Main point: Victorious Christians prepare themselves for battle against the enemy by reminding themselves who they are in Christ.

Transcription

1 Weapons of War, Pt. 2 June 14, 2015 Ephesians 6:16-18 Weapons of war, part 2. That is the name of this sermon. That must mean there was a part 1. Yes, that was last week. And we are not going to retrace our steps. There are weapons, and this is war, that must mean fighting and battles and blood and enemies. Right? Right! But as we heard last week, the battles in mind here are not the sort of battles we often think of. This is not a passage on how to defeat ISIS. This is not on how to combat an ever encroaching government. This is not on how to defeat your wife in an argument. This is not on how to take over Milford! This is on how to defeat your enemy that has not flesh nor blood. It is satan, and the battlefield is not a piece of ground or office building or home, but rather your mind, your heart. These are the weapons we need to defeat the enemy who attacks Christians day after day. He attacks with lies, with accusations, with reminders of our past, our failures, our fears. This is an enemy who lays before us a temptation and then seeks to convince us of how badly we want it, we deserve it, we NEED it. This is our battlefield. And since this is part 2, we know we have already examined three weapons we need to fight off the enemy, belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, and gospel carrying boots. Today we add three more pieces of weaponry and another important tool thrown in for good measure: the weapons are the shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. The one added in is prayer, which is not presented here as a specific piece of armor, but is clearly seen as having utmost importance. Once more, I begin by reading the whole section from Ephesians 6:10 through v.18 for context. But our focus this morning will be on vv Begin to get ready for war as I read Eph. 6: Main point: Victorious Christians prepare themselves for battle against the enemy by reminding themselves who they are in Christ.

2 And who they are here is people who have already been guaranteed salvation, they have an impenetrable shield and they have an offensive weapon for which there is no defense: the Word of God. So troops, listen up. I m here with a message from the commander of the troops. He knows what we are up against, and yet He is confident of victory. He knows there is nothing that can penetrate your armor... if only you will put it on and use it! So, listen up, your life might just depend on it, your freedom will most certainly depend on it. Today, we prepare for war! (4 parts) I. Faith neutralizes the enemy s weapons. v.16 I could do a whole series of sermons on faith, so hang on tight while I try to give a taste in a few minutes. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. As if the first three were not enough, Paul adds three more. What is it that engineer type safety people like? Redundancy. Add these three just to give you confidence that you are safe. The first one is the shield of faith. Now, the shield is pretty self explanatory. You pick up a shield and hold it in front of you to stop the weapons of the enemy. You point the shield in the direction of the enemy and hide behind it. In this case, it would be not a small round type shield, but a large flat or curved shield that when put next to other shields could form a wall of protection. You could fit behind the shield. It protects all of you. But we also see here that this shield has special power. It not only stops arrows, darts, or other flying armament, but it extinguishes the flaming ones of them. It actually neutralizes them, renders them harmless. It stops them and then puts out the flames. It takes the most fear inducing weapons and neutralizes them. And as if we are unclear on who our enemy is, he is called out here by name, the evil one. So the evil one points his bow, or spear, or javelin, or blow gun at us, launching his most terrifying weapon, fire and razor sharp blades. And we simply hold up our shield, which stops the weapon and puts out the flame, neutralizing the weapon. That s a cool weapon.

3 And here, this piece of armor is faith. There could be a variety of understandings of faith here: God s gift of faith to us, the Christian faith, or our faith. It seems to me the faith here is our faith. But it is not just blind faith, like I think I can, I think I can. It is objective faith. And in this case specific faith. Faith is taking God at His word. It is not the type of faith that just does crazy things believing that God will keep us from harm. We must not just do what we want, expect God to protect and save and call it biblical faith. The type of faith here is faith that God will do what He has said He will do, that He will keep His promises. No, it is not blind faith, but faith that is anchored in who God is, what He has said in His word, and what He has called us to do. I see this shield of faith in a perhaps unusual way. I see this shield as being invisible. We can see right through it. That means we can see the arrows, the spears, the darts headed our way. And we hold up our shield knowing that the only thing between me and that arrow is faith. If God is not true to His word, I am a dead man. My natural tendency would be to jump to the side, to flinch, to turn around and run. Instead, I hold up my invisible shield and watch as God stops the projectile and puts out its flame. I base this on Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. We cannot see the invisible hand of God stopping the bullets, but we trust that He will. We simply hold up His special shield. So, what must the flaming arrows be if the way to neutralize them is faith? Fear, doubt, accusation, size of enemy, our own inadequacy, you add to the list. Fear is a big one. Fear has an especially bright flame on it. The enemy is dependent on fear, on making himself look big, on making the promises of God look shaky, on making the obstacles look overwhelming. What stopped the Israelites from going right from Egypt to the Promised Land? Fear. They got the report from spies and believed the fear filled report of the majority rather than the faith filled report of the minority. In reality, they shouldn t have needed to send in spies. God had promised to give them the land. There, done deal. Hold up those shields! So, what are your fears? Do you have your shield in place and pointed toward the enemy? Are you ready for the fiery darts and arrows? Are you trusting in the promises of God? The Scriptures say that Greater is He who is

4 in you than He who is in the world. The Scriptures ask, If God is for us, who can be against us? Scripture says, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Are you getting the point? Once more, the issue is whether we will take our stand against the enemy or shrink away, whether we will move forward or backward in the face of him. With the shield of faith neutralizing his flaming arrows, we will stand! II. We must be convinced of our future. v. 17a The next piece of armor is our helmet. A soldier heading into battle has to have his helmet on. In construction, the hard hat is used to protect against accident, but in warfare, the helmet is there to protect the mind, the brain from a killing shot. You get shot in the head, you die. 17 Take the helmet of salvation Does it make sense that salvation is the helmet? If salvation is the protective piece of armor, protecting the mind, then what must be the weapon being stopped? Well, salvation or perhaps the assurance of salvation gives us hope for the future. If your future is secure, if your salvation has been accomplished and guaranteed, then what kind of killing blow can the enemy inflict? None! What can they do to me? Kill me? Well, if I die I get to be with Christ. How exactly is that a bad thing? In other words, knowledge of, assurance of, the iron clad promise of our salvation changes everything. You cannot defeat someone who lives even if he dies. Right? And yet, even though that is true and there is nothing that satan can do to stop that, he certainly can lead us to believe that it is not true. That is why we have to put on our helmet. That is why Romans 12 begins the whole section on living the Christian life with the charge to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. The enemy has an advantage over us. Each one of us is born with a sin nature which includes a twisted view of ourselves. In other words, the twisted way of thinking of the enemy is natural to us. To get us to think straight, we have to be transformed by the renewing, the rewiring of our minds to conform to God s way of thinking. Allow even that truth to sink into your mind. Put on that piece of armor. Actually, in some strange way, the LORD Himself puts on this piece of armor.

5 We saw it in Isaiah 59:17. There, talking about the LORD, it says, He put on righteousness as His breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on His head;... So, the LORD wears a helmet of salvation. And when He came to earth, He too knew that He would live even if He died, that His body would not undergo decay, that His death would be swallowed up in victory. While He was dying, He was pronouncing victory, promising life after death to others, talking with His Father about what was going to happen when He stopped breathing. He had His helmet on even though they had tried to penetrate His skull with a crown of thorns. But the weapon of the enemy did not work. His thinking was clear, He knew His future, He was ready for the enemy s best shot. It could not shake Him. He had His helmet on!!!! III. The only weapon we have that can defeat the enemy is the Word of God. v.17b So far, all of the weapons have been defensive. You don t normally kill people with your helmet, with your boots, with your shield. They protect you, they stop the enemy s weapons. But here, for the first time, we come to an offensive weapon: our sword. and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. This image of the Scriptures as a sword is not unique to this passage. The Scriptures are described as a two-edged sword, able to penetrate joints and marrow, able to judge thoughts and attitudes of the heart. In Revelation, when the Son of God appears, a sword comes out of His mouth. It is the Word, the Word of God comes out of His mouth and destroys the enemy. He comes with that word, He gives us that word, He tells us to use it. Use it like Jesus used it. When Jesus was being tempted, what weapon did He use to defeat satan? He quoted Scripture to him. He simply quoted Scripture. This is how you attack the enemy, you quote Scripture to Him. Since you are not God, you cannot just make it up. But you can stand on what He has promised. You

6 can quote Jesus, Get behind me, satan! You can quote the authority you have in Christ, In the name of Jesus... We know what this means. Just this past Friday evening, I officiated Dominic and Arianne s wedding. Now, just because two people are standing before me, or you or anyone else doesn t mean I can pronounce them husband and wife. Wouldn t that be a great power??? But I can t. And yet, in accordance with the laws of the state of Nebraska and as a recognized minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I pronounced them husband and wife. And people cheered. Now, it wasn t me making them married. I was simply utilizing the power granted to me by the higher authority. In this case God and the state of Nebraska. The power, the authority came from them. I simply utilized the authority in a legitimate way. It is the same with the Word of God. Just saying something doesn t make it the Word of God. And even just quoting a random passage of Scripture does not make it binding or having authority. Instead, it is rightly divided Scripture that has that power, properly interpreted Scripture has that power, authority passed on from God has that power. Circumstances fit the intention of the text has that power. Why? Because the power comes from Him, not us, the authority is conveyed from Him, it doesn t originate with us. Perhaps you can see why I make this point. It is quite true that the Word of God is our major offensive weapon against the enemy. But this doesn t mean that all quotations of Scripture against the enemy have the power and authority of God. It is not a magic wand. He is under no obligation to heed our quotation. He is not under our authority, we are under His. Even Jesus submitted His will to His Father. He had been granted all authority from the Father, and yet He submitted His will to the Father. I think that speaks volumes. But having said all that, I urge you to pick up your sword and use it against the enemy. Take the time to read it, to understand it, to know it, to hide it in your heart, to use it. Those of us who have been at this Christian life thing for a long time know there are many times when God Himself will bring a text of Scripture to mind. That is why it is called The Sword of the Spirit. It is the sword that the Spirit brings to mind and uses on our behalf in the fight against the enemy. When we fill our minds with the Word of God, when we allow it to wash over us, we defeat the enemy.

7 Some of you have gone through this with me. I have a sheet of paper that I often give to people struggling with spiritual issues, struggling with the assaults of the enemy on our identity in Christ. The sheet simply has on one side a list of Scripture texts which say things that are true about each and every Christian simply because they are Christians, like I am a friend of God. On the other side are things that have happened when we became Christians, like I have been seated in the heavenly places. These verses are weapons against the enemy, used to move him back, used to defeat him. You hold in your hands the most powerful offensive weapon in the world! IV. Pray, pray, pray! v.18 This one is not associated with a particular piece of armor, but it is surely included in the thought. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. A potent weapon against the weapon is to pray, in fact pray, pray, pray. Perhaps it is not associated with a weapon because it depends on the type of prayer prayed. Some prayers are for the brain, some the heart, some the feet, some for your heart, your brain, your feet. Some are clearly offensive, others clearly defensive. So which kind do we use for spiritual warfare? All kinds. Notice the superlatives: all occasions, all kinds of prayers and requests, keep on praying, for all the saints. I d say you can t go wrong by praying, again as long as it is not on our own authority but rather as it says here in the Spirit, or as the Spirit leads. In other words, just as was true with Scripture, so with prayer. God is under no obligation to heed our prayers just because we prayed them. The truth is praying is entrusting the thing prayed to God and His will, His discernment. I do not have the authority to pray something to happen. And yet, our prayers have power. God acts on our prayers. We don t have because we don t ask. The prayers of a righteous man are powerful! That is a weapon. It is no surprise to me that people who are struggling spiritually so often have given up on prayer. What a weapon by the enemy! Get the person to give up his link with God s power! Or, perhaps he will mess with our minds into

8 thinking our prayers are not good enough, loud enough, frequent enough, holy enough, widespread enough, enough in King James English! The truth is that God just wants us to pray. He wants us to pray, pray, pray. He wants us to learn to pray by... praying! The truth is the Holy Spirit is interceding for us. He is sorting out our prayers. He is putting them into proper grammar, coherent thought, words fit for holy God. He does what we cannot do. And you have the power, the authority, the right to pray! In fact, your prayers for me can be as or more powerful than my prayers for you. As long as you can think, you can pray. As long as you are a Christian, you can pray. At the last second, you can pray. In your closet, you can pray. In your car, you can pray. You can pray out loud, in a whisper, in your mind, in English, in Swahili, in grunts if that s all you have. Just pray. No, pray, pray, pray! Do you want to win spiritual battles against the enemy? Start praying all kinds of prayers, on all occasions, for all the saints. If we believe this passage is the Word of God, then what should be different about our lives? 1) We will put the truths of God into action by faith. Do not post: (I say that faith is living by what you know is true rather than by what seems to be true, by convincing yourself that the unseen will really stop the flaming arrow.) 2) We will be transformed by thinking like people who have been granted salvation by a God who ALWAYS keeps His word. 3) We will dust off our Bibles in our minds and actually use what God says against the enemy. 4) We will pray, pray, pray. 5) We will experience and get used to victories over the enemy.