Our text this evening comes from Isaiah chapter 59, we'll also be looking at Ephesians chapter 6, Isaiah 59 beginning at verse 1, behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies. They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. They hatch viper's eggs and weave the spider's web. He who eats of their eggs dies, and from that which is crushed, a viper breaks out. Their webs will not become garments, nor will they cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Wasting and destruction are in their paths, the way of peace. They have not known, and there is no justice in their ways. They have made themselves crooked paths. Whoever takes that way shall not know peace. Thus far the reading of God's word. We will see in just a moment how the story ends. It doesn't end on that note happily. But it does begin there. Join me, if you will, at Starbucks for a conversation, eavesdropping. I don't recommend eavesdropping as a general rule, but for the sake of illustration, eavesdropping on a conversation between Susan and Tim. Susan and Tim go to different churches. They really haven't seen each other for a while, and they're discussing the Christian life and the struggles that are obviously part of that Christian life. And Susan has been reading every book she can get her hands on regarding spiritual warfare. She's gone from battle plan to battle plan because she thinks that she's a Roman 7 Christian, as she tells Tim. In other words, that she is perhaps a carnal Christian. She's not assured of her victory, and she's trying to find every possible strategy, every possible means. And the latest book she's found on spiritual warfare seems, at least at this moment, to be getting the job done. She's very excited about and zealous for overcoming the wiles of the devil. In truth, however, Susan may be a Romans 10 Christian where Paul says, I bear witness of my brethren according to the flesh that they have a great zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about the righteousness, which is a gift of God that comes from Christ through faith, they seek to establish their own righteousness. Susan is zealous, but she doesn't necessarily know what the warfare is all about. Tim, on the other hand, is very well versed in Scripture, and he not only can define justification, he can not only explain what Romans 10 means, For example, he knows the proof texts all throughout Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, but Tim has trouble explaining exactly how this has anything to do with spiritual warfare day to day in everyday life as a Christian, struggling against the wiles and schemes of the devil. Our texts this evening take us beyond these inadequate false alternatives as we see the courtroom and the battlefield converge as analogies both in Isaiah 59 and Ephesians 6. Taking advantage of this occasion tonight to remind ourselves of what and where the battle really is. First of all, we have to understand something of the context for both Isaiah 59 and Ephesians chapter 6. It's cosmic conflict. As I say, the courtroom and the battlefield converge as metaphors or analogies in both of these passages. Spiritual warfare is not just about me and my personal relationship with Jesus, although it clearly involves that. We are swept into it, but it's larger than us. it's bigger than our own particular struggles with the world, the flesh, and the devil. It's about the perennial courtroom trial between God and Satan, between Christ and Antichrist that runs all the way from Genesis to Revelation. Ever since God issued his gracious promise of the gospel to Adam and Eve in the garden, that he would send a Messiah to crush the serpent's head, even though he would bruise the Messiah's heel, there has been a contest of the ages. And whatever spiritual battles we go through are simply footnotes in that larger, wider battle of the ages between God and Satan. Satan tries to intercept the Messiah already at the beginning with Abel, who is slain by Cain, but then raises up Seth. To take his place. There's the intermarriage between the daughters of God and the sons of men. Trying to corrupt the covenant line through intermarriage with unbelievers. There is the corruption that leads to the flood and yet Noah and his sons are spared and a line continues. There's Job's trial which is very much a play within a play, if you will. A story that is part of the larger story of God's trial with Satan in the great courtroom of the ages. Joseph would never have known that his life plays a part in this story. When he was thrown into a pit, where could this possibly go? And yet he was made prime minister of Egypt. And when his brothers came during the famine, they finally recognized him when he made himself known. And remember what he tells them, you meant it for evil. But God meant it for good. There's the massacre of the Lord's firstborn in Egypt, and yet God spares Moses. Queen Athaliah destroys the house of David, but little Joash is saved, hidden under the shield of David. Baal worship threatens to reduce the covenant line to nothing. Elijah himself, exhausted, says, I alone am left, and God says, No, no, I have 7,000 who have not bowed their knee to Baal. Herod is the emissary of Satan in this cosmic battle when he destroys the firstborn, trying to get at the messianic seed, and yet God once again preserves his Joash, his Jesus under the shield of David, rescuing them. The scene in Revelation 12, In fact, ends with Satan defeated and yet going after the siblings, the brothers and sisters who have been saved by Jesus' victory. The whole history of redemption is one long series of twists and turns in this courtroom drama unfolding before the princes and principalities of this age. And in the prophets, the church itself, which was supposed to be the witness, The prime witness for Yahweh has now become the prosecutor. Pointing its finger in its Babylonian exile to Yahweh as the unfaithful covenant partner. And that's exactly where the tables get turned. He begins by saying, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor His ear heavy that it cannot hear. It's not a question of God's power. It's not a question of God's sovereignty. It isn't a question about whether God can fulfill His purposes for Israel. Nor is it a question of God's compassion, God's apathy. God's ears are not filled with wax so that He cannot hear the cry of His people. So the problem isn't God. God cannot be put on trial. Rather, Israel is put on trial. Your iniquities have separated you from your God and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear. And then God lays out through Isaiah, the prosecuting attorney, the evidence for the case. Their hands defiled with blood. Their fingers with iniquity, lying lips, perverse tongues. God doesn't even have to go out and get witnesses out among the nations. All He has to do is simply require the accused to show up. The evidence is on their face, in their mouth. As Isaiah says himself in chapter 6, when he sees that vision of God in all of His holiness, I am a man of unclean lips and dwell among a people of unclean lips. And so he presses the case. No one calls for justice. No one pleads for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies. We see similar evidence against the people of God in Jeremiah. Peace, peace, say the false prophets. Nothing will come of all of these predictions of disaster. Peace, peace, they say, dressing the wound of my people as though it were not serious. But there is no peace. They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. They hatch viper's eggs and weave the spider's web. He who eats of their eggs dies, and from that which is crushed, a viper breaks out. See here, he draws on the image of the serpent. Even the people of God themselves can be described here in their witnessing against God as tools of the serpent. They conceive evil. They bring forth iniquity. They hatch viper's eggs. They weave a spider's web, and he who eats of their eggs dies. And from that which is crushed, a viper breaks out. This is what we mean by total depravity, from head to toe. It's not on the surface, but deep down. Their webs will not become garments, nor will they cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Here we think of Adam and Eve trying to cover themselves up with their fig leaves. And now we have the people of Israel trying to cover themselves up with cobwebs. But it will not cover themselves. Their works are actually works of iniquity. And the act of violence is in their hands. The people have no defense. They cannot appeal to their own righteousness since the best that they can offer God is stained with sin. So it goes to the very heart. Their sin doesn't just lie on the surface as if they could turn over a new leaf. It's not just that they stray into evil paths. He says their feet run to evil. They not only do bad things, their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. They not only give in to discord, but the way of peace, he says, they have not known. They not only do things that are wrong, he says, there is no justice at all in their ways. So this can't be remedied by simply exhorting Israel to turn over a new leaf. Something far greater is needed. They have not only followed crooked paths, he says in verse 8, they have made for themselves crooked paths. See how deep it goes? They don't just strayed into it, wandered into it. The nations have set these snares and the people of Israel fell into them, sort of unwittingly. They made the highways on which they are now traversing as they rush into evil. Now that the evidence is presented publicly for everyone to see, for everyone to hear, for the whole courtroom to witness, Finally, the people recognize God isn't the one on trial, but they are. And they confess. Now that's why justice is far from us. Nor does righteousness overtake us. We look for light, but there is darkness for brightness. But we walk in blackness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble at noonday as at twilight. We are as dead men in desolate places. We all growl like bears and moan sadly like doves. We look for justice, but there is none. For salvation. But it is far from us. Not because his hand is too short or his ear too dull. But our transgressions are multiplied before you and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us and as for our iniquities, We know them. In transgressing and lying against the Lord and departing from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood, justice is turned back and righteousness stands afar off, for truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter. So truth fails and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. And if it ended there, it would be the end of Israel and the end of the promise. Satan, indeed, would have won the courtroom battle because he certainly did have a case. The people themselves presented the evidence of their own hands, their own eyes, their own ears, their own tongues. The case seems completely hopeless, especially now that the people have themselves confessed to the crimes. And just at that moment, as in paradise, where Adam and Eve finally were brought to see that they were the problem, not God, God announces the gospel. Then the Lord saw it, verse 15, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his own arm brought salvation for him and his own righteousness it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay. Fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies. The coastlands he will fully repay. So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against Him. The Redeemer will come to Zion and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, says the Lord. See what happens now with the courtroom? First of all, it starts with God being put on trial by the people. The tables are turned. Now the people are on trial. They confess their sin. Where do we go from here? Surprising turn of events. The judge takes off his robe and gets dressed for war. The judge himself descends to take up arms in order to bring about justice in all the earth. And at first it sounds odd here, even contradictory, to talk about God bringing salvation through destruction. God coming down and robing himself in vengeance, for instance, as his clothing. But that's the way the scriptures routinely, especially in the Old Testament, especially in the prophets, talk about justice, judgment, and justification. It's condemnation for God's enemies, but justification for his people. There are two sides of the same coin. And we see those two sides of the coin here in the passage where he comes to Zion for salvation, even as his coming to the earth has brought judgment to the nations. He repays the enemies as they deserve, but redeems his elect in mercy. And he tells us earlier how he's going to do this in Isaiah 53. His servant, the righteous one, will bear the sins of many. And in later chapters, the cry becomes more intense. Chapter 64, verses 1 through 6. Oh, that you would rend the heavens! When is this time when you come down? When the judge dons the armor of war and saves us and delivers us from the hand of the enemy. Oh, that you would rend, tear apart the heavens. That you would come down, that the mountains might shake at your presence. When you did awesome things for which we did not look, you came down, the mountains shook at your presence. You are indeed angry, for we have sinned. In these ways we continue, and we need to be saved. But we are all like an unclean thing. And all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags. And then the first verse of chapter 65, I was sought by those who did not seek me. I was found by those who were not looking for me. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. Be glad and rejoice forever in what I create. Not what you create, but what I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people. The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. This is the passage, Isaiah 59 that is, that Paul had in mind when he talked about spiritual warfare. the classic text on spiritual warfare, Ephesians chapter 6, where he says in verse 10, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. Strong in the Lord. That's exactly what Isaiah 59 was about. The people were trying to be strong in themselves and had fallen, had become captive to the schemes of the devil. But now that Christ has come, Christ has crushed the serpent's head, we have all the more reason to hold our confidence in Jesus rather than in ourselves. To have confidence in God in His courtroom. Who can stand in His presence when He appears? Our only hope is in the Lord and in the power of His might, Paul says. His own arm brought Him salvation. And his own righteousness, Isaiah said, sustained him. And that's why Paul says we are strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. In Colossians 2, Paul says that God nailed the courtroom transcript that was against us. That record we read about in Isaiah 59, we stand there with Israel. God took that, Paul said, that whole transcript and nailed it to the cross. and in so doing made a laughingstock of Satan and all of the principalities and hosts of evil. A public spectacle, Paul says, in the courtroom of God. Since the possibility of intercepting the Messiah and creating a different verdict in the courtroom is no longer open to Satan, he turns on us. He can no longer turn on Christ with any effect, So he turns on us, and since he cannot undermine the cross and the objective work of Christ, he tries to undermine our faith in it, our confidence in it, and our proclamation of it to the world. That is where the battle lines have now moved in our era of history. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Right now, the focus is on the war on terror. And we can understand how even as Christians, since we're citizens also of the earthly city, this could weigh heavily on our minds and hearts. But it pales in comparison to the cosmic battle that is outlined here in Ephesians 6. The church doesn't wage war against nations or against terrorists. The body of Christ as an institution does not take up arms to secure Christ's peace over the earth. The only weapons we have, Paul lays out here in the armor that he mentions. You see, because we struggle against the devil's schemes to sow false religion and untruth in the world and heresy and schism in the church and apathy toward this battle in both. The cosmic battle turns on the gospel. It's all about the gospel because the gospel is the announcement, the heralding of God's victory in Christ's work. And wherever that victory is announced, it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. Wherever that victory is announced, not the believer's victory, wherever that victory is announced, the kingdom of Satan trembles, is shaken as God comes down and shakes not only the mountains but the very depths of Satan's kingdom itself. Wherever that is announced, the kingdom of Christ loots and pillages the kingdom of Satan. There is a tremendous spiritual battle going on. No doubt about it. We have to take it more seriously. But it's a battle over the gospel. This age in bondage to sin and death becomes assaulted by the invading forces of the age to come through the proclamation of Christ. Paul has already said this in chapter 4 when he said with Christ's glorious victorious ascension he has poured out liberally his gifts part of the spoils that he looted he has poured out these gifts to us as his people calling apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers for the upbuilding of the whole body. Christians individually and the church corporately have become the battlefield of the ages. And notice the goal. Paul says, therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. I love this clause. And having done all, to stand. Well, that doesn't sound very exciting. That doesn't sound like an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. You know, aren't we supposed to take things over and take things back and rule and reign? Yet one day we will rule and reign with Jesus Christ. The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ. But notice what Paul says here, and it's no small thing. Having done all, to stand. The goal of God's program in this age is to have a redeemed people gathered and standing. a standing army for his great assis at the end of history. What do we need for this? Paul says, first of all, you need the belt of truth. As I mentioned earlier, Paul laments that his countrymen have a great zeal for God. They're ready to run, but they don't understand that God has already run to them. They don't understand that their righteousness is not their own, but someone else's. It's particularly that that they don't understand. he says so he says you have to put on the belt of truth you have to understand what you believe and you have to know how to defend it you have to be able to give reasons for it for very good reasons Satan is a very good theologian he knows the Bible very well he can twist and distort it because he knows it he knows how to formulate a heresy with just enough truth in it to draw people away from Christ. In addition to the belt of truth, he says we need the breastplate of righteousness. Why do we need the breastplate of righteousness? Well, he made it clear in Isaiah 59 that we don't have that righteousness. So God's own arm brought him victory and his own righteousness sustained him. We need his breastplate. Our righteousness is filthy rags. Our cobwebs will not stand in the great trial of the ages when Satan points and accuses us in the world court. If Satan could somehow get us to focus on ourselves, if he can somehow get us to put something on to cover our heart, our chest, that will be flimsy, that will be easily penetrated. Something that we have made rather than something that God has made. He can distract us from looking to Christ as the author and the finisher of our faith. When Satan accuses us in the courtroom, what will we answer? Especially when in ourselves we stand with Israel in Isaiah 59. And this is why Paul elsewhere tells us to put on Christ. Clothe yourselves with Christ. Don't go into battle with your own righteousness. Put Christ on. Wear Him. Your righteousness cannot sustain you in this courtroom battle, but Christ can. Gospel shoes, he tells us to put on gospel shoes, feet that are shod or prepared properly to run with the news of the gospel. My opening example, Tim had the belt of truth, and he was wearing the breastplate of righteousness, While Susan had zeal without knowledge. But in this cosmic ordeal where the courtroom and the battlefield come together, we just can't afford that false choice. We need the truth, especially the truth of the gospel, but we also need our shoes on. Ready to spread the good news that pulls Satan's kingdom down. That not only saves us, but extends Christ's reign throughout the earth. knowing that the peace has been decisively won by Christ and how gives us courage to bring that news to others. If Susan doesn't know or can't clearly articulate the gospel, then all of her running around for Jesus will be much ado about nothing. Susan is zealous to be engaged in a battle that she nevertheless does not understand, for which she is not prepared. while Tim may understand the nature of a battle in which he is barely engaged. See, Satan has a very successful church growth strategy. Churches that are either doctrinally sound yet disengaged from the actual battlefield, or churches that are too busy in what they think is the spiritual battle to put on the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness. Satan only trembles, brothers and sisters. He only trembles at sound churches that have their shoes on. And he will burn the midnight oil to pull them down, starting with their office bearers. It's a great illustration that Donald Gray Barnhouse gave years ago. He said, what would it be like if Satan took over a town? We can immediately imagine what that would be like. We can think of particular cities. It says, actually, I think that if Satan took over a city, it would look something like this. It would be white picket fences. No cussing or swearing. The little kids would all obey their parents. No yelling. No arguments. Everyone would be nice to each other. All the bars would be closed. There'd be no nightclubs. And everyone would go to church. every Lord's Day where Christ is not preached. Maybe if Satan took over a city, it would look more like Salt Lake City than San Francisco. We need the shield of faith too, Paul says. Above all, the shield of faith, he says. Because see, faith looks away from ourselves to Christ. He doesn't say, hold up your works. He doesn't say, hold up your years of Christian experience and your dedication to the things of God. He says, hold up the shield of faith that points away from yourself to Christ. And finally, the sword of the Spirit. Just as it is not our truth, our righteousness, our works, or our appeasements, or our experience that have saved us, our ears must give sole attention to the Word of God, what the Reformers call the Verbum Externum, the external Word preached. That's why we come here, Lord's Day after Lord's Day, to hear the Word preached. Even Jesus, God incarnate, when He was confronted by Satan in the temptation, did not appeal to his own wisdom or his own experience or his own works. If anyone could, it certainly was he, but rather he said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Paul also calls us to be vigilant in prayer. His last exhortation is praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints and for me that utterance may be given to me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. while the whole armor prepares us for battle. The Spirit uses our prayers to prepare others for it. While it's certainly legitimate to apply this to prayer in general, Paul brings it specifically to the point of praying for him as an ambassador in chains. Not that he'd be freed from prison. Not that he would no longer suffer. Not that he would no longer encounter tribulation, but that he would boldly proclaim the gospel. Paul could think of nothing else as the aim of his life than to do that. To boldly proclaim the gospel until his dying day. Pray for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. Brothers and sisters, Escondido United Reformed Church is a beachhead for the age to come in this present evil age. In this assembly, even tonight, we are participating as witnesses in the cosmic trial of the ages between Yahweh, God, and Satan. As such, it is contested territory. This is contested territory tonight. It is a battleground. Christ has won us. We belong to him, but Satan strives every day to undermine our confidence in what he has accomplished. While Christ's victory can't be undone, he is furiously at work. Satan and his minions are furiously at work to undermine our faith in it and its spread to others. since faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. All of this applies to everyone in this room tonight. You've all been drafted. We've all been drafted into this battle. By the gospel that has been proclaimed to us and sealed to us in our baptism, we are all marked men and women, marked by God for salvation, marked by Satan for temptation. And tonight we ordain a man according to Christ's institution to the holy office of minister where he will take his place among the ranks of those officers on the battlefield and will become a special target of Satan and his generals. Dressed for battle and clothed with Christ, let us all together intercede on his behalf that utterance may be given to him not just tonight but throughout his ministry that he may open his mouth boldly to proclaim until his dying day the mystery of the gospel and let Satan and his kingdom tremble tonight at what is about to be done at this Christ-clad platoon gathered here as God answers that prayer that we offer and for which we offer ourselves in His already victorious service. Let's pray. Our sovereign God, we come to You because Your arm is not too short that it cannot save, nor Your ear dull that it cannot hear. For you have not only shown mercy on us by giving us another chance. We know that would lead to failure given the depth of our sin and depravity. But that you, yourself, have accomplished the work that we did not perform. And so relying only on your son's worth and value, his own claims and accomplishments. we put on Christ again this evening and we intercede for our dear brother who is about to be ordained to gospel ministry beseeching you to give him that utterance which you alone can give hear us for we pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior Amen