Mars Hill Fellowship

The Truth Sets Us Free

SERIES |

Be Strong in the Lord

SCRIPTURE |

Ephesians 6:10-14a

SPEAKER |

Pastor Joseph Ardayfio

KEY THEME |

I.  In Ephesians 6, the Apostle Paul describes six pieces of armor that the believer must wear. The first piece of armor is the belt of truth.

1. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. In the KJV it states, “[gird] your loins with truth.”

II.  What is the principle function of a belt or a girdle?

1. In modern times, belts are used as fashion statements. However, the soldier’s belt was an essential part of the armor.
2. To gird means to “To fasten or secure.” The Roman Soldier wore a girdle or belt over a short tunic to make sure that his undergarments were secure. Loose armor was troublesome and distressing, making the soldier unready for battle.
3. The belt also linked the other pieces of the armor. The breastplate was secured by the belt and in later times, the belt held the sheath for the sword.

III.  Truth grounds every spiritual weapon that we have been given: the breastplate, the shoes, the shield, the helmet and the sword. Without the foundation of the truth, we are likely to inflict friendly fire and lose battles because we are distracted from the real battle.

IV.  To put ON the belt of truth means to be strengthened by God’s truth in the gospel and to resolve to live by that truth. Essentially, To know and to live by the truth.

1. Knowing truth teaches us what battles to fight.
2. Living in truth allows us to demolish the devils schemes.

V.   1 - How does knowing the truth help us know which battles to fight?

1. The NT Greek term aletheia, translated “truth,” indicates that which is authentic, reliable and trustworthy. God’s Word is represented as truth, because it is a reliable and trustworthy revelation of reality as God alone knows it.
2. In John 18, there is an interesting dialogue between Jesus and Pilate: 
   • ³⁶ Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” ³⁷ “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” ³⁸ “What is truth?” retorted Pilate.
3. We are living a day and age that expresses the same sentiment as Pilate – What is truth? Is it really that important? Does it really matter what we consider to be truth?
4. Modern day philosophers define truth as whatever you believe to be truth. Sadly, some Christians have also accepted this idea of truth.
1. In John 14:6, Jesus said “I AM the way, the truth, and the life..."
2. Jesus made a bold declaration that HE IS THE TRUTH and if we don’t know him, we will not know the fullness of truth or how that truth affects our lives.
5. At a most basic level, truth is that which conforms to reality, fact, or actuality." 
1. Truth is not simply whatever works. Lies can appear to “work,” but they are still lies and not the truth.
2. Truth is not what makes people feel good. Unfortunately, bad news can be true.
3. Truth is not what the majority says is true. Fifty-one percent of a group can reach a wrong conclusion.
4. Truth is not defined by what is intended. Good intentions can still be wrong.
6. Truth is what guides our lives. If we don’t know God’s truth, we will unfortunately ground our life and existence in a lie. Ravi Zacharias said “The fact is, the truth matters – especially when you’re on the receiving end of a lie.” A life grounded in truth is stable, strong and deeply rooted.
7. The only way that we ground our life in truth is to be so familiar with the truth that we can easily recognize counterfeits. Believers must know the truth of their position in Christ.
1. We have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb (Colossians 1:14)
2. We are new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17)
3. We are adopted and accepted into the family of faith  (Romans 8:15)
4. We are justified by the finished work of the cross of Christ (Romans 5:1)
5. We are forever united and joined with Christ (Romans 6:8)
6. His power is at work within us (Ephesians 1:19)
7. We have a heavenly inheritance in Christ Jesus (1 Peter 1:4-5)

VI.  2 – We must know the truth and practice living according to the truth. How do we practice the truth in order to demolish the devil’s schemes?

1. “What Satan and his demons do is influence us. They tempt us, twist our thinking and cloud our understanding. They lie to us about our identity in Christ, telling us we are useless and hopeless. They encourage bitterness and anger and destroy healthy relationships. They stimulate our fears and cause panic. They drown us in depression and despair. They tell us that we cannot risk stepping out in faith to respond to God’s Word. They push us toward addictions that can ruin our lives.”
2. We must remember how Satan deceived Eve in the garden (Genesis 3:1-6). Satan contradicted God’s truth with the statement, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’? Then, “⁶ When [Eve] saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.”
3. Eve choose to believe in a lie rather than in the truth because she was distracted by the serpent.
4. This pattern was repeated in the New Testament in Romans 1: 25 ^“They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.”
5. When we hear the voice of the enemy, we have to remember that his native language is lying.
1. ^{. John  8:44} You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
6. We practice the truth by knowing who we are in Christ and allowing the truth of God to saturate our every thought and action. We must not only love truth, but we must be willing to submit to its demands.

VII.  We guard the truth that God has deposited into us by keeping on the belt of truth as part of the armor of God.

1. ^{COLOSSIANS 2:8} See to it that no one [including the devil] takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
2. ^{2 TIMOTHY 1:13-14}  What you heard from me,keep as the pattern of sound teaching,with faith and love in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.