The Meaning of the Sword (Ephesians 6:17)

How are we?

Good.

Let's go to Ephesians chapter six, guys.

We're almost done.

We're gonna talk about the sword of the spirit, which is

such a weird kind of topic.

I got on YouTube and looked up some teachings on the sword of the spirit,

and guys are like pulling out swords on stage.

I'm like, keep that away from the, it's so funny, the armor thing, there's like

full suits of armor and they're like, Some guy's getting super nerdy and deep

into it, and mapped out everything.

And I wonder why Paul left this piece of the art, one guy went into this

like 10 minute thing about the spear, that they had the throw and I'm, and

he is I wonder why Paul left it out.

I'm like, you did and you just wasted 10 minutes.

But cool.

So this is kind of, The way we come to this topic can be goofy

as Christians because it's this thing we're disconnected from.

we're not, surrounded.

Or being occupied by a foreign army.

we're not seeing this.

We're not, front and center to conflicts.

But Paul has drawn our attention to is that we are in a ongoing conflict.

but that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but that we write

soul against principalities and powers.

So let's read, verse 10.

we'll finish up.

The armor today, but then we'll go to prayer next week, which is an

important of the special battle.

Finally, verse 10, be strong in the Lord and 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 places.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able

to withstand in the evil day.

And having done all to stand firm stand, therefore having fastened on the belt of

truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and his shoes for

your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace and all

circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the

flaming arrows of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword

of the spirit, which is the word of God.

Praying at all times in the spirit with all parents supplication.

To that end, keep alert with all parents making supplication for all the saints and

also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim

the mystery of the gospel for which I'm an ambassador in chains, that I may

declare it boldly as I ought to speak.

This is the word of the Lord.

Now, part of having Christian parents is that they each have a testimony.

and my dad's testimony, you guys have heard it.

He was a drug dealer, got kicked outta Oregon, he's a hippie,

in the, sixties and seventies.

and Jesus saves him radically, right?

And, He comes out of a police station after his, friend

overdosed in his house and died.

And they, they tried to drop him off , at a hospital.

They had propped this dead friend up in the back of their car and said,

I think something's wrong with him.

And the doctors at the hospital were like, yeah, you need to stick

around and answer some questions.

And so he was questioned at the end of his rope.

Not finding fulfillment.

He looks up into heaven and says, find God.

I give up a van that had just passed him, turns around, makes a U-turn,

pulls up next to him, the slide door opens up and says, Hey, do you want

to go to a Bible study about Jesus?

literally.

okay.

My mom's testimony, she, got into the occult at an early age.

She had a traumatic childhood raised by an evil aunt and got into the occult

for, some source of power, that turned into a full-blown fascination with it.

My mom became a satanist, also in the hippie era.

and she was a high priestess and had her own Satan church down in Hollywood.

And, and through a process of it, it was a boss who was like Jesus to

her, who didn't judge her, just kept.

Witnessing and showing love, and care and concern.

She couldn't keep that away from that.

Through a series of events, she comes to Jesus and she's radically set free.

one of the things with my mom's testimony is that because, of her

background in the occult, whenever somebody was dealing with something in.

The cult or wanting to come out of it, my, they would call my mom.

And, and so we always got as kids a front row view of things,

not wanting the front row view.

We don't want to go on this ride.

and some of it was pretty crazy, some days where, you know, calling the

pastor and this lady's talking in a.

Otherworldly voice, and there's a lot of . Nuance in the New Testament.

That's true.

There, there are, demons and beings, and you give place to the enemy.

Scripture says you open yourself up in this way.

And, they dominate an enslave.

But the Bible's nuanced about spiritual battle.

and sometimes Jesus, he, casts out a demon and sometimes he says,

oh, this is a mental disorder.

sometimes it's sickness.

And so it's not a one size fits all.

Everything's a demon.

it's a very nuanced view of evil that the Bible has and that God

has what I wanna say, is that people Think that Satan's main work

against us is like the weird stuff.

Making people foam at the mouth and levitate above their

beds, exorcism type stuff.

you see it in the movies.

it's very exciting, to see this craziness, and we think, oh,

that's the devil, That's the evil.

That he's, working on, we're gonna talk about Jesus being

tested in the wilderness.

And what's fascinating about the story is that Satan's not out there getting

him to blaspheme or showing him porn or it's not, getting him to rebel.

it's not these big things that we often think.

But the thing that Satan does over and over is trying to make him doubt

the goodness of God towards him.

This is our main temptation from the enemy, the root of all

temptations, to establish our identity on something other than God's

declaration over you in Jesus Christ.

That's it.

so often we think, Oh, the enemy spiritual warfare.

I just want us, as we come out of this whole theme of spiritual warfare, to

remember that the main temptation, the root of all temptations, is to establish

your identity on something other that declaration over you in Christ that

you are Hez beloved son and daughter.

That's it.

He's gonna go against that.

So Satan, the enemy of our souls, wants us to base our identity.

On something other than.

What God says over us.

So we're gonna look at that and we're gonna see how Jesus fights that and

how, he uses the sword, to do So we looked at what the sword was the last

time we were together two weeks ago.

we talked about the different ways that we read it, the goldmine approach,

the hero approach, the rules approach, the artifact approach, the guidebook

approach, the doctrine approach this kind of way that we look at the Bible soft.

And as this.

weird thing, and then the gospel approach, what's the Bible actually about?

and that, that's what we need to see.

so what is the word go?

We're gonna get into that a little more.

We saw what the sword is and today we'll see how to use the sword of the spirit,

in this constant ongoing battle because that temptation is always coming our

way, through a, doctor's diagnosis.

through losing a job through the temptation to doubt that God really

cares that he's really after our good, the evil, the suffering we see in the

world, that is always coming our way.

So how do we deal with that?

The battle that we're in, we're told to stand firm, hold the ground

that Jesus has already won, right?

You don't have to win the ground.

He's already won it.

You stand on the ground that he's won.

Stand.

Don't go and take it upon yourself.

Jesus has already won the victory completely and he wants us to

live it experientially, right?

So he's done it.

He's achieved it.

Don't achieve a victory.

Live in his victory, right?

We are not trying to achieve victory.

Jesus has already won it.

You're not fighting for victory.

We're fighting from victory, right?

So Jesus has already won.

The cross is the culmination of history.

We're still not waiting, is the cosmic.

evil powers, we're not waiting for, the clash that's gonna

happen at the end of the age.

The clash of history happened at the cross in resurrection, Jesus Christ.

We now live in the aftermath or the resolution of the risen one, now beginning

to restore things back to the way they were originally made to be an Eden.

so we looked at the belt of truth stand, therefore having

fastened on the belt of truth.

What does that mean?

Jesus, who is true is to encompass our whole being, making every part of us true.

What you see is what you get.

Remember we talked about without wax, right?

without wax, breastplate of righteousness and having put on

the breastplate of righteousness.

Righteousness, covering our hearts and our vital organs.

Not a righteousness we provide or earn, but a foreign righteousness

that was one for us at the cross, and Jesus are righteous.

Ness, is making us righteous.

Preparation of the gospel of peace and his shoes for your feet.

Having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace,

something that keeps our feet from slipping into doubting God's love.

So the gospel of peace, girded about our feet, making our steps, sure and secure.

We remember that while we were enemies, Christ died for us.

When we were in open rebellion to him, he chased us and pursued

us, and made us his friends.

And that's to keep us from slipping shield of faith.

Joshua Kehler: Then all circumstances take up the shield of faith with

which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

So we take this up.

Faith's greatest value is that it connects us with the victor,

right on what God says is true.

The all powerful, all sufficient Lord whose victory over

the enemy is our victory.

As we daily take up the shield of faith that enables us to rest fully upon the

faithfulness of God, the finished work of Christ, and the fullness of the

Spirit, able to quench every flaming arrow of the helmet of salvation

and take the helmet of salvation, the whole grand scope of salvation.

I have been saved.

I am being saved.

I will be saved right from beginning to end the sword of the Spirit and take

the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

It was called the Mera.

the kind of sword that's used there was the long sword, not as long as

the Braveheart sword, but there was the long sword and there was the

dagger that was probably 18 inches long, double-edged, sharp as a needle.

Now think about when you're in the tortoise formation, right?

Okay.

I'm geeking out a little bit like those guys on YouTube.

and I only mention this because the times we think we're out

there battling by ourselves, the Roman soldiers did not do that.

They were together, shields locked.

And so even in interpreting this, you have to interpret it within the idea

of community because you couldn't, if your shields are locked and you're

together, you couldn't pull your long sword outta your sheath, right?

Because then you'd slice your friend's neck or whatever, And

remember, the idea is wrestling.

It's not a wrestling match that has a referee.

Where he's doing rounds.

The wrestling that he's talking about is like struggle in the

dirt, pushing, somebody's face, it's the last ditch you're in

this wrestling for life or death.

That's the kind of wrestling he's talking about.

And so that dagger, in fact, it's the same word that's used in Hebrews four

12 when it talks about the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword.

So it's that double-edged needle-like.

This is a spiritual sword and cuts in the spiritual realm.

We go to human way so often, and that's not the sword the spirit uses.

James one 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

So we talked about this a little bit last time.

Remember Peter?

Peter's got his sword and he's in the garden in Gethsemane.

Everybody's coming and the whole group is coming to arrest Jesus

led by Judas and Peter's it's time.

And he takes out his sword and he cuts off, a servant's ear.

And Jesus said, put it away, Peter.

that's not the sword.

That's not the sword.

And then on the day of Pentecost, what happens is Peter gets up and he

begins to use the sword of the spirit.

He begins to preach the gospel, the good news, and it literally

says people were cut to the heart.

He said, Peter, you cut off the ear.

You did damage physically.

But what does that do?

That turns.

Him against me, but my word, my good news of what I've done to come

and rescue and save and seek the loss, like that melts the heart.

That gets to the heart of things.

That actually changes a person.

That changes a person.

And so you've got, so often we go to the human ways for things and we forget that.

We're wrestling against not flesh and blood, but so often, even in

the church, we're looking for human solutions to spiritual problems.

It's because we don't believe in the power of this sword, and we know we

don't believe in it because we so rarely use it in those situations.

I, and I'm, I'll be the first.

I so rarely, like you say here about who I am in you.

I so often want to change my circumstances in the physical

realm through physical means.

When the Lord's telling us here, man, we are in this spiritual battle, and

that there's one weapon to use the O.

It's the only one in the arsenal.

Maybe because it's the only one we need, one weapon.

You know why?

Just one I want, in Call of Duty, I've got like 40 guns unlocked, right?

With each gun has a hundred attachments.

you're like, I want more.

And he's this is the only one you need.

It's the only one you need.

It is a sword that belongs to the spirit, but it's putting your hand to use.

Now, here's what I want to get into a little bit, and this is nerding

out in the original language.

There's three words that are used in the Greek for.

The word of God.

Okay.

graphe, the writings, the written word, the sixties books and

the words that make them up and compose the canon of scripture.

When Paul is talking about the word of God here, he's not talking about walking

around with a Bible under your arm.

That's not the word he uses.

He uses the word rama when he talks about the sword.

So you've got Graphe, which has used a lot about the word of God.

It's the writings, it's the scripture, it's compiled, it's been put together.

And then the next word that's used is you've got the word logos,

which we see in John one, one.

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

The word logs in the beginning was the logs, and the logs was

with God, and the logs was God.

What does that mean?

Log Os means that it's the message of the book, what it's about.

So you've got Graphe, which is the compiled scripture, the words

written down, but then you've got the message or the meaning.

What's the story about?

And we know, cuz you've been places where sometimes the Bible's treated

like some kind of charm or something.

Or, you still have people in court swear on the Bible, right?

Like it's some superstitious thing that if they lie, God's

gonna strike 'em with lightning.

You know what?

that's, they don't care about the logos or the message of the Bible.

The meaning.

What they're just doing is they're putting their hand on the graph A,

the writings, the compiled writings.

So Log os the message of the book, what it's all about,

understanding what the passage says.

Like when we're together and we're studying, you understand

the log os or the meaning of the graph or the written word, right?

when I was young, we'd go to church on Tuesdays and help at women's ministry.

I think every homeschooler is bound to do that.

and we'd watch the kids and stuff, but sometimes Pastor would come on and we'd

have study time and, and I'd pull out my Bible and I would just underline random

passages, cuz I wanted to appear like I knew the message of the Bible, And,

You're like, why did you underline and Judas went out and hung himself, a thing.

I was a poser, right?

I understood the graph, I understood the written text.

I memorized it.

I had it.

I didn't know the message or the logos of it.

we grew up in a place where the word the Graphe was the

fourth member of the Trinity.

I heard a sermon once and I was some, for some reason paid attention, cuz

that's what I don't know, the word God was talked about over and over and over.

Not one mention of Jesus.

I'm like, you can't se because that's that's the logs, right?

The logs became flesh.

The meaning, the message became flesh and dwelt among us, right?

to let us know and to give us the full revelation of what the story's all about.

So you've got the logs, and then you have the rama, and that's

the word that Paul uses here.

The sort of the spirit, which is the word of God or the rama of God.

And rama means utterance of the word.

Spoken or declared the declaration of the message that is contained

in the written word of God.

You need the logos from the graphe and then you need to ram utter it, right?

And so here's what Hebrews four 12 says, for the word of God is living in.

That's logos for the logos of God is living and active.

It's so important to understand the meaning of the graphe.

The written word is what's alive and powerful.

That's why Paul says the gospel is the power God unto dis salvation.

It is not just obscure scriptures that we hang on our wall or that we are

disconnected from in some weird way.

Like it's not just, I had a book, a counseling book.

where, if somebody was going, you'd look up temptation or you'd look

up the, and it would just, it would give you verses on that, and I would

quote 'em to 'em, and the kids would come back when I was a youth pastor,

and they're like, it doesn't help.

I don't, you're not, I'm not doing anything.

they, I'm praying it, I quote, I it's not, there's no power there.

And it's because it's, I was disconnecting it from the message, The

things that changed kids' lives was like I've told you about, the kid who.

Stole the CDs.

And his mom was like, you need to punish him.

She was a single mom and and I went out by God's grace, I'm not this smart, but

I bought him a whole bunch of CD cases.

It was blank CDs.

He stole a whole hundred pack.

So I bought him a hundred pack of cases and he came into the

office and his head was hung low.

And I said, I can't believe you did this.

I can't believe you forgot the cases.

And I gave him the cases.

And he is what?

I'm like, yeah, they're yours, man.

That was the biggest thing I ever saw, change a kid, because

that's the message of the gospel.

And he got it.

He got the logos, he got the meaning of the written word.

He got graced.

can I be honest?

I was a pastor and I didn't get it.

but I would read and I'd be okay.

God's really upset with me today that I read, but maybe he's not.

But I think he is.

I didn't get the message.

I didn't get the tension.

I didn't get the meaning right.

Of that, the volume of the book was about Jesus, that he's the

substance behind every shadow.

like that the Old Testament is about him.

that's how we understand the Old Testament.

Read it in the lens of the gospel.

like that he's the meaning, the rescuer, the Messiah, whether you're

looking forward to him or whether we look back That gospel message that

God saves sinners of who I am chief.

like that message that, he created me good with a personality in a

good world, and he said it's good.

He didn't start with sin.

It started with his rejoice and celebration over this story of making

us, not because he needed from us, but to include us cuz he wanted to share with us.

That is the foundation and the fabric of every molecule in the universe

is this one of generosity in giving.

that's the beginning of the story.

Then we fall because we doubt his love and then God comes and he rescues us.

He lets us read the whole testament that's saying, can you save yourself?

They're like, maybe if we make a stronger commitment so they

have commitments and they have and tabernacles and remembrances.

Okay.

maybe if we have a good judge.

Okay.

So he sends 'em a lot of judges and they fall short.

Okay.

Maybe if we have a king and then the kings fall.

So the whole story is saying, You guys can't rescue yourselves.

You need a rescuer, and you guys can't be righteous enough to fulfill this covenant.

one of the greatest stories is when Abraham falls asleep and he sees a vision

because he is making a covenant with God.

So before he falls asleep, what you would do in that day is you would.

Cut animals in half.

Brutal, you cut 'em in half and then you walk through with the

person you're making covenant try.

This would be a good marriage ceremony.

and you walk through it and what you're saying is you're saying, if I failed

this covenant, let me be like this wild animals, let me be torn apart like this.

It was this like heavy.

And so Abraham falls asleep and he sees the fire of God walking through it

and Abraham's not walking through it.

And what God is saying from the very beginning, this is the story.

He's saying, I will never fail my covenant to you.

I'm the keeper.

Not you, Abraham.

But then he says, even if you fail Abraham, because he walked through

it alone, I'll be ripped apart.

Like bread and I'll be poured out like wine, like that is the logas,

The Logos of God is living, not just the book, but the message of the book.

It is alive and active, the story about Jesus, the Gospel, why so many

sermons, like you said, are dead or dulls because they miss the message.

Of the graphe, but they're really good at teaching the graphe, right?

They're good at going expositionally or what?

Or maybe not, like Ryan said, picking and choosing two verses.

and we were just talking about it.

so much of teaching preaching is, I feel like I want to teach on, sympathy

or I wanna teach, and so now I'll form something around that, instead of just.

Just letting, that message as we go through it inform us.

if all you get is some facts about the Bible, then all you get is the graph.

A, but when you get the message, that's different, right?

When that gospel starts to impact.

Tim Keller.

Tim Keller passed away.

I'm a fan.

he.

Coming out of it somewhere where it was like, about the graphe and

then hearing the logos in every sermon I would, he's an old guy.

He's my parents' age, he's not super dynamic speaker.

He's not, there's not lights on the stage.

he very, he's super tall.

He very awkwardly, stands in lumbers and doesn't ever move.

He likes classical music for worship.

he's so different.

He's such a different generation.

He gets to Jesus at the end and I would.

I would have to pull my car over because I was bawling driving on the way to work.

Or I'd be at work working in a walk-in and doing electrical and stuff.

And I'm listening to Tim Keller and it's oh, that's a good point.

Wow.

That's amazing.

That's, it gets Jesus as the hero is.

Jesus is the rescuer, the log offs, the word that became flesh and dwelt among us.

And I would just lose it and people would be like, are you okay?

I'm like, yeah, never been better.

Jesus has God as good, and I just,

Wow.

And I was like, who else teaches this?

That's right.

I've never heard this before.

Why am I just hearing it now?

And they're out there.

God has his remnant, right?

And you start to find them and you start to go, oh.

And, and so it's so important though.

And then we come to the RMA and this is something that's I guess something maybe

and that's why we're supposed to sing one another, hymns and spiritual songs

that we're supposed to tell one another, the gospel that we're supposed to exhort

one another while it's still the day.

don't wait, it's so fascinating because God said, let there

be light, and there was light.

He didn't just think about it.

It'd be nice to be light for some reason.

God built the universe.

Because he is a communicating God and a speaking God, and he

spoke and it happened, right?

The word the logus came and became flesh so that we might know the

tone and the tenor of God, right?

there's so often that I think my daughter is wearing something beautiful

and I just, oh, she looks beautiful.

Or My wife, oh, she looks pretty.

That's an amazing outfit, and I leave it in here.

And sometimes I like, she's like, how do I look?

I'd appreciate it if you let me know.

She's much kinder than that.

and I'm like, oh, I totally thought, yeah, this is the, you look good.

And she's you can let me know next time.

There's something about not just having the meaning say, saying.

So I always used to be afraid of this because of the name it and

claimant word of faith movement.

But here's where it's different.

The name it and claimant use the Graphe and not the logas.

They use scriptures out of context.

we'll see the enemy knows scripture and takes things outta

context, but it's really hard to take the message outta context.

And when we speak the message of the gospel, that God loves you no matter what.

That'll never pull his love away from you.

That there's nothing you can do to make him love you less, and there's

nothing you can do for the rest of your life to make him love you more.

That it's complete and everlasting.

That speaking is speaking the logos, is speaking the meaning.

Amen.

Where the other is, oh, I've just got this.

We'll see Satan quote scripture.

Yeah.

but he, but outta context, he removes it from the logo, the meaning of the passage.

here, Romans 10, 13 to 17, right?

I think this is verse he like, for everyone who calls on the

name of the Lord will be saved.

That's an amazing verse right there.

How then will they call on him who they have not believed, and how are they to

believe in him who they have never heard?

And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

And how are they to preach unless they're sent as it is written.

How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news,

but they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah says Lord, who has

believed what he has heard from us?

So faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of

Christ or the logos, right?

So Yeah, getting it out there is a major important That's, so Paul,

we, the sword of the spirit is the uttered meaning of scripture.

Of the written word.

So Paul's saying the sword of the spirit is actually uttering it, declaring it.

Yes.

And we all know I'm pretty reserved, like at sports games, cuz Anna carries the

load of the weight on that, and she's just like, yeah, mean, it's amazing.

She's a super fan.

but sometimes something happens.

And I have to let it out.

Like Yeah.

You know, and, and there's that sense that as we get the meaning, that's why God says

worship is and praise and Thanksgiving is such a part of the Christian life.

There has to be vent.

Yeah.

In fact, like CS Lewis said, praising something or Thanksgiving is just.

Something you do after it actually completes what you're doing.

It's part of it.

and and why I say all that is because why the tangent?

Because Jesus says when he faces off against the devil, 40

days fasted in the wilderness,

he doesn't do some power display.

Guys, he says, over and over, this is, it is written, and he declares the

log offs or the meaning of scripture.

And the enemy has to flee.

The enemy has to leave.

The devil loves to hear us say, I think, or my opinion is, or

This is what my friends say.

this is what the latest poll says, or my political party stance is,

or this is what this religion says.

He loves it because it's devoid of power.

What he hates is if we have the graphe, the written word, and we know the meaning,

the gospel, and we declare it, we say it.

We preach to our own heart, as Tim Keller used to say, you gotta take

your heart out as you see in the Psalms and preach to your heart.

You hold it and you're like, why are you cast down within me?

Oh my soul.

Hoping God, that's what he's doing.

He's preaching to his heart, but we preach to other people, How are we doing?

Should we stop?

I've got another half an hour probably, but that seems like a good chunk, right?

Are we good?

Do we feel full?

Okay.

let me see.

Let me just,

god didn't come to, to help us win at Bible trivia.

like God didn't come to just tell us random stories, right?

like everything is in the word and the canon for a purpose

and what's that purpose?

To tell us the story of our rescue and our redemption and

the restoration of all things.

And that he's the hero every step of the way.

what's your favorite?

what gets to you when you think about okay, let me give you one second,

Samuel 23, we'll won't jump into the other, but you've got David's mighty

man and he tells a story about men who.

Go into, hear David, he's in the cave and he's oh, this water sucks.

it's probably like stagnant cave water.

They can't go out cuz they're being hunted.

And he's oh, I remember what it was like growing up in Bethlehem, playing

my heart, leaving those sheep and if I could just have a drink out of the well

of Bethlehem and a couple of his mighty men, I think it was three guys hear it

and they're like, As you wish, and they go through, there's an Air Enemy Garrison

of Philistines Encamped in, in Bethlehem at the time, and they sneak through and

everything and they, at the risk of their life, they bring him a pitcher of water

and he does the most fascinating thing.

He takes it and he pours it out in front of him.

He says, I'm not worthy of that kind of devotion.

I'm just a man.

But the greater day came and he fought through death itself, not at the

risk of his life, but at the cost of it to bring you the water of life.

And he gives it to you every single day.

And he says, don't pour this kind of devotion out cuz this

is a worthy devotion to drink.

This is something we should be drinking every day that he's so devoted to us.

He loves you guys.

He like adores you.

You see how that story just whispers the logos.

It all through it, it warms your heart.

There's something it does.

It's just it's that heartburn.

In fact, that's what the disciples on the road to am Emmaus.

they're like, they're so depressed.

Jesus is like, what's wrong?

Why are you so sad?

Didn't you hear the one who is gonna save?

Israel is dead?

He says, OU foolish of heart and slow to believe in all

that the scriptures have said.

And from Moses, which includes Genesis and the whole first five, all the way

through to the prophets, he revealed to them all the things concerning himself.

And so then when he reveals himself and the sacrament of broken

bread, they realize it's Jesus.

And he's out.

He's, he disappears and they run the seven mile journey back

and they say to one another.

Did our hearts not burn within us?

And that is, I think that's the affections being stirred.

That is because we all have strings in our heart, like a musical

instrument, and the gospel plays it.

That's why we watch Lord of the Rings, and at the end, a Frodo,

it can't carry it anymore.

And he says, I can't carry the ring, but I'll carry you.

We're like, ah.

Because it's plucking the strings of our heart.

It's about a friend that sticks closer than a brother.

It's about someone carrying our burdens when we couldn't.

there's stories out there that it just resonates.

That's why we can't do any better than the story of somebody sacrificing

themselves for the person they love.

Or we rarely see movies where a hero dies for an enemy to win them back.

but the stories are all around it.

The, it's in music, it's it's in the lyrics of songs.

It's not just in, it's in the stories.

We like the gospel, right?

it's reverent.

it, our affection start to like light up and all of a sudden there's, when

your heart burns within you, you're like, I see the universe in a new way.

At this moment.

I feel like I.

I'm in a place of victory and not defeated.

I feel like I'm being hugged and not ostracized and cast away.

I feel like the one who is life itself, the Yahweh, the breath is

bringing me in and he's drawed me close to his heart and I'm like

there and that he's demonstrating.

All that he's done for me and declaring over me, he's singing over me, rejoicing

over me, that I'm his beloved son and whom he's well pleased, not because of what I

did, but because of what Jesus did for me.

Because Jesus, as will see, is faithful in the test, in the wilderness.

Israel failed and we failed.

And so the graphene not just this, not just knowing.

We need it because it contains the log offs or the story.

And when by God's grace, we tell that story to one another over and

over, the enemy's routed hearts burn.

Worship happens.

Thanksgiving happens, and revival happens because what is revival?

But God awakening his church.

To the logos, to the good news of what he's doing.

let me pray for our time.

We'll take him.

And you want to close this?

study.

I guess we're not done with Ephesians yet.

I heard there were some bets going on at that bets.

father just be so kind and gracious right now.

Every temptation.

It is rooted to doubt the meaning, the logos of the graph there,

the meaning that you declare over us because of what Jesus done.

My beloved son and daughter, in whom I'm well pleased

that we're adopted into your family.

That we're beloved children

that you see is that living word.

Nothing's hidden in your sight, and you knew who you were getting.

There's no masks with you, and yet you chase us down like that father,

and so rescue us again.

Make this story loud in our ears.

Make it reverberate in our heart.

So we remember your body broken, your bloodshed.

Remember the story?

That the only way for our wholeness was your brokenness.

The only way for our everlasting life was your death.

And so Lord, we worship you in response to that because you're

good and you're good all the time.

So we lean into that.

Rescue us where we're weak, in that for your glory and our joy

in the salvation of the city.

In Jesus name, amen.