Equipped To Stand - Session 4 - Bob Roberts

“What is truth?” can sound like an abstract philosophical question until it begins surfacing in everyday life—in marriage tensions, parenting challenges, workplace conflict, and a culture where competing voices never seem to stop. In this session, we begin by reading through Ephesians 5 and 6, observing the many relationships Paul addresses before introducing the Armor of God. His progression reminds us that when life becomes difficult, we don’t simply need better techniques or a longer list of rules. We need strength beyond ourselves, and that strength is found in the Lord as we learn to stand in the armor He provides.

From there, we slow down to examine the very first piece of armor Paul describes in Ephesians 6: the belt of truth. We explore why truth is not an optional accessory but the foundation upon which every other piece of armor depends. Without truth, nothing else holds together. More importantly, we discover that Jesus presents truth as far more than a collection of facts or accurate information. Truth is ultimately found in the character of God and revealed fully in Christ Himself.

The session also considers Pilate’s famous question in John 18, “What is truth?” and how it reflects the same exhaustion many people experience today. Surrounded by endless opinions, conflicting narratives, bias, and skepticism, it’s easy to become cynical or simply disengage. We also take an honest look at our own hearts, recognizing how often we “varnish” the truth to protect ourselves, preserve our reputation, or avoid uncomfortable realities. In many cases, self-protection quietly becomes the driving force behind compromise.

As we conclude, we focus on a practical path forward. Rather than treating truth as something we define for ourselves, we’re invited to receive Scripture as God’s unchanging standard. Like a measuring tape that provides an objective reference, God’s Word becomes the guide by which every other claim is evaluated. Instead of placing ourselves above Scripture as its judge, we learn to place ourselves beneath it as willing disciples, allowing God’s truth to shape our thinking, our relationships, and our decisions.

Along the way, we examine key biblical passages about truth, discuss the importance of discernment in an increasingly noisy culture, and remember the spiritual reality that Scripture identifies the devil as “a liar and the father of lies.” Understanding this helps us recognize why truth is foundational in spiritual warfare and why fastening on the belt of truth is the first step toward standing firm.

Whether you’re seeking greater clarity in confusing circumstances, stronger relationships built on honesty, or a faith that remains steady in a world of competing voices, this session offers a biblical framework for living in the truth. Come discover why truth is not merely something we know, but something we embrace as we learn to stand confidently in the strength and wisdom of God.

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Transcript

Reading Ephesians On Everyday Relationships

Bob Roberts 0:05

Let's start out by doing a little reading. It'll take a couple of minutes, but I want to read in Ephesians, starting, say, chapter 5. And I just want to set this context for us putting on the armor. And so if you'll follow along, kind of pay attention to all the different kinds of relationships that you hear being talked about in this passage. So therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness or foolish talk or crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ in God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. That's Johnny. We'll ignore that's my one of my boys. Therefore, do not become partners with them, for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true, and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them, for it's shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, Well wake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is, and do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Are you going to text him and uh yeah, find out what's going on? Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church. Because we are members of his body. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I'm saying it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, and this is the first commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land. Fathers do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and with trembling, with a sincere heart as you would Christ, not by way of eye service as people pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he's a bondservant or is free. Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their master and yours is in heaven, and that there's no partiality with him. So I'll

Why Relationships Require Spiritual Armor

Bob Roberts 4:37

just stop there. We're going to jump then next to the whole armor of God. But you and I live in all kinds of relationships. Parents, children, bosses, employees. I think those relationships are hard. And it would be great if everybody treated you super nicely, but but they don't. And that is why now you need some help. Now you need something beyond just the list of how things should be. In fact, you need some spiritual help, and that's what's coming next in this passage. So um so verse 11. Well, let me just finish up to the section that we're doing here. Um So finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might, and put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavy places, 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 firm. Stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth. Thoughts or comments on that whole section. Could we say bosses and employees, for example? Yeah. Yeah, what else did you see? Lots of relationships. D is it um the present continuous? Do you know the and we could actually look that up, but that is intriguing. That that these are this is the way you should live, though. That's a that's a current and ongoing struggle. But not so easy to do, is it? And so it seems to me important that um he's given us this long list of of relationships to keep going well, and then he's gives us the tools. So he says, therefore, you need to stand firm. And you need to do that by putting on the belt

Pilate’s Question And The Meaning Of Truth

Bob Roberts 6:33

of truth. But what is truth?

Speaker 1 6:36

He is truth.

Bob Roberts 6:37

Okay, he is truth. Well, who who's the guy that said that? What is truth?

unknown 6:42

I don't know.

Bob Roberts 6:43

Do you remember the context? What's going on? John 18. Yeah. Somebody want to read uh verses 37 and 38. If you got it, just read it out.

unknown 6:56

You said 37.

Bob Roberts 6:58

Uh-huh. Uh 37 and 38.

Speaker 1 7:00

37 and 38. Then Pilate said to him, So you are a king. Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. For this purpose, I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, I find no guilt in him.

Bob Roberts 7:37

Alright, picture this in your head. Uh, I don't know what you're seeing. You're seeing the two of them talking. Pilate says, What is truth, then what? Jesus said, Oh, I'm glad you asked. Let me what happens? Looks like he just walked away. What do you sub- Have you ever wondered what was going on in Pilate's head? What an interesting thing to say. Why did he say it?

Speaker 1 8:01

I think he was wrestling with who he really was.

Bob Roberts 8:04

Okay. Do you think a more appropriate question might have been than are you who they who who they are saying you are? That's what John's disciples asked. It's a very intriguing question. Why do you suppose he said that? Yeah, we're speculating. That's how I read it. Yeah, that's one way to read it. Yeah, we're speculating, we don't really know what was going on in his heart. But I think, well, he's a politician. Right? Yeah. And how many of the people in line for execution are saying, I'm innocent, I'm innocent. You don't really know who to believe at some point. You're just like, pfft. He's just trying to keep the peace. That's what I wonder.

Truth Fatigue And A Culture Of Relativism

Bob Roberts 8:44

I think, I think what happens with all of us, and maybe more now than ever, is we get what some have called truth fatigue. Have you heard that term before? Maybe you're old enough to remember the good old days of the three networks. Remember what they were? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And maybe there was some random guy like on Channel 42, the community college or something at 11 o'clock at night who would be spouting some random conspiracy theory, right? But you kind of felt like you knew what was going on. Now I don't know that you did. You just, you know, you were hearing the main narrative, but I think there's so many voices now we don't really know what to think. Isn't that true? And sometimes it's easier just to say, pff, what is truth? And and not to press in. It's kind of a dangerous place to be. I think that's where our culture is at. And a lot of times it's just an excuse. Well, I don't I don't want to hear from you, especially that God stuff, because then I'd have to change. So you can have your truth. You know, we hear a lot of those lines about uh um moral relativism and absolute truth, and uh I I had in some notes here, maybe we'd go off on a brief tangent about uh the effects of postmodernism and how people think. I think we'll skip that actually. Um, but it is an intriguing thing that philosophers wrestle with. How do we know what's true? How do you know what you know? And it turns out there's not a whole lot that we really can know, is there? Well, right now, what sources can you trust speaking of the truth? There aren't many. Can you think of a good solid news source? Have any of you got an unbiased news source? Unbiased. Everybody's biased one way or another. Well, it turns out we are. Isn't that the truth? And and and and so when the postmodernists say, I'll just touch in there, but when they say that every claim to truth is a will to power, what they mean is that if you're claiming you have the truth, you just want to control something. Maybe just the narrative, maybe a little bit more. But we tend to varnish the truth. That's what we do. We varnish it. We make our truth the sweet-smelling one. Now I've got five boys, uh, so I won't tell you which one this is, but his name is Ian. And one time uh Ian was about eight years old or so, I can't remember. And he had a little brother screaming. I don't even remember which little brother it was. It was at Evan, the next one down. Okay. Uh and and he and Evan's like, he punched me, he punched me. And Ian is really wrestling with his conscience because he wants to tell the truth, but he's also got that can of varnish in his hand ready to start shellacking it a little bit. He said, I I I didn't punch him, I just I just pushed him. And he's quiet really hard with with my fist. And you see the the battle in his conscience there. He he he wants to tell the truth, but he wants to, he doesn't want to get in trouble, that's for sure. And so he's varnishing the truth. I think I think we all do that. And now you see more clearly than ever that everybody's got a side and they want their side to win, and it doesn't matter what what really is true. We're a long uh long ways away from those network days, and these days, honestly, I I feel like do you do you think you have your head around really what's going on in the Ukraine war? Just as one example. Now it's only been a few years, but do you remember the entire country is on board with yay for Ukraine and all wearing like the the flags painted on their faces and Facebook had little signs everywhere. Do you wonder if maybe it's a little more complicated? Because there's multiple sides to a story. In fact, there's a proverb about truth that says that one speaks and seems right until another comes along and questions him. Because that's the way it is. It's very hard for you and I to know, to know what's actually true. So um so where is truth?

Speaker 1 12:48

How can we find truth in the word, in the word, and faith comes by hearing and hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Bob Roberts 13:00

I uh I've been pondering uh Romans chapter 3, verse 4. And um and it has to do with uh in this particular case, I've been pondering how do I untangle the problem of Israel? You know, because there are a variety of opinions, even here in the church, about what about those Jews? And are they behind every bad thing in the world? Or, you know, there's all kinds of stuff flying around. And if you go looking, you can find every opinion there is, right? So I've been pondering this verse, Romans 3, 4. Uh it's the phrase in there, let God be true and every man a liar. Now the context is not exactly right here. The context is more on uh it's the context of human unfaithfulness against God's faithfulness, right? But it is a great phrase. There is a sense in which, okay, I don't know what's going on, I don't know what's true, but let God be true, and let I'll just count every other man a liar because I lie, the people that I know lie, those guys are definitely lying. I need I need a source of truth. And then that takes us right back to the word. We really like uh Al Moeller has this thing called the briefing. He's the president of a Southern Seminary. Um does he have a bias? Absolutely, it's a Christian bias. And so well, you know that he's a and he's a Baptist, so every once in a while, like if it's an episode on Christmas, and should Christians have Christmas, you know, the Baptist view might poke out. Um but he's man, he's a careful thinker, and he's he lays out here's all the implications. And and

Let God Be True And Test Everything

Bob Roberts 14:33

we really uh Al Moeller, M-O-H-L-E R, it's called the briefing. It's like 25, 30 minutes. Yeah. Or 20 minutes. 20 minutes. Okay.

unknown 14:45

Yes.

Bob Roberts 14:47

Now I think it's very important to have your head on uh the world news, as if you and I could do anything. But even more importantly, is uh is to look at the word, right? So um I brought him John, you're in construction, right? Can you check this out for me? I just need to know if this is accurate or not. Check it out if it's accurate? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And uh based on so the ticks are all in the right place. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's a that's a good point. Um we're moving, by the way. Uh I think I think uh I think you have seven years to be saying we're moving, um, because I still don't know where things are, right? Um and the thing I thought I knew exactly where it was was a measuring tape I got from her brother. Uh he had been uh a missionary in Japan and and he had this toolbox and he was moving, and so he gave me some stuff out of the including a tape measure. Uh it was this blue and white one that was in my drawer, and I don't know where it is now. But I remember taking it out and trying to build something. I don't remember what I was working on, something with wood and cutting, and I was like, this is wrong. Things just didn't fit. And finally I thought maybe I should check the tape measure. It was a made in Japan, but it had inches on it. I think what they did is they took the meter and just I don't really know what it was, but it was way off. And until I checked it, I had no idea. And that's the same with this one. You don't, we we need to check it against a standard. And it seems to me like, and this is another whole topic, that uh if there is a God, and if God spoke, then the word becomes probably like the things we really ought to know. Yeah? You ought to be reading the book. There's my catchphrase. Gotta read the book, and you gotta be in the word. And so I really like the one-year Bible. There's a lot of ways to do that. Um, but you gotta know what God says. What does Scripture say about truth? Just toss out some verses. Anything come to mind? Yeah, it's almost it's almost like the word becomes a mirror to who we are, and then it is a measuring, you know, tape that we check against. It becomes the standard. Have sense and discernment. Yeah, yeah. I I like the phrase uh under the book. Have you heard that phrase? That you put yourself under the book uh and you let it judge you. And it seems like a really bad idea to put yourself over the book and you judge it. When we do that, we tend to mess things up. And and so here's a couple other verses. You got uh uh 1 John 1 8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Uh a lying tongue hates its victims. What an interesting phrase that is. That when you lie, you're actually hating someone. Uh Psalm 25, 5, lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation. John 8, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Uh John 14, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 1 John 3, 18, little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. Yeah. So I've uh been married, what is it now, 33 years and about six months exactly, if today's the ninth. Yeah. Uh, and so I've learned a couple things about accessorizing. Um I know that I know that the right belt can sort of tie a whole outfit together. And uh and it's really important. Is that the way we're looking at this belt of truth as a really nice accessory? Or is there another way to describe this belt?

Speaker 1 18:17

I want your pants up.

Bob Roberts 18:18

Well, okay. Hold you together. Hold you together.

Speaker 1 18:22

You can put tools on it.

Bob Roberts 18:25

You need a place to hang your sword of the spirit, right? Is it intriguing at all that the very first piece of armor described is truth? That you start by putting on that you just gird yourselves with truth. What would that truth be about? Yeah, right, right. Imagine uh uh an almost righteous breastplate or a mostly pretty good sword. It'd have a fatal crack in it, wouldn't it, if it wasn't wasn't true. Absolutely, yeah. I think so. And so when you think about truth, here's a contrast. And and uh I'll just read uh 1 John 8, 46. Um Well let me just say this that that so we've uh touched upon this briefly, that when I asked Gabby that question, you know, are we talking truth like facts? And there's a there's two layers, aren't there? There's the truth, as in all of the factual details, but there's also truth as a person. And the amazing thing for you and I is that we get that belt on um by knowing that person. And so this passage in in uh John 8, verse 46, which one of you, this is Jesus asking the question, which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God.

The Father Of Lies And Closing Challenge

Bob Roberts 19:41

The reason you do not hear me is that you are not of God. If you knew me, you would know what truth is. Now here's the contrast. If you're not of God, that's a nice way of saying what? You are of the devil, yes. And so uh verse 44 says, You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning. He does not stand in the truth because there's no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. So, real quickly, then, who who does Satan lie to? Everybody? Can you think of some lies that uh maybe Satan's told that affect maybe just our culture broadly? You know that verse that says uh that that, and it's talking about end times and really hard things, but that uh even the elect would be deceived if it were possible. So to maybe another way to phrase this is what are some of the lies that Satan tells the culture that that you, if it weren't for God's grace, would probably be going oh by that? Okay, I can't change. Yeah? There's a lot of lies, aren't there? There's lots and lots and lots. Well, it turns out the only way you really know what's a lie is you gotta be reading the truth. You gotta know the word. You gotta be in the word. It's good to be around other believers and to talk through. All right, you're starting out by putting the belt of truth on. What does that look like?