In Christ 22: Put on the Full Armor of God IV Ephesians 6:14-17

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1 In Christ 22: Put on the Full Armor of God IV Ephesians 6:14-17 April 10, 2016 A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to a man in front of our church. When I asked him if he believed in Jesus, he began to preach. He said he felt sorry because we Christians couldn t use the power of Jesus. If we had faith in Jesus, according to him, we should be able to cast out all kinds of demons. After quoting some Bible verses (Mark 16:17; John 14:12-14), he asked me if I had faith in Jesus. Yes I do I said, but he seemed to doubt it because I didn t pray for exorcism as much as he did. It was a small incident, but it caused me to ask a question, How are we supposed to use our faith in Jesus? We often say Christians are to walk in faith but what does walking in faith mean? Particularly as we study about spiritual war, how shall we use our faith in the spiritual battle? Let us find out from our text this morning. [Read Ephesians 6:14-17] So far we have learned about three pieces of the armor of God: the belt of Truth, the breastplate of Righteousness, and the shoes of preparation/readiness to share the Gospel. Then Paul begins verse 16 with the phrase, in addition to all this, or above all. It implies that the next three pieces of armor are very important for our victory. The belt, the breastplate, and the shoes are the basic/fundamentals, but the next three pieces are the ones that will determine whether we are going to win the battle or not. The shield of faith is one of the next three. Again, Paul is referring to the shield that the Roman soldiers used. [a pic of a shield] As you can see, it was a large rectangular shield, measured about 4 feet by 2 and a half feet. It was made out of a thick plank of wood and covered on the outside with either metal or leather. It was big enough to cover the whole body and also other pieces of the armor. The shield was armor upon armor. More importantly, the shield could be used strategically. [a pic] When the Roman army was fighting a major battle, a long line of soldiers would plant their shields side by side in front of the troops, creating a huge wall of protection. Behind that wall, the soldiers would have more space and mobility to sue their arrows and spears. In this manner the army advanced slowly toward the enemy until they could engage them in hand-to-hand combat. The shield was used not only for personal protection but also for the army as a whole. 1

2 Paul says that our faith is like the shield in the spiritual battle. Here he is not referring to saving faith (John 3:16), but to living faith or the faith of action (Matt 17:20). Through saving faith, we believe in Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior. That is how we have the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the shoes with the readiness for the gospel. The belt, the breastplate, and the shoes they are all important, and we are not losing them in our battle, but they don t guarantee us a victory over evil spirits. That is why Paul says we need to take the remaining three pieces of armor, which indicates they are close at hand for whenever we decide to use them. The first set of armor is a result of salvation, while the second is our responsibility if we want to have God s protection and peace. Not all Christians will pick up their shield, helmet, or sword, but those who want to win in their spiritual battles need to take them. Particularly, we need the shield of faith, not only for our own Christian life but also for the church we belong to. The shield of faith is our only defense with which we can extinguish all the flaming arrows of evil one. Satan tempts all of God s people to separate them from the love of God. For individual believers, he will cause fear, bitterness, and anger; for Christ s church, Satan brings division that could break up the unity of the church. Paul describes Satan s temptations as flaming arrows, which were the most dangerous and deadly weapons at that time. These arrows are very swift in nature. Like a flash of lightening, Satan s temptations come to our hearts and minds. They come so quickly that we don t even have time to close our eyes. We can be easily deceived in our thinking. The arrows also fly secretly. They can come from far away without much noise. We often have no idea where and when they come. Satan may use a wife s tongue or a husband s behavior. I am not saying wives and husbands are evil, but Satan can use a spouse to do his errand. Besides the nature of swiftness and being secret, the flaming arrows have a wounding and even killing nature. I don t believe Satan can take our lives because only God the Creator gives and takes a life away, but Satan can cause us to be hurt, to be wounded, and even to be killed by each other. The flaming arrows are fiery; they can inflame the whole body and even the whole congregation. They are such deadly weapons that we need our shield. So how shall we quench all those flaming arrows of Satan? How can we employ our faith in the battle? We see the definition of faith from the book of Hebrews, Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1). By its definition, faith is believing that God s promises are guaranteed and that is where we put our hope. Faith is trusting completely in God even if we are not able to see the whole picture yet. It is trusting that God is who He has revealed Himself to be and relying on Him to fulfill His promises in our lives. Therefore, in order to take up the shield of faith, we need to know who God is and what He has promised for us. We could spend hours and hours counting Satan s temptations, but let me point out just two this morning. And we will also explore how we can practically use the shield of our faith against them. 2

3 The first flaming arrow I want to talk about is the lust of the flesh. It is a pleasing temptation because Satan knows that we want to be pleased in our flesh. Satan will tempt us to seek our own pleasures. He may whisper in our ears, hey, you can use your body for whatever you want. It s ok; everyone does it. There is fun and thrill; and it will bring pleasure to your body. Just do it; enjoy your life. When we fall into this temptation, we will be inflamed with this lust of the flesh in our body and soul, as the Scripture proves, Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another (Romans 1:26-27). Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine (Isaiah 5:11). David, the man who feared God, fell into this temptation. We have seen and heard that many people some politicians, sports players, and even religious leaders have fallen because of this temptation. It is a fiery temptation because once we fall into the trap, we will want to seek more and more pleasures in our nature. And it is a flaming arrow because this sin will inflame not only the sinner but also the family and friends of that person. So how can we quench this fiery arrow of pleasing temptations? By faith we need to see that the nature of pleasing sin is vain and false. There is no true satisfaction in the lust of the flesh. We may seek more drinks, more drugs, or whatever we think pleases our body, but in the end, we will feel emptiness in our soul. By faith we must see that all the pleasures of sin are sinking because there is a leak in them which no man can stop. So which is better? Is it better to swim by faith through a sea of trouble and get safely to heaven at last? Or is it better to sit in a sinking ship of sinful pleasures? Of course it is better to come out of the sinking boat because the pleasure of sin doesn t last very long. By faith, we obey the command, Delight yourself in the LORD (Psalm 37:4a), not seeking the pleasure of the flesh. By faith, we pray, Rise up, O LORD, confront them, bring them down; rescue me from the wicked by your sword. And I in righteousness I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness (Psalm 17:13, 15). We can find true pleasures in God alone. The second flaming arrow is the pride of life. Every human has some degree of pride in his or her heart, and it may cause us to sin. As matter of fact, pride was the reason that Satan decided to rebel against God. Pride was the first sin Adam and Eve committed. From the beginning of Creation until this day, there has been pride. When Jesus came to Israel, the Jews were proud of themselves for they loved praise from men more than praise from God (John 12:43). Their pride eventually made them crucify Jesus. Pride is dangerous because it will make us to rebel against God. It is not secret anymore; it is a war against God and His people. Satan tempts us to think that we are the most important we are better than anyone else and therefore, we should be treated better than this or that person. Pride will cause division among God s people. Pride is indeed the sin of sins. That is why God hates pride, as the Scripture says, The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished (Proverbs 16:5). So how can we quench this temptation of pride? 3

4 First, we need to change where our focus is. We need to change our focus from ourselves to God Himself. In our sinful nature, we naturally become proud of ourselves. Unless we learn humility from outside of ourselves, we will be always proud of ourselves. So we come to Christ Jesus, as Paul commands us, Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:5-8 Pride and humility are exactly opposite. They are like a seesaw. If one goes up, the other goes down. You can t have both of them at the same time. Humility is a choice, and so is pride. When Satan tempts us with our pride, we may choose what to do with it. By faith, we can refuse Satan s temptation. By faith, we fix our eyes on Jesus and learn from His example. In pride, we may enjoy a little bit of glory in this world, but in humility, we experience the kingdom of God even today. Listen to Jesus promise, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3). We can choose to put down our pride by knowing Jesus more and more and following His example of living and loving others. This is how we can extinguish the flaming arrow of pride. We studied two temptations today: the pleasing temptations in the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. Against those temptations we remember God s promises and pray to follow His commands. This is how we can exercise our faith against evil spirits. When I think of faith, one man whose name is Bob comes to my mind. He was a missionary in downtown Gary, Indiana, where I used to minister. Bob organized an event to carry a big cross to Gary downtown. He said Gary, Indiana, was possessed by Satan, and that is why the city is known as the ghost city or the forbidden city. He called out other brothers and sisters to join with him. Every year around the Passion Week, some people would gather and walk toward downtown carrying a big wooden cross. As they walked through, they often stopped in some places to cast demons out. They would circle around some buildings expecting Satan s territories to fall. They would proclaim the victory of Christ in the city. So what do you think? Should I join the parade? If you were asked to join that kind of parade, would you join? It is your choice; you may join or not, and either is fine. You can pray to cast out demons, too. However, I want to point out today that taking the shield of faith means obeying God s commands. Exercising our faith is the definition of obedience. Without obeying God s commands, we can t avoid Satan s flaming arrows. You may hear God s commands in different ways, but one sure way is through the Bible. Most of God s commands come through the Word. This is why we need to remain in the Word. As Paul says, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). 4

5 Brothers and sisters, you are in the spiritual battle because you are God s sons and daughters. If you are not a part of God s family, Satan will not bother you. Satan tempts you because you try to live as God s chosen people. The good news is we have all the weapons to defeat Satan. Again, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). Let us remain in the Word. Let us study the Word so that we may grow in the knowledge of Jesus and obey His commands. This is how we use the shield of faith. Amen. 5