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We'll take our Bibles and turn
together to Isaiah chapter 11 for a scripture reading. Isaiah chapter 11. It's a passage which really speaks
of the promised Christ who, at least in Isaiah's day, was still
to come. Isaiah 11, and commencing at the first verse. And there
shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch
shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of
the fear of the Lord. and shall make him of quick understanding
in the fear of the Lord. And he shall not judge after
the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of
his ears, but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and
reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall smite
the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of
his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the
girdle of his loins, And faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The
wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, And the leopard shall lie
down with the kid, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling
together, And a little child shall lead them. And the cow
and the bear shall feed their young ones, shall lie down together,
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking
child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child
shall put his hand on the cockatrice den. They shall not hurt nor
destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of
the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be
a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people.
To it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in
that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second
time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left
from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush,
and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the
islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign
for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather
together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the
earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall
depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim
shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. But they
shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the
west. They shall spoil them of the east together. They shall
lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon
shall obey them. And the Lord shall utterly destroy
the tongue of the Egyptian sea, and with his mighty wind shall
he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven
streams. make men go over dry shod and there shall be an highway
for the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria
like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the
land of Egypt. We'll end there at the end of
the chapter and then returning to Ephesians chapter 6 Ephesians chapter 6 and it's
the verse 17. In this section looking at the
spiritual warfare that we're engaged in and then the armor,
the equipment that's given to us. We come to Ephesians 6 verse
17. We're instructed Take the helmet
of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word
of God. Take the sword of the spirit,
which is the word of God. Now we come today then to the
last piece of equipment that's presented for us in this list,
this last piece that we need to take so that we might be perfectly
equipped for the day of battle. And what an important piece of
equipment it is. It's well and good walking onto
the battlefield with your helmet in place and your breastplate
and your shield and all the rest, but you can't do a single thing
unless you have your sword. And so before us we have the
sword here. Take the girdle, take the breastplate, take the
sandals, the shield, the helmet, but then if you're going to be
any use on the battlefield You need your sword. Take the sword
of the spirit, which is the word of God. We're thinking then about
this Christian's, the Christian's sword. Now the first thing to
mention is the attitude that is implied by this sword. The
attitude implied. The obvious thing you'll notice
when you read through this list of equipment is that nearly everything
is defensive. Your breastplate, it's wonderful
for guarding your heart. your helmet is perfectly fitted
to guard your head and those things do their job well but
they are not designed to give any sort of blue to the enemy.
Perhaps the closest you could come to an offensive item so
far is the shield because you might be able to bash it forward
into the enemy line but again here the emphasis really is on
defence, defence against the fiery darts of the wicked one.
So really as we come to this sword it's the first item in
the list that truly is an offensive weapon. Primarily it's for the
attack. Now yes, you can use your sword
to defend yourself. You can parry a blow with your
sword, but primarily the sword is not for defending yourself.
The sword is for doing harm to your enemy. That's how you use
the sword, the sword, especially this short sword that it's referring
to that the word there is for the short Roman sword. And it's
a sword that you would use not so much for slashing, but for
thrusting in to the weak point of the enemy. doing damage. That's the main point of this
sword. You're doing damage, you're cutting down the troops in front
of you on the battlefield and you're advancing them, taking
ground from the foe. Now the fact that we've got this
sword given to us then, it emphasises to us all that in the Christian
warfare, our attitude is not to be primarily and only defensive. Rather, we are actively to go
on the attack as well. Now if you're going to go on
the attack well then surely you do need to be protected. You
don't want to just charge into the attack without any armour
on. You need protection and so we have all these other items
given to us to ensure that in the day of battle we're defended.
When the darts of doubt fly we raise the shield of faith. When
the devil would seek to influence our mind and bring us to despair
we're defended with that helmet of salvation, the hope of salvation. When the hammer blow of guilt
would strike and come against our chest to knock the heart
out of us. Well, we're defended with the breastplate of righteousness,
the righteousness that we have in Christ. But then with this
sure defense, we have the sword, and it's put into your hands
now, believer, and it implies that you are to march out into
the battle to do damage to the enemy, to do damage. We're wrong
to think of the Christian warfare as purely defensive. As if we're
just skillfully blocking every attack while holding our ground.
We're not meant to be merely holding our ground. We're meant
to be on the forward march here. We're meant to be driving the
enemy back. We're meant to be doing damage to their front lines. You might remember this whole
section. It detailed the armour starting with the command to
be strong in the Lord. That was verse 10. To be strong
in the Lord and in the power of his might, and then we're
told to put on the armor, or to wear this armor, so that we
can stand, verse 11, against the wiles of the devil. And then
verse 12 uses this imagery of the wrestling match. We're wrestling,
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and
powers. We're engaged in this wrestling match. That's the imagery.
You could perhaps think of a life or death conflict, a fight in
the gladiatorial arena. And it's up close and personal.
It's you against the enemy combatant, and it's a fight to the death
and it's a fight in which the winner is the one that's left
standing at the end and the loser is down in the dust. What's implied
then when Paul tells us that we're to take this armour to
ourselves so that at the end of the day we're the ones standing?
What's implied is not just that we're still on our feet. What's
also implied is that the enemy is brought down under us, that
the wrestling Match continues, you see, the gladiatorial fight
continues until one of the two opponents is on the ground. And
here's the battle. It's us against the principalities
and powers and rulers of darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness.
And the question is, which one is going to be on the ground
at the end of the day? This section then is not just
about us standing on our feet. It's also about the church, the
people of Christ in the power of God. bringing the forces of
darkness to their knees. In fact, I would say that that
is the outcome predicted by the apostle Paul under inspiration
whenever he wrote to believers in Rome. And in Romans 16 and
verse 20, right near the end of that letter, the apostle spoke
to the church and said, the God of peace shall bruise Satan under
your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you. Amen. God, he says, will bruise Satan
under your feet shortly. And do notice there that God
is not just bruising Satan while his people stand to the side
and look on. Paul says God is going to do this, but he's going
to bruise Satan under your feet. He talks to the believers there
and says, Satan's going to be brought down and crushed under
your feet. God's using his people to this end. Here in Ephesians, the Lord puts
a sword in her hand and we're to go on the attack then. We're
to do damage to our enemy. Now in order to frame our thinking
right then, let me suggest right away two key areas in which we
are going on the attack. First of all, we're going on
the attack against Satan and his forces with regard to their
grip on this world. That is, we're going forth into
this world Where Satan holds many captive in darkness and
using the sword we're to take ground in the name of Jesus Christ. We're to go forth with our sword
destroying the devil's strongholds in this world. That's one key
area where we need to be on the offensive at all times. Going
forth into the world for Christ. The other key area I would say
is that there ever needs to be a going forward and offensive
campaign and attack mindset against Satan's influences in our own
hearts. It's true that for the child
of God we've been delivered from the bondage of the devil and
yet we have to recognize that he still has influence over various
areas in our lives. You could think of it perhaps
your heart a bit like the land of Israel just after Joshua and
the forces of Israel have really struck the decisive blows as
they've come into the land and cast aside the the strength of
the enemies, and the land all of a sudden is Israel's. And
yet, there were still little pockets here and there that had
to be taken, and that God was telling the people to go and
to take. Our hearts are like that. The devil's grip has been
broken. Our heart is the Lord's. Our
life is the Lord's. But there are still these pockets
of influence that need to be conquered, and we need to go
forth against those areas in our own lives with the sword.
conquering more and more in the arena of our heart. So you have these two areas of
battle, the external and the internal, the battle for Christ
in the sphere of this world as a whole, and the battle for Christ
in the arena of our hearts. But in both of these areas, it's
not just about being defensive. The Christian life is not just
about not growing in sin. The Christian life is about taking
ground so as sin is decreasing in our lives. The Christian witness
is not just about holding on to the fort as a little pocket
in the middle of this world. It's about actively striving
to go forward and take ground for the Savior. We're to be on
the forward march. The cry goes up, attack. And that is implied for us in
the fact that there is a sword here given to us to use. But
then the question is, how do we attack? What is this instrument? What is this sword that we're
using? So we have the identity of the
sword then. We're called here to take the sword of the spirit,
which is the word of God. Or to say it in a different way,
just to emphasize the sense of it all, you could say, take the
spirit's sword. which is God's Word. Take the
Spirit's sword. And what is it? What is the Spirit's
sword? It is the Word of God. Now there's our sword, the Word
of God. But what do we mean by that?
Now the answer might seem obvious, but it is worth just making a
few quick observations. Normally when you read about
the Word of God in Scripture, The Greek word is Logos. I'm
sure many of you are familiar, you've come across that word
before. Logos, the word, the Logos of God. Now obviously that
term is used at times as a title for the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is the eternal Logos. Now the reason it's used that
way of Christ, I suppose, is that in the day of the New Testament
being inspired, that term came with quite a bit of baggage.
Greek philosophers before that time had been seeking to deal
with the questions of reality around them. They'd been concerned
with the search for ultimate truth. They were seeking for
that which really brought everything else into order, a first principle
if you like. And the term that the Greek philosophers
came up with to sort of describe all of this was the Logos. They
meant sort of an impersonal force governing the world when they
said that. But then John takes up his gospel and he introduces
it, declaring, you know, in the beginning was the Logos. And
he's taking that term and he's saying, here is the eternal one.
Here is the governing principle. Here is the one who brings order
to all things. Here is the source of all truth. And he's not an
impersonal force like the Greeks might have imagined. He is the
personal God who becomes incarnate. who becomes a man and manifests
the glory of God. So John uses it that way, Logos,
as a title for Christ. And because of that baggage that
went with the title. Of course, the word Logos itself
literally means a word as well. So the phrase, the Logos of God,
the word of God, it's also rightly used of scripture. The word that
God has given to us, the literal words that God has put into our
hand, the great revelation of God to us. Usually when you read
about the Word of God in Scripture, it's this second sense that's
in view. Although, especially when John
is writing, he quite often will mean Christ as a person. But usually in Scripture, it's
the Bible that's in view when you read about the Word of God.
The Word on the page. It is always worth remembering
that the Word on the page does set forth the Word who was made
flesh. Christ is right at the heart of Scripture's message.
But often, primarily, it's this book that's in view when you
read about the Word of God. And certainly when you come to
it here, taking the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God,
that's what's in view. Scripture is in view here. That's
our sword, Scripture. This is the weapon that God has
placed into our hand. But one thing that's probably
worth pointing out is that the word that's translated word here
is not actually logos. It's a slightly different word.
It's the word rhema. Now, it's still speaking of scripture.
Don't get that confused. It's still talking about scripture,
the word of God. But there's a little bit of difference in
the emphasis when it uses the word rhema rather than logos.
See, the Greek word rhema very much emphasizes the idea of the
spoken word. So it's emphasizing to us that
the sword in our hand is the very declaration of God. We're talking about Scripture
here, but in that sense we are talking about what you could
call the Logos, the Word of God. But the emphasis is on the fact
that this is actually proceeding forth from the mouth of God.
This is declared from God. The emphasis is on the fact that
God is actually speaking. The emphasis is on this idea
of God's voice being heard. As we take the sword and as we
use it, as we bring Scripture to bear on this world or our
heart, whatever arena we're fighting in, The idea is that God's voice
is being sounded out. Now that idea ties in very much
with some of the language in Isaiah. What we read from Isaiah
11 a few moments ago, and you might remember, we said before
when we started to deal with this armor that's given to us
that the Paul does borrow from the imagery in Isaiah quite a
bit concerning Christ himself. In Isaiah 11 and verse 4, it
speaks about Christ with righteousness judging and so on. It talks about,
in verse 5, righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins and
faithfulness the girdle of his reins. So there you've got, I
suppose that's where most commentators would say Paul gets the idea
of the girdle of truth. Faithfulness being the girdle,
truth being the girdle. But there in connection with
that verse you also have at the end of verse 4 this description of
Christ coming forth. He shall smite the earth with
the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall
he slay the wicked. And wicked there in Isaiah 11,
wicked there is singular. So again, you would be entitled
to say the wicked one. With the breath of his lips shall
he slay the wicked one. You have this picture of Christ
coming forth, smiting the earth, slaying the wicked one, and doing
so by the rod that comes out of his mouth, doing so by the
breath of his lips. Doing so, it's a picture of the
spoken word, the word going forth. That's why you have this rod
pictured in Christ's mouth. I suppose it's something similar
that you have at the end of the Bible in Revelation 19, where
John sees the heavens opened and Christ coming forth upon
the White House, and it says that out of his mouth goeth a
sharp sword. That with it he should smite
the nations and he should rule them with a rod of iron. It's
not that literally when Christ appears you're going to see a
sword in the mouth. At least that's the way I would understand
it. It's not going to be that. The point is it's describing
the fact that Christ comes forth with power in his word. That's
the picture. All of this, it ties in with
what Christ says of himself in Isaiah 49. Listen a while's unto
me and hearken ye people from far. The Lord hath called me
from the womb. From the bowels of my mother
hath he made mention of my name. Verse 2. And he hath made my
mouth like a sharp sword. The point is here that Christ,
we could say God, is coming forth speaking through the word. Even
this word that we've got before us in the book. God is speaking. He's not silent. And that's why
this word has power. It has power because it's not
merely the word of man, but it is the word that proceeds from
the mouth of God. The Lord says of his word in
Isaiah 55 in verse 11, so shall my word be that goeth forth out
of my mouth. It shall not return on to me
void. It shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper
in the thing where to I sent it. the word that proceeds from
God's mouth, it's effective. It is because this word is God's
and proceeds from Him that it is quick and powerful and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder
of soul and spirit and the joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It's because God is
speaking. You know, there are many things that you will say
or that I will say and they end up like damp fireworks. We're
expecting it to create a bit of a stir. We've lit the fuse,
as it were, but then it all comes to nothing. There's no result
at all. We were expecting the bang, but just nothing happens.
That's the case so often with our words. It doesn't have the
impact that we would like it to have. People don't care so
much about our words. But God's word, well, that's
different. When God speaks, His voice will
be heard. His voice will cause a reaction. What we need is the Word of God.
This is the sword that must be used as we wage war. It must
be used as you wage war on your own sin. No mere pep talk is
going to help you there. No mere pep talk is going to
deal with the devil's attacks in your own heart. No pep talk
is going to help you turn your heart away from some of those
fortresses of sin that are having to be torn down still. You need
the word of God, the sword, to go in and to break through the
fortress and to bring it down to nothing. You need the word
of God to work powerfully in your heart. And likewise, as
we go forth into this world, our words aren't going to have
much impact, but let the word of God loose, that which proceeds
from his mouth, and it will be effective. It always accomplishes
God's purpose. It has a reaction. Now, it's
not always the reaction we would like to see, But God's Word always
gets a reaction. I suppose you have the two reactions
to the Word of God, even from Pentecost and following. In Acts
2, 37, Peter was preaching in the power of the Spirit, and
the Word of God, that Word proceeding from the mouth of God, went forth.
And the people were pricked in their hearts, and they responded
aright. They sought how they could be saved. What must we
do? They were saying, what are we
to do? They were seeking how to get right with God. Such was
the way in which the word came to them with force. But then
you have the other reaction in Acts 5 and 33. The Sanhedrin
heard the Lord's word and it says that they were cut to the
heart and took counsel to slay them. That is, they took counsel
to slay the Lord's people. They didn't respond well. They
responded with anger. They sought to do harm to God's
people, but Notice that they were cut to the heart. Man didn't
do that. God's word did that. God's speaking
voice could not be ignored. But what a weapon this is then
that is put into our hand and therefore let's make use of it.
Let's make use of it. Don't be ashamed to use the word
of God. The world around would tell you
that you're a fool who's living in the past as soon as you put
your trust in the word and bring it to bear on others. Surely
science has disproved a book like this by now, the world would
say. You can't be believing that anymore.
You're a fool. I tell you, God's word needs
no defense. Don't be worrying even about all the side arguments.
You don't need to try and prove that God's word is true. I know
there's some who do apologetics and there's nothing wrong with
that. But in terms of us going forth, The real need is not to
prove that God's word is true. Set it forth, boldly proclaim
it, and the voice of God there will be heard. As the sharpness
of the blade is felt, whether an individual admits it or not,
their experience will make them know there is power in this book.
Why is it that it always gets such a reaction? Why is it that
it divides people so drastically? Some who rejoice at the sound
of the word and they hear it and they respond alright. And
then others who respond with bitterness and hatred. Aggression
even. It's because there's power here.
They've felt the slice of the blade. And for some they haven't
liked it and they've responded with anger. But they've felt
the slice of the blade. You don't need to prove it's
true. Use it, and that will be the proof. And likewise, let
the word of God loose on your own heart, on your own soul.
Let God speak. Let his voice go forth into the
depths of your soul, because that's where there's power to
overcome the wicked one, as he would seek to influence your
heart for evil. Our sword is the word of God. But then, let's
go on from that to think about the description of this sword.
The description, you'll notice as you look back in Ephesians
that this sword is specifically called the sword of the spirit. This is not just any sword, this
is the spirit's sword. Now there are two key things
we could stress in terms of how this is the spirit's sword. First
of all, we can say it's the sword that is forged by the Spirit. That is, that the Spirit of God
is the swordsmith who has created it. That the Spirit is the master
who has brought it forth in all of its perfection. 2 Timothy
3.16 tells us that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness. It's profitable for all these
things. And it's profitable because it's
given by inspiration of God. 2 Peter 1 verses 20 and 21 explain
a little more how that comes about, how this is inspired.
It speaks of how scripture came forth, not by the will of man,
but rather holy men of God speak as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost. The Spirit brought about this
book. The Bible is Spirit-breathed. Now there are human authors and
you can see their personality and their writing style in the
different books because they weren't like robots in a trance.
But even for that, the Spirit was overruling everything and
moving these men so that what we have is precisely fashioned
as the Spirit of God intends it to be. You know, this book
doesn't just contain God's Word. This book as a whole is the completion. This is God's Word. This is God's
Word to us in its fullness. This is God's Word set before
us, not just in some haphazard way, but precisely fashioned
together just as the Spirit of God intends it to be. It's the
perfect sword then, you could say. It's said that one of the greatest
swordsmiths in Japan was Master Masamune Okazaki. and he practiced
his craft somewhere around the 13th or 14th century. And still
today, many of his swords were recognized as just the best you
could get. So much so that, as far as the
internet tells me, there's still an award given in recognition
of good swordsmanship in his name. But the legends, and I'm
sure they're probably nothing much more than legend, but the
legends have it that his swords could easily cut a blade of grass
blown in the wind or a leaf that was flowing down the river. And
such was the smoothness of the cut that the leaf would be sliced
by the sword and then it would really go past without really
losing its original shape. Other stories tell that when
the samurai would sway one of these swords at nightfall, the
sword would shine like a loon star in the moonless night sky.
He was renowned for these beautiful and sharp and masterful creations. Now I imagine some of that is
just legend. rooted in some sort of history
there. But be sure of it, God has given you a sword in scripture
that is much more beautiful, that is much more precise, and
that is much more effective. He has given you a sword, you
could say, with better balance, a sword with a sharper edge,
a sword of infinitely greater beauty. And it's all because
it's forged by the Spirit of God himself. He's forged the
perfect sword. That's why we're not to add to
it or take away from it. You know, if you cut a chapter
or even say you cut a book out of your Bible, I mean, what you
have left, I suppose you could say it is still the Word of God
because what you have there is still God's Word before you.
You can still read from Isaiah, perhaps, if that wasn't the book
that you cut out. But all of a sudden, you're not going to
have it perfectly balanced. You're going to lose out on so much
that God has for you. You're going to do lots of harm
to yourself. The Spirit has perfectly fashioned this book as he intends
it to be. He has brought it forth. By the way, maybe to say in passing,
the Roman Catholic would tell you that the Church decided on
what was Scripture. That the Church essentially created
Scripture. But you need to be clear that it was the Spirit
of God who decided what was Scripture. the Spirit of God produced Scripture.
And the church, all the church did was to simply recognize that
the beauty, the might, the power that the Spirit had already brought
into existence. You know in the New Testament
times and afterwards maybe it took the church quite a while
to settle on which books, which letters and so on belonged in
the New Testament canon. And that's because over time
they were looking at these things, and they also had a big influx
of other writings, and they were looking at those things too.
But there was a clear difference. It wasn't just that they decided
one day, right, we'll have that as scripture, we like the sound
of that one, and we don't like the sound of that, we'll take
this one. No, no, no. They saw the beauty in that which
was of the Spirit. They saw the power in that which
was of the Spirit, and therefore they accepted it as rightfully
belonging in the canon. It was clear that it belonged
in scripture because of the qualities that the Spirit of God had already
put into it. They rejected the rest because,
well, they didn't see those qualities. There wasn't the same beauty.
There wasn't the same power. It was clear that they didn't
belong. The Spirit brought forth the
Word. He's the master swordsmith, and he's brought it forth perfectly. But then as well as that, if
we think of this as the sword of the Spirit, we could also say
it's the sword which is used by the Spirit. It's used by the
Spirit. See, not only does the Spirit
forge the sword for us, but once it's put into our hand, once
it's given to us to be used in the battle, in an ultimate sense,
it is the Spirit of God who actually uses this sword. I mean, think
of the day of Pentecost. There wasn't a big impact that
day because Peter was standing up preaching God's Word in and
of itself, although to preach God's Word, there's power there,
yes. But the real power that day came from the fact that Peter
was preaching the Word of God filled with the Spirit. The Spirit
of God had come upon the church and that's where the power was.
The Spirit of God, not just Peter, the Spirit of God was using the
Word. He was wielding the sword, even
as Peter preached. Spirit of God uses this sword.
And how good that is because no one really knows the sword
quite like the one who fashioned it. And how good it is that the
one who brought forth this sword, who perfectly created it, also
still goes forth with the Church of Christ today and uses it.
You know, whenever I or any other minister stands in the pulpit
and preach the Word of God, we declare the truth of God's Word,
we We certainly try to do it in a way that's understandable,
a way that's relevant, a way that's perhaps challenging. But
at all times, the reason any of that has effectiveness is
because of the ministry of the Spirit. It's because unseen to
us, it's not the preacher skillfully wielding the word. No, it's the
Spirit of God. It's his hand upon the sword, using it to strike
hearts. How many times it's been the
experience of individuals I don't know, maybe this has happened
to you before, but it's happened to many. They come into a meeting
and they're absolutely convinced when they hear the preaching
that the minister knows something about them. That they're absolutely
convinced that some friend told the minister some information
and that really he's just aiming his sermon specifically at them.
He must have been told something that cropped up this week in
my life. He must have been told about that particular sin that's
in my life or the particular trouble I'm facing or whatever. By and large, the minister knows
nothing about it. But the word comes forth with relevance. It comes forth precisely to slice
open at the right point. The minister knows nothing about
it. That's the spirit of God. That's the spirit of God taking
the word and he himself using it mightily. Paul said in 1 Corinthians
2 and 4, my speech and my preaching, was not with enticing words of
man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. As Paul preached, he didn't need
to use the gimmicks. He didn't need to use the fancy
oratory skills of Cicero or any of the other speech writers of
the day. He didn't need to rely on man's wisdom. He went forth
and he preached the gospel and the spirit used it. The Spirit
of God wielded the sword, applied it to hearts, and with power
brought forth great results. The Spirit of God demonstrated
His power through the Word. Now again, here's such an encouragement
for you to take the Word, this sword, and to go on the attack
against the wicked one, against the devil. Take the Word, believer,
and let the Spirit of God apply it to your heart. He will make
sure if you Bring your own heart into submission to God's word.
The spirit will make sure that his sword hits its mark. Satan
will be driven back. Likewise, take the word as you
go out. As you go forth, a soldier of the cross, take the word,
take the sword. And the spirit of God will use it. As you do
battle against spiritual wickedness in high places. There is power
in this word. Take confidence there. But then,
all the more trust the Spirit of God to use this powerful word
in the wise and appropriate way. You know, it came to mind when
I was thinking through this phrase, the sword of the Spirit, that
really one of the primary ways in which the Spirit of God interacts
with this ungodly world, at least in a way that's recognizable,
is as the church goes forth. with the sword in hand. Now I
know that the Spirit of God at times, at times can work outside
the church, the gathering of his people. I know at times the
Spirit of God can set us to the side and he works dramatically
without us. But normally, normally it's the
case that the way in which the Spirit of God shows forth his
power in this world, taking ground from the devil, is as his church
carries the sword out. He goes forth with his people
That's how he interacts with the world. How we need to take
the sword then and go forth. It is as the church goes forth
sword in hand that the spirit of God mightily uses it to deal
wounds to the forces of darkness and to see strongholds broken
down and to grant liberty through faith onto captives. And that
is what we should expect going forth with the sword because
there's power there. Christ told us to go into all
the world and preach the gospel. to every creature. He essentially
said, soldiers, get your swords and go forth. Preach the gospel
to every creature. And the expectation is that there's
going to be a great response to the word as it's used in the
hand of God through his church. Take the sword. Don't be ashamed
to take it. Use the sword. Then thirdly, let me mention
the singularity of this sword. I'm really closing here by having
you notice once again that in this list of equipment that we
have given to us the only item of attack is the sword. The only thing we have with which
to do damage to the wicked one is the sword. Now let me stress
for our encouragement that this sword is the only weapon which
we need. As we go on the attack, it will be more than sufficient.
You don't need all the vain philosophies of man. You don't need that.
Take the word, take the sword, and that's enough. It's more
than sufficient. But do note that it is the only
weapon that we have. If we set the sword aside, if
we change our tactics altogether as a church, or even as an individual
waging war on sin and temptation in your life, You change your
tactics and set the sword aside. Suddenly we are powerless to
take ground from the devil. You know how tragic it is today
in light of that, that so many churches today have put the sword
in their sheath and they're trying to take up other items altogether
and they're trying to use other things as a means of going forward.
The cry tends to be that there's no toleration for preaching anymore.
So we have to readjust the way we do our services. We need to
maybe increase the time spent in singing. We need to have maybe
a drama brought in. Maybe something else altogether.
Maybe give away some prizes to get people through the doors.
All sorts of novelties are introduced and the preaching is just, and
the word is just put away into the corner. So many places have set aside
the word. And in doing so, they set aside their only weapon.
They set aside their only hope to take ground from the devil.
It ends in failure. God has given us one primary
weapon and it is that weapon that needs to be used in your
own life. Let the word of God loose on your own heart. And
it is this weapon and this weapon only which must be used as we
go forth into this world. We set it aside at our peril.
We're fools if we ever put our sword in its sheath and fail
to declare forth the Word of God. We need our sword. The devil
is not scared in the slightest of the feather dusters that are
being used by so many. He's happy enough when he sees
that. The Church of Christ marching out with their novelties. Not
able to do a thing. No power at all. No. He's not afraid of that. He'll
let them wander behind enemy lines. They can't do any harm.
He's happy with that tactic. But he's fearful when he sees
the people of Christ going forth with sword unsheathed, thrusting
forth. You see, he knows there's power
there. He knows that the sword is effective. He knows that he
can't resist it. He knows he's going to lose ground. And I certainly
believe that as the church goes forth with the sword, the devil
will lose ground. In fact, even that passage we
were reading in Isaiah 11 talked of Christ coming forth And it
then speaks of such great prosperity in the earth, spiritual prosperity.
The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the
waters cover the sea in verse 9. Now some maybe put that off
to eternity. I know we have different views
on end times and all of that, but I believe that's what we're
looking for. See, this is all happening as
the next verse says, and in that day, as Christ stands as an end
sign for the Gentiles, a sign for the Gentiles to flock to,
I do believe Christ has given us that commission. Go into the
world, preach the gospel, and it's going to bear fruit. The
devil is going to have groin taken from him. He's going to
be overcome. Take the sword. Take the sword
as you go forth. In evangelism, take the sword
in your own personal life. As you come into contact with
the wicked one, as you stand in the heat of battle, unsheath
the sword. You don't have any other weapon
to rely on. Everything else is foolish, but take the sword.
That's what your savior did. You have him in the wilderness
there, the time of temptation. The devil comes against him.
The fight is on, but it's the devil who's forced to flee. He
has to leave. And why does he flee? Well he
flees because Christ's response on every occasion was to wield
the sword. It is written. It is written. It is written. Therefore seek to know the scriptures.
Spend time on the training ground like any soldier would do with
his sword. Get to grips with it. Get used to wielding it. And then in the conflict, take
the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. May the Lord
bless his word to us tonight and use it. Amen.
The christian's sword
Series Ephesians
| Sermon ID | 11271809214358 |
| Duration | 44:11 |
| Date | |
| Category | Prayer Meeting |
| Bible Text | Ephesians 6:17; Isaiah 11 |
| Language | English |
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