Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I want to speak this morning
on the subject, the shield of faith. Paul said in verse 16
of Ephesians chapter 6, above all, taking the shield of faith,
wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of
the wicked." Now, this is a part of that Christian armor that
Paul speaks of at the end of the book of Ephesians. He speaks
of the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, your feet shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith,
the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. Now let me spend a few moments
talking about all six of these pieces of armor. They're given
to every believer. And every believer is to put
on this armor. It begins with the belt, the
girdle of truth. You don't have anything if you
don't have the truth. That which is not founded on
the truth is a lie. It's false, you gotta begin there.
This breastplate is called the breastplate of righteousness.
And that's speaking of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. People have
said, well, that's practical righteousness, that's purity
of life. Do you want that to be your breastplate? Not me. The only righteousness that I
know of is the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ as my righteousness
before God. And your feet shod with the preparation
or the readiness or the preparedness of the gospel of peace. What
makes you prepared to meet God? One thing, the gospel of peace
where Christ is my peace before God. Then we read of the shield
of faith. We're going to get back to that
and the helmet of salvation. What protects your head? Salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. The
salvation being all of grace. That's the protection of the
head and the sword of the spirit is the word of God. the written
word that reveals the living word, the scriptures, the word
of truth. Now, I heard a preacher recently
say, you need to put these pieces of armor on so you can live a
victorious Christian life. And if you don't have these,
you will lead a defeated life. Now, let me say right off the
bat that that kind of thinking is foolishness. That's all it
is, and it takes all the emphasis off the gospel, back onto how
you're living. This is not how to live the victorious
life. Every believer is more than a
conqueror through him that loved him. Every believer lives a victorious
life because Christ is the victory. This is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the
world, but he that believeth that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God? This whole idea of living a defeated
Christian life is foolishness, and it's evil to even talk about.
Because every believer is a victor in Christ Jesus, and more than
conqueror through him that loved him. And this is not something
you can put on or not put on. Every believer has truth, the
truth. Every believer has the righteousness
of Christ. Every believer's feet are shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Every believer has
the shield of faith. Every believer has the helmet
of salvation. Every believer has believed the
word of God. This is something that every
believer has and that every believer is to put on every single day. It's the same thing as putting
on the Lord Jesus Christ. These pieces of armor are aspects
of the gospel that every believer is to put on. So what does Paul
mean when he says, above all things, take the shield of faith? Why does he say above all things?
Is he saying faith is more important than the truth? No, there is
no faith without the truth. You don't even have faith if
you don't have the truth. Is he saying faith is more important
than the breastplate of righteousness? Absolutely not. What could be
more important than the righteousness of Jesus Christ as my personal
righteousness before God? That's called justification.
That's what faith believes and relies on, the person and work
of Christ. Is this saying faith is more
important than having your feet shod with the preparation of
the gospel of peace? Absolutely not. That's what faith
does. It believes the gospel of peace. Is faith more important
than salvation? No, faith is the saving grace.
It is a part of God's salvation. Is faith more important than
the word of God? Absolutely not. Faith comes from the word of
God. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing from the word of
God. All six of these pieces of equipment
are of equal importance. So what is he saying then when
he says, above all, take the shield of faith. Now this word
shield, is not the word that's generally translated shield.
Usually when we read the shield, we think of one of those small
round things or square, but they don't cover the whole body. The
shield he's speaking of here was about the size of a door
and the root word comes from the word door. It's what the
Roman soldier used for protection when he was coming upon a city.
or coming upon an army where the archers would fire their
fiery darts, their arrows caught on fire, and they would cover
themselves with a shield that covered their entire body. That's what would protect. The
soldier could get completely behind the shield. His helmet
was behind the shield, his breastplate, his shoes, his girdle, whatever
you're talking about was behind that shield. And this is the
only shield that can protect us, this shield of faith. And
it's not talking about the strength or weakness of our faith. You
know, your faith may be very strong one day and may even seem
to be non-existent the next. You say, where is it? Do I have
any faith? And the Lord said to his disciples once, where
is your faith? You can't see it. You don't seem to be practicing
it. Even after his resurrection, he upbraided them for their hardness
of heart and their unbelief. So this is really not talking
about the subjective experience of my faith as being what protects
me from the fiery darts of the wicked. This is talking about
the faith, the faith, not my faith subjectively. Oh, I would
love to be strong in faith all the time, but I'm not. I always
have to cry out, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. And
if I was dependent upon the strength of my faith to protect me from
the fiery darts of the wicked, I'd be in trouble. This is talking
about the faith, that big shield that covers everything. Not something
that I'm so much, I'm able to move like a smaller shield, like
an arrow coming here, an arrow coming there, I'm blocked. No,
I just stay behind the shield. And I don't stick out one finger.
That is the faith that protects from the fiery darts of the wicked.
Now, what are the fiery darts of the wicked? Well, they can
be summarized by what John said in 1 John 2, the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The lust of the flesh, the pleasure
of the flesh. That's certainly a fiery temptation
that has an appeal to every sinner. If you're a sinner, you know
something about what the lust of the flesh is. And there's
indeed pleasure in sin for a season. And what a fiery temptation. And then he speaks of the lust
of the eyes. What is the lust of the eyes? It's being more
concerned about what men think than what God thinks. Being more
concerned about what men see than what God sees. It's popularity. It's loving the praise of men
more than the praise of God. What a temptation that is to
buckle down to impress somebody or please somebody or make somebody
happy or to look good before somebody. The lust of the eyes. and the pride of life, self-righteousness. I did this. This is because of
what I have done. The temptation to look somewhere
other than Christ alone. Now, the only thing that will
protect us from these fiery darts is the shield of faith. This is the one faith Paul speaks
of in Ephesians. There's one faith. The common
faith, the faith of God's elect. The first thing to remember about
this is the strength or the weakness of your faith is not what saves
you if you're saved. It's the Lord Jesus Christ who
saves you. It's the object of your faith, not the strength
of your faith or the weakness of your faith. It's the object
of faith that saves you. You look to Christ alone. Sirs,
what must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved. Believe He's the Lord. He's Lord
of creation. He's Lord of providence. Everything
that happens is under His control. He's the Lord of salvation. If
you're saved, it's because He willed your salvation. He's Jesus. He's the Savior. Thou shalt call
His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.
He's the Christ. He's God's anointed. He's the
Messiah. He's God's prophet. He brings the Word of God. He
never says, thus saith the Lord. He says, I say unto you, He is
the Word of God. He's God's priest. He's not bringing
the blood of an animal sacrifice. He brings His own blood that
makes every believer perfect before God. He's God's King. He's the one whose will is always
done and He has the power to make sure that everything needed
for my salvation is accomplished by what He does. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now, the reason the
Lord says so many times, thy faith has saved thee, is because
it's only faith that looks only to Christ. It looks to Christ
for everything. Faith believes Christ is all
in salvation. If it looks anywhere else, it's
not faith in the first place. Faith is always alone. Faith
in Christ only. And it's the objective truth
of the faith that will preserve us. Chosen in Christ, redeemed
by Christ, justified by Christ, called by Christ, regenerated
by the Spirit of Christ, preserved in Christ Jesus. I think of the
Lord interceding. Peter, I've prayed for you that
your faith fail not. Now, Peter failed, didn't he?
I mean, he denied he even knew the Lord. He was so cowardly
and afraid. And I have no doubt that after
this took place, he didn't think he was saved. He thought, well,
I've denied the Lord and he's gonna deny me. But notice the
Lord didn't say, I prayed that you don't fail. Peter needed
to fail. He was proud and self-righteous. The rest of this bunch deny you,
I'll never do it. He needed to fail. It was good
for him to fail. But the Lord didn't say, I pray
for you that you don't fail, but that your faith fail not. Now, one thing Peter never ceased
to do is believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God's Christ. He always believed that. I don't
know what he believed about himself. But he believed that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. Now, above all things, take the
shield of faith. You see, faith is the saving
grace. And notice I said saving grace.
By grace are ye saved through faith. That's the scripture. By grace are you saved through
faith. And that not of yourselves, Faith is not because you decided
to believe or you, as an act of your own free will, decided
you'd start believing. It's not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God. If you have faith, it's because
God gave it to you. And if he gave it to you, you know it came
from him. It didn't come from you. It came from him. Not of
works, lest any man should boast. Paul said in Romans chapter 4
verse 16, therefore it's a faith, salvation is a faith, that it
might be by grace. The only way salvation is all
of grace is if it's through faith and not of works. To the end
that the promise might be sure to all the seed. Salvation is
by grace. And the only way that can be
is if it comes only through faith. Now, I wanna give two passages
of scripture that I think let us know what faith is. So, read along with me if you
can get your Bibles. Romans chapter four, verse one. What shall we say then that Abraham,
our father, is pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if
Abraham were justified by works, He'd have whereof to glory. Now, excuse me. Justification by works means
your salvation, your standing before God is in some way dependent
upon what you do. That's what works means. It's
what you do. For instance, if you believe
that Christ died for you and he died for somebody else and
that somebody else ends up perishing and you end up being saved, that
means you believe that there's something you did that made the
difference. If you believe that he died for the one and he died
for you, he's lost, you're saved. The difference is not the blood
of Christ. The difference is not the work of Christ. The difference
is what you have done that the other fella did not do. That
is salvation by works. Some aspect of your salvation
is dependent upon what you do. Now, if Abraham were justified
by works, he'd have whereof to glory. He could say, well, I'm
saved because I did this. I get the glory for this. I get
the credit for this. I did something that other fellow
didn't do. I get some of the glory, but not before God. For what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Now this is a reference to Genesis
chapter 15, verse 6, when God said, see the stars, Abraham?
So your seed shall be. And Abraham believed what God
said. He didn't have any evidence that
it was going to take place other than the naked word of God. And he believed what God said.
That's what faith is. It's believing what God has said. Now, what sayeth the scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. And does that mean faith was
counted for righteousness? No, the righteousness of Jesus
Christ is counted for righteousness. That's what faith believes. You
see, it's not your faith that saves you, strictly speaking.
Faith didn't keep the law for you, Christ did. Faith didn't
die on the cross for you, Christ did. Faith wasn't raised from
the dead, Christ was. It's not faith so much that saves,
but Christ that saves. That's what faith believes. That's
exactly what faith believes. Look in verse four. Now to him
that worketh, there we have that works again. You think salvation
is in some way dependent upon what you do. To him that worketh
is the reward, the heavenly reward, not reckoned of grace, but of
debt. God owes you salvation. He's
paying you for what you did. That'll never be. Verse five,
but to him that worketh not. This person is convinced that
salvation is out of his hand if it's up to him in any way.
He knows as far as he's concerned, he doesn't have a chance of being
saved. The salvation is up to his works.
There's just no way. He works not. He believes himself
to be a sinner. He believes there's nothing he
can do that can recommend him to God. He works not, but believeth. on him that justifieth the ungodly."
He believes that what Christ did on Calvary's tree made God
able to justify somebody who's ungodly. Now, don't miss that
word justify. It doesn't simply mean forgive
somebody that's ungodly, although that's included in this, but
justify them. Make it so they're without sin.
Make it so they're without guilt. Now, that's what faith does.
It works not, but it believes on him who justifies the ungodly. Now, there's another passage
of scripture I'd like to read in Hebrews 11, where the writer says, now,
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen. Now, the substance of things
hoped for. I have a hope. I have a hope. Then on judgment day, I'm going
to hear God say to me, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. I have a hope that I'm going
to hear that. Now, what is the ground of that
hope? What is the substance of that hope? The Lord Jesus Christ. When he did well, I did well
because I was in him. When he hears, well done, thou
good and faithful servant, I'll hear it because I'm in him. I
have his righteousness. I'm sinless because of him. I'm
in him. I stand perfect in him. That's
the ground of that hope. That is the substance of that
hope. And he goes on to say, it's the evidence of things not
seen. Now, I can't see my name written in the Lamb's book of
life. But I know it's there. Well, how do you know? Faith. I believe the gospel. The only
people who have their names written in the book of life are the people
who actually rely on Christ as their righteousness before God.
I'm looking nowhere but Him. I can't see that I'm just before
God. I can't see my sinlessness. I
can't see my perfect justification, but I believe the gospel. being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. I can't see my holiness, my sinlessness, but I believe
it because God says that we're holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
in His sight. I believe that Jesus of Nazareth
is the Son of God, God's Christ, and that is the evidence of these
unseen things, my perfect justification, my glorification, The evidence
of it is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he goes on to say
in verse two, for by it, by faith, the elders obtained a good report.
The Old Testament saints were saved the same way the New Testament
saints are, faith in Christ. There's always been only one
way of salvation. Now there's more light in the
New Testament than there is in the Old Testament, but it's the
same gospel. Do you remember how Abel approached
God through a blood sacrifice? Cain didn't. Abel did. He knew
his only way of approach was the coming one, the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's only by faith that the elders
got a good report card, obtained a good report by faith in Christ,
not by their works. Verse three, through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God so that the things
which are seen were not made of things which do appear. We
see the world. We know God made this. We know
it by faith. Somebody says, prove that to
me. I don't have to. God made the world. And we know
it by faith. And to look at this creation
and think anything other than God made it is foolishness. I
know people much smarter than I am are atheists and say I need
proof. That doesn't make any difference.
The only reasonable thing is God made the world. And we can't
prove it, we believe it by faith. And then he says in verse four,
by faith Abel, I've already touched on this, by faith Abel offered
unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain by which he obtained
witness that he was righteous. God testifying of his gifts and
by it he being dead yet speaks. He approached God through the
blood sacrifice. Cain came with his works. Abel
came through the blood, and God testified with regard to this
man, he is righteous. And then by faith, Enoch was
translated that he should not see death, and he was not found
because God had translated him. But before his translation, he
had this testimony that he pleased God. Now, most people, when they
think of Enoch, they think, well, he was just so good, he walked
right into heaven. Didn't even have to die, he had such a good
life, and he was so pleasing to God. But look what the next
verse says, but without faith, It is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he's a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. The only way any could please
God was by faith, faith in Christ. It wasn't that he was so good,
he was just as sinful as me, and he was just as sinful as
you, in and of himself. But God had given him faith. You see, faith is the work of
God. What must we do that we might
work the works of God? This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he has sent. Faith is the gift of God. By grace you save through faith,
and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Not of works,
lest any man should boast. Christ is the author and the
finisher of faith. Hebrews 12, 2, looking unto Jesus,
the author and the finisher of our faith. And faith is always
faith alone. It's not faith and. It's faith
alone. Somebody says, well, what about
James 2, where it says faith without works is dead, being
alone. Well, I love James chapter 2, but it doesn't mean you have
faith in works and it's the works that prove the faith. That's
not what it means. Now I want to glorify God in
my life, but what that's saying is there will be works that prove
you really did look to Christ alone. There will be evidence
that you had nothing but Christ and you really believe that. That's what that means. It's
not talking about you have to have works to buttress your faith.
What is it that proved Abraham believed God? He offered up his
son because he knew God had promised him the Messiah would come through
him and God would raise him from the dead. Hebrews 11, Genesis
22. He proved he really believed
what God said. Faith is always in Christ alone. And if you have faith in anything
but Christ alone, you don't have faith, period. Romans 14, 23
says, whatsoever is not of faith is sin. 2 Corinthians 5, 7 says
we walk by faith and not by sight. Now, there's four times in the
scripture we read, the just shall live by faith. In Habakkuk 2,
verse 4, we read, behold, his soul that's lifted up is not
right in him, but the just shall live by faith. Faith is opposed
to pride. Faith is opposed to pride, the
soul that's lifted up in him. No, the just shall live by faith.
And then in Romans 1, verse 16 and 17, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel, for it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and to the Greek. For therein
in the gospel, as it's written, therein in the gospel is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. Faith is what receives
the righteousness of God as its own personal righteousness, the
righteousness of Jesus Christ. Galatians 3.11, that no man is
justified by the law on the side of God. It's evident for the
just shall live by faith. Faith is opposed, is the enemy
of salvation by law. The just shall live by faith.
And then in Hebrews 10.38, it says the just shall live by faith.
But if any man draws back, my soul shall have no pleasure in
him. You must continue looking to
Christ only. That's what it is to persevere
in faith. It's not to continue to be religious. It's to continue
to look to Christ only all the way to the time you die. That
is how one perseveres. The just, the justified, those
who stand before God without guilt shall live by faith, not
by works. That's why it says, above all,
take the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked. May God give us this precious
gift, faith. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to todd.nyberg at gmail.com,
or you may write or call the church at the information provided
on the screen.