Let's read verses 11 through
18. Put on the whole armor of God
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
But we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against the 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 today, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your
loins girt about with truth, 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 you shall be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Let's read the
next verse. And for me, that utterance may
be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make
known the mystery of the gospel. Let's ask the Lord's blessing.
Our Father, again, we We bow before you tonight to give thanks,
to worship you in singing of hymns of praise, reading of your
word, calling on you in prayer, and the declaration of your truth. We come to worship. You're worthy
to be worshiped. We want to worship. We desire
that. By Holy Spirit, we cannot do
this. The flesh is flesh. The flesh
is weak. So we ask that you would send
your Holy Spirit to overrule the flesh, to give us attentive
minds, receptive hearts, and awaken us. Let us not sleep as
do others. So let us, so much more as we
see the day approaching, be serious, sober-minded. And because our
redemption draws nigh, it's nearer than when we first believed. Let us redeem this time tonight,
and give us your spirit to do so. We pray for these we've mentioned,
especially Brother Lee, watch over him. Hedge him about. Lynn and Betty
and Charnel and others. Lord, bless them. Give them.
Heal their bodies, be thy will. Thank you for this church as
one is already. Thank you tonight for these.
And these people thank you for them. Ask your blessings on each
one of them. Lead us and guide us by your spirit. Let us not.
Leave us not to ourselves, to our own wisdom, but let us seek
wisdom from above and then give us the will, the courage to act
upon it. Forgive us of our sins, in Christ's
name, amen. OK, let's read verses 13 and
14 again. 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. Stand therefore. He says, he talks about the evil
day. Go over to 2 Timothy chapter
3. 2 Timothy chapter 3. This is
a familiar passage. to most of you. A clear description
of the last of the last days, and I believe without doubt this
is most applicable to this day we're
in now. This is a description of the
day that we're living in now. This is the evil day. 2 Timothy 3, he says this note,
you need to know this, you need to keep this in mind, that in
the last days, he means the very, very last days, perilous times
shall come. Men shall be lovers of their
own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient
to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce
breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that
are good, traitors, that means deserters, covenant breakers,
heady, proud, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers
of God, having a form of godliness, that means they're religious,
but denying by their doctrine and by their actions the power,
the actual saving power There are from such turn away, avoid,
separate yourself, don't be a part of. So this is the day that we're
in now, isn't it? That is a clear description of
the day we are in, and the apostle tells us in our text. Take this
armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil
day. And he says, so stand, he says
this three times to understand. Stand, stand as we noted, as
being at attention, like a soldier. You remember, and these men that
have been in the Army will tell you, whenever you're on duty,
you're never really at ease. Never. You're at attention. You're on guard. If Lee were
here tonight, he would tell us that. You would never feel totally
safe. You're always on guard to be aware. And it's no different
with us. Even more so, stand. So he says,
stand at attention. Right now, you're struggling
to listen to me. I know the body is tired and
there are things that are going through your minds, but this
is not wrestling with flesh and blood. As he said, verse 12,
we're not wrestling against flesh and blood. It's not just physical
weariness. We're wrestling against or idle
thoughts, but principalities and powers who know the power
of God. Have seen the power of God at
work in taking his captives away from him. Is it work tonight? To keep you from hearing. And
this is your only help. This is our help. My help. So it's very, very serious in
that regard. It involves our utmost attention. Stand as an attention. Stand
as making a stand. And can we not say with David,
do you remember when David, as a young man, went out to his
brethren who The whole country of Israel was being defied by
Goliath and those heathens. And David, for the cause of God
and truth, stood out in front of all of them, a young whippersnapper,
and said, Is there not a cause? Uh-huh. Is there not still a
cause? Now more than ever. Now more than ever. Now more than. The more I read
and see around me. It's getting bad it's as bad
as it can get people. Now let me ask each of you have
you ever been in a fight. I mean actually. I mean. I mean. I hope perhaps you have
not but for many if not most of you have. It's impossible
to be passive and fight. You know, you can't be passive. You can't just stand there. Well,
you either have to fight back or give in. No, you have to either
fight back or give in. Say, Uncle, I quit. Change sides,
do something. Give up. Now remember, the warfare
for our souls is not what we're talking about. Although Satan
thinks he's still a chance. That's not what I'm talking about. That battle was fought and won
by our Lord alone. The captain of our salvation,
who faced all the foe for us, single-handedly. Scripture says
that, doesn't it? When he had by himself purged
our sins. You heard from Brother Frank
Tate, the battle is not yours. And so that battle was won. And he tells the preacher to
tell them that, say unto them, the warfare is accomplished.
That is the battle for our salvation. And Christ has led captivity,
kept it. He reigns and rules. There's a warfare going on, and
those who are truly in it know what I'm talking about. It's
a daily struggle against sin, temptations with the world we
live in, Satan, self, all of these things. A daily warfare, and it is truly
a struggle. A struggle. This is not a game. And it demands the question still. Who is on the Lord's side? Let
him prove himself. Scripture says things like this.
Quit yourself like men. Or that is, act like men and
women. You know, we take this very seriously,
what we're doing here. As we should. Now more than ever.
Now more than ever. The man. We go into study back
there and. There's not a lot of foolishness
that goes on, and that's by design. That's all purpose. We're there
to read God's word, seek his. Help to. Worship for me to preach and
read from God's word and call upon him. And it's a very serious
thing that we're doing this thing of worship. And the fact is,
if we're not serious about this, then nobody's going to take us
seriously. Right? And today, now more than ever,
I keep saying that. And we'll see why in a moment. You know But now more than ever
religion is just absolute foolish. It's foolish fun and games most
preaching all it amounts to is a bunch of spiritual cheerleading
right to get people all pumped up. And it's absolute foolishness
and the devil is laughing. and the world is laughing at
religion and not taking it seriously. Nobody's taking it seriously.
There's not a preacher, a so-called leading preacher in the United
States or anywhere I know of, who is a man of any wisdom or
integrity or... They're all a bunch of... They're
a pack of fools. And that's the opinion that most
people have of this book and of God Almighty and the gospel. Don't let them think that about
us, buddy. Now more than ever, is there not a cause? So let
us not sleep as do others. Let us not act like it's just
a part-time thing. And I noted to us one Wednesday
night during a study how that the devil, the wiles of the devil,
one of the wiles of the devil is to make us think things like
this. Just another Wednesday night
service. It's just a service. It's of no consequence. Oh, yes,
it is. Oh, yes, it is. Well, And this thing of battling
against sin and so forth, if one of God's people really falls
in a temptation and succumbs to it and falls into sin, it
brings great reproach on Christ. Not just me, although, you know,
what I would do would have serious, serious consequence on the whole
church, but you too. Everyone in here, we're in this
thing together. Bring great reproach on Christ,
his people. Yes, whatever somebody who claims
to be a believer does, brings reproach on the truth. Right? And I don't want to do that.
Do you? I don't want you to do that. I don't. So it's serious. So, and we're
assaulted daily and hourly. Daily and hourly. We talked about
these darts that we get out. Darts are a swift thing. Like an arrow. A silent thing. A secret thing. You don't know
where they come from. Daily. Hourly. Just bombarded with them. Evil. And so it's a real battle. It's not a game. I'm not just
up here giving a little dissertation or a homily or a little story. This is real help and something
we really need. of salvation. Turn over to 1
Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. It gives a little clearer definition
of what this helmet of salvation is. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 8. He said, Let us who are of the
day be sober. Sober meaning not intoxicated
with, not inebriated with anything, not just alcohol, but anything
or anyone. You know, we can become intoxicated
with something, anything, so that it just clouds our thinking. You know, jobs, families, homes,
things, possessions, relationships, right? We can be intoxicated
with it to where we're not thinking straight. So he says, be sober,
putting on the breastplate of faith and love and foreign helmets,
the hope of salvation. The hope of salvation. Now, that's
what he's talking about when he says salvation, talking about
the hope of salvation. Wear it. Wear this helmet, this
hope of salvation. The most vulnerable part of our
bodies is the head, right? The most vulnerable part of our
body is the head, and yet it's the most vital, isn't it? It's the most vital. Just a slight
blow to our head from a projectile or from an instrument or from
a fall will render us either unconscious or duped or dead. Right? Just the slightest blow. Slightest blow. Now look at verse
11. He says, put on the whole armor
of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. Wile meaning he's wily or crafty. Our Lord called him a fox. being
crafted, sly, tricky. Verse sixteen, he says, take
the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked. He has many weapons or darts
which he uses. Now what he aims at, the thing
that he is aiming at, is our head. I'm not talking about Christ
here. This is He's not talking about
Christ our head, who's untouchable, who's in the heaven. But I'm
talking about our minds. Scripture talks a great deal
about our minds. Let this mind be in you. It says
in Romans 1, their mind, since they were not thankful and didn't
acknowledge God, so God gave them over to a reprobate mind,
mind void of judgment. Satan's aims at this right here,
your mind. He's the God of this world and
this is his sphere of operation. And most of his assaults are
on our mind. And you know it so. Our minds
are constantly bombarded by everything in this world, daily, hourly,
every moment. everything he can throw at us. V.I.A. TV, radio, newspapers,
magazines, computers, billboards, conversation, you name it. Everywhere. Everywhere. We're constantly bombarded. Everything he can throw at us,
subtle innuendos, little this, little that, from blatant, all-out
assaults to little subtleties and so forth that bombard us. And see, our head, everything
enters, physically speaking, everything that goes into your
body, that affects your body, goes in his head. Right? Either in your eyes, And what
you see, you know what you look at, affects you physiologically. It does. Your ears, what goes in your
ears, your mouth, your nose. Right. Everything that enters
your body and eventually affects the whole man goes in your head. And so this is how we're being
assaulted. The head. What is our protection? He says,
you put on this helmet of salvation. You need to be wearing a helmet.
Anybody need a helmet? OK, what is this hope of salvation
that we're told to wear? Put it on, wear it. Well, it's
called hope. Hope. Turn to Titus, the book
of Titus. I didn't write it down, I hope I did. Titus chapter 1, verse 2. Well, verses 1 and 2. Paul, a
servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ. according to the
faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth, which
is after godliness, that it makes people like God, in hope of eternal
life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world
began, that it hath in due time manifested His word, His promise
through preaching, which is committed to me. So this hope is eternal life.
We have hope of eternal life. Everyone who claims to be a believer
in here, this is what we're hoping for. That's what this is all
about. Everybody claims to be a believer
in here. This is what you're looking for,
hoping for. It's called hope. You've seen
this in the Romans. It's called hope because what?
A man has, he doesn't hope for. But what you don't have is what
you hope for. So hope means something you're
looking forward to. And the thing that every professing
believer in here wants and desires and looks forward to is this
thing called eternal life. All that that means. And I cannot
adequately describe what that is. Because I haven't seen, you
haven't heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things
that God had prepared for them to love him. We get a little
taste of it here in this thing of worship and fellowship and
love among the brethren and looking into God's world. We get a little
taste of it, but we're so finite. Our faculties are so weak that
we can't take it in. We can't enjoy it for just a
little short time. Right? It's a little while. And
it wears off quickly. And other things take it away.
So we really can't enter into it completely. But this is our
hope. Eternal life. Meaning, peace. And we've never, Nancy, we've
never really had any lasting peace. That's what we're talking
about. We're in a war. We're in a battle.
I read these old, I'm reading an old seafaring novel right
now. I love those old things, but
those old guys on those ships never, they never had peace.
There always was wars, rumors of wars. They stayed out to sea
for 10 years, some of them. Never got any rest. And we're in this battle for
50, 60, 70. Sometimes a long year. Peace.
We're looking for joy. Real joy. We've never really
experienced real joy. The joy we've had has been fleeting. So temporary. Joy. I mean joy in the Lord.
Rest. Rest from all our enemies. David, it says, when he was 70
years old, the Lord gave him rest from all his enemies. Eternal
life means life with God. Life with God. Now, how can I
describe that? I can't. Nobody can. If Adam,
the first man were here, he could tell what it was like in that
garden. To be in actual paradise, I mean
actual physical paradise, and not only that, but God was there.
Christ walking and talking, communing. Life with the brethren that we
love, we're never, you know, never
giving that up. Eternal. Life without, now here
it is, life without sin. We come in here in a sense to
escape the world. Come in here among a bunch of
people that seem to love God and love holiness and love what's
good and right and just and true and love you. And it's just a
little oasis, is it not? A nice place to be. And you no
sooner get out of here till you're bombarded again, till the arrows
start flying and the cursing and all that and so forth. What's
it going to be like someday? No more sin. Well, that's as
far as I'm going to say, that's about all I got to say about
that. That's all I can. Hope, we hope for eternal life. It's called hope because we don't
actually have it in our possession yet, but the scripture says it's
a sure hope. It's not, oh, I hope, I hope,
cross my heart, hope, cross my, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no. We have a sure hope because God,
who cannot lie, never has, have a will he cannot lie, promised. He never has lied to us, has
he? Some of you have lived 70 some years. God's word's been
true the whole time, hasn't it, Barbara? Everything he says has
been right. He cannot lie. And it looks like
you're closer than the rest of us. I envy you. Well, it's hope,
and it's going to give way to reality. Just right, son. Hope. It's a sure hope. So our hope
of eternal life. is based on God's promise, God's
Word, God's Word. And what we're doing
tonight is putting our helmet on as protection against this blooming
world that we live in. You understand how important
it is when we go out? We need this helmet on. against these assaults, a world
almost without exception. Now the world is saying this
is up for debate. This is not true. It's the words
of men. God really didn't write this. Yes, he did. Forever, O Lord, thy word is
settled in heaven. We need to have these verses
planted on our minds and our brains. I esteem all thy precepts concerning
all things to be right, and I hate every false way. The world says, look at this,
look at this. Isn't this beautiful? The things
that are seen are temporal. Don't let it get in here. If
it gets in here, get down in here. And it makes us do crazy things.
Right? See what I'm saying? See what
this is all about. The world said, listen to this. I want
you to listen. We've got something new here. We've got something
novel here. We've got something nobody's heard before. This is
something new. We've come up with something
here. Nothing new under the sun, scripture
says. Nothing new. Those people delighted in doing
nothing more than telling and hearing of some new thing. Taste this. Try this. This is
sweet. You'll like this. Ah, but it
leaves your belly better. It's poison. Old Brother Scott
Richardson brought this to our attention years ago, that rat
food, rat poison, rat poisoning is ninety nine percent good food. If it were rats would need. Ninety nine percent good food
for preachers there's there's a fellow telling some good thing
of course. Satan's ministers are transformed
into ministers of righteousness angels of light nobody swallowing. Ninety nine to swing. It's all
sweet, isn't it, Ed? It's all sweet. That's exactly
what's wrong with it. But it's that 1% that'll kill
you. It'll let them. That 11's a whole lot. So, he
says, put on this helmet. Let the Word of God be like earplugs. I'm out on my tractor. I put
earplugs in my ears. You know, my hearing got gone
anyway. So I decided, I decided too late
to protect my ears. I put these earplugs in it. Oh,
you know, it's so nice. It really is nice. Mindy came
outside this morning. But it is nice. Peace and quiet.
The clamor of this world, my, my. Let it be like earplugs,
the word. Let it be like blinders. We're
all like a bunch of dumb horses, aren't we? We need blinders on,
don't we, Kevin? We'll run this way, run that
way. Scripture says, let your eyes look straight on. Don't
turn to the right, don't turn to the left, let them look right
on. And this word is going to have to be our blinders. I love
the illustration in Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress, when he was
leaving his hometown called City of Destruction. It was called
the City of Destruction. A warning came to him from the
evangelists that the city was going to be destroyed. And he
heeded the warning, and it put the fear of God in him. And it
also put in him a desire to go to the Celestial City. And that's
what his whole pilgrimage is all about, the pilgrim's progress,
leaving the city of destruction, going to the city of the celestial
city. And he had to go through a young
Wicked Gate to get there. I love that book. But anyway,
he was leaving the city of destruction, and all his family, all his family,
his wife, she was not, she didn't believe the warning. His children,
they didn't believe the warning. By God's grace, they did later
on. But they didn't believe it at first. All his friends, fellow
workers, they didn't believe the warning. But he did. And he was walking out of that
town. Everybody, where are you going? Where are you going? Some
mocked him. Some laughed at him. And after
a while, they were all hollering at him. All his family and friends were,
especially his family, don't leave us, don't leave us. And
you know what he did? He picked up his pace till he
was running out of that town. And it said he had his fingers
in his ears and he was crying, life, life, eternal life, as he ran out of the city of
destruction. That's what we're doing, putting
our spiritual things in our ears, or more appropriately, wearing
this helmet. I hold out no hope for this present
world. It's increasingly clear that
God has turned it over to a reprobate society. When you read things
In a paper like this very day, today, I read where 54% of Americans
think it's all right to have gay marriages. I say, it's all over. It's all over. That, if you read Romans 1, is the clearest indication of
reprobation. That's it. That's the final straw.
Sodom was finally destroyed. But Lot, who was vexed with the
conversation of Wiccan, having obtained mercy, was brought out
of that city, wasn't he? Poor old Lot, though, was listening
to his wife, wasn't he? And he was listening to others,
and he wanted to hang around. So let's put these elements on. I have hope for us. If you're
in here tonight, I have hope for you, for your children. You're under the sound of hope.
There's hope for Annie. There really is. There's not
much hope for her friends. Just generally speaking. Isn't
that right? I had a bunch of buddies who
I went through school with who didn't sit under the gospel like
I did, didn't have the hope, didn't have this opportunity. Where are they now? Well, there
won't be many of them, if any. God's name, mercy. This is our
name. I have hope for you, for us who
are in here tonight, by God's mercy and grace. I hope. You know, a helmet toughens you
up. It emboldens you. I know some
men in here who play football, mountain men. Maybe there's some women that
play football. I don't know. I know some of you didn't need
helmets. When you put your football helmet
on, you feel like you can just lick anybody. Nobody can hurt
you. Nothing can hurt you. I don't
know if something happens to you. And you do. You run into
lockers. Walls. That's what you do. That's what guys do. It's a guy
thing. You do understand, you have two
of them. And it's so, say, put a helmet
on, motocross, man, I can fly over trees and not get hurt. A helmet, there's something to
that. It emboldens you. It really does. It encourages
you. And this is the only thing that
will embolden us against the world that's brash and bold with
their heresy and their sin. It's getting more and more blatant,
and they're more and more brash with it, even bragging on it. Don't dare let people make
you feel bad or feel guilty for believing the truth. You may be in the minority in
this world, but God, if you're on the Lord's side, you better be on the Lord's side
than the whole world. My, my. What does it matter what
the world thinks? You know, may it be said of us
in this generation, they won't listen to anybody or anything. They just, they just won't listen
to anything. May that be said of us. I just don't mind them
saying that about me. Well, he calls it the helmet,
the hope of salvation. I'm running out of time. But
Peter said this, turn quickly to 2 Peter chapter 2. 2 Peter
chapter 2. A helmet for your head. Protection
for your mind. That's God's word. That's just
hope of salvation. That's what we're doing here. We've gotten the word again.
What's the word? Bunions. Well, it's a metaphor, but there's
another word. Not parable, but helmet. You weren't listening either.
All right, I'll think of it in a minute. Verse 12, chapter 1,
Peter said, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance
of these things. We need to be reminded always,
don't we? You tell your, the younger,
when your children are real, real young, before they go out
the door, you have to tell them, put your coat on. Don't you? It can be January, ten below
zero. Where do you want to come on? Right? And especially if they're
in junior high or early high school, you know, don't want
to cover up your cool clothes with an old coat. You'd rather
freeze to death than look, not look cool. Blue, turn blue. The older you get, the more you're
willing to wear that coat. You'll put it on, you'll never
go out without it. A hat. How about a hat? Some
of us don't have to be told to put a hat on. It's just absolutely
vital. Well, this helmet of salvation
is in the same sense. Remember, put this on, put this
in your mind, always be remembered. Peter said, as long as I'm in
this tabernacle, verse 13, I want to put you in remembrance. See
that? Verse 16, again, he said, we're
not following the covenant of the Bible. Not a story here. I still can't think of the word. Sherry, help me. Oh, well. Bunyan's whole story was a what?
Allegory! Thank you. Allegory. That'll be on your test next
week. Chapter 3, Peter said this, verse
1, this second epistle. He wrote before, and he's writing
another one below, but I now write unto you in both, both
epistles, I want to stir up your minds by way of remembrance.
I want to keep reminding you. We're like little children. We
need to be reminded. Don't leave the house. Put your
coat on. Put your helmet on. Keep this
in mind. Keep this in mind. So that's
the sense of this helmet. And there's not so much more.
Let's go to the next thing. We're going to cover two things
here tonight. The sword of the Spirit in our
text. Take the helmet of salvation.
and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God now up to
this point every single weapon has been a defensive one. Right a defensive weapon or a
piece of armor not a weapon. Except the shield. Shield used
to ward things off faith. But this one now is a weapon. to be wielded, the sword of the
spear, our only weapon. It's the only weapon provided
for us, Vicki. It's the only weapon. My stick,
stone, club, sword. Three times our Lord was assaulted
by Satan. Three times our Lord was tempted,
not, well, it was enduring temptation over a long period of time with
three things. Satan tempted him, the lust of
the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. Right?
Three things. All three times our Lord answered
him one way. It is written. That's how he, that's how he
Turn on it. Turn him away. It is written. Can't do it in our own wisdom,
our own strength, our own wit, our own resolve, anything like
that. Only one way. Now, John, if the
Son of God, as a man, dealt with Satan by God's Word,
how much more should we? I don't just mean Satan, I mean
all of his, all of his, those who are under him, the
things he uses, the people of this world and so forth. It's
called the sword of the spirit, sword of the spirit, because,
and this is important, because the Holy Spirit is the author
of it, the author of God's word. Yes, he is. Holy men spake as
they were moved by the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is the
sword of the Spirit because the Holy Spirit is the only interpreter
of Him. Not men. Listen carefully. This
is important in this day. Paul talked about comparing spiritual
things with spiritual things. The Holy Spirit is the only interpreter
of His Word. Not our reasoning. Not carnal
reasoning. But only what God says in His
book can interpret His book. It's called the sword of the
Spirit because the Holy Spirit is the only one that can give
it power. We pray for the Spirit to come
and help us. Without Him, we cannot do anything.
We're not going to get anything out of this book except the Spirit,
the wind, who bloweth where it listeth. That is, that means
it lands where he decides, unless he decides to land on, to take
the canticles to Psalm, Song of Solomon says, blow, oh, south
wind upon my garden, let spices flow. That's what that means. Unless the Holy Spirit blows
on, in the breath of life, I'm not going to get a thing out
of there. I'm blowing hot air, saying, me, you, all of us. And
so, it's called the sword of the Spirit. That's important,
isn't it? That's important. It's called the sword of the
Spirit. Now, it's called a sword because a sword is a weapon that's
used by everyone. Well, they don't use them anymore.
It's simply, and this is significant, they simply use them today in
dressed ways. I just thought of that. Isn't
that ironic? The only time they use swords
today is in the dress room. They put them on and put on their
fancy uniforms and look like soldiers with a sword at their
side. They've never used it. There's
never been a drop of blood on that sword. Never intended to
use it. But now back then, everybody
had one. From a buck private to a general
on a horse. There was but one weapon in their
hand. Sword. Everybody knew the importance
of it. Everybody had one. Everybody
must have one. We all have one. You got it right
there. Sword. Sword of the Spirit. Sword
of the Lord. Sword of the Lord. It's a weapon.
It's not only used for defense, but offense. And go on the offense with it. And I think we should. I think we should. This is what
our Lord did. It's written. And they can't
answer it. It's a sharp, severe instrument.
It's called the sword of the Lord. And this is what the Lord
used on us at first. Thy word, O Lord, is quick, powerful,
sharper than a two-edged sword. Sharp. This is what God used
on you. Piercing. God's Word. One day, it's like having a sword
stuck in you. And the first thing it does,
you know, is wound you. You've got to be wounded. Don't wait
to have a sword stuck in you. Not feel it. Not hurt. Not be wounded. Not cry out. And not feel like you're dead
or dying. There's no way you can get a sword stuck in you.
And not think, I'm a goner. That's what the word is meant
to do. But it's a two-edged sword, like a surgeon's scalpel. It
both wounds and opens up and exposes the disease and the malady,
and yet it cuts out the malady. The word is clean. things that
cuts out the same word of God. So it heals and it makes a lot
of kills. It makes a lot. It severs a sword
is able to sever something. Dividing asunder. Sever the closest
relationship. That's all right, if it needs
seven, whatever. is draws. You know, it has been said before,
and I quit with it. Sometimes the best defense is
an offense. Those of you, Mac, you like basketball,
tire heels. Why don't you pick a winning
team? I'm just kidding. Just kidding. It's been said that sometimes
the best defense is offense. Go on the offensive. Go on the
offensive. Now, all that's around us, all
the arguers and accusers and unbelievers, my, my, with all
their heresy and so forth, We need to wield this thing.
We need to use it, number one. Wet, wet, wet our sword. A blunt
sword's no good. That is, if we're not... We'll
butcher things. Brother Tim James used to be
a butcher. And he said, a dull... You'll
get hurt more with a dull knife than you will a sharp one. You'll
just tear things all to pieces with a dull one, not knowing
how to use it. A sharp we need to sharpen our
minds. With this word, be more conversant
with it. Familiar with it so that. When
all these assaults hit on a. Perry. It's an old fencing term. It's where these words came from.
The fence off fence. Perry, he returned a blow. you know, just take it all. This is a two-edged sword. God's
sword. Sword of the Spirit. Our Lord,
again, let's use our Lord as the supreme example. I love this.
I love this. He buried those who came at Him. And they came at Him from all
sides. All the time. All the time. his accusers, arguers, backtalkers,
gains and sayers, those who would catch him at his word, those
who would falsely accuse him, all these doctors and lawyers
and scribes and Pharisees and all these masters and doctors
of divinity. They came at him from all sides,
didn't they? Remember when they asked him all those questions?
Remember how he answered them? Here's what he said. I loved
it. I loved it. He said, you do err not knowing
this scripture, nor the power of God. That's how he carried it all
there. He said, all of you are wrong
because you don't know God's word. Oh, that made him so mad, but
it was true. It didn't matter if it made him mad or not. And
that's what I say practically about this whole generation we
live in. They don't know God's work. They sure don't know the
power of God. The power of God. So we need
to learn to use this sword. We need to. I don't think you'll forget this
message. Put your helmet on. Don't listen. Don't listen. Right
here. Put it on. First thing in the
morning. Now listen. Put your fingers in here. And use this in a way. Sharpen
it up. You don't have to be on the defense.
They don't know this. They don't know this stuff. What they do use of it, they
butcher it. They butcher it. And know the power of God. This
is the power of God. This is what God used on us,
a bunch of ignorant Armenians. In the job, you are an ignorant
army. And this is exactly what God's word you got used on his
word is power. All right, stand with. Our Lord, thank you for your
word, it is. So many things, milk, meat, bread, honey, light. Everything to us, it's seed,
It's a sword. Thank you for it. All these necessary
things in this life that you'd like in your Word to, Lord, make
us to realize what we have provided for us in your Word. It's our
protection. It's our help. And we are a needy
people. We need this help desperately. So, Lord, remind us every day.
to put this helmet on and helmet of hope and sword of the Spirit. May we, for this cause, the cause
of Christ, the cause of God and truth, in such an evil and perverse
generation, may we set forth the truth. Forgive us of our
failings, our unfaithfulness and cowardice. Make us this day
forward, strong in the Lord, in the power of His might. In
Christ's name we pray. Amen. You're dismissed.