Armed Up for Spiritual War

Welcome to all of you. I thought we might be a little light with some of the teens out, but it's good to see you here. Those of you that are missing a teenager or perhaps even a spouse in your house this weekend, you can thank us later.

They'll be back. You may have noticed a bunch of cars outside, and I just appreciate Chris's prayer a moment ago, as this is a great opportunity for the teens to hear from different voices.

The same word, same word of God, but this is a neat opportunity that we've been sending our teens to for quite a few years. So they'll be back later today.

Why don't you find a Bible, if you can, either on your lap or on your phone or in a journal, and open up again to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6, we've been walking our way through this book for a few months now,

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

and we come now to a passage that is maybe one of the most well-known passages in the entire book. The armor of God. So we're going to begin reading in verse 10, and although the translation I have in front of me makes it look as though it just runs right into verse 18 as one full paragraph,

I'm actually going to stop at the end of verse 17, and we'll pick up the rest of that for next week. So Ephesians chapter 6, beginning in verse 10.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Follow along with me as I read for us.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 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 heavenly realms.

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, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, and take up the helmet of salvation,

and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Would you bow your heads with me as we pray? Heavenly Father, as we come to this time today to teach, to gird our hearts with truth, we just pray that you would bind anything that distracts us.

Lord, let this be a time where your Word is proclaimed unhindered. Lord, we pray for our teens right now, as they're also being taught and stretched and shown truths, Lord.

We pray for our children as well, as they're having this opportunity for teaching that will reach them at their level as well. May your Word not return void.

We trust in you. We thank you for Jesus. And it's in His name that we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, we are coming to the close, or almost there, in this book of Ephesians, and you may have noticed that as we come here to the end of this section of the letter,

it's getting very doctrinally rich again. In fact, this section has sometimes been called the doctrinal wrap-up of the letter before Paul gets a little bit more practical at the very end.

Only, it's not instruction about what we have in Christ, all the blessings that we have in Christ right now, nor is it this ethical teaching about how we're supposed to live as the church, or conduct and behave in our households, as we've been seeing over the last few weeks.

No, today, Paul reminds us of this unseen spiritual battle that's happening all around us. He reminds us of how there are dark spiritual forces that oppose us, and that are trying to destroy us.

Because although our enemy Satan has been defeated at the cross, and he very much has, over in Colossians 2, we can hear Paul tell us how Christ has disarmed and shamed the rulers and authorities in heavenly realms.

Yes, their doom is sealed, it's certain, but it hasn't been accomplished fully yet. They say, time is on the clock, as they say. Meaning that we have to wait before we see their final destruction.

And so we live in this meantime. And we know that they can do damage. They can do damage to everything and everyone God has made in this world.

And they do this, the evil forces do, because they hate God. Because they're diabolically opposed to everything God has ever made. And especially, and I want you to understand this this morning, especially to the church.

Here's a passage from the book of Revelation that gives us a snapshot of what I'm talking about. This is Revelation chapter 12, verses 9 and 12.

Revelation 12:9

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows, he knows that his time is short. And if there's any truth I can sort of impress upon you this morning, it's that.

That his time is short, and he knows his time is short. It's pretty sobering. So this is the situation, this is the spiritual reality that's on Paul's mind as he begins to wrap up this letter.

He wants you and I to realize what we're in. And what we're in is a fight. And he wants you to be fully aware of the stakes, and fully prepared for the battle.

So this morning I think we can just basically divide Paul's teaching into two points. Two very simple points. A first point about the nature of our struggle, and a second point about what God has made available to us in Christ for the fight.

But before we get to that, to all that God's made available to us, let's make sure we first understand what it is that we're in. We are in a struggle.

And so our first point is simply that. Point number one. Our struggle is against the spiritual forces of evil. The spiritual forces of evil who are over the present darkness of our world.

Now Paul's already told us earlier in this letter, if we go back to chapter 1, verse 21, that there are these rulers and authorities and powers out there in the spiritual realm.

Chapter 2, he's also mentioned the prince of the power of the air. This spirit, Satan, we know who he is, who is at work in the sons of disobedience.

And this prince, this devil, will look for any opportunity he can find to rage against God's people, to destroy them. I like how one scholar puts it, Ian Duguid, in his commentary he writes that, life is not a picnic, but a battle.

You know, sometimes these commentaries are really deep and theological, and that sentence just jumped off the page. Life is not a picnic. Even the Christian life.

It is a battle. And we are in a battle in dark territory. This present darkness is how Paul describes it. So he starts off in verse 10, and the word that you may see in front of you says, finally, but really a better translation would be, from now on.

Henceforth. Moving forward, Paul says, in this interim time between the defeats. Some of you are thinking, well, what are we talking about? The defeats.

We're talking about two defeats. And I want you to understand this. There is an initial defeat that Christ has conquered darkness at the cross.

An initial defeat where he has won salvation for us. But there's also a coming final defeat at the end of the age. And that has not come yet.

And for now, what that means is that you and I live in this in-between time. This intervening period between the defeats. And it's a period of time that is characterized by conflict.

By spiritual conflict. This is why Paul commands this the way he does. In verse 11, he goes on to say, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to take your stand against the devil's schemes.

You see, the devil has a plan. Years ago, they used to say, you know, the four spiritual laws. Number one, God has a wonderful plan for your life.

Well, the enemy, Satan, has a plan for your life too. But it's not wonderful. It's terrible. Think about that. The devil has a terrible plan for your life.

Or actually more like plans and strategies. Schemes. That means he has techniques that are underhanded and deceptive and tricky and sinister.

Remember, Satan is not an honorable being. He does not fight fair. He has no honor. He doesn't fight clean. He is not straightforward or honest in his nature at all.

In fact, 2 Corinthians 11 reminds us that he often disguises himself, he masquerades as an angel of light. And you also need to understand that he doesn't have any mercy either.

He is a dangerous wolf. A ravenous lion. That's how the Bible describes him. And he prowls around looking not for the strong, not for the strong people, but for those struggling.

For the weak. For the vulnerable. He's like the schoolyard bully who is much more bigger and more powerful than you, but nevertheless comes at you when you're not looking.

And hits you from behind. Shoves you to the ground when you're totally unsuspecting. And kicks you when you're down. This is true evil. I want you to try to remember this.

A lot of times we block out the evil in our world, in our sanitized 21st century lives. We forget how terrible things can be in our world and in many moments of our own lives.

All the horrors of the world. All the terrible crimes and awful things that have ever happened. I want you to realize that there is a force or forces that are motivating wicked people to do the wicked things that they do.

Think about where does all this come from? Who inspires all of this suffering and abuse and horrific stuff and war? It's the devil. He is motivating every serial killer and every conqueror and every abuser.

He's the one laughing at the atrocities of war as they're being played out. He was behind the slave trade. He's behind sexual abuse. He's behind physical abuse.

He's behind every form of corruption and destruction. And I want you to understand that if he, the enemy, the devil, could kill every last person on earth and there were only one left, he would still keep coming because it's in his nature.

He'll never be content until he destroys utterly destroys everything and everyone God cares about. And it's not just him in isolation. Paul reminds us in verse 12 that he has some forces that are at his command.

He commands these rulers and authorities and cosmic powers over the present darkness. All these spiritual forces of evil, which is kind of an umbrella term for all of these powers.

Now, some scholars try to rank and classify these dark powers. And the consensus today, I've got to tell you, is that we really don't know much about this supernatural world.

Is it fair to say that because we know there is rank in the angelic world, that there's probably also rank in the demonic world? Yes, it stands to reason there probably is rank.

But Paul's point right here in this passage is not to teach us about a hierarchy or a chain of command in the demonic realm so much as it's to teach us, to warn us, that our wrestling match, our fight, isn't against flesh and blood, it's against these beings.

And besides, when you're in the trenches and somebody's lobbing shells or bullets or shots at you, do you really care what the rank of your enemy is?

You know they're trying to kill you. And that's what's important. But, the scriptures remind us that our side has already won. And as Paul is very clear to remind us in verse 11 and then again in verse 13, not only have we been given victory, we've also been

given ground to stand upon. This is why we read of this word, stand, take your stand, four different times. Stand against his schemes, withstand in the evil day, stand your ground, stand firm, Paul says here.

And Jesus reminded us over in Matthew 16 that the gates of Hades would not be able to prevail against his church. We need to stand.

See, Paul uses some very familiar military terminology from the ancient world. This analogy of having one ground and then holding that ground that you've won.

And honestly, although a lot about our warfare has changed over 2,000 years, I think this part is the same. It hasn't changed. Even today, in conflicts in the world, modern military forces still fight to take ground and keep ground.

I can think of another analogy. It's a lot less austere, a lot more casual, lighthearted. Let me talk about football. Maybe you don't know, but a few hours from now, there's this thing on television called the Super Bowl, right?

A lot of you are saying, I don't care. And others of you are like, I can't wait to go home and turn on pregame. The Super Bowl, it's a football game.

That's really all it is, is a hyped up football game where people spend a lot of money. And when we watch this game tonight, we don't know who's going to win or what the score is going to be, but I can make one prediction.

I'm going to make this prediction that if one team is up on the other team late in the fourth quarter, which is pretty likely, I'm going to make a prediction that you're going to see a change in defense in the closing minutes.

You're going to go from seeing a very aggressive, I mean, these two teams feature these great defenses, very aggressive defensive schemes and plays to what's called a conservative approach.

You're going to see in the closing minutes of the game what they sometimes call prevent defense. Have you heard of that? Prevent defense is a defensive alignment that tries to prevent the opposing team from having a big play, from completing a long pass and thereby scoring.

And so prevent defense will allow short yardage gains. Three yards here, five yards there, no big deal. It's okay because the clock is running down and they will be out of time.

So we'll just give up a little bit of ground, give up a few more yards and play prevent defense. But Paul says here, no way, not for you. You don't play prevent defense.

You stand. You stand your ground and you don't give the enemy an inch because if you do, he just keeps coming for more and more and more and he never stops until he destroys you.

So in this struggle against these spiritual forces of evil, stand the ground that Christ has won for you. Stand against the schemes of the devil.

And right about now, if you're like me, you're thinking, okay, that sounds great, but how do I do that? Well, we're not going to be able to in our own strength.

And so Paul goes on to tell us that there is something indispensable that we need. We need someone else's strength and we need someone else's armor.

And that's our second point and really our main point today, number two. We need the Lord's strength. The Lord's strength, his might, which is available to us in his spiritual armor.

Verse 10, Paul says, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. And again, while that sounds good and the idea is certainly awesome and noble, a lot of times it's hard to know what does that actually look like.

And in verse 13, he begins to show us. Verse 13, he says, 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.

And then what Paul does is he goes on and he unpacks six different pieces of the armor. Six different pieces of armor that you need to be aware of, that you need as a Christian, as a believer.

And I want you to understand that these pieces of armor all have like a background in the Old Testament. Yeah, it's true that Roman guards are around Paul as he writes this letter.

We realize that he's under house arrest, that he's looking at Roman soldiers every day, that he's even chained up to one 24 seven. But a lot of us fall into this thinking that he's just thinking about a Roman soldier, but Paul's actually thinking about the Old Testament.

Scripture is on his heart and brain. And I want to share with you just a few passages that undoubtedly Paul's mind is inundated with. These are from the book of Isaiah.

Here's how God is described in his armor in Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 11 verse 5. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

Isaiah 11:5

Isaiah 59 verse 17. He puts on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head. He puts on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.

Isaiah 59:17

rock. Or how about this? Isaiah chapter 11 verse 4. And he shall strike the earth with the rod, also sometimes translated sword, of his mouth.

Isaiah 11:4

Or Isaiah 49 verse 2. He made my mouth like a sharp sword. Notice though that it's God's waist. It's his breastplate of righteousness. righteousness.

Isaiah 49:2

It's him who has the sharp sword. You see, this armor that Paul wants you and I to have, it is first and foremost God's armor. And yet, and I want you to follow with me as I say this, and yet through the gospel, because of the divine warrior Jesus,

who went to the cross and won his fight there. He won his struggle against evil. He disarmed the evil powers there. What that means is that the armor that God once wore is now ours.

What once belonged to him, he now shares with us as his people, so that the whole armor of God is available to us. And what are its parts? Well, again, Paul goes on to delineate six different pieces.

In verse 14, he starts with the first one, the belt of truth. The belt of truth. Stand, therefore, verse 14, having fastened the belt of truth.

I found it interesting that the Greek doesn't actually have the word belt. What it literally says is being girded or buckled up in the truth.

You see, back in the day for the Roman soldiers, a sturdy leather belt was so important. It was used to gather up the soldier's tunic and to keep his legs free for movement.

A belt also held his armor in place, held his sword, all of his weapons were there, so that he was prepared to fight. Without a belt, you might say the belt was the most important piece of the armor.

Without a belt, everything was in disarray and it was hard to keep together and could fall off. And if there's one thing you don't want to have happening in a battle, it's that you can't keep track of things and it's falling off of you.

The belt of truth. And Paul wants you and I to understand that this is what the truth does for you and me. Truth for us is like a belt. It gathers us and it holds us together.

The truth prepares us and readies us for the spiritual fight that we're in. It holds everything together for us in the Christian life. The truth does.

And this is why we teach the truth here at our church. And other churches do. This is why we believe in teaching. And we'll never stop teaching truth in sound doctrine week by week.

This is why our children will learn truth at their level. And our teens will be girded in the truth so that they will know what they believe and why they believe it.

We want you to be buckled up for the spiritual fight. Of course, we can't help but echo back to chapter 4, Ephesians 4, back where Paul talked about those who had equipping roles.

Equipping roles. Listen to this again in Ephesians 4, verses 12 and 13. Listen to what especially is the task of the shepherds and teachers.

Ephesians 4:12

Ephesians 4, verse 12. It's to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Ephesians 4:12

You've got to be buckled up in the truth. Because when you're buckled up in the truth, moms and dads, then you'll no longer be like children yourselves.

In fact, you'll be able to teach and train up your own children. And when you're buckled firmly in the truth, singles and young, married, without kids yet, you won't be tossed to and fro by the waves of the sea and carried about by every wind of doctrine, like some of your doubt-riddled deconstructing friends might be.

And when you're girded in the truth, older adults and retirees, you will be equipped to speak the truth in love to others and to lovingly guide and maybe even warn others about the craftiness of the devil's schemes.

Because you've lived longer than us. You've walked through life for more decades. You're more familiar with his tactics and his schemes. You see, without the belt of truth buckling us in our lives, if we don't hear the truth, if we don't learn it, if we aren't fed by the teaching of the

Bible, and if we neglect our Bibles and don't teach ourselves, we should not be surprised if we feel like our lives are coming apart. If we feel like the enemy's quicker than we are.

And he's winning. And we can't get a hand on our weapon. Listen, it's hard to stand your ground in a fight if your armor is more or less falling off.

So let me ask you, is someone you know, or maybe even you yourself, who's feeling really confused and disoriented in your faith, are you regularly being equipped with the truth?

Are you regularly under the ministry of the Word to be equipped by those whom God has given these equipping gifts? Because it's critical, it's important that you are.

That's the first piece. Next up, Paul goes on to talk about the breastplate of righteousness. That's our next piece of armor. Again, in Roman armor, the breastplate covered not only the chest, but also the sides and the back.

Think of it like a bulletproof vest or like body armor that covers all of the vitals.

And really, there are two senses in which Christ has given us the armor. In one sense, we have this righteousness as a protective armor because Christ has imputed his righteousness to us.

Imputed is a fancy word for giving it to us. Made it ours. He has taken his perfect righteousness and when he went to the cross, he did an exchange, didn't he?

He took on upon himself our sin and he imputed or gave to us who believe in him his righteousness. So that when any person comes to him in faith, God looks down and he no longer sees the sins that we've committed.

Instead, he sees something else. He sees the righteousness of his son in us and over us. And we're guarded by that. That's the first sense here Paul has of breastplate of righteousness.

righteousness, Christ's righteousness girds you and protects you, protects your heart from guilt and false shame that the enemy will always try to use.

The breastplate of righteousness means that when the enemy reminds you of sins that you've already confessed and have been forgiven, the breastplate of Christ's righteousness reminds you that God isn't seeing that.

God isn't remembering that and holding that against you. Those are forgiven. But there's another sense in which we are to wear the breastplate of righteousness because when Christ's righteousness comes to us and begins to work in us, the Bible also teaches us that we grow in our own righteousness and holiness, right?

The growth in our own righteousness as we live holy lives, as we confront sin, as we're made aware of it and put it to death and mortify it so that we can grow in righteous conduct conduct and character and behavior and bear the fruit of righteousness in our lives.

This is the sense Paul has when he talks about the breastplate over in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 8. He says this, he says, since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love.

1 Thessalonians 5:8

He's telling us this is how righteousness in you is going to manifest. It's going to manifest in fruits like faith and love. The breastplate of righteousness.

Next up, verse 15, we get to the foot gear. Next piece of the equipment is shoes. The shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

Shoes. I remember for years it was like a major struggle in our marriage for our children to keep their shoes on. shoes. Any of you know what I'm talking about?

Something about some kids more than others. Sometimes, I don't know if it's like the church, the holy ground that the church is or whatever it is, that just shoes disappear.

They go missing. They get buried in the mulch out there. They show up in the parking lot. Not that often. Shoes are important. And you'd think that your little ones would remember this every time they stub their toe or someone steps on their toes.

And you say, as a parent or as a friend, you should have your shoes on. The importance of foot gear. There's really no way to overemphasize how important it was for Roman soldiers back in the first century.

It's maybe not an exaggeration to say, and some historians have said this, that the Romans pretty much conquered their empire because they had better foot gear.

Seriously. The Roman foot gear, this shoe called the calagai, it was really like a cross between a sandal and a boot. I meant to have a picture.

I don't have one. But imagine like a sandal that ropes up all the way over your calf, stiff, dried out leather, and underneath it on the sole, they had these nails that they put in so that you could have traction.

Almost like a modern day cleat. Cleats. We know how important cleats are if you're out running on a field. You get traction. Foot gear is important.

And armies of the ancient world were often shocked at how quickly Romans could make time. How quickly a Roman garrison would show up over the mountain all ready for battle before they were expected because their feet were fitted and ready.

Of course, our foot gear is for a different kind of readiness. It's a readiness given by the gospel of peace. Gospel of peace. So yeah, it's a part of the armory.

It's a weapon. We are in a spiritual battle. But Paul reminds us that our message is good news. Good news of peace. Isaiah chapter 52, verse 7.

Isaiah 52:7

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him who brings good news. Who publishes peace. Who brings good news of salvation. Who publishes salvation.

The sense back here in Isaiah's day is of a messenger who brings a report of victory. Victory that a battle has been won for your side. So that now we don't have to fight.

Now fighting is done. Now there can be peace. And that's exactly what's happened in the spiritual realm with Jesus Christ. Our Savior has gone to the cross, defeated sin, disarmed our powers, and claimed us as His very own.

Remember that imagery of Ephesians 4. The captives in His trail. He's freed us. We are now His. The victory is His. And that means now there can be peace.

Peace. Peace on two levels. Peace first and foremost with God. Because we're no longer at hostility with Him. Because we've been forgiven. Our sins have been wiped away.

But we also have peace with each other. One to another. All barriers and walls cast down as we're reconciled as one new people. Paul's reminding us that this message of peace, this is what you and I need to have our feet fitted with every day.

The gospel of peace.

Next in verse 16, he gets to the shield. The next piece of equipment, the shield of faith. Verse 16, he says, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith.

All circumstances, because there's never going to be a circumstance or a time or a moment that you don't need it. You always want to have your shield of faith with you because you never know when an enemy dart is going to fly in your direction.

Paul was thinking about a large Roman shield, no doubt. A four foot, tall, two and a half foot wide shield that someone my size, I could just hide right behind it.

These shields were made out of wood planks and they say they were covered in leather and then they were dipped in water. They were made wet.

Why? Because the enemies loved to light their arrows on fire. They would dip them in pitch and light them on fire. And when you would hit the shield, if it wasn't wet, it could blast fire everywhere and disrupt and disorient your enemy.

And so you would dip it in water and as soon as that arrow hit the shield, it would extinguish.

Furthermore, as you sometimes see depicted in old movies, soldiers could band together with these big shields and make a nearly impenetrable shield wall to protect the whole group.

And there's a lesson in that too, isn't there? For those of us who gather together, how important it is to pull together with the shields of faith that we all have because then when one of us struggles or is vulnerable to attack, the faith of others can come together and help shield us.

The devil and his forces want to attack us and they often shoot those flaming arrows of temptation at us, flaming arrows of doubt at us. But there is strength and protection in that shield of faith and how much more so when we come together as a wall with shields of faith.

In verse 17, Paul finishes with the last two pieces of equipment. First, it's the helmet. The helmet of salvation. I think we all know the helmet is a pretty critical piece of equipment because it protects a very critical piece of the body and that's the head.

The head. Paul calls it a helmet of salvation because our understanding of our salvation as sure and certain needs to be protected. We need to be reminded that we are covered in Christ.

We are saved not by our own works but by His work, by His atonement. That should guard our thinking so that we don't run around our lives thinking that, whoops, I might have committed a sin I can't be forgiven for or, oh no, it's one too many sins.

Our minds, our brains are guarded with the helmet of our salvation. We know that we're saved, Satan. So stop trying to accuse us and tell us that there's something that we can't be forgiven for.

We know that we are the Lord, Satan. So you and your forces stop trying to get us to despair and give up the fight because we might have fallen yet again to another temptation.

Our minds are guided and protected by the knowledge that we can always, always come back to the Lord to find forgiveness when we confess our sins.

The helmet of our salvation. And finally, the last piece of the armor, the sixth piece of equipment. The sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.

And I want to make sure you put these two together. The sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. The sword of every infantry member would have been a short sword.

They say, not these big long ones, but the two foot short sword that you would tuck in your belt. These swords that the Roman soldiers carried were razor sharp, but not just on one side, but on both sides.

Which was, again, kind of a rarity in the ancient world. Romans carried double-edged swords. And a double-edged sword is what every Christian has too.

Hebrews 4, verse 12 tells us this. It tells us that the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts

Hebrews 4:12

and intentions of the heart. Maybe you know someone who gets impressions from the Spirit where they believe that God is telling them this or that.

And that may well be. God is able to do that. But we must always remember that the only way to really test whether these things are true is to test them against a standard that's completely reliable, that's wholly true and consistent, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God

in our Bible. Because God's Word has a unique cutting and piercing power, doesn't it? It alone discerns for us and judges us and even judges our hearts.

and sometimes we really need this. Paul's referring to the Word of God which when we proclaim it and when we teach it and when we speak it even to our own hearts and in times of need will send evil powers in retreat.

It is an offensive weapon. Remember the temptation of Christ when the devil came to Him after His 40 days of fasting. Remember what weapon He pulled out.

I love this quote here. I want to share with you from pastor and theologian John Stott. He talks about how the Spirit uses this sword. How God's Spirit uses His written Word.

And this is what he writes. He still uses it to cut through people's defenses. To prick their consciences. And to, get this, stab them spiritually awake.

Right? Think about that. That metaphor of being asleep. and being stabbed spiritually awake. Yet He also puts His sword, the Spirit, puts His sword into our hands.

So that we may use it in both resisting temptation and in evangelism. And we need the whole Word of God for this. Every part. We need what another scholar calls an unmutilated Bible.

without any parts that we've cut out or cut off. We don't want to mutilate our Bibles. D.L. Moody once said that a mutilated Bible is a broken sword.

And a broken sword isn't much good for anything.

This morning, I hope Paul's words help you realize what kind of a world we live in. Yes, it was created good. Yes, it's in the process of redemption.

And yes, our world will one day be completely renewed. But for now, in between the defeats, in this intervening time, it is now temporarily ruled by the prince of the power of the air.

By evil, dark powers. And we need to realize that our struggle is against these spiritual forces of evil in this present darkness. I hope you recognize the strength that's available to you today in the Lord.

And I pray that you will avail yourself of His power and His might and His strength every day. And that you'll do that by constantly taking up the armor that He has provided for you.

Because you and I need that belt of truth to hold things together. And we need that breastplate of righteousness to guard our hearts when Satan attacks.

and let's have our feet shod with the shoes that are ready to share the gospel of peace telling others how they can have peace with God and with each other one way.

Don't forget your shield of faith. You're going to need it to extinguish every flaming dart. The helmet of salvation for your mind. To protect your head from lies.

and always always have the sword of the Spirit with the Word of God ready at your fingertips. Ready at your lips.

I'm going to give you a moment to reflect on this and I'm just going to close our time today in prayer and I want you to pray for pray for yourself I want you to pray for your family if you have one I want you to pray for your friends and your co-workers let's close our time as we pray shall we?

Heavenly Father we're reminded today what a world we live in we cannot see Lord all that there is we're reminded today that we do indeed live in a world that is a raging battle that there in it are unseen powers Lord

seeking to oppose all that you're doing but you've not left us alone Lord in fact you've already won the victory in your Son in Jesus and so Lord in this in-between time that we live while we do still have to contend with the Prince of the Power of the Air help us not to try to do this in our own strength Father

remind us of this arsenal this armory that we have available to us Lord and let us be taking it up every day Lord will you guard us and bind us in truth Lord will you guard our hearts with your breastplate of righteousness that we could never have

will you shield us in the faith guarding our minds Lord will you equip us with the offensive weapon of the sword will you help us Lord to sharpen our swords we need this in this fight I pray for every man woman teen child everyone that's here today

Lord I pray for our church that you would guard us and protect us Lord we know that when we are growing in you and growing deeper in holiness and when we are sharing our faith with others that the enemy doesn't like it and he opposes it and he attacks us and so Lord we commit ourselves to you to stand

our ground in your strength Lord we pray for those of us that are going through a difficult time right now Lord I pray even for those who aren't with us today that should be that need to be I pray that your spirit would strive with them and that you would help us grow

as a family for it's in your name that we pray and for your name's sake that we stand we pray all these things in Jesus name amen amen thank you for worshiping with us this morning you are dismissed

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Thank you.