Put on the WHOLE Armor of God!
The Girdle of Truth-Eph 6:14a
Notice at the outset that “the whole armor” is mentioned twice–Vs 11 and 13. As we begin our study, keep in mind that while each “piece” has a distinct theme, the whole armor is essential to our standing in this battle with our arch enemy. Satan is a “master archer”, extremely good with the “bow of error”. He will find every “body part” left uncovered!
The Girdle of Truth
In this “temporary life” we spend most of our “temporary time” concerned with “temporary issues”. In these “temporary bodies”, many of these issues are temporarily necessary. Satan’s lie, however, is to lead us to believe that the temporary is lasting and thereby to trap us into the pursuit and maintenance of the temporary with little more that “lip service” given to the Eternal. It is this lie that makes the world and the flesh “go around”. We might call this the “eat, drink, and be married for tomorrow you die” syndrome. Contemporary “christianity” has bought into this lie. The felt need gospel, the health and wealth gospel, name it and claim it teaching, and the all around materialistic success cult that infects evangelical churches–all are the fruit of this lie. We desperately need the truth!!! (Isa 22:12-14; I Cor 15:32-34 + 19)
I. The Loins! That strange Old English word–but packed with much richer meaning that the contemporary “waist”. KJV 63 times, 8 in the NT. OT #2504, #4975, 3409; NT #3751 osphoos–“The loins are the hips plus the lower abdomen, regarded as the center of strength and procreative power.” New Strongs Dict.
A. The source of offspring. First mention in Scripture is Gen. 35:11–prophecy of Jacob’s descendants–“and kings shall come out of thy loins.” (Gen 46:25, Ex 1:5) The nakedness (genital area) of the priests, their loins, were to be covered. (Ex 28:42).
1. Acts 2:30 Crucial to our faith, and the TRUTH that it is built upon, is Peter’s sermon. David, “being a prophet and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on his throne.”
2. Heb 7:5&10 The physical descent, “out of loins of Abraham”, “yet in the loins of
Abraham”, is crucial to the Superiority of our Great High Priest Who is after the order of Melchizadek, having descended from God.
B. The loins as the center/source of strength. Nahum 2:1 “He that dashes in pieces is come up before your face: keep the munition (fortification), watch the way, make your loins strong, fortify your power mightily.” Job 40:15 (Graphically of behemoth, “his strength is in his loins”); Ps 38:7 disease in the loins = loss of strength; II Sam 20:8 Joab's sword was worn upon the loins.
1. Note: Not merely a masculine trait, for Prov 31:17, the virtuous woman, “girds her loins with strength and strengthens her arms.” KJV
2. “Girding up the loins” is a phrase of preparing strength. Jer 1:17–the Lord tells Jeremiah to gird up his loins and speak to Israel all His Words He commanded him, and to not be afraid of their faces. II Kings 4:29; Job38:3
C. Putting sackcloth on the loins was a graphic display of loss of power, strength, that of mourning. Gen 37:34 (Jacob upon hearing the lie about Joseph) Amos 8:9-10 (figurative of God’s judgement)
Conclusion: The sum of the scriptures is that the loins are the figurative source of strength, whether of a man’s heritage, physical strength, or pictorially of spiritual strength. Why spend so much time on loins? Because in our text, if the root, source, center of strength is not clothed in truth, all of the other armor will be defective!!!
I Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts of your ignorance.”
And now, the Girdle of Truth:
If we are not “girded with truth, we will fall prey to the devastation of the lie, and our offspring will be mere proselytes/recruits.
I. Jesus brought Truth: Satan brought a lie–Gen 3:1-5
John 1:17 “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ.
Ex 34:6 “The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and Truth.” True Truth isn’t a thing, concept, or idea. It is the very Essence of the Most High God as seen in this declaration of His 7 fold attributive name.
Ps 85:7-13 “....Surely His Salvation is near them that fear Him.....Mercy and Truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the ground (earth), and Righteousness shall look down from heaven.”
Ps 98:3 He has remembered His Mercy and Truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of the our God.”
Micah 7:18-20 “Who is a God like unto You, that pardons iniquity.....He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities: and You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will perform The Truth to Jacob, and the Mercy to Abraham, which you have sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.”
II. Jesus Is The Truth: Satan is a liar, there is no truth in him. (John 8:44)
John 1:1+17:17 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “Sanctify them through Your Truth, Your Word Is truth.**Consider Heb 1:2**
John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us, and we beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, FULL OF grace and TRUTH.”
John 14:6 “I am the way, THE TRUTH, and the life: no one can come to the Father but by Me. 14:16-17 The Spirit of Truth, sent from the Father, has only one subject (15:26), “He will testify of Me.”
Eph 4:21 “If so be that you have heard Him, and been taught by Him, as the Truth is in Jesus.”
III. Truth is about Jesus:
I John 2:20-28 “Who is a liar, but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ. He is anti-christ that denies the Father and the Son.”
Eph 4:20-21 “But you have not so learned Christ, if so be that you have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the Truth is in Jesus.”
Gal 3:1 “who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
IV. Only the truth about Jesus can set us free.
John 8:31-32 “If you continue in my Word, then are you my disciples indeed, and you shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free.”
Heb 2:14-17 Here is the Truth about Jesus that sets us free!!!
II Cor 3:17 “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty.” The Spirit has only one Subject–Jesus!
Col 2:8-10 “...For in Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete In Him.”
John 1:17 “Sanctify them through Your Truth, Your Word is Truth.”
Eph 4:20 Are we learning Christ–and I don’t mean stuff about Him. To learn Him is to take on His mind, His gentleness and meekness. It is to be growing into conformity to Him I all things. Any “god truth” that doesn’t grow out of Christ the Truth is defective truth–not truth at all!!! Are our loins clothed with the Truth as it is in Christ Jesus?
The Girdle of Truth-Eph 6:14a
Notice at the outset that “the whole armor” is mentioned twice–Vs 11 and 13. As we begin our study, keep in mind that while each “piece” has a distinct theme, the whole armor is essential to our standing in this battle with our arch enemy. Satan is a “master archer”, extremely good with the “bow of error”. He will find every “body part” left uncovered!
The Girdle of Truth
In this “temporary life” we spend most of our “temporary time” concerned with “temporary issues”. In these “temporary bodies”, many of these issues are temporarily necessary. Satan’s lie, however, is to lead us to believe that the temporary is lasting and thereby to trap us into the pursuit and maintenance of the temporary with little more that “lip service” given to the Eternal. It is this lie that makes the world and the flesh “go around”. We might call this the “eat, drink, and be married for tomorrow you die” syndrome. Contemporary “christianity” has bought into this lie. The felt need gospel, the health and wealth gospel, name it and claim it teaching, and the all around materialistic success cult that infects evangelical churches–all are the fruit of this lie. We desperately need the truth!!! (Isa 22:12-14; I Cor 15:32-34 + 19)
I. The Loins! That strange Old English word–but packed with much richer meaning that the contemporary “waist”. KJV 63 times, 8 in the NT. OT #2504, #4975, 3409; NT #3751 osphoos–“The loins are the hips plus the lower abdomen, regarded as the center of strength and procreative power.” New Strongs Dict.
A. The source of offspring. First mention in Scripture is Gen. 35:11–prophecy of Jacob’s descendants–“and kings shall come out of thy loins.” (Gen 46:25, Ex 1:5) The nakedness (genital area) of the priests, their loins, were to be covered. (Ex 28:42).
1. Acts 2:30 Crucial to our faith, and the TRUTH that it is built upon, is Peter’s sermon. David, “being a prophet and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on his throne.”
2. Heb 7:5&10 The physical descent, “out of loins of Abraham”, “yet in the loins of
Abraham”, is crucial to the Superiority of our Great High Priest Who is after the order of Melchizadek, having descended from God.
B. The loins as the center/source of strength. Nahum 2:1 “He that dashes in pieces is come up before your face: keep the munition (fortification), watch the way, make your loins strong, fortify your power mightily.” Job 40:15 (Graphically of behemoth, “his strength is in his loins”); Ps 38:7 disease in the loins = loss of strength; II Sam 20:8 Joab's sword was worn upon the loins.
1. Note: Not merely a masculine trait, for Prov 31:17, the virtuous woman, “girds her loins with strength and strengthens her arms.” KJV
2. “Girding up the loins” is a phrase of preparing strength. Jer 1:17–the Lord tells Jeremiah to gird up his loins and speak to Israel all His Words He commanded him, and to not be afraid of their faces. II Kings 4:29; Job38:3
C. Putting sackcloth on the loins was a graphic display of loss of power, strength, that of mourning. Gen 37:34 (Jacob upon hearing the lie about Joseph) Amos 8:9-10 (figurative of God’s judgement)
Conclusion: The sum of the scriptures is that the loins are the figurative source of strength, whether of a man’s heritage, physical strength, or pictorially of spiritual strength. Why spend so much time on loins? Because in our text, if the root, source, center of strength is not clothed in truth, all of the other armor will be defective!!!
I Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts of your ignorance.”
And now, the Girdle of Truth:
If we are not “girded with truth, we will fall prey to the devastation of the lie, and our offspring will be mere proselytes/recruits.
I. Jesus brought Truth: Satan brought a lie–Gen 3:1-5
John 1:17 “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ.
Ex 34:6 “The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and Truth.” True Truth isn’t a thing, concept, or idea. It is the very Essence of the Most High God as seen in this declaration of His 7 fold attributive name.
Ps 85:7-13 “....Surely His Salvation is near them that fear Him.....Mercy and Truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the ground (earth), and Righteousness shall look down from heaven.”
Ps 98:3 He has remembered His Mercy and Truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of the our God.”
Micah 7:18-20 “Who is a God like unto You, that pardons iniquity.....He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities: and You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will perform The Truth to Jacob, and the Mercy to Abraham, which you have sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.”
II. Jesus Is The Truth: Satan is a liar, there is no truth in him. (John 8:44)
John 1:1+17:17 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” “Sanctify them through Your Truth, Your Word Is truth.**Consider Heb 1:2**
John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us, and we beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, FULL OF grace and TRUTH.”
John 14:6 “I am the way, THE TRUTH, and the life: no one can come to the Father but by Me. 14:16-17 The Spirit of Truth, sent from the Father, has only one subject (15:26), “He will testify of Me.”
Eph 4:21 “If so be that you have heard Him, and been taught by Him, as the Truth is in Jesus.”
III. Truth is about Jesus:
I John 2:20-28 “Who is a liar, but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ. He is anti-christ that denies the Father and the Son.”
Eph 4:20-21 “But you have not so learned Christ, if so be that you have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the Truth is in Jesus.”
Gal 3:1 “who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
IV. Only the truth about Jesus can set us free.
John 8:31-32 “If you continue in my Word, then are you my disciples indeed, and you shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free.”
Heb 2:14-17 Here is the Truth about Jesus that sets us free!!!
II Cor 3:17 “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty.” The Spirit has only one Subject–Jesus!
Col 2:8-10 “...For in Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete In Him.”
John 1:17 “Sanctify them through Your Truth, Your Word is Truth.”
Eph 4:20 Are we learning Christ–and I don’t mean stuff about Him. To learn Him is to take on His mind, His gentleness and meekness. It is to be growing into conformity to Him I all things. Any “god truth” that doesn’t grow out of Christ the Truth is defective truth–not truth at all!!! Are our loins clothed with the Truth as it is in Christ Jesus?