Faith, Salvation, the Bible (Ephesians 6:16-18)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.800 --> 00:00:10.109 Beloved. Let's turn to Ephesians chapter six and continue our thinking, our meditations 2 00:00:10.269 --> 00:00:15.509 and our humble reception of God's word. A concerning of the armor of God. 3 00:00:16.670 --> 00:00:35.729 Ephesians chapter six. I'll read from versus verse ten through Verse Twenty. 4 00:00:36.450 --> 00:00:42.049 Tonight I'm going to be focusing on these three three more strengths, I'm calling 5 00:00:42.130 --> 00:00:50.000 them for now in verse sixteen and Seventeen, but now Ephesians six, verse 6 00:00:50.079 --> 00:00:56.000 ten through twenty. Versus Ten through twenty. Finally, be strong in the 7 00:00:56.079 --> 00:01:00.079 Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of 8 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:04.150 God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil, 9 00:01:06.030 --> 00:01:10.269 for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, 10 00:01:10.310 --> 00:01:15.709 against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the 11 00:01:15.790 --> 00:01:22.819 spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole 12 00:01:22.859 --> 00:01:26.859 armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and, 13 00:01:27.780 --> 00:01:34.010 having done all, to stand firm. Stand, therefore, having fastened 14 00:01:34.129 --> 00:01:38.329 on the belt of truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness and, 15 00:01:38.650 --> 00:01:42.090 as shoes for your feet, having put on the gospel of Rhet the having 16 00:01:42.209 --> 00:01:48.959 put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, 17 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:53.560 take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming 18 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:57.719 darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword 19 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:01.310 of the spirit, which is the word of God. Praying at all times 20 00:02:01.469 --> 00:02:07.030 in the spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep 21 00:02:07.189 --> 00:02:14.229 alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the Saints and also for me, 22 00:02:14.990 --> 00:02:19.379 that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim 23 00:02:19.460 --> 00:02:23.379 the mystery of the Gospel for which I am an ambassador, in chains, 24 00:02:23.780 --> 00:02:29.539 that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. May God bless 25 00:02:29.620 --> 00:02:50.240 his word to us may be seated, but the last time we discussed this 26 00:02:50.439 --> 00:02:54.919 passage, or we examined this passage and heard God's word and we considered that 27 00:02:55.039 --> 00:03:00.229 this bad all which we are called to, this this fight that we are 28 00:03:00.830 --> 00:03:07.189 the struggle that we are in, is unusual in two ways. The first 29 00:03:07.189 --> 00:03:12.669 one is that it is one that is largely unseen, though it has certain 30 00:03:12.710 --> 00:03:20.900 kinds of visible manifestations. What we see those manifestations are are don't always indicate 31 00:03:20.939 --> 00:03:25.099 what is really going on. As Paul says, we wrestle not against flesh 32 00:03:25.180 --> 00:03:32.090 and blood but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places, and 33 00:03:32.250 --> 00:03:37.490 throughout this passage we are reminded that we are, I'm, fighting against the 34 00:03:37.689 --> 00:03:42.360 schemes of the devil. We hold up the shield of faith to extinguish the 35 00:03:42.439 --> 00:03:46.280 flaming darts of the evil one. So this is a way in which the 36 00:03:46.360 --> 00:03:53.759 battle is unusual. It is in many ways unseen, it is spiritual. 37 00:03:54.710 --> 00:04:01.150 The other unusual nature about this battle that we are facing against this great enemy 38 00:04:02.430 --> 00:04:09.469 as that our armor and the the the weapons of war here are also unusual. 39 00:04:10.539 --> 00:04:16.500 The typical weapons that we use to fight are not present here. Paul 40 00:04:16.620 --> 00:04:23.620 uses this metaphor and speaks about shields and swords and helmets and breastplates and shoes 41 00:04:23.699 --> 00:04:29.689 and whatnot. I'm but they are ultimately spiritual tools. I'm raw. Ultimately 42 00:04:29.769 --> 00:04:38.800 we're not talking about breastplates and shoes and shields and helmets, but we're talking 43 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:45.800 about faith and peace. We are talking about the Gospel, about the sword 44 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:49.720 of the spirit, the word of God. These things are our strengths, 45 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:55.509 they are our armor. They're described as armors to help us understand what they 46 00:04:55.550 --> 00:04:59.829 do about how they function in our lives, the gifts that God has given 47 00:04:59.870 --> 00:05:02.509 to us as we stand in his strength. But it's not. We're not 48 00:05:02.550 --> 00:05:06.139 supposed to, I don't, think, spend all of our time thinking about 49 00:05:06.740 --> 00:05:13.100 truth as a belt in particular and Miss Thinking about truth in particular. That's 50 00:05:13.100 --> 00:05:15.980 the main point. It's truth that we are to be focused on. It's 51 00:05:16.019 --> 00:05:20.769 it's peace or the readiness that comes from peace, it is salvation, it 52 00:05:20.889 --> 00:05:27.529 is the word of God and all the rest. Perhaps you remember also too, 53 00:05:27.689 --> 00:05:30.689 that a great advantage of this being a spiritual armor is that it can 54 00:05:30.769 --> 00:05:35.120 go anywhere with you, it can belong to you at any time. I'm 55 00:05:35.160 --> 00:05:40.439 in any situation in any place, and in fact it is armor that you 56 00:05:40.519 --> 00:05:45.920 always wear. You never take it off if you are indeed a Christian, 57 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:49.670 and that's because, in this is the key to this whole passage. I'm 58 00:05:49.750 --> 00:05:55.709 the key is at the very beginning, verse can be strong in the Lord 59 00:05:55.709 --> 00:06:01.350 and in the strength of his might. If you understand these various pieces of 60 00:06:01.629 --> 00:06:06.500 armor in a way that separated from the Lord, then you do not understand 61 00:06:06.699 --> 00:06:13.259 the pieces of armor. The only way to understand them is in connection with 62 00:06:13.420 --> 00:06:17.180 him. That's how they're connected. Paul begins this way be strong in the 63 00:06:17.339 --> 00:06:21.490 Lord and in the strength of his might, put on the armor of what 64 00:06:23.449 --> 00:06:27.490 of God? Right. So the armor that we have is not this a 65 00:06:27.689 --> 00:06:33.759 collection of random virtues or aspects of salvation, but they are what we have 66 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:39.839 in our union with Christ. And if they are what we have in our 67 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:43.240 union with Christ, and that means if you are united with Christ, then 68 00:06:43.279 --> 00:06:46.120 these are one of the things that you always have. They are gifts that 69 00:06:46.269 --> 00:06:53.189 you have and are and are rightfully yours. They are things that God has 70 00:06:53.269 --> 00:06:57.430 given to you. They are, in some ways, the gifts of salvation 71 00:06:57.470 --> 00:07:01.540 as much as they are the strengths of salvation and the ways in which we 72 00:07:01.779 --> 00:07:11.620 fight. And so when we ask ourselves this question, how do I stand 73 00:07:11.819 --> 00:07:14.899 in the strength of the Lord? How do I stand in the strength of 74 00:07:14.980 --> 00:07:17.209 his might? That's how we have the armor of God, and it's in 75 00:07:17.290 --> 00:07:23.730 these particular things that we can be could we can meditate. So this armor, 76 00:07:23.769 --> 00:07:26.569 in some ways, you might say, is very, very practical. 77 00:07:27.410 --> 00:07:31.399 It's an expression of the things we receive in our union with Christ, and 78 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:38.519 they are also the strengths for which we walk, strengths for which we battle 79 00:07:38.600 --> 00:07:45.310 and tonight we consider three more faith, a salvation or the hope of salvation, 80 00:07:45.870 --> 00:07:53.389 and also the word of God, Sword of the spirit. So first, 81 00:07:53.589 --> 00:07:58.620 faith. Paul says that in Christ one of the strengths that we have 82 00:07:58.899 --> 00:08:05.100 against the devil, against his schemes, is faith. Remember what the Prophet 83 00:08:05.220 --> 00:08:09.819 Habaki says, and have backic to for this is quoted by Paul as well, 84 00:08:09.980 --> 00:08:16.569 in Romans and in Galatians. to He says the righteous shall live by 85 00:08:16.730 --> 00:08:22.769 faith. You don't want to die, you don't want to be consumed by 86 00:08:22.889 --> 00:08:30.079 the evil one? Do you want to live and survive under from under his 87 00:08:30.199 --> 00:08:37.159 attack? Then faith is key. The righteous shall live by faith. The 88 00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:41.470 Apostle Paul and effusions puts it this way. He says that flame the or 89 00:08:41.549 --> 00:08:48.110 that faith protects our hearts from the flaming darts of the evil one. This 90 00:08:48.190 --> 00:08:52.549 is very vivid language. I remember one time being stuck on I ten. 91 00:08:54.029 --> 00:08:58.940 I'm going to California. I'm with a giant Hay truck on fire, raging 92 00:09:00.179 --> 00:09:03.779 or there on the side of the road for hours and hours and hours waiting 93 00:09:03.860 --> 00:09:07.419 for this to be extinguished. In many ways this is a picture of our 94 00:09:07.580 --> 00:09:16.049 hearts when they are inflamed with passions, with desires, with temptations, with 95 00:09:16.250 --> 00:09:22.250 doubts, with worry, with anxiety. It is a destructive it is violent 96 00:09:22.409 --> 00:09:28.840 and this is exactly what Satan wants to do, the great accuser, the 97 00:09:28.919 --> 00:09:35.559 Great Liar and murderer. He shoots these flaming arrows, these flaming darts, 98 00:09:35.639 --> 00:09:43.909 to our hearts that that might burn, and not burn with passion and desire 99 00:09:43.110 --> 00:09:48.830 for the Lord, not burn with love and and and and gratitude and hope, 100 00:09:50.309 --> 00:09:58.419 but burn with lust, burn with anger. I heard today about a 101 00:09:58.580 --> 00:10:05.659 survey that was conducted five thousand people all over the world, five thousand people, 102 00:10:05.659 --> 00:10:07.570 and it was a really simple survey. Yes or no? Have you 103 00:10:07.649 --> 00:10:18.129 ever considered killing someone, murdering in particular? Ninety one percent of five thousand 104 00:10:18.210 --> 00:10:24.279 people, of men, said yes, eighty three eighty four percent of women 105 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:28.200 said yes. And not only did they say yes, but there was a 106 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:33.039 place on the bottom of the page in which people could describe some of the 107 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:41.029 specifics of what it is that they had thought. WHO, when, how, 108 00:10:41.750 --> 00:10:46.230 and the researchers were struck by the vivid language. This actually started in 109 00:10:46.309 --> 00:10:50.820 a classroom when a professor pooled his students, took the papers back to his 110 00:10:50.940 --> 00:10:56.620 office and went, Oh, this is way higher than I thought it would 111 00:10:56.620 --> 00:11:03.580 be. Anger, murder, lust, greed. We sang of the ten 112 00:11:03.700 --> 00:11:09.169 commandments earlier. These are not just things that have no relationship to us. 113 00:11:09.289 --> 00:11:18.529 The Devil Sends Blaming Arrows to our hearts to inflame us with very real sense, 114 00:11:18.519 --> 00:11:22.720 and all of us, if we were honest, could raise our hands 115 00:11:22.840 --> 00:11:33.230 and say yeah, you can include me there too. This is what the 116 00:11:33.350 --> 00:11:41.950 devil wants to do to you, to inflame your heart in doubt and worry 117 00:11:41.029 --> 00:11:46.259 you and all the rest. These things are, of course, lies. 118 00:11:46.539 --> 00:11:50.379 They are accusations, they are twisting of scripture, all kinds of things. 119 00:11:52.980 --> 00:11:56.259 But what does Peter say? First, Peter to eleven. He Says Beloved, 120 00:11:56.419 --> 00:12:01.929 I urge you, as sojourners and exiles, to abstain from the passions 121 00:12:03.049 --> 00:12:09.529 of the flesh which wage war against your soul brothers and sisters. I am 122 00:12:09.610 --> 00:12:16.320 afraid that many of us take way too lightly the language that is used here. 123 00:12:18.039 --> 00:12:24.840 War, battle, darts, shield, and etcetera, etc. This 124 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:31.830 language is not hyperbolic, it's not being extended just to get your attention. 125 00:12:33.470 --> 00:12:37.710 It's saying this is the real case and if you find that in your life 126 00:12:37.789 --> 00:12:43.580 you are constantly being overwhelmed and overcome by the flaming darts of the evil one. 127 00:12:43.659 --> 00:12:48.220 I think it would be worth asking yourself, are you beginning, or 128 00:12:48.340 --> 00:12:54.019 are you even taking the nature of the battle seriously? Are you taking it 129 00:12:54.100 --> 00:12:58.289 as seriously as God's words says to take it seriously? Are you even fighting 130 00:13:00.889 --> 00:13:03.529 as we are called to fight, as we are called to stand strong, 131 00:13:05.570 --> 00:13:09.529 to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against the soul. 132 00:13:11.009 --> 00:13:15.240 Now here is the good news. I do you, if you doubt that 133 00:13:15.480 --> 00:13:20.799 faith is strong, that your faith is strong, remember what Jesus says about 134 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:26.870 the strength of faith in Matthew Seventeen twenty. He says truly, I say 135 00:13:28.029 --> 00:13:31.750 to you, if you have faith like the green of a mustard seed, 136 00:13:33.590 --> 00:13:35.190 you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it 137 00:13:35.269 --> 00:13:43.899 will move and nothing will be impossible for you. Our faith is much stronger 138 00:13:45.139 --> 00:13:50.899 than we would think, much mightier than it really seems, and that's because, 139 00:13:50.460 --> 00:13:56.330 ultimately, our faith is a gift from God. We are the ones 140 00:13:56.330 --> 00:14:00.330 who is but are believing, but it is God who has given us the 141 00:14:00.370 --> 00:14:03.490 ability to do that. Is God going to hand you a shield and say 142 00:14:03.610 --> 00:14:07.049 here, this can put out the flaming darts of the evil one, but 143 00:14:07.210 --> 00:14:11.399 not really. Is that the God that we serve? Does he lie to 144 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:16.360 us? Does he not tell us the truth? Does he give us faith 145 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:18.840 as small as a mustard seed? Say it can move mountains, but really 146 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:24.509 not, really, course not. He gives us our faith and it says 147 00:14:24.509 --> 00:14:31.110 it can extinguish the flaming darts of the evil one because it can trust of 148 00:14:31.269 --> 00:14:37.740 the Lord. First John for says everyone who has been born of God overcomes 149 00:14:39.019 --> 00:14:43.740 the world. That's a promise, he goes on to say, and this 150 00:14:43.779 --> 00:14:50.419 is the victory that has overcome the world our faith. That amazing. Listen 151 00:14:50.460 --> 00:14:54.289 again to first John Five, for it for everyone who has been born of 152 00:14:54.409 --> 00:14:58.809 God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world. 153 00:14:58.850 --> 00:15:05.929 Our faith. Use Your Shield, therefore, holding up and holding on 154 00:15:05.529 --> 00:15:13.360 to what? To the promises of God? Here's one, Hebrews Eleven six. 155 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:18.519 Whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he 156 00:15:18.759 --> 00:15:22.509 rewards those who seek him. Hold on to that, hold on to that 157 00:15:22.629 --> 00:15:28.149 promise, or Psalm Fif five sixteen. But I call to the Lord, 158 00:15:28.190 --> 00:15:33.309 and the Lord will save me. That's an easy verse to remember, Right. 159 00:15:33.590 --> 00:15:37.500 Psalm Five Sixteen, I call to the Lord and the Lord will save 160 00:15:37.620 --> 00:15:45.779 me. That's faith, isn't it? Here's a prayer of faith from Psalm 161 00:15:46.179 --> 00:15:52.169 six four turn O. Lord, deliver me, save me for the sake 162 00:15:52.289 --> 00:15:58.090 of your steadfast love. You See, the way in which Christians express their 163 00:15:58.129 --> 00:16:03.679 prayers and their their hopes is faith in God and who he is. They're 164 00:16:03.759 --> 00:16:08.279 not relying on the power of their belief, they're relying in him. That's 165 00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:14.679 what faith is. Faith is strong because it relies in something that is strong. 166 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:22.350 It relies in God. Perhaps you might remember Peter Matthew Fourteen thirty, 167 00:16:22.429 --> 00:16:26.830 when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink. He 168 00:16:26.990 --> 00:16:34.059 cried out, Lord Save me. That's small enough to remember, right. 169 00:16:36.340 --> 00:16:42.100 Lord save me. When you feel or see the flaming darts of the evil 170 00:16:42.179 --> 00:16:51.090 one coming at you say and pray, Lord Save Me. For the sake 171 00:16:51.169 --> 00:16:59.809 of his steadfast love, he certainly will. The next strength that God gives 172 00:16:59.850 --> 00:17:04.640 us, the next gift of salvation and peace of our armor, is actually 173 00:17:04.680 --> 00:17:10.440 called salvation. Salvation is, of course, a very broad term. Here 174 00:17:10.519 --> 00:17:18.990 it's it's connected with the helmet salvation includes really all these things that we are 175 00:17:18.109 --> 00:17:23.029 considering, and perhaps that's why it's attributed to the helmet. It protects the 176 00:17:23.109 --> 00:17:29.069 head, a vital and sensitive a part of the body. You're planning, 177 00:17:29.710 --> 00:17:33.299 you're hoping, you're knowing, you're seeing, your hearing, you're smelling. 178 00:17:33.819 --> 00:17:38.779 These are all are all things that belong to the head. You might think 179 00:17:40.140 --> 00:17:45.529 spend some time thinking of doctrine in particular, because of course the devil loves 180 00:17:45.369 --> 00:17:51.730 to twist US, to twist us up by twisting up the word of God. 181 00:17:52.650 --> 00:17:55.410 Right he did this from the very beginning. The Great Liar, I'm 182 00:17:55.450 --> 00:17:59.640 who said did God really says Adam and Eve, and to Jesus again, 183 00:18:00.440 --> 00:18:03.839 the second Adam, in the last atom in the desert wilderness. He spoke 184 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:11.359 to him using God's word, but in manipulative ways. If you change a 185 00:18:11.480 --> 00:18:17.029 man's thinking, you can change his steps, can send them another direction. 186 00:18:17.430 --> 00:18:21.829 Give someone a wrong map, give someone bad directions and you can get them 187 00:18:21.910 --> 00:18:25.670 headed in the wrong direction. And of course Satan loves to do this. 188 00:18:26.589 --> 00:18:32.460 It's one reason doctrine really matters. What doad God say? What does he 189 00:18:32.700 --> 00:18:37.059 say about himself, about his will, about our world, about our times? 190 00:18:38.579 --> 00:18:52.490 These are not unimportant, abstract, unimportant things. They are God's word, 191 00:18:52.650 --> 00:18:56.559 and so we ought to be guided and always guided by the true doctrine 192 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:02.559 of salvation that we find in the Bible. This morning I brought up one 193 00:19:02.599 --> 00:19:06.319 of our membership vows, the second question of the first question. It says, 194 00:19:06.359 --> 00:19:10.509 do you believe the Bible to be the only Theo, the only word 195 00:19:10.589 --> 00:19:14.230 of God contained in the old and the new testaments, and to contain and 196 00:19:14.309 --> 00:19:21.549 had an express the only true doctrine of salvation? This is the helmet that 197 00:19:21.670 --> 00:19:27.779 we wear, this doctrine of salvation. WE GO FORWARD NOT BY VAIN IMAGININGS 198 00:19:27.819 --> 00:19:33.660 OR speculations. We don't head forward into the world by our passions and our 199 00:19:33.980 --> 00:19:40.170 rationalizations so that we can do what we really want to do, and we 200 00:19:40.250 --> 00:19:45.369 go forward in truth, the truth of the salvation that God has brought. 201 00:19:47.130 --> 00:19:52.440 And don't forget hope. Salvation is what gives us hope. It lifts up 202 00:19:52.519 --> 00:19:56.839 our eyes from the battle that we face so that we might see the divine 203 00:19:57.000 --> 00:20:03.200 warrior and his angels who fight on our behalf. Hope is what keeps a 204 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:08.910 man fighting. Hope is what per a pushes us to persevere. I bring 205 00:20:10.029 --> 00:20:14.670 this up because Calvin reminded me that. In first thence alonians eight, Paul 206 00:20:14.789 --> 00:20:19.309 says in a similar way that we have put on the helmet of the hope 207 00:20:19.829 --> 00:20:26.339 of our salvation. Here's what Calvin says about that. He says the head 208 00:20:26.539 --> 00:20:30.579 is protected best by the helmet when it is buoyed up by the hope to 209 00:20:30.819 --> 00:20:36.650 look toward heaven and the salvation that has promised us. It is only through 210 00:20:36.970 --> 00:20:41.769 hope that salvation is a helmet. And where, of course, do we 211 00:20:41.849 --> 00:20:47.049 get our hope from? From the promises of God's word, believing and putting 212 00:20:47.049 --> 00:20:52.559 our faith in what he has said and that it is indeed true. That 213 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:55.480 brings us to the last of the three, the sword of the spirit, 214 00:20:56.279 --> 00:21:02.599 which is, Paul says, the word of God. Let's read these again. 215 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:06.470 He says, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith that 216 00:21:06.630 --> 00:21:10.750 you with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, 217 00:21:11.430 --> 00:21:15.710 and take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which 218 00:21:15.829 --> 00:21:22.740 is the word of God, the things that we believe in the hope of 219 00:21:22.900 --> 00:21:26.700 our salvation. This is all tied to, of course, God's word, 220 00:21:29.140 --> 00:21:36.890 and that way you might remember that are. You might sure remember that the 221 00:21:37.009 --> 00:21:40.690 armor of God is it is expressed here, is not something that you can 222 00:21:40.730 --> 00:21:44.170 kind of take peacemeal right. It's not something you say, well, I'm 223 00:21:44.170 --> 00:21:48.319 going to take the shield of faith but leave the sword of the spirit at 224 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:51.720 home. Right, I'm going to put on the helmet of salvation but not 225 00:21:51.839 --> 00:21:56.079 worry about the readiness, the shoes of readiness that come from the gospel of 226 00:21:56.240 --> 00:22:03.309 peace. It doesn't work like that, because when you come under the salvation 227 00:22:03.589 --> 00:22:07.710 of Christ, when you come into union with him, you come into union 228 00:22:07.829 --> 00:22:14.109 with the whole Christ, the whole Messiah, all of Jesus. When God 229 00:22:14.670 --> 00:22:18.380 grafts us into the vine, right, I am the vine and you are 230 00:22:18.460 --> 00:22:21.980 the branches. The other kind of leave a part of US dangling right, 231 00:22:22.140 --> 00:22:26.099 hanging off into the world somewhere where we're not really united to him. No, 232 00:22:26.299 --> 00:22:33.089 we receive all that Jesus is and all that he gives us. So 233 00:22:33.210 --> 00:22:37.529 that means that when we step into him and we step into this armor, 234 00:22:37.930 --> 00:22:42.930 it's a complete package. We take up all of these things and we take 235 00:22:44.049 --> 00:22:48.480 them up at once. That's how we withstand. And so the helmet and 236 00:22:48.519 --> 00:22:53.400 the shield and the shoes, they all go together, and that of course, 237 00:22:53.480 --> 00:22:57.160 includes this, the sword of the spirit. You see, they work 238 00:22:57.240 --> 00:23:02.829 together. We put our faith in the things of the word. We allow 239 00:23:02.910 --> 00:23:07.069 our doctrines and our minds to be conformed to the knowledge of truth that we 240 00:23:07.109 --> 00:23:15.380 are given to in Christ. The scriptures, Paul tells us in Second Timothy, 241 00:23:15.420 --> 00:23:22.660 are good for teaching, correction, reproof and training in righteousness. God 242 00:23:22.900 --> 00:23:27.569 wants us to use his word to stand strong against the temptations of the devil. 243 00:23:27.650 --> 00:23:33.250 Jesus did, and we should as well. We are, after all, 244 00:23:33.369 --> 00:23:42.279 standing in him and in his strength, not apart from him. Now, 245 00:23:44.920 --> 00:23:52.400 this may seem silly to say, but sometimes, being obvious, as 246 00:23:52.279 --> 00:24:00.630 the job of the preacher, it's very difficult to use the word if you 247 00:24:00.750 --> 00:24:04.470 don't know the word. Like I said, kind of an obvious point, 248 00:24:04.589 --> 00:24:14.859 but if you want to grasp on to a promise of God that you might 249 00:24:15.019 --> 00:24:18.859 stand strong in the evil day, but you don't know any promises of God, 250 00:24:22.019 --> 00:24:26.849 the just practically speaking, it's hard to know how how that how is 251 00:24:26.890 --> 00:24:30.009 that going to work? Of course you do know the promises of God, 252 00:24:30.130 --> 00:24:33.650 or else you wouldn't be a Christian. You can express them, you hold 253 00:24:33.690 --> 00:24:40.839 onto them regularly and and that's important to remember. In saying that we need 254 00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:45.119 to know the word of God, we are not saying that you need to 255 00:24:45.160 --> 00:24:49.480 become a desert monk can live only on water in the pages of scripture, 256 00:24:51.480 --> 00:24:55.430 though, some time alone with God's word probably would do us all some good. 257 00:24:56.950 --> 00:25:02.230 But do we think about God's word in this way, as useful? 258 00:25:02.269 --> 00:25:07.259 In this way? He says it's useful, he calls us to use it. 259 00:25:08.779 --> 00:25:11.619 Do you know where, what the where are? Do you know what 260 00:25:11.700 --> 00:25:18.579 the Scripture says about hope, for example, or salvation or faith or the 261 00:25:18.700 --> 00:25:23.769 Gospel or peace? Do you know what God says about himself in the word, 262 00:25:23.809 --> 00:25:27.130 about the ways in which he calls us to live in our lives? 263 00:25:27.250 --> 00:25:33.930 Let me ask you this way. If you knew that you were going to 264 00:25:33.049 --> 00:25:41.559 do battle with the devil tonight, would you be ready? If not, 265 00:25:44.599 --> 00:25:48.480 how can you get ready this? Of course, it's not hypothetical, because 266 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:53.789 we all will do battle with the devil and with the forces of evil tonight. 267 00:25:55.710 --> 00:25:57.630 Right. None of us are going to go home and sort of slide 268 00:25:57.869 --> 00:26:03.230 through, you know, sort of sinless evening, without having any temptations or 269 00:26:03.309 --> 00:26:10.700 struggles in any way. All of us must be ready now, some of 270 00:26:10.779 --> 00:26:15.299 you will take what I'm saying, I'm afraid, and say, well, 271 00:26:15.380 --> 00:26:18.970 I could never do this. There's scriptures too much, it's too hard, 272 00:26:19.049 --> 00:26:22.049 I don't it's going to take me forever to learn it. But that that's 273 00:26:22.130 --> 00:26:27.089 not what I'm saying. Take time to learn scripture, learn the whole of 274 00:26:27.210 --> 00:26:33.400 scripture backwards and for word's inside and out. But you don't even need to 275 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:38.480 know how to read in order to take up the sword of the spirit. 276 00:26:41.079 --> 00:26:48.789 How so? Because God sends his word out into the word world through preaching, 277 00:26:48.150 --> 00:26:53.029 for example. Even today, even tonight, if you have not even 278 00:26:53.109 --> 00:26:56.750 looked at your bibles, you have heard the word of God, you've sung 279 00:26:56.910 --> 00:27:03.059 the word of God, you've prayed the word of God. Now, if 280 00:27:03.180 --> 00:27:08.140 that word is written on your heart like writing in the sand, well then, 281 00:27:08.180 --> 00:27:10.940 yeah, it's going to go in one year and out the other. 282 00:27:11.019 --> 00:27:15.769 It'll all sort of blow away and not be very useful to you. But 283 00:27:15.849 --> 00:27:18.410 if you put your faith in it, you ponder it and treasure it, 284 00:27:18.490 --> 00:27:22.210 if you hide it in your heart, if you believe in it, if 285 00:27:22.210 --> 00:27:25.930 you rely on it, if you marvel over it, then it will be 286 00:27:26.009 --> 00:27:30.799 a blessing to you. God promises that he says he has given you in 287 00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:38.279 Christ, the sword of the spirit, the very spirit of God, which 288 00:27:38.359 --> 00:27:45.910 is the word of God. It Thomas Watson who I quoted during summer Sunday 289 00:27:45.910 --> 00:27:51.670 school. He says God provides the meat, ministers can but cook and dress 290 00:27:51.670 --> 00:27:56.589 it for you. You of course have to eat it. You have to 291 00:27:56.670 --> 00:28:00.660 do something with it. Now, none of these commands in which God is 292 00:28:02.180 --> 00:28:07.500 is commanding us to stand strong, commanding us to struggle, commanding us to 293 00:28:07.619 --> 00:28:11.779 fight. None of it undermines the gospel of grace that we have been given. 294 00:28:11.779 --> 00:28:18.250 We of course struggle and fight and take up these things in the Lord, 295 00:28:18.450 --> 00:28:21.529 in the strength of his might. As I said from the beginning, 296 00:28:21.609 --> 00:28:25.410 that's key to all of this. We don't sort of say to God will, 297 00:28:25.529 --> 00:28:27.440 thanks for the instructions, now I'm going to go out and fight in 298 00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:32.200 my own strength, according to my own will and according to my own ways. 299 00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:37.640 That would be foolishness. You can guarantee destruction that way. What do 300 00:28:37.759 --> 00:28:45.190 we do? We believe. We receive these things through faith. We trust 301 00:28:45.390 --> 00:28:49.710 in who he is and what he has done, because God's Word, God's 302 00:28:49.710 --> 00:28:55.430 word says, is living, active, sharper than a two edged sword. 303 00:28:56.900 --> 00:29:00.299 You are not fashioning your own weapons, you're not fashioning your own armor, 304 00:29:00.940 --> 00:29:07.779 you're taking on the very armor that God's spirit has given you. And so, 305 00:29:08.299 --> 00:29:14.970 beloved, when you find yourself in your lives wondering how do I do 306 00:29:15.210 --> 00:29:19.490 this, how do I struggle, how do I fight? Remember what the 307 00:29:19.609 --> 00:29:26.880 Lord has spoken to you this evening. Ponder it treasure in your heart and 308 00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:30.960 fight with it. Put Your faith in it, and you will extinguish the 309 00:29:32.079 --> 00:29:38.349 flaming darts of the evil one. Not because you are amazing, although of 310 00:29:38.470 --> 00:29:47.230 course you are, but because God is amazing, because God's Word is strong, 311 00:29:47.950 --> 00:29:52.779 his promises are strong, his stadfast love is strong. That's what we 312 00:29:52.980 --> 00:29:57.779 stand in. We see our infirmities, we are see our weaknesses. I 313 00:30:00.380 --> 00:30:06.859 sometimes imagine this passage is sort of, you know, kind of a shriveled 314 00:30:06.859 --> 00:30:12.690 up, slimy snail, right, but in this shell, right, protected 315 00:30:12.930 --> 00:30:19.970 and safe and strong. That's something God gives to you freely of His grace. 316 00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:25.720 It's a home that he provides you to stay in and live in and 317 00:30:25.799 --> 00:30:30.359 dwell in. Now, as so journers at an exile's I'm all the way 318 00:30:30.519 --> 00:30:36.710 until he comes and finally and completely I'm crushes the head of the serpent, 319 00:30:37.309 --> 00:30:42.670 that Evil Dragon that seeks to do harm to the Lord in his anointed God 320 00:30:42.750 --> 00:30:48.230 will crush the head of the serpent. Don't fear him, but fight him. 321 00:30:48.950 --> 00:30:52.259 Do so by faith in Christ. Let's pray