Roy Robertson was one of the brave men who found himself at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked America. His ship, the West Virginia, was docked at Pearl Harbor on the evening of December 6, 1941. He and a few of his friends left the ship that night and attended a Bible study. About fifteen sailors sat in a circle on the floor. The leader asked them to each recite their favorite Bible verse. In turn each sailor shared a verse and briefly commented on it. Roy said he sat there with terror in his heart. He couldn't recall a single verse. He grew up in a Christian home, he went to church three times a week, but he couldn't recall one single solitary verse. Finally, John 3:16 came to his mind,
“For God so loved the world he gave his only son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
He sat there in the circle and silently rehearsed it in his mind.
There was one man left and then it would be his turn to share his verse and wouldn’t you know it the man next to him shared John 3:16. Roy couldn’t believe it. As the man sitting next to him commented on that verse Roy just sat there in stunned humiliation. In a few moments everyone would know that he could not recall from memory even one verse of scripture. Later that night he went to bed thinking, "Robertson, you're a fake.”
At 7:55 AM the next morning Roy was awakened by the ship’s alarm ordering them to their battle stations. 360 planes of the Japanese Imperial Fleet were attacking their ship and other military installations. Roy and his crew raced to their machine gun emplacement, but all they had was practice ammunition. The first fifteen minutes of the two-hour battle, they were only able to fire blanks at the Japanese planes hoping to scare them away.
As he stood there firing fake ammunition he thought, "Robertson, this is how your whole life has been--fake for Christ." He said he made up his mind as Japanese bullets slammed into his ship that if he escaped with his life he would get serious about following Jesus and that is exactly what he did.
How about us? Are you just playing games with all the stuff we talk about around here because I don’t know if you know this or not but we are at war. Everyday there is a spiritual battle raging all around us and if you don’t start taking this stuff seriously you will be just another casualty.
Romans 13:11-12 says, “The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. “
It is time to put away our apathy or our laziness and it is time to suit up for battle. Ephesians 6 gives us the armor that all of us are to wear each and every day. For the next few weeks we are going to be studying the armor of God. We are going to be looking at it piece by piece. Each piece is essential to have on or you leave your enemy the devil an opening to get you.
Look at this passage.
Ephesians 6:10-17 says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
Let’s look at the first piece of armor we are to put on each day and that piece is:
1. The Belt of Truth
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…
A Roman soldier had a belt that was wrapped around his waist. All of his armor was somehow hooked on that belt. His belt was critical. It held the soldier’s breastplate in place and his sword. When a Roman soldier went into battle, he would tuck his robe into his belt so he could move around freely. If his belt fell off or if it wasn’t properly attached to the other armor, he would have no chance of survival on the battlefield.
In the same way if we are not people of honesty and integrity then our lies will embarrass us and make us ineffective for God. First things first we must make a commitment to being honest people.
There are three ways Satan attacks us in the area of honesty.
1. Satan wants us to believe that lying is not a big deal.
We tell ourselves that lying isn’t a big deal especially if telling a lie gets us out of trouble.
The night before Jesus was crucified Peter promised Jesus that he would stand by his side no matter what. Jesus looked at Peter and said you are going to lie about knowing me three times before the rooster crows. When the soldiers came and took Jesus away from the Garden of Gethsemane Peter ran away with the rest of the disciples. When he stood outside the courtyard waiting to find out what was going to happen to Jesus, three different people asked him if he knew Jesus personally. Each time Peter lied because he was afraid he would get arrested too and after Peter denied Jesus the third time he heard that rooster crow. And just as that rooster crowed Jesus walked out of the building he was in and locked eyes with Peter across the courtyard. Peter knew what he had done. And the Bible says that “Peter ran away and wept bitterly into the night.”
Ask yourself this question. Does anything hurt more than being lied to? Is there anything more destructive to a relationship than a lie? When we lie we tear away trust and once trust is gone in a relationship, the relationship is gone as well.
2. Satan tries to get us to lie to ourselves.
Satan wants us to make small compromises that will eventually take us to a place that we don’t want to go. Satan will tell you:
How has believing any of this ever benefited our life? Let me ask you a question. How is your relationship with God really going? Because you know what, we can lie to ourselves about this one too, can’t we? We can tell ourselves that we are some strong Christian when the truth is you don’t ever pray unless you need something. You never read the Bible. You never share the difference Jesus has made in your life with someone else. And if you got really honest with yourself you would have to admit that there are times where you wonder if you really are a Christian.
If we don’t admit the truth we can’t fix what has gone wrong. Lying to ourselves about ourselves is the most deadly because when we lie about our sin we see no need to ask for God’s forgiveness.
One of the greatest prayers in the Bible is found in Psalm 139:23-24. It says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Please reveal to me God if there is any area of my life where I am lying to myself. 3. Satan will try to get us to believe lies about God.
That is what Satan did in the Garden of Eden. He convinced Eve that God was holding out on her and that if she ate the fruit she would become like God.
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:4-5 (NIV)
I wonder how many lies over the years Satan has tried to make us believe. We pray and pray for something that our heart deeply desired but nothing happens and then we hear the voice that says,
“God doesn’t care about you. He doesn’t even listen to your prayers.”
But God’s word says, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
Jesus said in John 8:44 that Satan “... was a murder from the beginning, He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Here is the question; how do we keep the belt of truth firmly in place?
1. Remember to keep your word.
Keep your promises. If you say you are going to do something then follow through. If you made a promise to a friend then keep your promise. If you made a promise to your parents then keep your promise and if you made a promise to God then keep your promise to him.
2. THINK before you speak Before you open your mouth, think about what you are going to say. I use the acronym think.
If we think through those questions first it will eliminate a lot of lies and hurtful words that we say.
3. Realize that God is listening to every word that we say. Matthew 12:36 says, “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.”
That will sober a person up. That one truth will make us rethink what we say and how we say it.
4. Repent
The word “repent” means to “turn away”. We say to God I don’t want to be this way anymore. We admit to God that we have a problem. We have to ask God to forgive us and give us the power to change.
Let’s use the acronym THINK this week daily as we spend time with God. Write this down now in a note on your phone or journal: TRUE HELPFUL INSPIRING NECESSARY KIND
We are in a spiritual war. Don’t ever forget that.
©2024 Sagebrush Church
