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Let's open up our Bibles over to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6, this is our final message in the series, The Invisible War. This is part four of our series. And as we go back to Ephesians 6, looking at the armor of God, as we as people go about our business in this world every day, Most people are unaware of the invisible war that is raging. It is spiritual in nature, as we've already seen in our study. Satan, who is a defeated foe, nevertheless is trying to keep people from trusting Jesus Christ as their Savior. Now, God has called us, who are believers, to be part of the battle for the souls of men. And that is what the battle is for, is for the souls of men. Understand that. And we're all in the battle. Some of us are good soldiers, some of us bad soldiers, and some in between. Obviously, God wants us to be good soldiers for the Lord. But make no mistake, there is a spiritual battle going on. One commentator said this, and I thought it was very powerful, and I quote, This warfare is not a matter of contending against godless philosophers, crafty priests, Christ-denying cultists, or infidel rulers. The battle is against demonic forces, against battalions, of fallen angels against evil spirits who wield tremendous power. Though we cannot see them, we are constantly surrounded by wicked spirit beings. While it is true that they cannot indwell a true believer, they can oppress and harass him." And as we've seen in our series already, Satan has a lost people exactly where he wants them. His work, his main work is in the lives of believers because his goal is to keep believers from trusting Christ the Savior, or unbelievers from trusting Christ the Savior. And so what does he do? Well, he wants to keep the mouths and the lives of believers, the mouths shut and the lives a mess, all right? And he's doing a really good job, a really good job of it. Somebody was sharing with me before the service tonight somebody that they've been working on working with this individual and solid Salvation definitely no question saved but this individual lives like the devil terrible terrible testimony Satan works two major areas our message and our lives if he can't mess up your message He'll mess up your life. Now if he can have both he'll take them both and All right? But if he can't mess up your message, he'll mess up your life. So be aware of that. Those of us who are clear on the gospel, who understand it, who can explain the gospel, it's all of grace, it's free, it's a gift, no strings attached, no matter what, once you trust Christ, you're saved no matter what. Those of us who believe that, what does he want to do? He wants to discredit our lives. And to where when we do open our mouths, people will think, you're a hypocrite. I'm not going to listen to anything you have to say. And therefore, they will be turned off to the gospel of grace. Now, with that in mind, we've been looking at the spiritual armor of the believer here in Ephesians chapter 6. And it is so we can be good soldiers and stay on track. The armor is not there to put on so we're just comfortable as we go through life. You know, most people don't wear armor around, right? You put armor on to go to battle. And so we are to be putting the armor on. And we talked about last time how that the armor in reality is living as true disciples of Jesus Christ. As we are surrendered to the Lord as Christians, every area of our life, we are yielding it to him. Now, we take it back, and we get selfish. And I understand that. We get in the flesh as believers. But as we are yielded to the Lord and then obedient to his word, we are putting on the armor as we should. You know every day you get out of bed and you have to have a checklist here. Okay, let's see All right. I got the shield of faith. Now. What do I got to cover my feet with the preparation of the gospel? And so what do I do with those sandals, you know, and you're searching your house for all these things. No, it's it's spiritual necessities of character that we need as Christians to live the Christian life. And as we're committed to the Lord and asking him to help us in these areas of life, we're putting on the armor of God and we become more complete in being yielded to the Lord. And again, it's not a once and for all. It's an ongoing thing in life. But as we are yielded to the Lord We are going to be more effective and we'll be protected to do the battle So I'm just gonna read verses 10 through 17 and not comment on these because we've spent so much time in them in the last weeks But it says in verse 10 finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of it's his might Okay it's not our strength, it's his strength. Put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles, the strategies, the schemes of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand, all right? Verse 14, stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And then, as I've mentioned last time, the word wicked there is masculine singular. I believe it's talking about the devil himself, the devil himself. Now, let me just interject something here, verse 17. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Last time we left off with the helmet of salvation, all right? Now, take a little inventory before we get into this last part. Now think about this. Is it your heart's desire to live for Jesus Christ, number one? And secondly, are you, by the grace of God, living for Jesus Christ? Is that what you're living your life for? Can I tell you tonight, if that's not what you're doing, Satan has got you sidetracked. He's taken your train and he's gotten you off the rails and you're out in the field somewhere trying to struggle through life and having a mess of it. Listen. Anybody knows a train runs better when it's on the tracks, right? So what should we do if that's where you find yourself? Confess your sin to God as a believer confess your sin to him get on track and then Trust the Lord and obey his word and go forward from here. You can't go backwards Now the sixth piece that we see is here, the sword of the spirit. You notice that in verse 17? And we don't have to guess what that is, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. The sword of the spirit, okay? It is an offensive weapon. Now, if you look up here, here's my Bible. If you look at my Bible, you might say, well, that Boy, that doesn't look like much of a weapon. I mean, if somebody's going to come at you, you're going to hit them with your leather-bound Bible? I mean, that may stop them for a second, but it's really not going to do much. No, no. Remember, it's a spiritual battle. And looking at the Bible, it doesn't look like a serious weapon. But this is the most powerful weapon in the world, the most powerful. You know, the weapons of the world, they call them weapons of mass destruction. This is a weapon of mass construction. This builds lives. This is amazing what this book does, all right? This is the Word of God. It is an offensive weapon. Actually, and where it says the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, there's a couple of words, Greek words used in scripture for the word, word. One of them is logos, which is what you find in John 1, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God, word was made flesh, et cetera. That's the logos, okay? That's the, and we know it's referring there to Jesus, the concept, the idea, okay? The expression of God's, nature and so forth. That's what we see, the logos, all right? But this word is a different word. It's the word rima, rima. And it actually is the idea of the saying of God, the saying of God. It is not the word of God that simply expresses a truth or idea that's found in a book, okay? So it's not just words that express an idea. That's more of the logos, okay? This is the word of God being used. It's the word in action. It's taking the thought, the concept, the idea, and it's using it to accomplish the work. And how do we do that? Well, we do it by saying it, by preaching it, by standing on it, by using it when the time is right and using it effectively. It is using it in whatever situation you find yourself in. It is not passive. The sword of the spirit is not passive. Remember, it's an offensive weapon. It's something to be used in the spiritual war. So folks, on a practical basis, here you go. When we are in a situation and we are standing for Christ, Or we get into a, we're witnessing to somebody, or they've got questions, or they're ridiculing us for our faith, or they're mocking us, or making fun, or persecuting, or whatever it may be. Or somebody says, well, I can't believe, you know, you're saying salvation's a gift, and I can't believe that. Listen. The argument is never between you and them, all right? It's this way. You're using the Word of God. You're saying the Word of God. You're giving them Scripture. That's where this is at. You might say, well, what if they don't believe it? Well, if they don't believe it, they don't believe it. But listen. It should be the word they're not believing. It's not an issue of you or me. Because as soon as we enter the picture, then all of a sudden it's an issue of, oh, I'm failing, or, oh, I'm succeeding, or, oh, I feel rejection. They didn't want to hear it. I feel rejected now. Wait a minute. We're not the issue. It's not about us. It's about the word of God. It's about the gospel. It's about speaking God's word, okay? Now remember, it's not us creating words like some of the Pentecostal groups do, you know? The word of faith and all this kind of stuff, that's just, that's just, I'm sorry, I'm trying to be nice, that's just nutty, all right? It's not faith in faith. It's the word of God. And if it's the word of God, let's just forget about ourselves and be faithful to it. It is an offensive, Weapon look with me to Hebrews chapter 4 and we see it here again talked about as something that you do battle with Hebrews 4 in verse 12 it says for the Word of God is quick that means living the Word of God is living and powerful Look at those words, living, powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. All right? The Word of God analyzes us. The Word of God hits us where we need to be hit. God gives us through Scripture exactly what we need to build our lives and to make us effective. for him. God's word is the answer we need. Now isn't it amazing and maybe some of you have experienced this before. I can remember when this happened to me as a young Christian. I didn't know a lot of Bible verses. I knew three or four Bible verses and I can remember you know, occasionally reading the Bible and so forth when I was first a believer and going through, and that was all fine. And then when talking to people, though, I started witnessing the people. And I found there were times I'd be witnessing to them, and they would ask a question or they would make a comment. And out of my mouth, and it wasn't like I didn't have control of my mouth, but out of my mouth, right after they asked the question, The thought came, as I'm talking, the thought came. And what came out was something that I had learned but not even memorized, but I didn't even know it was in me. See, that's the Holy Spirit bringing up the answer. But He is doing the battle in us and through us. And so it's the word of God that we use. And it is sharp and powerful. It is a weapon. It is what our Lord used when he was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. Three times he quoted scripture to Satan. Three times. Satan tempted him. The Lord said, it is written. It is written. It is written. He didn't say, well, boy, you know, this is like debate class or something here. No, just fall back on the scriptures. Take out your sword. Use your sword. How silly. Satan comes at us with his demons, and what are we going to do? Put up our fists and say, come on, put them up. No, what do we do? We pull out our sword, folks, and we use the sword to do battle with. Jesus quoted scripture. He quoted specific scriptures dealing with what Satan was saying. That's a Rima idea. All right? He spoke exactly what was needed in that situation. Now, he didn't speak opinion. Of course, what he spoke, it was the Word of God. But he wasn't speaking opinion. He was speaking scripture. And he quoted scripture back to Satan. And what happened? Satan left. You know what? It's the same way. in our lives. Do you ever get harassed by Satan? Okay. Fiery darts. Okay. Now we know the answer for the fiery darts is the shield of faith. How big is your shield? But have you ever been harassed by Satan? What do you do? You know what you do? When your mind is trouble and you feel like you're under a demonic attack. And listen, I don't feel that way all the time. And I'm not always, you know, engaging with demons and all this kind of stuff. Like some of these groups are kind of off the wall on this stuff. All right? I think they're giving the demons more credit, actually, than they deserve. But there are times when you can be harassed. And I know when I've been harassed before. And what do I do? You know what I do? I start quoting Scripture. I start quoting Scripture. And the tension in the air goes away. This is the Word of God. This is our tool. This is our offensive weapon. All right? Turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter 3. Familiar verses, but incredibly important. It says in verse 16, all scripture, it's the word of God, is given by inspiration of God, it is God breathed, and is profitable for doctrine, which is teaching, for reproof, which is conviction, conviction. Did you know what? The word of God convicts us. I say, I don't think it's right when I go to church and I walk out feeling guilty. Well, you don't have to walk out feeling guilty. When you come under conviction, confess it to God right there. See it as he does. Take his side against it. That's what confession is. Okay, and then yield yourself to the Lord and you don't have to walk out because what you've done is you've surrendered your mind and will to God. Well, that's exactly where he wanted us. It's profitable for doctrine which is teaching, for reproof which is conviction, for correction that's restoration. for instruction in righteousness, okay, that's training, discipline, that the man of God may be perfect or complete, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. What builds up a life? What matures a Christian? What matures a believer? What brings a believer around to where, you know what, here is this really rough and carnal and filthy-mouthed individual and all that, and all of a sudden, years later, here now you see somebody who's got self-control in their life, and they've matured spiritually, and maybe they're teaching in their local church, and they're having an impact, and they've got a ministry in other people's lives, and their life is moving towards more purity than it is carnality. What has happened? What has brought about the change? It's not an organization, it's the Word of God. The Holy Spirit using the Word of God in that life. It's amazing. As we take in the Word of God and we use it, our faith increases. As our faith increases, we will have the confidence to move forward against the enemy. And by the way, remember that. We are to be moving forward. moving forward. In Matthew 16, 18, Jesus said this, and I say also unto thee, thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Do you see the picture there? It's not the gates of hell are coming down the street to mow us over and run us over. Ah, what's happening? I'm dying. A gate of hell is on me. No, what's the picture here? It's the picture as we are going forward, okay? This rock, I think, in the context there is talking about the truth that Jesus is the Savior. That's what the rock is, that's the gospel. And through the gospel, listen, it is the power of God unto salvation, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against the gospel. and so that is what this is talking about the great commission is to what go not sit and wait for the enemy to attack but you know what if we're not going that's what we're doing we're sitting and waiting for the enemy to attack you'll never win a war by doing that Now, I know, I know, don't come up, Pastor, don't you know that the victory's already won, Jesus came back from the dead? I get that, I understand it. I'm just talking about the present, all right? There's battles. We know the victory is won, but God has battles for us. Just like God gave the Israelites the promised land, but they were gonna have to go in and do battle to conquer the land, but the land was theirs, God gave it to them. Same idea. So the great commission is to go, not to sit and wait for the enemy to attack. And when we go, we are to do what? Preach the gospel. Mark 16, 15, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. This is what the war is all about that we've been talking about the last several weeks. Now let's get back to that weapon, the Word of God. Listen, Satan, our foe, hates the Bible. He hates the Bible. He hates the Word of God. That's why he wants to exterminate it, eradicate it, out of our society and out of our schools and out of every place you can imagine. He wants the Bible out of there. Why? Because the Bible brings his defeat, because it's the word of the living God. That's why. And he can't take it. And while some may disagree with my next statement, I believe it with all my heart, I believe this is why they keep coming out with more and more translations and so-called Bibles. Now what are you saying? Pastor, isn't that an outrageous statement? Now listen, I'm not trying to be outrageous. I just honestly believe this, folks. Now, I'm not saying I don't believe that we can't update language and all that. I'm not against that. But when there's another new Bible coming out almost virtually every single year, at least one, which one is right? And every one of them claims to be the most accurate, the easiest to read, and all that. Can't they ever get it right? They've been at it, what, for how many years now? Since I became a believer, there's probably been 30 or 40 all claiming the same thing. Can't they get it right? Yeah, what do we have? We have a Bible, 400 years old, right? People are still using it. Can I tell you this? You go to a place like Trinidad, you'll find this interesting. You know, in the United States, you've got people, everybody's got a different Bible in the U.S., all right? It's amazing. We've got so many Bibles in the United States, and people are ignorant of what's in it. That's interesting. But you know what? You go to Trinidad. We've been to Trinidad. My wife and I are going back at the beginning of June. I'll be teaching down there in the Branch Seminary for Solid Rock. But you go to Trinidad, one Bible, King James Version. Isn't that interesting? King James Version, one Bible. See, could it be, could it be that in the country that is responsible for printing and exporting more Bibles in the history of the world than any other country, the United States, could it be that Satan is attacking us with so many Bible translations for the sake of confusing the people to where they don't know what is the Word of God and what isn't the Word of God? Listen, if you don't have confidence in this, you're not going to have as much confidence to share it because you don't know if it's accurate or not. Now, folks, listen, this Bible is accurate. That's why we use it. It's an accurate Bible. You go by it, all right? You can believe what it says. But they keep coming out with more and more and more. You see, it becomes an issue of like what Satan said in Genesis chapter 3. What did he say? Yea, hath God said? Questioning the scriptures often leads to denial of the scriptures. Questioning the scriptures often leads to denial of the scriptures. Think about that. That's how it begins. Satan comes in, he says, well, you know what, that's really not in the Bible. Or, well, you know, that's really not there. Wait a minute. But it's, what do you mean it's not there? I'm reading it right now, I see it with my eyes. Don't tell me it's not there. It is there. The Bibles that exclude things are a lot of your newer translations. Not all of them, not all of them, okay? But a lot of your newer ones exclude things from the Scriptures. I was really disturbed a couple weeks ago. I came over a book that had to do with breaking addictions and breaking sin patterns. And I thought, you know what? This is going to be a good book. Not only that, but I got it for free. So I thought, good. Not only that, and I won't say who the author was, I've had over the years very high respect for this writer. Crystal clear, at least had been in the past, crystal clear on the gospel. this one pastor, been in the ministry for years, an honorable man, and I start reading the book and I'm thinking, yeah, yeah, boy, this is good, this is good. And all of a sudden I come over a passage where he quotes scripture, quote unquote, and I look at it and I'm thinking, What? And I look and it's, what in the world? I go to the front. The vast majority of the Bible quotations are from the message. The message, which is not even a good paraphrase. Okay, it's awful and yet here's this man who is a true Bible scholar who's been fundamental in his theology Generally speaking for many many years has been clear on the gospel. He's been a great blessing every time I heard him I learned something from him and here now he's got this book and all the way through it almost all the way through it by the way, he went and Now listen, I'm not a fan of the New American Standard, but if you were going to use something based on a Westcott Hort text, the New American Standard is the most accurate. Okay? It's an issue of text streams, and I don't think the one that the New American Standard is based on is the right text stream. However, the best Bible based on that text is the New American Standard, the most accurate. This man for years has used the new American standard, and now he's using the message? Are you kidding me? That's not a hop, skip, and a jump. That's a leap off the cliff. It's craziness. What has happened? Tell you what's happening. There's a battle going on. That's what's happening. See, the Bible manifests the mind of the Lord. It manifests purity, true morality, goodness, and the all-sufficiency of Christ. If you preach the Bible, people will usually either love you or hate you. It unifies and at the same time it divides. Saying the same thing will unify or divide. Listen, can have a whole congregation of people and hear a message from the Bible. Some people will be indifferent to it because they're not listening. Some people will love it and be encouraged by it, the same message. Some people will get mad at the same message. How does that happen? It was the same message. Everybody heard the same thing. It's because the Holy Spirit is using it. It's a living book. And He's using it in the life. This is how it works. Whatever comes our way can be conquered by the truth of scripture. If you don't use the word of God to fight your battles, you will not succeed. If you do not use the word of God to fight your battles, you will not succeed. All right? You use the sword. You don't use a broomstick. You don't use a hoe. You don't use a pencil. What do we use? We use the sword, the word of the living God. What do churches need today? They need the Word of God. What is the admonition for the last days? Paul gave to Timothy, he said, preach, what? The Word. Preach the Word. Because they're days of apostasy. And if people are going to be helped, they need Scripture, okay? The last piece of armor. Now, a lot of people stop with the sword of the Spirit. I don't think that's the end. The last one is number seven, constant prayer. You notice it says in Ephesians 6, 18, going back there, praying always, praying always, that's constant prayer. Praying always and with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. A piece of armor, yes. It is inseparably linked to faith. Prayer is inseparably linked. to faith. Real prayer is an act of faith. Notice, though, in the text here, notice that it is all in the same breath that the apostle mentions prayer along with all the other pieces of armor. Watching is all but one time in the New Testament linked to prayer. If we as soldiers get out of touch with headquarters, we can run into a lot of problems and confusion on the field. We have to be in constant communication with headquarters. And where is headquarters? Heaven. And the commander-in-chief, the captain of our salvation, is there. That's right. That's right. The Bible has much to say about the importance of prayer. It is asking the Lord to supernaturally work and intervene in any situation. It calls for his protection, his wisdom, his guidance, strength, and victory. It is at its very core dependence upon the Lord. That's what prayer is. Somebody says, define prayer. OK, talking to God. That's true. But why would you talk to God if you didn't believe he could do something about it? That's faith. As the battle rages, we keep our eyes on the Lord by faith. Why? Because He's the one who can do something about the battle. He is where the victory is. He's the one who brings the victory. He's the one who brings the power. So important. And Paul says in verse 19, as for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known my opinion. No, to make known the mystery of the gospel, because souls are what the battle is all about. For I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. Now in closing, The entire issue of the armor has to do with living the Christian life as God intended, has to do with being good soldiers for Christ and faithful witnesses who are on the front lines for the Lord, all right? This is so important. Let's close over in Romans chapter 1. Paul says here, Romans chapter 1 in verse 16, he says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it, singular, is the power of God. Dunamis is the Greek word there means the dynamite. It's where we get our word dynamite from I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God and to salvation to Everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek for therein in the gospel is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written the just shall live by faith look up here look up here and You might be here and you may not know where you're going when you die. Listen carefully, please. There's nothing more important than this in the entire world. Isn't it amazing that God would entrust with us the greatest message in all the world? Let this hand represent you and me. Let this wallet represent our sin. We're all sinners. God loves us. He hates our sin, but He loves us. Sin separates us from the Lord. Now to get to heaven you have to be sinless. In the eyes of God, none of us are. God loves us anyway, but God says our sin has to be paid for, and if we do it, we spend forever separated from God in hell. Heaven's a perfect place, not a good place, it's a perfect place. You have to be perfect to get there, you have to be completely sinless. Well, none of us are, therefore we are disqualified. We are already tarnished, okay? We have fallen on the floor. We broke into pieces, right? You can glue it back together, but it will never be the same. So you can't fix it. We are lost. And God says we are under his condemnation, but he loves us. He doesn't want us to die in that condition. Now, most people think good works will take away your sin, but that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says going to heaven is not by our good works. It says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. It's not of works, lest any man should boast. Not of works. There's nothing you could do to earn it. So then what are we going to do? I'm lost. I'm guilty. I'm a sinner. My sin has to be paid for. And I can't work it off by my good deeds. So what am I going to do? Well, the answer's not in me. This hand representing the Lord Jesus Christ, this other hand, he was sinless. Jesus, God in the flesh, came and when He died on the cross, He took all of our sin upon Himself. He paid for every bit of it so there's nothing left for us to pay for. He died and came back from the dead three days later. And He says in His Word that if you will put your faith, if you will believe in Him, Not that He existed. We know that He existed. But if you'll believe in Him to save you as your Savior, that He died for you and paid for your sins, He'll give you as a gift everlasting life. You go to heaven on what Christ has done for you. You can't go to heaven on what you try to do for God. That's your good works. You go to heaven on the work that Christ has done. All you need to do is put your faith in Him. You notice that in verse 17, the just shall live by what? Faith. For by grace are you saved through faith. What is God looking for? Faith alone in Christ alone. If you've never trusted Christ the Savior, would you put your faith in Him right now? Well, friends, that concludes this edition of Voice of Assurance. Thanks so much for listening. And would you share this ministry with a friend? To contact us or learn more about our ministry, please visit www.northlandchurch.com. Your prayers and support for this ministry are greatly appreciated. Thank you so much, and God bless you.
The Invisible War, Part 4
Series The Invisible War
Sermon ID | 610151233144 |
Duration | 33:10 |
Date | |
Category | Radio Broadcast |
Language | English |
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