SHIELD OF FAITH - EPHESIANS 6:10-20

Be with one another, fulfilling the one another's to love, to forgive, to encourage, to exhort

one another.

And we're doing this as an overflow for our obedience for King Jesus, right?

He tells us in his word not to neglect the gathering together of the saints, encouraging one another, outdoing one another

in love and good works.

And we do this until the day draws near, until the Lord takes us home or until our Lord returns.

And so I just wanna thank you so much, Church Five family.

And if you're a guest this morning, you are also welcome.

We wanna encourage you to fill out one of our connect cards.

That way, if you have any questions about who we are, that'll give us a chance to answer those questions and to pray for you.

And we look forward to getting to know you even better.

And so with that being said, I just wanna encourage all of us that our prayer this morning is to grow in the grace and knowledge

of our sovereign triune God.

And so before we start our service, we pray for a local church.

Now typically, local means Jonesboro -esque.

But this morning, we have a dear pastor friend of mine, Trey Fishers.

Many of you know Trey as the Fishbone, as I do.

He's a really good friend of mine.

And he is the pastor at a church in Calhoun, Louisiana of the Parish of the

Redeemer.

So if you would, please join me in prayer this morning.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for giving us another Lord's Day.

To lift your name on high and to give all honor and thanks to you.

God, I pray specifically for my friend Trey Fisher and the Parish of the Redeemer Church in

Calhoun, Louisiana.

Lord, Trey told me, he said, please lift us up in prayer that, God, your sheep would find their way to the

Parish of the Redeemer, a healthy church where they can flourish in their walk with you, Lord.

Lord, I just wanna pray for the church as a whole.

Please let them to be a city on a hill, a light to that dark community in this world.

Lord, let's lift up the leadership of Parish of the Redeemer.

God, that they would be intentional in the lives of the body and they would constantly point their people to you, Jesus.

Lord, we love you.

We pray all these things in your name, amen.

All right, if you would, please stand for our call to worship.

Our call to worship is not just me up here and y 'all just being entertained.

This is a way for us to engage in those one another's.

And so our call to worship comes from Psalm chapter 89 in the opening verses, where we begin to

read, I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord forever.

For I said, steadfast love will build up forever.

You have said, I have made a covenant with my chosen one.

I will establish your offspring forever.

And so now during this time of our corporate worship is now a prayer of adoration.

This is a time where we as a body get to go before the throne and lift God's sovereign name

on high.

And so something that I do in my personal life is I have the Valley of Vision.

This is a book of Puritan prayers that aren't supposed to just be archaic and we open up occasionally.

This is prayers from the saints, right?

We are an ekklesia, a called out people by the grace of God.

And so this morning, I wanna share with you one of my favorite Puritan prayers, but I pray that this would resonate

in your heart and awaken God's people.

So please join me in prayer this morning.

Three in one, one in three, God of our salvation, heavenly father, blessed son,

eternal spirit.

We adore you, one being, one essence, one God, three distinct persons for bringing sinners

to your knowledge and to your kingdom.

Oh, father, you have loved us and sent Jesus to redeem us.

Oh, Jesus, you have loved us and assumed our nature and shed your own blood to wash away our sins.

You wrought righteousness to cover our unworthiness.

Oh, Holy Spirit, you have loved us and entered into our heart and planted their eternal life and revealed to

us the glories of Jesus.

Three persons, one God, we bless and praise you for love so unmerited, so unspeakable,

so wondrous, so mighty to save the lost and raise them to glory.

Oh, father, we thank you in the fullness of grace that you have given to us Jesus to be his sheep,

his jewel and portion.

Oh, Jesus, we thank you that in the fullness of grace, you have accepted and espoused and bound us.

Oh, Holy Spirit, we thank you in the fullness of grace, you have exhibited Jesus as our salvation,

implanted faith within us, subdued our stubborn hearts and have made us one with him

forever.

Oh, Holy Father, you have enthroned to hear our prayers.

Oh, Jesus, your hand is outstretched to take our petitions.

Oh, Holy Spirit, you are willing to help our infirmities, to show us our need, to supply words, to pray

within us, to strengthen us, that we faint not in supplication.

Oh, triune God who commands the universe, you have commanded us to ask for those things that

concerned your kingdom and our soul.

Let us live and pray as one baptized into the threefold name.

And all God's people said.

Let's sing together.

We

can

stand

here

this

morning

and

say

that

it

is

well.

This next song we do is a read in response, just like you guys are used to doing this now.

You have the leader and then the people join together.

As we sing that this morning, just pay attention to the lyrics.

As we sing, do you feel the world is broken?

Because do you feel that?

We do, that is our problem.

Just sing this song with me.

Scroll written within and on the back and sealed with seven seals.

And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the

scroll and to break its seals in heaven or on earth

or under the earth was able.

Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has conquered so that he can open the

scroll and its seven seals.

And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though it had been

slain with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

And he went and he took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.

And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb,

each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

That's you and I.

And they sang a new song saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals.

For you were slain and by your blood, you ransomed people for God from

every tribe and language and people and nation.

And you have made them a kingdom and priest to our God and they shall reign on the earth.

And I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, the voice of many angels, numbering myriads and

myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them saying,

to him who sits on the throne forever.

And the four living creatures said, amen.

And the elders fell down and worshiped.

Thank you, Lord Jesus, that we stand here this morning worshiping you in spirit and in truth.

You called us here this morning to sing these songs

to

continue to worship throughout the remainder of the service, Lord, that you are honored, that your name is glorified.

Nothing of ourselves, but Christ alone.

May we never look to the things around us, Lord God.

With this offering, Lord, may it be a worship service to you.

Nathan preaches, I pray that you would anoint his words, Father God, to penetrate our hearts as your word

does through the Holy Spirit, Lord God, changes from the inside out

for your church body this morning

and everybody's soul.

Speaks of, stop the light from getting through as we just declared.

No, it will not.

We know that it won't.

We do, and how do we know this?

Because of faith.

It's because of faith.

Faith in the Lion of Judah, the one that conquered the grave, the one that is

the root of David, the lamb, that we just sang about, that we just sang to, the

one that died to ransom us who were once slaves in that darkness.

It will not win.

This faith, saints, our faith, is rooted and grounded in the

finished work of Christ and Christ alone, isn't it?

Can I get an amen to that?

Come on, guys.

Are you awake this morning?

Did we just sing some glorious truth, right?

This should awaken your soul.

If the music that we're singing here doesn't excite you,

then you're not realizing what we're declaring, saint.

There's something numb in your soul and we must see these

glorious truths.

We're not allowing emotions to draw us in and to drive us in.

We're looking to truth that informs emotion.

So it's okay to show a little bit of emotion, okay?

We're humans.

We were created with it.

God is honored in it as long as it's in light of and

informed by his truth, right?

It's a finished work of Christ.

And as we'll see today in our text, there in Ephesians chapter six, verse 16

specifically, but go ahead and open your copy of God's word that you have with you to Ephesians six.

Again, we're gonna start reading verse 10 here in a moment and get the whole context.

But then we'll see that this faith is, it's not something that is a one -time thing.

To have faith, to have your sins forgiven, and then just to go on with your

life.

This is a continual, ongoing faith.

After all, we are to walk by faith.

That's right.

Live our life saturated and protected by faith,

carrying and utilizing it as Paul will use the analogy here, a shield.

A shield in this armor.

So let's read the text, Ephesians chapter six.

Let's start in verse 10 and read the whole.

Where Paul 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 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 the

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 with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.

And also for me that words may be given to me and 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.

This is the reading of God's holy inspired word.

Let's bow now, let's ask that he would illuminate our hearts and our minds to his truth.

Father, we bow before you humbly.

We know that we misunderstand.

We know that we read our preconceived ideas into your text.

And oftentimes we just avoid it altogether.

Lord, we also know that we read your text, we see your text, we see what it says, we

acknowledge what it says, but then we go on not living accordingly.

Forgive us.

Father, I pray that as we look at this particular phrase here from the apostle Paul,

inspired by the Holy Spirit, that we would see it clearly.

I pray that we would be doers of the word, not just hearers only.

Guard us, Lord.

Open our eyes, open our hearts, open our minds.

In Christ's name, amen.

Well, I must remind you once again, because we are forgetful and hardheaded people, aren't we?

I know I am, I forget often.

And so I must remind myself and I must remind you that we are not at war

with our neighbors.

We are not at war with a political party.

We're not at war with a nation.

We're not at war with the media or entertainment.

That is not who we are at war with, for we do not wrestle against flesh and

blood.

That's what Paul said, right?

We have to be reminded of that because we get distracted, right?

All of those entities are nothing more than puppets doing their father's bidding.

We must remember that.

Keep that in the forefront of your minds at all times.

They are mere puppets.

There is a spiritual war.

We are at war, as Paul says, against the rulers, against the authorities, against cosmic

powers that are over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of

evil that are in the heavenly places, those that are yielding

the things of this world and the people of this world to do their will and their bidding.

And in order to be efficiently fruitful on this battlefield of this

spiritual war that Scripture tells us that is the reality, like we see what we think

is reality, this is far less reality than what we don't see, what we trust by faith

in a spiritual sense.

And Paul tells us in this reality, this spiritual war that is taking place to take up

the whole armor of God as we've been looking at over the past four weeks.

And we, of course, have looked at the first three pieces of this armor in the past three

weeks.

First, having fastened the belt of truth.

We gird ourselves with this truth, with his truth, and we walk in

light of that truth, right?

The second is having put on the breastplate of righteousness.

We walk in his righteousness through a righteous life

as we put on the breastplate.

And then thirdly, having put on readiness that is given by the gospel of peace,

that we are prepared by the gospel, that gospel that has brought us peace,

that now we can live in it, we stand firm in it, we can mobilize in those

shoes, and we can share the gospel.

We can do the good works that God has set before us and prepared before us with these

shoes of the gospel of peace.

But as we move on to this fourth piece, we see that there's a break

in the pattern.

There's a break here, and that is because this list of armor, there's six in total,

as you probably see them, we don't have them up on the screen right now, but there's a total of six pieces of armor that Paul

is listing out here in those few verses, and they are commonly understood to be divided into two

main groups.

Those first three that we've covered already that we've just listed, that would be group one.

And today, we go on to the next.

We begin the first of the next three that are in group two of what Paul is

illustrating here.

This break that we speak of is seen in Paul's transition.

Look at the verse 16 there.

So most of you are reading from the ESV.

We have it in the ESV up here on the screen.

It says, in all circumstances.

The new King James and the King James would translate it as above all.

So above all, take up, essentially.

And the New American Standard Bible, some of you may be reading from this, it says, in addition to all.

In addition to all.

Instead of in all circumstances, in addition to all.

So I wanna speak to both of these briefly before we begin.

The problem I have with the King James version translation is that above

all, which some of you have that, you see that in your Bibles, above all, it really seems to

imply above everything else in importance.

This is the problem I have with it.

In other words, the first three, the belt, the breastplate, and the shoes

seem to be, they're important, but these next three are more important,

if you say above all.

I don't think that was the intention of this interpretation, but it tends to this inference

nonetheless, okay?

And I think that's an unfortunate consequence.

That being said, I think that the ESV that we have here in all circumstances is also missing the mark

of precision.

Okay?

I get what they're trying to do here in saying in all circumstances, and it's not as though it

changes any of the meaning of the text, by the way.

Don't walk away going, oh man, I can't trust my translations in the Bible.

That's not the point.

It doesn't change any of the real meaning here.

I simply like the precision here of the New American Standard Bible when it comes to the

original language of this particular text.

And again, it says, in addition to all.

So if you have an ESV and you write in your Bible, which I recommend you do, above in all circumstances, write in

addition to all.

That way when you go back and you study, you see, okay, there's something different being said here.

In addition to all.

It's not more important.

It's not less important.

There's no addition of unnecessary nouns like circumstances.

Simply more equally important armor.

There's more to the list and it's equally important armor in addition to.

And this translation, in addition to all, not only applies to this fourth piece of armor,

mind you, but also to the fifth and the sixth that Pastor Keith is going to be laying out for us next week with the

helmet and the sword.

Because remember, these three pieces, they're a grouping as the first three are a grouping.

But it's not just a break in Paul's flow of thought that leads us to see these as two distinct

equally important groups.

It's also in the phrasing and the imagery that Paul chooses to use.

It's in the phrasing and imagery that he chooses to use.

Look back at verse 13 there of chapter six.

He says, therefore, take up the whole armor of God.

Notice he uses this phrase take up, but he doesn't continue

that in the next three pieces of armor that he's about to list here.

I was asked of the significance of this a few weeks ago in sermon discussion and I skirted the question

a little bit.

I'm gonna be honest because I wasn't ready to jump into it until today.

I didn't wanna dive into that.

So I apologize to whoever asked me that question.

It was a great question because you pointed out something in the text that is here and we see.

But he says, take up there in verse 13.

But notice, look down at verse 14.

He says, stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth

and having put on the breastplate of righteousness.

And he says, it's shoes for your feet.

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

These three are fastened to our body.

Think of the imagery here, okay?

All three of these things, they are fastened to our body.

They are fixed to us.

You are to put on the belt.

The belt is clipped onto your waist and you're ready for battle.

The breastplate is connected to you.

It would not be an easy piece of armor to remove in the reality of it.

But then even shoes, your shoes are on and ready.

But down in verse 16, look what he does.

He kind of changes it up.

In addition to all, or in all circumstances there, you have it, take up the shield of faith.

Look down at verse 17.

And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit.

Notice the difference?

These three you must take up.

First three, you're having.

The next three, you're taking.

Paul's intentional with this language.

But what is the significance of this?

The difference between having the first three and taking the next three.

Well, think of the imagery, the practical imagery of a soldier, okay?

Imagine being a soldier.

A soldier must be ready when war is going on.

A soldier knows that an attack can happen at any moment during war.

However, when the enemy is not currently and actively attacking, which that

is common, we know that even in our spiritual life, it's not always a bombardment.

There are lulls in a spiritual attack, just like there are lulls in a battle and in a war.

But during this time, when the enemy's not lobbing bombs or firing at you at that particular moment, a

soldier, though ready, is already girded up with the belt.

He has his belt on.

He's ready.

He's ready to run at a moment's notice.

He still has his breastplate fastened onto him because he doesn't have time in the middle of that battle

to go spend the time having someone help him fasten this big old breastplate on.

He's ready at any given notice with his shoes strapped and ready to run.

He's composing himself, though.

He's saving his energy for the sure attack that is to come

so that at the very moment the enemy attacks, that soldier can quickly take up the shield,

can quickly take up his helmet, can take up his sword.

This is the practical imagery that Paul is giving us here.

We ground our lives in truth, his truth.

We are covered by his righteousness and we walk in his righteousness ready.

We are readied, we're prepared by the gospel of peace at all times, even when we rest.

If you notice, over the past couple of weeks, that's what I keep telling you.

Guys, this battle is ongoing.

You are always in the battle.

You have no way of avoiding it.

You must be ready with that breastplate of righteousness, with the belt, as Pastor Jeremiah preached, and with your shoes.

You must be ready at any time.

So you must be dressed and clothed in these because, praise the Lord, he gives us moments of rest,

but there's always the threat of attack and you must be ready.

The enemy's attacks are consistent.

However, just as I said a moment ago, we do experience that they come in

spurts.

You ever seen that in your own life where you have seasons that seem fairly peaceful, fairly calm?

Now, that being said, they're always, they always come when we least expect

them.

That's the way the enemy works.

You may be in your Christian barracks with your breastplate on, your shoes on, and your belt ready,

gathering your composure, maybe sometime here in church, gathering our composure, resting in that

righteousness, but that attack can come at any given moment and it's always gonna come when it's

least expected.

That's why we're ready to go at that moment's notice, yet there are those peaceful moments.

And I would say in a practical way, we must, as Christians, use those moments to prepare ourselves for that next

attack, right?

Use those moments.

Enjoy those moments.

We need those restful moments and by the good and graciousness of God, we get them.

But when the attack comes, oh, Saint, that shield better be in hand.

That shield better be ready.

You better be able to take that shield.

Why?

Why is this shield so important?

What's the importance here?

Look at verse 16 again, the next part.

So you can extinguish all the flaming darts

of the evil one.

These flaming, fiery darts, as Paul says, refers to them.

During that time, armies would use, they would use fiery arrows.

You've seen the movies, right?

You've seen old movie, the movies where they're depicting these times and war and battle.

They would do these fiery arrows launched into the opposing army as a

barrage.

The whole purpose in it really was to overwhelm and to confuse the opposing army.

That was the purpose of it.

It's kind of like a preliminary bombing before sending the troops in, right?

We bomb the whole area, we confuse them, we take a few out, and then we send the soldiers

in to clean up the mess.

And so what they would do is they would pack, it was like a tar -type substance around the tip of their arrows,

and the archers would line up.

You've seen the movies, maybe they're in a castle and they're defending, and the archers are readied and their arrows are up.

And then somebody would come by and they would light the end of the arrows.

And then when they were told all at one time there was just this barrage of this

cloud of arrows that would fly over the opposing army.

This onslaught of these flaming arrows would come in and this way, even if the arrow

wound of a person isn't fatal, it causes chaos.

And this would actually render these soldiers useless at times.

It would take quite a few out and it would confuse them.

It would disorient them.

Because when the arrow would hit, it wasn't just an arrow that would hit, maybe the arrow hit the ground over

here next to me, that means nothing, that doesn't affect me at all if I'm a soldier and I'm charging.

But the burning substance at the end of that arrow would then just get, it would get

launched in all directions.

So as soon as the arrow would hit, it's not like in the movies where you see where the arrow would hit and then you got that one little burning spot that might

catch something on fire.

No, when that arrow hit, it was designed like a bomb, like a grenade, where that tar would go everywhere

all around it and spray all over whatever's around.

So even though the arrow didn't hit you directly, you're likely to be hit by the flames.

Anybody ever been burned before?

That pain is overwhelming.

It hinders you, useless in many ways.

It would cut your strength down and your ability to think straight.

Not to mention the burning field and the burning wagons and the burning weaponry all around you,

it's chaos.

This is the purpose.

And this, this very thing that would happen during this time is one of the ways that the Roman army

shined.

We talked last week about their shoes.

They shined with their shoes because they were able to cover a lot of ground with the design of the soldier's shoe.

But even here with the shield, there's an intentional design.

Remember, Paul is looking at Roman guards and their armor as he gives this imagery.

The Roman shield was designed with that very strategy in mind.

They were genius.

This shield was roughly about four foot tall, about two and a half foot wide.

As a matter of fact, the word that they would use for it is the same word for door.

So they basically carried this giant door into the battlefield, right?

It could essentially give full coverage, even if a soldier is alone.

And there was multiple uses to a shield.

The Roman soldiers would use the shield in a way to push people.

You see even military and police

officers today, if there's like a unruly crowd, they'll have those giant plexiglass

shields and they'll push on them and it guards them.

It's the same idea.

They could use this for that.

However, the Roman army was structured to fight as a group.

There are certainly some principles here for us as Christians, right?

As we take that imagery even further, that shield is not designed to function properly as a single soldier.

That's how we often read scripture, don't we?

We come to scripture and we see passages like this.

You're like, okay, I gotta take my shield.

I gotta get the shield.

And it's me, I'm fighting this battle.

I'm basically Rambo out in the spiritual field fighting the enemy alone and through God's strength, yes.

But that's not the imagery of scripture.

All of scripture is the whole of the body.

All of scripture is corporate.

There is no such thing as individual.

It's all corporate.

And this is the imagery that Paul's given us here with these Roman soldiers.

So as a group during these attacks, they would form what they would call a testudo, I

think is how they pronounce it.

It's where we get our word tortoise.

If you think about tortoise, what's a tortoise?

It's got a shell, right?

And it would cover the whole of the group like a giant tortoise shell.

So you would have these groups within the military and you would have X amount of men.

I don't know how many, but they had X amount of men.

And when this kind of battle comes on and the enemy's getting ready to launch these flaming darts into

them to confuse them and to wound them and to disorient them, they would gather in this testudo.

And it was like a giant tortoise shell where these shields were designed to go together.

And they just built a dome around themselves.

And these shields were not only strategic in size, they were made with a thick wood

to keep the arrows from being able to penetrate.

But remember, these are fiery arrows.

Fiery arrows burn wood.

So they thought about that too.

It had a metal lining that was fireproof.

They couldn't burn the shield.

It also was covered in hide, in a hide that they would wet before the battle.

And so even though that tar -like substance would hit, that tar -like substance would eventually burn up because it

had nothing to catch on their shield.

Genius, right?

That way the arrow wouldn't stick to the shield.

Even if it stuck to the shield, it could not combust everywhere and get on these soldiers.

There was nothing for it to spread and catch fire.

And you see, this is part of the imagery that Paul is giving us here.

Think about the spiritual battle that we're in.

The enemy bombards us with a barrage of flaming arrows seeking to

wound and to burn us.

That's his point.

He wants to wound and to burn you.

He knows he can't kill you.

He knows he can't take away your righteousness.

He can't do that.

He can't get underneath that breastplate of righteousness and get to the heart.

He can't do it.

But what he wants to do is he wants to render you useless.

He wants to confuse you.

He wants to distract you.

This is the whole point.

And how does he do this?

What are some practical ways in which the enemy sends his fiery darts into us?

Saint, have you ever been watching television, something that seems innocent enough

and out of nowhere, something inappropriate just hits the screen?

I know all of you parents know exactly what we're talking about.

When the television's on, the scene or this phrase catches you off guard, comes out of

nowhere.

It's a flaming dart, right?

But if you notice, it's almost always strategically, specifically for you too.

It's always something that comes out of nowhere that was intentionally

designed.

It's as if that flaming arrow had your name on it and knew the weak points

and that was the purpose of it.

And it was going directly to you because that's how the enemy functions, right?

Or out of nowhere, even in your own mind, a blasphemous thought comes to your mind about

God, a doubt about God, an untruth about God, a

bitterness towards God, a distrust towards God, comes into your mind, you wake

up in the morning and you have no other thoughts and then all of a sudden, you think something evil of God.

Don't give me that holy look.

You know, all of you have done it.

You've questioned his character, you've questioned his goodness.

Where does that come from?

Well, yes, it could come from your flesh if you're living in sin.

But a lot of times, this is a direct attack upon you.

These are the flaming arrows that are being aimed directly in our midst

and their purpose is to distract, to confuse, to disorient,

to pull us away from the truth.

He knows he can't kill you.

As we said, he's just gonna disorient you.

He's gonna distort you.

He's going to try and render you useless for the battle.

And say, this is precisely why we must take up

this shield.

But unlike Roman soldiers' shields made of wood, metal, and hide, ours is

made of what?

Faith.

Ours is made of faith.

It's designed for this spiritual battle.

So what is faith?

What is Paul speaking of?

What is this imagery pointing to?

And how is this a shield?

Turn with me to the Old Testament, Genesis.

Very first book, Genesis chapter 15.

I want us to see something unique about

the father of faith, Abraham.

You see, building up to chapter 15, Abraham, he's

probably physically exhausted.

He's just rescued Lot.

He's gone through quite a few things.

He's been promised by God an offspring.

And I think we see in this, in these few verses, the evil one is bombarding him with fiery darts.

There in verse one, he says, it's after these things, all of this is going on in his life

that I just mentioned, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision.

That's Abram at the time.

Fear not, Abram, for I am your shield.

Notice that language there.

I am your shield.

Your reward shall be very great.

This is God speaking directly to him in a vision.

Look at verse two, he says, but Abram said, here's where doubt comes in.

I can only imagine the exhaustion, the physical exhaustion, the spiritual exhaustion, the doubt and the

reality of his life hitting him.

He says, oh Lord God, I'm acknowledging you as God.

You are God.

You are good.

You are the creator.

You are the sustainer.

You can do anything.

But he says, oh Lord God, what will you give me?

For I continue childless.

And the heir of my house is Eleazar of Damascus.

And Abram said, behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will

be my heir.

Remember, God had promised him an offspring, right?

And what was the problem?

He was old.

And his wife Sarah was old, right?

So he's sitting there going, this is impossible.

How am I supposed to have this offspring?

He says, and behold, the word of the Lord came to him.

This man shall not be your heir.

Your very own son shall be your heir.

And he brought him outside and said, look toward heaven and number the stars.

If you are able to number them, then he said to him, so shall your offspring be.

God makes a promise, God fulfills, right?

But the reality is, this can't happen.

We're too old.

We're past the childbearing age.

I get what God's saying.

But notice in verse six what happens.

He says, and he believed.

What is belief?

Faith, he had faith.

He believed the Lord.

And he counted it to him as righteousness.

We're saved by faith, right?

We believe.

This is faith.

The writer of Hebrews in chapter 11, he says, now faith is the assurance of things hoped

for, the conviction of things not seen.

This is a spiritual battle that we're in.

We don't see it, do we?

And this faith that we desperately need is this faith that the writer of Proverbs, he says in Proverbs chapter 30, he

says, every word of God proves true.

You can have faith in that.

And he says, he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

He is the shield for those who believe, for those

who have faith.

The psalmist says in Psalm 28, he says, the Lord is my strength and my shield.

In him, my heart trusts and I am helped.

He is my shield.

You see, once we are regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are given the gift

of faith and repentance.

That's a gift.

It's not your faith.

It's not my faith.

That faith is the same kind of attitude that Abram had, Abraham before, that

Abram had at that time when he's saying, how is that even possible?

That's the kind of faith that we would produce, a doubt.

But this faith is a true faith.

It's a lasting faith.

It's a real faith.

And it's a faith that is God -given.

And that faith, as I said at the beginning, is a ongoing, continual, forever faith.

And that is why we walk by faith.

And I walk by faith.

It is not a one -time thing.

And this is precisely what this shield is, this faith.

Faith in what?

What's the shield, guys?

Faith in what?

What is our faith in?

It's in Christ.

Say it again.

Christ.

This faith is in Christ.

For Christ is the fireproof barrier of this shield.

He and he alone.

God is our shield.

You and I hide behind him.

We hide behind Christ.

He takes the blows for us.

He is our shield.

That is the faith that we have.

We don't just believe in him once.

We don't just believe in him once.

Our life is forever marked by our ongoing belief, faith

in him.

And that is why we must take up the shield of faith.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd -Jones, in reference to this verse, he says, so I define

faith in the shield of faith.

That's meaning the quick application of what we believe as an answer to

everything that the devil hurls at us.

What he means is that we must be ready, the drop of a hat, to quickly

apply what we believe about Christ and his finished work.

That's the point of this shield.

When that inappropriate commercial comes across the screen, tries to distract us, when that blasphemous

thought about God comes across our mind, you deflect it by hiding behind

Christ.

It's your only hope.

It's the only hope for it not to distract you, disorient you, to take you out of the battle for the

moment.

Ian Bounds writes, no battle was ever planned by hell's most gifted strategist,

which can conquer faith.

All its inflamed and terrible darts fall harmless as they strike against the shield of faith.

It's good news.

Saint, when things seem hopeless in the battle, when the reality of life is impossible,

just like Abram with a wife that's too old to have children, what an

impossibility.

But he believed the Lord and it was counted to him as righteousness.

Psalmist in Psalm 3 says, but you, O Lord, are a shield about me.

My glory and the lifter of my head.

Saints, I wanna give you a call to action.

Of course, individually, if you've not hidden behind that shield, if you do not have the breastplate of

righteousness because you have not looked to Christ, I would ask you to look to Christ.

But right now I wanna speak to the saints.

Specifically those that are covenant members of 12 .5 church together.

Let us gather in this testudo, this tortoise shell,

this barricade.

Let us gather together, armed together behind and under our shield,

Christ.

Right?

I think that's the whole purpose here.

And as those flaming arrows, as they hail down on us, we will not fear.

We will not fret.

We will keep marching forward together in faith.

Amen.

Amen.

Praise God.

We do not have a fear.

There's nothing to fear.

We're in a spiritual battle that we can't see.

We can't even see the flaming darts coming.

We don't know where they're coming from.

We don't know where they're going.

We don't know what they're gonna hit.

We just know that we hide behind Christ and he took them all.

And we march in together, fighting the enemy hand in hand.

And don't try to do this alone, Saint.

I think that imagery of that shield is important.

Don't try and pick up the shield of faith and charge the enemy alone because they're just gonna flank you.

That's all they're gonna do.

They're smarter than you.

They're more cunning than you.

You need your brothers and sisters.

You need an army of saints that you walk hand in hand with, that all are actively taking up

the shield, standing behind Christ, our faith.

Amen?

Amen.

In light of that, let's rest.

Let's go to the table as we do each week.

As we prepare to go to the table, we often have our prayer of confession and assurance early on in the

service today.

We've placed it here before because I think oftentimes we realize when we open the text and we

see that truth, we go, oh man, I haven't been taking up the shield of faith.

I've not been hiding behind the cross.

I've been taking these arrows and bowing my chest going, I have the breastplate of righteousness, I'm good.

And we need to confess.

We need to confess individually.

We need to confess as a people.

But then we, once again, hide behind the cross.

We hide behind the Savior.

And we have great assurance that we can come to the table for there is no condemnation for those that are in

Christ Jesus.

Amen?

I wanna encourage you too, before we pray, if you are not in good standing

with a Bible -believing church, if you are not an active participating member,

you're not in the battle, please don't come to the table.

You're coming in an unworthy manner.

You're in sin.

All right?

I want you to be cautious about that.

Only those who are being obedient to King Jesus, I'm not talking about a perfect obedience, for none of us do

it, but your life is patterned with a desire for obedience to Christ, for that is

those who are walking in light.

So we will pray this prayer of confession assurance, and I want you to evaluate your own life.

See, am I obedient to Christ, or am I being blatantly disobedient to King Jesus?

Don't come to the table.

Come talk to one of us, myself, Pastor Keith, or Pastor Jeremiah, and we can talk with you about it, but let us pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you.

We see the truth.

We rest in the truth.

We know the truth, but oh Lord, so often we don't obey it,

for our flesh wars against us.

There are so many times that I do not pick up that shield of faith, and

the enemy distracts me and distorts everything around me with a barrage of fiery

darts.

Oh Lord, forgive me for not looking to Christ in that moment and

resting in faith.

I ask that for all of us as a people.

Lord, I pray that 12 Five Church would not be guilty of being a group of just individuals who walk

individually, but that we would be a group of your body, all the body parts that are

together, walking as an army, as a body, as soldiers of you, hand in

hand, hiding behind our glorious Savior.

Lord, I pray that as we come to your table, that you would be honored in our worship.

I ask that you would search our hearts, help us to rest in the glorious assurance of

Christ that there is no condemnation any longer, and that we can partake of the wine and the bread that

represents your blood and body that was given for us, that we have oneness in you and that

we have oneness together.

May we experience your glorious presence in a unique and

special way as we come to the table today.

In Christ's name, amen.