The Armor We Must Wear Part 3

Father, make us champions for you. Whatever we're resolving to do at this moment, help us to carry through. On how you've touched our hearts. Help us to live lives this week of victory and of usefulness for you, a life of conquest in the name of Jesus.

Prepare our hearts for this coming Easter, even for Good Friday. The Good Friday service is celebrating your death and then the Easter service, Lord, and then use us to reach people this week and to bring them in so that they can sit under the sound of the gospel. Be preparing the hearts of unsafe people that will be here next week, Lord. That you would be bringing situations into their life, thoughts into their minds, surfacing needs and their consciousness to where their hearts are being readied, the soil is being tilled so that gospel seed can be planted and their hearts would be receptive, and that fruit would be born and fruit would remain and help us each to do our part through prayer and through fighting.

To help serve these purposes. We ask all these things, Lord, in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said, Well, let me have you guys turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians 6, for our time in the word, we continue to worship God by listening to him as he speaks. We do not just worship Him through song and when we speak to Him, but we also worship by listening.

To him, we're doing a verse by verse study through the book of Ephesians. And as we continue in our study of this book, we come this morning to Ephesians chapter 6, verse, we're going to be picking up some loose ends from verse 16, and then we'll be moving into, to verse 17 this morning. And the title of the message is the armor we must wear. The armor we must wear part 3.

This is the last sermon wherein we're going to be focusing specifically on the pieces of armor that we as Christians are to wear. How many of you feel like you've been under unusual attack in recent weeks? Raise your hand. OK.

I know I have felt that way, and many others in this church body have. all the more reason to focus on how we can deal with those attacks in an effective way and be protected in the midst of them. The armor we must wear, I'll tell you the title that I thought about giving to the sermon is this, and that is the Christian life. Do not attempt without a helmet.

The Christian life do not attempt without a helmet, because in verse 17, we're going to be looking at the fact that we need to wear a helmet in the Christian life. there are, there are laws in various states regarding wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle. And some, some states require it, and some states don't. And some people are Really passionately against that law because it imposes on their liberty.

They think it's uncool to wear a helmet or it messes up their hairdo or whatever. And, and so they don't want to wear a helmet, and often that has deadly or hurtful consequences. It was in June of last year that Ben Roethlisberger, the quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers, after winning a Super Bowl, Just a few months earlier he was riding his motorcycle somewhere in Pennsylvania and a car pulled out in front of him and his head went slamming into the windshield of that car.

He was not wearing a helmet.

He ended up breaking his nose. His jaw had a 9 inch laceration on his head. He broke several teeth. Some of the teeth were just completely missing altogether, and he suffered a concussion also.

He was not wearing. A helmet. And I remember, reading some blog sites and what have you after that accident. and I'll just tell you, Pittsburgh Steeler fans were furious at him for being so reckless, as to drive around without a, a helmet.

but what, guys, if you ride a motorcycle without a helmet, Chances are 999 times out of 1000 and even a smaller percentage. the odds are nothing's going to happen. You're not going to need that helmet. It's like that one time out of a million that you need that, but many people can ride without a helmet and not get injured in any way.

but what's different about the Christian life and riding a motorcycle, is that guaranteed, if you don't wear a helmet, guaranteed you are going to suffer an accident, you are going to get hurt, you are going to get wounded. And so it's not like, well, the odds are I might get hit, but it's a small percentage. No, if you're not wearing a helmet, guaranteed the devil's going to target you and he's going to target your head, and he's going to go after you. And so we have to wear a helmet every single day in our Christian lives.

We have to wear it wherever we go, even in the. Shower, you have to wear a helmet all the time or the devil's going to go after that exposed part of your being. I'm reminded of, a few years ago at our men's retreat, we, one of the things we do at the men's retreat is we do paintball and show the love of Christ to each other and, through the end of our rifles, and, and often it's the old guys against the young guys. And a couple of years ago, that's how it was set up, and young guys tend to be a little bit more proud than the older guys.

And us older guys are wearing two or three layers of clothing and just in case we get hit, we're protected. We've all got long sleeves on, but there was one teenager on the young people's side. That was wearing just a thin t-shirt and the sleeves stopped here. there was no sleeve.

His arms were completely bare, and he was begging to get shot in the arms. He was basically trying to show us up and say, I'm not scared of you guys. Well, at the end of the competition, we've all got those pellets left in our, in our guns and we've got to spin them somehow. So they, they, what they normally do is they have us line up about 60 ft or so from each other and the old guys in this line, the young guys in this line.

And we just face each other and they sound the horn and we just empty our guns on each other. It's, it's madness. But guess where I was aiming? And probably just about any other guy on our team, guess where we were aiming.

We were aiming for those arms that were sticking out of that shirt, going after the vulnerable spot on that person's body. I was not able to successfully hit him there, but I sure tried actually. My, my gun jammed on me, so I was pretty frustrated at the end of that. But the deal is the devil's looking for that thing.

He's looking for the vulnerable exposed parts of our being and guaranteed you don't wear a helmet, you don't wear this armor we're talking about. He's going to go after you guaranteed every time. And so the statistics are extremely high that if you're not wearing your helmet, not wearing your armor, you're going to get hit right where you are exposed. And so we're talking about the armor that we need to wear in our Christian lives.

And just on the encouraging side of this, we're actually given promises in this passage, 3 of them. Verse 1113, and 16, if you wear your armor, you will be able, you will be able, you will be able, Paul says, you will be able to stand firm against the devil's schemes, you will be able to successfully resist in the evil day, and you will be able to extinguish the flaming arrows of the devil. Don't we all want that? Don't we want this week to be a week like that?

Arrows come at us, but they get blocked and they get extinguished. the devil is, coming after us, but we successfully resist all of his advances. And we stand our ground and at the end of the battle, we're still standing because we've got energy left over for whatever else he might throw at us. And that when the devil schemes and comes up with these brilliant deceptions in the midst of whatever we're going through, that we stand firm, and we don't buy into his schemes, and we do the right thing.

Don't we want that? Well, Paul is actually telling us how to be armed and armored in a way that will make us able to have this week. And so look at the pieces of armor that we've already learned about. We must, number 1, put on the belt of truth.

He says in verse 14, stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth. And we saw that this is talking about the word of truth, which is the gospel of your salvation. And so we are to have our loins girded about with the truth of the gospel. And then the second piece of armor that we are to wear is the breastplate of the righteousness or the justification.

Whenever you're reading the New Testament, and you see the word righteousness, or righteous, and you see the word justified, or justify or justification, it's the same Greek word, OK. And so you can translate it, the breastplate of the righteousness or the breastplate of the justification. It's the doctrine. That it's the insane doctrine that all of our sins are forgiven when we believe in Jesus, God then takes the righteousness of Jesus, and he puts that on us.

And therefore, we always have peace with God. We are always under God's gracious favor at all times every day. And Paul is saying, put that on to protect your vital organs and walk around in that justification, every single day. We learned last week about a third piece of armor, and that is our shoes, which are the shoes of the gospel of peace.

He says in verse 15, and having shod your feet with the preparation or the foundation or the equipment of the gospel of peace. We saw last week that these shoes are cleated on the bottom with, with, with metal cleats on the bottom of them. Some commentators, when they get to the sword in verse 17, they say this is the first offensive weapon, the sword of the spirit. Actually, the shoes are the first offensive weapon.

Yeah, they have defensive purposes. They help us to keep our traction so that our feet don't slide out from underneath us. But trust me, the Roman soldiers use those cleats on the bottom of their shoes. As weapons as well.

And when the devil comes at you with temptations, he needs to see the bottom of your cleats, the bottom of your shoes, they need to be in his face as you fight back and you kick back against what he is trying to do in your life. We put on our feet the cleats of the gospel of peace. And then last week, we began to talk about a 4th. piece of armor, and that is literally the shield of the faith.

It's not the shield of our faith, the shield of faith in the sense of it being our subjective faith that we have in God. That's not what the shield is. The shield is the shield of the faith, which is a synonym for the gospel. In Paul's writings, when he's He speaks of the faith, he's talking about the gospel.

And so we are to have the shield of the gospel that we have in front of us to keep ourselves protected at all times. Now, the effect of the shield is that with this shield, we will be able to look at the end of verse 16, extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. To me, that word extinguish, it's one of my favorite words in this passage. Because when temptation comes our way, Don't we want that to be extinguished?

You're just boiling with anger at your spouse or at somebody else, and you want that extinguished. What will extinguish that? The gospel will extinguish that. Remind yourself of your sins against God and of the mountain of grace that God has lavished upon you.

the $1.5 million debt that you owed him, and he completely forgave it. And so no one will ever offend you any worse than you've offended God. And if you're just soaking in that grace that God has given to you, and you're mindful of that, how can you not give that same grace to other people? And I have been in situations where I've been boiling over with anger, and then just rehearsing the gospel, wrapping myself in a conscious mindfulness of gospel truth.

By the time I'm done, I'm like, where did the anger go? Where did it go? It's extinguished. That doesn't mean it doesn't come back 5 minutes later or an hour later or the next day, but, but the gospel has an extinguishing effect.

You're battling with lust. You want that in that moment of temptation to be extinguished. The gospel will extinguish that. You're battling with condemnation.

And with guilt over past sins or maybe your sins from yesterday. Listen, the gospel will extinguish those flames of condemnation and guilt that the devil is hurling at you. And so use the shield of the gospel. It has an extinguishing effect upon the flaming arrows that come your way.

Well, how do we do this practically? I pretty much clued you into this. We use our shield. we use the shield of the gospel whenever we hold the gospel up before our own selves or other people.

Whenever you're in temptation or whatever you're going through, and you take the gospel and you put it in front of you, just right in front of your eyes, it is serving as a shield in those moments. Now, when should we use our shield? Well, I think you guys would know the answer to this. Let me tell you two times when we need to use our shield.

We need to use our shield whenever we're being attacked, right? you don't want to be attacked and your shield is somewhere on your shelf. Or far away where you cannot get to it. That's why we need to keep our shields with us at all times.

The shield of the gospel, we go, take it with us wherever we go. And so whenever we're being attacked, we need to put the gospel up in front of our consciousness, put it before ourselves in those moments where we're being assaulted. I mentioned last week that, Roman soldiers would charge in the battle with their shields when they're going on offense. I'll talk about that in just a second, but, but there were also times where a hail of arrows was just coming at them, and you can't pull out your dagger and strike down all those arrows.

All you can do in those moments is just take the shield, which is about 4 ft high, 2.5 ft wide, and just set it up and just, just crouch behind that shield. That's all you can do. And are there not times in our lives where that's what's happening? We're just arrows are coming from every direction.

And all we can do is just take the shield and just crouch behind it, and just pray that the gospel will protect us. You ever been there before? often we find ourselves there as Christians. I want to, I want to elaborate on that picture.

Just picture someone crouched behind their shield. Understand that Roman soldiers in war would have to do that, but they would do something very interesting in those moments when a hail of arrows was coming at them. The individual soldiers would not just crouch behind their individual shield, they would go into a formation and put their shields together. I'm going to show you a few slides of demonstrations regarding the tactics that Roman soldiers would employ and look at this slide here.

This is what Roman soldiers would do when the cavalry of an enemy army was coming at them. Notice how they come together. They take their shield and the guys on the front crouch behind their shield, and then a fellow soldier comes right behind them and takes his shield. And puts it over, attaches it basically to the shield of the guy in front, providing additional protection, not just for that guy holding the shield, but for his fellow soldier as well.

A beautiful picture of community as they're being ready. They're standing there waiting for this oncoming attack of enemy soldiers. This formation that you see here on this slide is called the Tortoise Formation, where again a hail of arrows is coming at the Roman soldiers. Your, your sword, your dagger isn't any good in those situations.

All you can do is think to protect yourself and your fellow soldiers. And so they would gather in close. Again, there's an idea of community they're gathering close and take their shields, put them in front of themselves, the guys on the front, and then the guys behind gathering close and putting their shields on, on the top, so that everybody, everybody in this group of soldiers is being protected by the shields. I love the picture of Roman soldiers coming together to protect themselves and their fellow soldiers in situations like this.

And is it not true that there are times, in fact, this happened to me once this week, and I was able to do this for a couple of people this week, that a brother or sister in the Lord, you, you, you call them up or you see them, and what are they doing? They're just, they're just crouched behind the shield, just overwhelmed with attack, and they're, they're not even fighting. They're just, they're clinging to the gospel, crouched behind the shield, a hail of arrows is coming at them.

And in those moments, what can we do as believers?

We can come to them with our shield. And just put it over them. We're behind the shield too, but we just help add to their covering. And in those moments, here's how we do that, by saying to them, listen, I don't, I don't know why this is happening to you, but I know that God loves you and that God has a plan for you.

God is doing something for your ultimate and eternal good. He loves you more than you can even know. Can I pray for you? And in those moments, what are we doing?

We're just taking our shield and covering a brother, covering a sister with that, adding to their protection. And so when you look at the shield that you're supposed to be sporting around everywhere you go, realize that shield is not just for your protection, but that you can use that shield to strengthen. The protection of your brothers and sisters in the Lord also. And so be quick and eager to not only put the gospel before you so that it can protect you, but to put the gospel before your brothers and sisters and to be gospel to them, relate to them in a gospel manner.

And so doing, you will add your shield to their shield and strengthen their protection. We're not all just fighting our own individual and separate battles. That's not what this is about, how to be individually victorious. a soldier on the battlefield, he might be thinking, man, I've, I've slain 10 people today, and man, I'm just doing great.

I'm having a wonderful day of victory. He would never be happy about that if every soldier around him is falling like flies and being destroyed. He wouldn't be happy, he wouldn't say, I'm having a great day, because he cares about his fellow soldiers. We'll be talking about this more in a couple of weeks.

But look at verse 18, with all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit and with this in view, be on the alert, with all perseverance and petition for whom? For all the saints, you're not just looking out for you, and making sure that you're individually victorious, you're looking out for your brothers and sisters. and the Lord. And what, if they need extra protection from your shield that your shield can provide, you need to be quick to come together with them, and to provide that for them.

We use our shield when we're under attack, but we also use our shield when we're on the attack. when we are storming the gates of hell, as it were, and we're attacking and we're making conquests. and tearing down strongholds in the name of Jesus. This slide shows Roman soldiers that are running against the front lines of an enemy army.

And as they're running, they're carrying their shields and imagine how frustrating it would be for an opposing soldier to try to kill any of these guys. These are huge shields, and as they're going into battle, running in the attack, they have their shields there protecting them. I love this imagery. there were a handful of people from our church yesterday that hit the surrounding areas here in Riverside, passing out flyers regarding the Easter service and talking to people about the Lord when there was opportunity to do so.

But before I did that, I just imagined myself putting my arm around and grabbing my shield, and it's like, let's go. No one can do any real harm to me. There's a person or two that slammed their door. answered the door, saw who I was, what I was there for, and then just closed the door in mid-sentence, but that didn't do any real harm to me.

I had my shield, but it's like we're, we're going on a conquest here for the souls of men, are we not? Over the next week or two. And we're praying that God will do a work and tear down strongholds in the lives of people, that people will come to faith in Jesus. You can bet that a hail of arrows is going to be coming at us.

It already has and will be happening this week. so what do we need to do as we're advancing? We keep our shield up so that we are protected when we're going on the attack. And so if we need to have our shield up when we're being attacked and when we're going on the attack, that means we just need to have our shield up at all times.

Well, there's a 6th piece of armor that we need to put on, and that is the helmet. Of the salvation, verse 17 and take the helmet of the Salvation, just real quick, the idea of the Roman army's helmet. Look at this writer's description of the helmet of a Roman soldier. The Roman soldier's helmet was usually made of a tough metal like bronze or iron.

An inside lining of felt or sponge made the weight bearable. Nothing short of an ax or hammer could pierce a heavy helmet, and in some cases a hinged visor added frontal protection. Sometimes there was decorative. feathering or whatever on the top of the helmets.

Also, I love that description, the lining of felt or sponge. The gospel, it's soft on the inside and tough and hard, impenetrable on the outside. And that's the helmet that we are to wear. And what is the helmet that we wear?

It's the helmet of the salvation. And again, that is a synonym for the, Gospel, very good. and don't trust me on that. Don't trust me on that.

Listen to what Paul says. If you said, well, what do you mean the salvation? What are you talking about? Again, he would take you back to Ephesians 1:13, in him, you also, after listening to the word of truth, which is what the gospel of your salvation, the gospel of your salvation.

By the way, Ephesians 1:3, it's amazing to me how many words are in that one verse that show up in Ephesians 6 when talking about the armor. Look at this, after listening to the word, we're going to see a synonym for word being used in Ephesians 6, talking about the word of God. Truth is used, gospel is used, salvation is used. And then he says, having also believed in the word faith is used.

just this one verse, Ephesians 1:13, that's why we keep coming back to this, because it all ties together in the writing of Paul, the salvation is the message of the salvation that we enjoy in Jesus. Now, what does it mean to save somebody? to save someone is to deliver someone from harm or from death, right, or from some unfortunate situation. And so that's exactly what this word means.

The salvation is the saving work of God in our lives, delivering us from our former state into a new state, and into a state that still awaits us in glory. Paul already has used this word for salvation in the book of Ephesians. He uses it in Ephesians 2, where he says that we were, formerly dead and our trespasses and sins. And we walked according to the course of the world, the prince of the power of the air, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind because we were addicted to those things, and we were by nature, children of wrath, even as everybody else outside of Christ is.

But God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, has made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been. Saved. That's what Paul says, and he says it again, even a few verses later.

By grace we've been saved. In other words, we've been saved from sin. We've been saved from wrath. We've been saved from the hopelessness.

We've been saved from bondage. To the sins of the lust of the flesh and of the mind. We have been delivered from that. And not only that, but we have been saved too.

God didn't just save us from all of that. He saved us onto something, and that is undo a relationship with Him. and freedom in Christ, just the ability to come into his presence, have an intimate relationship with Him, to enjoy being his sons and daughters, to enjoy a life of freedom from guilt, and from the oppression of condemnation. There are many blessings that we now enjoy, and God would say, I saved you onto these things.

But also, guys, we look still ahead. And there are glories awaiting us in eternity that would blow us away, even given what we know right now. God would say, I saved you unto those things that still await you. In fact, the chances are really high that there is a forward focus in Paul's use of the word salvation here and attaching it to a helmet.

Because in 1 Thessalonians 5:8, he encourages believers to be armed with something as a helmet, using as a helmet what the hope of salvation, and it's a forward focus as we look forward to the return of Christ and the glories to follow. So salvation has a backward focus, a present focus, and also a forward focus, and a mindfulness of the fact that we are saved serves as a helmet that protects our minds. In battle. Now it's easy for us to say, OK, I know that we're saved.

But do you ever stop and really ask, do I believe this? I would encourage you tomorrow morning, get in front of the mirror and just say, I am saved. I'm, I'm saved. And contemplate what that means for you to be saved.

Because I don't think one of us in this room believes that statement to the degree that it's actually a reality in our lives. I think all of us are growing in our understanding of that, but we all fall short. When you say I am saved, what you're saying is I am saved. I am delivered from all of the guilt of my past sins.

There are moments where we're being attacked where we doubt whether we're delivered from that. When we say I am saved, we should be saying I am saved from the power of all sin to where I don't have to sin ever again. Do we really believe that, that besetting sin that you've committed thousands of times and you long for freedom and victory over, do you believe that you are right now saved from that to where you never have to do that again? Sometimes we do believe that and then the devil comes along and says, boo.

And we're like, oh, I guess, I guess I'm not free after all. And we just fall back into the deception that we're not saved from that. See, the devil's preaching to us all the time, saying you're not saved. You're not saved.

God hasn't saved you. You don't deserve that. Or maybe you're saved, and there's a home in heaven, but you're not really saved from the power of this sin. you're not fully delivered.

Maybe that will come at a later point, but you're not yet fully delivered. And so we believe that lie. And so many times as Christians out of sheer habit and unbelief, we are saved people, but we live like unsaved people, like people that are not saved from these things that the Bible says that we're saved from. I was reminded this week of a guy who was in India and he was walking through a market and he came upon this little shop where they had a display and the display was, it was like a living merry go round.

It had a platform and then a pole in the middle. And then attached to the pole were strings, and those strings went about 1 ft or so and were tied around the necks of birds, and those birds marched around that pole just hour after hour after hour, and that pole would turn with the birds. And so this man looked at those birds and he was like, what a life. Just every day, hour after hour, going around in circles around that pole, his heart went out to those birds and so he went to the owner and said, I'd like to buy this, and the owner said it's not for sale.

And the guy said, Well, I'll give you whatever for it. How much money will you take for it? And the owner told him an amount and so he bought the display. He bought the birds.

But what he noticed was as soon as he bought the birds, he untied them. But guess what the birds did. They continued walking around the pole. And so the man was frustrated by that, and so he shooed the birds away, and they flew away for a few moments, but then they came right back to that display, situated themselves where they were before, and promptly started walking around that pole again.

They were free. They were saved. But they were not acting like that, still walking around in bondage to that string that was no longer around their neck. sometimes you're wearing a hat on your head for a while and you take it off.

But it still feels like you're wearing it, and you could almost Deceive yourself into thinking that it's there. That's the way the chains of sin are. Jesus has broken those chains. We are free from bondage to any and all sins, and yet often it feels like that string is still there around your neck.

And so we act accordingly, acting the old way, not acting like the same people that we really are. And so Paul says you need to believe that you are saved. Study the depth of your salvation. Embrace that the reality of what you're saved from.

You're saved from death. You're saved from eternal doom. You're saved from bondage to the guilt of sin and the power of sin in your life from day to day. You've been saved unto all of these blessings that, yeah, you do not deserve them, but they are yours by the grace of God.

And you can enjoy them and you have been saved for an eternity in heaven with, with God. Believe that and put that as a helmet on your head, guaranteed, it will protect you if you wrap your head in a conscious mindfulness of these gospel realities. It is so critical that we think this way. The, the last piece of armor that we are to wear that Paul identifies for us in This section of Ephesians is the sword of the Word of God, the sword of the Word of God.

He says, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Now, thank you for just a moment about the sword itself. Just so we get a visual, often we think of the sword and we think of this long, sword that we pull out of the sheath, and it's a, it's a lengthy weapon, but that's not the Greek word that is used here. Listen to what one writer says, the term that Paul uses here refers to the relatively short sword, or even dagger used for cutting and stabbing that was used in close combat.

All right. Remember, we learned in verse 12 that our struggle, our wrestling is against the principalities and powers. And so we're talking about Very close hand to hand combat. And with combat that close with the enemies of hell that come against us, sometimes a lengthy sword is not really the weapon that we need.

But just imagine a knife, that is a little bit longer than a normal knife that we might see. That is a dagger that the Roman soldiers would use in warfare, especially in close combat. And we have been given a dagger like this. And what is the dagger?

Look at what he says, and the sword or the dagger of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Now, what is the Word of God? This is the last time I'm going to ask you this question. As we look at the pieces of armor, what is the?

Word of God. We know that in a sense, the Word of God is all of Scripture, that is labeled many times in Scripture as the Word of God. And so not denying that at all, but more specifically in the book of Ephesians, what is the Word of God? The gospel, very good.

And again, let's go back one more time, one final time to Ephesians 1:13. Paul says in him, you also, after listening to the word of truth, which is what the gospel of your salvation. Now Paul is saying we need to use the word of God, all of Scripture that makes is wise and the salvation. But more specifically, he is speaking of the Word of God as the gospel of God that we wield as a dagger in our battle from day to day.

In fact, listen to what one writer says regarding, what the word is. He says the sword of the Spirit is identified with the Word of God, a term which in Paul often signifies the gospel. Paul is referring to the gospel and distressing the actual speaking for of the message. By the way, the word that is translated word is Rama.

Which means the same thing as Lagos. And by the way, Lagos is a synonym and Lagos is the word that's used in Ephesians 1:13, but often their meanings overlap. Rama means the same thing as Lagos, but there's a little bit more emphasis with regard to Rama on the speaking. Of the message, the speaking of the message.

The gospel is a message that has been spoken to us. It is a message that we wield when we speak it. When we speak it, we wield that dagger in warfare. Now, let's get practical.

As we turn this corner and think about wielding the dagger of the gospel. How do we apply this and what situations do we apply it? Well, number one, we should use the gospel word whenever we're tempted to sin. We use the Word of God whenever we're tempted to commit an act of sin.

Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11, he's tempted by the devil, and what does he do? He quotes scripture, right? And if Jesus, the perfect Son of God, Need scripture and quoted scripture in times of temptation, you can bet that we need scripture, we need the Word of God, and we need to quote that as well in times of temptation that we encounter from day to day. and so any scripture, all the scripture, Jesus was quoting from various places in the Old Testament, and so any scripture, memorize any scripture and be willing to use that in warfare when you are tempted.

But guys, I want to just give you one caution. All right. And this is why I emphasize the gospel word. If, for example, you are struggling with the sin of anger, and you want to wield the Word of God in your moments of temptation to anger, do not simply memorize Proverbs 15:1, a soft answer turns away wrath, harsh words stir up anger.

Do not just memorize James chapter 1, where it says, be quick to hear and slow to speak and slow to anger. Do not just memorize Ephesians 4, where Paul says, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and malice and slander and clamor be put away from you along with all malice. Do memorize. Those, but don't just memorize passages that tell you to not be angry, or to tell you to put aside that anger.

Don't do that because all you're doing is memorizing the commands. You're essentially memorizing law, but you need to memorize something that's going to put your heart in such a disposition to where you're going to want to lay that anger aside and not choose the angry path. Does that make sense? For example, when Paul says in Ephesians 4, lay aside bitterness, wrath, and anger.

He doesn't give that command until after he's spoken chapter 123, and most of chapter 4. It's not until then that he feels like he can actually tell you to lay aside anger and wrath. He takes the time to give us gospel truth after gospel truth, and the bathe us in the grace of God, telling us what we deserve for our sins, reminding us of what we were outside of Christ, and reminding us of the grace and the love that God has lavished upon us. And then Paul can get to a point where he says, hey, wrath, anger, malice, anyone that wrongs you, lay that aside.

He says that then because now we have a heart that's ready to say, OK, but God laid aside his wrath. He's not giving me what I deserve. And so, I can lay my anger aside. In fact, Paul goes on to say, lay aside anger, wrath, malice, and slander, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, giving grace to one another just as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Make sure that you're memorizing gospel passages. Because if you're focusing on gospel passages, there are times where you're being tempted with anger and you're like, OK, I'm gonna, I'm going to quote some gospel passages, and then I'll come and deal specifically with my anger, and you get immersed in those gospel passages. This has actually happened to me. You'll get done with that and you're like, OK, now to deal with the, where do they go?

The anger's gone It's extinguished. The gospel did that. If you want to be able to successfully lay aside these sins in your life, immerse yourself in the gospel, surround yourself with gospel realities, you will catch yourself laying these things aside, and being kind to people, tenderhearted, forgiving other people with the same grace that you have received from God. So use the gospel word whenever you're tempted, wield that dagger, but also use the gospel word whenever you're suffering, going through trial, hail of arrows is coming at you, suffering greatly in your life.

That is a time of all times where you need to just gather yourself around the gospel. And speak gospel to yourself. And, one of the classic examples of this is the apostle Peter. I can just say this real quick.

Peter in first Peter is writing the suffering Christians who are going through a fiery ordeal, they're being burned and blistered by the suffering that they are experiencing. And Peter is writing a letter to them. And how does he speak to them? Peter, I have no doubt Peter would have been kicked out of most counseling training institutions in our country today, because these burning, blistering believers going through fiery trial, sit down in his office, describe their circumstances, and they say, Peter, you got, you got to help us here.

say something to us. And Peter says, all right. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has begotten us again unto a living hope. By the resurrection from the dead.

You say, what does that have to do with suffering? It has everything to do with suffering. He goes on. He raised us to obtain an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are being continuously kept by the power of God, by faith for salvation ready to be revealed at the last time, and he goes on to talk about how the Old Testament prophets would prophesy about the salvation that you enjoy.

And they would study the words they wrote, trying to figure out what is going to come here sometime in the future. Peter also says to these suffering Christians, he basically says, I want you to know that angels envy you. The salvation you have is so magnificent that angelic beings stoop low to look into these things that surround you and that you possess day by day. Sometimes in the midst of our suffering, we're not, we don't feel like the envy of anybody.

But Peter says, the angels envy what you have. And he begins by talking about the magnificence of their salvation, and then he moves on from there. And it's in the context of those gospel truths that he gives encouragement to these believers. You look at the apostle Paul who suffered for over 3 decades, shipwrecked, night and day in the deep, beaten times without number, imprisoned times without number, was scourged without, without mercy.

The guy was persecuted, wrongly treated. He was stoned and left for dead on one occasion. He was mistreated not only by unbelievers, but also mistreated by believers as well and experienced. Many, many wounds.

If anyone has ever suffered as a Christian, Paul did. In fact, Jesus said to Ananias, when he told Ananias to go baptize Paul, when Paul was converted, he said to Ananias, I will show Paul what great things he must suffer for my sake. And so Paul is singled out as someone who truly suffered, even Jesus would say that he suffered greatly. And yet Paul, three decades into this, says, our momentary light affliction.

is working for us, a glory that is beyond compare. He says our suffering is not even worthy to compare to the glory that awaits us. How in the world can a guy suffer for three decades and call it momentary? How in the world can a guy suffer the weight of suffering Paul experienced and call it light?

Unless you're clinically insane and there's some other explanation, how can a guy do that? how? His eyes were on the glory that awaited him. He saw the weight of glory in eternity and then looked back at his trial and said, This is light.

He saw the length of eternity in that glory and said, looked at his three decades and says, This is but a moment. This is momentary. That's why it's absolutely critical, guys, that even in times of suffering that we are speaking the gospel word to ourselves, relishing these gospel truths, the past realities, present realities, and also even focusing on the future blessings of the gospel that belong to us, because it's only with that perspective that we will be able to thrive in the midst of suffering.

We also should use the gospel word, wield the gospel dagger when we're talking to fellow Christians.

Should we not? Do not buy into the lie that we get saved, lay the gospel aside, and now we move on to discipleship matters. Now, even, even as you witness to someone, maybe you get someone saved, you've been giving them the gospel every day and, and they finally get saved, and you're like, OK, this has happened to me. I'm like, so what do I do now?

And there was a guy I pled to the Lord after 6 months of just sharing the gospel with him, he got saved. And I just felt in a quandary like, what do I say now? What do I do now? But don't use the gospel to get someone saved.

And then once they're saved, set the gospel aside and try to use something else. You continue to give them gospel truth. Because no person at their point of conversion is fully gospelized. How many of you in this room at the moment of your conversion fully understood everything about the gospel?

None of us other than Brian. But none of us understood the gospel in its full depth. I don't even know how long I've known the Lord. But after all that I've learned, there's still so much more.

I feel like I'm in kindergarten on this. And what I love is that all that I have learned as exciting as it is, I see Jesus and he's saying, there's more. And that's just crazy to me. Just there's even more that's out there to know.

And so all of our lives is a process where we, where we become more and more evangelized, where I become more and more evangelized. And in my ministry to believers, I found that just, man, what we need to be doing with each other is just reminding each other of gospel truth. That's what Paul did, 1 Corinthians 15:1 to Corinthian believers, he says, I make known to you the gospel, which you believed by which you're saved, in which you stand. But I'm going to make known to you the gospel to the Roman Christians and Romans chapter 1.

Paul says, I am eager to literally evangelize you who are at Rome. He's talking to Christians. I, I, I want to come to Rome. I want to preach the gospel to you Christians who are at Rome.

And then he basically says, but because I cannot go in person, I'm going to write the book of Romans. And I'm just going to bring you the gospel. Isn't that what the Book of Romans is? It's the gospel being preached to Christian people.

There's a number of people in our church who attend BSF. Bible study fellowship and they've been going through the book of Romans. It's been thrilling to me to hear how Christian people have been overwhelmed with the gospel as it's been presented in that amazing book. Going through the early chapters of all of the sin and the muck and And that some were saying, I can't wait to get out of this section, and yet they knew that there was value in lingering here.

And then they come into Romans 6 and Romans 5, our justification, Romans 6, freedom from sin, and then Romans 8, and boy, just drinking in those realities because they've been set up to really appreciate those things in the earlier chapters of the Book of Romans. Romans is a gospel tract for Christian people. To deepen our understanding of the gospel. Ephesians is just Ephesians 12, and 3, and much of 4 and much of 5 is just rehearsing gospel truth.

Colossians 1 and 2, it's just all gospel, Galatians, and that was Paul's method of ministry to believers is reminding believers of gospel truth and then teaching them to reason from gospel truth to the theological and the ethical and practical issues they had to deal with. And then finally, we wield the gospel dagger by using the gospel word when we're talking to the lost. what, whenever you're sharing the gospel with lost people, you're wielding the dagger, just wielding that gospel sword.

And that might seem like a weird picture.

I'm wielding a dagger as I'm talking to a lost person. That doesn't sound very kind. we understand that that dagger is designed to inflict injury upon the spiritual enemies, of the cross. But that sword, it's different than the normal sword because that sword or dagger that we use, that gospel dagger, actually can pierce people with a beneficial piercing that ends up bringing blessing.

Hebrews 4:12, the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. All things are open, and laid bare or skinned, just laid it open. before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do, and it's the Word of God that leaves people displayed wide open, completely naked and laid bare before the God of heaven, and often to their own eyes as well.

What does that?

It's the Word of God. It's the gospel of God that does that. We can't do that. But what, if we speak gospel words to others, it will work as a two-edged sword in that person, they will begin to see things about themselves that they've never seen before.

If God is using his word and touching their lives through what we've shared, and they will ultimately, we hope, come to a point of faith in Jesus in response to the gospel word that we have spoken. O'Brien in his commentary on Ephesians, and I'll close with this, says in their warfare with the powers of darkness, Christians are to take hold of the word of God, the gospel, and to proclaim it in the power of the Spirit. This sword is to be used both for self-defense and when believers go on the attack and make new conquests in God's cause.

Again, that's what we're trying to do just leading up to this Easter service.

We're on a conquest for souls seeking to tear down strongholds, and we need to wield that gospel sword every day this week as we're talking with saved people and lost people. We need to come to church next Sunday, ready to wield that gospel dagger. And you may say, yeah, we got to wield the gospel dagger next week. Let's pray for Aurelio as he brings it.

Every one of us have a chance to wield it. Do you realize we wield the gospel dagger whenever we worship? You guys were doing that this morning. When we are worshiping God and rehearsing as we worship gospel themes like we were this morning, talking about the resurrection and singing that with full hearts and passion to the Lord, you realize we're wielding that gospel dagger?

And as nonbelievers who may be in this room this week and next week witness that, God can use our ministry, our worship, as we're speaking aloud through song, these gospel themes, and they see the genuineness in us, God can use that to open their hearts and to call them to account, and for them to acknowledge that God is certainly among us and to ready their hearts for what they're going to hear. And so all of us, all of us wield this dagger, and that's why it's been given to us.

I want to ask you to bow your heads this morning. We've spent 3 weeks talking about the armor of God.

When I played on sports teams, I always loved the moment where a brand new uniform was brought to me football helmet, freshly painted, pads, just getting all this equipment. The beginning of a school year, just getting all the new textbooks and compasses and pencils, pens and paper and all the supplies, computer. Getting a brand new laptop or whatever. Just, I want you, I want us to feel that, that God says, I want you to go into battle, but here, I got, I got some stuff I want to give you.

It's the belt of truth. Here, put it on the breastplate of righteousness. Put it on. The gospel of peace.

These cleats that I want you to put on your feet, the shield of the faith. Take this beautiful shield, carry it with you. This helmet, put this helmet on this helmet of thus salvation. And then this dagger.

And Trust me, guys, this dagger is sharp. Take this and use this. And this will suit you just fine, and this warfare that you have to face in the days of this coming week. OK.

I want you guys to pull out your registration slip. We asked you to keep those, and so here's what I want you to do. I'm just going to give you like 30 seconds or so to meditate before the Lord. And We want to encourage you guys, if the Lord leads you to just fill that out, if there's something you want someone to pray for you about, if you want us to pray for you, maybe something you're struggling with in your life, anger, bitterness, lust, or, maybe you're really depressed and, and just beaten down with, with hopelessness, with despair, with guilt, with condemnation, But if there's an area you're struggling in and you just want us to lift you up in prayer for those things, then just, just put that on the back, or maybe there's something you want to do, this week, and that is, that you're resolving today, you want to memorize scripture.

you want to be more faithful to be in the word each day. Just, maybe there's a commitment, something that the Lord has spoken to you about that you need to do a better job of. Maybe you need to do better at, at sharing the gospel with other people. Maybe as a dad, you need to do a better job of providing spiritual leadership for your family, and you just want to jot that down and say, hey, pray for me that I'll be a better spiritual leader to my wife and to my kids.

Whatever it is, just take out that slip, and if the Lord leads you, just write that down. And as you leave this morning, we'll give you an opportunity to just give that to an usher, and I can promise you that we will take those things to prayer, on your behalf this week.