An Impenetrable Shield

Providence Baptist Church iconProvidence Baptist Church

1 view

Ephesians 6:16

0 comments

00:05
Amen. It's a joy to hear your voices this morning. You know, it's almost the
00:15
Christian life like a superhero story, if you will.
00:22
You've been chosen for battle. You must step out into the fray as bullets are flying.
00:30
But you've been given this shield and forged from impenetrable material.
00:37
It will protect you from ultimate defeat. But really, it's not a superhero story at all, is it?
00:44
It's literally what Paul's teaching us in Ephesians 6. Turn there, please.
00:50
If you are a Christian, you have been called into battle.
00:56
You are called to step out and fight among the fiery arrows.
01:06
These fiery arrows are being fired by our enemy by the thousands. But the text says this morning that you've been given a shield.
01:18
This is a shield not forged in earthly materials, but woven with threads of divine promises.
01:27
Reinforced with the truth of the Bible, the truth of God, the truth of Christ, the truth of the church.
01:35
This shield is an impenetrable shield. And it's sufficient for the battle of our day.
01:43
And every arrow that hits this shield falls harmlessly to the ground.
01:52
Every arrow of doubt. Every arrow of temptation. Every arrow of shame.
01:59
Every arrow of distraction or division. It pops off this shield as if a child were on the ground throwing popcorn at us.
02:09
That's the impenetrableness, is that a word? Of this shield. The question this morning is, are you taking up the shield of faith?
02:20
Let us consider an impenetrable shield. Ephesians 6, verse 16.
02:28
Would you stand with me as we honor the reading of God's Word? We read the context last week.
02:33
We'll read again verse 16 now. In all circumstances, or above all, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all, not some or part, all the flaming darts of the evil one.
02:52
Father, would You help us to understand this text? Would You help us to understand the great impenetrable shield that You have given
03:00
Your church for our battle? We pray that we be edified.
03:06
Some believers here are weak in the faith. They are being assailed even now by doubts and distractions and temptations.
03:14
Lord, strengthen them this morning by Your grace and let them know they've been given a large shield to defend them.
03:23
Some in here are stronger in the faith. Let them not be distracted.
03:29
Let them not grow weary. Let them come alongside other brothers and sisters and help them and show them this great shield that we've been given.
03:38
Others here are careless when it comes to the things of the Gospel. They need
03:45
Christ. They need to repent. They need to believe, even today, savingly upon Jesus.
03:53
And I pray that Your Spirit would draw them to Yourself. We pray that You would at work all these things and more by Your divine power through the heralding of Your precious
04:02
Word. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. You may be seated. In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.
04:14
Now, Hebrews 11 says that without faith, it is impossible to please
04:22
God. All that we are must turn and trust all that God is for us in Christ.
04:32
The Baptist Catechism asks this, what is faith in Jesus Christ? Answer, faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace whereby we receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation as He is offered to us in the
04:45
Gospel. Okay, so our hope, this shield of faith, our hope is not faith in faith and our hope is not faith in anything.
04:57
We said last week, our hope is faith in Christ. Our hope is in the
05:02
Gospel. That is, the Gospel is who Jesus is and what He has done for us.
05:09
Truly God becoming truly man. Our substitute.
05:16
He didn't just die for us, first He lived for us, fulfilling all righteousness on our behalf.
05:22
And then dying as the lawbreakers that we have been. Read Psalm 22.
05:28
Read Isaiah 53. Suffering the painful and shameful death of the cross where He suffered in His body physically, but He also suffered in His soul because He bore the wrath of God.
05:44
And then He rose again in victory, promising us forgiveness of all sins and granting us
05:53
His own righteous robes, reconciling us to God. Friends, this is the
05:59
Gospel. It's not faith in something else. It's faith in what I just told you. Faith in Christ.
06:05
We must look to Christ because the shield of faith is strong. It is impenetrable because of Christ.
06:14
Because Christ is impenetrable. I'm going to say that word so many times in this sermon, I know
06:19
I'm going to stumble some more. It's hard to say, but Christ is impenetrable. He is a shield that cannot lose.
06:27
And He has never and will never lose His people. But what
06:33
I want to do in today's sermon is I want to look at four ways, four practical ways, four tangible ways that we are to use this shield in battle, if you will.
06:47
God has not left His church ill -equipped. So do not think of the
06:54
Christian life as a life of complacency. Oh, I've checked off. Oh, I believe on Jesus. I've got that checked off and now
07:01
I just kind of live carefree. No, the Bible is teaching us something different here. Paul is calling us out of that.
07:07
He's helping us to understand because we trust Jesus, because we trust Jesus, there is a battle.
07:15
We will fight against the world and the flesh and the devil. And this shield of faith is something that God has given to us as a mighty defensive weapon if the church will use it properly.
07:27
Notice something in verse 16, just little words sometimes. Take up the shield of faith.
07:36
You notice that? It's not a shield of faith. It is the shield.
07:41
It's not one of many shields available to us. So you look in the armory and you say, we've got the shield of whatever you may say, the law.
07:49
You've got the shield of good works. You over here, you've got the shield of wonderful music, the shield of worship.
07:57
No, no, no. It's the shield of faith. That's the only shield we have. It's the only shield that God deems the church needs.
08:05
So we look to no other protection. So I think that I can draw four themes from the book of Ephesians to make a case that this shield of faith has practical and tangible application every day for the
08:20
Christian. Now, each one of these that you're going to hear this morning, it's not separated from the gospel.
08:26
So I'm not telling you, trust Jesus over here and then trust these other things unrelated to the gospel over here.
08:33
Rather, think of it like this. We trust these things because we trust Christ. We trust these things through trusting
08:40
Christ or because we trust Christ, it results in we trust these things.
08:46
So our faith in Christ leads us inevitably and joyfully to trust these things
08:52
I'm going to teach you this morning that I think are themes of Ephesians.
08:58
Charles Hodge notes that the primary idea of faith is trust. So our faith in Christ leads us to trusting
09:06
God in all areas. Now, I hope all that makes sense. If it doesn't, we're going to jump into the outline and I'm going to hope
09:14
I just throw you in the pool and you learn to swim, right? No, what I hope is as we walk through this, that it's going to help you see and make sense.
09:23
And that as you use the shield of faith, you'll be able to use these things against our terrible enemy.
09:30
So first, those holding the impenetrable shield, trust in number one, the sufficiency of Scripture.
09:39
Okay, did you just pull a fast one on this? In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.
09:48
You said that you were going to give us preacher four themes from Ephesians. And are you sitting there trying to say that one of the themes of Ephesians is the sufficiency of Scripture?
09:59
I'm not saying that Paul is writing to the Ephesians to convince them of the sufficiency of Scripture.
10:06
Like that's not his goal per se, but I'm going to make my case here. And here's my case.
10:12
The very fact that Paul writes this letter to the Ephesians lets us know that he has an unwavering commitment to the sufficiency of Scripture, of the
10:24
Scripture. So you ask yourself, did the apostles, did they know that they were writing to the Ephesians? The answer is yes.
10:30
What? They knew they were writing Scripture? Yes. Do you know what Peter says in 2 Peter, you can look this up, 2
10:37
Peter 3, 16. Peter says that Paul wrote Scripture.
10:43
This is why Paul is alive. While Paul is writing, Peter is calling Paul's writing
10:48
Scripture. So the apostles understood that their writing was Scripture. Therefore, I'm arguing that Paul believes in the sufficiency of Scripture.
10:58
And if he didn't believe that his writing was necessary and authoritative and sufficient and clear and under the authority and breathed out by the
11:08
Word of God, he wouldn't have written. Paul was a man, if you read Ephesians, you know this.
11:13
If you read the Bible, you know this. Paul was a man saturated in the Scriptures. Ephesians is a book laden with Old Testament Scriptures and references.
11:23
So what am I arguing here? I'm arguing that part of what makes the shield impenetrable is it's being woven together with the
11:33
Bible. Yes, and we're gonna get to this later. This is coming down the pipeline, you know it.
11:38
We're gonna talk about the sword of the Spirit. The Bible is a sword. But right now you need to understand the
11:45
Bible is also a shield. It is a part of what helps us quench the fiery darts of the evil one.
11:53
And since I trust Christ, listen church this morning, since I trust Christ, I trust his words.
12:01
There's no such thing as I trust in Jesus, but I don't trust the
12:07
Bible. Because the Bible is the words of God. My faith in Christ leads me to a trust and faith in the
12:17
Scriptures. That is, from Genesis to Revelation is the unfolding of Christ's words.
12:25
And the unfolding of his words gives light, Psalm 119, 130, and imparts understanding to the simple.
12:34
So this book shows me the way to go. This book reveals
12:42
Christ to me. This book teaches me who I am, teaches me who
12:49
God is, shows me the purpose of my life, shows me what the church is, shows me what the gospel is, shows me, keeps me from wandering the dark paths where the enemy lurks.
13:01
Do you understand? And above all, it is the truth. Nothing snuffs out lies more quickly than the truth.
13:12
Nothing quenches the fiery darts of the evil one more quickly than the truth.
13:20
So Satan shoots the arrows at us, and he says, half God really said, half God really said, half
13:26
God really said, yes, he said, chapter and verse. Arrow quenched. You understand that if we're not using the
13:36
Bible to defend against the attacks of the evil one, we're missing part of the material, if you will, of this shield.
13:49
It's not faith in faith. It's faith in Christ. And faith in Christ leads me to trusting and believing the words of Christ.
13:59
This Bible shows me how to obey God, how to follow his commands.
14:04
It shows me how to raise my children in the nurture and admonition of the
14:10
Lord. It shows me how I am to live at work. I'm not one way here and one way at work.
14:15
I'm not, you're like, yo, that's easy for you to say, preacher. This is where you go to work, right?
14:21
But you understand, like where I'm at with around other people, the
14:26
Bible teaches me how to live, how to be a good citizen, how to love God, how to love my neighbor, how to be a kind husband, a loving father, a patient friend, an active church member.
14:40
Because I have a justifying faith resting in Christ, I have a sanctifying faith leading me to obey what
14:48
Jesus has said in His Word. And in all these ways, I am saying that this
14:54
Bible helps to protect the church from the attacks of the evil one.
15:02
But let me say it to you this way. A church trusting the Word of God is a church quenching the fiery arrows of the evil one.
15:13
A church trusting the Word of God is a church quenching the fiery darts of Satan.
15:21
So application, if you want to take up the shield of faith, you must take up the Word of God. I wanna be a stronger, by the way, next week we're gonna talk about how we should be stronger in our faith, right?
15:32
Like, I wanna be stronger in my faith. Okay, take up the Bible, read it, meditate on it, memorize it, study it, grow in it, live by it, know this book, know the book.
15:41
It's a shame, is it not, that we live in the so -called Bible Belt and we could take a
15:47
Bible quiz, the most elementary of Bible quizzes, to our friends and neighbors and they wouldn't know it, why?
15:53
Because we don't know the Bible in the Bible Belt. We don't believe it, we don't read it, we don't appreciate it.
16:00
This cannot be true of Providence Baptist Church. Friends, know the book.
16:06
And I'm not just talking about the stories you learned in Miss Janice's Feltz Board Sunday School, that's great.
16:13
I'm saying know what the book is about. Know why the Bible was written, understand its truth, see it pointing to Christ on every page.
16:23
Stake your life and your fortune and your family on everything that the Bible says. It is sufficient for the church to fight the battles of today and yesterday and tomorrow and every day.
16:34
It will never be irrelevant. Let us be resolved to trust the sufficiency of Scripture. So those holding the impenetrable shield trust in the sufficiency of Scripture.
16:44
Secondly, they trust in the sovereignty of God. Number one, the sufficiency of Scripture. Number two, the sovereignty of God.
16:52
In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.
16:58
I know of no faster way to cut Satan's legs out from under him than to remind him he is not
17:06
God. A man once said, when Satan reminds you of your past, remind him of his future.
17:18
Listen, the devil's not in control. The devil is not in control.
17:23
Some Christians, I think, believe that. Well, it's just the whole world, the devil's in control. No, God is in control.
17:32
And Paul has reminded us of this again in this great letter to the Ephesians. Let's read it.
17:38
Turn over to Ephesians one. God is in control. God is sovereign. If we trust in Christ, we trust in the sufficiency of Scripture.
17:46
If we trust in Christ, we trust in the sovereignty of God. These elements are what make up, if you will, that shield of faith.
17:55
Verse three, chapter one. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love.
18:11
He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved.
18:22
In him, we have the redemption, sorry. In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
18:45
In him, we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
19:02
In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him, were sealed with the promised
19:10
Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.
19:16
That's one sentence in Greek. That's one long, run -on sentence.
19:24
But listen to me. It is an absolute travesty, an absolute shame, an absolute work of Satan himself that these themes that I just read are sources of contention and division and argument in churches today.
19:45
The sovereignty of God, friends, is not revealed so that the church could squabble about it, right?
19:52
It is revealed so the church would find comfort in it. It is revealed so that we would know in our deepest, darkest days when we feel the heat, the arrows are passing by, and man, they're on fire, and we feel them shooting right by our face, and we can feel it, and we're in the midst of battle.
20:11
What do I hold on to? I can put my head on the pillow at night because I know that God is on His throne.
20:21
The sovereignty of God is an impenetrable shield. God has revealed to us in this text
20:29
He's chosen believers in eternity past despite of our unworthiness, not because of our choices or what we have done or because of our skin color, but only by His sovereign grace.
20:42
He has revealed this to us as a source of our strength, as a defense against the arrows of the enemy, every arrow of doubt that Satan fires at us because of this or that circumstance.
20:55
I can run back to Ephesians 111. In Him, this one's hanging in my office, in Him we have obtained an inheritance having predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.
21:10
God is in control. Arrow quenched. Every time someone scoffs at evangelism, oh, you knuckleheads, that doesn't work anymore.
21:21
Going to Todd, knocking on doors, that doesn't work anymore. Preaching the gospel, that doesn't work anymore. Or when
21:26
I have an encounter and I know you've had this, I was like, man, I wish I would've just said a little bit more here or there and I'm just kicking myself.
21:33
I can in these things rest in the sufficiency of the gospel knowing that God is going to use our own feeble efforts to bring in His people.
21:44
God is sovereign. He is God and we are not, and He is in full control. Now, this is not meant for debate and division.
21:53
I have wasted too many hours of my life fighting with people on the internet about this topic.
21:59
It's dumb, I repent, I'm sorry. It's not meant for debate or division.
22:05
It's meant for a shield for the church to defend her against the evil schemes of the devil who is constantly hounding us with stuff like this.
22:17
What you're doing isn't working. Or you hear about those people, you should be afraid of those people and on and on and on with lies, lies, lies, lies.
22:30
What I do is I take up the shield of faith, I hold it up knowing that the shield of faith is firmly cemented by the hands of a sovereign
22:39
God. He is sovereign in salvation. He is sovereign over evil.
22:45
Satan is, read the book of Job, Satan is on his leash. He doesn't move an inch beyond God's sovereign rule.
22:54
God is sovereign over the weather, sovereign over governments, over sickness, over disease, over the drunk driver, over cancer, over the economy.
23:05
I don't know what's gonna happen this fall. I know that I think that if we're to continue on digging our own grave, that America will choose someone from the
23:17
Democratic National Convention to be president over the United States. I'm not going to vote in that way and I think that we should vote in a way that pleases our great and our holy
23:26
God and we have a responsibility. But I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna wake up after the night of the election and I'm going to know that whoever is voted as the next president of the
23:35
United States, God is still on his throne. He's in control.
23:42
This is a shield for me. I don't have to panic. This lines up with what our confession teaches.
23:50
So well summarized. I love chapter three of the 1689. It's so helpful.
23:55
This is paragraph one. You should read it. From all eternity, God decreed everything that occurs without reference to anything outside himself.
24:03
He did this by the perfectly wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably.
24:10
Yet God did this in such a way that he is neither the author of sin nor has fellowship with any in their sin.
24:17
This decree does not violate the will of the creature or take away the free working or contingency of second causes.
24:25
On the contrary, these are established by God's decree. In this decree, God's wisdom is displayed in directing all things, and his power and faithfulness are demonstrated in accomplishing his decree.
24:37
We say, that's a lot of language. That hurts. Okay, fine. You want me to simplify it?
24:44
I'll simplify it. Ephesians 111. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.
24:56
That's the Bible. And we believe it. The church holds up the shield of faith in the face of the enemy and says,
25:04
God is sovereign. And Satan can put that in his quiver and smoke it. Right?
25:10
Because his flaming arrows cannot destroy a church resting in the sovereignty of God.
25:18
Those holding the impenetrable... I told you. Those holding the impenetrable shield, trust in the sufficiency of scripture and the sovereignty of God.
25:28
I should have chosen a different word. Thirdly, they trust in the suitableness of Christ. So Paul says, in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.
25:49
We quench the fiery darts of the evil one when we see Christ as our only suitable and all sufficient savior.
25:57
Ephesians is saturated with Christ. It starts in verse one of chapter one.
26:06
Follow along with me. Ephesians 1 .1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus.
26:18
Christians are understood in this letter and in the New Testament as being in Christ. I know we say things like this.
26:24
Have you asked Jesus into your heart? Another way we might say it like this. Has Jesus asked you into his heart, right?
26:30
Because we are united to Christ. Christ is in us and we are in Christ. Christians have
26:36
Christ in them and I cannot, I must not attempt to be Christ to anyone.
26:41
I can't be Jesus to you. I can't be Jesus to my family. I can't be Jesus to the world.
26:47
But I am to be in Christ to everyone. I am to be a husband in Christ to Stephanie.
26:54
I am to be a father in Christ to my six children. I am to be a pastor in Christ to Providence Baptist Church.
27:01
I am to be a friend, a neighbor, a citizen in Christ. I am to be a church member in Christ. Christ is to shape every facet of our being.
27:10
Our union with Christ changes everything. And this is a shield.
27:16
On sunny days, Christ. On snowy days, Christ. When the ice is coming in, Christ. When the bank account is full,
27:23
Christ. When the cupboards are empty, Christ. Christ alone is my shield.
27:29
Christ has given sufficient atonement for my sins. Chapter one, verse seven. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace.
27:41
Chapter five, verse two says, walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
27:53
Christ is reconciling Jews and Gentiles to himself. Chapter two, verse 11 through 13.
28:01
Therefore, this is just review. You knew all this already. We've already covered all this, right? But just a little review. Therefore, remember that at one time you
28:08
Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision which is made in the flesh by hands.
28:14
Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world.
28:26
But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
28:34
For he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.
28:42
Christ is reconciling Jews and Gentiles to himself. In Christ are unsearchable riches.
28:48
Chapter three and verse eight. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the
28:54
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. There are a lot of riches that you chase in this world today that in 10 ,000 years will be long gone and forgotten about but no one will ever regret chasing after Christ.
29:11
And then Christ has all things under his feet. Ephesians chapter one, verse 20.
29:16
That he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead, seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
29:29
And he has put all things, not most things, not many things, not some things, all things under his feet and gave him his head over all things to the church.
29:40
When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward
29:54
I look and see him there who made an end of all my sin.
30:04
Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free.
30:13
For God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me.
30:25
There's not a better shield than that. Arrow quenched.
30:31
Shoot your arrow, Satan. Shoot them at the church.
30:37
Some of them are true. I am guilty, I am worthless, I do mess up,
30:43
I falter, I sin, my feeble faith is not worthy of its magnificent object.
30:49
I get lazy, I get prideful, I get angry, I get frustrated, I overwork,
30:54
I underwork, I mishandle God's blessings. Oh, but every one of those arrows, all of them hit this impenetrable shield that is soaked in the flame -destroying blood of my
31:06
God and Savior. Shoot them because when they hit the shield, they fizzle out because Christ is king.
31:14
He shed his blood. The fiery arrows of our enemy cannot burn through the blood shed for sinners on Calvary.
31:24
What am I going to drag before God on that day? What am I going to say to get into heaven?
31:29
Oh, it's Christ. All I have is Christ and he is enough. That doesn't diminish good works.
31:37
We were created in Christ Jesus for good works, but I will warn you this morning that if you try to hide behind your good works as a shield, too often what happens is they allow an arrow or two to pass by and strike you, whether with pride in your works or with despair of not doing near enough, a much better shield, an impenetrable shield is the suitableness of Christ.
32:05
And we run with this shield, the race that is set before us, living out a life of holiness in Christ.
32:12
Okay, those holding the impenetrable shield trust in the sufficiency of Scripture, the sovereignty of God, the suitableness of Christ.
32:19
Fourthly, the success of the church in all circumstances.
32:30
Take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one. It can be argued that one of the very reasons the letter to the
32:40
Ephesians was penned was so that Christians in that dark city, all the witchcraft and foolishness happening, would ultimately understand that God's people will prevail over the present darkness.
32:56
We know this because Christ is head of the church. I deliberately stopped reading earlier in Ephesians one when it says in verse 22, he put all things under his feet and gave him his head over all things to the church.
33:10
Then I stopped, but it goes on to say, which is his body.
33:19
If Christ is the head, by the way, not the Pope, not any human institution, then how can the church not have victory?
33:32
She is already seated with Christ. If you're a believer, just as sure as you're sitting here today, you're seated with Christ.
33:39
You say, well, that just sounds a bit fanciful. It's the Bible. Ephesians chapter two, flip there.
33:45
Ephesians chapter two, beginning in verse four. But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.
34:04
By grace, you have been saved, but he ain't done yet, verse six, and raised us up with him and seated us with him.
34:11
Where? In the heavenly places. In Christ Jesus. If Christ is the head and the church is his body, do we think somehow the body of Christ will be defeated while the head prevails?
34:26
Do you know what it's called when the head is severed from the body?
34:33
That would be called decapitation. Christ is not decapitated.
34:43
Christ is head of the church, and because the head prevails, the church prevails.
34:49
The body prevails because the head wins. They stay in union. Christ wins, and so his body wins with him.
34:58
The church will be, friends, presented holy and blameless. Ephesians five, verse 25.
35:04
Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish.
35:23
Now, there's lots of things that you might determine to do. Today, I'm gonna do this. Tomorrow, I'm gonna do this. In 10 years,
35:28
I'm gonna do this. But your plans, because you're mortal, and sometimes you have the best of intentions, but your plans oftentimes fail.
35:37
They're not carried out the way you want them to be carried out. Now, you look at me this morning, and you tell me that Christ planned to rescue a church and to present the church to himself without spot or wrinkle within full splendor and glory.
35:53
You tell me that's going to fail. Let me put it in our Perry County vernacular.
35:59
It ain't. It ain't gonna fail. Because Christ is king.
36:07
Individual churches, listen church, individual churches may shut their doors. They may face martyrdom.
36:14
But the point is, as a collective whole, local churches win because they're united to Christ, and he is king of kings, and he is
36:23
Lord of lords. Friends, the church is not an afterthought to God.
36:29
She is not a parenthesis to his plan.
36:36
She is, you know what I'm talking about, the little parenthesis, right? She's not a pause in his plan.
36:42
She is his plan from the beginning. We see her, though not in her fullness, in the
36:48
Old Testament saints and prophecies. We see her, obviously, more clearly revealed in the
36:54
New Testament, and the manifestation of her in assemblies all over the world in local and visible congregations.
37:01
And if that's not enough for you, let me give you this little thought to put into your mind.
37:06
For 2 ,000 years, the world, the flesh, and the devil have railed against the church.
37:14
They have sought to eradicate the church for 2 ,000 years.
37:21
They have persecuted the church. They have tried to infiltrate the church. That's what you see in Rome, the apostate church,
37:28
Roman Catholicism. They have tried to twist doctrine. You see that in offshoots of false teachers like Mormonism or Jehovah's Witnesses.
37:36
They have tried all that they can do to snuff the church out of existence.
37:41
Okay, let's do a quick check -in. 2 ,000 years later, how we doing? Have you gained an inch,
37:48
Satan? No, the church is alive, and she's flourishing, and she's all over the world, and people are repenting and believing the gospel, and the
38:03
Christ army is marching on.
38:08
So I do not think it's a biblical understanding of the end times to say, well, the church, this is very
38:15
American, the church is gonna lose, so let's just hunker down and prepare for it. Look, I know how to lose.
38:24
I'm a Dallas Cowboys fan. I know how to lose. My favorite year, next year, right?
38:34
But I don't think this is the way we have to see the church. Man, this life, man, we're just gonna take a pummel, and we're just gonna really lose, but I can't wait till the next one.
38:45
In fact, I would argue that the church is winning right now. Christ is reigning right now.
38:53
Christ is going into the enemy camp in America, in Mexico, in South America, in China, in North Korea, in South Korea, in Pakistan, in Sub -Saharan
39:03
Africa, all over the world, Christ is going into the enemy's camp. The strong man is bound, and he's building his church.
39:12
Society may be crumbling, morals may be crumbling, nations may be toppling, America may fall off the face of the earth, but the church is enduring.
39:19
She is not forgotten. She's the apple of God's eye. Local churches are enduring. The spirit of God is working in them.
39:25
The kingdom is not retreating, but advancing. Ephesians 4, 11 through 32 is happening all over the world today.
39:37
Go ahead, let's read it. It's long, I can read it quickly. Chapter four, verse 11.
39:43
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the
39:56
Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by waves, carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes.
40:09
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head and the
40:15
Christ, for whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
40:25
Now, this I say in testifying the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds.
40:32
They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardness of heart.
40:41
They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
40:47
But that is not the way you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
41:08
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
41:15
Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil.
41:20
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
41:29
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only as such as is good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear.
41:37
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, having along with all mouths, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.
41:57
This is happening all over the world in little outposts, in little out of the way places, in Totsak, Arkansas, and beyond.
42:07
God is building His church. She'll always face persecution in this life, don't mistake me.
42:15
She'll always meet resistance, don't mistake me. But God is building His church in the face of His enemies.
42:21
No matter what may happen to one particular local church, the church as a whole, local churches as a whole, will endure.
42:31
So, when Satan shoots his arrows to make you think your time in the church is wasted or not worth it, or you should be doing other things, we hold up the shield and we say, this is what
42:45
God is doing in the world today. The church wins for the glory of Christ. Those holding the impenetrable shield trust in the sufficiency of Scripture, the sovereignty of God, the suitableness of Christ, and the success of the church.
42:59
Now, before we close, I wanna put it to you a different way. So, the landing gear's coming down.
43:10
We've begun our descent, but don't unbuckle your seatbelt yet.
43:15
Just listen. We trust the sufficiency of Scripture, so there is no rerouting.
43:26
We trust in the sovereignty of God, so there is no rattle.
43:35
We trust in the suitableness of Christ, so there is no replacement.
43:44
And we trust in the success of the church, so there are no regrets.
43:50
This is the shield of faith. God has spoken, God is in control. God will keep His promises.
43:55
God is for our good in Christ. We trust a sufficient Bible. No rerouting.
44:00
This is God's way, God's plan, God's path, God's direction. This is the good way. This is the way that we will walk.
44:07
This is the way of the blessed man. We love this book. We read this book. We trust this book. We live by this book.
44:12
We teach this book to our children. We trust the sufficiency of the Bible. No rerouting, no other path we're gonna walk.
44:20
We trust the sovereignty of God. No rattle, that is, no panic. What do you think about the stock market?
44:26
What do you think about Russia? What do you think about the next president? I don't mean to minimize those things.
44:32
Those things are important. We have a reasonable role to play in the world today, and you better believe that we must take these things seriously.
44:38
However, because we trust in a sovereign God, there is no rattle, there is no panic, no scrambling around.
44:46
I gotta address every single issue, everything that this person said I have to address. No, I don't.
44:51
I just seek to walk with God and to trust Him because I believe in His sovereign hand. No rattle, no panic.
44:58
Thirdly, we trust in a suitable Christ, no replacement. It's Christ alone, there's no other. He alone is the
45:04
Savior we need. His life, His death, His burial, His resurrection, His reign. He is enough, He is worthy,
45:10
He is all we have, He is all we need. Fourthly, we trust in a successful church, no regrets.
45:19
We give our lives to Christ's kingdom. In 10 ,000 years, you won't regret that.
45:29
We give our lives to God's building project. In 10 ,000 years, you won't regret that.
45:35
A life well -lived, blessings well -stewarded, time well -invested are all given to what
45:44
God is doing in the world today in and through His people in local, visible assemblies, congregations that we call churches.
45:56
Those who give their lives to faithful churches will have no regrets before God on that final day.
46:06
They'll not be like that guy you've seen on the internet that has that tattoo tattooed across his chest that says no regerts, right?
46:16
That won't be you, why? Because you've given your life to what matters. You've given your life to what
46:22
God is doing in the local church. Those who give their lives to faithful churches will have no regrets before God on that day.
46:33
Okay, are you living this way?
46:41
No rerouting, no rattle, no replacements, no regrets.
46:51
I can't answer that for you, brothers, sisters. I can't answer that for you.
46:57
But if you're not living this way, then you're trending toward a wasted life.
47:04
And actually, it may be, if you refuse to live this way, that you're not a believer at all. And then you will meet
47:11
God in judgment, in all circumstances.
47:20
Take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil. What an impenetrable shield
47:26
God has gifted to the church. Believers, are you using this shield? What might
47:33
God do with Providence Baptist Church if we resolve today that together, we take up the shield and we're marching?
47:47
I'll close just simply with this. I don't wanna just tack this on here at the end, but are you a believer?
47:56
Are you living your life in Christ? Because if you're not a believer, you need to repent of your sins and believe the
48:06
Gospel. We're not in a superhero story. This is real life with a real battle and a real ending.
48:16
Christ is King. Who will be saved? The question asked this morning, question 49.
48:24
Answer, only those who repent and believe the Gospel.
48:31
Will you repent this morning? Children who are here who are not believers, will you repent? Repentance is turning from your way and aligning yourself with God's way, turning from sin and turning to Christ.
48:43
Trusting Christ, putting your faith in Christ is resting upon Jesus alone as your only suitable and all -sufficient
48:50
Savior. Will we be a people who use this shield as God intends?
49:00
Father, thank You for Your Word. We pray that we would be a people rightly using this great gift.
49:08
We pray that You would bless the response that Christ would be exalted. We pray that we would all respond by trusting what
49:15
Your Word says. Thank You for this church and what You're doing here. Please continue to strengthen us.
49:21
We need Your grace. In Jesus' name, amen. Would you stand with me? Amen.