Transcript: November 28th, 2004« Back

Victory in Jesus

Ephesians 6:10-18

Jeff Noblit

Victory in Jesus

Ephesians 6:10-18

 

     I think I can safely say that God has not so changed my life in any other season other than those first couple of years of conversion as He has in my study and preparation to preach through this book, and changed it for the good.  I know I know My Lord better.  I understand my Lord better.  I understand grace better.  I understand more about the height, the width, the breadth, the depth of the love of Christ better.  I understand the sovereignty of God better.  I’m more in awe of Him than before, more grateful to Him than before.  And it’s just been an interesting study.

     I, I, I, when we first began diving into Ephesians, reading some of the great, great commentary writers, I try to go back even three and four hundred years ago to find the best commentary writers, and they sort of warn you that, man, this book is just absolutely bursting with glorious doctrine and truth.  And it’s the kind of stuff that will shake you up a little bit if you’re not careful, doesn’t fit right into your thinking sometimes.  You have to stretch yourself and get out of your little narrow view of who God is and what He can and cannot do or the way He can and cannot do things.  And it has been a glorious, glorious journey for me.  I hope it’s been a blessing to you. 

     Now we come to that very, very practical section right here at the end and we see it there in Ephesians chapter 6.  We’ll begin in verse 10 and go through verse 18.  That seems absolutely impossible doesn’t it that I would preach eight verses in one sermon and go on.  But we’re going to try it.  We’re gonna make a shot at it.  Might be twelve o’clock when we get done, but we’re gonna make a shot at it.  No, seriously.  I don’t think so.  Matter of fact, I think it’ll be a shorter message than usual. 

But anyway, verse 10:  “Finally,” Paul says, Ephesians 6 verse 10.  “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  Put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore, take up the full armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm.” 

Verse 14:  “Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one.  And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, with this in view, be on the alert in all perseverance and petition for all the saints.”

Now we’re in a warfare, and, and I know that strikes a lot of Christians as odd because we haven’t been taught the truth very often.  There’s this notion going around that you call on Jesus somehow and do something and you’re into heaven and you’re on God’s roll and you just come to church a little bit, maybe, and don’t commit any sins that are too awful scandalous, and one day you go to heaven.  No, Christianity is signing up for war.  It’s signing up for war.  It, it’s a daily, diligent persistent, ever-present, ever-alert waging of war.  Now before you were converted, you were enslaved in the enemy camp.  You were a part of the enemy’s team.  You were by nature a child of wrath, Ephesians 2 told us.  You’re of the spirit that working in the sons of disobedience.  You were saved out of that, though you’re still in the world that is characterized by that.  But you’re living for the world that is high and holy and above that.  So you’re warring to live righteously in an unrighteous world.  You are warring to live holy in an unholy world.  You are warring to live for God in an anti-God and anti-Christ world.  There’s a warfare.  And if you and I are not sober and alert to that reality, we are already functioning as prisoners of war.

Well, it’s the same way when you hear Bible preaching.  There are sections of scripture and doctrinal truths that just aren’t real fun to hear.  They’re just not what you signed up, maybe.  But we need them and we ought to hear them.  And in those seasons, you’re to endure that sound doctrine.  It’s not, doesn’t tickle the flesh.  It doesn’t make you excited, maybe, but it’s good and it’s good for you.  And I think this is one of those texts of scriptures where we need to be sort of rattled and shaken a little bit to realize, yes, we’re victors.  We can’t fail, but we are in a tenacious and vigorous war as the children of God.

Now what are we warring against?  Well, ultimately it’s sin.  Sin.  Jonathan Edwards, probably the most brilliant man America has ever produced and one of the greatest pastors since the apostle Paul, said that if you preach a gospel that tells people they can be saved in sin, you’ll get a hundred people to respond.  But if you preach the true gospel that says God saves you to save you from sin, you’ll get one to respond.  There’s some truth to that.  Well, the Bible doctrine of the gospel and the Bible doctrine of salvation is that we are saved to begin a warfare pursuit out from and away from the strongholds and the clutches of sin.

You see, when we sin, let me give you eight quick things.  You don’t have to write these down, but just by way of introduction.  When we sin, we dishonor God personally.  Sin is a personal offense to God.  It’s not some impersonal, nebulous, indefinable thing that just happens.  It is a, it’s, it’s, it’s spitting in God’s face when we sin.  We violate His law when we sin.  We attack His righteous kingdom when we sin.  We hurt our witness when we sin.  We harden or callous our conscious and our heart when we sin.  We cause a brother to stumble when we sin.  We, in effect, align ourselves as God’s enemy when we sin.  Remember Jesus looking at Peter and saying, “Get behind Me, Satan”?  He wasn’t of Satan.  He wasn’t possessed by Satan, but in that moment He was thinking like he was aligned with Satan.  And sin leads to death.  The wages of sin is death.  Sin always destroys.  It always hurts.  It always maims.  It always cripples. 

John Piper said his mother wrote in the cover of his Bible when he was a young boy, or maybe a teenager.  His mother wrote these words:  “This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.”  And she also said, “You will either be killing sin, or sin will be killing you.”  At every moment of everyday, you are either fighting it and killing it as it’s trying to kill you. 

Well, let’s look at this together, and let me give you these introductory thoughts here.  First of all, look at verse 10.  As Paul gets to this section, he begins it by saying, “Finally,” or “In addition to all the rest that I’ve told you.  all that I’ve told you about marriage life and all that I’ve told you about the parent-child relationship, all that I’ve told you about management and labor relationships from the child of God’s perspective, everything that I’ve told you about the glorious grace that has saved you, now put onto all of that this very important teaching.  In addition to all of that, put on the full armor of God.”

Now we have enemies to fight against.  We have a Captain to fight for.  We have a banner to fight under, and we have rules of engagement to govern our fight.  And that’s what Paul’s gonna talk to us about.  So he says, “Finally,” and that is, “it remains now for you to apply to your life your duties and your responsibilities as a Christian soldier, warring against sin.

Now Roman numeral number one:  Satan and demons are our enemies.  That’s what he’s gonna point out very, very strongly here.  Satan and demons are our enemies.  Let’s work down to that by starting in verse 10 where He says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.”  Now there’s a balance here.  You don’t just sit down and say, “Well, it’s God’s strength.”  No, you work, but you work ever conscious and ever aware that it’s God’s strength that must be empowering you or enabling you or you’re sunk.  You have to find your strength in the Lord.  So here Paul calls us to war.  “Be strong in the Lord,” because we’re in this relentless struggle against sin and against evil.  We have many battles to fight on our way to heaven, and we need a great deal of courage.  He says, “Stand strong.”  We must be strong in service, strong in suffering, strong in fighting.  It is His strength that we rely upon because we have no sufficient strength of our own.

Well, how practically do we do that?  Well, he begins in verse 11, “Put on the full armor of God.”  The word “put on” is like Ephesians 4:24 where he says, “put on the new self.”  You’ve got to put on the armor of God.  Now notice it’s not your armor.  It’s not something you’ve come up with.  It’s not something you can develop or create.  It’s God’s armor He’s given you in grace.  He’s given you this equipping for your warring in grace but you’ve got to put it on.  You’ve got to make a deliberate effort. 

Now in this period of time, the full armor meant a shield and a sword, a spear, a helmet, uh, leg and feet armor or boots, and then a breastplate.  And Paul changed that a little bit.  He’s playing off the Roman armor of the day, but he omits the spear and he adds a girdle, or the inner leather belt.  And Paul should’ve known much about Roman armor.  He was chained to a Roman soldier for three years.  So, he knew well what he was talking about.  Now when he says it’s the armor of God, he’s referring to the fact that God both prepares and bestows this armor because our armor will not withstand in the day of testing.  It just won’t make it through.  And what we’re to do is pray for grace to put on this armor and act and exercise the way he’s telling us to when he says, “Put on the armor of God.”

Then he says, “That you may be able to stand firm against,” what does he say?  “Against the schemes of the devil.”  Now he’s talking about the fact that wobbly Christians are easy prey for the devil.  Boy, we need to put on something.  We need to just have a resolute spirit to determine we’re gonna stand and we’re not gonna be any longer wobbly little weak Christians that the devil can just throw around and slap around any way he wants to. 

One of the ways to do that is just decide you’re not going to be moved by things until you have full and ample and solid and concrete evidence.  Just not gonna let things sink in the first time you hear something.  Now he talks about here standing firm against the schemes of the devil.  The idear, idea here is the methods the devil uses.  He has methods and schemes to destroy us and destroy our witness for Christ.  He is crafty, and he knows the weak spots in our armor.  That’s why he says, “Stand firm.”  Brothers and sisters, I was convicted studying this that if I am not resolute in my determination to walk the way God instructs me to walk, I’m up against a brilliant, intelligent, scheming, crafty, deceptive enemy.  And he’ll do whatever he wants to with you if you’re not careful. 

The phrase “stand firm” there in verse 11, that you may be able to stand firm means to hold out and overcome.  It means Satan will assault and Satan will battle and Satan will attack, but you can hold out under it and not let it get you all the way down.  Both his force and his fraud that he comes against you because he has so many assaults and so many mechanisms and so many snares to throw at you. 

Now look at verse 12.  He says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood.”  One of the things that we need to remember is we need to stop looking at people and look at the spiritual forces behind and using the people that cause us trouble in our lives.  We struggle not against flesh and blood.  The word struggle there means wrestling.  It’s a word out of the wrestling arena of the day.  And literally it means to wrestle somebody and throw them down and hold them there.  Kind of like even that you see on that crazy stuff they call wrestling today on TV.  They have to hold them down for the count.  I love that picture, and that may be a foundational principle for this whole message that we want to keep in our hearts and minds.  It may be true that Satan might evident, might time to time wrestle you down and throw you down.  But he doesn’t have to hold you down.  We can keep that from happening. 

Well, he says, “We struggle not against.”  It means face to face conflict al the way to the finish.  We’ve got a real war going on here.  And it’s not against flesh and blood.  The combat we’re to prepare for is not our mere human enemies.  We all gonna have some enemies if we live for Jesus down here.  It’s not our corrupt, fallen, sin nature.  We do battle against our ole fleshly desires, but that’s not the ultimate enemy here, and certainly not the one he’s talking about.  But these wicked forces of evil, the devil and his demons.

Let me say four things about these, this enemy, rather, Satan and his demons that we’re talking about here.  First of all, they’re subtle.  They’re subtle.  He Bible says he’s full of wiles, “that you may be able to stand against the schemes or the craftiness or the wiles of the devil.”  He has thousands of ways of beguiling unstable souls.  If you’re loose, if you’re indifferent, if you’re flippant, if you’re lazy in your Bible study, if you’re, if you’re shallow in your pursuit of God, he’s got thousands of ways to get you.  And he works at it.  He’s subtle.  The Bible calls, uh, false teachers wolves in sheep’s clothing.  They’re subtle.  They’re crafty.  Look just like a lamb, but they’re a ferocious wolf. 

One of his best wiles is to get us to doubt or discount his reality.  Have you been guilty of that?  I’ve been guilty of that.  Just kind of discounting that he’s really there, he’s really my enemy, and he’s really working to trip me up in my walk with God.  The Bible calls him a serpent, which speaks of craftiness.  The Bible calls him an old serpent, which speaks of his experience and his expertise.  He knows what he’s doing. 

Not only is he subtle, he’s also powerful.  Paul refers to him as a power here.  We see that in verse 12.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness.  And the word rulers there means worldwide rule, and the Bible does call Satan the god of this world.  He has a worldwide dominion.  Demons, Satan and all of his demons, they are numerous and they are vigorous in their work.  And they’re absolutely real.

Number three, not only are they subtle and powerful, they’re spiritual.  Paul uses the phrase, “the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”  Their assault is unseen.  It’s unseen.  You don’t see it coming.  They chiefly annoy is with spiritual wickedness, things like pride and envy and jealousy and malice.  Oh, they know how to scheme and they know the methods to get you with that stuff. 

Well, number four, not only are they subtle and powerful and spiritual, Paul says they’re wicked.  They’re wicked.  HE just uses the phrase there, “the world forces of this darkness against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places.”  It means they’re about destruction, not construction.  Darkness is their abode.  The darkness of sin and the darkness of falsehood is what they’re all about.  Wickedness.  They strive to prevent our ascent into heaven.  You know the Bible talks about Satan comes along, and when the seed of the Word of God is thrown out Satan snatches it up and tries to keep it away from those who could receive the Word and be converted.  They try to deprive us of heavenly blessings because if he can get you stumbling along in pride or in envy or in malice or in jealously and all those heart sins that he tries to deceive us to get us entrapped in, he can destroy your communion with God.  God’s not going to fellowship with you if you’re like that.  Well, that was my first major point.  That is Satan and his demons are our enemies.

Now let’s get to this practical part, and I want to say something up front.  This doesn’t develop the way I wished it had developed.  I would love to give you one, two, three, four, boom, you can defeat sin.  And you watch TV and that’s what you get.  Have you watched guys on television?  And there’s some good preaching on television, just very, very little of it.  But I mean there’s so much out there that if you’ll chant this thing or if you’ll say this phrase or you’ll pray in this way or if you’ll name this or claim that or do this or do that, you’ll get this victory.  You’ll walk in the victory, and you’ll have it done, and you’ll defeat Satan.  And, wow, it’s a great thing.  I wish it would work like that.  But the amazing thing to me is those people come back next week for another pop and for another zap and for another victory.  That’s not the way this outlines.  This talks about an ongoing, ever-vigilent, ever-disciplined, warring perseverance.  That’s not what I wanted to hear.  I wanted to do one, two, three and be done.  But that’s what the truth is and we need to see it as the truth.

Well, Roman numeral two, we must put on the armor God provides to win the victory.  Put on the armor and walk with it on that God provides to win the victory.  Now notice what he says there in verse 13.  Put on the armor that God provides to win the victory.  He begins in verse 13, he says, “Therefore, since we have this enemy that’s, that’s malicious and that’s crafty and that’s full of mischievous methods, who’s experienced and who has expertise in knowing how to trap us, since we have al that working against us,” verse 13, “therefore take up the full armor of God.”  Take up means to pick it up.  You’ve got to pick it up.  You’ve got to put it on.  It’s an act of your will.  You’ve got to say, “I’m gonna pick it up.  I’m gonna put it on.  I’m gonna wear it.”  You have to do that.  It’s not just gonna happen.  He says, “Pick it up and put it on,” verse 13, look at it there, “so that you will be able to resist in the evil day.”  That means stand against it and not let it knock you down.  That resisting is what we need. 

Then he says, “having done all to stand.”  That’s a, that’s a graphic picture in the original language.  Having done all to stand means you, after the fight is over, one stands as a victor in the contest.  Satan comes against you.  He hurls his attack at you.  He comes against you in a way that he knows your childhood.  He knows your early years.  He knows you’re vulnerable to get angry over certain types of things because it brings up old wounds from your past.  He knows he can get you jealous or envious in certain ways because of certain mistreatments or things maybe you were deprived of as a…  He knows.  He knows.  He’s got wiles and craftiness.  But, man, if you’ll put on the armor of God, God’ll give you wisdom.  You’ll see it coming, and you’ll repent in Jesus’ name and tell Satan to get out of your life.  You’re not gonna fall into that jealously, that envy, and that bitterness, and that hatefulness, and that ugliness.  Amen?  Got to put it on.  You’ve got to determine, “I’m gonna put it on.  I’m not gonna let it get me.  Not gonna let it happen.”  It, it’s an aorist tense verb.  It means you stand and you stay standing. 

It, it’s like a, when I was a little boy we used to play king on the hill.  And you fought your way up the hill.  And we had a big ole boy in my neighborhood, and when he got to be king on the hill, he stayed king on the hill.  We’d wrestle and fight and grab around his thighs.  He’d just keep throwing us off.  He stood and he stayed standing.  That’s what he means here.  Put it off.  Aorist tense.  Stand and keep on standing.  War and keep on warring.  Fight and keep on fighting.  You’ve got to stand up and put it on so you can resist, not yield to Satan.  Resolve by grace not to yield to him.  Resist him and he will flee.  And you know, that’s very true.  When Satan gives his best shot, he’ll work through somebody now.  He doesn’t just come up with his red suit and his red horns and his forked tail.  He’ll work through somebody and try to get you, man, I mean where it’s so hard for you not to get in the flesh, get irritated, get angry, get bitter, get jealous, get envy, get a ma, get a spirit of malice in your heart, want to fight back and seek revenge, all that garbage, sin junk.  But I’m telling you, if you’ll stand and resist it and use the grace God gives you by putting on the armor of God, you’ll find out Satan’ll think, will do something.  He’ll think, “That doesn’t work with that ole boy.  I’m gonna let off a little bit in that area.”  And then he’ll find another one, ‘cause we have to keep warring.

We cannot distrust our cause, and we cannot distrust our leader.  Now listen.  And we cannot distrust our armor.  You’ve got to trust your cause.  It’s a cause of holiness and righteousness in an unholy world.  We’ve got to trust our Leader.  Our Leader’s the Lord Jesus Christ.  We’ve got to trust our armor, and we’re gonna look at what that is in this text.  ‘Cause, brothers and sisters, if we’re gonna walk in the true victory of the true man or woman of God, it’s gonna be the biblical way.  It’s not gonna be these little short-cut name it and claim it, jump through the hoop things.  It’s gonna be a continuous warring, fighting and walking in that victory.

So we must by grace and by God’s armor stand up against him, just like our Lord Jesus did in the garden when Satan would tempt Him, and He’d say, “Get behind Me, Satan.  It is written…”  And stand on the Word of God.  That means having done everything to stand, stand firm.  We’re to strive against Satan and strive against sin and keep on standing and withstanding him until he’s through with his assault.

Well, the full armor here is like Romans 13:12.  It’s like the armor of light in Romans 13:12.  Second Corinthians 6:7, it’s called the weapons of righteousness.  Now here we go with the full armor.  Number one, and we see it in verse 14, is the belt of genuineness.  The belt of genuineness.  What he says there in verse 14 is, “Stand firm therefore having girded your loins,” that’s the belt in the old, in that old Roman soldier.  The first thing he’d put on was a leather belt that would really hold everything else together.  His sword was attached to it.  And it was really a part of his underwear more than anything else.  He’d put that on first.  And he says, “Gird your loins and put this belt of truth on.”  Well, truth there, the best understanding is not that it means the truth of the Word of God.  It means truth in the innermost being.  It means sincerity from your heart.  It means integrity.  It means in the core of your being you are genuine about wanting to honor God and living in holiness.  Now you’re gonna have to work on that.  That’s putting on, putting on the armor starts with the belt of genuineness.  I genuinely want to see my Lord pleased and honored, and I genuinely want to live above the attacks of the enemy in my life.  I want to be genuine or true in my innermost being

Now I want to say this to you.  Put on genuineness.  And if you don’t have it on, repent and get it back on.  And if you get up in the morning and have your quiet time, determine in your heart, “I want to be a genuine child of God today and really live for my Lord from my heart.”  And then by eight thirty, you’ve backslidden a little bit.  Then you repent and say, “I want to be genuine,” again.  Ten o’clock you’re backslidden.  Repent and say, “I want to be genuine again.”  It’s a war.  You’re putting on the belt of genuineness.

Well, let’s go to the second one here in verse 14, and that is the breastplate of righteous living.  The breastplate of righteous living.  Last part of verse 14, having put on the breastplate of righteousness.  Now it could be alluding also to that moment in time when we trust Christ as Lord and Savior and justification occurs.  That is God declares that you are just in His sight, that He no longer sees you as a sinner.  Matter of fact, He now looks upon you with the righteousness of His Son.  Well, that’s a part of it, but that’s not gonna really get you very far in the real world unless you purpose therefore to walk out that righteousness.  So that breastplate is that part of the body that would guard the vital organs, the heart, the liver, the inner organs.  And we’re to put on this lifestyle of righteous living.  And when you’re purposing to do that, you can walk in victory over the enemy. 

Now there’s a key insight in First Thessalonians 5:8.  In First Thessalonians 5:8, Paul refers to the blessed, the breastplate of faith and love.  Now here’s what I think that means.  The breastplate of faith and love.  First of all, in faith we are united with and walk with Christ.  And in love we’re united with and walk with men.  In other words, here’s what that means.  I look to my Lord and in faith I righteously serve and live for Him.  And in love, I righteously serve and live with my fellow man.  That’s the breastplate of righteous living.  Do right according to the truth toward God and men and thus do not live in sin. 

Well, the belt of genuineness, the breastplate of righteous living, thirdly the boots of gospel assurance.  The boots of gospel assurance.  We see this in verse 15:  Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.  Now they actually had brass shoes and armor covered shoes that protected their feet from what they called gall traps that they used to trap soldier’s feet.  And often they would bury sharp, pointed sticks in the ground.  And by having these protective shoes, they could keep their feet healthy so they could stand firm and wage war with a firm foundation. 

So we’re to be prepared and resolved from our hearts to live for God.  Now there’s only one thing that can give you a firm resolve and stand firm and war for God, and that is when the gospel of peace has changed your life.  When you walk in assurance that you’re a man of God, when you walk in assurance that you’re a woman of God, that is a child of God, and you know you belong to God, that gives a firm foundation to fight and war from.  If you wander around with all of those vicious attacks of the enemy giving you a lack of assurance and a guilt about your standing before God, then you’re not gonna have any firmness to fight.  You’ll be hesitant, you’ll be weak, and you’ll be faulting, and you’ll be questioning. 

So he talks about a gospel walk here that’s essential to victory.  Now let me ask you something.  What is a gospel walk?  When you’ve been changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ and you’re walking in that change, what is a gospel walk?  Well, whatever else it is, it’s a walk of humility.  It’s a walk of contrition.  It’s a walk of hoping in Christ and knowing that He is yours and you are his.  It’s a walk of repentance.  Uh, ole Charles Simeon talks about the fact that the contrition that ought to abide in our hearts as the children of God, that is that though we know we’re fully forgiven we still carry some of the woe of our wretched sinfulness before God.  Not in a sense of beating us down, but in a sense of gratitude that He would save such wretches like ourselves.  He says that attitude of contrition is like the ballast in the bottom of the ship.  It keeps it steady in the storms.  That’s what he’s talking about here. 

So it’s the gospel of peace.  Peace with God, so I have peace with myself.  I can have peace with others.  And that gives me an incredible, firm foundation and a strength to repel the flaming missiles of the evil one.  It also means I have gentleness and longsuffering, and these things will guard me. 

Well, not only the belt of genuineness, not only the breastplate of righteous living, not only the boots of gospel assurance, but fourthly the shield of temptation quenching faith.  The shield of temptation quenching faith.  Now we’re all gonna be tempted.  But God says you can quench that temptation with the shield of faith.  Now the shield here referred to in verse 16 by the Greek word is not that little small round shield, but it’s that very, very large shield that would actually protect their whole body.  That shield was made by putting two pieces of wood together and gluing them together and then covering those with linen and then putting iron bands around the outside edges to hold it together.  And so this shield of faith is really our all in all during temptation.  So we have to be fully persuaded, persuaded, rather, of God’s promises and God’s threatenings.  Let me ask you something.  You know what faith means?  Faith means when you read this book, you really believe the promises He says to you and gives to you.  But it also means you tremble at the warnings and the threatenings He gives you.  We don’t have any of that anymore, and that’s why I think so many of us walk in weakness and in defeat.  Because we don’t tremble at God and His glory and His threatenings.  And we don’t glory and stand with confidence by faith in all of His promises.  I think that implies also we need to keep learning the truth of God’s Word.  I just can’t tell you how much it means to me having grown in sovereign grace to understand more of what the Bible teaches when it says He foreknew me and He predestined me and He chose me and He elected me, all Bible words.  And He regenerated me, or quickened me.  Bible word.  And He sealed me.  And He who began a good work in me will perform it until the day of Christ Jesus, and He’ll glorify me.  When you, when you understand more of that and you have faith in that, it gives you a great strength to know you’re God’s, and you’re special, and you’re for God’s glory, and, and you’re His precious child that He loves so much.  It gives me a new boldness in my faith. 

Now he says when you have this shield of faith, you can have victory.  What does the Bible say?  This is the victory over the world even our faith.  When Satan comes against you with those false accusations, you sinned this last week and Satan came against you and said, “You’re not a child of God.  You can’t go to church anymore.  You can’t witness for God anymore.  You can’t teach that class anymore.”  I want to tell you, that’s a lie!  You can ask forgiveness and He’ll forgive you.  Those false, he’s the accuser of the brethren.  Don’t listen to that mess.  Put up the shield of faith and say, “Satan, I’m gonna let that one burn out right here in this shield.  I’m not gonna let that get to me.”  False accusations is one of the things that the shield of faith.  False guilt, doubts, that temptation to rebellion or lust or malice or fear.  Place faith in the Word of God that that’s not the right route and that’s not the true way to live and that leads to destruction.  And don’t let it poison your life. 

Well, he talks here about these flaming missiles.  Look at it there in verse 16.  In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one.  I personally don’t believe this means literal fiery arrows.  I think it means poisonous arrows.  Like when the Bible talks about a fiery serpent it’s not talking about a snake whose head’s on fire.  Now it can mean that.  I’m not saying it absolutely does not mean it.  But it means he’s poisonous.  Uh, the guys over in Mississippi that bow hunt, over in Mississippi they, they have legalized, been legal for years, using pods on their arrows.  They actually put poison on their bow hunting arrows.  It’s actually a very, very strong muscle relaxer.  And I mean you just nip that deer and that relaxer gets in that blood system in just a few seconds he just relaxes and his heart and lungs, everything quits.  Well, that’s the picture here.  Satan has fiery missiles, and when those fiery missiles hit us they’re like a fiery serpent, they just have the poisons that destroy our soul.  And he says put up a shield of faith and let those things hit the shield so they won’t destroy your soul.

I think they’re called flaming arrows or fiery missiles of temptation because their swift, I’m telling you Satan can fling one on you so fast.  They’re swift.  They’re imperceptible.  Now listen.  Listen to what I’m gonna tell you.  They’re gonna come when you least expect it and from whom you least expected it to come from.  You find yourself all in the flesh, all with a bad spirit and an ugly heart just like that because he was swift to send it, and he sent it from an imperceptible, you didn’t know where it was coming from.  And they make deep wounds in our soul when they get in there like a poisonous dart will inflame the flesh where it hits.  These are violent temptations that Satan brings against us.  But faith is the shield that quenches these fiery arrows and prevents them from hurting us.

Well, let’s go to the next one.  The next one, number five, is the helmet of firm salvation.  Look at, look at it there in verse 17.  And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.  Now, I think this is referring to the hope which has salvation as its object.  Now a key verse here is First Thessalonians 5:8.  In First Thessalonians 5:8 Paul says… “The helmet is the hope of salvation.”  The helmet is the hope.  Now that’s different.  In other words, when we say we have hope you know we don’t mean we maybe think something might happen.  It means we have a confident assurance of things in the future for us.  Brothers and sisters, when you know that you know that you know where you’re gonna end up, it makes journeying faithfully down here a lot easier.  A confident hope of salvation.  It purifies your soul.  It keeps it from being defiled by Satan.  It comforts the soul and keeps it from being troubled and tormented by Satan.  He would tempt us into despair, but good hope keeps us trusting in God and rejoicing in Him. 

Now let’s go to number six, and that is the sword, which is the Spirit of God.  The sword.  Look at it there in verse 17.  He says, “And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”  So the sword is the Word of God.  I said Spirit of God.  I should’ve said the Word of God.  Now it’s the Holy Spirit of God, and by the way this is the only offensive weapon we’ve come up against so far.  But it’s the only one you need.  I mean when you’ve got the magic sword, you don’t need anything else.  Have you ever seen Star Wars?  He pulls out that laser beam, it, it’s over.  Well, that’s the way we are.  If you take the Word of God, which is the sword of the Spirit, you’ve got all the offensive power you need.  And it is the Spirit that renders the Word efficacious, that means it accomplishes what it’s supposed to accomplish and powerful.  Hebrews 4:12 says, the Bible is sharper than any two edged sword. 

So with the Word, we assault the assailants that come against us.  And scriptural arguments are the most powerful arguments to repel temptation.  So with this offensive weapon, sin must be dragged forth from its hiding places and slain before the Lord.  That’s what God requires.  Remember what our Lord did in Matthew 4?  As Satan came against Him, He’d say, “It is written…  It is written…  It is written,” giving us the example of using that offensive weapon, that two-edged sword of the Word of God.  There’s a power in that.  Have you ever been in a tempting moment and a Word of God, the Word of God came to you?  And by the way, I’ve noticed in my own walk it doesn’t just come.  I have to put it on.  Are you with me?  You remember that?  He said put it on.  That means, you know what that means?  That means I’m gonna have to beforehand make sure I’ve got some scripture memorized and hid in my heart with the expressed intent that I’m going to use this when temptation strikes.  It’s a preparation and a perseverance, and an ever-present diligence in this warring against sin.

Psalm 119:9 and 11:  How can a young man keep his way pure?  By keeping it according to Thy Word. Thy Word I have treasured in my heart that I may not sin against Thee.

Well, now let’s go to the conclusion, and we see the seventh item.  And I, I’ve given this one a name.  It’s not in the scripture, but I call this the buckle of persistent prayer.  That’s number seven.  Now buckle’s not in here.  I made that up.  But it’s just so you can remember it.  Notice what he says, verse 18, the buckle of persistent prayer.  He said, “With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit.  And with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.” 

Now I call this the buckle of persistent prayer because it’s the buckle that unlocks the power of each one of these pieces of armor.  Prayer has to surround and energize if you will all of it.  Persistent prayer.  WE must join prayer with all the other graces, all this grace armor that we’ve been given.  We must go to God imploring Him and pleading with Him for help and assistance, praying always.  It’s talking about a disposition of prayer, an attitude of prayer.  Prayer is foundational for the deployment of this armor and the exercising of the two-edged sword. 

Now notice the accumulation of terms he uses there in verse 18.  And he uses this to emphasize the ever, uh, ever necessity for prevailing persistent prayer.  Notice, “With all prayer and petition.”  That’s talking about types of prayer.  “Pray at all times.”  That’s talking about just a continual walk in prayer.  “IN the Spirit with this in view.  Be on the alert with all perseverance.”  That means you’ve got to work at prayer.  “For all the saints.”  That means we’ve got to pray for each other.  Did you notice the emphasis there?  All prayer and petition.  That’s all types of prayer.  That’s why in the accountability notebook we talk about praise and we talk about adoration and appreciation and thanksgiving.  We talk about confession.  We talk about supplications and intercession.  All prayer and petition, all times.  That’s that walk in prayer.  Paul says in another place, “Pray without ceasing.”  Then he says, “With all perseverance.”  That means there’s work in prayer at times.  And then, “For all the saints.”  That’s praying for each other. 

And can I get you as we close to look at Luke 22?  We’ll be closed with this.  Look at Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.  Look at Luke 22, and look at verses 31 and 32.  Luke 22 verses 31 and 32.  Jesus is responding to Peter, calls him Simon here, and I don’t think it’s incidental that the preceding verses talk about the apostles arguing about who’s gonna be the greatest and Jesus telling them that you should try to be servant of all, not the greatest.  And then He says in verse 31 of Luke 22, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat.  Satan has asked God to get you, Simon.  Satan has asked permission to just sift you like wheat, just tear you up.”  Boy, I love this.  Look what Jesus says in verse 32.  “But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail you when once you have turned again strengthen your brothers.” 

Maybe you’ve got a child that’s gone wrong.  I want you to pray for them that God would not allow Satan to sift them like wheat.  Maybe your husband or your wife is not right with God, and maybe they’re in rebellion.  I want you to intercede for them like Jesus did for Simon and say, “God, I ask You, don’t let Satan sift them like wheat.”  Maybe you’ve got a friend in Christ that’s not right with God.  Intercede for them and pray and say, “God, I ask You.  Don’t let Satan sift them like wheat.” I believe God will honor that prayer.  I believe that’d be a good prayer for you to remember as you intercede for one another in this warfare. 

So we are to daily and persistently walk warring with God’s armor.  The belt of genuineness, the breastplate of righteous living, the boots of gospel assurance, the shield of temptation quenching faith, the helmet of firm salvation, the sword of the ministry of the Word of God, and the buckle of persistent prayer.  Now listen, listen.  That’s the way and the only way you can fight sin and win. (end of side one.) There are no shortcuts.  There are not quick fixes.  There are not little chants, not little mantra you can say and get it fixed.  That’s the way you fight against sin and win.  Now it may wrestle you at times.  It may wrestle you and throw you down.  But I want to tell you, child of God, in Jesus Christ it cannot hold you down.  And there’s gospel forgiveness in Jesus Christ.  Amen?  If he throws you down once, repent and ask God’s forgiveness.  God’ll forgive you.  You get back up on your feet and you get back in that march, and you get back in that line, and you go back to war for God’s glory because God didn’t give up on you, and you can’t give up on yourself.  He doesn’t own us.  We don’t belong to him.  WE belong to God, and there’s victory in Jesus.