I know that there is no way any
of you can have any real appreciation of this fact, but it's something
I want you to be aware of so that you can pray for your pastor
as God enables you. In preaching, I don't come here
simply to lecture you about Bible facts and Bible history and Bible
doctrine. It is my desire and determination
to seek and find a message from God for you for this hour. A message from God for you for
this hour. Preaching through as I am on
Tuesday nights now the book of Ephesians, Sunday mornings in
Romans, Sunday nights in Isaiah. We come to a portion of scripture.
God give me grace to do more than simply tell you the facts
written in the text. And give me the grace to have
from your Spirit a message needed for this people this hour. And
I believe He's given me such. If you'll turn to Ephesians chapter
6. Ephesians chapter 6. Like the Spartans of old, every
child of God is born a warrior. Every child of God is born a
warrior. It is our destiny to be assaulted. It is our duty to attack. We're constantly engaged in a
defensive warfare. Satan is a relentless foe, assaulting
our souls day and night, sometimes openly, but more often with such
subtlety that you think you're finding someone who is appealing
to you for most pleasant things, when Satan is assaulting you
most deceitfully. We're required of God to earnestly
contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. It is our responsibility,
each of us individually, me as a preacher of the gospel, this
congregation, and that of every other believer, of every other
preacher, of every other assembly, gathered in the name of our Redeemer,
it is our responsibility in our generation both to defend the
gospel and to promote the gospel. We have to resist the wicked
one. We have to stand against the wiles of the devil. And having
done all, still to stand and stand our ground firmly. But
that man is a poor excuse for a soldier who only defends. The Church of God is the army
of Christ, and that army is an offensive army, responsible under
God constantly to storm the gates of hell and to storm them with
the gospel. The gates of hell, our Savior
said, shall not prevail against you. The gates of hell will fall
before you, he declares. The Christian, the believer,
the child of God is a soldier on the march against the powers
of darkness. He's not an idle spectator, but
rather a soldier in battle. Like David, he says, I come against
thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies
of Israel, whom thou hast defied. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, powers, spiritual wickedness
in high places. And the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal. I mean by that we do not employ
politics and civil law to get our way with the world. Let the
Papists and the Protestants and the Islamists have their shot
at it. We don't. I mean also by that
we do not employ the power of logic and reason and human argument
to get the job done. I mean by that we do not employ
a carnal trickery and deception and entertainment in the name
of religion to get the job done, but rather the weapons of our
warfare are spiritual. The preaching of the gospel,
the power of God's Spirit, that's all. preaching of the gospel,
the power of God's Spirit, that's all. And we pray that God the
Holy Spirit will make the word and work of the gospel effectual
wherever it is declared. Onward my brethren! Our weapons
are mighty, powerful through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Onward I say we must go, attacking
the castles of darkness, pulling down their strongholds, driving
the Canaanites from the land. What does the captain say? Go
ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel. As soon
as you called me to be your pastor here, I said to you on more than
one occasion, our responsibility extends beyond the four walls
of the building where we meet. Our responsibility extends beyond
the immediate community in which we live. It is our privilege
and our responsibility in the days God gives us by whatever
means God puts in our hands to the best of our ability to preach
the gospel everywhere to everybody. That's our privilege and our
responsibility. God's given us the light of the
gospel that we may cause the light of the gospel to shine
in the darkness of this world. He's trusted to our hands this
treasure of his grace, not that we may hoard it up for ourselves,
but that we may scatter the treasure to the four corners of the earth.
Now look here in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10. We'll read the
entire paragraph together. God's servants, I repeat, must
be vigilant and alert. You and I who are Zion soldiers
must never become indifferent about our responsibility in the
place assigned to us by the captain of our salvation, the Lord Jesus.
Particularly the watchman. Gospel preachers on the walls
of Zion must never allow themselves the leisure of ease rest and
relaxation Here the Holy Spirit By the Apostle Paul gives us
a rousing call to arms Let's hear what he says Ephesians 6
verse 10 Finally my brethren Be strong in the Lord in the
power of his might. Put on, that's something for
you to do, every day, put on, put on the whole armor of God,
all of it, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of
the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities and against powers, against the
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places, Wherefore, take unto you every day throughout
the day, keep on taking unto you the whole armor of God that
you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done
all to stand, stand therefore, having your loins girt about
with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness,
and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above
all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to
quench 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. 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, for which I am an ambassador
in bonds, that I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. In order
to properly prepare us for our daily warfare, this valiant,
well-experienced old soldier tells us the various pieces of
armor we must put on and use and how to use them. He's spoken
to us about the girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness,
and the shoes of gospel peace. And here in verse 16, we're exhorted
to arm ourselves relentlessly with the shield of faith. That's
my subject tonight, the shield of faith. Paul says, as he writes
by inspiration, above all. And I think that our translators
are exactly right when they translate above all. He's not saying among
all the others, he says above all. This is the primary thing,
taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench the
fiery darts of the wicked. is the grace of graces. Faith
in Christ, God's gift of faith, is the grace of graces. It is
out of faith that all other graces are given and exercised out of,
they grow out of faith given to us and worked in us by God
the Holy Spirit. This faith stands here in the
midst of her companions, truth and righteousness and peace and
salvation and revelation, the revelation of God in his word.
It stands among them as the heart in the middle of the body. It's
like David when Samuel anointed him in the midst of his brethren.
When Paul comes to speak of faith, he seems to lift its head above
all the others, giving it preeminence. Above all, he says, taking the
shield of faith. The grace of faith, this gift
of God, is like the shield of mighty men by which things are
done, by which the believer not only repels the enemy's assaults,
but by which also he attacks and conquers the enemy. The shield,
of course, refers to that shield that you see in the old movies
or drawings or pictures of old armies. It's about four feet
long, about two and a half feet wide. It covers the whole frontal
of the body. And it's locked the shields together,
forms a wall for the army, for the men standing on the front
lines to protect them. And let us look at this and I'll
try to raise and answer three questions that will make Paul's
admonition here very plain to us. First, let me say something
about faith itself. And I'll spend the bulk of my
time here. What is the faith which serves as our shield? We
live in a day when the souls of men are being deceived with
countless substitutes for the faith of God's elect. The faith
is more than a mere decision. Faith is more than an experience. Faith is more than a system of
doctrine. Faith is more than the plan of
salvation. Faith is more than association
with the church. What is this faith that's here
commended to us? And why is this described as
a shield of faith? What is Paul talking about? Frequently,
God himself, the triune Jehovah, the great object of faith, is
presented to us in scripture as a shield for his people. As
our God is the object of our faith, he is a shield to our
souls. The Lord God said to Abraham
back in Genesis 15, after these things, the word of the Lord
came to Abraham in a vision saying, fear not, Abram, I am thy shield
and thy exceeding great reward. I am thy shield. I am your frontal piece to protect
you. All the perfections of God All
his power, all his faithfulness, all his truth, all his immutability
encompass the saints as a shield. By faith, we lay hold of God's
perfections, and with those things, oppose Satan's assaults. As the
love and favor of God are objects of faith, these are a shield
for us as well. Thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous
with favor. wilt thou compass him as with
the shield. The Lord God, the psalmist says,
is a sun and a shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk
uprightly. The word faith here in Ephesians,
as is used throughout the scriptures, sometimes represents the gospel
of God itself, the very truth of God. It is the faith of God's
elect, the faith once delivered to the saints. The gospel of
Christ, the truths and promises of the gospel are too a shield
to God's children. The entire word of God is a shield
for us, a shield of defense as well as a weapon of offense.
Every word of God is pure. The wise man said he is a shield
to them that put their trust in him. simply put in its activity as
it lives as taking God at his word. Taking God at his word. God says something, we believe
it. God says something, we bow to it. God says something, we
trust it. The Lord God commands us over
and over again Fear not, fear not, fear not, fear not. And
it gives us reasons. Reasons backed with omnipotence,
immutability, and everlasting love, righteousness, and joy,
and peace. He says, I'm with you. I'll hold
you. I'll uphold you. I'll take you
by the right hand of my righteousness. I'll lead you. I'll protect you. I'll sustain you. The rivers
of woe shall not overcome you. I'm with you. And faith believes
God. Oh, Lord, teach me to believe
you. Teach me to believe you. But
our Lord Jesus Christ, the one we trust, He is the whole of
our faith. We believe Him. Yes, I believe
in Him. I lean upon Him. I come to Him. And all of that means I trust
Him. You see, it is Christ, the Christ
of God, our blessed Savior, who is our blessed shield of faith. The Lord, I repeat, the Lord
God is a sun and a shield. to all who trust Him. Faith makes
Christ a shield, to ward off, to absorb, to protect us, to
deflect the fiery darts of the wicked one hurled at us. Faith
in His blood, His righteousness as our substitute, the sin-atoning,
justice-satisfying ransom of our souls. Certainly all of those
things are included. But when we think of faith as
Paul uses it here, as a shield of faith, Paul is speaking specifically
about that faith which God has given us, which God has wrought
in us, which God sustains in us, which God works in us continually
as believers. Those who truly have this God-given
faith as their shield are as sure of victory as if they were
already in the triumphal chariot on the streets of gold in heavenly
glory. John wrote in 1 John 2, ye have
overcome the wicked one. In 1 John 5, he says, this is
the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Well, what is this? What is this?
Satan, as I said a little bit ago, has raised up many counterfeits
by which he deceives the souls of multitudes. And when he cannot
deceive God's people with a counterfeit faith. He tries to bring us to
despair with doubts and unbelief and fears. There are many who
have no other hope of heaven than a mere historic faith. That
is, they believe things written, believe historic facts, believe
historic things taught them. They've received the historic
facts of the gospel and agree with them. But that's not true
faith. This is the faith of devils.
The devils believe in tremble. Many take up a profession of
faith that is just a temporary faith. Religion has a temporary
influence on them. Time of fear, time of trouble,
they make a profession of faith. There are some folks, you can
count on it, as regular as clockwork, whenever some difficulty arises,
some trouble comes up, they go to church. We used to go to church
real often when I was a boy, just as often as I got in a bad
mess of trouble. That's just about how often we
went. We have faith because it gives you a temporary reprieve
of conscience. Karl Marx was exactly right when
he wrote that religion is the opiate of the people. And preachers
use it as an opiate all the time. Talk you into a profession of
faith. It doesn't last long, but it gives you a little satisfaction
for a little while. Multitudes in our day are deceived
with what might be called a faith of miracles. Shelby and I driving
back from Lawton, passed by last night, I'm sorry, Sunday night.
I was telling some of the men back in the office, it's beautiful. It's got to be the prettiest,
largest church facility I've ever seen in my life. I've observed
it many times. a Pentecostal church. Of course,
that's the home of Oral Roberts and his gang of demons and Kenneth
Copeland and his gang of demons. And so you can expect Pentecostalism
to be popular. But it engulfs doctors and lawyers
and politicians and judges and educators. We drove by that place. If there wasn't a thousand cars
there, there wasn't two. Sunday night, just packed out.
Somebody said, look at that. Because lots of folks have seen
or thought they saw or felt or thought they felt or experienced
or thought they experienced a miracle. And that gives them faith. They
got something to hang on to. They have a faith of miracles.
Kind of like those thousands who ate the loaves and fishes.
And our master said, you're standing here not because you believe
me, because you want some more bread. We have this sense of
prosperity. Oh, if you just believe God,
he'll perform a miracle in your life and your bank account will
get huge. But a faith of miracles is no
faith at all. In John chapter two, we read
some folks who saw our Lord's miracles and believed on him
because of the miracles. But Jesus did not commit himself
to them. The same word is used. They committed
themselves to him openly, in word, but he didn't commit himself
to them because he knew what's in the heart of man. Coming home
yesterday, driving down the road, Shelby was reading to me from
Acts 13, I think it was, about Simon the sorcerer. Hmm, he believed,
he believed, but he just had a temporary faith. He saw the
signs and wonders the apostles did, and he was a man who was
in the gall of bitterness, who didn't know God from a billy
goat. Others say they have saving faith simply because they give
assent to the truths of the gospel. One of the greatest dangers of
modern day fundamentalism is that of presenting people with
gospel facts and truths, and persuading them on the basis
of their argument with those truths to make a profession of
faith. They present folks with four
spiritual laws. What man has ever gone to a bathroom,
or not gone to a bathroom, and seen somebody who laid up on
the counter somewhere, you ladies probably the same thing, I've
not been in women's bathrooms, you live there. God's simple plan of salvation. Or they'll take you down the
Romans road and tell you if you'll say this and agree with that
and agree with the other thing, then you're saved. Or they'll repeat
a prayer. They've got written out on a
card and say, repeat after me. And if you'll just repeat the
prayer and say, I believe in Jesus, then you're saved, you're
going to heaven, everything's all right. I know whereof I speak,
I've experienced it. I have nothing but contempt,
nothing but contempt for such butchers of men's souls. The
Lord God Almighty speaks clearly in his word about faith, and
it needs to be clearly understood. What is true faith? What is it? Faith in Christ involves necessarily
three things, I'm certain. Necessarily three things. First,
faith involves knowledge. Knowledge. Faith is not a leap
in the dark. Faith is not believing something
that you don't know what it is. Faith involves knowledge. You
must be taught who the Son of God is and what He has accomplished
by the preaching of the Gospel. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. That knowledge must be assented
to. You bow to it, this is God's
Word, this is so. And faith involves commitment. Casting yourself upon Christ. Believing the Son of God. It's
called surrender. Some of my friends object to
the song, I surrender all. Would to God, you would surrender
all. That's what faith is. It's the
surrender of my life, my being, the totality of my life to the
rule, dominion, and disposal of the Son of God. It's taking
up your cross and following him. It is laying down your life to
Jesus Christ the Lord. It's not religion. It's not a
fit of religion. It's not decisions and choices.
It is laying down your life to Jesus Christ the Redeemer. God's
people are called his witnesses. You know what the word witness
is, Bill? That word that's translated witness
in the scriptures, if you could write it out, the Greek letters
in English, just translate it, transliterate it, this is what
it is. Martyr. Martyr. I suggest that every
one of you read Fox's book of martyrs. You won't believe half
of it, but it's written factually. I suggest you read it. They were
men and women, as we read about in Hebrews 11, who rather than
going free, laid down their lives literally for Jesus Christ, the
Lord. God's people, all of them. If you're one, it's true of Merle
Hart. If I'm one, it's true of Don
Fortner. And Merle, if it's not true of us, we're not his. God's people are martyrs, His
witnesses. They lay down their lives for
Christ. They're men and women who give
themselves up to Jesus Christ the Lord. Faith is set forth
in Scripture by many things we call acts of faith. And faith,
faith is an act. It involves acts. But faith is
a work of God in the heart, compelling the sinner to bow to Christ the
Lord. Faith is seeing Christ. The Lord
Jesus said, this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone
which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life. It is Christ revealed in you. in such a way that you can't
help but to look to Him. It's Christ being revealed in
you with such dazzling light from heaven that you can't help
but to look to Him. You ever suddenly see a flash
of light in the dark and try not to look at it? It flashes,
you gotta look! Christ is revealed in you, and
you see Him, compelled to look at Him. Faith is fleeing to Christ,
like the manslayer would flee to the city of refuge. Faith
It's throwing ourselves into the arms of Christ, casting ourselves
upon his mercy. Faith is described as laying
hold of Christ, laying hold of eternal life. Faith is receiving
Christ. We must receive him before we
can receive him. That is, he must be given to
us before we'll receive him. But if Christ is given to you,
you reach out and take him. If Christ is given to you, you
have created in you a hunger and thirst for his righteousness.
You have created in you a thirst for him and you take him as a
thirsty man takes water. Faith in Jesus Christ is resting
in him. Ceasing from your works, resting
in him. Keeping God's Sabbath is believing
on the Lord Jesus. This faith is God's gift. Oh, may he give it to you. But
it's not just God's gift mark initially. It is that which God must give
us and work in us continually. And we have this faith only as
God gives it and works it in us continually. And yet we're
admonished to take the shield of faith. continually coming
to God, seeking grace from God, to believe God, to walk with
God, to rest on his son, to honor his son. A second I ask, why
does the apostle here compare faith to a shield? As I said,
it's a piece of armor soldiers would carry with them into the
battlefield to engage the enemy. It defends them against the weapons
of their foes. And faith is a necessary part
of our armor in this world, our field of battle. All Christ's
soldiers must carry the shield into the field against our enemy,
the devil. Faith is to defend us against
sin, Satan, the lust of the flesh, and the soul-assaulting allurements
of the world. Let me give you just a few reasons
why faith is compared to a shield. Like a shield, faith protects
every spiritual faculty of the believer. The helmet defends
his head, the breastplate his breast, the shoes his feet, but
the shield defends everything. The shield of faith protects
us against those temptations Satan levels at heart and head
and soul. The deceiver tries to get us
to doubt the truth of God, and he doesn't have to try hard.
Our flesh is full of doubts. He tells us since we can't understand
certain things revealed in this book, you can't believe what
you can't understand. Oh, but there are many things
in this book I can't begin to understand. In fact, we're told
plainly in the Scriptures, there are things that can't be expressed
in words. There are things that are only
illustrated by words, such as our Savior's eternal Godhead
in the Holy Trinity. such as covenant grace from eternity,
such as Christ being formed in the womb of the virgin. I said,
well, that's virgin birth is a biological impossibility. It
is to man, but not to God, not to God. Faith bows to God's revelation. We come to the work of our Redeemer
at Calvary, being made sin for us as our substitute. That word
made, It's one of those words that means wondrously, mysteriously,
inexplicably made in a way that can't be explained, let alone
understood. He was made see it. Real substitution
and we are really made the righteousness of God in him, made partakers
of the divine nature so that every believer has in him both
Adam and Christ, both flesh and spirit, both sin and righteousness. That's what we are. And then
faith is a shield to the believer, the child of God, humbly resist
Satan's temptations. Saying, I will trust the word
of God rather than my reason. What I cannot comprehend, I will
yet believe. We read in Hebrews 11, by faith
we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.
Now you can go visit the Creation Museum, and I have no quarrel
with that. You can read books about creation
and science, and I have no quarrel with that. I've read a few myself.
But the Scripture does not say we understand that the worlds
were created by the Word of God and we believe. The Scripture
says by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the
Word of God. The best answer to the folly
of science is what God says. And the issue really is just
this. Do you believe God or man? Do we believe God or man? Do
we trust God or ourselves? Do we trust God or our brains? Do we trust the word of God or
the investigation of man? Believers believe God. Very often
the fiend of hell tries to hit the believer's conscience with
one of his fiery darts. I often have read to you the
third chapter of Zechariah with Joshua standing there before
the Lord in his filthy garments. And the accuser is there to accuse
him. Jude speaks of it in the ninth
verse of Jude. And the Lord Jesus is there.
And he said, give him a change of arraignment. Take off those
dirty garments and put a clean robe on him. put a breastplate
on him, put a fair miter on his head. I will take away his iniquity
in one day. Satan comes and he assaults,
and assaults the conscience of the believer. And he gets us
to fix our eyes on ourselves and not our savior. Preachers in their ignorance,
Focus the attention of man on your walk with God, your closeness
to God, your prayer life, your devotional life. And if you are so deceived by
Satan, even for a while, your head swells with pride, or if
you have the slightest bit of honesty, you're engulfed in utter
despair because your walk with God ain't much. And your nearness
to God and your experience and feeling and devotion ain't much.
And your prayer life ain't much. And your devotional life ain't
much. It's just all full of blackness and sin. And as you look to yourself, Your own heart would condemn
you. Oh, how I thank God, how often I have read and repeated
through the day, many times in the day, this blessed, blessed,
blessed statement of our God. If our heart condemn us, God
is greater than our heart and knoweth all things. God give us grace to take the
shield of faith. Don Fortner, what is your hope?
What is your plea? Jesus lived and died for me,
that's all. Christ is my atonement. Christ
is my righteousness. Christ is my sanctification.
Christ is my redemption. I have no holiness but him whose
name is holiness. Jesus Christ is the shield of
faith. But the devil never tires. When
one assault fails, he comes at us from another corner. and he
tries to ensnare the affections of our hearts to deaden our fervent
love for Christ. He will set the pleasures and
profits of the world before us. He'll set before us all the enticements
of this flesh and try to get us to think somehow we've lost
something by following Christ, that we're going to lose something
by obedience to Christ. Our Savior asked his disciples
on one occasion, Peter said, Lord, we've forsaken all for
you. As if to look at the Lord and say, now, what are you gonna
give us in return? And the Lord looked at him and then said,
Peter, lacked ye anything? Lacked ye anything? Nothing,
Lord, nothing, Lord. Not long after I came here, we
had just finished the upper part of this building. I was in my
office out here one day, and a fellow I went to high school
with came by to see me. I don't know how he even found
out I was in town, but he was around, got involved in business
and making a lot of money, and he came by to visit with me a
little bit, and we chatted for a little while. It was good to
see him. He finally got around to what he came for. He wanted
me to get involved in business with him. I said, Steve, I'm
not interested. But Don, man, let me tell you what you can
make. Steve, I'm not interested. Man, you could make $50,000 this year. Me? $50,000 nearly 40 years ago? Me? I'm not interested. I'm not interested. I've got something better to
do. I've got something better to do. I've got a Redeemer to
serve, a cause to serve. Just not interested. And you
know how much I missed it? Have any idea how much I missed
it? I've never lacked a piece of bread. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. And I've never
asked anybody for anything. Except God, my Savior. He takes
care of His own. He'll do the same for you. Do
the same for you. But without Christ, we have nothing. what men sell when they trade
Christ for the bubbles of this world. As a shield enables the
soldier to do mighty things in battle, faith enables God's saints
to do mighty things in their march to Zion. Abel offered a
sacrifice God would accept. Enoch walked with God. There
was a man by the name of Noah who believed God and built an
ark for the saving of his whole family. There was a man named
Abraham and his wife Sarah who had a little boy in her old age.
And that man Abraham took that only son he dearly loved and
sacrificed him to God because he believed God and received
him as one raised from the dead because he believed God, Moses. when it came to years, refused
to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter and chose rather the
reproaches of Christ than the riches of Egypt. That man who
was heir to be on the throne of the most powerful, wealthy
nation in the world went on the run for 40 years, hiding in the
backside of the desert because Pharaoh sought his life. because
he believed God. Rahab. Rahab. Because she believed
God, brought her family in her house with her, and when the
whole of Jericho fell down flat, her house was standing on the
wall. There's a man by the name of Daniel thrown in the lion's
den and laid down and slept all night long. I reckon he wrapped
up on one of the lions and laid down and slept comfortably. Three
Hebrew children cast into the fiery furnace and didn't even
have the smell of smoke on them when they came out. The only
thing they lost in the fire were the cords that tied them and
bound them. God's people are given faith,
faith as a shield by which we're able to stand and withstand. The fiery darts Satan hurls at
us from every quarter. The shield absorbs the darts
and the fire. And then Paul tells us that this
faith is above all, above all taking the shield of faith. How
is the shield of faith above all other graces? The shield
was prized by the ancient foot soldiers more than any other
piece of armor. They counted it a great shame
to lose their shield. They esteemed it an honor to
die with their shield in their hand. Once it was reported as
a young Spartan went off to war, his mother laid a charge on him.
See that you either bring your shield home with you or that
you're brought home on your shield. Good admonition. See that you
either bring your shield home with you or that you're brought
home on your shield. I love the story that's told,
I think it's true, of Jim Bowie, who died at Alamo. His mother
learned of his death, and when she learned of his death, she
said, I'll guarantee you one thing, they didn't find any wounds
in his back. Oh, God make me such a man, walking
with Christ in this world with the shield of faith. Faith is
above all other graces of armor because faith quenches all the
fiery darts of the wicked one. Faith in Christ tells us that
everything we do for God and bring to God and give to God
are accepted by him with Jesus Christ the Lord as our Redeemer. The shield of faith, faith in
Christ is most excellent. It's a precious, enduring gift
of God. This beautiful fruit of the Spirit,
faith, is sometimes hindered, but it never is entirely broken,
and it never is entirely lost. The Lord Jesus says, I have prayed
for thee that thy faith fail not. When Satan comes as a roaring
lion, or he shoots the fiery darts at your soul, the Savior
says, I prayed for thee that thy faith fail not. So take the
shield, take it daily. Carry it with you through the
day. Take it up at home, at work, in every detail of life. Take
it with you to bed at night, and take it when you get up in
the morning. Bring it with you when you come to the house of
God, and take it with you when you go out to meet the world.
Take it with you to the hospital bed, and take it with you to
the house in the morning. Take it with you everywhere,
anticipating the appearance of Christ in His glory. expecting
the mercy of God unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord. God give us grace to take the
shield of faith and withstand the fiery darts of the wicked
one. Amen.