Take up the Whole Armor of God Part 2

Well, good morning beloved. Is it just me or do you guys seem kind of down and gloomy today?

Is it the weather? I don't think you California folks know what to do when it's not shining and the sunshine's not out, huh?

This is very typical of Wisconsin weather. And matter of fact,

I just checked the weather in the Wisconsin where I was living. Temperature is 21 degrees right now.

Would you prefer to go that way or is this cloud a little cloudy a little too much for you?

I think we can manage, right? All right, beloved, if you have your Bible, please turn to Ephesians chapter 6.

We're going to be looking at reading verse 10 through 20. And please do stand for the reading of God's word when you have that.

Amen. Let us go and pray. And actually before we pray, let us read the word of the Lord. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10 says,

Finally, 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 that evil day, having done all to stand firm.

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, 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 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 prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert of all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.

And also for me, that the words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which

I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak.

Amen. These are the words of the Lord. You may be seated. Bow your hearts with me as I lead us in prayer.

Father, we do thank you for the marvelous gift that it is to have your word before us this morning.

We pray, God, that on such an occasion, this would not just be an occasion, but rather,

Lord, that we would be daily in your words seeking this truth and the sustenance therein.

Father, lead us in our time together as we open this word that you would grant us wisdom and a gift from thy

Spirit to be able to discern, receive that which you have put before us. And we thank you, God, for the marvelous armor of God that you have given us and bestowed upon us through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory.

Amen. All right, beloved, this is our part two of our sermon,

Take Up the Whole Armor of God. Today's verses are going to center on verses 16 through 20, and we're going to examine the rest of the armor of God.

And why is it important, again, that we're looking through the armor of God? Not just because it's the next part of our text in a sermon series, but rather, there is a,

I would say, crescendo that Paul is orchestrating here by means of the way he has led us through this letter, as he begins in chapter one by giving us insight into the marvelous mystery of the will of God in ages past that he's administering in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Namely, this, he is summing up, he is bringing together all things under his

Son, Jesus Christ. This is the purpose of creation, is that all things would be under the headship and lordship of King Jesus.

He's the true, proper, and only sovereign of his people, and he is truly the only true

King of kings and Lord of lords, and all things will be summed up in Jesus. In chapter two, we see how the

Apostle Paul then makes known to us the truth about our state before God as a human race, and he lets us know some terrible news.

Friends, if you haven't heard this before, then this is truly terrible. That all of us, every single person who has ever lived, is under the fair and true condemnation of sin, inherited by our father

Adam, and that under Adam, we have all become spiritually dead.

No life, no hope, no future. Yet, what we see in Ephesians 2 is not just the truth of our condition, but the truth of God's grace, and the truth of his love towards us.

That this could be true, that though we were dead in our trespasses and sins, God being rich in mercy made us alive in Jesus Christ, and he has now seated us in heavenly places.

This is the gift that God gives to his people, to those who are elect, those who believe on his name, that he transfers them from death to life, that he makes those who were spiritually dead now spiritually alive, and it only doesn't just stop there, but then he makes known to us the mystery of his will for us, now that we have spiritual life.

And it's this, in Ephesians chapter 3, the mystery of God's grace, the mystery of God's will for us, is that we would now be participants in speaking the gospel truth to men, women, and children everywhere, and even making known the mystery of God's will to the principalities and powers in heavenly places.

We now become participants in the economy, in the kingdom, in the grace of almighty

God towards his people, and towards the world. The church has a mission, the church has a focus.

We see then in chapters of chapters 4 and 5 of Ephesians, how it is then as Christians, those who were once dead in our trespasses and sins, those who have now been transferred into the kingdom of God, who've been given spiritual life, how we ought to act and live in this world.

What it looks like to be a Christian, that we ought to look differently, that we ought to live differently than the rest of the world, because ours is a different purpose, ours has a different path.

There are two paths out there, brethren, that you must know about. There's one that is broad and spacious that our

Lord spoke of, and he says that many are the ones who are going through it, and this broad and spacious road is the one that leads into destruction, and many are the ones who go through it.

Yet there is another path, and Jesus describes it as narrow, as difficult, and yet few are the ones that find it.

Brethren, there's two roads, one to destruction and one to eternal life, and Paul makes it clear in Ephesians chapter 4 and 5 how it is then how we ought to live in this world as Christians, navigating that narrow road.

He tells us in chapter 5 how it is that we were to relate to one another in the context, for instance, of matrimony and marriage, how husband and wives ought to live together in harmony under Scripture, and then how it is in chapter 6 as parents, how we were to raise our kids, even the dynamics between a slave and a master.

All these things come under the lordship of Jesus, because again, I would say that the main idea of Ephesians is what we find in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 10.

All things will be summed up under Christ. Everything will come under his administration, under his lordship, under his provision.

Every aspect of your life must conform to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

After all that, he then sums up what it takes for us to maintain that narrow path, what it takes for us to be a

Christian in this wicked and dying world. And he sums it up by saying in verse 10, finally, in conclusion, be strong.

To be a Christian, it requires a certain kind of strength. And we're not talking about simply a physical strength, a strength that one can achieve through exercise or diet, but instead, this is a spiritual strength that does not originate from within yourself, but instead is external, and it comes and is bestowed upon you by the grace and the gift and the power that God provides through his spirit.

He admonishes us in verse 11, put on then the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

There is a schemer out there, Satan the devil, who again, as I said in previous weeks, he knows more than you, he's smarter than you, he's more powerful than you, he's more cunning than you.

So then, if we are outnumbered in all these ways, and not only in just this one personal being called the devil, but instead also at recognizing that he has many hordes of wicked schemers and deceivers, other devils, principalities and powers in heavenly places, truly it may seem to us, looking at this situation from natural eyes, that we are outnumbered, that we are doomed.

How can we fight against an unseen enemy who's stronger, faster, smarter, more cunning?

Brethren, there's only one way, and it's by putting on the whole armor of God.

You see, this armor isn't a physical armor, though one could argue, when you look at the way that Paul describes this armor, he particularly has a

Roman soldier in mind, and he uses the garbs that a Roman soldier was wearing to describe this spiritual armor in Ephesians 6.

But ours is not a physical armor, it is a spiritual one. You see, our enemy is a spiritual enemy.

The weapons of our warfare, then, are also spiritual. And if we put on the spiritual armor of God, we will be able to withstand all the wicked schemes of the schemer, of the enemy, not only against him, but we also, in verse 12, we see and it's revealed, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood.

You see, your enemy isn't the person next to you. Your enemy isn't the guy who cut you off in traffic.

Your enemy isn't your boss. It isn't your spouse. It isn't your children. Instead, truly, and to put this out there, because we are in election season, your enemy is not the other party.

It's not the liberals or the conservatives, not the Democrats or Republicans. Those are not your enemies. Friends, our enemies are unseen.

Therefore, it says, 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.

That's your enemy. Yours is an unseen enemy. Therefore, verse 13 says, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand firm.

You see and you recognize the admonition here from the Apostle Paul, continually expressing the desire for us to stand, not only to stand, but to stand firm.

How are you doing in that regard? Are you standing firm in your convictions?

Are you standing firm on the Word of God? Friends, let me express to you, it is difficult. We live in wicked days, wicked times.

The days are evil. And yet, the call is to stand, not just to stand, but to stand firm.

Are you standing firm against temptation? Are you standing firm against the pressures socially, economically in this world?

Are you standing firm in your marriages? Are you standing firm in your convictions to raise godly children?

Are you standing firm in your regard to glorify God in this life, whatever your lot be in life?

It's difficult. Sometimes you'll have seasons where you're doing well. Other times, you'll be struggling.

And maybe, just maybe, some of you are in this place today, in this house, and you're struggling.

And I want you to know that you are not alone in your struggle. In fact,

God has made a provision for us in our struggle. And by the fact that you're here today is a testimony and witness of the grace that God has provided, and it's called the church.

Because the church isn't a museum of saints. It's not a cathedral of angels.

It's not a place where only those who have made it and achieved some level of spirituality or holiness.

But rather, it has been adequately said that the church is a hospital for the sick.

And if you're tired, if you're struggling, if you're having great difficulty in trials in life, if you're falling prey to temptation, friends, this is the right place for you.

This is the right place for you. This is where you need to be, in fact. Not because this is a place where you'll be coddled in your sin.

Not because this is a place where you will be told, oh, everything's okay. But it's a place where, just like at a hospital, you'll be told the truth about your condition.

And you'll also be told what it is that you need in order to get better.

And friends, we have in our possession that which can make men well, and it's the

Word of God. It's the gospel. So if you're struggling today, know that the

Word of God is sufficient, and the Word of God has the answer to your life's problems.

And in fact, there's a comfort in coming together with other brothers and sisters who are struggling and knowing that we can bear one another, and we can bear our sufferings with one another.

That's the purpose of this community, of the community of God, is to glorify God, even in the midst of our pain and suffering, even in the midst of our trials and difficulty.

This is where you need to be, to praise God that you're here. God has given us and granted us gifts and grace and also a armor by which we can withstand on that evil day.

And just like last week, we went through the first few of them. We'll just read them again, just that we're reacquainted with them.

Verse 14, stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness.

We remember last week, and we learned how the breastplate of righteousness protects one of the most important vital organs.

If you are a Roman soldier, the breastplate protects your major organs, your lungs, your heart, other major organs in your stomach.

And yet, spiritually speaking, the breastplate of righteousness is what protects our heart.

And our heart is of great importance. If we look at Proverbs chapter 4, verse 23, it's the wellspring of life.

We're to guard it. And we guard it, not with a righteousness of our own, but the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ.

We're also given this marvelous gift in verse 15 of shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

God has given us everything that we need for life and godliness, including the shoes, including the shoes.

And then part of the grace of the shoes that's given is that it gives us a readiness. You know, it's hard to be ready when you have no shoes on.

It's hard to run a race in difficult terrain when you have nothing to be a protection for your feet.

Therefore, it's important that we constantly have this armor on so that we may have the peace given by the gospel of peace.

Verse 16 says, in all circumstances, and this is the part where we will have a relevancy to today's message, in all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.

In all circumstances, consider what that means for a moment, beloved. In all circumstances, that means in good times and in bad times, in times of great joy, in times of great trial, in times of celebration, in times of tribulation, in all circumstances, we are to put up and on the shield of faith.

I want you to write that in there if you're following along in today's teaching this morning, the shield of faith.

And why are we to put this shield of faith on? Because it is a protection against the fiery darts of Satan.

Notice again what it says in verse 16, in all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.

The evil one being our enemy, Satan the devil, the great deceiver, the great and ancient serpent, by which and of whom the scripture says in 2

Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4, that he's a god of this age who's blinding the minds of unbelievers. Scripture says of him in 1

John chapter 5 verse 19, the whole world is lying in the hand of the evil one, the wicked one, Satan the devil.

So when you ask yourself the question, and maybe you've heard this question asked before, if God is real, why is there so much suffering in the world?

Why is there so much wars? Why is so much evil? Well brethren, the answer is clear.

The whole world is under the influence of the evil one.

The whole world. So therefore it's no mystery then why there's so much pain and suffering, why there's so much division, why there's so much hatred, why there's so much issues in the world that we live in today.

It's because it is under the dominion of the evil one. And yet what we find in Ephesians is what's going to happen is the opposite.

All things will be stripped away from the evil one and will come under the proper administration and lordship of Jesus Christ, when

God the Father sums up all things under his Son. And yet we receive the call here to, in all circumstances, to take up the shear of the faith.

Notice, or you ask yourself the question, what does that look like? What does that mean to take up the shear of the faith? What does that even mean, the shear of the faith?

You've probably heard it as well said in today's modern context. If you ask a regular secular person, what does it mean to have faith?

What is faith to you? And they will likely give you some form of answer similar to this. They'll say, well faith is believing in something that you have no evidence for.

You ever heard that definition of faith before? I've heard that plenty of times. And that's usually the go -to.

It means believing in something you have no evidence for. Rubbish. I'm not sure what kind of faith you're talking about.

It's not the faith that we are confronted with in Holy Scripture. In fact, it says in God's Word, in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1, this is how the scriptures defines faith.

Now faith is the assurance of the things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Other translations would say the evidence of things unseen. How marvelous is that?

Ours is not a faith that is based upon blind merit or no merit.

There's a word for that. In fact, it's called blind faith. Ours isn't a blind faith, beloved. Ours is a faith that's rooted in the gospel hope, rooted in the promises of Holy Scripture, rooted in prophetic scripture itself.

We have a sure anchor in hope. And so when we talk about the shield of faith, that means that regardless of our life circumstances, good times, bad times, temptation, days of great joy, whatever our lot be, we can have that shield of faith knowing that whatever comes our way, we're going to accept and receive based upon faith, that there's a conviction, there's an underlying assumption that we make as Christians, and it's this.

At the end of all things, everything will work together for the good of those who love

God and are called according to His purpose. We're okay. So even that means if we die, if our life is cut short, all things work together for good.

It means even if I lose my job, if I lose my house, my livelihood, ultimately everything works together for good.

And even though we can't see it always, and we can't experience it, and our experience contradicts what God's Word says, everything works together for good.

Now these are coming from an ancient people, coming from a man named Paul, who suffered more than any person in this room has ever suffered, who received imprisonment, beatings, torture, and was eventually martyred for his confession of faith in Jesus Christ.

And he's the same man who said all things work together for good, even as they martyred him in a

Roman Colosseum. All things work together for good. Beloved, that's the shield of faith that we must put up every single day, regardless of our life's circumstances.

God works it out for His glory. Because even for the Christian, and this is what set Christianity apart from the pagan religions in the first century, you see the pagans, they had no hope.

Yet Christians were peculiar people in the ancient world, because not even death could stop them.

Not even death. Death was not a big enough threat to scare them, to keep them away from worshiping

Jesus. And so we ought to have that same boldness, that same mentality, that not even death can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our

Lord. Amen? Therefore, take up the shield of faith, so that you may have a protection against the fiery darts of the enemy.

James puts it this way in James 4 .7. He says, as a matter of fact, let's read that for a second.

It's a great text. James chapter 4, another verse

I would suggest you commit to memory. He says, submit yourselves therefore to God.

Faith is an act of submission. Faith is daily submitting to God and His Word.

And he says, submit therefore to God, resist the devil. How do we resist them?

We resist them through the shield of faith. You see in the ancient world, have you ever seen the movie, what's that movie, 200, 300, what's the name of it?

Is it 300? The Spartan movie. And there's a scene in it where essentially they are battling this huge horde, this huge Persian army, and they're pushing back the advancement of this huge army with just their shields.

And it was enough to gain an advantage in the battle. And friends, that is the weapons of our warfare, is a spiritual shield that we put on.

And a good defense makes a good offense. And we need our faith to be a defense in order that we may be able to strike a good offense against the enemy.

And here's the defense and the offense that God gives us here in James chapter 4, verse 7. Submit yourselves therefore to God.

That's a defense. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. He'll flee.

Similarly to what he did in Matthew chapter 4 when he confronted the Lord Jesus Christ and he tempted him.

And it says that after Jesus rebuked him, it says that he fled. And he'll flee from you if you resist, if you put on this armor, if you put on the shield of faith so that you can withstand the fiery darts and the attacks of the enemy.

God has given us another means by which we can have success over the wicked one.

And it's in verse 17 of Ephesians 6. He says, take and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

Now the helmet of salvation is important. It's an important aspect. If you're a soldier or even if you're playing a sport, you have to wear a helmet for most sports, football or hockey.

These are sports that require to protect your head because you can get greatly hurt and harmed in the sport.

And more appropriately in warfare, you must wear a helmet for salvation because if you're not wearing a helmet, your head is exposed to the fiery darts of the enemy.

Now there's an important beautiful picture that's being drawn here by the Apostle Paul. Helmet of salvation.

Why is it the helmet of salvation? Why isn't it like the, why wasn't the breastplate of, why wasn't it the breastplate of salvation?

Why was the breastplate of righteousness? Why is it the helmet of salvation? Well consider this for a moment. You know, salvation originates where?

In the heart. But it's confessed by the mouth. It's confessed by the mouth.

Romans chapter 10 says, if thou confess of thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God was raised from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

For with the mouth one declares and is justified. We have to declare with our mouth.

It comes from the heart, from righteousness, the righteousness of Christ. And then it's produced by our declaration of faith in Jesus Christ.

You must declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. You must declare in your heart that Jesus is

King. And therefore why it's so important then that the helmet of salvation be on at all times, because we must guard our mouth and protect our mind from the influence, from the schemes of the evil one.

You see your mind is of great importance dear beloved. It's of great importance. Scripture says do not be conformed according to the ways of this world but be transformed in the renewal of your what?

Mind. Your mind. You see the way you think has to change.

If you want to be useful for God's kingdom, you can't live and act and have the same mind you did when you were not a

Christian. Your discipline, your desires, your mindset has to change and it has to be conformed to the word of God.

Therefore we must put on this helmet of salvation. Now beloved you cannot wear something you do not have.

You cannot put on this armor. You cannot wear the helmet of salvation unless you are in Jesus Christ.

There is only one way to put on this armor. It's not by reading the text. It's not by knowing good theology.

It's not by attending the right church. It's by knowing Jesus and if you don't know

Jesus there's no way you will receive this armor because it is God's armor given to his people in Jesus Christ.

Therefore if you have not come to know the proper lordship of Jesus Christ, the Bible commands men everywhere to repent of their sins, to put their trust in Jesus Christ knowing that he truly is

God in human flesh. He's the one who came to live the life that you could not live by the death that you deserved and was raised again on the third day.

He's now ascended truly above all the heavens, above all the principalities and powers, even above Satan the devil himself and he's the one to whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confess to the glory of God the father.

Your eternal life, your future and destiny is at stake.

Will you put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh? Instead will you take up the whole armor of God and walk and live as a fine soldier of Christ Jesus?

This is God's call for you and me today that you know him and the power is resurrection.

That God will change your heart, give you a new heart and again what is required of you is repentance and faith in the

Lord Jesus Christ and the Bible says that God will transfer you from death to life and you'll have eternal life and you'll have access to this great armor.

But beloved even as Christians, even as believers, we often sometimes forget which is why

Paul is by way of reminder reminding the church in Ephesus the severity of our spiritual warfare, the importance of putting on God's armor and so beloved do not forget to put on this armor daily to fight the good fight of the faith and it's a fight, it's a struggle, but it's ours to be one in Jesus Christ.

Amen. Verse 17, take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God.

If you didn't follow along the last part was the helmet of salvation guards our mind so that we do not conform to Christ or so we conform to Christ and not the world and yet we see in now as well we see the sword of the spirit and what is the sword of the spirit?

Well it says in the text the sword of the spirit which is the word of God.

I want you to write that in there as well. The sword of spirit is our weapon for it is the word of God.

Now sometimes as Christians we actually underestimate the power of the word.

We truly do. We don't fully appreciate the power that is in the word of God and how do

I know this? Well because I'm sure in this room there have been some of us who have fallen prey to temptation this week and there is a sure defense against temptation and it's called the word of God.

Turn to Matthew chapter 4 with me and let's examine how the Lord Jesus Christ was able to fight back temptation by doing just that, relying on the sword of the spirit.

In Matthew chapter 4 starting in verse 1 notice this climactic showdown between between the

Lord Jesus Christ and Satan the devil starting in verse 1 in Matthew 4 when then

Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil and after fasting 40 days and 40 nights he was hungry and the tempter came and said to him if you are the son of God command these stones to become loaves of bread.

Notice what the circumstances are. Our Lord after his baptism in in the river

Jordan goes into the wilderness for four days. This is a a shadow it really it's a fulfillment of the shadow that was

Israel. Israel went through the waters of the Red Sea then led into the wilderness for 40 years.

Christ being the greater Israel is demonstrating his superiority over the sinful people of Israel.

He is led into the wilderness by the spirit for 40 days to be tempted by the devil. Now I'm not sure if you've ever fasted and it's a spiritual discipline that is often lost in our context amongst evangelicalism but fasting is a spiritual discipline where you deprive the body of certain food and water for a certain period of time so you may devote yourself wholly to prayer and to other spiritual disciplines and matters and I don't care who you are after 40 days of fasting you're probably not going to feel like yourself.

Maybe after a day of fasting you don't feel like yourself. You might feel different and yet our

Lord being truly human having truly become flesh having the same weaknesses of the flesh that we all do have and carry he was confronted with a tempter.

The tempter commands him to demonstrate his superiority to demonstrate his his divinity by commanding these stones to become loaves of bread.

So what does Jesus do? Verse four, he answered it is written.

It is written. You know what he appeals to? He appeals to the revelation of God's word.

Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Jesus showed the supremacy of the word of God that is not on bread that one must live on but instead it's the word of God that we must feast on for spiritual life and for discipline.

Verse five, the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him if you are the son of God throw yourself down for it is written he will command his angels concerning you.

Ah look at this tricky devil. Notice what he does. When Jesus appeals to scripture

Satan says I too can appeal to scripture. Isn't it written he will command his angels concerning you?

Going back to psalm 91 notice the devil knows the scriptures. He probably knows the bible better than you.

Probably knows it better than me and yet what does Jesus do?

Verse and it says it will continue the devil continues on saying and on their hands they'll bear you up lest you strike your foot against the stone and Jesus said to him again it is written appealing to the authority of the word you shall not put the

Lord your God to the test. Rightly dividing the word of truth our

Lord demonstrated here and that is what our call is to do as well is not just to know the scriptures not to have a couple proof texts here and there ready to go at any notice but instead also rightly dividing the word of truth.

Here's why I know many of us as Christians we don't rightly value God's word it's because we treat it sometimes as an amulet that's something we just run to when we're when we need like a pick -me -up.

No friends God's word is not cake for special occasions it's bread for daily consumption it's for all day it's for all of life we must be reading

God's word daily and Jesus sets the model for us how we can overcome the schemes of fiery darts of the enemy.

Verse 8 we continue to see what the devil does again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory and he said to him all these things

I will give you if you will fall down and worship me. One thing I want to make note of in that text

Satan takes him on this high mountain shows him all the kingdoms he offers it to Jesus why because Satan is the invisible power behind all the kingdoms of the world he's the god of this age he's blinded the minds of unbelievers the whole world's lying in the hand of the wicked one he's able to offer him these things though Satan rightfully knows what's coming in Psalm 2 it says all the nations are his inheritance so all the nations truly belong to Jesus and it will be his inheritance it will be his possession yet we see

Satan is trying to get him to receive the inheritance without having to go through the sufferings of the cross without having to obey the command of the father and Jesus responds rightly to him in verse 10 be gone

Satan for it is written you shall worship the

Lord your God and him only shall you serve and I love verse 11 then the devil left him and behold angels came and were ministering to him beloved we can overcome temptation by rightly handling the word of truth by having a right estimation of the word of God by putting it into practice not just hearing it but to be doers of the word that doesn't mean that will be perfect in every circumstance but the more that you rightly value the word of God the more you'll be able to withstand against the fiery darts of the enemy and temptation therefore have a high view of God's word it is indeed a sword it's the sword of the spirit with it you'll be able to divide between joint and marrow soul and spirit it is truly as Hebrews 4 12 says the word of God is alive and active it's alive

I've been reading the Bible since I was a kid I grew up as one of Jehovah's Witnesses many of you know and I've been reading

Bible and understanding Bible stories since I was a child but when I became a Christian one of the things that's unique about Jehovah's Witnesses is that you can only really understand the

Bible they say through the organization of the Watchtower so they have to give you these magazines the

Watchtower magazines and if you under and if you read the magazine then you'll understand the Bible so you can only understand the

Bible if you read this magazine and yet when I became a Christian at 16 and I opened the

Bible again it was like opening it for the very first time because the word of God wasn't just a book that I needed someone to interpret to me but rather it was alive and active and it spoke to me it spoke to the very depths of my soul and so it is true with all of us in Christ God's word is alive and active and sufficient it's a sword it's what the spirit uses to convict it's what the spirit uses to bring forward the glory and fame of Jesus Christ therefore run to the word of God just this morning we had a

Sunday school which I invite all of you to partake in if you're not already involved in one of the other Sunday schools and this morning we talked on the ministry of the

Holy Spirit and we examined how there are those who would level accusations against us as Reformed brothers and sisters you ever heard the accusation it goes kind of like this you know you know the trinity for the

Reformed Baptist is the Father the Son and the Holy Bible trying to say that we're not in tune with the

Holy Spirit but the truth of the matter is this when you examine what God's word says about the ministry of the

Spirit wherever Jesus is exalted the Spirit is at work amen because his work his ministry is to make known and exalt

Jesus Christ and to bring forth conviction of sin righteousness and judgment and that's through the word of God that's how he convicts it's through the word of God therefore beloved rely on the word of God as a sword of spirit so that you may have all that you need to fight back against Satan and his hordes to close in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 18 praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end keep alert of all perseverance making supplication for all the saints what an incredible call there is here for us to be praying at all times in the

Spirit what does that mean what does that look like to be praying at all times in the

Spirit well beloved it's very we don't have to mystify the things of the

Spirit more than they already are praying at all times in the Spirit means to be praying in accordance with the

Holy Spirit to pray in accordance to what he has revealed in Holy Scripture so we don't pray for things that are outside of God's will essentially we don't pray you know you know for instance if there's a if you're in a circumstance if you're at the store and you have an opportunity to steal breaking one of the commandments you don't pray and say

God is it okay if I do this would that be praying in the spirit would that be praying according to the will of God no because you already said don't do that now a different prayer would be

God I had this temptation this temptation is arising in me please give me the strength of your

Spirit so I may overcome temptation is that in accordance with the Spirit is that praying in the

Spirit absolutely it's the posture of your heart it's the way by which you go about praying for these things that determines whether you are praying in the

Spirit it's the conviction of righteousness of sin and of judgment that is spoken of in John chapter 16 therefore to pray in the

Spirit means to pray in accordance with the Spirit in accordance with his revealed will with all prayer and supplication with all prayer and supplication

I said it once uh before in I'm not sure in this context but I've said before that to be praying with prayer and supplication what does that look like and the posture that I come up with is this the posture that we ought to have in prayer and supplication is that of open hands open hands does a couple of things you know for instance when uh we as brothers and sisters and even the corporal people here we shake hands right you know where that originates from shaking hands originates uh when you had two uh opposing armies and there was a moment of ceasefire or there was a moment of peace the one side representative of one side will go to the other side and they would extend in hand to show there's no weapon in my hand therefore

I'm disarmed and you and you and you meet together and and that's what that meant is I'm disarmed

I've got no weapon in my hand and the same way when we pray with prayer and supplication we come with open hands saying

God I've got nothing I've got nothing to give I've got nothing to offer I've got no weapon I've laid down my weapons it's it's it's for you to use these hands are for you to use and in that way with all prayer and supplication we make it our posture to serve

God and not ourselves we make it our posture to serve and love others and not just ourselves that's what that looks like I want you to have a posture and prayer of open hands

God do as you would will with these hands do as you would please with my life prayer and supplication that's what that looks like and to that end keep alert of all perseverance making supplication for all the saints that is what

God has called us to beloved so you're following along we must as Christians pray in the spirit again that's that means you're praying in accordance with the

Holy Spirit with supplication the idea I want you to have with supplication is open hands open hands and why then are we to keep this keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for all the saints notice what

Paul says in verse 19 and also for me that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel why are we to persevere why are we to continue to keep alert and to make supplication for all the saints so that we may have an opportunity beloved to speak boldly of the mystery of the gospel to that end we must persevere we must persevere so that the world may know

Jesus Christ through his church through his people and that we would not just say or speak the gospel when it's opportune but we would be bold about our gospel presentation be bold about our gospel proclamation in season and out of season in good times and in bad times in all circumstances we must take up the shield of faith so we're ready and willing to proclaim this great gospel the last part of the teaching keep alert by praying you must keep alert there's an enemy out there and he's waiting to devour you he's waiting and ready and powerful to deliver those fiery darts and some of us will fall to temptation some of us may get harmed and wounded by these fiery darts therefore the call to be alert by praying for opportunities to boldly proclaim the gospel that is what we have been called to notice how

Paul ends in verse 20 for which I am an ambassador in what chains an ambassador in chains

Paul that only spoke of the things that he had conviction of but he lived it out so much so that he even found himself in chains as a prisoner on account of Jesus Christ that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak this is what we've been called to brothers and sisters while our chains while we're not in chains maybe we have a chain of a different sort we have the opportunity even now in this wicked world in this wicked time to boldly proclaim the gospel let us live in such a way that we don't squander that opportunity what a privilege it is ours to know him and to make him known let's continue to make

Jesus known to the world and to the principalities and powers even in the heavenly places let's pray

Lord Jesus we thank you that you are a marvelous savior a savior who has given us an armor an armor of righteousness an armor that is wonderful and powerful and is able to help us in this grand struggle against the enemy and his forces

Lord you know better than anyone that we fall short that we often forget that we often lose sight that we do not do or act or even pray as we ought to Lord Jesus we know that when you entered into that time of temptation you prayed

Lord help us to lean on prayer help us even later this afternoon to come together again so we may come under the banner of prayer so we may bring forth supplication not only for ourselves but for all the saints we think

Lord of those who are not here this morning due to illness or other reasons Father we pray God your sheltering hand of protection and anointing over them

Lord we pray God that you would help us to put on this armor even now as we pray and seek these things so that we do not come under the condemnation of the devil

Lord help us for when we are weak you prove to be strong and with the whole armor of God we're able to withstand the fiery darts but also