In verses 10-12 we looked at the struggles that we all face in life and the realty that the struggles we’re involved in are not against each other or the circumstances we find ourselves in. What we struggle against is spiritual. We’re in a spiritual battle against Satan and his forces that are working to lead us away from God and to destroy us. Paul writes that the only way for us to be strong in this battle is to completely trust in Jesus as the source of our strength.

Last Sunday - looking at verse 13 - we talked about standing firm - making a choice to resist the attacks of Satan - not retreating - but remaining faithful - standing in the strong victory over Satan that Jesus has already won for us on the cross and through His resurrection.

In verses 14 to 17 we’re coming to an illustration that Paul gives to explain - in a very practical way - what we need to do to live in God’s strength. The illustration is the Armor of God. In verses 11 and 13, Paul writes, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand firm - so that you can resist” - so that you can daily stand in God’s strength. Like a soldier prepared for battle - when we put on God’s armor we’re prepared - strengthened - for the struggles of our lives.

Have you seen those security boots the police put on cars. If a car is parked illegally the police put one of these metal boots - essentially a metal clamp - put on the tire so the car can’t be moved until the fine is paid. In south London there’s a guy who had one of these boots put on his car and was told it would cost 95 pounds - about $150 - to have it taken off. So this guy paid 30 pounds for circular saw and “unbooted” it himself.

Now this guy is on a crusade. He calls himself - Angle-Grinder Man - an “angle” being this metal boot that goes on the tire. Whoever this guy is - his true identity is unknown - he has a homemade super-hero costume complete with gold lamé briefs - gold cowboy boots - mask - gloves - a cape - and the Angle-Grinder Man emblem on his chest. If someone’s car is booted he pulls up in his car - jumps out in this outfit - yell’s “If anyone can, Angle-Grinder Man can” - unboots the car - and disappears with a swirl of his cape. (1)

Without the right clothes - armor - we can’t stand against Satan. In verse 14, Paul gives us the first piece of armor that we need to put on. “Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth.” Stand in God’s strength by putting on the belt of truth.

What is truth?

Right after 9/11 - 2001 - Willie Brown - Mayor of San Francisco - called all the religious leaders together to organize a joint interfaith prayer service at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium - down at the civic center. (09.17.01) Despite my reservations - after a lot of prayer and counsel I went to the service to show support for the community.

There were at least 7,000 plus people there including the Governor, both our US Senators, the mayor, and other politicians. And of course, representatives of every religion we could think of and then some: Catholics, Anglicans, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, Mormons, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Satanists and on and on. Each one there to offer prayers - chants - incantations - and whatever to a least a dozen deities.

To give you a idea of how this went, we began in front of the auditorium with prayer led by a Shinto priest who called upon our dead ancestors to give us wisdom. That was followed by a native American who had us pray to our grandfather - their concept of god - so we prayed to our grandfather facing first north - then east - south - west. Then by reaching down and touching our mother earth - which was in reality a concrete sidewalk. But, that didn’t seem to be a problem.

Often we hear the statement, “We’re people of different faith traditions." Which means that different religions - faith traditions - which all claim to have some insight on a truth - can easily join together into one body in a sense proclaiming that truth is relative - experiential - in which there is no absolute truth.

In our schools - courts - politics - community - we’re told that we must be tolerant - inclusive - open to the experiences and beliefs of others. "Truth is relative to how I experience life." "God is who I experience Him - or her - or it - to be." Somehow that tolerance seems to exclude anyone who claims to actually believe in there is an absolute truth.

Lieutenant General William Boykin is the new undersecretary of Defense for intelligence - a much decorated - twice-wounded veteran of covert military operations - a 13 year veteran of the Army’s Delta Force. This guy’s been in the thick of it.

As a Christian - speaking before Christians - General Boykin has said that radical Islamists hate the United States “because we’re a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian… and the enemy is a guy named Satan.” He’s stated that the god of Islam is an idol. And that victory over our spiritual enemy only comes in the name of Jesus. Last week, the Los Angeles Times editorial page called General Boykin an imprudent, dangerous, intolerant, extremist Christian. (2)

Tolerance means that we tolerate - respect - the right of others to believe things we don’t choose to believe and their right to express their beliefs. Yet, in today’s world tolerance has come to mean silence about what one believes. Never are we to question the reality of someone else’s personal faith journey as if implying that an absolute truth may exist. Those who profess to know the truth are ridiculed.

What dominates our society today is a philosophy which is skeptical of our ability to know any truth. According to the people who research these things - 67% of adults in America reject absolute moral truth. (3) 50% believe that "everything in life is negotiable." 60% of all adults believe that, "nothing can be known for certain except the things you experience in your own life."

A few years ago a Barna survey reported that only 23% of evangelical Christians agreed with the existence of absolute truth. Think about that. Over 75% of evangelical Christians are saying that nothing can be known for certain. If there’s no absolute truth, then by definition nothing can be said to be absolutely true. To the majority, apparently, it's all relative. (4)

Who really created everything we see around us? Was Jesus really who He claimed to be? Did He really die for our sins? Can we really know God? Is life hopeless? Nothing is certain. Might be. Might not be. Who knows for sure?

Paul writes, “Put on the belt of truth” - because in this world which Satan has deluded into thinking that truth is what we create it to be - weakened us so that we’re vulnerable to his attacks - open to his leading us to our own destruction - in this struggle we desperately need the strength of God’s truth to uphold and give direction to our lives. What is this truth?

In Ephesians 4:21 - back two chapters in this same letter - in Ephesians 4:21 Paul writes that Jesus is the truth. God, in Jesus Christ, the living Word of God - God has revealed to us the absolute truth we need to know in order to know God - to be saved - to live in a right relationship with God - to live in His strength - to live in obedience to God - to live life with purpose and meaning and value as God intends for life to be lived.

In John chapter 14, Jesus is in the Upper Room - it’s the Last Supper - just prior to Jesus' betrayal and crucifixion. Jesus is sharing with the disciples truths which literally stagger the imagination.

Jesus says, "Believe in God, believe also in me." Imagine, Jesus equates trust in God to trusting in Him. He’s speaking of Himself as God. Jesus speaks of the believers future dwelling with God and His own return to bring us into that eternal dwelling.

Thomas - confused - asks Jesus "How? How are we to know the way to God?"

Jesus replies with this incredible revelation about Himself - John 14:6 - “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me."

An awesome claim! Jesus doesn’t say, "I show a way. I teach a truth. I give a life." Buddha called himself "the way-shower.” Mohammed called himself a teacher of truth. Many prophets throughout history have offered to lead one to life. None of them can make the absolute claim Jesus did.

Many people would like to avoid this verse or make it say something that it doesn’t say - to soften the words of Jesus and make them more politically correct - more palatable to our culture today. But, according to the best Biblical scholarship - these words of Jesus mean absolutely what it sounds like Jesus is saying:

"There is no other way - no other truth - no other life. When you come to Me you are meeting God; you have found the ultimate reality and the truth. When you come to Me you then and there possess the life." (John 14:1-6)

There’s a story about a man who came to his old friend - a music teacher - and he asked him in the off-hand - uncaring way - that we say things, “What’s the good news today?” The music teacher never said a word. He walked across the room, picked up a hammer and struck a tuning fork. As the note resonated through-out the room, he said, “That’s ‘A’. It’s ‘A’ today, it was ‘A’ 5,000 years ago, and it will be ‘A’ 10,000 years from now. The soprano upstairs sings off-key. The tenor across the hall sings flat. And, the piano downstairs is out of tune.” He struck the note again, and said, “That’s an ‘A’ my friend, and that’s the good news for today!”

That’s who Jesus Christ is. The absolute unchanging truth of God - the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) That’s strength that never yields. Strength that can always be counted on.

Paul writes, put on Jesus Christ. He alone can meet the error and confusion and delusions of this world and give true direction and understanding to our lives. He is the absolute essential we need if we’re ever to live with strength through the struggles of this life and into eternity with God.

Thinking through what this means for us - how we put on the belt of truth - I’d like to share what Jesus said in John 8:32. Jesus was speaking at the Temple in Jerusalem - very practical words to the Jews who were gathered there listening to Him - encouraging them to keep trusting in Him. Jesus said this - John 8:32 - "you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Have you seen these comedy routines where someone’s pants fall down around their ankles and they try to go on with things trying to hold their pants up with one hand. So many of us try that.

The belt Paul describes was really an undergarment - essential to a soldiers uniform. The belt went on first. It held everything else together. It kept the breastplate in place. The sword was attached to the belt. The belt gathered the soldiers tunic and kept it up. Imagine trying to fight a battle with your tunic wrapped around your ankles.

With the belt on the soldier was confident - inwardly prepared to fight in the battle. So it is with us. Our armor - our preparation - for spiritual battle begins with the belt of truth.

What most often keeps people from trusting Jesus as their Savior - from knowing His truth and strength and freedom - is that we think we’re OK the way we are. We may need a few minor adjustments here and there but no big changes are required. We feel comfortable with our own understanding of what’s true - the way we clothe ourselves for life.

“You shall know the truth - singular - absolute - and the truth shall make you free." What Jesus says is almost absurd. It offends us. But Jesus speaks the truth about what’s really going on in our hearts. Outwardly we may be the most beautifully moral and upright person - for years a devoted faithful attendee and supporter of the church - successful by all the world’s standards. But unless we've personally received Jesus as our Savior - we’ve not been set free from the sin in our heart.

There are some here this morning - you’re suffering inwardly from a terrible sense of failure - of shame about things in your past. Millions suffer inwardly from hurt - despair - even depression over the past or present. When we come to Jesus as our Savior - God forgives our sins - and we need not feel guilty for them. That’s His truth.

Many today are gripped by fear - worried - anxious - insecure. I've known people - maybe you have too - people so in the grip of fear they couldn't go outside their house. They're too afraid. Most of us have fears that limit us and keep us from doing what we long to do. Knowing the truth of a relationship with God - how our Heavenly Father who loves us so much that He forgives our sins through the death of His Son Jesus - how He cares for us - knowing God's truth gives us confidence to live life boldly.

Then there’s anger - and how God reassures us that the burdens which drive us to hatred - bitterness - and rage - are the burdens that He dealt with on the cross through Jesus - and the freedom we can have if we will just trust Him to take care of us.

Pride is another problem we struggle with - a proud - aggressive - arrogant spirit that indulges in prejudice and bigotry. In trusting Jesus - we come in humility knowing that it’s only by His grace that I - or you - or any of us are saved. Not by anything we've done or could do.

The bottom line is that Jesus offers us freedom from what tears at us deep within - what keeps us from being all that we’re meant to be - what binds us and limits us - what opens us up to the attacks and influences of Satan - what weakens us when we desperately desire to be strong. We need to invite Him and His truth to come into our hearts and minds - and rattle around inside us - and change us - renew us - strengthen us.

This is what Jesus is talking about - His wonderful truth is that there is a way out. "Bring them to me," - whatever binds you - what weakens you. Jesus tells us. "Bring yourself to me. Listen to my words. Trust me and I will set you free. I will be your strength for life."

The Apostle John writes, "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name." (John 1:12)

That’s putting on the belt of truth. Its a choice God gives us. First - we individually choose to receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. Then we can know His strength and protection and power in our lives. And then when we feel defeated - under attack - when doubts weaken us - we trust Him. Those are the times when we need to choose to believe in the only One who is worth listening to - the only one who has the explanation for life.