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.

Amen. Amen. 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 ecclesia, 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.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Let's all sing together. Come on. It is the days of peace, the days of peace.

The days of peace in days of rest in times of loss, in our weakness

I'm in trouble, you're hurting too And on my way,

I don't see you The trial has come

The trial has come, beyond your hand

I step, I walk, beyond your hand The path is dark outside my view

Still all my ways are known to you

Still what peace And oh what peace

That I have found Wherever I may be

Oh all my ways are known to you

Hallelujah, they are known to you

I do not fear I do not fear the final night

But death will be the door to my You take my hand and you're on my way

But I don't see you And oh what peace

That I have found Wherever I may be

Oh all my ways are known to you

Hallelujah, they are known to you

Open up my eyes Open up my eyes so I may see

That you have made these ways for me Open up my eyes so I may see

That you my God will walk with me Open up my eyes so I may see

That you have made these ways for me

Open up my eyes so I may see That you my

God will walk with me

And oh what peace That I have found

Wherever I may be Oh all my ways are known to you

Hallelujah, they are known to you

Hallelujah, they are known to you

Bless your name oh

God Each day that I awake From dawn to setting sun

Your greatness I'll proclaim Your glory far exceeds

All human God So with each breath

I'll bless your name Oh God Your name Your name will be revealed

To the children yet to know As generations take the wonders you have done

Your strong and mighty deeds Are always new

So God most high Your name will be revealed

How great is the Lord And greatly to be praised

How great is the Lord our God How great is the

Lord And greatly to be praised

How gracious and kind To all who live in need

Your mercy runs through mine To helpless and the weak

When we call out to you You hear our cry

And all our need Your gracious hand provides

How great is the Lord And greatly to be praised

How great is the Lord our God How great is the

Lord And greatly to be praised Forever without end

Creation will rejoice When works of wicked men

You finally destroy Sing it out Your power will proclaim

Till Christ descends And you will reign forever

Without end Sing it How great is the

Lord And greatly to be praised How great is the

Lord our God How great is the

Lord And greatly to be praised

Everybody should know this song When peace like a river

Tendered my way When sorrow like sea

Built a wall Whatever my lot

Thou hast taught me to say

It is well It is well

With my soul The saints and shepherds

No trial shall come

Let this blessed assurance

Control That this has regarded

My helpless estate

And hath shed His own blood

For my soul It is well

It is well With my soul

It is well It is well

With my soul

Ascend, O flowers

Of this glorious light

My sin not in part

But the whole

Is nailed to the cross

And I bear it no more

Praise the Lord Praise the

Lord My soul

It is well It is well

With my soul With my soul

It is well It is well

With my soul It is well

It is well With my soul

With my soul It is well

It is well With my soul

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 proclamation. Just sing this song with me as we worship this woman.

The world is broken and the shadows tippin'

And you know that all the darkness got the light Too much that you could see it all

It's all a creation for me It's a new creation for me

It's the glory of the light

Everything I'm is

Is a new belief in the destiny of this place

It is Is anyone hurting?

Is anyone whole? Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scope?

The Lion of Judah will conquer the grave

He is David's fruit and the Lamb who died to ransom the slave

Is He worthy? Is He worthy?

Of all blessing and honor and glory Is He worthy?

Is He worthy? Of the truth and the sin and the war

He's a son of a slave from ten to twelve

Anyone where?

Is anyone home? To see that nothing is wrong

The Lion of Judah will conquer the grave

He is David's fruit and the Lamb who died to ransom the slave

Every people and tribe, every nation and tongue

He has made us a kingdom and priest and God to reign with the

Son Is He worthy? Is He worthy?

Of all blessing and honor and glory Is He worthy?

Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it

And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it

But one of the elders said to me, weep no more Behold, the

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 twenty -four 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 and 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

And to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever

And the four living creatures said, Amen And the elders fell down and worshiped

So that's what they said Is anyone home?

Is anyone able to break the seal and open the scroll?

And by an old tune, to conquer the grave

He is David's Root and the Lamb who died Every people

Every people and tribe Every nation and tongue

He has made us a kingdom and priest and God to reign with us on Is He worthy?

Is He worthy? Of all blessing and honor and glory

Is He worthy of this?

He is He is

He is He is

He is worthy He is worthy

Of all blessing and honor and glory He is worthy

God, I pray as we continue to worship throughout the remainder of this service Lord, that You are honored, that Your name is glorified

Nothing of ourselves, but Christ alone Father, may we never look to the things around us,

Lord God To bring us joy and contentment Father, may all things depend and start with You, Father God Depend on You in our lives

Father, as we take up this offering, Lord May it be a worship service to You, Lord God As we give of the abundance that You've given to us

Praise You for Your truth and the Word, God As 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 That You would change us from the inside out,

Lord God Thank You, Father, for Your truth and Your Word Thank You for Your church body this morning,

God Thank You, Father And everybody say, Amen Do you know that all the darkness around us

This present darkness that Paul speaks of It won't stop the light from getting through, as we just declared

Will it? Will it? 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 the finished work of Christ And as we'll see today in our text

There in Ephesians chapter 6 Verse 16 specifically But go ahead and open your copy of God's word

That you have with you to Ephesians 6 Again, we're gonna start reading in 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 6

Let's start in verse 10 and read the whole Where Paul says, finally Be strong in the

Lord In the strength of His might Put on the whole armor of God That you may be able to stand

Against the schemes of the devil For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood

But against the rulers Against the authorities Against the cosmic powers Over this present darkness

Against the spiritual forces of evil In the heavenly 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 That we misunderstand

We know that We read our preconceived ideas into your text

And often times 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

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 I must remind you once again

Because we are forgetful and hard headed people aren't we? I know

I am I forget often 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 are not at war with a nation

We are 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 fathers 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 is a 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 And 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 want to 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 6

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 going to be honest

Because I wasn't ready to jump into it until today I didn't want to 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

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 are 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

It kind of changes it up In addition to all Or in all circumstances there 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 are having

The next three you are taking Paul is 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 is 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 is 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 is ready He is 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 is ready at any given notice With his shoes strapped

And ready to run He is composing himself though He is 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 are prepared By the gospel of peace at all times Even when we rest If you notice of the past couple of weeks

That is 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 is always the threat of attack

And you must be ready Enemies 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 are always They always come when we least expect them

That is 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 is always going to come When it is least expected That is why we are 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 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 is 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 refers to them During that time Armies would use

They would use fiery arrows You've seen the movies, right? You've seen old movies 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 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 This cloud of arrows That would fly over The opposing army

And this onslaught Of these flaming arrows Would come in And this way Even if the arrow

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 the arrow would hit And then you've 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 were 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 their 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 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 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 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 These shields were

Not only strategic in size They were made with 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 It'd 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 He wants to render you useless

He wants to confuse you He wants to distract you This is the whole point

How does he do this? What are some practical ways In which the enemy

Sends his fiery darts into us? Saint, have you ever You ever been watching television?

Something Something seems innocent enough And out of nowhere

Something inappropriate Just hits the screen I know

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?

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 going to disorient you

He's going to distort you He's going to try and render you useless for the battle 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 The Old Testament Genesis Very first book Genesis chapter 15

I want us to I want us to see something unique about Our The father of faith,

Abraham You see, building up to chapter 15 Abraham is

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 1

It says, 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 2, 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

Eliezer 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 6 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 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 Abraham had

Abraham before That Abraham 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

As 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

At the drop of a hat To quickly apply What we believe about Christ and his finished work

That's the point of the 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 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 want to 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 want to 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 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 going to flank you That's all they're going to 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 often times

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 want to 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 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 .5

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