“Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
We believe and know that you are the holy one of God.”

Ephesians 6:11

“Put on the full armor of God
so that you can take your stand
against the devil's schemes.”

icture this scene. You are a child sitting at the dinner table and your Mom says, “Unless you eat your vegetables you will not get any dessert.” Perhaps you are sitting in McDonald’s and you are told, “Unless you take a bite of your hamburger you can’t have any more fries.”

Now picture Jesus saying to his disciples,

“I tell you the truth,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink His blood
you have no life in you.”

You thought you had a hard time swallowing your vegetables. Well the disciples were having an equally hard time swallowing Jesus’ Words

“unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink His blood
you have no life in you.”

Obviously Jesus was not advocating cannibalism. So what was He advocating?

To eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood means you and I have to accept Jesus into our lives. Jesus doesn’t want us to just dabble in following him. Jesus doesn’t want us to just flirt with Him. Jesus doesn’t want a casual relationship. Jesus doesn’t want us to just believe. While believing in Jesus’ death and resurrection is an absolute necessity it is not enough. Jesus wants our believing to lead to total devotion. He desires that we be devoted to living as He requires; that we be devoted in depending on His teaching for guidance and be devoted in trusting in the Holy Spirit.; that we allow Christ to take up residence in our hearts, our minds, our attitudes, our actions.

The disciples’ response was,

“This is a hard teaching.”

They are absolutely correct. Jesus is asking us to live in contradiction to worldly standards. Let's be honest our culture advocates that people should invest endless time, energy and resources to satisfy the flesh. Our culture encourages us to do whatever it takes to be number one. Our culture measures a man by his wealth, his status, and his power.

To eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood; to allow Christ to take up residence in our hearts, our minds, our attitudes, our actions; to surrender to God’s will is indeed a hard teaching, a difficult pill to swallow.

When faced with this cold hard fact, many turned back.

Jesus seeing many disciples leaving confronted the twelve saying,

“You do not want to leave too, do you?

Simon Peter answered Jesus,

“Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the Words of eternal life.”

“Lord, to whom shall we go?”

Peter is so right for there is no other god. There is no other power. There is no other person. There is no other religion that provides you with the benefits that Jesus gives you. No other god offers you what the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit offers. When Paul says, Put on the armor of God. He is telling us to put on God Himself. Paul is telling us to put on God’s truth, God’s righteousness, and God’s salvation.

The armor of God for you and me serves the same purpose as your child’s bicycle helmet, a football player’s helmet, shin guards, shoulder pads, etc, your car's seat belts and airbags. They don’t prevent accidents. They protect us.

Paul tells us to put on this armor because believing in God doesn’t mean a life free of trials, tribulations and satan’s seduction and deception. Paul tells us to put on this armor so God may protect us, strengthen us, and be present with us in our battles.

There is not a single person here today who has not been dealt an unfair blow; who has not tread water in a sea of uncertainty; who has not felt like they were drowning in guilt or fear; who has not been faced with temptations that have become harder and harder to resist. This is because we are all potential victims of satan.

Many Christians think of a struggle with demonic forces as belonging to long-ago. The existence of the spiritual world, including fallen angels, is just as factual as other seen realities we encounter daily.

The gospel presents Jesus confronting demons regularly. Nothing in scripture indicates that satanic activity would lessen in the future. On the contrary, the scriptures teach that the enemy will accelerate his assault against Christians as time progresses.

(2 Thess 2:3-10; 1 Tim. 4:1,2; Rev. 12:12)
“Be self-controlled and alert.
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
1 Peter 5:8

This is why we all need to put on the full armor of God and do battle. Put on the belt of truth, the breast plate of righteous, the shoes of readiness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Holy Spirit.

Our enemy, satan wants our confusion, our apathy, our hidden weaknesses, our shame, our self-absorption, our hyper-rationality and emotionality. He knows our appetites and our obsessions. If you are captivated be sex, satan will make certain that opportunities to satisfy your fantasies are readily available. If your battle is with envy or jealousy, you will meet people at every turn who have more than you do and who have succeeded in areas where you have failed. If you are susceptible to anger, you will struggle to forgive a person who has offended you. If your weakness is out of control worry he will replay the ugly list of what-if’s.

He will work to deceive us with his network of lies, deceptions and half truths as he did Adam and Eve.

We are NOT defenseless in our battle.

We have God who is all-wise. He knows what is best for us. He is all-loving. He wants what’s best for us. He is all-powerful. He is able to do what’s best for us. To have faith in such a God is to abandon ourselves wholly, joyfully and confidently to His will.

John 6:53
“Eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink His blood.”

Ephesians 6:11
“Put on the full armor of God
so that you can take your stand
against the devil's schemes.”

By doing so
you will be able to march into hell
for a heavenly cause.