Put On The Full Armor of God

Gospel of Peace

Ephesians 6:15 (KJV)
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Ephesians 6:15 (NLT)
15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News, so that you will be fully prepared.

This passage refers to a believer's stability or sure footedness that comes from peace with God. If a person has genuine peace, then they can stand, even against the power and deceptions of spiritual darkness.

We battle spiritual evil and it is surefootedness or stability that keeps us from falling and becoming defenseless. Anyone can walk when the ground is level, but, spiritually speaking, our life is tested in steep terrain, in the storms and waves, in hopelessness and fear, the fires of pain, in fatigue, and in tragedy.

The secret of our victory is not level ground or external peace, but about a "level" inward ground of peace that allows us to keep our faith, even when outwardly outnumbered and overwhelmed.

We are informed by Scripture that we can stand only if we have the peace that comes from the Gospel. Only the Gospel provides a sure foundation, which is Jesus Christ. Our peace rests, not in pleasant circumstances, but in the Gospel that joins us to the Prince of Peace. We rest in His covenant of Salvation and the promises of His Word.

A The Gospel that Brings Peace

The Gospel brings peace for many reasons:
  • The Gospel reonciles us to God
  • The Gospel joins us to Christ
  • The Gospel solves the dilema of our sinfulness
  • In the Gospel we find a perfect righteousness
  • In the Gospel we find a clear conscience
  • In the Gospel we find victory over death
  • In the Gospel we find an eternal future with God
  • In the Gospel we find God's power to stand against spiritua darkness
  • The Gospel allows God to define reality
  • In the Gospel we find God has given us a place of secure rest

The Gospel reconciles to God.

Colossians 1:21-22 (NKJV)
21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight.

We cannot wage an effective war against darkness if we have never obtained peace with God. Peace with God is the result of accepting the work of Christ for us. He reconciles us to God by taking our sinfulness on Himself.

Jesus becomes sin for us. He takes our sinfulness in His body to the Cross, and makes an atonment which is fully satisfactory to God, thereby making peace for us. In order to stand against darkness, we must forever look to Christ and forever settle the question of our reconciliation to God.

By forgiveness we are  reconciled to, and at peace, with God. If we are going to he healthy spiritually, we must be able to stand in the work of Christ. Our victory over darkness rests in the truths of the Gospel, not our personal strength.

Peace with God gives us the emotional strength to stand. Worry, fear, discouragement, etc., all work against our faith. We will never escape difficulties and to stand we must have an effective living stragety that will equip us to face every trial. The only stragety for living that will never fail is the Person and work of Christ, for He alone reconciles us to God.

The Cross Satisfies

Romans 6:3-4 (GNB)
3 For surely you know that when we were baptized into union with Christ Jesus, we were baptized into union with his death. 4 By our baptism, then, we were buried with him and shared his death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from death by the glorious power of the Father, so also we might live a new life.

We are joined to Christ in His death, and in this way, our sin is atoned for. There is no more payment, death satisfies all claims, all demands for justice are met.

Death is the penalty for sin.  God set the penalty and is completely and forever satisfied with the death of Christ as an atonement for our sins. With the death of His Son, Jesus Christ we are completely forgiven, God is completely satisfied and our guilt is completely removed.

Since death is the penalty for sin, once we die, there is no more penalty for sin. The good news is that we have been joined to Christ in His death, and His death for sin, becomes our death for sin, and God is fully satisfied!

Guilt for sin, applies only to a person that is alive. Once the person is dead all guilt is resolved.

It is through forgiveness, and the justification that follows forgiveness, that we have peace with God.

Romans 5:1-2 (NKJV)
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God

The Devil attacks the message of the Gospel by attacking the identity of Christ, the meaning and effectiveness of His work, and the reality of our salvation.

Forgiveness alone makes us right with God, and it is this truth that results in peace with God. It is through a good understanding of the Gospel that we are able to battle the lies of darkness and stand in the freedom and acceptance which the Gospel brings.

Luke 4:18-19 (KJV)
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord .

Emotional Dependence on Jesus and on the Gospel

There are many reason for a lack of emotional stability but one major reason is that we do not emotionally relate to Christ or to His work for us. We can be born-again, but be an emotional atheist in the sense that we have the feelings of an unbeliever. To be healthy we must become emotionally and intellectually dependent on the Gospel. See emotionally dependent.

We must not only know we are accepted by God, but we must also feel we are accepted. Let me repeat, to be a healthy and a strong Christian, we must emtionally relate to the work of Christ; we must feel accepted by God. If we are not emotionally and intellectually dependent on the Gospel, then we cannot effectively resist the arguments of darkness for our feelings will war against us.

If we do not feel accepted then we open ourselves to the wisdom of spiritual darkness. Our enemy will argue points that only the Gospel can address and if we are emotionally distant from the Gospel, then we will have no answer. It is important that we guard our emotions for they have the power to profoundly affect our lives.

The Weapons of our Warfare

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (NKJV)
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ

It is God's counsel that we put on the full armor of God that we might stand against the lies of darkness. The Gospel of Peace provides the only foundation that resolves the sin question and therefore provides peace to our soul. Because we have peace with God we are able to stand against the wiles of the devil. This is God's message to us about the importance of the Gospel of Peace as we stand against the Devil.

God bless you as you faithfully run the race set before you!

Let us move on to faith, for it is by faith that we live-"the just will live by faith."

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Scripture

Rom 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

1Cor 1:17-24
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. 18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. 22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

Gal 1:8
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. GAL 1:9 As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

Gal 3:8
And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

Phil 1:27
Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

Col 1:5
For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;

COL 1:23
If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

2Tim 2:8
Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:

Heb 4:2
For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.