Seeking once again the help of
God, I'd like you to turn with me to Ephesians chapter 6, and
we'll continue on with the armour of God. Verse 16, above all, taking the
shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the
fiery darts of the wicked. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse
16, the shield of faith. Over the past weeks we have looked
at the armour of God that the Christian is a soldier of the
Lord Jesus Christ walking on the narrow way that leads to
life. He has no strength of his own
but he is given that strength and that ability to persevere
through much opposition. His enemy is a spiritual enemy
that is around about him overall. There is Satan and his army of fallen angels, there is the physical
opposition of the world that is round about us and there is
that weakness in our own flesh. The Bible tells us that 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. The scripture tells us
that our enemy is Satan. He is a deceiver. He is a liar. And the tricks that he uses to
trip up and to wound the people of God take various forms. And therefore, we are given this
armor to enable us to press on in the Christian walk. And we
are told to stand We're to stand firm in the armour that is given
to us, girt about with the truth of God's word, having the breastplate
of righteousness, that righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, but
also the righteousness of a holy standard of living and that our
feet are to be shod with the preparation of the gospel of
peace. We have the shoes those shoes that enable us to stand
firm in the gospel, not to walk in the bare foot of unbelief
but we're to be shod with or undergirt with the gospel of
peace. We have peace with God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel brings that good news
and the Christians Therefore as they walk the narrow way that
leads to life they are walking out the gospel, they are proclaiming
the gospel as they live and as they speak and they are given
then this shield which is faith. It starts with, above all Not
that this is the greatest weapon but it is a very important defence
mechanism to be able to shield the soldier from the attacks
of the enemy. And so it says above all or can
be translated overall. Remember that the Apostle Paul,
as he is in jail, he's able to see the soldiers that are around
about him and he's able to cast his mind back to the descriptions
that God gives of himself in the Old Testament that he is
a warrior. And so as he sees these soldiers
before him, he sees them with their big shields. Their shields,
the Roman soldiers had shields approximately four feet high
by two and a half feet wide which were almost like a door and they
were curved and they were covered with leather and that leather
was either shined up or soaked in water so that when they went
to battle they would as the darts hit or the arrows hit the shield
they would be deflected or if they stuck in the fire that was
being fired at them on those arrows would be put out. And so as Paul viewed this soldier
he says well that is like faith. He says the Christian as the
soldier hides behind this great shield and as he pushes forward
against his enemy and as the enemy is firing darts and arrows
and coming at him with swords he is hiding behind this shield
as a defence and he says that is like faith. It is a fundamental doctrine
of the Christian faith. Without faith there's no salvation. Without faith there's no way
to please God. The Christian enters in his journey
because he has been given faith and so a soldier without a shield
is no soldier at all. He's not in the army. He is unprepared. He is in extreme
danger to be able to be attacked by the opposition. And so faith,
then pulled sore, was extremely important to be enabled someone
to fight the enemy. And so there was no faith. There
would be no shield. and you would be no soldier,
especially no soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ. We read from Hebrews 11 and we
read there of the faithful, those who have gone before and they
have achieved great things for God because of their faith in
God. They trusted the Lord as he commanded
them to do certain things or as they were led in certain ways. They believed what God said and
they obeyed what God said and they saw and witnessed the great
workings of God in their lives. And it is by faith the scripture
says. Verse 6 tells us but without
faith it is impossible to please him. is to please God. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek him. So no faith There is no way that
we are able to please God. The first step of faith is to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the only way a person can
have any relationship with God, their creator, is through faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ stands as the mediator. He stands as the great high priest. And so there is no way to have
any relationship with God Accept it, go. It comes through faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so without faith, it is impossible
to please God. The scripture tells us in Galatians
that faith itself is a gift of God. It is a gift of the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit. We do not possess living faith
in God by nature. The Bible tells us we are blind
to the fact And so we have to be given faith to believe. Galatians 5, in the fruit of
the spirit, it tells us there, but the fruit of the spirit is
love, joy, peace, long suffering or patience, gentleness, goodness,
faith. meekness, temperance, against
such there is no law. And so faith is a part of the
fruit of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God. As someone
is born again, the Spirit enters into their body, they become
a temple of the Holy Spirit and he opens up their eyes that they
may see the truths of Scripture, see themselves as in need of
of a saviour and so they are given this blessing of or this
gift of faith. Corinthians tells us that there
are are three things that are lasting
graces. There are gifts that are given
to the church but there are three lasting gifts that continue on
through generation after generation in 1 Corinthians 13. We have a list there of the various
gifts and that love is overriding all of those gifts. In verse
13 it says, And now abideth faith, hope, charity. These three, but
the greatest of these is charity. And so faith is given to enable
someone to believe the gospel and faith is needed throughout
the Christian pathway. It's not just a one time event
that you believe. You're given faith to believe
and then it goes away. We're given faith to continue
walking. It is a lasting grace. And the shield is needed as the
Christian soldier goes forward into battle. He holds tight onto
his shield, his shield of faith as he enters into that warfare
with Satan. Go back to Hebrews that we read
together. It tells us there the substance
of faith, what faith is. Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. People have
faith in many things. We have faith when we get into
our car that when we press the accelerator it's going to go,
when we press the brakes it's going to stop and it's going
to get us to our destination. But that is faith not a saving
faith. It's faith in something that
we can see and we have experienced, we have learnt. But it may fail. My truck in Kenya, I had no faith
in the brakes. We couldn't guarantee that it
would stop when it was meant to stop. There was times when
it worked and times when it didn't work and would be with our cars
as well. There is faith, but then sometimes
they break. This is living faith. This is faith that enables us
to see the unseen realities of God. Faith makes real. what is unseen. Moses in verse 27 it says, By
faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he
endured as seeing him who is invisible. And so faith enabled
Moses to see the reality of God and as he looked at the visible
riches of Egypt he was able to see by faith a greater riches
to be found in following God following Christ although he
saw him who was invisible so faith enables someone to lay
hold of God as as though they see him. Now faith is the substance
of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen we are given
eyes of faith. By our nature the scripture tells
us we are blind but we are given eyes of faith and faith gives
us that ability to see those things that are unseen. Faith
gives evidence to the unseen things. It alters the course
of the lives of those people who trust in God. It enables them to to see God
as it were by faith. It enables them to see the Lord
Jesus Christ. Remember we said recently that
as Thomas said, my Lord and my God, Jesus said, blessed are
they that see not yet they believe. Faith enables us to see and to
believe upon the work of the Holy Spirit, the invisible Holy
Ghost. Faith enables us to lay hold
of the truths of salvation and to put ourself and to lay hold
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith enables us to believe and
trust that there is a heaven and that there is a hell, unseen
thing. Faith enabled us to believe that
the world was framed by the word of God so the things which are
seen were not made of those things which do appear and so it is
faith in the Word of God that enables us to believe that the
world which we see round about us, the physical world which
we see round about us, was made by the unseen, invisible God,
the creator of heaven and earth. And so faith in God is a gift
that is given to the people of God, to enable them to see the
unseen realities of God himself, of his beloved son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and his salvation that has been given. But also
faith is given to us to enable us to continue on pressing towards
the mark continue on looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. If
we did not have living faith, we would not be able to continue. We would give up. We would turn
away. Because faith must have an object
to focus upon. And so faith, living faith, focuses
upon God and Christ and his word. Why then Does Paul see in this
shield faith? Why is it not shoes of faith
or helmet of faith? Why does he say a shield of faith? The shield was put out in front
of the soldier. It was held on very tightly as
he marched into battle. And he trusted in this shield. They had confidence in his shield. He hid behind it as a means of
protection from those who would do him harm. The shield faced
the enemy and he hid behind it. And faith always looks away from
self. The soldier hiding behind his
shield was looking towards the enemy and placing his shield
in the right place to deflect the arrows and the swords that
were in front of him. And so Paul says, that is how
faith works. Faith is put out in front. Faith
looks forward. Faith trusts and rests and turns
away from self and faith extinguishes those fiery arrows, those fiery
darts and deflects those things that are thrown at the believer. And so he says overall taking
the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked. We read that Satan has those
darts of deceit and of trickery against the wiles of the devil. We saw that Jesus tells us that
Satan is a liar and he was a liar from the beginning. He is a murderer. And so the arrows that he fires
at believers, they are lying arrows. They are arrows that
want to kill them and to destroy them and to cause them to turn
away from the faith. But not only is he a liar and
a deceiver, but he's also a counterfeit maker. We know in our world that
we live in there are those designer brands and you can buy real Rolex
watches for £100,000 or you can go to the market and buy a fake
Rolex watch for £50. And it's a counterfeit, a fake,
but it looks the same. And so Satan presents these counterfeit
blessings are not real blessings but are substandard. He presents substandard joy to
people, he presents substandard happiness and easier pathways
and so he lies and he is deceitful And he offers his counterfeit
goods to Christians that are on the narrow way that leads
to life to draw them aside and to make them turn their eyes
from God, from Christ, and from the holy standard of living. He presents all his goods to
draw them aside. And so this shield of faith is
given to push their way through. that they will not be distracted
from those things. And faith ultimately then is
believing in what God says to be true and that it is true. We have the truth of God's word. Jesus says, thy word is truth. We saw that the word of God made
the world. One of those deceitful arrows
that Satan fires at the Lord's people is that of evolution. When Charles Darwin began to
write his book the church suffered much falling away because people's
faith was undermined by this book. They held his book to such
a high degree that they forgot God's book and what God's book
taught. And the scripture says, by faith we believe that the
earth was framed by the word of God. But then along comes
another book and their faith is undermined. The shield of
faith is brought down and the arrow of evolution is fired into
the mind of the Christian soldier. But the Word of God, faith in
the Word of God can extinguish that arrow of evolution. Faith in God's Word. extinguishes
the arrow of evolution. By faith we believe what is written
in the Word of God to be totally true and then when something
else comes which is contrary to the Word of God the shield
of faith goes up, the arrow is hit, it is deflected and we continue
on. We have not been wounded but
when we let down our guard And we begin to have our minds drawn
aside by doubt in the word of God. That arrow then is fired
in and causes us great problems. There are many arrows that Satan
fires to do us damage. He loves doubt. We doubt the
Word of God. We doubt our salvation. We doubt the ability of our Father. We doubt his love, his care.
And all of those, they are shrinking the size of our shield and begin
to doubt the Word. Fear. We become afraid. instead of hiding behind the
shield. We put the shield down, maybe
we run away and the arrow is fired and we're afraid. temptation. Satan comes with
his counterfeit goods. Everything that we have in Christ
is perfect yet he comes with temptations and he lays them
before us and we turn our eyes off the way, turn our eyes off
the beauty of Christ and we're tempted by the the trinkets of
Satan, of his counterfeit goods and we're drawn aside. The arrow
of unbelief, what harm that does to a Christian. We don't believe and we begin to sink and to struggle. But all of these arrows that
Satan fires can all be put out by faith. using our shield rightly,
trusting in the Word of God rightly, trusting in God rightly and Christ
rightly believing in the truths that are laid out
before us in the Word of God. Think of Joseph. Joseph, Satan fired an arrow
of temptation at him. but he put it out. How can I
do this evil and sin against God? And that same arrow has
been fired at multitudes of people and they fall. Think of David,
that same arrow of temptation that Joseph put out by faith
went straight into him and he was consumed by his lust and
he went and committed adultery and then murdered and lied. The same arrow, yet one put it
out by faith and one was wounded. The Book of Job tells us of all that Job went through
and how the Lord came and tested him. As he was in the midst of his
trial, his wife came to speak to him. Job 2 and verse 9, then said
his wife unto him, does thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die. Satan shot
an arrow at Job. Curse God and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest
as one of the foolish women speak. What? Shall we not receive good
at the hand of God? And shall we not receive evil?
all this did not Job sin with his lips. And so the arrow of
discontent or the arrow of unbelief or the arrow that was fired at
Job by his wife or ultimately by Satan was put out by a knowledge
of the truth of the word of God, that God is sovereign and God
is able to distribute circumstances in life freely. And he says,
shall we not receive good at the hand of God and shall we
not receive evil or bad? And so the arrow was put out
by faith in a sovereign God. In the book of Daniel, We have
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when they are thrown into the
burning fiery furnace. Daniel chapter 3 verse 16. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
answered and said unto the king O Nebuchadnezzar we are not careful
to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God, whom we
serve, is able to deliver from the burning fiery furnace, and
he will deliver us out of thy hand, O King. But if not, be
it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor
worship the golden image which thou hast set up. And so this arrow of idolatry,
idol worship was fired at Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Multitudes
of the Jewish nation fell and they worshipped this idol. But faith in the true and living
God put out that arrow that was fired and they trusted in the
true and the living God. And they said, if our God, he
is able to deliver us, we know. And they had complete faith in
the ability of God to deliver them from that situation. That faith took away their fear.
And he said, we know God is able to deliver us, but if it be not
his will to deliver us, we will still not bow down to this idol. And so their faith, through their faith, their fear
was removed. they saw God, had faith in the
word of God, the greatness of God and the holiness of God as
to be the only one who they should worship. And so with the same
arrows some fall yet some are given that faith to raise up
their shields and those arrows hit and they are put out, they
are deflected And those Christians, those believers continue walking
on unaffected by the effects of those arrows. Think of Peter. Peter, when he was walking on
the sea to the Lord Jesus Christ, was filled with fear. An arrow
of fear entered him when he looked round about him. He began to
doubt. Another arrow fired into him. He begins to doubt. He begins
to sink. His faith shrinks. Yet Jesus has mercy upon him
and says, O thou of little faith, why did you doubt? And so Satan
is always all around. seeking to fire these arrows
of doubts and unbelief and fear and temptation for the Lord's
people. Pride. All these will forsake you, but
not I. Peter, filled with pride, lifted
up. Satan saw a prime opportunity,
fires an arrow at him. He's lifted up in pride, loses
sight of Christ and turns his eyes within and sees his own
greatness. But the Lord Jesus teaches him
that lesson that this night thou shalt deny me three times. Peter tells us at the trial of our faith is much more precious than gold
that perishes. That the faith that we have must
be tested and that that shield of faith, it must experience
enemy opposition. But that enemy opposition is
the testing of God. Will we remain faithful under
the attacks that are presented to us? And as we see in scripture,
some fall under those trials and some are able to press on,
learning, hopefully learning from their mistakes. Faith is also increased by memory
of past victories and past even defeats. If you remember in the
Second World War I think even modern day as well they paint
on the side of the planes and on the tanks when they have got
a victory They paint a little picture of a plane or something
and they have on the side of the plane all of those victories
that they have accomplished, all of those defeats that they
have had. And so even in the life of a Christian, those past
victories encourage us in the faith. It's like on the back
of our shield, We have little marks of past victories which
enable us to press on. We remember when God helped us
then. We remember when God delivered
us then and we look at the back of our shield and we are able
to keep going forward. Our faith is increased. Sometimes when you go into children's
bedrooms you have stickers on their walls. Sometimes it's Bible
verses and sometimes it's pictures of their friends or something
like that but on the back of the shield of
faith the Christian he sticks stickers to encourage him. Remember the soldier is looking
at the back of his shield of faith And he sticks stickers
saying, fear not, I am with thee. I am thy God. I will help thee. I will encourage thee. I will
go before thee. He has a sticker saying, I am. There's a sticker saying, loved
with an everlasting love. He has a sticker saying, the
Lord Jesus Christ, born again. looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. He has another sticker, more
than conquerors in Christ Jesus. He has another sticker, the final
destination is guaranteed heaven for all eternity. To be with
Christ is far better. Fear not, I am with thee. nothing shall be called in possible
with God the back of his shield is covered with all the promises
of God all the blessings of God that are in Christ Jesus and
as he looks at them presses on. Satan is there with his fake
Rolex trying to tempt him but he looks at the promise. He goes
forward. Satan is there with another temptation
and he goes forward. Satan is there with a lie but
he looks at the truth of the word of God and he presses forward. And so the shield of faith is
vital for the believer to hide behind and to look at, to press
forward that he may resist the fiery darts of Satan. Satan tries to turn his mind
away from the truth, the pure word of God and to fill him with
lies. he must press on. Looking unto
Jesus, the author and the finisher of his faith as a soldier of
the Lord Jesus Christ, he follows him the narrow way that looks
to life, looking unto the captain of his salvation. Well may the
Lord help us as believers to have the back of our shield covered
with all the promises of God, our minds saturated by the word
of God so we will not be deceived by all that this world and Satan
has to offer to us. And maybe you are outside of
Christ, you have no shield. But the scripture tells us, believe
upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. You'll be
brought behind this shield of faith, walking with the army
of the living God. May the Lord add his blessing. Our closing hymn is hymn number
125 from Hymns of Worship. Just as I am, without one plea,
but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bid'st me come
to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. Hymn number 125 from Hymns of
Worship. And that Thy blood was shed for
me, And that Thou bidst me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come,
I come. ♪ To reign my soul upon the throne ♪ ♪ To these
whose blood can cleanse each soul ♪ ♪ O Lamb of God, I come,
I come ♪ With many a conflict, many a
doubt. Fighting some fate within, without
a doubt. of God, I love my God. Lord God of hosts, I am Thy God. Thou hast broken every barrier
down, now to me Thy Name Here for a season, never back
again. Dear Lord, we do thank Thee for
Thy Word and we pray that our faith may be increased, that
we may not be overcome by doubts and by fears and that we pray,
Lord, that when we are injured and wounded by those arrows which
are fired at us, we pray that we may be granted true repentance
over our sin and be brought to learn from our mistakes. Help us Lord then to press towards
the mark and do be with us now as we depart from each other,
do return us here this evening in peace and in safety as we
pray in the name of the Lord Jesus. We ask then that thou
dismiss us with thy blessing and may the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father, with the fellowship
and the communion of the Holy Spirit, who rests and abides
with us each now and for evermore. Amen.