Well, good morning, everybody. It is a great day to be here
together. It's a wonderful day to worship
our God. I'm happy to be here and I'm
happy you're here. And we have a wonderful set of
scriptures to study if you want to open to Ephesians chapter 6.
We're going to be finally finishing this book after many
months of going through this, and we're finishing up with the
topic of the armor of God. And I know many of you in here
know what this is, but I hope that it will mean something to
you today in a way that is fresh for you today.
I have confidence in God's Word that way.
God's Word is living and powerful and it has ways of
working on us through all of our life circumstances that can be
fresh today. And maybe it's not the same way
that you thought of it in the past or, or maybe it's not the
same thing that stuck out to you in the past.
But I hope you get something today that will equip you
because this isn't just some background information.
We're talking about our armor today.
We're talking about survival. We're talking about life and
death today. We all, I think, can learn
something or refresh on something that we needed today.
I definitely know there's a long list of things that I needed
from this. So I hope you do as we get into
the study. And if you don't know what the
armor of God is today, wonderful.
You need to know because this is a life or death matter.
So he starts out in this section of verses Ephesians chapter 6
verse 10 by saying finally my brethren, so this lesson is not
an isolated study on the Christian armor.
It is a extension of the thought that has begun throughout this
whole book. And he started by reminding
Christians of their spiritual blessings in Christ.
The first 3 chapters were all about reminding them that they
have spiritual possessions from the Father, that they have
spiritual possessions from the Son and from the Spirit.
And therefore he prays that they would be enlightened, that they
would have their minds awakened to see the wonderful blessings
that they have as Christians, and that that would help them to
see their position in Christ raised and seated on the throne,
reconciled and set in the temple.
And that they would then have an enablement because of that, that
they would turn and do something with that.
And the first thing that they would be walking in unity, that
they would walk unified with one another in the Holy Spirit and
God's Word. And that that we would walk in
purity, not as Gentiles, but that we will walk in love as
children of light, as wise, and that we would submit to one
another and love that husbands and wives would have the correct
relationship, that parents and children would have the correct
relationship, masters and servants.
And because of all that, because of the wonderful blessings, the
wonderful and great responsibility, and also because
of the task that he's just given us.
Therefore we need this. We need this teaching on the
armour based on everything we've learned because the last things
we study were challenging and they were may not maybe not
complicated, maybe it's not complicated the things he
taught, but they're not easy. And so we need armour.
We need to hear this last call for victory and call for the
armour of God to strengthen us and enable us for this great
work. So he says in verse 10, finally,
my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His
might. As I've studied this in the
past, I've read over this, but this, this is a key statement #1
he says be strong. What's the implication there?
The implication is that it's not going to be easy.
The implication is that if it your spiritual walk easy is
easy, maybe there's nothing going into your spiritual walk.
Maybe we are not putting strength into our spiritual
walk. It is going to require it of us
because of the enemy that we. Have and I don't have.
My notes open this so I need to fix the mode.
Sorry about that. We're we're rolling out OK.
So we need to know that it is going to be hard.
There is going to be challenges that we face in this walk.
That's part of the Christian walk, but it also reminds us
that where our strength comes from is the Lord.
We do not need to take our strength in ourselves.
We do not need to go out into this world confident in
ourselves. People talk about all the time
it's they bolster the individual so much that there's a lot of
pressure put on you and me to be something special.
And you know what? I'm special in the Lord and I am
capable in the Lord, not on my own.
And because of that, we can take power in his might.
Some commentators draw a distinction between power and
might. Some of them say might is 1's
kind of potential ability. If you look at a mighty man,
they're standing there maybe with a great physique, a great
powerful presence. That's might, they would say.
But then power is the exertion of that might.
Power is the ability to take that might and do something with
it. And our God says that we want to
take our strength in him, not just for potential, Not that you
would say, you know, I've got God on my side, but that that
would have a physical and a a real manifestation that that
would manifest itself in your life and in my life to the point
that we have the power of God working through us.
Not just God's might on a shelf as a trinket or something to
reference and comment about, but something that would take real
and impactful work in our life. Now if you think about it,
common sense wise, a soldier must have strength.
Before a soldier even gets into battle.
He has to go through basic training because his armour does
him no good if there's no strength behind that armour.
And you could maybe there's too many analogies going on here,
but if for you and I, we should be prepared to be strong with
the armour God's going to give us, that we would be armed, but
that we would be strong in the Lord to wear this armour and to
wield this armour of the Lord, that we will be strong in his
might. And that we will be prepared.
To use that strength, verse 11 says put on the whole armour of
God that you may be able to stand against the Wiles of the
devil. So before we dive into the rest
second-half of this verse, the armour of God and we often think
of it as the armour that that God is giving us to put on.
But I ran across an interesting reference to the Old Testament
here in Isaiah 59 verse 9. This is not the first time this
is referenced. The armor of God and
specifically certain pieces of the armor.
In Isaiah 59, the prophet says this justice is far from us, nor
does righteousness overtake us. We look for light, but there is
darkness for brightness, but we walk in blackness.
We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had
no eyes. We stumble at noonday as at
twilight. We are as dead men in desolate
places. The prophet is painting a very
bleak picture. He's saying as he's making
analogies, he's saying spiritually and maybe their
nation, their hope, their the things they're looking to,
they're they're lost. It's dark, it's hopeless.
We all growl like bears and moan sadly like doves.
We look for justice, but there is none for salvation.
But it is far from us. Justice is turned back, and
righteousness stands afar off, for truth is fallen in the
street. Verse 15 But listen to what it
says. Then the Lord saw it, and it
displeased him that there was no justice.
He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no
intercessor. Therefore his own arm brought
salvation for him. If you're familiar with that
phrase, the arm of the Lord is is how Isaiah references Jesus,
specifically the arm of the Lord that reaches down to man.
Therefore his own arm brought us, brought salvation for him,
and his own righteousness it sustained.
Him. For he put on righteousness as a
breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head.
He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing and was
clad with zeal as a cloak. So I don't know to the extent at
which we should dissect this because this is an Old Testament
reference and I believe this is a connection to Jesus and Jesus
putting on the righteousness himself and the helmet of
salvation and these things. But then it gets into much of
the Old Testament talk was of vengeance and repaying the
enemy. And that's not necessarily the
full picture of Jesus in the New Testament.
So I don't want to dive too much into this Old Testament
reference, but I'll just say this to make this point.
You could say, and, and I believe rightly say that this is
God's armor himself. Maybe you could say in the sense
that Jesus put on this armor when he was here on earth.
However you want to interpret that this, it says He put on
righteousness as a breastplate. Our own God has put on this
armor of breastplate of righteousness and a helmet of
salvation, It goes on to say according to their deeds.
Accordingly, He will repay fury to his adversaries, recompense
to his enemies. The coastlands He will fully
repay. So as we talk about the armor
today and who the real enemy is, this definitely applies to the
devil and his forces. The Lord will have vengeance at
the very least on these enemies. Verse 19, So shall they fear the
name of the Lord from the West and his glory from the rising of
the sun. Wow.
Verse 21, skipping on down, he says, As for me, says the Lord,
this is my covenant with them, My Spirit, who is upon you and
my words which I have put into your mouth, shall not depart
from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor
from the mouth of your descendants.
Descendants, says the Lord, from this time forevermore, what
we're studying today about using the sword of the Spirit, using
God's Word, using truth. I hear echoes of this in this
passage as well. He didn't say just for the Old
Testament, but for on this time and forevermore, the Lord's
people, we'll have the words of the Lord in their mouth and I'm
comforted by that. So this armor of God that we
were to put on, yes, it's for us, but in some.
Sense it is God's. Armor.
It is the armor of the even he wore.
Maybe that's in the sense of Jesus when he was walking the
earth, but this is a powerful armor that we're reading about.
And I don't know about you, but I want it.
If these are the the truths about it, I want this armor
verse 11. So he says put on the whole
armor of God. Does he say know all the facts
about the armor of God because I know many in here if I were to
ask for a show of hands would be able to say I know what the
armor of God is. Does he say know it?
Does he say have an understanding know he says put
it on and if nothing else from today you get from this study
and from refreshing this, I hope you take away that we have to
put it on. It is not enough to know.
Of these different pieces of armor, but that we would must
daily pick up our armor and put it on.
I have realized that there are things that I can do in my daily
walk to arm myself and specific habits, specific time I can take
to arm myself with my Christian armor in many different ways.
And, and some of them we're going to we're going to discuss
today. There are ways that I know I can
better prepare myself for my day, for the second-half of my
day, for the last portion of my day.
I know that when I prepare myself, I am better off for it
spiritually. So what's my one of my main
issues? One of my main issues is not
putting it on is not taking the time.
Why not? Because time maybe maybe there's
other stuff to do. Maybe there's other distractions
or the responsibilities you have or I have, but a soldier does
not go into battle and say I don't want to take the time to
put my armor on. I'm just going to get out there
and do it right. A soldier does never do that.
Why? Why do they have sufficient
motivation and action and always putting their armor on?
I doubt you had soldiers run out there and go, oh man, I got to
run back and get my stuff because they realise the danger,
because they realise the fight that they're in.
And that's what he's going to say next, that you may be able
to stand against the Wiles of the devil.
So if I start my day without preparing myself in my Christian
armor, I'm as ignorant as a soldier walking out into battle
without his breastplate in his shield.
What a ridiculous thing to do to walk out there and go, I don't
need it, and then catch an arrow right in the face and then
you're dead because you didn't do the basic thing you should
have done. May we remember to pick up our
armor at the beginning of every day at whatever point, never
whatever point in the day that you need to remind yourself and
that I need to, I say at least daily, I have to do that to
remember to put on my armor, the armor of God, because we need
to. He said that you may be able to
stand against the Wiles of the devil.
A soldier puts on his armor and never has trouble remembering
because he understands the danger and the battle that he is
facing. Any other care to a soldier
becomes back burner. Secondary concern.
Why? Because of the Wiles of the
devil. This word can also be translated
schemes and from what I understand it comes from a word
that meant to stalk like an animal stalking.
That's prey, and that's not new language.
In first Peter 5 verse 8, we're told to be sober, to be
vigilant, because the adversary, your adversary, the devil, walks
about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
If that doesn't scare you a little bit, I would question
whether we're breathing or coherent or aware of the battle
that's in front of us. I would say today, though, one
of the largest parts of this study is reminding us, getting
my brain back in a position that will recognize the battle, that
I will not be deceived by comforts and air conditioning
and four smooth walls, but that I would realize the battle
that's going on because the devil is walking and he is
scheming. That's that's scary.
You have somebody working against you who is very good at
what he does. Not only is he very good, he's
been doing it for a long time and a lot longer than we've been
fighting against him individually.
He has been doing this since the beginning of the world.
So don't you think we need some armor?
Don't you think that we need something to protect us against
such a force? But you know what?
Sometimes I think about if I were to go up against an army,
maybe a foreign government that had some super special schemes,
advanced tactics, I would need something that's very, very
equal in in scheming to fight against that.
And I would think that I would need to be very prepared and
very trained to fight against such an enemy.
The beautiful thing is the things God has equipped us with
aren't so complicated that you can't do it today.
You couldn't fight a foreign governments Central Intelligence
Agency on your own right now, but you can fight the devil
today using the simple steps that God gives you.
They're not easy, but they are clear and they're not something
that can't be started today if you are a new Christian or if
you're trying to start this, he said goes on to say, for we do
not wrestle against flesh and blood.
What's he saying there? We don't wrestle against people,
against the humans that are around you.
Have you ever been frustrated with somebody?
Were you frustrated with somebody this week?
Have you ever wanted to lash out and anger at somebody?
Somebody really made you mad or really just made you think, man,
this world's gone to gone down the drain and they're just
frustrating you and that's all your brain is wrapped around.
It's how ridiculous or dumb that person is or frustrating Part of
this. He's saying we're not wrestling.
It's flesh and blood. That's not what this is about.
May we not get stuck in this kind of thinking because we are
wrestling, he says. But against principalities and
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,
against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly
places, That's a lot of words used to describe things that we
don't have all kinds of clarity on.
But what we do know is these are this is the devil and his
forces. And scholars break this down and
basically describe that there are rankings of demonic power
just like there are rankings in military today.
Or maybe like you see with the angels that Michael is in
Archangel. Maybe there are angels and
archangels, angels and different hierarchies of angels and godly
ministers. There are also levels and tears
of demonic powers. Are you getting the sense that
there's a lot going on behind the scenes that maybe we don't
typically think about? We are fighting levels of power
that are beyond our ability to comprehend.
Some people get very deep into this, but the reality is we
don't know every nook and cranny about this.
We don't know every detail, but that's not an accident.
We have to accept that God gave us exactly what he felt like we
needed to know about demons, and it's not always a ton of
information. What do we know?
We know, as we try to state from I think up here all the time,
the devil has no power that we do not give him.
It's been described as a dog on a chain.
Great analogy. There is no power that that the
devil has against us that we do not give him.
In the New Testament, you read of some people being demon
possessed. Well, remember that's they were
acting insane. They were acting in ways that
were harmful to their physical body.
Does that mean that they were walking around being made to
sin? No.
The denominator possession we read about in the New Testament
was people throwing themselves into the flame.
It's like they couldn't control themselves.
It was an uncontrollable state. When you're talking about sin,
the devil and his and his helpers do not make us do things
sinful that we don't control. We have control over our own
mind and our own body. The devil has no power over him
that we do not give him. Now, the scary part is that
that's the comforting part. The scary part is there are ways
that we can give him power. We can actively give him power
when I actively sin and when I know what I'm doing is wrong.
Because we do that. We do things where we know what
we're doing is wrong, but whatever reason, we do it
anyway. Or maybe I just choose to go.
In the face of it, whatever you might say, actively giving the
giving the devil place in our life is one way.
Passively being passive in a Christian walk absolutely makes
room for the devil to come right in.
If we are passive in our Christian life, the devil has
already won the battle. You could say passivity in any
angle of your life, passivity and with the word of God and
with our Christian walk will always lead to the devil's
victory and it'll lead to his power.
Subconscious allowing. That's very similar to passive,
you might say. But letting the devil work
subconsciously, maybe you don't realize it.
Maybe I don't realize it. The devil can still do it even
when we're unaware. Paul thought he was doing what
was right and he was opposing. God's people.
Just imagine how many things we do.
At least Paul was zealously pursuing God subconsciously.
Or maybe in things that don't really matter.
Does this really matter? I mean, does God really care
about this? I don't think God really cares
about this. That can be a great way for the
devil to get a foothold in our life.
Does this really matter? Well, absolutely it does to the
devil because there are ways he can work his way in to our
lives. The devil has no power though
that we do not give him. We need to be very intentional.
Now, why don't we know more about how the devil works?
Because there are so many things we don't know.
We know just little snippets throughout the New Testament,
throughout the Old Testament, we know snippets.
Why don't we know more #1 Like we already said, God gave us
what we need to know. We have to have faith in that.
We have to have faith in any area of Scripture.
If we've done the research that there is to know, because
sometimes we just do need to do research.
But if there are things that that that we've researched and
there's not more to learn, we just need to have faith.
You know what? God.
God said this is enough. So obviously He's right.
He gave me exactly what I need to know #2 maybe knowing.
More wouldn't be good. Your thought about that?
You ever thought about that? If we knew more about what was
going on, maybe we would be consumed with it.
Maybe we would get so deep into demonology, Satanology.
That it would be too scary, too overwhelming, too much for our
human minds to to wrap our mind around.
Maybe so. People go rabid with demonology
already. Imagine if there was more
information. But I think maybe most
importantly #3 the story is not about them.
It's not about the devil and his forces.
God gives us enough information to know what we need to do and
how to fight him. But it's not about their story.
God doesn't isn't here to tell the story of the demons and
those who fell. He's here to tell the story of
salvation and to equip us with what we need to fight the devil
and to overcome him. So therefore, he says, after
telling us that we are fighting against the rulers of the
darkness of this age and against principalities and powers, He
says therefore, because of that, take up the whole armour of God,
that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and
having done all to stand, first of all you are able to
withstand. How many times do you get the
get through a struggle or get through a temptation and you
just feel like I just can't do it.
I've just messed up again and I've failed again or I've done
XYZ again and I'm just. This is where I'm.
Stuck. The message from God is you are
not stuck, you may withstand, you can withstand, and with His
power you will withstand. 1st Corinthians 10 verse 13 says
that He will not give us a temptation that does not have a
way of escape, but He will always give us a way of escape
so that we can bear a temptation.
We can win the war today. And that gives me confidence to
know that today's a new day. And he goes on to say in the
evil day that you may be able to stand in the evil day.
What is the evil day? It's any day that has evil in
it. So that's today.
That's today where the devil can have an influence and can work
on us that we can stand in the in the evil day, if that's
today, if we have a temptation or struggles in front of us.
But I like how he says it like it's a like it's an event, like
this day is an event. It's like a day of battle when
they're getting ready for war. This is the day of battle.
And he describes it like that, that you may be able to stand in
the day in the evil day. If we look at today like it is
not that, if we forget today and when I don't remember that today
is the day of evil where I have a battle to fight, then I'm not
going to be able to withstand because I'm not engaged in it.
Like today matters that much. Today matters that much for
every single person. Today matters that much every
single today day that you may be able to stand withstand an evil
day and having done all to stand after all is said and done,
having done all you know you can walk through a fight, the fight
of a day, the fight of a lifetime, and you can be
standing at the end of it. That's amazing to think that we
can win this war against such great forces.
You can be standing after a fight with the demonic forces of
the world, but you have to look past what's right in front of
you. Verse 14, stand there for having
girded your waist with truth. So the first item on the
Christian armor is truth. He says now he starts here
building this armor and I think it was partly because of the
Roman armor how it was built. It was set up from the from the
weight from the belt up because so many other things were tied
to this. Your sword goes in the sheath.
It's on your belt. If you look at their
breastplate, the breastplate is anchored into a belt.
If you have ever carried a big backpack with a lot of weight on
it, they always anchor on the belt.
It is a place of strength and stability.
And that place, he says, is truth.
We are to be girded with truth. Again.
I'm going to go back to daily suiting up.
It's not just have you know or have you learned, it's are you
putting it on? Are you putting on truth?
How do you put on truth? I believe learning truth is
definitely part of putting on truth.
Implementing truth, absolutely putting it on truth, marinating
in truth. If I know something but don't
marinate in it and don't soak in it, is it really part of my
armor? If I don't marinate in a daily,
is it really part of my armor? Or is it just something that I
have a piece of armor on the shelf?
Do I wear it? We have to put it on for battle.
Now why is truth so important? Because it is the exact opposite
of what the devil is. John 8 verse 44 says when he
speaks a lie. Speaking of the devil, he speaks
from his own resources for he is a liar and the father of it.
The devil can deceive and that is his greatest technique
throughout the Bible. If you read everywhere, it's
deception, deception. Deception and deception can be
conducted in many ways. Many, many ways.
Truth is the exact antidote for the devil's greatest tactic.
It's against his greatest strategy #2 having put on the
breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate covers the vital
organs on a soldier and if a soldier takes a blow to the
chest area. You have a rib cage, but that's
not enough to get through to protect you from a lot of things
in battle. All these vital organs behind
the breastplate will be destroyed in an attack without
the breastplate. And spiritually, if we do not
have righteousness, what is righteousness?
It's being right, it's living right, it's living godly.
That doesn't mean we're perfect, but if we are not actively
striving to do what's right in every area of our life, and if
sin is just having its way with us, there is no shot of us
standing. I don't care how much we know
about truth. I don't care how much your feet
are prepared to share the gospel of peace.
As we're going to see in a minute, if I don't have
righteousness, it's a waste. There are times where I have
been weak in that area and I know people in my life who stay
in that area where they have man, they think they have the
shield of faith. I got strong faith.
I've got, I love the gospel of peace.
I want to share it with people, and maybe they know all the
things about truth that they need to know pretty much, but
they don't want to live holy and righteous, and they are dead
spiritually because of it. The breastplate will protect us
in all the ways and all the vital organs that will keep us
from the devil's attacks that would cripple us spiritually and
kill us otherwise. The breastplate of righteousness
is right living verse 15 and having shod your feet with the
preparation of the gospel of peace.
As the writer was talking, you know, this was during Roman
soldiers times. The Roman soldiers were fierce.
They were well equipped in so many areas.
And one of the ways they were well equipped was in their
shoes. And their shoes would often have
studs in them, a a kind of nail that would grip the terrain.
You know, as I think about the closest thing I have to battle
in my life is sports where you're, you're competing at the
highest level because it really matters, right?
You, you are, you are going toe to toe with someone.
And in our battlefield, you go toe to toe because you're
fighting for your life. And sports, we care that much
sometimes about sports that we do our very best.
We go as fast as we can. We go as long as we can and we
try as hard as we can. So in sports, if I am not
quicker than the other person, then I lose.
So take basketball. If I don't have basketball shoes
on in the gym, I will slip all over the place and I am no, I
have no chance of beating somebody else in basketball.
In baseball, if you try to run, swing without cleats on.
You lose your. Footing.
You have no shot without the right shoes because those anchor
you to the ground. That's part of your foundation,
keeping your foundation secure. You could go on and on.
The sports, every sport has a specific shoe to get them
prepared in the right way. And it's a small item, but it
really has a big impact on your success and whatever it is.
So he says we are to shot our feet with the preparation of the
gospel of peace. In the Bible, feet are a symbol
of what we are going to do. The Bible says blessed are the
feet of those who preach the gospel.
That's because they're going about going to do great things.
Hands are reference of our actions.
Feet are where we go the things we do and and strive for the the
frontlets. You're in your forehead.
That's a reference for what you think about South.
Feet are what we are going to do and he wants us to be prepared
with a gospel of peace. What does that mean?
Maybe it means that he we are motivated by the gospel of
peace. Now as we go about to the world,
as we are driven, the thing that is driving us to go and to do
everything we do is the gospel of peace.
It's what motivates us to share with people and to live our
life. Whether you're a preacher or
whether you're working a normal day-to-day job, our job is the
same. It's just in a different place.
Maybe it's how we're guided. We are guided by the gospel of
peace, that the things that we would share, maybe not just why
we share what we share, but the things specifically that we
share, those are the gospel of peace.
That we would reach the World with the gospel of peace and
that it would some in another way protect us.
If they didn't have shoes on their feet, sometimes they would
have nails on a battlefield. They would have spikes set up,
and if they stepped on a spike, it was set up in the
battlefield. They were done.
You cannot fight without your feet.
The gospel of peace protects us. It guides all of our
motivations, all of our reasons why may we be motivated and and
prepared with the gospel of peace.
Verse 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you
will be able to squat to quench all the fiery darts of the
wicked one. Often times these Roman soldiers
would have a layer or a shield made of either leather or wood
that was soaked in water because that water would quench fiery
arrows. If you shot a flaming arrow and
it hit a regular wooden shield or something else, it would
start a fire and it would destroy maybe the things around
you or it would cause havoc in your battalion.
But if you had a shield that was wet, it would quench those fiery
darts. So these fiery darts at
different points in my life, I have really identified with
this, this analogy of the temptation.
It seems like maybe sometimes there are great swings of
temptation and great blows to us, maybe from our life's
challenges or maybe from the devil, there are great swings.
But other times it really feels like it's just one arrow after
another. It just doesn't let up.
If you've ever seen a battle scene, what they'll do, what
they would do is they would line up a bunch of Archers and they
would shoot an arrow all at once.
Then they would have a second group reload, come to the front
and they're shooting while the other ones reloading and the
arrows just keep coming. Maybe your spiritual walk has
felt like that at different times.
Maybe now the shield of faith is what protects us from these
constant and devastating blows of the arrow of the devil's
work. The shield of faith will
overcome through it all. Something else they would do in
order to protect from the enemy. They would rally around each
other, they would square up together and you would have an
impenetrable shield if you were trying to attack them with a
with a normal infantry below. But if you came in with arrows,
no problem. They've got Shields that they
would interlock together. You ought to have people stand
behind them, protecting from above and around them to to
protect from the sides. There's good news with your
faith. You're not the only one.
There are people around you here.
There are people around you to support you, to help fight this
fight. You would interlock Shields with
that when the devil comes attacking, you don't have to be
exposed. That you would be able to lock
Shields and have strength and protection in your challenge and
your trial from the wicked one. Don't forget that verse 17 and
take the helmet of salvation. The awareness, the hope and the
perspective of salvation in our lives is a helmet to us.
It is enough to protect the mind.
A mind that has to process the temptations, the
responsibilities, the challenges, a mind that could be
beaten down by struggle, temptation, you name it,
salvation. Having a view of salvation in
our minds is enough to protect the mind, to strengthen the
mind, and to give us what we need.
Salvation is a wonderful blessing to protect us in our
minds. But I think it's pretty cool on
a on a more maybe a neurochemical level in the
brain, there's a chemical you've all heard of, dopamine, and
often times we think of getting dopamine once you know when
something good happens. But dopamine is actually a very
strong motivator. It's what happens when I see a
piece of fruit on a tree and I am hungry.
Dopamine, I get a rush of dopamine that motivates me to go
and pick that fruit. Or when the house is dirty that
I want and I look forward to having the house clean.
And so my brain gives me dopamine that urges me to into
action. I think.
Well, first they did a study in which they set up the subject
with a something to chase and they had, they had the brain
hookups and stuff and the dopamine levels were very high
when they had a reward that they were seeking.
But once they achieved that reward and once they received
that, the dopamine levels dropped back to normal level.
What does that tell me? Salvation is one of the ways God
sustains our mind because we've never seen it.
We've never gotten it. And that's a blessing in some
ways neurochemically, because there is always something for
you to chase. You never get to the point that
you've seen it all, got it all, done it all, because there is
always going to be something that we are searching and and
hoping for. This salvation would give us the
edge and the motivation that we need for our day to protect our
mind and give us hope for tomorrow.
Hope is a massively powerful thing and hope is partly there
because we don't have it yet. You don't have hope for the
things that are that you have so far.
Praise God that he allows us to be not there yet because it
gives us drive that we need as Christians to protect our minds
with such salvation. Now everything we've talked
about we're finishing up here is all defensive armor so far we
have. And also there is nothing to
protect your back. So retreat does not work here.
There is no retreat that you're going to be protected in a
situation where retreat is going to be protected in your armor.
But the last thing we do have is an offensive weapon and it is
the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
The sword of the spirit is how we parry or respond to an
encounter attack the devil's attacks, and we have a heavenly
fight scene where you see it used.
Are you ready for a heavenly fight scene?
Matthew 4 verse one. Then Jesus was led up by the
Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, and when
he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights afterward, he was hungry.
Now when the tempter came to me, said, If you are the Son of God,
command these stones become bread.
But he answered and said, It is written, man shall not live by
bread alone, by by every word that proceeds from the mouth of
God. Have you ever thought of that as
a heavenly fight scene? This is given to us so that we
can see how to fight the devil. It's not complicated, but are
you seeing that the sword of the Spirit, Jesus is actively using
the sword of the Spirit? What does he use?
He uses scripture. Sometimes we can feel like.
But yeah, but what else? That's not enough.
That was enough for Jesus. He recited scripture.
He had to have scripture memorized.
He had to have scripture embedded in his mind.
And he said that Scripture, how is it?
It doesn't mean that's it like, well, that's not enough.
It means that's all we need to counter attack the devil and he
fled. The sword of the spirit is our
counter attacking weapon. And Jesus goes on to do it two
more times, but the pattern is exactly the same.
Now I might add a word of caution as to actively attacking
the devil. That's not really how what we
see in Scripture. You know, there's some people
you might see have these long drawn out conversations with the
devil. They're rebuking him and and
passionately tell them all the things they're going to do and
how powerful they're going to send out their power on the
devil. That's not really what we read
in the Scripture. Actually in Jude one verse 9, it
says yet Michael the Archangel high-ranking Angel in contending
with the devil when he disputed about the body of Moses dared
not bring against him and revile the accusation, but said the
Lord rebuke you. So I don't need to go into all
that deep or have a strong position on that.
We know Jesus responded with Scripture.
He responded to the devil with telling the truth of God's word
in the face of the devil. But I would caution you not to
get too caught up in talking to the devil because that's not
really what we see in Scripture. Verse 18 praying always who you
talk to. Don't worry about talking to the
devil, Talk to God praying always with all prayer and
supplication in the Spirit that is to be real.
What being watchful to this end with all perseverance and
supplication for all the Saints. All that means is make sure you
do this and keep on doing this and keep trying this where you
talk to God and you plead with God and you honor God and pray
for each other and you pray to God.
And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open
my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for
which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may speak boldly
as I ought to speak. You don't have to be timid with
your faith. You may be figuring out how
you're going to say what you're going to say, but don't let
there be a timid spirit, because God has boldness for you in
sharing His truth, even in chains.
We could be an ambassador, a representative from 1 nation to
another, the nation of God to the nation of the world, that we
would share the gospel. Verse 21 but that you also may
know my affairs and how I'm doing.
Titricus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord,
will make all things known to you, whom I've sent to you for
this very purpose, that you may know our affairs, and that He
may comfort your hearts. Peace be to the brethren, and
love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Grace be with all those who love
our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.
Amen. And that is the close of
Ephesians of the letter to Ephesians in our study here.
That's our study today. And I hope you are challenged
and comforted and scared and then comforted again because of
what our reality is. What is truth?
Truth is reality. Our God wants us to know
reality, live reality, and stay in reality.
And it's a hard one, but we have every bit of the strength and
protection we need in the Lord, in the power of his might.
Let's do that this week. Let's put on the whole armour of
God. And if you've not started this
walk, if this is new to you and you don't haven't even joined
into the family of God and to his saving work so that helmet
of salvation can protect you, you can start today.
The Bible tells us that we have to common sense here to believe.
So we have to hear the word of God.
We could believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and
repent, change our life, that we would live righteously and be
protected by righteousness, that we would repent of our past
life, confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and be
baptized for the remission of our sins.
If you've done that, we have a second advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous, and he continually cleanses us.
But we have to confess our faults one to another so that we
will be healed. If you need help in one of these
ways, or if you'd like the prayers of the brethren, we'd be
happy to help you today while we stand and see.