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Title: The Armor of God, Part 6
Intro:Today we finish the armor of God series!
To those of you who cheered, you may be throwing tomatoes at me by sermon’s end.
Some of you may be wondering if I lost a bet and have to see if I can make Ephesians last until 2023. Well, at the conclusion of today’s message, there will be no doubt…I did lose a bet.
Passage Slide/Prayer
The Helmet of Salvation
J.I. Packer: “For Paul, salvation is a present experience (Eph 2:8) as well as a future hope (1 Thes 5:8). The believer’s final ground of confidence is the faithfulness of God to complete the salvation He has begun.
Consider Phil 1:6 “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus.”
My personal take is similar. It is the Helmet of Salvation that protects the head, and, namely the brain. It is the brain that often has to remind us of truths when our emotions (heart) betrays us and buys into the lies of the enemy. During these times what we KNOW is what can recenter us.
Example One:
Accusation from the Enemy:
You CAN’T really be saved! Anyone who did __________, must surely NOT have the LORD in their heart!
Rebuttal from the mind:
Though I am ashamed of my sin, my brain reminds me of verses like Phil 1:6 and John 10:29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
Therefore, this is a deceit, Satan. My salvation is not based on what I’ve done, but what The Father has done to me.
Example Two:
(I think of a Christian friend, a very successful businessman, who became convicted after years of dubious business practices that he had defrauded his clients and needed to turn himself in and confess his crimes.)
Accusation from Satan:
You can’t endure this. You are not strong enough. If you confess this, it will end you, it will forever altar your life, your relationship with your children, and your standing in the community. You may even go to jail, and have to abandon your family, surely, there MUST be a compromise! There must be another way!
Rebuttal from the mind:
Matthew 10:28
“And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
In other words: “What’s the worst they can do to you? Kill you? So what. And then what? Live for eternity, not for today.”
(anyone else have another example of where our MIND saves us from lies of the enemy?)
The Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God
Does anyone recognize the unique characteristic of the last piece of armor? There is something different about the sword than anything else in Paul’s metaphor.
The sword is the ONLY offensive weapon.
Two conclusions:
- The armor is mostly about defense and enduring the enemy.
- There are times when we do go on the offensive. (We are peace seekers, we are NOT pacifists.)
Packer:
The one offensive weapon in the believer’s arsenal is compared to the Roman sword, short and designed for hand to hand combat.
There is one pivotal example of this short sword, used for countering the enemy’s attacks is on full display by Jesus himself in the Scriptures….anyone know what I’m referring to?
Jesus in the wilderness. Now, I LOVE this account, not “like” but LOVE, and because it’s such a perfect example of Jesus’s brilliance in use of scripture to thwart Satan’s advances, I want to revisit a thorough examination of that story, beginning next week. I think it’s the perfect way to do two things:
- Demonstrate the importance of the correct use of the sword.
- Celebrate the brilliance of Jesus as we approach the celebration of his birth
I PROMISE you we will finish Ephesians (within the next year or so.)
Read/Pray