OK, we'll be turning to Ephesians
6 now. As we continue this study on the whole armor of God here
in Ephesians 6, let's read Verses 13-17, 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, having your
loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of
righteousness Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel
of peace, and 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 here is our subject tonight,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. He makes sure that we know what
he's talking about there, doesn't he? The others we had to dig
and search, but he leaves no doubt as to what this sword of
the Spirit, the sword of the Holy Spirit is, is the Word of
God. And this is the last piece of
armor in this study, but we are going to look at verse 18, Sunday
night. which is connected to the rest
of this, as praying always, prayer on top of this suit of armor. Now, I think we have clearly
seen that all of these pieces of armor are related to the Lord
Jesus Christ. I think we've clearly seen that,
how they're connected to Christ and how they all point us to
Christ. And this last one is certainly
no different, the sword of the Spirit being the word of God,
all of which points to Christ. Christ himself, beginning when
he preached to the disciples that day on the road to Emmaus. Scripture says he began at the
book of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms. and expounded
unto them all the things concerning himself." He said, "...they are
they which testify of me." So all of the word of God testifies
of Christ. I'm not just repeating myself,
but I'm laying the foundation here. All of the word of God
is written to point us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because how
many times have I said this already in the course of this study? Without him, you can't do anything. He's the one that said that.
Without me, you can do nothing. Take whatever piece of armor
you will. Without me, the captain of your
salvation, out in front of you, slaying your enemies for you,
You can't do anything. So the Word of God is written
to point us to Christ. I've said that before, and I'll
say it again and again and again. You can read this book. You can
memorize it. You can quote it. You can use
it. You can live by it. But if it
does not strengthen your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, it's
no good to you. Let me say that again, if you
don't hear anything I say tonight. This is the secret to this whole
thing. You can read the Word of God,
you can memorize it, you can quote it, you can use it, you
can live by it. A lot of people do. But if it
does not strengthen your faith in Jesus Christ, It is of no
use to you, no more so than any other book of morality or history
or whatever. You understand what I'm saying,
Herbert? This book, the Bible, is not a manual of how to live. It does tell us how to live,
but that's not why it was written. It's not a manual to tell us
how to live, but it is a biography. of God's Son, to reveal someone
to you, to produce faith in this one, and to strengthen faith
in this one. You understand me? This book
is written to reveal Christ, and the more you know and believe
and are persuaded of Him, that's where your strength comes from. It's like a branch connected
to a vine. So it's not a manual of how to
live and so forth. Get strong in the faith, or get
strong in the, you know, strong in spirit, that you might be
able to live the victorious life. If you're in Christ, you are
a victor, right? You're living the victorious
life. Now, why is it called a sword? First, I want you to notice the
words, take, again, here in verse 16 and verse 17. I didn't look
it up before, but I did this time, and it's interesting that
these are two different words. Verse 16 says, Take the shield
of faith. I looked that up, the original
Greek, and it means to take it up. I'm going to take this glass
of water. I took it. I'm going to take
a drink. I picked that up. I took that
glass of water. Take the shield of faith. All
right? Verse 17 says, And take the helmet
of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word
of God. That means to receive. Somebody gives something to you
and you just receive it. It's a difference. Two different
words, then. Two entirely different words.
Like, I take this what? I take this and drink it. I took
that. Now, here, I give it to Stan,
and he takes it. He received it. You see the difference?
All right? The sword of the Spirit. Do you notice it says the sword
of the Spirit? The Word of God. The Word of
God is in the hands of God to give, and Him alone. Right? It must be revealed. What man,
by searching, can find out God unto perfection, Scripture says,
in Job? No man. No man. The natural man, Paul said in
1 Corinthians 2, cannot know God. By wisdom, he cannot know God.
By searching, by looking, by studying the scriptures, he cannot
know God. I don't care if a man took a
Bible and sat in a cave for a hundred years until he memorized every
word of it. That wouldn't reveal God to him. Only when God the Holy Spirit
takes the word and reveals it to him. So see, it's a gift. You see that? Just like salvation
is a gift. a revelation of the Word, a revelation
of Christ. It's the same thing in the Territory.
Salvation and the Word is Christ. So it's a gift. It's in the hands
of the Spirit to give and to reveal to us. Do you notice that? That's interesting, isn't it?
It's vital. Was it interesting? Well, it's
vital. Why is it called a sword, then?
You needed to know that, that it's called the sword of the
Spirit. It's not our little sword. It's not our little sword. It's
the sword of the Spirit. You understand me? Understand
the Word of God? It's His sword. It's a sword
in the hands of the Holy Spirit, a sword of offense. Look over
at Hebrews 4 now, and this elaborates on this truth a little more. In the hands of the Holy Spirit,
Hebrews 4. Turn over there. Hebrews 4. I didn't just write
this down to take up time. This is an in-depth study of
this. Hebrews 4. Now, this is God's which he uses as
a sword. The reason it's called a sword
is that it's God's word. Did you notice in Revelation
19 it said that a sword went out of his mouth? It's his word. It's his word. I'm speaking words
to you, aren't I? Do you hear me? Henry! A Henry.
Do you hear that? It's out of my mouth, wasn't
it? This is God's word. It's out
of his mouth, not just printed words on a piece of paper. This
is God's word. That's the reason it's serious
to sit before it, to open it up, to preach it, to hear it,
and so forth. It's God's word which he uses
as a sword to pierce the old hard heart of an old dead sinner,
or at least take it and put it in the fire and burn a cold heart. Look at what the things he says
about it in Hebrews 4, verse 12. The word of God is quick.
What does quick mean? I used to say life-giving. Well,
it is, but that's not what quick says. Quick means alive. The Word of God is alive. It's
life, because it is Christ, right? Christ is the Word, the Word
is Christ, Christ is alive. He's life. He's not just a theory.
He's a person. The Word of God is alive. And
this is a mystery, a real mystery, and I think it's only known by
those who has felt its quickening power. It's quick because it's
not just printed words of history or information, it's the very
voice of God. This is how God speaks to us.
The very voice of God which calls us, which convicts us, which
comforts us, which warns us, which rebukes us. I can't illustrate this, you
just have to experience it. The Word of God, the difference
being, and the Word of God being quick, or alive from God Almighty,
is the difference between taking a letter, probably a poor illustration,
but reading a letter from someone and just kind of reading it in
a monotone fashion. and somebody talking to you. A voice. You see, words on paper
are very impersonal and generally fall on deaf ears. Or, you know, run, go through
one ear, in one ear and out the other. Or go through your mind,
you might lose it. Words on paper. But a voice is
very personal. It's very stimulating. Right? Depending on how you hear the
voice. Depending on how sexual the voice is. Right? And then again, unless God Almighty,
this is the reason I say, if my voice, you've heard it, how
many times have you heard it? If my voice is the only voice
you hear, you might as well not have come
here tonight. Right? This is God's voice. This is
the reason this thing of preaching is so frustrating. It seems so
futile at times. However, you know, he says, like
he said to Ezekiel, can these dry bones live? I don't know. Well, preach to them. Oh, Lord. Preach to them. Well, the only
way they lived is when the Spirit of God moved. Right on. But it's through the preaching. And this is the voice of God.
And unless God, the Holy Spirit, speaks the Word, all you're going
to hear tonight is a very interesting study on the sword of the Spirit. The Word of God is quick. It's
alive. Have you ever felt it? Have you
ever heard it? Quick. It's alive. Christ is
alive. Christ is alive. Has God ever
spoken to you more really than I'm speaking to you right now?
Much more really, much more personally. Has He? That's what it's saying
here. God's Word is quick. It's alive. Ellen, it's alive. Because it's
God's Word. He's alive. If we don't hear
it, it's not because the fault doesn't lie in the Word. It's
us. We're dead. It's alive. Look at the next word. It says
it's powerful. powerful in the hands of God's
Spirit and the hands of the Holy Spirit of God from the mouth
of God, it will bring dead sinners to life. Lazarus, wouldn't you
like to have been there that day, Terry? You know, there was
a day when he called me just like that. I heard that powerful voice again
and again and again. And someday we're going to hear
that voice, the sound of many waters. Powerful. Bring dead sinners to life. Look
at the next line. It says it's sharper than any
two-edged sword. Sharp. The word of God is sharp. Oh, I'm so amazed at how sharp
the word of God is. Sharp. It's such a precision
instrument, isn't it? Such a complex, wise, mysterious,
and multifaceted tool in the hands of God Almighty. It is
like a surgeon's scalpel. It is sharp, razor sharp. The reason a surgeon's scalpel
is sharp is so as not to tear the flesh, to tear it or irreparably
damage it so you cannot mend it back the way it should be,
or so as not to injure other vital organs. Can you imagine
a fellow doing surgery? I think he did. I think this
surgeon used a butcher knife on me from the looks of my scars. Some
of you probably feel the same way. He took an old meat fork
and took it. But no, surgeons' scalpels are Precision instruments are very
sharp in order to make precision cuts, and cuts that will be easily
sewn back and mended. Does that make sense? You've got to cut, but it's got
to be mended, too. And you don't want to tear. You
need a sharp instrument in order to operate on the intended part
and not the rest. You know what I'm saying? The
fellow doesn't get a big machete and start whacking. He gets a
little, and he operates, if you're going to get your gallbladder
out, Henry, you don't want him touching your lungs, right? Or
your liver. Gallbladder and a gallbladder
only, right? So he takes a little precision
instrument, a sharp one at that, and cuts around and gets that
gallbladder and doesn't touch anything else. Well, the Word
of God is a precision instrument like that, and it will cut out—listen,
if this doesn't make sense—it will cut out the pride of a man
without harming his initiative. There's a difference. There's
a difference. Without taking away, totally
taking away his ambition. God honors ambitious people.
He does—industrious people. He'll take his pride without
taking that. Does that make sense? God's word will operate on a
man's mind. It will change his mind without
harming his intellect. And many other things. Perhaps
you could come up with a lot more, but I want to go on. It's
called a two-edged sword. It's sharp, and it's called a
two-edged sword. Because with one side, it will
wound you. That surgeon goes in, he cuts
you. with that scalpel, but he also uses that scalpel to heal
you with, to cut out. In other words, he makes the
wound to get in at the problem, but cuts out the problem with
it, with the same instrument. He wounds, yet he's healing you.
Right? The Word of God will convict,
but it will also comfort. The Word of God will warn us,
yet it will also woo us. Right? So with the word of God,
it is a two-edged sword. On one side it will wound you,
and on the other side it will heal you. Listen to these verses
of scripture. Here is how he wounds us. The
scripture says, "...and wounded us in Adam all die." The other
edge of that sword says, "...in Christ were made alive." The one edge that wounds us says,
"...the soul that sinneth must surely die." The other edge of
that sword says, But Christ bore our sins in his body on the tree. In Christ we are made alive.
One edge of that sword says, None righteous, no, not one,
wounds us. The other edge of that sword
comes along and says, But we are made the righteousness of
Christ in him. One edge of that sword says,
Judgment came upon all men, the condemnation. The other edge
of that sword says, There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ. One edge of that sword says,
Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in
the book of the law to do them. Cursed. The other edge of that
sword comes along and says, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. It wounds and it heals. Then it says here, it pierces.
Two-edged sword and it pierces. It goes deep. If it doesn't go
deep, it doesn't do any good, does it? It's got to get to the root of
the matter, the heart, out of the heart of the issues of life.
Christ said, not what goes into your mouth, not superficial this
and that. Sin is not outward performance
or doing this and that. Sin is not in a bottle or a box.
Sin is down here in the heart. In other words, you don't quit
being a sinner when you quit your drinking and smoking. Sin has got to be eradicated
in the heart, and nothing will do that. the word, the sword
of God, the sword of the Spirit, Christ, the word of God, the
blood of Christ. It is a two-edged sword in the
Spirit's hand because it says here, read on, it pierces to
the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. Soul and spirit. Do you know what that means? I looked that up, too. Soul and
spirit. These are two different words
here. Dividing asunder of soul and spirit. First of all, it
divides. The Word of God will operate on God's elect, but it
will slay the non-elect. It's salvation to some, but it's
damnation to others. It's the savor of life to one,
the savor of death to another. It's salvation to one, it's condemnation
to another. It divides. There's a line drawn
through the ages. It's the Word of God. The same
message calls one person condemns another. And the Word of God
says here that it divides or distinguishes when you divide
something. See, I'm going to divide this
book from this book here. I'm dividing it. I'm separating
it. I'm distinguishing from the two, right? This one is over
here. I've set this one on my left hand and this one on my
right hand. Does that sound familiar? The Word of God is what does
that, what separates men, divides soul and spirit. What does that
mean, soul and spirit? Well, the soul, and I looked
it up, it means that animating principle. In other words, all
men are living souls. They are living souls. They are
animated. They have life, don't they? All
men are alive, at least on this planet, as long as they
are breathing that animating principle. But they are not alive
to God. They are dead in spirit, right? When Adam ate that fruit that
day, he died Not his soul, not his animating principle, not
his body. He didn't die physically. He
died spiritually, though. God removed his presence. And
that's death, isn't it? Without the Spirit of God. See,
when God made Adam, when he breathed into him, he became a living
spirit. He became living. And when Adam sinned that day,
God removed his presence from him. But he was still alive,
but yet he was dead. Do you see the difference? Well,
there are men today who are alive, but yet they're dead. And the
Word of God is that which distinguishes between the one and the other.
The Word of God right now, as I preach this right now, there
are some people in here who it's just like water on a duck's back. There are two reasons for that. There's the weakness of the flesh,
and at various times we don't hear the word of God. It's our
fault, but the reason is known to God. It doesn't necessarily
mean that we're not saved, but it does mean that when people
hear it time and time again it has no effect on them. They're
dead. They're dead. Right? The word of God is quick,
and people don't live, don't finally hear it and believe and
trust Christ that bad. Right? And the word of God distinguishes.
As I preached this tonight, some people are alive to the sound
of it. Yes, yes, yes. And other people said, boy, this
is serious. I'll be glad when this is over. It distinguishes between the
two. The Word of God distinguishes between a man who is alive in
body only and one who is alive spiritually. And the same Word
has different effects on different people, different effects on
different people, in the hands of the Spirit. That's the reason
it's in the hands of the Spirit, right? You can come in here.
Did I ever say you and Teresa came in here and both of you
had never heard the gospel before? And there probably was a time
when you and one of your sisters did that, right? And you came
in and you both heard the same message. Well, Deborah went out
with a big smile on her face, and joy in her heart, and a tear
in her eye, and trust and cry. And her sister went away, said,
unaffected. You see? The Word of God just
divided you two. Thank God it does join them back
together now. Right? It made a rift. Separated. I'm going to deal
with that Sunday morning. Christ said, I've come not to bring
peace, but what? A sword. He said a man's enemies
should be those of his own household. I've come to set a man at variance.
I've come to cut a line, draw a line in the sand. between you
and your husband, or wife, or you and your father, or you and
your mother, or you and your children, right? It's a sword,
isn't it? I didn't, I didn't intend that.
But that's what it does, doesn't it? It separates soul and spirit. It separates the superficial from the truth. All
right? Joints and marrow, that's what
that means. Joints and marrow, okay? Here's my joint. You see
my elbow? That's a joint. Knee. Sure, he
couldn't do that. But that's my knee joint, right?
Well, there's a lot more to me than meets the eye. What makes it down deep is the
root of the matter, the marrow of the bone, he said. That's
the difference between the joint and the marrow. The one is superficial,
the marrow is the very heart and core of the matter. Let me
see if I can illustrate that. That was a bad one. Let me try
another one. One man has a minor ache. a minor ache and pain. So he
takes a few aspirin in order to feel better. Right? Another
man has cancer, and he needs an operation. Maybe he has—what
is it? Is it leukemia where you get
marrow transplant? He has leukemia, and he needs
a bone marrow transplant. There's a big difference, isn't
there? One's superficial ache and pain.
The other one is life and death. So the word of God separates
or distinguishes the difference between a superficial religion
and a real, heartfelt religion. The word of God gets to the root
of the matter. One person comes in, reads the
word of God, or hears a sermon and goes away feeling good about
themselves. He won't come in here and hear much
preaching and feel good about himself, or, I hadn't done my
job that But one person reads the word of God, say, and they
go away feeling good about themselves. Another is cut to the heart,
to the bone, feels real bad about themselves,
and God Almighty changes that heart. You see the difference? It divides between the joints
and the marrow. So the word of God is as a sword
in the hands of the Holy Spirit. And back in our text, again,
it says that we take and receive the sword of the Spirit. We receive
the sword of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit must reveal his
word to us, but the scripture says he writes it upon the tables
of our heart so that we might pull it up ourselves for future
use. We might not stand against thee, Scripture says. This is
the sword which, yes, we can wield against the enemy. Now,
that's what we're talking about, isn't it? Look at verse 11. Isn't
that what we've been talking about from the beginning in this
study? Verse 11 says, put on the whole
armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles
of the devil. You see that? This is what we've
been talking about. The Word of God is taken by us
and used in order to stand against the wiles of the devil. That's
what this is all about. That's why we're studying it.
In order to stand. The surest defense against assault
is the Word of God. The Word of God. And let me remind
you now. And I started this whole thing
out by this. And this was the reason I did
it. This sets the tone for the whole
message. The Word of God is not a thing
to be used by us, but it is to create and strengthen
faith in Christ, a person to be called upon by us. OK? You see the difference? Do you? I see some light on some faces.
The Word of God is not a thing. It's designed to create faith
in a person. The reality of a person, you
understand. You're supposed to see a person
in this when you read it, not a principle. Not some ideas,
not some theories, not some good doctrine. A person. that you can come to. Cast all
your care upon him. Don't cast all your care on the
Word of God. Cast it on the God who gave the Word. Does that
make sense? You know, David used a sword
to cut the giant's head off. Well, what can we do? Can we
use this Bible and cut the giant's head off? Come on! Christ is the sword of God that
moves the serpent's head. It's not a thing to be used by
us. It's to create and strengthen
faith in Christ, again, without whom we can do nothing. So it's
not that we use God's Word as a weapon to fight the devil.
He knows us better than we do. He knows the Word of God better
than you do. For all we know, he can quote
the whole thing, Roberta, right? He's been around a long time.
I'm sure he's read it a few times. Remember? You think so? We're
not wrestling against some two-bit man. Who do we think we are,
huh? I'm going to cast a few scripture
verses at him. He used the Word of God against the Son of God, didn't he? He twisted and turned
that woman, that first woman around, turned her around with
the word of God. Hath God said, turn her for a
loop? Without Christ, you can't do
anything. You see what this book is all about? You see that, Barbara? Has this all made sense to you? It's a sword in the hands of
the Holy Spirit, and what does he do? He operates on your heart
to create faith in Christ. That's what it's for. It's not
some magical incantation. You know, a problem arises and
we say, we rubbed a little genie's leg. Or the door is closed, too. Well, let's find the reason behind
it. Hocus pocus dominocus. If you quote a few scripture
verses. It's all about a person. It's all about a person. And
as your faith in Christ is strengthened, Satan cannot effectively use
the word of the sword of God against you. Listen to me. See
if I can illustrate that. You ever watch those little sword-fighting
movies? They're ridiculous, really. Fellas
fight up the stairs, you know, on tables and swing on. You know,
they fight for hours, don't they stand? Either they're both the greatest
sword fighters there ever was, or neither one of them is any
good at all. Every now and then they'll rip their clothes. Look
at verse 11. It says, Put on the whole armor
of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. Verse 13, Take on you the whole armor of God that you
may be able to withstand in the evil day. Now, turn over to Hosea
chapter 4. Read this with me now, this is
vital, and I'm just about finished. Hosea chapter 4. I gave that illustration of a
sword-fighting move because we cannot do anything against Satan. We're flesh. He's a principality
of power and spirit and wickedness. What am I going to do? Huh? Mary, what are you going
to do against him? Huh? Isn't that what we read
in Martin Luther's hymn? Huh? If we didn't, in our own
strength, confide, our striving would be losing. We'd lose everything.
We don't get in a sword fight with the devil. Do we stand? No. We can't cut his head off. Really,
the only thing we can do with the sword of God, the word of
God, is repel his blows. You ever seen those movies where
one guy is much better than the other, and the other one's backing
that fellow up, you know? All he's doing is using it as
a defensive weapon. That's about it. Why do people fall away? Why do people depart from the
faith? I've known some people now who
seem to be strong so-called Christians, studious of the Word of God,
who could quote it, preachers. I've heard them preach it, been
real impressed with them. There was a young man that I
was so taken by for so many years, and he was a A wolf in sheep's
clothing. Oh, how duped we can be, but
good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. And I was. I was taken by this
young man, and he ended up being a real enemy of the gospel, an
enemy of my pastor and the Church, and so forth. A real problem,
a real thorn in the flesh. I didn't have the wisdom to see
it. Other men did, but I didn't. I was too taken by this man. But he left. He left and not
until he caused great problems. And why do people, and he was
real smart, real smart. He could quote, he could pray
an impressive prayer and do some scripture and so forth. Why do people depart from the
faith, people like that? You know, or people, any people
for that matter. You know, trials and tribulations
come, questions arise, problems arise, things like that come
along, and people fall because the root of the matter is not
in them. The root of the matter is not—what's
the root? Christ is that root. He is that
foundation. The root of the matter. people
that don't have any real, abiding faith in Christ, no foundation
of faith. And many people have a superficial
religion. It's all talk. Beware of good-talking
people. The scriptures are full of that
in it. Beware of good talkers. It's all talk and no walk. How do we walk? by faith in Christ. We walk by faith. We walk in
the Word, the Word of God. A man's walk doesn't match his
talk. He's all talk and no walk. He's all superficial and no root
of the matter. But people that don't have any
real foundation of faith based upon the word of God, they're
going to fall at the devil's onslaught. Look at Hosea 4, verse
6. Christ says, My people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge. Lack of knowledge. Knowledge
of what? Doctrine? No. No. Like I said, that man I knew,
he had all the doctrine. He was a good Calvinist and so
forth. Knowledge of what? Scripture
says one knowledge is all-important. One knowledge is eternal life.
This is eternal life, that you might know not some thing, but
some one. Not know the Bible, but know
the one of whom it speaks, that you might know thee, God and
Christ, whom he sent. that we might grow in grace and
in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, the knowledge of
him. And this knowledge is more than
just an accumulation of facts. This may explain faith or define
faith to you. Knowledge of Christ is not just
a mental persuasion or agreement with facts. But it's a heartfelt
and mental, heartfelt persuasion of a person. Paul did know what he believed,
didn't he? He knew what he believed, and he could articulate his doctrine
in the Book of Romans. But what did Paul say? He said,
I know something. No, he said, I know whom. I know
whom I believe. That's the only thing that's
going to keep you from falling. You can be the best Calvinist
and the greatest theologian in here, and you'll fall slickered
and spit. Yeah, you will. I can be the
greatest preacher there ever was. If I don't know Christ,
I'm going to fall. Right? It's not a what, it's
a whom. Yeah, it's what as it relates
to whom. But you know a person, and that's
the reason when you go through trials like Jeanette's gone through,
and some of you have gone through and so forth, doctrine and reading
words on paper is not going to comfort you. And you're not going to get through.
You're going to have questions. Why would the Lord do this and that
and the other? You don't have answers. The answer is not in
this book, is it? Why would he allow it? My wife
watched her mother waste away to that dreadful disease called
cancer. Got down to what, eighty-some
pounds, Mindy? Why? The answer is not in this
book, to every question we have. But when you realize that one
is too wise and too good, the one that did that knows infinitely
more. Isaiah 55, my ways are not your
ways. Now, you can count on that, Jeanette.
Rest right there in a person that his ways are infinitely
higher, his thoughts are infinitely higher than your thoughts, and
he's too wise to err and too good to do evil. The judge of
the earth will do right. You might not understand it.
You can't. You're a babe. God is the infinitely all-wise
Spirit. You can't begin to search and
find out the ways of God. Someday you may know. You look
back and rejoice and you say, Lord, I wouldn't have done it
any other way. I marvel and I rejoice at the way you did this, Lord.
Oh, how wise thou art. How good you are for doing that
the way you did it. I would have had it done differently.
You see, it's a person. You see that? It's a person.
And we can talk about the sovereignty of God all day, and you'd agree
with me. But when it comes down to a time
like this, you're going to have to rest in the God who's sovereign.
You with me? Jananias. It means something
right now. Huh? That's the difference. Every
sword you're going to follow. You're going to follow unless
you know Christ. You've got the doctrine. I believe
you. I believe you believe Sovereign Grace. I believe that. I've heard
you talk. Unless you believe Him, you're
going to fall. Because something's going to
come on you that you're not going to have an explanation for, and
it's going to break you down unless you know that you're in
someone's hands. And this whole thing has been
He's the one doing it. He's the one doing it. You see, you know that little
saying, little strokes fell big oaks? Well, big strokes won't fell bruised reeds, Vicki. Or tender plants. If he's holding
it, he's holding it. That song says, That soul that
on Christ hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert
to its foes. That soul, though all hell should
endeavor to shake, I'll never, no, never, no, never forsake. That's a person, isn't it? So
you see, that sword of the Spirit is just that. It's God's Word. It's God's Christ. It's the Spirit
of Christ. It's the Word of Christ. It's
alive. It's quick. It's written. These things are
written that you might believe on the Son of God, and believing
might have life, and that you might know that you're in him. These things are written that
you might have faith in Christ, and believing in him, you might
be able to stand. I'm quoting the word again. Stand
on him. Stand on him. Well, stand with
me. And I'm going to have to trust
him to make some of that good and reveal that to you. I hope
it was a blessing to somebody. Heavenly Father, you who are
God, beside there's none else. who speak through this book just
as real as I am speaking now, more so. Lord God, speak through
this word. Speak through this word. Reveal
your Son in us. In us. Not just to us, but in
us. Christ in us, the hope of glory.
A real abiding knowledge and acquaintance, personal acquaintance
with a person. Nothing else will do. Nothing
else will hold us up. No one else will hold us up.
So, Lord, I ask that you would create faith where there is none
and strengthen that faith that you have given, that gift of
yours. Strengthen it. Strengthen our
faith in your Son. May we believe him now more than
ever. now more than ever, and by faith in him, repel those
assaults that come upon us, and having done all, to stand. Lord, we pray that, praying always
in spirit and supplication. And I pray for these people that
you'd watch over them throughout this week, and all of your saints
everywhere, as you've commanded us. And as we want to do, we
pray for your people everywhere. Hold us up, Lord. Hold us up. Hold on to us, Lord, and we do
not want to let go of thee. We want to persevere as you preserve
us. In Christ's blessed name, we
met together tonight for his glory and honor and for our eternal
good. Amen. You're dismissed.