I do this.” This is an enemy of all of our minds. Sin starts with thinking our way is better than God’s way, or maybe choosing not to think about God’s way at all. Either way, spiritual battle begins in your mind.

How about one more example—how about the battle with worry and anxiety in this world? How do you fight that spiritual battle? Listen to Jesus in Matthew 6 …

“ … I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:25–26)

Do you see this? How do you not be anxious? Here’s how: Jesus says, “Look at the birds. Think about the birds. Think, ‘Wait a minute: God feeds the birds, and I’m more valuable to God than birds, so God will provide for me, which means I don’t have to worry according to God’s Word.’”

The antidote to worry in this world is filling your mind with truth from his Word. Philippians 4 says the exact same thing …

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything my prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:6–8)

How can you not be anxious about anything? Here’s how: You think about what is true. It’s the same exact word that Paul uses in Ephesians 6:14: “Put on truth.” Some people say you have to check your mind at the door to become a Christian, to have faith, and that is the farthest thing from the truth. Faith in Jesus revolves around and requires thinking all the time about what is true. Worldliness involves not thinking; just go along with what the world says about money and sex and ambition and a million other things. Christianity says, “No, think about what’s true.” 

Do you see the spiritual battle that is taking place between your ears every day? Your mind is a battleground, and there are spiritual forces of evil who want to have their way in it; they want you to believe all kinds of lies about yourself, about your circumstances, about others, about the world, and ultimately about God himself. And if spiritual battle begins in your mind, then that means …

Spiritual Victory Comes through Believing What is True

Spiritual victory comes through believing and spreading what is true. That’s the language here in Ephesians 6:14. This phrase, “having fastened” … some of your translations say “girding your loins with truth,” like your innermost private parts of your being with truth; it’s amazing imagery when it comes to armor. A Roman soldier, which is what Paul is depicting here, would basically have a long robe that he would gird up, tuck in, fasten in place with a belt in order to go into battle. And the Bible is saying, from the very beginning, spiritual battle, you need truth holding everything together.

Which obviously then leads to the question, “How do you know what is true?” And we live in a world that has all kinds of answers for that question that—follow this—do not hold up. People say, “Well, the standard for truth is our reason, our reasonable thinking.” The problem with that is, none of us knows everything. None of us understands everything. We don’t see everything. So our reasoning is not perfect; the way we reason is not always according to what is actually true. So then we think, “Okay, well, then what does contemporary culture say is true?” But surely any understanding of truth that’s confined to a particular culture and a particular time is going to be faulty. Like, we think we know better than people 100 or 200 years ago knew. But who are we to think that people 100 or 200 years from now aren’t going to say the same thing about us?

Another version of this thinks, “Well, what’s true is whatever those in power say is true.” But we know how deadly that is throughout history, as very powerful people have deceived multitudes. Or even another version of this that says “What’s true is what people I most admire say is true.” The name of the game today is to be an influencer. People amass large followings on social media, sharing their opinions about all kinds of things, and we scroll for hours through our feeds, filling our minds with whatever they say. After all, surely if they’re good at music or sports or have enough plastic surgeries—look a certain way—they must be authorities on truth.

But then we realize how foolish that is. So we think, “Whatever I feel is true.” But how unreliable is that, knowing you may feel differently tomorrow than you do today—not to mention 10 or 20 or 30 years from now? Surely you don’t trust your feelings or your desires at any given moment, any given time, as the standard of that which is true throughout all time? Don’t miss it: The devil is wreaking havoc in our minds, filling them with all kinds of thoughts and messages all day long that are not true. Fake news is his specialty, and I don’t just mean what’s in the headlines, although that’s included; but he is actively working from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to sleep, and while you’re sleeping, for that matter. There are rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over darkness and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms who want to fill your mind with lies about who you are and about what you’re walking through right now and other people around you and ultimately God. And God is saying, “Gird yourselves, fasten around yourself, fill your mind with timeless, unshakeable, totally reliable, eternally infallible truth.” You say, “Well, where do we find that?’ And here’s the good news: You and I do not have to wander around in the darkness of this world trying to find that truth. God has revealed it to us in his Word.

You say, “Wait a second: Are you saying the Bible is the standard of truth?” To which we respond, Yes!” And you don’t have to check your mind at the door to believe that. See the sermon from a few months ago on the reliability of the Bible, the “no cap”—timeless authority, historical accuracy, eyewitness testimony, manuscript reliability, internal consistency, fulfilled prophecy, and supernatural. But isn’t the Bible old, antiquated? Absolutely. It is old. It’s been around for thousands of years. Its truth has persisted from century to century. Where else are you going to go for truth like that? Fox News, CNN, the most popular post on your favorite social media feed? God has revealed truth to us about who he is, about who we are, about how this world works, and how to experience life in it and beyond it. And there is literally no authority like it in the world. So fasten it around you, fix your mind on it, fill your mind with it. Come back to the questions from earlier.

Circling Back to the Original Questions

Come back to the original questions from earlier.

What lies are you most tempted to believe about yourself?

What lies are you most tempted to believe about yourself? And what is the truth that God says about you? Because God says you are fearfully and wonderfully made by him in the beauty of his image. Genesis 1; Psalm 139.

Every one of you within the sound of my voice: See your inherent, innate worth. You are not a glob of cells in an accidental evolutionary process. No, you are crowned with glory and honor by your Creator. You are loved by the infinitely holy God, and for all who are in Christ, you are his adopted, beloved, chosen, forgiven, redeemed child—Ephesians 1. You are free from all guilt and shame—Romans 8. And you have no reason to be anxious about or afraid of anything in this world—1 John 4.

Fix your mind on what God says about you, not on what others think about you; not on what you think others think about you; not even on what you think about you. When you look in the mirror, fix your mind, fasten yourself, with the truth God says about you.

What Lies Are You Most Tempted to Believe about Your Circumstances?

And about your circumstances … your circumstances are not out of control and they are not hopeless because God is in control—Psalm 31:15. He is holding you and your circumstances in his good hands and he is working—Romans 8. “All” of these circumstances, all of them, is the word he uses, [he is working] together right now for your good. And suffering and sorrow and discouragement and despair that you are walking through will not be the end of your story. Your story is going to end in redemption and glory—Romans 8; Revelation 21. For all who are in Jesus, fill your mind with the truth of what God says about you, [about the] circumstances you are walking through, about the people around you and ultimately about God.

What Lies Are You Most Tempted to Believe about God?

Do not believe the lies of the adversary—that God is not good and great and gracious and merciful. And just think: Genesis 3 … Think: every sin you are struggling with in your life right now is Satan and his spiritual forces trying to convince you that you know better than God what is best for you. Don’t believe them. Believe Him. See it: Every sin in your life traces back to lies you’re believing about yourself, about God. So fasten yourself, fill your mind with the truth that God’s Word is more trustworthy than your thoughts; that God’s design is for your delight, and you can trust his desires for you even more than your own desires for you, amidst struggles.

I was on FaceTime right as the service was starting with Emmanuel, a teenager in our church family who had a brain hemorrhage with internal bleeding. He has been in the hospital for a month trying to relearn how to walk and talk. And Emmanuel said he’d be listening. And Emmanuel, you have a whole church family right now with you and for you saying to you what God’s Word says amidst all the lies that the adversary would like to say to you in that hospital bed. What we read in our church’s Bible reading this morning. Psalm 46:1: “God is your refuge and your strength and he’s not just present … He is a very present help in trouble.” That’s who he is for you. He is not just with you; he is for you—Romans 8:31. And if he is for you, then nothing can stand against you, no matter what you are facing. And he promises Proverbs 3, he’s worthy of your trust—James 1. He will lead you through these trials for your good in ways far beyond what you can ask or imagine—Ephesians 3:20–21. And that’s for Emmanuel, and that’s for every single person who knows the truth of Jesus in their hearts. Gird up, fasten yourself with truth amidst the lies that the adversary wants to sell you in the middle of your struggles.

What Are the Most Dangerous Lies You See People in the World Believing?

And then when you think about the dangerous lies that people in this world are believing that are leading to all kinds of destruction and idolatry and injustice in the world, let’s fight spiritual battle with not just believing truth but proclaiming truth … spreading truth. Let’s fight to show, to say and to show that every single person in this world is an image-bearer of God, innately worthy of honor. Let’s fight to say and show that wealth is not for hoarding but for giving generously to people in need. Let’s fight to expose and counter lies that lead to injustice and evil, whether it’s taking babies’ lives to turning blind eyes to the poor and the oppressed.

And let’s fight to spread the truth in this nation, and to all the nations, that Jesus has died on the cross; that Jesus has risen from the dead; and Jesus is the way, and Jesus is the truth, and Jesus is the life; that there is a thief who comes to steal and kill and destroy, but Jesus has come that we might have life and have it to the full. Fight spiritual war in this world with Jesus and his truth at the core of who you are. That’s where spiritual battle starts.

Concluding Personal Application

So I want to give you a moment, then, before God to engage in spiritual battle right now in your mind on two fronts. So one, what truth or truths from God’s Word do you need to believe today in order to counter lies in your mind? Let’s just engage in battle right now; fasten truth on our minds we need to believe today in order to counter lies in our mind.

And then second, what truth or truths from God’s Word do you need to spread today in order to counter lies in this world? I really want to encourage you to think on both these levels.

And then one final question that’s so important is, How are you going to intentionally fill your mind, fasten yourself, with truth from God’s Word this week? If we’re not alert, intentionally fastening on the belt of truth—and statistics show you and I are going to spend hours every day this week on devices and in other ways filling our minds with messages from this world, many of which are lies. So how are you going to counter that? How are you going to spend intentional time filling your mind, fastening yourself, with truth from God’s Word amidst spiritual battle in this world?

As you think about those questions, specifically for those who are not followers of Jesus. I want to say for anyone, everyone today who’s not currently a follower of Jesus: I want to invite you for the first time to believe the truth about God’s love for you in Jesus. You are not here by accident today. God has brought you here to hear the greatest truth in all the world—that God has made you for relationship with him; that God loves you and, despite your sin against him … all the ways you and I have turned from him to ourselves … God has made a way through Jesus, who lived a sinless life, completely true, and then died on the cross to pay the price for the sins of anyone who will trust in him. And then he rose from the dead. He conquered sin, the devil, and death itself so that anyone who believes in Jesus as Savior and Lord will be forgiven of all your sin and restored to a relationship with God forever. That is God’s invitation to you today. Believe his love for you in Jesus.

So let me give you a couple moments for these questions … just you and God  … and then I or someone at your location will lead us from there.